BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Selling, Nubs_Select writes:

In Selling, AppleMacJack writes:

Hopefully this is the right space to ask this:

My buyer has messaged stating they haven't received their item - I have proof
of posting but no tracking info and have already submitted a missing letter claim
with Royal Mail.

I'm wondering what I should do:

1. refund the buyer and hope Royal Mail don't tell me they've already
delivered the item?;
2. wait for Royal Mail to respond which could take another few days, and my buyer
has already sent several messages as they want their items?

Any advice would be appreciated!

wait until you get a reply from Royal Mail then if they find it let the customer
know and if they dont then refund them.

Yes/no - I wouldn't wait if the delay's already clearly abnormal, like
2x or 3x the normal delay (seller to decide what's "normal"

.

It may still arrive, and sometimes the buyer will wrote you back and repay the
order again when refunded!

Or they won't tell you, but they know you're truthy and reliable and
maybe they'll be your buyer for life - which has no price

All in all, making buyers happy has a positive effect on the whole community;
it's not only your shop

Author:

Nubs_Select

Posted:

May 9, 2024 17:15

Subject:

Re: Buyer hasn't received item, I have POP

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In Selling, AppleMacJack writes:

wait until you get a reply from Royal Mail then if they find it let the customer
know and if they dont then refund them.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

May 9, 2024 17:04

Subject:

Re: Buyer hasn't received item, I have POP

Viewed:

36 times

Topic:

In Selling, AppleMacJack writes:

If you only have proof of posting, Royal Mail won't know if it has been delivered.
They will likely refund you anyway, so refund the buyer.

Author:

v100Bricks

Posted:

May 9, 2024 17:03

Subject:

Re: Buyer hasn't received item, I have POP

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

I’ve had quite a few delays recently with Royal Mail, both as a buyer and a seller,
but they have got there eventually.
I would ask the buyer to be patient for a week to 10 days before actioning the
refund.
I would raise the case with RM as soon as they allow as sometime that magically
causes the package to appear.

That said if the buyer does not agree, you are obliged to refund within a reasonable
time.but what’s is reasonable…

Author:

SezaR

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:51

Subject:

Re: Buyer hasn't received item, I have POP

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Selling, AppleMacJack writes:

Is it 100% your responsibility! If he does not receive it or even if he is lying,
you should refund.

I don't know about prices of Royal mail, in Canada, I can send a letter without
tracking for just $2.35 but with tracking for $14. For small orders, I don't
charge tracking but add like $0.5 to each order. If a buyer claims he did not
receive his order, I refund, i.e. those extra $0.5 I have been charging would
be covering the cost of such missing letter.

But delays happen. I had a buyer that didn't receive it. I finally re-sent
his order (two small classic space sets that I had) but after 2.5 months, he
messaged me that the first order had just arrived! Another recent case: buyer
claimed he did not receive anything. I messaged back twice and requested him
to be patient. This is what I wrote:

May 1st
Hi XXXX,

So far, among those I sent or received (about 500), no mailer has gone lost.
It is possible the mailer is accidentally sent to a different province or post
warehouse than yours. I had one package with tracking to be delivered within
my province but sent to Ontario and then they returned it back to BC. Last year,
I sent a mailer to Quebec on about 10h Jan. and was finally received on 20th
March, about 2.5 month later, when I had already resolved.
As a buyer, if i don't mind to receive the part later, I would just wait
up to 3 months (which is indeed too long), otherwise if I need the parts earlier
I would ask a refund but if later, the mailer turns up in my mailbox, I would
return it to the seller.

I think 6 weeks is expected when a delay happens and beyond that, it is an exceptional
case.

So please let me know, what you would prefer.

I guess because of my message, I felt reassured and preferred to wait and on
May 6th, he wrote me:
Hey XXX,

Guess what? I got it today!

Cheers,

So far, all my letters without tracking are delivered (about 300-500?).

I hope this helps.

Author:

AppleMacJack

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:36

Subject:

Buyer hasn't received item, I have POP

Viewed:

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Topic:

Author:

peregrinator

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:34

Subject:

Re: User requests buying outside of Bricklink

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

In Selling, dstiefel writes:

You answered sufficiently. I just wanted to make sure I understood in case a
buyer asks this of me again in the future. Thank you!

If a buyer on here asks you - don't do it. Nothing good will come of it!

Author:

Schalkbitter

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:19

Subject:

15% SALE on beautiful super heroes sets!!

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

Sales

Next 2 days.

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:09

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

In General, SylvainLS writes:

In General, UTLF writes:

[…]
"It's the spaghetti code though! it's impossible to tackle!!!!"

Is that why they've done umpteen complex & pointless changes that no one
asked for while ignoring real issues? Implementing a MOC pop-up shop, a designer
program, a 2nd forum for Studio, and merging a bunch of parts for no reason?

