Bricklink/BrickOwl - Discussion, questions, & answers

[gregpj]

Other than having some fun, the only other thing I can think of is to get your name and address.  
Other question though.  I've opened up my shop to Canada and plan on opening to other countries as well.  How do the following work?
I plan on only using 1st CLass USPS International SHipping ( up to 4 lbs tops)
1) How do you buy insurance, I can't find anything on this
2) Do you have to charge other taxes and fees, how do you find what this is per country.  
Anything else I should know about before doing this?  I've looked and have read quite a bit but can't find some answers that I thought should be fairly easy to figure out.  Thanks a ton!

No idea about insurance but you don’t have to do anything for #2. The post office takes care of collecting and remitting fees and taxes to the local government.

[LegoMan1212]

5 minutes ago, gregpj said:

No idea about insurance but you don’t have to do anything for #2. The post office takes care of collecting and remitting fees and taxes to the local government.

 

Thank you.

I would be interested not in anyone's sales per se' on if they are going up or down, but more interested in there are less purchases happening from year to year.  n 2016, what was the invoice number at the beginning of the year vs about this time?; for any of you that track all of that.  Is it less or more?

I implemented Instant CHeckout for 1st class mail.  Benefits is being paid right away, but the major downfall I feel is that until you can do Instant Checkout with Zones from within the USA, anything about a lb is nearly impossible to set up unless A) you want to rip off your customers on shipping or B ) Lose money yourself on shipping.

What I have found is that if you have Instant Checkout enabled and if a purchase qualifies for it, you can't select another option (manual).  Thus you can't say.  If you live in CA, NV, WA, OR, etc... please request a quote, however all others can Instant CHeckout.  ALso, I don't see anywhere that allows for residents of your own state to have tax added for Instant CHeckout.  ANother flaw to me unless I'm missing it,

Overall, do I like it for the small stuff.  I do.  But there is a lot more that needs to be done with it to make it the way to go.  I would rate it 2.5/5 stars at this time due all the problems you could run into with it.

[Huskers1236]

I'm not personally going to mess with it until BL works out the bugs that everyone is mentioning here and the BL forums.  It is a feature I am interested in as most of my orders are 1st class and would be pretty easy to price to folks, but there are too many questions right now with it for someone of my little size to worry about it right now.

[minicoopers11]

1 hour ago, LegoMan1212 said:

Thank you.

I would be interested not in anyone's sales per se' on if they are going up or down, but more interested in there are less purchases happening from year to year.  n 2016, what was the invoice number at the beginning of the year vs about this time?; for any of you that track all of that.  Is it less or more?

I implemented Instant CHeckout for 1st class mail.  Benefits is being paid right away, but the major downfall I feel is that until you can do Instant Checkout with Zones from within the USA, anything about a lb is nearly impossible to set up unless A) you want to rip off your customers on shipping or B ) Lose money yourself on shipping.

What I have found is that if you have Instant Checkout enabled and if a purchase qualifies for it, you can't select another option (manual).  Thus you can't say.  If you live in CA, NV, WA, OR, etc... please request a quote, however all others can Instant CHeckout.  ALso, I don't see anywhere that allows for residents of your own state to have tax added for Instant CHeckout.  ANother flaw to me unless I'm missing it,

Overall, do I like it for the small stuff.  I do.  But there is a lot more that needs to be done with it to make it the way to go.  I would rate it 2.5/5 stars at this time due all the problems you could run into with it.

One thing I would do is put a disclaimer in your terms that states the buyer is responsible for paying all customs duty/taxes.

I am surprised BL still has done nothing regarding different zones for USA shipping.

[mizeur]

On 11/13/2017 at 10:37 PM, LegoMan1212 said:

Other than having some fun, the only other thing I can think of is to get your name and address.  

Other question though.  I've opened up my shop to Canada and plan on opening to other countries as well.  How do the following work?

I plan on only using 1st CLass USPS International SHipping ( up to 4 lbs tops)

1) How do you buy insurance, I can't find anything on this

2) Do you have to charge other taxes and fees, how do you find what this is per country.  

Anything else I should know about before doing this?  I've looked and have read quite a bit but can't find some answers that I thought should be fairly easy to figure out.  Thanks a ton!

1) You can purchase insurance through USPS the same way you do for domestic shipments. If you're getting your labels from PayPal, there's a checkbox and field for entering the amount on the purchase page.

2) As others have noted, specify in your store's terms that customs duties are the buyer's responsibility upon receipt. Make sure you fill out the customs declaration form with the proper import/export code. You'll need to print 2 copies of the customs form. You should put in a free order from USPS for the adhesive international mail pouches to put them in. And as a general rule, the 1 person you really don't want to piss off is the VAT man.

Edited November 15, 2017 by mizeur

[LegoMan1212]

36 minutes ago, minicoopers11 said:

One thing I would do is put a disclaimer in your terms that states the buyer is responsible for paying all customs duty/taxes.

I am surprised BL still has done nothing regarding different zones for USA shipping.

Thank you to all the replies. 

[Majkl]

3 hours ago, minicoopers11 said:

Did you disable a "normal" invoice or "Request a Quote?" Not every item has volume and weight data and it isn't always accurate.

These options are disabled automatically for methods with instant checkout. I kept other options with normal invoice or request a quote.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Majkl
mistake

[Huskers1236]

Are you able to view the "fans" of your shop?  

[Huskers1236]

Got a problem buyer question.  Original order was 11/10.  I invoice on 11/11 and follow up with an email a few days later to make sure correspondence was going through.  Few days later he puts in a item removal request.  I agree and send a new invoice. Today he asks for another item removal.  Looking at feedback this is not the first time he has pulled this crap.  Can I just cancel this moron without getting dinged with feedback or something?  I don't want to file an NPB and then have them pay, just to leave negative feedback, they have done it before to other sellers.  

[lego rules]

I am pretty sure you can reject the item removal request.  Sometimes there is nothing you can do and have these bad buyers play the system.

[Huskers1236]

27 minutes ago, lego rules said:

I am pretty sure you can reject the item removal request.  Sometimes there is nothing you can do and have these bad buyers play the system.

Yes, I can do that, but it still keeps me on the line for him to end up paying and then going after me through feedback or a return/refund mess.  From his feedback, another BP'er has dealt with him recently as well and it ended up with negative feedback for him.  Another thing accepting these changes does is that it essentially resets his clock to pay as you have to send a new invoice.  

[mizeur]

12 minutes ago, Huskers1236 said:

Yes, I can do that, but it still keeps me on the line for him to end up paying and then going after me through feedback or a return/refund mess.  From his feedback, another BP'er has dealt with him recently as well and it ended up with negative feedback for him.  Another thing accepting these changes does is that it essentially resets his clock to pay as you have to send a new invoice.  

I think you can just cancel. And if that results in negative feedback, you should be able to escalate to BL admin since NPB is a valid reason for feedback removal.

ETA: either way, I'd eat the negative feedback rather than have to deal with the buyer further. You can always leave your own comment/response.

Edited November 21, 2017 by mizeur

[DadsAFOL]

I think you can just cancel. And if that results in negative feedback, you should be able to escalate to BL admin since NPB is a valid reason for feedback removal.
ETA: either way, I'd eat the negative feedback rather than have to deal with the buyer further. You can always leave your own comment/response.

If it weren’t for the other negative the buyer left, I would just let it ride. People add/subtract from their orders all the time. Better they do it before you pack and ship than after.

[Vinetu]

I would like to ask the forum members, and especially Bricklink store owners about connecting your BL store with a Stripe account? Anything that you could tell me about Stripe would be appreciated: your experiences, benefits and drawbacks, similarities/differences with Paypal, well, anything really...

I am considering linking my BL store with a Stripe account and I don't really know anything about it, so I figured I could ask this community :-)

Is there really an added value allowing your customers to pay with credit cards and local payment methods, is it risky (credit card related fraud and chargebacks, etc.)? I have read a little bit through their T&C and seen that they don't take any responsibility for losses incurred by fraudulent use of their services, so it sort of cooled me off a bit, but then again, I'm imagining that any financial services provider have similar T&Cs, I've just never really got into details with them ("Paypal? Well, everyone has and knows Paypal right? They're cool" :p)

So, anything really, from your experience and many thanks in advance!

[DadsAFOL]

I would like to ask the forum members, and especially Bricklink store owners about connecting your BL store with a Stripe account? Anything that you could tell me about Stripe would be appreciated: your experiences, benefits and drawbacks, similarities/differences with Paypal, well, anything really...
I am considering linking my BL store with a Stripe account and I don't really know anything about it, so I figured I could ask this community :-)
Is there really an added value allowing your customers to pay with credit cards and local payment methods, is it risky (credit card related fraud and chargebacks, etc.)? I have read a little bit through their T&C and seen that they don't take any responsibility for losses incurred by fraudulent use of their services, so it sort of cooled me off a bit, but then again, I'm imagining that any financial services provider have similar T&Cs, I've just never really got into details with them ("Paypal? Well, everyone has and knows Paypal right? They're cool" )
So, anything really, from your experience and many thanks in advance!

Search the BL forum for Stripe. They are holding some sellers funds demanding authorization to resell from Lego (which doesn’t exist). Seems like a high risk/ low reward at this point.

[Huskers1236]

54 minutes ago, DadsAFOL said:

Search the BL forum for Stripe. They are holding some sellers funds demanding authorization to resell from Lego (which doesn’t exist). Seems like a high risk/ low reward at this point.

Was just going to post the same thing.  The only thing I've heard about Stripe is that they don't believe in what you are doing as a reseller and will hold your money until you can get them receipts which is pretty hard to do selling parts.  I would avoid unless you like headaches.

On 11/20/2017 at 7:02 PM, lego rules said:

I am pretty sure you can reject the item removal request.  Sometimes there is nothing you can do and have these bad buyers play the system.

He has now added a part he previously cancelled.  You cannot make this up.  Still has not paid.  I'm on invoice #4 to this guy.

[LegoMan1212]

I don't know if this counts as non-legit or not.  Buyer had problems paying me on BL and the reasons why are his own words below.  He has a 20 rating and is new as well but is hitting up stores pretty quickly it seems just this month.  I'm not sure if this could be charge-backs in the future against some of these stores or not.  Either way, my spider sense was on from the get-go and thankfully, I think, we were able to agree on simply cancelling the order in the end.  I don't ship internationally and this is probably the reason he was unable to pay from an international source outside of USA and Canada.  I'm not sure if putting his BL name is appropriate or not so at this time, this is the address he is using currently.  

BL Address:

18221 150th Avenue 
DXB 850322 
Springfield Gardens
NY 11413 

FIrst email from him

I caanot pay please fix it. There is some problem with it. "Your payment can't
be completed. Please return to the participating website and try again."
I have tried 3 times already still no luck(((

2nd email from him

Can it be done manually?
You will sent me an email or change the payment options? I mean to remove Onsite
payment? I have paid a lot of bills since last week and yesterday i have paid
one, then tried to pay yours but got rejected, then again paid another one, and
tried to pay yours again and got rejected again. It is first time this happening
to me. So maybe you have some payment options to be changed in your acc?

Last email from him before we both agreed to cancel 

I have the credit card from the UAE Arab Emirates. I m living in UAE and i am
ordering to be delivered to UAE. Can you please remove restriction on international
buyers? I think that is the main reason i got rejected for payment

[minicoopers11]

Just an international buyer using a freight forwarder. This is normal.

[Huskers1236]

Yep, happens a lot.  I've never had a problem with someone using them on BL or ebay.

[Guest betsy805]

That moment you accidentally upload a parted out quantity 6 of a set you actually had quantity 4 of....the other 2 just looked similiar in peripheral vision  

[DadsAFOL]

That moment you accidentally upload a parted out quantity 6 of a set you actually had quantity 4 of....the other 2 just looked similiar in peripheral vision  

In case you didn’t know, you can part out -2 and it will reduce all of the counts appropriately.

[Guest betsy805]

29 minutes ago, DadsAFOL said:

In case you didn’t know, you can part out -2 and it will reduce all of the counts appropriately.

I did not know that, thank you! I was going to make a run to the store and buy 2 more of them....I like this idea better.  Thanks!

[LegoMan1212]

Have a current Buyer having issues paying via paypal.  Says that I don't accept international payments when they try to pay.  They seem to have moved from another country to USA.  This has happened once before and the buyer simply updated their account or created a USA one.  

How can I accept this payment?  They say they can pay be Visa, but I don't even know how to accept that or allow it.  

Thoughts?

Thanks

[Pebble&Park]

3 minutes ago, LegoMan1212 said:

Have a current Buyer having issues paying via paypal.  Says that I don't accept international payments when they try to pay.  They seem to have moved from another country to USA.  This has happened once before and the buyer simply updated their account or created a USA one.  

How can I accept this payment?  They say they can pay be Visa, but I don't even know how to accept that or allow it.  

Thoughts?

Thanks

I think you can set up Stripe to allow payments as well, but I'm not sure - haven't done that myself. 

[minicoopers11]

20 minutes ago, LegoMan1212 said:

Have a current Buyer having issues paying via paypal.  Says that I don't accept international payments when they try to pay.  They seem to have moved from another country to USA.  This has happened once before and the buyer simply updated their account or created a USA one.  

How can I accept this payment?  They say they can pay be Visa, but I don't even know how to accept that or allow it.  

Thoughts?

Thanks

Are they trying to pay in USD or a local currency? I've only had problems with payments rejected when, say, a New Zealander attempted to pay in NZD rather than USD. I think Paypal auto-rejects anything other than USD (for US sellers), unless you adjust settings otherwise.

Edit: They can pay by card without paypal account, via paypal. Just click "Pay with Credit or Debit Card."

Edited December 19, 2017 by minicoopers11