Buying Bulk LEGO
Yard sales and thrift stores can be very hit-and-miss. When you find them you can get great bargains, but most of the time it’s not fruitful unless you have other reasons to shop there.
When I built my Pokemon sculptures, I was able to do that using a bulk brick tub that lego was selling at the time (set #3033). I bought about 20 of those at $20 each and still ran out of certain parts – that’s why Squirtle’s tail was so small. Sadly, that tub was discontinued a few years ago and the bulk tubs that are available more recently haven’t had nearly as good of an assortment or as good of a price per brick.
Probably the easiest way to get cheap parts is to shop on BrickLink. It’s an online shopping mall just for LEGO. Sellers buy sets in bulk (generally when they have clearance sales at retail stores) and sort the parts, putting the individual pieces on their stores. Then you can go in and order any part in quantity. It’s an awkward site to use, but I think the best way is to start at the Catalog tab, find the part you want in the color you want, and then find a store that has them in sufficient quantity. (Disclaimer: I have my own BrickLink store.)
There’s also bulk brick available from LEGO; usually they’re a lot more expensive that way but once in a while you can find some real bargains. Look for the “Pick-A-Brick” in the LEGO Factory and if you have a LEGO store in your nearby mall, they have an in-person pick-a-brick wall where you can fill up a plastic cup with LEGO parts for $13.
And of course don’t forget about buying sets on sale. Look at your local Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, or Wal-Mart for clearance sales, and check Web sites online such as Amazon.com and others. Check for sales at LEGO Shop-At-Home (and try their phone number too, as they have weekly phone-only sales as well).
If you know any other good ways to find bulk LEGO at economical prices, please post it here as a comment….
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[...] Buying Bulk LEGO [...]
December 25th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Although I liked the LEGO pick-a-brick site, it didnt include every brick/component from every kit LEGO sells – just “some bricks”.
I’d love to see a “bulk” way to purchase, say, 20 or 30 Mindstorms NXT Motor “bricks”, 5 “Intelligent bricks” (NXT Controllers), and a handful of sensors, and have that be enough of a “bulk purchase” to warrant a substantial cost savings.
In the meanwhile, I’ll just keep tearing apart the old robots to build new ones, I guess. :-)
December 25th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Well you can buy those parts individually, but you won’t get much of a price break… http://www.legoeducation.com/
December 30th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Plus there is buying them on ebay by the pound. if lucky you can get large lots for $5 per pound.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Very true. I’ve had some success searching for “lego pound” or “lego pounds” but it can be very much hit-and-miss.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Bill – thanks for the lead! http://www.legoeducation.com/ does indeed give me some purchasing options I didn’t know I had- that after searching around on LEGO’s web-store for quite a while.
Looks like they’ll be seeing some of my “discretionary budget” as soon as I’ve got any of that again! :-)
…OK gotta get back to building… :-)
Best regards, and Happy New Year!
-pbr
January 6th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Glad I could help!
May 31st, 2009 at 5:22 pm
You can also make some inexpensive LEGO type motors like this one.
http://www.legohacks.blogspot.com
February 4th, 2010 at 11:57 am
I have had luck over the past few years purchasing frmo the lego stores. Once a year or so I will make a purchase of $600-$1000 and can usually get them to give me 15% off. This is easier if you ask for an additional 15% free rather then reducing the cost.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I’m not sure if that’s something the clerks at the LEGO store are supposed to do, but congrats. Another great way to get LEGO store discounts is to attend LEGO conventions where you can get 20% off your purchase at the LEGO store that weekend just for showing your convention badge, and there’s usually a chance to get “scratch & dent” sets for up to half off, and then there’s all the free prizes handed out at the convention. For example, Bricks by the Bay is just 2 months away… http://www.bricksbythebay.com
February 7th, 2010 at 2:01 am
hey guys, I was wondering if you can help me out with a project I’m developing which includes lego. Im basically developing a training program for businesses, and part of it includes teamwork and leadership etc. So, I am looking for the BIG GIANT LEGO bricks and a lot of them so i can provide these people with activities and such. Would you know where i can aquire these? or atleast an idea?
February 7th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Not sure what you mean by “BIG GIANT LEGO” but if you mean Duplo, the bricks that are 2x in each dimension compared to regular LEGO bricks, you should be able to find them at all the same places listed in the article.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:05 am
Thanks , but i was actually thinking along the lines of lunablocks dimensions if you know what i mean…. BIG!
February 8th, 2010 at 7:48 am
LEGO doesn’t make those.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I found a great site that organizes a bunch of links for bulk lego purchases: http://www.snazzindustries.com/bulk-bricks.html
It has the same old regular blah about bricklink but actually has some interesting links I had never seen before. Like some lego education stuff where you actually can get a bunch of nxt bricks for much cheaper than normal.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Bill,
My next computer build will include Lego bricks for housing the motherboard, cpu, power supply and hard drive. Do you know anyone in BayLug who has done this before?
See you this Saturday at the meeting.
Joel