Did anyone else see this?
Posted by Huw,.png)
LEGO has implemented a virtual queueing system on its website, just in time for the busiest time of year.
I took the screenshot at about 23:30 GMT last night but then didn't see it again when placing an order just after midnight, and I don't think anyone has mentioned it in the comments to the other article so presumably the server isn't under too much stress this weekend.
While we are on the subject of website traffic, Brickset was exceedingly busy night after we revealed the 2021 sets. We were among the first to do so, I think. Can you guess how many concurrent users there were at 8pm, and how many pages per second were being served?
Find out after the break...
I think at one point there were just over 1200 users, reading 650 pages per minute. I took this screenshot from Google Analytics shortly afterwards.
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When the site is quietest, early morning in Europe, there are usually around 300, and at this time of the year at the weekend and once the USA has woken up there's normally around 700.
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Not specific to last night but yes, I mentioned it on the 18th in the [UK] LEGO.com Deals thread when I first encountered it - presumable when they were testing it as was just a normal day.
If their IT needs to queue at such a low number of 1200 concurrent users then they haven't invested enough in their IT or they are just testing it at a lower number.
Well with what they’ve done this year, I’m not at all surprised that sales are booming, watch it soon take right off, won’t be long, they’re covering all aspects of life n cater for all needs too now, it’s gonna go crazy soon you’ll see guys
@Shropshire said:
"Not specific to last night but yes, I mentioned it on the 18th in the [UK] LEGO.com Deals thread when I first encountered it - presumable when they were testing it as was just a normal day.
If their IT needs to queue at such a low number of 1200 concurrent users then they haven't invested enough in their IT or they are just testing it at a lower number."
The 1200 mentioned is for Brickset.com, not the Lego Shop. I’d assume Lego has much higher traffic numbers ( no offense to Brickset ;))
I placed an order at about 00:45 GMT this morning and there was no queuing. In fact, the whole ordering process was very smooth and easy with no hiccups.
Ah ok, didn't spot that was Brickset makes sense then.. to be honest i'm not sure what's best... slow Lego website or can't get in whilst they sell out the one thing you wanted.
Yes, I also saw it on the 18th at about 08:30 (UK). It was showing something like 900 in the queue, but I was in within a few minutes.
I've seen that page today 0:05 after having clicked an affiliate link here on Brickset to get to the LEGO page.
However, after some seconds, that page has forwarded to a 502 Bad Gateway page. ;-)
Right after midnight CET there were (as expected) problems loading the pages on lego.com, but after a few minutes it worked. First time I tried to pay, I got a "bad gateway" error when my card was validated. Second time it went fine, but before getting the confirmation page, the waiting page showed for max. ten seconds. Not enough time for me to even notice the number of people or my own number in the queue.
Well, spending many hours this year having to stand in a socially-distanced line to enter a physical shop, why not do it virtually!
Damn it! The Razor Crest is on backorder till January 14th!!!
I was in the shop at 00:00, got the same waiting line after perhaps 10 minutes where I tried to figure out if the VIP weekend had started or not. Eventually I was certain the weekend special was in effect, ordered and paid for 10273, waited for the order confirmation email which didn't show up, and went to bed. In the morning I'd gotten the order confirmation AND another mail saying the product was out of stock. Yay... At least it says 2nd of December on the store page, hopefully they'll remember to include the promised Charles Dickens and buildable 2x4 brick sets.
had a really good time on Lego last night, was supprised that i got on at midnight with no issues, placed several orders to maximise the GWP sets, only disappointment was no stock still of the holiday wreath, but picked up evrything else i needed,
well done Lego
Same for me today, 5 mins after midnight.
Happy to contribute to that dot over the eastern U.S.
Didn't see the queuing screen though.
I didn't see it when I got in line for the Nebulon-B, or at midnight today for VIP weekend. Made five orders in total, no issues at all.
Tried to order just after midnight CET, didn't see the "Thank you for waiting" message.
As usual the website was having some trouble just after midnight CET - site and later images not loading - but after about ten minutes it was working as it should again. I had put the sets I wanted in my basket in the days before, but somehow even with refreshing the page the Gifts with purchase I should qualify for, weren't added. I emptied my basket and re-entered the sets and after that the gifts with purchase were added also. Small glitch, but after that everything worked fine and my order was processes at around a quarter past midnight CET.
I was put in a que around 00:15 CET after confirming my order. After a two minute wait it forwarded me to a 502 error.
I was afraid this disrupted my order, but after a few hours I got my order confirmation.
I saw it. Was in the queue at around 23:15 GMT. Deal is LEGO forgot to implement the most important part of how this works - a small period of time after wich if you don't finish your shopping you're kicked out and sent back to the queue. I stayed in until midnight and did my shopping with no trouble. Good for me, but this is not how its supposed to work.
I am surprised by the mobile majority on Brickset, to me it is much more a desktop site
Yeah I saw this at about 23:15 GMT last night. I was in position 1370 but it only took 2 or 3 minutes to get into the site. After midnight I didn't see it again.
I placed an order at about 00:15 GMT this morning and there was no queuing. In fact, the whole ordering process was very smooth and easy with no stress. The only thing was the confirmation email only arrived about one hour later
More than one bought LEGO sets at midnight, has an order number because the website showed us at the order's resumen, has the money authoritation at paypal, but hasn't received an e-mail order yet and our orders don't appear in the private zone of LEGO's website.
@Galaxy12_Import said:
"I am surprised by the mobile majority on Brickset, to me it is much more a desktop site"
While I would agree I'd prefer to access the site from a desktop, I only have the rare chance at work to get online. Otherwise I only have my phone to access the interwebs.
Plus who knows, maybe people lie in bed and check out the site before bed or upon awakening. I'm not going to drag a laptop to do something like that. *shrugs*
All the sets I want to purchase have been in “Temporary Out of Stock” status for months, yet are advertised in the LEGO catalog, not sure what think about it...
I placed an order this morning at around 6:50 am in the US territory of Puerto Rico, no such que although the payment part was suffering a small hiccup when I was trying to write my card CVC.
Neat. Does the queue only lock access to the LEGO store or does it block off the games/bios for kids too?
Has Lego considered doing pre-order? Thanks Brickset for being on top of things. Would it be too much to ask for Brickset staff to post new contents all day long (just kidding).
I too had a smooth purchase just after midnight. Really sorry Huw, I forgot to click through from here so you get the affiliate commission.
People saying a lot of stuff out of stock. Don’t forget, when the Lego stores reopen there will be plenty of everything. Just expect to queue!
I saw this right after midnight when I was going to place my order.
I stumbled into that queue last week while I was preparing my cart for the weekend. But had no problems at all (and didn't find any queue) when I actually ordered at midnight last night.
This is pretty funny. Instead of auto scaling they add queuing. Will suggest that to my employers enterprise clients in future.
I visited Lego.com several times after midnight last night with no problems (I’m in the USA in the Eastern Time Zone), but I got hit with that same screen at 11:45 am EST. I took a screenshot, and mine didn’t show a number for “people in queue” (the slider was all the way to the left), and the “estimated waiting time” was also blank.
I hit refresh after taking a screenshot, and it loaded normally. (In retrospect, I should have waited to see if it would successfully refresh me into the website.)