Discussion Forum: Messages by calsbricks (8514)
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 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Sep 15, 2017 12:23
 Subject: Re: Change to information held in Catalogue
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 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  In Suggestions, qwertyboy writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  The Bricklink catalogue has the perfect base for this change but it is a question
of whether the developers feel they can do it with minimum effort. Each item
in the catalogue has a PCC as well as its mould or design id number associated
with it. The PCC code is Lego's element id and it is what they print in their
instructions.

There have been lots of comments both in and out of the forum concerning part
weights and how there is a variance between colours of the same part number.
We have also experienced this. The simple way to deal with this is to add a weight
field against the PCC in the catalogue. This would allow the system to hold the
individual weights for each colour part and could be used to more accurately
provide cart weights for instant checkout when it comes out of preview.

I would vote no, for two reasons:

- In 627 orders processed on the other site, with them having one weight for
each part no, we haven't experienced one single issue. Weight differences
are small, the likelihood of this "screwing up" auto-checkout is minimal, and
if it does make an err, the seller can chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

- TLG is known to have made changes to their molds just to save a few cents
by requiring less ABS. These changes are done to parts that keep the exact same
PPC, and most times BL doesn't differentiate (think hollow versus solid pins
under a 1x4 brick for example). Those weight changes could actually be more significant
than the weight change for different colors. In effect, the weight-per-PPC will
almost always be an approximation, not the 100%-always-correct-weight for a PPC.

In short, I am convinced these weight differences are a non-issue for auto-checkout.
Experience proves this. I am sure others can verify this. Don't make things
more complex than they need to be.

Niek.

Thank you for your comment. Your opinion is noted, however I am not convinced
using the other site as a reference point is really relevant. The other site
also has proper dimensions for each part, which BL does not and as far as I can
tell from the brief look at the preview site the implementation here is different
to that over there. We sell lots and lots of bulk orders and a small difference
on an individual part can make a significant difference overall. As far as putting
that down to cost of business we will let you do that - it is of no interest
whatsoever to us. Maintaining margin/profitability is a key factor to a successful
business and taking all steps necessary to prevent additional costs is one small
part of that. With over 4000 order on this site we have no mistakes on postage
costs - once bl's implementation of instant checkout can be shown to provide
that reliability we will consider using it, however it is not of major importance
to us at the moment. There are far more important things to deal with.

Sorry I mis-read part of your original post. We are not trying to overly complicate
things - our suggestion, we believe, would help not hinder, and I do not believe
in any way did we say that this would prevent 'screwing up' with instant
checkout. We suggested it would help - not hinder.

As for your opinion, you are, of course entitled to it as we are to ours. You
have been around this site nearly as lone as we have so you will appreciate that
lots of people differ on what is needed, what is important etc. That is the way
life and business goes but it is more than essential to compare apples with apples
not apples and pears. In terms of coding this is a simple change and would take
any programmer less than a day to achieve it and it may, yes may help - it certainly
isn't going to hinder by any stretch of the imagination.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Sep 15, 2017 11:54
 Subject: Re: Change to information held in Catalogue
 Viewed: 42 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, qwertyboy writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  The Bricklink catalogue has the perfect base for this change but it is a question
of whether the developers feel they can do it with minimum effort. Each item
in the catalogue has a PCC as well as its mould or design id number associated
with it. The PCC code is Lego's element id and it is what they print in their
instructions.

There have been lots of comments both in and out of the forum concerning part
weights and how there is a variance between colours of the same part number.
We have also experienced this. The simple way to deal with this is to add a weight
field against the PCC in the catalogue. This would allow the system to hold the
individual weights for each colour part and could be used to more accurately
provide cart weights for instant checkout when it comes out of preview.

I would vote no, for two reasons:

- In 627 orders processed on the other site, with them having one weight for
each part no, we haven't experienced one single issue. Weight differences
are small, the likelihood of this "screwing up" auto-checkout is minimal, and
if it does make an err, the seller can chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

- TLG is known to have made changes to their molds just to save a few cents
by requiring less ABS. These changes are done to parts that keep the exact same
PPC, and most times BL doesn't differentiate (think hollow versus solid pins
under a 1x4 brick for example). Those weight changes could actually be more significant
than the weight change for different colors. In effect, the weight-per-PPC will
almost always be an approximation, not the 100%-always-correct-weight for a PPC.

