PAB Wall vs Pick a Brick Online: the Ultimate Comparison!

Рет қаралды 18,045

Күн бұрын

The PAB Wall is considered the cheapest way to get new LEGO pieces. But are people considering all the costs and benefits?
I went all in to find out how cheap is the PAB Wall, when compared with the Pick a Brick service, and explain when you should buy from the PAB Wall.
Follow me on:
Instagram: / jrod.on.bricks
Twitter: / jrodonbricks
Chapters:
0:00 The PAB Wall
1:00 My PAB Wall haul
1:54 Comparing part prices
3:09 Other costs
4:31 Other considerations
5:28 What about Bricklink?
5:54 Conclusions
#jrodonbricks #LEGO #LEGOBuyingTips

Пікірлер: 76

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

I'm thinking about building a small community of AFOLs interested in building their own MOCs. Let me know below if you would be interested!

@ren_builds Жыл бұрын

Yes! I sent you a message on Instagram with some ideas.

@jorgedawsonwetto25 Жыл бұрын

i am dude! i live in canary islands spain! no pab wall so only bricklink and amazon sets on sale to part! i made a small mock of a local house i was wonderinf is there any software to make instructions for it?? nice video!

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

@@jorgedawsonwetto25 Bricklink Studio has an awesome tool to build instructions. Try it out and If you have any trouble to use it, let me know.

@jorgedawsonwetto25 Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks thanks dude i have to check it out! were can inshiw u a mini moc? Instagram? email? thanks! im very interested in that instructions thing! :D

@jorgedawsonwetto25 Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks duuudeee that software is craaazy! just what i imagined! i saw a video its awesome! ill have to buy a laptop now! cause its perfect and free! computera are super expensive but i would need one for sure but seems worth it! thanks for the advice!

@milehighcardbreakers751 Жыл бұрын

Biggest difference that isn't talked about I don't think is the labor aspect. Having Lego do the work for you will always cost more than you doing it yourself.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

You are correct. I addressed it just from the customer point of view. But I agree that the ones in the LEGO online shop need to be more expensive, due to the costs of having thousands of different parts available, and the fact that you may order 1000 pieces, 1 of each part type, and someone needs to collect them. In terms of costs, what LEGO could do is what some Bricklink sellers do: you have smaller prices if you buy large quantities of some parts, because in terms of labor costs, getting 1000 pieces of the same part is much easier than getting from 1000 different parts. But I believe LEGO doesn't want to promote those large orders of a single part.

@embrio. 7 ай бұрын

In case anyone is wondering how the price per unit compared: Plate 4x8 14 £1.43 £6.58 Brick 2x6 14 £1.43 £4.2 Brick 1x4 masonry 14 £1.43 £2.94 Bric 1x2 masonry 42 £0.48 £5.88 Brick 1x2 26 £0.77 £2.86 Flower stem 15 £1.33 £1.05 Plant grass stem 27 £0.74 £3.24 Plant stem 198 £0.10 £23.76 Plant plate 346 £0.06 £20.76 Totals 696 £19.99 £71.27

@Darfaan... 4 ай бұрын

This helps so much because i need peices for a moc but pick a brick is expensive. One downside is the only store that has a pab wall near me is london and getting into london is more expensive then the bricks themselves!! Thank You So Much.👌👌

@JRodonBricks 4 ай бұрын

I'm glad it was helpful to you!

@Garinovitch 11 ай бұрын

PAB is great to get pieces you need in bulk when they're available, basic bricks, masonry bricks, plates, tiles, plants, etc. But Online is perfect for when you need more specialized pieces.

@JRodonBricks 11 ай бұрын

Exactly.

@accuratebrickinnovations Жыл бұрын

Excellent comparison. You took everything into consideration. The percentage of difference can be much greater too depending on which element and also color of that element as well. Also, if you stack the plates or bricks you can make the percentage of difference greater. I have done a test and if you fill up 2 cups of 1x4 plates and then take them all and stack them you can surprisingly fit them all into 1 cup. It's truly amazing lol.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! Yes, the percentage will vary a bit depending on the parts. I decided to be somewhat conservative, just to avoid having people follow my advice and then be disappointed when doing the math. I would say that if the cup is full, even without stacking the parts, it will be hard not to have the parts be 55% cheaper. I didn't find any difference regarding color when comparing PAB Wall with the Pick a Brick in the Online shop - they have the same price for any color of the part . Where I see color making a huge difference is when comparing with Bricklink. Because Bricklink only deals with parts "in the market", the rarity of some colors can really make a part more expensive.

