Getting shorted on Bricklink

[SD100]

My last two bricklink orders have been missing pieces. I've been attempting to resolve the issue with the sellers, but I wanted to know what other people's experiences have been. It seems like a bit too much effort to make any big deal out of 30-40 cents worth of parts but it is still pretty annoying. I hope this isn't a pretty normal thing.

sd100

[The Brick Boss]

I've had a few experiences on Bricklink and it worked out just fine. You may need to look at the reputation of the seller you're buying from. That's prolly why. If they don't have a good reputation, you shouldn't buy from them.  

[Darkdragon]

It's important to let them know because it could be they need to re-calibrate the counting scale and also need to fix their inventory for the discrepancy. Most sellers will ask if I want a refund or the parts sent out separately.  I've been using BL for 10 years and have had it happen quite a few times over all the orders.

[JaBaCaDaBra]

It depends if I really need those missing pieces, it's not done to ask someone to send you a piece of a few cents.

Other issues I stumbled into are sellers that don't mind mold variations.
Most of the time it doesn't for me too but these are exceptions.

Only one NSS in 6 years and twice a shipment that never arrived and was (forced) payed back by paypal

[deraven]

I only buy from sellers that have a decent reputation via reviews, and I've never had a problem.  In the last month I've had 2 orders that had something missing, and both times the seller let me know immediately.  One of them was just 1 part short for like 10 cents and they asked me if I wanted a refund, or discount on something else later, etc., and I told them not to worry about it.  The other it was a few parts that totaled $0.35.  They sent me an email apologizing for the inventory error and saying a refund was included in the package, and they just put a dollar bill in the package with a nice note.

Before that, I don't remember when I last had an issue... at least a year or two.  The worst experience I had was with a torso that was listed as "used" but was in really bad condition, and that seller wasn't very responsive, but even so it was about $2 and not worth arguing about; they just didn't get a good review.

I agree with what Darkdragon said: politely let them know as it could be an inventory or automation issue that they need to fix.  For instance, if their inventory says they have 50 of something and you order all of them, they might just dump the bin into your order and not count it out to find there were only 45 left - that kind of thing.

[MAB]

Whenever I have had a problem (which is rare) on BL, it has always been fixed by the seller. Although I tend to buy only from the better sellers. If they have more than 2 negatives in every 100, I'd tend to avoid them.

[Marinho]

Had a couple of small mistakes over the years, but all of them sorted! To be honest, I don't even check if it is correct when the orders arrive anymore... I only check if I see immediately that something big or a lot of pieces are missing.

[mscott71]

I've only had one experience where the seller shorted me and didn't refund or replace the missing item. It was too small an amount to be bothered to do much about other than add that seller to my list of people never to order from again. (And for the record, it's a list of one...)

Generally when there have been issues (and there haven't been many) the sellers have been great about resolving them.

Edited June 11, 2020 by mscott71

[BrickG]

I'd say like 20% of my orders have something go wrong. I mean, it's Bricklink and random people so it's not like I don't expect it. However 99% of the time the issue was resolved.

The most common thing is sending the wrong color. Some colors are really close. Other times I swear they need to sort their LEGO is a better lit room (I've gotten black things instead of brown pretty commonly). 

I've got sun damaged pieces before too. Whether it's the wrong color or damage they've all been replaced at the expense of the seller.

There was only one time when I got the 60s or whatever style Batman. It was advertised as new but the cape seemed to have a bit of fraying (possibly just trying to get it into the little bag...). That one bothered me but I didn't do anything and I don't remember why (probably distracted by real life things). I'm pretty sure if I complained with a photo they'd probably have at least refunded me.

 

 

 

 

[howitzer]

Once I had a few missing pieces, which the seller sent immediately at no extra cost, so it was obviously an honest mistake, which are quite a common when we're dealing with thousands and thousands of different little parts. I really needed those parts so I had to ask them to be sent, otherwise I wouldn't fuss over few pieces worth tens of cents.

I pay usually through Paypal in order to make sure that I'm eligible for a refund if a case of NSS happens - that way you're protected even when buying from a new seller just starting out their shop.