Bricklink/BrickOwl - Discussion, questions, & answers

[DadsAFOL]

3 hours ago, gregpj said:

Items received in Canada are duty/tax exempt when the value is less than $20 on commercial goods and $60 for gifts. You're right it is inconsistently collected but that inconsistency is more common when it's coming from a non-English speaking country (and the postal delivery person is too lazy to figure it out). Also, the more realistic threshold is about $30 for commercial goods.

When Canada Post collects the taxes/duties, they are also supposed to collect a $9.95 CDN administration fee. This has also been inconsistent in my experience but they've been more consistently collecting of late.

Thanks, I never heard about the admin fee.  I guess my Canadian buyers were too polite to complain, eh?

[gregpj]

Thanks, I never heard about the admin fee.  I guess my Canadian buyers were too polite to complain, eh?

I order from US sellers all the time... I think many Canadians are aware of the fact there are taxes and fees but have no idea what they are so they know better than to complain.

The admin fee hurts so I generally like to go small or go really big.

[Phil B]

I am getting "502 Bad Gateway | nginx(Ubuntu) 1.4.6" on every link I click on in BrickLink, since yesterday (Saturday Oct 15). Storefront shows, www.bricklink.com shows, anything under that gives Bad Gateway. Anyone else seeing this? Anyone know an email address to write to for BL so I can make sure they are aware and fix this? As it stands, I have inventory that I've sold on EBay that is still showing on BL and want to avoid someone buying it.

Tried using BrickStock for modifying my inventory but was unable to (give XML parsing error - my Seller functions in BrickStock are and have always been partially broken - not sure if that is common or something specific to my setup (32bit Linux)).

EDIT: Used BrickSync's "delete" function during a "blmaster on" session, but item still shows in store inventory on front page of store. Weird. Nevermind that - a full refresh removed the item.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Phil B

[lego rules]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

I am getting "502 Bad Gateway | nginx(Ubuntu) 1.4.6" on every link I click on in BrickLink, since yesterday (Saturday Oct 15). Storefront shows, www.bricklink.com shows, anything under that gives Bad Gateway. Anyone else seeing this? Anyone know an email address to write to for BL so I can make sure they are aware and fix this? As it stands, I have inventory that I've sold on EBay that is still showing on BL and want to avoid someone buying it.

Tried using BrickStock for modifying my inventory but was unable to (give XML parsing error - my Seller functions in BrickStock are and have always been partially broken - not sure if that is common or something specific to my setup (32bit Linux)).

EDIT: Used BrickSync's "delete" function during a "blmaster on" session, but item still shows in store inventory on front page of store. Weird. Nevermind that - a full refresh removed the item.

Working fine for me.

[Phil B]

9 minutes ago, lego rules said:

Working fine for me.

Ok - could you find me an email address to write to from the BL "Contact Us" pages? 502's are something on the server end (definitely not on my computer) so something they need to look into.

[lego rules]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Ok - could you find me an email address to write to from the BL "Contact Us" pages? 502's are something on the server end (definitely not on my computer) so something they need to look into.

I can't find an email address on their website.  All options bring up an online report.  I think I had an issue awhile back, I will dig through my emails and see if I can find it.

 

 

[lego rules]

7 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Ok - could you find me an email address to write to from the BL "Contact Us" pages? 502's are something on the server end (definitely not on my computer) so something they need to look into.

[email protected]

[Alpinemaps]

I think I saw someone on Reddit reporting the 502 Gateway error on BL yesterday.  I used it last night without any issue (other than my usual 10 minute maintenance window at the end of my night when I'm usually fighting staying awake to finish what I'm doing because it's almost 11 PM)

[donbee]

I have problems all the time, since the last site-wide update, when I use Chrome. Haven't used Chrome in a couple weeks now. I haven't had any problems when using Safari or Firefox.

[Phil B]

I think I saw someone on Reddit reporting the 502 Gateway error on BL yesterday.  I used it last night without any issue (other than my usual 10 minute maintenance window at the end of my night when I'm usually fighting staying awake to finish what I'm doing because it's almost 11 PM)

Someone on Eurobricks reported it yesterday - i replied confirming i saw the same

[kumas]

try delete cookies, it helped me

[Phil B]

9 minutes ago, kumas said:

try delete cookies, it helped me

Yep - that seems to be the issue. Works fine in a Private Browsing session. Will go and delete all BL related cookies.

[longshot]

Best current sets to part out on bricklink............??? What ratio (cost vs parted out price) do you guys look for when choosing sets to go after to part out? 

Thanx

[Phil B]

It's all here in this thread.... did you read it?

[longshot]

2 minutes ago, Phil B said:

It's all here in this thread.... did you read it?

Well no.........Figured any new stuff or recent sales would be outdated, but I will.

[minicoopers11]

21 minutes ago, longshot said:

Best current sets to part out on bricklink............???

The best current sets are the ones with good ratios that are overlooked by other sellers. So, the best ones won't be shared here since you need to discover them first.

[Thumper]

7 minutes ago, longshot said:

Best current sets to part out on bricklink............??? What ratio (cost vs parted out price) do you guys look for when choosing sets to go after to part out? 

Thanx

Simple, It's pretty much always a standard procedure on BL...  rigorously watch the sales threads here (and elsewhere), watch the flyers for the big retailers and use the webwatcher tools to see whenever anything Lego goes on sale for anything more than 15% off.... AND AVOID ALL THOSE like the plague!!! choose everything else instead, any clearance Lego will not give you proper returns to part-out.  Basically everyone else is picking up those in huge numbers and will already flood the marketplace before you even get back from the toystore.  New sets right off the printing press can do really well if they have unique parts - if you can get them a week or two before the release date - otherwise forget it.  you may have some luck with really expensive sets that folks might not want to buy for a piece or two - but then you're still stuck fighting the bigger fish to sell off the chaff anyway. 

since the Bl upgrade, prices are falling drastically as everyone races for the bottom price just to get search hits.  "Cost vs Part-out Price" has very little to do with the equation anymore, it's no longer what you pay - it's what you have to sell that others don't.

[Alpinemaps]

Listen to Thumper. Best advise posted in this thread in the last little bit.

[longshot]

One of the things I was looking at before I jump feet first into the frey is making sure I have as large a variety of parts as possible to offer. Ive bought plenty of bins and needed certain parts to finish off a number of sets and find it frustrating to not be able to get, what I would see as, common parts all from one store. So in keeping with that I'll still need to pick up some sets that either go on clearance or sales so I can have those in stock. I may not be the cheapest per part but IMO a buyer would rather pay a few cents more per part than extra shipping and have to hit up multiple stores. Am I wrong in this thinking?

[Phil B]

8 minutes ago, Thumper said:

since the Bl upgrade, prices are falling drastically as everyone races for the bottom price just to get search hits.  "Cost vs Part-out Price" has very little to do with the equation anymore, it's no longer what you pay - it's what you have to sell that others don't.

Also, it's what you have to sell that buyers want. That funky ninjago piece might have sold once for $2, but that doesn't mean you can just list it and see the money rolling in.

[Poly 30286]

How many days do you wait for an invoice? It's been three days and I'm getting anxious...

[minicoopers11]

1 hour ago, Poly 30286 said:

How many days do you wait for an invoice? It's been three days and I'm getting anxious...

I've waited a week before (sellers are supposed to invoice within 3 days and buyers pay within 3 days of invoice)...but people usually want money and that was one time out of 100...I would try to contact seller if you don't get invoice today.

Edited October 24, 2016 by minicoopers11

[longshot]

I was wondering what everyone's bricklink store name was, for those of you that have one. It makes sense to me that members here frequent each others stores for needed parts before going elsewhere. I dont have a store up yet but will in the near future. If however anyone is looking for particular parts I can see if I have any.

[donbee]

For you business gentlemen. Do you have one of those table top scanners for receipts? I decided to get a business license so I can write off this inventory I'm accumulating. But I loathe typing in all the receipts into QB. Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, donbee said:

For you business gentlemen. Do you have one of those table top scanners for receipts? I decided to get a business license so I can write off this inventory I'm accumulating. But I loathe typing in all the receipts into QB. Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

I found the table top scanners are a bit of a time consumer if you do allot at one time, better to just get one of those cheap little pass-through business card scanners (like the hockey card collectors use) that will direct pdf/ocr-file your receipts for you, ya just keep feeding the slips through like it was a tiny shredder.