BrickLink sold

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fleury
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BrickLink sold

Post by fleury » Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:08 am

Interesting. I think it's good news.

http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=153529" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bricklink.com/announcement.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


--
Marc.

brickarmor
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by brickarmor » Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:44 am

Sublime. In the classic sense: equal parts terror and excitement. It will be an interesting next few months.

LowestFormOfWit
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by LowestFormOfWit » Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:18 pm

brickarmor wrote:Sublime. In the classic sense: equal parts terror and excitement. It will be an interesting next few months.
If the end result is an easier out the door purchase, I'm all for it. I want to be able to search for the bricks I want, in the quantities I want, and find the vendor or combination of vendors with the lowest cost after shipping.

It's so archaic.

bea
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by bea » Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:10 pm

Here's hoping he drags bricklink out of the stone age.

Max Power
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Max Power » Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:19 pm

Please fix the forums! Can't stand them.

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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by evo8hks » Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:54 pm

The site is still down and I have orders to fill :crazy:

Blacknight
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Blacknight » Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:37 pm

They need to crack down on the special treatment that some power sellers got when it comes to assigning and receiving negative feedback.

Bizarro
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Bizarro » Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:32 pm

I'm not sure about this... For some reason I can see it quickly becoming FeeLink and as a result we'll no doubt have eBay esq postage prices.

"Oh really? Only $28.50 to ship a minifig torso to Australia?!"

Neo
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Neo » Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:58 am

It sounds like the new owners will be able to finance the new improve version of Bricklink....Bricklink 2.0
which will provide an improved user interface and extended searching support for today's browsers.

Bricklink's user interface is pretty much circa Apple II like 1980-1990 but its still usable - I am a regular Bricklink buyer. So far, I've had pretty good luck with the sellers ... knock on wood.

About half of my Bricklink purchases are from Europe and the other half is bought domestically in the USA.
I use Bricklink because it has a much wider selection than Lego.com's Pick a Brick and because I can zero in and select the individual Lego pieces for a particular project I need instead of having to buy an entire kit or a special lot as is in Ebay. One of the reasons I use Bricklink is because most of my own Lego builds are inspired from other Lego builders who post there creations on the internet...so a standard Lego kit isn't going to be enough...

Tyrant01
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Tyrant01 » Sat Jun 08, 2013 7:40 am

LowestFormOfWit wrote:
brickarmor wrote:Sublime. In the classic sense: equal parts terror and excitement. It will be an interesting next few months.
If the end result is an easier out the door purchase, I'm all for it. I want to be able to search for the bricks I want, in the quantities I want, and find the vendor or combination of vendors with the lowest cost after shipping.

It's so archaic.
Not singling you out (I have heard this elsewhere), but how would someone actually impliment that? For sets being forced to list a shipping price is possible (though within the U.S. there are different postal zones and that effects shipping, so not sure how you account for that other than charging the max), but how do you have any realistic hope of doing that for pieces? Barring everyone charging more for shipping to ensure they are charging enough, I am not sure there is a practical way to tell you how much shipping is without asking. This is an honest question because I haven't ever come across a decent suggestion.

And without that, the other idea I hear people want, being able to order from multiple stores at once and pay once, can't happen easily.

Maybe I am just used to it, but I don't think there is a whole lot you can do to make it smoother on that particular front.

LegoFanTexas
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by LegoFanTexas » Sat Jun 08, 2013 10:35 am

Tyrant01 wrote:Not singling you out (I have heard this elsewhere), but how would someone actually impliment that? For sets being forced to list a shipping price is possible (though within the U.S. there are different postal zones and that effects shipping, so not sure how you account for that other than charging the max), but how do you have any realistic hope of doing that for pieces? Barring everyone charging more for shipping to ensure they are charging enough, I am not sure there is a practical way to tell you how much shipping is without asking. This is an honest question because I haven't ever come across a decent suggestion.
This is quite easy, you simply need a postage table with all the various rates. You need a packaging allowance, an envelope weighs "this" much and a bubble envelope weighs "this" much and a box is "this heavy", etc. Since postage rates are known and the part weights are known, it is just a matter of programming a solution to take the weight of the parts, add something for packing, compute it against shipping, and then add any optional "order fee" the seller puts in. Poot, instant shipping quote.

It won't always be 100% perfect, but sellers will get used to it, they'll win on some and lose on others, it balances out over time. At the end of the day, the customer is paying a "delivered price", how it breaks out doesn't matter.

BTW, I am aware that putting together all that information will be a lot of up front work for the site. But it will be worth it in increased sales. There are times I haven't ordered something because I didn't want to guess at the shipping cost. If I knew up front, I'd be a more informed customer and may well buy more.

If an item on Bricklink is $85, and on eBay it is $100 with free shipping, I usually buy the eBay item. The seller on Bricklink might charge $10, or might charge $20, but I don't care to play those guessing games.
Tyrant01 wrote:
LowestFormOfWit wrote:And without that, the other idea I hear people want, being able to order from multiple stores at once and pay once, can't happen easily.
[/quote]

Why not, eBay does this quite easily... Add many Buy-It-Now items to your cart and checkout all at once.

DarthPaka
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by DarthPaka » Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:04 am

As long as they stay true to the original vision of BrickLink.com founder Daniel Jezek (may he rest in peace), then I think this will be a good thing. Sounds like Nexon has the resources and experience to bring Bricklink to the next level. Exciting!! :mrgreen:

ricefields
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by ricefields » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:13 pm

the suggestion below does not work for sets sold on bricklink - no way you can predetermine shipping costs due to size. also some post offices determine rates based on volume not weight (like canadapost) so you have to know ahead of time your package and box sizes, which is not possible or reasonable for a seller to predetermine automatically without human interaction.
LegoFanTexas wrote:
Tyrant01 wrote:Not singling you out (I have heard this elsewhere), but how would someone actually impliment that? For sets being forced to list a shipping price is possible (though within the U.S. there are different postal zones and that effects shipping, so not sure how you account for that other than charging the max), but how do you have any realistic hope of doing that for pieces? Barring everyone charging more for shipping to ensure they are charging enough, I am not sure there is a practical way to tell you how much shipping is without asking. This is an honest question because I haven't ever come across a decent suggestion.
This is quite easy, you simply need a postage table with all the various rates. You need a packaging allowance, an envelope weighs "this" much and a bubble envelope weighs "this" much and a box is "this heavy", etc. Since postage rates are known and the part weights are known, it is just a matter of programming a solution to take the weight of the parts, add something for packing, compute it against shipping, and then add any optional "order fee" the seller puts in. Poot, instant shipping quote.

It won't always be 100% perfect, but sellers will get used to it, they'll win on some and lose on others, it balances out over time. At the end of the day, the customer is paying a "delivered price", how it breaks out doesn't matter.

BTW, I am aware that putting together all that information will be a lot of up front work for the site. But it will be worth it in increased sales. There are times I haven't ordered something because I didn't want to guess at the shipping cost. If I knew up front, I'd be a more informed customer and may well buy more.

If an item on Bricklink is $85, and on eBay it is $100 with free shipping, I usually buy the eBay item. The seller on Bricklink might charge $10, or might charge $20, but I don't care to play those guessing games.
Tyrant01 wrote:
LowestFormOfWit wrote:And without that, the other idea I hear people want, being able to order from multiple stores at once and pay once, can't happen easily.
Why not, eBay does this quite easily... Add many Buy-It-Now items to your cart and checkout all at once.[/quote]

Neo
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Neo » Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:54 am

With respect to estimating shipping cost. Amazon has a pretty good online shipping cost calculator - for the USA while the US postal service has multiple options for shipping - I've found only a few make any sense to use : first class(for under 6 oz , very small, bubble wrap envelop), parcel post (they call it something different now - for large packages under 10 pounds), and flat rate (when it fits the box). The problem with the US postal service is that the rate seems to change each year - so one need to keep updating the software. By having the postage cost being defined later - the current Bricklink system keeps software overhead/maintenance cost low.

Most of the time - I'm on Bricklink - I looking for semi-rare Lego and it's either Bricklink or a special order from Lego.com which charge quite a bit not only for special order Lego but for the postage too. I like Bricklink's Price tracking system which tells me the market rate for a Lego and helps me avoid getting overcharged - Ebay use to have an easy way to do this but they've changed the interface and now it's really hard to do this (for like items on auction). Amazon doesn't have any price tracking system which is why ToysnBrick Amazon list is nice. With respect to shipping - if its really heavy, I do look into buying locally helps with keeping the shipping cost down but with semi-rare Lego that's not always possible.

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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by tsetsetse89 » Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:36 am

Is anyone familiar with BrickLink's business model? I've only purchased a couple retired sets from BrickLink before. I'm interested to know whether or not BrickLink took a small cut of each sale. I've never noticed any advertisements on BrickLink (correct me if I'm wrong) so I can't imagine they would generate revenue there, meaning that BrickLink probably isn't profit oriented. Nexon is profit oriented (online games where you can buy point cards at 7-11, etc.) so I'm hoping they won't "commercialize" BrickLink to make money wherever they can, whether that be advertisements or charging for transactions.

cornbread
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by cornbread » Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:35 pm

Sellers are charged a percentage of sales on BrickLink

LegoFanTexas
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by LegoFanTexas » Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:54 pm

ricefields wrote:the suggestion below does not work for sets sold on bricklink - no way you can predetermine shipping costs due to size. also some post offices determine rates based on volume not weight (like canadapost) so you have to know ahead of time your package and box sizes, which is not possible or reasonable for a seller to predetermine automatically without human interaction.
Nonsense...

Tons of sets are sold on eBay than on Bricklink, and the shipping price is provided at checkout there. None of this "wait a few days for an e-mail with a total price" nonsense.

For domestic shipping, offering either free shipping on sets or a flat rate usually brings the most sales. You can also calculate if you want, but it just cuts into the total price, because people with any sense sort by price + shipping lowest.

For international shipping, you use calculations, the size and weight of the sets are known, you can add something larger for box size if you like, or use the standard figures. It really isn't rocket science.

LegoFanTexas
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by LegoFanTexas » Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:55 pm

cornbread wrote:Sellers are charged a percentage of sales on BrickLink
3%, to be exact... this figure will remain the same, for awhile... once the new owner gets new features and BL 2.0 launched, expect this to rise, it is a crazy low figure quite frankly.

brickarmor
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by brickarmor » Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:55 am

Sets are indeed the easiest to determine shipping; it is the parts game where predetermination gets fuzzy. Domestic orders under 13 ounces would be no problem, but everything else should be left to the discretion of the seller.

Tyrant01
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Re: BrickLink sold

Post by Tyrant01 » Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:42 am

LegoFanTexas wrote:
ricefields wrote:the suggestion below does not work for sets sold on bricklink - no way you can predetermine shipping costs due to size. also some post offices determine rates based on volume not weight (like canadapost) so you have to know ahead of time your package and box sizes, which is not possible or reasonable for a seller to predetermine automatically without human interaction.
Nonsense...

Tons of sets are sold on eBay than on Bricklink, and the shipping price is provided at checkout there. None of this "wait a few days for an e-mail with a total price" nonsense.
Because the seller has set a shipping price (likely in excess of actual shipping) for the exact item you are bidding on. Some of them go an extra step and offer a discount if you buy more than one thing at a time, some don't. It isn't buying one set that is the big issue for me, it's the people that buy more than one or that buy parts/figures along with sets. I could just set shipping prices for each item and then add them up, except I would either be overcharging or undercharging. I'm sure I will hear about the overcharging, but won't hear a peep about the undercharging.

I could be way off on Ebay because the last LEGO set I sold on there was about 4 years ago because I realized BL was the more convenient way for me to do things.

Out of curiosity, do you sell on BL?
For domestic shipping, offering either free shipping on sets or a flat rate usually brings the most sales. You can also calculate if you want, but it just cuts into the total price, because people with any sense sort by price + shipping lowest.
Non argument. We aren't debating what brings in the most sales, we are debating how to fairly price shipping in a system with a number of variables. And by fairly, I mean for both parties, not a way that is obviously slanted one way or the other.
For international shipping, you use calculations, the size and weight of the sets are known, you can add something larger for box size if you like, or use the standard figures. It really isn't rocket science.
I strongly advise anyone shipping overseas to take the shipping box size and packaging into account unless you like losing money on each sale.

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