Bricksetters' Bricklink stores

Hanzo

So I dropped some prices to try to get some sales, got one.  Lady got the set Monday and hasn't submitted feedback yet.  Do I just forget about or wait till a week is up and email her making sure everything is ok? I think the drive thru email mentions asking for feedback already. 

DB361

Never worry about not getting feedback - it's very common. For me, looking back on a full page of 50 orders through October, 20 have left no feedback. Indeed many don't even mark it as complete (this is all I ask from my buyers but many still don't).  You just have to bite the bullet and move on.

All_That_Rocks

For some reason I find feedback is even worse on Brickowl, my BrickLink feedback ratio is pretty good in comparison 

bricknation

In my store only about 65% customers leave feedback. There's not much you can do about it. It's still better than Amazon marketplace where if 5% leave feedback it's considered a good result.

KingAlanI

Finally finished sorting the last of my #10404 last night, and listed them this morning. even so, I couldn't be as thorough as I would've liked in checking part prices. For items already in my inventory I mostly kept the existing price rather than tweaking it

That was about a third of my shame pile in terms of what I've spent on stuff I haven't listed, plus the stuff I have listed but haven't sorted. It has led me to be more careful about buying more.

I sometimes move stuff between different size storage containers or change how many different categories I put in the same bin. That's not just a sorting/listing thing but also when I sell items that took up a lot of space.

I mainly use 6 quart Sterilite bins, some 12 or 16 qt, cheap at WalMart/Target, stacked high all over my bedroom. I have a few 1qt Chinese takeout tubs and top opening LEGO set boxes. These containers hold plastic bags with parts in them.

@DB361 @All_That_Rocks #41455 looks like a gamble on a lot of printed pieces, otherwise a lot of plain molds even if in rare colors, but any set is worth part out on a good enoguh deal

77ncaachamps

bricknation said:

In my store only about 65% customers leave feedback. There's not much you can do about it. It's still better than Amazon marketplace where if 5% leave feedback it's considered a good result.

I view Amazon as a store - no feedback needed to be left unless there was a problem.

Whereas BL is like eBay to me: feedback is more pertinent to prospective buyers.

MiniBricks1

Business has been very good the past few months. I’ve averaged 50 orders a month, with an average value of $10-$15. My inventory has surpassed 60k items, although lately I’ve focused more on the minifigures so value has increased more than quantity. Currently at $11k in inventory before the sale I’m running- the value is $9.5k after that has been accounted for.

A few months ago I changed the name of my store, here is the updated link:

http://store.bricklink.com/jonak_toys

I also recently created an Instagram account for my store- @jonaktoys.

Edit- fixed the link :)

LuLego

Quick question - it’s a bit off topic but hopefully acceptable for this thread.
Following the disappointing ‘news’ that there will be no Bricktober sets in U.K., I’m turning to BrickLink...
Ive made lots of purchases on BrickLink before but never international.
Anything I should look out for or should be weary of?
Thanks

bandit778

LuLego said:

Quick question - it’s a bit off topic but hopefully acceptable for this thread.
Following the disappointing ‘news’ that there will be no Bricktober sets in U.K., I’m turning to BrickLink...
Ive made lots of purchases on BrickLink before but never international.
Anything I should look out for or should be weary of?
Thanks

Have made multiple international purchases without any issues.
The only advice I would give is read the feedback for any possible issues (inadequate packaging, lost items etc) and read the splash page to try and gauge postage rates as it can get expensive with 'added extras' especially if you want it tracked and insured (which I'm presuming you would given the prices these are going for). It may be wise to get a quote before pressing the buy button if you're not sure. 
You also have to remember that different countries have way different postal services, some good, some not so good and the delivery times can differ greatly.
To be honest though its much the same stuff you'd look out for buying a set from the uk. :)

LuLego

Thanks @bandit778
useful advice.

Ive messaged a seller asking for a total...
It does add up as this particular seller wants additional fees for almost everything according to their terms page - including (and I’m not sure if he’s serious or joking) ‘time’ and ‘beer’ whilst posting. He’s put a big banner up saying ‘read the splash before buying’ so I’m assuming others have cancelled when they’ve been given the total and we’re surprised by additional fees.

He’s the cheapest in Europe for Bricktober set but I’ve got a feeling it won’t be after all the fees. 

Also - if the item doesn’t arrive from another country, is that it? Can I expect zero refund?

Thanks

bandit778

LuLego said:

He’s the cheapest in Europe for Bricktober set but I’ve got a feeling it won’t be after all the fees. 

Also - if the item doesn’t arrive from another country, is that it? Can I expect zero refund?

Thanks

I can't help with that one as (touch wood) it's not happened.
I tend to order mainly parts and not sets from Bricklink but they have ranged from large orders of smaller rare parts to small orders of custom chrome parts.
If I've been paying out for expensive or rarer parts the extra cost of tracked and insured postage is worth the cost rather than the multiple postage costs of buyers with less than what I require and it gives you a piece of mind that you can get your money back if it all goes wrong.
Might be worth contacting the next seller up and comparing total prices. A slightly more expensive set may be cheaper in the long run.

LuLego

Had a response:
The item was just under £24.
With postage from France and ‘fees’ it comes to £42.

Think I’ll try a different seller!

Thanks for advice @bandit778

Aleydita

Fees are an absolute curse on Bricklink. Many sellers use them sparingly but some others tarnish all sellers with their abuse of them. Try brickowl.com as they don't allow sellers to add additional fees, and many sellers have the same inventory on both sites.

If you're concerned about something going wrong, pay with PayPal because they offer a buyer protection scheme that acts as insurance.

As you're in the UK, remember that buying from a seller outside the EU could result in Import Duty, VAT and administration charges, so it's usually better to stick to an EU-based seller even if they're a little more expensive.

LuLego

Thanks all.
I messaged a seller in Germany, who messaged back immediately. This in itself was reassuring. There were no extra fees - just postage.

Worked out at £32, which was a tenner less than the ‘cheapest’ seller on BrickLink.

So today I learnt that the lowest isn’t necessarily the cheapest.

KingAlanI

Those may be legitimate costs rather than a dodgy seller.

International postage form the US is ridiculously high (no wonder I get so few foreign orders), not sure how much other countries charge for outgoing.

US PayPal users can't directly charge for PayPal fees (part of credit card company contracts, obnoxious move by them not PP). Yet international PP fees are a percent higher and the higher postage means a larger fee on the postage amount. My international handling fee is higher partly because of this.

Also, international mailing labels are large enough to need at least a 0 bubblemailer, I could often use a smaller mailer for that amount of parts sent domestically, so packing material is a few cents more.

I have a handling fee at all to cover basics like packing materials on a small order, since I don't have a minimum order.

Aleydita

KingAlanI said:

...US PayPal users can't directly charge for PayPal fees (part of credit card company contracts, obnoxious move by them not PP)...

US users aren't supposed to indirectly charge for them either.

Bumblepants

When I was selling I found it much easier to just bake in the cost of PayPal, packaging, whatever into the price and only charge shipping. No one wants to be bothered with a math exam while trying to check out.

SprinkleOtter

Bumblepants said:

When I was selling I found it much easier to just bake in the cost of PayPal, packaging, whatever into the price and only charge shipping. No one wants to be bothered with a math exam while trying to check out.

Then some people get hit with extra costs they wouldn't have to pay otherwise.

It's just easier to let autocheckout do the math.

SumoLego

Bumblepants said:

No one wants to be bothered with a math exam while trying to check out.

Aw, man! 
-Slowly puts away graphing calculator and vintage slide ruler-

bricknation

SumoLego said:

...vintage slide ruler...

I still have one somewhere. I used to take it to exams in case we were told not to use calculators. 

Back to the subject. The whole ecommerce world manages without all those hidden fees. Everyone has costs but they are built into pricing or delivery charge. It really isn't rocket science even on bricklink. 
I think it's reasonable to have a fee to cover costs on small orders but nothing else, especially not minimum lot value or lot number fee. Yes seeing an order with 145 parts in 120 lots can be annoying but that customer may come back with a nicer order (or not because they will get all parts bagged together - for environmental reasons of course)

CCC

bricknation said:

I think it's reasonable to have a fee to cover costs on small orders but nothing else, especially not minimum lot value or lot number fee. Yes seeing an order with 145 parts in 120 lots can be annoying but that customer may come back with a nicer order

Everyone should be allowed to run their business their way, so long as it is in line with the rules. When I used to sell on BL, I hated getting orders for one of this 1p part, one of that 1p part that can take an hour to pick for next to no income. Those sort of orders are simply not worth the effort. Before you could officially do minimum lot values (although could say it in your terms), I used to bag them up, and sell a bag of 50 for 50p, but not allow a buyer to buy just 1. Of course, that worked but not great for a custom that wants just 1, 10 or 60, as they have to buy 50 or 100 or 150 and so on. Lot limits are probably better than that, as at least lot limits allow a buyer to buy a £2 part and a couple different 1p parts, giving a lot average of 66p, and so reach a fair average lot limit of say 50p. A seller is allowing a buyer to buy cheap parts so long as they also place a "real" order for some expensive ones too.

Where lot limits are terrible is when a store doesn't have enough stock in many parts to reach the lot limit.

alexwil

An hour to pick a 1p part??? 

I have a personal rule that I NEVER buy from stores that charge PayPal fees and/or lot fees.

As someone has said everyone is free to run their business how they see fit, but buyers are also free to shop where they like and the good thing about bricklink/brickowl is there are so many different sellers, you can normally get most of the same parts in more then 1 store. sellers need to be aware that having a variety of different fees is probably losing them sales! 

CCC

alexwil said:

An hour to pick a 1p part??? 

An hour to pick 150 different 1p parts. And yes, some people do place orders like that.

dmcc0

Nobody is suggesting it takes an hour to pick a single 1p part, but an order of loads of small quantities of 1p parts could easily take an hour to do.

I do prefer stores where the only thing you need to add is the shipping cost but it does make sense to have average lot prices for smaller value parts orders. 

I looked at the same seller as @LuLego for the Bricktober set and didn't even bother with the quote after I'd seem the list of fees that would be added.  Seller was mostly selling sets as well so there was no issue with avg lot values or picking small quantities either; just a ploy to have their item shown as the cheapest.

DB361

I've never understood extra fees, either as a buyer or seller. Apart from the obvious cons as a buyer, as already mentioned, as a seller it surely is just a lot of extra admin, calculations and opportunities for something to go wrong? I've never had a problem with what I've charged buyers keeping it as simple as item+postage=total, aside from the usual occasional NPB.
I really don't mind what an order consists of, though I did have to introduce a minimum order value as, once you take into account time, trips to the Post Office, costs of envelopes, paper, ink etc, it becomes a hell of a lot of work for an 87p order. My £5 minimum seems to be working well for me as it still allows small orders whilst not being a waste of time. If a £5 order consists of 500x 1p parts, then my view is that's fine by me - that's 500 fewer worthless items stuck in my inventory.

CCC

DB361 said:

If a £5 order consists of 500x 1p parts, then my view is that's fine by me - that's 500 fewer worthless items stuck in my inventory.

Though 500 of the same 1p parts is a lot easier (quicker to pick) than 500 different 1p parts.

asrfarinha

Everyone should be allowed to run their store however they see fit, so long as it follows the rules.

That said, I run my store in a way that (I believe) makes it as simple as possible to the buyer. If there is something that would annoy or make it difficult for me if I was buying, then I avoid doing that in my store.

Within that frame of mind, I chose to not impose a minimum lot value, and instead have just an order minimum. Sure, sometimes there's a high lot order with a low value per lot. But as a buyer I'd hate to be putting together a cart with many parts (maybe from a wishlist) only to not be able to place the order because of the lot value.

I'd really like to get rid of the minimum order restriction, but I'm forced to have it simply because of the base fixed value on PayPal fees. Before the limit was in place I got an order where I actually lost money because it was worth around €0.50, and that was all eaten up in fees. And I'm not even taking into account my time, so for a real business this is even more of a consideration.

bricknation

asrfarinha said:

I'd really like to get rid of the minimum order restriction, but I'm forced to have it simply because of the base fixed value on PayPal fees. 

You can charge a fee if order is less than certain amount. I have no minimum order value restriction but orders below £5 get a 50p fee to cover for the fees. So far nobody complained but there were orders with 1p added to get over the minimum. 

For payments less than £8/$10 you should be using paypal micropayments if its available in your country. Bricklink and Brickowl both have an option to assign different payment methods depending on order value. You'd need to open a new account and call paypal to set it up as "micropayments". In the UK the fixed fee is 5p + 5% so on small orders it works out way cheaper than a normal paypal account.

LuLego

When I buy, I’ve got no issues with paying for PayPal and BrickLink fees...
I just thought it very misleading that his item appeared very near to the top of the list as it was the ‘cheapest’ when actually the true price would bump him way down the list of 101 sellers currently selling this item.

It also doesn’t seem fair on sellers who are genuinely selling it cheaper than him - an ‘average’ buyer like me would over look them.

rbozarth

bricknation said:

No sales? Sit down and check your store front page.
The fix is to remove all sets listed in category "LEGO promotional"

Could you expand on this statement please?

My store is Bozbricks from the US.  Do I seem to have the problem you stated?

bricknation

That issue is now solved. There was a problem with a new category that caused the stores to look completely empty for about a day.

Brickarmor

I'm closing down my BL store after almost 7 years. As of right now I have about 180k parts and plenty of parts in bulk (I always parted out multiples). Check it out, run your Wanted Lists, pick up mass quantities dirt cheap.

https://store.bricklink.com/piecemeal&utm_content=globalnav#/shop?o={"showHomeItems":1}

If you're in need of good storage solutions, I'm going to have hundreds of small Sterilite drawers (and some large ones) along with the perfect sized shelves. These are absolutely ideal for storing and sorting, whether you're a builder or seller. PM me and we can work out the details.

KingAlanI

SprinkleOtter said:

Bumblepants said:

When I was selling I found it much easier to just bake in the cost of PayPal, packaging, whatever into the price and only charge shipping. No one wants to be bothered with a math exam while trying to check out.

Then some people get hit with extra costs they wouldn't have to pay otherwise.

It's just easier to let autocheckout do the math.

I get so few non-PayPal orders that it would be pointless even if I could offer a discount, though maybe being able to do so would draw more other payment types

Packaging would apply to all orders, roughly proportional to value (though some items require more or less material, that's no big deal)

-

@asfarinha

Minimum order value like handling fee avoids getting screwed on tiny orders and not just because of PayPal fees.

I'm all too familiar with complex low value orders but haven't gotten any lately. 60 lots $13 made me groan but that's not as bad as some and I didn't have too much trouble packing it.

Looking at the process from the buyer's perspective does help. I have no philosophical objection to fees, I just keep them in mind when considering the cost, and I do have fewer simpler fees than most sellers

@bricknation

Adding a fee only on small orders sounds similar to an idea I've had, to waive the handling fee on large orders - same logic but less confusing.

I've thought of setting up micropayments but wondered it was worth the PayPal hassle, giving buyers the wrong email, or having them pay the wrong address even with proper instructions.

All_That_Rocks

^ Keep in mind you'll only qualify for micropayments if you have a Paypal business account.

alexwil

I've thought of setting up micropayments but wondered it was worth the PayPal hassle, giving buyers the wrong email, or having them pay the wrong address even with proper instructions.

It is worth the hassle! (In my opinion!) 

bricklink and brickowl can both be setup with thresholds in place so it goes to the right account. I’ve had a couple of payments go the wrong account but very few (and I’m fairly sure it was my fault anyway!) 

KingAlanI

I just signed up for a new PayPal account for micropayments, thanks for motivation to finally get around to it.

I don't see how to actually enable that. Do I call the regular customer service number 1-888-221-1161?

I have noticed the BL feature to automatically direct payments to the appropriate account, but that came about after I initially considered the idea

They're cheaper for payments under $11.90: 25c lower fixed fee versus 2.1% higher percentage fee.

