LEGO and BrickLink reviewing server capacity for future crowdfunding runs

BrickLink says it’s ‘reviewing server capacity’ after traffic overwhelmed the site during its first Designer Program round, preventing LEGO fans from placing their orders before sets sold out.

Pre-orders for seven rejected LEGO Ideas projects opened last Thursday, but BrickLink’s servers struggled to cope with demand, leaving many fans attempting to secure their sets staring at a broken website.

At the time, BrickLink acknowledged the blackout in a tweet, reassuring fans that it was ‘working to resolve’ its server issues. Now, the secondary marketplace – which was acquired by the LEGO Group in 2019 – has promised to review its server capacity ahead of future crowdfunding rounds.

“When the crowdfunding went live on Thursday, July 1, traffic to the site overloaded BrickLink’s servers,” the BrickLink team said in a statement. “This meant some users couldn’t place their orders in time and for many, the site ground to a halt. We apologise for any disappointment this caused. We are currently reviewing server capacity.”

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The next crowdfunding run will begin on August 3, when pre-orders re-open for four of the program’s first five successful sets: 910010 The Great Fishing Boat, 910016 Sheriff’s Safe, 910017 Kakapo and 910028 Pursuit of Flight. An extra 5,000 copies of each set will be up for grabs.

Daniel Van Zonneveld’s incredibly popular 910001 The Castle in the Forest won’t be available again, however, after the LEGO Group accidentally sold twice its original 5,000 capacity in the first round of pre-orders. August’s second-chance saloon will therefore bring all five of the first-round projects up to 10,000 copies.

Click here to learn more about BrickLink’s amended plans for future crowdfunding rounds, and head here to read how the LEGO Group and its secondary marketplace are planning to combat scalpers going forward.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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