@TheFreakJessie 5 ай бұрын

I use the online place to buy minifigure parts and accessories. For best sellers I have 29 pieces. Total cost is $14. Now due to some peices are more expensive then others, the price was over $17.50 and now its $14.00 . I still think its a good deal compare to spening 6.99 for three minifigures and accessories. The downside is the shipping and tax. Which lead me to 20 bucks.

@JRodonBricks 4 ай бұрын

I have bought minifigures in Bricklink also, and it was a good experience. But the price is only good if you are buying random people to add to a city, for example. If you want something specific Bricklink is very expensive for minifigures.

@MrDeathChicken 15 күн бұрын

Another consideration is that I don’t have a Lego store near me so pick a brick online is my only option which is probably the case for many people.

@JRodonBricks 11 күн бұрын

That was our situation in Portugal until 2 years ago.

@Loyror Жыл бұрын

As a builder, buying the "right" items at the PaB-wall is way cheaper - but there is some luck and careful planning needed to make it worth it. I got four official stores within a 4h train ride, which I only take when I have other business in those cities. Hotel stays and the tickets probably make it more expensive compared to buying on BL or PaB online but when there is a good selection of parts 4-5 cups makes it all worth it. There is something rewarding about entering a LEGO-specific store and being able to pick from a large selection freely

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Yes, the immediate reward vs a very long wait is not a rational factor, but it's extremely satisfying :)

@EntretuGaming 8 ай бұрын

Once I wanted to buy 200 1x4 masonry bricks in tan and I was hesitating between bricklink and pick a brick. Both options would cost me 40€. I went to the Lego Store and to my surprise, this part was just added to the Pab Wall and I was able to fill a full large cup with exactly the quantity I wanted. That's probably the time I saved the most money on Lego parts.

@JRodonBricks 7 ай бұрын

That was lucky! Especially taking into account that less than 100 of the 12000 parts sold by LEGO are at a given point in time in a store PAB Wall. Although I have seen masonry bricks to be a recurrent piece in the PAB Wall. I believe is one of the most sold types of parts.

@JackStacks_1 7 ай бұрын

@@JRodonBricksyea definitely that and some sort of plant like stems or the three pronged leaves

@susanlea7759 5 ай бұрын

Lot of dead/ wasted space in that cup. Its boxes now here in States. I crammed a ton into the small box this past Saturday. I am also very fortunate to have 2 Bricks and Mini Fig stores within 30 or less of me. Used Lego for sale in giant bins/ tables. 2 cup sizes and 3 bag sizes to choose from, $8- $90 dollars smallest to biggest. They sell new sets too, and old retired sets in boxes and not. I filled their larger cup today and got quite a bit. The great part about B&M is finding old pieces etc. I'm on hunt for old window frames with the shutter tab and shutters. Found 4 windows today and 1 shutter. Only con to them is time/ effort. It takes me 2 hours to go thru the 3 tables. Then today there were 4 LARGE tubs on floor filled with Lego as well. Very hard to look thru bins. No way to sort/ move aside the pile you've already gone thru. I'll do a cost analysis because I'm curious. I'm also curious if my 3 large cups over 6 months would be better buy if 1 medium bag. Large cup- $15, med bag is $50. And if I can convince my back to stay long enough to properly stuff that bag.

@JRodonBricks 4 ай бұрын

I only have one independent store at driving distance. But I actually haven't explored what they have in terms of used pieces. Not sure if they have pieces bins like B&M stores in the US. It's time consuming, but you can get the pieces cheaper, and less risky than buying from Bricklink dealers where used pieces can be in bad shape.

@Carboxylated 8 ай бұрын

Pick a Brick service takes forever. I’ve done two custom MOCs each was about 3k plus parts. I used a mix of LEGO and Bricklink for my parts…LEGO always took 30-40 days and it always slowed my entire MOC process. 2 MOCs took me over 6 months to complete and the main bottle neck was waiting times from shipping. I wish LEGO stores had larger PAB walls with more parts. They offer a lot but its always bright colors and parts I will never need. If they just extended the PAB wall at every LEGO store about 10 more ft and added a much wider selection I feel it would help us out a ton in the long run

@JRodonBricks 8 ай бұрын

Same here. I do A LOT of planning and optimization to order stuff from the Pick a Brick service, because of the time, and the additional fees if you don't order enough ... it would really be much easier with bigger PAB Walls.

