BrickLink/LEGO.com account integration coming soon

@yui said:
"The only thing that worries me, and forgive me if they mentioned it anywhere already, is the existing user feedback on BL profiles. I personally don't have a lot of feedback, but I can imagine that larger scale stores and sellers worry about it. Other than that, I don't really see much to be negative about here, aside from not having my rat as an avatar anymore :')"

No mention of feedback in the press release, so there's a good chance that user feedback will be kept when a BL profile is merged with a Lego one. Unless something goes wrong during the changeover...

@yui said:
"The only thing that worries me, and forgive me if they mentioned it anywhere already, is the existing user feedback on BL profiles. I personally don't have a lot of feedback, but I can imagine that larger scale stores and sellers worry about it. Other than that, I don't really see much to be negative about here, aside from not having my rat as an avatar anymore :')"

I sure don't want to loose the feedbacks I received as a customer and a seller!

The other thing that was not clear to me was how this would affect store names. My profile id on BL is different from my store name. Hopefully we can keep the same store name because there are several stores I don't want to loose track of because they're awesome.

@ShilohCyan said:
"Hope this means eventually we can get VIP points from BL purchases, even if it's a fraction like the Target promotion a couple years ago"

Bricklink fees are 3%. So if we get 5% of what they make on an order, that is 15c for a $100 order.

I have both LEGO and Bricklink accounts so I doubt this will change up in my case - or I mostly people's cases, for that matter

My Bricklink name uses the word LEGO. But my equivalent LEGO nickname uses the word Brick instead. So I'll be safe after the merger.

I'm sure something will not go smoothly because that is expected. So just lower those expectations and you'll be pleasantly surprised when it goes better than expected ;).

Are they on similar servers? Will Bricklink lead to crashes like the official website is?

Lego doesn’t like the fact I use Darth in my username. I just tried updating my Lego Insiders account. Guess my bricklink user name is going to change. Ah well.

@tne328 said:
" @Phoenixio said:
"Still don't understand what's the gain with this."

A tighter corporate grip. More playful graphics on Bricklink. Hopefully minimal changes to the parts database."

Basically this.

I wonder how this will effect mailing addresses and currencies if the accounts are linked. On both BL and LEGO.com I fluctuate between buying stuff in two different countries and currencies, but the way that happens is quite different. On BL I have to change my actual mailing/location address in my profile settings, whereas on LEGO.com it's just a matter of going to the right country version of the site.

For LEGO.com that should remain the same, but I hope this won't mess up the ability to do that on BL.

@Sandinista said:
" @C_O_Patra said:
"I wonder how this will effect mailing addresses and currencies if the accounts are linked. On both BL and LEGO.com I fluctuate between buying stuff in two different countries and currencies, but the way that happens is quite different. On BL I have to change my actual mailing/location address in my profile settings, whereas on LEGO.com it's just a matter of going to the right country version of the site.

For LEGO.com that should remain the same, but I hope this won't mess up the ability to do that on BL."

If I were you, I would create a separate email for one of the accounts that automatically forwards to your primary email"

I already have separate emails attached to my BL and LEGO accounts. We'll all be forced to integrate BL accounts with a LEGO account (or else set up a new LEGO account).

How will that make a difference for buying in different parts of the world?

Ohhh good, I wanted to have to 'hyper secure' my LEGO password as well....

@yellowcastle said:
"If you like your LEGOcare plan, you can keep it.

(Off to create a LEGO nickname that matches a high profile BL seller)"

We think alike. This was my first thought! My second was that I hope the history of being the original store user gets preference!

I've been using the same profile pic on BrickLink for over 10 years. This is really disappointing.

@gearwheel said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"So does this mean they’re actually going to improve the utter “hacked twice into oblivion” lack of security on Bricklink before letting people use that to backdoor their way into the LEGO.com servers?"

I suspect that one of the main reasons Lego is doing this is for that exact reason, to move as much of Bricklink from the poorly documented and secured bespoke Bricklink frankencode to the codebase that Lego.com runs on (which may also be frankencode, but at least it's frankencode that the Lego.com developers are familiar with)."

I've never heard of LEGO.com being compromised, so I'd assume their security consists of something more than taping a paper sign to the door that says "Stay Out!" The trick then is figuring out if there's a way to accomplish this merging without actually loading Bricklink on the same site that I use to sign into LEGO.com. Perhaps the safest way to do this would be to create a burner password for the latter, log into both sites on the "general internet" computer, and then immediately change the LEGO.com password on the "shopping & finances" computer. That would at least allow me to retain all the data and account history. Whether it gets me back into making purchases via BL remains to be seen.

There's only 1 season in my country so when's autumn?

And I wonder what's wrong with using actual months for the date?

@GBP_Chris said:
"Minecraft players will remember the obnoxiously awful decision by Microsoft to force crappy all-in-one corporate accounts onto people who just wanted to play the funny block game.

LEGO fans will come to remember the obnoxiously awful decision by LEGO to force buggy, laggy, poorly-serviced customer accounts onto people who just wanted to make a list of the funny blocks they want."

Yeah, I remember this. I have similar concerns that this will not end well for the consumers.

Thanks to everyone shouting out BrickOwl; I'll take a deeper look at it. Prices also seem a little better than Bricklink surprisingly, but maybe that's just a first impression.

"Elements of the past and the future, combining, to make something not quite as good as either!"

@flord said:
"I was just hoping LEGO would share its parts info with BL so we wouldn’t have to wait a month for a new set parts inventory. "

I know, right? But I guess they're happy to outsource that to the BL users for free instead of making a one-time investment to automate it.

Hopefully Lego will get grip on scalpers asking ridiculous prices on BL.

@yellowcastle said:
"If you like your LEGOcare plan, you can keep it.

(Off to create a LEGO nickname that matches a high profile BL seller)"

Presumably this is why bricklink sellers were told about it three years ago, so they / we had first dibs on securing our user names.

@merman said:
"Hopefully Lego will get grip on scalpers asking ridiculous prices on BL. "

The only way LEGO will do that is to flood the market with those parts or sets that have gone up in value due to high demand and low supply. Which of course could damage their own sales too.

@BCii said:
" @flord said:
"I was just hoping LEGO would share its parts info with BL so we wouldn’t have to wait a month for a new set parts inventory. "

I know, right? But I guess they're happy to outsource that to the BL users for free instead of making a one-time investment to automate it."

They already do share that information. The problem is the information is not that useful since BL uses much more meaningful descriptions than LEGO oes. Basic parts are fine, but any printed parts or minifigure parts need to be added manually, and similarly minifigures and their inventories need to be catalogued manually as LEGO inventories do not include that information.

Hmm...trying to change my LEGO username to match my BL one. TLG says it may take 10 minutes. Been waiting 17 minutes now.....
:-((

I remember reading that the jargon term for combining two disparate systems wasn't to 'merge' them but to 'graunch' them. I'm going through this with my pension fund now: over two months since the systems were graunched and I still don't have any online access to my statements. Hope Lego have better developers.

That would need to be a windsock!!

Surely the only thing preventing you from keeping seperate accounts if you wanted to, is using a different email address for lego.com and bricklink?

The only positive I could see (for buyers) is if they started offering insider points/use of points on both platforms. I spend far more on bricklink than I do on lego.com

@classicstylecastle said:
"Surely the only thing preventing you from keeping seperate accounts if you wanted to, is using a different email address for lego.com and bricklink?

The only positive I could see (for buyers) is if they started offering insider points/use of points on both platforms. I spend far more on bricklink than I do on lego.com"

I imagine the importance of this is more behind the scenes than any obvious benefit to users. Storing and protecting user data is a big deal these days. What is kept and where it is held is also important.

Preparing for assimilation!

What’s the worst that can happen? BL becomes ‘Pick-A-Bricklink’ at PAB prices but TLG keep the difference and all non-current inventory colours are banned?

Oh no.

So now Bricklink will finally be forced to update inventories in a timely manner and stop showing bias towards sets/themes that sell higher on the aftermarket, right? Right?

@yodaloop said:
"Thanks to everyone shouting out BrickOwl; I'll take a deeper look at it. Prices also seem a little better than Bricklink surprisingly, but maybe that's just a first impression."

BL policy says you can’t list product that you don’t actually own, so people who want to list the same stuff on both sites need inventory management software that will update one site when something gets sold on the other. Anyone who can’t get that set up is safer just picking one over the other, plus there are going to be sellers who refuse to use either site for personal reasons. Traffic probably still favors BL, so I’d expect there will be people who got kicked off the site, or who pointedly abandoned it, who not only have to compete with other BrickOwl sellers, but also have to draw traffic away from BL, and the easiest way to do that is with pricing.

@CCC:
BL also lumps many element ID numbers together under the same listing, even when they’re functionally different parts, because sellers can’t be bothered with figuring out which version they got their hands on.

@KingLego:
It’s no secret that, after Dan’s mother sold the site, Bricklink stopped focusing on their existing market and started chasing two completely unrelated ones. BLDP is the result of one, where they repeatedly attempted to turn the site into a place where you could buy original designs in some capacity, and the other major focus they’ve had is trying to outcompete Amazon and eBay for casual customers who only want to buy a single set and move on with their lives.

@classicstylecastle:
My read on this is that you’d need one LEGO.com account for direct purchases, and a second LEGO.com account to access Bricklink going forward. That’s more likely to get flagged than simply not merging the two different accounts under the current split system.

So tried to change my user name on Lego to match my Bricklink name two hours ago, it's still being checked.....

@Onatu said:
"So now Bricklink will finally be forced to update inventories in a timely manner and stop showing bias towards sets/themes that sell higher on the aftermarket, right? Right?"

Why now? LEGO have owned bricklink for over five years already.

@CCC said:
" @Onatu said:
"So now Bricklink will finally be forced to update inventories in a timely manner and stop showing bias towards sets/themes that sell higher on the aftermarket, right? Right?"

Why now? LEGO have owned bricklink for over five years already. "

Indeed, no reason to believe they remembered they wanted to do something like this.

The goal is to extinguish Bricklink in its current form, pure and simple. TLG will in time phase it out in favour of PaB which has a higher profit margin. And then buy the next biggest independent brick trading platform and - rinse and repeat.

Needless change with no benefit to the customer.

As others have said, get bent.

Coming Next:
Brickset/LEGO.com account integration!

"Ten minutes," my behind. It's been more than five hours now!

@TheOtherMike said:
""Ten minutes," my behind. It's been more than five hours now!"

I'm at 12 hours and still waiting! If this is how long it takes to change a simple name, can't wait to see how well it runs when new sets come out.......

This comes to mind:
https://citizenbrick.com/cdn/shop/files/CB_06262024_022.jpg?v=1721050038&width=480

Also, remember when Lego opened the source code to mindstorms (was that it?) because of the backlash? I think we all need to call customer service to express our concern for our beloved Bricklink.

They listened before, maybe they will hear us again.

@ecleme11 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
""Ten minutes," my behind. It's been more than five hours now!"

I'm at 12 hours and still waiting! If this is how long it takes to change a simple name, can't wait to see how well it runs when new sets come out......."

Yeah, I eventually gave up. I suspect that the "10 minutes" is the estimate for normal times, and they were experiencing higher-than-usual demand on their servers. And we all know how robust their servers are...

So am I reading this right, I need to change my Lego site nickname to match my Bricklink user name? Not very technical minded so just checking I'm not going to lose my accounts :)

What if I sell on BL but only buy for my Personal collection on LEGO?
Now I need a second LEGO account to match my BL account?

@lordjerome said:
[[My BL account is 22 years old and has a very common name in it and a custom avatar.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...
[Sigh]]]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

@Phoenixio said:
"Still don't understand what's the gain with this."

The gain is only Lego's. They're doing this for their own data research. They will know our purchases on our Lego accounts, and now also know our Bricklink activities, because we have to couple it together. They can get a sneaky picture of all of our spending habits. Before this integration, they don't know who is who. This is monopolistic behavior by the company, and nothing to gain for us. I do not like it.

Just lower your prices TLG! Or you shall lose many.
Vote with your wallet, as best as possible!

@ecleme11 said:
"So am I reading this right, I need to change my Lego site nickname to match my Bricklink user name? Not very technical minded so just checking I'm not going to lose my accounts :)"

I think it’s the other way around, and you need to change the BrickLink name to match the LEGO site nick. It’s the BL name that may not satisfy the guidelines.

@yellowcastle said:
[[ @lordjerome said:
[[My BL account is 22 years old and has a very common name in it and a custom avatar.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...
[Sigh]]]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
]]

Please, you’re making me well-up!

This is likely to go badly. :-(