BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Selling, Sgt._MacSquinch writes:

I've probably placed 60+ orders over the last few months. I can say without
exaggeration that on at least 40% of those orders, there was no tracking number
provided. It's annoying enough when a seller can't be bothered to put
it where it belongs on the order form for the customer, but when I then go to
Paypal looking for one, and it isn't there, a simple annoyance becomes an
aggravation. Not providing tracking for customers shows an indifference to the
needs of the customer. That, and it's just plain lazy. There's also the
matter of sellers not bothering to check the merchandise for accuracy before
shipping. Twice in the last month I've had to deal with Batman figures, ordered
for a specific cape type, arriving with the wrong capes. Again, this is lazy.
Any kind of business that sells something has even the most basic quality control
practices in place. One can certainly tell the difference between pro sellers
who take what they do seriously, and the fly-by-night pop-up stores that are
just here to get the most bang for their bricks while they unload their unwanted
Lego. These lackluster sellers are contributing to an overall downturn, IMO,
in what should be a pleasurable buying experience, and frankly, I don't believe
the platform should continue to offer them the privilege, if they continue to
make customers unhappy. Go to Craig's List, place an ad in the paper, have
a rummage sale - whatever. Just take your bricks, your laziness, and your ineptitude
elsewhere.

I hear you. As a buyer, I was frequently frustrated by these issues too. Some
U.S. sellers wouldn't send tracking even when asked for it (and the EU really
needs to catch up with the U.S. -- for once -- by regulating and requiring
free tracking on all packages sent by public postal service). And then there
were the mistakes -- my overall error rate was 33% to 40% on orders with
at least one error in listing/packing, and well over 50% if I count orders with
at least one damaged piece but no incorrect pieces as part of the error rate.

That's why I run my store the way I do. I try to do the things I wanted as
a buyer on my 750+ orders. Tracking is uploaded to the order page AND included
in the Drive-Thru email for every single order. Turnaround time on shipping is
1-2 business days max, regardless of how busy I am. Orders are dropped off at
the post office rather than a dropbox, which often saves an entire day of shipping
time. Parts are bagged neatly and labeled if necessary. And most importantly,
I have a robust QA system that triple-checks every single order for accuracy
and quality. With hundreds of thousands of parts sold through various platforms,
I've never had a reliable report of a missing or incorrect part in an order
(though I admit that I have missed minor damage a handful of times). As a seller,
I hold myself to a very high standard, and I struggle to understand how other
people's standards for themselves are so low.

I have one of the largest used-parts inventories in the country, so feel free
to try out my store if you'd like. You'll get great service and great
parts, just like it says.

Author:

MinifigureHub

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 17:59

Subject:

20% SALE!! ALL PARTS

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

Sales

20% SALE!! ALL PARTS

Author:

crimson30

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 17:54

Subject:

Re: Tracking and order pulling accuracy

Viewed:

58 times

Topic:

Selling

I think some of the problem here is that very low expectations breed abuse.

I look at feedback for a seller and see a negative or two complaining about slowness
and think "well, I'm not in a hurry". Then I get the order and there are
multiple missing parts, wrong colors, really bad condition parts... the order
is fractally wrong and I have to wonder "why didn't these other buyers say
something?"

Author:

Sgt._MacSquinch

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 17:41

Subject:

Tracking and order pulling accuracy

Viewed:

170 times

Topic:

Selling

Author:

leggodtshop

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 17:34

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

In Announce, calebfishn writes:

Profit is not harming the planet. Exploitation is.

Profit is exploitation. Profit means taking more than it has cost you. By definition
that is exploitation, consient deliberate exploitation. Letting someone else
pay more than it has cost you. On purpose. And getting away with it. We have
made it legal. Amazing.

There are command and control economies in various totalitarian states of the
world in which the profit motive is reduced. Are those economies less harmful
to the environment, or more harmful?

Is it better for a society to convert forests into charcoal to be used for cooking,
and thus pollute the atmosphere with carbon smoke, or for an enterprising person
to invest in developing cleaner forms of energy that benefit people and the environment
in exchange for a profit/return on her investment? People are not going to invest
the time and money needed to bring environment-saving technological improvements
without getting a return on their investment.

Without profit motive we are left with two alternatives: Coercion by the more
powerful to force the less powerful to "work" without profit, or a global return
to a hunter-gatherer society.

Which one of the two do you advocate?

Author:

popsicle

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 16:28

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

67 times

Topic:

In Announce, psusaxman2000 writes:

I've only been part of this community for about 1.5 years and joined here
when I personally dove back into the LEGO community during the pandemic. I grew
up with Lego in my home and was always happy to have a new set (new to me personally)
for a holiday, birthday or whatever. As an adult now with a child, I'm
happy to be able to provide the same experiences for my daughter as she has grown
to love and enjoy a toy as much as I still do and we get to enjoy this hobby
together. What I've found recently is that there is a lot of animosity when
people tend to not get or find what they want. To me it sometimes feels like
a sense of entitlement and not realizing that you can't always get what you
want. Are there individuals that try to take advantage of the system, yes, always,
but the majority of the time, that's not the case.

I never joined this community with the intent of becoming a seller. I raided
my old collection that was still at my parents house trying to clean up space
and handing some down to my niece and nephew. In reviewing all these sets I
found that I had missing parts and that's when BL came into my life. From
there it was a matter of collecting the missing parts and reliving my childhood
over again. I found that I had extras and in collecting from some local yard
sales I just use BL to supplement my ability to purchase new sets for myself
and my daughter.

Over this time, I have similar interactions to the ones you've called out,
and at this point just come to realized that with any other social media type
thing, there are always both sides to each community and they will make themselves
loud and clear when they don't like something. To me it's just a byproduct
of the time and when they don't get what they want it will always come out.
Case and point is the BL Designer Program.

Enjoyable read. Thanks

Author:

popsicle

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 16:09

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

70 times

Topic:

In Announce, firestar246 writes:

In Announce, patpendlego writes:

Yes, and that same profit is killing our planet. Because all profit eventually
is made on natural resoources taken from our planet at low or no cost at all,
harming nature, killing woods, animals, plants, etc.

Buiness may survice on profit, our planet is not.

Don't want to get into this hornets nest, but just want to point out that
every item you mentioned is a renewable resource and are being renewed. It doesn't
help out a lumber company if they destroy all the trees, as that would then end
their business pretty quickly. So the good companies will make sure they don't
just destroy, but rather harvest and replenish.

Well put.

Timberland, much of which is owned and managed by Indian tribes, have been historically
some of the healthiest forests we have in the Pacific Northwest, for us to enjoy.
Least prone to wildfires too.

Author:

popsicle

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 16:06

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

77 times

Topic:

In Announce, patpendlego writes:

In Announce, firestar246 writes:

In Announce, patpendlego writes:

But that is exactly what is happening! The rainforests are largly gone and NOT
renewable anymore, only and only for short term profit.

True. And a prime example of the havoc narrow-minded, short-term gain driven
men are able to reap. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other such examples
throughout our history. Which spotlights our primal nature when it's let
off the leash, not curtailed.

Profit per se, is not the boogie man in your example. It's human nature denied
and therefore unmanaged. IMHO

as that would then end

their business pretty quickly. So the good companies will make sure they don't
just destroy, but rather harvest and replenish.

Every company must first make profit before they can renew what they used, and
no company has ever renewed ALL or even MORE than they destroyed. There is no
perpetual mobile.

Author:

zorbanj

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 15:37

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Announce, psusaxman2000 writes:

To me it sometimes feels like a sense of entitlement and not realizing that you can't always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, well, you might find you get what you need.

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Author:

waltzking

Posted:

Jul 28, 2021 15:35

Subject:

Re: Lego Resellers vs. The AFOL Community

Viewed:

66 times

Topic: