Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | MidwestBrick  | | Posted: | Jan 25, 2022 10:55 | | Subject: | Re: Been away a full year, what's new? | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, zorbanj writes:
| | In General, MidwestBrick writes:
| | Happy 2022 everyone. 2021 was very busy for my family and I as we built a new
house and moved to a new area as well do i had to shut down the store in Feb
2021 to start packing everything up. There were plenty of delays in the home
building and overall a great experience but also an exhausting one too.
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Welcome back!
| | Just checking in to ask if someone is able to summarize what is new on BL from
early 2021 until now. Any big new develops or changes on how things are done
or is it pretty much the same as before? The last big thing I recall is implementing
the tax per sale based on the state making the purchase. Also, anything that
deals with international processes can be left of any summary. I only sell domestically.
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Off the top of my head:
* BL collects sales taxes for just about every state now. Still no mechanism
for accepting exemption certificates.
* You can't sell incomplete minifigs anymore. Listed minifigs have to include
everything shown in that minifig's inventory. If not, they have to be listed
as parts or as a custom listing.
* Most, if not all, PayPal users have been transitioned from Pitney Bowes to
Shipstation for shipping labels. The consensus here is that Shipstation sucks.
When I've been away for awhile, I skim through Admin Russell's posts:
https://www.bricklink.com/messageList.asp?nID=1315366&uID=919043&v=c&mTP=N&max=100
| | Hope all is well with everyone. I built my new Lego room all by myself and am
very pleased with how it has turned out. Everyday I'm putting in the work
to get organized more and more and although I could probably open later this
week, I want to put in some more improvements so picking orders csn be sped up
even more than I had it organized prior which takes further planning and organizers.
|
Would love to see photos and/or a video of the Lego room when you're done.
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OMG, this probably scares me the most
* Most, if not all, PayPal users have been transitioned from Pitney Bowes to
Shipstation for shipping labels. The consensus here is that Shipstation sucks.
I think I just saw an advertisement for this on Hulu and heard the "it saves
me money" line and was just like Ohhh you mean commercial vs retail. Ya, everyone
gets commercial if you know how to print your own label. If it wasn't this
company, it was something quite similar in name.
Thanks for the heads up. I look forward to navigating this and seeing how much
pricing has gone up for shipping too!
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Jan 25, 2022 10:11 | | Subject: | Re: Been away a full year, what's new? | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, Teup writes:
| | In General, MidwestBrick writes:
| | Happy 2022 everyone. 2021 was very busy for my family and I as we built a new
house and moved to a new area as well do i had to shut down the store in Feb
2021 to start packing everything up. There were plenty of delays in the home
building and overall a great experience but also an exhausting one too.
Just checking in to ask if someone is able to summarize what is new on BL from
early 2021 until now. Any big new develops or changes on how things are done
or is it pretty much the same as before? The last big thing I recall is implementing
the tax per sale based on the state making the purchase. Also, anything that
deals with international processes can be left of any summary. I only sell domestically.
Hope all is well with everyone. I built my new Lego room all by myself and am
very pleased with how it has turned out. Everyday I'm putting in the work
to get organized more and more and although I could probably open later this
week, I want to put in some more improvements so picking orders csn be sped up
even more than I had it organized prior which takes further planning and organizers.
Thank you in advance to anyone that responds to this too.
|
Business as usual, except that Bricklink now has a CEO from LEGO and LEGO wants
to have video sessions with the users with 'some' frequency, on hot topics
that arise or otherwise. The first session was at least refreshing. So hopefully
some long overdue things will finally start moving in the coming months/years..
|
Very helpful information and thank you for the post. I will have to track down
this session if it was recorded and available for re-watching.
The 1st thing I encountered upon returning is the inability to get detailed sales
transactions for more than 6 months. That still drives me crazy that we can't
get at least a full year of detailed sales for our records (if not more than
a year). I usually download them every quarter but it was my mistake to forget
to do this last year.
It should almost be an automatic process that on Jan 1 of every year, every seller/buyer
has a emailed Detailed Transaction list for our records.
Anyway, thanks again for the post.
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Jan 25, 2022 10:07 | | Subject: | Re: Been away a full year, what's new? | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, SezaR writes:
| | In General, MidwestBrick writes:
| | Happy 2022 everyone. 2021 was very busy for my family and I as we built a new
house and moved to a new area as well do i had to shut down the store in Feb
2021 to start packing everything up. There were plenty of delays in the home
building and overall a great experience but also an exhausting one too.
Just checking in to ask if someone is able to summarize what is new on BL from
early 2021 until now. Any big new develops or changes on how things are done
or is it pretty much the same as before? The last big thing I recall is implementing
the tax per sale based on the state making the purchase. Also, anything that
deals with international processes can be left of any summary. I only sell domestically.
Hope all is well with everyone. I built my new Lego room all by myself and am
very pleased with how it has turned out. Everyday I'm putting in the work
to get organized more and more and although I could probably open later this
week, I want to put in some more improvements so picking orders csn be sped up
even more than I had it organized prior which takes further planning and organizers.
Thank you in advance to anyone that responds to this too.
|
I was actually thinking about you as you did not write any thing in the forum
for some time.
News?
I received my first bad feedback  o
Other than that, I think you may need to check VAT for Europe and VAT for UK
is implemented and this means extra work for sellers. The situation can be a
mess sometimes. Check few threads on the forum in regards to VAT.
|
Oof, bad feedback is not want I want to hear about!! Sorry to see that happen!
Thanks for the reply and thankfully for me, I shouldn't have to deal with
VAT. This is what largely keeps me away from the international scene (things
like this) as I simply do not have the time or energy to figure out every nation's
rules. Tough enough knowing the tax codes of USA!
I feels good already to be posting again in this forum. I knew I wouldn't
go away, but I didn't think it would take me a year to get everything up
to snuff again either (the house was originally to be completed in July, which
then stalled until nearly October due to shortages of products. Just too many
things out of my control!
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Jan 25, 2022 00:44 | | Subject: | Been away a full year, what's new? | | Viewed: | 253 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| Happy 2022 everyone. 2021 was very busy for my family and I as we built a new
house and moved to a new area as well do i had to shut down the store in Feb
2021 to start packing everything up. There were plenty of delays in the home
building and overall a great experience but also an exhausting one too.
Just checking in to ask if someone is able to summarize what is new on BL from
early 2021 until now. Any big new develops or changes on how things are done
or is it pretty much the same as before? The last big thing I recall is implementing
the tax per sale based on the state making the purchase. Also, anything that
deals with international processes can be left of any summary. I only sell domestically.
Hope all is well with everyone. I built my new Lego room all by myself and am
very pleased with how it has turned out. Everyday I'm putting in the work
to get organized more and more and although I could probably open later this
week, I want to put in some more improvements so picking orders csn be sped up
even more than I had it organized prior which takes further planning and organizers.
Thank you in advance to anyone that responds to this too.
|
|
| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Apr 27, 2020 01:38 | | Subject: | Re: how to approximate value of inventory | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Inventories, courpee writes:
| | In Inventories, faro writes:
| | In Inventories, jbroman writes:
| | In Inventories, courpee writes:
| | what I'm wondering is if there is a way to determine if it would be better
to part out a set or sell complete set value-wise?
|
You could start the part out process and see what the value is.
Use default price as last 6 month average. Submit for edit. Verify items.
The next page will have the value at the bottom of the page.
Now you have the choice to upload the items, or if you don't want to, just
close the tab in your browser. As long as you don't click on the upload
items button, the parts won't be added to your inventory.
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Do not Forget to take the time into consideration. Selling the parts takes normally
longer...
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thnks you guys
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Ask yourself what your goals are... is it to make a few bucks, is it to make
your money back, is it to support a hobby?
If you answered yes for any of those, then don't do it.
You need to go all in and be ready to fully support a store, otherwise here is
what will happen.
You part out a few sets, great, people buy from you, but the pieces bought are
highly sought after and the rest of your pieces lay around waiting for a suitor
that never comes.
If this was easy everyone would be doing it. Let me tell you, it is not easy.
It takes dedication, daily dedication, every night, every weekend, you need
to be constantly scouring for deals to fuel your store and keep pieces in stock
that are purchased often even if the % profit on them is minimal. The list goes
on and on as you need to be on top of your game at all times.
All I'm saying is, part out for the right reasons, not the hopes and dreams
if you don't actually have the time, patience, and ability to build a store
that will satisfy your goals.
Best of luck in your decision.
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Mar 25, 2020 13:10 | | Subject: | Re: Money off code to distribute | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, allenafol writes:
| | Hi,
I think it would be great if you could generate a code for your store so people
could enter it for a discount.
This would be good for marketing on social media rather than having to issue
individual coupons.
Is there any chance this could be developed?
Thanks,
Allen.
|
What about your regular customers that might not be on social media? How do
they get the deals you are allowing for others?
Sounds like a grocery store where you need a keycard for some deals and then
an app for even more. To me, it is unnecessary when you have the power to reduce
prices or run general sales for all customers and advertise as such. I'd
be quite upset if I bought from a store, and then realized that I could have
saved 10% if I saw some advertisement from somewhere else. This is just like
when any of us buy something and then learn it was cheaper if we entered some
code at checkout.
PS: Any Grocery Store Managers or Corporate see this... STOP IT. I'm already
in your store. Just give me the best price you are advertising without having
to go through all the extra steps!
PSS: I understand fully how advertising works. I just think it is getting ridiculous.
Keep it simple for all of us customers, no matter what industry we are talking
about.
|
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Jan 24, 2020 13:23 | | Subject: | Re: Have A Heart | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In General, BLUSER13161 writes:
| | I can't help myself from returning to this topic.
It is not right to erase people who have contributed to the catalog and turn
them into a meaningless number (and a username that rhymes with "loser.").
The first attached image shows people who have contributed a set inventory to
the catalog. For each person it was only one inventory, but it was time they
took out of their day or week to make a contribution.
The second image shows people who have added items to the catalog. One person
added 113 items. Another added 97 items. Yet another added 87 items. And so
on down the list.
Some of these unregistered users are no doubt dead. Some have moved on to new
pursuits. Some may be in a coma or in prison. Who knows why any one person
hasn't logged on or may never log on again?
BrickLink wants contributions. BrickLink wants an involved community. But when
BrickLink treats former contributors so dismissively, by erasing them into meaninglessness,
it makes me think they have no respect for contributors.
BrickLink contributors deserve better treatment than this. Anonymizing people
who have contributed to the catalog was a poor decision. It was a careless and
heartless decision.
I urge the site to reconsider the decision to anonymize any former catalog and
inventory contributors.
|
In the long-run, why does it matter? I can't recall if I have added anything
to the catalog but really don't care if my name is stamped on something or
not. The purpose is to get the information into the database so it can be utilized.
We all know that someone had to do it and we are all thankful of those contributors,
whether they did 1 submission, or 100,000 submissions.
Maybe it is my older age, but I don't need the "satisfaction" that others
know it was me that did something. My satisfaction comes from others enjoying
something that was done, regardless of whom did it.
This literally sounds like an employee of mine that needs to know for every task
they do that we all know they did it. After awhile, it doesn't hold any
merit and I really don't care. The task was completed and we can move on.
My suggestion, let it go and let those in charge, focus on things that need to
be done and let the trivial stuff whoosh right over our heads and leave us un-phased.
Not everything is going to be perfect and arguing over little things makes the
big things harder to accomplish.
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Sep 17, 2019 12:58 | | Subject: | Re: Request a Quote | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, kelmgo writes:
| | I am after a few pieces to complete a few kits and am going from one checkout
to another, then to another and then cancelling the orders (before payment) because
the vendors haven't got the "Request a Quote" provision set up.
Clearly it would save a lot of stuffing around if you know the full cost incl
P&H before hand.
Even better - there should be a little icon or something next to the vendors
name to indicate whether they send quotes or not so you don't have to go
through the checkouts to find out right at the end.
This is what I'm experiencing in Australia
|
Part of what you suggest exists: Stores with a thunderbolt icon have instant
checkout, which means that you see the grand total before you order. There isn't
an icon to distinguish quote sellers from non-quote sellers, however. But even
if there would be such an icon, I'm not sure it would do sellers justice,
as a non quote seller may have a very clear table of shipping costs, which could
be just as good or better than asking a quote.
|
I disagree and think it is a valid request to include an icon so shoppers know
they can get a quote from that store immediately instead of having to look for
it or go through the check-out phase.
Using IC is impossible to hit on every scenario and even sometimes the IC may
work, but a buyer still wants to use the Quote system because maybe the IC is
charging too much. There is nothing wrong with a buyer double-checking to see
if their order actually fits in a cheaper shipping option than what IC is calculating.
|
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | Aug 30, 2019 18:18 | | Subject: | Re: Technic heads: Do the categories make sense? | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, axaday writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | I'm not super technical and as a kid I was terrible at making anything out
of Technic Lego so in spite of my dad's efforts I quickly abandoned it and
never picked it up again. But I'm seriously wondering if the Technic categories
make any sense at all. I'm not good at the jargon and especially not in English,
but here's my observation:
- There's a category called "Link", which includes belt/chain items as well
as suspension parts. Is that just a random semantic, well, "link" between these
parts?
- It seems like there's a whole family of parts that have to do with driving/gears
- clutches, gearboxes, driving rings, changeover catch.. all of these parts are
scattered across categories but I think they are supposed to work together.
- There's a category called steering but it seems to be about wheel suspension
as well as, well, steers. And then there are suspension arms in both "Link" and
in the generic "Technic" category that I think are equally involved in this stuff.
- There's a generic "Technic" category which includes very random items.
While there was a fanatic impulse of emptying out the "(other)" category, apparently
the "Technic" category is still full of randomness. And it's now the biggest
Technic category (if you don't count decorations). That isn't very helpful
is it?
So... I never used this stuff, but a question to the Technic pros: Do you find
that the Technic categories make sense to you, or is it just a fairly random
division that you just memorised the way it is? Should it be improved?
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I sometimes have trouble guessing where something is, but the categories aren't
too long and I have memorized some things that were hard before.
It could definitely be improved.
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Just call it all technic.
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| Author: | MidwestBrick | | Posted: | May 15, 2019 23:14 | | Subject: | Re: Interesting | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
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| In Colors, Adjour writes:
| | | | UVs don’t tan the plastic. UVs accelerate or make possible some chemical reactions
in the plastic.
Other things may accelerate the reactions. And the reactions also occur all
by themselves.
|
Came here to say this.
so yeah. This.
|
Came here to say this.
"This"
Sorry, just cracked me up. It's been a long week.
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