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Greg,
I'm going to respond to a couple points that you made from the viewpoint of
a seller on Bricklink.
> What really gets me about my "taking it" when it comes to these dirty and
> damaged parts is that I've even ended up giving positive feedback to some • of
> these buyers. Having seen the outrageous squabbles that have erupted over
> negative feedback (or in some cases over the fact that no feedback was
left)
I believe this is at the core of the "problem". If a seller gets positive
feedback for something that was less then a stellar sale, then they are
unlikely to think that they are doing anything wrong. And they will likely
continue to keep doing the same thing. I'm not saying that you should
nitpick every little thing, but if you are not satisfied with ALL of the
order, then you should definitely take steps to have it corrected.
If you order 1000 parts, and 10 of them are unacceptable, that's still 10
unacceptable parts. You should contact the seller and ask for some sort of
resolution. The resolution would obviously depend on the situation and
would range from returning the parts for a refund to a credit on future
orders (if you feel comfortable ordering from them again).
I have a feeling that you are not the only buyer that lets things like this
slide. And I can understand why it happens, it does sometimes seem like an
awful lot of work for what amounts to very little in return if the parts
involved are not very expensive. But this is what allows sellers to get
away with it. And like you mentioned, it is possible that some sellers may
be counting on this and are slipping in some crappy parts with your orders
because they know it's not worth it for you to complain.
I say, if they don't fix it, give them negative feedback. There may be some
repercussions, but nothing I don't think you can weather. And if enough
people do this, the truely bad sellers will become apparent. I think there
is a fear among some buyer to leave a seller thier first negative feedback,
especially if it is an established store. But hey, if the store lets you
down, you should leave appropriate feedback.
> Questions for Sellers (I don't really expect any answers to these • questions)
>
> - Do some sellers consider "excellent" or "good" condition to be based
> solely on the fact that the piece is simply intact without any regard to
> discoloring or the fact that dirt is caked on the piece?
Unfortunately any method of rating part condition is going to be completely
dependent on the sellers opinion and honesty. Everything is relative. What
I think is "excellent" and what you thing is "excellent" could be two
completely different things. It has been brought up over on Bricklink that
there should be some method for describing used parts, but nothing could
ever be agreed upon. And it was debateable wether it would have worked
anyways, because it would still depend upon the seller to honestly and
accurately describe their parts.
The best way to shop is to stick with those stores that you know to be good.
If you need to try out new stores, check the feedback first obviously. This
only works, however, if previous buyers have left accurate feedback. You
could also ask your fellow AFOLs if they have purchased from the store and
if they were satisfied.
If you are unsure about the condition of the parts in a store, by all means
e-mail the seller and ask for a more detailed description of the part
condition. Hopefully they will respond with an honest answer. If you are
not satisfied with their answer, then don't buy there. In a perfect world
sellers would describe the part condition in the listing, but that doesn't
seem to always happen.
> So there it is, my venting about dirty and damaged parts I've bought from
> BrickLink. I want to reiterate that I am not talking about all sellers on
> BrickLink - only a small handful (4 or 5 at most) that I've had bad
> experiences with in recent months. The sellers I use regularly have NEVER
> let me down (thanks Melanie, Troy & Brett!) and I WILL continue to use
> BrickLink. In fact, I'm planning to open my own shop this summer and hope
> to eventually be viewed as good seller of bricks.
Thanks for the mention. :) I sell almost exclusively new parts, so I would
hope that there wouldn't be any problems with them! But you never know what
the post office can do to them in transit! :) I do occaisionally list used
parts, but do try to descibe their condition as accurately as possible in
the listing. These parts are generally just overstock from my personal
collection though, not stuff from when I was a kid or from garage sales.
I've never received a complaint about them.
> Request that follow-ups be directed to Market.Shopping (unless someone • wants
> to dictate that a posting on this subject belongs somewhere else like • maybe
> Market.Theory).
I've set Follow-Ups to lugnet.market.brickshops because i think this has
relevence to the operation of said shops....
Troy
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