Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | Teup  | | Posted: | Feb 5, 2024 19:00 | | Subject: | Re: Confirm, Stripe payment are all Cancelled | | Viewed: | 63 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
| In Technical Issues, Hazborgufen writes:
| | In Technical Issues, 1001bricks writes:
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: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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..
|
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 4, 2024 09:04 | | Subject: | Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika. | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | LANG Nederlands | |
| In LANG Nederlands, LeeGo73 writes:
| | In LANG Nederlands, Teup writes:
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)
|
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 4, 2024 07:21 | | Subject: | Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika. | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | LANG Nederlands | |
| 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.
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 4, 2024 06:17 | | Subject: | Re: Versturen naar bv Amerika. | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | LANG Nederlands | |
| 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.
|
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 2, 2024 05:20 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
| 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.
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 2, 2024 05:17 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
| In Technical Issues, ErwinNL writes:
| | In Technical Issues, ErwinNL writes:
| | 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!
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 2, 2024 04:30 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink API - Update Store Inventory | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
| 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: | Technical Issues | |
| 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?
|
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: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:
.....
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.
|
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 1, 2024 07:28 | | Subject: | Re: Variants Thread - January 31 | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 1, 2024 07:01 | | Subject: | Re: Variants Thread - January 31 | | Viewed: | 79 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:
.....
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?
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 26, 2024 18:49 | | Subject: | Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed | | Viewed: | 77 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| 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..
|
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 26, 2024 18:32 | | Subject: | Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| 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 )
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 26, 2024 18:12 | | Subject: | Re: Variant merge - specific answers needed | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 11, 2024 08:09 | | Subject: | Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants | | Viewed: | 69 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| 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.)
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:
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: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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: | Catalog | |
| 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?
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Nov 16, 2023 06:44 | | Subject: | Re: New policy on Forum sales posts | | Viewed: | 127 times | | Topic: | Administrative | |
| 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: | Administrative | |
| 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: | Administrative | |
| 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.
|
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...
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Nov 15, 2022 16:53 | | Subject: | Re: Reserve your LEGO® account nickname today! | | Viewed: | 101 times | | Topic: | Administrative | |
| 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: | Help | |
| 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: | General | |
| 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: | General | |
| 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
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Mar 3, 2022 10:21 | | Subject: | Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why? | | Viewed: | 75 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
| 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: | Payment Methods | |
| 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
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Mar 3, 2022 04:24 | | Subject: | Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why? | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
| 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?
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.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Mar 2, 2022 15:08 | | Subject: | Re: Sellers not using on site payment, why? | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
| 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.
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Mar 2, 2022 11:44 | | Subject: | Re: Funding methods for Stripe (and PayPal) | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
| 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
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| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Mar 2, 2022 06:33 | | Subject: | Re: New Medium Brown | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
| In Colors, randyf writes:
| | 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"
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|
| 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: | 60 times | | Topic: | Help | |
| 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: | General | |
| 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: | General | |
| 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: | Help | |
| 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: | Help | |
| 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: | Administrative | |
| 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: | Administrative | |
| 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: | Administrative | |
| 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
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