BrickLink Discussion Forum

Status:

Implemented

Hi,

buying items from my wanted list(s) and selecting a shop from the shops list
i would like to know how many items that shop has. Not only lots.
The only way to know how many items i'm buying, at the moment, is to add
selected to cart and then view the cart content.

Author:

mjwest83

Posted:

Jan 24, 2017 10:48

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, HarryPotter71 writes:

Hi Jonathan, I don't understand why people don't just part the figure
out myself. Listing it without a head, hair or torso? Really? Just part it out

Because, at least in my experience, people buy incomplete minifigures. People
rarely buy minifigure parts.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 23:30

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, mhortar writes:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

In Suggestions, tEoS writes:

I disagree. There are plenty of instances where someone sold a minifig that
was missing a cape (for example). I've probably bought several figs that
were missing something.

There's a market for these, so why not accommodate it by using complete/incomplete

I agree. There is a market for incomplete figures where a piece is missing, which
is why such a feature is good for both buyers and sellers.

I just wish there was a way to denote instances such as

[M=sw127] 'incomplete, missing jet pack'

is just
[M=sw126]

or

[M=sw109a] 'incomplete, missing pauldron'

is just

[M=sw036b]

Josh

That should be done with the inventories. (Can the inventory of a minifig contain
a minifig?)

--
Marc.

Author:

Heartbricker

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 22:47

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, calibrick writes:

Hi folks! I didn't realize my well-intentioned submission would generate
so much healthy debate - clearly this is a passionate subject, raised-more-often-than-I-had-realized.
Sorry if I was beating a dead horse here and mea culpa. I didn't see it raised
in the suggestions I scanned through.

All that said, there's been some really good perspectives raised in the comments
above (in no particular order):

- A preference to allow the seller to deal with this as they see fit to keep
this as open a market as possible (I think I summed that up right - if not, please
correct me)

- A preference to protect honest sellers from losing orders to the rare less
scrupulous seller and/or earning negative feedback unfairly (that was where my
submittal stemmed from - had noticed several sellers that encountered this before)

- A sense this isn't cosmically that big of a deal; when it does come up,
9/10 times it all works out and if not, it's probably just as well

- If I don't want to deal with this when I open my store, simply don't
sell internationally

(an accepted cost of doing business, basically)

I admit after reading all the feedback, I still feel suggesting a basic criterion
(5, 10, 100 complaints, whatever it is) to protect the seller's interests
is not a bad idea. Not an optimal idea obviously based on the open market perspective
some fervently support, and that's cool. Isn't that what community is
all about?

I do wonder though - if this does comes up often in the forums and I'm a
latecomer to the conversation, isn't that in and of itself an indicator of
some kind? Just something to consider.

Lastly, thank you to all of your for all your terrific work in the forums - as
a future seller I have learned SOOOOO much from your thoughts, ideas, and advice
to others. This truly is a wonderful, community-minded place!

R,
Sandy

Sandy,
You summed it up beautifully, artfully, respectfully (where some of us weren't
acting like adults) and coherently.
All of that tells me you're gonna do very well sticking with these traits.
Seller who had thousands of sales will tell you that getting a dishonest buyer
happens less than half of a percent so going in; consider that if maybe once
every 200+ transactions will be somone you won't be able to please- not bad
odds.
Concentrate on positive actions like uploading inventory and packing orders in
timely manner and keep communicating promptly and respectfully and your experience
will be a pleasant one.
I don't consider other sellers as competition i've been told my prices
are high, i've been told my prices are low- i don't pay attention and
i run the store the way i feel is best. Concentrate on the positives and your
experience will be positive.
I can never be upset being elbow deep in LEGO pieces all day

Lots of luck.

Author:

bb373892

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 19:38

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

I do wonder though - if this does comes up often in the forums and I'm a
latecomer to the conversation, isn't that in and of itself an indicator of
some kind? Just something to consider.

R,
Sandy

Author:

bb373892

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 19:12

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

34 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, ToddMyers writes:

The argument is not to immediately ban a buyer on a first offense. Sure, go
ahead and educate on the first offense. Educate on the second offense. Educate
on the third offense, even. But if a buyer persists in asking sellers to commit
fraud, over and over again, that buyer is not interested in being educated and
you know as well as I do that there will be an unscrupulous seller who takes
them up on it, and that takes a sale away from the honest seller, putting them
at a disadvantage. I would prefer that no sale happen for anyone rather than
allowing a buyer to hunt for sellers willing to commit fraud for them.

This has all be argued before in the forum, and beyond what I've already
said, I'm not gonna rehash it all in this thread. I'm sure a forum search
will provide all arguments that are out there, and from their inaction to date,
it seems that Bricklink has already make a choice to allow buyers to freely request
fraudulent activity.

Todd,
You represented my personal observation and what drove me to submit this perfectly,
thank you! I appreciate the good back and forth dialogue I am reading. Nothing
wrong with educating ME here either!

This suggestion is a waste of time not because it's without merit, but because
Bricklink has already chosen to ignore the issue.

That would be a sincere bummer. If it's coming up this often and new folks
coming in continue to raise it (such as me), perhaps it will be addressed with
some happy medium at some point..

Author:

bb373892

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 19:04

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

36 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Heartbricker writes:

In Suggestions, calibrick writes:

Respectfully recommend an auto-ban of any user that requests a seller lie on
customs forms based on a specific criteria (e.g., 5 unique seller complaints
for the same username). Note this in the buyer guide/help context (against the
rules, fraud, account will be auto-banned).

Worse, some buyers are punishing sellers by leaving negative feedback when they
are merely being good, fair-minded citizens that are following federal regulations
and complying with the LAW.

My understanding is that this is not the first time this has been requested.
Seems to me this could be a field appended to the existing database that is populated
by admins based on seller complaints as a regulatory-minded service to the seller
community.

How has this been a problem for you if your store shows 0 sales?
Not sure it's necessary to bother BL help desk with something you haven't
had a problem with...

I was being community-minded vs. representing a personal issue.

I've
seen an awful lot of this raised in the forums over the past several years...
it's clearly a problem.

Author:

terryer_sandbox

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 18:59

Subject:

API - GET /orders more parameters needed

Viewed:

85 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Hi there,

i'm writing for a customer of mine a few tools which are using your API.
What bothers me currently the most is that there are to few parameters for the
Get /orders call. What we do is that we are asking all orders with the status
shipped to send a feedback and the drive_thru over the API. But since there are
not enough parameters i can provide to the API, the result will be a huge list
of orders, because the least customers are marking their orders as received.

There are several things (filters) you can include to safe server power and bandwidth,
but the easiest one is a date-filter. Let the people give the API an "From-Date"
and a "To-Date". The results are than only these in between. If you only transmit
one of them than every order up or from than will be send. If none is given,
than you do as you do now and give just everything back.

This would be pretty helpful not only for me, but also for your servers.
Other users can write other parameters they wish, like and "feedback given" parameter.

Another solution for our problem would be, if there would be more push-notification-options.
If i could receive a push-notification when the status of an order is changed
(and not only by the buyer).

So i would be really pleased if you could implement a few more parameters to
the GET /orders call as soon as possible.

Best regards

Author:

HarryPotter71

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 18:10

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, waltzking writes:

Of late I am regularly getting spammed through the wanted list feature for minifigures
listed either under the wrong listing or as an incomplete "new" figure.

With the current system all figures are under the same either "new" or "used"
condition heading, but unlike sets can be listed from a few parts (everything
missing but the torso and head) or complete per the correct inventory of that
figure. This not only opens sellers to "acceptably" list wrong items, or worse
in a deceptive manner (such as the new Loki sh033a in the old Loki sh033), by
simply adding a comment like "missing cape" or "new style cape".

Clearly these are not what a buyer wants to be notified of through their wanted
list settings. Such incomplete or incorrect items also have a negative effect
toward useful sales info, or even current items for sale info. WHish is what
leads to my suggestion....

Please, can we have the same "Complete" and "Incomplete" sub-conditions for
figures like we have for sets?

This will effectively require sellers to list items accurately. If they are
not the exact item they must be listed as "Incomplete" and can then either be
excluded from search and history, or reported for misuse. Figures are a large
part of the value of a set, so if a set can't be listed without a sub-condition,
it would follow that figures (which to many are the most collectable items LEGO
makes) should have the same requirement.

Thanks for considering.
Jonathan
waltzking

Hi Jonathan, I don't understand why people don't just part the figure
out myself. Listing it without a head, hair or torso? Really? Just part it out

Have a great evening.

Author:

mhortar

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 17:08

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

In Suggestions, tEoS writes:

I agree. There is a market for incomplete figures where a piece is missing, which
is why such a feature is good for both buyers and sellers.

I just wish there was a way to denote instances such as

[M=sw127] 'incomplete, missing jet pack'

is just
[M=sw126]

or

[M=sw109a] 'incomplete, missing pauldron'

is just

[M=sw036b]

Josh

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 16:50

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

47 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Proprietor writes:

That was the practice a few years ago.

There are strict rules for creating the inventory of a minifigure. My belief
is that to sell the figure, it should include all correct parts; otherwise it's
not THE minifigure but a collection of similar parts. It messes up both sides
of the averages (sold and available).

But there is a contingency here that doesn't agree, often it seems because
historically accurate minifigs aren't a big part of their sales. When I
see a debate here that doesn't impact me much, such as including the historic
suggested retail list price of a set as they do on Brickset, I stay out of it,
even though I don't agree with the majority who don't want that info
easily available on BL.

I believe that sellers who specialize in used minifigs as well as buyers of older
figures detest the games played by sellers who sell parts under minifig listings
or who sell incomplete minifigures under the minifigure listing. If you want
to sell the figure as described, finish it properly, and if you don't want
the hassle, then part it out.

There are also strict rules for sets. And you could apply the same logic, if
you want to sell the set, complete it and only allow complete sets on BL. Yet
BL recognises there is a market for incomplete sets so allows incomplete sets
to be sold without messing up the price guide. They could do the same for minifigs,
without affecting people that only want to buy or sell complete figures. If anything,
it would be better for them too if incomplete ones could be tagged that way as
BL don't seem to do anything about incomplete figures, so incomplete ones
do mess up the price guide.

They also recognise that some figures can be sold complete / incomplete according
to their rules by having two versions of a minifigs. Such as the ideas Ghostbusters
figures. There should be no need for two entries according to their rules but
there are two entries anyway.

And here's a similar open suggestion from 2010:

http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=105117&nID=498385

In Suggestions, calebfishn writes:

A minifig is not a set.

I prefer a rule that makes clear that any "incomplete" listing is incorrect and
will be reported and removed.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 16:43

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, tEoS writes:

I agree. There is a market for incomplete figures where a piece is missing, which
is why such a feature is good for both buyers and sellers.

Author:

Proprietor

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 16:16

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

61 times

Topic:

A minifig is not a set.

I prefer a rule that makes clear that any "incomplete" listing is incorrect and
will be reported and removed.

Author:

tEoS

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 16:15

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

I prefer a rule that makes clear that any "incomplete" listing is incorrect and
will be reported and removed.

Author:

edk

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 16:11

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

56 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, waltzking writes:

From what I understand a mini-fig listing MUST be the complete figure.Anything
less can be reported and removed. If not a complete figure as inventoried it
is parts and should be listed as parts. Anything less than complete can be reported
and removed.

Author:

calebfishn

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:53

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

A minifig is not a set.

I prefer a rule that makes clear that any "incomplete" listing is incorrect and
will be reported and removed.

Author:

SylvainLS

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:51

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, MarieA writes:

[…]
Off the top of my head I think it's
4.7% for the category of classification that includes Lego, but I might be wrong.

That’s what I read too but it seems you can also “choose” a “flat duty tax” of
2.5% in certain circumstances.
Welcome to Byzantium.

Most small packages sent via normal mail fly under the radar of customs and so
don't end up costing anything extra, but random spot checks can result in
charges, and often the highest charge is the administration fee levied by the
courier.

Looking for the fee levied by La Poste (15 €), I found the Swiss Post takes CHF 16
+ 3% of the value, up to CHF 70.
Nice little cash cow postal services have there…

Author:

SylvainLS

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:43

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legomalego writes:

Just to clarify though...

These would be taxes that the buyer would be paying whether they bought the product
within their own country or not. Correct?

Yes and no.

From France, if I buy from my country or any EU country, VAT is either included
in the (VAT registered) seller’s prices or not applicable (hobby/not VAT registered
seller). Anyway I don’t pay anything more to get my package than what
I paid to the seller.

If I buy from outside EU (above 22 €) I have to pay VAT. And above 150 €, I (may,
depending on what I buy) have to pay duty.
I have to pay through the delivery services which will add their fee (as I read
it on their website (haven’t imported/had to pay for a while), 15 € for La Poste).

(Duty is on the product. VAT is on the product, the shipping, the insurance,
the duty, and the fee!)

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:41

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legomalego writes:

Just to clarify though...

These would be taxes that the buyer would be paying whether they bought the product
within their own country or not. Correct?

Not really, no. Depends on the buyer's country, but in the EU, above certain
value thresholds, there will be Import Duty and Import VAT to pay, as well as
an administration fee for collecting the amount due.

Import VAT is charged at the same rate as though the products were purchased
locally, and Import Duty is set depending on the classification of the product
(and, sometimes, on the country of origin). Off the top of my head I think it's
4.7% for the category of classification that includes Lego, but I might be wrong.

Most small packages sent via normal mail fly under the radar of customs and so
don't end up costing anything extra, but random spot checks can result in
charges, and often the highest charge is the administration fee levied by the
courier.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:40

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

Same for UK, they would pay the VAT but not the £8 charge for collecting it.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:30

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

I disagree. Sellers only need concern themselves with their country's export
laws, not the import laws of every country they ship to.

Reasonably sure that's not true.

Author:

Grego

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:22

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legomalego writes:

Just to clarify though...

These would be taxes that the buyer would be paying whether they bought the product
within their own country or not. Correct?

Not necessarily, on imports, Canadian Customs collects GST &PST / HST asmwell
as a brokerage fee of $8.0

The GST/HST component, the buyer should expect to pay to any Canadian seller,
without any additional notice, except during checkout itemizing the taxes paid.

Few Canadian BL seller charge their buyers GST/HST although legally small business/hobbyists
are allowed and are supposed to.

I certainly don't charge Canadian buyers Extra for GST/HST, (it is built
into the price they see for the items they purchase), but it is a real cost to
me.

Author:

waltzking

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:06

Subject:

Re: Stop Wanted List Spamming for Minifigs

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

I think it has been asked for before (by both buyers and sellers), more from
a price guide / history point of view, but I can see it will also affect wants
lists too. Especially if people are using cost minimise, there is an incentive
to list parts as incomplete figures.

Honestly I think all items with an inventory should have the "Complete" "Incomplete"
requirement. It would certainly save a lot of headache and hassle for buyers
and especially in regards to the price guide/history aspect too for both buyers
and seller alike.

Author:

scarbrs

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 14:46

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Gear 880031

Viewed:

22 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open

Please make changes to the following inventory:

880031 (Inv) Play and Build Kit for Nintendo DS - Pirates of the Caribbean
Gear: Electronics: Pirates of the Caribbean

* Add 1 Minifig poc001 Captain Jack Sparrow (Alternate) (match ID 1)

Author:

legomalego

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 14:46

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

46 times

Topic: