Bricklinking for the thrill of the build - and the lowest price

[hepcatpunk]

5 hours ago, Cbenioff said:

Any advice on using bricklink efficiently?  I always have trouble searching for stores that sell numerous parts I need.  Is there a way to search inventory for multiple items at once?

My current method is to search for the rarest items and then from those sellers, individually search for who also has other items I need.  Then I check their terms and see if I meet the requirements etc.  It is very time consuming and I only buy 5-10 parts at a time.

You need to make a Want List, then you can either search by item, or search by Shop---you can see which shops have the most items from your list---it's pretty easy once you play around w/ it a bit.  Took me a bit of time back in the day, but once you get your wanted list set up, play around w/ it a bit and you'll get the knack soon enough.  It might help to have multiple want lists as well to stay better organized. 

[Zelgazra]

I make a unique wanted list for each set, and name it by set number. I usually use the Part Out method and tick the box "include minimum quantity from set inventory". This creates a wanted list with EVERY part in a given set. Then I take my bulk and search for the parts, eliminating them as I go. What I have left with at the end is my actual wanted list for that set. Repeat with 10 or 15 other sets. 

Then go Wanted List> By Shop> Filter Unique Lots

This will result in a list with the shops that have (in theory) best bang for your shipping cost, though sometimes seller costs are too high and it makes sense to go with a seller a few notches down from the top for the lower prices. Inevitably what I find with this method though, is you almost never get those rare pieces. Ending up like Alpine, with 15 sets needing 1 or 2 bricks. I've completed probably 12-15 sets since September in about 6 orders using this method though.  

[seth]

Is there a way to automatically eliminate items from a wanted list after the purchase of these items?

[Battrax]

4 hours ago, seth said:

Is there a way to automatically eliminate items from a wanted list after the purchase of these items?

Sort of... it is a semi-automated process.

This post lists it better than I can:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89463&#entry1762898

[redghostx]

4 hours ago, seth said:

Is there a way to automatically eliminate items from a wanted list after the purchase of these items?

 

14 minutes ago, Battrax said:

Sort of... it is a semi-automated process.

This post lists it better than I can:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89463&#entry1762898

I prefer to create a NEW wanted list of ordered items, with the order # in the comments, or a list of the order # itself and then delete it after you have received the order and checked that everything is correct.  This allows you to continue to sort by "wanted list by shop" and deselect your list of "ordered items, or the order #" and it will be easier to sort through all of the incoming orders.

Sometimes you will have to order from multiple vendors for the same sku and I simply leave myself a note in the comments in that case (and don't move the item to the new list).

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

So I'm trying to recreate this owl from the MOC highlight thread. So far this is what I got http://ldd.us.lego.com/en-us/gallery/e6742205-b6e4-4a67-9fcd-c197475a41d5?index=2&. 

I know the head is a tad bit off, not touching body. The back is purely guess work.  Any suggestions would be appreciated before I start ordering pieces.

[Zelgazra]

I'm a stickler for clean lines... not sure if you're affected by the same need for smooth angles, but the back of the wings looked a bit off with the 2x2 corner sticking out a bit. I made some tweaks to show how I'd do it... 

 

If not blatantly obvious, perspective is from behind the owl, right wing. Otherwise it looks like a carbon copy to the original. Looks like you sorted out that angle by his claws, didn't end up using the 2x3 angled slope after all. 

 

Edit: Oh yea, some of your internal red bricks are peaking through... the 1x2 plates that the 1x2 tan slopes (meeting the oranage 1x2 tan slopes for his claws) are showing just the tiniest fraction of themselves. It would drive me nuts if I saw it built. Swap for tan or brown in my opinion. 

Edited June 26, 2016 by Zelgazra

[FlubberJack]

On 3/24/2015 at 11:38 PM, FattyMatty said:

How many of you, that actually read this far down, would sacrifice targeted brick colours for the sole purpose of keeping the price of a set down just so that you can have the fun of building it? And I'm not talking about just buying the black masts for 10179, I'm thinking more along the lines of having the whole insides of it black if you knew that you couldn't tell by looking at the outside of it and it saving you half the buy price.

I actually just finished building a bricklinked 10179 in Bley with some black accents. I didn't just go for bley because new bley parts are more available, I wanted to also stock up on bley to build more star ships, etc. once I take the 10179 apart.

The entire inside of the ship uses wahtever bricks I had in any color. It's not as if the lego designers made the perfect pick for every bit on the real ship - so why should I. Having a good looking ship IMO is more important than having the exact parts, since I am not planning to sell or collect this. I already had about 15% of the bricks, bought another 80% new, and about 5% used parts on bricklink and the Lego store. In Europe the total cost ended up being about 900 Euros. Here is a pic:

]

Edited June 29, 2016 by FlubberJack
fixing spelling mistakes

[Phil B]

11 hours ago, FlubberJack said:

I actually just finished building a bricklinked 10179 in Bley with some black accents. I didn't just go for bley because new bley parts are more available, I wanted to also stock up on bley to build more star ships, etc. once I take the 10179 apart.

The entire inside of the ship uses wahtever bricks I had in any color. It's not as if the lego designers made the perfect pick for every bit on the real ship - so why should I. Having a good looking ship IMO is more important than having the exact parts, since I am not planning to sell or collect this. I already had about 15% of the bricks, bought another 80% new, and about 5% used parts on bricklink and the Lego store. In Europe the total cost ended up being about 900 Euros. Here is a pic:

put a rectangular antenna on it and you have a UCS TFA MF ....

[FlubberJack]

1 minute ago, Phil B said:

put a rectangular antenna on it and you have a UCS TFA MF ....

That is actually part of the plan. I am also putting together little things like engines, walkways, etc. that I can fit modularly into the ship. The insides just look horrible, so I'll needto do a retrofit to enjoy the the thing a bit more. I am also starting to think of replacing a lot of straight rods with pneumatic tubes (have a lot of that). you can make nice bends with it and it's great to create more realistic connections around the ship.

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

While ordering pieces for that Owl I ordered/made this for dear ole mom. still waiting on a few orders for the owl. 

[mezzaluna]

thought we could use a thread devoted to building sets off bricklink for cheaper and my question is, would it be better to bricklink a tantive iv (the one with minifigs) or buy it, thanks for reading

[gregpj]

34 minutes ago, Knightwing01 said:

thought we could use a thread devoted to building sets off bricklink for cheaper and my question is, would it be better to bricklink a tantive iv (the one with minifigs) or buy it, thanks for reading

Your question is better suited to this thread... which already exists.

To answer your question, have you tried getting a rough idea of the cost of the bricks for the Tantive IV from Bricklink by creating a wanted list of all the parts? Or are you just hoping someone else has already done it?

Also, new vs used? That makes a big difference.

[mezzaluna]

2 minutes ago, gregpj said:

Your question is better suited to this thread... which already exists.

To answer your question, have you tried getting a rough idea of the cost of the bricks for the Tantative IV from Bricklink by creating a wanted list of all the parts? Or are you just hoping someone else has already done it?

Also, new vs used? That makes a big difference.

sorry, i would want new

[gregpj]

12 minutes ago, Knightwing01 said:

sorry, i would want new

Ok, so go to Bricklink and create a wanted list with just the T IV parts in new condition. Then get a rough idea of how many sellers you might need to buy from (try to find the rare parts). Compare to the price guide on BL and here to see which is cheaper.

Rough guess... cheaper to buy new in box, but not by much.

[Phil B]

51 minutes ago, gregpj said:

Ok, so go to Bricklink and create a wanted list with just the T IV parts in new condition. Then get a rough idea of how many sellers you might need to buy from (try to find the rare parts). Compare to the price guide on BL and here to see which is cheaper.

Rough guess... cheaper to buy new in box, but not by much.

Add: multiply the number of sellers by $5, and add that total to the price of the pieces before you compare.

[mezzaluna]

14 hours ago, gregpj said:

Ok, so go to Bricklink and create a wanted list with just the T IV parts in new condition. Then get a rough idea of how many sellers you might need to buy from (try to find the rare parts). Compare to the price guide on BL and here to see which is cheaper.

Rough guess... cheaper to buy new in box, but not by much.

thanks, what are the rare parts though because i see 300 or more for a sealed copy

[donbee]

Has anyone tried selling their own MOCs on BL? Can you share your experience? I feel like there's a lot more to BL than what I use it for.

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, Knightwing01 said:

thanks, what are the rare parts though because i see 300 or more for a sealed copy

That's where you're going to need to go onto Bricklink and figure that out.  Part out the set, and then look to see what stores of selling what pieces at what prices.

You can quickly scan the list of parts, and see if there's anything that's over $1, for instance.

[Zelgazra]

Even quicker, in my opinion, would be to download a copy of BrickStock. It's a tool primarily used by sellers on Bricklink, but it's set up like an excel form that can be sorted... by things like price. The beauty of it is that you can easily toggle/update the pricing from 6-month average SALES, to current listing prices. I've just recently found it to be a little bit more flexible than Bricklink. No 25 items per page BS to deal with etc. 

The rare parts will be the most expensive ones, usually.  

[TheOrcKing]

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 9:20 AM, donbee said:

Has anyone tried selling their own MOCs on BL? Can you share your experience? I feel like there's a lot more to BL than what I use it for.

I am curious about this process as well.

[nolanfan34]

Working on bricklinking a Hogwarts 4842. Picked up a big chunk of the castle plus most of the figures for about $75. Instructions were $20. One Dementor and Voldemort was another $20. Just ordered the last pieces and should run another $75 or so. Decent compared to the part out price. The new wizard for want lists and store selection is awesome.

[Manse1001]

After completing my recent build of the the Tumbler (which was awesome) I'm now considering Bricklinking the Batpod to sit beside it.  The cheapest I can get all the parts is approx. £130 in total which includes postage etc.  I was just wondering if anyone has built this model and was it worth it?! I'm on the fence at the moment as firstly it is a lot of expense for a set that only has 311 pieces, and nearly half the cost is for the 6 x Hero Factory shields at £60. I appreciate that to purchase the official version will cost in the region of £1500 so in that respect is a bargain, however I was wondering if....

A.) do you think Lego are likely to official release a version of this set

B.) are the Hero Factory Shields pieces likely to be used in any future sets which inturn will deflate their current value

C.) do you think a bricklink version will be worth anything in the future if the answer to A.) and B.) is NO and the pieces become unobtainable.

Thanks, Andy.

[Phil B]

14 minutes ago, Manse1001 said:

After completing my recent build of the the Tumbler (which was awesome) I'm now considering Bricklinking the Batpod to sit beside it.  The cheapest I can get all the parts is approx. £130 in total which includes postage etc.  I was just wondering if anyone has built this model and was it worth it?! I'm on the fence at the moment as firstly it is a lot of expense for a set that only has 311 pieces, and nearly half the cost is for the 6 x Hero Factory shields at £60. I appreciate that to purchase the official version will cost in the region of £1500 so in that respect is a bargain, however I was wondering if....

A.) do you think Lego are likely to official release a version of this set

B.) are the Hero Factory Shields pieces likely to be used in any future sets which inturn will deflate their current value

C.) do you think a bricklink version will be worth anything in the future if the answer to A.) and B.) is NO and the pieces become unobtainable.

Thanks, Andy.

I think the question you need to ask yourself is: Is it worth 130GBP to get the BatPod in your collection. If it is, don't bother with the other questions.

[exciter1]

25 minutes ago, Manse1001 said:

After completing my recent build of the the Tumbler (which was awesome) I'm now considering Bricklinking the Batpod to sit beside it.  The cheapest I can get all the parts is approx. £130 in total which includes postage etc.  I was just wondering if anyone has built this model and was it worth it?! I'm on the fence at the moment as firstly it is a lot of expense for a set that only has 311 pieces, and nearly half the cost is for the 6 x Hero Factory shields at £60. I appreciate that to purchase the official version will cost in the region of £1500 so in that respect is a bargain, however I was wondering if....

A.) do you think Lego are likely to official release a version of this set

B.) are the Hero Factory Shields pieces likely to be used in any future sets which inturn will deflate their current value

C.) do you think a bricklink version will be worth anything in the future if the answer to A.) and B.) is NO and the pieces become unobtainable.

Thanks, Andy.

I've built it and I like it very much.  I got in very early on the Hero Factory pieces, so I was lucky there and only paid $2 or so for them.