BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Help, ccroxton writes:

I have over 1000 pounds of Lego to list. I am confused by some terminology in
BL store setup. Is each color of each part number a LOT? In other words, black
2x4 is a different lot than red 2x4?

A lot is just an article that you have listed for sale. When you create a new
lot, it gets a unique lot ID number. Different kinds of parts will be listed
in your store as different lots by necessity, but theoretically (don't do
it) you could make a separate lot for every single part that you own. You'd
just get an extremely long list of the same kind of part, but they're different
"lots".

Author:

ccroxton

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 16:23

Subject:

Re: Newbie confusion!

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Help, peregrinator writes:

In Help, ccroxton writes:

I have over 1000 pounds of Lego to list. I am confused by some terminology in
BL store setup. Is each color of each part number a LOT? In other words, black
2x4 is a different lot than red 2x4?

Yes, a black 2x4 brick (3001), for example, would be a different lot than a red
2x4 brick. Also we distinguish between New and Used, so you might have New black
2x4 bricks and Used black 2x4 bricks and these would be separate lots.

Now you might still want to have multiple lots with the same parts if there's
some distinguishing characteristic you want your buyers to know about. I do this
sometimes with Used parts, but also with Used minifigures, in cases where worn
minifigures are still in demand.

Are all pieces expected to be washed and cleaned?

I don't think you need to clean every part (I've never heard of anyone
cleaning New parts) but if a part is visibly dirty - please clean it.

I have about 25
pounds of sealed bags (new parts), but once you open the bags, handle the parts,
and then put them into the appropriate storage place, they will get slightly
scratched/scuffed. Is this expected, or is there a solution for this?

You can minimize it but generally speaking there will be some light scratching
involved even with new parts - it happens at the factory, it happens during transport,
it happens at retail, etc.

Thank you for the detailed reply! I guess I have a LOT of bricks to wash!

I have built and run ecommerce sites since the 1990s, and each one uses different
terminology! I this case, I am guessing a GROUP would consist of any collection
the seller wants to make? Most recent, best sellers, etc. are common, or things
on sale, unusual items, etc.?

I noticed there are separate listings for parts with stickers applied, so those
would be additional LOTS, as would any pre-printed bricks? 3001 with a smile,
with a frown, with different texts, these are each a different lot?

Author:

peregrinator

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 16:10

Subject:

Re: Newbie confusion!

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In Help, ccroxton writes:

I have over 1000 pounds of Lego to list. I am confused by some terminology in
BL store setup. Is each color of each part number a LOT? In other words, black
2x4 is a different lot than red 2x4?

Are all pieces expected to be washed and cleaned?

I don't think you need to clean every part (I've never heard of anyone
cleaning New parts) but if a part is visibly dirty - please clean it.

You can minimize it but generally speaking there will be some light scratching
involved even with new parts - it happens at the factory, it happens during transport,
it happens at retail, etc.

Author:

ccroxton

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 15:58

Subject:

Newbie confusion!

Viewed:

253 times

Topic:

I have over 1000 pounds of Lego to list. I am confused by some terminology in
BL store setup. Is each color of each part number a LOT? In other words, black
2x4 is a different lot than red 2x4? What is a group? Why would you want/need
to charge additional fees for a large group of unrelated parts? Any suggestions
for making this enormous task any easier? Do pulled sets sell any better than
just pieces? Are all pieces expected to be washed and cleaned? I have about 25
pounds of sealed bags (new parts), but once you open the bags, handle the parts,
and then put them into the appropriate storage place, they will get slightly
scratched/scuffed. Is this expected, or is there a solution for this?

Sorry for so many questions, but with this many parts, I need to get as much
right as possible the first time around!

Author:

Gandalf68

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 15:13

Subject:

Re: Can you help me identify this part please ?

Viewed:

34 times

Topic:

In Help, taxan writes:

In Help, Gandalf68 writes:

It seems to be 2 cylinders inside another cylinder but i can't find what
those parts are (as well as the big cylinder)

Anyone can help ?

The big cylinder looks like a upside down:

43121 Engine, Large
Parts: Aircraft

The smaller looks like a wheel.

