Bricklink Fraudulent Seller?

hoyatables

Do fraudulent sellers pop up on Bricklink? I made a purchase over a week ago, paid promptly, and haven't received anything -- even confirmation of shipping -- or any response from the seller. I now see that a person has posted "neutral" feedback indicating that the seller refunded their purchase without explanation. Hoping I at least get the same.

I guess I should have probably realized it was too good to be true that someone had all of the missing parts I needed for the Imperial Trading Post at a reasonable price . . .

Brickarmor

Yes, scammers infiltrate there too. There are some very vigilant BLers who root them out rather quickly, especially on "too good to be true" sets. Once they are reported, Admin will suspend any suspicious store until proof of inventory is provided. Unfortunately, before that happens the scammer usually seems to nab a few of the unwary or inexperienced looking for rare or expensive items. 0 FB, stupidly low prices, and instant invoicing altogether are red flags. I hope your situation is resolved without too much grief.

graphite

It does also happen that you come across sellers that suck at updating statuses and have poor communication. A week is not long enough in my opinion to take action on it not showing up yet. If you have messaged/emailed them and they haven't responded and you don't get anything in another week I would file NSS. If you do end up getting the order I would submit neutral feedback for poor communication.

Crowkillers

There are definitely a few sellers there who don't take selling seriously...

oldtodd33

^ A few?

hoyatables

Thanks for the thoughts. I probably should have investigated a little further before I bought. It was definitely too good to be true. Looking at it now, the seller has zero feedback (other than the one neutral comment about the refund) and appeared to have (among other items) three of every single piece for the Imperial Trading post, including all the rare pieces (raised baseplate, sails, etc). The seller is also relatively new -- she didn't pop up when I first bought the bulk of the pieces for the trading post a couple of weeks ago. And the seller page notes a "name change." All of this points to some suspicion on my part.

Given the circumstances, I don't want to be the guy at the end of the line looking for reimbursement. So I am going to jump the gun a little bit - if the seller is legit and packages the materials, then great, and I'll be the first one to post a rave positive review. But the odds aren't good and so I am going to protect myself.

Crowkillers

oldtodd33 said:

^ A few?

I would say that I only have an issue maybe 1 out of 100 transactions...

Mathias

I always take a strong look at feedback before I even consider buying from a store on bricklink. I also look at how long they've been a member. They're have been a few I avoided because they had a significant amount of the parts I needed for well below the price guide and what others were asking.

oldtodd33

^ You would think that was true. After 5 years of not buying from BL I ordered 2 different parts from a seller with 2500 feedback and years on BL. The parts I received were the wrong version of a part that has only two versions and is easily distinguishable. His response was that he doesn't know a lot about the older parts and it was an easy mistake to make. I haven't responded yet but can't help to think that it was either laziness or stupidity on his part. This kind of attitude is exactly why I have stayed away for 5 years and after I am done getting what I need I will be gone for another five years.

Bluefairy_56

I have just completed getting all the parts I need from Bricklink for the GG. I have bought from about 15-20 sellers to get this. I have had one seller not update his status, which he did after 2 emails to him. I have had sellers not leave me feedback, even a couple of weeks after I left it for them, I emailed a reminder for them to do it, and still nothing. Which I think is unfair, as a newbie buyer I did everything right, but this part is ignored.

I haven't yet had a bad seller, just very slow ones, or slack ones, but all the parts have been great. One seller forgot to include 5 1x10 bricks, but is sending it out straight the way. I'm very happy so far with Bricklink, and I will definitely be using it again.

piratemania7

hoyatables said:

Do fraudulent sellers pop up on Bricklink? I made a purchase over a week ago, paid promptly, and haven't received anything -- even confirmation of shipping -- or any response from the seller. I now see that a person has posted "neutral" feedback indicating that the seller refunded their purchase without explanation. Hoping I at least get the same.

I guess I should have probably realized it was too good to be true that someone had all of the missing parts I needed for the Imperial Trading Post at a reasonable price . . .

May I ask what the name of the store is?

minicoopers11

I had one bad experience out of about 300 transactions (it was a too-good-to-be true King's Castle Siege...at least on bricklink. Have got better deals on craigslist). Lack of feedback is an annoyance, as I get feedback on only about 60% of transactions.

Pitfall69

Is "Brickstoria" the name of the shop? This person changed their name from "Maynard" to Jeannie. Seems weird. Went from male to female.

hoyatables

Yeah. Got an email tonight confirming she would ship on Monday. No explanation. Name change was accompanied by an address change. We will see.

Bosstone100

As a buyer, I don't leave feedback until I get feedback from the seller. As far as I'm concerned, once I place and pay for the order, my part of the transaction is done.

hoyatables

Second update: Got a refund through paypal. Seller response was:

"I am sorry I have just had some problems in my fammilly so i dont have time to deal with your order at the moment."

Doesn't really sync with the Bricklink email confirming she would ship. Who knows what will happen.

minicoopers11

Bosstone100 said:

As a buyer, I don't leave feedback until I get feedback from the seller. As far as I'm concerned, once I place and pay for the order, my part of the transaction is done.

Absolutely. I always leave feedback for buyers as soon as they pay. I always leave feedback for sellers as soon as the item arrives as described. Not a difficult concept. The sellers that refuse to leave feedback until the buyer does mystify me.

Mathias

They want the oppurtunity of retaliatory feedback should you complain about them. I feel if everyone was honest about their transactions a lot of stores wouldn't have that fantastic of feedback. You'd probably see a lot more that said the seller was slow to invoice, never updated, poor communication or took forever to ship.

Pitfall69

My last purchase from Bricklink was like that. I paid, got the item, but forgot to leave feedback. I finally did, but there was no feedback left for my prompt payment. Buyers can be just as fraudulent as sellers.

I see that PayPal has a new service that pays the seller AFTER the buyer receives the item.

Bosstone100

^ how much extra is that? I haven't had anyone not ship but this sounds like some extra protection.

Pitfall69

I don't know. I didn't really look into it, but I think you have qualify for that service, but I don't know what the qualifications are.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/general/PADLaunch-outside

Looks like you have to add your bank account. No other fees though.

Bluefairy_56

Sometimes I feel like the feedback is held to ransom by the seller. They won't leave feedback unless you do. Or they won't leave it at all.

I truly believe feedback should be mandatory at the end of the sellers transaction, like when they mark the parcel as shipped. And the buyer as it's marked completed. You either liked the transaction or you didn't, it's not rocket science.

I like the idea of no longer leaving feedback unless I get it first by the seller. So sellers beware, I'll mark the transaction completed if I got it ok and I'm happy, but I won't be leaving feedback until you do...fairs fair.

Bumblepants

So the consensus is that sellers should leave immediate feedback for buyers once they put the item(s) sold in the post? I have never done that assuming it was best to wait to hear from the buyer that they received it and if anything ends up amiss have time to deal with it and then finish feedback after. I also feel concern for leaving + feedback and then potentially getting abused by the buyer and not being able to do anything about it.

Pitfall69

^Exactly. It is unfortunate that you can't trust anyone anymore. I usually wait until the buyer receives his/her post and then follow up with them. Then, there are people like @samiam391 that don't leave any feedback no matter what because he still feels the sting from a certain Harry Potter purchase ;)

Bluefairy_56

But some of us honest buyers have done everything, bought from you the seller, paid promptly. But we don't get rewarded for doing it right most times. As about 15% of sellers aren't leaving any feedback, even after I leave it for them, and remind them to please leave feedback for me.

If the item arrives as described I'll leave positive feedback always. Even when I received my Lego in a torn up Fish Finger box, including the crumbs, I still left positive feedback. Even when a parcel from Denmark arrived open, though still in the bubble wrap packing I still left positive feedback. I got what I ordered in the condition as it was stated. I'm happy with the transaction.

VaderX

I have had way better luck on Bricklink then eBay... Even more so with the feedback ratings. eBay i have about 45% feedback even left for transactions. Bricklink is about 85%.

oldtodd33

@Bluefairy_56 Ha, that's terrible, although I once got a package from a BL seller that was packed with used Kleenex.

KiwiLegoMeister

Bluefairy_56 said:

As about 15% of sellers aren't leaving any feedback, even after I leave it for them, and remind them to please leave feedback for me.
...I'll leave positive feedback always. .... I still left positive feedback. ... I still left positive feedback.transaction.

You're meant to leave feedback?
....ooops ....
(although I've only bought twice from BrickLink; but will be doing an order or two in the near future for a special daughter-project gearing up for a Lego com next year ....)

Bluefairy_56

I was actually talking about Bricklink.
I have bought more off eBay in the past, so I have over 1,300 feedback.
But now I am buying from Bricklink for my Lego items, I have to start the feedback from scratch.

Nikaliptus

I haven't bought from Bricklink before; as a newbie to the process, it all just seems too hard, trying to coordinate this piece from that seller, then have to make up their minimum purchase requirements, then that piece from that seller, and have to pay shipping on both orders, etc. so where possible, I just tack PAB orders onto my LEGO S@H orders to qualify for the free shipping (we don't have B&M LEGO stores in Australia to have access to a PAB wall). I'm sure it must be worthwhile, as so many people seem to use Bricklink, and there are probably lots of tricks I don't know about, but to then hear about fraudulent sellers to beware of as well... :-(

On the topic of non-feedback leavers though...I get really annoyed by sellers holding feedback to ransom on eBay, and I still have 3 recent-ish sellers who never left feedback, all around the same time as I was having issues with a missing piece from one of my purchases, so even though it was resolved to my satisfaction, and I left positive feedback saying so, I never received feedback from them, and in fact, began to worry that I had somehow been secretly black-banned by that seller from allowing me to receive feedback from any other sellers as well, but it just seems that both that seller and 2 others were all too lazy to bother leaving me feedback after I had paid all of them promptly, and then done them the courtesy to leave feedback as soon as the orders arrived (or in the case of the missing piece, as soon as the matter was resolved).

I understand as a seller you may wish to reserve leaving feedback for a buyer until you can be sure the buyer has received their order and is happy with the transaction, but by the same token, as a buyer, I feel my obligation in the transaction is completed once I have paid, so I shouldn't have to feel like I need to leave a glowing review just to qualify for a generic 'quick payment' feedback in return.

I also shouldn't feel like I'm risking negative or no feedback from the seller if I am less than 100% satisfied and feel it's warranted to warn future purchasers of potential issues. e.g. I recently bought some sets that were shipped in a heavy duty envelope, so the set boxes were slightly crushed in transit, as they had no solid protection. As the seller had already left me positive feedback for my prompt payment, I felt less at risk for leaving feedback warning other potential buyers that whilst happy with the overall transaction, be aware that the seller doesn't use sturdy packing materials (and I wasn't the only one leaving such comments). It didn't stop me purchasing from the seller again, but as a potential buyer, I think the feedback should be a useful way to make an informed decision as to whether I want to buy from that seller and risk slightly dented boxes, or perhaps pay a bit more with another seller that takes better care with the way they package their goods for shipment. In that instance, the seller noticed my return business and previous feedback, and took better care to package my second order more sturdily, which in turn I commented on in my feedback for the second purchase, so I think it shows that constructive feedback can also be a good way for sellers to improve their services.

Bluefairy_56

@Nikaliptus‌ sellers on eBay cannot leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers, they haven't been able to for a long time. Sellers either leave no feedback or give you positive but they put in a not so nice note. They can reply to your negative or neutral feedback and you can reply back to theirs. So don't ever be afraid of getting bad feedback from a seller when you did the right thing and complained about shoddy service.

samiam391

Pitfall69 said:

Then, there are people like @samiam391 that don't leave any feedback no matter what because he still feels the sting from a certain Harry Potter purchase ;)

Feedback left... satisfied?

Pitfall69

Why yes....Yes I am samiam :)

Crowkillers

As a seller, I don't leave feedback on Ebay until after I make certain that the buyer is happy with their item... I've had issues with people complaining right before the 45 days were up or they scammed myself and other sellers by abusing the "Item not received" policy...

A buyer's requirements in a transaction go beyond just paying promptly...

My wife had received a $200 order on Bricklink that was going to a U.S. Military Base somewhere.. Well the guy that placed the order was using some type of nickname on Bricklink and Paypal instead of his actual full name... Well guess what..? The package didn't get delivered and was bounced around back and forth for over a month until it got back to us.. When we finally got the package back, it looked like it had been torn open, resealed, and then torn open again... There were actually baggies hanging out of large holes in the box... A few things were missing and the order had to be resent...

Now my wife left this guy a Positive feedback immediately after he paid her, but was this an actual positive experience for my wife..?

Sure he paid promptly, but what about having all of his information in order..?

Bosstone100

Well, if a seller wants to wait until they are sure I am satisfied with a transaction to leave me feedback, I'm fine with that but unless they leave feedback, I am not leaving feedback for the seller. Doesn't matter when they do it.

Bumblepants

^Do you at least change the transaction to 'Completed' once you have received your package? I don't really mind leaving feedback first or second but I at least like some sort of acknowledgement that the buyer got their stuff and considers the transaction done.

seannydem

I think it important to say that BL can be a really great experience too. It's just a sad fact that there will always be people trying to scam someone out of something. Just use the common sense rules you would apply to any other type of purchase, like feedback level and rating, prices etc.
As for feedback as a buyer I always leave feedback once I get the item and have checked it. As a seller I don't leave any until the buyer has either left me some or at least told me they have received it. I don't know why sellers don't leave any though. I probably get feedback on about 8 out of every 10 things I buy.

Bosstone100

^^ I mark it as Received as soon as a get it. I mark it Complete as soon as I verify that everything is what it is supposed to be. If something is missing or wrong, I'll email the seller to let them know. If it's small/cheap, I will usually let them know but also tell them not to bother sending the part as shipping is expensive. More often than not, the seller sends the missing/wrong parts anyway.

Even had a seller purchase the missing parts from another seller and have them sent to me when they found that they didn't have anymore. That was unexpected, not at all necessary, but greatly appreciated.

Sethro3

I think it can be tricky navigating the BL waters. There is an underlying problem with trust at times, but I try to only buy from reputable stores. I always check feedback before I place an order (even if it is a store I've ordered from in the past). Things come up and can make any good/bad store worse, so I like to keep things on the up and up.

My recent experiences were fairly glowing. I placed two orders with two separate sellers. Both fair prices on items and shipping. One ended up shorting me 2 pieces (that I ended up not needing anyway), so I let them know and they refunded me $1.00 instead of the $0.13 it would have cost. The seller claimed it was cheaper to refund more money than send the cheap parts since shipping would be so high. This is true, but definitely was unexpected to over-refund. Most welcomed, of course.

The other seller ended up having a problem with their inventory and didn't have 2 pieces I really wanted. They found a similar mold only slightly different and offered that to me free of charge, AND refunded the old pieces. So again, I ended up paying less money than expected for four star service.

I'd definitely recommend BL, but be sure and research the stores you are shopping from.

Aleydita

BO sellers aren't able to leave anything other than positive feedback. Come join the revolution :)

graphite

^ I over refund all the time. Even when crediting before payment is made for inventory mistakes. Like if someone orders 5 of a part and I end up only having 4 I'll typically refund 2x or 3x the part price and depending on what the error was will also issue a coupon. But I also always contact before shipping and give options for correcting the mistake.

I used to not leave feedback until the buyer at least completed the order but now I just leave feedback once I've marked a batch of orders as packed or shipped just because its easier to not care and just do it.

To date I've left 898 feedback but only received 759 (all positive. 178 buying, 581 selling). Have had 834 orders as a seller. And my most frequent buyer with 11 orders has never left me feedback despite me leaving him feedback.

You win some you lose some.

Bluefairy_56

As a buyer I have the problem of sellers never leaving feedback. Catch 22.

CCC

You can send a message to the seller to say you have received it and everything is fine, or mark it as complete.

Bluefairy_56

CCC said:

You can send a message to the seller to say you have received it and everything is fine, or mark it as complete.

I've done that, some sellers are great and leave feedback as soon as they know everything is ok, but others just don't leave feedback at all. Which is not fair.

CCC

If it is important to you, check before you purchase whether or not they leave feedback for buyers. If not, don't buy from them.

Mathias

So far I've only had one not leave me feedback. But that's probably because he never updated the order and I questioned him several times over a two week period when he would ship. Took two weeks to ship. All his feedback was good. Sometimes feedback is misleading. People leave good feedback for fear of retaliatory feedback.

As for Brickowl. Definitely a nicer setup. I don't think it's quite as organized. It does look more updated but doesn't have near the amount of listings as BL.

iancam33

I have been using brickowl and have found that people there are one and done shoppers. I have had a lot of first time buyers and only about half of them leave feedback. I am very courteous and prompt with my shipping and have even left email reminders to leave me feedback but again most once they receive their package don't go back to the site. This is very frustrating as I need and want positive feedback.

Any suggestions as to how I might get people to leave feedback more consistently?

iancam33

Also, in regards to my plight hardly anyone even marks the item as received on brickowl. Very frustrating as well. I really wish people were more thorough and respectful to shop owners.

DadsAFOL

^why? Your buyer was happy, otherwise the would have contacted you. You got the sale and your payment. Positive feedback from buyers is a nice-to-have. It doesn't affect your future sales.

Norlego

Positive feedback is important to have if you get a negative... It looks better to have lots of positive, than only a negative
But i dont trust negatives these days as sellers othen get them unfairly.

hoyatables

If Brickowl is anything like Bricklink, as a casual buyer I can tell you that the whole "mark status" experience is somewhat strange and unless you are doing multiple purchases, you tend to forget or not even realize you have to go back.