bricklink.com sold!

I’m not as immediately frightened as you may be; I’ve played several Nexon games and have found that company to be very professional. It is my hope that Nexon refines BrickLink with the same level of courteousness, professionalism, and streamlined feel that they have with other properties they own.

On the other side of this same coin, I’m not a fan of this move, since Nexon is a ruthless monetizing force, and I expect significant monthly charges soon for existing stores regardless of traffic. The moment this happens, I close mine. BrickLink may become more expensive for both sellers, and then for buyers as these charges push up the overhead and thus the prices of all brick.

Thirdly, my cynicism and doomsday thinking kicks in fully: since Nexon is a corporate entity, it is very reasonable and possible in the medium and long term future (although unlikely given the company’s consumer-based philosophy) that they can be bought by LEGO itself, desiring to shut down the third-party brick market entirely.

Thoughts?

Do you own a parts store, either on Bricklink or your own custom site? Rebrickable is currently waiving the usual small monthly fee and offering a free three month trial period for listing your store.
Rebrickable has some great features that help users buy the LEGO parts they need. Thanks toa number of new features, buying parts in bulk couldn’t be easier:
1. Find a Set or MOC you want to build (or import your own parts/cad file)
2. Get the list of parts you are missing
3. List the stores that stock those parts and automatically pick the cheapest ones
4. Automatically add parts to your shopping cart or wanted list for the store(s) that offer your parts.
The more stores that take part in this, the better the user experience will be. Stores that are interested in participating canread some details hereor emailsupport@rebrickable.com.

Competition, how does it work? It might take a while, but even if BrickLink corporatizes too much for the sake of the almighty dollar, someone will rise to fill the void. It’s already starting.