BrickLink Discussion Forum

But but but… The Price Guide!?!!!

Author:

hpoort

Posted:

Jan 2, 2020 03:51

Subject:

Policy change - Undetermined versus Unknown a

Viewed:

221 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

With the takeover by TLG, it may be time that some fundamental changes to the
site get implemented. Hence the posting of this idea - that has been bothering
me for years.

— requires programming and website extension —

Currently in the Bricklink catalog are parts that signify ‘undetermined variant’,
commonly marked for deletion or already deleted, and corresponding parts that
represent the specific variants of these. The current system requires sellers
to determine the specific variant type – even if they would prefer not to distinguish.
The same system requires buyers to exactly specify which variant they are interested
in buying – even if they don’t actually care which is commonly true. My suggestion
would be to distinguish the two concepts as are the processes: the process of
specifying what is for sale (which may be undetermined) and the process of specifying
what you want to buy (which may be ‘don’t care’). Both processes are already
separate on Bricklink (store inventory and wanted lists), but the concept of
‘undetermined’ is not.

For the catalog policy
• Keep all undetermined variants in the catalog and even add undetermined
variants for those parts that are similar. This information may be extracted
from the relation type ‘part is similar to’.
• Drop the deletion marks for all the undetermined entries and solely use
this marking for wrong or outdated entries.

For sellers
For sellers to don’t want to distinguish between part variants: list these parts
under the undetermined entry only. The BL system should be modified to show these
entries amidst the specific variants for any non specific search as through wanted
lists.

For buyers
For buyers it should be possible to specify an undetermined variety or in
effect a search pattern instead of a single part number. If a buyer does not
care whether a p=4085 is of type a, b, c or d, the buyer should be able to add
p=4085* to his wanted list and the search engine should have no trouble in matching
4085a, 4085b or 4085d with this. Similarly to the 0 color (labeled N/A or Not
Appicable while in this context it actually means Irrelevant).
Buyers should be assisted by the website to specify a specific variant if applicable,
but default to the don’t care form.

For the Bricklink website
• Add a feature to the ‘Add to Wanted List’ and ‘Edit Wanted List’ forms
to allow adding of (a) this specific variant only or (b) include variants. Then
populate the wanted list with the appropriate search pattern instead of the single
part number. This would take the form of either a complete enumeration of all
varieties like ‘4085|4085a|4085b|4085c|4085d’ (plate 1x1 with clip) or the more
general entry of ‘4085*’ or ‘4085@’; I would think the enumeration is more robust,
as it would also allow ‘3794|3794a|3794b|15573’ (jumper 1x2) and would also
allow manual exclusion of one or more variants.
• Adjust the ‘Items for sale’ pages or page fragments that show all matching
parts to include all variants when searching for the don’t care variety.

For the Bricklink database
• Widen the field WantedListItems.ItemNumber to allow for longer patterns.
100 chars would be enough for most enumerations of varieties I can think of.

For the Bricklink search engine
• For matching wanted lists with store items: presume that wanted list entries
may contain a search pattern instead of a single entry. Change the SQL from ‘=’
to ‘LIKE’ wherever necessary or drop the quotes around the field. (But make sure
no malicious code may be entered through this field).

Extra
• A similar feature might be implemented to search for approximate colors
such as ‘any gray’ or ‘any green’, similar to how Studio groups the colors.

Any thoughts of whether this would be helpful for you as a seller or for you
as a buyer?

Author:

Gaston.La.Brick

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 14:52

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

56 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, C0lsanders_ writes:

You can manually set it to paid. Bottom of the order page 'Edit page',
then 'Payment status'.

I know: you are referring to "Payment status".
However, sometimes the order status is set to "Paid". And that is not logical,
if you know there is a separate status field for payment status.

I have to manually set it as not paid sometimes, when an "idiot" buyer set it
as paid, without having actually paid. I may then message them, as they usually
think they have paid (but didn't).

Miles (C0lsanders_)

Author:

Gaston.La.Brick

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 14:50

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

26 times

Topic:

My reason is two-fold:

1) to keep track of orders that need to be processed
2) I actually had the situation where the (recurring) buyer requested to pickup
and he was under the impression it was picked already. So when the buyer showed
up on a Sunday at 9 AM, it was clear (to me) the status "Ready" gave an incorrect
perception.

Author:

C0lsanders_

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 08:45

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

You can manually set it to paid. Bottom of the order page 'Edit page',
then 'Payment status'.
I have to manually set it as not paid sometimes, when an "idiot" buyer set it
as paid, without having actually paid. I may then message them, as they usually
think they have paid (but didn't).

Miles (C0lsanders_)

In Suggestions, Gaston.La.Brick writes:

After a user places an order, it gets the default status "Ready".*
This confuses buyers: they think the order was processed and is ready for shipping.
I would like to suggest setting the default order status always to "Pending".

*(Unless they pay at once using BL, it is set to "Paid" automatically. I can't
set it to that status manually. This is confusing since there is a payment status
as well. So that's double info and I would remove that possible value for
the status.)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 07:52

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

54 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

In Suggestions, Gaston.La.Brick writes:

Hi there

Don't use IC so do not have this problem . but I think it is worth noting
that lots of sellers use the status indicator for different situations.

For example - in our store we see Pending as order placed. We change that status
to Processing when we pick the order up and send out our acknowledgement to the
buyer. When the order is picked and pre-packaged the status changes to ready,
and when it is invoiced it goes to packed. We don't change it to paid - we
ship within 24 hours of being paid and change it then to shipped. So paid is
not something we use and we change the status at various times throughout the
process to match our processes. That seems to work well for us but it probably
would not suit others. Just depends on whether you use IC or bother with the
status at all. I don't believe Bricklink should get involved with changing
the status automatically in most cases - that should be left to the stores and
when appropriate the buyers.

Bill @ Calsbricks

IC orders that come in not yet paid (or verified) come in as "ready", so in your
routine it's the same issue as that I have: Some of your "ready" orders would
be picked and pre-packed, while others would be completely newly received IC
orders. There are 2 possible solutions:

1. Invoice manual orders before picking them, so that all "ready" orders
mean "need to be picked" (disadvantage: if they're manual because of a shipping
cost question you may want to pick and test it first)

2. Change manual orders to "packed" once you picked them, so there's no risk
you pick them twice (disadvantage: you can't see when the buyer sent the
payment and buyers can't make additions anymore)

However, since 99% of my orders are IC, it's not difficult for me to deal
with this anymore as I can remember the status of such individual cases. So I'm
not complaining, but I agree the OP's suggestion would be an improvement.
However, I am not sure about the OP's reason for it - I haven't had any
buyers that were confused by it - just me

Author:

calsbricks

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 06:05

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Gaston.La.Brick writes:

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 05:26

Subject:

Re: Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

55 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Gaston.La.Brick writes:

Agree, posted this before. It's also ambiguous for me as a seller, as I can't
distinguish new orders from the ones I have sorted and invoiced. Especially when
you work together with someone else it is messy and has already resulted in several
orders being picked twice.

Author:

Gaston.La.Brick

Posted:

Dec 30, 2019 05:10

Subject:

Don't set "Ready" as default order status.

Viewed:

133 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

Admin_Russell

Posted:

Dec 29, 2019 20:09

Subject:

Re: Add Approval Step "Released"

Viewed:

72 times

Topic: