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| | | Author: | StickyBrickit  | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 08:27 | | Subject: | Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 354 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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| | | | | Author: | axaday | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 09:51 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 102 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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My sales went up a lot last year, possibly attributable to the sale giving Bricklink
higher profile, but it is hard to account for the pandemic variable. There was
always a winter uptick presumably tied to Lego fans spending more time inside
and that would certainly extend through last summer even though the weather was
nice.
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| | | | | Author: | jennnifer | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 11:20 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 104 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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I would guess that LEGO has done very little that has directly affected the site
up to this point except:
Non-LEGO items have been removed.
Some language and terms have been updated.
The sales tax/brexit/vat issues were met head on, but I don't know if LEGO
was the impetus for this.
Our volunteer admin are now called Experts.
A few surveys have come and gone...
Did I miss anything?
Lots of people are assuming the LEGO is now in direct control, but I haven't
seen any evidence that this is the case. Help Desk is still slow. Bugs still
aren't fixed. Transparency is actually getting worse. Shrug.
Jen
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| | | | | | | Author: | macebobo | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 12:10 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
I don't believe Lego or Bricklink know how to do transparency, which to me
means being proactive as opposed to reactive on maintenance, implementations,
bug fixes, changes, etc. e.g. We asked for the invoice message to be more professional,
Bricklink did make changes, but I only learned this after the fact here in the
forum, and the administration only commented after that post.
It would be ideal if they had a page on the site that listed the changes, acknowledged
known issues, and displayed the overall health of the site. Heck, I would even
volunteer to maintain it.
What, a man can dream, can't he?
In Announce, jennnifer writes:
| | I would guess that LEGO has done very little that has directly affected the site
up to this point except:
Non-LEGO items have been removed.
Some language and terms have been updated.
The sales tax/brexit/vat issues were met head on, but I don't know if LEGO
was the impetus for this.
Our volunteer admin are now called Experts.
A few surveys have come and gone...
Did I miss anything?
Lots of people are assuming the LEGO is now in direct control, but I haven't
seen any evidence that this is the case. Help Desk is still slow. Bugs still
aren't fixed. Transparency is actually getting worse. Shrug.
Jen
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Stellar | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 14:02 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, macebobo writes:
| | We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
I don't believe Lego or Bricklink know how to do transparency, which to me
means being proactive as opposed to reactive on maintenance, implementations,
bug fixes, changes, etc. e.g. We asked for the invoice message to be more professional,
Bricklink did make changes, but I only learned this after the fact here in the
forum, and the administration only commented after that post.
It would be ideal if they had a page on the site that listed the changes, acknowledged
known issues, and displayed the overall health of the site. Heck, I would even
volunteer to maintain it.
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Actually not much communication but this page is updated once a month or so:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2453
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What, a man can dream, can't he?
In Announce, jennnifer writes:
| | I would guess that LEGO has done very little that has directly affected the site
up to this point except:
Non-LEGO items have been removed.
Some language and terms have been updated.
The sales tax/brexit/vat issues were met head on, but I don't know if LEGO
was the impetus for this.
Our volunteer admin are now called Experts.
A few surveys have come and gone...
Did I miss anything?
Lots of people are assuming the LEGO is now in direct control, but I haven't
seen any evidence that this is the case. Help Desk is still slow. Bugs still
aren't fixed. Transparency is actually getting worse. Shrug.
Jen
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | jennnifer | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 14:02 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | | In Announce, macebobo writes:
We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
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I am still hoping for good things once they get settled in.
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It would be ideal if they had a page on the site that listed the changes, acknowledged
known issues, and displayed the overall health of the site. Heck, I would even
volunteer to maintain it.
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I would as well!
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What, a man can dream, can't he?
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https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2453&q=roadmap
The Bug Fixes and Improvements sections have been static for as long as I have
been checking this page.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | randyf | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 14:35 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, macebobo writes:
| | We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
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That community engagement person is in the process of moving from Billund to
California with her entire family, so maybe a little patience is required? 
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 14:36 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, randyf writes:
| | In Announce, macebobo writes:
| | We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
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That community engagement person is in the process of moving from Billund to
California with her entire family, so maybe a little patience is required?
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+1
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | macebobo | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 15:08 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 81 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, randyf writes:
| | In Announce, macebobo writes:
| | We have a community engagement person that rarely engages with the community.
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That community engagement person is in the process of moving from Billund to
California with her entire family, so maybe a little patience is required?
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I understand and appreciate this. However, she has posted that the move is happening
this summer. Believe me I know what moving entails, my mother is going through
a cross country move right now with my assistance.
Additionally, the minutes from the first BrickLink Marketplace Panel, which happened
a week ago, have not been posted.
In my opinion, it feels like more of the same old, same old from Bricklink and
Lego.
My patience is wearing thin, although I am a relatively new (just past 5 years
in April) member here. I will attempt to hold out hope like you and popsicle.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 15:30 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| For me, it's more about knowing why I'm staying. No other second hand
LEGO marketplace I know enables me to sell the stickered parts I find in LEGO
bins, for example, so I will tolerate most kinks because there is no other way
for me to list them individually when I know I won't be using them.
Beyond that, it still is the most popular second hand LEGO parts marketplace
so it presents better buying and selling opportunities than the others. Maybe
this will change, but until it does I'm ready to tolerate a lot from BrickLink
management to enjoy this perk.
In Announce, macebobo writes:
| | My patience is wearing thin, although I am a relatively new (just past 5 years
in April) member here. I will attempt to hold out hope like you and popsicle.
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 11:47 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| I was not a seller before Lego took ownership but it seems to me that there's
been less server downtime, not more. At least it seems like fewer people are
complaining about it in the forums?
In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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| | | | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 11:54 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | I was not a seller before Lego took ownership but it seems to me that there's
been less server downtime, not more. At least it seems like fewer people are
complaining about it in the forums?
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I agree. I couple months before Lego took over, the site was down all the time
with all sorts of errors. In the last year, the site has been down much less.
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| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 12:22 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 144 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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It's weighty question, and a good one.
I view the ownerships BL has gone through, as a good and natural progression.
Each one bringing new ideas and a renewed energy to the site’s development.
Dan created and nurtured the young site ~ it had soul (for lack of a better term)
in those years. For a brief time after his death, his mother held down the fort
~ an uncertain time here. Jay’s purchase of the site was hopeful ~ big things
planned much of which fell short, but the site managed in many ways to move forward
under the 6+ years of Kim’s ownership. So it felt natural and right in November
of 2019, for someone like TLG to takeover. It was time, it seemed.
That said, I still remember the early days here with fondness. I don’t know,
it was more of a frontier atmosphere, with the sense of community yet outweighing
restrictions. Under TLG that equation has flipped somewhat, I expect it will
continue in that direction.
TLG will no doubt develop and mainstream the site like few others would or even
could. The tricky part for BL’s latest owners, is to retain as much of the traits
that made the site what it was (perhaps still is) as possible. But they
may not be interested in doing so, and I doubt they’d succeed even if they held
that position. I can’t think of any examples of large business entities acquiring
smaller ones without it being absorbed and made a part of the whole at some point,
intentional or not. Just the nature of that world.
I’m sure many look forward to how TLG develops the site, a more homogenized Lego
marketplace. There will be those that view it as a shame/pity/loss and those
that welcome the site’s trajectory, with most in-between the two positions. It
doesn’t matter much however, it will simply be a new or other BrickLink.
-popsicle
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| | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 12:50 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 75 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| I posted this awhile back:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1258637
I think TLG is collecting the data and leaving BL alone for the most part. Biggest
changes I've seen are the removal of non-lego items and much more vigorous
enforecement of certain policies (i.g. sale of incomplete minifigs and copyrights).
In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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| | | | | Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 13:46 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 79 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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Probably still too early to tell, Large corporations take a long time normally
to assimilate small acquisitions. Although the product is the same, that is where
the similarity ends. Different styles, thoughts and vision need to find common
ground to move forward and that may not be the case yet.BL is also a very mixed
and diverse community with small hobbyist sellers and much larger stores with
multiple employees. It still is the best place to find product but not the best
for certain types of stores who rely on information not the 'seat of their
trousers' to develop.
Having read the entire thread it is a good and very relevant question , but the
answers are not as easy as understanding the OP post.
Check back in a ouple years time 
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| | | | | Author: | Reki_Lobsheek | | Posted: | May 27, 2021 15:40 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| Let's assume for a moment that taking over the biggest and most versatile
and diverse Lego sales platform on this planet entails an incredible amount of
work.
Just mapping out all the technical issues this platform has amassed over the
years and deciding which should be pririotized is a massive task in itself.
Personally I was very pleased to read the news way back then of TLG taking over
this platform that seemed to be on the brink of going under. Agreed, like so
many people, it made me nervous as well as it wasn't clear whether this was
a "hostile" takeover to clear out a "competitor" or them branching out their
ecosystem.
By now I'm convinced it's the latter and that "behind the curtains" enormous
efforts are being put into making this platform up to date and beyond.
Preparing the platform for the new EU VAT regulations was almost mentioned as
a "sidenote", but working for the government myself I can assure you this was
no simple task.
When someone like Tanja moves her family from Denmark to California to take matters
into hands you know Lego means business.
If TLG will succeed in this massive project is anyone's guess. But I am convinced
they mean well and are planning for a future for Bricklink.
Lots of room for improvement, no doubt, so let us guide them in the direction
we want this platform to go.
As to communicating with the members, things have already started happening:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1269925
I fullheartedly agree that we should not only "fight" for technical enhancements
and repairs, but also for the "soul" of this platform, which to me means a meeting
place of AFOls enjoying their hobby to the fullest extent, besides the commercial
aspect.
Erikk
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| | | | | | | Author: | BrickPhaisan | | Posted: | May 28, 2021 10:59 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| I have been in BL very little for only one year, I only wish that this portal
and its great community continue for many years.
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| | | | | Author: | 3001Bricks | | Posted: | May 28, 2021 11:43 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Ownership of Bricklink | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | So it's been quite a while now since the bolt out of the blue announcement
that Lego had acquired this site. I remember at first there was quite a lot of
concern that they would ruin the site, or at least have an overall negative impact.
However I haven't really noticed any difference so far (perhaps a bit more
downtime from the server?).
Just wondering what other people's thoughts are now that they've had
control of the site for a while. Better, worse, about the same?
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My sales tripled since last year, but there are two more variables that play
into that.
1. The pandemic caused people to be home more + stimulus payments.
2. I increased inventory by about 35-40%
3. Lego purchased bricklink.
No negative impact whatsoever. I slowly see more interaction with the users,
slow changes for the good. Changes that help make things more 'official'
and efficient for the registered companies selling on here (tax arranged through
BL), etc.
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United Kingdom, England
USA, Oklahoma
Spain, Comunidad Valenciana
Belgium, Brussels