Regular PayPal fees in Europe seem to vary by sales volume and differ by country, but assuming the 2.1% difference versus the fixed fee difference: EUR has a 14.29 tipping point, and GBP is 7.14. For a 1.6% difference, GBP micropayments make sense under 9.38

Also, I listed 35 Harry Potter CMFs - a Percival Graves and a Luna Lovegood but mostly commons, and lowered prices on some non-CMF sets

rbozarth

I really don't think charging for handling or packaging makes much sense if you're buying the mailers in bulk.  The costs are minimal.  If your inventory is organized well into a drawer system and you are using the remarks properly then a 150 piece order shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes IMO.  My profits are for the hobby not a business so this is probably why I feel this way. 

-Bozbricks

KingAlanI

Once I started buying mailers in bulk I did bring my fees down.

Sold a lot of bricks so I could condense the remaining ones of those colors into fewer storage bins. Helps clear space ahead of the Thanksgiving deals rush

Brickfan50

Today is another bad day for us on BL. Continuous 500 server errors. BL really has a huge problem! When you complain at BL about the server errors you get a few sorry's but nothing is done to prevent those errors in the future. Read the forum and search for '500' .
And when you really question BL about how they operate the site, your post gets cancelled and you are banned from the forum. It happened to me twice and currently I'm banned.
BL always has been the number one resource for getting LEGO bricks for the last 17 years. I'm afraid this is going to end soon because the management doesn't listen to the suggestions and complaints from sellers and byers.

BL is still the best LEGO catalogue online.
Too pity that they lack 20th century skills to address today's problems.
I'm a bit reluctant to say, but BL is operated from Hong Kong which is part of China, a country not known for respecting freedom of speech,

Don't get me wrong: I'm a supporter of BL as a site, as a source for LEGO fans. But the site itself really sucks in my opinion and critic is not allowed.  Since I'm banned from BL I have no option left than to discuss it elsewhere...
 With respect to the affiliation to Brickset. :-)

Brickarmor

New month, new discount: 157,000 parts now 50% off!

https://www.bricklink.com/store/home.page?p=piecemeal&utm_content=globalnav

Want a bunch of sets? Look around, make me an offer. ;)

Aleydita

Having a rush on Duplo at the moment. Picked up a few sets really cheap and seems some buyers had their wish lists ringing after I uploaded the parts  

I've sold a lot of Duplo Technic over the years but thought basic Duplo would struggle to sell. Pleasantly surprised 

mak0137

What's Duplo Technic?

SumoLego

mak0137 said:

What's Duplo Technic?

You haven't seen the Duplo Technic Porsche?  It's 22 feet long.

Aleydita

mak0137 said:

What's Duplo Technic?

May not be the official name for it, but the bricks with holes, axles, gears, crankshafts, etc.

Bumblepants

Toolo I think it was?

Aleydita

Bumblepants said:

Toolo I think it was?

No, Toolo is different again, bricks and things with screw-like connectors. Some (including parts of the BO catalogue) refer to it as Dacta though this is also incorrect. What I'm referring to is essentially an upscaled version of Technic, including beams, bricks with holes, etc. Used primarily in school sets hence the association with Dacta I suppose.

DB361

Some sets were Dacta - for example #9652 which I sold a copy of not too long ago. Has been the only Duplo I've ever sold on Bricklink though, considering taking the other sets off and selling them physically rather than online.

Aleydita

DB361 said:

Some sets were Dacta - for example #9652 which I sold a copy of not too long ago. Has been the only Duplo I've ever sold on Bricklink though, considering taking the other sets off and selling them physically rather than online.

Yes, but Dacta was simply the name of the Educational range. System, Primo and Technic also sold under that branding.

KingAlanI

Added a few more Harry Potter CMF including my first Queenie Goldstein

KingAlanI

Business has been slow lately, an order every few days, but that might be due to not listing any new inventory for awhile. Just did 3 #10832, very simple but doesn't hurt in and of itself and hopefully helps me get back on the right track.