Site updates

 

  • Site updates

    Posted by Huw, 27 Oct 2011 15:04. Filed under Brickset.

    I've just rolled out a few changes to the site:

    • The New at shop.LEGO.com section above has been replaced by an eBay panel. It's there as an experiment and probably won't be there permanently. You'll only see it if you're in a country in which eBay operate. The New at shop.lego.com didn't really justify the real estate there given it wasn't relevant to everyone, it was always 2 days out of date and when sets were added they were usually added en masse thus swamping the caroursel anyway. You can still get to the list from the Buy tab, if you're in the Canada, USA or UK.
    • On the set details pages, there's a new  Buy tab, which shows the prices of sets at shop.LEGO.com for all countries they ship to, and Amazon. You can also get the shop.LEGO.com prices, if we have them, from the results listings, look for the link in the third column.
    • Amazon alerts: Amazon.es alerts are now live and the alerts themselves have been simplified so anyone can understand them even if you don't speak French or whatever. Also, if you are not logged in you will only be shown alerts for the Amazon in your country, e.g., if you're in the US you'll see Amazon.com updates only. If you're in for example, New Zealand, you won't see any of them. If you're logged in you can of course turn them on and off as before where ever you are in the world.
    • I've made a few tweaks in other places, see if you can spot them...

    Update: couple more tweaks:

    • RSS feed now only shows your 'home' Amazon alerts.
    • Mobile site news now works the same as the news on the main site
    • RRP reinstated on results listings for visitors from all countries

    If you come across anything that doesn't work or look right, let me know.


    106 comments, latest one posted 18 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
    1108 views


 
 

Comments

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 15:19

Alrighty, I'll go update-spotting! :)

EDIT: A "View more" link on certain sets!

EDIT 2: Clean-up of the set details!

Posted by SapmiSatan in Norway, 27 Oct 2011 15:24

I liked the "New at shop.LEGO.com" section, I don't buy LEGO online, so I'm not interested in E-Bay instead. It might not have been entirely up to date, but I'm not in a hurry when it comes to buying LEGO. It gave me an idea what was available, or soon to be available in retail stores, which is what I'm interested in. This is my opinion.

Posted by glamdring804 in United States, 27 Oct 2011 15:32

Here's an idea:
Maybe the section that shows the price from lego.com should show the RRP even when the set is no longer availalbe, like red font for available,black for not availble.

Posted by Hello_World! in United States, 27 Oct 2011 15:33

Huw: if you are in need of prices for older sets (in USD) I can probably find them as I have about 10 years worth of Shop@Home catalogs(2000-now.)

Posted by George G. in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 15:37

I love the eBay function! My wallet won't love it though :D

@Huw: Are you going to take any more Minifigure pictures for the galleries? And the "Brickset Pick of the Week" omly lasted 2 weeks - I thoroughly enjoyed that :'(

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 15:42

There's something clever going on with the eBay panel. Has anyone worked out what yet? :-)

Posted by KIERAN2400 in Ireland, 27 Oct 2011 15:45

@ Huw, The ebay panel - is it that it is displaying prices in your local currency?

Posted by Hello_World! in United States, 27 Oct 2011 15:45

^^Is it some thing about the pictures moving when the mouse is on them?

Posted by kempo81 in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 15:47

I think it's showing sets in my want list??

Posted by George G. in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 15:55

Are they all items that are either "Buy-it-nows" or in the last 30 minutes? That's what every one I clicked on was like...

Posted by kwilder in United States, 27 Oct 2011 15:59

Maybe I don't have my computer's settings set up appropriately, but I don't see anything under the ebay bar (where the lego shop stuff used to be)....

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 16:17

@kempo: Oh, so that Super Car isn't there because it's legendary! :P

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 16:24

I give up, Huw; Can't find any more updates! Will you now give us a list of them?

EDIT: The eBay vertical bar has just got an update!

EDIT 2: Is the ability to view other people's wanted list new?

EDIT 3: Since when does the copyright say "1997-2011 Brickset ltd"?! Is Brickset now a company or something?! :P

EDIT 4: Since today! I went back in time, and it said "Brickset.com" before! HUUUWWW!!! :P

EDIT 5: Drop-down menus of the tabs have been slightly changed.

EDIT 6: The log-in page now has a help tip for Internet Explorer users!

Posted by db99 in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 16:33

Accessing the mobile site and without logging in still getting amazon updates from every country. To be honest all these updates put me off coming on the site as often. I dont want to have to log in all the time. Just my opinion though. Im sure plenty of people like them

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 16:47

So, what does "Brickset ltd" mean for Brickset? I thought this was a site run by simple LEGO fans, not company owners. :P

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 27 Oct 2011 16:57

I can't see an ebay panel. Canada has ebay.ca!

I want to see amazon.com alerts! I can order from amazon.com, and the price will still be almost the same. Please put them back, Huw, please!

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:00

@Thomson & Thomson: Well, if you are logged in, you can view them, just change the news preferences. :P

Posted by Stacy in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 17:03

Huw has changed the third row sub-heading for the home page.
"Brickset: the top online resource for LEGO collectors worldwide."
Pretty sure that's new.

And Ebay Australia isn't showing up on my page... :( Help!

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:06

@Stacy: Already said that in another article. :P

Posted by rudst in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 17:12

I cant see the Ebay panel (I am in Australia). In any case I would prefer to see the Lego Panel back (I dont think it matters whether it is a couple of days late as I tend to check this website every 1-2 days, but it has always proven to be useful).

On the subject of Ebay.......who would buy sets from Ebay these days.......I have never found Ebay to be an economical option, unless its something old and rare that you desperately need :)

Posted by brickmama in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:13

I think QL's idea is great. I would love to know the RRP's of as many sets as possible (preferably in €). In my opinion the set details section would be the perfect place to add that info (I wouldn't need different colors though). Hope that's possible!!!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 17:13

@kempo81, yes it is showing sets in your wanted list

@kwilder, it's calling upon content from eBay via Javascript so any number of blockers could prevent it from showing

@db99, I need to modify the mobile site's news feature, I'll try and get that done soon.

@T&T (& @stacy), for some reason I didn't add CA and AU to the country list, I'll get that changed, and yes, opt into Amazon.com alerts to see them in the list if you haven't already.

@Alemas, yes Brickset is operating through a limited company just to make it more tax efficient. I am still a 'simple LEGO fan' but also a company owner now. Nothing will change on the site as a result, you need not worry.

@SapmiSatan, you are not the only person who misses it. I will see what can be done to reinstate it, although I do want to try the eBay experiment and three panels there would be too much. However I think it's true to say we won't be seeing any major updates now to product lines at shop.LEGO.com until after Christmas. Maybe I need some tabs...

@QL and @mariaraton, The intention is to show other countries RRPs there eventually, at the moment it scrapes LEGO.com to get them but I can also load them up manually in bulk and any lists that people can send me -- as long as set numbers and suffixes match those here -- I can import. I don't however intend to maintain them individually, that would be far too much work.

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:20

@Huw: Oh, phew. :P But that will require more paperwork! :P More paperwork = less time working on Brickset! It may be more tax-efficient, but it will also mean less frequent updates here! :P BTW, any other "tweaks" to mention?...

Posted by yvo in France, 27 Oct 2011 17:39

O_o The eBay thingy show me everything but Lego (for example : http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150680455511&clk_rvr_id=277454841731)
Not that I often used the previous carrousel, but at least it was Lego related ...

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:40

@yvo: Ahem. :P It even shows a clone brand for me. :P

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:49

Hang on a sec, you put Amazon.it in the "Buy" drop-down menu! But it's still not ready. :P

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 27 Oct 2011 17:53

Gah, that eBay thingy is showing way too many clone brands for my liking... :P

Posted by andywalker6 in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 17:57

Prices should include P&P & buy it now should be BIN Price not Bid Price

Posted by tdm911 in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 18:18

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but is there a way to view the RSS feed without all the Amazon posts? Living in Australia, I can't purchase LEGO from Amazon and it means that about 90% of all posts from the Brickset RSS feed are now useless to me. I'm seriously considering unsubscribing, just because the signal to noise ratio is so high. Are you able to create two feeds? One for news and another for Amazon?

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 27 Oct 2011 18:35

^ Just for your info, you can in fact purchase from Amazon.fr for delivery to Australia

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 27 Oct 2011 19:05

Sorry, Huw, everything's fine now, it was just me being careless. Could you explain how the ebay bar works?

Posted by hewman in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 19:05

I'm really not a fan of the ebay ads across the top, I think it cheapens the look of the site. I think the ebay ads are much less intrusive at the bottom of specific set listings and that's where they should stay.
I understand that the shop at home links weren't very useful, but I think the space can be used better. But hey, if you don't trial these things, no-one knows what the real reaction will be.

Posted by tdm911 in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 20:52

@DrDaveWatford LEGO don't allow sending of LEGO to Australia from other countries. I can buy books form Amazon, but not LEGO.

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 27 Oct 2011 20:54

I think the ebay thing is cool, even though I don't really use it for buying LEGO.

Posted by LEGOSLUG in New Zealand, 27 Oct 2011 21:53

Huw, These Brickset changes make this site Cooler and cooler everyday. You Dudes are AWESOME!
Keep up the good work.

Posted by brankell5566 in Canada, 27 Oct 2011 22:09

How come I can't see the prices of sets when I am on a set details page. Also, i'm not a huge fan of the Ebay bar, the LEGO Shop one was way better IMHO.

Posted by hewman in Australia, 27 Oct 2011 22:29

I'm not sure 3rd rate photography from many ebay sales is what any new user should be greeted with when they first see the site. If I didn't know about all the great information and quality pics here, the ebay banner in such a prominent position would put me off.

Posted by LukeSkywalker in Ireland, 27 Oct 2011 22:38

I'd have to agree with @hewman, I'm not a fan of the eBay ad bar either, much prefer them in a less obvious position at the bottom of set listings. The ads themselves are way too random and show items of no interest to me. Maybe if users could switch the panel off if they don't like it, through their settings/preferences, it might be okay, but if it's a permanent fixture at the top of the page, hmm, I wouldn't be gone on the idea, at all...

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 27 Oct 2011 23:02

To be quite honest, I don't really like the E-Bay thing. But what was their before didn't help me either so it doesn't really effect me.
BTW Ok, this is off-topic but I need to ask someone something; Ok so I go to my local Lego store and see the updated Build-A-Minifig. I spot some CM pieces, and ask the employee whether they are still lower quality or regular. He stares at me and tells me ALL Lego's are made by the same plastic and the International plastic corporation or something is very strict and only allows high quality plastic. Then I show him two torsos and he says he can't tell any difference. I asked another employee and he said the same thing and that it doesn't matter whether the plastic is made in China, it's the same. Are they not authorized to say its lower quality? I'm really bewildered at the ignorance and was a bit offended even at how they almost bullied me that the plastic was the same. Has anyone else have the same experience? Sorry for being off-topic, but I really needed to ask that. Thanks! :)

Posted by theBrickBlogger in United States, 27 Oct 2011 23:03

@tdm911 Amazon is indeed shipping LEGO to Australia. There is an Australian LEGO blogger who just wrote about this a few days ago. She placed an order without a hitch, saving hundreds of $$$. Here is the link: http://www.thebricklife.com/amazon-ships-lego-to-australia-uk-and-canada-amazon/

Posted by Bricknation.com in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 02:57

Just a shame that the ebay panel will show anything with word LEGO in the title - for example "BLOCKS LEGO COMPATIBLE".

Posted by alijoezac in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 03:31

Many thanks Huw for the Amazon bargain alerts from across their world wide sites. It would never have occurred to me to order LEGO for me in the UK from the Spanish Amazon site. However, by ordering the Tower Bridge set from amazon.es four days ago it safely arrived today and about £60 cheaper than purchasing in the UK. Many thanks again Huw.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 03:54

Thanks everyone for your feedback. The eBay panel is only an experiment and will go if it doesn't perform.

I agree to an extent that it 'cheapens' the site and doesn't look as good as what was there before. Maybe if it was more obvious that it was a 'banner ad' it would help distinguish it from the normal high quality content on the site it would help? I deliberately removed the border/eBay logo to make it look as if it was part of the site but maybe that wasn't a good idea?

Thanks too to everyone who has said they are seeing non-LEGO items in it. It turns out that many European eBays have a different category numbering system to the English-language sites so I need to adjust the code to use the right one and I will do that later.

As I suggested above, if you are logged in it should show you items that are in your wanted list. If you are not logged in or don't have any sets on your wanted list it will show 'popular searches', whatever they are, in the LEGO category, or at least will once the LEGO category has been correctly defined.

@tdm911, yes you are missing something: there is a no-Amazon RSS feed, and you'll find a link on the home page. However I will be adjusting the default RSS feed to behave like the home page in terms of only showing Amazon articles from your 'home' Amazon site, so in your case it won't contain any anyway.

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 04:25

Like the new features Huw, jury is out on the ebay panel right now, I have plenty on my wanted list and am logged in but it seems a bit hit and miss in terms of showing me anything of interest.

One thing I find myself doing now is going to the UK Amazon bargain watch page and then filtering to show only those on my wanted list. Then I want to see which EU Amazon site may have the set cheaper than the UK, to do so currently I have to click on the image, then 'more details', then the buy tab. It would be nice to provide a quicker way to get to this information from the bargain watch page.

Posted by tdm911 in Australia, 28 Oct 2011 04:41

@huw - perfect, thanks. I had subscribed from the browser previously and it doesn't list this feed. I've found it now though. :)

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 04:43

^ Good point, I haven't updated the 'browser' list of RSS feeds yet :-)

Posted by hewman in Australia, 28 Oct 2011 04:51

As a user with a very small wanted items list (mainly being unreleased sets) I get a lot of random lego appearing. I don't know if I'm a small minority with this. If I used the wanted list feature as though I had limitless money, I think I'd have about 80% of sets on my wanted list.
Anyway, Huw, thanks for the constant improvement of the site and being forward thinking in trialling new things.

Posted by Micky0502 in France, 28 Oct 2011 05:26

Just... The panel "right now on e-Bay" shows lots of non-LEGO products.

Posted by kempo81 in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 06:03

great work on the site @Huw and i really like the idea of the eBay tab and how it shows the sets in my wanted list. if the placing on the homepage isn't ideal for it, what about having the eBay panel located in the "Buy" tab. it could be situated directly under the "shop.LEGO.com quick shopper" panel? just a suggestion to add to the pile ;o)

anyways what ever gets decided the site is awesome as ever and thanks for all the hard work that goes into it :o)

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 28 Oct 2011 06:03

@Huw: Why won't eBay and Brickset fit together like LEGO bricks?... :P

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 08:52

ebay works great, except the Republic Frigate is on there right now for me, and it's not on my wanted list. Same with some other sets. Sorry to complain so much, but I'm just not getting if it shows you wanted sets, or a LEGO search.

Posted by CianD in Ireland, 28 Oct 2011 09:35

Should probably enable amazon.co.uk for Irish un-logged-in if its not already, we don't have our own Amazon store and use that one - they even have an Irish warehouse, offices, data centres etc but no intent for a specific .ie store.

Posted by Joefish in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 11:18

The eBay strip looks cheap and awful. Poor pictures of scrappy parts, clone brands and misleading descriptions mar the quality of the clear images and information people have come to expect from this site.

Posted by Thrund in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 11:20

@ Thomson & Thompson - I imagine it uses the same search as on the set detail pages. As you've probably seen on those, sometimes a different set or a part will be a partial match for the set number, and show up under the eBay entries.

Posted by The Reviewer in United States, 28 Oct 2011 11:31

I not allowed to buy on ebay for some reason so this ebay bar is useless for me. (I know this is off topic) But what happend to random Bricklist for the day?

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 28 Oct 2011 12:28

Don't worry guys; Huw has already said that the eBay banner is temporary. :P

Posted by bloei in Netherlands, 28 Oct 2011 12:30

I am from the Netherlands, the ebay.nl bar is not showing lego at all but rather other stuff, like camera's, pillows, teddybears etc. very annoying.

Posted by KillDeer in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 13:12

My ebay bar is showing nothing. its not even showing white space where I assume the content would be its compressed down on top of the new additions to the database

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 28 Oct 2011 13:15

@KillDeer: Have you tried Ctrl + F5? Or clearing your cache?

Posted by modena in Italy, 28 Oct 2011 13:30

I would have preferred having an Italiaan version of Shop.Lego.com. I mean that the location would be automatically set when you set when you enter Brickset.

Posted by modena in Italy, 28 Oct 2011 13:31

@Alemas You should be an administrator. Sai gia molto su Brickset, sarei un amministratore fantastico! Forza Alemas! (That was in Italian!)

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 13:40

^ If number of comments posted was a criterion, he'd be the owner by now.

;)

Posted by Nightshroud99 in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 13:43

The new at ebay tab doesn't list anything at all.

Posted by KillDeer in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 14:11

I refreshed a bunch of times. Cleared my cache. Restarted my browser a few times... its still blank.

http://i.imgur.com/O72YM.png

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Oct 2011 15:57

@Killdeer, someone else has reported that problem with Chrome, but I can't replicate it. Can you try another browser to confirm that that is the cause? Do you have any ad blockers installed?

@modena unfortunately LEGO don't operate an affiliate scheme in Italy so there is no product feed available. I could probably scrape the site to get the prices but from a purely selfish point of view it wouldn't be worth my while and I'd be sending traffic to LEGO.com from Italy for no reward.

Posted by bluemodern in United States, 28 Oct 2011 16:10

I don't really like the ebay banner at the top. I think it makes the site look less nice. Also, on mine it showed ebay stores that had above suggested retail price for current sets which is pretty useless (the airport Bricks and More set for $24 and $22 when you buy it about anywhere for $20). Could you show the sales & deals page from lego.com? I think that might be more helpful to people.

Also, I found my childhood lego bricks and found some old catalogs that have prices for stuff that is not listed on brickset. How would I go about giving it to someone to edit (if they had the time to do it anyway)?

Posted by KillDeer in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 16:11

@Huw DOH! I'm such a dork yes. As seen in my screenshot the big red stop sign with ABP in the Address bar is AdBlock Plus. I disabled it for Brickset and poof... theres the ebay ads. Sorry I didnt even think of that but thanks for reminding me.

Posted by modena in Italy, 28 Oct 2011 16:23

Hmm... I just thought of YouTube. When someone replies to your comment, you get an email notification. Maybe that could be a future target? Email notifications for replied comments? To solve that a 'Reply' button can help! But excellent job anyway Huw, one day Brickset might... Be available on holograms around your bedroom... ???

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 18:40

I found some thing new! Huw has listed all the retail prices from all over the world for a set! Look here:

http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Star%20Wars&year=2011

and click on the "view more" link for any set.

Posted by TooMuchLEGO in United States, 28 Oct 2011 18:50

@Alemas: But I didn't, very helpful Thompson & Thompson.

@Modena: Then everyone would wait three seconds then the PC would say "YOU'VE GOT MAIL!" Lookin' at you, Alemas. :P . (Just kidding)

Posted by Skywalker1966 in United States, 28 Oct 2011 20:49

@Joefish: I have to agree. I doesn't particularly look bad, but LEGO is not directly getting any money for this. If Huw especially wants to keep this, he should add something where you can toggle between "New at LEGOshop.com" and the "New on eBay" tickers. For that matter, I adding a "One Sale at Amazon.com" feature would be good... It is annoying having to dig through piles of Amazon.com ads. This would be quicker and would allow for easier scrolling through good deals.

@Modena: That might be sort of weird. :P That might just cause a lot of spamming. Besides, you can always send personal messages to someone via their profiles. If, of course, they have it set for you to be able to do that. Now that I think about it, that would kill the point of letting you turn off the personal messages feature.

Posted by EliteLeader99/brickboy2 in United States, 28 Oct 2011 20:53

Hey thats nice Huw although, I think lego bar is more affective... my opinion.

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 22:22

^Ditto, IMHO.

Posted by Nightshroud99 in Canada, 28 Oct 2011 23:06

Disabling ad-block made it work for me :)

Posted by BrickBob09 in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 03:54

In my Chrome, the bar works fine. Generally it's working ok, but occasionally a set that's not on my wish list will appear (it is still LEGO though so I don't mind too much.)

However, when I click on a product and it takes me to the eBay page it then shows me that it's located in the USA, whereas on Brickset in shows the cost in £, and gives the impression that it is located in the UK. The reason I don't want USA located LEGO off eBay is because the P&P price is always so much larger.

So my question is this: Would it be possible to show only LEGO located in your own country, or will the interationally located LEGO going to always appear as it is still on eBay.co.uk.

@LEGOSLUG; IMHO generally means 'in my humble/honest opinion'. :P

Posted by LostInTranslation in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 03:59

^^ Then why did you ask??
@Huw, thanks for updating the mobile news site. Time zone is now showing correctly. Will we have to adjust our settings tonight for changing the clocks though or is the site clever enough to do it for us?

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 04:48

Guys (and you know who you are) this is not a chat room - if you want to do that then please take it offline.

To all : please keep comments relevant and interesting to the wider readership rather than having 1:1 discussions on here. Thanks.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 08:42

@Lost, the server is on 'Eastern Time' which is currently UTC-5. The clocks change in that zone to UTC-4 next weekend, so for a week they will be an hour out for us in the UK. There probably is a fix but one that's probably not worth discovering and implementing just for a week.

@everyone, the eBay custom banner provides little control over what it displays. I send it search terms and it does the rest. If it doesn't find matching items it shows anything it thinks is relevant. As far as showing US items on the eBay.co.uk bar, well, if the seller ships to the UK then it's listed on eBay.co.uk as well as eBay.com and therefore you can expect them to show up in it.

Posted by BrickBob09 in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 08:43

@Huw; Ok, I understand now. I'll just have to ignore any irrelevant eBay listings. Most of the time they're fine, it's just the odd occasion.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 29 Oct 2011 11:56

Ok, I change my opinion of the Ebay listings. I just got (Well I think I have) A 200$ Death Star from the listings! Everything checked out as legitimate and I will be receiving it at Christmas. (Hopefully, still haven't heard back from the seller) I still think it should be moved, but I do think it could be a very useful tool in the future.
P.S. I believe I've spotted another update, when I sign in, under the bars are a "IF you are having trouble singing in on IE then press F1" Is this new? Thanks on all the great updates Huw! :)
P.P.S Not to be annoying Huw, but what happened to the 'Review of the Week?" Was it moved to the-Under 16 excluding-forum? :P

Posted by The Guy With The Bricks in United States, 29 Oct 2011 12:10

I, for one, am glad for the forum age rules. The conversation tends to be civil and free of one on one discussions, personal antidotes, exasperation with the site owners ("why is this on here, I thought this site was for new set news, not this!"), and condescending tones ("duh, you didn't know that already, I did"). The forum doesn't function as a glorified chat room, and that is due to the age restrictions.

Back to the topic, I can't see myself ever buying something straight off of the Ebay banner. I always do careful research before buying anything there, never "Wow I want that set and there it is I'll buy it now!" Having said that, I don't think the aesthetics of the banner are overly troublesome, so out would not bother me if it stayed permanently.

Posted by BJMdotLEGO in Belgium, 29 Oct 2011 13:42

Just discovered the "Buy" tab on a set's page, and while it's a great addition, it's hard to compare prices between the various Amazon branches when one is in UK Pounds and the others are in Euro.

There is a "US$ equivalent" column for the S@H prices -- would it be possible to allow us to configure this to our preferred currency (in my case: euro)?

Showing the current date as the end date in the "Availability" field is kind of confusing.

While I'm on that topic: why isn't Amazon.co.uk shown on this one: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=10216-1 ? Screenshot: http://imgur.com/cjtVa . Sure, currently there are no decent prices for this set, but without the entry being there we can't look at the price history either.

WRT to the eBay banner above and the eBay presence on the individual set pages: can't say I care much about them, especially since they show the French language version of the Belgian eBay store instead of the Dutch one, but they don't really bother me. (They would have bothered me even less if I didn't have to disable my ad blocker for this website, because otherwise I couldn't see which Amazon branch a particular price was from.)

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 29 Oct 2011 13:49

It seems as if the clone brands have disappeared from the eBay banner, thankfully... :P

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 29 Oct 2011 14:00

Its new, never opened. My Mom thought it was too good to be true, but she did a lot of research and it it turned out to be legitimate. Guess I'll find out when I get it (It has a 7 day full refund guarantee and Ebay buyer protection warranty) Is it possible he bought a bunch (There were 36 for sale) of wholesale Lego's? Is there such a thing?

Posted by Dlyaaf in Russian Federation, 29 Oct 2011 15:40

It doesn't show availability status anymore. Is it going to be permanent?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 29 Oct 2011 16:07

^ It's now on the buy tab.

Posted by rnychka in United States, 29 Oct 2011 23:10

The ebay links seem to cheapen the site and it looks more like advertising now.... typically the LEGO available was great since I knew which sets were now released. Most of the time you can find rumors of new sets, but sometimes LEGO releases a set that isn't rumored to be released and it is a great find.

Posted by CharlieTheFunEngine in Australia, 30 Oct 2011 00:05

Huw, if you click Cars in the browse tab, it take you to the Dino page. :P

Comment timezone is incorrect, also. I am in Brisbane, it is 14:05, comment is display Sydney's time, 15:05. We do not change our clocks in Brisbane.

