Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | jimred  | | Posted: | Jul 21, 2015 05:14 | | Subject: | Re: Stop purging 6 month old orders | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Thea writes:
| | In Suggestions, jayy2121 writes:
| | In Suggestions, mabccc writes:
| | I agree for the same reason. I often find orders I never got round to unpacking
and would like a quick way to check.
It's also useful to know what you paid for a part 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
ago.
I know you can download and archive your self, but having it searchable is a
bonus.
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I thought about the usefulness of seeing how much you've spent...
But then realized that wouldn't be useful for BL or sellers since if I saw
the total, I might take up collecting Fabrige eggs instead to save money.
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You can see how much you've spent. Just don't tell Paul about this.
Go to Orders and download. Enter a date just before you joined.
Please have medical attention available if you think it necessary! 
Thea
Always An Adventure!
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Oh boy! I thought it wasn't too bad and then realised the bottom total is
just the US dollars. I spend mostly in Pounds and Euros apparently.
However, your tip has helped me solve something that was bugging me from one
of the very first orders I made, so thanks.
As far as keeping old orders, yeah why not. Surely for sellers accounting having
a whole year together is useful?
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | May 30, 2014 04:27 | | Subject: | Re: Add import duty clause to new membership | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Daave writes:
| | I noticed eBay have implemented a system of pre-paying import taxes on international
orders..
The person who was a bit disgruntled about the charges would have got charged
the VAT plus the royal mails 'handling fee'
If you use eBay you do not get charged the handling fee..
I assume the buyer was a new member to bricklink- it can be a bit of a shock
getting a package stopped by customs and tax added... The simple disclaimer you
mention is the MINIMUM that should be implemented, bigger sellers on bricklink
might even appreciate something like eBay's system to provide customers worldwide
with a 'what you see is what you pay' checkout system.. I don't know
if there is a website available to manually to prepay customs fees on parcels...
Removing the £8 or whatever fee that is added as a 'processing fee'
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The prepayment of customs fees is a option some mail delivery companies have
and it depends on whether they have an agreement in place with the mail company
they use in the destination country.
I think the reason that US to UK transactions seem to keep getting flagged is
because the two most commonly used companies (USPS and the Royal Mail) don't
seem to have such an arrangement. Amazon I assume, uses it's own delivery
networks in each country to do this. Not sure about ebay.
I think the main problem is ignorance of the law and although that is no defence,
any suggestion that stands a chance of reducing this ignorance gets my vote.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2012 08:48 | | Subject: | Re: My Inventory "Select Category" | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Bramboy93 writes:
| | I know it is possible to select by part type,
But it is not possible to select all parts in 1 click, right ?
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Sorry I'll start again, people are talking to me while I type!  .
From my inventory - Two clicks to select all your parts.
Along the top row click 'By item type'
Once that's loaded click the checkbox for parts.
You have all parts selected and can now put them all on sale.
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In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | In Suggestions, Bramboy93 writes:
| | I suggest to make a "box" to select a complete category in your inventory.
For example : I want to select all parts to put them on 10% sale, Now I have
to select them one by one. In stead of clicking on "parts"
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Already exsits.
In 'my inventory chose' to view 'by item type'. Now chose the parts tickbox and
enter your sale in the normal way.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2012 08:24 | | Subject: | Re: My Inventory "Select Category" | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Bramboy93 writes:
| | I suggest to make a "box" to select a complete category in your inventory.
For example : I want to select all parts to put them on 10% sale, Now I have
to select them one by one. In stead of clicking on "parts"
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Already exsits.
In 'my inventory chose' to view 'by item type'. Now chose the parts tickbox and
enter your sale in the normal way.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2012 08:20 | | Subject: | Re: Consolidate lots | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Bramboy93 writes:
| | I want to suggest that you can consolidate lots but ADD a remark.
For example :
If I have a 1x2 Brick x10 from set A
And I part out set B with 20x a 1x2 Brick.
I want them to show up as 1 lot in my shop, but I want 2 remarks in my inventory
!
remark 1 : x10 from set A
remark 2 : x20 from set B
In this way a user sees that I have 30, and I can see they come from 2 sets.
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Already exists.
that's what the 'Concatenate old Remarks with new Remarks' tickbox does when
you add stock.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Sep 19, 2012 09:51 | | Subject: | Re: wouldn't it be nice... | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, tonnic writes:
| | Wouldn't it be nice if the catalog has some search mode for out of the ordinary
colored items like prototype colors andsoone?
I have several dark purple Halberd Elaborate 6123 that might interest buyers.
But it's not something you generally look for if you don't know such an item
excists.
Maybe a search in the catalog named HTF or Hard to Find, rare or whatever term
Catmin chooses?
It would be nice for me/us as seller(s) but also for the buyer that looks for
something different he/she otherwise would not find.
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I think it's a nice idea, but I have one question; what would be the definition
of rare?
I think if left to individual sellers it could be open to abuse by some.
Maybe it could be automatically applied to items that are not in any set?
Or are there large quantities of these, maybe from PAB?
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Sep 17, 2012 05:32 | | Subject: | Re: Find more items in one store (Search) | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Aleksandar writes:
| | Sometimes I want to find a store which has several parts of interest for me,
to minimize shipping expenses.
However, now it is impossible: I have to find one such store, than I have to
search inside the store for the next item (or the same, but in different color)
and next one... 
This is very annoying and hard work, especialy for bigger orders! I would like
to be made more powerful search, e.g. to search more items in one store.
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Have you tried the wanted list function?
http://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=1
It's not perfect, but it would certainly would help you do what you want to do.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 14:57 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| Huw, your post is going to get cancelled because you have your e-mail address
in it.
I have removed just the address from the copy below.
In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| |
I am encouraged by the generally positive nature of the discussion this time,
and thank you to everyone who's putting the case forward for allowing it.
I understand the concern about Brickset promoting eBay and Amazon, your main
competitors, but I'm pleased to see that many of you recognise that it would
be better for you if it were to promote eBay, Amazon AND BrickLink.
To clarify a few points:
- If Brickset were to display set inventories, they would not appear on any page
that also showed eBay or Amazon links at the same time.
- Links on image/part numbers would lead directly to the appropriate place on
BrickLink (whatever you stipulate that to be, the catalogue or for sale list,
perhaps)
- Currently, Brickset does not promote eBay or Amazon when viewing minifigs and
that would be the case for parts. Data provided by BrickLink would NOT be used
to promote anything other than BrickLink and would not be made available to 3rd
parties.
- There would be no stress placed on the BrickLink system by retreiving the inventories,
as it would be a one-off exercise when one was first requested by a user, possibly
refreshed every couple of months.
- There would potentially be an increase in requests for images from the BL server,
but arguably no more than if someone viewed the inventory after clicking on a
link to view it at BrickLink. In most cases users' browsers would cache these
anyway so any increase would be negligible.
My motivations for wanting to do this have been questioned in the past, often
with suspicion. Of course I want to do it to make Brickset a better website which
provides its users with more information. But, in doing so I believe it can make
for a more joined-up community which will benefit BrickLink as much as it does
Brickset. As someone pointed out earlier, Brickset's demographic is very different
from BrickLink's and many of its users do not even know BrickLink exists, or
are suspicious of it. There are several discussions in the forum where this has
been raised.
Finally, I have a working prototype showing how I would like to integrate BrickLink
inventories into Brickset and I can make it available for testing to anyone that's
interested. Drop me an email (address removed) with your Brickset username.
(I wrote all the code to do so a few years ago but have never made it publicly
available)
Thank you for reading this. I welcome your comments. I would also welcome knowing
who ultimately can make a decision to allow this.
Huw
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 02:44 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| | | | | | | | | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
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The thing that BL has that is priceless is the LIFE in its catalog and inventory
systems. Real people are investing in these structures daily, and they represent
the cutting edge in publicly available knowledge about Lego, both new and old.
So when Brickset wants access to BL inventories, they are not asking for a onetime
download of data or images. They want a link directly to the current live state
of the BL catalog.
And they would probably have it except that they support direct links to eBay
and Amazon, BrickLink's two fiercest competitors, who are not considered part
of the AFOL community, and who don't invest a dime in Lego research, building
a catalog, and handling all the snarly problems that surface as a result (e.g.
the current debate/reform on "extras").
I personally do not care if my data or images are used wherever, even on eBay
or Amazon. But then, I am not musch of a seller here, and am not likely to feel
the competitive pinch from other sites. So I do understand where this "guardian"
sentiment is coming from.
Russell
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Your point about the life in Bricklink's catalgoue is a good one, as it is a
key part of why the Bricklink catalogue is so good. It's also why it is difficult
to replicate. I can download a copy of the catalogue from the site any time I
want to. But give it a few months and it becomes usless, because I don't have
the BL systems, inventory admins and the support of the BL community to constantly
maintain it.
That is why Brickset wants to link to the live information in BL even though
they have their own active community of AFOLs they don't have all the systems
in place to do this and it would take a lot of work to do so.
That is why we are being invited to put the equivalent of a large interactive
& interesting, advertising hoarding in the middle of a prominant AFOL community.
It rasies the profile of both sites and both would benefit from that.
As far as ebay and Amazon go, the links would not be on the Bricklink side. It
would be people already in Brickset that would be seeing them, as they have been
able to for a long time. What would change is that an alternative choice would
be placed in front of them. An alternative choice that has already provided a
useful tool to them and seems to be the authority on Lego inventories. Rather
than provide additional traffic to ebay and Amazon. I would have thought we would
have stolen traffic from them. Traffic we would not otherwise have had the advertising
budget to reach.
James.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 10:30 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 85 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| I think this is an great idea.
I'm a frequent vistor to the Brickset website and I think it's an excellent site,
providing a lot of information free of charge for people to make good buying
decisions.
There was a discussion in there forum recently regarding using Bricklink to build
discontinued sets such as cafe corner etc. and what surprised me was the number
of users who hadn't used or heard of Bricklink before and where now going to
give it a go.
Bricklink's two strengths are parts and discontinued sets. Having Bricklink integrated
into the Brickset site would make it an easy choice for people that want parts
as there's little competition here. And with discontinued sets, I would expect
Bricklink sellers with their fine reputation and lower fees to be able to compete
strongly with with Amazon Marketplace and ebay sellers. At the moment unless
people already know about the Bricklink site we're not even getting a look in.
I don't know much about the technical side of integration, but as an idea I think
it's a good one.
James.
In Suggestions, DadsAFOL writes:
| | This is based on this thread: http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=128729
that discussed this idea in general. There were no opinions posted opposing
allowing non-retail, non-competitive sites to link to and refer visitors to BrickLink
stores.
I have no conflict of interest in Brickset. As an independent seller, I'm simply
proposing another way to draw traffic to BrickLink.
This suggestion would enable Brickset to 1) display the BL inventory detail and
part pictures for any set, 2) link from the parts to the BL catalog page for
that part, and 3) provide links to stores with those parts for sale on
BrickLink. Brickset would sell link placements similar to the existing Peeron
business model. Orders on BrickLink would show the "Referred by www.brickset.com"
message on the bottom of the order detail.
Per the discussion in the other thread, this suggestion applies only to this
one site. Other sites would need separate forum suggestion threads.
If you have a comment relating to a Brickset relationship, post it here.
If you have a general comment about the concept, please post it to the
original thread.
Thanks. -Jason
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Jul 19, 2012 08:29 | | Subject: | Re: Please consider add reserve function to cart | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Thunor writes:
| | REASON for suggestion: - to improve buyer shopping experience.
PROBLEM: - items in buyers cart are not necessarily available at check out due
to another buyer placing the same item(s) in their cart and checking out first.
This can be quite frustrating if these items were what you went shopping for
and either: -
1) Due to store minimum buy requirements you were looking for other parts to
make up the minimum
Or
2) You had a complex shopping list
COMPARISON – With real world shopping - items in your shopping cart are certain
to be yours assuming you go to the checkout and pay.
SOLUTION: - Add a reserved function to the cart, so that the first buyer to place
an item from a store in their cart makes it unavailable to other buyers.
This function should have a default “time out” of perhaps one hour (similar to
abandoning a physical shopping cart in a shop – the items being returned to stock)
OTHER BENEFIT: - This will also have a lesser but beneficial aspect for the shop
owner, as currently, the only way a buyer will be sure to obtain items is to
place (sometimes) multiple additions to orders – which depending on the inventory
management system employed, can make for a more complicated and confusing order.
I believe this will be of benefit to the whole community!
PLEASE consider voting YES, AND adding a comment to keep this suggestion in view
and thus gain more votes!
Graham
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Why can't you hold the order open?
James.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2012 04:14 | | Subject: | Re: Two more improvements I would like to see | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | In Suggestions, billduge writes:
| | 1. On the list of stores, provide the ability to sort by store size.
2. On the catalog - price guide - when you part out a set it tells you which
pieces you have in your inventory towards the set. It would be helpful if it
told you which pieces you needed to complete that set in a simple little report,
or on a screen that you could print.
Comments?
