New Brick Classifieds Forum

[stephen_rockefeller]

Thanks for the answer, I appreciate it. Here is why I ask:

 

I am very curious if the owners of this site thought this feature through and I'd like to hear their strategy with this. Not saying that as an insult but out of honest curiosity. At a very basic conceptual level I see problems with such a feature if it is aimed at the primary market and if it's linked to BP. 

 

To me if it is geared toward the primary market it would be very prudent to branch off and be independent from brickpicker. Why? Simply because the sole purpose of this site is for secondary market players to strategize and communicate Lego deals so that we can profit off primary market consumers. That is the sole purpose of this site. Collecting is a very remote second purpose overall. It is undoubtedly about maximizing $$$. You see it in nearly every post. One can sugarcoat it in a ton of different ways but it is what it is. If the classifieds feature is left attached to this site people will find out the purpose of the community and the type of people that are selling on the classifieds. Amazon and Ebay without a doubt have scalpers as well, sure. Of course they do. But their classifieds feature is a mix of scalpers and what I will call "legitimate sellers." They did not spawn from a $$$-driven community like us (we are almost 100% scalpers). Again, feel free to disagree on my description but it is what it is.

 

If it's hard to understand why this is an issue I encourage you to think about it: 

 

Say you are interested in widget xyz. A site opens up that sells xyz products at largely inflated prices (this is what BPers do by nature, myself included). However, after creating an account and browsing the forum you see that the community is built on profiting on people like yourself. That is the sole purpose of the community. For me, I will do everything in my power to NOT buy it from this community unless I absolutely had to. Step back and think about this for a bit. It's not the same as Ebay or Amazon--there is a distinction.

 

At the basic conceptual level I see issues. What's the strategy for this? Again, I am curious not trying to be rude.

We definitely appreciate your politeness. All the naysayers have had their voice and like Jeff said if if doesn't look it's your style or won't help you simply don't use it. Non harm no foul. There was definitely many discussions in the past year leading up to this roll out. You can use the search engine to read through those discussions.

[Ed Mack]

Ok that works for me, I dont believe you will see an issue from some of the group that.has stepped for the testing. Im sure I can soeak.for the majority of us when I saw we appreciate a system like this being implemented especially seeing how crazy some other sites are getting. Not too mention what may be coming down the pipeline

This will be the place where the seller has some rights. The buyer won't always be right. We want to keep it simple. Post a real picture of the item. Give a good description. Package and ship properly. Charge a fair price. All the things members talk about on the site everyday.

Our basic listing fees will be cheaper than everyone else's, but our plan is to have options that can expand advertising options that might increase the fees with the increased exposure.

Sent from my iPad using Brickpicker

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Since so many are looking for an alternative to eBay, I think this will be a big moneyspinner for BP as long as fees are low and "players" play fair. I have a huge attic load at cost price ready for a UK buy to collect. I just hope that we're all an honest bunch.

[Jeff Mack]

I just hope that we're all an honest bunch.

 

Whether its here, eBay, Bricklink, Brickowl, wherever.  There is nothing that can stop someone from being a jerk. There will be little tolerance for bad users here as long as there is ample proof of issues or repeated issues. 

[TheViralSmile]

First off ... a "Big Thanks" for putting BrickClassifieds together!

 

Can't wait to see it!

 

One option / function I would absolutely love to see in the future (and I would totally use) ... would be the ability to make a "Standing Offer."

 

In other words ... lets say I wanted to buy the Fire Brigade.  

 

Perhaps I could place a standing offer of $250 ... and if anyone wanted to sell it at that price ... they could then message me and we could complete the deal.

 

(This really isn't as bad as it sounds.  So what if you sell it for $300 on Amazon ... with 15% commission ... that is $45 ... so after commission ... you are basically back to the $250.  Second ... if my "Standing Offer" was obnoxiously low ... lets say $200 ... nobody is going to sell at that price anyways ... so I'd be a fool to place it.  Perhaps you could charge $1 to place a standing offer for any set over $100 ... and $2 for any set over $200 ... etc ... so that it would discourage placing unrealistic offers.  This single feature would set BrickClassifieds apart from both eBay and Amazon ... and I would totally use it.)

 

One last point ... perhaps when placing a "Standing Offer" ... you could specify that only people with a certain "star rating" could see it ... thus cutting down on fraud ... etc.

 

Anyways ... like I say ... I'd love to see this added sometime in the future ... I think it would be really cool!

 

(PS ... one other really cool thing about "Standing Offers" is that it would enable a seller to sell an item immediately ... instead of waiting days / weeks for a buyer to come along at a certain price point.)

[Ed Mack]

Thanks for the answer, I appreciate it. Here is why I ask:

I am very curious if the owners of this site thought this feature through and I'd like to hear their strategy with this. Not saying that as an insult but out of honest curiosity. At a very basic conceptual level I see problems with such a feature if it is aimed at the primary market and if it's linked to BP.

To me if it is geared toward the primary market it would be very prudent to branch off and be independent from brickpicker. Why? Simply because the sole purpose of this site is for secondary market players to strategize and communicate Lego deals so that we can profit off primary market consumers. That is the sole purpose of this site. Collecting is a very remote second purpose overall. It is undoubtedly about maximizing $$$. You see it in nearly every post. One can sugarcoat it in a ton of different ways but it is what it is. If the classifieds feature is left attached to this site people will find out the purpose of the community and the type of people that are selling on the classifieds. Amazon and Ebay without a doubt have scalpers as well, sure. Of course they do. But their classifieds feature is a mix of scalpers and what I will call "legitimate sellers." They did not spawn from a $$$-driven community like us (we are almost 100% scalpers). Again, feel free to disagree on my description but it is what it is.

If it's hard to understand why this is an issue I encourage you to think about it:

Say you are interested in widget xyz. A site opens up that sells xyz products at largely inflated prices (this is what BPers do by nature, myself included). However, after creating an account and browsing the forum you see that the community is built on profiting on people like yourself. That is the sole purpose of the community. For me, I will do everything in my power to NOT buy it from this community unless I absolutely had to. Step back and think about this for a bit. It's not the same as Ebay or Amazon--there is a distinction.

At the basic conceptual level I see issues. What's the strategy for this? Again, I am curious not trying to be rude.

I think you overestimate the amount of resellers on the site. We have almost 30,000 members and most are silent and probably don't resell LEGO sets. They are here to check out prices and the values of their sets and look for sales on the Daily Deals. They are also here to talk LEGO in general. As Jeff stated above, Bricklink has done very well over the years selling their LEGO sets with poor advertising and awful site features and functionality. Viewing photos on that site is a joke. They do well because they charge a fair fee and LEGO fans know of it. We will actually advertise and Jeff and I have some ideas to promote sales, but we have to get the feature active before we can move on many of these ideas.

If a seller on the Classifieds listed an item at a fair price, why wouldn't you buy from them? If you are the type of seller that likes to list items for way over market value and wait for some uninformed sucker to buy from you, the Classifieds are not for you. Stick with Amazon and eBay and their 10-15% fees and growing regulations and restrictions. But if you like to charge a fair price and pay reasonable fees, then give us a shot.

Sent from my iPad using Brickpicker

[shadowmajin]

Count me in!

I have over 150 new sets and new digital slr camera coming next week.

[Jeff Mack]

First off ... a "Big Thanks" for putting BrickClassifieds together!

 

Can't wait to see it!

 

One option / function I would absolutely love to see in the future (and I would totally use) ... would be the ability to make a "Standing Offer."

 

In other words ... lets say I wanted to buy the Fire Brigade.  

 

Perhaps I could place a standing offer of $250 ... and if anyone wanted to sell it at that price ... they could then message me and we could complete the deal.

 

(This really isn't as bad as it sounds.  So what if you sell it for $300 on Amazon ... with 15% commission ... that is $45 ... so after commission ... you are basically back to the $250.  Second ... if my "Standing Offer" was obnoxiously low ... lets say $200 ... nobody is going to sell at that price anyways ... so I'd be a fool to place it.  Perhaps you could charge $1 to place a standing offer for any set over $100 ... and $2 for any set over $200 ... etc ... so that it would discourage placing unrealistic offers.  This single feature would set BrickClassifieds apart from both eBay and Amazon ... and I would totally use it.)

 

One last point ... perhaps when placing a "Standing Offer" ... you could specify that only people with a certain "star rating" could see it ... thus cutting down on fraud ... etc.

 

Anyways ... like I say ... I'd love to see this added sometime in the future ... I think it would be really cool!

 

(PS ... one other really cool thing about "Standing Offers" is that it would enable a seller to sell an item immediately ... instead of waiting days / weeks for a buyer to come along at a certain price point.)

 

 

Well there will be an area for "Wanted" as well as "Trades"  These will be simple ads and it will be up to you to do your due diligence as to whether to make the deal of not.  Just create a "Free" ad of "WANTED: 10197 Fire Brigade" then in your description post what you are willing to pay and what you are looking for.  People will contact you, later you can look at their feedback and do it.  Then if you want to do a transaction then move forward with the deal.

 

As far as your idea for you to filter on people with feedback, sure, good idea and it will come down the road when there are enough transactions to allow for it to actually work well.

[Rich B]

Count me in guys!

[Quacs]

Definitely will be participating - looking forward to it.

[Bold-Arrow]

I'm in . thanks 

[cissi]

How hard do you think it is for people to find this site the way it is? It shows up when you search for sets all the time.

I forgot how I came to the site at the first place. But I just did a quick search on Google with 'lego 21050'.

 

At least for me, BP did not come up until 3rd page and it's not even a price guide page, it's a forum discussion. I think it also has a lot to go with Google's searching algorithm (with some user-specific variables).

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

will moc's be allowed in either the resale or trade section?

 

edit: nevermind just saw other thread 

[Alcarin]

The only thing I wish, is to make some kind of entry barier so we do not get flooded by unknown newly created account....

 

Not sure if you thought about it, but something like 100+ posts and then another check by admins/mods would be good starting point!

[Jeff Mack]

The only thing I wish, is to make some kind of entry barier so we do not get flooded by unknown newly created account....

 

Not sure if you thought about it, but something like 100+ posts and then another check by admins/mods would be good starting point!

 

Well a great way to kill a new feature is limiting it.  I have even seen it slightly with the Trade forum where you had to have 20 posts.  People just started posting everywhere to hit a limit.  That doesn't really make you a good seller.  Sometimes you just need to try and trust people.  We can activate things later like verifying against Paypal accounts and eBay accounts if people would like to show who they are on eBay to become a trusted seller.

[Huskers1236]

Will feedback score gained in the current trade forum count towards our reputation in the Brick Classifieds?

[Jeff Mack]

Will feedback score gained in the current trade forum count towards our reputation in the Brick Classifieds?

 

Sorry, but no.  The trade forum here will be closed once the site launches.  People can then add it to the new categories there if they want to trade.

[Huskers1236]

Sorry, but no.  The trade forum here will be closed once the site launches.  People can then add it to the new categories there if they want to trade.

No problem, just thought it was a question that would come up from those that have completed trades on the current forum. 

[Ed Mack]

Right now, we are all in the same boat as far as feedback goes.  Just because a person posts well doesn't mean they are responsible sellers.  It's going to take sometime, but eventually, it will be an accurate gauge of how good a buyer or seller you are.

[gregpj]

I think an excellent piece of what you are proposing is that the site owners (Ed and Jeff) and the moderators will approve ads that are posted. I don't know how long you plan on doing that, but it will help weed out the garbage. It'll also help weed out people who post crap all day long just so they look like an experienced BP'er (oh, they are out there). We all know TheOrcKing will catch them since he lives on BP.

 

@Silvertt .. I think you'd be surprised how many "resellers" in this community buy at secondary market prices from flippers. Sometimes it's to hold expecting it to increase in value but often it's to build.

 

@Jeff and Ed - I'm sure there will be a search feature and I'm curious what type of filtering options are there or planned? I absolutely _hate_ the default sorting option of Best Match on eBay. I know Frog has explained it before, but it's still asinine. As bad as Bricklink can be, their search feature is pretty well thought out for what they do. I like the by Region feature being so easy to find (again, unlike eBay which buries it).

[Bchorean]

Count me in too!

[Alcarin]

Well a great way to kill a new feature is limiting it.  I have even seen it slightly with the Trade forum where you had to have 20 posts.  People just started posting everywhere to hit a limit.  That doesn't really make you a good seller.  Sometimes you just need to try and trust people.  We can activate things later like verifying against Paypal accounts and eBay accounts if people would like to show who they are on eBay to become a trusted seller.

 

No it does not make you a great seller, but chances of scams slightly reduce, so many percentages of scammers will not bother....

 

Just like you can only check 1 BP price guide set before registering  

 

It made me register so that was a good limiting factor for a ''new feature/option'' ?

[Ed Mack]

No it does not make you a great seller, but chances of scams slightly reduce, so many percentages of scammers will not bother....

 

Just like you can only check 1 BP price guide set before registering

 

It made me register so that was a good limiting factor for a ''new feature/option'' ?

One way we can stop drop shippers and scammers is that each listing will have to be approved by one of the Admins/Mods.  If, for example, we see a SSD for $375, MISB and free shipping, we will question that listing.  It might not stop every crook, but it will make them think twice about doing it.  

[Alcarin]

One way we can stop drop shippers and scammers is that each listing will have to be approved by one of the Admins/Mods.  If, for example, we see a SSD for $375, MISB and free shipping, we will question that listing.  It might not stop every crook, but it will make them think twice about doing it.  

 

Yes it is.... though this might prove to be extremely time consuming

[Ed Mack]

Yes it is.... though this might prove to be extremely time consuming

Maybe we will hire some Oompa Loompas...On a serious note, yes it will be, but eventually, people will build up some positive feedback and we will be able to stop reviewing certain members listings.  Even from the start, there are people who I trust(not you...LOL) and their listings will be approved automatically.  I have seen their eBay and Bricklink stores and their ratings are excellent.  I will talk to Jeff about making some sort of override for members who are willing to show us their feedback on other sites so we can carry it over in some way.  Maybe some sort of badge or emblem indicating an experienced seller.