Lego marketplace BrickLink in pieces after 'unusual activity' takes it offline for almost a week

Lego fans demand answers as outage approaches a week with no confirmed cause

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.

The company initially described the outage as "necessary work" and said the site would return on November 9. That deadline has come and gone.

Visiting BrickLink's domain automatically serves the platform's maintenance page, which was last updated on November 11.

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"We took BrickLink offline after identifying unusual activity on the platform," the website states. "Our immediate priority was to secure the site, protect our members and ensure the integrity of BrickLink.

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"Before bringing the site back online, we need to fully understand what has happened. That means containing the issue, investigating how it happened and checking for related issues.

"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. The Register asked Lego for more information, but it did not immediately respond.

Some adult fans of Lego (AFOL) have criticized the lack of information since the outage began on Friday, November 6.

"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.

"They don't even need to say what went wrong," said another. "Just an email acknowledging the issue would be appropriate. The entire site is down, and has been for days. 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.

The Lego Group acquired BrickLink and Sohobricks from investment outfit NXMH in 2019 for an undisclosed sum. NXMH had bought BrickLink in 2013 and also owned Sohobricks, a South Korean manufacturer of unofficial but Lego-compatible bricks. Lego shuttered Sohobricks in 2020.

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At the time of Lego's acquisition, BrickLink had more than 10,000 storefronts on its marketplace selling Lego sets, parts, and minifigures.

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.

For now, buyers and sellers would probably settle for a marketplace that's actually online. ®