Discussion Forum: Messages by MidwestBrick (1855)
Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full      Show Messages: All | Without Replies

 Author: MidwestBrick View Messages Posted By MidwestBrick
 Posted: Jan 26, 2023 17:52
 Subject: Re: Tell Me: What Do Sellers Want Most?
 Viewed: 53 times
 Topic: General
View Message
View
Cancel Message
Cancel
Reply to Message
Reply
In General, rainbowmist writes:
  
  I am all for either requiring Instant Checkout or highlighting sellers that do.
Even as a seller, I hate the guesswork when buying, and sometimes the sellers
come back with an out-of their... out of this world shipping price!

I prefer the manual invoice for my store. Sometimes I have to package orders
that have fragile parts and need the extra ounces for proper packaging or with
a shipping box. If the buyer does not agree with the shipping cost then they
can cancel the order or don't order in the first place. As long as what is
stated in your terms it seems pretty simple. Looking at other websites for their
shipping costs BL seems fair to me.

You can change what each item weighs or change the size or have Instant Checkout
use weight or size and modify all that yourself for each item.

If we all had to abide by the same rules, then buyers wouldn't have to cancel
their orders so all parties would be satisfied.

I know it is possible cause I am 100% Instant Checkout and have yet to come across
an order that floored me with how much it cost to ship. If an item would put
shipping parameters out of whack, as in cost too much to ship for how much I
could sell it for, I just don't add it to my shop, or if I do, put it at
a price that I'm satisfied at if it is purchased knowing it will cost more
to ship it.
 Author: MidwestBrick View Messages Posted By MidwestBrick
 Posted: Jan 26, 2023 17:44
 Subject: Re: Tell Me: What Do Sellers Want Most?
 Viewed: 49 times
 Topic: General
View Message
View
Cancel Message
Cancel
Reply to Message
Reply
In General, Nubs_Select writes:
  In General, Yo_Yo_Flamingo writes:
  In General, MidwestBrick writes:
  In General, dcarmine writes:
  Most of you know that I am on the BrickLink Marketplace Panel group of which
Admin Tanja. We will be meeting next Wed, Feb 1, and I need some seller feedback
to share with the group.

During the last meeting we were told that the plan for seller tools was scraped
because what was being developed did not fit in with the plan for the new site.
(Yes there is a plan to write a new site). Yes, I am MORE than disappointed that
we, once again, are not getting anything new to help us.

So I am wanting your seller input that can get us a few things now, to work with
this site, to hold us over until the new site is done. My recollection is the
next two years.

I have a few pet peeves that I will be sharing, but I want to hear your annoyances.
I know they are many, hit me. I'll do what I can.

Post here or PM me, either way is fine.

Thanks
Donna Carmine
Nebraska Brick Store

A lot. I want a lot of stuff. I do agree with items others have mentioned to
reduce confusion within the website, but am going to take a different angle here.

I'll try to keep the list short and focus mostly on increasing what Buyers
want cause it falls in line with what sellers want, which is increased sales,
increased traffic, and increased daily excitement putting together Lego orders
for other lovers of Lego. I can't tell you the joy I receive every time someone
visits my store and then the additional joy of seeing an order that I can go
pack up and fulfill.

1) I want buyers to know that BrickLink exists so more of them come here vs going
to Amazon. I don't have the answers on how you advertise but I can't
say I've ever seen any either. Put it this way, there is not 1 person in
my life that I have discussed Lego with that has ever heard of BL prior to me
introducing them to it. We are not talking about a few people, this is hundreds
of friends and family. They all have children, nearly all those children love
building Lego, nearly all those children receive at least 1 Lego set for Xmas/birthdays...
yet none know where to purchase Lego beyond Amazon, Walmart, or Target. What
really hurts though is many of them really dislike the invoice system, see #2
below as they want to shop, checkout and then see their purchase in their mailbox.
They don't want delays in-between.

2) For Domestic Orders as I think this should be possible for every country but
I am not sure entirely - I want every store to be required to have Instant Checkout
for every order cause I am growing tired of seeing the posts about X seller is
now charging this, or personally when I see X seller charging Retail shipping
vs Commercial... every store can keep their terms on costs but each store should
be fully capable of figuring out what works for them to provide instant checkout
with shipping costs built in too at various levels. It isn't difficult to
know our own inventory and know how much shipping would approximately cost for
domestic orders and if a seller gets burned a little, like many of us have, we
learn from it and move on.

3) along with #2 as I don't see that happening, then stores that are 100%
instant checkout from a buyers perspective, should be highlighted for them so
a buyer knows that they can fully checkout and bypass having to wait for invoices
etc... we should be adapting to what buyers want vs buyers having to adapt to
what each seller wants. I want to buy things from other sellers too, but as
an example, am SOOOO tired of being quoted Retail shipping when I know they are
paying commercial. I decline every single quote or request for shipping cost
when I know it is much higher than what I know they would actually be paying
especially when I ship orders every day and have the capacity to look up what
actual shipping would be from Point A to Point B. Some terms specifically say
"retail" which is fine, I just avoid them, but many are not clear enough.

Maybe this list is too strong and maybe too difficult and some sellers would
be turned off by these ideas. I have no doubt that many sellers would dislike
having to implement the above, however, for the betterment of the site, I think
it would do wonders to really help streamline Bricklink to be more what buyers
want to retain them and gain new customers for everyone, and add in a little
advertising and this could really become the 1st place customers go to get their
Lego.

Thanks

I am all for either requiring Instant Checkout or highlighting sellers that do.
Even as a seller, I hate the guesswork when buying, and sometimes the sellers
come back with an out-of their... out of this world shipping price!

except many cant in Canada yet

I just went to one store and have a classic example of how frustrating using
Non-Instant Checkout would be if I were a buyer.

I have loaded up a cart with 470oz of sets, which is nearly 30 lbs. Yet the
"estimated shipping" charge shows up as $8!

How upset would you be as a buyer when the actual shipping charge of $50+ pops
up when the estimate was $8. You would be upset if it was off more than a $1
and the seller shouldn't even charge anything more than the estimated $8
either.

This is why every store, at least in USA, should be 100% instant check-out.
 
 Author: MidwestBrick View Messages Posted By MidwestBrick
 Posted: Jan 26, 2023 16:43
 Subject: Re: Tell Me: What Do Sellers Want Most?
 Viewed: 107 times
 Topic: General
View Message
View
Cancel Message
Cancel
Reply to Message
Reply
In General, dcarmine writes:
  Most of you know that I am on the BrickLink Marketplace Panel group of which
Admin Tanja. We will be meeting next Wed, Feb 1, and I need some seller feedback
to share with the group.

During the last meeting we were told that the plan for seller tools was scraped
because what was being developed did not fit in with the plan for the new site.
(Yes there is a plan to write a new site). Yes, I am MORE than disappointed that
we, once again, are not getting anything new to help us.

So I am wanting your seller input that can get us a few things now, to work with
this site, to hold us over until the new site is done. My recollection is the
next two years.

I have a few pet peeves that I will be sharing, but I want to hear your annoyances.
I know they are many, hit me. I'll do what I can.

Post here or PM me, either way is fine.

Thanks
Donna Carmine
Nebraska Brick Store

A lot. I want a lot of stuff. I do agree with items others have mentioned to
reduce confusion within the website, but am going to take a different angle here.

I'll try to keep the list short and focus mostly on increasing what Buyers
want cause it falls in line with what sellers want, which is increased sales,
increased traffic, and increased daily excitement putting together Lego orders
for other lovers of Lego. I can't tell you the joy I receive every time someone
visits my store and then the additional joy of seeing an order that I can go
pack up and fulfill.

1) I want buyers to know that BrickLink exists so more of them come here vs going
to Amazon. I don't have the answers on how you advertise but I can't
say I've ever seen any either. Put it this way, there is not 1 person in
my life that I have discussed Lego with that has ever heard of BL prior to me
introducing them to it. We are not talking about a few people, this is hundreds
of friends and family. They all have children, nearly all those children love
building Lego, nearly all those children receive at least 1 Lego set for Xmas/birthdays...
yet none know where to purchase Lego beyond Amazon, Walmart, or Target. What
really hurts though is many of them really dislike the invoice system, see #2
below as they want to shop, checkout and then see their purchase in their mailbox.
They don't want delays in-between.

2) For Domestic Orders as I think this should be possible for every country but
I am not sure entirely - I want every store to be required to have Instant Checkout
for every order cause I am growing tired of seeing the posts about X seller is
now charging this, or personally when I see X seller charging Retail shipping
vs Commercial... every store can keep their terms on costs but each store should
be fully capable of figuring out what works for them to provide instant checkout
with shipping costs built in too at various levels. It isn't difficult to
know our own inventory and know how much shipping would approximately cost for
domestic orders and if a seller gets burned a little, like many of us have, we
learn from it and move on.

3) along with #2 as I don't see that happening, then stores that are 100%
instant checkout from a buyers perspective, should be highlighted for them so
a buyer knows that they can fully checkout and bypass having to wait for invoices
etc... we should be adapting to what buyers want vs buyers having to adapt to
what each seller wants. I want to buy things from other sellers too, but as
an example, am SOOOO tired of being quoted Retail shipping when I know they are
paying commercial. I decline every single quote or request for shipping cost
when I know it is much higher than what I know they would actually be paying
especially when I ship orders every day and have the capacity to look up what
actual shipping would be from Point A to Point B. Some terms specifically say
"retail" which is fine, I just avoid them, but many are not clear enough.

Maybe this list is too strong and maybe too difficult and some sellers would
be turned off by these ideas. I have no doubt that many sellers would dislike
having to implement the above, however, for the betterment of the site, I think
it would do wonders to really help streamline Bricklink to be more what buyers
want to retain them and gain new customers for everyone, and add in a little
advertising and this could really become the 1st place customers go to get their
Lego.

Thanks
 Author: MidwestBrick View Messages Posted By MidwestBrick
 Posted: Jan 23, 2023 19:45
 Subject: Re: Amazon who? (Part 4)
 Viewed: 50 times
 Topic: Shipping
View Message
View
Cancel Message
Cancel
Reply to Message
Reply
In Shipping, popsicle writes:
  ... or another "Eat my dust, Bezos!"
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1386836

Order placed 12:41 pst - Acceptance scan by USPS 34 mins later @ 1:15 pst

Okay, another alignment of circumstances. I'll take the credit though

34 mins per lot is definitely quite the record. Glad your bar is set high to
get that average down on the next one for "time per lot".

You can do it!
 Author: MidwestBrick View Messages Posted By MidwestBrick
 Posted: Jan 21, 2023 23:35
 Subject: Re: Is Blue-Violet really a thing?
 Viewed: 34 times
 Topic: Colors
View Message
View
Cancel Message
Cancel
Reply to Message
Reply
In Colors, Yo_Yo_Flamingo writes:
  I see Blue-Violet is listed as a color for one set:
 
Set No: 8781  Name: Castle of Morcia
* 
8781-1 (Inv) Castle of Morcia
594 Parts, 8 Minifigures, 5 Gear, 2004
Sets: Castle: Knights Kingdom II

Is it really a unique color?

Yes. I know I had some in my shop but may have sold them all. It is definitely
different than any other color and once you see it, you'll know.

Next Page: 5 More | 10 More | 25 More | 50 More | 100 More