BrickLink Discussion Forum

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

The problem with this suggestion is that they don't need to pay people to
work doing inventories so long as people volunteer to do this work. It doesn't
have to be paid for work if people are willing to do it for free. A similar suggestion
came up at the time when BL stopped BO from using the catalogue and while some
people stopped submitting, others continued. Even if the catalogue is owned by
a private company, if people want to contribute towards it then they will continue
to do so. If one person drops out, then another will step in.

If I have something to sell, and it is not already in the catalogue, then it
makes sense to add it so I can sell it. And BL know that.

Except that's not true for everyone. A few sellers in this very thread have
admitted to holding on to sets because they were not inventoried. They had the
set in hand, wanted to sell it yet didn't submit the inventory for whatever
reason.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Nov 28, 2017 16:10

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to ship in boxes

Viewed:

53 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, chetzler writes:

In Suggestions, MarieA writes:

In Suggestions, chetzler writes:

Perhaps because buyers aren't leaving appropriate negative feedback? If the
seller isn't getting complaints and/or public criticism about his shipping
practices, do they even know they're causing such issues?

Why should the buyers have to do any work? BrickLink should be forcing sellers
to operate within certain standards.

You're absolutely right! And many people are drawing their lines too close
to my business. I take issue with suggestions that create additional burden
on me when I have done nothing wrong. I don't understand why people want
to impose broad rules on everyone when targeted rules on bad actors would be
more appropriate. Once this suggestion has played out, I'll be making a
more earnest suggestion to that effect.

An imaginative solution would be necessary in order for BL to *easily* deal with
the bad apples. The "three strikes and you're out" rule still leaves plenty
of scope for dishonest and disreputable sellers, as those sellers with 100s of
non-positive feedback testify.

Are sellers required to list all items for sale against the correct part/set?
Are they required to list used items as used, and incomplete as incomplete?
Can they cut their prices in half and charge a 100% mark-up at checkout, thus
appearing higher in the listings price comparison pages and screwing over the
price guide?
Can they agree to falsify customs documents?
Are they expected to abide by local laws?

See? Minimum standards that BL already expects sellers to abide by. I think everyone
would agree that BL mandating sellers use a particular packaging method is a
step too far, thus negating your point, but surely everyone can agree that sellers
should be expected to pack orders appropriately?

Of course there should be minimum standards, but I haven't seen any policy
suggestions that are targeted towards basic standards. They are always oddly
specific and tailored to one user's bad experience.

Regards the parts you received that were damaged due to poor shipping. In the
EU (yeah, I know this gets on peoples tits sometimes), you would, in law, be
eligible for a full refund including the price of shipping. And if the seller
wanted the parts back, they'd have to pay for return shipping as well. Thus,
sellers are encouraged to pack appropriately in order to prevent such a financial
kick up the arse. I would imagine similar consumer laws exist across the world
to some extent.

Should BL force all business sellers to abide by consumer laws? No. But it is
a requirement of BL that all users abide by local laws, and once it's brought
to their attention that someone isn't doing so, there should be consequences
of that. It's impossible for BL to collate information on local laws and
act as judge and jury, but it's not impossible for them to collate statistics
on how often a member is reported for failing to abide by local laws, and take
action if/when patterns present themselves.

You and I have tangled a few times in the past but I suspect we'd probably
agree on a lot of points. I have very high standards about the way I operate
my business and I suspect you do too.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Nov 28, 2017 16:07

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to ship in boxes

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:

In Suggestions, MarieA writes:

[…]
Should BL force all business sellers to abide by consumer laws? No. But it is
a requirement of BL that all users abide by local laws, and once it's brought
to their attention that someone isn't doing so, there should be consequences
of that. It's impossible for BL to collate information on local laws and
act as judge and jury, but it's not impossible for them to collate statistics
on how often a member is reported for failing to abide by local laws, and take
action if/when patterns present themselves.

Well, considering 1) we (me included) don’t even give neutral FBs where negatives
should be given, and 2), BL doesn’t care when a store has a high percentage of
negatives, I don’t see that having a hint of a thought of a suggestion of being
implemented any time soon.

I always leave appropriate feedback when buying, just one negative on BL I think,
also 1 on BO and a handful on Ebay over a decade or so of buying and selling.
But I accept that many people don't in fear of a retaliatory reaction.

Someone could have 100% negative feedback and BL wouldn't care - and I wholeheartedly
support such a hands-off approach. It baffles me that buyers would continue to
place orders with sellers who have a high number of non-positive ratings, but
more fool them.

If, however, a good number of those negative ratings were because of issues that
BL (perhaps the BL community) deems undesirable, there should be consequences.

Seller shipped incomplete order.
Seller shipped incorrect items.
Seller shipped used pieces as new.
Seller refused to refund or replace missing order.
Unannounced delays in invoicing/shipping.
Etc.

It could all be done anonymously with only BL having access to the stats. But
enough reports over a given period or across 'x' number of orders,
and automatic sanctions could kick in. Something like increasing commission to
reflect the additional effort dealing with complaints, a temporary store suspension,
a prominent warning at checkout advising that other buyers had indicated there
were issues.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Nov 28, 2017 15:12

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to ship in boxes

Viewed:

82 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, chetzler writes:

Why should the buyers have to do any work? BrickLink should be forcing sellers
to operate within certain standards.

I know you're trying to make a point, and most people replying to your post
haven't understood that, but for what it's worth I think minimum standards
are a good thing. The question is where to draw the line?

Are sellers required to list all items for sale against the correct part/set?
Are they required to list used items as used, and incomplete as incomplete?
Can they cut their prices in half and charge a 100% mark-up at checkout, thus
appearing higher in the listings price comparison pages and screwing over the
price guide?
Can they agree to falsify customs documents?
Are they expected to abide by local laws?

See? Minimum standards that BL already expects sellers to abide by. I think everyone
would agree that BL mandating sellers use a particular packaging method is a
step too far, thus negating your point, but surely everyone can agree that sellers
should be expected to pack orders appropriately?

Regards the parts you received that were damaged due to poor shipping. In the
EU (yeah, I know this gets on peoples tits sometimes), you would, in law, be
eligible for a full refund including the price of shipping. And if the seller
wanted the parts back, they'd have to pay for return shipping as well. Thus,
sellers are encouraged to pack appropriately in order to prevent such a financial
kick up the arse. I would imagine similar consumer laws exist across the world
to some extent.

Should BL force all business sellers to abide by consumer laws? No. But it is
a requirement of BL that all users abide by local laws, and once it's brought
to their attention that someone isn't doing so, there should be consequences
of that. It's impossible for BL to collate information on local laws and
act as judge and jury, but it's not impossible for them to collate statistics
on how often a member is reported for failing to abide by local laws, and take
action if/when patterns present themselves.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Nov 28, 2017 14:16

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to ship in boxes

Viewed:

129 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, chetzler writes:

I think all sellers should be required to ship their orders in corrugated cardboard
boxes. I recently received an order of 24 NEW

59349 Panel 1 x 6 x 5
Parts: Panel

from a 5000+ feedback seller.

All 24 of them were thrown into a Ziploc baggie
and that baggie was crammed, along with the other lots in the order, into a flimsy
bubble mailer. Well, you can imagine what the surfaces of those panels looked
like after be squished and tossed from conveyor belt to conveyor belt as they
made their way across the country before being shoved into my mailbox. If they
had been shipped in a cardboard box they wouldn't have received nearly that
amount of abuse.

Therefore I suggest we force all sellers to ship orders in cardboard boxes.
Some orders, such as one or two figs, would probably be fine in a bubble mailer,
but rules are rules and we must enforce them uniformly and without mercy. We
must protect the entire community from the few sloppy sellers that are out there.

If a buyer receives an order that is not in a cardboard box, he must send a picture
of the package (with mailing label visible) to Admin. Once Admin approves the
picture, the seller will receive a non-negotiable negative feedback. If three
such feedback are received then selling privileges are revoked.

I ship 99% of my orders in a box already, so I don't see why this would be
such a big deal.

(yes, I'm making a point but I'm not making up my experience or my store
practices)

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Nov 27, 2017 13:55

Subject:

Re: No Instant Checkout = Force must offer Quote

Viewed:

46 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

In Suggestions, PaulOfBricks writes:

In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

In Suggestions, PaulOfBricks writes:

I believe in instant checkout even though I still have a few problems with it
that are still not being addressed. However:

I believe you should know the cost upfront of your cart, fees and shipping before
being obliged to pay.

I recently placed an order and again the fees and extra are so buried within
the terms the parts cost become 34% more! also I was invoiced for the larger
box option, and I know if using the instant checkout the parts would have easily
fit into the smaller letter rate. I read the terms 3 times and still some fees
were still easily missed.

This happens over and over again, its not a one off.

I think it should be mandatory by Bricklink that any seller not using Instant
checkout will

Automatically will have the Quote option enabled.

What is the harm in that?

Every customer can make a decision up front if the fees and postage are reasonable
and acceptable. When im invoiced a total random bunch of fees I am not entered
into the contact agreement before knowing them.

Sorry Paul - voted no - don't like to see anyone forced into doing something
they don't wish to do. I have never had what happened to you happen to me
and have placed 1000 orders on Bricklink. No quotes asked for - none received.
Graneted postal costs are never our main concern when we need parts and there
are others where it is vitally important.

If I did ask a seller for a quote even if they didn't have it enabled and
they simply didn't respond, I would think they don't want my business
and find the items elsewhere, if possible.

As a seller it is our responsibility, amongst others, to communicate with our
buyers either pre-sale, during processing or post sale. If we don't do that
we are letting ourselves down as well as other stores on the site.

Forcing this as a feature is not, in our opinion, the right way to deal with
it. Avoid those stores and move on - when enough buyers do that and their orders
dwindle or even fall off a cliff, that fixes the problem cause they will disappear,
hopefully.

I just dont think when placing an order I have to guess what prices you are going
to choose for me.

You currently dont include you packaging materials in the weight, you also say
you may impose the insurance

so I place a 212g order with my cart valued £41

which of the following am I going to pay? (from your chart)

101 - 250 Large Letter
No Tracking - Tracked - 2nd Class
- 1.30 - - - - - - - 2.40 - - - - - - 2.32

101 - 250 Small Parcel
No Tracking - Tracked - 2nd Class
- 3.40 - - - - - - - 4.40 - - - - - - 3.90

or once packaging is added (and I know you package very well in sturdy boxes!)
is it going to take me into 251g-500g range?

251 - 500 Large Letter
No Tracking - Tracked - 2nd Class
- 1.74 - - - - - - - 2.84 - - - - - - 2.68

251 - 500 Small Parcel
No Tracking - Tracked - 2nd Class
- 3.40 - - - - - - - 4.40 - - - - - - 3.90

I think It will fit in the small letter 250g range 1.30 price and I dont want
insurance.

You package it well and takes it into the 251g small parcel brakcet and you also
decide that Im high risk and want to insure it and send it tracked 4.40 or 2nd
class 3.90. Do you think I should not know up front? which one of the 9 prices
it could be? rather than have to guess?

This is just a quick scan or your terms pages, there are other sellers who offer
a simular postage chart that also add package fees and paypal fees that you would
have to calculate also on top of the guessed postage price.

Its only about making the experience as simple as possible for the customer.

Y

What you are missing in reading the terms, and I think I am going to do something
about that, shortly is how we deal with an order once received. Our postage tables
reflect nothing more than an image of those from Royal mail - They are meant
as a guideline. When we get an order we send out our own acknowledgement which
is much more detailed than what Bricklink offers and in it we explain how things
work in our store. We inform everyone that they will have rock solid firm shipping
costs/options in 24 - 48 hours after we have pre-processed the order. We pick
all orders first and pre-package them to guarantee postage costs.

We then receive a response from that buyer and invoice them exactly as they are
expecting and have chosen. No guesswork, no gimmicks just a simple process of
picking the order pre-packaging it and advising the buyer of that. I suppose
you could look at that as a quote but not a BL one (Their quote system is flawed,
badly - doesn't work properly on inventory and is not enabled in our store.
I am now going to add to our terms and policies page a reflection of that order
acknowledgement which should make it totally clear what is going to happen, give
the buyers their choices for shipping and confirming that we charge no fees whatsoever
- just postage at cost.

And at this point, do you allow your customer to cancel the order if the shipping/extra
fees are deemed by them to be excessive?

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Oct 24, 2017 06:03

Subject:

Re: Convert all units to Metric

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Nordbart writes:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

In Suggestions, Brickler writes:

Hi,
I do prefer the metric system, hands down, but in the US we have standard measurement
system.
So all our weights and sizes for the mail are in Standard. Changing it make no
sense.

In the rest of the world we also have a standard and universal measurement system,
the metric system.

Sure. But some countries still use imperial units daily. Like the UK traffic
it's all miles and yards or weights I have no clue what a Stone is. Canadians
tend to use imperial units too. Since many US products end up there.

At least it's only two domintating systems afaik and not a babylonic mess
of different units.

A 3001 would be 18.8 x 9.4 x 5.6 millismoot.

Nordbart

Except US imperial and UK imperial don't always correlate, especially when
it comes to volume.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Oct 6, 2017 23:51

Subject:

Re: Reduce Store Verification Time

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, redimension writes:

Team,

I have been waiting to open my store for over a month. I am more than ready to
start selling. Do you need help in this department? Volunteers to assist in matters
like this?

Cheers!

The process takes approx. two weeks after you complete the necessary steps. You
only completed at least two of those steps two days ago. You've been waiting
a month only because you didn't thoroughly read the information. I agree
the process could be simpler, but the information is there and simply needs to
be given the appropriate attention.

A better suggestion might be for BL to create an unambiguous list of things a
new store needs to do, with green ticks generated automatically against each
item as they're completed, with a "submit for review" button only available
after all other steps have been ticked off.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Sep 15, 2017 14:49

Subject:

Re: Change to information held in Catalogue

Viewed:

45 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

The Bricklink catalogue has the perfect base for this change but it is a question
of whether the developers feel they can do it with minimum effort. Each item
in the catalogue has a PCC as well as its mould or design id number associated
with it. The PCC code is Lego's element id and it is what they print in their
instructions.

There have been lots of comments both in and out of the forum concerning part
weights and how there is a variance between colours of the same part number.
We have also experienced this. The simple way to deal with this is to add a weight
field against the PCC in the catalogue. This would allow the system to hold the
individual weights for each colour part and could be used to more accurately
provide cart weights for instant checkout when it comes out of preview.

If it were easy to accomplish then there'd be no reason not to do it, but
it won't be. The other week you claimed you were too busy to try out instant
checkout, yet here you're suggesting work that will require an amazing amount
of time. This means pulling, handling, recording data, re-stocking, submitting
data, etc. It's 10,000s of hours work.

In any case, all post carriers have a tolerance on their weight bands as is required
by the relevant international agreements (this can be verified on upu.int I'm
sure). The primary reason is because very few people/businesses use correctly
calibrated scales. Also, parcels can change in weight over the course of their
journey as they pick up moisture/dirt/dust etc.

Such tolerances will almost always be greater than any weight corrections made
possible by the changes you're suggesting. I accept there will be occasions
where they won't be, but that would have be a really unlucky combination
of parts where a bulk amount of each were ordered and all weighed more than the
BL catalog weight. A perfect storm as it were. I don't think it's unreasonable
to expect sellers encountering such rare events to either bite the bullet on
the price difference, or approach their customer to advise of a greater shipping
charge, or to otherwise think creatively about their packaging materials and
shipping method. The alternative, weighing and recording every single colour
of every single part, just to avoid these perfect storms for those handful of
sellers/buyers encountering them, is over-kill.

Dismissing a person's experience just because it originates from BO does
no-one any good. You aren't better than they are and your opinion carries
no more weight just because you sell on BL alone.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Aug 25, 2017 08:34

Subject:

Re: Inventory Change Request for Set 3233-1

Viewed:

21 times

Topic:

Inventories Requests

In Inventories Requests, rufust. writes:

Please make changes to the following inventory:

3233-1 (Inv) Fantasy Bird polybag
24 Parts, 1 Minifigure, 1998
Sets: FreeStyle

* Change {1 to 2} Part Red 3004 Brick 1 x 2
* Change {2 to 1} Part Red 2458 Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin

Comments from Submitter:
I owe the set in near new condition with original instructions. As one can clearly see the above numbers are correct.

I own this set sealed and can confirm there's only 1 1x2 with pin.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Aug 21, 2017 01:26

Subject:

Re: Offsite payment no longer possible??

Viewed:

69 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, nectara writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

In Suggestions, nectara writes:

In Suggestions, Teup writes:

and basically, PayPal is something for internet nerds. That is simply a reality.
Limiting Bricklink to PayPal is limiting it to internet nerds and lose a massive
market..

Your huge market is almost NON in other country's
From 1300 orders in my store only 3 where payed by IBAN
Saying that PayPal is for nerds...
,,This payment volume was generated through the 1.73 billion transactions which
PayPal processed during that quarter. In 2016, the payment provider's annual
payment volume amounted to 354 billion U.S. dollars.,,

mean the nerds one pay half of the volume of your country in one year

,,The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Netherlands was worth 770.85 billion US
dollars in 2016.,,

Calm down dear, they weren't insulting you or anyone, rather explaining how
PayPal is seen within the Netherlands.

IBAN is a very common method of payment across the Euro zone, particularly
in the Benelux states. There are various other online payment methods here too
but they're not widely supported by non-Benelux retailers.

In a way I support the move to restrict IBAN as it offers zero protection for
consumers and loads the entirety of the risk onto their shoulders. In the case
of many Benelux retailers, this is fine as they comply with consumer legislation,
they publish their business address and there will be a complaints/redress procedure.
In the case of BL sellers, this is far from the norm and paying by IBAN represents
a serious risk.

However, as has been said, restricting this payment method will inconvenience
many people who are happy to use IBAN regardless of its lack of protection. BL
will simply lose some of these customers but only time will tell how many.

I suspect this is only the first salvo in BL's decision to push sellers towards
accepting PayPal exclusively, perhaps as an attempt to standardise fees and possibly
as a first step in making auto-checkout mandatory.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jul 25, 2017 04:00

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to show cart weight

Viewed:

54 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, neghibo writes:

Here's an idea... if you spot something that's wrong, why not help everyone
out and update it, that way, one day, we'll be able to have nice things like
automatic checkout (something that Italian law says is mandatory, but y'know,
because some people prefer to live in the dark ages, let's all keep burning
candles).

Hi,

Some items can have different weight, it depend on where TLG has producted those
pieces. ( unfortunately it's very hard to certificate that ).

Probably a lot of people are still in dark age.

I'm aware of the subtle differences in weight but for this shouldn't
really stop progress. Once every blue moon or so these discrepancies might result
in a wrong shipping charge. This isn't a problem unique to Bricklink and
every other online retailer successfully deals with it.

Does anyone have any idea how many sales are lost because users are being asked
to commit to buy with no indication of the final, total cost? (Which as I said,
is against Italian law.) Impulse sales make up a small but still substantial
part of all online sales, and anything that gets in the way of a user's streamlined
progress to submitting payment, and you risk losing that sale.

I for one often end up buying what I need on Ebay, even though BL is cheaper,
simply to avoid an unknown final cost and the unknowable length of delay until
the seller presents me with a chance to complete the purchase.

It's madness that some still argue in favour of the status quo.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jul 24, 2017 16:55

Subject:

Re: Force sellers to show cart weight

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, neghibo writes:

Hi,

a lot of items weights in BL catalog are wrong. So keep calm and change an other
thing. ''NO'' for ever.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jul 19, 2017 14:51

Subject:

Re: Employ real support staff

Viewed:

64 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, RobErNat writes:

In Suggestions, MarieA writes:

As I understand it, BL sellers and buyers are earning BL several million quid
a year via commission. Can I humbly suggest that some of this profit is redirected
into giving the platform an active customer support staff that is available 24-hours
per day. That such a site relies on volunteers to keep the wheels greased is
a bit perverse given the circumstances.

The site does not run on volunteers, only the forum and the catalog does (translators
of pages as well).
Development and Admin tasks are run by 'professionals' (= paid staff).
A 24/7 service just on the Admin team would require 4x as much people (8 in stead
of 2) to cover a full week, I doubt Bricklink is making enough to cover that
(considering there is also an IT team working during workdays)

And if you check online, BL is not making 'several' million per year.
I can't access US tax reports, but I'm sure a larger US seller can obtain
actual figures?

BL needs a dose of professionalism. If what I've read from the forum over
the last few days is correct, BL is a technology company whose tech is failing
left and right. Clearly 2 employed people are not enough. Tickets to the help
desk are often ignored, forum posts regarding errors and problems are ignored,
issues between buyers and sellers are not always moderated according to BL's
rules, etc. I simply don't believe that BL doesn't earn enough to provide
a genuine and effective increase in the level of customer support being offered.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jul 19, 2017 02:55

Subject:

Employ real support staff

Viewed:

258 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 28, 2017 09:17

Subject:

Require sellers to disclose if business

Viewed:

200 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

Vote:

[Yes|No]

This is likely a controversial suggestion but I'm going to make it anyway.
I think Bricklink should require all sellers to disclose whether they are selling
in a private or business capacity. That's it, a simple choice in the store
settings page and a line of text disclosing the choice somewhere on each store's
Terms page.

