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| | | Author: | ToriHada  | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 12:15 | | Subject: | Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 149 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
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| When listing items for sale, please give sellers the OPTION of excluding that
listing from being included in the Price Guide for the purpose of determining
Price Guide averages. The listing can still come up in search results; it just
won't be used to determine Price Guide averages. This option should only be used
for pre-defined limited items, such as items which are damaged or promotional
in nature or for incomplete minifigures. If this option is not used correctly,
the listing can be reported and removed just like any other incorrect listing.
Here are some examples of where this might be useful:
1. Seller A has some old damaged and/or yellowed white 2x4 bricks he wants to
sell for $0.01 each - which is way below the going price for used white bricks
with mild or normal wear and tear. He wants these white 2x4 bricks to come up
in searches for used white 2x4 bricks, thus he does not want to list them as
an unsearchable unsorted lot. By ticking off a box to exclude this lot from the
Price Guide when listing these bricks for sale, the seller can have them appear
in searches but not adversely affect the Price Guide.
2. Seller B wants to offer buyers who place orders of $20 or more with him a
small Lego set for only $0.01. This set normally sells for $5.00 and multiple
promotional sales of only $0.01 each will seriously affect the Price Guide averages
for this set. This adverse effect on the Price Guide can be avoided entirely
if the seller, when listing these promotional items, simply ticks off a checbox
to exclude his listing from the Price Guide.
3. Seller B has some Star Wars Tusken Raider minifigures he wants to sell. But
instead of the normal tan legs with dark gray hips, his will have dark tan leg
assemblies. Since this minifigure is not the same as the one in the BrickLink
catalog, it should not affect the Price Guide averages for these minifigures.
But the seller still wants these to come up in search results (with his note,
of course, in the item description about the different colored legs). The solution
is for the seller to list these as Tusken Raider minifigures but to opt not to
exclude them from the Price Guide so they don't affect PG prices.
Thor
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| | | | | Author: | Darth_Smithy | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 12:24 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| Voted yes, but for some reason I always though this existed.
In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:
| | When listing items for sale, please give sellers the OPTION of excluding that
listing from being included in the Price Guide for the purpose of determining
Price Guide averages. The listing can still come up in search results; it just
won't be used to determine Price Guide averages. This option should only be used
for pre-defined limited items, such as items which are damaged or promotional
in nature or for incomplete minifigures. If this option is not used correctly,
the listing can be reported and removed just like any other incorrect listing.
Here are some examples of where this might be useful:
1. Seller A has some old damaged and/or yellowed white 2x4 bricks he wants to
sell for $0.01 each - which is way below the going price for used white bricks
with mild or normal wear and tear. He wants these white 2x4 bricks to come up
in searches for used white 2x4 bricks, thus he does not want to list them as
an unsearchable unsorted lot. By ticking off a box to exclude this lot from the
Price Guide when listing these bricks for sale, the seller can have them appear
in searches but not adversely affect the Price Guide.
2. Seller B wants to offer buyers who place orders of $20 or more with him a
small Lego set for only $0.01. This set normally sells for $5.00 and multiple
promotional sales of only $0.01 each will seriously affect the Price Guide averages
for this set. This adverse effect on the Price Guide can be avoided entirely
if the seller, when listing these promotional items, simply ticks off a checbox
to exclude his listing from the Price Guide.
3. Seller B has some Star Wars Tusken Raider minifigures he wants to sell. But
instead of the normal tan legs with dark gray hips, his will have dark tan leg
assemblies. Since this minifigure is not the same as the one in the BrickLink
catalog, it should not affect the Price Guide averages for these minifigures.
But the seller still wants these to come up in search results (with his note,
of course, in the item description about the different colored legs). The solution
is for the seller to list these as Tusken Raider minifigures but to opt not to
exclude them from the Price Guide so they don't affect PG prices.
Thor
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| | | | | Author: | Rob_and_Shelagh | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 12:26 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 29 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:
[snip]
| | If this option is not used correctly,
the listing can be reported and removed just like any other incorrect listing.
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This is my concern on this one. Admin changed the critia on selling used complete
sets without intructions as OK because there was simply too much work in dealing
with the reported incorrect listings. I fear this has similar issues.
I'm also a little uncomfortable with giving sellers the right to choose if a
listing affects PG or not.
Robert
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| | | | | Author: | BUC | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 18:13 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| This relies on Sellers actually understanding the dynamics of the price guide
and how examples like you listed affect it, which so many of them don't.
I like it but see it as a lot of work in the reporting aspect - members finding
and reporting, and admin adjusting accordingly.
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| | | | | Author: | dmoser22 | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 20:12 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:
| | When listing items for sale, please give sellers the OPTION of excluding that
listing from being included in the Price Guide for the purpose of determining
Price Guide averages.
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Absolutely YES!! I have wanted this for a long time.
It'd be a very minor extra step in listing the item (check one box). When used
properly, such as in Thor's examples, it will greatly improve the accuracy of
the PG. In the past, I have managed a workaround for this by listing damaged
items at the average PG price, but with a partial rebate, explained in the item
listing, and netted from the invoice when the item was purchased. That sort
of works, but it's really tedious, and unnecessarily confusing to customers.
I don't really understand the objections to this idea. Either a seller will
be unaware of it and fail to use the PG exclulsion when he should (in which case
the situation is exactly as it is now,) or they exclude items that shouldn't
be, and I don't really see how that can be used to someone's advantage. Maybe
someone with more of a devious nature can enlighten me on how they think this
feature could be misused?
If I could offer one embellishment: When PG-excluded items are listed in the
"Items For Sale" page or in a store, it'd be nice to have some type of flag/asterisk/other
note to indicate that. It would be a useful reminder to the viewer that there
is something non-standard about the part and that they should check the description
carefully. In fact, as I type that, it occurs to me that it might make sense
to require a description when listing a part that you want excluded.
If the part is close enough to the "standard" notion of what that thing is to
not need any additional description, there's no justification for excluding it
from the PG.
-djm
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| | | | | | | Author: | FigBits | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 20:35 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 26 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, dmoser22 writes:
| | I don't really understand the objections to this idea. Either a seller will
be unaware of it and fail to use the PG exclulsion when he should (in which case
the situation is exactly as it is now,) or they exclude items that shouldn't
be, and I don't really see how that can be used to someone's advantage. Maybe
someone with more of a devious nature can enlighten me on how they think this
feature could be misused?
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I'm neither for nor against this idea (which I will get to in a moment) but I
can think of a few ways the feature could be misused (even though I don't have
a "devious nature" -- lol!).
Lately, there have been threads about how mis-priced items can skew the price
guide, but most of the examples have been about drastically over-priced parts
causing the Current Items for Sale average to be artificially inflated. This
then causes some sellers (those who use that average to set their store price)
to over-price their parts. A seller who wants to make themselves appear more
competitive can take advantage of this by listing a few drastically over-priced
lots, and then one reasonably-priced lot. By allowing the seller to remove the
influence of the low-priced lots from the price guide, the effect becomes even
more pronounced.
If someone was actually looking to buy bunches of a particular part, they could
artificially DEFLATE the average list value of a part while simultaneously selling
that same part at inflated prices: list a bunch of lots which are drastically
under-priced, but include them in super-lots which have the SAME part at a much
higher price (but have the second part in the lot excluded from the price guide).
The average list price and even the average selling price would fall, and the
user could snap-up any lots that get listed by other users at what they thought
was the real going rate (but is actually not representative of the real price
that people have been paying). The trend can then be reversed again when it's
time to unload the stock.
These issues are not created by the suggestion, but they would be exacerbated.
As for the original idea, I'm really neither for nor against it, mostly because
I don't really see the benefit. The fact that some twenty cent part happens to
have sold once for half-a-cent doesn't really have a huge impact on the averages,
and even when it does, it's relatively easy to simply notice that that sale was
an anomaly. The other suggestions for minimizing the Price Guide average skews
caused by outliers are superior to this one.
--
Marc.
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| | | | | Author: | splatman | | Posted: | Oct 17, 2010 23:06 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| What kept this from being suggested a half-decade ago?
I would've used this when selling worn-out (and priced accordingly) pieces.
Give it a Splat!
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| | | | | Author: | mnementh | | Posted: | Oct 18, 2010 02:30 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:
| | in nature or for incomplete minifigures. If this option is not used correctly,
the listing can be reported and removed just like any other incorrect listing.
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How would a casual observer know if an item was or was not excluded from the
price guide? Will there be some kind of flag?
Will items "excluded" from the price guide not show up on the price guide page
for that item while the listing is active? Or will it show up but just not be
included in calculating averages?
What is to prevent a seller who doesn't want ANY of his sales being in the price
guide from excluding ALL of his items?
While the suggestion may be of benefit in the instances cited, I am concerned
about the possibility for abuse.
Troy
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| | | | | | | Author: | ToriHada | | Posted: | Oct 18, 2010 09:03 | | Subject: | Re: Option to Exclude Listings from Price Guide | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, mnementh writes:
| | In Suggestions, fosterbengoshi writes:
| | in nature or for incomplete minifigures. If this option is not used correctly,
the listing can be reported and removed just like any other incorrect listing.
|
How would a casual observer know if an item was or was not excluded from the
price guide? Will there be some kind of flag?
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Yes to the second question.
| | Will items "excluded" from the price guide not show up on the price guide page
for that item while the listing is active? Or will it show up but just not be
included in calculating averages?
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Yes again to the second question.
| | What is to prevent a seller who doesn't want ANY of his sales being in the price
guide from excluding ALL of his items?
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The honor system. And the fact that others can report these listings or the seller
if anyone abuses the system in this fashion. Right now the honor system works
quite well on BrickLink for most things. For example, it is up to seller honesty
to list things in the correct condition (new versus used), to be honest when
listing something as sealed or MISB, and to be honest in listing something they
actually have. The possibility for dishonesty and abuse should not prevent an
otherwise good idea from being implemented, because if the potential for abuse
was of such concern we would not have many of the features we now have on BrickLink.
Almost anything here can be abused or misused by someone who is dishonest or
intent on causing mischief.
And WHY would a seller want ALL his prices excluded from the Price Guide? What's
in it for him? Sure it is possible, but highly improbable since there is no benefit
to the seller.
Lastly, there *IS* at least one situation where a seller might want to exclude
all his prices from the Price Guide. That is when he sells his entire inventory
to another seller for a very steep bulk discount. To ensure profit for the purchasing
seller, I have often seen stores bought out for only 15-25% of their inventory
value. That 75-85% discount can greatly affect a large portion of the Price Guide
and, as a courtesy to others, the seller may not want such an unusual extraordinary
event and discount to adversely affect so many entries in the Price Guide. In
the past, rather than listing everything as an unsorted lot, I have sold off
my shop inventory - several times - by simply reducing all my prices across the
board by the agreed amount of the discount. That way I don't pay unnecessary
BrickLink fees and can print out the order details which serve as a checklist
as I put everything together for the buyer/reseller. If a seller sold their entire
shop inventory to another reseller for 80% off their listed prices, would you
consider them dishonest or abusing this feature if they excluded all their listings
from the Price Guide?
Thor
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Lonely_Brick_OH | | Posted: | Oct 18, 2010 09:17 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| | (Cancelled) |
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