BrickLink changes hands

[Fugazi]

According to an announcement on BrickLink, Jung-Ju “Jay” Kim (AFOL and founder of the online game company Nexon) has acquired the assets of BrickLink.com from the Jezek family. Thanks to Alasdair Ryan for the heads up.

[Paul B Technic]

Is this seen as a good thing by the AFOL community?

[Andy D]

Is this seen as a good thing by the AFOL community?

I guess we will have to wait and see. I hope BL continues to be as useful, and more so as promised by the new owner. But we will just have to wait to see how BL 2.0 in implemented.

Andy D

[Kristel]

Is this seen as a good thing by the AFOL community?

There seems to be mixed reactions on BrickLink itself. I think it's a good thing for AFOLs if it finally moves things forward on BrickLink 2.0. I'm a BrickLink addict, but I can understand how it would be quite daunting for a new user in its current form. My very first order was messy (because of me) but I had an understanding seller.

[eurotrash]

I love the BL site and use it (probably too) frequently and although the Jezek family have done a good job of maintaining the site over the last couple of years, it desperately needs a facelift and an overhaul.

Will all the changes be positive? Maybe, maybe not, but overall I think it's a going to be a good thing.

[Faefrost]

Hopefully if nothing else he new ownership will bring some security upgrades and improvements.

[Phoxtane]

I'm eager to see what the new Bricklink holds. As a novice user, I haven't even set up an account because the whole thing is so convoluted! If it works out to be that much easier to use, you can bet I'll spend a large chunk of change on there.

[MikroMan]

I think we can safley say that AFOL community would not be what it is without Bricklink site. I'd welcome a few security and feature upgrades, but I hope if they do make a facelift of the page, the new site won't need too much bandwidth due to the pretty scripts and shiny elements...

[Goofyhobbie]

As a buyer and user of Bricklink.com, I was shocked to learn of the change at roughly 3 A. M. this morning. As any addict of the site knows it is down for the next two to three hours while everything migrates to the new owner. For those who want the press anouncement here is a link: http://brickultra.com/bricklink-has-sold-to-nexon/

[Kivi]

If this person is a true AFOL I hope that new BL will be managed and operated with heart too and not only with $$$ in mind. Some changes / upgrades would definitely be appreciated, though the overall functionality is still quite good for me now, and what is more important, it still runs perfectly on older browsers too.

[Luke_likes_Lego]

Something I love about Bricklink is the absence of:

• banner ads
  
• toolbar ads
  
• geo-locating display ads
  
• shop ads (eg. Bricklink shops buying home page advertising space)
  
• etc.
  

I hope this doesn't change.

The interface and security might need an upgrade, but I hope the purity of the pages stays 'old school'.

LLL

[MikroMan]

Something I love about Bricklink is the absence of:

• banner ads
  
• toolbar ads
  
• geo-locating display ads
  
• shop ads (eg. Bricklink shops buying home page advertising space)
  
• etc.
  

I hope this doesn't change.

The interface and security might need an upgrade, but I hope the purity of the pages stays 'old school'.

LLL

That's exactly what I'm hoping for... No garbage and junk that fills up your internet connection and jump at you with annoying *Squeee* every third page.

[DeanFS]

Bricklink.com twitter as of 9:30 AM EST 6-7-13: "The site is up and running now from the new data center. (It actually has been for more than 2 1/2 hrs now. Thanks for your patience!"

...but the site is not up. I guess we know one thing isn't going to change

I hope we don't end up having to buy "nexus cash."

[Haldiron]

Does anyone know if Bricklink is still down for the migration??? I've been trying to log in since early this morning when it kicked me out.

[Grimmbeard]

One question about this- will this affect any current orders right now? I have a few.

[MikroMan]

Twitter page says you should try to reboot, though I have no idea why...

If rebooting doesn't fix it, it means that whatever DNS server you're using has not updated.

From FB page.

Try Google's public DNS servers for workaround.

EDIT: @Grimmbeard: Their FB page says that all transactions were backed up prior to moovin between the datacentres so everything should be okay.

Edited June 7, 2013 by MikroMan

[Haldiron]

Twitter page says you should try to reboot, though I have no idea why...

Quote

If rebooting doesn't fix it, it means that whatever DNS server you're using has not updated.

From FB page.

Try Google's public DNS servers for workaround.

EDIT: @Grimmbeard: Their FB page says that all transactions were backed up prior to moovin between the datacentres so everything should be okay.

no offense, but sounds like a load of BS to me. I've tried on my home network which runs off a NC server, and my work network which runs off a server in Pittsburgh, PA. I still get a message saying the site is down.

[MikroMan]

no offense, but sounds like a load of BS to me. I've tried on my home network which runs off a NC server, and my work network which runs off a server in Pittsburgh, PA. I still get a message saying the site is down.

Hey, I'm right there with you I hope the DNS servers update within a few hours or at least a day...

[Haldiron]

Hey, I'm right there with you I hope the DNS servers update within a few hours or at least a day...

i know, i had 20 lots in my cart when it went down. I hope it saved my activity!

[Gaofar]

Just checked. It's up now.

[Haldiron]

Just checked. It's up now.

where are you located? it's still not working for me!

ok it's up now!!

[MikroMan]

i know, i had 20 lots in my cart when it went down. I hope it saved my activity!

Meh, that sucks Well, works for me now!

[1974]

New owner is an AFOL (+BL user, you figure him out) and quite (as in fvckmuch) loaded so that BL is _not_ an investment adventure. That can't be all bad

[Faefrost]

Bricklink.com twitter as of 9:30 AM EST 6-7-13: "The site is up and running now from the new data center. (It actually has been for more than 2 1/2 hrs now. Thanks for your patience!"

...but the site is not up. I guess we know one thing isn't going to change

I hope we don't end up having to buy "nexus cash."

When a site moves it sometimes takes a few hours for the DNS changes to fully propagate out across the Internet. So it may be working for some, but not all.

Something I love about Bricklink is the absence of:

• banner ads
  
• toolbar ads
  
• geo-locating display ads
  
• shop ads (eg. Bricklink shops buying home page advertising space)
  
• etc.
  

I hope this doesn't change.

The interface and security might need an upgrade, but I hope the purity of the pages stays 'old school'.

LLL

I would not be surprised if the new site offers a mechanism for better seller visibility. I would guess that that is something the BL sellers would desire. But I can't see where banner adds or outside adds would be beneficial to them. BL is a commercial service. They make money off the transactions with BL sellers. It would be like EBay putting up ads to Amazon. If anything I would expect to start seeing more banner ads for Bricklink popping up on other Lego themes sites.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Faefrost

[CP5670]

I think this is good news. I like the fact that the new owner is an AFOL and community insider, and the BL site does need a facelift and more regular maintenance/bug fixes.

i know, i had 20 lots in my cart when it went down. I hope it saved my activity!

The site's cookie expires after a day or so, after which it automatically dumps everything out of your cart. I use BL frequently and this has to be the most irritating glitch on the site, especially for large orders that I need to plan out carefully. I hope the new management fixes long standing issues like this.