BrickLink Discussion Forum

A buyer placed an order in my store in January. I shipped it out. A month later,
they file a chargeback with their credit card company, saying they did not authorize
the payment. (NOT that the item didn't arrive, but that the payment itself
should never have been charged to their card.)

Another month later, Paypal sides with them, and reverses the payment and charges
me a $20 fee on top of it.

I looked at their feedback today, and it appears they have done this to at least
one other seller recently.

Too much time has passed for me to file a non-paying buyer (and the rules seem
to indicate that it would be removed even if it was still in the timeframe).
It's too late to change my feedback for them.

What is the official process for me?

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jul 18, 2022 00:28

Subject:

Weirdly short part number for a minifig head?

Viewed:

82 times

Topic:

Catalog

Status:

Open

Why does this part have such a strange item number?

3626cps8 Minifigure, Head Alien with SW Darth Maul, Red Face Pattern - Hollow Stud
Parts: Minifigure, Head {Black}

Other minifig heads have 4-digit numbers to identify the print. This one is a
single digit?

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jul 9, 2022 10:21

Subject:

How to upload a placed order into inventory

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

Selling

I placed an order on on Bricklink. It has arrived and everything is there. I
want to sell these parts in my store. How do I upload it?

The way I used to do it is I would open the order in BrickStock, generate an
xml file and opload that. But the copy of BrickStock I have doesn't seem
to be able to download orders anymore.

I checked if maybe "part out" an order was an option. Doesn't seem to be.
Bricklink can't generate an xml file from an order?

Any other way that I am missing?

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Oct 23, 2021 10:22

Subject:

default settings, items for sale tab

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

Help

I can't seem to find this in my settings...

When viewing a catalog item, I would like the "Items for Sale" tab to default
to seeing sellers located in Canada, and New condition. Is this possible, or
do I have to select those two fields and filter every time?

Thanks!

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Oct 9, 2021 14:48

Subject:

FYI to Canadian sellers

Viewed:

93 times

Topic:

Shipping

Canada Post cannot currently send Airmail Packets and parcels to Australia and
New Zealand. You may want to remove them from your shipping zones, or add a new
zone for them that specifies surface mail.

Also, shipments to Ireland are sometimes being returned to sender for no apparent
reason, and shipments to China are taking up to an additional month to arrive.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/service-alerts.page

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jun 15, 2021 10:56

Subject:

How do I cancel an order?

Viewed:

122 times

Topic:

Help

Buyer wants to cancel. I'm fine with that.

I go to the Problem Order page for that order. There is no option on there to
cancel it.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jun 14, 2016 22:24

Subject:

Seller Tools: stock level alerts

Viewed:

143 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Since we've been told that the next big update will be focused on seller
needs, I figured I'd start posting some suggestions of things I'd like
to see added as a seller. Some may already have appeared before.

Please add the ability to set an alert if the stock level of a particular lot
goes below a certain level.

For example, if I have less than 4 Stormtroopers left in my store, I will want
to order some more Battle Packs, so I'd like BrickLink to track the stock
levels for that lot.

The alert could send me an email or text message, but the more important way
for this to be stored would be a page on BrickLink where I could go to see all
the lots that currently have an active alert. Whenever I am placing orders to
restock my store, I would visit this page to see what I need.

The ability to set this alert would appear as an option in the inventory listing
for each lot. It should include a checkbox if the alert should be emailed, and
a text-box to specify the stock level that triggers the alert.

On the page that lists all the lots with active alerts, we should be able to
update whether the alert is emailed, the stock level that triggers it, and we
should also be able to delete the alert altogether from that page.

There are a number of ways that stock levels can be adjusted, so there may be
a few different times that the system needs to check if new lots need to be alerted.
Certainly, when an order is placed. But it would also be useful if the check
is also run when there is an API update, so that sellers who reduce their inventory
through the API can also get the notification of the stock level drop.

If the push notifications would cause too many emails to be sent, I would be
satisfied just with the page that lists all the lots with active alerts.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jun 10, 2016 23:57

Subject:

Use my store's inventory to fill Wanted List

Viewed:

123 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

I was playing around with the new Wanted List functions tonight. Overall, I really
like how it works to part-together a set.

One thing I would like to see improved, though, is an easier way to use my own
store's inventory.

I had a wanted list with about 50 parts, and the auto-buy function was recommending
two stores that I could get everything I wanted. It was a really good price,
but one of the two stores I do not want to buy from, so I decided to fill my
list by manually selecting stores.

This worked great, except that I wanted to be able to select MY OWN store, so
that I could just use parts that I already have on-hand instead of buying them
from someone else. That was fine, except that it turns out I only had 9 of those
50 lots, so I had to select it. This should be easier.

What I would like to see is one of the following:

Show a lot more stores when I click the show more button.

Or

Have an option to automatically include my own store at the top of the list,
regardless of how many lots I have in the list.

Or

Even before going through the selection process, have an option to edit the Wanted
List by subtracting parts from my inventory (and creating a pull-list).

Thanks!

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jun 2, 2016 09:35

Subject:

Make Shipping Cost Suggestion work on Quotes

Viewed:

101 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

I hadn't suggested this before, as I thought that Quotes and Shipping Cost
Suggestion would transition to Automated Checkout at any time, but I might as
well put it out there:

Right now the Shipping Cost Suggestion pop-up only works on the My Orders Received
page. It should also work exactly the same way on the My Quotes Received page,
but it currently does not.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jan 18, 2016 00:37

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Book b15ideacol

Viewed:

28 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open

Please make changes to the following inventory:

b15ideacol (Inv) The LEGO Ideas Collection
Books: Idea Book

* Add 1 Book b15ideas01 Awesome Vacations (Hardcover)
* Add 1 Book b15ideas02 Once Upon A Time
* Add 1 Book b15ideas03 Cool Castles (Hardcover)
* Add 1 Book b15ideas04 World Adventures
* Add 1 Book b15ideas05 On The Move
* Add 1 Book b15ideas06 Out Of This World
* Add 1 Book b15ideas07 Amazing Animals (Hardcover)
* Add 1 Book b15ideas08 Make And Keep
* Add 1 Book b15ideas09 All Around Town (Hardcover)
* Add 1 Book b15ideas10 Spooky Nightmares

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Nov 16, 2015 08:00

Subject:

Suggestion: Delete "Insurance" option

Viewed:

270 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

BrickLink stores should not be selling insurance, they should be selling Lego.

As shown in dozens of forum threads, even experienced BrickLink buyers cannot
agree on exactly what it means if a buyer does or does not select the "insurance"
box when checking out a cart on BrickLink. New buyers cannot reasonably be expected
to understand either.

The simplest solution is to do away with the concept that sellers are somehow
selling insurance to buyers.

If sellers with to purchase insurance for themselves, they are certainly free
to do so. They can also pass on any costs associated with this to their buyers,
if they wish to. But this is different than the way that it is currently described
on BrickLink, where the buyer is choosing whether s/he wants to purchase insurance.

So, the suggestion is to remove that option on checkout. As this could be a significant
change for many sellers, there should be a reasonable amount of time provided
(and a specific "go live" date for the changeover) so that any needed changes
can be incorporated by these stores, similar to the change to xe.com exchange
rates.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Sep 22, 2015 11:04

Subject:

Allow My Inventory dropdown search:Element ID

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Entering a Lego Element ID in the All Items search works (it finds the part and
color combination. This also works for searching Catalog Items.

It even works if you go to your My Inventory page, and enter the Element ID in
the Keywords box and search.

However, in the My Inventory dropdown search available on every page, searches
for Element IDs return zero results. Please fix so that it shows the correct
inventory lots.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Sep 17, 2015 13:53

Subject:

Simplify set inventory upload

Viewed:

79 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

There was a great improvement a little while ago, which allowed users to add
parts to an inventory by using the 7-digit id number from the instruction booklet.
But it only works if that id is known to BL.

This should go one step further. It should be possible to enter an entire set's
inventory by typing in all the design ids and quantities. If any of them are
uknown to BL, if then gives the opportunity to attach that id to an existing
part/color combination, or if it's a new part it creates a pending catalog
entry.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jul 21, 2015 20:13

Subject:

Bring back sold out lots on color info page

Viewed:

96 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

On the color info tab for a catalog item page, there is a section labelled "In
my inventory". This section used to show sold-out lots (that have zero quantity).
Those are now no longer listed.

This was useful information for sellers (for me at least) because for parts
that come in many colors, it would easily show me what I sold out of, and there
was a link to that lot so that I could easily update quantities if I got more.
Now, to get to that lot in my inventory, I have to do a lot more clicking. (My
current method is to go to the price guide, click on one of the "sold" squares
to bring up an order, then click on the zero for remaining quantity to bring
up the lot.)

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

May 21, 2015 17:05

Subject:

Checkboxes to describe sellers (part II)

Viewed:

390 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Some sellers do not allow buyers to back out of a purchase if they change their
mind before payment. Others do (and some are required to do so by law).

Right now, this option is left to each store to describe in their store terms
if they allow it (or not). Usually, it is never mentioned at all, which can cause
some confusion among new buyers.

To help alleviate this confusion, and to help buyers more easily find stores
that have terms that they would like to support, I would like to see this option
be added as a checkbox that sellers can choose (or not) for their store.

