BrickLink Discussion Forum

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Hi,
Can I search LEGO sets by UPC code on BrickLink?
If yes can I be linked to a how to help form?
If no Can this be an Option?
Thanks
Jason

Author:

macebobo

Posted:

Feb 18, 2022 16:56

Subject:

Allow Custom Message Templates Subject Lines

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

At least the drive thru one. I use the drive thru after my order is delivered,
so "...has been shipped" does not jive with "...has been delivered"

I would like all of the message template subject lines to be editable for other
reasons.

The only related suggestion I could find with our fine search tools was:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=282308&nID=1246983

If there are more or even discussions around this, please feel free to link them
here.

Author:

WUIt

Posted:

Feb 17, 2022 12:46

Subject:

Re: Improve and simplify shopping experience

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, SnoopyCh writes:

In my case I know that I want to buy from 3 specific vendors that have together
all what I need, but I would like to buy the cheapest or the new/used or the
bulk of the best one for each item. I would like to compare each options for
each item between those vendors and get an automatic select of the cheapest that
I could also adjust. It is important to see the price per lot and the total number
of lots to do manual adjustments.

I have the same need, but have found that nothing short of copying all prices
to Excel and adding costs for handling and shipment will get the job done. If
you have selected a relatively small number of stores and placed your most important
items in a wishlist without specifying the condition, then you can navigate to
each store in a separate window and press the wishlist filter option. By arranging
the lots in each store into the same order, you will be able to compare the prices
of used and new items across all selected stores (windows will need to be arranged
side by side). Any items already in their carts will be shown on that list. However,
you will manually have to update the carts separately on every page in each store.
Make sure you are comparing the prices for the same item in each store. Take
special care to select the desired total amount of each item in each store so
that you do not end up with unwanted duplicates or omissions by mistake.

Author:

SnoopyCh

Posted:

Feb 16, 2022 16:47

Subject:

Re: Wanted list - color schemes

Viewed:

27 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, markt writes:

Sometimes I find it is the case that I'm constructing a wanted list with
assorted parts and while not too particular about the color, it is nonetheless
important that some different parts be the same color, whatever it is.

So to facilitate that, I would suggest that one have the ability to specify a
color scheme for any wanted list. For example, say that I intend to build a
three color model, but I am not too particular about the colors. The only thing
I might care about, for instance, is that some subset of the parts be specifically
either all black, all white, or all grey, although I may not be particular about
which.

A color scheme for the wanted list would then look something like this:
A: unspecified
B: black, white, grey
C: unspecified

When specifying the desired color of the part in a wanted list, instead of selecting
a standard color (or "unspecified"), I could alternatively select from one of
the color schemes defined for that wanted list (A-C, in this case). In any
case, each color scheme letter would be a unique color, and all parts that utilize
the same scheme letter would be the exact same color. So if white parts were
found for parts using B, for example, then no parts using A or C will be white.
If one is truly indifferent about the color of the part, then one could still
use the existing "unspecified" mechanism. The important thing here is that during
autopick, all parts referring to the same scheme letter would always have the
exact same color.

The existing workaround to this is to create separate wanted lists that are otherwise
identical except for color, each wanted list looking for the same items, but
with a different set of colors. It is quite tedious for wanted lists with many
different parts, however, and I believe something like the above would simplify
that.

I would also like to have in studio the ability to have a varriable color A,B,
C that we can after set to blue or red, changing all part accordingly. That would
allow to see if we can get them after importing them to a wanted list.

Author:

SnoopyCh

Posted:

Feb 16, 2022 16:40

Subject:

Re: Improve and simplify shopping experience

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, BrickBen writes:

Current issues: The "Buy All" wizard is not always optimal, so when I am looking
to add parts or minifigures, I want to use the same vendors, especially since
it's ordered by price. I have to have several tabs open to see with what
vendors I have open baskets in my cart and then browse through their oftentimes
massive stores to see if they have other items on my wishlist.

Suggestion: In a view in which vendors are compared (e.g., if I click on a set,
part or minifigure), add 2 icons for whether the vendor is in my basket already
and how many parts/minifigures this vendor is selling that are in my basket.

In my case I know that I want to buy from 3 specific vendors that have togather
all what I need, but I would like to buy the cheapest or the new/used or the
bulk of the best one for each item. I would like to compare each options for
each item between those vendors and get an automatic select of the cheapest that
I could also adjust. It is important to see the price per lot and the total number
of lots to do manual adjustments.
This step could also come after an auto select or manual select.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Feb 16, 2022 04:34

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

If they are going to make changes to feedback, then they are going to need to
think about what the point of feedback is. For me, the only real reason is ...
is a seller reliable.

My stance is buyer feedback is pointless. Sellers cannot stop buyers from buying
based on feedback (aside from overall negative), so buyers having feedback is
really just a badge to show how many orders they place. So why not get rid of
it completely, and just have an order count showing for buyers. NPBs exist for
buyers that don't pay. eBay's positive only for buyers is pretty pathetic.
There is no point to feedback if it can only be positive, just get rid of it
and show the order count instead. Otherwise buyer feedback is just a count of
how many sellers can be bothered to leave fairly pointless buyer feedback.

For sellers, a 5-star system is fine but if they are doing that then get rid
of positive and negative ratings. Just have an anonymous 5-star system for quality
of parts and level of service. Feedback could then just be shown as two numbers,
averaged over the last six months worth of sales (if above 10 or more) and blank
if the seller has not made that many sales. Volume could be shown as in "Ratings
averaged over 1063 sales in the past six months". Having anonymous ratings and
pos or neg is also weird. A buyer can put positive but then give 1 star on all
ratings to hide that s/he is marking down ratings.

If it is anonymous it will mean that buyers are free to leave 3 stars even if
they got their order but the seller charged significantly more postage than they
should have or used parts were yellowed.

And make the key score shown based on recent feedback only. No doubt some sellers
would be very unhappy that the feedback they have worked hard for disappears,
but do buyers really care that a seller successfully sold 5000 items 15 years
ago? They want to know what the seller is like now, not a decade or more ago.
There could still be a badge showing that the seller has dealt with X orders
and started selling Y years ago.

Only have one or two 5-star ratings. More than that and the amount of buyers
that can be bothered to leave feedback drops.

I cannot remember the last time I bothered to leave feedback on ebay as a buyer
unless it was negative, and never bother checking as a seller since they changed
to positive-only for buyers. That is also an issue with no buyer feedback too
of course, if a seller doesn't leave it for a buyer then will the buyer bother
to leave it for a seller. As for amazon, I don't think I have ever left it
for a store. I've done it for items but never for a store. I either get what
I ordered and leave it at that, or file a complaint via amazon.

And that is another issue too. If less feedback is left then negative / lower
rating ones will have more impact as people tend to leave feedback if negative
but not bother so much if it is just OK. Sellers will have to expect lower feedback
ratings even if nothing changes.

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

Feb 16, 2022 00:40

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, 1001bricks writes:

I propose a 0 + 5 Stars rating system.

In essence:
- 0 would correspond to "Zero service (or the current Negative)"
- 1 would mean "I received the minimal service"
- 2 to 4 stars would be something like "it's ok"
- 5 could be "exceptional".

How are we to train buyers and sellers to universally follow something like this?
Most buyers aren't going to read this and decide what feedback to leave according
to our standards. They are going to stick to whatever system they are most used
to.

It seems to me it would cause even more headaches than our Praise - Neutral -
Negative set-up. As someone already stated in this thread, most of the anxiety
about feedback can be solved in two simple ways:

1) Revamp the store's feedback percentage so Neutrals don't count as
negatives.

2) Allow for mutual cancellation of orders without any feedback.

Thanks,
Jen

Author:

i_r_on

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 18:39

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

A star system is much more beneficial when divided into objective criterias instead
of general feeling of satisfaction which is more subjective.

Customer can rate,

- Purchased Items condition
- Packaging
- Shipping
- Communication

and so on...

Then I think sellers would be less inclined to correct their score with individual
buyers...

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 18:06

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

I forgot to talk about the textual part of the Feedback.

An annex proposal would be :

* 80+ text would still be allowed, and NOT moderated,

* but the text will be private to the other member.

This way:

* Text part would be OPTIONAL,

* NO moderation,

* NO complain, you can't ask to remove ANY Feedback for any reason,

* Transition to the new feedback would simply copy the existing texts to the
new ones.

In résumé:

* The star feedback will be public "Order 12345678 01/01/1970 whoever *****"

* The optional feedback text is for the other member's eyes only.

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:46

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, firestar246 writes:

Yes! It will also be a lot easier for a seller to see if he really is a "perfect"
seller. Currently, most sellers get 98%-99% positive feedback. With that amount,
why think about trying to improve areas that could need improvement? Maybe their
shipping time isn't the best, but not bad enough to deserve a neutral or
negative.

But with a 5 star system, a seller with slightly lower quality will see a lot
more 3-4 star ratings rather than 5, making them realize that while the majority
of their customers are satisfied with their service, if they improved their service
slightly in some way, they might be able to please their customers even more
and earn more repeat buyers.

Exactly the point - thanks FiVeStar

Author:

tons_of_bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:43

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:39

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

It can be that at the 6 month purge if neither side leaves feedback both get
neutral with a note that it was an automated feedback left by the system. But
if a seller is too busy to leave feedback in a timely manner you need a better
system or more help. The transaction isn't complete until feedback is left
by both sides. Currently I have left 330 feedbacks but only have 322 in return
all as a buyer. I did my part but some didn't. I am not OCD about it, but
to see all the importance seller's put on getting positive feedback it would
be nice for them all to back it up.

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1328103
Thank you.

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:38

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

[removed too lazy snip]

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

It's not in this suggestion; please make a specific one separtely?

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:36

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

I'm voting yes just because something needs to be done.

Thank you!

The simplest solution is to remove the penalty that neutral feedbacks make on
a store or user's positive feedback score.

Plese no, sorry.

Removing the Neutral "weight" (to the seller for ex) will hide more and more
unsatisfied buyers, because a shop with 500 neutrals will be the same as a shop
with 0 neutrals.

I know it's a stupid example.

But right now, decent feedbacks are what, from 98 to 100%?

A newbie buyer arrives here, he sees say "97%" in a shop, he thinkgs "that's
pretty good!".
When it's not.

We need more diversity, so we can have shops with 20%, 30%, 60%, 85% etc.

It'll be easier for a newbie to see that 20% appreciation seems darn low...

That's the idea.

Author:

Tracyd

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:33

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, psusaxman2000 writes:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

In Suggestions, psusaxman2000 writes:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

Would you not then penalize buyers as well? How would the "penalty" work? You
can't just auto deduct "points" if someone doesn't give a rating as that
would adversely affect the numbers

Yes you can, the transaction includes leaving feedback. It's harder to penalize
a buyer but you can. Thou since you don't leave feedback on certain other
sites not everyone understands leaving it as a buyer, but sellers know better.

I'm not against this, just always try to reference it from both sides.

So then as a seller who wants to make sure that everything is complete and the
buyer is satisfied, do you force them to leave their feedback before any notification
or remark from the buyer?

There have been numerous discussions here about "who should leave feedback first"
and we don't need to spawn that again, but just a consideration. I personally
leave after I've shipped just to be down with it, but can understand from
both sides if you get a buyer that then doesn't respond until after 30 days
and I can no longer modify if it goes south. For me I only sell domestically
right now as well so that plays a part, but there is good points to go either
direction. If/when I get comfortable or big enough to go international, I might
wait longer to post for those sales as they are longer delivery times and could
run into problems at a longer time frame.

Then you have to say "What is the time frame for the penalty?" Is it 30 days,
90 days? If it's too long for larger seller who get 10s or 100s of orders
over that time, would they even remember everything or would it just be form
posting like today? Just food for thought.

Author:

marlinjc

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:22

Subject:

Re: New feedback and rating system

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, WUIt writes:

The current BrickLink feedback system with all stores having unrealistically
high (80%) praise-ratings is inadequate from a buyers' perspective. When
evaluating stores, a buyer looks at 1) terms and conditions, 2) seller location,
3) store age, 4) number of completed transactions, 5) likelyhood to deliver all
parts, 6) quality of packaging, and 7) speed of service. The praise-percentage
rating as currently used cannot distinguish the stores delivering excellent service
from the mundane. There is no way to praise a store for good packaging, broad
sortiment, identification of different molds, fast delivery, or exceptional service.
There is also no way to express dissatisfaction in sortiment, slow service, missing
parts, poor packaging, unexpected condition/color of parts, unclear terms&conditions,
unexpected/hidden costs, or surprising shipment costs.

Non-paying buyers and non-shipping sellers have their own dedicated functions,
so these issues must not be part of the feedback system. The neutral feedback
response must assume that the buyer pays the invoice and the seller delivers
the merchandise. Any deviations (positive or negative) from this default expectation
can be considered measures of quality.

The new order feedback system is proposed to have 5 potential responses; Excellent
(Outstanding), Pleased (Good), Adequate (Neutral), Disappointed (Discontent),
and Apalled (Horrible). No feedback should imply an incomplete transaction.

Feedback older than 12 months must not affect the rating. Every Excellent order
rating must exactly counter an Apalled order rating. Every Pleased order rating
must exactly counter a Disappointed order rating. Excellent must improve rating
more than Pleased. Disappointed must reduce order rating more than Adequate.
A new store must not have an untruthful rating. A "perfect" rating should not
be achievable in practise.

Applying the standard solution (from polls and surveys) to this context, results
in the formula:

store rating = 100 * (2*E + P - D - 2*A) / (8 + 2*E + P + N + D + 2*A),

where E = number of orders marked Excellent, P = number of orders marked Pleased,
N = number of orders marked Adequate, D = number of orders marked Disappointed,
and A = number of orders marked Apalled.

The potential rating ranges from -100 to 100 with both extremes extremely difficult
to achieve. A new store starts with rating = 0 indicating that it is neither
good nor bad. If a store has constant ratio 1 of positives to negatives, then
the rating will increase slightly over time. A large number of neutrals will
push the rating back toward zero.

This proposed system would eliminate the misunderstandings regarding "praise"
in the present system, allow honest feedback, and relieve all sellers from fearing
neutral feedback or retaliation. Additional benefits include a rating able to
separate the great from the ordinary and a more accurate indicator of quality.

The proposal is too complicated. As is, I only get feedback on about 60% of
my sales. Many do not even indicate received or completed. My feedback responders
often comments on packaging,promptness etc.

Author:

marlinjc

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:21

Subject:

Re: New feedback and rating system

Viewed:

31 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, WUIt writes:

Author:

psusaxman2000

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 17:05

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

In Suggestions, psusaxman2000 writes:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

Would you not then penalize buyers as well? How would the "penalty" work? You
can't just auto deduct "points" if someone doesn't give a rating as that
would adversely affect the numbers

Author:

brickerking

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 16:48

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, 1001bricks writes:

Following MANY discussions about this subject, and approving:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1327974
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1328054
(and others)

And guessing this has probably already been proposed, but anyway...

I propose a 0 + 5 Stars rating system.

In essence:
- 0 would correspond to "Zero service (or the current Negative)"
- 1 would mean "I received the minimal service"
- 2 to 4 stars would be something like "it's ok"
- 5 could be "exceptional".

Details:

* a transaction could be "feedbacked" either 0 (very bad) or more usually from
1 (minimum) to 5 stars (maximum)

* while selecting the feedback:
- selecting 0 (or not selecting anything) would be shown in Red
- selecting 1 would be shown in Gray
- selecting 2 to 4 would be shown in Green
- selecting 5 would be shown in Yellow/Gold

* in the feedback score
- no rating would count for NOTHING
- a rating of zero would count (as a Negative)

I think it would be FAR better than the current system:
* frankly unhappy
* frankly happy
* neutral (but which decreases the seller's score!)
* abstention

The previous feedbacks would be converted with this simple rule:
* Negative : 0
* Positive : 5
* Neutral : 3

Then a simple calculation can be made to determine the global feedback of the
member.

On 120 orders, 100 only received a (any) feedback:
- 100 x 5 stars = 500 / 500 = 100%
- 100 x 3 stars = 300 / 500 = 60%
- 100 x 1 stars = 100 / 500 = 20%
- 100 x 0 stars = 0 / 500 = 0%

Of course, at the beginning, we won't see many changes, as Positive receive
5 stars and Negative 0.

But the difference in between the current "95/98%" will start while receiving
new stars feedbacks.

Some will get more 1 or 2, others will receive more 4 or 5.

We'll see some member having 40/60% and some others 80/90%.

Hoping that helps.

Sylvain

I'm voting yes just because something needs to be done. However, I don't
think this is right solution because it's not easy to implement. The BL dev.
team is and will be busy with tax law for who knows how long (laws keep changing).

The simplest solution is to remove the penalty that neutral feedbacks make on
a store or user's positive feedback score.

If the penalty was removed it would enable users to leave neutral feedbacks without
the fear of negative consequences or repercussions. It's honestly a pretty
simple change that would make a huge impact on feedback.

Suddenly, stores could have 10s or 100s of neutral feedbacks that would highlight
to potential buyers the problems they might face without negatively impacting
anyone's ratings.

Author:

Tracyd

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 16:44

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, psusaxman2000 writes:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

Would you not then penalize buyers as well? How would the "penalty" work? You
can't just auto deduct "points" if someone doesn't give a rating as that
would adversely affect the numbers

Author:

psusaxman2000

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 16:31

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Tracyd writes:

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

Would you not then penalize buyers as well? How would the "penalty" work? You
can't just auto deduct "points" if someone doesn't give a rating as that
would adversely affect the numbers.

Author:

Tracyd

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 15:54

Subject:

Re: A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

68 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, 1001bricks writes:

Stores should also be penalized for not leaving feedback.

Author:

WUIt

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 15:31

Subject:

New feedback and rating system

Viewed:

122 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

Feb 15, 2022 15:19

Subject:

A 0 + 5 Stars Feedback system for BrickLink

Viewed:

407 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

randyf

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 21:49

Subject:

Re: Label Transparent Elements as PC or MABS

Viewed:

33 times

Topic: