Bricklink/BrickOwl - Discussion, questions, & answers

[4cs]

Anyone pick up some of the Creative Towers at WalMart last week to part out? I think it's going to be fun doing such a large set of basic pieces.

[stoltzjl77]

For non-paying buyer - if I don't get payment within 3 days of sending the invoice, I send a reminder. In the reminder email, I say something like "even if you aren't ready to pay, please just let me know that you do *intend* to pay. If I don't hear back from you by (date) I will initiate a non-paying buyer complaint which may result in the suspension of your BrickLink buying privileges" where (date) is 7 days from the date of the invoice. On day 6 I will try emailing them directly rather than through BrickLink in case it is filtering issue. (None of these are hard time frames - I'm not organized enough to remind myself to send reminders, usually it's just when I notice that one is hanging out there!)

 

If after all of that I still don't get any kind of response, I do report NPB's through the problem system. Once you initiate it they have 7 days to make payment or request cancellation. If they still don't respond after 7 days you can cancel the order unilaterally. If it reaches that point I will give the person negative feedback. At that point it is at least 14 days since the order was placed - a buyer who won't communicate in any way within that time frame will have to deal with negative feedback whether their reason is legit or not. If we don't use the feedback system there's no point in having one. I like that BrickLink is self-policing.

 

I've had 2 or 3 NPB's and 2 non-responsive sellers that I can remember. You can also block specific members from buying from your store if you like.

[BrickLegacy]

She did end up paying.  I sent her a friendly reminder email about 5 days after the invoice.  She paid on day 7. Thanks to everyone for their advice.  It was very helpful.

 

Turns out another zero feedback bought something from me the other day so we'll see how this turns one out.

[matt1147]

I've only sold around 5-6 lots on BL and just had to report my first non-paying buyer. I filed the problem via the BL process and reported on feedback and moved on

[seapotato]

If you reserve a set for someone in your bricklink store, it disappears from your store front but will the person be able to see it?

[MathBuilder]

Yes.

Also there will be 2 places where they can click and see the item directly.

One such link is in MyBricklink page there will be a link saying x items reserved for you in store  y. 

Also when inside the selling store on the left menu near the items for sale and items in wanted list there will be a link to reserved items.

[justafrog]

If you reserve a set for someone in your bricklink store, it disappears from your store front but will the person be able to see it?

 

I'm not sure I understand the question - if you're a buyer and put something in your cart, it's still available to other buyers if they check out first. If you actually check out, it is removed from the seller's inventory and no longer available to other buyers.

 

Oh I see - disregard the above, my brain just clicked back on.

[Alpinemaps]

Question for you sellers...

How do you divvy up an order?

I just got my first order for parts yesterday. I've bought plenty though. Parts come seperated in bags, but seemingly random to me. Is there a method to the madness?

[justafrog]

We generally sort our order sheets by part name, and then generally bag like parts together in the order they appear on the sheet. If you're looking at your order sheet in color order (I think that's the default BL will show you), try changing your settings to by name or by category and see if that makes more sense for what the seller has given you.

 

So, if I have an order for 100 blue 1x1 bricks, those are all going to be in the one bag. An order for 3 each of blue, black, LBG, and green 1x1 bricks, all of those will be mixed in one bag.

 

You shouldn't see the same part in more than one bag unless a) you bought a bunch of them and they won't all fit in the seller's largest sized bag or you bought over a certain number that the seller pre-packs in shipping bags of 50 or 100 or whatever or c) you had more than one batch to your order (i.e, you added to the order after you initially checked out, and repeated some additional parts that were already in there).

 

It shouldn't be too difficult to compare the parts to your order sheet (if the seller didn't provide a detailed packing list you can view it under your orders tab). I can generally inventory what I order pretty quickly.

[seapotato]

Thanks!

Yes.

Also there will be 2 places where they can click and see the item directly.

One such link is in MyBricklink page there will be a link saying x items reserved for you in store y.

Also when inside the selling store on the left menu near the items for sale and items in wanted list there will be a link to reserved items.

Sent from my iPod touch using Brickpicker

[XCool]

For those of you that had to remind your buyers to pay, and the buyer ended up paying *then* leave retaliatory negative feedback, what can we as the seller do?

[Alpinemaps]

Thanks Ms Frog. I'm excited to do my first parts order, just want sure how to pack it.

[justafrog]

For those of you that had to remind your buyers to pay, and the buyer ended up paying *then* leave retaliatory negative feedback, what can we as the seller do?

 

On Bricklink, you have some recourse because you can leave the buyer feedback. There's a line between "retaliatory" and "informative" that is open for debate.

 

If your spidey senses are tingling, you can simply not leave feedback for the buyer and wait. If they give you stupid feedback, you have the option of leaving them less than desirable feedback, too.

 

You can do this classy, as a warning to the community, or you can do it trashy, and become someone the community will be glad to be warned against.

 

I don't play those reindeer games, I just leave feedback when they pay and forget it. And, as someone posted above, I don't bother with NPBs on any venue. I just cancel the order, put the buyer on my blocked list if I feel it's warranted (an option on Bricklink and eBay), and move on.

 

I have one buyer on my blocked list on BL - he was just weird and I got tired of getting repeated all exclamation points demands from him.

[jbacunn]

I have one buyer on my blocked list on BL - he was just weird and I got tired of getting repeated all exclamation points demands from him.

Sorry about that Frog!! Sometimes I get a little out of control with the exclamation points!! You must forgive me!!!

[BrickLegacy]

Is it customary to leave feedback when someone pays or after they confirm they received it and its satisfactory to them (via an update to the order status page, leaving feedback, or email)?

[minicoopers11]

Is it customary to leave feedback when someone pays or after they confirm they received it and its satisfactory to them (via an update to the order status page, leaving feedback, or email)?

I leave it right after payment.

[justafrog]

Is it customary to leave feedback when someone pays or after they confirm they received it and its satisfactory to them (via an update to the order status page, leaving feedback, or email)?

 

 

Yes.

 

Both are done. I leave feedback as soon as I get payment - just a "thank you for shopping" note. I have found over the years it causes me less stress and bother.

[Victorymike18]

Question for you sellers...

How do you divvy up an order?

I just got my first order for parts yesterday. I've bought plenty though. Parts come seperated in bags, but seemingly random to me. Is there a method to the madness?

 

I'm a little new as a seller on BL, with about 25 orders under my belt.   When I pack I usually use inexpensive fold-over sandwich bags.  If there are a lot of a single piece & color, sure I'll give them their own bag.  And if there are very tiny pieces that are easy to miss, I'll usually put them in a tiny ziploc (like when you get a new shirt and it has a spare button).   Now, most of my orders are a large variety (but low quantity) of smaller/medium pieces, I usually bag them in those sandwich bags in a way that they can be seperated from each other in a matter of a minute or two by the buyer. 

 

Ultimately, my goal is to strike a balance of keeping parts safe (not jostling around and scuffing each-other), plus not using a ton of bags (increasing my cost), while also not sending the buyer a mess of unsorted parts that are a hassle to sort.

 

The sandwich bags fit this role as they are cheap enough that I don't mind using a handful of them, and also not large capacity where each one will create a pile of parts for the buyer to sort.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Victorymike18

[seapotato]

I have a new buyer who wants me to ship to a different address (his office) instead of the one listed in BL. Is this safe?

[ctoddlight]

Ask him to add it as a verified PayPal address and you should be fine.

[10230]

Ask him to add it as a verified PayPal address and you should be fine.

Yes, alternatively look at his feedback. If you see a long and good history I would probably not even request that, assuming the value isn't too high. In the end it is the question "How likely is he going to try to screw with me?", and feedback can help there.

[seapotato]

Thanks he had zero feedback but he said he changed the address in PayPal.

Another question - when I send an invoice, will there be a link he can click to direct him to PayPal (like ebay) or does he have to log into PayPal and create a payment himself to the email I provided?

Sent from my iPod touch using Brickpicker

[minicoopers11]

Thanks he had zero feedback but he said he changed the address in PayPal.

Another question - when I send an invoice, will there be a link he can click to direct him to PayPal (like ebay) or does he have to log into PayPal and create a payment himself to the email I provided?

Sent from my iPod touch using Brickpicker

He will have to do it manually unless you set up the link in your invoice template. I haven't bothered doing that, but there are directions somewhere on how to do that. It's not difficult.

[BrickLegacy]

He will have to do it manually unless you set up the link in your invoice template. I haven't bothered doing that, but there are directions somewhere on how to do that. It's not difficult.

 

Some people don't like direct links to PayPal for security reasons and I don't blame them.   I haven't had a problem simply giving them the grand total and my email to use on Paypal.

[MathBuilder]

Here are the instructions for setting up paypal payment link on BL.

 

1) Find a new order. Click on the invoice icon. When new page loads click on 

Invoice Preview: (Customize Layout and Set My Default Comments)

 

Alternative: If you don't have an order right now, click on this link it should take you to the same place.

 

http://www.bricklink.com/mailTempDetail.asp?ID=1&viewFrom=O

 

2) Once you are in that page, you need to copy this link exactly as provided except change "[email protected]" for your actual paypal email without any spaces. Be careful that the

Edited December 10, 2014 by MathBuilder