Discussion Forum: Messages by calsbricks (8514)
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 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 15, 2021 10:31
 Subject: Sellers tools - Query by Form (QBF)
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 Topic: General
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Sellers Tools – Query by Form

Here is an idea which could help both sellers and buyers using a simple Query
by form (qbf)

I am not a software screen or form designer but the fields could be something
like this:

Top half of screen

Lot No/Product Code Lot no brings up product description, clour and condition;
Product
code lets you key in colour and condition
Colour Bricklink colour
Condition Bricklink conditions
Date Range Could include all or various ranges including custom
Sort on Could have default or by any of the array fields
Transaction Type Should show Manual add, order, adjustment; part out; mass upload,
etc

Once those key choices are made the system then goes and finds the transactions
that fit your criteria

The array fields should show at least the following

Qty
Date
TransType
Reference
Unit Value
Total value
Balance

Could make the array a lot more complex with avg value calculated etc, costing
etc but initially this QBF would be of value to sellers and could be used by
buyers to see their buying history by product

If I forgot anything you think might be useful, please feel free to comment/add.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 9, 2021 10:20
 Subject: Sellers Tools ?????
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 Topic: General
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Sellers tools – what should that Include

We think the following minimum areas of functionality should be included

1. Allow stores to have staff with their own password and levels of access
2. Allow more parameters for stores in all areas on the site, especially store
settings, and templates
3. Inventory management – complex area perhaps split between standard and advanced
4. Sales metrics
a. Ability to see the reality of what is selling and where and of course , for
how much
5. Costing – could be included in advanced inventory management
6. More queries by form
7. Changes to My Inventory page including multidimensional filters and more update
capabilities especially to do with pricing
8. More printing and report options both for the seller, with other filters available
such as country, region, all etc, as well as buyers.


Those items, which are by no means exhaustive, are fine for starters. What could
happen is polls to be run to consolidate the multitude of opinions and suggestions
from which design work could take place, ultimately leading to programming, testing,
documentation and release.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 9, 2021 08:48
 Subject: Bricklink Part Out feature
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 Topic: Problem
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The Bricklink part out feature needs work and a revisit

For almost 10 years we have been using Brickstock to do our part outs and then
uploading the xml file to Bricklink. Due to the recent changes to the catalogue
surrounding minifig to minifigure this has become laborious (Minifig images and
price information will not load into Brickstock). I know about Brickstore and
am considering it but the part out in BL is archaic to say the least. No permanent
record of the parting out other than a part out log which says you parted out
this set with no backup information whatsoever. It also causes problems with
pricing because you cannot see your existing prices without a lot of fiddling.

Bricklink needs to combine the features of the 3rd party products to offer a
fully functional part out facility and it needs to store the results of the part
out not just a date in the log.

I wonder if this is in the “sellers tools” functionality that has been talked
about for 8 years now and really has not materialised.

Lots of development time on conformance – fine that is required but what else
is going on? Please do not tell me it is XP
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 2, 2021 10:26
 Subject: The nutshell we were referring to
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 Topic: General
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Try this one for size
 
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 2, 2021 06:15
 Subject: In a nutshell
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 Topic: General
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OK the EU Marketplace VAT changes are released and in the throes of being examined,
and as pretty much normal, there are things missing. That is not new. We are
still waiting for the sales tax exemption for the US and that was a long time
ago. We are also still waiting on the zip code pricing for the US, as well as
weight and volume based pricing for most of Europe (Lots have workarounds for
this). We must not forget the margin scheme in all of tjhis – yet another complication

All sellers who have not implemented an onsite payment method are not affected
by these changes as Bricklink has limited the payment methods to either Paypal
or Stripe, where they have an arrangement to collect the monies directly before
the seller gets paid.

If you have implemented onsite payments then you are affected one way or the
other. Depends on what country you are in or selling from and also has a dependency
on your cumulative turnover in the EU currently 10k euros, (That hasn’t been
implemented yet either) Seeing a pattern ? we do. Big picture design and programming
works well in some circumstances but not all, the same as agile development

In time maybe the missing features will be added, only Bricklink knows that at
present. In the meantime we have a great deal of sympathy for those that are
caught up in this, both buyers, who are going to pay more and sellers who will
have an additional administrative burden and cost landed on them (You pay Paypal
or Stripe fees based on the total value of the orger (Which includes VAR, where
appropriate. Still that isn’t a lot is it?

I have left out lots of complicated bits here as that was not the point, How
is Bricklink going to know if a sellers turnover reaches 10k in a 12 month period,
for example unless the seller declares it.

Good fun and always, yes always a challenge.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jun 15, 2021 01:44
 Subject: New UK CN22
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 Topic: Help
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If not registered for VAT what should go in the VAT registration box?

Thanks. Not applicable or not registered - are we allowed to do that? or are
the new silly rules about registering overseas now in effect?
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jun 11, 2021 09:08
 Subject: Paypal issues
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 Topic: Problem
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Not affecting everyone it seems but at least 500 of us in the UK have not been
able to log into Paypal since 0700 this morning. First they told us it was a
security issue, then they changed their mind and said it was an issue with one
of the phone companies and just now they said no chance of it getting fixed today
- try tomorrow. What a way to run a business.



Good grief Charlie Brown.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jun 3, 2021 10:56
 Subject: The New Brickstore
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 Topic: Related Software
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Are print templates created in Ntickstock supported in the new Brickstore?
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: May 16, 2021 13:20
 Subject: These don't normally get too far but ....
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 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
 Vote:[Yes|No]
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Could the programmers take a half hour and add the following information to the
my inventory detail pages as appropriate. It would be a step that would help
in reconciling inventory quantities (It won't do it all but it will help)

The information has to be held somewhere in the system and it only, for the moment,
needs to populate when someone adds to a lot. It can help sellers to back track
to when they last added this item.

It is not a complex programming effort.
 
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Apr 22, 2021 10:40
 Subject: Brown (Old) 3957
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 Topic: Catalog
 Status:Open
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We have 2 of these in stock and were about to submit a photo (none in catalogue)
when we saw that whilst it is listed as a known colour it is not shown in any
sets. I thought that was not the policy - if not in set not a known colour???

Clarification, please.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Mar 21, 2021 08:45
 Subject: Just a thought
 Viewed: 146 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
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In 13 years on the site I do not believe much as been implemmented that has been
suggested but here is another one to ponder.

Several times a year there are problems on the site regarding e-mails being sent
out. That pertains to either notifies, order notifications, etc. Most recently
there is a problem again with notifies. With orders you can simply check your
order detail page and see if there is something new on there. But with notifies
if you do not receive an email you have nothing. No idea whether the messages
went out nor to how many buyers. And even more importantly you cannot re-do it.
Opportunity lost for both your store and of course, Bricklink. Quite a dilemma
really as apart from your store page (And that is more than limited for this
day and age)there is no other marketing tool available to sellers.

What if the following were implemented

Create a notify log similar to the part out log (which is pretty underwhelming,
but at least it is something).

The notifies log could be created using a query on the SQL transaction log and
it could look something like this in the first instance:

Date No Lots (uniques) No Notifies Status
20/03/2021 333 1257 Success
21/03/2021 158 754 Success


This might take a non-sql person an hour or so to write the code but it would
be worth its weight in gold to sellers. The no of notifies could be a link to
the calendar file which shows the uniques listed and the status, provided it
shows success at least lets you know they were sent out.

Any thoughts?
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 27, 2020 09:46
 Subject: One last thought for today
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Currently when an order is placed there is an original order date on that order
however when someone updates the order, say with another batch, the order date
changes to the date of the change and we lose the original order date. It would
be better if the original order date was held - that way the orders would stay
in chronological order rather than orders jumping all over the place.

No more for today but we might be back over the weekend. Lots going on at present.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 27, 2020 09:25
 Subject: Another one for the sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
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Those of us who still use the order detail page would like the following changes
to make our lives easier and us more productive

Instead of a single filter line at the top please add an 'and/or' to
allow multiple conditions to restrict the lines you are working on. For example
we use this filter to switch to all orders packed to alter the status to shipped
but if we could add another condition we could do packed to shipped - mass drive
thru and feedback all in one'ish operation

Secondly please make the column headings on the orders themselves clickable to
allow sorting by any of the columns (as you have done on the inventory front
page)

And lastly, please add color on the inventory front page as one of the filters
(a drop down list box would be fine). I am aware that you may already be able
to do this with the keyword field but why does it need to be so complicated -
just give us a chance to choose the colors.

Thank you
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 17, 2020 10:18
 Subject: Please allow stores to order shipping methods
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 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
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Currently there is not an easy way for a store to order their shipping methods.
The system appears to take the last one created and make that the default. This
is not helpful. Please ask your development team to take a few minutes and add
a list order to this feature so stores can choose a default or an order.

We appreciate development is extremely busy at present with the tax changes and
correcting issues (Order status changes, refund (altering print order detail
screen, my inventory pages, etc so we believe you are busy, however this has
long been needed and should not take a developer long to add).

Thanks.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Oct 12, 2020 10:19
 Subject: Reasons for
 Viewed: 139 times
 Topic: Catalog
 Status:Open
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Part No: 6091  Name: Slope, Curved 2 x 1 x 1 1/3 with Recessed Stud
* 
6091 Slope, Curved 2 x 1 x 1 1/3 with Recessed Stud
Parts: Slope, Curved
being moved to slopes - surely this is more appropriate in Bricks, arch
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Aug 14, 2020 11:49
 Subject: Bricklink admin - please help us out here
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 Topic: Suggestions
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We, along with others, are investigating payment methods as an alternative to
Paypal who are going through a raft of changes to do with new EU regulations
(PSD2 and SCA).

One such method being looked at is Stripe, however we can find no real information
about its penetration into our UK market/stores as there is no current capability
to set that as a payment method in the find store search page.

One suggestion, and a good one, has been to ask Bricklink to do a one off query
to show some facts and figures of payments processed by which methods (By region)

This might even help you convince people online payment methods are worth looking
at.

Can you, or are you willing to help here? I know it can be done.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Aug 10, 2020 08:44
 Subject: We know these don't work but .....
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Suggestions have not worked on the site for quite a period of time, however we
have yet another one which is becoming pressing.

The part-out log. ~It really does need looking at. You cannot search to find
sets that you think you have parted out without walking through all pages - boring
and tedious,

once you find what you are looking for all you get is the date instead of a copy
of what was done. - boring and not very helpful

Please look at this as an area that needs a rethink.

We certainly should be able to search and once you find it you need to be able
to see what was done - e.g. which parts - at what price etc. etc.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jun 13, 2020 06:17
 Subject: Please add the following features as appropri
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 Topic: Suggestions
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I wish Bricklink would take a closer look at Brickstock and incorporate at least
some of the features that exist there.

For example the use of multiple filter capabilities would be superb for the order
detail page as well as lots of other areas e.g. part identification etc.

If you look at the image I have attached you will see what I mean. It is a natural
element of SQL and when we had goatleg and miniconfigurator that is how both
of them worked (with some modifications)

It really is not a difficult feature to add and would save hundreds if not thousands
of hours work on behalf of the stores for a small amount of time for developers.

Anyone else feel the same?

The 'and/or' filter is a great tool - is easy to learn and use and with
the catalogue getting more and more complex and populated with data this is really
a must.

BTW - we would have expected something like this in the long delayed (and probably
forgotten about) sellers tools
 
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: May 3, 2020 06:05
 Subject: Please add new Forum Topic
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 Topic: Suggestions
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To save the almost constant threads that come up in the forum for things like
dealing with shipping to , as well as sales history as well as .... Please add
a new topic to the forum for Knowledgebase items.

That way Brickwilbo and others can refer people to the knowledgebase area for
their answers - it will save a lot of time and effort on everyone's part.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Feb 20, 2020 06:18
 Subject: Add to Community Experts group
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Suggestions over the past 6 years have not been very successful, however we now
have a new 'kid on the block' in charge. Let's see what happens with
this one.
We are all aware of the new Community Expert program that has been introduced
aimed at the technical side of the site e.g. catalogue, inventories etc.

How about adding to that group with a community advisory panel, whose members
could help with the usability testing of new features as well as offering advice
on both direction and functionality for the site.

These would also be volunteers and a method for rotation could be put in place
to ensure no one individual dominated that side.

You could even have regional representation say USA, UK, Europe (or Germany,
France Netherlands, etc). This would help enormously on the variations that are
both desirable and needed for the site, as well as the legal requirements, postal
systems, etc.

It would, of course also help communications and community spirit.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jan 6, 2020 10:04
 Subject: It's a funny old world we live in
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 Topic: Catalog
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For quite some time now there have been discussions on the forum about catalogue
changes as well as other areas of improvement to the site (Performance etc.).
There have been lots of different people involved and Russell has commented on
a couple of occasions but of course nothing is out in the open for plans at present
whilst the Lego takeover completes.

One thing I find strange and that is with all the talent (Programming wise) that
exists on the site, coupled with the technical Lego knowledge that also exists,
no one other than a couple of people have chimed in about getting some senior
analysts involved with a plan to redevelop. This is a very complex site but it
can be broken into segments |(elements) many of which can be handled by existing
software. For example the core processing behind the site is an order processing
system. We are aware of at least two products which could deal with that side
of it easily and have been built with 'linking in' other elements in
mind.

Inventory control, which in our opinion, is an essential element which has been
needed for some time is also out there and fits nicely into either of the two
above products. Again this needs an analyst to look at it and report to the decision
makers what needs to be done. It doesn't, with all due respect, require a
programmer to sit down and write the code first.

The catalogue is a different animal and needs a huge amount of thought. The data
currently held is priceless - not sure even Lego have it all, so that needs some
TLC and a significant amount of time spent to come up with the best way forward.
But, and it is a little word with a great big meaning here, the costs of doing
this are nowhere near outrageous and if libraries of code can be used e,g, order
processing, inventory control etc, then huge amounts of money and time can be
saved in achieving what is required.

The redevelopment of this site will not cost a fortune and it was well within
the means of the former owners to accomplish. They chose, for whatever reason,
not to do that - Lets hope that Lego will look at it differently.

Lets get behind hiring some senior analysts and get the project off the ground.
There was never a better time to start than now. With the strength of Lego and
its marketing machine behind the site who knows where we can go.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Oct 16, 2019 11:59
 Subject: HP184 onwards
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 Topic: Inventories
 Status:Open
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The minifigs in set 75948 do not appear to have been inventoried yet and according
to the catalogue page it is not pending - is there a problem with these?
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: May 27, 2019 05:50
 Subject: Helpful but ....
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Firstly let me say that we know suggestions are not being implemented and according
to MP no work is being done on the classic site however this is a small request
which doesn't require huge amounts of development time and would make life
a bit easier.

Currently the method of manually adding inventory is long winded, provides no
audit trail of what has been done and at best is clumsy.

We use Brickstock for most of our updates to our store. It is much easier, quicker
and provides us with a complete audit trail - the only real snag is what happens
when the file gets to Bricklink, The verify screen drops off the Bricklink part
number for some reason so we are left with an audit trail which, when variants
are involved, isn't really all that helpful, although to be fair we have
used this for some time.

Simply placing the bricklink product code on the verify screen would be very
helpful and this is not a major programming issue. At the same time give us a
print button to print that screen Using the print command from the browser doesn't
work well with the page setup falling short of what is needed.

This is a simple matter and could be resolved in minimal time - please implement.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 23, 2018 00:38
 Subject: Inventory Change Request for Set 40145-1
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 Topic: Inventories Requests (Entry)
 Status:Open
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Please make changes to the following inventory:
 
Set No: 40145  Name: LEGO Store
* 
40145-1 (Inv) LEGO Store
409 Parts, 1 Minifigure, 2015
Sets: LEGO Brand: LEGO Brand Store: Model

* Add 2 Part 4085b Orange Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical - Type 2 (thin U clip) (Alternate)

Comments from Submitter:
6 sets parted out 2 had the b variant not d.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 21, 2018 12:03
 Subject: Inventory Change Request for Set 40222-1
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 Topic: Inventories Requests (Entry)
 Status:Open
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Please make changes to the following inventory:
 
Set No: 40222  Name: Holiday Countdown Calendar
* 
40222-1 (Inv) Holiday Countdown Calendar
250 Parts, 2016
Sets: Holiday & Event: Christmas

* Add 2 Part 4085b Orange Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical - Type 2 (thin U clip) (Alternate)

Comments from Submitter:
5 Sets parted out - all b's not d's

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