LEGO just announced that they acquired Bricklink.com:
LEGO BrickLink - About Us - LEGO.com
So from now on, Bricklink, which used to be an independent website will belong to LEGO, and LEGO will have full control over it. What are your thoughts? Are you happy? Are you concerned?
Hmm…
I’m not too sure what to think about this.
On the one hand, it’s nice that Lego is trying to get closer to its fanbase, something it’s largely failed to do in the past.
On the other hand, Bricklink did really well as an independent site and I’m not sure what Lego has in mind for it.
I personally have nothing against it.
It’s their product, they should be able to do whatever they want with it.
The thing I find strangest, is that lego basically bought their secondary market. How many companies do that? This is fairly unprecedented in economics, and we have no clue at all what will come of it.
Um… I disagree…
As long as prices stay low, I’m good.
Why so?
The concept behind [quote=“Toa_Vladin, post:3, topic:50696”]
It’s their product, they should be able to do whatever they want with it.
[/quote]
is sorta worrying, as it basically supports Lego being able to control, with absolute power, all Lego products even after the product leaves their store.
But that aside, I’m mostly in support of this. Lego has stated that it doesn’t have any plans to change the workings of Bricklink, although we’ll see how intact this statement stays as company policy conflicts with sellers like Brickarms, but I’d like to believe they’ll try to keep it fundamentally the same. Unless Lego tries to get directly involved by having some fee or tax or tries to enter as a seller themselves, I see this being an improvement to both companies as it’ll draw more customers to the now official bricklink and promote more sellers to buy more Lego.
TL;DR, I think it’s a overall good.
Terrible. Wait until TLG raises the seller fee and starts altering the catalog numbers. Not to mention all of the data mining, knowing who and where all of the biggest resellers are, and the possibility of TLG limiting their ability to get cheap stock. There are going to be serious problems for AFOLs no question, unless they don’t alter Bricklink at all, which I hope is what happens.
The most significant thing about this, is the fact that we have absolutely no idea what they will do. We don’t even past examples of companies doing the same thing, because this has not, (to my limited knowledge anyway) happened before. Most companies don’t buy their secondary markets. It’s simply not done.
Now, this is just my logical conclusions on the situation, and should not be taken as fact, or conclusive by any means.
The main reason most companies don’t do this, I believe, is due to one main factor. And that is the lack of competition provided by these secondary markets. In most cases, the aftermarket is for older, second-hand, and third-party products. The competition simply isn’t there. If anything, it can be selling point for some, like, “hey look! Look at all these cool extras I can get for that gizmo if I buy it!” But in the end, the company doesn’t lose much money.
With Lego, it’s a different story. Lego’s product, has remained unchanged for several years. In addition, their products are of fantastic quality, with no amount of disconnection from previous versions of the product. Buying peices second-hand, can be often be much cheaper, than buying a new set for the same parts. Thus, lego doesn’t get that sale. So, the secondary market becomes competition at this point. And what do companies do to get rid of competition? Buy, or force out the opponent. That way, they make the money they would otherwise loose to the secondary market.
Currently, I think it’s in Lego’s best interests to keep BL the way it is, for both PR and logistical reasons, but I certainly believe there will be changes, if merely a streamlining of the process.
But, I don’t know, this is purely speculation on my part.
Whenever companies do acquisitions like this, they only do it for money. In this case, in order to make money out of BL they will be most likely be increasing the fees the Bricklink sellers have to pay, and in return, the BL sellers will be increasing the price of the stuff they sell in order to make sure that they still make profit.
The flaw with seeing this as the only way for Lego to make money here is that these parts the Sellers have come from Lego at some point. If Bricklink flourishes under this new management then Lego is still going to reap the benefits as the primary market. Sure Lego may create extremely durable products that last decades or weeks if you’re lime green but these parts aren’t constantly moving around the secondary market. The primary market has to be engaged with to fuel the secondary market and so while it may be less profitable to Lego than people buying sets themselves it’s still going to create a profit
Basically what others have been saying. With this, LEGO has taken away a huge freedom that community has, if they choose to do so. It doesn’t even feel like selling from customer to customer anymore, though LEGO’s promises about the state of the project don’t worry me. I still hold the company with high regard, and trust that they did this with the best of intentions.
LEGO has stated that the main goal is to build a closer relationship with their AFOL community, but yeah, the bonus of that would indirectly lead to more profits.
I could be wrong, but it sounds like nothing is changing from the seller’s perspective. I mean, this was a deal Bricklink had to make with LEGO, and I doubt the organization would have done that if they didn’t have the buyers in mind.
Not sure about it, but did BL use cookies before? Because now it does.