BrickLink Discussion Forum

My husband has not been getting any BrickLink emails at all since yesterday.
We have a Gmail email address, but that is forward to my husband’s personal me.com
(Apple iCloud) email address. If I go into Gmail, it says that Apple doesn’t
trust messages sent from the BrickLink domain due to BrickLink.com’s DMARC policy.
It’s not sent to a junk folder, it is bounced as not deliverable at all. There
is no way for us to stop Apple from blocking it.

I understand that he could just set up his phone to have a separate Gmail inbox,
but he doesn’t want to and shouldn’t have to.

Romy

In Problem, Admin_Russell writes:

In Problem, brac.brick writes:

In Problem, BricksShop writes:

Hello,
we have currently the issue that messages which are sent from our customers via
the bricklink message system, are not forward to our email address. Order notifications
still arrive.
Does anybody else has this issue or has something changed with settings?

Best regards,
Oliver from Bricks-Shop.

You need to check that your email provider is not classifying all BL messages
as Spam and send them to junk or some other folder. I had this problem until
I went to the email and set BL as a safe sender. Now I get all the emails. Lots
of email providers think BL is spam. I also recommend you choose an email address
for your store which is user friendly like Gmail.

Unofrtunately what you are saying about the blservice email address is true.
We get blocked by many ISPs and it takes the user themselves to unblock us or
request that we be unblocked.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

May 12, 2022 21:45

Subject:

Re: customer payment problem-any workaround?

Viewed:

29 times

Topic:

Hi Connie,
So you invoiced again from BrickLink after voiding? That’s what I just did. Hopefully
it works!
-Romy

In Help, connie writes:

this happened to me on May 2nd. Contacted paypal they could not help. Check
to see what your options are next to the payment. Mine only gave me "void" or
archive--no accept. We finally got it solved by me voiding the payment and
then sending an invoice out to him. He paid and it came through and his package
was sent out today.
You need to invoice him after voiding the payment. See if this works.
Connie

In Help, firestar246 writes:

Buyer placed and order and paid right away, but there was an exclamation point
next to "paid". The payment on paypal showed as pending. This was on the 2nd.
Still said pending this morning. Customer contacted me today, said they didn't
know what happened; contacted paypal and said they were no help. They asked me
to void the payment and they'd try to pay again. I voided it, and marked
the order to ready. However, there is no pay button showing for them. I seperated
order status from payment status, but it won't let me change the payment
status.

Anyone know of a simple fix?

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

May 12, 2022 18:33

Subject:

Re: customer payment problem-any workaround?

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

I just contacted him again and he said he has four orders from that day with
the same problem. "I was able to resolve it with one seller when they cancelled
the transaction on their end and I sent the money to their account." But this
sounds like it's an off-BrickLink transaction. Even though I could independently
pay the sales tax myself (I'm registered in his state), I don't want
it sitting as unpaid and pending for 6 months until it automatically clears off
of BrickLink.

So I just tried doing the void, set it to unpaid, and resent the invoice, hoping
that would work. But the order page still "sees" a payment with the "issue refund"
button still there, even though it also says unpaid. Ugh, what a nightmare.

In Help, firestar246 writes:

In Help, CALBrickLAB writes:

I have the same PayPal problem from the same day and saw another seller did as
well. I just sent a message to my buyer asking if they could cancel the PayPal
payment from their end. Then I came onto the forum as saw your post.

I originally thought it was an e-check hold, but it has been way too long for
that. Let me know if you work it out. My only idea for you is to switch the order
status all the way back to pending and then the payment status to unpaid. I haven't
had to deal with messed up PayPal in a long time, so I'm not sure.

I can switch the status to pending but still can't switch payment to paid.
The idea we have is to cancel the current order but don't return items to
the inventory, then I make a custom lot reserved for him with the same value
that he can purchase and then we'll send him the items from the original
order. That way he doesn't have to redo the whole order and risk someone
buying the items out from underneath him.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

May 12, 2022 16:47

Subject:

Re: customer payment problem-any workaround?

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

I have the same PayPal error. When I click refund, I get an error "Failed to
update refund: EC_UNHANDLED_EXCEPTION." Which makes sense because there is no
payment to refund. On PayPal the order status is Pending.

In Help, peregrinator writes:

In Help, firestar246 writes:

Refund? Or mark the order as refunded?

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

May 12, 2022 16:44

Subject:

Re: customer payment problem-any workaround?

Viewed:

34 times

Topic:

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Jan 10, 2022 23:22

Subject:

Re: Sales Tax

Viewed:

64 times

Topic:

Terms and Policies

Yes, you have to pay the fee on everything that is processed through your account
on PayPal. The same as when a store has to pay the transactions fees for the
entirety of every credit card transaction. For example, for in person sales I
use Square. I add the sales tax, paying the percentage to Square on the entire
thing. Then I go to my state sales tax return and enter all sales, minus online
marketplace sales (BrickLink), minus other sales sales outside my state, minus
shipping, minus sales tax collected, and it tells me how much sales tax I owe.
This should equal the amount I collected, but the cost of doing business on credit
cards is that I lost a percentage of that to the service fee.

BrickLink does collect the sales tax on our behalf. AND they keep ALL OF IT.
There is no percentage of the sales tax for the actual seller -- only for
BrickLink, since they do the actual collecting and remitting to the tax collectors.

However, it is the actual SELLERS on BrickLink who get stuck paying the Paypal
fee on that entire tax amount. So whatever percentage of fee you are paying
to Paypal to process the payments, you are also paying that fee on the sales
tax money that you never even see.

If I am wrong about this, someone please say so. I would love to be wrong on
this.

____

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Oct 14, 2021 02:01

Subject:

3068bpb0849 description print color

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

Catalog Requests

For:

Catalog Associate

Status:

Completed

Part # 3068bpb0849
This 2x2 dark bluish gray tile has silver printed details, but the description
says “white stripe and rectangles.” I believe the color in the description may
have been determined by looking at the photo where the silver details are blown
out and look white. If you look at the BrickLink photo of the Gonk Driod (sw0562),
it appears silver in that photo. The tiles in my inventory were all parted out
by me from set #75149. I have attached a photo of the tile next to a white stud
(top) and a metallic silver stud (bottom, as well as a flat silver stud (right).

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Oct 17, 2020 15:40

Subject:

Re: USPS postage by zip code zone

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, cosmicray writes:

While you do have a point, this gets really really complex. It involves a rather
large two dimensional matrix (3-digit sending prefix by 3-digit destination prefix),
then looking up the correct amount based on weight, class of service, etc. THEN
you have to deal with dimensional packages. I wish everyone the best in this
endeavor, but it is a mighty complex issue, which also depends on which boxes
each seller has available at any given moment.

Nita Rae

While it would be this complex if BrickLink were automatically printing out the
shipping for us, this wouldn’t be the case. I ALREADY have personalized settings
that judge what packaging I use for each weight/size/class. That’s the part that
each seller can dial down themselves based on how they like to ship. The only
part missing is the zip code lookup so that I don’t have to assign a flat rate
for each shipping method.

Integrated shipping is definitely more complicated unless BrickLink did it through
another service. We used to have a stamps.com account because that’s what another
large marketplace used to use for their on-site shipping. That site’s new system
is worse that Stamps’. I guess a lot of the large marketplaces made their systems
a lot simpler by convincing everyone that they would never make sales without
free shipping.

I always figured BrickLink offered minimal services because it kept them out
of the marketplace designation and they wouldn’t have to set up the complicated
sales tax system. Now we have streamlined sales tax and clunky shipping.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Oct 17, 2020 15:02

Subject:

Re: USPS postage by zip code zone

Viewed:

22 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, kzinti writes:

The lack of a good automatic zip code based shipping calculation tool is why
I still calculate by hand. Although, I have created a database of zip codes,
zones, and shipping rate tables that allow me to input a zip code and spit out
a price based on First Class Domestic. The rates are read from a table I can
then paste into the new rate data whenever USPS makes an update.

This is what I had set up before I decided to go with automatic checkout. I still
have an option for buyers to ask for an invoice if they want the lowest shipping.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Oct 17, 2020 03:06

Subject:

Re: USPS postage by zip code zone

Viewed:

23 times

Topic:

Correction to my post: I charge 155% of the actual price, not 155% more than
the actual price. The range goes from ~$8.10 to ~12.50 for a Reginal Rate A box.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Oct 17, 2020 02:59

Subject:

USPS postage by zip code zone

Viewed:

109 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Please make a way for us to charge shipping based on zip code during automatic
checkout.

As I am updating my USPS postage for the price increase on Sunday, I am once
again reminded that we still don't have a way to charge proper shipping by
zones for both First Class and Priority Mail. On one of my shipping methods,
I charge 155% more than the actual price to local customers because I have to
charge the same to them as to people across the country. I normally give partial
refunds to people that are overcharged, but it ends up being less than the actual
difference because of the non-refunded PayPal fees.

There has got to be a way to make it interface directly with PayPal similarly
to the new sales tax changes. We can now even give refunds directly from BrickLink.
Is there no way to harness PayPal's shipping calculations?

BTW, I'm loving the automatic sales tax because it's way more accurate
that what I was doing before, undercharging and paying the difference. My sales
tax filing is also only going to take me 10 minutes next quarter!

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Jan 25, 2020 20:21

Subject:

USPS postage zones

Viewed:

148 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

As I go through updating my postage for the USPS rate increase in effect on Monday,
I'm reminded that we still don't have the ability to use zone pricing
based on zip codes for shipping. We all use the same zone groupings, so we would
just need a chart set up like we do for international shipping, but with the
9 zone fields. I end up overcharging and giving refunds if the amount is excessive.
Thanks,
Romy

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Mar 24, 2017 02:34

Subject:

Re: notify sellers when set inventory updated

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, viejos writes:

I am all for an efficient notification system, but I do think sometimes people
get worried about things that don't end up happening. Did you have any buyers
complain about something traced to this partout?

Russell

I didn't have a complaint about this partout, it just served as a good example.
This topic stems from a thread I read earlier today where someone asked how much
it mattered to buyers weither you distinguished between part versions:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1032668
It seemed that the general consensus was that while most buyers don't care
either way, some buyers do care an awful lot. We as sellers should try to satisfy
all of our customers, so we should assume that every buyer will care.
It doesn't matter that you and I think that an arch with cross supports has
the same functionality as one without. There's always a buyer out there that
has found a new way to use the piece and does care if the opening is blocked.
(Or at least a buyer that will use your mistake to ask for his money back.)

Romy

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Mar 23, 2017 18:16

Subject:

Re: notify sellers when set inventory updated

Viewed:

31 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

Who said you have to count every part in every set? If you are parting out many
copies of one set, surely it makes sense to verify the inventory once for all
the sets with the same batch number.

You are correct here. That is what we should do, but it doesn't always work
that way. We often dump the bags out into bins long before we actually part out
a set. It's my fault for not taking that extra step to verify before throwing
the LEGO box away, but it happens. We have other ways that work for us rather
than verifying each part.

My point with this post is that it could be an ADDITIONAL tool for sellers.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Mar 23, 2017 15:56

Subject:

Re: notify sellers when set inventory updated

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

For the second scenario, don't you count parts when parting out?

If so, there wouldn't be an error that needs correcting.

Not every lot. Especially if it's a piece that is in a lot of sets, sometimes
it's not worth the time to count out every lot.

The example I gave in the reply I just posted above wasn't arbitrary. I parted
out 24 of set 70751 (temple of airjitzu) on Dec 9, 2015. That set has 1965 parts,
13 mini figures, 447 lots, 51 lots as extra items, 17 lots as counterparts, and
4 lots as alternates. It was inventoried on August 26, 2015, confirmed on Oct
3, 2015, with 9 logs of inventory changes. 3 of those inventory changes occurred
after I parted it out.

You can lay as much hate on me as you like, but I did not count out all 47,000+
pieces. Especially because I knew I had more unlisted inventory that I could
fall back on if I ran into a problem. Your store currently has less than 10,000
items. Counting that one upload would be like me counting your whole store 5
times. I'm not trying to be rude here, just trying to give some perspective.
There comes a point where I have to trust the BrickLink catalogue.

On the wrong item scenario, again, look at the Temple of Airjitzu partout I refer
to above. The last inventory change occurred on March 16, 2016. It was changing
the type of arch from "14707 Brick, Arch 1 x 12 x 3 Raised Arch" to "18838 Brick,
Arch 1 x 12 x 3 Raised Arch with 5 Cross Supports." So I originally had it listed
as the type that doesn't specify, when it turns out that I had the type with
5 cross supports. For whatever reason, those two parts don't even share the
same part ID. So I see 14707, not 14707a or 14707b. Many sellers wouldn't
even know that there is a completely different part to check for unless they
went to that part's individual catalogue page.

Of course, I could argue to a buyer that the unspecified type doesn't exclude
cross supports. But I WANT to give my buyers exactly what they ask for. BrickLink
should too. It's good for business.

Romy

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Mar 23, 2017 15:15

Subject:

Re: notify sellers when set inventory updated

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

I knew I couldn't have been the first person to suggest it! I don't understand
all the objections in that thread. We work hard to identify problems before uploading
sets. OF COURSE we do! That doesn't mean that we might not miss something.
Especially my scenario where the lot piece count changes. Say I am uploading
20 of a set with 2000 parts each, 450 lots. I don't believe that the majority
of stores are counting out all 40,000 pieces.

Sometimes I catch the catalog errors while I'm sorting. But there have been
times when I haven't. This feature would be good for BrickLink because it
would reduce order errors. And order errors seem to be the #1 complaint of buyers.
Happy buyers, more retained customers, more orders, Bricklink corporate makes
more money.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Mar 23, 2017 14:04

Subject:

notify sellers when set inventory updated

Viewed:

130 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded

BrickLink already keeps track of what sets I have parted out. I can go look up
the log of my past uploads. If would be helpful if sellers were automatically
notified when a set they have parted out in the past has its inventory updated.
Then I would be able to go double-check that lot to make sure it wasn't from
the newer version of the set inventory. It would allow me to provide better customer
service because I would have less errors in my inventory.

Here is the reason for my suggestion:

Say in July 2016 I parted out 20 of a set. In August 2016, someone updates the
inventory with a variant part. I am left completely unaware that half of my parts
were actually the second variant until I notice a mixture while pulling the order.

Another version of this scenario is when LEGO changes the build and the number
of pieces in a lot changes. My inventory might say I have 120 pieces in a lot,
but I actually only have 100. If someone buys out the lot, hopefully I can find
more of that piece in a set I have waiting to part out.

If I were notified of set inventory updates on sets I have parted out, I could
go check my inventory before there is a problem.

Romy

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Jan 16, 2017 03:01

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Set 71200-1

Viewed:

23 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open

Please make changes to the following inventory:

71200-1 (Inv) Starter Pack - LEGO Elements
251 Parts, 3 Minifigures, 2015
Sets: Dimensions: Dimensions Wave 1

* Add 2 Part 15573 Black Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove and Bottom Stud Holder (Jumper) (Alternate) (match ID 1)
* Change 2 Part Black 3794b Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove (Jumper) {Regular to Alternate} {match ID 0 to 1}

Comments from Submitter:
Parted out 50 sets and 10 had black 1x2 jumpers with bottom stud holders instead of the listed type.

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Jul 29, 2016 15:01

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Set 21117-1

Viewed:

24 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open

Please make changes to the following inventory:

21117-1 (Inv) The Ender Dragon
587 Parts, 4 Minifigures, 2014
Sets: Minecraft

* Add 22 Part 3794b Black Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove (Jumper) (Alternate) (match ID 2)
* Change 22 Part Black 15573 Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove and Bottom Stud Holder (Jumper) {match ID 0 to 2}

Comments from Submitter:
some sets have black 1x2 jumper with groove instead of with groove and bottom stud holder

Author:

CALBrickLAB

Posted:

Jul 9, 2016 18:12

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Set 21117-1

Viewed:

21 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open