Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh  | | Posted: | Jan 10, 2023 05:16 | | Subject: | Re: Really bricklink... (Canada Tax) | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Taxes | |
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| In Taxes, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Taxes, Nubs_Select writes:
| | […]
I mean most stores are already collecting it so they still get it but now I'm
going to have to do a confusing year again with gst/hst remittance based off
of forecasted tax I'm going to collect this year and then if halfway thru
the year bricklink decides its finally time to collect tax its going to be more
headaches to sort everything out again
|
“forecasted” 
You’re remitting taxes that you haven’t yet collected?
|
In UK self employed have to pay "forecasted" income tax based on the
previous year's income which can mean paying tax on money you haven't
earned if you have a bad year after a good year. You get it back but they use
your money!
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 9, 2023 08:48 | | Subject: | Re: Tracking information | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, figflipper writes:
| | Hello everyone,
I’m brand new to selling on Bricklink. I’ve sold on other online platforms for
years. I recently received my first two Bricklink orders and shipped via PirateShip.
Is there a way to automatically provide tracking to the buyer or do we just copy
and paste to an email for them? I appreciate any help with this. I just want
to provide a seamless experience for my customers.
Scott
|
Go into the actual order. Right at the bottom of screen you will find "edit
order"; in there you can add the tracking info.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 9, 2023 08:32 | | Subject: | Re: Shipping zones clarification for the UK | | Viewed: | 26 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, pcthurman writes:
| | I would like to place an order in a UK store. The store's splash page has
the shipping prices listed but they do not list which countries are for each
zone.
Can someone from the UK please tell me what zone the US would be in and what
the shipping may cost for an order weighing 631.58g please?
Thank you,
Cass T
|
Shipping from UK is dependent on both size/dimensions of packet as well as weight.
The size/dimension will also contribute to the weight of packaging which only
the seller can tell you depending on how he packs the order. There are also different
shipping services available. Always ask the individual seller for a shipping
price. Does he have quote enabled?
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 5, 2023 05:33 | | Subject: | Re: Buyers asking for a discount | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, SDF_Bricks writes:
| | I price my items rather low (for a quick sale) and yet, occasionally, some potential
buyers still ask for a 10-20% discount. This at times is really irritating/offending.
What most buyers fail to comprehend is that, by the time I factor in BL/Paypal
fees and others, I'm already 20% down from the listed price.
How do you guys deal with this? Is there a point in answering at all such 'unreasonable'
requests.
|
We always reply as in many cases we still get the order if we decline discount
but remain polite and give proper customer service.
Our response is always something like: "Thank you for your request but we
do not give discounts off our listed prices as we have many returning customers
who pay the asking price. We think it is fair to offer everyone the same price."
Ever since we started selling here we have stuck 100% to this. Bricklink is not
(currently) an auction site.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 4, 2023 10:36 | | Subject: | Re: Nature adapting | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, Stuart9 writes:
It has learnt the foxtrot!
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 4, 2023 08:50 | | Subject: | Re: Can You Just Sell New & Used Lego Sets? | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, killi writes:
| | I want to do a general clear out of my Lego new and used sets. I was thinking
of selling them on Bricklink. But I would only have a small amount of stock and
wouldn’t be selling anything else (ie, minifigs, loose bricks etc). Is this allowed
on Bricklink?
|
Yes, that is fine. You just need to upgrade to a seller account.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 2, 2023 06:18 | | Subject: | Re: Can you help me identify this window? | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, kobalt writes:
| | Hello,
I can't locate this item in bricklink database. Do you have any idea?
Thanks.
|
Windscreen, not window
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 31, 2022 06:43 | | Subject: | Re: Scammed! | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Problem Order | |
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| In Problem Order, MihaG writes:
| | In Problem Order, yorbrick writes:
| | In Problem Order, MihaG writes:
| | I placed order in bricklink store located in belgium with almost 1600 feedback,
on 7.12.
Can I post name of his store?
|
You have already identified the seller, through the feedback.
| | I've paid 240€ for order + shipping via iban (bank transfer).
He said he will ship order on monday (12.12). He didn't so I contacted him,
he said 2 days later he shipped order and changed order status to shipped. After
that i asked his FEW times for tracking info and he is ignoring me now..
|
Did you pay for tracking? 10 euro for international with tracking doesn't
seem much although this obviously depends on what you ordered. And international
postage is slow over Christmas especially if items go through customs handling.
It is also a busy family time, it could well be the seller takes a break over
Christmas and so doesn't reply.
| | I filed NSS and gave him negative feedback, because I saw someone else did the
same few days ago.
|
Just because someone else says it, it doesn't mean it is true. If the seller
shows the postal receipt to BL, the NSS should be removed.
| | Should I contact police or anyone else? Can bricklink admins help?
|
BL admins have already been informed as you have filed an NSS.
| | I lost 240€ and this guy will keep doing this..
I just started my shop and I bought some sets from him so I can part them out
and expand my store didn't expect to get scammed by someone who has 1600
feedbacks..
|
|
He charged me 50€ for 2.2 kg package. He said that tracking is included and he
will send me tracking info! Which he never did!
I would be glad to get package and remove NSS, but he is ignoring me...
|
Just in case, have you looked at the order detail recently? He "might"
have just updated the order with the tracking number and not bothered to answer
your message. From feedback sadly I would not put too much hope on this but it
is worth checking. BTW, where did you see he got 1600FB he has not, did you read
his feedbacks?
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 31, 2022 06:20 | | Subject: | Re: Scammed! | | Viewed: | 79 times | | Topic: | Problem Order | |
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| In Problem Order, MihaG writes:
| | In Problem Order, Maaslander writes:
| | In Problem Order, MihaG writes:
| | I placed order in bricklink store located in belgium with almost 1600 feedback,
on 7.12.
Can I post name of his store?
I've paid 240€ for order + shipping via iban (bank transfer).
He said he will ship order on monday (12.12). He didn't so I contacted him,
he said 2 days later he shipped order and changed order status to shipped. After
|
|
|
Sorry but not much use in hindsight - always read negative feedbacks before buying
and never send money via bank transfer to buy something from someone you don't
know/trust. What to do now? Contact your bank for advice, I hope this gets resolved
for you.
Robert
| | | | | | that i asked his FEW times for tracking info and he is ignoring me now..
I filed NSS and gave him negative feedback, because I saw someone else did the
same few days ago.
Should I contact police or anyone else? Can bricklink admins help?
I lost 240€ and this guy will keep doing this..
I just started my shop and I bought some sets from him so I can part them out
and expand my store didn't expect to get scammed by someone who has 1600
feedbacks..
|
If you paid with paypal, you can claim your money back! wich store is it?
|
I've paid with bank transfer.
Store name: gy_bricks
usernamee: belgiumbricks
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 7, 2022 06:22 | | Subject: | Re: Yellowed bricks - acceptable as Used bricks? | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, keithmcgibbon writes:
| | I am putting together my used set Star Wars Republican Attack Gunship for resale
- but a lot of the white parts are discoloured. This is the image of them after
soaking in hydrogen peroxide (3%) overnight. Given they are still discoloured
I wonder if they are fit for resale? Is quite pricy to replace the lot, but
I don't want to disappoint the buyer! Any views on the best way to proceed?
Thanks
|
It is OK to sell faded used parts either as parts or in sets as long as the description
of the item for sale accurately describes the condition. You can use the extended
description and include words such as "many of the white parts yellowed/faded
but otherwise good condition". Obviously price accordingly.. IMO taking off the
price of replacing those parts would be a good basis.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 08:20 | | Subject: | Re: Instand check-out, aAdd tracking, how to? | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
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| In Technical Issues, Bricks_And_More writes:
| | Trying to add tracking costs for international letter shipping when the order
amount is over 75 euro's. But everytime i check the (world)checkbox and save,
when i go back it's unchecked.
Also the other world checkbox below is checked and stays checked. Hopefully you
understand what i am saying..
Just had an order above 75 euro's and the tracking is not added. What am
i doing wrong?
|
Where was the order shipping to? You have 3 shipping zones EUR1, EUR2 and World.
Your setting to add tracking is only for World zone (i.e. if your order was for
zones Eur1 or 2 it would not be added). If the order was for World, then sorry
I don't know why it didn't work.
Hope this helps
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 2, 2022 05:09 | | Subject: | Re: So THAT'S why they added My Collection | | Viewed: | 98 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, yorbrick writes:
| | In General, crazylegoman writes:
| | I suppose the recent addition of the My Collection feature makes a bit more sense
now... at least from the company's perspective.
David
|
Presumably this will be a one off reward. Otherwise if you get more points for
having more sets, I have them all.
I wonder what the point of collecting the data is - maybe to try to work out
how much people are buying from lego online and instore (via their vip account)
vs purchasing elsewhere, to see if they can increase the former and decrease
the later?
|
I don't think the data sample will be that significant. How many people will
(correctly) list their collection on Bricklink as a percentage of collected sets
on the planet? Any guesses, 0.001% perhaps?
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 1, 2022 11:32 | | Subject: | Re: My Collection - an absolute useless feature | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, Leftoverbricks writes:
| | I like the idea of MY Collection: a place to keep track of parts, especially
when you are a MOC-er, like me.
Unfortunately it looks like this was 'developed' and written by someone's
11 year old nephew 'who is smart with computers'.
ONE
Wouldn't it be nice and very useful (and logical) if you could add a recent
Bricklink order you placed to your collection? Sure!
But you can't.
TWO
OK, I'll try something else: the import function. I downloaded my recent
orders as a XML and CSV. Now I can add all those parts to my collection!
Unfortunately, you can't, it just doesn't work.
THREE
^ I see, too bad. But let's try a wanted list. You can download a wanted
list as XML file. Now I upload this to my collection, easy peasy lemon squeezy,
right?
Oh my, it won't import.
So what's left of this feature?
Nothing.
What you can do is part out a set to your collection. It does it quickly,
hooray! But then? All you get is a list of parts (maximum 200 per page) but you
can't do anything with it.
You cannot:
- sort
- search
- add notes about location
- perform any other operation upon the items in your collection
The only thing you can do is binge watching your parts. I have around 131,198
parts in my collection (according to Rebrickable, a great site!). And this is
only from sets I own. I own another 200,000 parts from Bricklink orders (rough
estimate).
Basically it comes down to netflixing / binge watching your parts. 200 per page,
300,000 parts divided by 200 is 1,500 screens to watch. Click next screen. Click
next screen....
For some reason I get the idea that Bricklink, owned by the largest toy company
in the world - which we all love, otherwise we weren't here - doesn't
take us seriously.
My hands are itching to offer myself as a software developer at Bricklink but
I'm afraid I have to talk to that nephew of 11 year old.
Sarcasm included, but really....
Martin
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I was wondering where this feature came from and what it is for. My first guess
was that it could potentially be for uploading inventory without opening a store
then someway offering that inventory for sale offsite avoiding seller fees but
then... perhaps not the idea!
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 29, 2022 04:02 | | Subject: | Re: Is this a bad Quality?? The Grand Piano | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
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| In LEGO products, singhmp77 writes:
| | Hi All
Though pictures not that clear but can see the light passing though?? This is
just the first 3 bags of the Grand Piano.
Even the Tan bricks are of different shades.
I have never seen that spacing between the bricks ever.
Is this ok??
Thanks
Paul
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If it was my set I would send the exact same pictures and question to LEGO customer
service for comment.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 24, 2022 10:31 | | Subject: | Re: error between two orders | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Contests | |
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| In Contests, Nicolasamico37 writes:
| | I think we are dealing with a child. Her first feedback (and a NPB) mentioned
that !
|
possibly, I spotted that on the FB but that is a separate issue to resolving
the payment to the sellers.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 11, 2022 11:03 | | Subject: | Re: Blocking a buyer based on other external tr | | Viewed: | 69 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Hagbart writes:
| | Dear Bricklinker
Just a general question of preventive blocking a buyer from my store, as prior
joining Bricklink I had some transactions with that buyer and he always tried
to cheat on the payment or complained about the prices.
Can we just cancel a transaction and block him to avoid facing the same problems?
Please advise how I shall handle his order or request for a cancellation?
|
If you have already received the order then there is no way to block it. You
would have to cancel the order if you don't want to sell to him... of course
this opens you up to getting bad feedback which I would say is quite likely in
this case. Maybe better to supply the order, see how it goes and stoplist the
buyer for future orders if you have any problems.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 20, 2022 06:36 | | Subject: | Re: This time I am really back ! | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | New Stores | |
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| In New Stores, Slim_Pickins writes:
| | It would appear that the impossible was indeed possible.
With help from admin I have now been fully resurrected.
Now I have to change the settings (esp the postage costs) and add some inventory
again.
This time there is no doubt that I am for real
Slim
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WOW, great to see you back Slim!
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 22, 2022 04:31 | | Subject: | Re: A nice inside PC scenery | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | My Own Creation | |
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| In My Own Creation, 1001bricks writes:
| | What a good idea to invent a scene behind the PC glass!
I can imagine crazy, fun and creative ways to use the empty space.
Note you should create while respecting some sufficient air flow...
Higher res here:
https://i.redd.it/dbcd1vt3ukm31.jpg
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That looks like a whole new approach to antivirus is needed 
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | May 12, 2022 04:47 | | Subject: | Re: Advice please... | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, Brickopedia writes:
| | Dear Experts
I have a seller, who, for the 2nd time is claiming a package did not arrive.
(UK to UK) As I have only ever had four go missing in way over 3000 orders I
am righty suspicious. I messaged three other buyers who have all had the same
experience. Now, other than stoplist him, the packages sent are under £20 and
therefore insured up to that amount but they are obviously doing this scam regularly.
Can he be reported somewhere? I don't want other buyers to suffer. Also,
would you call them out?
Thank you in advance.
|
Contact Royal Mail. If this is a scam they will have likely received multiple
claims for lost mail to this address. Tell them you believe this is mail fraud
which is a criminal offence and that you will provide any evidence to support
their investigation. If it is not a scam then they likely have a rogue postman
which they need to investigate and your evidence may help.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 23, 2022 05:18 | | Subject: | Re: shipping cost | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, yelush writes:
| | How can I know how much does the shipping cost before I order the lego set?
It is written that shipping and handling fees will be seen on the invoice.
Am I not committed to buy the product if the invoice is already issued?
|
If the seller does not offer automatic checkout showing the total price including
shipping you should ask the seller for a shipping quote before ordering. If you
get no response buy elsewhere, do not place an order without knowing the price.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 12, 2022 10:49 | | Subject: | Re: Gramma can't figure out this part 😀 | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Searching | |
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| In Searching, MommaPenguin writes:
| | Good morning!
I'm a Gramma trying to take a 40 gallon tote of 25 years of bricks and sort
them back out into actual sets to assemble. When I come across a decorated brick,
usually I can figure out which set it belonged to, but this one has me stumped.
I've asked my grandson, the latest to play with all the Lego's, and it
doesn't look familiar to him. Any help is appreciated.
The sticker is on 3008- 1x8 white brick, and I've tried everything *I* know
of for searching, but I'm also a rather new AFOL, so seeking your help as
more experienced experts, please!
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Lori, a.k.a. Momma Penguin 🐧 ❤️
|
Looks like this one but with the sticker poorly placed..
3008pb163
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 2, 2022 03:50 | | Subject: | Re: All these years of shipping packages abroad | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, popsicle writes:
| | ... I’ve remained fuzzy about more than a few things. You know those nagging
somethings you’re gonna take a few minutes to figure-out sometime, but
never do? For example: everytime I shipped a package to our cousins across the
pond, I wondered: what constitutes England, Great Britain, United Kingdom and
the British Isles?
Carried the thought awhile, that it might be an outdated term or two the postal
system still used. Apparently not.
England is England. Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. United Kingdom
encompasses the aforementioned plus Northern Ireland. Hence the rather confusing
shipping label term “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and N. Ireland”
leaving out the Republic of Ireland, as of 1922. But to confuse further, the
term “British Isles” is all the aforementioned mentioned plus the Republic of
Ireland. Reinstated, I guess.
In my pitiful defense, though I lived and worked many years in northern Europe
(1979-95) I never spent time in the UK beyond the occasional stopovers. Just
thought I’d hang my ignorance out there to take a swing at. Call it penance 
-popsicle
|
That's a good summary! Fortunately for us the postal system (RoyalMail) basically
covers the whole United Kingdom as one entity so we don't need to worry about
the different countries when posting. There are some further complications though..
notably the Channel Islands (ie, Jersey, Guernsey, etc) are a separate tax authority
and require customs documentation on packages just like shipping outside UK.
If we venture outside of RoyalMail and use courier services then they make their
own rules and charge different rates depending on destination so for example
Scottish Islands can be more expensive to ship to. We might be small but we know
how to make things complicated
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 28, 2022 08:59 | | Subject: | Re: Seller status denied | | Viewed: | 141 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Dormouse75 writes:
| | I applied to become a seller because they have said I have another account, which
I don't. My boyfriend however does. I have emailed and messaged admin team
to see what we can do and I don't seem able to get a response from anyone.
And now all emails I sent and received have literally vanished from my email
account.
What am I doing wrong.
|
You have a store (currently closed) on the account you sent this message from
... you can only have one store.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 17, 2022 05:26 | | Subject: | Re: Oooops! | | Viewed: | 65 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, SimplyBricks writes:
| | In Off Topic, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Off Topic, SimplyBricks writes:
Oooops, I don't have a subscription to the Telegraph..
Robert
|
You shouldn't need one for this article!
|
It seems you do to access it via the link you gave which (if you don't have
a subscription) directs you to the subscriptions sign up page.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 17, 2022 04:37 | | Subject: | Re: Oooops! | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, SimplyBricks writes:
Oooops, I don't have a subscription to the Telegraph..
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 8, 2022 06:29 | | Subject: | Re: Price 200% up after quote request | | Viewed: | 134 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Suggestions, firelordi writes:
| | Seller does not respond to quote request.
After this expired, the article price was increased by 200%.
Is it normal and fair or how do you see it?
|
Not responding to a quote request is bad form and frankly rude. Unless the seller
was incapacitated in some way then he should respond to quote requests or not
offer the service IMO.
Changing prices is a seller/business decision and is normal. Fair? not sure but
it is not unfair as the buyer simply has a choice not to buy.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 4, 2022 03:25 | | Subject: | Re: Some "Sales" are funny and can be costly | | Viewed: | 103 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, DanialR writes:
| | In the past few weeks, I have run into some fun things people do when they are
having a sale.
Last week the price was $10.
Over the weekend a 27.85% off sale and the price is $10.32.
Today there is no sale going on and the price is $10.
In more than one state in the US it is a violation of consumer laws. You cannot
raise prices, then advertise a sale that results in the price being the same
or higher than the pre or after sale prices. Fines can be in the thousands of
dollars.
Personally, I don't care if you do this type of pricing. I price track Lego
items over $5-7 that I am going to buy and have a list of stores that won't
get my business no matter how big a sale they are having because I know they
game their pricing.
I point it out as a warning that it not just sales tax laws that we have to follow
if we are selling on a marketplace platform. The consumer laws in your State/County/City
have to be followed or your business could become quite costly.
I have a friend who was selling craft items on an online platform. One of their
customers was not happy with an order and didn't like PayPal's resolution
so they filed a complaint with the county they did business in. It cost them
over $5,000 when the county/state was done. Multiple years in business without
a business license, B&O taxes for 3 years + fines for not having paid the B&O
taxes.
It wasn't just the federal government that pushed for the $600 IRS reporting
rules.
|
Some here believe rules of business do not apply to them or that they are not
even businesses despite purposefully buying goods for resale. Fake sales and
pricing games are just one aspect. Illegal store terms are more of a problem
IMO. If it was not possible to get a refund via Paypal for non-receipt for example
I think a number of these sellers would have had the authorities investigating.
Check sellers' terms carefully, check feedback before buying and pay using
a protected method. Fortunately rogue sellers are a minority here though but
I think BL could do more to remove obvious abusers.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 9, 2022 03:44 | | Subject: | Re: Sometimes I wonder... (lame joke) | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
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| In Off Topic, novabrick writes:
| |
Why isn't this guy called Super Conductor?
|
Because he has no ticket machine?
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 9, 2022 03:10 | | Subject: | Re: Fraudulent chargeback claim | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, Adjour writes:
| | | | I am debating whether or not to contact the buyer, especially since a positive
feedback was left about the item, and the buyer has a lot of positive feedback.
However, my only concern it whether this is appropriate in case I need to file
a lawsuit against the buyer.
|
To be blunt, this is beyond silly. Contact the buyer, like yesterday.
|
+1
| | Keep in mind this might be a spouse or other family member having a falling out.
Weird things happen during divorces etc.
|
Indeed and how can contacting the buyer with a reasonable question about payment
be detrimental to any future action? I'm not a lawyer but NOT CONTACTING
the buyer would seem like giving the buyer some defense especially if he were
to claim nobody told him there was a problem.
Robert
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| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 8, 2022 10:23 | | Subject: | Re: Show me yours and I'll show you mine... | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, popsicle writes:
| | In processing an order, the Number of orders in this store (60)
caught my attention. It got me thinking, what are some of our repeat buyer stats?
Not given it much thought before, nor do I know what to make them now I’m thinking
about it
What do yours look like, or have you even given thought to the subject?
|
We consider repeat buyers a very important stat.
Our top 10 currently stand at (in number of orders)
330, 200, 179, 155, 128, 124, 120, 106, 104, 98
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 8, 2022 06:05 | | Subject: | Re: Fraudulent chargeback claim | | Viewed: | 80 times | | Topic: | Help | |
|
| In Help, sputnikcharlie writes:
| | I am a new seller on Bricklink, just a few sales yet, and would like some help
with a possible fraudulent claim against me.
I have just received a chargeback claim from PayPal, which was filed through
the buyer's bank, claiming an "unauthorized transaction" took place, and
requesting all the money back. Because this was done through the bank and not
PayPal, PayPal's seller protections does not apply, and all they can do is
to act as mediator between myself and the buyer's bank. I have provided PayPal
with all the necessary proof that the sale was legit, which they will forward
to the claimant's bank.
I don't want to go into too much detail as the case is still open, but I
can confirm that the buyer's Bricklink and PayPal addresses match, that I
have proof of delivery from the shipping company, and that the buyer left a positive
review on my Bricklink account. Despite all this, the buyer's bank could
still side with the claimant and I would find myself swindled out of almost $400.
Has anyone had to deal with something similar? If so how did you handle it? What
was the outcome?
Does anyone have any input on how to safeguard against this?
I find myself crying about this situation, and I feel like a fool.
Any help if very much appreciated.
|
This has happened to us a couple of times in the past. In both cases it turned
out that the buyer was unaware of the chargeback which had been initiated by
the bank without his knowledge. I would urge you to politely contact the buyer
directly and ask him to advise what happened and if necessary make a new payment.
Hope this is the case and not fraud in which case you my need to contact the
authorities.
Hope this helps
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 7, 2022 06:51 | | Subject: | Re: HP Owl - colour? | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Catalog Identification | |
|
| In Catalog Identification, tpr writes:
| | In Catalog Identification, tpr writes:
| | Hi
* | | 92084pb01 Owl, Angular Features with Black Beak, Yellow Eyes, and Tan Chest Feathers Pattern (HP Pigwidgeon)
Parts: Animal, Air |
Are the chest feathers and area surrounding the eyes actually tan?
Looks more of a light bluish grey to me
Thanks
tpr
|
Hi again
Checking further, if you look at sets this item comes in, and the pictures in
the catalogue, there appears to be 2 different prints. A tan one, and a Light
Bluish Grey (?) one.
The area around the eyes looks printed differently as well
tpr
|
Just checked our inventory, ours look like light bluish grey too.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 1, 2022 06:05 | | Subject: | Re: Customs failed item returned | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
|
| In Shipping, HappyBricksUK writes:
| | Hi,
I am based in England and my shipping set to UK only.
A customer from overseas contacted me as he wanted a figure I had, I explained
I only shopped within UK, but he really wanted the figure so I agreed to ship
at his cost.
After a month of the item not arriving it was returned to me saying customs had
failed, despite me putting all the info on the package etc.
I am offering a complete refund including the postage he paid but he is saying
he wants me to post it again and he'll risk it!!.
What should I do? I don't want to be in a position where I have to refund
and I've lost the Lego??
Any advice appreciated x
|
Did you put the customs information into the RoyalMail system digitally or just
hand write a CN22? I believe the customs info now needs to be digital.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 23, 2022 10:58 | | Subject: | Re: Anyone recognise this? | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Help | |
|
| In Help, John_Miller writes:
| | This part is used in Akiyuki's Train Loader mechanism anyone know the part
number?
|
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 17, 2022 10:45 | | Subject: | Re: New UK Prices on PAB cups | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, cosmicray writes:
| | In LEGO, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In LEGO, calsbricks writes:
| | Effective 1 Jan 2022 large cup prices have increased from £11.24 each to £14.24
each (That is on using returned cups). 30% ish hike
Hmmmm
|
That could be good news for Bricklink stores other than those that source inventory
from PAB walls of course!
Robert
|
Looking at it from the other end of the telescope ... If you sell it here, for
the same price you had it listed for 12 months back, your return today will not
buy what it would have bought 12 months ago. Think about that.
The price guide does not take into account inflation. Actual buying power is
varying from country to country (which also isn't being considered).
|
Very true, with inflation your inventory is worth less in terms of spending power
when liquidated. Here in UK we have not seen big inflation for decades, many
sellers will never have experienced its effect.
Robert (who unfortunately is old enough to remember the 70's/early 80's!!)
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 17, 2022 10:38 | | Subject: | Re: New UK Prices on PAB cups | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, calsbricks writes:
| | In LEGO, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In LEGO, calsbricks writes:
| | Effective 1 Jan 2022 large cup prices have increased from £11.24 each to £14.24
each (That is on using returned cups). 30% ish hike
Hmmmm
|
That could be good news for Bricklink stores other than those that source inventory
from PAB walls of course!
Robert
|
That is one positive - prices may go up on Bricklink which might not be quite
so positive
|
Yep I think this year will have the tag "inflation". Bricklink prices are likely
to be behind retail prices due to the massive overstocks here but I think they
will go up over time. For mass demanded parts (bricks, plates, etc.) it would
not take a big shift of buyers switching to BL from other sources like PAB I
suppose to reduce those stocks though. That said there are some parts here that
look like they might take until the next millenium to sell out.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 17, 2022 09:47 | | Subject: | Re: New UK Prices on PAB cups | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, calsbricks writes:
| | Effective 1 Jan 2022 large cup prices have increased from £11.24 each to £14.24
each (That is on using returned cups). 30% ish hike
Hmmmm
|
That could be good news for Bricklink stores other than those that source inventory
from PAB walls of course!
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 17, 2022 05:18 | | Subject: | Re: How big am I? | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | General | |
|
| In General, yorbrick writes:
| | In General, Gizmo1969 writes:
| | How do you search to find out how big your store is compared to others… in the
world or country or state / province.
Thanks in advance!
|
If you want to get bigger, put your prices up so you don't sell anything
but keep adding stock.
|
Funny! Indeed this site is strange in that many people view success in terms
of how much "unsold" inventory they have......
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 8, 2022 08:30 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink calculates VAT incorrectly | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, tjb01527 writes:
| | I did read it that way. Perhaps an email to his government rep would be more
helpful rather than moaning about BL. It is totally illogical to me as to why
postage should be taxed with VAT. All it does is hurt the small seller. Let’s
face it, whilst taxes are the law and needed, there is only so much you can afford
before it breaks the camels back. It just seems that governments are getting
too greedy. When I buy on BL, I ask the seller to put the VAT invoice on the
package. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have never had any problem. I do the
same for my buyers. On EBay, I use their IOSS and again have had no problems
|
For what it's worth I don't believe Governments (in general) are thinking
about little guys like all of us when making tax law, they are just trying to
balance the books of their countries so they can try to provide some of the services
their citizens demand. Also I think they have an obligation to support domestic
tax paying businesses and not allow tax loopholes for people to import goods
via the back door from non domestic tax paying overseas businesses. I agree with
the OP that BL's job is to operate the platform so that all countries tax
laws are complied with and my observation is that they are making a much stronger
effort to do that than the previous regime. If we don't like our tax systems
that is for us to vote on or lobby our governments I guess. BL has my full support
on what they are doing in this respect.
Just my 2p +VAT, no political opinion intended.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 4, 2022 08:49 | | Subject: | Re: Switching to UK sales only for UK stores | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, Stuart9 writes:
| | Anyone here switched to UK sales only in the recent past and are UK based ( obviously
)
Really don’t see me selling overseas anymore due to all the red tape and need
to produce paperwork that appears to fall foul of or being ignored by officials.
Could barely fit a CN22 to some small packages, now it seems you need to attach
much more for customs, I could be wrong.
No way do I want to get into arguing with vat officials or others because I missed
something or something has changed.
Anyone think I’m being shortsighted or over reacting, fire away, I’m happy to
reconsider.
My best sales have been overseas so I will miss out, I know that, might make
exceptions for large orders, who knows.
|
Hi Stuart,
We can't move to Cornwall but we spent 3 weeks down there last summer, will
be 5 weeks this year hopefully.... kind of slowly retiring!
We stopped shipping overseas nearly 2 years ago due to problems with logistics
first Brexit and then Covid. Not so much the paperwork, more trying to avoid
delays and customer service problems. Review of that decision is still pending
but we may have to implement revised shipping fees to cover increased costs if/when
we reintroduce overseas as we don't want to increase prices overall to cover
those overheads affecting our UK customers (which have always been the majority
of our business). We certainly would introduce a higher minimum order value for
overseas, maybe high enough to justify tracked shipping.
Anyway, good luck for 2022 whatever you decide.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 18, 2021 03:54 | | Subject: | Re: Issues with placing orders | | Viewed: | 88 times | | Topic: | Administrative | |
|
| In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:
| | Dear all,
We are currently working on fixing this issue. The solution is expected to be
delivered on Monday.
The current workaround for sellers is as follows:
Turning off the feature that has 'Handling cost rule' set up or removing
the handling fee settings and manually adding a handling fee. The easiest way
to keep track of this is to leave 1 domestic and 1 foreign shipping method.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
We will keep you updated.
|
Hi Tanja,
We had a customer report the issue to us too but we do not use the handling fee
setting at all in any of our shipping methods. We do have a manual invoice option,
we asked our customer to try checking out with this and the order processed without
issue. So it seems the issue is within the instant checkout procedure but not
limited to handling fee.
Hope this helps!
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 17, 2021 03:40 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Bricks and Technics | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In LEGO, rudiultraman writes:
| | Hi, looking for some advice and reference so thanks in advance.
I am trying to combine Lego Technics and Lego Bricks but I don't find many
online resources and books about how they play together. Would anyone here have
any advice or reference to share please?
|
Depending on what you are looking to achieve, the old Model Team series might
be a good place to start:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=S&catID=60
Maybe take a look at some of these and get hold of the instructions for any that
are of interest.
HTH
Robert
|
I forgot this one...
Many of my favourite sets use a Technics platform then use bricks on top. IMO
these make more appealing models than pure Technics alone.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 17, 2021 03:31 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Bricks and Technics | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, rudiultraman writes:
| | Hi, looking for some advice and reference so thanks in advance.
I am trying to combine Lego Technics and Lego Bricks but I don't find many
online resources and books about how they play together. Would anyone here have
any advice or reference to share please?
|
Depending on what you are looking to achieve, the old Model Team series might
be a good place to start:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=S&catID=60
Maybe take a look at some of these and get hold of the instructions for any that
are of interest.
HTH
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2021 11:12 | | Subject: | Re: What happens next | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | General | |
|
| In General, calsbricks writes:
| | TLG - Bricklink have recently announced a change of leadership at Bricklink
and thanks the previous CEO for all of his efforts. (Sorry to Interrupt the Monthly
Contests), etc.
We have a new gentleman coming on board - who we do not know a great deal about
other than he is a Lego guy. Ok good. Everyone who uses this site since JK's
takeover (2013) knows it needs a major re-write (Not XP) but both a redesign
and rethink. There have been a few (Including one by us) messages on here which
pointed the cost of doing that to be around 2 years in development terms at whatever
cost you wish to put on that.
|
For me 2 things come to mind:-
1. Cost benefit analysis - what would Lego and everyone else expect to get out
of rewriting the site (versus doing nothing or doing something else instead)?
2. Risk analysis. Completely rewriting the site sounds like potentially changing
(or losing) some functionality and as we have seen many times before a resulting
dissatisfaction from members. Could be disaster.
I don't know if they are even thinking of doing this or not and I'm personally
not convinced it is the right thing to do now. Overall not my decision to make
thankfully!
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2021 17:04 | | Subject: | Re: Buyer receiving “Technical Issue” message | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
|
| In Problem, AFOLliquidation writes:
| | Hi. I’m in the U.S. and have a buyer in Canada who sent this message:
“I go thru checkout and now get a "Technical Problem" in the right side panel
after clicking checkout and can only continue shopping. Help!”
I’ve checked on my end and can’t find a reason. Any ideas how to fix this?
Thanks for your help. Lori
|
We just had a customer report this issue, he was able to request a quote rather
than complete checkout by placing an order. Looks to be a system issue processing
orders via manual invoice rather than IC.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 24, 2021 11:24 | | Subject: | Re: Linking people toBrickowl store on splashpage | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, BrickAndStone writes:
| | Hey everyone. Just wanted to ask and this is probably not allowed as it will
take fees out of Bricklink but wanted to inquire anyways.
Since I have a 2 figure limit in my Bricklink store due to my figures being the
lowest prices in the USA, Is it allowed to link people to my brickowl store on
our splash page if they want to buy more than 2 figures as we dont have the figure
limit there but have them at way higher prices there for our customers who need
more than 2 figures.
Also please dont bash on the terms of my store. My customers like it and thats
all that matters.
Thanks for all the help!!
-Jean Pierre
|
That would be a selling offence, see "linking" here:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=97
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 22, 2021 08:12 | | Subject: | Re: Store inventory Not showing up | | Viewed: | 24 times | | Topic: | Help | |
|
| In Help, jgrossman1025 writes:
| | Hello,
When i look at my items in my store, it seems they are not listed under the minifigure
or set. One example would be Sabine Wren sw0616, i have one available in my
store for 13.26 and yet it isn't showing up under the minifigures for sale...
Can anyone help with this problem?
Thanks, NG
|
I can see sw0616 for sale in your store on sale at $11.271 listed in minifigures/star
wars.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 11, 2021 10:07 | | Subject: | Re: Really ????? | | Viewed: | 99 times | | Topic: | General | |
|
| In General, cosmicray writes:
| | In General, yorbrick writes:
| | In General, SimplyBricks writes:
So I wonder what they will do with Friends? Maybe they will include more male
minidolls in the sets to make that more gender balanced.
I thought the whole point of Friends and the minidoll was to aim products firmly
at girls, and that the minidoll form came from their research that (some) girls
find it more appealing than the traditional minifigure. Unless they start to
introduce a lot more male figures, Friends (and any future minidoll series like
Elves) will always be seen as a girls range, even though some boys like it. The
Friends sets are much more targeted towards girls than City is towards boys.
|
Possibly, but if you turn back the clock, and look at Scala, Belville and Paradisa,
those were both more gender neutral than Friends.
Friends has felt a bit, like a girls only gender space. Regardless of you spot
on the diversity spectrum, that is rather limiting.
Nita Rae
|
I thought embracing diversity was supposed to celebrate differences not try to
eliminate them. I think they have got the wrong message out of their research.
Instead of stopping making some toys that appeal to girls and some that appeal
to boys they (and everyone else) perhaps need to focus on why it is seen as a
peer issue if some boys play with the girls toys. What next, no male or female
fragrances, only perfumes that are gender neutral?
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 2, 2021 06:10 | | Subject: | Re: Imagine Stud.io with VR | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Quinn_McBrick writes:
| | I mentioned to my local LUG group the subject in the title.
Someone told me to mention it here. So here it is haha.
Imagine though how cool it would feel to actually build with your hands but in
a virtual reality! You'd be like Iron Man. You'd also look pretty funny
to people who don't know what your up to hehe.
Have fun everyone!
|
I love the idea but what if you could then get VR set instructions... you'd
no longer need to buy the sets! Though for many there is no substitute for the
feeling of snapping the bricks together (until VR comes with realistic "virtual
touch" I guess).
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 15, 2021 06:54 | | Subject: | Re: Slow Sales | | Viewed: | 122 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, Teup writes:
| | In Selling, PickBrix writes:
| | I assume everyone is having slow sales? I was getting at least one order per
day a week or two ago, and that has since stopped. Anyone else having that? I
have been adding a couple things here or there but I have a big upload coming
soon. Looking for things in particular stay tuned.
|
It's interesting that so many sellers agree summer months are the slow months
(my experience too) when the statistics show that there's only a 10%-20%
season effect on Bricklink sales as a whole. I'm aware summer means winter
in Australia but don't think that's enough to explain why the effect
is so mild in the stats.... I wonder what offsets all those sellers who are having
slow sales May-August.
|
Sellers buying inventory perhaps?
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 13, 2021 09:46 | | Subject: | Re: Completing an order | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Help | |
|
| In Help, Kesleyk writes:
| | In Help, dxchea writes:
| | Hi,
I am new to Bricklink and I have just placed my first order. I was wondering,
how long can you keep an order open until you change the status to "Complete"?
I assume that I will not be able to verify that I have received all the parts
until I start building the set. And I can be a very slow builder.
|
A buyer is not required to ever change the order status to "Complete". It is
courtesy (but not required) to change the order status to "Received" once you
have the package in your hands, then to "Complete" once the inventory of the
order is verified.
|
Also it is advisable and fair to your seller to check the contents of an order
ASAP after receiving it. It is not good to claim for any missing or damaged parts
maybe months later after the order has been in your hands.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 13, 2021 07:03 | | Subject: | Re: Sellers, please your advise on "bitemark" | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
|
| In Selling, Gaston.La.Brick writes:
| | It's very rare I get remarks regarding bitemarks or scratches after selling
used items. Obviously, when I sort parts I take out the worn ones or discolored.
Today, a buyer complained about toothmarks on an old 2x4 plate in dark gray.
I didn't notice it when fulfilling the order (which I usually would), so
I asked a photo. It's true I see some light damage.Would you (as sellers)
consider it to be enough to be unusable or to have it mentioned in the part comment?
I would think not, to be honest. For me, it's normal playware that goes with
used parts.
Please note it's not about the money, because I will refund the part anyway.
But I would like your opinion on this item and the fact it's "Used".
|
Personally I would not sell parts like that here, BL customers are mostly AFOLS
looking for quality parts for MOCs, etc. If they are rarer or more valuable parts
I might sell them with an added description stating the damage. IMHO bite marks
are not play wear and should be mentioned in the listing. We dispose of those
parts usually in job lots stating that they may have bite marks, etc. For us
it is not worth the man hours involved in listing and selling them individually
or the risk to store reputation.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jul 7, 2021 06:13 | | Subject: | Re: For those interested in the natural world | | Viewed: | 75 times | | Topic: | Off Topic | |
|
| In Off Topic, Stuart9 writes:
| | Odd colourful fungal growth on willow stump.
Had to stop myself comparing colours with those used by Lego.
Anyone know what fungus ?
|
As a mushroom fan I would say don't eat it, not familiar with it but after
quick google I think it might be
https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/black-fungus-king-alfred-cake-4374.htm
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 3, 2021 09:35 | | Subject: | Re: UK Checkout issue | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
|
| In Technical Issues, starbeanie writes:
| | Any idea's about why the yellow box is appearing when UK buyers are trying
to checkout from my store?
I haven't changed any of my shipping methods or terms lately.
|
Due to the UK VAT implementation I think you have to have an on-site payment
method set up. Looking at your terms you only have on-site for USA buyers currently.
HTH
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 30, 2021 17:28 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Socks | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, cosmicray writes:
| | Early this morning, out doing some shopping, and spied this LEGO endcap at WalMart.
On the side was a dino and images of LEGO socks. They were not in the endcap,
nor on the LEGO aisle. Has anyone seen these in stores ? Youth or Adult sizes
? I don't see these in the Catalog.
Nita Rae
|
that sounds like a very uncomfortable item, could be worse.. Lego underwear anyone?
ouch
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 3, 2021 06:25 | | Subject: | Re: what color is the 1x4 brick | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
|
| In Colors, lmhansmangmail. writes:
| | I got an 1x4 brick but i cannot find the satisfying color in the catalog. I would
say it is either medium brown or dark nougat both do not exist in the catalog
can someone help with identifying the color
the other colors on the picture are reddish brown (left crate) medium nougat
(right crate) and dark orange (slope)
|
Dark Tan?
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 12:08 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, misbi writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | | | Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
|
Even for tiny stores, this is a clear indication as to why storage should never
be based on the (current) catalogue.
|
I think that leaves remarks sorting as the only alternative, and it has many
drawbacks. I would certainly never work with a remark based store. Even if it'd
be only because there are bugs with the field and populating it probably requires
Brickstock, which means no accurate priceguide which matches Bricklink. It's
really not an option for me.
|
In 15+ years never had a single problem with the remarks field.
Robert
|
Not aware of any field related bugs either, whether manually entered or programmatically
via API.
Only real downside to remarks based filing is that if it's not where it's
meant to be, it's a goner until you stumble across somewhere it isn't
meant to be at some unknown point in the future 😂
|
Yeah, we've had one or two mega searches for typo'd remarks!! Currently
we try to use a range of locations when adding new items on any given date then
if something is not where it says it should be we can refer to the locations
used on the date listed.. Nothing is human error exempt but over the years you
learn from experience I guess.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 06:24 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
I guess you're a remarks sorter then? In that case no, your layout doesn't
change.
|
Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
Robert
|
That's a good point, that was my main objection for making dramatic changes
in the first place. Also from a buyer / AFOL perspective I would prefer if we
don't get a tower-of-babel situation. In the past running BL and BO alongside
each other was easy, with just minor differences (BO grouping some catagories
under Scenery being the main difference). For most orders, the picking list appeared
the same. Now they are drifting apart and if I would start platform selling again
I guess I would need to choose which one to go with.
I am running my own webshop and so I am just keeping my catalog aligned in order
to be able to keep selling on Bricklink. Right now I'm debating whether that
is something worth doing. I don't mind planning a day off to adjust, but
there will be a third edition of this moving around and nobody knows how many
more will come after that...
|
You could instead just start allocating remarks to each item independently of
the physical location assuming the system your webshop uses could handle that
too. Then you would have flexibility to either make physical changes or not and
still keep open.
Robert
|
I've never really understood how people do this. Doesn't it take a whole
lot of time entering, checking, managing all these remarks? I cannot imagine
a way where part-outs don't take several times as long as they do now. Right
now it takes me 1 hour to part out €300 worth of inventory.
|
Never done it any differently. Our experience is that the time is taken to physically
sort and put away the inventory, not enter it. The remark is just a different
identifier than description really. There are in my opinion huge time benefits
at the order picking point which is where you want the fastest solution as it
drives customer service. If an order says location 123, you go there and that
part (and no other similar part) is there it makes order picking easy and accurate
with minimised picking errors. Works for us and our customers.
Robert
|
I guess the main thing I never really understood is... what do you do first?
Do you first put things in places, then go and enter them in the remark fields
(but then how do you know what items should have consolidated)
Or do you first write down which bins you're going to put everything in and
then put it there (but then how do you know which ones are free and that it will
fit)
And then some lots may already have a location but it became too small and it
needs to be changed... and the part-out screen only shows that you already have
an item in your inventory, it doesn't show directly what the remark is...
|
I'm sure there are as many detail variations of those processes as there
are stores.
We don't upload inventory via part-outs as that never fitted with our inventory
management, tried it once and it was a disaster. New inventory is added separately
from additions to existing SKUs and is a completely different work flow.
One thing we don't do is use any 3rd party software or file uploads as there
is insufficient audit trail and we believe this is where inventory errors get
generated (not wanting this thread to turn into another one on inventory management
tools!). Overall this probably loses us some time/efficiency but we rather sacrifice
that to avoid errors impacting customer orders - I would agree this is an area
of compromise for us due to the limitations of the Bricklink system but we live
with it.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 05:49 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 26 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
I guess you're a remarks sorter then? In that case no, your layout doesn't
change.
|
Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
Robert
|
That's a good point, that was my main objection for making dramatic changes
in the first place. Also from a buyer / AFOL perspective I would prefer if we
don't get a tower-of-babel situation. In the past running BL and BO alongside
each other was easy, with just minor differences (BO grouping some catagories
under Scenery being the main difference). For most orders, the picking list appeared
the same. Now they are drifting apart and if I would start platform selling again
I guess I would need to choose which one to go with.
I am running my own webshop and so I am just keeping my catalog aligned in order
to be able to keep selling on Bricklink. Right now I'm debating whether that
is something worth doing. I don't mind planning a day off to adjust, but
there will be a third edition of this moving around and nobody knows how many
more will come after that...
|
You could instead just start allocating remarks to each item independently of
the physical location assuming the system your webshop uses could handle that
too. Then you would have flexibility to either make physical changes or not and
still keep open.
Robert
|
I've never really understood how people do this. Doesn't it take a whole
lot of time entering, checking, managing all these remarks? I cannot imagine
a way where part-outs don't take several times as long as they do now. Right
now it takes me 1 hour to part out €300 worth of inventory.
|
Never done it any differently. Our experience is that the time is taken to physically
sort and put away the inventory, not enter it. The remark is just a different
identifier than description really. There are in my opinion huge time benefits
at the order picking point which is where you want the fastest solution as it
drives customer service. If an order says location 123, you go there and that
part (and no other similar part) is there it makes order picking easy and accurate
with minimised picking errors. Works for us and our customers.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 05:41 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | | | Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
|
Even for tiny stores, this is a clear indication as to why storage should never
be based on the (current) catalogue.
|
I think that leaves remarks sorting as the only alternative, and it has many
drawbacks. I would certainly never work with a remark based store. Even if it'd
be only because there are bugs with the field and populating it probably requires
Brickstock, which means no accurate priceguide which matches Bricklink. It's
really not an option for me.
|
In 15+ years never had a single problem with the remarks field.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 05:03 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
I guess you're a remarks sorter then? In that case no, your layout doesn't
change.
|
Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
Robert
|
That's a good point, that was my main objection for making dramatic changes
in the first place. Also from a buyer / AFOL perspective I would prefer if we
don't get a tower-of-babel situation. In the past running BL and BO alongside
each other was easy, with just minor differences (BO grouping some catagories
under Scenery being the main difference). For most orders, the picking list appeared
the same. Now they are drifting apart and if I would start platform selling again
I guess I would need to choose which one to go with.
I am running my own webshop and so I am just keeping my catalog aligned in order
to be able to keep selling on Bricklink. Right now I'm debating whether that
is something worth doing. I don't mind planning a day off to adjust, but
there will be a third edition of this moving around and nobody knows how many
more will come after that...
|
You could instead just start allocating remarks to each item independently of
the physical location assuming the system your webshop uses could handle that
too. Then you would have flexibility to either make physical changes or not and
still keep open.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 04:39 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
I guess you're a remarks sorter then? In that case no, your layout doesn't
change.
|
Just curious, I wonder how this works for those that sell on multiple platforms
and don't use remarks as stock locators but rely on a catalog sequence to
find parts on orders.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 04:28 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
|
|
| | | | It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
I guess you're a remarks sorter then? In that case no, your layout doesn't
change.
|
Phew, thanks! Yes indeed we use remarks as locator tags, we allocate SKU locations
based on a number of factors including availability of space, likely order pick
frequency and separation of similar looking parts. To the untrained eye it looks
random and disorganised!
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Mar 16, 2021 04:15 | | Subject: | Re: Two Weeks?! | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | This is not a big deal for me personally as I am not currently selling here,
so I can plan it when I want.. but... really?!
The catalog changes are scheduled for April 1. That's only 2 weeks away.
I noticed that this is a DRAMATIC catalog update that will throw the entire store
upside down. Definitely won't be able to take my entire 1.2 million parts
store apart and piece it back together just casually within these next two weeks
between sorting orders. Especially moving all the wedges will be be fun puzzle.
Not gonna object against any changes, they seem alright to me. Except that there's
one change clearly missing from that list: Moving the 2x2 corner brick to Brick,
Modified.. (since plate and tile are there)
I hope this really was THE update everyone was waiting for, and now we're
satisfied..
|
Am I missing something here? Why does a catalog update mean I should be worried
about making physical changes to my store set up?
It does concern me though that the updates might cause some other unexpected
system problems, I hope there will be tech staff monitoring this when it goes
live.. April 1st doesn't sound too reassuring.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 25, 2021 11:20 | | Subject: | Re: Why many shops fail at accuracy | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, Heartbricker writes:
| | With LEGO moving to utilize different sustainable raw materials: you will see
more sellers who rely on scales failing to provide accurate counts to customers.
Sellers should be mindful of that.
Example attached
|
That is a very good point. There has always been a weight variation on some parts
with mould variation but changes in materials will certainly add to the problem.
Good counting scales will give a warning if parts are not added in accurate multiples
of the average sample weight but the operator needs knowledge and care to avoid
errors for sure.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 2, 2020 04:47 | | Subject: | Re: In sales posts disclose all fees | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, bje writes:
[snip]
Reflecting on this one...
We've been successfully trading on here for 15 years and have seen, commented
on (and even complained about ) many poor (and some illegal) selling practices.
In all that time we've never had or even felt the need to have a sale.
Like everywhere else some sales are genuine opportunities to get a bargain but
most are not. I don't think it is possible without removing aspects of the
free market to regulate sales or descriptions of what constitutes a sale here,
there are too many variables. I think the vast majority of BL buyers are smart
enough to watch out for the small print as they have to with or without sales;
I think it is some of the ridiculous add-on charges themselves that are the problem
rather than the sales here. Complex fees are a turn off to buyers and maybe it
is many of those stores that resort to them that need to have sales to offset
the negative effect of them on orders. I'm not sure a fix is needed here
but if it is then perhaps the easiest way would be simply to remove the sales
feature altogether but I'm not suggesting that.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 10:28 | | Subject: | Re: Painting parts? | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
|
| In Colors, Ninepartsred writes:
| | In Colors, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Colors, WhiteVanMan writes:
| | Hello.
I have a huge dilemma.
Yes, I know that I can do what I like when it comes to my own LEGO, and I really
NEED to find out the best way to get 2 specific parts coloured to the colour
I need.
I've built a Harry Potter "Knight Bus" in the same manner as the Creator
"London Bus" set, and this has been 99% successful, with the exception of this
part:-
This element NEEDS to be in Dark Purple
As I'm based in the UK, I really need to find the nearest and best product
to use to get this covered in Dark Purple (paint, or even some kind of wrap/lacquer)
Other than trying to get someone to 3-D print one, I'm stuck.
|
| | Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Paul
|
I've never done it but maybe (after lockdown) take a dark purple part to
a paint supplier that has a colour analyser and can mix paint to match. An automotive
paint supplier can even make you up a rattle can. Don't know what the cost
would be but probably the best way to get a match.
HTH
Robert
|
I get paint mixed for my day job and the colour can vary a lot depending on the
item being scanned and the product it's being mixed into. It often needs
tweaking.
If available, the code for the official Lego colour would be a starting point
though.
|
Colour reference codes are available here:
http://www.peeron.com/inv/colors
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 07:30 | | Subject: | Re: Painting parts? | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
|
| In Colors, WhiteVanMan writes:
| | Hello.
I have a huge dilemma.
Yes, I know that I can do what I like when it comes to my own LEGO, and I really
NEED to find out the best way to get 2 specific parts coloured to the colour
I need.
I've built a Harry Potter "Knight Bus" in the same manner as the Creator
"London Bus" set, and this has been 99% successful, with the exception of this
part:-
This element NEEDS to be in Dark Purple
As I'm based in the UK, I really need to find the nearest and best product
to use to get this covered in Dark Purple (paint, or even some kind of wrap/lacquer)
Other than trying to get someone to 3-D print one, I'm stuck.
|
| | Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Paul
|
I've never done it but maybe (after lockdown) take a dark purple part to
a paint supplier that has a colour analyser and can mix paint to match. An automotive
paint supplier can even make you up a rattle can. Don't know what the cost
would be but probably the best way to get a match.
HTH
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 23, 2020 17:54 | | Subject: | Re: Changing rules of feedback | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Rick_S. writes:
| | As it goes a rule not allowing retaliatory feedback should also be added for
removal of said feedback since as the rules stand retaliatory feedback is allowed:
Feedback you Received:
The following are currently the only valid reasons for which you can request
feedback you received to be removed:
Feedback you received contains vulgar language.
Feedback you received contains personally identifying information including your
name, address, e-mail address or telephone number.
You are the seller and the buyer has not paid. Non-Paying Buyer Alert has been
completed or the buyer has accepted the NPB penalty via NPX.
You are the buyer and the seller has not responded or shipped. Non-Responding
Seller Alert or Non-Shipping Seller Alert has been completed.
Feedback you received was posted by a duplicate account of a user who had their
membership terminated.
Feedback you received was posted by a duplicate account of a user who was on
your Stop List before the order was placed.
If you're requesting feedback to be removed for the last 2 reasons above,
you should contact the Help Desk before you submit the request and let us know
the original username of the duplicate account.
Requests can be submitted until the order is purged from the system - up to 6
months from the order date. Requests are submitted to the BrickLink Administration
for approval. If the feedback is removed, it cannot be reposted. Each request
has a status:
|
How and who decides if feedback is retaliatory or not and what would be the criteria
for that?
I would agree that purely retaliatory feedback is wrong but there then becomes
an issue where there are 2 sides to a story..
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 10, 2020 04:57 | | Subject: | Re: SH622 Alternative collar? | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, TallyToyBricks writes:
| | I just checked the 14 I have and at first I thought you were right. But, when
I took them outside they were black.
On mine, one side has more shine to it and at certain angles it does look dark
brown.
Joe
|
Many thanks for checking this out Joe. I've looked again and mine do look
more black in natural light but in certain artificial light they look exactly
like dark brown. I guess this is simply a quality issue with the material used
rather than an actual colour variation. I can see this causing customer complaints
so I think I'll list them with a warning about the colour in the comments.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 9, 2020 11:27 | | Subject: | Re: SH622 Alternative collar? | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, axaday writes:
| | In Inventories, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | I just opened 5X
and in all 5 copies this minfig
contains a collar/cape
in Dark Brown, not Black as inventoried. This cape comes in the square card box
together with the red cape for Thor.
Please can others who have this fig check them.
should this be inventoried as alternative?
Thanks,
Robert
|
What is the number on the square card box?
|
6294951
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 9, 2020 10:52 | | Subject: | SH622 Alternative collar? | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Inventories | | Status: | Open | |
|
| I just opened 5X
and in all 5 copies this minfig
contains a collar/cape
in Dark Brown, not Black as inventoried. This cape comes in the square card box
together with the red cape for Thor.
Please can others who have this fig check them.
should this be inventoried as alternative?
Thanks,
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 11:31 | | Subject: | Re: Buyer Lock In | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, edeevo writes:
... the auto closing of the store is
| | something that is already kind of set up, no? (I think if a Seller hasn't
logged in during a certain amount of days, it gets locked... unless I'm mistaken)
|
That feature does indeed exist, I guess my suggestion is linking into that but
using an additional trigger of "seller has not responded to buyer within x days"
where x is the number of days the seller has set as his response time. The response
could either be the issuing of an invoice or sending a message in the BL system
or similar criteria.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 10:11 | | Subject: | Re: Buyer Lock In | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Wolffe72 writes:
| | I'm relatively new here, but I have about 10 purchase orders completed and
on-the-go right now. I'm not finding Bricklink overly intuitive to be honest
but I haven't goofed since my first order.
So I understand committing to a purchase. As soon as I place an order I take
the seller's item off the market which means a potential lost sale (or more
likely a delayed sale) if I don't follow through.
However, as a buyer, I now find myself in a position where I've committed
to purchase something from a non-responding seller. It has been a week and I
haven't heard a single response. The store's terms do not mention anything
about possible slow response times. I'll consider this my second goof because
I didn't pay attention to the fact that the store also had no selling history
(only purchase history). Fine.
So now I can post an NRS in an attempt to cancel my order -- but now my understanding
is that I have to wait another 2 weeks for it to be truly cancelled! There is
a really good chance that I'll miss out on picking up this item at a reasonable
price from another store during that time. If the seller doesn't come through,
I might now have to spend a lot more to get this item. On the other hand, if
I choose to buy from someone else the original seller could come in at the 11th-hour
and still ding me as a non-paying buyer (at least that's my assumption on
how this works). Right now, I'm thinking I should just take that chance.
Unlike the store who has potentially limitless buyers, item availability is
*definitely* limited and prices just tend to go up over time.
Personally, I think that if a seller doesn't respond within a minimum time
(and I think a week is plenty) a buyer should be given the option to simply cancel.
Maybe it's something the store could configure so buyers can be made aware
of stores that are not managed frequently. If the seller has at least acknowledged
the buyer during that time, then perhaps different rules could apply.
|
I agree with you that this can be an issue. Personally I would like to see a
feature where all sellers have to state an order response time in their terms
(a required field) and if they do not respond within that time then the buyer
can just cancel the order with no risk of NPB or bad feedback and the store automatically
closes until the seller wakes up.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Feb 28, 2020 04:15 | | Subject: | Re: March Project - Sticker Sheet Restructuring | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | At long last, it is time. By the end of March, my goal is to eliminate duplicate
catalog entries for sticker sheets:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogRelList.asp?relID=15
You can see that this has been moved from Section 11.1 to 11.2 on the roadmap:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2476
I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours - especially those of you who've
given this some thought over the past decade or so that some of us have wanted
it.
Sticker sheets are handled quite consistently at the present moment. How can
we retain that consistency while eliminating duplicate entries with the least
amount of disruption?
As a side note, how do you feel about the NA/International duplicate entries?
These are the same sticker sheets, but have different item numbers, differently-sized
paper backing, and in some cases a slightly different finish (matte vs. glossy).
I don't want to get too distracted with this particular side discussion,
but do we need to maintain separate catalog entries for these sheets? Do you
want us to?
Looking forward to hearing some discussion and seeing some ideas other than my
own to get these duplicate entries handled.
|
Many thanks for starting this! My preference would be to eliminate the NA/international
entries for consistency, maybe notes could be used to mention differences and
sellers could specifiy in listings if they wish. I'd also like to see used/incomplete
tags for part sheets, again where sellers specify in the listing what is actually
included or missing.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 14, 2019 06:05 | | Subject: | Re: URGENT MESSAGE TO LEGO RE BRICKLINK | | Viewed: | 110 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
| | In Suggestions, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | Before doing anything else with this site I suggest, as I have many, many times
before:-
There needs to be a proper 24/7 help desk and a proper SLA with members.
When something goes wrong with the site there is just no way of alerting anyone
out of USA working hours and even after that often nobody responds. This is no
way to run a global e-commerce site of this scale.
Currently I cannot access the BL catalog using any browser on PC or tablet...
and this has being the case for hours...surely this requires a response at least
from someone, somewhere!!!!!
Robert
|
| | Hi Robert,
I got your email and have started the alert process after testing the problem
on several devices. So we know this is going on and are in the process of fixing
it.
This seems to be the very same bug we had yesterday after the launch of the new
TOS.
|
|
Great, thanks for the response, that is at least good to know. I still stand
by my original post though and with respect if the problem is known then it would
be really helpful if there were a message/banner on the site advising members
of this..especially those who don't use the forum.
Thanks again for your quick reply though, much appreciated.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 14, 2019 05:51 | | Subject: | URGENT MESSAGE TO LEGO RE BRICKLINK | | Viewed: | 420 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
|
| Before doing anything else with this site I suggest, as I have many, many times
before:-
There needs to be a proper 24/7 help desk and a proper SLA with members.
When something goes wrong with the site there is just no way of alerting anyone
out of USA working hours and even after that often nobody responds. This is no
way to run a global e-commerce site of this scale.
Currently I cannot access the BL catalog using any browser on PC or tablet...
and this has being the case for hours...surely this requires a response at least
from someone, somewhere!!!!!
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 26, 2019 04:21 | | Subject: | Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, searme writes:
| | Dear Bricklink,
There are certain dishonest shops that really ruin the BL experience for shoppers.
It's hard to prove, but some sellers apparently sell pieces they don't
have in their stock and only order them from elsewhere when you place an order
with them. Apologies if that sounds like unfounded accusation, but my LUG is
aware of a number of shops whose stock is always suspiciously similar to current
LEGO PaB stock, who delay shipping when PaB runs out of stock, and who generally
take around 3 weeks to ship anything, no matter how common and widely available.
Because I see no reliable way to denounce such sellers, I suggest a different,
easily implemented solution. Just like sellers who offer instant checkout are
marked with a special badge, why not create another badge that marks sellers
who ship e.g. 3 days after payment on average? We as buyers have no access to
sellers' shipping times, we can only look up their feedback and see if people
are complaining about slow service. But your system has dates of all payments
and shipments. Simply calculate days between payment and shipping for all seller's
orders and you can get a nice average. And I'm sure this average is going
to show that certain shops typically ship after 2-3 weeks while others ship after
2-3 days. Hell, I had a seller ship an order 30 minutes after payment once. Quality
service deserves recognition, and we as buyers deserve the right to be informed
whether a particular seller provides such service or not. Transparency is the
name of the game. Right now there in no reliable way to determine that, and picking
a wrong seller can mean that your MOC will get hold up for weeks.
I sincerely hope that you will consider this simple, easy to implement request
that would drastically improve Bricklink's overall transparency for buyers.
|
This has been mentioned before and I certainly support identifying and warning
buyers of stores who do not operate by the rules of the site - you must have
all listed stock on hand.
The suggested solution however is not foolproof as cheating stores can simply
mark orders as shipped before they have been. IMO Bricklink should force sellers
to commit in their terms to shipping lead times at least so buyers can avoid
slow (for what ever reason) stores if they need parts quickly. Unfortunately
with any system there will always be stores that try to cheat as well as genuine
postal delays to deal with of course.
As a lug you can at least share your data with other members so they can least
favourite these stores and favourite those who have proven to ship as promised.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Sep 13, 2019 03:51 | | Subject: | Re: We have a new Catalog Associate! | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:
| | Hello everyone,
I'm very pleased to announce that we have appointed longtime member BricksThatStick
to the Catalog Associate position. Paul served as the site's 4th Inventories
Admin during 2010 to 2011 alongside Emma (SimplyBricks). He effectively replaced
Dan Jezek, the site's founder, who had a special fondness for inventories
work and who of course left very big shoes to fill.
If you take the time to scroll through Paul's 900+ inventories changes:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogInvChangeItem.asp?chgUserID=44744&v=3
...you will notice a sea of green, followed by a sea of blue, followed by another
sea of green. This means he continued to contribute to the catalog after having
once been an admin, which is (unfortunately) something rather uncommon. But it
demonstrates a great and correct attitude, the kind of attitude we wish to model
for all of our other contributors out there, especially the ones still cutting
their teeth.
Paul has, over the years, been very active as a seller and many of you will know
him also from his activity in the Forum. We look forward to his practical insights
and we are confident he will play a vital role in our growing catalog team.
Please welcome him back!
Russell
|
Excellent news, excellent choice!
Thanks for taking this role Paul
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jul 1, 2019 04:17 | | Subject: | Re: Connecting to Royal Mail | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, NorthJ90 writes:
| | It would be so much easier if BrickLink could connect to Royal Mail and download
orders like you can on eBay. I’d be happy to pay a little more on fees to accommodate
it.
|
I wouldn't pay higher fees for this, so voted no.
Also, there are not that many active UK stores. For BL to implement this for
such a small number of sellers is unlikely.
|
+1
I would not pay higher fees for this either. Also I don't think it really
practical as different sellers interface differently with RoyalMail depending
on which business or consumer services they use. Our online business account
uses a SAP based UI for example.
If We had hundreds of orders per day maybe we'd be looking for more automated
tools specific for our setup but for the volume most BL stores handle I can't
imagine where significant savings would come from.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 24, 2019 10:47 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback removal | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, mattkaupke writes:
| | In Suggestions, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Suggestions, mattkaupke writes:
| | Maybe it’s just me but I’m not sure it’s fair to allow buyers who use the Instant
Checkout feature to leave poor feedback relating to shipping costs. I totally
understand being surprised by a high shipping cost when being invoiced but there
are no surprises with instant checkout. It’s totally in the buyers court to make
the purchase with the costs known up front. Also, if invoicing and the shipping
and handling charges are clear in the terms tab, it should also be removable.
I’d really like to see a change made to the feedback policy that allows for removal
of feedback when the purchase is made through the Instant Checkout function.
It’s not reasonable to allow a buyer to damage the reputation of a seller for
something the buyer agreed to.
I'm underwhelmed with the support from BrickLink as far as feedback is concerned.
If the buyer or seller can show that they are completely without fault BrickLink
should be able to remove feedback that is unwarranted.
|
Just because a buyer agrees to something, it does not neccessarily mean he/she
loves it.
Just because buyer or seller is not at fault it does not mean a transaction is
neccessarily positive.
Robert
|
It still doesn’t warrant damaging the reputation of the seller. The buyer didn’t
“not love it” enough to go to another seller or not make the purchase. It’s an
agreed upon thing. It wasn’t a lack of service or any justifiable reason.
|
Feedback reflects the feelings of the person who left it. It only damages the
reputation of the seller if you think many others (buyers) will see it in the
same way as that particular buyer in which case it is valuable feedback..
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 24, 2019 08:10 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback removal | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, mattkaupke writes:
| | Maybe it’s just me but I’m not sure it’s fair to allow buyers who use the Instant
Checkout feature to leave poor feedback relating to shipping costs. I totally
understand being surprised by a high shipping cost when being invoiced but there
are no surprises with instant checkout. It’s totally in the buyers court to make
the purchase with the costs known up front. Also, if invoicing and the shipping
and handling charges are clear in the terms tab, it should also be removable.
I’d really like to see a change made to the feedback policy that allows for removal
of feedback when the purchase is made through the Instant Checkout function.
It’s not reasonable to allow a buyer to damage the reputation of a seller for
something the buyer agreed to.
I'm underwhelmed with the support from BrickLink as far as feedback is concerned.
If the buyer or seller can show that they are completely without fault BrickLink
should be able to remove feedback that is unwarranted.
|
Just because a buyer agrees to something, it does not neccessarily mean he/she
loves it.
Just because buyer or seller is not at fault it does not mean a transaction is
neccessarily positive.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jan 13, 2019 05:45 | | Subject: | Re: Automated Feedback. | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, tpr writes:
| | Hi all.
Suggestion ….
Feedback is not always left by the customer. Positive is left most times, and
a customer will always leave negative or neutral if there is something wrong.
One assumes that if nothing is heard from the customer, it must have been delivered
and was ok. Therefore - Can we have an automated positive feedback say after
2 months(or whatever length of time is felt suitable) of order being delivered
for all orders still showing as shipped. It could also be implemented if the
seller has not given feedback.
Thanks
Tracy
|
No thanks for this one, sorry but if a buyer (or seller) does not leave FB it
does not mean the transaction was positive. Many choose not to leave FB if they
were not completely satisfied as they are worried about retaliation FB if they
leave non positive.
Overall FB is optional, it is not a requirement that FB is left for every order.
Elsewhere (other shopping sites eg Amazon) I rarely leave FB for purchases unless
the experience was particularly good or bad. On here I only want to receive positive
FB if the buyer chose to leave it otherwise it would mean nothing to me and I'd
have no idea what my customers think of my service.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 23, 2018 11:15 | | Subject: | Re: Part out value may not always be accurate | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, shovhans writes:
| | Dear bricklink development team,
Currently the "Part Out Value" page shows the value in average, which may not
be accurate if any seller posts an item with very high, or inaccurate price.
To better represent the part out value of a set, we need to add the following
additional metrics:
1. Standard deviation of the Average value shown
2. Median value
3. Breakdown list of all items with the above metrics for each item. Additionally
we would like to see the count for each item.
Thanks
shovhans
|
Way too much attention is paid to average prices as it is. Just consider what
the average sold price is...
across markets/ countries
all stores big and small
stores that price fairly and those that charge add ons
all orders - single lot/ multiple lot
It is also dangerous to purchase based on part-out sold prices anyway as many
parts might have sold for an average prixe of X but in some cases there are many
100's of times of the part for sale than have ever sold!
Focusing on making the average "more accurate" is IMO a diversion and not a good
way of optimising inventory investment decisions. If it was just a mathematical
excercise to determine what to buy this place would be even more swamped with
inventory and prices would drop further.
I always vote no to these enhancements to averages for these reasons, I think
these average values mislead many.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 8, 2018 11:47 | | Subject: | Re: Try that again | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | In Catalog, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | - Not swure thie is correct in the catalogue. In all 3 sets that
it comes in there is an white rubber band which holds the two halves
together. The instructions show the rubber band being used in each case. Should
there be an inventory for the part?
|
As currently set up in the catalogue 29112pb01 is for 1 piece i.e. half of the
assembly and the band is just another separate part. For an assembly the inventory
would need to be 2 x 29112pb01 plus one band but typically assemblies like this
are not catalogued.
Robert
|
Hi Robert - I thought there was all this talk and discussion about assemblies
a short time ago and that has changed but I will bow to your knowledge and separate
them out.
|
Not sure about that discussion but thinking about it the picture may confuse
some buyers into thinking they get 2 halves when ordering 1.. so I'm going
to make that clear in our description.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 8, 2018 11:43 | | Subject: | Re: Try that again | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | - Not swure thie is correct in the catalogue. In all 3 sets that
it comes in there is an white rubber band which holds the two halves
together. The instructions show the rubber band being used in each case. Should
there be an inventory for the part?
|
As currently set up in the catalogue 29112pb01 is for 1 piece i.e. half of the
assembly and the band is just another separate part. For an assembly the inventory
would need to be 2 x 29112pb01 plus one band but typically assemblies like this
are not catalogued.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2017 07:51 | | Subject: | Re: For Your Consideration: A Suggestion | | Viewed: | 89 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, StormChaser writes:
| | After careful thought, I believe I have come up with a suggestion which will
resolve a couple of issues.
My suggestion is that BrickLink take one of the two following courses of action:
(A) Convert all of your official volunteer positions to paid positions (as full
or part-time employment, whether on-site or telecommuting from across the world).
Pay all those who contribute catalog items/inventories/approved changes to your
website, whether in cash or some other benefit. Keep the BrickLink catalog as
your property.
(B) Continue operating off volunteer labor to expand and maintain the catalog
and perform other site functions like forum moderation and language translations.
Return the BrickLink catalog to the community as an open source database or
some other form of community-owned property. Consult with the community regarding
changes to their catalog and take their input seriously.
In the case of (A), it doesn’t matter what brands you add to the website. It’s
your website and you’re paying people to work here. If I don’t like your decisions,
then I can shop elsewhere. I’d probably be okay with adding other brands, though,
because, after all, BrickLink is your property to do with as you see fit. And,
honestly, the BrickArms product integration into the catalog was actually handled
well if these things must be added.
In the case of (B), I wouldn’t like adding other brands and would say so. However,
I would accept the additions because I knew that you cared about and had done
right by the community and just wanted more profit. And, honestly, some people
do want a BrickLink-style website for Playmobil and other similar products –
this has been expressed in the forum several times. I don’t mind sharing the
catalog if I can ignore what I don’t want to see (and I would ignore anything
not LEGO).
For me the BrickArms discussion has revealed a deeper dissatisfaction that I’ve
had with BrickLink for years, but never could properly articulate. For me, I
have only recently realized, it’s not fully even about other brands. For me
it’s this: it is not morally right to expect people to work unpaid for something
they do not own.
The fact that some of us (or even one of us, but for some contributing to BrickLink
is a part-time job and I am one of them) have worked unpaid for years is something
we should be ashamed of.
When one guy owned the website he needed help, but times have changed. BrickLink
is a large business now. Act like one. BrickLink has had the best of both worlds
for years, but enough is enough.
|
First off, I'm sorry you are quitting as an admin and would like to thank
you for your contributions including way before you had that role.
I'm voting no to your suggestion though as I don't think the system is
that broken. For A I'm not sure that will give us the quality resources,
just those who want to get paid for uploading something rather than being passionate
about the content. For B I don't agree open sourcing the catalog will help
maintain it, just open it up to more wannabe Bricklinks and diluting the revenue
for both the site and its sellers. That is not a good strategy for the success
of BL IMO.
I think there is scope to open up catalog contribution to more members, maybe
there could be some form of recognition for this but I would not want to see
that linked to any conflict of interest like individual store promotion for example.
At the end of the day it is in all our interests to help maintain the catalog
but I'd be less happy to help if it were then available for other people
to just help themselves to and use it to sell elsewhere - my contributions could
be encouraging sales to be taken away from BL which is really not what I want
to achieve, if I contribute to BL that is where I want to see any benefit.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Dec 9, 2017 05:08 | | Subject: | Re: Admin: complete Store verification process | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Brickwilbo writes:
| | Admin please complete the Store verification procedure completely and confirm
to the new sellers.
Daily new sellers complain about the lack of communication of BrickLink customer
service.
In the forum they read it's normal the Verification process takes about 6
weeks.
Many discover they CAN be accessed via the bypass password.
They're not open regularly because Bricklink didn't apply all settings
correctly in the Verification process.
This long and incompleted process is hurting Bricklinks reputation and business,
because the items in these stores don't come up in searches.
We want scammers stopped not a discouraging process for normal people.
Admin,
Please complete every setting of the process and confirm once the process is
completed to these new sellers.
Thank you.
|
+1 well said.
This needs to be a priority, sellers are also buyers. There are way too many
complaints in the forum from new members about this, it will drive many of them
to sell (and buy) on other sites.
I would add that many other urgent help desk requests are taking too long, it
recently took 2 weeks to get an account merged that we requested whereas it used
to take a day or two. Appreciate that the issue is not the individual(s) responsible
but there is a lack of resources allocated to help desk; this is going to hurt
the site and needs to be addressed...sorry to link this but if BL can afford
to allocate someone to building a catalog for Brickarms then perhaps they should
take a step back and look at the core business 1st.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 29, 2017 06:18 | | Subject: | Re: No Instant Checkout = Force must offer Quote | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | | | But rather than force sellers to give quotes (if they don't do IC), I'd
prefer it that buyers are allowed to cancel once invoiced for the order total
- so invoices essentially become quotes, but also allow a buyer to checkout straight
away if they agree with the total order cost.
|
Hmmm, then you could tie up a store's inventory with no intention to buy
making it unavailable to other buyers. I think quote still has a role here (especially
for those stores who don't offer IC).
Robert
|
Yes it would. But you can do that already.
|
True. It would work OK if stores and buyers were responsive and the seller could
set a time limit for the order having to be "accepted" after invoice after which
the inventory would get released. Buyers that keep placing orders with no intent
to buy would just get stoplisted I guess. Overall, the quote avoids that issue
by not tying up the inventory in the 1st place and it works well enough. Having
the option of quote and firm order seems to cover buyers' needs but over
time I guess most orders will be IC anyway.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 29, 2017 05:33 | | Subject: | Re: No Instant Checkout = Force must offer Quote | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | On this particular
issue, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a buyer to be able to know
how much an order will cost before committing to buying, a legal requirement
in some places anyway! Perhaps the answer is to provide simple search filters
for buyers here, we can already search for stores offering instant checkout,
maybe combine with that one offering quotes too.
|
Even knowing whether a store does quotes would be a benefit. At the moment it
seems you have to add something to your cart, then progress through checkout
until the last step to find out.
|
Agreed.
| | But rather than force sellers to give quotes (if they don't do IC), I'd
prefer it that buyers are allowed to cancel once invoiced for the order total
- so invoices essentially become quotes, but also allow a buyer to checkout straight
away if they agree with the total order cost.
|
Hmmm, then you could tie up a store's inventory with no intention to buy
making it unavailable to other buyers. I think quote still has a role here (especially
for those stores who don't offer IC).
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 29, 2017 04:33 | | Subject: | Re: No Instant Checkout = Force must offer Quote | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, chetzler writes:
| | | |
I agree with the suggestion but note you are not "legally obliged" to pay for
an order online if you change your mind and no longer want it. The only problem
here is those sellers that try to enforce you to pay for all those add-on fees,
won't let you cancel and give you an NPB saying an order is legally binding
and their fees were stated (or hidden) in their terms somewhere. Although those
sellers are the minority that is why your suggestion gets my support.
Robert
|
So you are actually OK with allowing a few bad sellers to dictate terms to the
rest of us? Why is that it OK with you? I find it unacceptable. This is just
totally backwards! Why can't anyone think of a way to penalize the FEW bad
sellers instead of the MANY good sellers?
|
You make a very good point there and generally I agree with you. Yes I wish someone
would come up with a way of penalising or removing the bad sellers, the minority
that give the site a non-deserved reputation.
| | Where does it end? Will you be as supportive of this attitude when you are forced
to ship every order with insurance or tracking because of a few untrustworthy
buyers?
|
I note you don't ship to my country but here that is by law a seller decision
to insure or not - you cannot pass the risk to the buyer. You can of course include
costs for insurance in your shipping charges.
| | I don't particularly like receiving large orders in bubble mailers
because the mailers are prone to damage and the pieces get scratched; I think
every order should be shipped in a box. In fact, I think we should FORCE every
seller to ship orders in boxes because that's what I do for 99% of my orders
already--no skin off my back! That's not a big deal, right?
|
I know that one was just to prove your point but we ship in boxes anyway; due
to UK postal size limits many of our small orders would cost 3X as much to ship
in bubble mailers, other countries may vary and some sellers can pack some small
orders well enough in bubble mailers. "Large" order is not defined but common
sense says heavy orders do not ship well in bubble mailers.
| | We just HAVE to get away from this one-size-fits-all make-everyone-conform mindset.
This attitude is why most all of our governments are bloated and ineffectual.
I will again put forth the idea of a probabtionary period for new sellers and
problem sellers (an idea that actually addresses the root cause!) Once you've
shown you are a good actor, restrictions are lifted. As for the rest of us,
please just leave us in peace and let us run our stores as we see fit!
|
More probationary control I do support.
I know BL is just a platform but from all the issues that get raised here it
is clear self-regulation alone is not enough, all the good stores are not distinguished
from the dodgy or even illegal ones. A good marketplace has sufficient regulation
to keep standards up. For us experienced with the site it is easy to avoid getting
ripped off but over the years we have seen on this forum so many new buyers who
have purchased on price guide only, complained and not returned. On this particular
issue, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a buyer to be able to know
how much an order will cost before committing to buying, a legal requirement
in some places anyway! Perhaps the answer is to provide simple search filters
for buyers here, we can already search for stores offering instant checkout,
maybe combine with that one offering quotes too. An updated help guide with some
good advice for buyers would be a good thing too.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Nov 28, 2017 05:22 | | Subject: | Re: No Instant Checkout = Force must offer Quote | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, PaulOfBricks writes:
| | In Suggestions, PurpleDave writes:
| | In Suggestions, PaulOfBricks writes:
| | I think it should be mandatory by Bricklink that any seller not using Instant
checkout will
Automatically will have the Quote option enabled.
What is the harm in that?
|
I voted No. On the surface, I don't really care if sellers enable the Quote
function, but I don't want to see it become a mandatory part of my shopping
experience. I have zero interest in Instant Checkout. If someone doesn't
have one key element that is the only reason I placed the order, I'd rather
be able to just cancel out of it without having my money even get involved, much
less having to wait for refunds to clear (something which can take a few weeks
if PayPal flags the refund for investigation like I've had happen a few times
in the past), where IC forces you to pay up front and hope your seller has their
inventory locked down.
For Quote, my main concern would be that if everyone is forced to have it turned
on, and sellers start getting thoroughly sick of having quotes auto-cancel because
elements end up being short due to other orders coming through during the turnaround,
we might see stores restricting sales to quoted orders, preventing me from being
able to just place my order and be done with it.
I'm looking at the amounts you're talking about, and in the one example
all I can see is maybe a $2 difference. I'm not big on just throwing away
money, but I've run into stores where simply placing the order could cost
$20-50 more for very basic parts. $2 extra in shipping costs seems like a bargain
at that point. I've placed orders where the cost of the parts was less than
1% of the invoiced total, not because the seller decided to rake me over the
coals on shipping, but because the order was for maybe $0.25 in parts. Generally,
that would be a very cost-prohibitive way to order parts, but sometimes I find
that there's literally only one store without a massive minimum buy that
has something I need for a MOC, and they have absolutely nothing else I want
to buy from them. So, I can either suck it up and pay shipping on maybe one
or two pieces, I can scrap my plans and see if I can come up with a new design,
or I can play the long game and hope someone else lists that part under more
favorable conditions...and probably cut my output down to nothing in the process.
|
I should of made it clearer but everybody seems to be missing that fact I'm
only saying it quote should be 'offered'
Buyers do not have to use it.
If you don't care about all the fees, or which shipping charge you will get,
and you want to guarantee the parts are yours, fine you can check out as normal.
I'm just saying Quote should be enabled if your fees and postage are not
calculated (by instant checkout) before being legally obliged to pay
|
I agree with the suggestion but note you are not "legally obliged" to pay for
an order online if you change your mind and no longer want it. The only problem
here is those sellers that try to enforce you to pay for all those add-on fees,
won't let you cancel and give you an NPB saying an order is legally binding
and their fees were stated (or hidden) in their terms somewhere. Although those
sellers are the minority that is why your suggestion gets my support.
Robert
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|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 24, 2017 06:15 | | Subject: | Re: Convert all units to Metric | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, nectara writes:
| | In Suggestions, WhiteHorseMatt writes:
| | In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, Brickler writes:
| | Hi,
I do prefer the metric system, hands down, but in the US we have standard measurement
system.
So all our weights and sizes for the mail are in Standard. Changing it make no
sense.
|
In the rest of the world we also have a standard and universal measurement system,
the metric system.
|
Sort of, but when was the last time you were out for the night and bought 0.568
litres of beer?
Fortunately metric / imperial isn't the end of the world to convert.
Matt
|
A glass of beer? One beer? A bottle of beer?
|
my preference:
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 20, 2017 09:46 | | Subject: | Hide multiple shipping methods within bands | | Viewed: | 86 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
|
| Hi Admins,
Please consider-
We have set up multiple shipping methods to handle different shipping box sizes
and weights, all these have been "grouped" as one as they all refer to one shipping
option for the buyer that being UK domestic 1st class. The system is designed
to offer only the lowest priced option within the group to the buyer and so far
this seems to work well
However it makes the shipping terms look very messy with rows of options looking
exactly the same of which only one will be offered to the buyer at checkout (see
our shipping terms as an example). Would it be possible to "hide" all these options
and just show a summary description of the shipping method by "group" in the
displayed shipping methods?
Thanks,
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 24, 2017 07:58 | | Subject: | Inventory Change Request for Set 60154-1 | | Viewed: | 21 times | | Topic: | Inventories Requests (Entry) | | Status: | Open | |
|
| Please make changes to the following inventory:
* Add 3 Part 3068bpb1105 White Tile 2 x 2 with 'THE LEGO NEWS' and 'The greatest hero ever!' Pattern (Alternate) (match ID 1)
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 23, 2017 09:07 | | Subject: | Re: make box entry for gear as sets have too | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, ToddMyers writes:
| | | |
You only need to look at sets (sorry, gear) like this to see why ...
[g=3866]
|
Or this one:
[g=852293]
The box was given it's own gear item number instead
[g=852293stor]
Also... it just boggles my mind that an item with 2,292 LEGO pieces is classified
as gear and not a set. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs a good, swift
backhand.
|
Well at least it says "set" in the title and it is not described as a "chess
gear"...perhaps they were hedging
Robert
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|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Aug 19, 2017 11:12 | | Subject: | Re: Make NPB procedure shorter | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, _legoloco_ writes:
| | Since January i have the same part bought 3 times now by a new buyer and i get
no reply on invoice or messages....
This time it is Jeremybryan , regitered on August 11 and placing the order within
10 minutes.
Never logged in since and as said above no reaction on invoice, message or email...
I started and will cmpl the NPB incl a negative Feedback.
Only bad thing is that within the system the parts are stuck for a min of two
weeks.....even three weeks if he/she reply's to the NPB with a "bogus" message.
In my eyes this procedure should be a lot shorter,
My suggestion would be:
-Make starting the NPB possible after 3 days instead of 7!
-Make completing he NPB possible after 3 days of starting it.
-If buyer reply's to the NPB within the three days then make completing it
possible 3 days after that.
This way the parts are not stuck so long.
It's especially annoying wenn the new buyer doesnt log in inbetween the order
and the completion of the NPB.
It's a cmpl waste of time.
|
I sympathise with the problem but voted no. In this specific case I can see the
logic but there are other cases where this would not be appropriate and the buyer
could be "abused". We have some sellers here who take more than 3 days to send
an invoice! What I would agree though is that if a buyer responds to an NPB (but
still doesn't pay) then the 2 week limit for the seller completing the NPB
should be reduced to one week, just as for cases where the buyer does not respond.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jul 25, 2017 05:42 | | Subject: | Re: Get shipping costs BEFORE final checkout | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | Actually, I think it would be nice if quotes can be answered with "to be determined".
That way I can give out accurate quotes 80% of the time and not end up sorting
a whole order and go through administrative hassle in the other 20%.
|
As a buyer asking the shipping cost.. "to be determined" would be as useful as
no reply.
If you ask us for a quote you will get a clear final price.
Robert
| |
In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, TheBrickGuys writes:
| | In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | And is your guess always correct? Or do you guess pessimistically?
|
For parts it isn't really guessing but just adding a little bit of weight
and figuring the shipping cost. Envelops are easy to add into the total weight
of the order and so are small boxes for parts, it takes just a couple of seconds
per quote.
|
Well, for us it's not; maximum thickness for letter mail is somewhere between
3 and 4 studs, and it's not rare that it's hard for me to imagine how
it would look in an envelope. In these cases I really just need to piece things
together and see how I can make it fit most efficiently. The trouble is that
it will almost always work out, but in case it won't, it will immediately
be some €15 more expensive. So that's quite tricky to quote.
|
|
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jul 20, 2017 03:28 | | Subject: | Re: separate picking list by New and Used | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, BRWA writes:
| | Hi Robert,
so what your saying is I should change the remarks on 40k+parts so that it easier
for BL...surely the option of item no. and condition is not a hard one to implement,
consider we are dealing with computers - we are in the 21st century I would have
thought - or is have I screwed up and I have set the TARDIS coordinates wrong
again...
Kind regards,
Dave
Brick Recycling WA
|
Hi Dave,
I'm not saying you should change anything. I just posted what we do, sorry
the suggestion did not help. We certainly don't do it that way because it
is easier for BL, we do it that way because it saves huge time for us and optimises
storage. When we set up our store we saw no need to store parts by item number
order, few big inventory managers do it that way as new part numbers get introduced
frequently, stock levels change, etc; they utilise storage locations by availability
and suitability (e.g. frequency of item on orders = use of prime picking locations,
size/volume requirement of inventory item, etc, etc). Remarks is simply "item
location" and any part can be placed in any location, the picking list comes
off in location order making picking simple. Other advantage is that you can
avoid similar parts being located next to each other which can significantly
avoid or virtually eliminate picking errors (picking the wrong part/colour).
No problem with you asking BL to do it your way though if that works better for
you but BL was never designed that way. I can understand that builders would
organise their inventory that way and this has cropped up many times here over
the years because many builders have converted their building inventory into
a store so BL offering an alternative sort on the order/picking list would certainly
be off use in those cases where the seller wants to organise their inventory
in that way.
Robert
|
|
| Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Jun 23, 2017 03:20 | | Subject: | Re: separate picking list by New and Used | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, logansbricks writes:
| | Howdy guys! I was wondering if it is possible to have our picking list separated
into New and Used But still be in order of item number? For example, all the
new would be at the top of the list but be in the correct item number order,
then the used (in correct order) would be after the new. It would be soooo helpful
since the New and Used are obviously in different places in our physical stores.
Yikes, dare I say this BUT, that is how Brickowl does it and it is just much,
much easier to pull.
thanks for lending an ear
sherry
|
We do it using sort by remarks. Remarks are used for stock locations for each
part. For us used parts get alpha locations, new get numerical. Our picking list
(order) is sorted by used 1st in order of location then new in order of location.
We follow that with our picking cart and picking an order is just one lap of
the storage locations. You can store any part anywhere in the system (except
used have to go in used locations, new in new locations but that is good practice
to avoid crossover anyway).
Robert
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