Thanks a lot

Author:

Gandalf68

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 15:11

Subject:

Re: Can you help me identify this part please ?

Viewed:

30 times

Topic:

In Help, Hurt writes:

In Help, Gandalf68 writes:

It seems to be 2 cylinders inside another cylinder but i can't find what
those parts are (as well as the big cylinder)

Anyone can help ?

Seems to be:

43121 Engine, Large
Parts: Aircraft {Light Bluish Gray}

55981 Wheel 18mm D. x 14mm with Pin Hole, Fake Bolts and Shallow Spokes
Parts: Wheel {Light Bluish Gray}

YES exactly !
Thank you so much !

Author:

taxan

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 14:54

Subject:

Re: Can you help me identify this part please ?

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Help, Gandalf68 writes:

It seems to be 2 cylinders inside another cylinder but i can't find what
those parts are (as well as the big cylinder)

Anyone can help ?

The big cylinder looks like a upside down:

43121 Engine, Large
Parts: Aircraft

The smaller looks like a wheel.

Author:

Hurt

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 14:50

Subject:

Re: Can you help me identify this part please ?

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

In Help, Gandalf68 writes:

It seems to be 2 cylinders inside another cylinder but i can't find what
those parts are (as well as the big cylinder)

Anyone can help ?

Seems to be:

43121 Engine, Large
Parts: Aircraft {Light Bluish Gray}

55981 Wheel 18mm D. x 14mm with Pin Hole, Fake Bolts and Shallow Spokes
Parts: Wheel {Light Bluish Gray}

Author:

Gandalf68

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 14:43

Subject:

Can you help me identify this part please ?

Viewed:

126 times

Topic:

It seems to be 2 cylinders inside another cylinder but i can't find what
those parts are (as well as the big cylinder)

Anyone can help ?

Author:

peregrinator

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 12:47

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

29 times

Topic:

In Help, hkl22 writes:

I looked on the USPS link and saw those free shipping supplies, and have a couple
questions. When you get those boxes, do you have to use them for priority mail?

Yes.

Or could I get those boxes for free and ship cheaply with pirate ship? In other
words, once you get those free shipping boxes, what should you do to ensure the
cheapest shipping?

You can still use Pirate Ship to ship Priority Mail with those boxes and the
rates are much better than the retail rates. Depending on the box you might qualify
for the Priority Mail Cubic rate which - as far as I know - isn't even available
at retail.

You can't use the free boxes, then turn around and ship First Class. Even
if you turn the box inside out it still says "Priority Mail" on it.

Author:

DPB

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 12:46

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

36 times

Topic:

Simply put, no. Those are ONLY for use with Priority US Mail, which starts at
a much higher rate than "cheap" or First-Class shipping. They most likely
will refuse to accept the shipment if it only carries first class postage or
will hit it with "postage due" status to the receiver.
First thing I would recommend has already been stated, go and get yourself some
6x10 bubble mailers (or even slightly smaller). I found a nice small supply of
cheap shipping boxes on other sites for sale. I started by buying 25 6x4x4 brown
fold up shipping boxes. They were maybe 30 cents each?
As business grew, I branched out and started buying other sizes. I also found
a few great "auctions" where they were selling an assortment, in one lot. Check
your local online markets for folks getting rid of shipping supplies, as their
interest faded and they want to pass along cheap supplies.

Good Luck.

Author:

hkl22

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 12:10

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Help, Shiny_Stuff writes:

In Help, Kefir101Awesome writes:

Hi everyone,

I'm a first-time seller, and so I'm wondering how exactly do I ship my
Lego. Are there any thorough guides on the Bricklink shipping process? Can I
just put some lego in a zip lock bag in a letter, write the address, and send
it? Do I need any barcodes, are there premade stickers/stamps I'm supposed
to add, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Kefir101Awesome

Welcome to BrickLink and Good Luck with your new BL shop.

One way to find out how to pack and ship Lego is to place a few orders with different
sellers here on BrickLink. Then you can see what types of packing materials
and shipping containers that other sellers use.

There are plenty of sources of this information around -- on FaceBook discussion
groups, YouTube videos, Instagram photos, and general Internet searches.

In general, it is NOT acceptable to use regular plain paper envelopes to ship
Lego. The best items to use are bubble mailers of various sizes or small boxes.

Lego almost always needs to be shipped as packages (parcels) using USPS Parcel
Rates and proper packaging. The Post Office has rules for envelope thickness
that must be followed which almost always excludes stuff like Lego parts. Plus,
the post office processes regular envelopes with high-speed sorting equipment
that can and does destroy Lego parts and rip open envelopes that have Lego parts
inside. There are very few exceptions to this.

The USPS does offer free shipping supplies of many sizes and types that you can
use for a lot of BrickLink orders. Some are available at post offices and even
more selections can be ordered and delivered for to you for FREE.

https://store.usps.com/store/results/shipping-supplies/_/N-7d0v8v#content

One of the most important and useful tools to own is a digital postal scale.
This way, you can get the exact weight of your BL orders to determine the best
shipping options. When you know the exact and correct shipping weight, you can
invoice your buyers for the correct amount of shipping costs (if you choose to
have customers pay for shipping) and, most importantly, you can determine how
much it will cost to ship each package.

Since BrickLink requires collection of sales tax, collection of payments must
be done online using Paypal or Stripe. Because of this, using electronic
postage will likely be your best option for shipping your orders. There are
even third-party vendors of electronic postage that offer significant discounts
at little or no cost to use. One of the most popular is PirateShip dot com.

Packing and shipping BrickLink orders is not something you can learn all about
in one day. It could take weeks or months to learn just the basics. Since every
BL order is different and all have different attributes like volume (size),
weight, and destination, you have to be ready to choose from more than one single
method to get your orders properly and safely to your buyers. You will learn
more as you process more orders and hopefully you won't have too many problems
or unhappy customers.

____

I looked on the USPS link and saw those free shipping supplies, and have a couple
questions. When you get those boxes, do you have to use them for priority mail?
Or could I get those boxes for free and ship cheaply with pirate ship? In other
words, once you get those free shipping boxes, what should you do to ensure the
cheapest shipping?

Author:

Stellar

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 12:01

Subject:

Re: Admins, Please help

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

In Help, Erkiles writes:

Talking about that shipping process: doesn't the seller openly admit there
that he doesn't actually have the items he is selling in stock as is obligated
per BL rules?

Erikk

Where he says he doesn't own its stock? Seems pick and pack takes in one
place and shipping labels are put on the packages in another place.

Another question would be how selling insude EU and having the warehouse out
means for the EU VAT rules, but AFAIK if the end shipping starts inside the EU
it is fine.

In Help, psusaxman2000 writes:

It may be worth taking a look at your processes and trying to figure out why
there are so many NSS/NRS. Looking at your feedback there is much more than
just shipping issues. In one year, this is not a good feedback report IMO and
many other larger store that fulfill at your rates don't seem to have these
problems.

Author:

Reki_Lobsheek

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 11:37

Subject:

Re: Admins, Please help

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

Talking about that shipping process: doesn't the seller openly admit there
that he doesn't actually have the items he is selling in stock as is obligated
per BL rules?

Erikk

In Help, psusaxman2000 writes:

Author:

SylvainLS

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 10:21

Subject:

Re: Price

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

In Help, Etalixe writes:

Hello,
I had a question, did pieces get different prices when the color change ?

Oui.
Et BrickLink est un marché, chaque vendeur a ses propres prix.
Il peut même arriver qu’un vendeur ait plusieurs fois la même pièce dans la même
couleur à différents prix, suivant si tu les achètes à l’unité ou par lots (“bulk”),
suivant si la condition est Used ou New, ou même suivant l’envie du vendeur.

Author:

Etalixe

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 10:00

Subject:

Price

Viewed:

96 times

Topic:

Hello,
I had a question, did pieces get different prices when the color change ?

Author:

bricks2you

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 07:07

Subject:

Re: Manual invoice

Viewed:

22 times

Topic:

Thank you

Author:

Shiny_Stuff

Posted:

Jan 19, 2022 00:03

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

79 times

Topic:

In Help, Kefir101Awesome writes:

Author:

Kefir101Awesome

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 23:25

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

66 times

Topic:

In Help, Brickitty writes:

In Help, Kefir101Awesome writes:

I'm a first-time seller, and so I'm wondering how exactly do I ship my
Lego. Are there any thorough guides on the Bricklink shipping process?

Do a search on YouTube -- there are plenty of tutorials there, though every
seller will have a slightly different method depending on what works for them.

Can I just put some lego in a zip lock bag in a letter, write the address,
and send it?

Nope, not a good idea. For one, you need to protect the parts, so you'll
want to purchase padded bubble envelopes or boxes. For another, the regular letter
rate is only for paper/flat objects, and those items can't be thicker than
1/4 inch, and they go through rolling machines at the post office that will push
out 3D objects.

Do I need any barcodes, are there premade stickers/stamps I'm supposed
to add, etc.

This is so helpful! Thank you so much Brickitty! Off to the post office.

Stamps won't suffice. You'll need to send via the USPS First Class Package
rate or the USPS Priority rate, and your buyers will appreciate tracking info,
which comes for free with both of those. To that end, you'll need to either
1) Go to the post office to mail packages or 2) Print your own labels at home
using PayPal's shipping service or a third-party shipping service like Pirate
Ship. I recommend shipping through PayPal, as the vast majority of sellers and
buyers prefer using that for transactions. It's pretty difficult to run a
Bricklink store without a PayPal account. Once you receive the payment, there'll
be a shipping address attached, and you can create and print a label for the
package with just a few clicks or you can write it down and go to the post office.

Here's a short list of items related to shipping that you'll probably
want on hand before you start selling. You can charge a handling charge on top
of the shipping cost to cover these items -- many sellers charge between
$0.50 and $1.00 per order for handling.

1) Bubble mailers and boxes -- you can get free Priority Mail boxes from
USPS, but not all buyers want to pay the expensive Priority costs, so you should
probably have other packaging for First Class shipping (orders below 1 pound
in total weight, which most are)
2) Some kind of padding, such as bubble wrap, styrofoam packing pellets, or crumpled
paper
3) Ziplock bags, as you mentioned
4) Tape and scissors
5) A scale and a printer, unless you plan on mailing everything at the post office

Author:

Brickitty

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 23:12

Subject:

Re: How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

71 times

Topic:

In Help, Kefir101Awesome writes:

I'm a first-time seller, and so I'm wondering how exactly do I ship my
Lego. Are there any thorough guides on the Bricklink shipping process?

Do a search on YouTube -- there are plenty of tutorials there, though every
seller will have a slightly different method depending on what works for them.

Can I just put some lego in a zip lock bag in a letter, write the address,
and send it?

Do I need any barcodes, are there premade stickers/stamps I'm supposed
to add, etc.

Author:

Kefir101Awesome

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 22:39

Subject:

How to ship Lego?

Viewed:

205 times

Topic:

Author:

TechnicBuilt

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 22:35

Subject:

Re: Refund system not working

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, antiquer88 writes:

Hi,

I need to give a customer a refund, but every time I try to do it, it says "Something
went wrong" and will not put the refund through. It would be more helpful if
it told me what was wrong. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Make sure your refund is only to 2 decimal places. It doesn't work with 3.

For example $1.03 will work but $1.032 will not.

Author:

Nubs_Select

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 18:47

Subject:

Re: Refund system not working

Viewed:

24 times

Topic:

Try removing all remarks from the comment section of the refund page. I do find
tho that if it dosnt work the first time it often dosnt work even after remarks
are removed in which case the best way to send the refund is do it manually then
go back to the order and click the issue refund button and it will auto update
the order with the manual refund
Hope this helps!

Author:

MikesB4K

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 17:58

Subject:

Re: Refund system not working

Viewed:

29 times

Topic:

Still not working for us. Did you change any settings?

In Technical Issues, antiquer88 writes:

Author:

Brickwilbo

Posted:

Jan 18, 2022 15:52

Subject:

Re: Buyer opened NSS by mistake

Viewed:

46 times

Topic: