| Discussion Forum: Thread 278787 |
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| | | Author: | 13thWarrior  | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 11:59 | | Subject: | Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 249 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
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| I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
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| | | | | Author: | pitz8008 | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 12:06 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 69 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
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I think you are wrong about almost everything.
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| | | | | Author: | tonnic | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 12:12 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
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I am not a VAT expert but if I am right it is only VAT on the 3% of Bricklinkfees
or am I wrong?
Of course I, we, can do without these extra costs but in my opinion it doesn’t
hurt that much.
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| | | | | Author: | randyipp | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 12:12 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
|
Well that is what you get when you price so low, you have to make up for it in
other areas. From the 2 listings I saw in your shop (a minifig and slope) both
were near the cheapest available on bricklink.
I'd say sellers driving the prices into the ground like you have been doing
is far worse than VAT/Fees/Taxes you are complaining about. When you price this
low expect to do a ton of work for only a little profit.
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| | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 12:14 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 65 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
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First thought: it’s Sales tax, not VAT.
Second thought: it’s taxes, levied by your elected government(s).
What do you want LEGO/BL to do? Pay them for you or/and get sued by your government
for fraud?
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| | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 12:46 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | You have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers.
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I'm not seeing that at all. In fact, I've been busier than I ever have
been.
And it's not BL's fault. They legally need to charge tax.
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| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 13:39 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 78 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
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Not really seeing a suggestion here to vote on. Switched topics to what I though
would do best.
btw, great username! Care to share with the others? https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1231631
-popsicle
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| | | | | Author: | 3001Bricks | | Posted: | Nov 21, 2020 14:29 | | Subject: | Re: Increase in fees, loss of members and stores | | Viewed: | 95 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
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| In Suggestions, 13thWarrior writes:
| | I have enjoyed Lego most of my life, but it seems that Lego seems to want to
make me give up on them. I have had to increase shipping rates and add a processing
fee to offset the increasing fees. The addition of the VAT taxes has made it
nearly impossible to make money on Bricklink. It increases the final sale which
in turn, increases the fees that both Bricklink and PayPal take from you. You
have to notice the huge decrease in stores and customers. What is everyone else's
thoughts on this?
|
My thoughts.
I've seen a crazy increase in both the amount and the value of orders this
year, despite keeping my prices high (still on a reasonable level) to make sure
I can keep doing this as a side business.
I see nothing what you are reflecting here. I had to charge sales tax for customers
in Arkansas anyway, and I was in process of setting up tax Nexus in states where
it was needed (first was Kansas for me). But all that effort is reduced drastically
now BL is taking care of that.
Besides this, the taxes should not affect your business model at all, they are
added at the end of the sale, passed through on paypal. And the 3.5% paypal is
charging on those taxes? That should be neglectable if you look at your business
in the big picture. A 50 dollar order will have between 3 and 5 dollar taxes.
5 dollar will have 0.175 usd paypal fees. If that is killing you on a 50 dollar
order, i think it is time to rethink your model. Heck, the tape to seal your
package is more than those 3 nickles.
If your problem is instant checkout? You will have to rethink your model as well.
Maybe it is time to move away from exact calculated shipping fee, and go for
a flat fee for 1st class mail and a flat fee for priority mail. No customer will
complain about charging 3.95 instead of the actual 3.18 a 1st class package costs.
The next order they'll be lucky and have to pay 3.95 instead of a 4.53 1st
class package. See shipping costs as a generic expense, make sure at the end
of the month you end up positive. That way you don't have to go through crazy
hoops to make instant checkout work. Customers happy because they can pay rightaway,
you happy because you don't have to go through the hassle of guessing weights,
making invoices and waiting for payments.
Last point, and I think that's already mentioned, prices. You get your orders
because your prices are at the bottom, the far bottom. A store your size doesn't
have to be at that price point. If your prices are on or just below average,
the amount of orders will go down slightly, but the value of your orders will
go up drastically. You will also see a movement from a lot of small orders, to
large, more substantial orders. Customers who are going for one-stop shopping,
instead of placing 20 orders at different stores.
Look, it's your business, you can run it the way you want it. But the generalization
you put out there is fair and simply untrue. Since LEGO purchased this whole
thing, there has been drastic changes, we see crazy improvements, sales tax is
a big win, the last time i've seen a '500 error' is at least a COVID
away. A lot to improve still, absolutely, but we're well on track.
Anyway, have a wonderful Saturday and Thanksgiving, may your orders be plentiful
and your inventory grow to be bountiful.
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USA, Iowa
Netherlands, Noord-Holland
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
