Zoshi

Bricklink horror stories?

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Just a preface, this isn't meant to be a rant against Bricklink; heck, I love the site, and I'd say the good definitely outweighs the bad with it, but I don't know, call me evil but I like reading about drama :devil: So, anyone have any significantly(or insignificantly) bad(or, heck, if you've got some good ones, go for it) experiences using Bricklink?

I've just started using it a couple months ago, and I'd like to say my experience has been mostly good, with most of the issues I've encountered being minor and solved easily. That said, I have had a LOT of issues. I'm not sure if that's normal but it is for me, I'd say about 50% of my orders have gone through without a hitch. My biggest problem seems to be with buying used items, as a lot of people have vastly different definitions for what that means… I've had some used items that were as far as I could tell perfect and I've had some used items that I think should have fallen into the "abused" category instead. Heck, even in the same store, one of my recent orders had two of the same hairpiece both in used condition, one was perfect and the other was chewed up :tongue: Luckily it wasn't that expensive, but disappointing nonetheless. I also recently decided to start selling, first order went without a hitch but then after that I got like 7 orders all for a single part costing at most 50 cents, and I quickly learned the value of having a minimum buy to prevent myself from having to dash to the post office 4 times a week for a quarter a piece(which was then promptly taken away by Paypal fees… thank you Paypal fees :tongue:). And then I had one order where the buyer needed the order by a certain date before he had to leave the country, which was unfortunately during the week before Christmas, where trying to ship anything is a nightmare. So I went to the post office and decided I didn't want to spend the rest of my existence standing in line so I tried out the self-checkout, which had a much shorter line. And everything went smoothly until I realized I was only paying about half of what I normally pay to ship something that size, but I had a bunch of people waiting in line behind me so my anxiety prompted me to just go ahead with it. I refunded the difference in shipping and then spent the next week panicking because the receipt I was given had no tracking number and I had now absolutely convinced myself that something was going horribly wrong because the shipping was too cheap. I even contacted USPS to try to find out where the package was and was told I needed the tracking number to find it. You know… if I HAD the tracking number, I wouldn't be calling you asking where my package is… But, everything was fine in the end and as usual I just worry too much.

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The single most negative experience that I had was that I was buying plane windows from someone and they sold me all single hole top and bottom while listing them as double (the older more expensive ones).  I asked for a partial refund basically pricing his parts as delivered in the 90th percentile.

I got back a message, telling me to send back everything for a full refund, which unfortunately was not possible since I had it shipped to a different country and picked it up from a friend's house when visiting.

I thought that my offer was beyond fair.  What annoys me wasn't the lack of flexibility it was the fact that I'm convinced that the person if I had sent the parts back would have just ripped off the next guy with his misleading products, or perhaps he didn't care.  Small seemingly insignificant things DO make a difference.

BTW - those 50 cent orders probably helped you boost your feedback so that people will be confident in placing the $50 and $100 orders from you.  Most of my orders are usually pretty big.  I find a bunch of things in your store that I want and then go nuts buying.  Most cases have been good experiences.  New means new, used can mean anything it really depends on the vendor.

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I was purchasing a product overseas, and while it was a larger item ($100 plus), it definitely didn't warrant the $200 shipping fee he placed on it from Amsterdam to Seattle. When I respectfully cancelled the order, saying I didn't realize shipping would be that steep, I received several angry emails from the seller...

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4 hours ago, Breakdown said:

BTW - those 50 cent orders probably helped you boost your feedback so that people will be confident in placing the $50 and $100 orders from you.  Most of my orders are usually pretty big.  I find a bunch of things in your store that I want and then go nuts buying.  Most cases have been good experiences.  New means new, used can mean anything it really depends on the vendor.

Unfortunately not a single one of the buyers left feedback for those orders, but at least it was a good learning experience. That said, I do get a bit peeved when sellers charge me their paypal fees as well… I already have to pay them for selling, and now I have to pay them buying too? :tongue:

2 hours ago, legozebra said:

I was purchasing a product overseas, and while it was a larger item ($100 plus), it definitely didn't warrant the $200 shipping fee he placed on it from Amsterdam to Seattle. When I respectfully cancelled the order, saying I didn't realize shipping would be that steep, I received several angry emails from the seller...

Geez, is it even possible for $100 of Lego to cost that much to ship? I mean, shipping costs can be ridiculous, but surely not that ridiculous…

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23 hours ago, Zoshi said:

Unfortunately not a single one of the buyers left feedback for those orders, but at least it was a good learning experience. That said, I do get a bit peeved when sellers charge me their paypal fees as well… I already have to pay them for selling, and now I have to pay them buying too? :tongue:

Geez, is it even possible for $100 of Lego to cost that much to ship? I mean, shipping costs can be ridiculous, but surely not that ridiculous…

Actually, I had a set come from Germania to me in error (I bought one thing and got two).

The item was intended for Australia and went out for quotes everywhere, minimum quote was 2-3 months no track/no insurance $60, and pretty much anything with tracking and even 4 week delivery was well, well over $100.  One quote from DHL was $310!!!

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I've had a large majority of successes with BrickLink, but one particularly bad case. I ordered a Squidward 'fig, the one with the molded head, just out of general interest. The seller had no description other than "used" like everyone has, so I figured there was nothing else to note. Boy was that wrong. The head was horribly scratched, and even had ink streaks of some other kind. The torso has multiple cracks along the bottom of all four sides, and the right arm almost immediately lost a huge chunk from the side, and I wasn't even doing anything to put strain on it. It was such blatantly awful quality, and wasn't even one of the cheapest ones in the seller lineup, I am never buying form that seller again.

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Been a member since 2002, I love the site.  My biggest gripe are all the new people that think they can make a ton of money by selling LEGO and have no friggin' clue what they are doing.

Color issues are the only problems I have had.  Yeah, used can come in many different descriptions, but color has been my enemy.  People need to understand that there are brown and reddish brown, light grey and light bluish grey, and then dark grey and dark bluish grey.

Had some issues with 24 tooth gears being listed as dark grey, I paid the $3 for them, but I received dark bluish grey gears, which clearly weren't a $3 item.  One guy fixed the error and resent the correct item.  The other guy, no response...therefore he got some negative feedback.  This was all a few years back.

Browns have been the problem as of late.  Best thing you can do is update your feedback with the issue.  And if a seller says "It's not my fault," call him a putz and say yes it is.  He listed it, he wasn't informed enough to correctly mark his items for sale...do not let them walk all over you!

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Not really a horror story, but I'm amazed at the number of sellers who don't list any postage costs in their terms page, particularly for international orders.  I can't be the only person who is put off from buying if I can't have a reasonable stab at how much the order is going to cost before pulling the trigger.

 

Similarly the number of people who state that they won't be responsible for a package once it has gone in the post box, and that the buyer needs to pay insurance if they need it.

As a retailer it is your responsibility to make sure the goods reach their destination, and in good condition.  If that cost more, then you need to factor that into your charges, or have your business robust enough that you can eat the occasional loss.  Buyers are already covered by Paypal if goods do not arrive or are not as described.  Also (at least in the UK) the Distance Selling act gives buyers full protection, as well as right of return within seven days of purchase.  Within the EU, it is also down to the seller to pay return costs for any faulty goods

 

A lot of people just won't know the relevant regulations, and will argue that they are selling as a hobby, not a business.  It's really no different.  I think you would have a hard time arguing your case when you have set up an online store to sell your goods, are listing new parts and are clearly trading with the intent to make a profit.  That is a business, however small you might be, and you have responsibilities as such.

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