Sort of on topic... I need advice on a nickel-dime issue again:  I'm new to Bricklink.  I need a semi-rare minifigure to complete a used set I bought for my kid. Found a number of them on BL for "~$4.75", but one seller had it for "$5.50" ... with no "~"... I just want to make a quick and easy purchase so I chose him.  He's got 36 feedback, no significant notes in his store front about shipping, etc... So I click "buy it".  A couple days later I get his invoice: $5.50 + $3.50 shipping.  I'm thinking, it's just a minifig for cryin-out-loud. Wrap it in a little thin foam, put it in an envelope and send it for $1.20 postage. $3.50 seems excessive to  me.

 

Am I obligated to buy? Can I negotiate? Should I keep shopping around? WWYD?

After reading this post and many others in this thread, my question is to the sellers that sell a minifigure for $8 or $9 shipped.  Why bother?  Considering the cost of the minifigure, packaging, gas to the post office, wear and tear of vehicle and your time, you are probably losing money.

That is one big flaw of bricklink. Sometimes you don't know what their "shipping/handling" charges are until you get their invoice. I wish bricklink would be able to calculate that automatically before you complete the transactions. To ship 1 fig it should only cost $1.92 with tracking.

The problem is you have to look on the sellers terms page to see their shipping policy. Even then they are not always clear. If they could calculate shipping based on weight it would eliminate a lot of confusion. That's one reason why I like Brick Owl. If only they had the selection that Bricklink has.

Edited September 21, 201411 yr by jbacunn

After reading this post and many others in this thread, my question is to the sellers that sell a minifigure for $8 or $9 shipped.  Why bother?  Considering the cost of the minifigure, packaging, gas to the post office, wear and tear of vehicle and your time, you are probably losing money.

I sell a fair amount of minifigs in this price range, almost all of mine come from bulk lots so my cost for each is very low. $9-$2-$2 =$5 profit on each for maybe 5 minutes of work total. Do that 10-15 times a week it's not bad, especially when you have higher dollar items mixed in as well. As far as gas for the post office, who still goes to the post office? My mailbox is 50 feet from my front door and bubble mailers fit in there just fine. For larger items it only takes a few seconds to schedule a pickup.

The problem is you have to look on the sellers terms page to see their shipping policy. Even then they are not always clear. If they could calculate shipping based on weight it would eliminate a lot of confusion. That's one reason why I like Brick Owl. If only they had the selection that Bricklink has.

This is exactly my point. I would like to be able to quickly see how much the final cost of the item will be.  I have tried brick owl but there isn't as many sellers there, I don't like their inventory system (some pieces are missing) and in general the prices are much higher. 

After reading this post and many others in this thread, my question is to the sellers that sell a minifigure for $8 or $9 shipped. Why bother? Considering the cost of the minifigure, packaging, gas to the post office, wear and tear of vehicle and your time, you are probably losing money.

Unless you just drop them off on your own mailbox.

Figs have been very profitable for me quite honestly. It all comes down to developing a system and knowing what to buy. Like any other business

The problem is you have to look on the sellers terms page to see their shipping policy. Even then they are not always clear. If they could calculate shipping based on weight it would eliminate a lot of confusion. That's one reason why I like Brick Owl. If only they had the selection that Bricklink has.

Problem is, volume is crucial as well. If the seller only charges based on weight and gets a large order, the seller could be screwed by domestic balloon rates or by "79 inch" maximum box sizes to many international destinations.

And brickowl also allows not having upfront shipping rates.

Okay

Edited September 21, 201411 yr by Kenxxx

Lower rates are available via paypal (Pitney Bowes). $1.05 for tracking in post office. Free via any online service.

Okay

Edited September 21, 201411 yr by KShine

Okay

The lesson I learned: bricklink is not ebay or amazon.  When you click

Second, you've still got shipping wrong -- the $1.93 is the first class PACKAGE rate (not letter) when you get an online discount. Some sellers still pay postage across the counter at their regular post office, so they will cost more than the $1.93 for the same PACKAGE.

Wow I guess you're right.  I swear, I punched this in the USPS postal calculator 5 different ways for large envelope, and it came up $1.93 for for in-post-office service.  But now I don't get those numbers at all.  Please disregard my postage comments.

Problem is, volume is crucial as well. If the seller only charges based on weight and gets a large order, the seller could be screwed by domestic balloon rates or by "79 inch" maximum box sizes to many international destinations.

And brickowl also allows not having upfront shipping rates.

I have only used Brick Owl a few times and each time it calculated the shipping at checkout so I guess I was just lucky. I see your point about the large orders.

I have only used Brick Owl a few times and each time it calculated the shipping at checkout so I guess I was just lucky. I see your point about the large orders.

I've been thinking about this. Better to call out the shipping rates by weight and then just have disclaimers for volume. I'm inspired. Think I'll do this now.

I am not doing myself any promotion of my store (its nearly empty anyway) but I think such Terms and conditions are clearly stated and you cannot really say you did not know about that 1 fee I have.....

 

Also shipping is fixed, and I added all the costs into shipping (bubble envelope etc)

 

http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Alcarin

Alcarin,

I like the simplicity if your splash page. Mine has ALL of the information in there but im afraid it may be too wordy and buyers may be skipping through it. So far so good though over 109 transactions and no issues.

Do I lose some sales from all the restrictions? Absolutely but the rules are defined and I've yet to have any issues so it's a give and take.

http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Dallas20

Yeah you got quite a bit to read 

 

I try to be as short and as clear, so that everyone reads it.... but yours is good, it really covers all, I am just afraid some might just ''rush'' to shipping haha

Okay

That is one big flaw of bricklink.  Sometimes you don't know what their "shipping/handling" charges are until you get their invoice.

That is not really a flaw of bricklink. It is in the nature of the thing.

 

You can buy thousands of different things there, in bulk or not. Some pieces are heavy, some are bulky (think base plates, instructions), some are built sets, or partially built. I cannot think of an automated way to calculate a package size from that - weight maybe. Add to that possibly international shipping. The difference to eBay or Amazon is mostly that buying multiple different pieces, and expecting to get "combined shipping" is absolutely the norm on Bricklink, and has to be. Orders of >50 different lots are not that uncommon. Heck - sellers often cannot know what they have to charge for your order before they pulled the parts out of their inventory and tried to pack them as efficiently as possible.

 

Yes, this is a part that probably nobody likes, but also nobody really has a solution for. The good part is that usually sellers on bricklink seem to be honest about the postage, and really try to make it as cheap as possible (which is mostly what buyers want).