Welcome to my Bricklink buying guide!
If you’ve recently bought one of my instructions and found yourself having a hard time buying from Bricklink (BL), this tutorial is for you. This page aims to help you optimize your parts buying experience by helping you navigate around the BL site, tweaking settings to help your buying experience, and talk about using the XML file included in my Instruction products.
Note that this page will not discuss other topics not listed in the Contents below. This was purely intended to help people who bought my instructions find the parts they needed to assemble.
This guide will also not discuss how to get parts via other websites or means. It is intended to be used only with Bricklink.com as a parts source.
If you are a first time user of Bricklink, I highly suggest making an account so you have access to settings and the wishlist option.
While you can browse parts without logging in, you will still need to log in upon checkout and you run the risk of not having your cart items save.
GUIDE CONTENTS
- Bricklink site overview
- Buying parts manually
- Wanted / Wishlist Feature (requires log in)
- Using the Wishlist to buy pieces
- Using and explaining the XML upload process
1. Bricklink Site Overview
1 – Search Bar. Input either the item description or the Part ID
2 – Log in / User area. Manage your BL account here. You also need to login to access your wishlist.
3 – Cart area. Section where you can see which stores you’re currently shopping in.
Other Buttons:
Market – On mouse hover, shows a drop down menu for navigating the different market sections of Bricklink.
Studio – Section for Custom MOC designs.
Community – Access various community sections of Bricklink such as Forums and member search.
The Parts Section
Access the Parts section either by clicking the section image in the main page or hovering the Market button and selecting Parts.
Upon clicking a part category, you then see the different elements under that part category. I suggest choosing between two views (list / thumbnail).
After selecting a specific element, you will proceed to seeing the element page and shown various information.
Selecting a color allows you to see the market details of that piece in your chosen color (next image).
Use the dropdown menu above the piece’s thumbnail to select color. To see price guide info, simply select a color under the Price Guide column. You can also trace where the part comes from under the “Item Appears In” links.
You’re mostly looking at the “Current Items for Sale:” columns here. Green boxes mean the vendor ships to your address and a red box means they do not. Other info about the piece’s market value is shown here.
2. Buying Parts Manually
Upon clicking a store (preferably Green Box: one that ships to you), you will be directed to the part’s listing in that store in its specific color. You can then input the quantity you need the item in and either keep on shopping or proceed to checkout.
Clicking the Part ID code link (26604 in the example image) will display all the 26604 color variations for that shop. In the same way, clicking the Bricks > Modified link will display all the parts under that part category. You can also access other part categories using the menu on the left hand side.
Browsing by color shows parts under color categories instead of part categories.
As an example, I’ve placed 10 for my desired quantity and checked my cart. If you see the “Minimum Buy not met” then this means the store has a minimum purchase amount needed to allow you to check out. Some stores also have different policies so it is recommended to check the store’s Terms tab just under the store info bar / beside the store’s search bar.
Once you meet the store’s requirement for purchasing, review your cart and click proceed to checkout where you’ll have to confirm your shipping and payment options.
3. Wanted / Wishlist Feature
A faster way to buy from Bricklink stores is to populate your Wanted / Wishlist. You can input specifically what item, color, quantity, condition (new / used), and price range you want the pieces in.
You can make different lists for different purposes (by project for example or by build)
A. Using the Wishlist to buy pieces
Clicking the [Easy Buy] button in the previous photo will have Bricklink automatically search stores that fit your criteria for a list and estimate your total cost per store and total for all stores.
You can also populate your cart within a store via your wanted list by clicking the Wanted List option under the Shop tab. This will show items the store has that are also in your wanted list, along with the parameters you set for those items (quantity, max price).
B. Using and explaining the XML upload process
Bricklink also allows for various ways to upload and auto-generate a wanted list from various sources such as Stud.Io or LEGO Digital Designer files (these are both digital building software).
If you have bought any of my instructions, you also have an XML file as part of your downloads. This is a coded parts list generated from my working model in Mecabricks (online browser-based building program just like LDD / Stud.io) and can be uploaded to Bricklink.
How to upload an XML
Step 1. Open the XML file in your browser. You need to be able to see the syntax of the XML formatting.
Step 2. Copy the XML syntax starting from <INVENTORY> until </INVENTORY> to Bricklink’s XML uploader. You can choose to have the XML populate an existing Wanted List or make an entirely new one (recommended if you’re uploading an XML from my instructions and label the list as the build).
Click the [Proceed to verify items] button to continue.
Step 3. Enter other parameters (Condition, Max Price, Remarks). Click [Add to Wanted List] to continue.
Step 4. Wanted list is now populated with the XML parts list contents. You can now use this to shop using the [Easy Buy] in your account’s Wanted List (recommended) or by populating it when shopping inside a Bricklink store.
Hope this helps you in buying the parts for any of my instructions and good luck with the Bricklink shopping! 🙂