Recently I have wasted a LOT of money on bricklink due to seller errors.
Orders that did not have the specific part that had me placing an order in that
seller's store have refunded the part, but by the time they told me they
had already shipped the order, so it could not be canceled.
Orders that sent me the wrong part for the specific part that was the reason
for my placing the order think that it makes everything good if they do no more
than refund the value of that part leaving me having paid shipping cost for a
group of parts where I will likely make use of the other parts at some point
but could have gotten them for less from another store or done without them at
all.
There are a few things bricklink can do to help prevent this.
1) When a part is very easily mistaken for another part, and one of the parts
is very rare, place a note with the part, where any seller listing the part,
knows to verify that they have the correct part. 5 sellers sent me the incorrect
part for part 6412. I was sent part 3808. I realize that I could have asked
sellers to verify, but I didn't realize the difference was hard to distinguish
as it was obvious to me.
Of these sellers, only one thought it appropriate to refund more than the trivial
price of the single part.
2) have a policy that when a seller knows they don't have the part before
shipping the order, that the seller notify the buyer and give the buyer the option
to cancel.
I have an MOC that currently has part 3808 (of which I have several) and wanted
to replace 3808 with 6412 due an issue with strength in the structure. 3808
keeps falling off. I love 3808 for tables. But that is not my current use. See
how if the part was a full plate (half brick instead of a third) thick it would
connect well to the piece below. The cake piece below is well connected to the
6656 that is behind both pieces.
Any suggestions for fixing this issue, that keeps the structure so that it is
not a choke hazard if the toddler gets the piece off? I do often mix the larger
standard scale pieces in to my structures. Cutting a 98222 in half has come
to mind, but I have never cut anything thicker than baseplate.
1) When a part is very easily mistaken for another part, and one of the parts
is very rare, place a note with the part, where any seller listing the part,
knows to verify that they have the correct part. 5 sellers sent me the incorrect
part for part 6412. I was sent part 3808. I realize that I could have asked
sellers to verify, but I didn't realize the difference was hard to distinguish
as it was obvious to me.
What is a very rare part? How few need to be listed to make it very rare? What
about regular rare, hard to find and uncommon parts. And it is just as annoying
for common parts too. If anything, it happening for a rare part is easier to
handle, as a buyer can ask first. Whereas asking if a seller has correctly listed
common parts is impractical. Sellers should list all parts correctly, not just
very rare ones.
2) have a policy that when a seller knows they don't have the part before
shipping the order, that the seller notify the buyer and give the buyer the option
to cancel.
Agree there. I think the downside is sellers might just forget that part and
leave it to the buyer to report rather than lose the order.
1) When a part is very easily mistaken for another part, and one of the parts
is very rare, place a note with the part, where any seller listing the part,
What is a very rare part? How few need to be listed to make it very rare? What
about regular rare, hard to find and uncommon parts. And it is just as annoying
for common parts too. If anything, it happening for a rare part is easier to
handle, as a buyer can ask first. Whereas asking if a seller has correctly listed
common parts is impractical. Sellers should list all parts correctly, not just
very rare ones.
Actually it is more about parts easily mixed up, where the difference is significant
enough to impact the quality of a build (like the thickness of the part). Determining
easy to mix up could be based on how many people report that the parts were mixed
up. But as a buyer, I now know to be more careful and do more on my end to verify
the seller has the correct part. When there are part variations, that the catalog
lists as variations, or where I am otherwise familiar with the variations, and
I care which on I get, I do ask the seller.
USA, Oregon
United Kingdom, England