To nitpick

As always!

none of these touches the old spaghetti code:
— the MOC Pop-up Shop is (was/will be again?) on the v2/v3 part of the website,
— the Studio forum is totally separate code but for the shared authentication
which is on the v2/v3 side,
— ditto BDP, which is also, IIUC, how BL is making money and why TLG bought BL,
— and the merges don’t touch the code at all, which is why it’s painfully done
manually over several months rather than with a simple scripted database update
in one fell.

Agreed with this - and I love the recent Catalog merges.

But UTLF point may be that time, energy and money spent on those weren't
used to fix or upgrade our day to day use of the current BrickLink.

For a few years we only see as upgrades: more taxes, documents and procedures
to follow.

I don't blame BrickLink, it's everywhere - the legalized income pressure
gets higher and higher on small people, with nothing/few in compensation.

Author:

SylvainLS

Posted:

May 9, 2024 16:00

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

27 times

Topic:

In General, UTLF writes:

To nitpick (who said “as always”?!) on this specific part of your post, none
of these touches the old spaghetti code:
— the MOC Pop-up Shop is (was/will be again?) on the v2/v3 part of the website,
— the Studio forum is totally separate code but for the shared authentication
which is on the v2/v3 side,
— ditto BDP, which is also, IIUC, how BL is making money and why TLG bought BL,
— and the merges don’t touch the code at all, which is why it’s painfully done
manually over several months rather than with a simple scripted database update
in one fell.

Author:

dstiefel

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:39

Subject:

Re: User requests buying outside of Bricklink

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

In Selling, peregrinator writes:

In Selling, dstiefel writes:

I was looking under terms for sellers but didn't see anything specifically
on topic, but does anyone have a definitive answer or knowledge if it goes against
Bricklink terms to sell items from store without documenting them? I know if
I wanted I could just remove the items from inventory and work out a deal separate
from Bricklink but I prefer not to do that and just curious if there are rules
against it.

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking but:

- you can't turn a BL order into an outside-of-BL order
- you can sell items you've listed on BL elsewhere

You answered sufficiently. I just wanted to make sure I understood in case a
buyer asks this of me again in the future. Thank you!

Author:

peregrinator

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:33

Subject:

Re: User requests buying outside of Bricklink

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

In Selling, dstiefel writes:

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking but:

- you can't turn a BL order into an outside-of-BL order
- you can sell items you've listed on BL elsewhere

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:32

Subject:

Re: Useful selling tip.

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Selling, jennnifer writes:

In Selling, runner.caller writes:

I count into groups of 5 too. I also have a checked cloth on my sorting table.
I spread out 5 of whatever into each square and it's super easy to count.

We count by 5 - watch the parts in one hand up to having a group of 5, then pour
it.
It's easy to recognize patterns like 2+3 or 4+1 to make 5.

Starting some quantity, depending the part - like 30 or 50 - we use the counting
scale exclusively.

We never check any order count, it's worthless.
If it's a "more crucial" count, we just count or sample the scale
slower.

If sometimes (rarely) there's an error, we refund or reship the problem.

Fixing a single problem is far more (IMO) efficient than the cost of counting
twice or visually checking but ALL orders.

Author:

dstiefel

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:29

Subject:

User requests buying outside of Bricklink

Viewed:

206 times

Topic:

Author:

sasquatch_eater

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:25

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

30 times

Topic:

In General, Saitobricks.ca writes:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, Jkbvmartinez04 writes:

No mustard-flavored Spam? I'm very surprised...

Have you tried it? The mustard-flavored one isn't spam.

How about pizza with ham?

How about this?

Author:

SylvainLS

Posted:

May 9, 2024 15:20

Subject:

Re: Useful selling tip.

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

In Selling, jennnifer writes:

[…]
I count into groups of 5 too. I also have a checked cloth on my sorting table.
I spread out 5 of whatever into each square and it's super easy to count.

Count by 10, 5, or 2 (depends on the size & quantity).
Check by another count, like 9 or 3 (even → odd, not a multiple, so you catch
“by one” errors), or by another method.
For instance:
— method 1: 9+1 = 10, pick 9 (or 3x3), push in a corner, pick a 10th an put in
another place. Count the 10thes and the remainder (less than 10) to get the
total.
— method 2: 2x5 = 10, pick five times two or two times five, and push in a corner.
Don’t care about the total, just that the remainder is the same.

But then, I mostly only count received orders. When picking for a build, it’s
not really a problem if I’m wrong

Author:

UTLF

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:48

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

I don't care about the spam itself, I'm more-so bothered by the fact
that the Admins in charge allow it in the first place; it may be an insignificant
annoyance, but for me, it shows they don't care. Action speaks louder than
words, and they're full of empty promises.

They can say they care, they can give as much lip-service as they'd like,
but it's been going on for years now and they still haven't come up with
a simple solution to forum spam. I've said it in the past, but it doesn't
really make me feel confident in the site's security when they can't
even deal with simple spam being posted daily for the past 3 or so years.

"It's the spaghetti code though! it's impossible to tackle!!!!"

Is that why they've done umpteen complex & pointless changes that no one
asked for while ignoring real issues? Implementing a MOC pop-up shop, a designer
program, a 2nd forum for Studio, and merging a bunch of parts for no reason?
It's extremely frustrating to watch, especially when some changes have been
protested for weeks before they implemented them. But "muh spaghetti code"
prevents them from implementing a requirement or filter for forum posts. Makes
sense.

I personally think the whole Bricklink team needs a restructuring or needs to
be replaced entirely. Sorry to say, but this seems to have been an issue for
way longer than I've even been on the website judging by other posts that
have been brought up over the years.

They hired more helpdesk staff back around Fall 2022, then on top of that they
had Lego step in and provide customer service reps this year, and that STILL
hasn't helped the help desk backlog, that has been "months behind"
for months now with no real info as to how bad it is, we can only go off of what
regular forum members parrot in their posts.

On top of that, the community engagement people hardly communicate with us...
the only admin that actually seems to acknowledge posts is Russell, but even
then a lot gets ignored and looked over (I know he can't reply to everything
and read everything, but there are a lot of popular forum posts that have valid
concerns that get ignored)

I love Bricklink, just hate to see it mishandled and stomped on like it has been
for the past while now.

Author:

jennnifer

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:43

Subject:

Re: Useful selling tip.

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

In Selling, runner.caller writes:

As you pick an order, group all the items in small piles of 5.
When done picking, it should be super easy to count. If the final total items
picked matches the total order items, then odds are the order was picked correctly.

It's the most useful selling tip I've encountered.
This has been shared in the forum before (which is how I first learned it), but
I thought it's worthwhile to bring it up again because I see forum complaints
often like "over half of my orders on BL are wrong missing pieces"...
etc...

This usefulness will also vary depending on the types of orders you get as a
seller.

MOST of mine are all small items and less than 100pcs so this method is pretty
easy. It works for larger orders too, just need more space/larger groups or a
mix of both.

It still saves me from a short pick here and there and since using it, my error
rate has gone down considerably.

I count into groups of 5 too. I also have a checked cloth on my sorting table.
I spread out 5 of whatever into each square and it's super easy to count.

~Jen

Author:

Saitobricks.ca

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:37

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

25 times

Topic:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

In General, Saitobricks.ca writes:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, popsicle writes:

Fundamentally instruments to insert links, it seems. Often the most effective
and simplest tack is to remove motivation. Consider...

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1465461

I just ignore it and it doesn't hurt me at all.

Same!

Gummies, Pizzas, Mustard, various GPTusers, mods with far too much time and knowledge
(and no Selling Feedback, imagine!), silly contests, Inventory Requests - there
are many different forms of SPAM - depending the POV maybe

Says the one who spammed the forum with over 6,500 messages

Profession: spreader.

Confession: spammer.

Author:

1001bricks

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:25

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

28 times

Topic:

In General, Saitobricks.ca writes:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, popsicle writes:

Fundamentally instruments to insert links, it seems. Often the most effective
and simplest tack is to remove motivation. Consider...

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1465461

I just ignore it and it doesn't hurt me at all.

Says the one who spammed the forum with over 6,500 messages

Profession: spreader.

Author:

Saitobricks.ca

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:13

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

34 times

Topic:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, Jkbvmartinez04 writes:

No mustard-flavored Spam? I'm very surprised...

Have you tried it? The mustard-flavored one isn't spam.

How about pizza with ham?

Author:

axaday

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:10

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

26 times

Topic:

In General, Jkbvmartinez04 writes:

No mustard-flavored Spam? I'm very surprised...

Have you tried it? The mustard-flavored one isn't spam.

Author:

popsicle

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:10

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

69 times

Topic:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, popsicle writes:

Fundamentally instruments to insert links, it seems. Often the most effective
and simplest tack is to remove motivation. Consider...

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1465461

I just ignore it and it doesn't hurt me at all.

I understand. From the posted suggestion "Personally don't find the
spam posts all that bothersome. Many do though, and if there's an easy fix
to tidy things up a bit..."

But whether you, I or some others are overly bothered, is not the point of the
suggestion. Betterment of the site, if for no other reason

Anyway, it's just a suggestion of how something that does bother others,
could be handled. A few analogies leap to mind, things that should not be allowed
as being disruptive or subversive to the accustomed functioning of a given community.
In other words, things which though don't particularly bother you or I, might
be addressed nonetheless

But like I said, just a suggestion

Author:

Saitobricks.ca

Posted:

May 9, 2024 14:07

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

29 times

Topic:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

In General, axaday writes:

In General, popsicle writes:

Fundamentally instruments to insert links, it seems. Often the most effective
and simplest tack is to remove motivation. Consider...

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1465461

I just ignore it and it doesn't hurt me at all.

Says the one who spammed the forum with over 6,500 messages

Author:

sasquatch_eater

Posted:

May 9, 2024 13:48

Subject:

Re: Continued Forum Spam

Viewed:

36 times

Topic: