I discovered something that perhaps not many people know.
When an item is in someone's cart, it can't be purchased by someone else
using the "Easy Buy" option in wanted lists.
For clarity: this means the item hasn't yet been sold and is available to
everyone if you search for it, but not if you want to buy it through the wanted
list options.
Considering that millions of items can be in a (not yet purchased) cart at any
given time, this can significantly impact what you're able to buy through
a wanted list.
This also allows users to pre-order rare items, preventing users with the same
item in a wanted list from buying it that way.
Is this intentional, or is it an undesirable side effect of how wanted lists
are handled by BL?
I'm sorry if this has already been discussed/known, but I found it quite
shocking
I discovered something that perhaps not many people know.
When an item is in someone's cart, it can't be purchased by someone else
using the "Easy Buy" option in wanted lists.
For clarity: this means the item hasn't yet been sold and is available to
everyone if you search for it, but not if you want to buy it through the wanted
list options. […]
That’s not how it should work (or we all think it should work).
Are you sure about that? Have you tried with a very specific item?
And is it EasyBuy only or does it also affects Auto-select?
I discovered something that perhaps not many people know.
When an item is in someone's cart, it can't be purchased by someone else
using the "Easy Buy" option in wanted lists.
For clarity: this means the item hasn't yet been sold and is available to
everyone if you search for it, but not if you want to buy it through the wanted
list options. […]
That’s not how it should work (or we all think it should work).
Are you sure about that? Have you tried with a very specific item?
And is it EasyBuy only or does it also affects Auto-select?
I'm very sure and you replicate the scenario.
I tried it with an item where there were only 4 sellers in my country who had
this particular part.
1) When I clicked the 'Buy All' option in my wanted list that contained
this part I got 4 sellers that had this part for sale
2) Then I went to one of those 4 shops and put the item in my shopping cart
3) Next I went back to my wanted listed and clicked 'Buy All' again and
I got 3 shops who had this item, not 4.
In between all steps I refreshed my browser F5.
I tried it with an item where there were only 4 sellers in my country who had
this particular part.
1) When I clicked the 'Buy All' option in my wanted list that contained
this part I got 4 sellers that had this part for sale
2) Then I went to one of those 4 shops and put the item in my shopping cart
3) Next I went back to my wanted listed and clicked 'Buy All' again and
I got 3 shops who had this item, not 4.
In between all steps I refreshed my browser F5.
Er, it’s not what I see:
— I have a somewhat rare part in My WL.
— I go to the Buy page.
— I use the Wanted Items tab and only select that part.
— It shows me 13 stores.
— I go to the store, I put all their stock in my cart (7 items).
— I reopen the Buy page.
— I re-select the part.
— It shows all 13 stores, including the one I took everything and it still shows
they have one lot with the 7 items.
… and I tried with the store Auto-select would choose and it’s the same.
… and I tried with putting the lot in a list of its own (so I don’t use the Wanted
Items tab), and it’s the same.
Now, the results of Auto-select are a different matter, because Auto-select is
like manual: when you try to select a store in which you already have a cart,
the content of the cart is taken into account, in case you’d just need to increase
the quantity. And when you’ve taken all the stock, you can’t select more. Logical.
But, again, I see all the stores, whether I have all their stock in a cart or
not, whether I use Buy All & the Wanted Lists tab or the Wanted Items tab.
I tried it with an item where there were only 4 sellers in my country who had
this particular part.
1) When I clicked the 'Buy All' option in my wanted list that contained
this part I got 4 sellers that had this part for sale
2) Then I went to one of those 4 shops and put the item in my shopping cart
3) Next I went back to my wanted listed and clicked 'Buy All' again and
I got 3 shops who had this item, not 4.
In between all steps I refreshed my browser F5.
Er, it’s not what I see:
— I have a somewhat rare part in My WL.
— I go to the Buy page.
— I use the Wanted Items tab and only select that part.
— It shows me 13 stores.
— I go to the store, I put all their stock in my cart (7 items).
— I reopen the Buy page.
— I re-select the part.
— It shows all 13 stores, including the one I took everything and it still shows
they have one lot with the 7 items.
… and I tried with the store Auto-select would choose and it’s the same.
… and I tried with putting the lot in a list of its own (so I don’t use the Wanted
Items tab), and it’s the same.
Now, the results of Auto-select are a different matter, because Auto-select is
like manual: when you try to select a store in which you already have a cart,
the content of the cart is taken into account, in case you’d just need to increase
the quantity. And when you’ve taken all the stock, you can’t select more. Logical.
But, again, I see all the stores, whether I have all their stock in a cart or
not, whether I use Buy All & the Wanted Lists tab or the Wanted Items tab.
In other words: I can’t reproduce the bug here.
There are different ways to buy your wanted list, perhaps there's confusion
here. So let me try to summarise in what ways you can buy, at least that I know
off.
1.
- on the wanted list page: select the buy tab (right most tab)
- select in the scrolling field on the left the wanted list you want to buy and
click "apply"
- from there you can only go further by clicking the "Auto-select" button
2.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page
- click the button "Easy buy" next to the wanted list of your choice
- a pop-up appears with a button "Create carts"
3.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page (same as above in 2)
- but now click on the name of the wanted list you want to buy, ignoring the
"Easy buy" button
- then you are presented with the button "Buy All" and this goes back
to option 1, so this method is just an alternative to option 1.
4.
You say:
"— I go to the Buy page.
— I use the Wanted Items tab and only select that part."
But where's the Wanted Items tab on that page? What is the start URL of the
buy page anyway?
I tried option 1-3 and the store with the item I wanted didn't shop up.
I hope I'm not wasting your time. It could well be that I don't fully
understands all the exact rules of BL's Wanted List algorithms.
[…]
There are different ways to buy your wanted list, perhaps there's confusion
here. So let me try to summarise in what ways you can buy, at least that I know
off.
1.
- on the wanted list page: select the buy tab (right most tab)
Before they changed the “navbar,” there was a direct link to it in the menu.
Now you have to use the tab in the WL page. But it’s the same
- select in the scrolling field on the left the wanted list you want to buy and
click "apply"
- from there you can only go further by clicking the "Auto-select" button
Oh but you can do many things there!
a. You can click on the stores’ names to visit them.
b. You can manually select the stores & check what the store has, at what prices.
c. You can use the Wanted Items tab and do (almost) the same as (b) but visually
(explained below).
2.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page
- click the button "Easy buy" next to the wanted list of your choice
- a pop-up appears with a button "Create carts"
Yes… but I never use that or advise to use it as there’s no filters.
3.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page (same as above in 2)
- but now click on the name of the wanted list you want to buy, ignoring the
"Easy buy" button
- then you are presented with the button "Buy All" and this goes back
to option 1, so this method is just an alternative to option 1.
Yes, it just goes to (1) with the list already selected.
And if you select items in the WL before clicking “Buy X Selected,” then you
go to (1) but on the Wanted Items tab, with those items already selected
4.
You say:
"— I go to the Buy page.
— I use the Wanted Items tab and only select that part."
It allows you to choose individual lots in multiple Wanted Lists.
It also allows to “force” (lock icon) a lot: it filters the stores in the list
to have that lot.
It also shows you what’s in a store just by clicking on the store’s line (not
its name, just next to it): the numbers below the items change to what the store
can fulfill, plus, the border is Green when the store has the entire lot, yellow
if it has some but not the whole quantity and red if it has nothing.
That tab also shows the parts that were not found with in the selected stores
(manually- or Auto-selected) if the leftmost checkbox is NOT ticked (= the
items found in the selected stores now have a quantity of 0 and are hidden).
What is the start URL of the buy page anyway?
Answered above….
I tried option 1-3 and the store with the item I wanted didn't shop up.
That’s where there’s some possible confusion:
Do yo mean you tried “1 & 3” and looked at the list of stores that have some
of your items, or do you mean you tried “1, 2, and 3” and used Auto-select for
1 & 3 and looked at the selected stores?
Because if it’s the former (just go to the Buy page and nothing else), then I
did that too (in multiple ways).
And I always see 13 stores for the wanted part, whether I have their items in
a cart or not.
But, for the latter, Auto-select (and therefore EasyBuy, which is just a shortcut)
does consider carts because it can’t put more in the cart than what the store
has. So it “deduces” that you want more and uses another store.
In the same way, if you use the select button on that store, you’ll see a lot
of red text and warnings.
Maybe it depends on the item?
What are you looking for?
[…]
There are different ways to buy your wanted list, perhaps there's confusion
here. So let me try to summarise in what ways you can buy, at least that I know
off.
1.
- on the wanted list page: select the buy tab (right most tab)
Before they changed the “navbar,” there was a direct link to it in the menu.
Now you have to use the tab in the WL page. But it’s the same
- select in the scrolling field on the left the wanted list you want to buy and
click "apply"
- from there you can only go further by clicking the "Auto-select" button
Oh but you can do many things there!
a. You can click on the stores’ names to visit them.
b. You can manually select the stores & check what the store has, at what prices.
c. You can use the Wanted Items tab and do (almost) the same as (b) but visually
(explained below).
2.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page
- click the button "Easy buy" next to the wanted list of your choice
- a pop-up appears with a button "Create carts"
Yes… but I never use that or advise to use it as there’s no filters.
3.
- click on the wanted lists tab on the wanted list page (same as above in 2)
- but now click on the name of the wanted list you want to buy, ignoring the
"Easy buy" button
- then you are presented with the button "Buy All" and this goes back
to option 1, so this method is just an alternative to option 1.
Yes, it just goes to (1) with the list already selected.
And if you select items in the WL before clicking “Buy X Selected,” then you
go to (1) but on the Wanted Items tab, with those items already selected
4.
You say:
"— I go to the Buy page.
— I use the Wanted Items tab and only select that part."
It allows you to choose individual lots in multiple Wanted Lists.
It also allows to “force” (lock icon) a lot: it filters the stores in the list
to have that lot.
It also shows you what’s in a store just by clicking on the store’s line (not
its name, just next to it): the numbers below the items change to what the store
can fulfill, plus, the border is Green when the store has the entire lot, yellow
if it has some but not the whole quantity and red if it has nothing.
That tab also shows the parts that were not found with in the selected stores
(manually- or Auto-selected) if the leftmost checkbox is NOT ticked (= the
items found in the selected stores now have a quantity of 0 and are hidden).
What is the start URL of the buy page anyway?
Answered above….
I tried option 1-3 and the store with the item I wanted didn't shop up.
That’s where there’s some possible confusion:
Do yo mean you tried “1 & 3” and looked at the list of stores that have some
of your items, or do you mean you tried “1, 2, and 3” and used Auto-select for
1 & 3 and looked at the selected stores?
Because if it’s the former (just go to the Buy page and nothing else), then I
did that too (in multiple ways).
And I always see 13 stores for the wanted part, whether I have their items in
a cart or not.
But, for the latter, Auto-select (and therefore EasyBuy, which is just a shortcut)
does consider carts because it can’t put more in the cart than what the store
has. So it “deduces” that you want more and uses another store.
In the same way, if you use the select button on that store, you’ll see a lot
of red text and warnings.
Maybe it depends on the item?
What are you looking for?
I hope I'm not wasting your time. It could well be that I don't fully
understands all the exact rules of BL's Wanted List algorithms.
No problem. Understanding and helping others understand is great
Thanks for the elaborate reply.
I need some time to check this all out.
While everyone else is on vacation I'm very busy with my real life shop (not
LEGO related) in the centre of beautiful Utrecht. The number of tourists visiting
my shop is 40% higher than last year so I struggle with my time.
[…]
While everyone else is on vacation I'm very busy with my real life shop (not
LEGO related) in the centre of beautiful Utrecht. The number of tourists visiting
my shop is 40% higher than last year so I struggle with my time.
Hmm, “I’ve too many clients!” is better than “I don’t have enough clients!”,
no?
Netherlands, Overijssel
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
