BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Selling, Davidpkaiser2 writes:

Hello,
Total novice here.
I’m a new seller and I have lots of new and complete used sets available for
sale.
Some of them are very heavy like the UCS Razor Crest.
I’ve got USPS Ground Advantage as my first shipping option. At the Post Office
they told me that is all I can use (other than priority)
Then I have UPS Ground as my second shipping option.
I set it up that way because I think UPS Ground is more affordable than USPS
Ground Advantage once you reach a certain weight so UPS is better for those heavier
sets.
Assuming I’m correct (and there’s certainly the chance I’m not), will Bricklink
choose the shipping option that is the least expensive per the weight of the
set?
What is the best way to get accurate shipping costs in advance of a sale?
Thanks.

To be honest with sets especially big and high value ones your probably better
off having a manual invoice option so you can quote accordingly and/or give your
customer various options. This is the main reason I choose to sell my sets here
rather than ebay

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 13:28

Subject:

Re: Increase buyers leaving feedback

Viewed:

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Topic:

In Selling, NerdyBirdBricks writes:

I've noticed a few times buyers that leave feedback with other stores they've
bought from but not from ours. By no means do I think that we are doing an inadequate
job and the praise we do receive is wonderful so I am not trying to sound greedy
I just want to know what sellers do to increase their likelihood of buyers leaving
them feedback.

Do you send out a message asking for them to leave it?

Do you include a note in the order itself seeking it?

I have left feedback with them already but haven't received anything back,
we are still a fairly small operation, but I am confident that I am doing a great
job in quickly getting orders out and packaging contents safely and well so just
wondering if I need to be more bold about how I approach receiving praise from
others because it would help our store greatly!

Thanks for your time,

-Samantha

For every page of 50 orders only around 25-30 buyers leave me feedback therefore
around 45% of them don’t

I’ve never prompted a buyer to leave feedback and to save time I don’t actually
leave feedback for them either unless they specifically choose to leave it for
me in which case I return the favour out of courtesy. I generally consider feedback
more of a buyer thing intended for rating sellers and so I don’t believe sellers
should even be able to leave feedback for their customers or at least not negatively

The 100+ feedback you have is more than sufficient for a buyer to order from
you with confidence and even if you tripled your feedback today I doubt it will
make any real difference to the volume of orders you receive. The deciding factors
will simply be having what the buyer needs in terms of selection, quantities,
rarity and/or competitive pricing!

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 11:25

Subject:

Re: In the eye of the beholder

Viewed:

30 times

Topic:

Off Topic

In Off Topic, 1001bricks writes:

In Off Topic, yorbrick writes:

In Off Topic, Stuart9 writes:

A “weed” and a self set that caught both the sun and my eye today.

Always loved Borage blue colour.

Found in a patch of poor uncultivated soil, iPad doesn’t do them justice.

They taste nice too, a subtle sweet taste. Pinch the stamens and pull. Pop in
a salad or G&T.

I confirm they taste very good.
We've just planted some of them in our garden.

My Nettles, Field Mustard Leaves, Stems, flowers taste equally nice

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 10:39

Subject:

Re: In the eye of the beholder

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

Off Topic

In Off Topic, Stuart9 writes:

A “weed” and a self set that caught both the sun and my eye today.

Always loved Borage blue colour.

Found in a patch of poor uncultivated soil, iPad doesn’t do them justice.

I have a similar approach to weeds/wildlife in the sense that whatever wants
to grown along my borders can grow along my borders and this is what we have
today.... nettles, Long grasses and that one with the yellow flowers is wild
Field Mustard

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 10:03

Subject:

Re: Congrats infinibrix!

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

Feedback

In Feedback, 1001bricks writes:

In Feedback, infinibrix writes:

In Feedback, popsicle writes:

Looks good there, the orange

https://www.bricklink.com/feedback.asp?u=infinibrix

Eleven years and today you hit it. What will your BrickLink profile look like
in another eleven, I wonder?

Used to really enjoy this type of milestone in others. Still do, apparently

Thanks guys, I guess because I already have the 16k ebay account I let it drift
under the radar a bit but I had still noticed it creeping closer to that 5k milestone
and now that you mention it I do appreciate the Orange brick particularly as
it fits in with my Logo colour scheme ha ha

In fact I think I’d rather it
stay Orange right up until (if I ever) reach Violet! Don’t really want to be
a Pink or Tan brick

Don't talk to me about violet, it's awful

That would suit me just fine as that would also fit with my colour scheme

Once you get to 50k you should probably have half a dozen 2x4 bricks stacked
up with any colours of your choosing

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 07:01

Subject:

Re: Where is the scale for box condition ?

Viewed:

28 times

Topic:

In Selling, cosmicray writes:

In Selling, Dhobeck writes:

In Selling, yorbrick writes:

In Selling, cosmicray writes:

In Selling, infinibrix writes:

Obviously people will always still interpretate condition slightly differently
but I feel overall this would be a lots less subjective than a 1-10 grading system
and sellers will have a much better understanding of the most appropriate option
to choose for their sets condition

I have never specified a box as MISB, not ever. Recently a buyer tried to tell
me that "Factory sealed in original box" meant I was claiming it was
MISB. 🤦‍♀️

When buyers begin to assign meanings that were never stated/intended, that's
when it is time to look out for the falling sandbag from above.

I tend not to describe the box at all. That is what the (new, sealed) condition
is for. Unless there is any damage, then I'd note it.

I never really know what people mean by MISB. Do they mean the parts are mint
inside the box, or that the box is mint, or that the box is in a sealed shipping
box?

It means mint in sealed box. I think

Mint is a plant that grows in my garden, it's nothing to do with box conditions.

Nita Rae

Yes but it actually refers to Mint of the Sweet/Candy variety but why so many
sellers go to the trouble of opening their sealed sets just to put a complimentary
mint in the box only to re-seal it again I have no idea?

But then I guess if Mint in Sealed Box helps it sell then its worth a try

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 16, 2024 06:18

Subject:

Re: Congrats infinibrix!

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

Feedback

In Feedback, popsicle writes:

Looks good there, the orange

In fact I think I’d rather it
stay Orange right up until (if I ever) reach Violet! Don’t really want to be
a Pink or Tan brick

Either way you look to be doing pretty good yourself Cory with that, getting
on 7k flawless feedback though we’re probably on borrowed time now with the law
of averages set well against us but I'm sure like me you will appreciate
it while it continues...

One things for sure, I’m getting more and more frustrated with ebay and their
increasingly more challenging hoops to jump through along with glitches that
prevent most of my items being visible on ebay.com (USA trade) along with serious
category glitches that most people on ebay are unaware of where certain keyword
searches hide the majority of matching results
hence I’ve been moving a lot more of my business to BL and seeing a steady increase
in orders therefore I suspect the next 5k will come sooner than 11 years I hope

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 15, 2024 14:57

Subject:

Re: Good Idea or Not? Minifig Blind Bags…

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41 times

Topic:

In General, LegendaryConch writes:

Hello everyone!
I’ve recently had the idea to sell Minifigure Blind Bags on my store page and
was wondering if it’s a good idea or not? They’d be Custom Items, probably Star
Wars, from my own collection, and be $5-$8. I wanted to gather any feedback and
info on this as I haven’t seen anyone else do this.

Are Blind Bags even allowed to be sold on BrickLink? (As in would it be considered
a potential scam activity?)
Is there any interest on here for anyone to buy them?
Anything info would be appreciated.

Peace!
-Conch

not likely to be allowed here besides which it's always best for customers
to know exactly what they are getting else you run the risk of disappointment
from your buyers

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 15, 2024 14:44

Subject:

Re: Inventory advise needed

Viewed:

18 times

Topic:

Help

In Help, Ajiki writes:

In Help, infinibrix writes:

In Help, Ajiki writes:

Hi All,
Need some advise on inventory management.
Do you ever recount all items in your store, go from lot to lot to check if everything
is correct.
Or do you take for granted that you sometimes miss something for an order?

Any advise is more then welcome.

I barely ever count or check inventory but at the same time you do not want to
put yourself in a position where you cannot fulfill an order as that is outside
Bricklinks own policy of selling what you don't have to hand. The solution
would be to only to sell a portion of your stock at a time so that you have backup
stock to fall back on so if you have 100 parts maybe only list 70 and then list
some more as your store inventory stock gets low or shows 0 left. I only start
counting once I'm down to my last 10 or so, whereupon you can list all your
remaining inventory accurately with little time taken up needing to constantly
count/stock check all the time

If I would have the space that could be an option, but my space I very limited.

you dont need any more space it's just a case of storing your parts together
but only listing some of it rather than all of it in one go.

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 15, 2024 11:37

Subject:

Re: Inventory advise needed

Viewed:

23 times

Topic:

Help

In Help, Ajiki writes:

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 15, 2024 10:54

Subject:

Re: Where is the scale for box condition ?

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

In Selling, cosmicray writes:

I'm seeing a large variety of sellers, grading box conditions with numerical
numbers.

Is there a place where the list of what those numbers mean is defined ?

When I see 9.3/10, or 7/10, without a defined grade list, they are (essentially)
meaningless (or something the seller made up out of thin air).

Nita Rae

To be honest I’m not even sure we should entertain/encourage pristine box condition
expectations from buyers since even if a box looks perfect, almost every box
will still always have some kind of minor corner wear/edge wear or be subject
to that wear during transit and so for a buyer to expect their boxes to be absolute
immaculately pristine is unrealistic and an unfair burden on sellers!

Therefore with that in mind Bricklink could help sellers with perhaps a clearer
more simple grading system that actually lowers buyers expectations so that they
cannot ever really expect an absolute pristine box and you do that by having
a grading system where there is no such option for listing an Immaculate Pristine
box. The Seller could still add this wording to their notes (At their own risk!)
but the official grading would read more like this with buyers only able to count
themselves lucky if they get something better than these descriptions....

Perfect/Near Perfect – Box in overall perfect condition but upon closer examination
minor imperfections, minor creases and light edge wear are always a possibility

Okay – Box good acceptable condition but may show more obvious signs of wear
such as small indented scrapes and creases, Minor corner dents, slight warping,
General shelf wear or blemishes

Poor – Box condition significantly damaged and may have dents, crushing, large
scrapes, Torn artwork and overall significant wear!

Obviously people will always still interpretate condition slightly differently
but I feel overall this would be a lots less subjective than a 1-10 grading system
and sellers will have a much better understanding of the most appropriate option
to choose for their sets condition

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 14, 2024 04:29

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In General, Nubs_Select writes:

In General, randyf writes:

In General, Nubs_Select writes:

In General, randyf writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

In General, randyf writes:

In General, peregrinator writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

This is what I had written in the description. "Comments: No hair, round
plate, lightsaber, doesn't light up. Rest of figure looks in good shape."

Do I understand correctly that the hair, round plate, and light saber were missing
from the minifig? If that's the case then I could see why it was removed
- 3-4 pieces out of a total of 7-8 were missing.

The main part is only one piece, so three of the four pieces of the figure were
missing. Once we have a chance to get the inventories for these figures into
the catalog, there will be no confusion over them.

Wel, the figures are only 19 years old.

Prior administrators would not let them be inventoried. The current team decided
to allow them to be inventoried later last year. All we are waiting for are good
images of the figures without all of the pieces that can come off easily. If
you would like to help with that, please do so.

I got 1 or 2 of them (I think obi wan (and maybe Anakin?)). If you need anything
specific please let me know

Read above.

"All we are waiting for are good images of the figures without all of the
pieces that can come off easily."

I did but wasn’t sure what it meant

should I print them off and send them
to bricklink in the USA or make entires for the parts or something else

I wouldn’t bother.... Try to be helpful, Get an unhelpful response!

I’m not sure what it means either? I could try to guess but it’s certainly not
worded very clear!?

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 21:52

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In General, Admin_Russell writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

In General, zorbanj writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

This is what I had written in the description. "Comments: No hair, round
plate, lightsaber, doesn't light up. Rest of figure looks in good shape."

If your fig wasn't removed automatically by some algorithm, it was likely
due to the missing hair and round plate. Also, the other are still listed someone
reported yours and not the others.

And this had been discussed prior and was said that the figure can be listed
that way since it does not have an inventory. Which doesn't make send because
the figure can be inventoried since the parts are removable. But the fact mine
was taken down and not the others is ridiculous. Especially since this was the
agreed upon previous policy.

I don't remember this policy, but we did decide a few years ago to not allow
the inventorying of Technic minifigures and this presented the same sort of problem,
because we removed entries for the individual parts, like the foot.

Frayed capes and wands that do not light up will not cause a listing to be removed.
Missing hairpieces, missing capes, missing 1 x 1 round plates or any other missing
part WILL result in the listing being removed if reported.

An inventory is not necessary to determine if basic components are missing from
a listing. The image, the instructions, the Item Name, and any Additional Catalog
Notes all help set the scope of the entry.

The appropriate place for items missing parts is the Custom Items section. We
need to do a better job helping sellers list under the custom item section and
helping buyers find these listings. In fact, the whole section could use more
exposure in general.

Well yes if items like this and incomplete sets need to be listed as custom lots
then that's fine but just like how custom items appear at the top within
in a store search I think the same should apply to Custom lots within a generic
search. For instance on this page where I've done an example search for 'Lando'
:-

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=lando#T=A

There are two custom Lando minifigures including one of my own minifigs without
cape but they are right at the very bottom of the page (that's if anyone
should care or think to scroll that far down?) However if they are at the very
top people will notice them yet can still continue to scroll down with purpose
to their desired search be that looking under Lando 'Parts section' or
'Minifigures section' so as far as I can see it should just a case of
rearranging the positioning of the category sections. If that was done then Custom
lots would actually become a lot more worthwhile and nobody would have reason
to complain about being forced to use custom lots

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 18:21

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

36 times

Topic:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

In General, infinibrix writes:

In General, Tracyd writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

Seems rather implausible to me that someone would look for this figure. There
are 6 listed that were cheaper than mine. 2 of which are missing pieces. The
other 4 have problems. And my figure is the one that gets reported. How does
that make any sense?

Maybe they were shopping in your store for other things and ran across it and
reported it. You are driving yourself crazy and investing way too much time
in the why/who/what.

Perhaps they are happy to spend their time discussing/debating such things and
why not after all there are plenty of other people here in this forum that get
into far more pointless discussions?

I don't agree.

....with anyone!

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 18:16

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In General, Tracyd writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

Maybe they were shopping in your store for other things and ran across it and
reported it. You are driving yourself crazy and investing way too much time
in the why/who/what.

Perhaps they are happy to spend their time discussing/debating such things and
why not after all there are plenty of other people here in this forum that get
into far more pointless discussions?

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 10:24

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

47 times

Topic:

In General, yorbrick writes:

I don't know if you've been treated unjustly, but it
is to your own advantage to do that.

I don't think they have been treated unjustly. The rule is that minifigures
must be complete to list them as minifigures. It wasn't complete, so it was
removed as it had been reported. I don't think BL staff are making judgements
about whether they should be allowed to waive the rules in particular cases.
The rule is there and they apply it. It broke a rule and it was removed.

The unjust bit is that they are not inventoried so sellers do not get the opportunity
to part them out, so these are somewhat different to other incomplete minifigures.

If you’re saying the only unjust part is that the seller cannot list/see the
inventory then that actually also makes removing the listing unjust since the
seller has no other means of listing their available parts? With an item of this
value Bricklink should be asking the question “Why has this seller listed this
item incomplete?” and with no inventory available it is not hard to see why hence
removing such a listing is ‘Unjust’ and exceptions need to be made

Even if the seller is expected to buy the cheap missing parts, that’s fine but
in that case Bricklink needs to at least provide all the relevant info if this
is what is expected of them. To be honest I myself am not even sure what the
tile part at the end of the lightsaber even looks like and just because I recognize
the hair piece and colour it doesn’t mean every other seller will and whilst
you could research online on other sites you shouldn't really have to and
so if Bricklink themselves aren’t able to provide the relevant info or ability
to list these parts then that is of little fault of the seller and BL should
recognize this as a valid reason to list incomplete!

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 03:51

Subject:

Re: Sam Kerr Minifigure using wrong hair design??

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

Catalog

In Catalog, Turez writes:

In Catalog Requests, infinibrix writes:

I've just had a customer complain that my Sam Kerr isn't genuine?

Minifig No: soc155 Name: Samantha Kerr - Red Soccer Uniform

soc155 (Inv) Samantha Kerr - Red Soccer Uniform
Minifigures: Sports: Soccer

However whilst its accurate as per Bricklink and Brickset it seems the set comes
with alternate hair pieces and whilst it may seem okay to use either it really
ought to match with the instructions which actually use:-

17630 Minifigure, Hair Straight Cut and Short Ponytail
Parts: Minifigure, Hair

The promotional images of Sam Kerr holding the minifig also show it with this
hair design:-

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-40634-lego-icons-of-play-and-play-unstoppable-campaign-revealed/

I agree. But since the wrong minifigure soc155 has been in the catalog for so
long and is listed in many stores, a new minifigure with the correct hair piece
must be added to the catalog to fix this.

https://www.bricklink.com/wantedCatalog.asp?catType=M

When I next have to do a batch of minifig photos for my ebay listings I may have
a look at getting a Sam Kerr photo done at the same time.

How is it likely to be tackled. Will it just go in the catalog as soc155b and
sit alongside the exisitng one? or will the existing one likely be marked
for deletion at some point once the new one is in place?

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 13, 2024 03:45

Subject:

Re: Sam Kerr Minifigure using wrong hair design??

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

Catalog

In Catalog, TheBrickGuys writes:

In Catalog, infinibrix writes:

In Catalog, TheBrickGuys writes:

In Catalog, infinibrix writes:

In Catalog Requests, infinibrix writes:

I've just had a customer complain that my Sam Kerr isn't genuine?

soc155 (Inv) Samantha Kerr - Red Soccer Uniform
Minifigures: Sports: Soccer

17630 Minifigure, Hair Straight Cut and Short Ponytail
Parts: Minifigure, Hair

The promotional images of Sam Kerr holding the minifig also show it with this
hair design:-

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-40634-lego-icons-of-play-and-play-unstoppable-campaign-revealed/

I didn't choose the correct colour for the macro so hair should be the Dark
Brown one found in the set rather than the black one I've displayed

Just to be clear, which hair piece did you include with the figure you sent to
your customer?

Jim.

The one as per Bricklinks catalog however my customer was an ebay customer

That could make it a tuff one to resolve. You could send him a link to the minifigure
here on BrickLink and inform him that it is correct as BrickLink is owned by
The Lego Group and if that dose not work you could offer to send him the other
hair piece and file it under a learning curve - that is probably what I would
do if the BrickLink did not satisfy your customer.

Jim

Well yes though its not so much that I have an issue with the resolution side
should my buyer be unwilling to accept the reference links I've used but
rather wanting to advise BL that on this very rare occasion its not cataloged
correctly in line with their minifig policy also I have a feeling even someone
buying here may question why it doesn't match with the promotional images/instructions
etc...

Personally I think the one used in the catalog is an overall better match for
the real person which is probably why the catalog contributor assumed it was
the correct one to use

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 12, 2024 14:27

Subject:

Re: FIGURE SW0121 REMOVED

Viewed:

68 times

Topic:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

In General, infinibrix writes:

In General, pitz8008 writes:

I had figure SW0121 removed from my listings. The reason given was "Reason:
Item is incorrectly defined as New/Used or Complete/Incomplete/Sealed". But
I had the figure marked as "used" and mentioned the parts that were missing
on the figure. I realize you can't sell incomplete figures but this figure
is not inventoried so there is no way to sell individual pieces from this figure.
There are also numerous amounts of this figure listed on Bricklink with missing
parts, broken parts, or with colored parts swapped out for different colors.
So why would mine be removed if there is no way to list it on Bricklink besides
custom. Especially when all these other figures are allowed to stay.

Out of interest what part or parts were missing?

This is what I had written in the description. "Comments: No hair, round
plate, lightsaber, doesn't light up. Rest of figure looks in good shape."

Well firstly I think the minifg should have an inventory breakdown available
and where that is not in place I think exceptions should be made for missing
parts particularly where a minifig is rare because removing such items that are
already scarce does not help to serve prospective buyers with searching for these
things.

The only thing I would say is that they probably don't like the fact that
they feel the missing hair can be sourced fairly cheaply and easily

Author:

infinibrix

Posted:

May 12, 2024 13:05

Subject:

Re: Sam Kerr Minifigure using wrong hair design??

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

Catalog