Announcing Brickset x Brick Owl integration
Posted by Huw,
Brick Owl is a well-established independent LEGO marketplace that's become increasingly important to the community this year following BrickLink's decision to cease operations in dozens of countries. Many affected sellers have moved their stores to the platform, which now hosts over 2,900 stores.
To help buyers transition there as well, I have added links to Brick Owl on our listings, and have also started importing lists of sets available there which, if you're in selected countries [1], you can view on our shopping pages.
Links to Brick Owl will also be inserted in our 'random' articles starting from tomorrow, and I suspect we'll be adding more features in the future if the partnership is a success. If you have any ideas as to those you'd like to see, let me know in the comments.
Brickset has an affiliate relationship with Brick Owl and will earn a small commission when you buy things there via our links.
[1] The top ten largest markets at Brick Owl are currently supported: UK, US, CA, DE, AU, FR, NL, CZ, and IT.
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51 comments on this article
I don't know much about Brick Owl, but this seems like a good idea.
It's not great on the Buy Lego page of wanted sets, when you list by discount. Unlike bricklink it shows cheap prices from other country's when the sets aren't available for anywhere near that price in your country. It also has the same issue as bricklink in that delivery isn't included when Lego, Amazon and Argos all have free deliver or pickup of some sort.
@Huw in the Buy Lego page can you add tick boxes for selecting which sellers to include, so I can take out brick owl and bricklink? Because they are monopolising my list but don't represent a true discount.
You've listed Holland twice in the list of 10 largest markets.
@560heliport said:
"I don't know much about Brick Owl, but this seems like a good idea."
I've never used it (or even visited it), but having more options is always a good thing.
I do like that Brick Owl shows the price+shipping, but at the minute the average cost seems to be much higher then Bricklink...
@SMC said:
"It's not great on the Buy Lego page of wanted sets, when you list by discount. Unlike bricklink it shows cheap prices from other country's when the sets aren't available for anywhere near that price in your country. It also has the same issue as bricklink in that delivery isn't included when Lego, Amazon and Argos all have free deliver or pickup of some sort."
The prices shown should be specific to your country but you are right about postage. I don't think we can do much about that given that in most instances it is not known.
" @Huw in the Buy Lego page can you add tick boxes for selecting which sellers to include, so I can take out brick owl and bricklink? Because they are monopolising my list but don't represent a true discount."
You can already do so, https://brickset.com/profile/preferences, 'Do not show marketplace items in the buy listings'
@TurtleFinland said:
"Please give DIRECT LINK there?"
Where (on Brickset) do you mean?
I like BrickOwl. They have way more analytical tools than Bricklink, and I think it will eventually become a larger competitive marketplace. I also appreciate that it shows you how many 'active carts' your store has. Cheers to this!
Who hoots for you?
How many bricks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
The world may never know.
The Bricklink country termination is news to me. On the website lego much rather uses it as a puppet for more marketing from what I've seen, instead of actually making information about important changes like that front and center! I'm happy Brickowl is growing because lego buying its largest aftermarket marketplace is one of the most iffy things the company has done in recent years and anything that can add more competition and therefore can weaken that monopoly can only be a good thing.
Maybe now is a good time to start using Brick Owl more often. From what I've seen many sellers have a parallel store there, which actually helped me to find the best places to buy certain rare items because it showed me the shipping cost estimates in the store overviews, which is very useful.
@Huw said:
" @SMC said:
"It's not great on the Buy Lego page of wanted sets, when you list by discount. Unlike bricklink it shows cheap prices from other country's when the sets aren't available for anywhere near that price in your country. It also has the same issue as bricklink in that delivery isn't included when Lego, Amazon and Argos all have free deliver or pickup of some sort."
The prices shown should be specific to your country but you are right about postage. I don't think we can do much about that given that in most instances it is not known.
" @Huw in the Buy Lego page can you add tick boxes for selecting which sellers to include, so I can take out brick owl and bricklink? Because they are monopolising my list but don't represent a true discount."
You can already do so, https://brickset.com/profile/preferences, 'Do not show marketplace items in the buy listings'
"
Bricklink was showing uk prices but brick owl was showing everything.
Thanks for the link, preferences updated. You're a star, I should have known there was already an option. Bricklink didn't used to be too bad but a seller has started listing low prices but with a minimum spend of £3000!
I’ve been a fan of BrickOwl for a while: I appreciate its modern design and interface, and it’s always felt very user-friendly to me. Bricklink’s interface and design have been a personal turn-off, and as others have said, I think options are always good to have too.
This sounds like great news! Thanks Brickset team!
Brick Owl is my go to marketplace. Really hope it stays that way. One curiosity, i've noticed a price increase of shops in the last months.
Good stuff. I haven't used it much yet but already it seems easier to use than Bricklink, which seems quite archaic.
Brickowl won't load because they block VPNs, so....bad start.
Thanks!
I had heard of Brickowl, but never looked in to or used them.
now got an account and made an order....
Guess it is another place to spend my money on LEGO!
@ohrmazd said:
"How many bricks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
The world may never know."
Three.
I have never used BrickOwl before but I have been there. I was looking last week at one seller who had the same item at both the BL and BO sites but their prices were higher for the exact same item on BO and cheaper on BL for some reason.
BrickOwl has been a better website than Bricklink from its beginning. Its only negative was that less sellers used the platform. So more people using BrickOwl is good for everyone.
Never usdr it but it's good to get more visibility. I really don't appreciate that Lego Group owns both the new and the main second hand market.
@oldtodd33 said:
"I have never used BrickOwl before but I have been there. I was looking last week at one seller who had the same item at both the BL and BO sites but their prices were higher for the exact same item on BO and cheaper on BL for some reason."
More competition on BL means more aggressive pricing.
Brickowl is the bomb!
@yellowcastle said:
" @oldtodd33 said:
"I have never used BrickOwl before but I have been there. I was looking last week at one seller who had the same item at both the BL and BO sites but their prices were higher for the exact same item on BO and cheaper on BL for some reason."
More competition on BL means more aggressive pricing."
Maybe so but he isn't the only seller with that part for sale. I kind of wonder if the BO fees are a little more than BL.
@oldtodd33 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @oldtodd33 said:
"I have never used BrickOwl before but I have been there. I was looking last week at one seller who had the same item at both the BL and BO sites but their prices were higher for the exact same item on BO and cheaper on BL for some reason."
More competition on BL means more aggressive pricing."
Maybe so but he isn't the only seller with that part for sale. I kind of wonder if the BO fees are a little more than BL."
Good point.
Most of the sellers from my country have moved to Brick Owl after BrickLink ceased operations, otherwise I wouldn't have even known it existed. Quite an odd selection of countries. At first I thought it was a region issue but it includes European countries as well. It's most likely that there weren't that many sellers from those specific countries so BrickLink decided to just cut them. Also very weird to cease operations in Greenland considering where LEGO is from.
The search engine and results display for Brickowl is easier when searching for pieces using general expressions, especially on a mobile phone. Also easier to filter on color and see what set it comes in. In the UK there are probably more sellers on Bricklink though, but the bigger sellers seem to be on both.
@ohrmazd said:
"How many bricks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
The world may never know."
Good song, though.
Bo is more expensive then BL
Huh, I might try to get a lot of parts....
great move.More options to buy and sell is always positive.
Does anyone know why Lego made that change with BrickLink? The whole thing seems odd to me...
@SMC said:
"It's not great on the Buy Lego page of wanted sets, when you list by discount. Unlike bricklink it shows cheap prices from other country's when the sets aren't available for anywhere near that price in your country. It also has the same issue as bricklink in that delivery isn't included when Lego, Amazon and Argos all have free deliver or pickup of some sort.
@Huw in the Buy Lego page can you add tick boxes for selecting which sellers to include, so I can take out brick owl and bricklink? Because they are monopolising my list but don't represent a true discount."
Do you expect occasional sellers or small businesses to absorb the cost of shipping ?
Big W! Helping the community!
I like the idea of more options, but BrickOwl lists sets I want at substantial discount, but when I visit the site it's either incomplete (minifigs taken out), substantial postage (rarely is it a UK seller), or both.
I do not begrudge the sellers their profit margins, but it's a bit unweildy for me.
@huw - I use this query: https://brickset.com/buy/country-uk/mycollection-Wanted - can it be modified to exclude BrickOwl if I wished?
Huw went on vacation and came back thirsty for coding. Or vibecoding?
@oldtodd33 said:
"I have never used BrickOwl before but I have been there. I was looking last week at one seller who had the same item at both the BL and BO sites but their prices were higher for the exact same item on BO and cheaper on BL for some reason."
Bricklink allows you to add other costs to the price of the set; besides the shipping cost, you can add multiple fees, like handling fee, PayPal (or similar) fee, etc.; Brickowl only allows shipping to be added, the set cost must reflect everything else;
Furthermore, Brickowl's fees for selling are different than Bricklink's.
There may be other reasons, like set availability (i.e. number of sellers selling that set).
I have placed my first order. It is so much easier to use than Bricklink.
This is great!
@maffyd said:
"I like the idea of more options, but BrickOwl lists sets I want at substantial discount, but when I visit the site it's either incomplete (minifigs taken out), substantial postage (rarely is it a UK seller), or both.
I do not begrudge the sellers their profit margins, but it's a bit unweildy for me.
@huw - I use this query: https://brickset.com/buy/country-uk/mycollection-Wanted - can it be modified to exclude BrickOwl if I wished?"
https://brickset.com/profile/preferences, 'Do not show marketplace items in the buy listings'
@Huw said:
" @maffyd said:
"I like the idea of more options, but BrickOwl lists sets I want at substantial discount, but when I visit the site it's either incomplete (minifigs taken out), substantial postage (rarely is it a UK seller), or both.
I do not begrudge the sellers their profit margins, but it's a bit unweildy for me.
@huw - I use this query: https://brickset.com/buy/country-uk/mycollection-Wanted - can it be modified to exclude BrickOwl if I wished?"
https://brickset.com/profile/preferences, 'Do not show marketplace items in the buy listings'"
I have that set. I think it only applies to Amazon marketplace?
can you create a means to more easily transfer collections details and wishlists from Brick Owl to Brickset?
I wonder why Bricklink has excluded those countries. Seems very odd.
I forgot all about BrickOwl. I have perused there a bit in the early days but never purchased anything. I will have to give them another look sometime.
@maffyd said:
" @Huw said:
" @maffyd said:
"I like the idea of more options, but BrickOwl lists sets I want at substantial discount, but when I visit the site it's either incomplete (minifigs taken out), substantial postage (rarely is it a UK seller), or both.
I do not begrudge the sellers their profit margins, but it's a bit unweildy for me.
@huw - I use this query: https://brickset.com/buy/country-uk/mycollection-Wanted - can it be modified to exclude BrickOwl if I wished?"
https://brickset.com/profile/preferences, 'Do not show marketplace items in the buy listings'"
I have that set. I think it only applies to Amazon marketplace?"
It applies to BricKLink, BrickOwl and StockX, but not Amazon marketplace items, at the moment.
@foulanimal said:
"can you create a means to more easily transfer collections details and wishlists from Brick Owl to Brickset?"
I will ask Lawrence about that. Currently the CSV export from BrickOwl does not contain the info needed.
Thank you for taking this action! The Bricklink news was shocking for a lot of us and I had wondered how to locate figures using Brickset which I so often did. Appreciate the efforts on this integration!
" @SMC said:
Bricklink was showing uk prices but brick owl was showing everything.
Thanks for the link, preferences updated. You're a star, I should have known there was already an option. Bricklink didn't used to be too bad but a seller has started listing low prices but with a minimum spend of £3000!"
I mentioned that guy in the comments on the post about the Amazon lists coming back online. They also charge postage per item, so you have to spend £3,000+. I don't understand what they're doing as they surely can't make any sales.
As soon as I see that the price for a new set is less than for used I know exactly who is going to be causing that.
@Sethro3 said:
"I forgot all about BrickOwl. I have perused there a bit in the early days but never purchased anything. I will have to give them another look sometime."
Do it! BrickOwl is great!
This is a phenomenonly positive move for the Lego community, well done Huw! It's about time BrickOwl got some more exposure, especially since judging by many of the comments there are lots of Lego fans out there who just aren't familiar with it. I urge everyone to give it a try, yes it can be a bit more expensive at times, but there are positives like upfront postage costs and the owner Lawrence is actively working to grow and develop the site and regularly adding new features, often based on user suggestions in their forum.
Always root for the underdog! TLG have shown what BrickLink means to them (it's more for them than for us), so it's time for BrickOwl to be the place for Lego fans
I've been buying parts from BrickOwl for a couple of months and been really impressed with it. Good range of sellers and variety of parts, prices seem fine to me. Service and communication has also been excellent
As someone else said it has a nice clean modern easy to use look to it. Much better than Bricklink which always seemed very clunky and dated.