Posted by tdh-br in United States, 30 Oct 2011 01:53

I skimmed all 88 comments and didn't notice this, so maybe it's just me. It appears that now on any set details page, the original RRP is no longer listed (although the number of parts and the price per part are). The RRP does show up in a list of items (such as search "Fire," and everything that comes up in the list has original RRP). Even sets currently available do not have RRP listed on the details page.

I very much miss having the RRP on the set details page. I often use the search box to jump straight to a set, and original RRP is one of the most important details. I don't really want to have to do the math every time, or search another (less efficient) way. Am I doing something wrong, or is it really gone? And do others miss it?

Posted by BJMdotLEGO in Belgium, 30 Oct 2011 03:19

^ The RRP is now by country in the "Buy" tab of a set. Well, actually, the RRP was never there, just the price the item had on S@H -- and that one is now by country in the "Buy" tab. Which makes the "Price per piece" indicator a bit strange, of course.

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 30 Oct 2011 06:05

The RRP still appears on the set page when I look; maybe this is a country-specific issue ?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 30 Oct 2011 06:19

^ That's because I read the comments above and decided to reinstate it there, but only in USD and GBP :-) Other currencies, and the availability dates, are now in the buy tab and will remain there.

Posted by legoman67 in Netherlands, 30 Oct 2011 13:56

I rather like to see new at LEGOshop.com than an eBay panel. For the last I go to eBay. Personally I believe that Brickset should feature the latest news in the LEGO world on the main paige.

Posted by BooMakuta! in United States, 30 Oct 2011 13:56

When's the survey? I got a suggestion about the site.

Posted by rnychka in United States, 30 Oct 2011 22:11

I still don't like it. My first impression was that brickset had "sold out" to ebay. I know this isn't true, but today I clicked on the ebay link for the $200 Death Star and spent a good 15 minutes googling if it was true or not (it is a scam it seems). However, I would have never looked at ebay for this originally and it turned out to be a waste of time for me. Definitely do not like the updates.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 31 Oct 2011 03:28

^^ I'll kick the annual user survey off in a week or so.

Posted by rnychka in United States, 31 Oct 2011 11:12

However, thanks for the front page update on the Death Star scam! I hope it helps some that are looking to buy a great gift for their kids for Christmas not get burnt!

Posted by yys4u in United States, 01 Nov 2011 00:31

Doesn't it make more sense that when your LOGGED on for amazon to only show sales for YOUR country and when your not for it show it for all?

Sorry if this has been asked before, didn't have time to read all the comments.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 01 Nov 2011 05:13

^ No, because (a) if you're logged on you can control what you want to see anyway, and people in Aus. for example may want to see Amazon.fr alerts given they can buy from there much cheaper. (b) if you're not logged on then the plethora of alerts might discourage you from readind and investigating the site further.

Posted by yys4u in United States, 01 Nov 2011 09:58

@Huw ah gotcha. That does make more sense I guess.

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 01 Nov 2011 10:29

Good news! The Amazon alerts are now hidden: http://www.brickset.com/news/?October-2011

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 01 Nov 2011 16:45

rnychka: Are you talking about the same Death Star I just bought? I hope not... Could you describe the details of the Death Star you saw? Thanks.

Posted by rnychka in United States, 01 Nov 2011 22:52

Looks like the auction and user have been pulled from ebay (thankfully since at one point 14 had been sold!). The seller was: http://myworld.ebay.com/yan-xiap8/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Posted by jon11380 in United Kingdom, 02 Nov 2011 02:51

Hi Huw,

I have noticed that a news story is not showing at home. This is despite me never playing with any settings. I have realised this because I can see the story regarding the new blue Creator car at work but not at home. Why is that?

Posted by jmupton2000 in United Kingdom, 02 Nov 2011 06:17

Still getting an Ebay section filled with crap clone brands at the moment which cheapens everything about the front page IMHO.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 02 Nov 2011 19:16

rnychka: "Sigh" My mom will be ticked when I tell her that, "It almost seems TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE"-My mom :P
I do, however, have E-bay buyer protection, so I will receive a full refund. I'm guessing the "Good" reviews were profiles made by the seller also :( I'll probably never buy from E-Bay again. Me, my mom and dad checked it out for a good half hour and it seemed as legitimate as any other Lego set...bummer :(

Commenting has ended on this article.