BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Technical Issues, Hazborgufen writes:

In Technical Issues, 1001bricks writes:

After:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1452636

... and some others IIRC, I confirm having had our last 40+ payments Cancelled
on Stripe

No paienent went through on our Stripe account went through since 02 FEB 22:38
Paris Time.
Zero, none.

All are Cancelled ("Annulé" in French)

See (large copies here) - this is our Stripe account:
https://snipboard.io/Klr9Lc.jpg

And:
https://snipboard.io/W7TE9X.jpg

Some buyers tried 4 to 6 times.

I noticed something was wrong when I tried purchasing using Stripe. The page
would freeze so I'd have to close the window. When I returned to my cart,
many of the parts I had tried to order were now listed as out of stock. I wonder
if the inventory of those stores were updating for my attempted purchase, but
didn't return the items to stock when the payment failed. I kept trying,
removing the out of stock items from the shopping cart, and then other items
showed out of stock after the next failed attempt. It was really frustrating.

I ended up using PayPal for all my purchases, which did not have this issue.

Yes, this is a known problem: Payment fails to go through, Bricklink reserves
the items anyway, buyer is unable to try again because the items now show up
as out of stock. We've had several buyers message us about this.
Outside of Bricklink we never have problems with Stripe. The only times the payment
fails is when the buyer aborted it. So I don't know why it happens sometimes,
but it's clearly a Bricklink problem.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 11:50

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

[…]
Wow, thanks for the link, I missed that. Surprising, very strange reasoning IMO.
Software is not organic tissue. Nothing gets absorbed if you just do it slowly
or in small doses. Pretty sure everyone benefits from a clean full update, that
is well announced and well documented, so only 1 update has to be made and the
risk of human errors is much smaller. I'm still waiting for Russell to give
me a rough timeline so that I know what I'm going to have to be working with..

Even more baffling is that Studio wasn’t immediately updated. It’s BrickLink
Studio. Not a third-party software. They are in the same building!

It’s not the first time parts were re-IDed. It always takes weeks (and messages!)
to have them fixed, but then, one could imagine the Studio team isn’t always
warned (hence the need for messages). Here, the team knows (I checked), and,
anyway, that should be automatic!
The more I think about it, the more I get upset. I should stop thinking about
it….

Haha, good point. And the fact that the link/picture of the tile in the help
topic ABOUT this change was broken after the item number change is also telling.
I mean, that's really not a big deal and it was fixed quickly after it was
reported, but it just shows the whole process and the consequences weren't
really thought through... and doing it slowly just creates more episodes of it.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 09:43

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, tmtomh writes:

In Catalog, DaddyOs_Bricks writes:

Has any consideration been given to how this update and merge will affect the
traffic that is driven to bricklink when buyers are generating wanted lists from
sites such as rebrickable, either from their set inventories or MOC inventories;
or any of the design programs with the parts/ part numbers that that have been
in use prior to the changes on the 1st and future proposed changes?
When I try to use rebrickable to buy the parts that were updated on the 1st they
can no longer be found for sale on bricklink via rebrickable. I would think the
same result will happen when trying to buy the part list for a MOC that includes
affected parts.

I apologize if this has already been asked or addressed but I have not been able
to find it. The lengthy threads across multiple posts are not easy to navigate
or follow for those that do not spend time in the forums on a regular basis.

Bill

It appears that either:

(a) No thought has been given to this important issue you raise, or

(b) Thought was given to it and the conclusion was, “We’ll announce it and Rebrickable
and all the other sites, software apps and tools will have to figure out how
to deal with it.”

(c) “We never know what kind of impact this has on third parties, but will be
sending lists to our affiliates (Brickset and Rebrickable) and Brickstore just
in case. Most of the changes should be absorbed by normal processes, but our
concern here is volume. We will make the changes batch by batch, and not all
on the same day.”
— https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1450771

Wow, thanks for the link, I missed that. Surprising, very strange reasoning IMO.
Software is not organic tissue. Nothing gets absorbed if you just do it slowly
or in small doses. Pretty sure everyone benefits from a clean full update, that
is well announced and well documented, so only 1 update has to be made and the
risk of human errors is much smaller. I'm still waiting for Russell to give
me a rough timeline so that I know what I'm going to have to be working with..

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 09:04

Subject:

Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika.

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, LeeGo73 writes:

In LANG Nederlands, Teup writes:

In LANG Nederlands, StarBrick writes:

Oe, dan wil ik graag je link waar jij dat zo goedkoop kunt versturen.
Als ik via PostNL een brievenbuspakje (hoezo zwart?) wil versturen krijg ik dit:

Bij deze de lijst

https://www.postnl.nl/api/assets/blt43aa441bfc1e29f2/blt5b5dd0e5cdaa0cb4/65302c781b3edf57d2c162e0/landentarieven-zakelijk-2024.pdf

Zakelijk account aanmaken. Mijn workflow is sinds de invoering van het nieuwe
systeem (alles naar het buitenland met barcode) eigenlijk juist versimpeld. Ik
importeer de zendingen, print de labels, en breng ze weg (moet officieel in een
postzak maar dat doe ik nooit).

Zijn de 50 vermelde zendingen naar buitenland alleen, of minimaal 50 naar buitenland
& NL?

Zoals ik het opvat, dien je per product er op jaarbasis 50 stuks van af te nemen.
Dus welk land maakt niet uit, maar dus wel 50x "buspakje untracked" buitenland.
Handigste dus, als je weinig verstuurt, om dan te settlen voor óf alleen met
tracking, óf alleen zonder tracking afnemen. (Overigens zijn ze hier volgensmij
niet heel streng op)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 07:21

Subject:

Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika.

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, StarBrick writes:

Helder.

Begrijp dat jij van de KOR regeling gebruik maakt, maar daar heb ik tot op heden
voor gepast.

Met de invoering van de 2000 euro grens/30 transacties voor fiscale doormelding
van particuliere verkoop in 2023 is dat inmiddels eerder een noodzaak dan een
mogelijkheid geworden.

Nee, zelf zit ik er boven, dus dan is het eigenlijk sowieso een uitgemaakte zaak,
anders is het echt frauderen. Maar voor de hobbyisten in de twijfelzone biedt
die KOR wel een hele schappelijke manier om het netjes te regelen. 1 afspraak
á €80 met de Kamer van Koophandel en het is geregeld. BTW zit je dus niet mee,
en inkomstenbelasting zit je alleen aan als je sowieso al best goed verdiende
naast je Legobusiness, dus dat is ook wel eerlijk. En het kan een opstapje zijn
naar nog groter, beter, efficiënter worden met je Legowinkel.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 06:29

Subject:

Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika.

Viewed:

61 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, StarBrick writes:

Oe, dan wil ik graag je link waar jij dat zo goedkoop kunt versturen.
Als ik via PostNL een brievenbuspakje (hoezo zwart?) wil versturen krijg ik dit:

Bij deze de lijst

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2024 06:17

Subject:

Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika.

Viewed:

53 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, StarBrick writes:

Ik heb er enige tijd terug voor gekozen niet meer naar de USA te verzenden.
Sinds COVID zijn de verzendkosten bizar gestegen (ook vanuit de USA naar Europa
overigens).

Inmiddels 12 euro voor een brievenbuspakje met tracking van max 100 gram is mij
echt te gek.

Zélfs als een koper het zou willen betalen begin ik er niet meer aan.

Een buspakje naar Amerika kost €4,25... voor iedereen die niet zwart verdient
tenminste. Maar tot (maarliefst) €20K omzet kun je gebruik maken van de kleine
ondernemersregeling, waardoor je geen BTW betaalt. Waarschijnlijk zowel de eerlijkste
als ook de financieel aantrekkelijkste optie onder de streep.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 2, 2024 05:20

Subject:

Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory

Viewed:

74 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, yorbrick writes:

What helps all buyers is if I could be open for business, and right now I can't...

Is it that big a deal if only a minority of your business is here?

Exactly the type of antics why we've already moved most of our business
away from
this platform.

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1450844

Clever, but I can do you one better

Why is it a minority? Because Bricklink does things this way. I'm not disappointed
in Bricklink because I am selling elsewhere - I am selling elsewhere because
I am disappointed in Bricklink.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 2, 2024 05:17

Subject:

Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory

Viewed:

62 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, ErwinNL writes:

In Technical Issues, BrickFreedom writes:

Hi

Have you made changes to the (Update Store Inventory -- PUT - /inventories/{inventory_id})
API request?

Previously you could call the API with the following parameters and would have
no issues:

['quantity' = '-2']

Now it's responding with:

["description":"String input must not be null","message":"PARAMETER_MISSING_OR_INVALID"]

Weirdly a couple of requests have completed successfully but most of the requests
are failing with the above error message. Can someone please advise what this
error is and if it's a bug that has been released into the API by accident?

I can confirm relative updates are broken with the API.

Correction, inventory update using the API in general seems broken. Relative
or not.

The fix is to specify the "description" field.

{"quantity":4, "description":""}

Works fine and fixes it as far as I can tell.

Can confirm! Thanks Erwin!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 2, 2024 04:30

Subject:

Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, 1001bricks writes:

In Technical Issues, brick.warehouse writes:

In Technical Issues, 1001bricks writes:

In Technical Issues, brick.warehouse writes:

It would also help if Bricklink exposed a stable surrogate key (itemId iirc)
via the API, so that syncing tools can still map parts correctly even when the
design/part/item number is changed.

Why? To facilitate people to sell elsewhere? See, I'm not sure...

You're making up motivations that I didn't express.

"syncing tools"?

It's common to use offline inventory management tools (like BrickStore, or
many others, including custom solutions).

These all break to some degree when the design number changes because the Bricklink
API uses a mutable field as the identifier.

BrickStore didn't have a problem with this change - and other changes -,
it checks the catalog change logs.

Of course this could be nice for the 100/500 hyper computerized sellers.

Well, it's really not 'going an extra mile' to change things in a
clean, consistent way. That's just how you do anything in a professional
way. We're not asking for anything extra, we are asking for things to be
done in a non-chaotic way. You fix a road by announcing it, closing it, changing
it, then opening it again. If you start fixing small bits at a time and it causes
dangerous situations, you can't blame it on the drivers if something goes
wrong. We can praise Brickstore for being able to handle it, but it doesn't
excuse how Bricklink is doing this.

Frankly, I'd prefer they spend time on something that'd help more (all)
sellers, and why not buyers.

What helps all buyers is if I could be open for business, and right now I can't...

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2024 19:44

Subject:

Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory

Viewed:

105 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, BrickFreedom writes:

Well, I am not surprised. This was my point... Making changes should have been
done the professional way by Bricklink:

1. Set a date, communicate clear heads-up, to get everyone on the same page with
it: the sellers, the guys from all these apps
2. Give enough time for everyone to prepare an update and stand by
3. Apply the changes all at once exactly on that announced date

Unfortunately what we got was more of a "let's push a button and see
what happens" way... I suppose such problems are going to persist no matter
the updates, as long as Bricklink gradually keeps changing things unannounced,
constantly rendering the updates outdated.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2024 13:56

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

Hello again everyone.

This is the latest update on the variants project.

*****************************************

Here is the original thread:

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1447090

Here is the second thread:

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1450622

Here is the overview Help article:

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625

Here is the exhaustive Help article:

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2626

Important update to the sellers' correction list:

We have added an XML download to help sellers more easily see which lots in their
store may be affected by these changes. Also see the image attached below:

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2629

List of replies from myself:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageList.asp?overTP=Y&q=variants&qS=Y&msgID=&uName=admin_russell&ID=&status=&v=c&max=50

Upcoming schedule:

Tomorrow (Feb 1) we will begin handling issue number 11 in the overview, which
includes tiles and 1 x 1 round bricks. This will not involve any merging, only
changing Item Numbers and Item Names.

A list of changes for this first step will be sent out tomorrow to our affiliates.
If you run a database and would like this list (Excel format), please contact
me through BrickLink and I will send you the list.

This first step is scheduled to be finished by Feb 14.

We have a meeting on Monday (Feb 5) with our catalog admins to go through the
rest of the list and make final decisions. After that meeting, a schedule will
be made for the merges. Due to the large number of minifigure heads in the catalog,
the merge process is likely to not be complete until the end of May.

.....

What a mess. Why does Bricklink never keep its own promises? Russell please....
don't do it like this, this is chaos. I have been a seller here for a very
long time, I have paid thousands of dollars to you guys and I really don't
want to close shop but you're really forcing my hand here. I simply cannot
manage my inventory if changes are randomly happening on random days over a course
of MONTHS.

The change was scheduled for 1 Feb. We sent out a newsletter to our customers
about the date. Then it was 15 Feb. That's ok, at least more time to prepare.
I've spent a full day writing software to handle the transition form old
to new item IDs. But now it turns out that the changes are going to be all over
the place between basically today and MAY. And even THAT is not
sure...?

Why wasn't it possible to simply set a date, announce it, and stick to that
plan? Why can't Bricklink go offline for maintenance on the set date of 15
Feb and come back up with the changes in place? It's a real shame that Bricklink
really doesn't seem to take these changes seriously and try to understand
the implications.... Does it really take that long to come up with new numbers?
And if it does, can you at least update them all at once by then, and announce
it properly?

So I see the first changes are made and are already causing inconsistencies.

VERY disappointed that my calls are ignored and that bricklink goes about this
in this very amateuristic way.

Sad that Bricklink never keeps its own promises. I will now close my store.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2024 07:28

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

68 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Stellar writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, helge writes:

The change was scheduled for 1 Feb. We sent out a newsletter to our customers
about the date. Then it was 15 Feb. That's ok, at least more time to prepare.
I've spent a full day writing software to handle the transition form old
to new item IDs. But now it turns out that the changes are going to be all over
the place between basically today and MAY. And even THAT is not
sure...?

Just curious and asking because I am afraid that I have missed something:

Why do you need to write software to handle the transition?

Sorry, since the message was directed to Russell and I mentioned it before I
omitted it here - our sync system works based on item IDs. If they change randomly,
it will break our sync a little bit many times, at random moments, and it will
be hard to repair without understanding clearly what changed into what.