In short, I am convinced these weight differences are a non-issue for auto-checkout.
Experience proves this. I am sure others can verify this. Don't make things
more complex than they need to be.

Niek.

Thank you for your comment. Your opinion is noted, however I am not convinced
using the other site as a reference point is really relevant. The other site
also has proper dimensions for each part, which BL does not and as far as I can
tell from the brief look at the preview site the implementation here is different
to that over there. We sell lots and lots of bulk orders and a small difference
on an individual part can make a significant difference overall. As far as putting
that down to cost of business we will let you do that - it is of no interest
whatsoever to us. Maintaining margin/profitability is a key factor to a successful
business and taking all steps necessary to prevent additional costs is one small
part of that. With over 4000 order on this site we have no mistakes on postage
costs - once bl's implementation of instant checkout can be shown to provide
that reliability we will consider using it, however it is not of major importance
to us at the moment. There are far more important things to deal with.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Sep 15, 2017 10:09
 Subject: Change to information held in Catalogue
 Viewed: 130 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
 Vote:[Yes|No]
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The Bricklink catalogue has the perfect base for this change but it is a question
of whether the developers feel they can do it with minimum effort. Each item
in the catalogue has a PCC as well as its mould or design id number associated
with it. The PCC code is Lego's element id and it is what they print in their
instructions.

There have been lots of comments both in and out of the forum concerning part
weights and how there is a variance between colours of the same part number.
We have also experienced this. The simple way to deal with this is to add a weight
field against the PCC in the catalogue. This would allow the system to hold the
individual weights for each colour part and could be used to more accurately
provide cart weights for instant checkout when it comes out of preview.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Sep 12, 2017 11:56
 Subject: Re: Moderate Forum Posts
 Viewed: 42 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, StormChaser writes:
  I suggest that members with 2 or less feedback have their forum posts moderated,
meaning that posts must be approved by a moderator before appearing in the forum.
This should resolve the issue of scammers joining BrickLink merely to post spam
in the forum.

Yet another +1
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Sep 11, 2017 12:15
 Subject: Re: Separate email addresses for buying/selling
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 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, stecre writes:
  I think it would be very useful to be able to have separate email addresses for
your buying and selling activities.

I operate a store but also have wanted lists and buy from time to time and being
able to separate the various emails to different addresses would be helpful.

e.g.

To the "Buying" email address:

Any messages regarding orders you placed e.g. Invoices etc.
Wanted list notifications

To the "Selling" email address:

Any messages regarding orders received e.g. invoices, payments
Emails about Fees

Perhaps there could even be a configuration page for users to select which emails
they would like to go to which address?

Yes you can probably achieve this with filters on your email client if on a PC
but not sure about phones and other devices.

Thanks,
Steve

Voted yes but I think this needs to be expanded. Holding multiple address records
has its problems but it really is the only way to go. We, as a store, have 2
distinct locations - one for our storage/picking centre and one for order processing.
If Bricklink allowed us to hold multiple addresses ((including e-mail addresses)
it would make life much easier, There are issues with doing that but most organisations
have overcome those and I am sure BL can do the same.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Aug 15, 2017 08:38
 Subject: Re: Upgrade XML download to include addresses
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 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, Brick_Genie writes:
  In Suggestions, cosmicray writes:
  The current XML order download allows you to get member ID or real name. It does
not include address/city/state/country. Please add those fields.

I recently had someone write me a Python script which retrieves this data from
the api. Feel free to send me a message if you're interested!

We also had a development done using Brickstock which provides address detail
of the member placing an order. If you use Brickstock we can send that on.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Aug 7, 2017 08:34
 Subject: Re: Field For Tracking Numbers
 Viewed: 43 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, 458italia writes:
  I think it would be helpful to have a field on the order summary for Tracking
Number that can be entered by the seller. It is something that applies to a considerable
amount of transactions, yet currently requires either duplication (update messages)
or clunky work arounds (using the VAT field for example). If it does not apply,
it can be left blank.


Already exists - see image below - it is on your 'Customize display settings
from the orders received page - put a tick in the box it adds the column which
once you fill it out the tracking number appears on the order and the order summary
page.

Hope that helps.
 
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 30, 2017 13:28
 Subject: Re: All sellers should have quote options
 Viewed: 46 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, Brickwilbo writes:
  In Suggestions, mrbisco writes:
  I'm tired of not being able to ask for a quote on an item through the system.
Twice in the last day I have sent an email to a seller asking for a quote and
then have then change the price of the item. It's making me want to just
put through the order and then cancel if I don't like the shipping terms.

Changing price after an inquiry sais any about those sellers.

  Bricklink really needs to swings towards the buyers in terms of usage. Take
care of the buyers and things work out better for the sellers. Catering to the
sellers just creates a poor buying environment.

And, of course neither seller will honor the price that I was asking for a quote
on. Of course not. If the thing is in my cart waiting for a shipping quote,
they shouldn't be able to change the price.

Unfortunately the quote feature is designed to cancel the quote completely if
1 item is sold out.

That was another reason why we didn't implement it. It is flawed. Works for
some doesn't work for others. The other big thing from our point of view
is that we would end up doing all the work for the quote and that may be wasted
as the supposed buyer doesn't accept the quote (We process orders first,not
last).
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 30, 2017 13:02
 Subject: Re: All sellers should have quote options
 Viewed: 45 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, mrbisco writes:
  I'm tired of not being able to ask for a quote on an item through the system.
Twice in the last day I have sent an email to a seller asking for a quote and
then have then change the price of the item. It's making me want to just
put through the order and then cancel if I don't like the shipping terms.

Bricklink really needs to swings towards the buyers in terms of usage. Take
care of the buyers and things work out better for the sellers. Catering to the
sellers just creates a poor buying environment.

And, of course neither seller will honor the price that I was asking for a quote
on. Of course not. If the thing is in my cart waiting for a shipping quote,
they shouldn't be able to change the price.

Voted no - totally unnecessary. If you wish for a quote use the message function
in the store - or the quote feature (if they have it enabled) if you do not hear
back - or you get a quote which is not what you expected - move on to another
store. Forcing anyone to do something is never a good idea - that is why features
are optional where they should be.

Without stores there would be no buyers - and of course the reversal is true
- no buyers - no stores. A balance has to be struck and the site has grown significantly
since its inception without forcing buyers or seller to use features which should
be optional.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Jul 25, 2017 12:33
 Subject: Re: Get shipping costs BEFORE final checkout
 Viewed: 45 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, Teup writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  In Suggestions, Teup writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  In Suggestions, Teup writes:
  In Suggestions, tonnic writes:
  In Suggestions, Teup writes:
  It's a common topic you're addressing. It has been in the making for
many years, but the system almost works. There is already a "shipping cost suggestion"
tool which is often quite accurate, but not always. For this to work, the system
needs to know the exact weight and size of all parts. This database still isn't
100% complete. But I suppose we will be getting there and step by step we're
getting to auto checkout. But expect it to remain this way for at least another
year or two..

Your solution 2 of estimating shipping costs before this database is in place
and 100% complete isn't really a good idea. If you order a brick from me,
pessimistic shipping costs are €18,50 - because the brick could be huge. In reality,
it will be €1,33. So it doesn't really mean anything and it would certainly
scare away alot of buyers.

In Suggestions, rumbi_rumun writes:
  In my opinion the largest problem of the Bricklink page is that the final shipping
costs are often unknown till the invoice. It is much too late. I suggest calculating
the maximum shipping costs before the final checkout.
Let me display an example:
The buyer Alice orders parts which weigh 80 grams. The seller Bob states that
the shipping costs are 3 EUR up to 100 grams and 4 EUR up to 200 grams. Bob means
the TOTAL weight while from Alice's point of view the weight of packing materials
is unknown and never stated. This way Alice doesn't know the final price.
(Btw. I suppose it is against the EU law.)

Once I have come across such a case that in seller's opinion the maximum
net weight of parts was about 30 grams to keep the total weight below 100 grams!
Is it fair and clear?

I can see the following solutions:
(i) suggest the buyers to state their shipping costs precisely, in terms of net
weight of parts or dimensions of parts
(ii) apply automatic calcultion of maximum shipping costs on the checkout page
so that the seller couldn't apply higher costs.
The latter one is much better.

Best regards
Tomasz Witkowski / rumbi_rumun
Gdynia, Poland

A lot of buyers, maybe some sellers too, do not know the weight of the order.
They are not aware of the excistence of a weight function they can select.
Maybe there is a reason but I think this function should be default and, if not
wanted turned of. Not the other way around. I think it is very helpfull in almost
all orders.
Another thing, sometimes understandable but also sometimes common sence can help
quite well, is the fact that if an order is 15 grams of Lego and one of the shipping
tresholds is 20 grams the order with an envelope etc. will rise above the 20
grams.
A few times a year buyers believe that envelopes, small or large, do not weigh
more than 5 grams and that there is no need for an extra stamp.
A seller could, or even should, mention at the parts description that the dimension
or weight does not allow it to be shipped in an envelope but in a (far) more
expensive parcel.
I am still a bit anxious about a system through Bricklink that 'knows'
what shippingcosts must be.
There are so many variations possible.
It is about the amount of the parts, dimension, strangely formed parts, weight,
value, fragility etc.

I made a tool for myself to generate my invoices, and it generates a shipping
cost table in the invoice. This way, buyers can see where they're at and
how much more they could add. I think the opaque way it is now is OK, as long
as in return, sellers will allow additions or removal of some items. In my opinion
it's not OK if shipping costs are unclear in advance and the seller is rigid
about this after the order is placed. I think that at least the ability to add
more to an order should be mandatory. I don't know any professional webshop
that doesn't allow this.

I get what you're saying about the automatic calculation. You can already
turn on the shipping cost suggestion feature. I am not "using" using it, but
I have it switched on to monitor how it's doing, and I must say it's
usually correct when predicting when something is a letter or a parcel. On
Brickowl there's full auto checkout with this, and there it's correct
95% of the time. (You can debate what to do with the other 5%) I have my weight
bands set up so that they take into account progressively increasing envelope
weight, ie. 20g minus 5g, then 50g minus 10g, or something like that.

5% error means 50 orders per 1000 are not correct - that will soon add up for
stores who receive lots of orders - someone is going to have to bear that cost.

It's not actually a problem, it's just a fact and shops can handle it
how they like. You can set up your shipping calculation to be either optimistic
or pessimistic, decide whether you will refund any discrepancies in the buyer's
advantage or not. To me it's not a problem. And neither is it to the buyer,
as they always see how much it will cost and decide to pay that for the order.

Whilst it may not be a problem for some stores it also may be for others.
Not everyone has moved to BO (for a variety of reasons, of course) but the auto-checkout
over there possibly works based on the fact that the majority of their items
have proper dimensions which the current BL catalogue does not - even if they
are in stud.io or Mosaik). Dimensions are vital and for those parts that do not
have them then the order shouldb't be available to auto-checkout. I think
that is something similar to the way BO works (but not entirely sure as we do
not use that site.

  

  Please Bricklink, if you read these threads and accept constructive thoughts
bring in auto-checkout where it will work (no volume/dimension postal systems),
listen to your members, especially those who have been on the site for many,
many years and talk to them. All of that will help to maintain your position
as Lego's leading marketplace.

If auto checkout would be implemented in only some countries and not in others,
and this situation would persist for longer than a month, I would honestly shut
down my store and leave Bricklink. I think fair competition is the basic foundation
of this marketplace, if this would be compromised I would take my business elsewhere,
just on principle.
Anyway, it is not rocket science. It already almost works. All that's needed
before it can go live is hard data (all parts' dimensions have to be in the
database) and an easy (semi)automatic way to send refunds for missing parts.
That's just about it. They could get this fixed up in a month, but I guess
realistically it will take another year at least.

It is relatively easy to gloss over and make the issues surrounding this appear
to be simple and straightforward, after all the other site had it at their launch,
so I am told, however the BL team are not having the easiest of times getting
everyone behind this or getting the code/system right. Where it works, implement
it. Not all countries are the same - where it doesn't yet work solve the
problems and then with what they have learned from the other implementations
move on. I do not see why people suggest that by not using auto-checkout we
would be disadvantaged. As a buyer who has made just under 1000 purchases in
my time on the site I have never even considered auto-checkout. It isn't
going to increase sales and the only tangible thing it may or may not do is prevent
NPB's. It might make it easier for those buyers who are shipping cost sensitive
to see the full price before they place and pay for their order, but we provide
all that information anyway, and give the buyer a choice of how they want their
items shipped. Auto-checkout is not the panacea people make it out to be. As
and when it arrives and it can be shown to work for the UK postal system we will
look at it further - I do believe, like many others that is a way off yet, but
for those countries where it works and works well why not give them an opportunity
to get on with it. People are not going to buy from a seller just because they
use auto-checkout - they buy because they have the parts at the right price and
are reliable and more and more because they do not charge additional fees. Postage
at cost and that is it.

Good luck with this, anyway, we will be watching the issue very closely, as I
am sure many others will be doing as well. Of the stores that we are in regular
communications with none have spent any real time looking at the preview site
and all but 1 have said they will not be implementing it as and when it arrives
- but did not rule it out in the future.


You raise two topics, potential problems with the system and how it wouldn't
increase the number of orders. Well, I really think it would increase it alot.
Yes, your reasoning is sound, but on an emotional level, seeing a number on your
screen of what you will pay, and then paying right away, and having bought something
immediately, it's really a big thing. You could argue that the Snickers at
the counter of the supermarket are pointless as they are already in the candy
section and even cheaper at that..... still, it works, and it's a strategy
used worldwide. Auto checkout really takes away an emotional barrier I think.
Well, we could discuss that endlessly probably, but in the end we won't know
until it is there. But I'll just say that I really believe it's a "thing".

As for problems with the algorythms, I don't really see what could be the
problem. Well, I see one potential issue: Part dimensions are missing and the
order shows up as costing €10 more shipping that it actually costs to post. That's
the worst thing that could happen, right?
So is that that bad? OK, it could be an order missed. But parts with missing
dimensions will be rare - and already are rare. I don't understand what makes
you say it's way off? So far, I really haven't had any of these issues
yet. Shipping cost suggestion is simply correct for all orders I checked. Miscalculations
would be somewhere in the order of 1 out of a 100 (neglible even if the added
popularity because of auto checkout is only 1%). And even if it happens, a buyer
may still go through with the order. And as a seller the extra €10 spent on shipping&handling
is really yours to fairly keep, although you could also decide to refund it.
It's not like it would undermine in the system, a shop, or someone's
administration. You can also set it up in a way you will lose €10 some of the
time, and make up for it with higher prices, handling fee, or whatever. But it
will probably be off less often then your (well, at least my) inventory is off.

The only thing that is really lacking is packing dimensions besides functional
dimensions. A diagonal part is now considered a solid block by the system, while
it should really have a separate set of dimensions that take into account that
you could put the part flat by rotating it 45 degrees. That is relevant for big
panels for example, but the amount of orders this would really affect is less
than 1%.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to our thoughts on the matter. Time
will be the judge of whether it increases sales or not - we don't believe
it will but understand your logic. Fortunately, in life, there are always going
to be differing opinions on matters such as this. As I said earlier when we buy
we look at who has the parts we need not whether they offer auto-checkout or
not but then again we are not shipping cost sensitive as some buyers appear to
be.

As for the database, dimensions are vital whether they be part or packaging and
there is not really any sign of that in the database yet. I am convinced that
BL have held up offering out that change to the database due to the issues they
had in the very beginning about images, intellectual property etc. They may have
seen that BO did not go to the members for that, they incorporated it in their
system from the outset. The data is available somewhere. Lego certainly have
it and probably use it in LDD. We could, of course be wrong, but they aren't
commenting so again we really cannot be sure.

As for the system and how it actually works out shipping costs we, like many
others we communicate with, are waiting on the release of the feature and testing
it in real life before committing to it. That may sound like 'sour grapes'
or something similar but to be honest as we charge postage at cost with no packaging
costs or any other fees, there really isn't any room to manoeuvre. An awful
lot of our orders are bulk orders with 'heavy postage costs' - it wouldn't
take too many of those to start hitting our bottom line and that is something
we are not prepared to get into.

We do believe BL need to offer out a lot more information on how this is going
to work. We have multiple size large letter and small parcel boxes each with
different tare weights and capacities. Is the system going to stop short of choosing
the box and just say it is a large letter. If not how is it going to determine
capacity of the box? We know, for example, exactly how many 2 x 4 bricks will
go into the largest large letter box in the UK. Will they know that? Some of
the stores we buy from take great time and pride out of their packaging getting
as much as possible to lay flat so it will fit in a large letter rather than
a small parcel - is it going to know that? What about large brick orders - we
get lots of those and often find it is more economical to split the order (for
packaging purposes) into two parcels rather than use a medium parcel. It may
be possible to cope with that by setting up an over 2Kg method but really not
sure about it.

We also receive lots of multiple batch orders and we don't have any idea
how that is going to work. We certainly do not wish to end up paying multiple
Pay[pal fees for a single order.

Lots more detail is required and of course in this case the proof of all of this
will take time to emerge.

Anyway - thanks again for your time in responding

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