New Lego Trading Website.

[Darth Lego]

I came across an interesting website today. This website is in the funding phase, but it seems like it could have good potential. The website focuses on trading instructions/pieces between sellers/creators. Here's the link: http://thebrickstop.com/ Do think this is a good idea?

[Rich B]

This is interesting. I've always said bricklink is way outdated. Could this be a more modern version of bricklink? I'm curious to see if this site will be for selling/trading only Lego pieces, or for selling/trading sealed Lego sets as well. They claim they are not going to charge money to sell or trade on their site. I'm very curious to see if that will remain true once/if they get up and running.

[Darth Lego]

This is interesting. I've always said bricklink is way outdated. Could this be a more modern version of bricklink? I'm curious to see if this site will be for selling/trading only Lego pieces, or for selling/trading sealed Lego sets as well. They claim they are not going to charge money to sell or trade on their site. I'm very curious to see if that will remain true once/if they get up and running.

I agree that Bricklink is outdated. Never really liked it...

[stackables]

I don't know if I have said this here but I hate bricklink's design. I cannot stand the forum setup. It drives me crazy. This new site looks promising and hopefully it comes to fruition. Selling with no fees? That seems to good to be true. I recently joined a minifig trading site. I initially enjoyed that site until my free "premium" membership expired. I was hoping trading would pick up on this site. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.

[kerrmando]

If they got enough traffic they could probably make pretty good revenue just from advertisements!

[ViciousBrick]

I think this is a load of bull. There is so much wrong with this it's not funny. 1. These guys are looking to be paid to build a site. They are looking for $75,000 to be paid to do this. Do you think Jeff and Ed asked for $75,000. No they took a chance to build this site and are constantly improving it on their own dime and time. That person plugging the site sounds like a total creep salesman, just trying to get your to drink the kool-aid. 2. Even more of #1, just think about it. They want your money and you really don't even know what the site will be. Honestly they can put two pages and thats it. They are promising everyone the world. They say they have answers to everything, but there currently is nothing. 3. They are promoting guns 4. They want to spend money on custom minifigs, and other crap instead of putting it into the site. You are paying for your own minifig, not really a smart use of funds. 5. These guys are bragging about their resume, but if they were so good and working for such hi-profile places, shouldn't they be pretty busy to do this stuff? They are probably unemployed and looking to get people to pay for them to eat for a few months. I would NEVER give them $1. Maybe in a year after its open and see what it does, but this to me is just the wrong way of going. I would not support this project!!!! I can keep going on, but this is enough for now. I hope it doesn't happen.

[Jeff Mack]

Selling with no fees? That seems to good to be true.

If it seems to be to good to be true, it probably is.

I was hoping trading would pick up on this site. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.

There is a lot going on. People need patience. I am the only one programming here and I am not asking for $77k dollars :)

[Jeff Mack]

If they got enough traffic they could probably make pretty good revenue just from advertisements!

Even with the amount of traffic Brickset gets, ads will only make so much. It took Huw 10+ years to get that site where it is today.

[kerrmando]

true true Jeff ^

[Ed Mack]

If it seems to be to good to be true, it probably is.

I was hoping trading would pick up on this site. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.

There is a lot going on. People need patience. I am the only one programming here and I am not asking for $77k dollars I don't count as a programmer? Well I never!!!!!!

As for trading on this site...patience is a virtue. All good things come to those who wait.

[joelfinch]

The money they're asking for is enough to pay the annual salary of a single senior developer in the UK, or four people for three months. That's not considering the Kickstarter fees and the reward fulfilment costs. They're promising no fees ever, which means they will need to be ad-revenue supported. So, they will need to build a working Bricklink replacement and get up to a critical mass of visitors in three months, otherwise the money will be gone and they will need jobs to support themselves and development will slow to a crawl. As a web developer myself, I have no confidence that 1 man-year of work would produce a Bricklink-equivalent, let alone one which is easier to use (easy-to-use is hard, and it takes time). Bricklink itself is well funded from their cut of the transactions, and has been under re-development with a team of people for a while, but I can understand why it's taking time - as old as its interface looks, there is a *LOT* of functionality there. I can't see this Kickstarter producing a viable result. Ironically, I would be more inclined to believe them if they had asked for a lot more money.

[Ed Mack]

The money they're asking for is enough to pay the annual salary of a single senior developer in the UK, or four people for three months. That's not considering the Kickstarter fees and the reward fulfilment costs.

They're promising no fees ever, which means they will need to be ad-revenue supported.

So, they will need to build a working Bricklink replacement and get up to a critical mass of visitors in three months, otherwise the money will be gone and they will need jobs to support themselves and development will slow to a crawl.

As a web developer myself, I have no confidence that 1 man-year of work would produce a Bricklink-equivalent, let alone one which is easier to use (easy-to-use is hard, and it takes time). Bricklink itself is well funded from their cut of the transactions, and has been under re-development with a team of people for a while, but I can understand why it's taking time - as old as its interface looks, there is a *LOT* of functionality there.