It would be easier to just monitor this page daily with your software to automate
making the changes accordingly:

https://www.bricklink.com/btchglog.asp
https://www.bricklink.com/btchglog.asp?viewHelp=Y

Thanks for the suggestion! Didn't know about this list. I already made somewhere
that compares our old and new inventory to identify changes, I will keep this
list in mind and it might come in handy at some point. But as for making changes
gradually: Technical details aside, manual changes are slow and annoying in our
system (not as high tech as Helge thinks

), and doing it on separate moments
for our 600+ head lots wouldn't be workable I'm afraid. At this point
closing shop and coming back in May seems the best solution unless Bricklink
can make the changes in a clean way.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2024 07:11

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

In Catalog, helge writes:

Just curious and asking because I am afraid that I have missed something:

Why do you need to write software to handle the transition?

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2024 07:01

Subject:

Re: Variants Thread - January 31

Viewed:

79 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

Hello again everyone.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 26, 2024 18:49

Subject:

Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed

Viewed:

77 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

[…]
Wow. ALL those numbers will change? Yikes. This is going to cause a gigantic
administrative headache over here. All of this REALLY REALLY could have been
explained in much clearer detail so we'd all understand much earlier on what
EXACTLY is going to happen. (If so many users misunderstand what exactly will
happen, it's really not all those users' fault..)

Not to mention all the inventory gremlins this is going to cause for months/years
to come.

I don’t know how you handle changes but there will be both a change of the IDs
AND of the names.
(I know my local solution can only manage to automatically recover from a change
of one of those: by looking for the other.)

Thanks, yes, names don't matter to me, but the IDs will be a real puzzle.
(It's ok, but communication would have been key..)

Btw, some advice for all sellers who... well... for all sellers (because this
mess will affect us all): On 1 Feb when this hits, you can go to your inventory
page and check the box at "Non-Unique" and press "Go!". This
will take you to all of your duplicate lots so you can eliminate or comment them.
(Maybe this was obvious but I was today years old when I discovered this

)

I realize now that this is REALLY going to wreck our sync and inventory management
in a way that I don't yet know how to repair.
Thanks Bricklink, for again proving to be an unreliable business partner. Exactly
the type of antics why we've already moved most of our business away from
this platform..

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 26, 2024 18:32

Subject:

Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed

Viewed:

53 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 26, 2024 18:12

Subject:

Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

In Catalog, Give.Me.A.Brick writes:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

In Catalog, jennnifer writes:

New question:

What's to happen to the number sequences of all the decorated parts?

They will need to be renumbered.

Do I understand correctly that
[p=3626b]
[p=3626c]
[p=28621]

are all to be one listing? Presumably 3626 something?

Yes, and yes.

Will the 210 Vented Stud heads currently in the catalog be renumbered into the
3626 series? Will there be a Change Log entry to document this change?

Yes. All "vented" and "blocked open" descriptors everywhere will
disappear. We will not distinguish them.

Even though it will take longer to run everything through the public change log
system, I will do it for the sake of transparency.

If I understand correctly, as of now, the 4 digits on 3626bpb**** and 3626cpb****
don't collide am I right? (Except when they are variants of the same head.)

So that would mean that the 4 digits will stay the same, which would be handy.

I mean:

3626cpb0909 will become 3626pb909 (3626bpb0909 doesn't exist)

3626cpb0912 and 3626bpb0912 will both merge into 3626pb0912

Yes, that is the idea. The aim is to be practical!

For the 28621pb**** the 4 digits will have to change, right?

We will need new numbers for them, just as if we had never distinguished them.
But all the old part numbers will be retained as alternates.

Wow. ALL those numbers will change? Yikes. This is going to cause a gigantic
administrative headache over here. All of this REALLY REALLY could have been
explained in much clearer detail so we'd all understand much earlier on what
EXACTLY is going to happen. (If so many users misunderstand what exactly will
happen, it's really not all those users' fault..)

Not to mention all the inventory gremlins this is going to cause for months/years
to come.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 18:45

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

[…]
Hmmm and also, I see that the proposed change of removing the "with groove"
entries is not in this list, so it seems incomplete. This is likely going to
result in us having to shut down the business for one or two days and figure
out what the damage is, I guess.

Russell clarified that 3068b and 3068a (and other tiles) won’t be merged: the
“With Groove” will be removed from 3068b and, IIUC, 3068b will become 3068.
Like we have 3001 and 3001old.
Don’t know if 3068a will become 3068old though, but the entry will be kept separate.

Aha, thanks for clearing that up, Jen and Sylvain. So, in that case that list
actually is complete (and potentially definitive). Good to know.

And @Jen I agree that removing specifications from the name that are very rarely
relevant (anymore) is a good thing. That sort of thing really does scare casual
buyers away as they can get overwhelmed and don't understand what elements
of the name/description are relevant to them. Bricklink is a lot to take in.

And removing "smooth" slopes is good too, I never acknowledged that as
a legitimate thing in the first place

Ok, seems the changes are not as dramatic as I feared at first. The amount of
duplicate lots this will produce will not be that numerous for most sellers.
But I do hope Russell will find some time before the deadline to clarify in that
list which exact item numbers are going to be removed and which ones will stay.
That way, once the change is made, sellers can spot their duplicates easily.
And I can make some adjustments to make sure the sync system here works correctly.

I finished the list this morning:

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2626

For the Duplo bricks and the Blocked and Vented studs, there are just too many
to list at this time, but people can do a search for them in their stores.

We will need a full list to send out the notification next week though, so that
will be coming.

Thanks!

Concerning the removed vs changed, nothing will technically be removed from the
catalog. All items will be merged to a similar item and the lots in stores will
be preserved. In some cases, just the Item Name and Item Number will be adjusted,
and that may not require any text to be added to the comments section.

But the easiest thing would simply be to add notes to every listing on the list.
I have found it helps buyers have confidence that a variant is correct when a
note is present, even if the note simply duplicates the info in the Item Name.

In our particular case, the item number changes are very significant because
of how we sync inventory. We don't use any Bricklink IP in terms of its catalog
text or pictures, but the Bricklink numbers have to port correctly to our catalog
and vice versa. It would be good to know them in advance, though I'm aware
I'm one of few sellers for whom the item number is of importance.

Anyway, for other sellers I think a list of eventual item numbers is useful too,
so that once the change is made, they can identify and eliminate/comment duplicate
lots efficiently though the inventory search function, if they haven't done
so yet at that time. Helps avoiding pointless duplicate lots, which buyers often
dislike.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 10:58

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 08:09

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

69 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

[…]
1. I still need to have a list with the eventual numbers of everything (to make
sure that our BL keeps working in sync with our other venues). What does "merged"
here exactly mean - that these entries listed here are the entries that will
disappear? Confused because in some cases I see only one entry listed (4079b
Minifigure, Utensil Seat / Chair 2 x 2 with Center Sprue Mark), but in some cases
two (hinge with 7 teeth, hinge with 9 teeth are both listed).

Good question… but I don’t know the answer.
(And I would like to know too because my personal inventory can automatically
survive a change of ID or a change of description but not both.)

2. Is this official,

It’s been written by Russell (his name is at the bottom).

is it confirmed that this list is complete?

I don’t konw.

Asking because
last time we were "given a month" it wasn't actually a month for
us to adapt, but a month in which BL itself was making up its mind and kept making
some changes... I don't want to work through this list only to have to do
it again in 2 weeks.

Indeed. “It’s a decade-old problem. In 2 weeks we break everything!”

Hmmm and also, I see that the proposed change of removing the "with groove"
entries is not in this list, so it seems incomplete. This is likely going to
result in us having to shut down the business for one or two days and figure
out what the damage is, I guess.

As for the groove, I'm curious if that would also affect:

92593 Plate, Modified 1 x 4 with 2 Studs without Groove
Parts: Plate, Modified

41740 Plate, Modified 1 x 4 with 2 Studs with Groove
Parts: Plate, Modified

The old one is still plenty in stock everywhere. I'd hate to throw them all
together in one bag... As a seller I don't mind it, but I mean... if you
make a building with a layer of these, wouldn't it be kinda ugly if some
of them have a groove and some don't

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 07:02

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

[…]
Also can I opt in for a merge? Or is there / will there be an easy way to see
which lots are duplicate? Duplicate lots would cause problems in our system so
I want to make sure we don't have any.

Maybe merge them yourself just before?
List is here: https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2626

Ah, great, thanks! Yes, if nothing else, I could go over this manually. Annoying,
but one-time only, so that's alright.

But...

1. I still need to have a list with the eventual numbers of everything (to make
sure that our BL keeps working in sync with our other venues). What does "merged"
here exactly mean - that these entries listed here are the entries that will
disappear? Confused because in some cases I see only one entry listed (4079b
Minifigure, Utensil Seat / Chair 2 x 2 with Center Sprue Mark), but in some cases
two (hinge with 7 teeth, hinge with 9 teeth are both listed).

2. Is this official, is it confirmed that this list is complete? Asking because
last time we were "given a month" it wasn't actually a month for
us to adapt, but a month in which BL itself was making up its mind and kept making
some changes... I don't want to work through this list only to have to do
it again in 2 weeks.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 06:33

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

74 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

Hello everyone,

As a platform, we have decided to take a hard look at some of the mold variants
that we are currently asking you to recognize. For sellers, more variants means
extra sorting and extra work while pulling orders, plus the issues that arise
from variant misunderstandings.

For buyers, excess variants mean that it's harder to assemble a wanted list,
find stores, and ultimately obtain the parts you are looking for.

I have put together a quick Help page to outline these proposed changes:

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625

Notice the date on this is coming up quickly (Feb 1), so I'm not giving a
lot of time for discussion. I'm aiming for about 1 week of discussion and
then we'll give sellers 2 weeks to adjust the descriptions on affected items
if they wish to retain the distinctions.

I plan to construct a full FAQ page with answers to all your questions. This
will serve to inform users about what was done here in February 2024, and also
help point the catalog in the right direction in the future.

To get started, I'll list a few here:

1. This sounds like you're dumbing down the BrickLink catalog to make
it easier for new users. Is that what is going on?

Not really. There are many, many other variants we expect people to sort and
care about. These ones don't really seem to matter much, and some of them
(e.g., the minifigure heads) actually cause problems for the catalog that cannot
be corrected otherwise.

2. What if I really care about a certain variant that is going away? Can I
still buy and sell that variant?

Absolutely! You can add notes to your listings to make them as "determined"
as you wish. Buyers can still search within notes for extra details, or they
can simply observe them as they browse listings.

3. How do I know which exact variants will be merged? I only see one example
in each category.

Please ask in this thread and I can be very specific. Usually we are talking
about a handful of parts and the printed versions.

4. Has a merge like this ever been done before?

Yes, there was a precedent - the Headlight Brick with Slot:

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1016584

It was marked for deletion a few years ago and was finally merged last August.

5. Are these the only parts up for consideration, or are there other variants
that will be merged as well?

This is all for now. Based on how well this goes, we may elect to remove other
entries later. However, we will keep all functional variants and important cosmetic
variants.

Important problem to address but bad solution IMO, but I won't waste time
giving input, so ok, go for it

Just a question:

Will it affect the item numbers (e.g. removal of the "b" )? If so, is
there a complete list of which item numbers (design IDs) exactly are going to
be affected and what the new numbers will be?

Also can I opt in for a merge? Or is there / will there be an easy way to see
which lots are duplicate? Duplicate lots would cause problems in our system so
I want to make sure we don't have any.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 11, 2024 04:23

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

94 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

Important problem to address but bad solution IMO, but I won't waste time
giving input, so ok, go for it

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Nov 16, 2023 06:44

Subject:

Re: New policy on Forum sales posts

Viewed:

127 times

Topic:

In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:

To be sure, there are a few members who have abused the Sales post feature, running
what seem to be constant deep discounts on everything in their store or in certain
categories.

...which is actually against EU law
https://sellforte.com/en/blog/eu-law-change-on-promotions/

I mean, it's not my business so I don't really care, but if it's
BL wish to be law-compliant, this isn't enough. They'd have to moderate
the sale function itself, not just the forum. (And, talking about law-compliancy,
change several other things, such as stop pumping seller's mailboxes full
of IP addresses of their buyers, which is a GDPR violation because it counts
as private data and it counts as irrelevant for the purpose).

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Nov 9, 2023 16:48

Subject:

Re: Update on November 3rd incident

Viewed:

78 times

Topic:

In Administrative, CE_Uday writes:

In Administrative, Teup writes:

Can you be more specific here: Does this mean 2FA or not?

So it turns out the 'hacker's comment that 2FA wouldn't save us was
indeed bluff. It very much would have saved us. So is Bricklink going
to prevent this from happening again? I hope 2FA will be put in place before
the devs are going to be put through another series of sleepless nights...

At this time, we can't comment on specific security measures in development.
However, we will communicate about any new security features as they become available.

Thanks for the reply. I hope it will include 2FA or something else that in this
case would have prevented the outage. Both for the team and the sellers/buyers
sake..

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Nov 9, 2023 05:17

Subject:

Re: Update on November 3rd incident

Viewed:

89 times

Topic:

In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:

We take the safety of BrickLink and our members very
seriously and will continue to step up security across the platform.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Nov 15, 2022 16:53

Subject:

Re: Reserve your LEGO® account nickname today!

Viewed:

101 times

Topic:

In Administrative, Admin writes:

Dear BrickLink member,

We’ll be making some changes to the LEGO® Account system in 2023 that’ll make
things a bit easier for you and other BrickLink® members. We’re introducing a
universal LEGO nickname that will work in all online LEGO experiences, including
BrickLink. This means that your username on BrickLink will be the same as your
LEGO Account nickname. That way, you’ll only have to keep track of one nickname,
and it’ll be easier for others to follow you and enjoy your LEGO content.

Right now, we’re giving our BrickLink and LEGO Ideas members a chance to create
and reserve their preferred nickname before we open the service to other LEGO
account holders. If you already have a LEGO Account, we’ll ask you to do a quick
setup on that account by following the link below. All you must do is submit
your BrickLink username as your new LEGO Account nickname. That’s how we’ll make
sure you get the nickname you prefer, on BrickLink, LEGO Ideas and everywhere
else!

If you do not have an account already, follow the link below to create an account
and to select your own nickname.

We understand how important it is to you that other BrickLink members recognize
you on our site, so we encourage you to complete the nickname setup as soon as
you can.

There’s one more thing, though. For trademark and copyright reasons, nicknames
can’t contain words like “LEGO” or “BrickLink” We appreciate all our BrickLink
members, and we understand that changing your nickname isn’t necessarily something
you’d like to do. It’s all part of our work to provide our BrickLink members
with the best possible way to connect with the LEGO brand and each other, and
we hope you’ll feel the benefits of this going forward.

If you find your nickname is rejected for this reason, we encourage you to use
other words related to the LEGO brand like “brick” or “build.” See what fun and
personal combinations you can make!

Anyway, here’s what you need to do:

• Follow this link to log in to your LEGO Account or to create a new LEGO account

https://identity.lego.com/en-US/profile?returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bricklink.com%2F&clientid=0fd7ca3b-3a33-48e3-a747-8ec6f09557c1&appContext=false&adultexperience=true&hideheader=true&hideclosebutton=false&hideexternallogin=false&childsignupexperience=

• Click the Edit icon next to your avatar
• Choose your preferred nickname in the field
• Click Submit and wait a few seconds for your nickname to be approved
• That’s it! You’re all set!

Please select your preferred nickname by the 16th of January 2023. If you’re
not able to change it by this time, we’ll give you an auto-generated nickname.

PLEASE CHECK THESE GUIDELINES BEFORE SUBMITTING A NEW NICKNAME

A nickname...

• can be created in the languages available within a LEGO experience, e.g., LEGO.com
or LEGO Life.
• must be between 4-25 characters in length
• can contain both upper- and lower-case letters
• can be a mix of characters and numbers
• can include a maximum of 4 numbers
• can only include the following special signs: ‘.’ and/or ‘-‘and/or ‘_’
• can include spaces, but not two or more consecutive spaces
• can’t contain the LEGO wordmark including any variations that make it look
as if the name indicates an individual representing the LEGO Group
• can’t contain a LEGO franchise that is a trademark owned by the LEGO Group
• can’t contain a name from another intellectual property not owned by the LEGO
Group (example: Star Wars)
• can’t contain an email address or other contact info
• can’t contain references to other social platforms
• must adhere to the standard LEGO moderation guidelines including but not limited
to political or religious topics, drugs and alcohol, weapon references, hate
speech, profanities, violence, or abusive language

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Please visit our Help Center for a list of Freqeuntly Asked Questions

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2576

If you would like to recieve information about this type of topic in the future,
you can sign up for Personalized Marketting here

https://www.bricklink.com/pref_contact.asp

It says "Teup" contains vulgar language. Can't proceed.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Nov 15, 2022 14:07

Subject:

Re: Inevitable thread for recent nickname email

Viewed:

54 times

Topic:

Media

In Media, Nubs_Select writes:

Just got this email and though I’d post the first thread for it to confirm others
got it also and
1. That’s is legit.
2. That I’m not going crazy (at least in regards to this

)
3. Can’t remember what the 3rd reason was

It says my nickname is a vulgar word, lol. And it tells me I have to try it again,
but then it tells me I'm only allowed to try once in 30 days. Mad IT skillz

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Aug 3, 2022 04:48

Subject:

Re: Bricklink email? is it real?

Viewed:

98 times

Topic:

In Help, Nubs_Select writes:

Just wanted to ask if bricklink recently sent out an email regarding the selling
of minifigures as the entire email is just a bit off

Normally I don't come here on this forum anymore but this email was so silly
it made me laugh. So basically they are sending a direct message to all SELLERS
(not buyers) to look out for this even though Bricklink literally OWNS this database
and can see directly where the problems are without anyone's help. Except
now they lost this ability, because they have just told all counterfeit sellers
to sell in small batches.

I'm honestly wondering if the person who came up with this idea was just
honestly extremely naive, or if it is a deliberate instruction to all counterfeit
sellers to keep their quantities down in order to avoid Bricklink looking like
a suspicious marketplace, in light of item legitimacy being a hot topic lately.
I would not expect that from Bricklink, but I'm not sure which scenario is
more credible.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Apr 24, 2022 04:39

Subject:

Re: Teup out, see ya guys!

Viewed:

87 times

Topic:

In General, Teup writes:

As some of you miiiight have noticed I haven't been around for a while here.
Just a last post to say I'm quitting this forum, as I feel we have plenty
of channels to discuss all things Bricklink and Lego selling in general these
days, and I no longer feel this forum has any merit to me. I might post something
someday if there's some kind of urgent selling emergency because of new rules
or whatever, but that'll be it. So, it's been fun, see you guys elsewhere
or good luck on all your Lego endeavours

I will just leave a couple of usual replies to common topics right here:

- Wear that first negative feedback like a badge of honor
- You have to separate payment status and order status, set payment status to
none, then try again
- Just pay your taxes
- You need Brickstore or other software to be able to do that
- Yeah, I'm also waiting until Bricklink lets me part out my Ninjago Gardens
- Those are all pearl gold
- Wow! Yes, I would love to buy that driver's license and US passport

Hope this way my input is going to be relevant for many years to come

Thanks for the responses guys

I figured there are benefits and drawbacks to
an "official" forum (well, this one anyway), the main benefit is you can give
input, but since they're never gonna do anything with any input I gave anyway,
that leaves us with just the drawbacks

So, hope to see each of you around
through one of the other channels sometime, we have Facebook, Reddit, Discord
(still have to learn the ropes on this one)..

All places where we - in the
absence of Bricklink's forum rules and other intervention - inexplicably
haven't burned down the place yet

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Apr 23, 2022 02:51

Subject:

Teup out, see ya guys!

Viewed:

294 times

Topic:

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 3, 2022 10:21

Subject:

Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why?

Viewed:

75 times

Topic:

In Payment Methods, yorbrick writes:

In Payment Methods, Teup writes:

In Payment Methods, yorbrick writes:

Can you imagine those "good ol' days" are still every day reality in 2022
for Dutch customers on Bricklink?

Place an order, wait for an invoice, grab your identifier, enter the code to
access online banking, copy all the details of the seller to the form, submit
it, again grab the identifier to sign the transfer, mark the order as paid or
send the seller a message that you paid...

All because Bricklink doesn't
care much about adding more onsite Payment methods.

Do Dutch banks allow third party sites to set-up and control bank transfers?
I'm wondering how you expect BL to setup onsite bank transfer.

Plus, they would presumably need to do this for each bank, in each country, leading
to a very large number of payment methods that they wold need to monitor and
keep up-to-date.

The Dutch onsite interface for this is called iDeal. It can be enabled by pretty
much checking a box in Stripe's settings. Some other countries have similar
things, and they are all supported by Stripe. For my business outside BL, I just
checked pretty much all of the boxes in the settings. Great thing about Stripe
is, I have no idea how my buyers are paying, but it's all funneled into my
account

Presumably that still has the Stripe fees associated with it, if it is going
through Stripe and not free as it would be if you did a manual bank transfer.

Aside from the level of the fees, PayPal is somewhat similar concerning the origin
of the transaction. You don't know how the buyer is paying (existing balance,
debit card, direct debit through their bank account or credit card).

The fee for iDeal is €0.29 and no percentage fee, so it's only slightly more
expensive than a completely manual bank transfer. Usually too little to resort
to the extra hassle of doing it manually even if the seller would pass on these
costs.

Yes, with PayPal people can source it in different ways, but the nice thing about
Stripe is that it shows the customer the usual checkout interface that they are
used to, without mentioning "Stripe" anywhere. It's a seamless integration
whereas with PayPal AFAIK you are still aware that you are paying by PayPal.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 3, 2022 05:52

Subject:

Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why?

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Payment Methods, yorbrick writes:

Can you imagine those "good ol' days" are still every day reality in 2022
for Dutch customers on Bricklink?

All because Bricklink doesn't
care much about adding more onsite Payment methods.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 3, 2022 04:24

Subject:

Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why?

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Payment Methods, wildchicken13 writes:

In Payment Methods, eileenkeeney writes:

In Payment Methods, peregrinator writes:

In Payment Methods, eileenkeeney writes:

There is no sales tax in my state, so that is moot.

That is why sellers can continue to offer offsite PayPal in your case (and in
the case of any other buyer who lives in a sales tax-free state). But the request
for friends and family is a red flag. I wonder what would happen if you paid
as "goods and services" instead. Probably nothing good.

Not charging sales tax, to states that do not have a sales tax, is already well
handled by most systems. LEGO never charges me sales tax unless I am shipping
to someone in a State that has a sales tax. So that is not a valid reason for
not using on-site payment. I see no valid reason why this should be allowed.
I am sure it is a Legacy feature and will be changed at some point. For now,
I will just choose to not support the request even if the invoice did say "please"
when asking me to use the friend option. I am still deciding if I am going to
cancel the order or just pay using the option for purchasing goods. It does
have one rare piece, but a few other sellers have the piece. It is a low demand
rare piece.

Reminds me of the good ol' days of BrickLink. Place an order, wait for an
invoice, go to PayPal.com, type in the seller's address and the total, choose
"Goods and Services" or "Friends and Family", click send, and mark the order
as paid on BrickLink. If a seller was nice, they would give you a link so that
you didn't have to type everything in manually. Then onsite payment and instant
checkout changed everything…

In retrospect, it is such an outdated system.

Can you imagine those "good ol' days" are still every day reality in 2022
for Dutch customers on Bricklink?

All because Bricklink doesn't
care much about adding more onsite Payment methods.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 2, 2022 15:08

Subject:

Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why?

Viewed:

76 times

Topic:

In Payment Methods, eileenkeeney writes:

I thought bricklink had started using onsite payment for all sellers.
I remember reading a thread, where a seller's buyers were getting messages
indicating he did not ship to that country, and the fix was to turn on onsite
payment.

I filled a cart, and went to check out, and saw that postage had been calculated.
The postage calculation was such that I did have to remove stuff from my cart
to meet the package size required for checkout. With everything so tediously
calculated, I fully expected auto-checkout. But instead it said I would get
an invoice. At that point I was fine with it, as long as the invoice would show
the same (or very close to the same) total cost. Then I get the invoice, and
the shipping cost is the same. So I look for the link to pay the invoice, but
it isn't on the invoice. Instead there are instructions telling me to use
paypal and to use the Paypal as friend option.

Do you mean instant checkout or onsite payment? From your description it's
not completely clear if this order was instant checkout or not (that is, whether
the invoice was generated instantaneously, or if the seller compiled it).

In this case it could have been offsite payment to avoid PayPal fees by instructing
buyers to use the Friends & Family option. It's always nice when people are
so generous with their friendships, but AFAIK it's against BL's terms.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 2, 2022 11:44

Subject:

Re: Funding methods for Stripe (and PayPal)

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

In Payment Methods, SylvainLS writes:

In Payment Methods, cosmicray writes:

[…]
Does BrickLink support any of the payment funding sources other than credit/debit
cards (on Stripe or PayPal) ?

The day BL supports iDeal or other bank transfer method through Stripe or PayPal,
even the deafs will hear Teup sing thanks

You beat me to it

But actually no, I'm just pushing it because the fact
they don't support it annoys me on principle, but financially it's a
blessing Bricklink doesn't care, because it's one of the reasons my business
outside of Bricklink is so successful.

So the answer: You raise an excellent point and no, Bricklink does not support
any other methods, and yes, they've been 'wanting'/'trying'
to add them for years now (the BL team told me in a call 2 years ago that they
were trying to add them). I think there is simply not anyone at Bricklink whose
paycheck directly depends on how much business Bricklink generates - people at
the office just have their positions and want to keep them, LEGO wants to maintain
Bricklink the way it is (at least as long as they don't feel 100% confident
they know the ropes), and that's it. Adding payment methods would be a very
easy and virtually costless way to generate much more sales here, pretty much
a nobrainer for an entrepreneur, but it seems for them it's not important.

By the way, the LEGO website is actually the same way here. Besides Bricklink,
it's the only webshop I know where we can't pay onsite; we have to wait
until Lego sends an invoice. So I don't think the LEGO takeover is going
to inspire much change there anytime soon

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Mar 2, 2022 06:33

Subject:

Re: New Medium Brown

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

Colors

In Colors, randyf writes:

In Colors, crimson30 writes:

Maybe I missed it, but with the new Medium Brown coming out (Hogwarts Magical
Trunk is for sale today), I wanted to see if there would be another discussion,
like there was with Neon Yellow.

It strikes me as similar to BL Medium Brown, so I could certainly see "New Medium
Brown". Also I made a swatch based on similar colors. I'd really like to
see what everyone thinks, but honestly one of the key reasons I'm bringing
it up is that I *do not* want to see both colors covered by one BL name.

This one is a tough situation. The official LEGO name is "Medium Brown", but
BrickLink already has a "Medium Brown". The BrickLink "Medium Brown" is LEGO
"Brown", but BrickLink already has a "Brown". The BrickLink "Brown" is LEGO "Earth
Orange", but BrickLink already has an "Earth Orange". *sigh*

Maybe go with "Medium Brown 2022", like Bladerunner 2049.

Two possible choices I have come up with that would avoid any color renaming:

"Light Brown" - This is a name used by LEGO for what is BrickLink "Fabuland Orange",
but BrickLink does not use this name yet. It is simple and short.

"Nougat Brown" - Since this color comes between "Reddish Brown" and "Medium Nougat"
on the skin tone scale, this one is a blend of those names. It is also simple
and short.

More to come on this...

Actually I like both more than Medium Brown in the first place. The "Medium"
word always confuses me, as sometimes it means "lighter" and sometimes it means
"darker".. it basically just means "another"

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 28, 2022 11:39

Subject:

Re: Risks of buying from Russia right now

Viewed:

78 times

Topic:

Buying

In Buying, axaday writes:

But please be ready to welcome our Russia stores back when
things are more settled one way or the other. Whether they agree with it or
not, none of this is their fault.

Though I tend to agree, it's actually something you can debate, and I do
follow the logic of stores that would keep some kind of boycott. But IMO it's
not going to be effective unless perhaps it's going to be part of a real
dramatic change in everyday life (and actually, we are kind of going in that
direction). Knowing Russian nature a bit, I think the people would only stand
up if they really run into a dead-end in their life. If it's just going to
be some online businesses nagging them by not sending things anymore, it could
quickly be accepted as just another one of those annoying things you just have
to bear in an already pretty harsh daily life. That would just be a loss for
everyone.

To Russians who may be reading this: Maybe it's comforting for you to know
that even if sanctions are hitting you very hard right now, people over here
at least do understand it isn't the Russian people who wanted this war. We
have plenty of media coverage of Russian protests, Russians against the war,
and the problems Russians are facing right now. People here don't hate you!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 27, 2022 05:57

Subject:

Re: Why are these terms allowed?

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Help, Ellum writes:

I found this in a seller og vintage sets terms

What is included and excluded in the sets

We mainly sell complete sets. Sometimes, we also sell a number of parts. When
there is something missing in the set, it is mentioned in the description of
the advertisement. Please note: we only check sets by inventory lists, we do
not build them in general. If so, the set will be send in build condition. This
is always mentioned in the description. However, for some vintage sets, minifigs
have a feather on their hat. In the inventory list is mentioned that each feather
must be there in three sizes. We only add one size of feather: the one that is
actually on the minifig its hat. The other feather sizes are just extra, as they
were sold originally all three bundled together. You do only need the one we
add to have the set complete by building it. Furthermore, in case there is a
horse included in the set, the plate and brick in the same color for "in" the
horse are not included. This is because a saddle is always on the horse. This
plate and brick are not used when playing with the set.

Seller sells complete sets with this in terms. Why is this allowed? I sell vintage
sets as well and will only list a set as complete with the extra parts because
that is bricklink listing policy. This is unfair behaviour from this seller.

You're right that's a terms violation:

Complete - Contents are brand new and may have been removed from their plastic
bags and handled for inventorying purposes only. Includes all contents that originally
came with set including extra parts, stickers, instructions (if any) and original
box/packaging.

At the very least the seller should add these comments in the listings themselves
rather than hidden in the terms field.

But as for that terms field in general: BL doesn't care about it or moderate
it, as long as it isn't a US seller who charges PayPal fees (probably under
pressure from PayPal). Just today I was trying to buy a part and couldn't
find a single store (I checked about 10) that offered it without having a legal
violation in their terms. It's 'business as usual' that I just accepted
long ago, but when you think about it that's pretty crazy.

I will keep repeating it: Terms should be abolished and replaced with BL's
own terms plus some multiple choice settings for the seller (that the buyer can
filter on). In other words, BL should look at how BrickOwl does this. This case
is just once again an illustration that that would be much better.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 26, 2022 19:54

Subject:

Re: N00b Questions- How To Gauge Sales?

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

Selling

In Selling, Upstate_Brickz writes:

Hello Bricklink,

I'm just curious if there is any way to gauge how well I'm doing with
sales?

I don't know of any data or charts I can look at on BL to compare
my store to other stores of similar size that opened around the same time, or
if it's just a question I have to ask here and get responses to. Is 13 a
good or bad number of sales for only being open 2 months?

I'm kind of adrift with BL's lack of data for sellers. I wish I knew
if people were coming to my store because I had the lowest price for an item,
buy now on their wanted list, advertising, people buying to get feedback to open
their own stores or a specific search.

Thanks for any advice!

Upstate_Brickz

I know how you feel, it's often hard to figure these things out, and usually
there's no hard evidence. If you're doing "ok" really depends on what
country you are in, what kind of things you sell, which payment methods you accept,
etc, etc.. No two stores are the same. I guess the answer is, 'it is what
it is': Your store is doing the way it should be doing. And if you want to
compare, compare your store to your store + a change. Like, see what adding inventory
does for your sales, see what higher or lower prices does, etc. Getting to
know your own store is most important. For example, I know that my busiest month
is January, and that is really useful info for my planning. But this is different
for every store. I don't know what other stores are like, but at least I
know what to expect from mine.

(But when experimenting with changing things, evaluate the results after some
months, not after some days. That way you're sure you're not being fooled
by random factors.)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 25, 2022 09:10

Subject:

Re: What, if anything, do sellers use lot id for

Viewed:

29 times

Topic:

In General, calsbricks writes:

Just curious - if it wasn't there would that be a problem ?

Yes, of course it would be a problem. Products always need SKU's. Without
barcodes, the supermarket would be a giant mess.

But it's true you could in some situations derive SKU's from a kind of
part+colour code, which is actually what I personally do in my inventory management
outside of BL. But principally it's a little bit dirty because those numbers
aren't meant to serve that purpose, and functionally it's a downgrade.
Because obviously that makes it impossible to list the same part+colour(+condition,type,..)
multiple times, and means consolidation is obligatory. Also, if an item number
changes (rare but it happens), you're in trouble if you don't have a
separate SKU to fall back on.

And if we talk about not just hiding it but really removing it from the
code, we're in trouble as obivously it's not uncommon for a particular
part to be in the inventory of not just one but multiple sellers worldwide

In order to facilitate that, items would need a list of which seller sells them
and how much. So instead of sellers having lotIDs, lots would be having sellerIDs

I won't call any data structure "wrong", it's all a matter of style,
but let's say the current one does make sense

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 24, 2022 13:56

Subject:

Re: Upcoming sanctions against Russia: BL?

Viewed:

109 times

Topic:

In General, Leftoverbricks writes:

In light of the upcoming international sanctions against Russia, what is Bricklink's
stand?

I suppose that when all international economic traffic with Russia will be disallowed
this also implies that BL (as an American registered company) may no longer handle/support/allow
traffic between shops and buyers located in Russia and the rest of the world.

@BL admin: please update the community.

My estimation is that sanctions (I guess the idea being to motivate changes at
the highest level by changing people's minds about their government) are
going to be completely ineffective/counterproductive for the reasons I outlined
here: https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1329597

But of course, if governments should decide on it, it makes sense Bricklink has
to follow along.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 24, 2022 09:21

Subject:

Re: How do I change to countries were I ship to

Viewed:

129 times

Topic:

Shipping

In Shipping, Fenneke_Jose writes:

hi all,

Where can I find the settings to change the counries where I am shipping to?
Due to the political situation I would like to put a stop to some countries.

Kind regards,

José

Sorry if this is political, I'm not posting specifically to voice my political
preference or opinion as I know that's not what this forum is for... but
as for the sanctions topic and whether those are relevant: I don't believe
this has any desired effect in any way form or shape even if I grant that the
entire Russian population would be unanimously cut off from all international
ecommerce. I think:

- It's in Russian nature to accept ever new levels of daily problems as just
hardships of life - a "high pain threshold" to sanctions as it's sometimes
called;
- This proves those in power right saying Russians don't have any friends
beyond the borders;
- This increases the grasp of those in power as they seem to want the population
to be fully dependent on the domestic world and not be exposed to contacts that
lead to international comparison. They don't even need Western sanctions
to cut people off from LinkedIn etc;
- Even if this would lead to a bottom-up protest, which is the goal of such sanctions,
Russia is, well, let's say not a country where initiative arises through
a bottom-up kind of mechanic.

I think the main effect that is that Russian people have less Lego to play with...
But that's just my 2 kopeck.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 23, 2022 10:51

Subject:

Re: show only IBAN-shops in "Buy Wanted Lists"?

Viewed:

21 times

Topic:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

In Help, tbds writes:

Hello Sylvain,

thank you very much for your answer.

I don't have Paypal or Stripe or anything like that. And I only want to
buy from sellers in my country.

That's the point - you DON'T need either a PayPal or a Stripe account
to pay with them.
Simply input your Credit/Debit Card number for example.

You need to have a compatible card though, and I don't know what cards in
Germany are like but ours for example are not. And it seems some of the failed
payments I've been getting in Stripe are because of some cards that are not
being accepted..

But yes, whenever it works with your card, Stripe's card method should be
very convenient and doesn't require any signing up.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 23, 2022 10:43

Subject:

Re: show only IBAN-shops in "Buy Wanted Lists"?

Viewed:

27 times

Topic:

In Help, tbds writes:

This is really stupid. I wonder, if any of the bricklink programmers have checked
their 'baby' from the perspective of a buyer. I'm inclined to doubt
that, because bricklink really has a lot of design flaws

They don't, and they don't really care. There are many things they could
easily do to increase revenue, but it's not in anyone's direct interest
so it doesn't happen. It could be worse though, at least what we have works.
Once you accept the fact that there isn't some kind of vision or plan behind
Bricklink it saves a lot of frustration

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 22, 2022 08:43

Subject:

Re: Enabling of B2B transactions for EU orders

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

In Administrative, SylvainLS writes:

In Administrative, 1001bricks writes:

[…]
I also think it may not be 100% legal to refuse (or overcharge), but I can be
wrong.
I couldn't find a precise text.

Rule of thumb: Does S@H do it?

Well, hard to know because I think they have a presence in every country, so
the intra-EU-import situation doesn't occur. But when I think about Dutch
webshops that ship to NL and Belgium, I can't really imagine they all have
a system to accommodate 0% VAT transactions.

But even if they have a right to refuse it, it would be nice if EU sellers could
at least choose to enable this feature in their store if they want to. That would
really save a bunch of hassle asking and answering "hey do you make 0% VAT invoices",
verifying the VAT ID on ec.europa.eu, removing VAT, and hoping the buyer didn't
already pay so you have to go and book a refund for the VAT amount, etc... it
could really boost B2B transactions within the EU if buyers can see immediately
that their B2B order will be accepted and even pay when checking out.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 22, 2022 08:11

Subject:

Re: Enabling of B2B transactions for EU orders

Viewed:

74 times

Topic:

In Administrative, 1001bricks writes:

In Administrative, CE_Tanja writes:

Dear 1001bricks,

Please try to reset your browser or clear the cache.

Ah oh - that's not very clear, as Teup wrote it only works for Imports (from
outside EU to EU)?

I was expecting B2B within countries inside Europe.

This last one feature I was expecting, and would greatly be welcomed!

Sylvain

Yep, agree. This new feature is great news for American shops, but it would be
really nice if it applied to EU shops too. But for that, first we need to figure
out whether sellers are legally allowed to refuse doing 0% VAT intra-community
transactions. I don't think they are, and certainly not for a fee as some
are doing, but I'm really not sure about it... maybe someone knows?

It means extra administrative hassle and some sellers are not confident that
the tax agency is going to accept the 0% VAT transactions, so I do understand
the reasons why some sellers like to be able to refuse it.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 22, 2022 04:19

Subject:

Re: Enabling of B2B transactions for EU orders

Viewed:

77 times

Topic:

In Administrative, 1001bricks writes:

In order to make use of this new feature, simply click on the 'Verify your
VAT ID' link under the Order Summary section to enter your valid VAT registration
number during checkout

Quick tests:

I tried in 3 different shops including Brick24, and couldn't see no "Verify
your VAT ID" link or whatever even close to this, up to the very last step of
the check out (4th).

It's late, tired - please have a good evening!

Looks like it only works on stores outside the EU, I wonder why? I like how it
works, I think the same could be applied to EU stores, no? Or should stores be
able to refuse accepting them? According to the tax agency helpdesk here, it's
not something stores are allowed to refuse, but I've also seen on the forum
that intra-community transactions are problematic for sellers in certain member
states.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 18:45

Subject:

Re: Why most orders on Mondays?

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

Off Topic

In Off Topic, SylvainLS writes:

In Off Topic, Teup writes:

[…]
Useful tip: When it's really busy (holiday season), it could be smart to
send out orders on Tuesday. Mondays are sometimes so busy for PostNL that they
leave some of the Monday bags untouched until a week later to avoid a domino
effect. So shipping out on Tuesday in busy times can actually make things arrive
faster.

And now everybody will post on Tuesday, so Monday will be okay again… or maybe
better post on Wednesday

Actually yes that's right, what they told me is that it's Monday "and
sometimes Tuesday"... so Wednesday is safest

But for me so far, almost all
of my delayed orders can be traced back to Monday batches

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 18:32

Subject:

Re: Why most orders on Mondays?

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

Off Topic

In Off Topic, tonnic writes:

In Off Topic, Leftoverbricks writes:

Hi all,

I am puzzled by the fact that I receive most orders on Monday and not on Saturday
or Sunday.

I understand that you use the weekend to spend on your hobby, but why do you
place the order on Monday, the day you should be at work? And not on Sunday evening?

Do you use Sunday night to 'sleep on it?' And if so, why?

Of course I understand that orders from the USA that are placed on Sunday evening
will only arrive on Monday evening. But I'm not talking about that.

It is the orders from Europe that always arrive on Mondays. And the rest of the
week you can just forget about: no orders. This, of course, only pertains to
my small shop.

Anyway, I have packed my weekly 3 orders placed on Monday (all from The Netherlands)
and ship them tomorrow.

For me it is not getting the orders on monday but most of the time monday is
‘shippingday’.
I receive the orders during the weekend, pack them and ship them on monday.

Same here, and it's actually the usual pattern for webshops. People tend
to do their shopping in the weekend. (But Lego parts orders are complicated so
maybe in the OP's case people just finalize them a little later)

Useful tip: When it's really busy (holiday season), it could be smart to
send out orders on Tuesday. Mondays are sometimes so busy for PostNL that they
leave some of the Monday bags untouched until a week later to avoid a domino
effect. So shipping out on Tuesday in busy times can actually make things arrive
faster.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 12:23

Subject:

Re: Why most orders on Mondays?

Viewed:

58 times

Topic:

Off Topic

In Off Topic, Leftoverbricks writes:

I agree that's odd, and most of mine actually are on Sunday evening. Monday
and Tuesday are sort of the cooldown days for my shop where I have a change to
catch up with everything. It can't be a timezone thing either, because BL's
timestamps are earlier rather than later.

As for this particular Monday: A lot of people are staying indoors these days
because of the storm and it caused a huge surge in orders for me, like a lockdown
kind of effect.

Maybe some business buyers who were missing parts for their weekend orders?

I can't really think of a better possible reason...

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 11:44

Subject:

Re: List of renamed/recategorized items.

Viewed:

26 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, 1001bricks writes:

That's just your personal method and opinion. I have soooo many benefits
to category based sorting that remark based sorting seems really stupid to me

Sorting is way faster when you're searching something different.

Imagine you're searching for a Black small part in a stack of Black parts
on your table.
It'll be long, tedious and subject to errors.

Now if you're searching for the same part in between many different colors,
it'll be different and way faster.
And if it's the only Black part, then there couldn't be any possible
error.

Of course - but in both cases - assuming your inventory is correct.

In short, searching 1 Torso in between a drawer of 50 different bags of torsos
is like the above solution.

At the contrary, if it's the only bag of Torsos in a drawer with bags of
different parts, you don't have to think at search; your visual search is
optimal, and you read the sticker just to be sure, you don't have to search
using the stickers (reading is long and subject to errors).

Conclusion: I don't sort by Color neither by Category; it's way better.

And it may be an error to think this is stupid

Sylvain

Not sure if I see the analogy with colour, but on the topic of colour: I've
noticed that most of my many-lot orders have the same part in multiple colours,
so I get them all out of the same bag. (And there's no need to waste time
searching, either, because the bags are transparent and none are so big that
you can't see the part you need) - just one out of many advantages of category
based sorting.

Well, I'm exaggerating saying it's 'stupid', I know it's
not

As clearly many sellers are doing it, so clearly it works for many people.
It's just something I don't understand well, because I haven't learned
how to do it, because I don't have any problems that it could solve. I don't
understand how the remarks get there in the first place (in a way that doesn't
require lots of extra manual labour), or how it works when a lot grows bigger
so you need a different location for it, or what the chronology of the workflow
is when you add parts while some already have locations and some don't. Probably
interesting to watch a video on how it works sometime, but as I said I don't
have any problems - I can stock parts immediately and pick the immediately -
so there isn't really much I could gain from that method even if it was perfect
and remarks were all automatic.

One exception though is minifig parts, your torso example is a good one. I've
got those sorted on minifigure series number, or year, as it would be too
much in one category otherwise. So I am kind of using remarks there. But it's
extra work that's only really worth it for problematic categories like those.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 06:09

Subject:

Re: List of renamed/recategorized items.

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Joshua.Burrier writes:

As you clean up the sight, things get renamed or re-categorized on the site,
but I'm not notified and can move the parts in my physical inventory boxes
accordingly.

"Wait, that part was Minifigures, Weapon, Spacegun. Now it's in Minifigures,
weapon, gun. And now I have to refund the customer because I can't find
it. Or what is currently a 1x1 Technic, Liftarm used to be in Technic and Technic,
Connectors."

Please, when you move something, tell us. Make a list.

Thanks,
Joshua

Besides the existence of such lists, there are also topics about it in the forum.
As with all important things, the forum is far from an ideal place for communication,
but at least it's something. Oh, there's actually also the catalog newsletter,
which I hope will continue to be a thing.

I agree this is tricky, and that's why the catmins have been doing the more
drastic changes in batches with a notification about it in the forum at least
1 month ahead of the move. Especially if you have to move not just parts but
entire bins/furniture that's very useful.
(However, last time the admin team came in and decided to use that month to think
about whether or not to approve the proposed changes, which of course ruins the
preparation month completely. Hopefully they won't do that again!)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 21, 2022 06:00

Subject:

Re: List of renamed/recategorized items.

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, 1001bricks writes:

In Suggestions, Joshua.Burrier writes:

As you clean up the sight, things get renamed or re-categorized on the site,
but I'm not notified and can move the parts in my physical inventory boxes
accordingly.

Oh Gosh

While that still could be a problem, the idea is DO NOT use Categories to organize
your Shop Inventory.

At least use the Remarks field - and BrickStore

(some may start to think I've Stock Options there...)

You can put drawer 12 : "#DR12" in Remark for example.
It won't change (unless you change it).

That's just your personal method and opinion. I have soooo many benefits
to category based sorting that remark based sorting seems really stupid to me

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 20, 2022 06:33

Subject:

Re: Snack Bar 1x8 brick 3008pb013

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

Catalog Requests

In Catalog Requests, Wingman_bricks writes:

Under "Items Appears In" should this decorated brick appear as part of set 675-1.

Hey, what kind of hairpiece is that? Unreleased? Never seen it before.
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/ON/0/675-1.png

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 20, 2022 04:57

Subject:

Re: can't ship to Italy?!

Viewed:

49 times

Topic:

Shipping

In Shipping, woodelf writes:

I just had a buyer from Italy, and since it's a large and valuable set, I
was double checking things like insurance options. In the process, I discovered
that according to USPS, it is forbidden to mail "toys not made wholly of wood"
to Italy. Some further research shows that this is an Italian law that has been
on the books for quite a while—it frequently shows up in lists of "wacky laws"
and such.

Should I be concerned? Anybody know if this applies to small personal sales,
as opposed to large commercial businesses? Is it pretty strictly/reliably enforced?
(I'm shipping from the US, if that makes a difference.)

(I've sent the buyer a message to confirm that they're aware of this
law and either know it's not really enforced or are ok with channcing it.
But no response yet.)

-Nat

I never understand this thing with EU countries having weird import rules and
how they can be real. If they were real, then surely businesses would have popped
up that simply let you send it to another EU country and then send it to Italy
from there? There's free traffic within the EU after all.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 19, 2022 08:51

Subject:

Re: Dual Molded Parts

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Catalog, hpoort writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, randyf writes:

Please make absolutely sure that the part is molded in more than
one color of plastic and not just painted. This is very important!

That begs the question how well the users of the catalog will be able to tell
the difference. Just saying.. if it's going to be just encyclopedic info
then that's fine, but if it's going to inform categorization and affect
findability.... tricky. Are we sure we'd really gain something by distinguishing
printing from dual moulding?

So far I've found only the friend legs with tan shoes as the only example
where both variants appear, but yes: I would say it matters to distinguish and
make this a consistent attribute of part listings.

What does that mean precisely though, in your opinion? That the names include
the term "dual molded"?
And parts with print and dual mold would be classified as "decorated" and the
ones with dual mold without print would be considered not decorated?

It could get tricky with things like shorts. If someone is making a summer city
and wants minifigs in shorts, it's not really intuitive having to search
two separate categories that are based on how a part was manufactured. However,
if the "decorated" term get replaced by "multi color", that could hold both dual
molded and printed parts.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 19, 2022 05:44

Subject:

Re: Dual Molded Parts

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In Catalog, randyf writes:

Please make absolutely sure that the part is molded in more than
one color of plastic and not just painted. This is very important!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 17, 2022 16:13

Subject:

Re: Define Neutral Feedback

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

In Feedback, yorbrick writes:

We don't really have the numbers of course, but I do think that does depend
on what's written. If someone posts that the seller behaved super weird or
that the parts were extremely dirty, I do think that can put off buyers. You're
right though that in general a neutral probably doesn't have much effect,
but the fact is, the way the interface is designed makes it very easy to read
the neutral and negative feedback messages. And since it's 'forever',
it really gives what's written there a lot of weight.

Much more than their numerical effect, at least. The fact that a negative feedback
substracts 1 from the score is just plain silly, and IMO is a good illustration
that not too much thought went into the system. You are probably right that neutrals/negatives
are not the end of the world as much as sellers often feel it to be, but I do
think in reality, a negative may be worth -100 or even more. In fact I'm
unsure if I'm rather set back -1000 or get 1 negative

If a buyer reads one neutral (or even negative) out of 100s or 1000s of positives
and believes that one over all the rest and decides not to purchase because of
it, the store is probably better off without that buyer. There are plenty of
sensible buyers out there too.

Well, consider there are a few stores selling a part at a good price. You check
the first one and it has a zillion positive but only one neutral or negative,
and that is exactly about your situation. For example, the store is mostly about
new parts, but you're after one particular used part they have and someone
wrote the used parts smelled horrible and had grime on them. Or shipping to your
particular country took months. All things equal, that might just be the push
you need to check out if the next store could be any better.

So yes, score-wise a neutral is irrelevant - everything over 90% is probably
all good. Nobody in their right mind would think "oh no, 2000 positive and 5
neutral, run!!". But the message that's written there sticks around forever,
it's just 1 click away when checking feedback. You're right it won't
have any dramatic effects, but whatever warning you as a buyer leave there can
have *some* effect. At least more than 100 positives that end up pretty much
invisible and hardly visually change the feedback score if it's already in
the thousands.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 17, 2022 15:42

Subject:

Re: Define Neutral Feedback

Viewed:

25 times

Topic:

In Feedback, yorbrick writes:

(The fact that negatives substract the score by one and that neutrals don't
change the score is just silly and has no meaning. Even if they would add +10
to the score, the fact they stick around in the feedback profile is much more
significant, so their 'punishing' effect remains the same.)

Punishing implies that the seller is somehow punished for having a neutral. When
clearly this is not the case as buyers still buy from stores that had a single
neutral last week, or one three years ago and loads of positives since. In fact,
buyers still buy from stores that have many negatives. I know in the past I have
bought from one big store that was running at about 97% at the time I ordered.
It was good to get the warning, but I used common sense to decide that even if
the worst of the feedback left by others had come true I would not be out of
pocket and would have only wasted my time (and not got some decent parts I was
after at such a low price).

If buyers still buy from stores after being made aware of warnings, it is not
exactly a punishment for the store. The only punishment is to the seller's
ego, no longer being 100% perfect. And I think that more than any real damage
to a store is the root cause of the complaints. The feeling of not being seen
to be absolutely perfect, rather than buyers being put off from buying from a
store. Obviously that is easy for me to say, as I am still 100% perfect (at least
according to my feedback) but I have a plan to deal with it when I get a non-positive.
I will simply reply to it, then ignore it, and I will stoplist the buyer leaving
it so they can no longer buy from me. Not being able to buy from a seller (especially
if they have items that the buyer wants at a decent price) is probably a worse
punishment than a single neutral for a store that will not put off buyers.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 17, 2022 15:34

Subject:

Re: Activating OSS - VAT on shipping and fees

Viewed:

27 times

Topic:

In Help, rankster writes:

In Help, Teup writes:

So, Bricklink is a little bit more strict

I’m wondering how is it possible that some (if not most) of the biggest EU stores
haven’t turned on OSS yet? They might calculate the VAT of each country manually
using their own invoicing system?

That's what I would do, yes, but even so, Bricklink simply won't let
you sell past 10K without turning it on. So if big stores didn't turn on
the OSS setting then that's very strange, yes.

I suspect that soon I will reach Bricklink's threshold although I'm planning
to use OSS not before July. Hopefully BL will allow me to keep selling until
then if I show them paperwork that proves my fiscal years starts on 1 Jan.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 17, 2022 04:35

Subject:

Re: Define Neutral Feedback

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

In Feedback, gogogovro writes:

Bricklink doesn't define what neutral feedback means on the feedback help
page (https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=248). What do you as a buyer
or seller define neutral feedback as? What are some reasons you would leave neutral
feedback?

I don't currently have a use case for using neutral, so I'm hoping on
learning from your replies.

If I focus not necessarily on my opinion but purely on the way the website interface
is designed, I would say that neutral or negative is any message that you want
future users to read before ordering (in other words, warnings).

A positive feedback will immediately disappear in the long list of positives
that nobody will ever read (its only effect is a contribution to the score),
while negatives and neutrals stick around, because their lists are much shorter
and their scores draw attention and curiosity because they are low numbers.

(The fact that negatives substract the score by one and that neutrals don't
change the score is just silly and has no meaning. Even if they would add +10
to the score, the fact they stick around in the feedback profile is much more
significant, so their 'punishing' effect remains the same.)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 19:29

Subject:

Re: Label Transparent Elements as PC or MABS

Viewed:

22 times

Topic:

Actually this is the only difference that you can tell with your eyes closed

Because the new PC parts make quite a different (less sharp) sound when you
handle them. Of course, it becomes tricky if they're mixed

In Suggestions, peregrinator writes:

Speaking as a seller, I don't think telling the difference is easy.

In Suggestions, slick_bricks writes:

I think it would behoove the online marketplaces to add labeling for PC versus
MABS Transparent LEGO elements. This would help builders and set restorers match
the color of the plastic since it is becoming apparent that the new MABS formula
is affecting the coloration significantly and consistently.

Just putting it out there, it would be a good idea to initiate this sooner than
later, as the color differences between the old Trans-Clear and new Trans-Clear
elements are quite stark. Should labeling options get into place early, it could
save a lot of work later on down the line as it becomes a growing discrepancy.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 19:27

Subject:

Re: Label Transparent Elements as PC or MABS

Viewed:

27 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, slick_bricks writes:

I think this idea stands or falls with whether LEGO really made a clean transition
to the new colour, the way that the transition from old gray to bluish gray was
(fairly) clear cut. If there's a significant period of random variation,
it's going to be a difficult story because set inventories are going to get
messy.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 19:10

Subject:

Re: What would you do?

Viewed:

30 times

Topic:

Selling

Sometimes I get orders from the city nearby, it's like 20-30 minutes cycling.
I need exercise anyway, so I usually just drop off those orders myself. Refunding
shipping is a nice gesture but not strictly needed IMO, it's actually an
improved bit of service already, since it's 1 day faster and safer than regular
shipping. (In my own webshop I do have free shipping within my area though, but
on Bricklink there's no option to do that.)

In Selling, popsicle writes:

I received an order earlier today from an address less than 2 miles from our
home. (It was a simple order totaling $50, containing a single minifig) Packaged
and invoiced within 10 mins. The newish-to-BL/new-to-us buyer, paid immediately
followed by “thanks, I just paid” comms. So the order was labeled and ready for
USPS drop-off within 20 mins of it being placed. I normally wait for other outgoing
packages at the end of the day to post. But as my daughter had a package awaiting
pick up, I figured I'd take the single package to the PO to grab her package.

I jumped into our truck with the package, started the truck only to pause staring
forward down the driveway, contemplating: The man only lives 6 minutes away,
shouldn’t I just drive to his home and place the package on his front doorstep?
How silly is it to drive the same distance to mail the package? He’ll likely
receive his order within 24 hours anyway, but still? I could file for a refund
for the $3.27 label, later?

It’s not the first time this scenario has play out though, as I’m certain
it has for some of you too.

Tell me what you’d do and I’ll tell you what I did...

-popsicle

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 10:30

Subject:

Re: Buyer is req. to pay VAT again!-REFUND?POST IT

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

In Help, StarBrick writes:

IF and WHEN Dutch buyers object/claim at the Dutch tax office and get there double
paid taxes refunded, PLEASE post this in the forum to HELP other buyers and sellers.

This is a good point. Also, there may be other places/resources out there on
the web as this must be happening to many Dutch/European consumers in general
right now. I can imagine that if many consumers have to deal with this problem
when buying online, it could at least reach the media.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 14, 2022 07:46

Subject:

Re: Retiring CEP admin

Viewed:

71 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:

Hello everyone,

One of our administrators from the Community Expert Program is officially retiring
today - Paul (username paulvdb) is stepping down from his position as Catalog
Associate.

We thank Paul for his great contribution as a CEP and wish him all the best for
future endeavors.

Please scroll to the end of this page and click the Expand triangle to view the
BrickLink CEP Hall of Fame. Paul first joined our team in April of 2019 as an
Inventories Admin:

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/member/community_experts.page

Bedankt voor al het werk dat je verzet hebt Paul!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 11, 2022 11:52

Subject:

Re: Who should leave feedback first?

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

In Feedback, peregrinator writes:

In Feedback, TheBrickGuys writes:

Actually your feedback ratio is better then 70%, it is 81%. For a store with
5000+ orders that is a really good percentage. Makes we wonder if Euro countries
take leaving feedback more seriously or are you just a really nice guy?

It's 77% (5111/6659) - maybe you factored his buyer feedback in? In any case
that's pretty exceptional.

Hm yes, you guys are right, I checked after I posted that and noticed it was
over 70%. Half of my orders are from Dutch customers. My idea, purely a theory,
is that it could be a Dutch cultural thing. I think Dutch people like to give
(blunt) feedback to other people, tend to be community/cooperation-minded because
it's a small country, and they have always been kind of internet nerds -
they like to spend a lot of time online and are really overrepresented on the
web (I believe that, at least in the past, .nl was the most registered domain
after .com and .co.uk). I don't know... Something like an online community
where you leave feedback about other people just strikes me as something Dutch
people are into. Could be wrong, but just one theory - the second one is of course
that I am just an amazing seller

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 11, 2022 08:15

Subject:

Re: Who should leave feedback first?

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In Feedback, peregrinator writes:

All -

I'm interested in doing a bit of a study. For myself, as a seller and
as a buyer, I'm firmly of the belief that the seller should leave feedback
first. I myself leave feedback when I've shipped the order, even in some
circumstances once the order is packed - at any rate, definitely before the buyer
would leave it. Some have the opposite opinion - that the buyer should leave
feedback first.

Limited evidence (I have a small store, not many orders, maybe my store attracts
a certain kind of buyer?) suggests that leaving feedback when I do has a positive
effect on whether or not I receive feedback in kind. The reason I say this
is that my feedback-to-orders ratio has consistently been between 65-70%, and
yet I've heard that the average feedback-to-orders ratio across BL is more
like 50%. Now I try to be professional and communicative, and because my store
is small I can ship quickly, but many other stores on BL that are larger than
mine offer exemplary service, and I don't think my service is so good as
to account for the higher feedback ratio.

So, if you're willing to answer, would you mind answering with:

- when you leave feedback (before or after the buyer: I don't know if it
has to be specific)
- what your store's current feedback-to-orders ratio is

Thanks!

I too leave feedback when my buyer pays. I don't really care whether or not
they leave feedback about me (as long as it's not non-positive

). Feedback
isn't a trade - to me it's a service to the community to flag whether
or not a user is OK for doing business with. It's not a gift or a service
to the person I post the feedback about, and not something to negotiate with.

You could be right about leaving feedback immediately increasing the odds of
getting feedback back, I had the same impression. Leaving it upon payment, I
think my feedback ratio is around 70% as you say.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 11, 2022 08:07

Subject:

Re: Conquistador Helmet TAN color

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

In Catalog Identification, infinibrix writes:

In Catalog Identification, Teup writes:

In Catalog Identification, infinibrix writes:

In Catalog Identification, Teup writes:

In Catalog Identification, myixjetjet24 writes:

Hello, I bought Conquistador Helmet TAN color and I can't find the set where
it came from. Not in the sets/minifigures listed on the set. Is this legit?

Tan is the color that LEGO uses to produce metallic gold parts. The part exists
in metallic gold in the collectible minifigs series. It just left the factory
before it got its coating.

If thats true thats interesting to know. I'm aware of unreleased colours
but never really gave it much thought as to why that might be (apart from red
prototypes etc..) but since I have Breastplates in Tan and also Viking helmets
in Tan it would certainly make sense as these you would expect to find in colours
like gold or silver and maybe a few other colours but certainly not Tan

Could it be that these Reddish Bown Dwarf helemts were intended to be Copper?

60748 Minifigure, Headgear Helmet Castle with Cheek Protection and Studded Bands (Dwarf)
Parts: Minifigure, Headgear

Yes, I was also thinking about the Dwarf and Viking helmets

I had some helmets
in Light Bluish Gray (for metallic silver) and Tan (for metallic gold). I never
had any Reddish Brown, but yes, Copper would make sense as (at least this type
of) Copper seems to be the same kind of metallic coating as the other two. And
maybe there are also some black parts out there that should be Speckle Black
Silver?

In fact the more I think about it the more this seems to ring true as you have
this Troll King only found in one set but some came with Reddish Brown Crown
and some with a Copper Crown. My inital thought was that Lego made a mistake
and manufactured in the wrong colour or simply had a change of mind mid production
when it actually sounds likely they just had a quality control issue where they
forget the coating

Minifig No: cas420 Name: Fantasy Era - Troll King with Reddish Brown Crown

cas420 (Inv) Fantasy Era - Troll King with Reddish Brown Crown
Minifigures: Castle: Fantasy Era

Minifig No: cas420a Name: Fantasy Era - Troll King with Metallic Copper Crown

cas420a (Inv) Fantasy Era - Troll King with Metallic Copper Crown
Minifigures: Castle: Fantasy Era

Ha, that crown came to my mind, I didn't know it came out in Copper as well
- so yes that makes sense. Reminds of this variation;

Minifig No: pi114 Name: Imperial Soldier II - Shako Hat Plain

pi114 (Inv) Imperial Soldier II - Shako Hat Plain
Minifigures: Pirates: Pirates II: Imperial Guards

Minifig No: pi090 Name: Imperial Soldier II - Shako Hat Printed, Scowl

pi090 (Inv) Imperial Soldier II - Shako Hat Printed, Scowl
Minifigures: Pirates: Pirates II: Imperial Guards

Which also came out in the same year. Maybe because of costs or some production
reasons there can be variation in whether the print/coating is applied.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 11, 2022 06:11

Subject:

Re: Conquistador Helmet TAN color

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

In Catalog Identification, infinibrix writes:

In Catalog Identification, Teup writes:

In Catalog Identification, myixjetjet24 writes:

Hello, I bought Conquistador Helmet TAN color and I can't find the set where
it came from. Not in the sets/minifigures listed on the set. Is this legit?

Tan is the color that LEGO uses to produce metallic gold parts. The part exists
in metallic gold in the collectible minifigs series. It just left the factory
before it got its coating.

60748 Minifigure, Headgear Helmet Castle with Cheek Protection and Studded Bands (Dwarf)
Parts: Minifigure, Headgear

Yes, I was also thinking about the Dwarf and Viking helmets

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 11, 2022 04:20

Subject:

Re: Conquistador Helmet TAN color

Viewed:

33 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

In Catalog Identification, myixjetjet24 writes:

Hello, I bought Conquistador Helmet TAN color and I can't find the set where
it came from. Not in the sets/minifigures listed on the set. Is this legit?

Tan is the color that LEGO uses to produce metallic gold parts. The part exists
in metallic gold in the collectible minifigs series. It just left the factory
before it got its coating.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 10, 2022 12:48

Subject:

Re: Activating OSS - VAT on shipping and fees

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

I've set my account to not charge VAT on shipping, when of course
I do. This helps me keep the shipping table simple. All my international customers
pay the same shipping rates but for EU this includes VAT, which nicely aligns
with the fact that postage costs within the EU are cheaper as well.

Oh you're smart, you know?

The combination of experience and laziness will do that

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 10, 2022 12:48

Subject:

Re: Activating OSS - VAT on shipping and fees

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In Help, rankster writes:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

Not if you've exported to EU outside your Country for less than a total of
10000€

... within the last 12 months - sorry, forgot to type this.

Are you 100% sure? My accountant told me that it resets on January 1st so let's
say you earned €9999 until December 31st, 2021 then you earned €1 more on January
1st, 2022 you didn't need to activate OSS yet since it was reset on January
1st.

So I guess it's not calculated for the past 12 months, it is calculated like
this:
01/07/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/12/2022

Yes, for your tax agency, it is counted from the start of your fiscal year. But
Bricklink counts it as "one year rolling" - meaning the moment that you hit €10000
in any 365 day time window, you need to apply the local VAT rate.

So, Bricklink is a little bit more strict - If your pattern per half year would
be like this:

€0, €6000, €6000, €0

Then for the tax agency it's twice €6000 a year so no need to register, but
for Bricklink you crossed the threshold within a year timeframe so you need to
register. This is probably because Bricklink cannot know when your fiscal year
starts and ends, so a year rolling is the best they can do.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 10, 2022 11:17

Subject:

Re: Activating OSS - VAT on shipping and fees

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Help, rankster writes:

I’ll need to activate the OSS sooner or later. Is it mandatory to charge VAT
on shipping costs and/or handling fees as well?

I heard once that if you charge the buyer exactly the same amount for the shipping
what you will pay at the Post Office then no VAT needs to be charged on that.
Is that an EU-wide general rule or varies country by country?

Plus anyone knows specific rules for Austria please?

If it is a rule, it's certainly not EU wide - in the NL, the rule is that
you charge on shipping the same VAT rate as you do on the thing that you ship.

However, whether or not you enable the option on Bricklink is of course a separate
topic. I've set my account to not charge VAT on shipping, when of course
I do. This helps me keep the shipping table simple. All my international customers
pay the same shipping rates but for EU this includes VAT, which nicely aligns
with the fact that postage costs within the EU are cheaper as well.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 9, 2022 11:11

Subject:

Re: Fraudulent chargeback claim

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Help, cosmicray writes:

In Help, Teup writes:

In my case the buyer simply didn't realise it was for his order payment,
so after I contacted him he sent me the money again. Hope you will get your money
back somehow, definitely contact the buyer..

Which suggests that the information on the customer's statement did not click
enough buttons for them to make the connection. That information is supplied
from settings on your PayPal account. Might be a good idea to o look at what
is entered there.

Nita Rae

Hm, I am not sure but I don't think there is any name or other transaction
info associated with this. In my case, the buyer just had given PayPal permission
to draw funds from his bank account whenever needed. AFAIK it's separate
from the payment to the seller, and it can also be just a part of the full sum
if there is some but not enough money on the balance when the payment is made.
And I my buyer just saw a notification that he had an upcoming collection by
PayPal, maybe just like that without additional info. And not remembering what
it was for, he decided to block it.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 9, 2022 08:08

Subject:

Re: Fraudulent chargeback claim

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

In Help, calebfishn writes:

I had a situation with a chargeback. The order went through beautifully, positive
feedback, etc. But then the chargeback. It seemed that an underage member used
Mommy's credit card without permission, and that is why the charge back stated
"unauthorized".

I sent Paypal all the documentation I had, messages about the order, and pointed
out that the buyer now had the lego, and I didn't have the money.

It took a long time, but eventually Paypal sided with me, and covered the cost
to the Credit card company. I still lost money due to Paypal's fees, but
at least it felt like a moral victory.

Wow, very surprising that you got the money. PayPal decided to pay up for someone's
Lego - it's very unusual. Definitely fair, but totally against PayPal's
own policy. They told me that when people pull their money back, they always
get it back from the person it was sent to, and there is nothing that could be
done against it. I told them I had nothing to do with that situation and the
money was now mine, but that was irrelevant for them. PayPal simply has a kind
of a no-risk-for-themselves policy.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 9, 2022 08:04

Subject:

Re: Fraudulent chargeback claim

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

In Help, sputnikcharlie writes:

I am a new seller on Bricklink, just a few sales yet, and would like some help
with a possible fraudulent claim against me.
I have just received a chargeback claim from PayPal, which was filed through
the buyer's bank, claiming an "unauthorized transaction" took place, and
requesting all the money back. Because this was done through the bank and not
PayPal, PayPal's seller protections does not apply, and all they can do is
to act as mediator between myself and the buyer's bank. I have provided PayPal
with all the necessary proof that the sale was legit, which they will forward
to the claimant's bank.
I don't want to go into too much detail as the case is still open, but I
can confirm that the buyer's Bricklink and PayPal addresses match, that I
have proof of delivery from the shipping company, and that the buyer left a positive
review on my Bricklink account. Despite all this, the buyer's bank could
still side with the claimant and I would find myself swindled out of almost $400.
Has anyone had to deal with something similar? If so how did you handle it? What
was the outcome?
Does anyone have any input on how to safeguard against this?
I find myself crying about this situation, and I feel like a fool.
Any help if very much appreciated.

This happened to me too. I've mentioned it several times: IMO all talk about
seller protection is silly as long as buyers can simply pull their money back
like that. Don't bother taking pictures to avoid scamming or sending orders
with tracking, buyers don't need any decision from PayPal to get their money
back, they can simply pull it back through the bank. Defeats the PayPal system.

In my case the buyer simply didn't realise it was for his order payment,
so after I contacted him he sent me the money again. Hope you will get your money
back somehow, definitely contact the buyer..

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 9, 2022 04:30

Subject:

Re: Mega Core vs Multi Core Magnetizer M:Tron 689

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

In Catalog, randyf writes:

In Catalog, Turez writes:

In Catalog, randyf writes:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, mnoel2 writes:

I acquired this beautiful set today and am seeing "MULTI" Core Magnetizer for
the very first time. I've always known this only as MEGA Core Magnetizer.

Should the BL catalog reflect the alternate name / name change at all? Even if
just listed in the set notes?

-Mark

Awesome!

I see it now reflects both US variations, but I wonder why it only has the US
names and not the international one: Mobile Rescue Center? That's the UK
name and AFAIK it is also the English translation of its name in all other countries.
M:Tron was a fire brigade / rescue faction in all countries except the US. To
me it's a bit strange it has the US names only, especially if it elaborates
on variations of the US name.

Oops, it's Mobile Recovery Center in English (Mobile Rescue Center in German,
Mobiel Reddingscentrum in Dutch).
randyf what's your opinion on adding the UK names for M:Tron sets? If I had
to pick one name per set, I'd even pick those, since it's probably only
2 countries - the US and Canada - that had the names that Bricklink shows.

I'd really like to see AFOLs make some cool M:Tron rescue MOCs but it seems
the adapted American names have kind of obscured the old backstory

Find evidence that the set was called something else in the UK (preferably a
LEGO catalog), and we will consider it.

https://brickset.com/library/catalogues

However, almost all sets at the time had different names in UK catalogs than
in US catalogs. So if we add the UK name for 6989, we could easily add alternate
names for hundreds of other sets as well. I don't know if that makes sense
right now.

I knew that was the case, hence my "we will consider it". It wasn't a guarantee
that anything would be done.

I also know where to find catalogs, but I don't have the time to do all of
the searching for all of this stuff. That's why I put the onus on them.

Good point about multiple names across the board, I knew that many space sets
have wildly different names in different languages (even when they include actual
names, that need no translation), but I didn't know US and UK names tended
to be different as well.

I'm not sure what to do with it, if they should be added or not, that's
why I said "what's your opinion"

In any case, I do believe with M:Tron
there is a bit more going on than the usual randomness, and the American version
really is kind of the outlier here. Some other pages do make special note of
the difference, e.g. about the Stellar Recon Voyager / Rescue Star Cruiser:

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2017/11/07/stellar-recreation-stellar-recon-voyager/

https://www.brickeconomy.com/set/6956-1/lego-m-tron-stellar-recon-voyager

And the French Wikipedia article on Space/M:Tron makes special note of the name
difference between US and UK too, besides mentioning the French names. You could
argue that if they include that info, then the best most complete catalog on
the web which is Bricklink kinda should too.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Espace#M:Tron_(1990-1993)

Well, I know the best solution: Stick with all of the UK names for every set
in the catalog

It would be a more accurate international standard, but too
much hassle

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 8, 2022 05:03

Subject:

Re: Mega Core vs Multi Core Magnetizer M:Tron 689

Viewed:

37 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, mnoel2 writes:

Awesome!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 7, 2022 06:29

Subject:

Re: Mega Core vs Multi Core Magnetizer M:Tron 689

Viewed:

55 times

Topic:

In Catalog, mnoel2 writes:

Awesome!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 4, 2022 05:34

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In Help, BasKrie writes:

In Help, Teup writes:

Wait, do you mean the new tax part or the new international postal system where
you have to register things digitally? Both are a pain (when done manually),
but as for the tax part, as far as I know it's only shipping to the UK that
requires that paperwork? That's why I ship worldwide except UK - I don't
have a printer, transparent sleeves, and don't want the hassle if something
goes wrong.

Every shipment going outside the EU requires the paperwork.
Filled CN22 or CN23 and there has to be a paper invoice on the outside in a plastic
sleeve (or envelope). And the invoice maybe not the greatest issue and the CN
you can fill out at the postal office, but that is not the easiest way to do
it.

I didn't know that invoices are now required, I haven't done that so
far and at least didn't have problems yet. Hopefully it doesn't lead
to people paying sales tax twice, or I might also stop shipping outside the EU.
The CN22 is part of the online registration, I agree that is a pain if you'd
have to do it manually. But it's not exactly because of the tax topic, that
part was always there.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 3, 2022 14:11

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

82 times

Topic:

In Help, Leftoverbricks writes:

Today I decided to no longer ship to countries outside the EU. For the very reasons
that have been mentioned in this thread.

It's very time consuming and actually a PITA to fill out all forms needed
to ship a small order (I only receive small orders from outside the EU) and not
worth the effort.

(And you may add this to my general view of the future where we are currently
heading to: using up all resources, destroying nature, the pandemic, entering
a new global war..., Jeff Bezos ordering a 430 million pleasure yacht at a shipyard
in my country because he don't know what to do better with his extreme wealth...
// OK I was never the most positive kid in my class.)

Yep.. Bezos is like an AFOL, except he doesn't need to buy Lego buildings,
boats and spaceships to create his own world, he can just literally create his
own world..

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 3, 2022 10:16

Subject:

Re: Instant checkout issue large letter

Viewed:

28 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, Transformer27 writes:

Like a few other sellers on these boards I've noticed that the option to
select Royal mail large letter is not available for buyers on my store. It began
less than a week ago but I have noticed a substantial drop in orders. I usually
get 1 Hermes order a week but the last 12 orders I had have all been Hermes with
a few customers contacting me to let me know the options aren't available.
The orders are also very small and should fit easily in a large letter. I also
haven't changed any settings or added any custom weights or sizes. Since
starting trading last year.

My question is, is there anything being done about it and is there anything temporary
I could do to drive orders to my store? Maybe unchecking instant checkout for
example.

Would it be possible to set up the shipping method by yourself rather than using
the template? That way you're in control. I made a deliberate choice not
to use any BL defined templates (my "never leave it to Bricklink" philosophy

) and I have noticed no changes with letter shipments.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 3, 2022 04:18

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

59 times

Topic:

In Help, randyf writes:

In Help, Teup writes:

In Help, randyf writes:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

In Help, randyf writes:

This is exactly what the EU wanted. The EU passes protectionist laws, and you
the people in the EU get the "benefits". I think you need to take up the issue
with your governments instead of here in the BrickLink forums.

Mmmmh correct me if I'm wrong, but the first taxes BL implemented were Sales
Tax in USA.

And? What does that have to do with the EU? I don't care about paying my
Sales Tax that BrickLink collects, and I have never complained about it.

But you're not paying it twice. If you would, I think you would complain
too.

But not to BrickLink. That's the point.

True... I don't know why it happens. But if it's because of sellers not
producing the right paperwork on the package, it kind of is Bricklink that's
doing it wrong, too. Because it needs to instruct its sellers properly or think
of some way to make sure they don't forget/skip that step. Or it could be
even Bricklink that's making incorrect paperwork (or at least in the opinion
of the officials that receive it). But maybe the paperwork was there and something
else caused it, no idea. And I wonder how often these problems happen. On the
forum, I see topics about it often, but they could also be the only cases and
the problem wildly exaggerated.. all in all, it would be good if Bricklink at
least investigated to make sure there are no problems on their side.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 3, 2022 04:03

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

In Help, Teup writes:

In Help, randyf writes:

This is exactly what the EU wanted. The EU passes protectionist laws, and you
the people in the EU get the "benefits".

They didn't do anything like that. Nothing changed, they simply updated the
system to the modern e-commerce age by removing the threshold and shifting responsibility.
The fact that taxes were often evaded in the past is not because of a change
in ideology, but because it was a loophole that was never nearly exploited as
much as it is now in the e-commerce age.

And it's not really protectionist either, all goods and services - import
or local - are taxed the same. These are not import tariffs. In fact, this actually
cuts the cost of import administration fees for the consumer by shifting the
responsibility from the customs to the platforms.

Wow - In practice that's just... untrue.

Before, there was a threshold - 20€, 150€, whatever.
And some luck, sometimes, yes.

Zillions of people baught things for less than 10€, and paid no taxes, no duty.

Right now, they pay VAT on the very first cent, even if you order for 2€.

In short, for the majority of those in the lower economic class, it's probably
a 300% tax increase.

"Nothing changed" may be your vision, but it's not the case for a majority.

"The fact that taxes were often evaded in the past" may be your vision. But for
15€ there was NO tax. Now there is 20% or such.

Sylvain

Well ok, I understand that, but actually I mean nothing changed compared to the
times the policy was made: People paid VAT over everything they bought. Private
consumers had very limited contact with other countries and import was done by
companies rather than consumers.

Would be interesting to see a statistic on much VAT governments were missing
out on then because of that threshold, versus how much they did by the end of
it. It just only makes sense that the Wild West of ecommerce eventually would
become integrated into policy. Next up will be crypto currencies, which still
offers a lot of ways to cheat the system. Governments are also wrestling with
social media. All these things those technologies introduced just can't exist
in some legal vacuum forever, eventually policy catches up, for better or for
worse (and a lot of it is actually better, too). It's not a change in ideology,
it's just updating the rules to fit the new reality.

I think the world wide trend is not protectionism but just (slowly) updating
policies. As I understand it the US government is watching the US sellers more
closely, and for example large EU sellers need to charge the VAT rate of the
country of the buyer - not necessarily making it more expensive, just more precise
and removing unfair advantages. I think the main drive here is to make things
more fair and precise. Whether it actually/always has that effect, you can debate.
But I don't think the drive behind it is anything else than to simply make
old policy more precise and fair. Remember the old rules are from a time when
everyone just got their money from a boss.

When I was a teenager I made a trojan that randomly opened and closed the CD
drive. Wouldn't dare to pull off such pranks now: I'd be afraid to be
arrested

Legal vacuums can be fun while they last

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 2, 2022 18:53

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

In Help, randyf writes:

In Help, 1001bricks writes:

In Help, randyf writes:

Mmmmh correct me if I'm wrong, but the first taxes BL implemented were Sales
Tax in USA.

And? What does that have to do with the EU? I don't care about paying my
Sales Tax that BrickLink collects, and I have never complained about it.

But you're not paying it twice. If you would, I think you would complain
too.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 2, 2022 18:50

Subject:

Re: People will start buying outside bricklink...

Viewed:

61 times

Topic:

In Help, randyf writes:

This is exactly what the EU wanted. The EU passes protectionist laws, and you
the people in the EU get the "benefits".

I think you need to take up the issue
with your governments instead of here in the BrickLink forums.

I think the issue of being double taxed is mostly about either the way Bricklink
implements it, or how the customs are functioning. Either way it's certainly
not government policy to pay tax twice (although maybe government policy can
help avoid the problem)

In Help, Shintaku writes:

Hello, my friend.
No IOSS was electronically inserted here.
I had this problem buying from Russia, England and now Thaialnd too.

In Help, SezaR writes:

Buongiorno,

Allora!
Cerco di trovare una soluzione pratica.

What I don't know is if this is an issue of the Italian post office who do
not recognize the IOSS number that is electronically provided, or if this is
because seller did not (or could not) insert electronically IOSS number (so not
the fault of Poste Italiano)

For now I have stopped shipping to Europe for orders below 150 Euro. Depending
on the country, I have two shipping options for shipping to Europe: CanadaPost
and ChitChats(a private courier)

Could you please clarify from what country have you ordered and if you know,
what

From what country did you buy from? If you know, what courier did the seller(s)
use to ship your order?

In Help, Shintaku writes:

Hello,

AGAIN I received the customs for an order from EU to extra-EU for which I already
paid taxes in advance.

AGAIN I will have to start a fight with the seller who will try any way to avoid
refunding me, as it happened before.

AGAIN the seller attached the BL invoice that seems to be USELESS right now.

Now, let's face it, it was easier back then. You don't pay taxes in advance,
you pay them when you receive your goods and it's all.

What will happen? Either of:
1) People from outside EU will stop selling to EU sellers, losing a lot of money.
2) If the order is small, people will contact the seller, ask if they can buy
those 3 4 items and do it OUTSIDE bricklink. So they don't pay taxes, they
don't pay 3% of BL fees, and everyone is happy.

Has BL to collect taxes due to some laws? That is fine. I can cope with that.
But this doesn't mean any way that a buyer must pay two times taxes. This
is a theft. I'm not
exaggerating. It's purely a theft. I am asked to pay something that I already
paid for!

And... btw if BL is forced to do this, why isn't that happening with eBay
purchases? With eBay, everything is going well as usual. Shouldn't eBay be
forced to follow the same rules?
Sorry... but something is wrong here.

I see no solutions, and this is going to be very very bad for Bricklink.
It's somewhat downfall... and I was really afraid to witness it sooner or
later.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2022 09:04

Subject:

Re: Order direct invoice/laten betalen

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, BlockBox writes:

Veel stores berekenen
deels de kosten door aan de klant (mag officieel niet..) met percentages en/of
een x vast bedrag die je kan instellen in Bricklink (add. charges 1 & 2).

Mag wel, je mag alleen niet méér in rekening brengen dan het werkelijk kost.
Aangezien Bricklink geen automatische berekening heeft, komt het erop neer dat
je dan minder (bijv. altijd 3%) moet rekenen, of dat je bijvoorbeeld een korting
van 5% geeft aan klanten die niet met PayPal betalen.
Maar omdat het in veel landen niet mag en consumenten het dus ook niet gewend
zijn, kom je internationaal vaak niet zo goed over als je het wel berekent. Dus
je kunt je afvragen of je het moet willen.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2022 08:21

Subject:

Re: Seller not refunding me

Viewed:

62 times

Topic:

In General, yorbrick writes:

Well yes, it was agreed to, but as long as an order isn't refunded,
it begs the question whether you can officially consider it "cancelled".

I don't think it matters what others think. BL can see that both the buyer
and seller have agreed to it being cancelled, therefore it is cancelled.

You could consider it still a paid order until the money is returned. There shouldn't
be some loophole where sellers just tag the "cancelled" status on orders to dodge
NSS procedures, whether agreed to or not.

If the buyer agreed to cancel it, there is no order any more. How can an NSS
apply to a non-order?

What is even worse is that the buyer paid using an offsite method that BL cannot
see. They can say they paid, but definitive proof is difficult.

Well, the order is in the Bricklink system, its status is just that it's
cancelled. But if the official order status is the defining aspect, then a scammer
would always simply cancel every order they don't want an NSS for. If asked,
they could just say they didn't have the items. That way a non-shipping seller
could exist on Bricklink indefinitely.

But true, the fact the payment is offsite makes proof difficult. Screenshots
are not ideal, but are sometimes used for this, and Bricklink uses them too:
"If the order has been fully or partially refunded, please send a screenshot
of the refund receipt." ( https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2461 ). So
they could do the same in this situation.

An NSS is a seller who has both the product and the money, and Bricklink considers
it solved when the seller either ships or refunds. So IMO it's logical to
make the NSS procedure available for requesting either shipping or (as in this
case) the refund.

This just shows the danger of paying a complete stranger by bank transfer, especially
in a distant country where the buyer will find it very difficult to invoke their
consumer rights. Sure, they can contact their local police but I cannot see them
doing anything. They can also contact the seller's local police but again
are they really going to do anything in a word-against-word internet transaction,
especially if this is the first and only complaint against the seller lodged
with them.

Sure, what you are doing there is minimizing the risk of it going wrong - same
(smallish) country so easier to get money back (if necessary in court), decent
reputation, etc - but not guaranteeing it. I think we all realise it is easier
to scam someone a long distance away than someone in the same country.

I'm not saying which attitude is better, just that I understand the buyer's
decision for IBAN and I'd have done the same in that situation (also abroad).
It's not necessarily a bad decision. Everyone has a different idea about
safety and risk, and insuring everything - especially by private companies -
has its own drawbacks. It's a personal preference.

It's true the police is very inefficient and behind in dealing with online
fraud, but I wouldn't be so pessimistic as to say that it's certain they
won't do anything. I did get most of my money back through a police report
once, and that was from a guy in Bulgaria who they managed to identify and track
down. However, that was because several people were affected by the same guy.

Anyway, it's always good to say that you're going to file a report
- even if the actual report would not result in money back, the case would still
at least be officially registered. Who knows, the police may act in the future
if more people report problems. Maybe the seller will pay up to avoid being a
known offender. (If they are indeed a scammer.. true, they may just be a little
slow for whatever reason)

Yes, if they are doing this repeatedly. But that doesn't seem to be the case,
given the buyer initiated the order, then paid, then wanted it cancelled.

It wouldn't surprise me if the seller thinks the buyer is trying to scam
him - new user, barely any feedback, they order and pay, then want cancellation
and money returned by a new bank transfer.

Once all is said and done and the seller just doesn't refund, a police report
just should be filed in any case. If nothing more, to have the fact registered.
Police tends to be slow catching up with the modern world, and if we don't
report, it seems like there's no problem.

I also think there's a good chance the seller is just slow.. if all else
fails there is of course still feedback. Most sellers (including me) are so allergic
to negative feedback that having a bit of money on the short term doesn't
compensate for having a "bad" reputation for eternity

I don't see why
a long term seller with good reputation (assuming they are) would suddenly scam
someone.

It can take a week for an IBAN payment to arrive in some cases, maybe longer.
The order was cancelled after 2 days. It's likely that the seller either
thought the order wasn't paid for, or, as you said, thinks it's a scam
because they saw there was no payment yet the last time they looked, and then
decided to forget about it.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2022 04:55

Subject:

Re: Seller not refunding me

Viewed:

50 times

Topic:

In General, yorbrick writes:

In General, Teup writes:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

Second, it seems you both cancelled the order. In short you sent money and cancel
a deal. Now you can't send an NRS or NSS or make BrickLink do something.
You can, but as it's a cancelled order it's going to be very difficult.

The buyer has already agreed to the cancellation. This surely means that they
agree the order is cancelled and therefore over. If they don't agree that
it is finished and over, then they shouldn't agree to cancellation.

BL have to look at both sides. If both sides have already agreed to cancel it,
then the order is cancelled. Other stuff may have gone on, but both parties have
already agreed to cancel it. What else is BL meant to do if both buyer and seller
have agreed to a cancellation?

Well yes, it was agreed to, but as long as an order isn't refunded,
it begs the question whether you can officially consider it "cancelled". You
could consider it still a paid order until the money is returned. There shouldn't
be some loophole where sellers just tag the "cancelled" status on orders to dodge
NSS procedures, whether agreed to or not.

If a store has a good reputation it should be fine. People pay by transfer to
strangers here all the time and just rely on reputation. And the police always
warns people saying "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". So if
the feedback profile looks good and the product wasn't underpriced, I too
would pay by IBAN.

It's true the police is very inefficient and behind in dealing with online
fraud, but I wouldn't be so pessimistic as to say that it's certain they
won't do anything. I did get most of my money back through a police report
once, and that was from a guy in Bulgaria who they managed to identify and track
down. However, that was because several people were affected by the same guy.

Anyway, it's always good to say that you're going to file a report
- even if the actual report would not result in money back, the case would still
at least be officially registered. Who knows, the police may act in the future
if more people report problems. Maybe the seller will pay up to avoid being a
known offender. (If they are indeed a scammer.. true, they may just be a little
slow for whatever reason)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2022 03:51

Subject:

Re: Downloaden adresgegevens vanuit orders

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, NelisSolis writes:

In LANG Nederlands, ErwinNL writes:

Volgens de adres template heb je nodig:

Referentie Bedrijfsnaam Voornaam Achternaam Straatnaam Huisnummer Huisnummer
toevoeging Postcode Plaatsnaam Landcode Email Telefoon Mobiel nummer Gebouw Verdieping Afdeling Deurcode Aflever
referentie

Ik ben adressen tegengekomen op BL waar dit zeker niet gaat werken, misschien
is er zelfs een tussenstap nodig met een andere API om de gegevens compleet te
krijgen of te splitsen.

Ik vul vaak voor buitenlandse adressen de vakjes voor huisnr and toevoeging niet
in, deze plak ik gewoon bij de straat naam zoals de buyer deze heeft opgegeven.
Misschien werkt dit ook bij de CSV import.

Precies, heb ik gister nog gedaan, bij adressen met een hoop getallen is het
"huisnummer" veld heel erg onhandig, vooral omdat in veel landen het adres met
het nummer begint en PostNL het nummer achteraan plaatst. Vooral leuk als de
straatnaam zelf ook een nummer is/heeft..

bij de CSV import werkt dit ook; al moet je er dan wel voor zorgen dat eventuele
komma's weg zijn uit de adresregels om het CSV bestand niet te verpesten.
Met name bij Zuid-Europese adressen kom ik vaak komma's tegen als straat+huisnummer
direct gevolgd wordt door appartement- of kamernummer.

Het is toch puntkomma delimited? Bij mij in elk geval wel. Ik voeg juist wel
eens een extra komma achter de straatnaam toe, om duidelijk te maken dat het
nummer wat er achteraan komt het huisnummer is en niet onderdeel van de straatnaam.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Feb 1, 2022 03:47

Subject:

Re: Seller not refunding me

Viewed:

56 times

Topic:

In General, 1001bricks writes:

Actually it's super weird Bricklink has no procedure for this like an NSS.
Even if a seller could fail to send a refund 3x before being banned it would
be very generous, now they can do it endlessly and it's somehow fine? Definitely
one of those weird things about Bricklink logic.

However, you could still argue that this is an NSS, if you consider an order
not cancelled until the refund is done. A paid order is not a cancelled order.
I mean yes, the order status "cancelled" may be barring the buyer from starting
an NSS, but sellers shouldn't be able to use this order status illegitimately
to dodge NSS procedures and Bricklink admins should agree. Just another way to
look at it.

If really everything else fails, you could always consider buying the item again,
payment is already made, then start an NSS.

But either way, yes, if the seller doesn't refund, report it to the police.
But tell the seller that this is what you are going to do before you will do
it - maybe it'll be some new inspiration not to be a thief.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 31, 2022 18:33

Subject:

Re: Downloaden adresgegevens vanuit orders

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In LANG Nederlands, ErwinNL writes:

In LANG Nederlands, wpbremer writes:

Ik loop al een tijdje tegen het probleem aan dat het aanmaken van verzendlabels
voor brievenbuspakjes op de website van PostNL zakelijk een heel werkje is.
Mijn idee was om daarvoor de csv import mogelijkheid van PostNL te gaan gebruiken.
Hiervoor wil ik dus vanaf BrickLink de te verzenden orders exporteren/downloaden,
maar nu kom ik er achter dat bij een download van de orders de adresgegevens
niet meekomen.

Is er een mogelijkheid om dat wel te downloaden of is dit alleen via de API mogelijk?

Alvast bedankt voor jullie hulp.

Hoi hoi,

Je kunt dit met BLS Manager doen, je kunt 1 of meerdere adressen exporteren naar
CSV.

Mochten er voor PostNL speciale aanpassingen nodig zijn dan maak ik deze graag

https://inspacesoftware.com/blsmanager

Ik geloof niet dat het mogelijk is om "zomaar" een Bricklink adres om te zetten
in een PostNL label, aangezien PostNL specifiek naar velden zoals straat, regio
etc. vraagt. De beste automatisering die ik kon maken is een scherm dat telkens
links het door de klant opgegeven adresveld weergeeft en rechts op basis van
voorspelling de PostNL velden invult, die ik dan moet herzien. Zo ga ik alle
bestellingen door en aan het einde exporteer ik de CSV en wordt de importpagina
geopend in m'n browser. (Zou gaaf zijn om het met de PostNL API te doen,
vooral omdat je de barcodes dan terug kan koppelen en via de BL API weer automatisch
in het tracking veld kan zetten)

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 31, 2022 08:16

Subject:

Re: Lego in Cold Temps

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

Shipping

Hmm, I wonder if that's airtight enough. I have my bubble envelopes stored
in my shed (not insulated, dry, ventilation slits) and the surface gets rippled
from the humidity. I wouldn't store valuable paper-based items in it unless
they really were perfectly sealed..

In Shipping, C0lsanders_ writes:

I currently have all the sets (minus 75192) in large plastic bins, latching lids,
with foam seals. Loose bulk is of course currently sitting in open top bins,
but that can easily change.
I appreciate all the input, I am a little less worried about a storage unit now!

Thanks,
Miles

In Shipping, firestar246 writes:

In Shipping, Yo_Yo_Flamingo writes:

In Shipping, C0lsanders_ writes:

What are your thoughts on long-term storage? I have a hundred or more sets
that I have bought for long-term investment, as well as hundreds of pounds of
unsorted bulk. I need to get them out of the house, and am thinking about a storage
unit. I'm in southeastern Ohio, and it can easily get to 0° F in the winter
and near to 100° in the summer. Would you yourself have any issues with sets
and bulk sitting for years in an environment fluctuating between sub-freezing
and high heat? I am thinking about a climate controlled unit, but of course they
are like twice the cost, so if there's no issues with the regular, I may
opt for that.

Thanks,
Miles (C0lsanders_)

In Shipping, firestar246 writes:

In Shipping, Upstate_Brickz writes:

Greetings Bricklink,

Does anyone know if Legos are damaged by leaving them in cold temps? It's
about 12 degrees F here and I don't know if that's too cold to leave
an order in the mailbox for pickup tomorrow. I especially worry about the translucent
pieces.

Thanks for any input,

Upstate_Brickz

They'll be fine. We have a storage building with horrible temp control so
we only turn the heat on when workers are in. During the winter it'll get
in negatives F and it's never been an issue.

In fact, I remember watching a video where someone at a university but some legos
in absolute zero temp (which is about -400 F I believe) and nothing happened
to them.

I'd be vastly more worried about what the lack of climate control (and possible
leaks and critters) would do to the boxes than the bricks themselves.

This. The lego pieces themselves would be fine in such temps, it's just that
storage units aren't always critter/water proof and you may go in one day
to find destroyed boxes. Now if you put the sets inside plastic bins or something
with latchable covers, that would be better.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 29, 2022 10:39

Subject:

Re: Check box for received orders

Viewed:

32 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Maquis writes:

Hi

Can I request that you include a checkbox on the order sheets please.
When I receive an order I always check it off and it would be very helpful if
I can just tick a box for my records as I go along as when its delivered, it
doesnt come out in the same order as the list.
It only needs to be for the use of the recipient, but it would be a very useful
tool.
Thanks
Marc

What would be really neat is if you could display the list of items in
the same order as the seller had packed them. I have this in my own webshop (as
my invoices list all items alphabetically and buyers can't change it), so
I can number all of the bags and make it very easy for the buyer to verify the
contents that way. On Bricklink that's not possible, because everyone has
their own sorting preferences. If there would be some ability to see in what
order the seller packed (or at least saw) them, think about how much time verifying
orders this could save on Bricklink on a daily basis.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 29, 2022 07:18

Subject:

Re: Still a lot of cancelled payments......

Viewed:

53 times

Topic:

In Technical Issues, Adjour writes:

Credit cards will very often be declined it the card is being used in a strange
way.

For example if I travel, I have to notify my card company that I'm traveling,
or I risk declined transactions.

Usually in the USA I'm fine, especially if I'm driving. I did however
fly to Chicago once with no purchases inbetween, and my card did not work at
the airport.

Also, too many purchases in a day will flag the account. When I ran my brick
and mortar store this would happen on large purchases sometimes.

Thanks for the info, maybe part of all of this is simply inherent to creditcard
payment then...

But I still want a reply from Bricklink. Come on Bricklink, I know you like to
ignore helpdesk tickets, but please don't ignore one that is about your own
income.

I just had a customer tell me the items in their cart went "out of stock" after
an unsuccessful attempt to buy them. I keep seeing these "in progress" orders
where items get reserved, and eventually no order comes in... I told the customer
that the orders will show up again soon. It's not an ideal system, because
whenever the payment fails (and that happens a lot), customers are only able
to try it again if the stock has at least twice the amount that they order.

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 28, 2022 08:04

Subject:

Re: How to upload 71741-1 for partout?

Viewed:

18 times

Topic:

LEGO products

In LEGO, beaverbrick writes:

I was trying out BrickStore today not for this part-out problem specifically
(although I will in a few months, still have 20 Ninago City Gardens sitting around

) but to use it for some offline inventory management for a stock of parts
that is not connected to any Bricklink shop. As far as I can see, doing part-outs
into that stock bsx file entails nothing more than just Ctrl+C Ctrl+V (unless
I'm missing something).

Yes correct

You can't part-out directly into an existing file, but simply
copy and paste between the 2 files. Just remember to remove counterparts/alternates
from the part-out if required. Also, be aware of creating duplicates this way,
although I think BrickStore automatically asks you how you want to consolidate
lots as you perform the paste. Failing that there is a 'Consolidate Items'
(Ctrl+L) option on the Edit menu.

Thanks!

Only thing is the price guide keeps showing up in USD even though I set the default
currency to EUR.. and I can't see whether or not it includes VAT.. (I know
this issue was addressed because I raised it, and resolved, I just haven't
looked at the result of that discussion until now)

Under Extras - Settings - General Tab - check what your Default Currency is set
to.
Also, near the top right corner of the BrickStore screen there is a currency
drop-down menu (see pic), that allows you to view prices in other currencies.
Check that is set to EUR.

Aah yes, that drop-down menu is what I missed. Thanks for pointing it out!

Author:

Teup

Posted:

Jan 28, 2022 06:43

Subject:

Re: Need some help with instant checkout

Viewed:

31 times

Topic: