Discussion Forum: Thread 249094

 Author: bb334139 View Messages Posted By bb334139
 Posted: Feb 26, 2019 08:31
 Subject: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 130 times
 Topic: Inventories
 Status:Open
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bb334139 (13)

Location:  United Kingdom, Northern Ireland
Member Since Contact Type Status
Jul 22, 2012 Contact Member Seller
No Longer RegisteredNo Longer Registered
Store Closed Store: BricksBricksBlocks
No Longer Registered
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.
 Author: greenman View Messages Posted By greenman
 Posted: Feb 26, 2019 16:08
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 42 times
 Topic: Inventories
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greenman (21945)

Location:  Netherlands, Gelderland
Member Since Contact Type Status Collage
Aug 24, 2000 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
View Collage Pic
Store: SystemBricks
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
 Author: Teup View Messages Posted By Teup
 Posted: Feb 26, 2019 16:15
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 57 times
 Topic: Inventories
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Teup (6590)

Location:  Netherlands, Utrecht
Member Since Contact Type Status
May 6, 2004 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: BLOKJESKONING
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: bb334139 View Messages Posted By bb334139
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 03:53
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 33 times
 Topic: Inventories
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bb334139 (13)

Location:  United Kingdom, Northern Ireland
Member Since Contact Type Status
Jul 22, 2012 Contact Member Seller
No Longer RegisteredNo Longer Registered
Store Closed Store: BricksBricksBlocks
No Longer Registered
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.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 05:18
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 34 times
 Topic: Inventories
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calsbricks (8496)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 12, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: CalsBricks
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. There
are very few stores in the UK which are registered for VAT. In addition to that
if you are not registered for VAT, and we presume you are not you are still paying
vat for your Lego and the total price that you pay should be reflected as your
cost - not a VAT exclusive price.

Example - you buy a large cup of 2 x 4 bricks from your local Lego store and
pay £11.24 for that cup. That is a VAT inclusive price, so the cost of your bricks
is 11p each. Now you wish to list those on Bricklink - you obviously need to
cover your costs so your price is based on cost + (whatever margin you wish to
set). You do not reduce the 11p per brick to 9p and use the same process against
9p - that would be financial suicide.

Other EU countries have different guidelines for VAT - many you have to register
if you have a business with no real threshold.

The UK prices that you see in the price guide on Bricklink contain VAT - you
can be sure of that.

What isn't good is the currency conversion factor between Bricklink and Brickstock
- that requir3es a lot more fine tuning than taking a 10% inc/dec. We have been
usint Brickstock for almost 10 years now (pre Brickstock was Brickstore) and
have had no problems with pricing. Of course we have our own way of doing it
but if you look at it carefully and know where you want your prices to be you
can use it and it is much quicker and easier than using Bricklink - although
with sellers tools coming (maybe) who knows what will happen there.

There really isn't a single way to use the product - like everything in life
you have to make adjustments - especially to get where you want it to be. We
have learned by trial and error and experimentation how to use it and so can
you - it just takes time and patience. We also have our own external system where
we have tracked prices for nearly 10 years which helps us to get where we want
to be.
 Author: Teup View Messages Posted By Teup
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 05:25
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 27 times
 Topic: Inventories
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Teup (6590)

Location:  Netherlands, Utrecht
Member Since Contact Type Status
May 6, 2004 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: BLOKJESKONING
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: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 07:51
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 40 times
 Topic: Inventories
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calsbricks (8496)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 12, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: CalsBricks
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.
 Author: Teup View Messages Posted By Teup
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 09:33
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 23 times
 Topic: Inventories
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Teup (6590)

Location:  Netherlands, Utrecht
Member Since Contact Type Status
May 6, 2004 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: BLOKJESKONING
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: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Feb 28, 2019 10:01
 Subject: Re: Brickstock questions
 Viewed: 26 times
 Topic: Inventories
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calsbricks (8496)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 12, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: CalsBricks
In Inventories, Teup writes:
  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.

Ah what a grand place to start re-developing

(I think something might freeze over before that happens)