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| | | Author: | DadsAFOL  | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2012 23:17 | | Subject: | Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 541 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
|
| 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: | bagelboybugle | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2012 04:30 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 92 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, DadsAFOL writes:
| | allowing non-retail, non-competitive sites to link to and refer visitors to BrickLink
stores.
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.
|
Anyone anywhere can freely provide links to all this information anyway.
| | 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.
|
One massive key question:
Would brickset want such a model?
Would brickset generate enough traffic to be a suitable investment of Admin time?
| | Per the discussion in the other thread, this suggestion applies only to this
one site. Other sites would need separate forum suggestion threads.
|
Wouldnt it be more effective and efficient to have a more generic affiliate scheme
where permission needs to be requested from [the and/or an] admin to post referring
banners or links on their own sites? Presumably with strict guidelines on where
and how things are linked.
In any case, I dont think now is the right time. This site for all its greatness
is complicated for new users. I would suggest that perhaps affiliate type relationships
could have a strong presence in any future marketing strategy, but I wouldnt
want to push for large volumes of new customers until the new software is ready.
There are also many many options available, some cost admin or seller time, some
cost admin or seller money, some cost nothing.
Gareth
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| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | therobo | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2012 09:19 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 106 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| 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,
|
Hi,
there was a very long and heated discussion about 1.5 years ago about brickset
wanting to display BrickLink's part images and inventory lists.
In fact they would mirror the images and inventories, always loaded on the fly,
meaning a lot more of data traffic for BrickLink.
There were much concerns about BrickLink's bandwidth and also a lot of people
who have contributed thousands of images and inventories in hundreds and thousands
of hours objected against any other site than BrickLink using their work.
As long as brickset would have their own images and inventories - like peeron
- your suggestion might work, but using BrickLink's bandwidth and grabbing BrickLink's
data to also link to amazon and eBay (in addition to BrickLink) can't be in the
interest of BrickLink, it's users and it's catalog contributors.
I voted no.
Ronald
| | 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: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 08:47 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 102 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| I am a small seller, but am a member of the Bricklink community and I wanted
to put in my thoughts. I think this is sorely NEEDED. What is Bricklink about?
It is about selling and buying LEGO sets and elements. How do we do that? How
do we increase awareness, and sales? By getting this site out there, and linking
to it. An increase in traffic will logically result in an increase in sales of
some percentage.
I want Brickset to be able to link to the parts inventories on Bricklink. Yes,
people here put in a lot of time to build those inventories. But for what purpose?
To drive a market for selling these elements. This purpose is served by driving
more people to Brickset to do that.
There was a concern raised about the admin time and if it was worth it to Bricklink
to implement such. I would say that we ensure there is ZERO admin time needed
on the Bricklink side. If Brickset wants to link to the Bricklink parts inventory,
then all the labor can be on their side to build an interface based on the Bricklink
export function. The requirement from us is that they must provide a reference
to Bricklink of where the data came from, and link from those part inventories
directly to Bricklink.
So no time or effort on the Bricklink admin side. Increased visibility to Bricklink
from Brickset (with its many thousands of users). Increased traffic driven to
Bricklink, and therefore more sales for sellers here.
There was another concern raised regarding bandwidth, and why should Bricklink
have to pay for that? I have two thoughts on that. The first is that if we are
talking about increased bandwidth needed to handle an influx of new people going
to Bricklink to buy missing elements for their sets, then GOOD! The increased
revenue of such will pay for the bandwidth for that. As for users pulling part
lists/images, then we can ask Brickset to cache the information locally on their
side, which should alleviate the issue.
And lastly this benefits the LEGO community as a whole. That is what we are about.
So what say you? Let us authorize Brickset to link to our parts inventory, and
that will link the parts directly to Bricklink for purchase. All they need is
our permission, and nothing more.
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| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 09:22 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| ...and yes, Brickset does want such a function. Again, no effort or cost to Bricklink,
but we gain increased exposure and revenue.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | AlbusDumbledore | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 09:32 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | ...and yes, Brickset does want such a function. Again, no effort or cost to Bricklink,
but we gain increased exposure and revenue.
|
http://brickset.com/news/article/?ID=4073
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Graham. | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 10:11 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 63 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, AlbusDumbledore writes:
| | In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | ...and yes, Brickset does want such a function. Again, no effort or cost to Bricklink,
but we gain increased exposure and revenue.
|
http://brickset.com/news/article/?ID=4073
|
Personally I think it's a bit of a shame and a missed opportunity, it's basically
open source verses ©.
Any images I add, I state clearly that they are made availble free from copyright,
on two occaisions (I had pix of one of the series of cfm's and the team gb) I
made them available before they were on site elsewhere - no one took them up.
Many moons passed and eventually up they came - but not the ones I offerred -
why? Not that I care one way or the other about being mentioned or indeed "featured"
is that the term?
Anyway
Open source has many advantages certainly in this sort of arena, what is wrong
with sharing? Who is going to be "stealing" © and thence profiting from it?
All those with a vested interest in pictures of mini figs - may want to have
a peek at ebay - there's a lot of B/L pix there 
Graham
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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 | |
|
| 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: | Huw | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 11:14 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 87 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | 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: | viejos | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 12:15 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 84 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
|
I am one of the ones who said I didn't mind if my images or data were used on
Brickset. In fact, I have already donated some images to Brickset in the spirit
of the Lego community. To me, as long as they are of value to enthusiasts somewhere,
I am glad to be of help.
The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture, there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
And don't underestimate the AFOL community. If you can create a dependable platform
for people to contribute to, the data will come in faster than you will believe.
Russell
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 13:23 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture, there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
|
While there is merit to a competing source of inventory information, the amount
of work is large and the data is already in place on Brickset. I would think
a sharing of the resource just makes sense right now rather than duplicating
it, and from a Bricklink perspective it is to our advantage to allow (and encourage)
it as it will drive more people to THIS site and to buy OUR sets/pieces, as opposed
to a competing site that will do nothing for Bricklink but potentially encourage
traffic away from this site.
I am at a loss as to how it would be in the Bricklink community's interest to
NOT have Brickset link to Bricklink's inventory and spread awareness and purchases
here.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 18:51 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 70 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture, there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
|
While there is merit to a competing source of inventory information, the amount
of work is large and the data is already in place on Brickset. I would think
a sharing of the resource just makes sense right now rather than duplicating
it, and from a Bricklink perspective it is to our advantage to allow (and encourage)
it as it will drive more people to THIS site and to buy OUR sets/pieces, as opposed
to a competing site that will do nothing for Bricklink but potentially encourage
traffic away from this site.
I am at a loss as to how it would be in the Bricklink community's interest to
NOT have Brickset link to Bricklink's inventory and spread awareness and purchases
here.
|
Once the catalog and images are shared with anyone, BrickLink loses sole ownership
and usage of those items. It can either be an explicit loss of control whereby
the recipient (Brickset) is not restrained from further distributing those materials.
Or it could be an implicit loss whereby someone makes unauthorized use of those
materials but the source (stolen from BrickLink or Brickset) cannot be identified.
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | JohnnyQuest | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 20:29 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| |
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
Just curious, does BrickLink have exclusive ownership of the catalog information?
By what mechanism?
|
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 20:41 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| |
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
Just curious, does BrickLink have exclusive ownership of the catalog information?
By what mechanism?
|
The super-brief summary is that the catalog database information like parts,
colors, set inventories, etc. is likely owned by BrickLink and can be disseminated
as decided by the owners/administrators of this site. Since it was never specified
otherwise, the catalog images remain the property of the original submitter (copyright
holder). BrickLink therefore cannot redistribute those without permission of
the original submitter.
The exception is images from the LEGO site... BrickLink is granted use of those
copyrighted images).
I've likely skimmed over numerous details and specific cases. But that's the
general idea of the current interpretation.
|
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | JohnnyQuest | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:14 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| |
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
Just curious, does BrickLink have exclusive ownership of the catalog information?
By what mechanism?
|
The super-brief summary is that the catalog database information like parts,
colors, set inventories, etc. is likely owned by BrickLink and can be disseminated
as decided by the owners/administrators of this site. Since it was never specified
otherwise, the catalog images remain the property of the original submitter (copyright
holder). BrickLink therefore cannot redistribute those without permission of
the original submitter.
The exception is images from the LEGO site... BrickLink is granted use of those
copyrighted images).
I've likely skimmed over numerous details and specific cases. But that's the
general idea of the current interpretation.
|
IANAL, but that seems a stretch. The inventories were submitted by large numbers
of people. The colors are just names of colors. Actual photographs have an
implied copyright under US law, but I'm not sure a line drawing of a 2x4 lego
does, and if it does, I don't see how ownership necessarily rests with BrickLink.
And lets not mention how many international jurisdictions are involved.
Don't get me wrong, I love BrickLink, I think its a great place. And maybe I'm
wrong, but I'm not sure that BL automatically has exclusive right to every bit
of information in their database.
-JQ
|
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:38 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| |
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
Just curious, does BrickLink have exclusive ownership of the catalog information?
By what mechanism?
|
The super-brief summary is that the catalog database information like parts,
colors, set inventories, etc. is likely owned by BrickLink and can be disseminated
as decided by the owners/administrators of this site. Since it was never specified
otherwise, the catalog images remain the property of the original submitter (copyright
holder). BrickLink therefore cannot redistribute those without permission of
the original submitter.
The exception is images from the LEGO site... BrickLink is granted use of those
copyrighted images).
I've likely skimmed over numerous details and specific cases. But that's the
general idea of the current interpretation.
|
IANAL, but that seems a stretch. The inventories were submitted by large numbers
of people. The colors are just names of colors. Actual photographs have an
implied copyright under US law, but I'm not sure a line drawing of a 2x4 lego
does, and if it does, I don't see how ownership necessarily rests with BrickLink.
|
Right... the image ownership is retained by the person who originally captured
it. By uploading to the BrickLink database that person gave BrickLink permission
to use it for the database on BrickLink. It isn't clear if BrickLink has a right
to redistribute or otherwise grant use of that image (although the prevailing
opinion is that BrickLink does NOT have that right).
| | And lets not mention how many international jurisdictions are involved.
Don't get me wrong, I love BrickLink, I think its a great place. And maybe I'm
wrong, but I'm not sure that BL automatically has exclusive right to every bit
of information in their database.
-JQ
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | viejos | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:00 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, JohnnyQuest writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| |
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
Just curious, does BrickLink have exclusive ownership of the catalog information?
By what mechanism?
|
The super-brief summary is that the catalog database information like parts,
colors, set inventories, etc. is likely owned by BrickLink and can be disseminated
as decided by the owners/administrators of this site. Since it was never specified
otherwise, the catalog images remain the property of the original submitter (copyright
holder). BrickLink therefore cannot redistribute those without permission of
the original submitter.
The exception is images from the LEGO site... BrickLink is granted use of those
copyrighted images).
I've likely skimmed over numerous details and specific cases. But that's the
general idea of the current interpretation.
|
IANAL, but that seems a stretch. The inventories were submitted by large numbers
of people.
|
Actually, a huge number of them were copied wholesale from other places as part
of a community sharing agreement. And one can often find inventories copied from
BrickLink on other sites. Granted, they usually have old data and don't have
all the neat features that BL has, and they can't be corrected, so IMO they are
pretty useless. But I don't see them being shut down for any legal reason.
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
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 02:44 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| | | | | | | | | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
|
|
|
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
|
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.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 08:36 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | | | | | | | | | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
|
|
|
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
|
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.
|
Exactly my thoughts! Yes, Brickset links to Amazon and Ebay which are BL's largest
competitors, but the point is that they already do that, and do NOT currently
link to Bricklink as well, but if they did so then more traffic would be funneled
here, and more exposure. And if the set part lists on that site link directly
to Bricklink (no where else) then that is certainly traffic from there that Ebay
and Amazon would not have.
As for profit sharing or paying Brickset for the traffic coming to Bricklink,
I am sure that would be worked out. I cannot speak for the Brickset management,
but I would think they would not want any compensation for the traffic to Bricklink
at all...they just want to offer it as a service to the LEGO community.
So there has been lots of discussion on this topic. A lot of people are in favor.
Some have doubts and/or reservations. How do we actually move forward on this
proposal? Is there a vote? A collective consensus (and if so, how)? Or is it
just a discussion that dies out on the vine as there is no one here to really
make a decision on this and no mechanism to make a group decision...?
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | randyf | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 09:16 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | | | | | | | | | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
|
|
|
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
|
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.
|
Exactly my thoughts! Yes, Brickset links to Amazon and Ebay which are BL's largest
competitors, but the point is that they already do that, and do NOT currently
link to Bricklink as well, but if they did so then more traffic would be funneled
here, and more exposure. And if the set part lists on that site link directly
to Bricklink (no where else) then that is certainly traffic from there that Ebay
and Amazon would not have.
As for profit sharing or paying Brickset for the traffic coming to Bricklink,
I am sure that would be worked out. I cannot speak for the Brickset management,
but I would think they would not want any compensation for the traffic to Bricklink
at all...they just want to offer it as a service to the LEGO community.
So there has been lots of discussion on this topic. A lot of people are in favor.
Some have doubts and/or reservations. How do we actually move forward on this
proposal? Is there a vote? A collective consensus (and if so, how)? Or is it
just a discussion that dies out on the vine as there is no one here to really
make a decision on this and no mechanism to make a group decision...?
|
In the end, this is not a democracy here. It is completely up to Admin and the
Jezek family. If they decide that this is a good idea, it will happen. If they
decide it is not, then it won't. BrickLink is a business after all, and the largest
competitive advantage it has over anyone else is the catalog -- it's lifeblood.
If I were the owner of BrickLink -- a profit-driven venture -- then I would be
very hesitant to release my competitive advantage into the "wild" willy-nilly,
if at all.
Randy
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:51 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | Once the catalog and images are shared with anyone, BrickLink loses sole ownership
and usage of those items. It can either be an explicit loss of control whereby
the recipient (Brickset) is not restrained from further distributing those materials.
Or it could be an implicit loss whereby someone makes unauthorized use of those
materials but the source (stolen from BrickLink or Brickset) cannot be identified.
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
OK, so the fear is that if you give to one site, then they may in turn give to
others outside of BL's control and then it becomes the public domain and a competitor
could use the data to their advantage.
To offer a counter or compromise, what if the Brickset case were addressed by
the stipulation that they can ONLY link to and utilize the BL inventory export
on the condition that it can not be shared/extracted from Brickset? Brickset
itself does not sell parts/sets like BL does and would not be a direct competitor.
With this solution then BL still gets more exposure, still gets more traffic
to its site and more sales as a result, and is still protected against the concern
that you just raised. A different site that wanted access to BL's inventory would
have to negotiate their own terms (and be denied if they are trying to use for
profit, but the stipulation would always be that they cannot reexport/share that
information).
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:05 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | Once the catalog and images are shared with anyone, BrickLink loses sole ownership
and usage of those items. It can either be an explicit loss of control whereby
the recipient (Brickset) is not restrained from further distributing those materials.
Or it could be an implicit loss whereby someone makes unauthorized use of those
materials but the source (stolen from BrickLink or Brickset) cannot be identified.
Once that happens, nefarious people will have an easier time setting up competitor
sites to BrickLink as one of the significant pieces of work has been removed.
It's been tried before and unauthorized use of catalog information was one of
the tools to stop it.
|
OK, so the fear is that if you give to one site, then they may in turn give to
others outside of BL's control and then it becomes the public domain and a competitor
could use the data to their advantage.
|
Kind of. I don't believe either site would purposefully distribute the data.
But what if the other site accidentally or inadvertently distributes it? That
gets real messy to sort out who is responsible and accountable for what.
| |
To offer a counter or compromise, what if the Brickset case were addressed by
the stipulation that they can ONLY link to and utilize the BL inventory export
on the condition that it can not be shared/extracted from Brickset? Brickset
itself does not sell parts/sets like BL does and would not be a direct competitor.
|
But Brickset links to several competitor sites.
BrickLink has a resource that draws people into the site. I can understand the
reluctance to allow that resource to be used on another site when the traffic
isn't necessarily funneled to BrickLink. It would be kind of like Wal-Mart offering
to sell their Black Friday door-busters at a kiosk in the mall.
| |
With this solution then BL still gets more exposure, still gets more traffic
to its site and more sales as a result, and is still protected against the concern
that you just raised. A different site that wanted access to BL's inventory would
have to negotiate their own terms (and be denied if they are trying to use for
profit, but the stipulation would always be that they cannot reexport/share that
information).
|
I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | mnementh | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:52 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 948 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
The catalog is, and has always been, freely downloadable:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogDownload.asp
All of it.
With no restrictions placed on it.
By design.
Dan was always more community oriented than commercially oriented and believed
in freely sharing information to foster the community. Yes this may lead to
some use that we do not like, but that was the tradeoff for for the positives.
Brickstore would be one of the positives. It gives users the ability to do things
that Dan either could not or would not support on BrickLink. It was a winning
situation for everyone. Dan didn't have to provide features that only a small
subset of users wanted/needed. Members still got the features they wanted.
The author of BrickStore was able to make some money to defray the cost of producing
the software. The only negative is that the software is no longer being developed.
But in true community spirit, it is open source, so people can continue the
development on their own.
I believe that Brickset would also be a positive for all involved, depending
on how it is implemented. I believe that Brickset has a wider reach than Bricklink
in that it reaches people outside the core AFOL market. As such, it could only
drive more traffic to BrickLink, which makes BL more money and makes BrickLink
sellers more money. The only issue to be resolved would be how to compensate
Brickset for sending the traffic.
Any agreement between the two sites could stipulate that the inventory and parts
catalog information could only be used to link back to BrickLink and not to other
competing sites. Brickset maintains its own catalog of set information so it
would remain free to continue to link set info to eBay and Amazon. There is
also potential for information to travel in the other direction as well. BrickLink
could use set reviews.
Troy
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Huw | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 14:44 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 93 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, mnementh writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
The catalog is, and has always been, freely downloadable:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogDownload.asp
All of it.
With no restrictions placed on it.
By design.
Dan was always more community oriented than commercially oriented and believed
in freely sharing information to foster the community. Yes this may lead to
some use that we do not like, but that was the tradeoff for for the positives.
Brickstore would be one of the positives. It gives users the ability to do things
that Dan either could not or would not support on BrickLink. It was a winning
situation for everyone. Dan didn't have to provide features that only a small
subset of users wanted/needed. Members still got the features they wanted.
The author of BrickStore was able to make some money to defray the cost of producing
the software. The only negative is that the software is no longer being developed.
But in true community spirit, it is open source, so people can continue the
development on their own.
I believe that Brickset would also be a positive for all involved, depending
on how it is implemented. I believe that Brickset has a wider reach than Bricklink
in that it reaches people outside the core AFOL market. As such, it could only
drive more traffic to BrickLink, which makes BL more money and makes BrickLink
sellers more money. The only issue to be resolved would be how to compensate
Brickset for sending the traffic.
Any agreement between the two sites could stipulate that the inventory and parts
catalog information could only be used to link back to BrickLink and not to other
competing sites. Brickset maintains its own catalog of set information so it
would remain free to continue to link set info to eBay and Amazon. There is
also potential for information to travel in the other direction as well. BrickLink
could use set reviews.
Troy
|
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 (huw@brickset.com) 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
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | jimred | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 14:57 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| 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
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 15:13 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, jimred writes:
| | 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
|
|
Well, I of course am completely in favor. Huw, many here have opinions but it
is not clear who can authorize a decision one way or another. Perhaps contacting
the Bricklink owner family and mention this thread for background and ask them
if they have a thought on it and what would be needed to move forward. Unless
someone else here has another suggestion.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Miro78 | | Posted: | Mar 19, 2014 15:59 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | In Suggestions, mnementh writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
The catalog is, and has always been, freely downloadable:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogDownload.asp
All of it.
With no restrictions placed on it.
By design.
Dan was always more community oriented than commercially oriented and believed
in freely sharing information to foster the community. Yes this may lead to
some use that we do not like, but that was the tradeoff for for the positives.
Brickstore would be one of the positives. It gives users the ability to do things
that Dan either could not or would not support on BrickLink. It was a winning
situation for everyone. Dan didn't have to provide features that only a small
subset of users wanted/needed. Members still got the features they wanted.
The author of BrickStore was able to make some money to defray the cost of producing
the software. The only negative is that the software is no longer being developed.
But in true community spirit, it is open source, so people can continue the
development on their own.
I believe that Brickset would also be a positive for all involved, depending
on how it is implemented. I believe that Brickset has a wider reach than Bricklink
in that it reaches people outside the core AFOL market. As such, it could only
drive more traffic to BrickLink, which makes BL more money and makes BrickLink
sellers more money. The only issue to be resolved would be how to compensate
Brickset for sending the traffic.
Any agreement between the two sites could stipulate that the inventory and parts
catalog information could only be used to link back to BrickLink and not to other
competing sites. Brickset maintains its own catalog of set information so it
would remain free to continue to link set info to eBay and Amazon. There is
also potential for information to travel in the other direction as well. BrickLink
could use set reviews.
Troy
|
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 (huw@brickset.com) 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
|
It has been 19 months since any more posts were done on this topic. Ownership
has changed hands on Bricklink and I am curious to know if the stance has changed
at all. I am not familiar with the history between Brickset and Bricklink, but
I think this would help both parties. Afterall, BrickOwl is already on both Brickset
and Rebrickable. Times are changing, what is Bricklink's stance now?
Miro
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | jodawill | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2014 02:22 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| Still no response from Bricklink?
In Suggestions, Miro78 writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | In Suggestions, mnementh writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
The catalog is, and has always been, freely downloadable:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogDownload.asp
All of it.
With no restrictions placed on it.
By design.
Dan was always more community oriented than commercially oriented and believed
in freely sharing information to foster the community. Yes this may lead to
some use that we do not like, but that was the tradeoff for for the positives.
Brickstore would be one of the positives. It gives users the ability to do things
that Dan either could not or would not support on BrickLink. It was a winning
situation for everyone. Dan didn't have to provide features that only a small
subset of users wanted/needed. Members still got the features they wanted.
The author of BrickStore was able to make some money to defray the cost of producing
the software. The only negative is that the software is no longer being developed.
But in true community spirit, it is open source, so people can continue the
development on their own.
I believe that Brickset would also be a positive for all involved, depending
on how it is implemented. I believe that Brickset has a wider reach than Bricklink
in that it reaches people outside the core AFOL market. As such, it could only
drive more traffic to BrickLink, which makes BL more money and makes BrickLink
sellers more money. The only issue to be resolved would be how to compensate
Brickset for sending the traffic.
Any agreement between the two sites could stipulate that the inventory and parts
catalog information could only be used to link back to BrickLink and not to other
competing sites. Brickset maintains its own catalog of set information so it
would remain free to continue to link set info to eBay and Amazon. There is
also potential for information to travel in the other direction as well. BrickLink
could use set reviews.
Troy
|
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 (huw@brickset.com) 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
|
It has been 19 months since any more posts were done on this topic. Ownership
has changed hands on Bricklink and I am curious to know if the stance has changed
at all. I am not familiar with the history between Brickset and Bricklink, but
I think this would help both parties. Afterall, BrickOwl is already on both Brickset
and Rebrickable. Times are changing, what is Bricklink's stance now?
Miro
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Miro78 | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2014 17:50 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 94 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, jodawill writes:
| | Still no response from Bricklink?
|
Not directly to me. I have not read anything about it either, but then I again
can't keep up with everything going on in the forum.
Miro
| |
In Suggestions, Miro78 writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | In Suggestions, mnementh writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | I don't really have a strong preference about the catalog. I've uploaded a minimal
amount of info to it and don't really care how it gets used/abused. I'm just
trying to explain some of the rationale I have seen in these discussions previously.
If I wanted to champion the release of BrickLink catalog data, I'd start the
argument with BrickStore. That is oddly omitted from many of these discussions.
|
The catalog is, and has always been, freely downloadable:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogDownload.asp
All of it.
With no restrictions placed on it.
By design.
Dan was always more community oriented than commercially oriented and believed
in freely sharing information to foster the community. Yes this may lead to
some use that we do not like, but that was the tradeoff for for the positives.
Brickstore would be one of the positives. It gives users the ability to do things
that Dan either could not or would not support on BrickLink. It was a winning
situation for everyone. Dan didn't have to provide features that only a small
subset of users wanted/needed. Members still got the features they wanted.
The author of BrickStore was able to make some money to defray the cost of producing
the software. The only negative is that the software is no longer being developed.
But in true community spirit, it is open source, so people can continue the
development on their own.
I believe that Brickset would also be a positive for all involved, depending
on how it is implemented. I believe that Brickset has a wider reach than Bricklink
in that it reaches people outside the core AFOL market. As such, it could only
drive more traffic to BrickLink, which makes BL more money and makes BrickLink
sellers more money. The only issue to be resolved would be how to compensate
Brickset for sending the traffic.
Any agreement between the two sites could stipulate that the inventory and parts
catalog information could only be used to link back to BrickLink and not to other
competing sites. Brickset maintains its own catalog of set information so it
would remain free to continue to link set info to eBay and Amazon. There is
also potential for information to travel in the other direction as well. BrickLink
could use set reviews.
Troy
|
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 (huw@brickset.com) 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
|
It has been 19 months since any more posts were done on this topic. Ownership
has changed hands on Bricklink and I am curious to know if the stance has changed
at all. I am not familiar with the history between Brickset and Bricklink, but
I think this would help both parties. Afterall, BrickOwl is already on both Brickset
and Rebrickable. Times are changing, what is Bricklink's stance now?
Miro
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | therobo | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 08:56 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture, there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
|
While there is merit to a competing source of inventory information, the amount
of work is large and the data is already in place on Brickset. I would think
a sharing of the resource just makes sense right now rather than duplicating
it, and from a Bricklink perspective it is to our advantage to allow (and encourage)
it as it will drive more people to THIS site and to buy OUR sets/pieces, as opposed
to a competing site that will do nothing for Bricklink but potentially encourage
traffic away from this site.
I am at a loss as to how it would be in the Bricklink community's interest to
NOT have Brickset link to Bricklink's inventory
|
Brickset already links to BrickLink's and peeron's inventories.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | D.Rae.McCormick | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:22 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
|
I am one of the ones who said I didn't mind if my images or data were used on
Brickset. In fact, I have already donated some images to Brickset in the spirit
of the Lego community. To me, as long as they are of value to enthusiasts somewhere,
I am glad to be of help.
The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture,
|
I'm sorry. What did I miss? Why is Peeron out of the picture?
~Rae
| | there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
And don't underestimate the AFOL community. If you can create a dependable platform
for people to contribute to, the data will come in faster than you will believe.
Russell
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | 111insanedane | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:27 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, RaeMcCormick writes:
| | In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
|
I am one of the ones who said I didn't mind if my images or data were used on
Brickset. In fact, I have already donated some images to Brickset in the spirit
of the Lego community. To me, as long as they are of value to enthusiasts somewhere,
I am glad to be of help.
The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture,
|
I'm sorry. What did I miss? Why is Peeron out of the picture?
~Rae
|
I am not completely sure, but I do not think that they are continuing to update
their inventory... ie: no 10226, but I am sure someone here will give a more
complete reply.
| | | | there will be a need for an alternate (or
perhaps even better) source for Lego inventories.
And don't underestimate the AFOL community. If you can create a dependable platform
for people to contribute to, the data will come in faster than you will believe.
Russell
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | viejos | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:10 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 70 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, RaeMcCormick writes:
| | In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
|
I am one of the ones who said I didn't mind if my images or data were used on
Brickset. In fact, I have already donated some images to Brickset in the spirit
of the Lego community. To me, as long as they are of value to enthusiasts somewhere,
I am glad to be of help.
The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture,
|
I'm sorry. What did I miss? Why is Peeron out of the picture?
~Rae
|
On a recent Brickset thread, it was stated that Peeron hasn't added an inventory
since March. And from my own experience trying to communicate with whomever is
at the helm over there, I have come to the conclusion that the site is basically
on life support.
Wish it weren't true. Somebody please tell me I'm wrong. 
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | maggiec | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:57 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 93 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | In Suggestions, RaeMcCormick writes:
| | In Suggestions, viejos writes:
| | In Suggestions, Huw writes:
| | Thank you for discussing this. My previous efforts to do so have usually ended
in tears so I'm not going to pitch in on this thread unless I can answer any
questions.
I sincerely hope you, as a community, can see the benefit of displaying the inventories
at Brickset (most of which have been mentioned in this thread already) but I
will of course respect your wishes should the answer still be no.
Huw
Brickset.com
|
I am one of the ones who said I didn't mind if my images or data were used on
Brickset. In fact, I have already donated some images to Brickset in the spirit
of the Lego community. To me, as long as they are of value to enthusiasts somewhere,
I am glad to be of help.
The tough answer to this problem is to do what you did with the minifig images.
If set inventories are a desirable asset to Brickset, start building your own.
With Peeron now out of the picture,
|
I'm sorry. What did I miss? Why is Peeron out of the picture?
~Rae
|
On a recent Brickset thread, it was stated that Peeron hasn't added an inventory
since March. And from my own experience trying to communicate with whomever is
at the helm over there, I have come to the conclusion that the site is basically
on life support.
Wish it weren't true. Somebody please tell me I'm wrong.
|
I don't think so, it looks like the last update was in April. If anyone
could tell you for sure it would be either member Clark or LPBricks.
Perhaps my high school history teacher was right, ultimately successful endeavors
are those which are profit driven. 
|
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | bb219749 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:05 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| One thing that concerns me:
On fleabay, I see many sellers saying that they've used a peeron or BrickSet
inventory to inventory sets that they're selling.
If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
Personally, when I upload catalog info to BL (whether it is for an inventory
or an item's picture/weight/dimensions), my hopes were that it would used to
either supplement BrickLink's catalog or for the good of LEGO fans -- not so
they could be used for ebay sellers to sell LEGO there.
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | bricks2plates | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:40 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
I hear you and I agree, but I can't see how this would be enforceable. The information
is here and there is nothing to stop someone from pulling up the set inventory
on BL and then going to ebay to sell it, regardless of what may be put in the
Terms of Service.
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | bb219749 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:45 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
I hear you and I agree, but I can't see how this would be enforceable. The information
is here and there is nothing to stop someone from pulling up the set inventory
on BL and then going to ebay to sell it, regardless of what may be put in the
Terms of Service.
|
I guess it was just wishful thinking then...
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 21:54 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | One thing that concerns me:
On fleabay, I see many sellers saying that they've used a peeron or BrickSet
inventory to inventory sets that they're selling.
If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
Probably... but would either site have the means to enforce their ToS?
Why should usage for selling specifically on ebay be prohibited? That seems
as arbitrary as banning usage by anyone not running iOS or anyone located in
Texas. (Meaning that it is a personal preference but not anything of conclusive
merit.)
| | Personally, when I upload catalog info to BL (whether it is for an inventory
or an item's picture/weight/dimensions), my hopes were that it would used to
either supplement BrickLink's catalog or for the good of LEGO fans -- not so
they could be used for ebay sellers to sell LEGO there.
|
Those statements aren't mutually exclusive. Isn't it for the good of LEGO fans
that, when they buy a used set (on any venue), they get a complete set?
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | maggiec | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:06 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | One thing that concerns me:
On fleabay, I see many sellers saying that they've used a peeron or BrickSet
inventory to inventory sets that they're selling.
If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
Probably... but would either site have the means to enforce their ToS?
Why should usage for selling specifically on ebay be prohibited? That seems
as arbitrary as banning usage by anyone not running iOS or anyone located in
Texas. (Meaning that it is a personal preference but not anything of conclusive
merit.)
|
Given the history of eBay's treatment of BrickLink (formerly BrickBay), Admin
Dan didn't want to do anything that would help further eBay's sales. As I recall,
when this was raised the last time, a large part of the objection was due to
the placement of eBay ads in prominent places where there would be inventories
from BL. Coming so soon after Dan's leaving us, some of us felt it would have
been like a slap in the face.
Maggie
| | | | Personally, when I upload catalog info to BL (whether it is for an inventory
or an item's picture/weight/dimensions), my hopes were that it would used to
either supplement BrickLink's catalog or for the good of LEGO fans -- not so
they could be used for ebay sellers to sell LEGO there.
|
Those statements aren't mutually exclusive. Isn't it for the good of LEGO fans
that, when they buy a used set (on any venue), they get a complete set?
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | goshe7 | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 22:10 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, maggiec writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | One thing that concerns me:
On fleabay, I see many sellers saying that they've used a peeron or BrickSet
inventory to inventory sets that they're selling.
If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
Probably... but would either site have the means to enforce their ToS?
Why should usage for selling specifically on ebay be prohibited? That seems
as arbitrary as banning usage by anyone not running iOS or anyone located in
Texas. (Meaning that it is a personal preference but not anything of conclusive
merit.)
|
Given the history of eBay's treatment of BrickLink (formerly BrickBay), Admin
Dan didn't want to do anything that would help further eBay's sales. As I recall,
when this was raised the last time, a large part of the objection was due to
the placement of eBay ads in prominent places where there would be inventories
from BL. Coming so soon after Dan's leaving us, some of us felt it would have
been like a slap in the face.
Maggie
|
Ahhh.... History that predates my existence here. Thanks for the clarification.
| | | | | | Personally, when I upload catalog info to BL (whether it is for an inventory
or an item's picture/weight/dimensions), my hopes were that it would used to
either supplement BrickLink's catalog or for the good of LEGO fans -- not so
they could be used for ebay sellers to sell LEGO there.
|
Those statements aren't mutually exclusive. Isn't it for the good of LEGO fans
that, when they buy a used set (on any venue), they get a complete set?
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bb219749 | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2012 16:27 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, maggiec writes:
| | In Suggestions, goshe7 writes:
| | In Suggestions, _JDB writes:
| | One thing that concerns me:
On fleabay, I see many sellers saying that they've used a peeron or BrickSet
inventory to inventory sets that they're selling.
If BL's inventories are going to be used by BrickSet, can there be something
in someones' Terms of Service about using BL inventories to resell on sites other
than BrickLink (or at least not on ebay)?
|
Probably... but would either site have the means to enforce their ToS?
Why should usage for selling specifically on ebay be prohibited? That seems
as arbitrary as banning usage by anyone not running iOS or anyone located in
Texas. (Meaning that it is a personal preference but not anything of conclusive
merit.)
|
Given the history of eBay's treatment of BrickLink (formerly BrickBay), Admin
Dan didn't want to do anything that would help further eBay's sales. As I recall,
when this was raised the last time, a large part of the objection was due to
the placement of eBay ads in prominent places where there would be inventories
from BL. Coming so soon after Dan's leaving us, some of us felt it would have
been like a slap in the face.
Maggie
|
Ahhh.... History that predates my existence here. Thanks for the clarification.
|
That almost slipped my mind. I remember reading about ebay not taking too kindly
to BL being named "BrickBay" at the time.
Which also reminded me of that site history help page (whose links seem to lead
to 404's)
http://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=232
| |
| | | | | | Personally, when I upload catalog info to BL (whether it is for an inventory
or an item's picture/weight/dimensions), my hopes were that it would used to
either supplement BrickLink's catalog or for the good of LEGO fans -- not so
they could be used for ebay sellers to sell LEGO there.
|
Those statements aren't mutually exclusive. Isn't it for the good of LEGO fans
that, when they buy a used set (on any venue), they get a complete set?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | TMM | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2014 17:58 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 80 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| 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
|
The time should be taken to look at how BO has used affiliates to drive traffic,
and increase orders... If this has not already been discussed.
- Cora.
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USA, California
United Kingdom, England
Germany, Berlin
Canada, Ontario
