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 Shop-At-Home Store 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 a set price. And of course don’t forget about buying sets on sale. 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…. Shop for LEGO on Amazon10,000 1x2 roof tiles that I ordered once. I had to call the LEGO factory and place the order directly with them.I would recommend three methods: ordering via the LEGO "Pick a Brick" service, buying off of BrickLink, or going to a LEGO Store location. They each have their own pros and cons.
/en-US/Pick-...LEGO has a section of their online store that actually lets you order large volumes of individual bricks. This is the most convenient choice because it's (relatively) easy to use, their selection is robust, and it's very reliable in terms of product quality and shipping. Downsides are that it only includes parts currently being manufactured which excludes lots of interesting older designs and it can be more expensive than BrickLink. /You can think of BrickLink as eBay for LEGO bricks. This is the most flexible choice because it's got lots of out-of-date parts, sellers from many locations (if shipping time matters), and some of the cheapest prices. However, it's a fairly confusing website, increased risk of being peer-to-peer, and if you're going for very large volumes you sometimes have to piece together multiple orders across several vendors./en-us/storesAs far as I know, all LEGO Stores feature bins of individual LEGO pieces that you can buy in any quantity you want. This is an extremely limited selection and (I believe) it's the most expensive, but it's definitely the most immediate choice.
You can window shop, get inspired, and walk home with your pieces that day. It's particularly good for kids who want custom parts, since they can see the pieces in person and make decisions that way.Bargain Bricks sells high quality, used Legos at a fraction of the price. They are well known for their positive sales record and guarantee a happy buying experience. Their site specializes in Legos by the pound. This means that you can order anywhere between 1-25+ pounds of Legos at a time. Please visit the site for more details and to order.Bargain BricksNow why is this the best way to get bulk Lego?Some Lego sets, pick-a-brick stores and sites like Brick Link charge at a bare minimum $20-$30 for a pound of Lego. Now if you’re looking to save money Bargain Bricks offers a flat rate, cheap Lego option. I ordered 3 pounds of Legos from them for only $45 and I was impressed by how high quality the Lego turned out to be! Ordering from Bargain Bricks is definitely the way to go.Previous post: LEGOLAND Florida bus sighting…
Next post: Add some bling to your LEGO! Building the new LinkedIn Logo in LEGO bricks for the Mountain View lobby required me to buy a huge number of specific bricks in the same color. This is useful because you can order any brick in production. Limitations are that you cannot order bricks that are out of production, and fulfillment times are often 10-15 business days for large orders.2) Fax an order to LEGO. The LinkedIn logo required over 5,000 blue 2x8 bricks as the primary component of the construction. For large, detailed orders you can call the LEGO store at 1-800-835-4386, and they will give you a fax number for the order. Unfortunately, fulfillment times here depend on brick type - I ended up waiting 6-7 weeks for some components of the order. Also, LEGO seems to have no concept of shipping notifications or tracking for orders placed this way.3) Local LEGO stores "Pick a Brick". I used both the Valley Fair and Hillsborough stores to acquire bricks at times. You can buy bricks three ways: a small cup for $7.99, a large cup for $14.99, and an entire box for $70.
As you can imagine, you are somewhat limited by your ability (or patience) in terms of cramming different brick types into containers. Most clerks will tell you that you can't buy bricks by the box - they are mistaken. Ask to talk to a manager, and they will sell you a box, but only if they have more than one in the back. They are not allowed to sell "the last box."The biggest limitation of this approach is that not only do stores not stock all brick types or colors, they also have no ability to "special order" Pick-a-Brick bricks. They get fulfillment once a week, and have no control over which bricks they receive. The trick is to call ahead, and be flexible with your design to adapt to the bricks they do have.4) Bricklink. For example, getting 20-30 small 1x2 tiles to finish off the base edges of the lettering. Bricklink is relatively slow on fulfillment, and it's common to get bricks that are discolored by age or cleaning. This means they may not match other orders of a similar brick.