BrickLink Discussion Forum

Yes, there will be an email too.

In Administrative, BricksThatStick writes:

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Dear all,

We have been made aware that phishing emails have been sent to some of our members,
asking them to log in to "Bricklinks.net" (note the s in the name)

This is an attempt to get people to share their BrickLink login information.
Please do not try to log on as there is a risk that the information will be
used to illegally access your BrickLink account.

We would like to remind you that we have implemented OTP (One-Time PIN) which
is an additional security that even if they have gotten access to your username
and password, they will not be able to access your account if you have turned
on OTP.

If you have not chosen to use OTP, we advise that you consider doing so in the
future. You can read more about how to turn on OTP here:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2615&q=OTP

Please update your BrickLink password regularly and make sure to use different
passwords for different platforms.

The BrickLink Team

Thanks for this Tanja...

Is this information also being sent as a genuine email to the whole userbase?
(the 99.9% of members who won't see this forum message)

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Mar 4, 2024 15:25

Subject:

Phishing email

Viewed:

598 times

Topic:

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jan 10, 2024 14:48

Subject:

Re: Important update reg. Ukraine and Russia

Viewed:

119 times

Topic:

Dear Moty5305,

Given that the LEGO Group has ceased all commercial operations in Belarus, we
also had to stop all BrickLink transactions going to and from Belarus from February
2023. An email was shared with all Belarus members last year to inform about
this.

Very sorry for the inconvenience.

In Administrative, Moty5305 writes:

Good afternoon. Dear Bricklink support. I am writing to you regarding the work
of the site in my country.
I am interested in why in Belarus it is impossible to place an order from foreign
sellers? when placing an order through the cart
The site redirects to the post about temporary suspension of work in Russia due
to the war in Ukraine. but in the post itself it says ONLY about RUSSIA.
so why is Belarus also under restriction? because Belarus is not involved in
this conflict.

Regards: Moty5305

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Nov 8, 2023 14:08

Subject:

Re: Update on November 3rd incident

Viewed:

126 times

Topic:

We are seeing a high number of Helpdesk tickets related to entering the site
due to added security measures. We will be looking in to these, just giving everyone
impacted a heads up since we are not able to answer them all right away.

In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:

Dear BrickLink members,

Welcome back and thank you for your patience. We were down for longer than anyone
would have wanted. Now that we’re back up and running, we can share with you
what’s happened.

As many of you will know, we received a threat and ransom demand on Friday, November
3rd. We’d been aware of and actively managing some limited suspicious activity
since mid-October, with unauthorized sellers offering products at huge discounts
and fraudulently accepting payment from buyers.

As soon as we were aware of the potential escalation on November 3rd, we put
the site into maintenance mode out of an abundance of caution. We did this to
protect our members and keep complete control of the platform while investigating.

We found that a relatively small number of BrickLink accounts may have been accessed.
It is important to note that there is no evidence so far that our systems were
compromised.

At this stage we believe this was a ‘credential stuffing’ incident, where
someone obtains lists of usernames and passwords from a third party, often illegally,
and opportunistically tries to use them on a website.

Actions we’ve taken

Although we know that the BrickLink site was not breached, we've further
strengthened our security. We take the safety of BrickLink and our members very
seriously and will continue to step up security across the platform.

We’ve informed people where we have reason to believe that their accounts or
stores may have been impacted, and reminded members of ways they can make their
accounts safer and more secure by practicing good data security. Keep your systems
up-to-date with the latest patches, Use security software and create strong,
unique passwords for each website you use.

Again, we’re sorry for the interruption and inconvenience this has caused you.

If you have any questions or concerns, have a look at the FAQ for more details,
or reach out to customersupport@bricklink.com.

Many thanks,

Your BrickLink Team

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Nov 8, 2023 14:05

Subject:

Re: Update on November 3rd incident

Viewed:

120 times

Topic:

Thank you for all your kind thoughts!

For good reason we are currently experiencing a very high load on our systems
due to seller activity.

We understand that everyone is keen to get everything back in order so we have
temporarily paused the cart algorithm for the MOC Pop-up store to increase capacity.

In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Sep 6, 2023 18:56

Subject:

Re: MOC Pop-up Store is live

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

Dear all,

The purpose of this pilot is to understand if being able to buy building instructions
and elements that go with them is something that interrests members on BrickLink,
there are many things that can be improved for the future, some that we have
chosen not to invest in for the pilot and some that you are teaching us would
have value to you. Thank you for all the feedback, please keep it coming, good
and bad.

One thing I would like to touch upon is the process of selecting the designs.
A number of considerations have gone in to the decision, first and foremost we
were guided by the voting through BDP, then we looked at the size of the designs
wanting a good variation of variety and sizes, then we decided to narrow the
number of MOCs for the pilot because of the initial work required with and by
the designers, we also looked at the maturity or quality of the building instructions
and finally we had to consider element availability in the marketplace.

We hope to learn so much more about the desire for a MOC Pop-up Store on BrickLink,
so again, please share feedback and please keep in mind that this is a pilot

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Sep 6, 2023 15:11

Subject:

MOC Pop-up Store is live

Viewed:

465 times

Topic:

Dear BrickLink Members,

The pilot is now live!

We’re excited to announce the launch of the MOC Pop-Up Store featuring 41 fan
designs that were submitted to the BrickLink Designer Program in Series 1, with
more designs to be made available in October from Series 2.

Check it out to build some of your favorite BDP submissions!

From today until the middle of November, you can order elements and instructions
to build select BDP submissions through the BrickLink Marketplace and LEGO® Pick
a Brick. The pilot is available in select countries, see the FAQs for a complete
list.    

How to Purchase

1. Choose your stores—We'll do the heavy lifting and find a combination
of stores that carry all the elements you need to build these designs. Your options
will include a combination of BrickLink stores and LEGO. Pick a Brick to find
you the best deals possible!

2. Check out—We'll add the elements from the stores you've picked
and the digital building instructions to your cart so you can check out.

3. Get excited! Do a little happy dance when your elements arrive and
start building!

For further details, watch this explainer Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYw4itrayZQ

Learn more about the MOC Pop-Up Store pilot here and check out our FAQ:
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/moc-pop-up-store/faq.page

Finally, Marketplace Sellers can stock up on parts needed to fulfil elements
by referring to this file that is updated weekly:
https://bricklink.s3.amazonaws.com/BL_MOC_Pop_Up_Store_BOM.xml

Happy building!

The BrickLink Team

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jul 6, 2023 15:32

Subject:

Re: Announcing the MOC Pop-Up Store Pilot

Viewed:

108 times

Topic:

Nothing has been shared with anyone yet, at this point we do not have the complete
list of designers opting in to being part of the program and because of that
we are not able to share the list of elements, also once the designers opt in,
there is a task for them to make modifications to their designs which will also
have an impact on the parts lists.

We have selected designs for the pilot that are not only popular with the members
but also the ones with the parts more readily available on BrickLink in general,
because of that we should be pretty ok for the supply. Sharing the list with
everyone once it is ready will hopefully make for more designs to be realized
though. This means that the lead time for stocking up on these elements will
be short however it won't all have to happen prior to the launch, we assume
the designs will be sold throughout the entirety of the pilot.

Nothing was kept secret, but I understand that sharing this information in the
Terms of service only can seem like that. We are happy that this was brought
forward though because we need all the support we can get to improve the chances
of success for the pilot.

Thank you.

In Administrative, RecycledBrick writes:

We only reached out to a few big sellers to ask for their support to stock up
on certain parts because there is risk involved as explained earlier and the
pilot is only running for 10 weeks, however since we can see that this is perceived
as unfair

Any time when only a few selected, buyers, sellers or designers are asked their
opinion on something or given a list off parts to stock up on it is not just
perceived as unfair, it actually is

Did you think any of the sellers that were privately contacted would object to
something that will give them advantage over their competition?

Even if the list is given now, the rest of the sellers won't be able to stock
up on parts in time. We won't have resources and sources to get these parts.
These big sellers now have head start because BL/TLG views these sellers as
the most important and is willing to support their business by given them a head
start in secret.

It is not received as unfair, it is favoritism.

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jul 6, 2023 14:19

Subject:

Re: Announcing the MOC Pop-Up Store Pilot

Viewed:

87 times

Topic:

Thank you for your input.

We decided that a survey was not the best format in the dialogue with Sellers,
instead we have done a number of sounding board meetings with BrickLink members,
sellers, designers and buyers in a face to face format, allowing for dialogue.
Unfortunately no matter the format there will always be things that we don't
learn until we actually go live with an initiative, that is also why we truly
appreciate all the input we are getting.

I am sorry that you perceive us sharing the list with all as retracting something
as opposed to listening and reacting accordingly, especially because we intend
to continue to listen and adjust

Have a nice day.

The forum is not the greatest way to get feedback for something new like this.
You should send out a survey to all sellers asking for input to a few specific
questions and make your decisions based on that. Then when you make an announcement
on the forum, you can be confident your idea is supported by the vast majority
of BL and not have to make multiple retractions "live". It's called
getting your "ducks in a row".

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jul 6, 2023 14:02

Subject:

Re: Announcing the MOC Pop-Up Store Pilot

Viewed:

112 times

Topic:

Dear all,

Thank you for all your interest in the MOC Pop-Up Store, we truly value all your
input!

Our aim is to create a program that will make the most sense to all involved.
In a pilot setup everything will not be perfect but based on your input we will
be able to adjust for a potential future program.

During the pilot we are very focused on finding out whether this is in fact something
that is of interest and that it makes sense to continue building on in the future.

To avoid any misunderstandings we should clarify that all sellers on BrickLink
are considered in the check-out process for the MOC Pop-Up Store like any check-out
on the platform in general, we are not only working with a few invited sellers,
everyone is considered and the buyers will be able to choose which stores they
buy from.

We only reached out to a few big sellers to ask for their support to stock up
on certain parts because there is risk involved as explained earlier and the
pilot is only running for 10 weeks, however since we can see that this is perceived
as unfair, we have decided that we will make the aggregated list of elements
available to all prior to the launch of the pilot, this was always the intent
in a future setup just not for the pilot.

We appreciate that so many would like to support this initiative by securing
that as much inventory is available as possible, this will support us in proving
the success of the pilot.

The initial aggregated list of elements will be available once we know which
designers will choose to be part of the pilot, since we will continue to invite
select designers throughout the pilot, the list will be updated weekly thereafter.
The initial list should be available on the site in the beginning of August.
Pleas keep in mind that this list will still vary, some designers might not be
able to get their designs ready for the pilot after all and some designs might
not sell, we want to make that clear so that everyone understands the risk. The
list will include element ID, color, total nbr. of the same part used across
all designs and BrickLink ID.

Please do continue to share your input.

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

BrickLink is thrilled to announce the MOC Pop-Up Store pilot
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/moc-pop-up-store/about.page

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jul 5, 2023 16:16

Subject:

Re: Announcing the MOC Pop-Up Store Pilot

Viewed:

157 times

Topic:

Dear all,

Let me try to address the concerns in this thread.

The MOC Pop-up store is a pilot, a test to see if by adding Pick a Brick to the
mix in the MOC Pop-up store, we will be able to realize the fan designs that
do not end up being produced.
We know that without adding Pick a Brick we do not have the volumes available
in the marketplace to fulfill elements for many of the same design.

Investigating the best ways to accomplish getting these designs in to the hands
of the people who would like to build them, we checked in with quite a few BrickLink
Sellers and Buyers to get their perspective on the approach, we have applied
these perspectives to the best of our ability in a pilot setup.

Although we strongly believe that adding a new initiative like the MOC Pop-up
store to BrickLink will generate more sales for the Sellers on BrickLink (due
to added business from the MOC sales where many of the elements will not be available
through Pick a Brick) We have decided to take a buyers perspective on the decisions
we have made, because we believe that if this is not a feasible model from a
buyer perspective then there can be no MOC Pop-up store.

We reached out to a few of the largest sellers on BrickLink because this is a
pilot and it will only be running for about 10 weeks and we don’t know if this
will be a success or not, it would not be fair to ask more, smaller sellers to
take a risk of stocking up on elements when we do not know if they will sell
or not.

Fulfillment of orders is critical to the success of the pilot and we asked the
bigger sellers to take a chance on supporting this initiative in order to hopefully
be able to prove the success and move forward with a complete program in the
future - at which time we will not only be working with a select group of sellers.

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

BrickLink is thrilled to announce the MOC Pop-Up Store pilot
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/moc-pop-up-store/about.page

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Jul 5, 2023 15:04

Subject:

Announcing the MOC Pop-Up Store Pilot

Viewed:

714 times

Topic:

BrickLink is thrilled to announce the MOC Pop-Up Store pilot
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/moc-pop-up-store/about.page

Going live in late August! This is a test program that allows BrickLink
members to purchase digital building instructions and loose elements of select
BrickLink Designer Program submissions. Buyers will have the choice of ordering
exclusively through BrickLink Marketplace sellers or a combination of Marketplace
sellers and LEGO Pick a Brick. The program will run from August 29th through
mid-November, 2023, after which we will evaluate it and consider next steps.

With the MOC Pop-Up Store, members will be able to purchase the building instructions
and loose parts to build fan designs submitted to BDP Series 1 & Series 2 that
were not selected among the five Finalists for crowdfunding. MOC stands for “My
Own Creation,” a popular acronym for one’s own custom LEGO models popular in
the adult fan of LEGO (AFOL) community.

This creates a win-win-win situation for buyers that have fallen in love with
these designs during BDP crowd validation, BrickLink Marketplace sellers, and
fan designers that have put a huge effort in to their BDP designs. Designers
will receive 80 percent of the sale price of building instructions. The MOC Pop-Up
Store will reach new audiences and drive new sales to Marketplace sellers, while
offering new distribution and monetization opportunities for LEGO fan designers
on the BrickLink platform.

The MOC Pop-Up store is a pilot, so we are only inviting a select group of ~50
BDP fan designers to participate. Select fan designers will receive invitations
throughout July and early August. For questions (and we know you have them),
please visit the MOC Pop-Up Store FAQ
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/moc-pop-up-store/faq.page

Stay tuned for the launch in late August. We’re excited about bringing more fan
designs to life through the BrickLink Marketplace and LEGO Pick a Brick!

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Mar 8, 2023 15:01

Subject:

Re: We are live with BDP Voting

Viewed:

62 times

Topic:

In Administrative, SylvainLS writes:

In Administrative, Classicsmiley writes:

[…]
Thank you!
When I started voting on the models yesterday, there were voting buttons right
on each item on the list page, and I could see which ones I'd voted for.
Today, those buttons seem to be gone.
Could we please at least get an icon on each model in the list to show how we
voted? Also, being able to sort the list by "most-liked" or "least-liked"
would be useful in helping to navigate the list.

Thanks again.

-Joel

“Filtering out models that are already voted on is a good idea. Likely to be
added for Series 2. We had to remove the gallery view voting feature due to traffic
issues but will be added again shortly.” — Alex (BDP) https://forum.bricklink.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8759#p27560

Thank you Sylvain. I definitely agree to the suggestion about the filtering,
keep the suggestions coming.

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Mar 8, 2023 14:30

Subject:

We are live with BDP Voting

Viewed:

379 times

Topic:

Dear all,

We started BDP Series 1 Voting yesterday.

We are completely blown away by the amazing designs that were submitted during
the intake last month.

375 designs made it through to voting!

Don't miss your chance to support the designs that you like the best.
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/main.page

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 21, 2022 15:05

Subject:

Re: Article about a BrickLink data breach

Viewed:

239 times

Topic:

Dear all,

Thanks for your comments and curiosity around the details of this incident.

On reflection, our statement could have been clearer. In this instance, a member
of the community got in touch with us regarding their research findings. Based
on this, we took all precautionary measures to address the vulnerability they
raised and rolled out a fix in early November.

We appreciate they got in touch, but also want to assure everyone that at no
time was any data at risk.

We’re very serious about the security of Bricklink and will continue to take
all necessary steps to make sure the site and users’ data is safe

The BrickLink Team

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Dear BrickLink members,

A report has recently surfaced of a possible data breach on our website, BrickLink.com.
We can assure you, our members, that we have seen no evidence of any breach of
our systems and have no reason to believe that the data you entrust us with has
been compromised.

A short while ago, we were approached by a third party who offered their services
to fix several potential security loopholes they had identified. This third party
is not one of our suppliers and we did not request them to provide any analysis
or diagnosis of our systems.

When we did not engage the services of this third party, they apparently released
this “news” that a security breach could have happened on our site. Whereas it
is true that there is always a small possibility that data could be compromised
on any site, we feel this report unfairly portrays our website as unsafe.

We have invested substantially in our security system and are confident in its
ability to keep your data safe. In addition, we strictly follow the LEGO Group
standards for GDPR compliance and other legal requirements regarding the data
of our users.

Thanks for you attention, and please feel free to contact the Help Desk with
any questions you might have.

The BrickLink Team

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 17, 2022 15:33

Subject:

Re: Article about a BrickLink data breach

Viewed:

137 times

Topic:

In Administrative, macebobo writes:

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Please rest assured that we are taking these things very seriously.

That was not my take away from your initial post. It felt to me like "No big
deal, these bozos are just trying to scam us into using their product/service."

Fair enough! But that is not the case at all! That is never the case

Happy Holidays!

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 17, 2022 14:16

Subject:

Re: Article about a BrickLink data breach

Viewed:

149 times

Topic:

Please rest assured that we are taking these things very seriously.

In Administrative, macebobo writes:

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Yet. It is a vulnerability as stated in the article.

A short while ago, we were approached by a third party who offered their services
to fix several potential security loopholes they had identified. This third party
is not one of our suppliers and we did not request them to provide any analysis
or diagnosis of our systems.

When we did not engage the services of this third party, they apparently released
this “news” that a security breach could have happened on our site. Whereas it
is true that there is always a small possibility that data could be compromised
on any site, we feel this report unfairly portrays our website as unsafe.

Not unsafe, just vulnerable. Does this mean you are not taking it seriously and
are going to do nothing to remediate the identified attack vectors? (Two issues,
XSS and XXE attacks.)

We have invested substantially in our security system and are confident in its
ability to keep your data safe. In addition, we strictly follow the LEGO Group
standards for GDPR compliance and other legal requirements regarding the data
of our users.

Blah, blah, blah. Nothing to see here, ignore the minifig behind the curtain.

Thanks for you attention, and please feel free to contact the Help Desk with
any questions you might have.

The BrickLink Team

Link for those who did not see it yesterday: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lego-bricklink-bugs-let-hackers-hijack-accounts-breach-servers/

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 17, 2022 13:58

Subject:

Re: SIGNED OUT OF ACCOUNT AND CAN"T LOG BACK IN

Viewed:

80 times

Topic:

Technical Issues

In Technical Issues, superchicken77 writes:

I'm sure it has nothing to do with this.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lego-bricklink-bugs-let-hackers-hijack-accounts-breach-servers/

So, what's BL doing to fix this?

In Technical Issues, jeffhau2 writes:

I'm hoping a member or Administrator will see this and be able to provide
some guidance.

System logged me off and I'm unable to log back in. I believe the issue is
that I had a six digit password but I see now that an eight digit password is
required.

It doesn't like my password now. I get the "ID or Password Mismatch!"

I've tried to do a password reset but an email does not get sent to make
this happen.

My user name is "jeffhau" (I created this new account to be able to post here).
My store name is THEREISNOSPOON.

I'm really at a loss here as I've sent messages to Help Desk with no
response. I've tried everything I can think of to get back in my account
but no success.

I'm guessing now that I have unfulfilled orders in my store not yet invoiced
so that's not good. BrickLink is a needed source of income for me as well
so obviously it's not good in that regard.

Hopefully someone out there can provide information that can remedy this problem.
Thanks for reading.

We will make sure to take a look at your ticket for this asap.

With regards to the article, please he a look here:

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1382587

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 17, 2022 13:56

Subject:

Article about a BrickLink data breach

Viewed:

842 times

Topic:

Author:

CE_Tanja

Posted:

Dec 9, 2022 15:50

Subject:

Re: The BrickLink Designer Program Continues with Series 1

Viewed:

164 times

Topic:

Designer Program