BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Suggestions, superchicken77 writes:

I'd like to be able to search for stores within a specific range (ie 10km,
20km, 50km) from my postal code. Seeing that a seller is in a given province
(in my case) means they could be around the corner or 12 hours way in Thunder
Bay. Being able to search nearby stores would be a fantastic option. It would
be an option to opt into, whereby a store must enable the feature to show up
in nearby store searches. This would allow stores to disable the feature in
case they are uncomfortable with the feature.

Cool idea, but difficult to implement. And there are privacy issues.

The Canadian zip code database runs over 760,000 records; most of them geolocate
to stationary moose, uninhabited parts of the Yukon, and what have you. I don't
recall exactly, but I think their process was to basically put a grid over the
entire land mass of the country, divide it up into little squares, and assign
a code to each square.

The US zip code database, covering a population several times that of Canada
runs only about 42,000 records and the codes cover arbitrary regions roughly
equivalent to towns, and some post offices that don't offer delivery have
their own code.

Typically these zip codes are associated with a longitude and latitude, and these
data files can be acquired from the post office and maybe other sources.

Then there is some math and code to figure out the "as-the-crow-flies" distance
between two zip codes' associated coordinates.

I don't know that the entire globe...or all the areas serviced by BL...have
these databases. Could be. Just never built one of these things other than US/Canada.

Anyway, bottom line is you need the longitude and latitude of every store...or
something reasonably close. The coding is a bit tricky. And it may have to be
broken into hemispheres because of the math for triangulation over a sphere.

If folks want to publish their longitudes and latitudes, then you can find the
distances with Google Earth or something similar. I'd guess most of the mom-and-pop-hobby-shop
operations aren't going to be enthusiastic about posting their residential
coordinates for the world to see, though.

Author:

superchicken77

Posted:

Jan 14, 2019 15:11

Subject:

Search nearby stores by postal or zip code

Viewed:

175 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

BUC

Posted:

Jan 14, 2019 13:50

Subject:

Re: Add sales tax column to order downloads

Viewed:

26 times

Topic:

Tax time, a whole year later and this still hasn't been implemented.

Please BrickLink, this is crucial for filing sales taxes. Thanks!

In Suggestions, CPgolfaddict writes:

Please add the sales tax field to order downloads.

Author:

Biodreamer

Posted:

Jan 13, 2019 14:38

Subject:

Re: Automated Feedback.

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, tpr writes:

Hi all.

Suggestion ….

Feedback is not always left by the customer. Positive is left most times, and
a customer will always leave negative or neutral if there is something wrong.

One assumes that if nothing is heard from the customer, it must have been delivered
and was ok. Therefore - Can we have an automated positive feedback say after
2 months(or whatever length of time is felt suitable) of order being delivered
for all orders still showing as shipped. It could also be implemented if the
seller has not given feedback.

Thanks

Tracy

No, I usually give feedback but people are a bit harsh when it comes to getting
a neutral so in the cases where I think positive is to good and neutral is a
bit harsh, I usually don't leave any and just archive the order.

Any automatic system would be required to give out neutral votes. and few sellers
would want that on their store feedback %.

The only thing the feedback system need is longer feedback notes. 80 characters
is not enough to give a small review of the order and tell what was good/bad
with it. it's just enough for a positive only review.

Author:

axaday

Posted:

Jan 13, 2019 08:17

Subject:

Re: Automated Feedback.

Viewed:

50 times

Topic: