Site Improvements & General FAQs

[Ed Mack]

To all BrickPicker members and guests... As my brother, Jeff, stated earlier, we are a new and rapidly improving site about Lego 'investing' and collecting. If you feel there is anything we need to change or add, please feel free to message us. It is a work in progress and new ideas are always welcome. Feel free to ask us any questions about the site or various Lego sets/values. There are over 8400 Lego sets in our database and sometimes mistakes happen. If you have any questions or opinions about various Lego sets, displays, or minifigures, let us know. We will help in any way we can. Thanks... Ed Mack

[sadowsk1]

I think that the ability to search the market value of a set is a really neat tool you've developed and it's very interesting. I imagine it's a huge task to tackle, but do you ever envision the search engine to include individual minifigures also?

[Jeff Mack]

Yes, minifigures as well as custom sets will be getting special attention on the site. Right now, I have been working on template enhancements to make the site easier to use, navigation, etc. There is also a big update coming to the Brickfolio feature include importing your collection from Brickset.com. I have also been working on the process that helps sort out all the ebay listings for each set. The time is setting up all the minifigures and new items that you want to list and then teach the system to identify that item. When there is a set number or name, its much easier to match up, but the hard part will be to identify all the different versions of minifigures from the different sets. So many Lego fans love the minifigures, it will definitely be part of the site.

[rass101]

it would be nice to be able to change to ebay.co.uk for europe users and see their price statistics as well. The Prices compared to US are quite a bit different. Also for more ways to contact with the brickpicker community I think it would be great if brickpicker would have its own irc channel to be able to discuss with each other more directly.

[Ed Mack]

it would be nice to be able to change to ebay.co.uk for europe users and see their price statistics as well. The Prices compared to US are quite a bit different.

Also for more ways to contact with the brickpicker community I think it would be great if brickpicker would have its own irc channel to be able to discuss with each other more directly.

Ebay UK is basically the same price structure as the US, except it is converted to Pounds. Our values are based on the EBAY Terapeak data and we pay a lot for it. There might be small variations in prices, but being that EBAY is the world's largest auction site and of Lego sets, it's the best place to get data from. Unfortunately, EBAY caters to US markets more, but it is an American company.

I have compared our numbers to Bricklink's sales data and they are very similar on most items. The EBAY data changes more rapidly because of the vast amount of Lego listings sold daily. On any given day, there are over 100,000+ Lego listings on EBAY. That dwarfs Bricklink's listings. It is very hard to take all the various European countries into consideration for prices because of the different taxes, fees, ASIN #s, etc...Every country has it's own way of doing things with EBAY and Amazon and to track it all right now, is a bit much.

The main point is that what sells well in the US, sells well in the UK and Europe for the most part. If the percentage gains are fantastic for a set sold in the US, they will be the same for a UK set and the rest of the Lego world. Small variations in prices form country to country are going to happen. The BrickPicker site is a guide. There could be huge variations from set to set, even within one country. It is not perfect science. If used correctly, the Lego fan can see the trends of prices and invest wisely.

As for the chat system, that could be an easy add on later, when the site traffic increases. We are growing daily and will be adding some new features shortly. Thanks.

[stackables]

I think that the ability to search the market value of a set is a really neat tool you've developed and it's very interesting. I imagine it's a huge task to tackle, but do you ever envision the search engine to include individual minifigures also?

Yep, definitely would like this feature too.

[Jeff Mack]

Yep, definitely would like this feature too.

This without a doubt will be part of the site. It will have its own section. I have setup some stuff for it already, but it will be a huge task. Honestly, this is where we will probably ask for help from the community. The sets are one thing. We at least have a number to reference for the sets. For minifigures, people really don't use exact numbers. I know Bricklink has created a number system, but nothing is really a pure identifier for our system to search on, so it will take a lot of keyword filtering for specific sets as well as people looking through the listings to make sure its the right one. I have a few more features I want to add to the site, then we will move forward with the minifigures. It will be a feature that grows and gets more involved over time. It will happen though. Minifigures are too important to this community to not include it.

[stackables]

Sounds awesome. I figured the minifigs would be a much harder task than sets. Just do an ebay search for "Luke Skywalker" and see the mess it returns. It would be much easier if sellers listed the name of the figure and the set it came from, but half the time the sellers probably do not know that.

[Ed Mack]

Sounds awesome. I figured the minifigs would be a much harder task than sets. Just do an ebay search for "Luke Skywalker" and see the mess it returns. It would be much easier if sellers listed the name of the figure and the set it came from, but half the time the sellers probably do not know that.

The minifigure price guide will be a lot more difficult to properly implement, but as my brother said, it is something we are working on. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of variations of descriptions by EBAY sellers. Some sellers outright lie about things being 'new' or what set they came from. The minifigure price guide is something we will tackle when the set guide and tools is where we want and need it to be. There has been some recent minifigure guides released that will help categorize the thousand of minifigures in existence.

We are working on a rating system, that members can rate each set from an investor's/collector's point of view, a mobile application and other goodies. As I stated in an earlier post, feel free to give us any idea that might improve the site.

[stackables]

Couple of small questions. Unless I missed something, is there a way to see your net profit? I would like to be able to see how much I spent in comparison to how much everything is worth. I know this can be easily done by exporting to excel then doing it there but I wouldn't mind the feature on the site. Also, how often is the database updated? Keep up the good work. Site is really started to shape up.

[Jeff Mack]

Yep, i will get that net profit in there. I am working on updates to the Brickfolio now and will get something in there for that. The database is updated once a month. I am waiting on 1 day from May and was told about an hour ago that they are retrieving it for me. Once I get it, then i can get the update out there. Should be available by tomorrow if they get it to me at some point today.

[stackables]

Yep, i will get that net profit in there. I am working on updates to the Brickfolio now and will get something in there for that. The database is updated once a month. I am waiting on 1 day from May and was told about an hour ago that they are retrieving it for me. Once I get it, then i can get the update out there. Should be available by tomorrow if they get it to me at some point today.

Thanks

[Ed Mack]

Couple of small questions. Unless I missed something, is there a way to see your net profit? I would like to be able to see how much I spent in comparison to how much everything is worth. I know this can be easily done by exporting to excel then doing it there but I wouldn't mind the feature on the site.

Also, how often is the database updated?

Keep up the good work. Site is really started to shape up.

The site is updated monthly. New numbers will be out in a day or two. EBAY was missing one day from May. LOL.

As for the Brickfolio, I'll let Jeff answer that specific question, but the Brickfolio is something we are in the process of tweaking right now. As I have been inputting my own sets, there are features and changes I want to make. Number one thing will be adding a SEARCH option within your portfolio. There are some other issues I want to address, but Jeff is a busy guy and I don't pay well. As a matter of fact, I don't pay him anything at all...LOL

We are trying to make it as user friendly as possible, but the one way to do this is to just let people use it and give us feedback. Let us know if there is anything else, because that enables us to improve the site and tools.

[Brickarmor]

If there could be a way to go straight to the newest post in a topic, rather than starting at the top and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling... Or maybe a "view all" button? A way to customize forum view preferences, say, comments per page, etc. Minor issues, really.

[Ed Mack]

If there could be a way to go straight to the newest post in a topic, rather than starting at the top and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling... Or maybe a "view all" button? A way to customize forum view preferences, say, comments per page, etc. Minor issues, really.

Thanks for the question. One of the few things on the site that is not made from scratch is the forum. Jeff used a template to get a forum up and going. The forum is very standard and basic, but at this point, until we build more of a user base in the forums, there is not much we can do. I agree with you, I'd like to add some features that make it easier to navigate. I am a veteran of the XBOX forums and their old forum template was one of the best I've ever encountered. Very simple, but fast and easy to use. I would like to implement something similar one day.

What it comes down to is time and how much of it we have to improve and modify things. We both have full time jobs and it is difficult to find the time to do all we want to do. Right now, it's about getting the data as accurate as possible and improving tools such as the BRICKFOLIO. We will start keeping track of what is the most searched for items on the site to help guide members to the hot LEGO sets and minifigures. I know by just adding the search feature, the theme breakdown tab(enables you to go directly to one particular theme and see what sets you have) and last item inputted to the BRICKFOLIO, it made it easier to use.

We really appreciate the input and will do what we can to improve the tools and features of the site. I will talk to Jeff about your request. Maybe there is an option within the forum template to add your features. Thanks again...Ed Mack

[Jeff Mack]

Ed beat me to the post, but I made one small change. From the home page forum feed on the right sidebar, the link will now take you directly to the latest post. I will work on the other features, but like Ed said, I am working on the Brickfolio and some other tools right now and will get to making the forum more user friendly in time.

[Jeff Mack]

it would be nice to be able to change to ebay.co.uk for europe users and see their price statistics as well. The Prices compared to US are quite a bit different.

Also for more ways to contact with the brickpicker community I think it would be great if brickpicker would have its own irc channel to be able to discuss with each other more directly.

You can select the eBay feed that is more local to you. Look at the attached image.

[Brickarmor]

Is the Current New Price for a set a 30 day average? 6 months? I'm guessing it's the former, I just wanted to verify. Apologies if this is answered somewhere on the site already. And thanks for the forum shortcut to the newest post. Very handy.

[Ed Mack]

Is the Current New Price for a set a 30 day average? 6 months? I'm guessing it's the former, I just wanted to verify. Apologies if this is answered somewhere on the site already.

And thanks for the forum shortcut to the newest post. Very handy.

The price guide numbers are an average of the last 30 sales of new sets and the last 30 sales for used sets. Various numerical and word filters are used to remove incorrect or incomplete listings, loose minifigures, lots and other factors that might skew the average.

With each passing month, we are adding additional word filters and tweaking numerical filters to give us a more accurate number. We randomly check our data with Bricklink's most recent month data and they are usually close. Some sets might have 30 sales in 2 days, while other sets might take 2 months to sell 30 items...and some 2 years. There are over 9000 LEGO sets, so I'm sure there are errors, but if something in particular stands out, let us know, we will look into the data and see if everything is what it should be.

Thanks...Ed

[Ed Mack]

Also, the filters were adjusted again this month. You might see a slight change in some smaller sets(which are the hardest to average because of lots and minifigure data being mixed in).

[Guest idunno101]

Hey I was just wondering if you guys are going to put that article submission page up soon that you said you would in the brickpoints page because I would really like to create an article for Brickpicker.

[Jeff Mack]

Just send us the article via private message or send it to us in an email. Our emails are on the contact us page

[Ed Mack]

Hey I was just wondering if you guys are going to put that article submission page up soon that you said you would in the brickpoints page because I would really like to create an article for Brickpicker.

Yes, just send us a private message or email. If you have any questions or need any help, just let us know. Thanks.

[legoFan88]

Hi your site is really cool. I love LEGO stuff and talking about LEGO. It'd be nice, in the top right corner, if the 8 "share with friends" icons did not cover the list of search hits. Perhaps the list of search hits could be brought forward, so it appears over the 8 "share with friends" icons. Also, it'd be nice to be able to give points to other users who post great tips. Great!!

[Ed Mack]

Hi your site is really cool. I love LEGO stuff and talking about LEGO. It'd be nice, in the top right corner, if the 8 "share with friends" icons did not cover the list of search hits. Perhaps the list of search hits could be brought forward, so it appears over the 8 "share with friends" icons. Also, it'd be nice to be able to give points to other users who post great tips. Great!!

Hi...Welcome to the site and thanks for the comments. I will pass on your idea to Jeff, who is the technical guru of the site. Thanks again.