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:

74 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:

69 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:

Administrative