I can't see this Kickstarter producing a viable result. Ironically, I would be more inclined to believe them if they had asked for a lot more money.

Excellent point. To me, they are hypocrites. They pitch FREE this and that, yet are asking for $75,000.00+++ to complete the site. That is not free in my book. What is their end game? Are they eventually going to charge members when the ad revenue does not pay enough to substain the site and four developers? Sites likes ours and other active sites are costly to run and time consuming to say the least. If they are good as they say they are, they could produce this site in their own spare time and on their own funds in a reasonable amount of time. I've seen what one talented programmer can do in a year. Four should be done in less than 6 months, even in their spare time. The groundwork for their site has already been laid....Bricklink and Rebrickable anybody?

Until I see something concrete from them, they will not get my support. I would like to see more.

[Teeird]

Seems very cashgrabby to me. Will make a more in-depth post later.

[Damnation666]

Bricklink is not the issue to me. It is a useful and functional site that is dirt ugly. But does it matter? Who are these Brickstop guys? They post a couple of pictures from some video games and say they can make a site? Great make it. People will come if it's quality. But to ask for 50,000 pounds so they can party it up and maybe produce a site is a joke. What happens if they produce some POS site and say it's done? Who is going to judge that? They need to invest their time and money, not ours, to make me a believer. If you are a sucker and give these people money, you deserve to lose it. Let them put some skin in the game.

[Rich B]

Bricklink is not the issue to me. It is a useful and functional site that is dirt ugly. But does it matter? Who are these Brickstop guys? They post a couple of pictures from some video games and say they can make a site? Great make it. People will come if it's quality. But to ask for 50,000 pounds so they can party it up and maybe produce a site is a joke. What happens if they produce some POS site and say it's done? Who is going to judge that? They need to invest their time and money, not ours, to make me a believer. If you are a sucker and give these people money, you deserve to lose it. Let them put some skin in the game.

I agree with everything you just said. You don't see Ed and Jeff asking us members for $50k or whatever in order to power brickpicker. Instead you have 2 very determined individuals who worked together and created one heck of a site with their own hard earned money. While these guys at Brickstop may be legit and may really want to create such a site, I feel that asking the public for financial help is not the right way to go about it. Instead I think it would have been much smarter if the 4 of them saved their money and then produced the site. If the site ends up good then it will speak for itself, but making a video talking about how good of a site it is supposedly going to be, once the public helps them out financially is a joke and horrible approach in my opinion. It all goes back to the saying "don't talk about it, be about it"

[Darth Lego]

I've been reading these replies and I agree on some of the points that were brought up. As others have said, asking money from the public is not the best way to go. They could totally scam people and not even develop anything half decent. I think they should just put whatever money they have and their time to create this site. People like Ed and Jeff don't ask for money, they just put their own time and money in. Look at how awesome Brickpicker is! Brickstop has potential only if they decide to change this. Otherwise, I think they are going to have a tough time raising money from people like us.

[Teeird]

Look at it this way, the Brickstop guys would be in some deep trouble in they did scam people. Since over the years, Kickstarter has gotten pretty scam-proof. In all likelihood, they will create a website which would either be a HIT or a MISS. But I just don't see them NOT making it. As much cash grabby as it sounds, how is this any different than any REAL Kick Starter? -A group of people/a single person wants to create and develop something -Said group of people/single person wants you to donate him/them money so he in return can donate his/their time to create x project I'm not saying you are all wrong. I just think you're going about this the wrong way. Sure Jeff and Ed developed this website with their own blood, sweat, and other fluids. But that doesn't mean everyone has to be like them and work like them. Everyone's different, everyone has different motives. I'm not saying to donate all your cash to them, I'm just trying to get everyone to look at the big picture. My 2 cents.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Excellent point. To me, they are hypocrites. They pitch FREE this and that, yet are asking for $75,000.00+++ to complete the site. That is not free in my book. What is their end game? Are they eventually going to charge members when the ad revenue does not pay enough to substain the site and four developers? Sites likes ours and other active sites are costly to run and time consuming to say the least. If they are good as they say they are, they could produce this site in their own spare time and on their own funds in a reasonable amount of time. I've seen what one talented programmer can do in a year. Four should be done in less than 6 months, even in their spare time. The groundwork for their site has already been laid....Bricklink and Rebrickable anybody?

Until I see something concrete from them, they will not get my support. I would like to see more.

We should all just set up one of these sites - There will never be fees charged, since there will likely never be an active site. It is a win/win for them. If they somehow reach their "Goal" - it would be worth pursuing for them. If not - they get to just keep whatever money comes in. They could also keep extending the date & collect $$$ forever.

[redeemed763]

I would much rather pay 3% and have a working and functional system then pay nothing and get a poor website and service in return. There is a lot of time required in ongoing updates for these sites once they are up and running and I don't see ad revenue paying for it.