@reiaboo3805 Жыл бұрын

great vid (: the PAB wall is the best thing about lego stores imo, i always go when i can

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Totally agree! The sets available I can get them from the online store - somehow I always manage to reach the free shipping threshold :D

@alandrielstern2354 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for doing a great job with this comparison! I always like your vids, thoughts and mocs! What kind of community you think of? My longtime project is a Hogwarts MOC.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much, Alandriel! I was thinking in the lines of a private community where we can share what we are working on, ask for feedback, share any blocking issues ("I want to do this but don't know how I could do it"), that type of thing. Maybe even doing a monthly call where we can show our work live. I want to keep it small and free. I hear Discord is great for communities. I haven't used it, but my oldest daughter is a Discord expert. She can teach me. If I get at least 5 to 10 people interested I would give it a go.

@alandrielstern2354 Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks I am a member of 3 different discords, and yes, there's so much fun to share! Let me know in the future about further plans 👍

@AmauryJacquot Жыл бұрын

the PAB service is more interesting for larger / akward parts that don't fit that well in the cups

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

I went back to the PAB Wall almost 2 months after being there the first time, and the parts available were at least 80% the same. With such a low rotation, you would have to wait years to get all the parts you needed for any MOC. Bricklink is a good alternative to the PAB service for more common parts if you have plenty of well supplied sellers within your country, to reduce the expedition costs.

@nnex6564 3 ай бұрын

Them charging 0.6 per leaf is like a scam. Therefore 20 euro for a bunch of leaf pieces unreasonable and therefore there is no logical way to compare these two.

@JRodonBricks 3 ай бұрын

It's 0.06, but your point still stands. You probably can fit 1000 in a cup in the PAB Wall and pay 20 euros, while the same 1000 will cost you 60 euros on the PAB Service. Though it's not only the production cost we need to factor in, it's the handling cost to choose the pieces, prepare the package and send it, while in the PAB Wall is up to you to do all that.

@AttilaTheDev Жыл бұрын

Hmm… Looks like in Lisbon it’s 2 euro more expensive to get a PAB wall cup than in Dublin. In Dublin it’s just 18 euro, or 17.30 if you already have an empty cup.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

And in Dublin you have VIP Points because it'a an official LEGO store, while in Lisbon is a LEGO Certified store, managed by a partner company. I'm guessing the price difference has to do with the partner company margin. By the way, you write on Medium, right? I believe I've read a few of your articles there.

@AttilaTheDev Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks Yes, I do write on Medium! Hope you enjoyed the articles. 😁 Yes, you are probably right, the partner company probably adds a margin on top over there. Shame, but still worth it, no?

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

@Attila V. I did enjoy what I read. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't have remembered you from there. It's totally worth it as I show on the video 🙂

@e443productions9 Жыл бұрын

Bro imagine having a PAB wall close by AND with good parts. Couldn’t be me 😭

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

What I have seen by other people is that sometimes stores have good parts early on to entice people, but that the parts start getting worse and worse with time. Let's see.

@e443productions9 Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks Makes sense. Sadly for me there aren't many LEGO stores close by and the ones that are only have boring pieces that I can't do anything with

@brandonleggins1237 4 ай бұрын

I live 4minutes (walking) to my Lego store in downtown Chicago

@johndoe-qo5ki 5 ай бұрын

10 as driving cost is manageable. You forgot the risk of parts being sold out

@JRodonBricks 4 ай бұрын

Actually, when that happened to me in the Pick a Brick Service, I contacted the support and because it was a low quantity they got me the parts. I believe the online store has a safe-guard to avoid orders coming in without parts being available, so they mark them as sold out when the stock is low, but if you contact them, they can check and place the order in your name.

@jaumeroca9612 11 ай бұрын

Great comparison.

@JRodonBricks 11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@rodandriz1063 Жыл бұрын

PAB Wall in Frankfurt costs 17,99 for the huge cup AND I have no costs to get there, as it is not far away from my office (Or, as a different view: That fact might ruin me one day ;-) ) But what does the PAB Wall helps if the parts I need are not available there? They never have printed parts, often exotic colours (which might be sometimes a pro)

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Yes, that's the main drawbcak of the PAB Wall, the very limited selection. Hence it being especially useful to build structures and MILS plates, for the ones building large MOCs or landscaping in their LEGO cities.

@michaelnurse9089 Жыл бұрын

I have used pab twice - but the part selection at my one is so terrible (almost all 2x6 bricks, 4x4 plates and no plants or profile bricks) - I don't think I will use it again.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

That's awful. Plants and profile bricks were the most useful ones I found there. They had 4x4 plates but they were in earth blue, and I didn't thought of any use for them in my backlog of stuff to do, so I didn't brought them. I believe that within some boundaries, the store management has a say in the pieces on the PAB Wall, at least its what makes sense. They should know what sells better, and of course they can have bricks and plates of several sizes, but should mix it with some more interesting parts.

@SuperPaola1963 9 ай бұрын

Wow, ho un punto Lego a 10 minuti da casa mia, FINALMENTE. Posso andarci a piedi e risparmiare moltissimo!

@GreenBlueWalkthrough Жыл бұрын

Great video! As for me(Northeast, Florida, US of A) Brick link is preferred because the parts I needs are half the price or more then then Lego store online and while I have a lego store with in 30 minutes of me it's a pain to get to. So I only went there for it's opening 4 years ago and did not even get a cup. Becuase it was busy and I've only ever been to a lego store once before 10 years ago in Disney springs, Orlando, Florida. And my ADD-autism was acting up so I just got a few sets and the promos and left as soon as I could... Still if we had one "closer" I would vist it a few times a year and do what you said about getting parts that call to me and the rest on brick link/ My 100kish collection of parts.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! Yes, I see Bricklink prices usually cheaper on the US. Don't know why. But ordering from the US would be insanely expensive for me, because I would have to pay overseas expedition expense but also customs . I always order my Bricklink parts from stores inside the European Community.

@AymanAlhora-qd9iu Ай бұрын

Now the cup are replaced for boxes

@JRodonBricks Ай бұрын

Yes, haven't got any box yet. I will do an update video when I do.

@bricksbyficks6448 7 ай бұрын

You guys don't get VIP (now Insiders) points at your Lego store? Why? We do in the US

@JRodonBricks 7 ай бұрын

Because this is not an official LEGO store, run by LEGO, it's a certified LEGO store run by a LEGO partner company. They have everything equal except VIP points.

@bricksbyficks6448 7 ай бұрын

@@JRodonBricks oh thanks for the clarification! Makes total sense now

@azzee029 3 ай бұрын

I can't get past step 1: Find a Lego store near you 😭

@JRodonBricks 3 ай бұрын

I feel you! Only 1,5 years ago a certified store (not an official one) opened in my country. Fortunately it has a PAB Wall, but sadly no VIP Points.

@azzee029 3 ай бұрын

@@JRodonBricks I'd gladly sacrifice the vip points for cheaper pieces, works out better if you ask me :)

@auz6880 4 ай бұрын

In America the pic a brick walls are always so bad the pieces are always terrible

@JRodonBricks 4 ай бұрын

I think it's mostly the stores management, I think. Here, most of the pieces aren't great either, but in this case I managed to get some interesting parts.

@Ew00kie Жыл бұрын

if only the PAB Wall had any of the ones you just picked up my PAB Wall only has worthless Lego.

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

That's a shame! I believe that stores have a saying in what parts they sell, so maybe it depends on how competent the store managers are. Either that, or the parts you find worthless, other AFOLs in your area consume a lot of, so they sell very well at the store.

@gabrielh7517 Жыл бұрын

I'm pretty sure I get VIP points on PAB

@JRodonBricks Жыл бұрын

Hi Gabriel, you get VIP Points on a PAB wall in a LEGO Official Store, not on a LEGO Certified Store. Unfortunately there aren't any LEGO Official Stores in Portugal, just a LEGO Certified store. LEGO Certified Stores are not managed by The LEGO Group, they are operated by a partner company. That's why they don't have VIP Points.

@gabrielh7517 Жыл бұрын

@@JRodonBricks aw ok

@brickleyyard4966 Ай бұрын

the pab walls are not the better opption as the pab wall in store will almost never have what u need it may be cheaper in store but you will have more luck online than in store

@JRodonBricks 29 күн бұрын

Agree. I used the PAB wall to get a bunch of pieces that I know I will need in the long run. Like vegetation and masonry bricks. That is the reason for the assortment of pieces you see in the video, they were chosen to match what I planned to need in the future.

@brickleyyard4966 28 күн бұрын

@JRodonBricks for me I tend to biuld one moc at a time and may only do one or 2 a year was looking on brick link the outhere day for my next order its around 40 lots and a total 670 bricks I am I'm the uk only 2 or 3 had most of the lots I needed and the cheapest one was over 100 uk pounds Lego was just under 60 its mad how bricklink sellers are aloud to sell bricks that are in the best sellers on lego for 3 to 5 times the price None of what I needed was rear or hard to get or anything like that I just find it interesting Ps do lego pack all the elements individually in the own bag or are thay now just bag in one large bag and put in a box

@JRodonBricks 28 күн бұрын

@@brickleyyard4966 LEGO packs all elements in one bag. I have already received a big bag with 1000 pieces with 100+ different types, all in the same bag - including glass pieces that sometimes come scratched. Bricklink sellers do a much better job packaging the parts and making sure they reach the buyer in pristine condition.