Comments on: Why buying LEGO through the LEGO fan sites you visit is so important [Editorial]

By: Marc

Marc — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:00:20 +0000

Andrew says: “We’re well aware of Google’s terms of service regarding encouraging users to click ads — thus zero mention of Google in the editorial.”

How can you reconcile that with this statement from the editorial: The Brothers Brick relies on you, our readers, to help cover these expenses by clicking through to one of our advertisers when you buy your LEGO.”

You have a Google ad on this page, and you tell people that you rely on them to click through on one of your ads. You say that you are well aware of Google’s terms, but it does not seem that way at all.

By: Ari

Ari — Thu, 06 May 2010 23:15:38 +0000

I did not see a “donate” button anywhere on the front page… If it was there, I’m sure some kind souls would help out. :)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:25:15 +0000

The editorial has nothing to do with the Google ads. It’s about how the affiliate advertising (thus “buying LEGO” in the title) on all the LEGO fan sites on the ‘net — not just this one — are an important source of survival for these community resources.

We’re well aware of Google’s terms of service regarding encouraging users to click ads — thus zero mention of Google in the editorial.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:21:21 +0000

I would recommend pulling this editorial. Not because I disagree with anything you say, but because it is a violation of Google’s terms.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:16:52 +0000

@The Rev & legomason: Yes, most images are hosted externally. It’s not about the bandwidth, it’s about the processing (our plan has infinite bandwidth). Even with caching enabled, we’re serving up a dynamic site, and that requires a fair amount of CPU and memory usage.

By: legomason

legomason — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:55:35 +0000

Yeah, if all of the pictures are hosted by Flickr, the hosting can’t be that much if anything…

By: JimmytheJ

JimmytheJ — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:45:55 +0000

Hopefully you’ll be getting whatever percent of the £62.24 I just spent on Track (points, straits and curves x 2), Space police (Raid VPR and Smash ‘n Grab) and Star wars magnets (needed an AT-ST pilot to go with the other one)

Whoo free shipping, Whoo free stickers, Whoo parcels that will brighten up my day in a week or so, Whoo product availability and Whoo blog!

By: Wayne Kunert

Wayne Kunert — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:05:46 +0000

Thanks for answering the “does anything bought at amazon count” question. I’ve clicked through BB before (when I remember to) and not always just for Lego, and I’ve wondered if I was doing any good.

By: Daedalus

Daedalus — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:03:36 +0000

I also want to trumpet the Amazon link. You can get just about anything from Amazon, the prices are good, and a lot of the time you can get free shipping.

I admit that I buy all my Lego from brick’n'mortars for a variety of reasons, but I try to make all of my Amazon purchases through here. Especially when buying those pricey text books (hinty hint hint).

By: Huw

Huw — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:14:16 +0000

I’m not representing TBB, but

> Is the Amazon click-through for any product, or just Lego?

Yes, absolutely anything. Someone even bought a $4000 Cartier watch via Brickset at Amazon just before Christmas!

Huw @ Brickset

By: sam

sam — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:50:49 +0000

Be careful – I notice you have google adwords on your blog. I once posted a blog entry similar to yours in the past and google pulled their ads and kept my commision as apparently saying that you want people to click the ads is breaking their terms and conditions. There is no appeal if they decide to ban you, even removing the post does not help.

By: erik smit

erik smit — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:17:46 +0000

I wonder how this works internationally – if I buy from Amazon, I will buy from Amazon.de (free shipping to Holland), and if I buy from Lego I will need the Dutch, not the American site. Does clicking through from Brothers Brick make any sense then? Not for amazon.com I suppose (because Amazon.de is a different site) but how about Lego.com?

By: Brendan Powell Smith

Brendan Powell Smith — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:31:44 +0000

I don’t mean to be at all disrespectful, and I love brothers-brick.com, but… thousands of dollars a year for web hosting for a blog? Really?

If I look at the traffic comparison on Alexa.com, it looks like my website (The Brick Testament) has received roughly similar amounts of traffic over the past two years. I pay about $115 per year for web hosting.

Is there something I’m missing?

By: Starwars4J

Starwars4J — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:24:16 +0000

I have some great news for both Alan and Jimmythefly. According to the reps from my local LEGO store, very VERY soon you’ll be able to use your LEGO VIP member number to earn reward points from S@H orders, so you can order online and still earn the bonuses. In addition, most LEGO stores will honor your S@H purchases for point redemption online until this is instituted (which I believe will be in a matter of weeks).

By: Jimmythefly

Jimmythefly — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:15:37 +0000

Is the Amazon click-through for any product, or just Lego?

A bicycling enthusiast blog I follow says that ANY Amazon purchases made after clicking through their site count for them, and last year all of my online Christmas shopping (which I would have done anyway) helped out that blog.

@Alan, not sure if this is exactly what you were getting at, but until LEGO does VIP online you can still sort of get the best of both worlds. I went to the Lego store to order power functions stuff in person, which gets me both VIP points and the items are still shipped to my home address. I have no idea if this works for all items or just stuff like Power functions parts which are only available on S@H (talking about individual motors, etc, not the PF set).

S@H has some sort of automatic deal when you put several PF parts in your basket there is an automatic discount of a few % that ends up covering the shipping charge(sorry don’t recall the exact number or % off the top of my head)