‘Heartbreaking’: LEGO is closing BrickLink in 35 countries
The LEGO Group has quietly announced that it’s closing BrickLink’s online marketplace in 35 countries next month, in a move that store owners are calling ‘heartbreaking’.
In a post on the BrickLink forum published November 21, a member of the site’s admin team has listed 35 countries – including India, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and Costa Rica – where the secondary marketplace will close on December 12. BrickLink is down worldwide at the time of writing, but a statement reposted to reddit has provided a vague reason for the closures.
“We don’t currently have the resources to support Marketplace operations in these areas at the same level as everywhere else,” the statement reads. “We’re continuously reviewing our options, however, in case we’re able to return at any point in the future.”
Here’s the full list of countries in which BrickLink will no longer operate from December 12, 2025:
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Georgia
- Greenland
- India
- Indonesia
- Israel
- Kazakhstan
- Lebanon
- Moldova
- Morocco
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Qatar
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- South Africa
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- Vietnam
The LEGO Group has also been contacted via the LEGO Ambassador Network for further clarification, but the BrickLink team is apparently away for the Thanksgiving weekend, so the LEGO Group’s Community Engagement Team says we’re unlikely to learn more about the situation through official channels until Monday.
Some redditors are speculating that changes to specific laws in these countries could be responsible for the changes. BrickLink ceased operations in the Philippines in May 2025 in response to ‘local tax collection requirements that we are currently unable to meet’, and some fans believe digital services taxes, value added taxes and compliance costs could be at the heart of these new closures too.
Whatever the reason, the BrickLink team is coming under fire for how the planned closures have been communicated. “What a joke,” said redditor DraxtHS. “I’ve spent years working my store into a state of good reputation and inventory, only to have two weeks to move to Brickowl. No email notification, just assumption we read the forums?”
“This is really heartbreaking,” added ml_lost. “I’ve been selling on BrickLink here in Brazil for more than 10 years now. So much love and sweat for no recognition and not even time to plan something else. And I thought the LEGO takeover was supposed to be a good thing.”
We’ll hopefully learn more about the specific reasons behind this change soon. Keep an eye on Brick Fanatics for further updates from the LEGO Group and BrickLink as we receive them.
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[Everyone disliked that.]
Bricklink has always been a little… well, it felt like a hobby project. So did Bricklink Studio, the 3D modelling software. I thought the LEGO takeover would lead to professionalization of the platform, but apparently they’re not investing in it. Studio is still maintained by a team of 5 developers.
LEGO became too large and too successful. I used to be against the Chinese copycats, but honestly, LEGO needs the incentive.
I don’t work for BrickLink so I certainly can’t speculate on their reasoning specifically. But I have worked in e-commerce for 8 years in customer support and logistics, and we stopped shipping to these countries a couple of years ago due to non-stop issues, primarily with lost packages or extremely long shipping time frames (which often lead to lost package claims only to have items arrive months later). Within each country, most things probably function well, such as if someone in Brazil buys from someone else in Brazil, and it’s super unfortunate that this is impacting so many. But to ship from other places to Brazil can be incredibly costly and difficult. Add to that that customers often have to pay customs fees before receiving any packages, and then if it doesn’t arrive they are out that money and want the shipper to cover that loss…it just has turned into a very expensive, time-consuming mess sadly to do business in many of the listed countries. I’ve had packages take in excess of 3-4 months to arrive in some of those places, and many never arrive at all.
Utterly despicable. Even though this news does not impact me directly, I’m done supporting this trash company.
Brickowl deals with geopolitics. Meaning banning specific countries based on the owners own ideas.
He’s from England, Someone should say to him that his people massacred the majority of the native Americans so he should ban his own country.
I would go with brickscout instead.
Time to create an open source free marketplace open to everyone with no legal entity at the top.
Incredibly disappointing. I don’t believe that the capacity to support stores in these countries somehow diminished after bricklink was brought into LEGO. I almost always order from within the US to keep shipping costs down, but it’s so awful for buyers and sellers in these places to lose access. I really want to believe that LEGO is ethically okay as far as a large corporation can be, but it’s getting harder.
Greenland is basically Denmark – so they’re killing their own country ??? ( in a way). Bizarre.
Lego doesn’t have the resources?!?
The two billion dollars they make in net profit EVERY YEAR isn’t enough?
Its because Lego cant handle the competition! MOC is better in every way. Its cheaper they have better IP like Hell Divers 2! Now that Disney has a stake in all Lego, prices are crazy and honestly its not worth it, the Starwars sets suck and everything else does as well. I can get the same thing for wayyyyy cheaper in other countries.
As a kid in the 70’s, the only thing I ever wanted was LEGO. As a father, that love for the brick was reignited and my two kids joined in the fun. I became an AFOL, and Bricklink was the way to get whatever didn’t arrive to my country as well as the way to become a moc builder.
I’m utterly dismayed at this, and I feel thoroughly betrayed by the LEGO company. I never imagined they could ever do something like that. They’re pulling the rug under countless LEGO fans all around the world, and destroying the livelihood of who knows how many bricklink stores.
And btw, for whatever reason, brickowl also isn’t available in my country.
I prefer brickowl anyway
Move your store to brickowl, the UI is much better.
Disgraceful!
Bricklink functioned just fine (for two decades) before LEGO’s takeover and their subsequent tinkering.
This is one further example of LEGO’s disregard and disrespect for LEGO fans. Not nice!