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For part 2. If you put the set into a wanted list and then go to your inventory and select 'see all items on my wanted list', you can then take off those that you have and be left with a list of parts you need. I guess this is a bit clumsy, and what you are suggesting is slickr, but it is a way of doing it.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Nov 23, 2011 08:08 | | Subject: | Re: Fair, safe and legal trading = BL principles | | Viewed: | 103 times | | Topic: | Terms and Policies | |
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| In Terms and Policies, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | This suggestion is a summary of my recommendations, plus input from others' many
private messages I received on this over the last few days that I would like
Admin to consider in the site upgrade.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION:-
The BrickLink site has always required its' members, both buyers and sellers,
to trade legally and fairly. This is an essential aspect of the site's reputation
which makes it an attractive venue for buyers and sellers to trade here with
confidence and safety. The continued success of the site and enjoyment of it
experienced by its' members both depend heavilly on this being maintained.
The site continues to grow rapidly and welcomes many mew members, both buyers
and sellers every day. The financial success of the site has indeed secured its'
future beyond the loss of its' inspired founder. In the early days, this site
was a small community and the founder members and early adopters clearly did
a great job in building the principles of the site and policing it in a self-regulatory
way. For the most part this still works today but, as is demonstrated in the
many threads recently, some (buyers and sellers) are falling short of those principles
and indeed the law! This may be driven by the vast increase in membership which
makes this place less "personal" for some and combined with this; the laws and
regulations covering internet trading become more and more complex as governments
focus on the explosion of such trading and their need to close tax loopholes
and try to protect their consumers from substandard trading and scams.
I believe the site and ALL its' members (except for any that come here to do
unfair or illegal trading) will benefit from a more developed policy on safe
and legal trading for both their own protection and for the reputation of the
site in general which should help promote its' continued growth and success.
The following suggestions are simply my thougths on "how" some of the issues
might be addressed taking into account the direct input I have had from several
other members as well as many forum threads over the years but some recent ones
in particular:-
SUGGESTION #1 - EXPAND ON THIS IN TOS:-
TOS #11 REQUIRES the following.
"General Compliance with Laws:
You shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations
regarding your use of our service and your listing, purchase and sale of items."
Whilst this "covers" the site in demonstrating to authorities its' intent not
to encourage illegal behaviour, in practice it does little or nothing to:
1. Help inform its' members about what those laws might be and where to find
out about them. Many of the problems here (for buyers and sellers) are caused
by a complete lack of knowledge on the relevent laws.
2. Provides no penalty for breaking them which unfortunately is the reason why
some of the intentional law breakers are comming here.
I suggest changing the TOS #11 to spell out some of the specific laws that members
need to comply with, namely:
Customs - sellers are required to complete customs documents as required by law
honestly and accurately which, for the purpose of selling here, means declaring
the sales value of the goods as stated on the invoice and NOT misprepresenting
commercial sales as gifts.
Compliance with local advertising, selling and consumer protection laws - sellers
are required to comply with all relevent laws applicable to their selling activities.
Taxation - prior to listing any items for sale, sellers are advised to check
the rules in their country relating to any taxation they may need to charge their
customers (e.g. sales tax, VAT as applicable) and any requirements to declare
to their tax authorities any sales activity they conduct on this site.
SUGGESTION #2 - MAKE CUSTOMS FRAUD A REPORTABLE OFFENCE:-
Just as we can report listings that do not comply with the TOS, have a similar
funtion where:
1. Sellers can report (with evidence e.g. private message) to Admin that a buyer
requested a fraudulent customs declaration.
2. Buyers can report (with evidence e.g. private message or something in sellers'
terms) that a seller is offering a fraudulent customs declaration.
3. If a penalty is given, just like an NPB or NSS, a buyer or seller can have
feedback removed if it was given in relation to a transaction subject to the
penalty.
4. A buyer or seller has the right to cancel an order without penalty if subject
to a validated request for customs fraud.
Validated reports would result in a penalty ranging from 1st warning, through
temporary suspension of buying or selling rights, to membership termination for
repeat offenders.
SUGGESTION #3 - HAVE A HELP GUIDE ON SAFETY AND THE LAW
Which members have to declare they have read before they can buy or sell on the
site.
Unlike eBay which has legal resources in many of its' markets, BL has a central
Administration which cannot be expected to be expert on these matter in all geographies.
Perhaps we cound have voluntary "country Admins" for this purpose who would be
responsible for maintaining content with an opening statement relevent to their
market and a number of (official government only) links to any laws relating
to internet buying and selling in their country and the official taxation and
customs sites for their country. This must have a legal disclaimer saying these
Admins and the site are not giving legal advice and it is the ultimate responsibility
of the individual member to ensure he/she complies with all applicable laws.
SUGGESTION #4 - HAVE SOME FUNCTION TO PROMPT BUYERS WHEN BUYING INTERNATIONALLY
-
When you put something in a cart of a store not in your country, you are prompted
to look at a page that says something like:-
"You are about to purchase from a store located outside of your country, you
are advised to check if you may be liable for any customs charges relating to
importing this item into your country WHICH ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY before committing
to this purchase. Purchasing from overseas may also limit your rights as a buyer."
Obviously, this needs some more thought! I would not want this message for EVERY
item I put in a store cart, maybe just the 1st one for example. Maybe give an
option "do not show this message again" after a couple of hits on it within a
certain time period.
SUMMING IT UP FOR ME:-
None of this changes anything that is not the intent of the current TOS.
It is not to differentiate between "private" or "business" sellers for any purpose
of promoting one above the other, although for UK at least and many EU countries,
Gareth's suggestion on that would help keep sellers on the right side of the
law so I still support that too. There does seem to be some differences of definition
on that between countries which would need to be addressed further.
This is intended to HELP buyers and sellers comply with their laws and avoid
some of the risks many are taking now through ignorance of them. Being reported
for falling foul of a law or being caught not complying with it in most cases
carries penalties that most people would be pleased to avoid if given a chance
and informing them better simply helps to avoid that possibility
I would be happy to do more work on this if required as I am passionate about
keeping this a safe, respected place with trading standards that we can ALL be
proud of and enjoy.
CONGRATUALTIONS YOU GOT TO THE END OF THIS POST -
Thank you very much for your time!
Robert
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I think this is a great suggestion.
Laws and taxation are confusing at the best of times, so trying to negotiate
international contract and sales law when many of us are just 'small enterprises'
(be it business or hobby) is just not going to happen and just ignoring it isn't
an option.
Likewise, many first-time casual buyers expect certain things from online retailers
and may not realise that some of the those things may or may not apply here and
may have never ordered anything that had to come from overseas before.
I think giving people information so they can then make an informed decision
can only be a good thing (as long as the information is sound). Even if it's
just a list of 'thing's to consider' it could prevent many of the problems.
James.
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| Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Nov 20, 2011 05:50 | | Subject: | Re: Differentiate private and business sellers | | Viewed: | 63 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| Thanks for this Robert.
I may be a small and new store here on Bricklink, but I suspected this was the
case when I started selling here and so have been keeping records and been prepared
to comply with the distance selling regulations should the need arise (although
luckily not had a problem yet). It looks like this wasn't in vain.
It's nice to have the situation more clearly defined for those in the UK at least.
Maybe those who are required to trade as business in each country should form
their own interest groups and assist in providing a information/guidance page
for members.
James.
In Suggestions, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Suggestions, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
More on this, I think it is VERY important for buyers and sellers here.
Again, appologies that this is UK specific, perhaps knowledged members in other
markets can contribute to this thread and provide some links to relevent laws.
If in your country, consumer law is not so tight, please do not try to use that
fact to discredit this thread, BL is VERY international and all members trading
here need to be able do so within the laws of their land (buyers and sellers).
Now, I know it is not fashionable to praise eBay on this site but they do provide
a lot of good guidance to their members. Currently BrickLink covers itself by
saying its' members must comply with all local laws. No disrespect to Admin as
BL currently does not have any resources outside USA to reliably keep up to date
with legislation.
UK members - please read what eBay says about "if" you should advertise yourself
as a business seller or not, this is exactly in line with the link I provided
yesterday from the HMRC but this is more focussed on consumer rights obligations:-
and note below in particular:-
"It is a criminal offence in the UK for a business to falsely claim or create
the impression that it is not acting for purposes relating to its trade, business,
craft or profession or to falsely represent itself as a consumer"
..and that you are a business seller if you buy goods to resell (be honest folks!).
and BTW, it matters not where the website (i.e. BL) is hosted, it refers of course
to people trading from a UK base.
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/businesscentre/law-policies/listing-items.html
EU members - you will find similar information linking to your legislation on
your home eBay sites too I think.
I think Gareth's suggestion should definitely be included in the site upgrade.
It is important to help sellers who come here to understand the importance of
this to protect them from falling foul of legislation and of course to market
BL as a safe and reliable place to trade (as it generally is of course!).
As eBay have done, any links or "advice" in matters like this should have some
sort of disclaimer that says see a legal advisor, this is not legal advice! As
I've recommended before, I can praise the (free) help given by BusinessLink and
for any UK member in doubt, this would be my 1st point of call. These regulations
change frequently and of course I do not expect Admin to try to maintain that
by country.
HTH
Robert
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United Kingdom, England
