Lego marketplace BrickLink in pieces after 'unusual activity' takes it offline for almost a week
Lego-owned marketplace BrickLink has been offline for almost a week after identifying "unusual activity on the platform," leaving fans unable to buy and sell spare bricks and minifigures.
Key points
- Known as the eBay of Lego, it has been down for three days and is yet to disclose what caused the shutdown.
- NXMH had bought BrickLink in 2013 and also owned Sohobricks, a South Korean manufacturer of unofficial but Lego-compatible bricks.
- "This work is still ongoing and we appreciate your patience while we work to get things back online as soon as possible." The references to security, containment, and investigation suggest something beyond routine maintenance, although BrickLink has not confirmed whether it suffered a cyberattack.
That warrants more than a splash page." BrickLink was launched by Dan Jezek in June 2000 as an independent marketplace for enthusiasts to buy and sell Lego sets and individual pieces, including discontinued parts and rare minifigures.
Additional details
- The Lego Group acquired BrickLink and Sohobricks from investment outfit NXMH in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.
- "Imagine how much better this would have been received if they were transparent from day one instead of pretending they have control over something they clearly don't," said one disgruntled Legohead via Reddit.
- The AFOL community was initially concerned about Big Brick's intention with the acquisition, fearing that it would lead to high prices closer to those on Lego's own Pick a Brick parts-ordering service.
- Some adult fans of Lego (AFOL) have criticized the lack of information since the outage began on Friday, November 6.
- "Our immediate priority was to secure the site, protect our members and ensure the integrity of BrickLink.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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