Why some Bricklink sellers have no instant checkout?

[BrickObsessed]

Hello... I have used Bricklink for 2 months now, probably placed more than 20 orders now. However, I have been wondering why some Bricklink sellers don't have instant check out set-up? Is there any reason/s for this?

[NickLafreniere]

The reason is the seller will need to look up a shipping quote themselves and then get back to the customer. Sometimes their store has it automatically total the shipping costs, while others can calculate the shipping themselves for the lowest possible price.

[BrickObsessed]

Hmm... I thought BL is set-up to quote the lowest shipping price or at least they can give the buyer a choice between first class and priority during checkout.

[Kit Figsto]

8 minutes ago, BrickObsessed said:

Hmm... I thought BL is set-up to quote the lowest shipping price or at least they can give the buyer a choice between first class and priority during checkout.

Depends on the store.  Basically, sellers can set up an automatic shipping system where it will calculate the shipping method based on the given size and weight of the set (listed in the database) and charge you based on how much a seller charges for that method.  So, for example, if a given set could fit in both a USPS Flat Rate Small Box (which I think is like $7-8?) or USPS Priority Mail, it will automatically give you the cheaper option, depending on the weight of the item.  This is all assuming that the seller has accurately put in different weights and priced accordingly.

Some stores will send a manual quote for every order, if they don't have it set up.  

[MAB]

It used to be manual invoice for every order. Some people don't change with the times. Some sellers even still pack orders before invoicing to be able to charge the postage to the penny.

[Clone OPatra]

Hey, I remember placing US Bricklink orders back when PayPal felt sketchy and wasn't as widely used, so I had to physically mail a money order off after going to get one (who even uses those any more, if they exist), wait for that to get to the person, then wait for them to send my parts.

Manual invoicing is a minor inconvenience compared to that!

[ks6349]

I don't understand too. I don't normally purchase on BL, I once spent a lot of effort studying their stores, my conclusion is no reasonable deal on shipping, especially for boxed sets

This site is just out-dated and never changes with time, you look at their forums and you'll find it's so poorly designed, even worse than newsgroup back in 90s

Edited September 16, 2021 by ks6349

[BrickObsessed]

I just think instant checkout is faster and less hassle. I can pay right away instead of waiting for invoice.

On 9/14/2021 at 1:14 PM, Kit Figsto said:

Depends on the store.  Basically, sellers can set up an automatic shipping system where it will calculate the shipping method based on the given size and weight of the set (listed in the database) and charge you based on how much a seller charges for that method.  So, for example, if a given set could fit in both a USPS Flat Rate Small Box (which I think is like $7-8?) or USPS Priority Mail, it will automatically give you the cheaper option, depending on the weight of the item.  This is all assuming that the seller has accurately put in different weights and priced accordingly.

Some stores will send a manual quote for every order, if they don't have it set up.  

The seller has to put in the weights for each kind of element? I thought it is all set-up in the background from Bricklink? I would think a 1x2 brick would have the same weight across the board.

[jimmynick]

They've managed to spruce Bricklink up over the years but at its core it's a no-frills site that does exactly what it says on the tin. I don't think it needs to be ritzy to do its job.

1 hour ago, Clone OPatra said:

I had to physically mail a money order off after going to get one

I had issues setting up PayPal in the States so for my first Bricklink order five or six years ago, I had to send a cheque!

[Clone OPatra]

47 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

I don't understand too. I don't normally purchase on BL, I once spent a lot of effort studying their stores, my conclusion is no reasonable deal on shipping, especially for boxed sets

This site is just out-dated and never changes with time, you look at their forums and you'll find it's so poorly designed, even worse than newsgroup back in 90s

BL is a marketplace for vendors. There is no such thing as "their stores"; rather, it's individual people's stores on Bricklink. There's nearly never going to be a "deal" on shipping like you'd get from a company because it's all private individuals or individually-run tiny companies selling to you, and thus they need to cover their real costs on each order. They're not doing anything at scale. That's why it's up to the savvy buyer to make an account with wishlists so you can place orders that are worth your while.

Also the notion that it never changes is objectively false. Instant checkout, PayPal on site, heck even the ability for carts to save from one session to another are all newer features that weren't there five years ago.

I get that there is a bit of a learning curve to how BL works, but once you master that (which is pretty quick), it works well for what it's trying to do.

[dr_spock]

Some times there are shipping deaIs. I get "free shipping" from one of my BL sellers.  They have family living near me.  They drop off the goodies when they travel this way to visit family.  

You could try to find BrickLink stores that do a lot of sales volume.  They might be able to get better shipping rates with their postal or courier services based on the amount of business they do with them.  Whether they pass the cost savings to you is another matter.  Any way, volume is king as we say in wholesale.

 

[MAB]

2 hours ago, BrickObsessed said:

The seller has to put in the weights for each kind of element? I thought it is all set-up in the background from Bricklink? I would think a 1x2 brick would have the same weight across the board.

No. Most parts and sets have weights in the database already.

 

[ks6349]

1 hour ago, Clone OPatra said:

BL is a marketplace for vendors. There is no such thing as "their stores"; rather, it's individual people's stores on Bricklink. There's nearly never going to be a "deal" on shipping like you'd get from a company because it's all private individuals or individually-run tiny companies selling to you, and thus they need to cover their real costs on each order. They're not doing anything at scale. That's why it's up to the savvy buyer to make an account with wishlists so you can place orders that are worth your while.

Also the notion that it never changes is objectively false. Instant checkout, PayPal on site, heck even the ability for carts to save from one session to another are all newer features that weren't there five years ago.

I get that there is a bit of a learning curve to how BL works, but once you master that (which is pretty quick), it works well for what it's trying to do.

That being unable to cover their "real cost" is their own business, it doesn't mean buyers have to understand their situations and kindly pay more to buy from them. I never buy on BL.

I once got a number of small boxed sets that I want to purchase from some of them, but those sellers never give in to the shipping costs, even if I let them to 

ship to their own countries (because I could find a friend there to help me get it),

they never give in. After shipping cost, I can get immediately from somewhere nearby, why buying from them. BL's sellers are just arrogant.

 

[MAB]

3 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

That being unable to cover their "real cost" is their own business, it doesn't mean buyers have to understand their situations and kindly pay more to buy from them. I never buy on BL.

It is not realistic to do free worldwide shipping on BL items like you want, as prices in any seller's store are fixed for all regions. You cannot charge one price domestically and another price for the same item internationally.

There is no such thing as free shipping, free shipping just means that shipping is included in the price. For sets, that means charging the worldwide shipping price on top of the value of the set as its price. That is the only way you get "free shipping" and the seller covers the cost. For parts, it is even more unrealistic.

It is also bad if you want to buy two sets from the same seller, as you pay for postage twice. You may think you are getting two lots of free shipping, but really you are paying the inclusive shipping price twice.

I'd rather buy a set for £15 and pay £5 postage than buy the same set with free shipping. Even more so if I wanted two of the sets, when the total cost is £35 when paying for postage but £50 with free shipping.

Amazon and ebay "free shipping" total prices are nearly always higher, since the seller has factored in shipping costs and is also being charged a higher percentage of the sales price than on BL, which is also factored into the sales price.

[jimmynick]

4 hours ago, ks6349 said:

I once got a number of small boxed sets that I want to purchase from some of them, but those sellers never give in to the shipping costs, even if I let them to 

ship to their own countries (because I could find a friend there to help me get it),

they never give in. After shipping cost, I can get immediately from somewhere nearby, why buying from them.

OK, yeah, that's how a marketplace like Bricklink works??? You can't expect freebies from private individuals the way companies like TLG or Amazon etc. offer free shipping and so on. To a multinational, it hardly makes a difference in the bottom line, but to an individual it can be substantial.

[ks6349]

12 hours ago, jimmynick said:

OK, yeah, that's how a marketplace like Bricklink works??? You can't expect freebies from private individuals the way companies like TLG or Amazon etc. offer free shipping and so on. To a multinational, it hardly makes a difference in the bottom line, but to an individual it can be substantial.

Market and customer have their wise eyes and judgement. In the past two years I have bought hundreds of Lego sets on ebay and Amazon, I never need to pay shipping costs, Amazon US ships for free on orders over $25, Amazon UK ships for free on orders over 20 pounds, I never pay shipping costs, I am never a Prime member. Wise people never buy on Brinklink, so I never buy on Bricklink. 

[jimmynick]

[Alexandrina]

2 hours ago, ks6349 said:

Amazon US ships for free on orders over $25, Amazon UK ships for free on orders over 20 pounds

But let's face it, there's a lot of Lego not available on Amazon, certainly not for anything like a reasonable price. If I really wanted set 4731, Dobby's Release, I'd be looking at £49 on Amazon. The same set goes for about £12 on Bricklink, so any wise customer would eat the cost of postage unless they were specifically trying to prove some point. I can't speak for others, but I don't tend to use Bricklink for purchases of currently-available stuff. I use Bricklink when I'm after specific parts or sets, especially long-retired parts or sets, and a few quid's postage for my bricks is better than paying several times over the odds on Amazon

[ks6349]

2 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

But let's face it, there's a lot of Lego not available on Amazon, certainly not for anything like a reasonable price. If I really wanted set 4731, Dobby's Release, I'd be looking at £49 on Amazon. The same set goes for about £12 on Bricklink, so any wise customer would eat the cost of postage unless they were specifically trying to prove some point. I can't speak for others, but I don't tend to use Bricklink for purchases of currently-available stuff. I use Bricklink when I'm after specific parts or sets, especially long-retired parts or sets, and a few quid's postage for my bricks is better than paying several times over the odds on Amazon

For the sets that are not retired or just recently retired from Lego store, Amazon is undoubtedly the best place to get. If you are talking about old or vintage sets, Nowhere is the best place to get, it depends on case by case

Amazon only charges shipping cost for orders under $25 or 20 (uk money), this isn't something right? very easy to fulfill this amount

Wise customers always get the sets they want quickly before it retires. If you can find ONE boxed set which isn't retired from any seller on Bricklink that could be less expensive than that of the Amazon after shipping cost, then you win

Edited September 17, 2021 by ks6349

[MAB]

Of course for current sets, buying from a reseller  on bricklink is not going to be as cheap as buying from a volume retailer. But that isn't really the point of bricklink. Bricklink's strength is in parts and retired sets. If you only buy current retail sets, then buy from a retailer.

[ks6349]

On 9/18/2021 at 1:20 AM, MAB said:

Of course for current sets, buying from a reseller  on bricklink is not going to be as cheap as buying from a volume retailer. But that isn't really the point of bricklink. Bricklink's strength is in parts and retired sets. If you only buy current retail sets, then buy from a retailer.

I believe that you must be one of the seller in Bricklink experiencing hard time selling your overpriced Lego items. I have been buying a lot of retired sets in recent years and I always make comparison on single item price and shipping cost on different platforms because it is my hobbies and I enjoy killing time on comparing prices and eBay wins 99% of the time in my comparison. Next, I think you will say that I am an international buyer, but aren't I an international buyer too on eBay? Customers' eye is wise and their foot always step to the better market, and so eBay, NEVER Bricklink

[Alexandrina]

On 9/17/2021 at 3:27 PM, ks6349 said:

Wise customers always get the sets they want quickly before it retires

I mean, not everyone is in a position to do that. It's only in the last two years that I've had consistent disposable income to spend on sets, and even then not enough to buy literally every set I want. 'Wise' has nothing to do with it. If I'm buying retired sets, it's because either I wasn't in a position to afford them when they came out or because I wasn't even alive when they were taken off sale.

15 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

I believe that you must be one of the seller in Bricklink experiencing hard time selling your overpriced Lego items. I have been buying a lot of retired sets in recent years and I always make comparison on single item price and shipping cost on different platforms because it is my hobbies and I enjoy killing time on comparing prices and eBay wins 99% of the time in my comparison. Next, I think you will say that I am an international buyer, but aren't I an international buyer too on eBay? Customers' eye is wise and their foot always step to the better market, and so eBay, NEVER Bricklink

Honestly it's beginning to read as though you actively have an issue with Bricklink and so don't want to listen to people's arguments. Nobody has ever said that Bricklink is the cheapest way to buy brand new sets. As for second-hand, let me go back to my previous example of Dobby's Release, which as established is cheaper on Bricklink with postage than on Amazon without. The CHEAPEST listing on eBay for the same set, sealed, is £13.00 - and that's a new listing that's got nine days of auction, so it'll almost certainly end up going for more. The cheapest Buy It Now listing I can find is £39.99 with free postage.

Postage on Bricklink isn't going to be more than a couple of quid (unless you're buying lots from the same seller, in which case you can amortise the postage fee across all the items you're buying to make your price comparisons valid) so Bricklink is by far the cheapest place.

And what about individual parts? For anything that's not on Pick A Brick, where can you get it cheaper than Bricklink?

[ks6349]

3 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

I mean, not everyone is in a position to do that. It's only in the last two years that I've had consistent disposable income to spend on sets, and even then not enough to buy literally every set I want. 'Wise' has nothing to do with it. If I'm buying retired sets, it's because either I wasn't in a position to afford them when they came out or because I wasn't even alive when they were taken off sale.

Honestly it's beginning to read as though you actively have an issue with Bricklink and so don't want to listen to people's arguments. Nobody has ever said that Bricklink is the cheapest way to buy brand new sets. As for second-hand, let me go back to my previous example of Dobby's Release, which as established is cheaper on Bricklink with postage than on Amazon without. The CHEAPEST listing on eBay for the same set, sealed, is £13.00 - and that's a new listing that's got nine days of auction, so it'll almost certainly end up going for more. The cheapest Buy It Now listing I can find is £39.99 with free postage.

Postage on Bricklink isn't going to be more than a couple of quid (unless you're buying lots from the same seller, in which case you can amortise the postage fee across all the items you're buying to make your price comparisons valid) so Bricklink is by far the cheapest place.

And what about individual parts? For anything that's not on Pick A Brick, where can you get it cheaper than Bricklink?

I'm seeing plenty of vested interests supporting Bricklink with false or inaccurate claims, so I am here to act as a candle in the dark to give the true and accurate claims to the newbie and future viewers. That's it. Hand-on and actual experiences will just prove my words.

[KotZ]

12 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

I'm seeing plenty of vested interests supporting Bricklink with false or inaccurate claims, so I am here to act as a candle in the dark to give the true and accurate claims to the newbie and future viewers. That's it. Hand-on and actual experiences will just prove my words.

I've bought multiple sets off Bricklink that are retired that are cheaper than Ebay or Amazon. Also, Amazon stores are also small business stores quite a bit. It's just like bricklink, but "free shipping" is already factored into the cost. As others said, current sets are easier on Amazon or from TLG. Retired sets, parts, and just spare pieces are BrickLink's bread and butter. That's why people use that site (heads up, TLG owns Bricklink now), because it's easier. It's no different from walking into a mom and pop shop.

Your one experience is just that. One. And everybody else has had a way different experience (everyone here is saying good things). Statistically, you're experience is not working.

[Alexandrina]

28 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

I'm seeing plenty of vested interests supporting Bricklink with false or inaccurate claims

I've got to say, everything claimed about Bricklink in this thread rings 100% true both to my personal experience and the site's reputation, with the exception of your experiences. What false/inaccurate claims are you warding against?