Why? Three reasons.

One:-

It allows other Bricklink users - however they be defined (customers, buyers,
consumers, competitors, etc.) - to make informed choices.

Two:-

It helps ensure compliance with Rule 13 of the Terms of Service.

Three:-

Why not?

At present BL actively protects the contact details of all members, disclosing
this information only when a contract exists between two users. This is perfectly
reasonable when you consider that a seller is often acting in a personal capacity,
selling their own goods.

However, an unintended side-effect of this is that it allows business sellers
to (1) masquerade as private sellers and/or (2) evade relevant national laws
(which in turn means they're failing to abide by BL's ToS).

As an example, in the United Kingdom, all businesses who sell 'at distance'
are required to publish their geographical address and contact details. This
is a requirement under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and
Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

If BL required a seller to disclose whether they're selling as a private
individual or a business concern, and then publishes that information, it would
help buyers in the following ways:-

(1) it would be possible to see at a glance whether or not a transaction with
that seller would be covered by applicable consumer laws.
(2) It would allow users to check that a seller is complying with their legal
obligations (such as by publishing their business address), and avoid those who
are not if they choose to.
(3) It would help buyers seek legal redress should something go wrong.
(4) It may also help in the fight against fraudulent sellers.

What do other multi-national selling platforms do?

Others, such as Ebay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, etc., require sellers to state
whether or not they are selling in a private or business capacity. Some actually
mandate that all sellers must be a business (I do not propose this for BL).

Law is different in every country

Which is why my suggestion seeks only to have sellers disclose whether or not
they're acting in a personal capacity or as a business. I do not ask BL to
check the disclosure or otherwise ensure that sellers are acting in accordance
with relevant laws. Users would remain responsible for knowing their rights and
obligations.

Why is this necessary?

Some sellers are clearly not complying with their national regulations. In my
opinion this tarnishes Bricklink and all sellers by association. Many will not
see Bricklink as a safe option when compared to other platforms if sellers are
openly attempting to enforce illegal terms.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:41

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, legomalego writes:

Just to clarify though...

These would be taxes that the buyer would be paying whether they bought the product
within their own country or not. Correct?

Not really, no. Depends on the buyer's country, but in the EU, above certain
value thresholds, there will be Import Duty and Import VAT to pay, as well as
an administration fee for collecting the amount due.

Import VAT is charged at the same rate as though the products were purchased
locally, and Import Duty is set depending on the classification of the product
(and, sometimes, on the country of origin). Off the top of my head I think it's
4.7% for the category of classification that includes Lego, but I might be wrong.

Most small packages sent via normal mail fly under the radar of customs and so
don't end up costing anything extra, but random spot checks can result in
charges, and often the highest charge is the administration fee levied by the
courier.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 23, 2017 15:30

Subject:

Re: Auto-ban Users That Request Custom Form Fraud

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:

I disagree. Sellers only need concern themselves with their country's export
laws, not the import laws of every country they ship to.

Reasonably sure that's not true.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 13, 2017 13:59

Subject:

Re: Suggestion on 'invoices'

Viewed:

42 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, MarieA writes:

In Suggestions, RobErNat writes:

We used to have just 1 or 2 or 3 'payment methods' but as time goes by,
new payment methods are added to the site and one can only suspect this might
even grow in time.

Yet our 'invoice' template remains quantity '1'.
Now every 'payment method' has it's characteristics, and this implicates
that the 'template data' (whatever it contains) must be 'altered'
when sending an invoice.
Obviously the details in the invoice will differ when the payment method changes:
Paypal (manual and/or a link), paypal onsite (Pay button), IBAN (Iban/Bic details),
Stripe (PAY link), Cash(no COD): Provide cash on pickup, Money order: Please
to...

Basicly, sellers need to keep their 'head' together when sending an invoice...
and even if they have a 'template' containing all options, they still
need to remove/add lines to make it clear for buyers 'what' they need
to do.

The easiest solution: A template for each 'payment method'. It's
2017, where getting closer to 2020, time to evolve and time to add some features
that are 'usefull' IMHO

Thanks for reading

And pleas vote 'YES' (even if you don't need it right now)

Cheers, Eric

PS In todays I-net, not 'evolving' means moving 'backwards',
as the competition doesn't sit around doing 'nothing'.

I'm sure you already know Eric, but just in case, wouldn't the
and tags achieve the same thing, with one for each payment
type? I use this to include my bank details on an invoice if the buyer selects
IBAN as their payment method, and other details if they opt to pay by PayPal
or Stripe.

... the "PAYMENTTYPE-EQ:" tags...

http://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=662

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jan 13, 2017 13:58

Subject:

Re: Suggestion on 'invoices'

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, RobErNat writes:

And pleas vote 'YES' (even if you don't need it right now)

Cheers, Eric

PS In todays I-net, not 'evolving' means moving 'backwards',
as the competition doesn't sit around doing 'nothing'.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Oct 19, 2016 05:58

Subject:

Re: Built in message system to email connection

Viewed:

39 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, aleex84swe writes:

As it is now the built in message system is near useless to keep customer contacts
with.

And messages I send to customers through my regular mail client wont show up
on the order, witch is a downside.

So what if all users got a pop3 enabled mail-box with "username@bricklink.com"?

Me as a seller could simply add the bricklink messaging to my mail-client, and
any communication with the buyer through that channel would show on the order.

What do the rest of you think?

Regards from AE Bricks Sweden

It would be great but not very practical from BL's point of view. They'd
essentially be opening themselves up as a free email provider for anyone who
registers a BL account, which carries inherent dangers, not to mention the legal
obligations depending on where they host the servers.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Sep 15, 2016 17:20

Subject:

Re: PLEASE enable Payment at checkout

Viewed:

63 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, nectara writes:

In Suggestions, Cob writes:

Please make the site upgrade and enable payment at checkout. I have so many
buyers confused on what to do and how to pay. If they had the option to pay
at checkout it would be so much more streamlined and convenient for everyone.

I am fully prepared and ready to handle payment at checkout, I already give my
buyer the maximum they will be charged for shipping in my terms (and yes, I never
charge more than my terms state, even if I would lose money). Therefore, the
buyer already knows the cost of their order at checkout, why can't they pay
at checkout?

Cob

They are tens of thousands of active store each store with different fee each
store from different country with different postage fee
Who will take this huge task to solve?
Regards

There's a direct competitor to BL that achieved this "huge task" a few years
ago - and they're taking custom away from BL. My orders there are increasing
in quantity and value every month so it seems more and more buyers want instant
checkout too. Compromises may need to be made by some sellers, and perhaps it
could be possible to allow sellers to 'opt out', but I personally don't
see any valid reason to deny instant checkout for those buyers and sellers who
want to make it work.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Sep 8, 2016 13:40

Subject:

Re: Find Local Stores

Viewed:

40 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Etown writes:

Interesting point. I would agree that it would be a privacy violation if the
sellers whole address was provided (however, this is something that is provided
as soon as an order is placed). However, I would have no problem with my city
being available, in the same way as my country and province are.

This could also be something that could be toggled on or off.

Ron

In Suggestions, Brickwilbo writes:

In Suggestions, GrumpyWizard writes:

It would be cool if there was a way to find stores in my city, not just my state,
so we could have the option of meeting up craigslist-style to avoid shipping
costs, and to make new Lego friends.

It isn't a feature because there are (privacy) laws involved.
There are better ways to meet up local Lego enthusiasts.

Privacy issues come in to play for private sellers, which is perhaps another
reason why BL could introduce a self-certified "I'm a business/private seller"
toggle, which would then allow searching by city without listing those sellers
who (a) self-certify as private and (b) choose not to publicly disclose their
city.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jun 28, 2016 05:01

Subject:

Re: Referendum Bring back the correct layout BL

Viewed:

83 times

Topic:

In Suggestions, Miguel_Ganhao writes:

Just dont like the new layout.

Buying on BL isn't a fun experience anymore.

The constant pointless whining is becoming really tedious. You're not even
trying to be constructive, there's absolutely nothing BL can take from your
post. You did the online equivalent of stamping your feet.

I've bought 2-3 times since the new layout launched and I genuinely don't
see anything worth complaining about. The process was smooth and it had an obvious
flow to it.

If there are particular things you don't like or would like to see improved,
I'm sure they want to hear that. But saying "I don't like it, please
change it back" is about as likely to work as England were likely to win Euro
2016.

Author:

bb414973

Posted:

Jun 10, 2016 08:24

Subject:

Re: Agree and continue

Viewed:

47 times

Topic: