BrickLink Discussion Forum

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

seen a lot of good features from goatleg by 62bricks but i am less likely to
use them when they are on a separate site.

so if admin could please integrate these features into bricklink advanced search
somehow, or give 62bricks the authority to start implementing the features himself
here since he seems very knowledgeable about coding

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 31, 2015 15:35

Subject:

Re: Add price guide setting - links at top

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, therobo writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

Please add a setting to the price guide settings that would allow the user to
have the links "Add to My Inventory" and "Add to my wanted list" not just at
the bottom as they are currently, but also at the Top as well. Would be really
helpful since it is a hassle sometimes having to scroll down really far just
to get to those links

Does your "End" key not work

Are you referring to the "End" key that does not exist on my iPad ?

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 31, 2015 15:03

Subject:

Add price guide setting - links at top

Viewed:

115 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 15:26

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, kzinti writes:

Is a law any less a law because you don't agree with it? I concur that a
witch hunt is not called for, however, could we simply agree that it is illegal
and that Buyers should stop asking?

US Code Title 13 Chapter 9 Section 305: Penalties for unlawful export information
activities:

(a) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—
(1) FAILURE TO FILE; SUBMISSION OF FALSE OR
MISLEADING INFORMATION.—Any person who
knowingly fails to file or knowingly submits
false or misleading export information
through the Shippers Export Declaration
(SED) (or any successor document) or the
Automated Export System (AES) shall be subject
to a fine not to exceed $10,000 per violation
or imprisonment for not more than 5
years, or both

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title13/pdf/USCODE-2010-title13-chap9.pdf

Completely irrelevant for nearly all bricklink transactions. Notice they refer
to the SED (Shippers Export Declaration). This is for commercial shipments over
$2,500, and much, much higher value than that usually. An "export" here is referring
to the kind of exports that typically require formal Port entry, for example
giant crates of iPhomes coming in from China. Check out the SED document if
you do not believe me. Do you fill that document out evetything you ship a Ninjago
figure to the Netherlands? Didn't think so.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 15:13

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, kzinti writes:

True alright. But still, someone simply.. disagree

Law itself doesn't
impress me (e.g. during WW2 hiding people was

We can initate heated debates over following law vs. acting on personal persuasion,
but at the end of the day, there'll always be those two kinds of people.
The one who says 'I'll have to ship this in two batches to keep it below
the critical value', and the other who says 'nobody would benefit from
that' might as well ship it at once and write down half the value on it.

It shouldn't really matter what someone's position on law is. I've
noticed that to some people here that's hard to swallow an law is almost
holy, but.. really. I'm not saying you have to condone the other, but a simple
refusal should suffice. Nobody should of course do anything against their principles.

I always get a bit uneasy when these kinds of topics arise, because I feel people
get judged overly harsh. Many people just got out of their dark age, are young,
and are not aware that what they're asking is considered by some people to
be very malicious. Or people live in a country where parcels get stolen if they're
valuable, and they really want to have Lego as a hobby. It's easy for us
to judge people in that situation. And there could be other reasons.

From my point of view, for example, fishing is barbarous and immoral, but I'm
still able to be on perfectly fine civil terms with Americans who like to go
fishing with their son and I appreciate that's considered a nice and bonding
family activity. I wouldn't want "buyer participates in fishing" as a reason
to cancel an order either

Let's just disagree with each other whenever
we feel like it and focus on getting the Lego from the one end to the other.
Once a point is reached where a mutual deal cannot be reached and someone is
getting forced to break their own principles, it's time to resort to cancellation.

sure, lie on the customs form its no risk to the buyer, all the risk is on the
seller, how would you feel if you receiving the package took on all the risk?
but until then I'm not breaking the law and taking such a huge risk because
a buyer wants to save a few bucks.

Actually the reality is the exact opposite. Putting aside all the legalese and
"technical" legal ramifications, this is the risk in reality:

1) Buyer has to pay the full customs duties owed
2) Buyer risks being known by local postal workers to receive many underdeclared
packages, so they may scrutinize his items more closely
3) The package could potentially be returned, in which case the buyer may have
to pay to have it shipped again.

Since no one is going to arrest or report or bring any legal action whatsoever
over a $100 package (it just does not happen in the real world. Regulators are
concerned about nabbing the $100 million corporate export cheaters instead),
the seller faces no practical risk whatsoever.

So really, the buyer bears all the risk. Seller faces no practical risk. You
might say "But...but... but... legally...technically... its still.... but but
but!"

To which i say, nice tinfoil hat. Have fun standing in your own way of making
a profit.

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS ALWAYS WELCOME IN MY STORE. CONTACT ME FOR SPECIAL SHIPPING
QUOTES

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 13:04

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

I take it you meant

"Buyer demanded"

I think that's an important difference. Just asking for it shouldn't
be cause for a seller to freak out and cancel the order. If a buyer demands it
(like demanding a lower price. which is already in there as one of the reasons)
then that is a legitimate deal breaker.

Has that ever stopped the thought police from trying to regulate our speech ?
Pretty soon they will be calling for a checkbox to cancel an order if the buyer
asks about the weather in the seller's country.

Customs fraud is law made and enforced by government(s). Bricklink is not a
government. Even if a buyer breaks a legal contract here on bricklink, it would
be a matter for the courts to handle, not bricklink.

Since when is asking a question a crime ? Last i checked, you usually have to
act in order to face consequences. Besides, the seller already has the ability
to cancel an order for almost any reason they desire, so long as it is part of
their store terms.

http://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=1919

part 13:

General Compliance with Laws:
You shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations
regarding your use of our service and your listing, purchase and sale of items.

part 9:

Breach:
We reserve the right to terminate your membership, delete all of your data and
deny you access to any or all of your data stored at BrickLink.com if you breach
this Agreement or if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information
you provide to us. We also reserve the right to terminate your membership, delete
all of your data and deny you access to any or all of the site's features
at any time for any reason without prior notice.

So by BL's ToS by asking someone to break the law BL could find you in breach
of the contract and delete your account.

That is a default website disclaimer, bringing that up is an argument that could
be used to defend any reason to punish a buyer under discussion. Yes,
your membership can be terminated for any reason whatsoever, fair or unfair,
logical or unlogical, that's true.

The again, a forum topic on customs fraud has previously been censored by the
moderators, so it wouldn't surprise me if they'd ban someone for it.

its clear and simple, customs fraud is against the law, so don't ask, plain
and simple.

Committing customs fraud is against the law. You are free to ask
for it all day long.

no, it is against the law to solicit a criminal act. in other words asking someone
to commit a crime is against the law, only difference is in soliciting the person
asking is committing the crime, committing the crime is the one doing it.

Alright, well i can see you are just going to keep responding with more and more
outlandish replies and legal definitions and fine print. I am not a lawyer,
but usually what you are talking about refers to much more well defined contracts
for prostitution or murder etc. Here on bricklink, we buy and sell typically
low value lego orders. No one is getting their account terminated,no one is
going to jail, no one is i plementing any checkboxes for asking questions, so
all of this is overblown moot discussion nonsense

Please reserve the forum for serious discussion that actually impacts us....
thank you....

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:55

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

its clear and simple, customs fraud is against the law, so don't ask, plain
and simple.

Committing customs fraud is against the law. You are free to ask
for it all day long.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:53

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

31 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

Yup, rather than defining the buyer, maybe we should have a checkbox "seller
flips out when asked to commit customs fraud". That'd solve everything, the
sellers who get offended by the question can check that box and will not get
it that often anymore. And when they do they can point to the checkbox and get
legitimately angry and stoplist the buyer

But you're right, asking this should never be punished. It's not an illegal
action, it's not a faillure to reach an agreement at the point of asking,
and it is not a personal insult.

so when a person asks another person to kill someone, that's not against
the law? even though no crime has been committed?

i am not a lawyer but i am pretty sure you would need a consiberable amount of
court-admissible evidence to convict someone based on just asking another person
to kill somebody, if no killing or attempt to kill has taken place. For all you
know, the person might just be joking.

you would be surprised, you should watch the news more often.

OK mr. tinfoil hat

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:48

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

it was not censored for that reason. it is a private matter,, sorry no details

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:46

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

But you're right, asking this should never be punished. It's not an illegal
action, it's not a faillure to reach an agreement at the point of asking,
and it is not a personal insult.

so when a person asks another person to kill someone, that's not against
the law? even though no crime has been committed?

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:42

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

Do you know by chance where I can get one of those tinfoil hats you are wearing?

are you advocating that we break the law and break BL's ToS ? and how long
you want to be a member here?

i would never advocate that anyone break the law

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS BE ADVISED : YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME IN MY STORE. CONTACT
FOR SPECIAL SHIPPING QUOTE

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:34

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

Do you know by chance where I can get one of those tinfoil hats you are wearing?

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:30

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:

In Suggestions, Legopeter writes:

Has anyone ever heard of anyone ever getting into the slightest difficulty after
committing this horrible crime, worse than murder, rape or genocide altogether?
Peter

http://jonesbahamas.com/customs-investigating-fraud-cases/

http://www.natlawreview.com/article/customs-fraud-whistleblower-cases-rise

http://www.contingencybusinesslitigationattorneyblog.com/2014/04/us-customs-fraud-whistleblower.html

that's some of the bigger ones, but also the USPS is taking closer inspection
of packages being shipped out of country, my mothers package which was shipped
to Spain was opened by the USPS service and inspected. so yes, you can say its
a serious matter.

Oh God, not an inspection of your mother's package! That is the truly harsh
punishment for a most heinous crime.

Thanks for providing those links to multi-million dollar customs fraud cases.
You have just proved that all of this hoopla about customs fraud is so far overblown
it is almost ridiculous.

Let me know when you locate the news story about the "Lego seller arrested for
illegally declaring $100 parcel to Singapore as only $10"

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:23

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, LordSkylark writes:

Please add

"Buyer wanted seller to lie on custom's form"
as an option for the seller to cancel the order.

Andy

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 23, 2015 12:02

Subject:

Re: Add 'Customs Fraud' to option to cancel order

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Legopeter writes:

Has anyone ever heard of anyone ever getting into the slightest difficulty after
committing this horrible crime, worse than murder, rape or genocide altogether?
Peter

My cousin's friend's sister's uncle's hairstylist's mother's
automechanic SWEARS that a package he sent in the 1990's was held by the
local post office and marked "ADDITIONAL POSTAGE DUE" upon delivery of a $200
package declared as $50

Customs Fraud typicallly applies to commercial shipments of very large value
(for example, shipment of $100 million of new microprocessors declared as $1
million by corporate tax cheaters, or a $50 million Picasso painting smuggled
across borders declared as $50 value). There is an option on the USPS website
to select if the package contents are below or above $2,500 which is the current
"commercial shipment" threshhold value which will likely require a customs broker.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

May 21, 2015 01:39

Subject:

"Add Selected Items to Cart" button at top

Viewed:

79 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded

Would like a setting (or just permanent feature) to have the "Add Selected Items
to Cart" button at the top of the shopping page, in addition to the one currently
at the bottom.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Jan 12, 2015 18:36

Subject:

Re: Bricklink Scam Advisory System

Viewed:

56 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

I propose an advisory system be implemented to issue notice of heightened risk
for scam and fraud sellers, as well as fraudulent and non paying buyer activity
on the site.

If Admin has the power to prevent even just one scam transaction from occuring,
then it is worth it in my opinion. Not everyone files disputes and not everyone
remembers to follow through with disputes, and some new honest sellers even ship
before getting paid, so scams do often result in real lossea for members.

I propose some kind of scam alert level, similar to the terror advisory color
levels that some developed nations now have around the world to combat global
terrorism.

During times of heightened reported or anticipated sitewide negative activity
(as measured by suspensions, NRS/NSS activity, negative feedback, etc) (or during
media events like the recent Lego Movie, or during holiday times) there could
be banners on all or some pages of the site, with a corrsponding color to indicate
the severity of the threat.

When such activity returns to more normal historical levels, the advisory notices
can be removed.

Advisory notices could be issued with various buying and selling recommendations,
for example to raise your store minimum, or do not transact with members with
X number of feedback, or do not transact with members or a particular country
or join date. Email notices, messages, and forum posts could be issued depending
on the threat. These are just a few basic suggestions.

Of course with such a system there may be the risk of alienating otherwise good
buyers and sellers, but one can always bypass recommendations and proceed with
caution. The benefit of the advisory hopefully will outweigh the risk.

I am open to other ideas or suggestions relating to this concept.

I want to add a followup to my original post since it seems like people are getting
too fixaed on the idea of a red banner notice that says "increased scam activity".
This is not the main concept and maybe should not be implemented. The main
concept is to implemement a System which monitors and advises on
the activity. Advisory can take plaxe in many ways, even just a standalone page
on the site that informs the community of the current risk level, countries of
concern, recently targeted Sets, etc. The idea here is to try to get a better
grasp on tracking the activity instead of just relying on a few very helpful
forum members who may not always be around to help out in the future.

There are plenty of other subtle things that can be done, such as in-site messaging/emails,
general forum posts, Additional notices on select few stores, etc. And of course
compiling a small archive of recent threats and scams so we can build a history
of them and prevent future ones even faster.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Jan 12, 2015 17:34

Subject:

Bricklink Scam Advisory System

Viewed:

342 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Jan 7, 2015 21:55

Subject:

Re: Andrew! Punctuation please!

Viewed:

77 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, BrickBuy writes:

In Suggestions, pikachu3 writes:

In Suggestions, Kenopolis writes:

This is the new problems page?

http://www.bricklink.com/retract.asp

Okay, I can deal with it, but some punctuation would be nice. Bolder categories
too.

"removeal"

"your"

"Items(s)"

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Nov 14, 2014 12:32

Subject:

Re: Bricklink App

Viewed:

47 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, MrGolbs writes:

I too have thought about this but as mentioned above, it would no doubt limit
features as this site is crammed with tiny features that would make an app very
messy.
However, I would happily pay for the app which could go towards modernising the
main site *nudge nudge*

the point is not to put every site feature in the app it is to put a few commonly
used casual daily features that are needed on the go

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Nov 14, 2014 10:49

Subject:

Re: Bricklink App

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Brettj666 writes:

In Suggestions, blackballoon writes:

also i want to add that i think if there was an easy way to buy or browse items
for sale on a Bricklink App for iPhone or iPad i think this could encourage more
sales. But really, the main point of my suggestion was for casual account maintenance
and common daily uses of the site and interactions

I use my phone to go on bricklink all the time, I don't even bother with
the mobile site, just the URL. I post messages, look up part values, access my
wanted list.

I have never encountered significant issues.

I do too. It is a huge pain everyday always zooming in and out and trying to
click on tiny links on my phone, even just the login. Most major websites and
online marketplaces like eBay amazon or others have apps nowadays. It would
make casual use of bricklink easier and faster

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Nov 14, 2014 01:39

Subject:

Re: Bricklink App

Viewed:

70 times

Topic:

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Nov 14, 2014 01:18

Subject:

Bricklink App

Viewed:

289 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded

I just searched the App Store on my iPhone and was surprised to find there isn't
a bricklink app. I know there is m.bricklink.com but several problems with this
. it isn't an app, just a website optimized for mobile. And, more importantly,
it's not very useful for the types of things I would want to use a bricklink
app for, such as checking and sending messages, forum posts, checking some basic
statistics like daily or weekly sales or purchases, open orders, feedback, and
other basic account maintenance settings and features.

I would use a Bricklink App a lot for many casual daily tasks if it were made
available and if it looked good and worked well.

Author:

blackballoon

Posted:

Oct 8, 2014 17:21

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Minifig sh025

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open