BrickLink Discussion Forum

YES

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Dec 17, 2012 17:18

Subject:

Re: Hidden fees

Viewed:

77 times

Topic:

I would be very happy to see BrickLink move to a very simple invoice involving
the below.

1. Cost for items purchased
2. Shipping
3. Handling (material costs for packaging)

That's it; nothing else. Any fees or other costs should all be worked into the
pricing in a sellers items. Ideally all of this should be seen on the final
checkout page prior to submitting your order.

That is quite shortsided. It is simply not possible to work everything into the
cost of the item. Picking and packing a 1x1 plate with a value of $0.01 will
take at least a few seconds, of not many 10's of seconds. Even at minimum wage,
that is a cost that is many times more the price of the item. Per this reasoning,
all pieces would have to cost a minimum of about $0.20 or so, if not even more.
That would defeat the whole purpose of getting simple parts cheap. The potential
low item cost of a lot makes the bricklink business unlike every other model.
You can't buy 2 peas at the supermarket, and 2 slices of bread, and half-a-cup
of milk. Many stores that change lot fees have always advocated that they'd want
this to be incorporated into bricklink, so each store could upfront be very clear
and open about fees per lot if they do not meet certain requirements. These fees
are perfectly fine, and perfectly understandable, but it is also clear that they
must be very clearly written into the terms. Complaining after the fact is moot.
Either accept the terms as is, or shop elsewhere, but it is not feasible to force
sellers to work for less than minimum wage by forcing a non-economically-sensible
restriction onto their terms.

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Dec 21, 2010 11:29

Subject:

Re: Committee for Listing Violations

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, mnementh writes:

In Suggestions, TorontoLego writes:

The responses to this got me thinking:
http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=498526

Would committees be a good thing for BL?

In my experience, a committee is almost never a good thing, for anything.

Troy

You are wrong here Troy. At work, any time people want something from me, I gather
a few of these people that always have slightly different opinions and ideas,
and tell them to form a committee, and report their findings to me. That is usually
the end of it. So, they are a good thing if used "properly"

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Dec 15, 2010 14:10

Subject:

Re: Incomplete Minifigs

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

I'm all for option B) only complete figs.

This is VERY easy to understand, there is NO confusion possible.

I also am still strongly against the implementation of listing incomplete new
sets, I can understand that older sets' parts may be hard to find, but taking
specific pieces out of a new set and still listing it under the same breath/listing
as a complete set is, plain and simple, ridiculous. I'd love to see new sets
and ALL figs (new and used) only be listed when complete, anything else is just
a bunch of parts, and should be listed under custom lot.

Paul

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Oct 20, 2010 10:33

Subject:

Re: Automated Immediate Invoicing on Check-Out

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

I would certainly support this. For those that do not know, for a 5 year period
I had free shipping, so it would be easier for newbies to buy while knowing how
much their total would be. I had to do away with it, because in order to offer
free shipping, I had to raise prices above stores that do not offer free shipping.
In many instances, with free shipping I was significantly cheaper than others,
but because my store was much lower in the rankings, I in the end decided to
lower prices, and made buyers pay for shipping.

I would love the following system, as an OPTION:

Upon checkout, offer the buyer to pay either my "standard shipping fee", or else
elect to wait for an invoice to be send within 3 days that will reflect actual
postage.
If they select "standard shipping fee", I would charge them something like $2
plus 10% of order domestic and $4 per oder plus 20% for international.

This way, buyers can know upfront what the charges are and pay instantly, which
would be great for newbies.

Moreover, option 1 could be executed without signing up for a BL account, whereas
option 2 (invoiced) would only be for registered members.

Paul

ps. this is a coarse idea, and can use fine-tuning.

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Sep 29, 2010 09:39

Subject:

Re: Block FB while NSS or NPB are pending

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:

There have been several occasions over the years when I was able to avoid being
victimized by a scam seller or buyer because feedback was promptly left warning
me about the scam. For example, I have on more than one occasion NOT placed a
contemplated order with newish seller after reading one or more feedbacks from
reputable members I trust essentially saying "NSS filed", where that seller later
went on to be banned for pulling multiple scams. If this feature existed back
then, I would probably have placed my order and joined a long list of victims.
Just think how many MORE scams these sellers could pull if they have an additional
two more weeks to do so without getting any feedback warning others about them.

Furthermore, as a seller, I decline to accept orders from any buyers with a feedback
rating of less than zero. This has certainly prevented some problem buyers from
placing orders with me. But again, if this feature existed back then, some of
those problem buyers would have been able to place orders with me - orders which
would have resulted in further NPBs, wasted time or worse.

I still think this suggestion is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Not
all feedback left while an NSS/NPB problem is pending is bad or retaliatory.
And, as noted above, some of that feedback can serve a very useful public purpose
and prevent others from being scammed.

The forum has only limited usefulness in warning others about possible scams.
Mainly because the forum is read by only a very tiny percentage of the BrickLink
membership.

Foster

We could use my suggestion combined with a previously suggested one, in the FB
profile, show how many NPB's or NSS's are currently pending. If does not affect
the "in your face" FB of the buyer or seller, but it can be seen by all.

Paul

Author:

BrickBuy

Posted:

Sep 29, 2010 08:53

Subject:

Block FB while NSS or NPB are pending

Viewed:

184 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded