Buying from Bricklink

[longshot]

Hey guys,

      Quick question regarding Bricklink. I've bought a bunch of bins over the last few months and have gone through and sorted a good portion of them back into sets, but inevitably some are missing a handful of pieces and unfortunately some aren't available from lego any longer. I've made lists of all the parts I need but when I search bricklink its hard to find someone that has more then a few parts on the list. Is there a better way to do this or can anyone recommend a dealer that may have a vast selection of parts?

Thanx

[gregpj]

8 minutes ago, longshot said:

Hey guys,

      Quick question regarding Bricklink. I've bought a bunch of bins over the last few months and have gone through and sorted a good portion of them back into sets, but inevitably some are missing a handful of pieces and unfortunately some aren't available from lego any longer. I've made lists of all the parts I need but when I search bricklink its hard to find someone that has more then a few parts on the list. Is there a better way to do this or can anyone recommend a dealer that may have a vast selection of parts?

Thanx

Are you using the Wanted List feature? That's the best way to find stores...

- Decide if you want to create multiple Wanted Lists or just one big one.
- Add your parts to the list (color, new/used, quantity) - yes this is the crappy part.
- Search for stores!

Of course that last bit is tricky since you have many search options but essentially you can check for stores that have your parts and sort by the "unique lots" option. There are other 3rd party options that will try to minimize cost will doing so... the BL wanted list doesn't necessarily give you the cheapest options at the top. If your wanted list is small, that's easy enough to overcome through brute force, but if it's mega-sized then it'll still be a pain.
 

[longshot]

I haven't tried the want list. I was looking for it earlier today because I remember it being mentioned in another post but couldn't find it on the site.

[longshot]

Yeah when everything is said and done Im sure it'll be a few hundred pieces I need to be add to the list.

[gregpj]

22 minutes ago, longshot said:

I haven't tried the want list. I was looking for it earlier today because I remember it being mentioned in another post but couldn't find it on the site.

There is some info about wanted lists in that thread, though BL has revamped the wanted list store searching (it's better). I can't think of anyone posting detailed instructions on BP yet...

[nolanfan34]

I don't think there's an easier method than just manually plugging through the piece listings then adding to your want list. As mentioned, after you do so, the store feature is greatly improved and it spits out a good list of the top stores with the most matches to your list. What it does NOT do is filter there by price - so you kind of have to click on each one to see the price. 

[stackables]

10 minutes ago, nolanfan34 said:

I don't think there's an easier method than just manually plugging through the piece listings then adding to your want list. As mentioned, after you do so, the store feature is greatly improved and it spits out a good list of the top stores with the most matches to your list. What it does NOT do is filter there by price - so you kind of have to click on each one to see the price. 

I thought you get filter by price now?

[Phil B]

Couple of quick tips:

- download BrickStock and maintain your wanted list there. No need to pay for the seller features. 

- once you have a wanted list, upload it to BrickLink's competitor BrickOwl. Their store selection is smaller than BL, but they have a great semi-automated Buy feature that will allow you to iteratively allocate parts in your inventory to stores (e.g. By most matching unique lots first) while keeping you informed of total cost INCLUDING shipping (something BL doesn't do).

I haven't tried BL's wanted list improvements yet, but I heard it's getting better. BO's feature is pretty cool though.

[stackables]

*can

typo

[Zelgazra]

I wouldn't bother with the BrickOwl malarky now. Bricklink's Wanted List search feature is easily as capable now... and there hasn't been a tutorial for it, because there are only 3 options..... I think people know how to click buttons, generally speaking, and as such can see for themselves how it works. One thing I HAVE noticed though, is their "Best Value" and "Cheapest Price" don't always match their descriptions.... I've gotten a cheaper Best Value search on multiple occasions than the Cheapest Price search provides. Fewest Stores has also come up with reasonably competitive pricing on a few searches. But between the 3 options, you'll be able to figure out what suits you the best. Keep in mind shipping is not calculated on Bricklink, where it is, very roughly, calculated on BrickOwl.

 

2 hours ago, nolanfan34 said:

I don't think there's an easier method than just manually plugging through the piece listings then adding to your want list.

Depends where you're starting. I like to start my inventorying of bulk sets directly from Bricklink. If I have a minifig or a printed piece or instructions that indicate a given set, I'll use the "Part Out" feature and part all the parts from the given set into a unique wanted list. Then as I pick bricks out of the (sorted) bulk bin I simply delete them from the Wanted List. When I get to the bottom of the bin, I know that any parts left on the list are actually missing. This method only works efficiently if you start on Bricklink though. I've very very rarely had to ever manually add a brick to a wanted list; sounds like a colossal waste of time, that. 

[Phil B]

9 minutes ago, Zelgazra said:

I wouldn't bother with the BrickOwl malarky now. Bricklink's Wanted List search feature is easily as capable now... and there hasn't been a tutorial for it, because there are only 3 options..... I think people know how to click buttons, generally speaking, and as such can see for themselves how it works. One thing I HAVE noticed though, is their "Best Value" and "Cheapest Price" don't always match their descriptions.... I've gotten a cheaper Best Value search on multiple occasions than the Cheapest Price search provides. Fewest Stores has also come up with reasonably competitive pricing on a few searches. But between the 3 options, you'll be able to figure out what suits you the best. Keep in mind shipping is not calculated on Bricklink, where it is, very roughly, calculated on BrickOwl.

 

Depends where you're starting. I like to start my inventorying of bulk sets directly from Bricklink. If I have a minifig or a printed piece or instructions that indicate a given set, I'll use the "Part Out" feature and part all the parts from the given set into a unique wanted list. Then as I pick bricks out of the (sorted) bulk bin I simply delete them from the Wanted List. When I get to the bottom of the bin, I know that any parts left on the list are actually missing. This method only works efficiently if you start on Bricklink though. I've very very rarely had to ever manually add a brick to a wanted list; sounds like a colossal waste of time, that. 

Don't see why Brickowl only has a rough estimate in your opinion - as a seller on BO I have had to set my shipping services and tiers and if the order deviates I (the seller) eat the difference. So the shipping quoted is exactly what you'll pay.

You can also do your BL wanted list management in BrickStock, but that is just a matter of preference. It has the same "Part out set" feature as BL, and you can use it offline too.

[Zelgazra]

21 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Don't see why Brickowl only has a rough estimate in your opinion

I suppose it might have to do with the size of Wanted Lists you're dealing with and how many sellers it's trying to pull from. I was trying to use BrickOwl for a ~2500 part wanted list, and it was coming up with about 20 stores needed to get all the bricks, and maybe 30% of those had "No shipping quote". So I guess there's a good portion of folks that can't be bothered to put in the time that you did, or aren't willing to eat that difference? As a result, the subtotal it was providing me was always off by a reasonable margin.

The other problem I've had with BrickOwl (less applicable to the OP as he's completing official sets, but for MOCers...) is that the inventory of bricks available seems incomplete.... It bases it's brick database off of bricks available for purchase in sets. Such that it won't even let me import my LDD file without "correcting" these "errors". However, there might be some unique parts in unique colours that were never distributed in mainstream sets, but might have been provided to LUG groups or for other special circumstances. There were a couple of bricks I needed for my Pont du Gard project that according to BrickOwl "don't exist". I found them listed on Bricklink at a reasonable price.

 

That's the experience that my opinion is derived from.   

 

Edit: You're right about Brickstock in it's Part Out capabilities, except that it's .bsx won't import to Bricklink's system I don't believe. Don't get me wrong, it's a very useful tool for multiple applications. Love it. 

Edited August 8, 2016 by Zelgazra

[Phil B]

14 minutes ago, Zelgazra said:

I suppose it might have to do with the size of Wanted Lists you're dealing with and how many sellers it's trying to pull from. I was trying to use BrickOwl for a ~2500 part wanted list, and it was coming up with about 20 stores needed to get all the bricks, and maybe 30% of those had "No shipping quote". So I guess there's a good portion of folks that can't be bothered to put in the time that you did, or aren't willing to eat that difference? As a result, the subtotal it was providing me was always off by a reasonable margin.

The other problem I've had with BrickOwl (less applicable to the OP as he's completing official sets, but for MOCers...) is that the inventory of bricks available seems incomplete.... It bases it's brick database off of bricks available for purchase in sets. Such that it won't even let me import my LDD file without "correcting" these "errors". However, there might be some unique parts in unique colours that were never distributed in mainstream sets, but might have been provided to LUG groups or for other special circumstances. There were a couple of bricks I needed for my Pont du Gard project that according to BrickOwl "don't exist". I found them listed on Bricklink at a reasonable price.

 

That's the experience that my opinion is derived from.   

 

Edit: You're right about Brickstock in it's Part Out capabilities, except that it's .bsx won't import to Bricklink's system I don't believe. Don't get me wrong, it's a very useful tool for multiple applications. Love it. 

Folks who don't set shipping in BO will loose a lot of sales. I always remove those sellers from the allocation output.

Indeed, .bsx files don't load directly into BL/BO, but there is a function that puts XML in your clipboard which you can use for the import.

[DadsAFOL]

2 hours ago, Phil B said:

 

Indeed, .bsx files don't load directly into BL/BO, but there is a function that puts XML in your clipboard which you can use for the import.

Not true, BO has imported direct from BSX for 3 years, and BL has done it now for 2 months.

[Phil B]

11 minutes ago, DadsAFOL said:

Not true, BO has imported direct from BSX for 3 years, and BL has done it now for 2 months.

Thanks for correcting that ... I was going from memory and haven't used the functionality in half a year, so wasn't sure if it did.

[Anomander]

I'm new to Bricklink so have a noob question. This thread seems the most appropriate. 

I'm looking for a TC-14 and a seller has one but there's no 'Add to basket' option beside the figure on the list. There's a little red exclamation under the figure and says it's part of a superlot. 

When I click on the 'Show Superlot' button a window appears with a vast list of minifigs with a total value of approximately €17,000 and still no option to add one individual minifig to a basket - only the lot.

Is this always the only option with superlots i.e it's only for sale as a lot, or is there a way to order one element from these superlots?

I doubt that anyone will buy the lot for 17k in one go, so it seems to be a strange methpd of trying to sell your store's minifig stock.

[Cozei]

Super lot = buy all in lot

youll need to find a different seller. 

[Zelgazra]

You could always shoot the seller a message asking about the one figure. Some people might be stubborn, but others might be reasonable and sell you just the fig you're chasing. Unless it's the one fig that makes their collection special, they might listen to a reasonable offer. Worth a shot, worst they'll say is no. 

[Phil B]

Likely they are liquidating their BL store and are looking for a buyer for all the lots together. Of course you can always try, but they might be priced cheaply only because they intend to sell the whole shop.