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| | | Author: | zorbanj  | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:00 | | Subject: | Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 452 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
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| | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:10 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 117 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I like how they don't even round up each lot to make it 0.50 either, they
just add .50 in the case it doesn't meet it. So you could have a lot average
of 0.49 and then they'd add 0.50 to every lot instead of 0.01.
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| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:22 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 88 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | […]
I like how they don't even round up each lot to make it 0.50 either, they
just add .50 in the case it doesn't meet it. So you could have a lot average
of 0.49 and then they'd add 0.50 to every lot instead of 0.01.
|
Er, isn’t that the only way it can work on BL?
At least, it’s the only way I have ever seen it in stores: a fixed fee per lot,
conditioned on lot average (or total too?).
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:27 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, SylvainLS writes:
| | Er, isn’t that the only way it can work on BL?
|
Yeah, you can't round up - at least I don't think you can? Unless you
also disallow Instant Checkout, then you can plug in whatever fees you like.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:55 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | […]
I like how they don't even round up each lot to make it 0.50 either, they
just add .50 in the case it doesn't meet it. So you could have a lot average
of 0.49 and then they'd add 0.50 to every lot instead of 0.01.
|
Er, isn’t that the only way it can work on BL?
At least, it’s the only way I have ever seen it in stores: a fixed fee per lot,
conditioned on lot average (or total too?).
|
-Oh maybe, I thought they were manually doing it upon invoice.
-Can you make a conditional IC setting that adds lot fees if the lot average
is below a threshold?
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:08 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | […]
-Oh maybe, I thought they were manually doing it upon invoice.
-Can you make a conditional IC setting that adds lot fees if the lot average
is below a threshold?
|
Well, it’s what Zorban’s seller did: Zorban hadn’t checked out yet and it was
in the cart, so it’s Auto-Invoice (and maybe IC if the payment is onsite).
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:14 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| That is correct. It was Instant Checkout.
But who is this Zorban you speak of 
In Buying, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | […]
-Oh maybe, I thought they were manually doing it upon invoice.
-Can you make a conditional IC setting that adds lot fees if the lot average
is below a threshold?
|
Well, it’s what Zorban’s seller did: Zorban hadn’t checked out yet and it was
in the cart, so it’s Auto-Invoice (and maybe IC if the payment is onsite).
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:20 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | That is correct. It was Instant Checkout.
But who is this Zorban you speak of
|
He was already adjusting your name post purchase.
Rumor has it, you had to sell the j off the end of your name to pay for all the
extra fees.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:32 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| zorban[YOUR AD HERE]
In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | That is correct. It was Instant Checkout.
But who is this Zorban you speak of
|
He was already adjusting your name post purchase.
Rumor has it, you had to sell the j off the end of your name to pay for all the
extra fees.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:32 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, runner.caller writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | That is correct. It was Instant Checkout.
But who is this Zorban you speak of
|
He was already adjusting your name post purchase.
Rumor has it, you had to sell the j off the end of your name to pay for all the
extra fees.
|
Oh, your answer is better than mine… though that makes €180 for half of NJ and
even though I understand that New Jersey is the butt of many a joke, that seems
cheap 
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:20 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | That is correct. It was Instant Checkout.
But who is this Zorban you speak of
|
Soy, the J key was indisposed when I wote that message… but now it’s back, it’s
the key that’s gone. They dink too much
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| | | | | Author: | tjb01527 | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:21 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
Must be a joke!!
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| | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:23 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| Dead serious, not a joke, one of, if not the worst example of fee padding I have
ever seen.
In Buying, tjb01527 writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
Must be a joke!!
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:23 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
On a good note at least you can see the total before ordering
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| | | | | Author: | randyipp | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:27 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 82 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
Agreed, those fees are crazy!
Then again, as a seller you are buying 360 lots, you must have some idea of how
long that would take to pack for ~$50 worth of parts. I would just pick another
seller and move on. The store is designed for bulk purchasing, which is probably
why the prices are better than others and why you selected that store in the
first place.
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| | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:56 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, randyipp writes:
| |
Agreed, those fees are crazy!
Then again, as a seller you are buying 360 lots, you must have some idea of how
long that would take to pack for ~$50 worth of parts.
|
I'll be conservative and say 4 hours to pick and pack. There were no fragile
parts, or any weird part variations, just standard stuff. 180 EUR divided
by 4 hours = 45 EUR per hour, on top of the cost of the parts themselves plus
the shipping. That's alot of gravy.
| | I would just pick another
seller and move on. The store is designed for bulk purchasing, which is probably
why the prices are better than others and why you selected that store in the
first place.
|
For some forgotten reason I had this store as a favorite, and when I ran my wanted
list I sorted by favorite stores first. I quickly dumped the cart and least favorited
the store.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | randyipp | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:41 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | I'll be conservative and say 4 hours to pick and pack. There were no fragile
parts, or any weird part variations, just standard stuff. 180 EUR divided
by 4 hours = 45 EUR per hour, on top of the cost of the parts themselves plus
the shipping. That's alot of gravy.
|
Yes, it is. Alternatively you are talking about 10 EUR per hour, which is VERY
little gravy, it is all a matter of perspective.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:43 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| And that's before factoring in the cost of the parts and the time spent sorting/inventorying
them.
So they would actually bleed gravy after receiving such an order.
In Buying, randyipp writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | I'll be conservative and say 4 hours to pick and pack. There were no fragile
parts, or any weird part variations, just standard stuff. 180 EUR divided
by 4 hours = 45 EUR per hour, on top of the cost of the parts themselves plus
the shipping. That's alot of gravy.
|
Yes, it is. Alternatively you are talking about 10 EUR per hour, which is VERY
little gravy, it is all a matter of perspective.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:47 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| 10 EUR an hour means 18 hours to pick and pack the order. That would be a very
causal pace.
In Buying, randyipp writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | I'll be conservative and say 4 hours to pick and pack. There were no fragile
parts, or any weird part variations, just standard stuff. 180 EUR divided
by 4 hours = 45 EUR per hour, on top of the cost of the parts themselves plus
the shipping. That's alot of gravy.
|
Yes, it is. Alternatively you are talking about 10 EUR per hour, which is VERY
little gravy, it is all a matter of perspective.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:56 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| "Alternatively" meant "without the extra fees".
In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | 10 EUR an hour means 18 hours to pick and pack the order. That would be a very
causal pace.
In Buying, randyipp writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | I'll be conservative and say 4 hours to pick and pack. There were no fragile
parts, or any weird part variations, just standard stuff. 180 EUR divided
by 4 hours = 45 EUR per hour, on top of the cost of the parts themselves plus
the shipping. That's alot of gravy.
|
Yes, it is. Alternatively you are talking about 10 EUR per hour, which is VERY
little gravy, it is all a matter of perspective.
|
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| | | | | | | Author: | pitz8008 | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 16:39 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 118 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, randyipp writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
Agreed, those fees are crazy!
Then again, as a seller you are buying 360 lots, you must have some idea of how
long that would take to pack for ~$50 worth of parts. I would just pick another
seller and move on. The store is designed for bulk purchasing, which is probably
why the prices are better than others and why you selected that store in the
first place.
|
A 360 lot order would drive me nuts. I wouldn't even care how much the order
was for. But for 50 dollars, it would really make my blood boil. So I'm going
to give out these words of wisdom that are against my best interest to share
but a benefit to anyone who takes them. However, I'm pretty confident that
nobody is going to instill them in their store so I guess it won't matter.
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 17:19 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 83 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| |
A 360 lot order would drive me nuts. I wouldn't even care how much the order
was for. But for 50 dollars, it would really make my blood boil. So I'm going
to give out these words of wisdom that are against my best interest to share
but a benefit to anyone who takes them. However, I'm pretty confident that
nobody is going to instill them in their store so I guess it won't matter.
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
|
Ok, I can see kind of see your point since you seem to be a one-man army running
the store. But with us, who have people for specific jobs, having a lot limit
would be extremely detrimental.
In fact, getting one high lot order instead of several small ones is much better
as we only have to spend time packing one order, not many.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:14 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| Great post, food for thought 
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| |
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
|
|
|
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | pitz8008 | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:20 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | Great post, food for thought
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
|
People still buy them. Sometimes they only want one part of them. Sometimes a
few of them. But what I surely will never have happen is a 360 lot 50 dollar
order.
I just said this on a different post recently. Think it was something about cheap
decorated pieces. Someone asked if they are worth listing since they may never
sell. My response then is the same as now. Every piece is valuable. Every lot
added adds to your lot count and the more lots you have listed for sale, the
more people are going to check out your store.
| |
In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| |
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:32 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| |
People still buy them. Sometimes they only want one part of them. Sometimes a
few of them. But what I surely will never have happen is a 360 lot 50 dollar
order.
|
The 360 lots should have cost $100 - $125. I know this because I ran my wanted
list through numerous stores. The $50 is artificially low because of the per
lot fee.
| | I just said this on a different post recently. Think it was something about cheap
decorated pieces. Someone asked if they are worth listing since they may never
sell. My response then is the same as now. Every piece is valuable. Every lot
added adds to your lot count and the more lots you have listed for sale, the
more people are going to check out your store.
|
Definitely. I list everything.
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 00:58 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | Great post, food for thought
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
|
People still buy them. Sometimes they only want one part of them. Sometimes a
few of them. But what I surely will never have happen is a 360 lot 50 dollar
order.
|
MEEE!! Haha, Just placed a 14 lot order in your store including $36 plume for
Radagast and a single $0.05 bracket to complete War Machine.
My selling journey parallels yours. I once picked a 99 lot order consisting of
248 pieces for $4.26.
Last summer, when we were finishing our basement, I moved operations to the garage.
I didn't want to spend a bunch of time out there, so I raised my lot avg
to $1 so curb the more time consuming orders and it became permanent.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:23 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | Great post, food for thought
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
|
Low value lots are sometimes generated by buyers who purchase 16 out of 20, and
leave 4 behind. I've seen that happen many times. Even leaving 1 behind.
It's frustrating.
Nita Rae
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | pitz8008 | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:27 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, cosmicray writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | Great post, food for thought
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
|
Low value lots are sometimes generated by buyers who purchase 16 out of 20, and
leave 4 behind. I've seen that happen many times. Even leaving 1 behind.
It's frustrating.
|
Or my favorite. 1 new and 1 used. Both the same price and multiple quantities
of each left.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 21:17 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| For other sellers' information, this happened to me using the Auto-Fill feature
on a store page. I didn't thoroughly check the cart for New/Used duplicates
and ended up ordering a few more parts than I needed in both Used and New condition
because the Auto-Fill feature will pick parts from multiple lots even if you
have only one Wanted Quantity in your wanted lists.
In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| | Or my favorite. 1 new and 1 used. Both the same price and multiple quantities
of each left.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:34 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| I just had the opposite happen last week. 30 lot order, all of the lots were
clean outs for the last 1-3 pieces I had. Strange.
In Buying, cosmicray writes:
| |
Low value lots are sometimes generated by buyers who purchase 16 out of 20, and
leave 4 behind. I've seen that happen many times. Even leaving 1 behind.
It's frustrating.
Nita Rae
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Tracyd | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 10:40 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | Great post, food for thought
Questions:
1) If you don't want to pick low value lots why do you have them for sale?
I know sellers who will not list a part that below a certain floor is not worth
(25 cents, a dollar whatever). Then you're picking parts worth your time.
I know another (no longer active) seller who used to move all the low-value
lots to the stockroom during the holiday crush and moving them back out in mid
January.
2) What are you going to do with all of the low value parts that no one includes
in their orders anymore because of the lot limit?
|
I will attempt to maximize my postage for an order and often end up with large
lot orders that are not high value. But I usually buy the whole lot. Easier
to be picked if your count is accurate. And it is not the buyers fault that
your parts count is low enough that it doesn't pass the .50 per lot threshold.
Per lot charging is just as bad as stores that charge .001 per part with a three
lot limit then charge you $8.00 for postage.
| |
In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| |
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 10:44 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, Tracyd writes:
| | I will attempt to maximize my postage for an order and often end up with large
lot orders that are not high value. But I usually buy the whole lot. Easier
to be picked if your count is accurate. And it is not the buyers fault that
your parts count is low enough that it doesn't pass the .50 per lot threshold.
Per lot charging is just as bad as stores that charge .001 per part with a three
lot limit then charge you $8.00 for postage.
|
I know exactly what store you are talking about and it's been inconvenient
for me since I use the first few cheapest prices in the USA to come up with my
own prices.
Don't ask them about the lot limit though.
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | Leftoverbricks | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 04:50 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| | Thank you for this entertaining and inspiring post! |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | WildBricks | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 16:01 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, Leftoverbricks writes:
| | Thank you for this entertaining and inspiring post!
|
+1
Quite a bit of food for thought in here.
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | manganschlamm | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 06:15 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, pitz8008 writes:
| | In Buying, randyipp writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
Agreed, those fees are crazy!
Then again, as a seller you are buying 360 lots, you must have some idea of how
long that would take to pack for ~$50 worth of parts. I would just pick another
seller and move on. The store is designed for bulk purchasing, which is probably
why the prices are better than others and why you selected that store in the
first place.
|
A 360 lot order would drive me nuts. I wouldn't even care how much the order
was for. But for 50 dollars, it would really make my blood boil. So I'm going
to give out these words of wisdom that are against my best interest to share
but a benefit to anyone who takes them. However, I'm pretty confident that
nobody is going to instill them in their store so I guess it won't matter.
Back when ebricksonline had their problem with their inventory, Russel said to
put a limit on the amount of lots someone could order from your store. I never
knew this existed and actually got pretty excited by it. So I set the limit at
300 lots. Which is still way more than I want to deal with. Then one Sunday (which
is my Funday), I got two 190 lot orders in the middle of the day (which ruined
my mojo). So I went down to 125 lot order max. Still hated this number too. But
was willing to deal with it.
Then in the beginning of April I went skiing in Breckenridge for 10 days. Brought
a bunch of figures there to list while on vacation. Ended up listing about 5,000$
worth of figures that week. It's remarkable how much you can list when you
don't get sidetracked with ridiculous number of high lot orders.
So it was Friday morning and we were going to leave Sunday night to drive back
to Chicago. Which means we would get back sometime Monday night. And if I opened
my store Friday morning, it would give me enough time to get all my orders bagged
Monday night and have them at the post office Tuesday morning just like every
other week. So I decided to re-open my store that Friday morning and set the
lot limit to 40 lots so I wouldn't have to deal with anything ridiculous
when I got back home. Well from that Friday morning to Monday night, I ended
up with 78 orders. It was crazy. Got home at 7pm, stayed up until 4am bagging
them. And finished the rest when I woke up. Managed to get everything to the
post office on time.
When I got back from the post office and took a nap, I had like another 6 orders.
I decided to keep the 40 lot limit in place and see how it goes. Since instilling
this lot limit. Every month has been the best month I have ever had by far for
that particular month. 3 of the months have been by far the best months I have
ever had for any months. Alot of these high lot orders start by someone maybe
just wanting 30 lots. But then they start adding a single lot of a penny here.
Another one there. And the next thing you know, it's a 90 lot order. With
60 of the lots only being a penny or two each, that they added just to capitalize
on the shipping. I want nothing to do with those orders.
Now here's the important part, without spending an additional hour (give
or take, plus it mentally wears me out) on an additional three dollars worth
of parts, I get to spend that time listing an additional 50-100$ worth of parts
in my store. Deal with 2 of these orders, and that's potentially an additional
200$ of inventory added in a single day. I assure you that all adds up and leads
to many more orders.
I love Bricklink and the freedom it has given me. I've been wanting to share
this piece of advice with my fellow sellers (along with buyers) for awhile. Figured
this blog was the perfect time to do it. Take it or don't take it. But I
would highly recommend it. Thanks Bricklink.
|
Please consider another reason why people occasionally may want to place orders
with many lots. They might have purchased MOC instructions, and are working their
way through the wanted list for this MOC. Obviously, when you want to build such
a MOC with 4000+ parts distributed over 200 lots, and are only in need of a few
of most parts, you do not want to place 20 or 50 orders and pay a fortune in
shipping costs.
|
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:27 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
My goodness Some sellers really think their customers are maths fanatics.
I have no idea what all of that rubbish in those terms means and I don't
want to know.
Think I'm gonna have to repeat again I wish Bricklink would make fixed terms
for all sellers, with a handful of clear multiple choice options for the seller,
and that's it. Giving BL sellers a blank field to make up terms with no limits
is, apparently, a bit like letting a monkey play with a smartphone. You never
know what the outcome is going to be
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:30 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, Teup writes:
| | […]
Think I'm gonna have to repeat again I wish Bricklink would make fixed terms
for all sellers, with a handful of clear multiple choice options for the seller,
and that's it. Giving BL sellers a blank field to make up terms with no limits
is, apparently, a bit like letting a monkey play with a smartphone. You never
know what the outcome is going to be
|
What would be the number for this reason?
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:46 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Buying, Teup writes:
| | […]
Think I'm gonna have to repeat again I wish Bricklink would make fixed terms
for all sellers, with a handful of clear multiple choice options for the seller,
and that's it. Giving BL sellers a blank field to make up terms with no limits
is, apparently, a bit like letting a monkey play with a smartphone. You never
know what the outcome is going to be
|
What would be the number for this reason?
|
I think it's an entirely new entry
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | Kuboteka | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:32 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, Teup writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
My goodness Some sellers really think their customers are maths fanatics.
I have no idea what all of that rubbish in those terms means and I don't
want to know.
Think I'm gonna have to repeat again I wish Bricklink would make fixed terms
for all sellers, with a handful of clear multiple choice options for the seller,
and that's it. Giving BL sellers a blank field to make up terms with no limits
is, apparently, a bit like letting a monkey play with a smartphone. You never
know what the outcome is going to be
|
We use same type of fees (not so crazy, but the same logic)
We use it because we don't want to limit customers who need hundreds of different
lots. But we also can't make same "fixed fee" for orders 50 or 500 lots,
it is not good for us and customers.
So I am not agree with you. If all is calculated in time of instant checkout
- it should not be a problem to have different terms.
Just not to be as crazy as store in the topic who stole part of our store-terms
page =D
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:59 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, J_Keter writes:
| | In Buying, Teup writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
My goodness Some sellers really think their customers are maths fanatics.
I have no idea what all of that rubbish in those terms means and I don't
want to know.
Think I'm gonna have to repeat again I wish Bricklink would make fixed terms
for all sellers, with a handful of clear multiple choice options for the seller,
and that's it. Giving BL sellers a blank field to make up terms with no limits
is, apparently, a bit like letting a monkey play with a smartphone. You never
know what the outcome is going to be
|
We use same type of fees (not so crazy, but the same logic)
We use it because we don't want to limit customers who need hundreds of different
lots. But we also can't make same "fixed fee" for orders 50 or 500 lots,
it is not good for us and customers.
So I am not agree with you. If all is calculated in time of instant checkout
- it should not be a problem to have different terms.
|
I do understand that need. But even if they are calculated realtime, the buyer
will still wonder why the grand total is mysteriously going up disproportionally
(or, worse, they will not notice it at all, thinking they get the item for the
amount that it is listed for, which is what they think they are agreeing on -
not seeing the extra fees that incurs).
And that leads us back to the buyer having to read through terms, to figure out
what's going on.
I do understand you have valid reasons for having such fees, and I'm sure
you balanced them to be fair.... but for clarity's sake and in the context
of a platform with a uniform system of sellers, and consistent reliable buying
experience, and the ability to compare different offers on the platform (price
comparison is really baked into Bricklink), in my opinion it's better to
sacrifice such options. And embrace the extra buyers that is going to bring to
Bricklink.
I think many sellers underestimate how scary their terms are. They might figure
"you can easily understand all this if you sit down and read it" but 1. buyers
don't do that / expect they need to do it and 2. sellers don't always
realise it really takes time and practise to get used to their rules - they don't
see it from their own perspective because they're the ones who made up the
rules, so for them it makes total sense. And have they thought about what the
shopping experience in their store is actually like?
Bricklink is still a bit of an in-crowd thing that scares away casual consumers,
and making the platform uniform and simple, I expect, would benefit everyone
more than funky terms ever could. I totally understand why more fees for high
lot count orders is fair in a way, but I wonder when push comes to shove how
much hard cash you would actually lose on an annual basis if you'd
drop them. And if that's really worth scaring away customers for.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Kuboteka | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 16:10 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, Teup writes:
| | Bricklink is still a bit of an in-crowd thing that scares away casual consumers,
and making the platform uniform and simple, I expect, would benefit everyone
more than funky terms ever could. I totally understand why more fees for high
lot count orders is fair in a way, but I wonder when push comes to shove how
much hard cash you would actually lose on an annual basis if you'd
drop them. And if that's really worth scaring away customers for.
|
For sure we put such fees just after we really started to lose cash...
It is not just about cash, but also about the time of employees to pack low-average
lot orders. And yes it is actually needed to use it when you have more than 20.000
lots of the parts in your store.
Sure I can just make avg-lot limit and make sure I will not receive orders I
don't want to have. But I think it is unfair. I don't like stores where
I need to add more parts I don't need just to make possible to checkout.
Stores with 2 EUR lot - limit as for me is a bit more frustrate.
So Yes - we have this type of fees. They allow us to have some half-time employees
who receive their salary from these fees and pack just orders with fees for customers
who want such orders.
Sure we have all info in store terms. And sure it should not cost crazy as the
store from the topic.
If bricklink have a special place just under the S&H value where you can place
info about how your store calculate S&H - it will be great.
But just wishes...
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 19:21 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
|
| In Buying, J_Keter writes:
| | In Buying, Teup writes:
| | Bricklink is still a bit of an in-crowd thing that scares away casual consumers,
and making the platform uniform and simple, I expect, would benefit everyone
more than funky terms ever could. I totally understand why more fees for high
lot count orders is fair in a way, but I wonder when push comes to shove how
much hard cash you would actually lose on an annual basis if you'd
drop them. And if that's really worth scaring away customers for.
|
For sure we put such fees just after we really started to lose cash...
It is not just about cash, but also about the time of employees to pack low-average
lot orders. And yes it is actually needed to use it when you have more than 20.000
lots of the parts in your store.
Sure I can just make avg-lot limit and make sure I will not receive orders I
don't want to have. But I think it is unfair. I don't like stores where
I need to add more parts I don't need just to make possible to checkout.
Stores with 2 EUR lot - limit as for me is a bit more frustrate.
So Yes - we have this type of fees. They allow us to have some half-time employees
who receive their salary from these fees and pack just orders with fees for customers
who want such orders.
Sure we have all info in store terms. And sure it should not cost crazy as the
store from the topic.
If bricklink have a special place just under the S&H value where you can place
info about how your store calculate S&H - it will be great.
But just wishes...
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Well, all I can say is, reading your terms, I would probably leave Not because
I see something bad or unfair, but just because it seems like a tricky system
and I am not confident I have complete overview. Because I am too lazy to study
it all in detail and do some test calculations. So I'd be slightly worried
I do something wrong and get hit with sudden fees. I would honestly prefer if
some orders were just barred than that I could place them and be hit with fees
- but anyway, take it as just 1 person's feedback.
I think it's really important to keep in mind the buyer's perspective.
The seller knows exactly what will happen and feels like all is good, but the
buyer - having to deal with multiple sellers a week probably, all with their
own unique rulesets - doesn't.
I think it would be worth taking the pragmatic angle and calculate how much you
actually lose if you remove those fees, and estimate if it could be less
than the amount of extra business you could get (that's not rhetorical really
- could be worth crunching the numbers).
Anyway. My angle is this: I'm cutting out the truly crazy ones (average lot
value less than €0.25), the rest I consider part of doing business. It is a fact
of life anyway that some thing will take a lot more time than other things. Some
customers are going to pay a lot for little work (minifigs, sets), and others
will pay little for a lot of work. I am not even convinced that feeing lots is
balancing that out in a significant way. There's still a whole bunch of other
variation. Having to communicate with customers, providing service, dealing with
parts that can't be found, or that need to be ordered somewhere else, B2B
orders that need more elaborate administration, etc. With so many factors already
making it so random what I earn per hour, plus given the fact that the truly
crazy orders are barred, I really don't feel like I need to control and fee
lot averages at the cost of having extra smallprint.
Wish I could fee members for message responses and extra administrative hassle
though 
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Llewyn | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 09:58 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, J_Keter writes:
| | Sure I can just make avg-lot limit and make sure I will not receive orders I
don't want to have. But I think it is unfair. I don't like stores where
I need to add more parts I don't need just to make possible to checkout.
|
As someone whose main use of this site is to buy parts for my own use I would
always prefer to have to pay extra for extra parts to be able to check out than
pay extra for no extra parts. I'll find a use for the extra parts, they're
simply things I won't need to order in future.
That said, with your feedback numbers and Teup's it's clear that both
your approaches work for your buyers as well as you; you have enough sales that
you must both have regular returning customers. And there is no shortage of stores
for us buyers to stick to sellers whose approach works for us. Everyone's
happy, except where a genuine rip-off merchant appears with 5x your fees!
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 10:08 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| | | happy, except where a genuine rip-off merchant appears with 5x your fees!
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Buyers will also be happy with that seller, if the buyer places orders where
the lot average is above 50c.
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| | | | | Author: | Kuboteka | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:28 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 75 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
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Thats fun that it looks like they took the table froom our store-terms page and
just changed Value on it. We have x5 times smaller fee (0.1 EUR / lot if average
is less than 0.5 EUR)
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| | | | | Author: | Biglesdug | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:35 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 81 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| I had a recent order I placed that was similar, no mention in the terms and I
get an invoice for crazy shipping. After messaging the seller they said they
have a $.55 lot fee. They reel people in with very cheap prices just to tack
it on at the end.
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| | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:40 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| Your experience is even worse, at least the fee was shown in the terms here.
In Buying, Biglesdug writes:
| | I had a recent order I placed that was similar, no mention in the terms and I
get an invoice for crazy shipping. After messaging the seller they said they
have a $.55 lot fee. They reel people in with very cheap prices just to tack
it on at the end.
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| | | | | | | Author: | manganschlamm | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 03:14 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, Biglesdug writes:
| | I had a recent order I placed that was similar, no mention in the terms and I
get an invoice for crazy shipping. After messaging the seller they said they
have a $.55 lot fee. They reel people in with very cheap prices just to tack
it on at the end.
|
I would report your case to admin. They cannot just make up fees as they feel
and include them into an arbitrarily set shipping cost. Again, IC with onsite
payment is the only way forward to get rid of the fee mafias.
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| | | | | Author: | jennnifer | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:43 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 100 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
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I guess you can look at it this way: 360 lots, let's be generous and say
it takes 30 seconds to pull each lot and then maybe a half hour to pack it all
up. (I think it would take me a bit longer.) So, if my math is right, they want
51.50 EUR per hour to send your bricks. That's good work if you can get it.
Jen
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| | | | | Author: | Hurt | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 14:54 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| Hope you can clarify this with the store and cancel your order (or find a good
solution)
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| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 15:12 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, Hurt writes:
| | Hope you can clarify this with the store and cancel your order (or find a good
solution)
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On the pic, Zorbanj hasn’t checked out yet (hint: “Proceed to checkout” at the
bottom), so I think they are good
And as you seem to like geometry formulas, here are so useful ones: https://xkcd.com/2509/
(read the text that appears when you hover the mouse pointer over the image
).
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| | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 17:44 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 88 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
So, allow me to follow this all the way to it's somewhat logical conclusion
...
If they wanted to see a 0.50 EUR/lot minimum, then the order should have been
bumped up by 134.42 EUR (180.00 EUR - 45.58 EUR) ?
It's less than what they did, but it is still out there. I guess what I'm
seeing here is the difference between the system blocking the order for the lot
average being too small, and the system letting the order fly if you're willing
to cough up the dough. I mean, one quasi-valuable set could bring it back into
the ballpark.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 28, 2021 20:06 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| Almost. 361 lots divided by 180 lots = 0.4986 EUR per lot. Maybe they round up
In Buying, cosmicray writes:
| |
So, allow me to follow this all the way to it's somewhat logical conclusion
...
If they wanted to see a 0.50 EUR/lot minimum, then the order should have been
bumped up by 134.42 EUR (180.00 EUR - 45.58 EUR) ?
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| | | | | Author: | manganschlamm | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 03:10 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I was ripped off by such stores when I was a first time buyer on this site and
wanted to get the parts together for a MOC. The only way to solve this problem
is to consistently move to IC with onsite payment. Then you see before placing
the order what exactly you should pay. And make your informed decision. In this
case, any fee that would be added later would be absolutely against BL rules.
Furthermore, BL should add the option that you can cancel any order with such
added fees in case the store does not offer IC with onsite payment.
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 04:25 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 70 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, manganschlamm writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I was ripped off by such stores when I was a first time buyer on this site and
wanted to get the parts together for a MOC. The only way to solve this problem
is to consistently move to IC with onsite payment. Then you see before placing
the order what exactly you should pay. And make your informed decision. In this
case, any fee that would be added later would be absolutely against BL rules.
Furthermore, BL should add the option that you can cancel any order with such
added fees in case the store does not offer IC with onsite payment.
|
I know it has been said many times before, but it might be simpler to be that
a buyer can cancel any order where the full costs are not know up front. That
is, an order is only an order once the seller enters all costs and the buyer
agrees to them.
Sometimes there is a genuine reason sellers do not use IC or IC fails for some
reason (missing data, or items unusually large or heavy and don't meet the
seller's normal constraints). In that case a buyer should not be pressured
to complete a purchase without knowing the full costs.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | manganschlamm | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 06:07 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, yorbrick writes:
| | In Buying, manganschlamm writes:
| | In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I was ripped off by such stores when I was a first time buyer on this site and
wanted to get the parts together for a MOC. The only way to solve this problem
is to consistently move to IC with onsite payment. Then you see before placing
the order what exactly you should pay. And make your informed decision. In this
case, any fee that would be added later would be absolutely against BL rules.
Furthermore, BL should add the option that you can cancel any order with such
added fees in case the store does not offer IC with onsite payment.
|
I know it has been said many times before, but it might be simpler to be that
a buyer can cancel any order where the full costs are not know up front. That
is, an order is only an order once the seller enters all costs and the buyer
agrees to them.
Sometimes there is a genuine reason sellers do not use IC or IC fails for some
reason (missing data, or items unusually large or heavy and don't meet the
seller's normal constraints). In that case a buyer should not be pressured
to complete a purchase without knowing the full costs.
|
I would full agree to this as well, provided that in case an order is cancelled
in such as case there would be no possibility to leave feedback for either the
buyer or the seller. Otherwise, a seller can blackmail the buyer to accept some
ridiculous fees by threatening with negative feedback.
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| | | | | Author: | wahiggin | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 14:02 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I've seen a similar US-based store do the same thing. They have low prices
on their parts, but then charge a lot fee that makes their prices some of the
highest, and they limit the number of parts in each lot to 20. So if they have
100 of one part to sell, they put it into 5 different lots in their store.
Wesley
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| | | | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 14:26 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| Wow,even if you were in the market for bulk purchases, it would be impossible
to avoid the
lot fee.
In Buying, wahiggin writes:
| |
I've seen a similar US-based store do the same thing. They have low prices
on their parts, but then charge a lot fee that makes their prices some of the
highest, and they limit the number of parts in each lot to 20. So if they have
100 of one part to sell, they put it into 5 different lots in their store.
Wesley
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| | | | | Author: | Andrsv | | Posted: | Sep 29, 2021 16:15 | | Subject: | Re: Fees gone wild | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | Buying | |
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| In Buying, zorbanj writes:
| | See photos. The 2nd photo is from the Terms.
360 lots x 0.5 EUR = 180 EUR in lot fees for 46 EUR of parts.
Ridiculous.
Will forward the name of the store to whoever messages me. Hoepfully one of the
admins reaches out.
|
I've bought from them. In general I seldom buy less than 2€ pr lot. As mentioned
before in this thread. The store is a bulk order store. They also offer parts
to customers who does not buy in bulk, but you'll need to pay for their working
hours...
A 360 lot order would take me 6 hours to pack. Also those parts would take about
12 hours to sort and put in inventory.
I'm also guessing that their actual shipping fee is more than 15€.
It'll be cheaper for you to add more items per lot than to pay their fee
And they do for sure have large lots.
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USA, New Jersey
)
)
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
United Kingdom, England
Netherlands, Overijssel
Germany, Nordrhein-Westfalen
Lithuania, Vilnius
Austria, Wien
Norway, Rogaland