BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Suggestions, BrickAThon writes:

In Suggestions, RobErNat writes:

In Suggestions, Minifigs_Galore writes:

Why couldn't Brick Link let negative/Complaint or neutral feed back start
to drop off after so many years and or each year. Everyone knows we get unfounded
feed back especially from new buyers.

NO...
Old feedbacks, including negatives and neutrals, can give you an idea on who
your dealing with and tell buyers whether there is 'pattern' when something
goes wrong.
If BL would purge those negatives and neutrals, then they would need to do that
for all sellers, do you really want that ? (showing 1 example in the screenshot
below, I could give a couple of dozens like that)?

You seem to be bothered by the few negatives you carry? Why? You've had near
4000 transactions, with 3 negatives, that's less then 1 per 1300 transactions,
neglectible

And I doubt buyers will hold it against you when they need to determine whether
or not they wanna buy from you...

This is a good point, and the negatives that these buyers leave will also say
worlds about them.

I just received my first negative after 13 years! For not falsifying customs
forms (of which the buyer did not request I do) and that the shipping was too
high (of which they knew about before paying) - ridiculous, but this also serves
as a warning to anyone looking at that buyers feedback that they've left
- that they have ridiculous expectations and maybe you don't want to work
with them.

It's good for both parties in that respect.

In regards to old feedback - agreed. If I see feedback from a year ago that is
negative but lots of positives, I don't worry about it. I hope that the feedback
was used as a corrective and now that problem won't exist at all - if it
ever did. Plus, we are all human, get sick, have issues that we can't control,
and most buyers understand that.

Tracy

People who ask you to commit felony customs fraud should be banned and have their
ability to leave a negative for that order removed. It's been far too long
since this was first suggested for nothing to be done about it.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 15, 2016 02:39

Subject:

Re: Seller Tools: stock level alerts

Viewed:

31 times

Topic:

I'd love to see this set up to also alert sellers if their total number of
lots or parts falls below a certain level, or if their certain number of overall
items in a category (for example, tiles), falls too low.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 14, 2016 22:08

Subject:

Re: Paypal format.

Viewed:

17 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legoman77 writes:

Why did the people that changed BL not make a choice like Paypal does to use
the classic site. So of a retro thing that lets people go back to the visuals
they are used to. Paypal does this with no problem, so if the people that write
the programs here are as smart as those that write paypal programs, it should
be no problem.
Also I am old and I HATE CHANGE. That is why I am still using Windows 3.1 and
CompuServe.
John P

I was going to respond earlier but my AOL takes so long to dial up these days.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

May 24, 2016 15:53

Subject:

Re: Banned from forum

Viewed:

70 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, rikitikitaviguy writes:

Hmmmm...

Were you even around then? You might have just been a 'baby Bricklinker'...

LM

Nope, but account age is not an exclusive mark of maturity or ability to reason.
I've never been in charge of a community as big as BrickLink before, but
I have been in charge of a community a bit larger than the BrickLink forums (which,
as you probably know, represents a fraction of the overall BrickLink users since
most never venture out to the message board). As a member and forum user, I
think my opinion should be just as relevant as anyone else here.

My point stands: very few people get banned in any given day/week from the forums,
and while sending a PM explaining the ban reason may take a few extra minutes
a week for a discussion board moderator, the amount of time spent responding
to threads like this may equal or surpass that amount of time--meaning a
potential net decrease in required work hours for already overworked staff members.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

May 23, 2016 20:34

Subject:

Re: Banned from forum

Viewed:

128 times

Topic:

A message or email to the poster would be an excellent compromise. Basically
a PM that says, "you have been banned from the forum for x days due to reason:"
If you have any questions please refer to our forum rules at (link). I doubt
many members get banned on a daily basis so it would add a minute or two of work
but may save a lot of time from threads like this.

Public display of the reason? Heck no. In the last community I ran (30k users
and up to 300 active at once) any staff action that a member didn't agree
with made some members feel they get a short term free reign to break any rule,
because "if the staff member messed up we can too." Better to keep punishment
private but disclosed to the poster to allow him or her to learn and grow from
the experience.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Apr 10, 2016 20:37

Subject:

Re: Price Manipulating - What Prevention?

Viewed:

57 times

Topic:

Voted no as such a practice may be illegal under US anti-trust and price fixing
laws.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Mar 1, 2016 01:03

Subject:

Re: Self-Insurance Disclosure

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, MassBricks writes:

In Suggestions, ScootersBricks writes:

My only fear is that scammers may choose to disproportionately target self-insurers.
Scamming individuals is bad, but scamming the USPS and having the US Postal
Inspector Service on your back is a thing of nightmares, though.

Postal insurance is not scam insurance. I see this way too much. If you buy insurance
from the post office, and your buyer decides to make a fraudulent chargeback,
too bad, the insurance does not help you at all.

If a US buyer were to defraud me, the first step for me would be to file a police
report, and then forward that to the US postal inspector service. Chances are
they won't do anything, but at the same time, you don't mess with the
USPIS. They make the IRS look like kittens. And a scam like that technically
would be using the US mail to perpetrate fraud over state lines, which opens
up all kinds of fun things for prosecutors to go on.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Feb 29, 2016 21:47

Subject:

Re: Self-Insurance Disclosure

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Dec 8, 2015 23:38

Subject:

Re: Prevent spam: block IP number.

Viewed:

43 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, toontexas writes:

Is it possible to block IP numbers to cut down on spammers?

It should be fairly easy to block the IP address and, if necessary, the IP range
of buyers. However, a more thorough verification process might be required to
stop them if it is a bot.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Nov 8, 2015 20:28

Subject:

Re: Prohibit Vigilante Orders

Viewed:

89 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, FigBits writes:

Really, you are arguing that placing a bogus order is analogous to murder.

--
Marc.

And I thought sending NPB's to debt collectors was bad

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Nov 7, 2015 02:25

Subject:

Re: Inventory Management help from Bricklink

Viewed:

26 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

Have suggested this direct to Bricklink development and whilst the response has
been positive so far we are still waiting for either a confirmation that it will
become available (and when) or a reason why it cannot be done.

We have had good feedback from several of the UK's stores and wonder what
others around the globe feel.

This should give us the ability to deal with our inventories on a more accurate
basis and , if there are any gremlins in Bricklink's system, point them out.

Thoughts?

This is giving me flashbacks to my MBA accounting class; we'll of course
need a debit and credit for each move so we can quickly see everything balance
up. Come to think of it, that would make it VERY easy to discover any inventory
issues and correct them before they become a problem, as even a rare database
glitch would likely only affect one cell, and could be easy to spot as a discrepancy.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Apr 13, 2015 23:49

Subject:

Re: Ban sellers asking for Friends PayPal payment

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legoman77 writes:

In Suggestions, cs_amanda writes:

This is really a violation of the TOS for Paypal not BL, however, it's certainly
not a practice we want to see here on BL. If you come across a seller doing this,
please notify Admin through the help desk with the details so we can address
these issues directly. The account will be suspended, they will be told that
this practice is not acceptable, and will need to remove this information from
their store to get it reactivated.

Thanks
Amanda
CS Team

How about when the buyer asks for a lower value on the customs forms? Why does
BL not care about that? Asking a seller to lie and so the sellers that do have
an advantage over honest sellers. Should BL not care about that?
John P

And if we refuse to do so, that buyer can threaten (and succeed in) leaving negative
or neutral feedback because we refused to be complicit in a felony.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Feb 7, 2015 21:02

Subject:

Re: Time to address seller quality issues

Viewed:

85 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, eileenkeeney writes:

Addressing this type of issue is not easy, however both Ebay and Amazon have
implemented better systems than BL.

Just like a seller is only authorized a certain number of NSS and NRS, it would
make sense to also only allow a certain number of certain other violations.

Perhaps reviewing any seller with over X negatives or over Y% negatives, and
suspending sellers if deemed appropriate.
But it should be based on review, not just negative count or %.

Otherwise, huge sellers (toyburg, toybrickbrigade) who do good work would eventually
get suspended just for doing huge amounts of orders, while tiny stores could
get by with crappy feedback for quite awhile.

I like the idea of having a quality percentage that you need to reach--although
closing a store might not be the only option. What about:

99.8% or greater feedback in the last year, with 500 or more feedback - Seller's
fees are reduced to 2% instead of 3%

96%-98% with 100 or more feedback in the last year- Seller no longer can send
Wanted emails. To compensate for the greater amount of effort staff must exert
handling issues common to stores in this feedback range, seller's fees will
be 4% of total sales.

94%-95.99% with 100 or more feedback in the last year- Seller no longer shows
up in search results for parts, but will still show up on the Price Guide for
an individual piece, and can also be accessed and shopped at manually. Seller's
fees comprise 6% of total sales.

93.99% or below with 100 or more feedback in the last year- Seller's store
is suspended. Store may become un-suspended after 12 months.

Something like this could provide extra revenue for Bricklink from the not-so-awesome
stores, and give Bricklink the necessary financial capital to do additional order-related
staff duties, such as handling disputes, revisiting the rules for retaliatory
feedback, and so on. Since someone with 100% good feedback isn't going to
be likely to run into a lot of feedback disputes, they won't be punished
in such a system.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 11:28

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

90 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, tkkemp writes:

In Suggestions, ScootersBricks writes:

In Suggestions, secondbricks writes:

In Suggestions, ScootersBricks writes:

A couple things to point out here:

Now let's look at a similar situation, but change it from a religious thing
to something else. I'm a HUGE Kentucky Wildcats fan. The KY Wildcats basketball
team rocks, period. I can't get enough of the games and have been a fan
since I was little.

I understand your thoughts on this however I would recommend that religion and
political views be kept separate from 'business'. It's a personal
decision on the part of each seller however.

The above sporting example seems minor enough however there are those with more
strange tastes.

I can't imagine many here would defend the dispersal of White Supremacy or
Anti-Abortion propaganda with their orders yet it may too be simply classified
as someone posting ones' beliefs. There's a host of beliefs out there
ranging from those accepted throughout the world to those accepted in particular
countries to those accepted by fringe groups. Holding the beliefs is not illegal
but disseminating them in such a manner and not expecting issues may be naive.

With regard to this case, to many around the world Churches and associated religions
have a lot to answer for with regard to how societies were or are.

Religious literature's potential provocative nature may not be obvious to
all but there are plenty of victims of all major religions out there and some
may also happen to like little plastic bricks.

When you decide that you are going to insert religion (or any touchy subject
for that matter) into your business, you are making a business decision. Sometimes
that decision is well-received, and sometimes it is not. Some businesses thrive
because of their religious undertone (or political, etc.). Others may suffer
for it. It isn't necessarily "wrong" to include religion as part of your
business model--but it is definitely going to make some sellers tune out
while others tune in. Will you get more visits/return visits/customers as a
result? Who knows. For some that isn't the most important part of business,
anyway, and having a channel to express their feelings is a paycheck in itself.

Personally I am extremely religious. Yet there is no mention or hint of it in
my business. We didn't make a choice when we started "Let's keep religion
out of bricks!" or anything - it just didn't come up when designing our store.
I do hope that others are able to see a kindness and compassion in my actions
as a store owner that make them wonder.

So how would you feel if i included some very anti-religious material in an order
you placed with me?

I disagree with anything of this nature being included in an order. If you place
an order from LEGO S@H you don't get a pamphlet talking about religion, or
the social philosophies of Denmark.

I get that you CAN do it, but I don't think it's appropriate. And here's
why:

Let's presume there are two customers one that will be offended, and one
that won't. If you email the material to both customers here's your potential
outcomes:

1. Customer A - Receives the material and is anywhere on the neutral to happy
scale about receiving the item. Or conversely, you don't send the material
and Customer A is STILL anywhere from neutral to happy about your order (assuming
they got the parts they wanted)

2. Customer B - Receives the material and is upset or offended. or conversely,
you don't send the material and Customer B is ALSO anywhere from neutral
to happy about their order.

So if you send the material, you take the risk of upsetting a customer, and losing
that customer forever. Whereas if you don't send the material, you don't
risk upsetting or losing any customers.

As a business, why would you consciously make a decision to risk X number of
customers???

I just think it's bad business.

If you send me a pamphlet on atheism, I'll toss it because it's not relevant
to me. At the same time I'll hit the SKIP button on my DVR to go past a
commercial that isn't relevant to me. And then I'll give you positive
feedback like everyone else does.

It might be bad business to insert your personal beliefs into how you run your
store. But in the end that decision comes down to that particular store owner.
Some stores flourish because of their decision to specifically 'come out'
as being in support of one thing or another. In the same way, if you aren't
a Wildcat, you probably are going to be very put off by the Wildcat Outfitter
stores all over the place where I live.

For me, it just works better to just provide the type of service that my beliefs
suggest that I should. For others, they may feel it is better to take it a step
further. Up to them. I know that one of my favorite stores I buy from is from
someone who does just so happen to send religious material - but he says in very
big letters on his splash page that he does so, explains the type of material
it may be, and gives you an option to opt out if you aren't interested.

I like to shop with this guy because he's extremely nice, has good customer
service, and takes a HUGE amount of pride in his work. He goes above and beyond
compared to other sellers. Is this because he believes he is called to do so
by a higher power? Dunno. Maybe, maybe not.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 11:10

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

71 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, briky writes:

In Suggestions, LottaBricks writes:

Christianity and Judaism are the most hated belief systems in history.

Count their victims and you probably have the reason why.

Cheers

Chris

In Suggestions, erector writes:

it is pamphlets for the coming rapture .com explaining the coming of Jesus, and
quotes from john3.16

The US constitution guarantees everyone freedom of religion.
Also freedom of speech. So I think if a seller wants to promote
their religious beliefs through their BL store that is their right.

The US constitution also allows people to not believe in religion,
if they choose not to. In other words the government can not force
people to go to church or read the bible.

To look at it from the other side, what if a seller was an atheist.
Would a believer in religion be offended if they got a short message
in their order that stated that the store owner was an atheist and he
or she thought God did not exist and was promoting the atheist view?

Just wondering if there would be any different reaction from buyers
concerning the atheist message vs the bible message?

I do think we may be venturing too far into the realm of what isn't allowed
on the forum. SO perhaps it is better to just note:

Religion exists. So do sports teams.

If you are on a different team, the other teams may seem like the "bad guys."

If someone likes their own team and invites you to like it, it's perfectly
fine to ignore them. If they keep bugging you about it they are in the wrong.
If you decide to punish them for liking the "wrong" team, YOU are wrong.

If you want to invite someone to like your team, go for it. But putting a disclaimer
in your store might help a bit: "WARNING: I am a HUGE KY Wildcat Fan. John Calipari
is the best recruiter ever. I may send a University of Kentucky sticker with
my order. If you don't like it throw it away. If you are a Cardinal...well...good
luck in your future loss against Kentucky next year!"

If someone asks you not to send them a sticker with your sports team (or a religious
card/pamphlet) then don't. Some people you send your orders to may LOVE
your sports team. Or religion. Or whatever. And they may LOVE that little bit
of a connection as a way to say "You're not alone out there." Heck, when
we meet a fellow Bricklinker in real life it's an awesome thing, because
of that connection we automatically have.

I think I've made it as clear as I can without breaking any rules. Politics
and religion are touchy here - it's not realistic to pretend they don't
exist, but arguing who is right or wrong is just going to cause problems so let's
not resort to that (I'm looking at people from both sides, now!). Better
to just remember that we are all here because we love LEGO, and discuss the touchy
subjects elsewhere. And even from a religious standpoint, I think there is precedence
for us to basically "stop bothering people" who ask us to leave them alone.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 11:02

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

68 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, secondbricks writes:

In Suggestions, ScootersBricks writes:

A couple things to point out here:

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 10:57

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

65 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, brix4kix writes:

Really stop listed for telling you about a seller that sends orders out with
no bubble mailer ore any protection for the parts

Nope. Stoplisted because you went straight from having an issue with an order
to sending negative feedback. I am known for my good customer service. My customers
like knowing they can come to me and I'm available almost any time of the
day or night to answer questions. But I can't work with customers who would
place an order and immediately give me a negative without giving me a chance
to resolve whatever issue they may have.

The package you got was not cool; the seller should have packaged it much better.
But a witch hunt because his business card has a Bible verse? Also not cool.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 09:03

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

96 times

Topic:

A couple things to point out here:

1 - I'm on your side from a theological standpoint. From what you've
posted you and I probably share similar religious views. HOWEVER:

2 - Your packaging, if it was sent like in the picture, leaves a lot to be desired.
This isn't fleabay. It isn't Craigslist. Everyone here is an adult,
and because of the nature of this website most of them are adult builders buying
items that they plan to use in their own creations. Having parts somewhat organized
or at least protected against possible damage is key.

3 - Are you KIDDING me? So, you sent him your business card (which I do in most
of my orders, although I ran out a couple weeks ago). It has your phone number
so he can contact you with any issues. It happens to have a Bible verse on it.
And this is somehow propaganda that you should have to feel bad for/punished
for?

From a religious standpoint you're doing the right thing. From the Bricklink
standpoint you aren't doing anything wrong by having a Bible verse on your
business card. But from a packaging standpoint I'd consider upping the quality
of packing, at least on Bricklink. Presentation is key. Pretend you're
Cake Boss, but with orders. Make things look shiny and awesome and you'll
score points with your buyers because they know you care just as much as they
do about their bricks.

Now let's look at a similar situation, but change it from a religious thing
to something else. I'm a HUGE Kentucky Wildcats fan. The KY Wildcats basketball
team rocks, period. I can't get enough of the games and have been a fan
since I was little.

So let's say that I put a KY Wildcats sticker in every order. It's at
my own expense. I'm not charging you for it. You can throw it away if you're
a Tennessee fan or a *shudder* Cardinal

So what's the problem in this case? I am a fan of something that not everyone
else is. What I am a fan of seems very similar to many other groups that other
people happen to be fans of. I could include a piece of paper that happens to
have my team's logo on it. Nobody would ever bat an eye. Even our forever
rivals, the Louisville Cardinals, would probably just make a lighthearted joke
"Oh no! Burn the package! It has a UK logo on it!" in the same way we joke when
we find a Mega Blok in a collection we got from Craigslist.

Yet if it's religion, even when it isn't pushed on someone (having a
Bible verse on your business card isn't exactly pushing religion on someone,
when you gave out your business card is to promote your business, not your religion),
it is somehow a problem. Let's have a bit more tolerance. If something is
included with your order you don't want, toss it. Most of us are constantly
within 20 feet of a trash can on any given day, so it isn't a huge deal to
throw away something that doesn't apply to us.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 06:59

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

84 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, brix4kix writes:

In Suggestions, dee6128 writes:

Was there anything missing from your order? Was there damage?

the counts were off and parts are scratched terribly, they are used but they
are all filler pieces now.

They just dumped them all in a thick paper, folded and then taped.

In Suggestions, brix4kix writes:

There was a post earlier about bricklink over seeing bad sellers, I cant remember
where. I vote yes to a complaint section to have administrator's review
complaints about poor seller's. I received a order I placed a while back,
well first off I never recieved any messages back from the seller, they mailed
out the package 5days after there store terms sead they do.not usually a problem
since I typically send a message like ( hi just checking in to se if the payment
got to you thanks) the seller always contacts me back with yep got it will be
sending out soon got a little bizzy. That is no problem but from this seller
nothing.

so when the package arrived I was very unhappy now take a look at the packaging(
lack of bubble wrap ore any type of protection. But I did get some religious
propaganda that I didn't order. And yes the parts were just in thin cardboard
with tape around it from post office. I have not left feedback yet was waiting
to calm down. Will update in a bit if you want the name of the seller pm me for
now till I post the feedback.

Really this is the only thing that I would have dinged the seller for: they provided
a bad product that was significantly not as described. I'd ask them for
a full refund for any of the parts that are in any way not as described. If that
doesn't work, the NSS/SNAD route is probably your best bet.

Author:

ScootersBricks

Posted:

Jun 10, 2014 06:57

Subject:

Re: bad sellers

Viewed:

87 times

Topic: