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| | | Author: | calsbricks  | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 09:16 | | Subject: | An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 129 times | | Topic: | Catalog | | Status: | Open | |
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| Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 09:29 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| Forty to 50%? That seems very high, I hardly ever see figures with accessories
included.
In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
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How would that possibly be enforced?
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| | | | | | | Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 09:48 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, peregrinator writes:
| | Forty to 50%? That seems very high, I hardly ever see figures with accessories
included.
In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
|
How would that possibly be enforced?
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Depends on how they chose to 'policy' this. If it remains optional (like
variants. then we have the same problem wee currently do with them- if it becomes
mandatory then that would take care of itself. That choice would be down to the
catalogue people.
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| | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 09:38 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
|
You would need entries:
sw0001a01
sw0001a02
sw0001a03
etc
where a01 is the first accessory they hold in a set, a02 is a different accessory
in another set, etc. There is also the issue of what happens if they have an
alternate hair (instead of a helmet) and an accessory or two accessories, needing
entries sw0001a01h01 or sw0001a01a03, ...
And even if there were such entries you would still get sellers listing the minifigures
with accessories under the minifigure only entry, as that will be the one that
buyers add to wants lists. You can already see this in the CMF minifigure only
entries. Even though minifig only and set entries exist, there are still sellers
listing the sets as minifigures.
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| | | | | | | Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 10:11 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
|
You would need entries:
sw0001a01
sw0001a02
sw0001a03
etc
where a01 is the first accessory they hold in a set, a02 is a different accessory
in another set, etc. There is also the issue of what happens if they have an
alternate hair (instead of a helmet) and an accessory or two accessories, needing
entries sw0001a01h01 or sw0001a01a03,
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Interesting points but solvable a01 might equal one accessory or it might equal
all accessories ...
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And even if there were such entries you would still get sellers listing the minifigures
with accessories under the minifigure only entry, as that will be the one that
buyers add to wants lists. You can already see this in the CMF minifigure only
entries. Even though minifig only and set entries exist, there are still sellers
listing the sets as minifigures.
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This happens now with part variants and yes it does mean policing. I am sure
the best solution has yet to be defined, but I think with more sellers listing
minfig only and including accessories the price guide disparity will just grow
and grow until it is out of hand,
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 11:40 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| | | Interesting points but solvable a01 might equal one accessory or it might equal
all accessories ...
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A minifigure with one accessory and the same minifigure with two accessories
will have different values. Listing one with two accessories in an entry for
with one accessory leads to exactly the same issue as listing any accessories
with the minifigure entries.
And what would the catalogue entry (and inventory) for minifigure with accessories
be? If it comes with accessory A in one set and B in another, a buyer will need
to know is it A, is it B? Saying it could come with either is not really suitable.
It is unlikely to come with both A+B unless a seller parts out both sets and
combines the accessories for one minifigure and leaves the other with none.
It also messes up the price guide since one minifigure gets multiple entries,
that should differ by the price of the accessory/ies it comes with, but in practice
it will not. It can also mean that a buyer has to search through multiple catalogue
entries to find what they want.
Personally, I prefer one entry per minifigure so a buyer only needs to look at
one entry. If a seller wants to give away free gifts (the accessory/ies) but
charge more for their minifigures, then so be it but they will remain high in
price so low down the list as they appear expensive. That they push up the average
value slightly is not that big an issue. The accessories are usually cheap compared
to minifigures, so not significant compared to fluctuations in pricing for the
more expensive minifigures from different sellers anyway. If the accessory had
any significant value, I imagine most sellers would sell them individually rather
than pair them with minifigures.
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 11:48 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| | | One solution that has been batted around is to create another condition - something
like "Premium". This way we don't clutter everything up with multiple
minifigure entries.
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If premium means comes with extra parts in addition to the minifigure, presumably
this would be an orthogonal condition to the possible new / used conditions for
minifigures. So you could have new standard, new premium, used standard and used
premium. And if you can introduce such a condition, then why not go the opposite
way and have an "incomplete" entry too.
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| | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 11:52 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
|
I think you may have gotten lucky. I’ve bought hundreds of figures and maybe
once or twice they had accessories but it is not common at least for me. And
some stores may be willing to include accessories without raising the price to
get theirs to sell faster
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| | | | | Author: | rab1234 | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 14:23 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| I don't think this is really much of a problem. I quickly checked the first
couple hundred listings of the battle droid (which I would think is the "worst"
offender). About 1 out of every 20 included a free blaster.
This also wouldn't just be limited to minifigs. I occasionally throw in
a free pair of legs with a torso or a window/door frame with the glass. In other
words, you would have to create new variations for every part and figure in the
catalog.
The more consistent way to solve this is to prohibit the inclusion of anything
that's not specified in the listing. Then users could report sellers who
are doing it (same as using "like new" in your description for example).
But my honest opinion is that it seems like a solution without a problem.
In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
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| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 14:34 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 31 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, rab1234 writes:
| | […]
But my honest opinion is that it seems like a solution without a problem.
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This.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 14:35 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Catalog, rab1234 writes:
| | […]
But my honest opinion is that it seems like a solution without a problem.
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This.
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+1
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| | | | | Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Mar 15, 2023 15:29 | | Subject: | Re: An issue and a suggestion ????? | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Recently, and for a variety of unrelated reasons, we have had to secure a number
of minifigures. To our surprise and now concern we found between 40 and 50% of
sellers were including accessories with their figures. Nothing wrong with that
as Bricklink’s updated policy allows that at the sellers discretion.
Unfortunately, it does have an effect on the price guide as the figures only
have their primary code in use,
Could we introduce a suffix based system to differentiate between the two types
– so sw0001 has an alternative sw0001a01 ? The software already allows for this
so not much development time would be required and that would ensure the price
guide is more accurate than it currently is.
|
I always try to include the accessories where possible as I feel this gives the
buyer a more complete minifigure however thats not to say it wouldn't be
helpful to also have a bare bone minifig option too!
Some are simple where you can have Captain America with and without the shield
but for it to work properly they should all still appear under the same entry
with some kind of way of refining down the results further choosing with/without
accessories!
As far as how to decide what the accessorized entry comes with I would only have
one entry where accessories are chosen based on what seems most suitable/common
for instance if you have Indiana Jones from different sets with gun, with whip
and with flamed Torch maybe only include an entry with whip and satchel
If a seller obtains a version that doesn't have a whip but comes with satchel
and gun instead then to list it in the catalog they would have 3 options:-
A) List it bare bone
B) Aquire a whip from somewhere and list it as per the accessorized one in the
catalog
C) Use the accessorized entry but upload their own picture showing the minifigure
with different accessories
I'm pretty sure Indy comes with a whip in all sets but this is just an example!
I also think an accessory option might only be necessary for certain minifigures
for instance it might feel integral for a jedi to come with a lightsaber or Legolas
to come with a bow whereas the accessories that sometimes come with Jurrasic
worlds Owen may not seem that necessary with only a bare bone minifig entry being
required.
I would also say that these two entries should be merged into one entry without
the backpack:-
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=973pb3118c01&in=M
Keep it simple and have a super barebone option and then an accessorized one
but only with the most obvious accessories you'd expect the minifig to come
with
Either way as far as price history goes I feel most accessories are very cheap
anyway and so have very little impact on skewing price guide especially as at
the moment there are far bigger offenders with people currently selling their
individual minifigs under the complete Rivendell set entry!!!
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United Kingdom, England
USA, New Jersey
Canada, Ontario
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