This is an extension of the suggestion I posted here: http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=173897

That suggestion listed a number of such checkboxes that would be useful. I believe
that this option of allowing sellers to state whether they accept cancellations
or not would be just as useful as anything else discussed in that earlier thread.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jul 31, 2014 20:46

Subject:

Suggestions: checkboxes to describe sellers

Viewed:

283 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded

There is a lot of information about sellers that could be captured through forms
and checkboxes, instead of always relying on store terms. I suggest that all
sellers fill out a form so that we can systematically store this information.

Right now, we already have this covered for a few items:
Countries I ship to
Minimum order
Accepted currencies
Accepted payment types

We should add more:
Minimum shipping
Additional fees
* Lot fee
* Small order fee
* Payment type fee
* Handling fee
* Other fees
Expected Dispatch time from date of payment
When I leave feedback
* On payment
* On shipping
* After "Received"
* Other
How I deal with order errors
* Ship correction at my cost
* Refund
* Buyer's Choice
* Other

These are the ones I can think of that could be useful. I am sure there are others,
but this would be a great start.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jul 24, 2014 17:28

Subject:

Need a second BL Twitter feed?

Viewed:

150 times

Topic:

Status:

Discarded

I have the BL Twitter feed set for for push notifications by sms. I set this
up when the only thing being posted were downtime notifications or site updates.
Now, most of the tweets are flickr links or retweets. Those are fine I guess,
but I don't need to get a text message for every one of them, so I will be
disabling the push notifications.

I'd still like to get those site updates, though. Any chance of getting an
actual BL ADMIN feed, in addition to the current BL AFOL feed?

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Jun 7, 2014 13:36

Subject:

Inventory Change Request for Gear 218141

Viewed:

25 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests (Entry)

Status:

Open

Please make changes to the following inventory:

218141 (Inv) Knights' Kingdom Le Jeu (Ravensburger - French version) with 5 Minifigures
Gear: Game: Castle: Knights Kingdom II

* Add 5 Part 3021 Light Gray Plate 2 x 3

Comments from Submitter:
Each of the minifigs has a small stand.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Sep 13, 2012 23:39

Subject:

BL 2.0 suggestion: Catalog reorganization

Viewed:

614 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Sorry for the length of this post. I know that people don't read enormous blocks
of text like this, but this has been brewing at the back of my mind for many
months now, and I figured it was time to organize my thoughts and put them out
there. I will likely have a couple more "2.0" suggestion posts in the next few
days. This will be the most elaborate one.

Here we go...

We've seen a lot of discussion in the forum over the last few years that I've
been on BrickLink, about variant parts, and their place in the catalog. By interesting
coincidence, the issue of the headlight bricks has come to the forefront today,
with the decision to retire the listing for the slotted version. I'm sure that
we're going to see quite a few threads from people who are confused by the change,
but it was probably the right decision for this particular part.

My suggestion will relate more to parts that have genuine variants. It will have
other applications as well, but it's simplest to describe in terms of variant
parts.

Take minifig heads. Right now, Lego is undergoing a change from the "b" to the
"c" variant of this part -- the stud on top is sometimes open, with a little
triangular webbing in the middle, and is sometimes recessed.

[p=3626b]
[p=3626c]

Many of the minifigs in new sets are available with both variants of the head.
But because minifig assemblies don't allow for alternate parts, the figures inventory
ends up explicitly stating that it's made of the "b" version (or the "c") when
in fact both exist.

This ends up leaving the part listing for the other variant somewhat orphaned
-- it shows that it doesn't appear in any sets, even though it does.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3626cpb560&in=S
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3626bpb560&in=S

This means that sellers will sometimes "lie" about which variant they have --
they will put their items in the listing that is most likely to be visited by
buyers.

I do this myself with my unprinted minifig heads. Note the additional comments
on the vast majority of these listings: http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=FigBits&q=3626b
"(may be 3626c with recessed stud)"

Okay, so what is the actual suggestion?

For BrickLink 2.0, we should change the way that the catalog database is set
up, in order to accommodate a new structure, which I'll call a Part Group.

A Part Group isn't really a Part, but a kind of Super-Part. It's a collection
of similar parts which BrickLink would treat as the aggregate of all the sub-parts.

Here's an example:

3794 Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud, Jumper (Undetermined Type)
Parts: Plate, Modified

3794b Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove (Jumper)
Parts: Plate, Modified

Those are two different Parts, listed separately in the catalog. But what if
a buyer doesn't care which one they get? How do they search for the listing for
either part? Right now, the way that the catalog is set up, that buyer
is put at a disadvantage -- it's possible that there are sellers who have the
items that they want, in the right quantities, but they will never get Wanted
List notifications for them because those sellers have split their listed quantities
between the two variants.

So, the suggestion would be to have a new Catalog entry, for the aggregate of
those two parts. We'll call the listing Part Group 3794*

When a buyer goes to the listing for 3794, they would see a page that tells them
what parts are members of the part group. If they want to jump to the specific
listing for either one, they can. Or, they can use any of BrickLink's existing
functions for the Part Group instead.

The Price Guide for Part Group 3794* would show every listing for 3794 AND every
listing for 3794b, blended together. Searches would as well. Buyers could add
the Part Group to their Wanted Lists, instead of the individual Parts.

AND! ... Set and minifig inventories would list the Part Group instead of having
alternate inventory parts (where applicable). So, to use the example of the minifig
head I mentioned before, the inventory for

poc027 (Inv) Yeoman Zombie
Minifigures: Pirates of the Caribbean

would not have either 3626bpb560 or 3626cpb560 in
its inventory. It would have the Part Group representing both parts (we can call
it 3626*pb560, but the specific nomenclature isn't part of the suggestion).

Sound confusing? It isn't. When you click through on that Part Group in the inventory,
it would show just like a normal Part -- the Catalog Page for the Part Group
would have links to the Items for Sale, In My Inventory, On Wanted Lists, Price
Guide Info, and Known Colors. But all of those links would take you pages that
have aggregate results of all the Parts in the Part Group. The only addition
on the catalog page is that you would see that there are multiple Parts in the
Group, and there would be links to each one in case you didn't want aggregate
results, you wanted one of the specific variants.

It would actually be very straight forward, and it would solve many of the issues
and disagreements we've seen about how to handle part variants. It leave open
the option to be specific for those who want to be specific, and it allows for
buyers and sellers to be generic if they want to be generic.

Now, there's a little wrinkle in there, which actually could cause a bit of confusion.
If you think the suggestion through, you might realize that, for a seller to
actually have a listing that is undifferentiated (that is, they do not want to
specify which variant they have), they could not put their listing as either
of the variants.

This seems to imply that every Catalog Part with variants would need to also
have an "undetermined" type -- additional variant. But no. The Part Group itself
is the undetermined type. Which means that for a seller to list an item in their
store, like my minifig heads that could be either type b or c, they would need
to list the Part Group in their store.

This makes sense when you think about it. If the Part Group is what's in a set
inventory, when you part out that set in BrickLink, by default it would list
the Part Group for you. There would be an option in the part-out process if you
want to replace any of the Part Groups with a member of that Group before uploading
into your store. Or you can leave it as the Group.

If you have a listing for a Part Group, the notifications you send out would
only go to people who have the Part Group in their Wanted List (that is, they
deliberately chose to ignore the variants -- they want whatever). Notices would
not be sent to buyers who have a specific variant in their Wanted List.

So, that's the most significant way in which Part Groups would be different than
"undefined" types. We could actually delete all the undefined listings in the
catalog, like

4085 Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical (Undetermined Type)
Parts: Plate, Modified
Marked for Deletion

because they would more thoroughly be represented by Part Group 4085*

If you've made it this far, you're probably insane, so I can tell you about some
of the other implications of the suggestion, without fear that I will scare you
away.

I've been talking about variants "b" and "c" of minifig heads, but there's also
type "a" -- the solid stud heads.

A lot of purists who collect older figures are bothered by the fact that BrickLink's
inventories always list the "b" type. Where are all the minifigs with

3626ap01 Minifigure, Head Standard Grin Pattern - Solid Stud
Parts: Minifigure, Head

in their inventories? They don't exist. Except, of course, they do. it's just
that minifig inventories don't allow for variant parts.

I've mentioned this already, yes? Yes. But, here's the kicker:

If we have a Part Group for 3626*p01, would it include the a, b, and c versions?
It could. The problem is that there is no minifig that has all three of those
variant heads. (Well, maybe there is. But I think you know what I mean.)

What we would actually need is a Part Group for "old minifigs" that would include
the a and b variants, and a Part Group for "modern minifigs" that would include
the b and c variants. At this point the nomenclature gets messy, but I honestly
think that the names of the Part Groups aren't too important. I don't think that
most buyers go specifically looking for "3626cpb560" as though that string of
letters and numbers means anything. So I don't think it matters if we call the
Part Groups 3626old* and 3626new* or whatever. Having those distinct groups would
make the inventories more accurate, it would appease the discriminating buyer,
it would open up additional avenues to the general buyer, and it would allow
sellers to better accommodate their customer's needs, whatever they might be.

That's it. (Mostly)

A new way to address part variants. It doesn't just need to be for the existing
variants, either. Minifig torsos come in variations unrecognized by the catalog,
because including those variations would be a nightmare under the current Catalog
structure. But they would be a breeze to implement in a system that included
Part Groups.

Super-quick:

Set Groups would exist, too. For variant sets. There's also that Star Wars set
that Lego redesigned but released under the same set number.

K. I'm sleepy now.

--
Marc.

Author:

FigBits

Posted:

Feb 16, 2012 22:58

Subject:

Add commenting tools to the catalog listings

Viewed:

229 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]