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BrickLink, the largest online marketplace of LEGO and the lifeblood of the LEGO community, has made quite a surprise announcement. Starting December 12, 2025, the BrickLink Marketplace will no longer be available to members in 35 countries around the world, meaning LEGO and BrickLink members will no longer be able to buy or sell on the Marketplace.
See Bricklink’s statement and list of affected countries,
This is very surprising as the list of countries (listed below) is quite established, and home to thousands of AFOLs and LEGO fans, and are quite mature markets for LEGO all things considered. These include South Africa, Türkiye, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Israel, Taiwan and even vast areas of the Middle East.
- Indonesia
- turkey
- South Africa
- taiwan
- ukraine
- brazil
- serbia
- united arab emirates
- kazakhstan
- peru
- israel
- India
- morocco
- chile
- vietnam
- Georgia
- lebanon
- saudi arabia
- Queue
- oman
- El Salvador
- bahrain
- Azerbaijan
- armenia
- Pakistan
- egypt
- moldova
- Ecuador
- argentina
- costa rica
- Colombia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- turkmenistan
- greenland
- San Marino
To put this in perspective, the total combined population of these countries is more than 2.5 billion, or about 30% of the Earth’s wild population.
This is a big change, and while I understand that Bricklink may have problems operating in some of these countries that are located in remote locations (Greenland), or are in a state of war (Ukraine), imposing a blanket ban on these 35 countries with less than 2 weeks’ notice is madness.
There are a lot of BrickLink sellers in these countries who run their BrickLink stores as businesses, and depend on the income to support their livelihoods and families, so really this should have been communicated ahead of time. I can’t imagine how stressful this must be to read for sellers in those countries.
Then there are LEGO fans in those countries who will even be blocked from purchasing on BrickLink, which is a whole other level of insanity. LEGO fans and LUGs rely deeply on BrickLink to source elements to express their creativity, as not every country in the world has official LEGO stores, or access to Pick a Brick online, and in some cases BrickLink is the only way fans can even purchase LEGO sets.
And these aren’t just any other countries, but countries where LEGO has an official presence, including LEGO certified stores, third-party retailers and, in the case of the UAE, even a LEGOLAND park. Oh, and Greenland is on the list. That’s Greenland, a Danish territory.
There are also recognized LUG communities in these countries, so it’s not as if the LEGO Group has no interest in nurturing LEGO fans and creativity in these countries.
This would completely upset and suppress LEGO fans and communities in these countries, and I cannot for the life of me understand why such drastic action is needed.
It’s also ironic because BrickLink celebrated its 25th anniversary with much fanfare this year, and ending the year by preventing 30% of the world’s population from using the service is, in my opinion, a huge slap in the face to BrickLink founder Dan Zazek, whose vision was to create a global LEGO marketplace and connect fans and elements around the world.
Six years ago, I wrote that it was a terrible idea for Lego to acquire BrickLink and as I revisit some of the thoughts I expressed then, it certainly seems like there are some shady things going on behind the scenes.
To be fair, I acknowledge that there may be compliance challenges in some of these countries, where things like local laws, logistics, import restrictions, etc. may make it difficult for LEGO/Bricklink to do their business there, but there certainly could have been a better way to communicate this, or invite community feedback, rather than shutting down the entire site in 2 weeks.
Aside from the sudden forum message, there have been no other comments or statements from LEGO or BrickLink regarding this decision, and with BrickLink head office located in California, they likely won’t release more communication on the issue until after Thanksgiving weekend.
If this news bothers you in any way, please share your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post, or if you can manage to navigate the extremely antiquated BrickLink forums, leave a comment on the BrickLink post announcing this shocking news.
Check out the full text from Bricklink below:
Dear Bricklink member,
We have made the difficult decision to pause marketplace operations in certain areas:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2687
Starting December 12, 2025, Bricklink will no longer be a member in these countries
Be able to buy or sell on the market.
We will regularly review this decision, and we are hopeful that we will be able to reopen
BrickLink Marketplace for LEGO® fans in these countries in the future.
Here are some frequently asked questions for members from these countries:
I have pending orders. What will happen to them?
You will not be able to place new orders from December 12, 2025. Any
Orders placed before this will be processed as usual.
What happens to my wanted lists?
You will still be able to access and manage your wanted lists. if you want
To export any of your desired lists, use the ‘Download’ button at the top
Page.
Will I keep inventory in my store?
You’ll still be able to access your store inventory, but it’s always nice to
The idea of keeping a copy of your inventory. You can download it using this page: https://www.bricklink.com/invExcel.asp
We appreciate your understanding,
Bricklink Team
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