Bricklink/BrickOwl - Discussion, questions, & answers

[lego rules]

53 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Posted a Dimensions set on BL. Received Quote request asking for just the tags. What do I do?

1. Provide a quote for just the tags against the full item (but then BL shows a "fake" sale of the entire set)?

2. Create a new listing, reserve it for the person who asked the quote and message them?

3. Anything else?

 

I would only email them and give them a quote for the tag and shipping cost as that is all they are asking for.  I would add that you need to make a new listing for the parts and if they are still interested to let you know.

 

45 minutes ago, Phil B said:

What do I do with the quote request in that case? Absolutely willing to part out.

It will expire on its own.  You don't need need to do anything.

[minicoopers11]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

What do I do with the quote request in that case? Absolutely willing to part out.

Removing the lot from your inventory will cancel the quote. Or the quote will time-out after three days.

[Phil B]

2 hours ago, BearCrash said:

I'm not sure if the person who requested the quote, can cancel it without having received the quote. You could provide the actual shipping cost for the complete set, just in case he'd accept it.

I would definitely not go for option 1 from you previous post. The quote would be for the entire set then and if you only send the tags, that person could open a PayPal case against you (assuming you're getting paid through PayPal )

Thanks. I ended up messaging them with the approximate costs, they came back immediately with their acceptance and I have created a reserved listing for them for just the tag. They also cancelled the quote request on their end, without me even asking for it. Oh the joys of working with seasoned BL buyers!

43 minutes ago, minicoopers11 said:

Removing the lot from your inventory will cancel the quote. Or the quote will time-out after three days.

I've got more of these items, so this is not an option. But thanks for the suggestion!

[Lordoflego]

It's probably stupid but I'm not the smartest, sold on bricklink only few times and that was before site update/upgrade. What do I need to do there?

[Phil B]

3 minutes ago, Lordoflego said:

It's probably stupid but I'm not the smartest, sold on bricklink only few times and that was before site update/upgrade. What do I need to do there?

Set items need a suffix, e.g. 30303-1 for the Joker Bumper Car polybag. The "-1" part is because there have been number re-uses in LEGO's 50+ year history, so you might find two different sets with the same number. For all modern sets, assume the suffix is always "-1". Also helps to avoid confusion between parts (no suffix) and sets (suffix) with the same number.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Phil B

[Lordoflego]

Just now, Phil B said:

Set items need a suffix, e.g. 30303-1 for the Joker Bumper Car polybag.

Got it, thanks, but what is it for? Does it mean anything? Number of sets I'm selling or what?

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, Lordoflego said:

Got it, thanks, but what is it for? Does it mean anything? Number of sets I'm selling or what?

See my post edits

[Alpinemaps]

It's probably stupid but I'm not the smartest, sold on bricklink only few times and that was before site update/upgrade. What do I need to do there?

Set numbers on BL need a suffix. Most of the time it's -1. So for the UCS MF it would be 10179-1.

Sometimes set numbers are reused so the -2 comes in. For example, Sears Tower is 21000-1 but Willis Tower is 21000-2.

Hope that helps.

[Guest betsy805]

There's not been any funny business going on in brickowl of late has there?  I'm a little weirded out that I got 3 nearly identical (2 of them are only off by 1 piece) orders in a row destined for different people in different states, all with 0 feedback.  They're little (under $5) orders so I'm not that concerned, but it's a little strange. 

[Thumper]

31 minutes ago, betsy805 said:

There's not been any funny business going on in brickowl of late has there?  I'm a little weirded out that I got 3 nearly identical (2 of them are only off by 1 piece) orders in a row destined for different people in different states, all with 0 feedback.  They're little (under $5) orders so I'm not that concerned, but it's a little strange. 

It's weird but not all that uncommon really (on Bricklink anyway), especially if they are unusual parts or a combination of parts in numbers particular to your store, usually means there's been an interesting moc published somewhere that's caught the attention of new builders or a set that's received recent attention from something like going out of production and is starting to climb in value making it worth while to complete now. 

[Phil B]

I have a zero feedback buyer who just bought a Ghost from me on BL. Address checks out to a decent residential address, email and user name indicate a proper account (as in, they seem to match). I'm shipping with insurance and signature confirmation, plus tracking. Anything else I should do to protect myself against a scam?

[MinifigW]

7 minutes ago, Phil B said:

I have a zero feedback buyer who just bought a Ghost from me on BL. Address checks out to a decent residential address, email and user name indicate a proper account (as in, they seem to match). I'm shipping with insurance and signature confirmation, plus tracking. Anything else I should do to protect myself against a scam?

As long as you have adequate tracking you should be fine. I had the exact same thing with that exact same set and it turned out great. (Buyer left positive) 

[redghostx]

To the Bricklink experts:  When do you decide to leave negative feedback?  As a buyer, I finally left negative feedback for someone and it appears to be the end of the world for my seller. Of course, the seller retaliated by leaving me negative feedback and name-calling, and I think that eBay has this part right, buyer paying equals no negative (unless scamming/reported)

I've received sets wrapped in paper like everyone else but I still resist leaving a negative.

 

Just curious

 

 

Edited January 23, 2017 by redghostx

[lego rules]

3 hours ago, redghostx said:

To the Bricklink experts:  When do you decide to leave negative feedback?  As a buyer, I finally left negative feedback for someone and it appears to be the end of the world for my seller. Of course, the seller retaliated by leaving me negative feedback and name-calling, and I think that eBay has this part right, buyer paying equals no negative (unless scamming/reported)

I've received sets wrapped in paper like everyone else but I still resist leaving a negative.

 

Just curious

 

 

You can likely have bricklink remove the feekback they left if there is name calling.

To your original question.  I value my reputation and although it may not be the spirit of what they intended with BL feedback, I won't leave Neg feedback unless it is for something that absolutely can't be resolved.  All the Neg. feedback I have left have been for NPB after following all the rules they can't leave Neg. in return.

One time I had someone leave me positive feedback and I received garbage parts and left neg. feedback so they actually changed their Pos. to Neg. in return.

I don't like their feedback system but I work with what I got.

[charger465]

Anyone use the Brick Picker Pro app? Just curious if it's worth the $10 to be able to add inventory to BL stores using a mobile device.

[Phil B]

For those running BL stores based on parting out bricks, this is an interesting development (and perhaps a wee bit concerning):

http://www.newelementary.com/2017/01/top-10-lego-parts-and-colours.html#more

Quote

About a year ago, the company [i.e. TLG] trialled a new idea: some buckets contained "Fan Favourites";  pieces and colours that AFOLs might want to see on the wall. The LEGO Community Engagement (LCE) AFOLs & Relations Program chose the elements based on their knowledge of the community and the trial ran in two American stores in New Jersey and Texas. It was a success and so this year, the LCE asked some AFOLs which parts they might like to see. Their colleagues in LEGO Brand Retail in the US will hopefully try to include some of the parts in North American stores in 2018. If this works out they may roll the scheme out to Europe and Asia in the future. (There is no word regarding the inclusion of LEGO Monobrand or Certified stores.)

 

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

For those running BL stores based on parting out bricks, this is an interesting development (and perhaps a wee bit concerning):

http://www.newelementary.com/2017/01/top-10-lego-parts-and-colours.html#more

 

For it to be a difference, IMO, it has to be radically different than what they are doing know.  My stores have parts on the wall that they mark as "fan favorites", and I just laugh at it.  I think the last time I was at a store, there were about 8 different buckets marked that way, and it was 2x2 flat sand green bricks (duh).  I didn't see anyone while I was there grabbing for those.

I usually look at that as a way to move product that might not be selling as well, rather than noting something popular.

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, Alpinemaps said:

For it to be a difference, IMO, it has to be radically different than what they are doing know.  My stores have parts on the wall that they mark as "fan favorites", and I just laugh at it.  I think the last time I was at a store, there were about 8 different buckets marked that way, and it was 2x2 flat sand green bricks (duh).  I didn't see anyone while I was there grabbing for those.

I usually look at that as a way to move product that might not be selling as well, rather than noting something popular.

True. I was just thinking about the stack of dark red masonry 1x2 bricks I have ready but not listed - #1 on the list of fan favorites

[DadsAFOL]

There are only 4 "fan favorite" bins, and they will be the same 4 parts in every store. So the prices of 4 out of the ~4000 current elements will go down. Overall there won't be any market impact. You also have until 2018 to sell those masonry bricks.

[Phil B]

1 hour ago, DadsAFOL said:

There are only 4 "fan favorite" bins, and they will be the same 4 parts in every store. So the prices of 4 out of the ~4000 current elements will go down. Overall there won't be any market impact. You also have until 2018 to sell those masonry bricks.

Stop making sense!

[LegoWalker4]

Great, now I have songs in my head from the Talking Heads' album Stop Making Sense!

Edited January 29, 2017 by LegoWalker4
typo

[Phil B]

25 minutes ago, LegoWalker4 said:

Great, now I have songs in my head from the Talking Heads' album Stop Making Sense!

Let me help you....

 

[donbee]

Anyone use the Brick Picker Pro app? Just curious if it's worth the $10 to be able to add inventory to BL stores using a mobile device.

Interesting question. I didn't know that had an app.
I constantly add stock from my phone. Sometimes once I have it in my cart while I'm waiting in line. Great thing about BL is that you don't have to take pics.

[Forsaker]

Question for Canadian Bricklink store owners, do you guys sell with US currency listings or do you use Canadian currency for your listings. Do you think one or the other impacts sales? Thanks!

[Thumper]

13 hours ago, Forsaker said:

Question for Canadian Bricklink store owners, do you guys sell with US currency listings or do you use Canadian currency for your listings. Do you think one or the other impacts sales? Thanks!

Initially, I'd suggest that it doesn't really matter one way or the other since the buyer can select his/her own preference for viewing from their side, so there's little impact on sales at all. 

There is a school of thought that since the marketplace is dominated by US buyers that's it's best to make it as simple for your largest pool of buyers as you can. thus manage everything in Us dollars. You'll very quickly get used to automatically doing conversions in your head anyway so it's not really any harder to manage either way, and you'll be able to take advantages of fluctuation in the currency rates without having to adjust your prices against the base Us rates nearly as often - this can work in your favour or not - being paid in Us funds means you'll also have to accept paying conversion fees (%3) when you want to pull the funds out of PayPal (you can work the US currency withdrawals through banks here. but it can get complicated to set up, there's a thread for that elsewhere here already).   Having the buyer pay for the conversion upfront on their side will act against you in sales, buyers don't want to have to do calculations of any kind when shopping, so best avoid the surprize invoice...

Having tried both ways I can tell you there's another issue that comes up that'll have you pulling your hair out, (exacerbated if you don't accept both currencies), You'll probably find you receive many more orders from the US - hugely more, like 75%+, and many fewer in numbers from Canada, but the Canadian orders are very much much larger orders as Canadians are way more shipping-cost adverse due to the high interprovincial postage rates. back to the hair-pulling problem is that you are going to get allot of "oops, I sent the wrong currency" either way, always a hassle to refund (pay the $.30 fee) and wait for resend - so it's just better to keep the listings/invoices simply suited to your largest target audience so you get fewer of these, and Canadians are pretty much already familiar with taking the time to notice the currency at checkout.