[gishh]

Umm. I guess not?

> Six years ago, I wrote that it was a terrible idea for LEGO to acquire Bricklink and revisiting some of my thoughts I expressed then, it sure seems like there’s some dodgy stuff happening behind the scenes.

> To be fair, I acknowledge that there may be compliance challenges operating in some of these countries, where things like local laws, logistics, import restrictions etc may make it difficult for LEGO/Bricklink to do their business there, but surely there could’ve been a better way to communicate this, or invite community feedback instead of turning the whole site off in 2 weeks.

[jacquesm]

Bricklink was acquired from the mother of the guy (who died) that started it by some asian 'entrepreneur' who then turned around and sold it to Lego, whose only long term interest always was shutting it down. The secondary market hurts their sales for new sets, or so they believe.

[pimlottc]

Why the scare quotes for 'entrepreneur'? From what I can tell, the purchaser was a legitimate and very successful software publisher, one of the richest men in South Korea. Furthermore, he ran the site for 6 years before selling it to Lego, actively developing new features like the free Studio design software. It sounds like he only sold it due to personal financial issues after a failed software deal [0].

I agree that Lego owning BrickLink created a big conflict of interests but there doesn't seem to be anything shady about how they acquired it.

0: https://pulse.mk.co.kr/news/english/9084691

[teruakohatu]

> The secondary market hurts their sales for new sets, or so they believe.

I think the secondary market drives sales. People need to believe that the overpriced sets they are purchasing, never open, and stash in the attic will make them a fortune on the secondary market one day.

[jmonty900]

Even if there were significant challenges in some countries, certainly other countries on this list didn't deserve the 2 week treatment. Lego's actions here are very sketchy.

"We appreciate your understanding, - The BrickLink Team"

Understanding of what? They didn't describe the situation that lead to their decision to unilaterally apply the same treatment to all of these countries.

[jacquesm]

Corpspeak should be illegal. It so pisses me off that companies always harm your interests while telling you it is to serve you better. Clearly it's not, stop lying.

[georgefrowny]

I don't think it's a new thing - no always has been.jog please - but the older I get the more it seems that the relationship between companies and customers (and especially non-customers in the receiving end of some externality) is really quite a lot more adversarial than the happy-clappy magic market doctrine makes out.