Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | Teup  | | Posted: | May 13, 2019 04:52 | | Subject: | Re: Fair, safe and legal trading = BL principles | | Viewed: | 103 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Rob_and_Shelagh writes:
| | This suggestion is a summary of my recommendations, plus input from others' many
private messages I received on this over the last few days that I would like
Admin to consider in the site upgrade.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION:-
The BrickLink site has always required its' members, both buyers and sellers,
to trade legally and fairly. This is an essential aspect of the site's reputation
which makes it an attractive venue for buyers and sellers to trade here with
confidence and safety. The continued success of the site and enjoyment of it
experienced by its' members both depend heavilly on this being maintained.
The site continues to grow rapidly and welcomes many mew members, both buyers
and sellers every day. The financial success of the site has indeed secured its'
future beyond the loss of its' inspired founder. In the early days, this site
was a small community and the founder members and early adopters clearly did
a great job in building the principles of the site and policing it in a self-regulatory
way. For the most part this still works today but, as is demonstrated in the
many threads recently, some (buyers and sellers) are falling short of those principles
and indeed the law! This may be driven by the vast increase in membership which
makes this place less "personal" for some and combined with this; the laws and
regulations covering internet trading become more and more complex as governments
focus on the explosion of such trading and their need to close tax loopholes
and try to protect their consumers from substandard trading and scams.
I believe the site and ALL its' members (except for any that come here to do
unfair or illegal trading) will benefit from a more developed policy on safe
and legal trading for both their own protection and for the reputation of the
site in general which should help promote its' continued growth and success.
The following suggestions are simply my thougths on "how" some of the issues
might be addressed taking into account the direct input I have had from several
other members as well as many forum threads over the years but some recent ones
in particular:-
SUGGESTION #1 - EXPAND ON THIS IN TOS:-
TOS #11 REQUIRES the following.
"General Compliance with Laws:
You shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations
regarding your use of our service and your listing, purchase and sale of items."
Whilst this "covers" the site in demonstrating to authorities its' intent not
to encourage illegal behaviour, in practice it does little or nothing to:
1. Help inform its' members about what those laws might be and where to find
out about them. Many of the problems here (for buyers and sellers) are caused
by a complete lack of knowledge on the relevent laws.
2. Provides no penalty for breaking them which unfortunately is the reason why
some of the intentional law breakers are comming here.
I suggest changing the TOS #11 to spell out some of the specific laws that members
need to comply with, namely:
Customs - sellers are required to complete customs documents as required by law
honestly and accurately which, for the purpose of selling here, means declaring
the sales value of the goods as stated on the invoice and NOT misprepresenting
commercial sales as gifts.
Compliance with local advertising, selling and consumer protection laws - sellers
are required to comply with all relevent laws applicable to their selling activities.
Taxation - prior to listing any items for sale, sellers are advised to check
the rules in their country relating to any taxation they may need to charge their
customers (e.g. sales tax, VAT as applicable) and any requirements to declare
to their tax authorities any sales activity they conduct on this site.
SUGGESTION #2 - MAKE CUSTOMS FRAUD A REPORTABLE OFFENCE:-
Just as we can report listings that do not comply with the TOS, have a similar
funtion where:
1. Sellers can report (with evidence e.g. private message) to Admin that a buyer
requested a fraudulent customs declaration.
2. Buyers can report (with evidence e.g. private message or something in sellers'
terms) that a seller is offering a fraudulent customs declaration.
3. If a penalty is given, just like an NPB or NSS, a buyer or seller can have
feedback removed if it was given in relation to a transaction subject to the
penalty.
4. A buyer or seller has the right to cancel an order without penalty if subject
to a validated request for customs fraud.
Validated reports would result in a penalty ranging from 1st warning, through
temporary suspension of buying or selling rights, to membership termination for
repeat offenders.
SUGGESTION #3 - HAVE A HELP GUIDE ON SAFETY AND THE LAW
Which members have to declare they have read before they can buy or sell on the
site.
Unlike eBay which has legal resources in many of its' markets, BL has a central
Administration which cannot be expected to be expert on these matter in all geographies.
Perhaps we cound have voluntary "country Admins" for this purpose who would be
responsible for maintaining content with an opening statement relevent to their
market and a number of (official government only) links to any laws relating
to internet buying and selling in their country and the official taxation and
customs sites for their country. This must have a legal disclaimer saying these
Admins and the site are not giving legal advice and it is the ultimate responsibility
of the individual member to ensure he/she complies with all applicable laws.
SUGGESTION #4 - HAVE SOME FUNCTION TO PROMPT BUYERS WHEN BUYING INTERNATIONALLY
-
When you put something in a cart of a store not in your country, you are prompted
to look at a page that says something like:-
"You are about to purchase from a store located outside of your country, you
are advised to check if you may be liable for any customs charges relating to
importing this item into your country WHICH ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY before committing
to this purchase. Purchasing from overseas may also limit your rights as a buyer."
Obviously, this needs some more thought! I would not want this message for EVERY
item I put in a store cart, maybe just the 1st one for example. Maybe give an
option "do not show this message again" after a couple of hits on it within a
certain time period.
SUMMING IT UP FOR ME:-
None of this changes anything that is not the intent of the current TOS.
It is not to differentiate between "private" or "business" sellers for any purpose
of promoting one above the other, although for UK at least and many EU countries,
Gareth's suggestion on that would help keep sellers on the right side of the
law so I still support that too. There does seem to be some differences of definition
on that between countries which would need to be addressed further.
This is intended to HELP buyers and sellers comply with their laws and avoid
some of the risks many are taking now through ignorance of them. Being reported
for falling foul of a law or being caught not complying with it in most cases
carries penalties that most people would be pleased to avoid if given a chance
and informing them better simply helps to avoid that possibility 
I would be happy to do more work on this if required as I am passionate about
keeping this a safe, respected place with trading standards that we can ALL be
proud of and enjoy.
CONGRATUALTIONS YOU GOT TO THE END OF THIS POST -
Thank you very much for your time!
Robert
|
I very much agree with your introduction, and I can't say I disagree with
the rest, but to me the issue of customs delcarations seems really minor and
anecdotal - people are usually talking more about the issue in theory than about
actual occurences of it, and I wonder how much money in the history of Bricklink
has been actually saved by inaccurate forms.
For me much more immediate concerns that comes to mind when reading your introduction
are the following, because when I go over various random EU store's terms
MORE THAN HALF of the sample is not legally compliant with at least
one and usually multiple ones of the following rules:
- Full acceptance of cancellation without penalty and without reason required
- Accepting returns and refunding the buyer including the postage cost and the
postage cost of sending it back
- Not charging more for transaction fees than the transactions actually cost
And last but not least:
- Being responsible for lost shipments - meaning full refund or resend if anything
goes missing
These laws apply to all EU stores, regardless of the legal form of the store.
Here on Bricklink we sell in stores (selling through the forum is not even allowed).
Therefore, all of the above is applicable and in my opinion should be enforced
by Bricklink.
|
 |
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | May 2, 2019 04:40 | | Subject: | Re: Coral | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
|
| In Colors, qwertyboy writes:
| | FYI -
Just came across a bunch of these parts in color coral:
It looks like there are two distinct shades. One exactly matches coral color
for this part we have:
The other one is lighter - less saturated. TLG calls the new color "vibrant coral".
The lighter shade could almost be called "regular coral". Or of course another
instance of bad quality control.
I can see if I can make a pic later.
Niek.
|
Coral: What an unfortunate name for a colour. If there's one thing in the
world that can have every colour imaginable... it's coral. But apparently
that's just me, because Google tells me it's a thing. I'd go for
salmon or something like that.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Apr 22, 2019 12:06 | | Subject: | Re: Random Stockroom Items | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, antiquer88 writes:
| | Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone could tell me why random items show up as stockroom
items in my inventory. I have no items I have intentionally marked for retention
in stockroom, yet every Monday I go to my inventory and delete random items that
have shown up as zero count stockroom items.
Is this something I have done in error, or is it a system problem?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Stan.
|
It's one of those persistent problems that Bricklink is trying to fix. I
think something is really wrong in the bug fixing department, it seems their
ability to isolate a problem and target it effectively with a fix is really compromised.
Previously there was an issue with remark fields being deleted and it also took
a very long time and was also "fixed" in an "ok this time it really seems to
work but if you have problems let us know" way.
Several people have reported this issue. Hope for you guys they will do something
about it.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Apr 20, 2019 09:32 | | Subject: | Re: What do the ! and * symbols mean under image? | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, Naughty_UK writes:
| | Thanks, yeah, I see those tips now when I view the 3D part in "Quick Help Tips:",
dunno how I missed them before... I was slightly confused before that though
because when I was looking at a set inventory, part 3023 in black had a ! beneath
it but the same part in light grey didn't have one...
|
How is it confusing? Everybody knows that an asterisk is the symbol for "large"
and an exclamation mark the universal symbol for 3D, right? Can't see why
new users complain Bricklink is not intuitive 
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Apr 17, 2019 05:41 | | Subject: | Re: Lengths in “L” and 18654 | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, randyf writes:
| | In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:
| | I’m wondering what’s the rationale for having changed the name (and dimensions)
of
from “1 L” to “2/3 L”.
I can’t see where it’s 0.67L.
Especially if I compare it to
and their variants, or with
and other liftarms/beams, or all the connectors with “# L” in their descriptions.
In the same way, its new dimensions are 1 x 1 x 0.67. As it’s a cylinder, it
means the 0.67 is supposed to apply to its height. But its height is exactly
1 stud, which is 5/6th = 0.83 brick, not 2/3rd = 0.67, and, anyway, “L” means
stud, not brick, so 1 = 1.
Therefore, I strongly believe its name should have stayed “Technic, Pin Connector
Round 1 L” and its dimensions should be 1 x 1 x 0.83.
(Actually, its diameter is a shy less than 1 stud, so its dimensions should be
0.9something x 0.9something x 0.83 but all the liftarms have the same width and
are said to be 1 stud wide.)
Not filing a proper catalogue change request because I really would want to know
the reasoning here, not play ping-pong.
|
I don't really care too much right now about the dimensions of the part.
What I care about more is how it is named and categorized. I have never thought
of it as a "Pin Connector" because it actually can't connect pins at all.
It is basically a 1L bushing for pins in the same way
is a 1L bushing for axles.
Cheers,
Randy
|
How can factual correctness be less important than a choice of how to categorise
it? I'd say #1 is to get the facts straight, and after that, we can go and
organise it. But what SylvainLS points out here is a real mistake that should
be corrected. It's a small thing in itself, but the correctness of the catalog
is one of the core features that drive Bricklink. I'd say it's the main
selling point of Bricklink compared to BrickOwl.
Maybe someone thought it was 2 plates high, thus 2/3.. but it really raises the
question why it was ever approved.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Apr 9, 2019 14:39 | | Subject: | Re: inconsistencies | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | Either
way, if you don't have principal characteristics of what constitutes a tile
or plate (for example groove = tile), any classification is going to be inconsistent
and a matter of opinion.
|
I like this sentence.
|
Me too.
Well, except for the example, as there are plates with grooves
and tiles/plates variants with and without groove 
(And the jumpers too….)
|
Yeah... the fact that there's a variation that would span across categories
if you take the groove as the defining factor, kind of kills that idea pretty
effectively.
Anyway, in my opinion it's not a huge deal that it's not perfect. TileMod
and PlateMod are two fairly big categories, nicely sized if you ask me. God forbid
someone would decide to merge them together because there's no principal
distinction possible. I'd rather put up with a bit of inconsistency that's
very easy to learn, than one huge category that is difficult to manage, both
in terms of browsing it online as well as storing it for me and other stores
who have category based sorting..
And we have the forum for venting inconsistency frustrations, which works pretty
well too
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Apr 9, 2019 14:15 | | Subject: | Re: inconsistencies | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | In Catalog, edk writes:
| | why is a plate modified when is a tile modified?
|
There is no consistency, both could be either.
You could say the parent of 6576 is either a 4x8 plate or 4x8 tile, but the 4x8
tile doesn't exist so 6576 must be a modified plate.
Or you could say you add 12 studs to the tile or remove 20 studs from the plate,
so it is closer to being a tile than a plate.
For 88646, neither the parent tile or plate exist. You add 4 studs to the tile,
but remove 8 from the plate and also have to shift them. So does that make it
a modified tile rather than modified plate?
If so, then the 1x2 jumper should be a modified tile (add one stud, vs remove
and move one stud). Similarly a 2x2 jumper is definitely closer to a tile than
a plate but is still a modified plate. Worse still, this pack of jumper bricks:
contains no bricks at all.
is clearly a 2x2 plate with two studs removed, but it is a modified tile.
is also a modified tile rather than plate (compare to 6576).
|
Exactly, the jumpers always seemed much more tile-like to me than that "tile".
I guess the only relevant answer to this issue is: This was acknowledged by the
previous catmin Stormchaser, he said the concepts of plate and tile needed to
be principally redefined before these things could be classified properly. If
that's also what the new catalog management will do is not yet clear. Either
way, if you don't have principal characteristics of what constitutes a tile
or plate (for example groove = tile), any classification is going to be inconsistent
and a matter of opinion.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 28, 2019 09:33 | | Subject: | Re: Brickstock questions | | Viewed: | 23 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, calsbricks writes:
| | In Inventories, Teup writes:
| | In Inventories, calsbricks writes:
| | In Inventories, wilton1975 writes:
| | Guys,
Appreciate both your responses as they shed some much needed light. It is a little
strange that BrickStock doesn't seem to have a Help section explaining all
this.
|
HI there sorry I missed this thread earlier
Please bear in mind that Teup's comments do not really apply to the UK.
|
Well.... it does. I'm just saying that the averge price that you see here
in Bricklink is not equal to the average price in Brickstock. These do not match.
Parting out a set at average price on Bricklink will result in you having higher
priced items than parting out that same set at average price in Brickstock.
Whether you wish to match the price of other stores including VAT, or whether
you want to compare yourself to their prices ex VAT... yeah, here you're
right, those are all your own business decisions.
But the fact is that the Bricklink priceguide does not match the Brickstock priceguide.
It's important to be aware of this. Pricing at the Brickstock average is
pricing below the Bricklink average.
|
As I said or at least implied - average pricing in the UK includes VAT and once
you adjust the downloaded price in Brickstock it matches as close as can be expected.
Nothing is perfect and Brickstock could use work on this but so could Bricklink.
The currency conversion is a bigger issue than vat as it applies to all apart
from the USA. Bricklink could do a lot more there and haven't.
Do USA prices include sales tax ? That differs depending on whether you ship
in state or out of state. So the whole pricing scenario based on Bricklink is
a bit shaky - it should be used as a guideline only not a 'real figure'.
Do the last 6 months sales prices include tzes of any kind or is it net. If something
sells at 10p that is the price that should be reflected. If you are vat registered
and can claim back the vat go for it - but for the majority of UK sellers that
is not the position - what you see is what you pay and that is what your cost
is. Pricing needs to be based on cost + not some weird price guide which no one
fully understands. They can tell you how it works but when you look at it you
only see a single figure not how that figures has been made up.
Again for example 1000 units sold at 8p one month but 10p the next month so average
is 9p, but that is not remotely accurate. If the currency conversion rate has
fluctuated then they might be selling at a totally different price, or the same
price.
The price guide needs major re-working and I do not believe that is going to
happen. It currently is a very crude tool which has to be manipulated to get
anywhere near reality.
If the design of the system is anywhere near what it should be there is only
one table with prices and those are converted from an exchange rate table each
time they are displayed, Somehow I doubt that.
|
Well, I guess that's all true enough. Some take the priceguide as just a
guide, some ignore it, some take it as some holy prescription. I tend to be kind
of the latter type... but that's not because I think these numbers are inherently
all so correct (you pointed out some of its shortcomings) but I just remember
that when I was a buyer I'd check the priceguide on everything and buy things
depending on them being at or below average. So it's more a presentation
matter that I want my prices to line up with that reference than that I give
that reference any "scientific" credit. So the priceguide is my starting point
and from there I decide what to buy. Instead of first buying, and then based
on what I spent deciding what my prices should be.
But that's just a personal decision of course. You could invent any kind
of pricing policy for yourself and there are good arguments for all of them.
Maybe in some of them it is actually a blessing that Brickstock downloads the
ex.VAT value.
But in what ever case, no matter what your pricing policy is, and no matter whether
you are VAT registered, no matter if you're a buyer or a seller, if you live
in the area where Bricklink displays prices including VAT for, for all these
people, it is just important to know this difference: priceguide on BL includes
VAT, priceguide downloaded through Brickstock excludes VAT. Then you can do whatever
you want with that information. But knowing it is important as it prevents us
from sleepwalking into a race to the bottom.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 28, 2019 05:25 | | Subject: | Re: Brickstock questions | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, calsbricks writes:
| | In Inventories, wilton1975 writes:
| | Guys,
Appreciate both your responses as they shed some much needed light. It is a little
strange that BrickStock doesn't seem to have a Help section explaining all
this.
|
HI there sorry I missed this thread earlier
Please bear in mind that Teup's comments do not really apply to the UK.
|
Well.... it does. I'm just saying that the averge price that you see here
in Bricklink is not equal to the average price in Brickstock. These do not match.
Parting out a set at average price on Bricklink will result in you having higher
priced items than parting out that same set at average price in Brickstock.
Whether you wish to match the price of other stores including VAT, or whether
you want to compare yourself to their prices ex VAT... yeah, here you're
right, those are all your own business decisions.
But the fact is that the Bricklink priceguide does not match the Brickstock priceguide.
It's important to be aware of this. Pricing at the Brickstock average is
pricing below the Bricklink average.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 26, 2019 16:15 | | Subject: | Re: Brickstock questions | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
|
| In Inventories, greenman writes:
| | In Inventories, wilton1975 writes:
| | Hello all,
I have a couple of questions on Brickstock which someone might know the answer
to.
My store uses EURO and in Brickstock I have ticked Currency, Use the local currency
$1 = €1.
I have changed my asking price in Brickstock to the Last 6 months sales (average).
Question 1: Is my setting local currency $1 = €1 correct? I am not trying to
convert my store currency as it is in Euro now and I wish it remains so.
Question 2: Is the revalued asking price the Last 6 month sales average in Euro?
I read other forum posts that stated that BrickStock only uses sales data in
USD to compute its averages.
Question 3: if indeed the above is correct (in relation to USD and sales data)
is there any means to determine the actual average 6 month Sales data for the
World or European market?
Thanks for any help with either of these queries.
|
The prices you see in BrickScout are in Dollars.
So, if you let BS set your prices to the Average, you see (with 1 = 1) Dollar
prices.
In BS under "edit"-"price"-"incr or decr" you have to lower your prices with
about 10% to come to the Euro prices, as shown in BrickLink.
....but it´s never as accurate as you would like it to be, the DollarEuro
exchange rate is fluctuating all the time.
Klaas
|
Brickstock prices are excluding VAT.. that is why I definitely recommend NOT
using Brickstock for pricing if you are in the EU. You'll never be able to
retrieve the true priceguide prices that you see on Bricklink, no matter what
conversion factor you enter.
(And I still have no response from the author of Brickstock about this....)
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 21, 2019 06:45 | | Subject: | Re: Fine print regarding lot quanities | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, JONAK_Toys writes:
| | In Suggestions, wrightcrystal50 writes:
| | I just wasted 6 hours placing an order just find out fine print stated I could
only buy lots in quantities of a $1. If this is a stipulation of a seller I
shouldn’t have to sift through fine print to find it. Likely I will not use
this site again until this is fixed. I quickly learned (100) meant quantities
divisible by 100 and when I miss that I am warned which is great and very helpful.
It should be the same when sellers have a stupid rule similar to described.
If a seller wants to have a stupid rule so be it, but it should be more obvious
to the buyer when selecting quantities to purchase.
|
When a store has that option enabled, it will show up on that grey line next
to the green cart button. Even then, it is always best to read through a stores
terms before preparing a cart.
|
Sounds a bit like this store has the rule only in text without having the option
enabled :/
In that case, I would just go ahead and place the order in that case, screw them,
they can't just waste your time like that. They can choose to either process
or accept non positive feedback
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 20, 2019 07:25 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| It doesn't work, because not all items have the same distribution globally.
Some are prevalent in the VAT zone (closer to 20% difference with the BL priceguide),
some more outside of it (closer to no difference with the BL priceguide). Any
+% would be an estimation that will be off. Maybe not by a whole lot, but a 5
cent difference off the average can already make alot of difference in terms
of your place in the rankings and how fast the item will be sold.
It's not difficult at all, and there is no dilemma or tradeoff. The Brickstick
priceguide prices simply have to be identical to the Bricklink priceguide prices.
To do this, Brickstock simply has to access the priceguide including VAT. That
is a parameter that already exists. Either Brickstock has to perform a very simple
update, or, if this parameter is not available to them, Bricklink should make
it available in the API. It's really very simple.
I think it's very problematic doesn't even warn sellers, so they could
be underpricing without being aware of it.
In Suggestions, Thunor writes:
| | Why not update imported BrickStock prices using the +% feature?
It would be useless to business users if it included tax, with all the different
tax rates globally it wouldn’t work for anyone.
In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, MidwestBrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
| | The "Part Out" tool feels very outdated, and is tedious to use. One accidental
click on a link, and you loose every data you have put in for each lot.
I know there are third party software used to upload parts to your inventory,
but think a much more powerful way to part out set should be offered by BrickLink.
Maybe a software you download to your computer, but it could also just be a massive
redesign of the existing tool online.
What I miss the most is easier ways to manage lots that already exist in my inventory.
I don't want to open a new page just to check the remarks for a certain lot,
because if I forget to open that link in a new tab I will loose all progress
made with the other lots. This information should be visible on the same page,
or I should be able to open it in a pop-up window.
When parting out huge sets with thousands of pieces, it would also be nice to
be able to save the progress and continue later. Maybe there should be one upload
button for each lot, so I don't have to go through the entire list first
and then submit all changes at once.
There are of course lots of different features that could be implemented to make
the Part Out tool even more powerful, like more advanced ways to set up automatic
prices, like 10% below average etc.
|
Brickstock. Best $20 I spent. Super Easy. Do I wish it did more, of course,
but it does enough to satisfy me.
|
Yep, Brickstock is US oriented so it works for you, not for us Prices exclude
VAT, so it renders it useless to me. I'd rather go through the Bricklink
part out process, have it crash, throw away my progress with a misclick, and
some other frustrations than to end up with prices that are off. It sounds like
everyone has slightly different wishes about what they like to see exactly in
the update, but making the BL part out process have all the benefits of Brickstock
would probably be a great place to start. That way European sellers can benefit
from all the benefits of Brickstock as well.
|
|
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 17, 2019 04:53 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, MidwestBrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
| | The "Part Out" tool feels very outdated, and is tedious to use. One accidental
click on a link, and you loose every data you have put in for each lot.
I know there are third party software used to upload parts to your inventory,
but think a much more powerful way to part out set should be offered by BrickLink.
Maybe a software you download to your computer, but it could also just be a massive
redesign of the existing tool online.
What I miss the most is easier ways to manage lots that already exist in my inventory.
I don't want to open a new page just to check the remarks for a certain lot,
because if I forget to open that link in a new tab I will loose all progress
made with the other lots. This information should be visible on the same page,
or I should be able to open it in a pop-up window.
When parting out huge sets with thousands of pieces, it would also be nice to
be able to save the progress and continue later. Maybe there should be one upload
button for each lot, so I don't have to go through the entire list first
and then submit all changes at once.
There are of course lots of different features that could be implemented to make
the Part Out tool even more powerful, like more advanced ways to set up automatic
prices, like 10% below average etc.
|
Brickstock. Best $20 I spent. Super Easy. Do I wish it did more, of course,
but it does enough to satisfy me.
|
Yep, Brickstock is US oriented so it works for you, not for us Prices exclude
VAT, so it renders it useless to me. I'd rather go through the Bricklink
part out process, have it crash, throw away my progress with a misclick, and
some other frustrations than to end up with prices that are off. It sounds like
everyone has slightly different wishes about what they like to see exactly in
the update, but making the BL part out process have all the benefits of Brickstock
would probably be a great place to start. That way European sellers can benefit
from all the benefits of Brickstock as well.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 16, 2019 14:30 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, bje writes:
| | In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, ToriHada writes:
| | In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
...
| | There are of course lots of different features that could be implemented to make
the Part Out tool even more powerful, like more advanced ways to set up automatic
prices, like 10% below average etc.
|
When I was selling here I was very strongly opposed to the idea of automating
pricing to undercut the Price Guide Average. My thinking then was that nothing
would increase downward pressure on prices or accelerate the "race to the bottom"
some sellers here engage in more than giving them a way to automatically, easily,
quickly and repeatedly price thousands and thousands of lots BELOW the Price
Guide Average. The tedious manual process was one significant check that reduced
the downward pressure on prices.
But since I am very unlikely to ever sell here again, and quite likely to resume
buying at some point, I would LOVE to see a feature that helps to reduce prices
even more. So I would vote yes if this were a formal suggestion.
Foster
|
Agreed. Actually, the system as it is is already working in your favour as a
buyer - thee part out system being so poorly designed and unstable drives alot
of sellers to use Brickstock. Brickstock retrieves prices WITHOUT VAT - which
means that for all European sellers, it retrieves prices that are significantly
lower than what you get parting out on the Bricklink website. The result is sellers
underpricing without being aware of it, fuelling the global race to the bottom.
|
Maybe, maybe not. There are a lot of sellers in that bottom end of the market
that make up prices with fees and charges. You cannot compare prices in the price
guide without factoring fees etc. If the average is 10c and the minimum price
is 7c, if one seller sells at 10c with no fees, he is no different to the seller
at the bottom at 7c with charges and fees that knocks the price back over 11c.
I had me one like that just last week: no fees on the terms page when I got the
invoice, fees and charges excluding shipping were 40% of the order value, knocking
all of the individual prices that seller was asking on those parts from the bottom
5% to way over the average price.
When you actually spend some time really looking at those prices, virtually all
of them are exclusive of fees and charges - meaning the price guide is actually
just false advertising since hardly any of those sellers are actually prepared
to sell at the price they have listed at. And those are just the ones that are
honest enough to tell you upfront about extra fees, there are still a large volume
of sellers who charge those fees included in the shipping charge, sometimes an
extra 50% over and above the actual shipping charge. They are very very aware
of where they are pricing, and it has nothing to do with a race to the bottom,
but everything to do with luring unwary buyers.
|
You're right, that issue of fees not being represented in search listings,
enabling sellers to pretend they are cheap, must be one of the factors in the
race to the bottom as well. Which factors are the biggest is hard to tell. But
what I find particularly worrying about Brickstock, is that any other factor
- like pretending to be cheap and then charging fees - is compounded and
amplified with the fact that Brickstock retrieves lower than average prices to
begin with, and presents them as average. So someone who already plans to undercut
is given a price guide figure that is already below average but presented to
them as "average", and the seller then undercuts on that, to push it down even
further.
And: it is a loop. Let's say I am the only seller of a €10 item and I update
my price to "stay average" many times. What happens? It just drops down and down.
The first time I list it at €10. Next I ask Brickstock what the average price
is. Brickstock, ignoring VAT, says it's €8. I say "OK, let's go with
that". Retrieve the price again. Now Brickstock, again ignoring VAT, says it's
now €6.50. You can see the downward spiral here. Imagine what happens if all
European sellers update their prices with Brickstock on a regular basis.. (I
get that they adjust to their liking, but if you start off modifying taking an
ever dropping price as the starting point, on the whole prices just drop and
drop)
(I know I'm a bit of a broken record on this topic, but I can't emphasize
it enough. And I did write the author about it. Hopefully he will act soon, or
I am going to remain a broken record for a while..)
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 16, 2019 13:36 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, DallasBricks writes:
| | Bricklink as a whole has not left the hobby status. Although there are many
sellers that are business minded in their processes, scale, and earnings, they
are left using outdated hobby like business practices.
The parting out process is a dinosaur. It is fraught with failure potholes that
can cause you to loose a lot of work in an instant. It is difficult to update
and maintain your inventory. The whole alternate mold/part thing is still a
mess. It is very easy to screw up your inventory using BL tools or the ones
that try to interface with BL.
I don't see these things changing in the future. Bricklink made it clear
that the site would have a few changes but would not be updated to a professional
level. A few features that nobody wanted were added, (Moc shop, Brick arms,
Stud.io)
The payment and shipping side are still limping along after over 3 years of attempted
updates.
Bricklink is more trouble than it is worth for many sellers. I stopped selling
parts several years ago and am glad I did so. Now I have a huge inventory to
build with.
Oh, and don't get me started on the wanted list thing. It is improved, but
there are so many improvements that could be made. Large projects are incredibly
complicated and require spreadsheets, tools, and lots of time and effort. Bricklink
offers little in the way of effective tools.
But I'm still here buying and such.
David
|
+1 That's a very good way to put it - it's at hobby level. Nothing more
or less. This is why for all hobby users, Bricklink work fine and they are nothing
but glad to use it, and with good reasons. For professional users, it's incredibly
frustrating at times, and their complaints are poorly understood by the hobby
users. Since there are more buyers than sellers, the voice for people to stop
"complaining" is sometimes louder than the voice that wants change. That doesn't
really help development either (although BL hardly seems to read the forum, let
alone be influenced by it).
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 16, 2019 13:31 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, ToriHada writes:
| | In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
...
| | There are of course lots of different features that could be implemented to make
the Part Out tool even more powerful, like more advanced ways to set up automatic
prices, like 10% below average etc.
|
When I was selling here I was very strongly opposed to the idea of automating
pricing to undercut the Price Guide Average. My thinking then was that nothing
would increase downward pressure on prices or accelerate the "race to the bottom"
some sellers here engage in more than giving them a way to automatically, easily,
quickly and repeatedly price thousands and thousands of lots BELOW the Price
Guide Average. The tedious manual process was one significant check that reduced
the downward pressure on prices.
But since I am very unlikely to ever sell here again, and quite likely to resume
buying at some point, I would LOVE to see a feature that helps to reduce prices
even more. So I would vote yes if this were a formal suggestion.
Foster
|
Agreed. Actually, the system as it is is already working in your favour as a
buyer - thee part out system being so poorly designed and unstable drives alot
of sellers to use Brickstock. Brickstock retrieves prices WITHOUT VAT - which
means that for all European sellers, it retrieves prices that are significantly
lower than what you get parting out on the Bricklink website. The result is sellers
underpricing without being aware of it, fuelling the global race to the bottom.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 16, 2019 05:37 | | Subject: | Re: We need a modern way to part out sets. | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
| | The "Part Out" tool feels very outdated, and is tedious to use. One accidental
click on a link, and you loose every data you have put in for each lot.
I know there are third party software used to upload parts to your inventory,
but think a much more powerful way to part out set should be offered by BrickLink.
Maybe a software you download to your computer, but it could also just be a massive
redesign of the existing tool online.
What I miss the most is easier ways to manage lots that already exist in my inventory.
I don't want to open a new page just to check the remarks for a certain lot,
because if I forget to open that link in a new tab I will loose all progress
made with the other lots. This information should be visible on the same page,
or I should be able to open it in a pop-up window.
When parting out huge sets with thousands of pieces, it would also be nice to
be able to save the progress and continue later. Maybe there should be one upload
button for each lot, so I don't have to go through the entire list first
and then submit all changes at once.
There are of course lots of different features that could be implemented to make
the Part Out tool even more powerful, like more advanced ways to set up automatic
prices, like 10% below average etc.
|
You're completely right, it should have been redone many years ago. If you
compare the wanted list part-out screen with the seller's part-out screen,
it becomes very clear that sellers are the lowest of low priorities..
BL said however that seller tools are just around the corner, if this is true
then some update in the part-out system must be included as well. I guess it
just comes down to whether you believe that statement or not - some users do,
some don't.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Feb 12, 2019 13:07 | | Subject: | Re: Allow AFOLs to "Bricklink" the ADP sets | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Suggestions, mhortar writes:
| | In Suggestions, Brick.Door writes:
| | There are no plans to do so, but I hope that once the regular sales period is
finished Bricklink allows the inventory of these sets to be added to the catalog
so people can add them to a want list and buy the parts they need to build them.
Since they use mostly common parts, I think many AFOLs would prefer to build
them with the parts in their own collection, and just buy any ones they are missing.
Not only would this generate revenue for Bricklink by increased sales, it would
be an olive branch to the sellers who have been completely excluded from this
promotion.
Bricklink has done so much to build the AFOL community and it has become a verb
within our vocabulary (much like Google has in the general population). It would
be a sad irony if the sets created by Bricklink to celebrate AFOLs cannot be
Bricklinked by AFOLs.
|
From what I understand from reading about these sets, these aren't going
to be officially recognized LEGO sets. If that's the case, I don't feel
like they belong in the catalog. Someone will post the inventory somewhere (from
what I understand, it happens with most popular MOCs), so there is nothing stopping
a buyer from creating their own wanted list and purchase the parts without having
the set in the catalog.
Josh
|
They're still more official than BrickArms, which is also in the catalog...
Plus, the whole "exciting" part about the whole project, according to BL itself,
is the fact that it's an official cooperation with the LEGO Group.
So yes, I definitely see the irony.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 27, 2019 10:51 | | Subject: | Re: Parting out | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, SchmickBricks writes:
| | In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, SchmickBricks writes:
| | Is there any reason why a function to part multiple unique sets can't implemented?
For example it would save a huge amount of time if I could sort all the lots
from three copies of five different sets and pack everything away once, rather
than having to go through the whole part out process five times.
|
Perhaps you can change the way you work, because in my routine this is absolutely
no problem, and it's unlikely that Bricklink will change or upgrade anything.
|
In what way? For instance tonight I parted out three copies of two different
sets, which is done by sorting all the parts from each set into their individual
lots and then packing them away using the remarks system to tell me which drawers
the lots go into.
Is there an easier way than going through the whole process each time for each
unique set you part out? If there is I've been wasting a lot of time over
the past three years. I can't see why there can't be a function that
will allow adding multiple sets of multiple quantities to inventory at once without
having to rely on third party applications given there are almost always common
lots contained in different sets. The BrickLink catalogue knows what is contained
in each set, so surely it's just a simple matter of combining set inventories
much like it does when you part multiple quantities of the same set. In regards
to someone's comments on errors, what possible additional errors would occur
that don't already, besides possibly knowing which set any discrepancy came
from? In any case it's pretty simple to amend what you're putting into
inventory if you have more or less of something than what the BrickLink catalogue
suggests you should have.
|
Aha, it's because of remark based sorting.. I've never tried it and never
know how it really works. I always assumed people use software to generate the
locations or something because it seems like an awful lot of work to do it
manually. And I think you must be able to view where the part currently is located,
in case you already have it in you inventory... I'm sure there are tutorials
about this, since it's the first time I see this request, there must be a
work around.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 24, 2019 09:38 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback removal | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, mattkaupke writes:
| | In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | In Suggestions, Bricks_NW_UK writes:
| | | |
It depends. If a seller charges $10 for postage through IC then it turns out
the actual cost was $2, I'd be pretty annoyed and would leave feedback reflecting
that. In that case the seller is not without fault, so why should the buyer have
their feedback removed in that case?
|
Because the buyer knew the cost of postage when he ordered. If he didn’t like
it he shouldn’t have continued with the order.
(By the way, we are totally against instant check out!)
|
Of course the customer accepted that would be the cost for postage, but then
later found out it was not true and that the seller is overcharging for postage
via IC. Should other buyers be warned about that? In my view, yes.
|
No warning is necessary through feedback as that information is available at
checkout. We’re all adults here and should be capable of making sound decisions
on our own. Additionally, I’d say the “actual” cost is rarely the actual cost.
The label may have cost $2, the baseline price is closer to $3.50 for USPS first
class,but there are certainly many more considerations when calculating shipping
(cost of materials, labels, tape, box or envelope, fuel and time to drop it off
(if I live 30mins from a post office my real costs may be higher than yours if
you’re close to a drop off)). Yes, $10 for shipping on a $2 label would probably
be excessive but we’re not talking about excessive here, nor should it matter
since it was what was agreed on with the buyer. Any poor feedback left is just
unreasonable.
|
Just because you are told something up front doesn't mean you shouldn't
comment on it.
For example, sellers often say something along the lines of "New doesn't
mean mint, new parts may have scratches" in their terms. If a seller sends out
heavily scratched new parts, should the buyer be allowed to comment via feedback?
After all, they agreed that parts may be scratched when they placed the order.
|
I must agree with what the others have said... you see what you pay, you can
agree or disagree. I don't see why your stance would shift from agree to
disagree if you found out that what you paid was spent relatively less on postage
and more handling than you had imagined.
If everything should be priced according to what it reasonably costs, you should
also argue that a Star Wars minifig priced €20 should be a reason for negative
feedback as it only costed the seller €1. I'm really not big on capitalism
at all, but in this case I really must say the added value is a product of the
market mechanism and as long as people are willing to pay it, that by definition
makes it a fair price for it.
A seller could make some contract with a company to somehow get totally free
postage, and that would leave him with no direct obligation to charge less or
nothing for shipping to the buyers. They could charge €5, just as a handling
fee, if they wanted.
I do see though how extremely high fees - while legitimate - frustrate the buying
process. Ideally, the search results would display the price of the part and
then directly underneath "have this part at home for ..."
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 15, 2019 20:39 | | Subject: | Re: Parting out | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, SchmickBricks writes:
| | Is there any reason why a function to part multiple unique sets can't implemented?
For example it would save a huge amount of time if I could sort all the lots
from three copies of five different sets and pack everything away once, rather
than having to go through the whole part out process five times.
|
Perhaps you can change the way you work, because in my routine this is absolutely
no problem, and it's unlikely that Bricklink will change or upgrade anything.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 9, 2019 16:57 | | Subject: | Re: Request official BrickLink app | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, TheBrickGuys writes:
| | In Suggestions, Brickwilbo writes:
| | In Suggestions, KaanDurak writes:
| | Hi ,
I use my phone alot and I also use Bricklink alot , but the site on phone isn't
that great , so please. Bricklink create a phone app of Bricklink , it would
be easier for phone users.
I hope the staff will see this and an official bricklink app will be created.
Thanks for reading
|
It's in development https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1094209
|
wow, that post was 5 years old so it is still a work in progress??
jim
|
It's still a work in progress I think and it will be released at some point
when Bricklink feels like it.
But until they will add payment methods other than PayPal it's just a gimmic
to me, I am opting out for it and so are some other sellers. Of the remaining
sellers, only a small portion has Instant Checkout, so there is no real reason
using the Bricklink app if you get 10x as many results using a computer. To me
that's easily worth navigating a non mobile friendly Bricklink for.
So I guess the answer is, nope, "proper" Bricklink is not going to be mobile
friendly.
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 7, 2019 08:57 | | Subject: | Re: New Part Category | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | Today I added a new category: Wheel, Accessory.
I moved 31 parts from Wheel to the new category.
|
That's a nice idea, thanks! And don't have to move anything around in
my alphabetical storage either
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Dec 26, 2018 12:17 | | Subject: | Re: Move header buttons to the left side screen | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | I agree it's way too wide. I have a large widescreen but even here "current
orders" and "filed orders" is off the screen. What you can at least do for those
two particular options (and perhaps others) is bookmark their links and add them
to your bookmark bar of your browser, so you can access them by clicking there
instead of having to scroll right.
I think before improving the interface, first of all a bug needs to be fixed.
This orders received display is way too wide because of all these columns. And
we cannot turn off columns such as additional charges, additional charges 2,
and insurance. I've never used insurance yet it takes up the center of the
display. These columns used to be mandatory for some mysterious reason and their
checkboxes were greyed out in "customize display", but now they have been enabled,
but modifying them doesn't do anything. You can check and uncheck them and
the orders display remains exactly the same. If this bug is fixed, we will be
able to cut down on the width of that page quite a bit, and it can bring a couple
of buttons back in sight. And it will make my list of received orders more comfortable
to look at, too.
In Suggestions, Pazzo writes:
| | Hi all,
when I am in my order page...all buttons are centered above the site.
But using an old fashioned 4/3 monitor, half of the buttons are outside my view,
and I need to use the sliding bars everytime I want to select one of them.
If all the buttons can be alligned from the left side of the screeen, this would
improve a lot.
Anybody has the same problem?
Be cool and have fun
Eric
|
|
I see now that besides this bug there's also another problem that recently
emerged. The orders pages used to have zoom levels that were independent from
the rest of the site. I remember requesting this in the past, this was done specifically
for making these pages fit. That, however, has now been undone again. All pages
have a single linked zoom level. That means you're forced to choose between
either an order list that fits but a Bricklink that's a narrow strip with
half of the screen blank, or a Bricklink that fills the screen reasonably well
but an order page that is cut off on the right side.
|
This still annoys me every single day but probably won't ever be fixed? I
need to choose between zooming down 30% from how I'd like to view the site
and stare at tiny letters like I'm doing right now typing this, or scroll
left and right through my orders.. I'd be OK with it if this problem wasn't
fixable but this was actually noted by the admins and fixed at some point..
|
|
| Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Dec 12, 2018 07:03 | | Subject: | Re: Coupons improvement | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, bricksofsweden writes:
| | Hi,
Not sure if this has been brought up in earlier suggestions but I am giving it
a go anyway.
I would like to see the possibility of creating a coupon which is valid for all
buyers. Right now this is only limited to a certain username.
Kind Regards,
Simon
|
You're not using instant checkout, so what you could do is mail an advertisement
to your store mailing list and tell them that you'll apply a discount if
they write some promotional code in the comment field when they place an order.
|
Next Page: 5 More | 10 More | 25 More | 50 More | 100 More
|
Netherlands, Utrecht
