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Store minimums
Why can't we set both a minimum lot average and/or minimum purchase amount?
We have tried to be reasonable and keep these to a minimum, but then we found that our buyer's would buy 1 item at $0.38 which would then cost us money due to PayPal fees.
So we said fine, we will impose a minimum lot average of $0.50. But many buyer's can't seem to do basic math and BO warns against its use: "Warning: This does not provide a good customer experience and should only rarely be used. A minimum lot average can be used instead of a minimum order to limit customers to purchasing a minimum amount of each lot, averaged across the order." So sure enough we get someone who placed an order (@10 pm on a Friday night) and then demanded a refund for half of the items saying they didn't understand the lot minimum and they really didn't need most of those parts and if we didn't refund them they would leave us negative feedback and file a complaint through PayPal and we had poor customer service because we hadn't answered him by 6 am on Sunday. So, okay, that didn't work so we set a minimum purchase amount.....
Now we have an order for 78... (SEVENTY-EIGHT) lots for LESS THAN $15.00. My team and I can effectively pull 200 lots per day. So that means we will spend 1/2 a work day (3 hours) on 1 order. The majority of these parts are from our consignment client so after we have paid for the parts, PayPal, and BO we will have made $3.28. (I'm not even including the overhead of paying an employee.) That works out to be $1.09 PER HOUR.
For the most part our buyer's here on BO are some of the nicest, most generous people I have encountered in the LEGO world. They have come back over and over again to buy from us. When we were closed for an extended period in March and April we actually received emails asking if we were okay and if we would be able to open again soon. We want to keep selling on this platform, but orders like this one will force us out of business. I'm really not trying to be greedy, I'm just trying to cover my costs.
We have tried to be reasonable and keep these to a minimum, but then we found that our buyer's would buy 1 item at $0.38 which would then cost us money due to PayPal fees.
So we said fine, we will impose a minimum lot average of $0.50. But many buyer's can't seem to do basic math and BO warns against its use: "Warning: This does not provide a good customer experience and should only rarely be used. A minimum lot average can be used instead of a minimum order to limit customers to purchasing a minimum amount of each lot, averaged across the order." So sure enough we get someone who placed an order (@10 pm on a Friday night) and then demanded a refund for half of the items saying they didn't understand the lot minimum and they really didn't need most of those parts and if we didn't refund them they would leave us negative feedback and file a complaint through PayPal and we had poor customer service because we hadn't answered him by 6 am on Sunday. So, okay, that didn't work so we set a minimum purchase amount.....
Now we have an order for 78... (SEVENTY-EIGHT) lots for LESS THAN $15.00. My team and I can effectively pull 200 lots per day. So that means we will spend 1/2 a work day (3 hours) on 1 order. The majority of these parts are from our consignment client so after we have paid for the parts, PayPal, and BO we will have made $3.28. (I'm not even including the overhead of paying an employee.) That works out to be $1.09 PER HOUR.
For the most part our buyer's here on BO are some of the nicest, most generous people I have encountered in the LEGO world. They have come back over and over again to buy from us. When we were closed for an extended period in March and April we actually received emails asking if we were okay and if we would be able to open again soon. We want to keep selling on this platform, but orders like this one will force us out of business. I'm really not trying to be greedy, I'm just trying to cover my costs.
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130-150 lots an hour.
We get orders like that too, and they are a pain and feel like a waste of time. But on the other hand, we get people who buy $50 worth of pieces in only a couple lots(or even pieces) so it all balances out.
The above is a customer you should consider submitting an issue report against - that sounds like feedback blackmail as well as an abuse of PayPal's terms, to me. My humble opinion...
Does the system even let someone checkout their cart that doesn't meet a store's lot limits or minimums? Based on using the wishlist cart quite a bit recently, it's certainly accounting for those kinds of limits in the totals, etc.
Every order is pulled by 1 person and then a second person verifies the count of each lot as they bag it. So our time includes for verification, packing, putting the order into mailers/boxes, and printing postage. Again, we recognize that we are not the fastest at order fulfillment, but this is the system that works for us and the space we have to work with.
My setup on the other site is 1 lot=1$ and $20 minimum order and its doing well.
I think its time for BO to do the same. A $5 order for 5 lot is more annoying then anything else.
That's also why i remove Rebrickable link to my store. Too many $5-8 orders that only make your day longer. How hard it must be to put a & fonction at time of checkout for a minimum lot average and a minimum $ amount. Please Lawrence i think its time.
I get many small orders and I'm fine with that. Few years back I was looking for a few small parts and was glad there were stores where I could just by a few pieces and not add some parts that I did not need just to be able to order.
And yes, my shipping prices have some cost in them for payment fees and packaging.
And we don't look at every single order to closely in terms of hourly wages, looking at the big picture, we are doing rather nice
Having said that, it is strange that the limits can be set, but do not function together.
As far as I know, the micro payment option can be set up in the current PayPal account, but it is not available for every country and from what I can tell you need to contact PP.
I’ve recently gone to minimum lot average, I said I never would, but I too couldn’t keep up. BL you can have both lot average and minimum order.
As I couldn’t figure out micropayments, I have added cash and money order payments for low value orders.
As far as a threat from a buyer to leave a negative like that, really you have no option, refund them and block them. You can’t name them here to warn others. But there is a thread dedicated to these sites on the brick picker forum.
The reason why BrickOwl is so appealing to new people on the buyers side, is the lack of complicated structures like BrickLink has. As a buyer you first and foremost don't have to wait for invoices to be sent. As a buyer you don't have to think and tinker around adding parts you don't want or need to meet a lot overage, you won't be 'unable' to buy because for some reason the part you want is the last part in inventory and there is no way to match the lot average except by adding a random other part in large volume you don't need. As a buyer you don't have to be afraid for added costs or hidden fees at the end of the transaction. What you see is what you get.
We as sellers are here to serve buyers. We have to make our business work and serve those buyers to the best way possible. It is not a favor we do to customers, it is our business. If our business can't be made viable without chasing customers away from the platform as a whole, we are doing something seriously wrong. Are our prices too low? Do we take too long order picking? Do we charge too little for shipping smaller orders? Do we focus on prices instead of breadth/depth of inventory? Do we spend too much on packaging material? You name it, anything that influences your pricing and costing structure should be looked at if you want to run a business properly.
Not saying that we are all doing it wrong, but we really have to turn it around. We want the customer, we want to sell parts, we want to make some extra money. And the only way to do that is to have happy customers, enjoying the platform, will come back to BrickOwl, and preferably will come back to your/our store. The platform needs to appeal to them first, and to us second.
YES! Yes yes yes yes yes, that so perfectly captures my personal business worldview. :-) It's a big chunk of why I opened here and closed my BL account in the first place - customer first ('cause without them... what's the point? <s>).
I would only add though, I don't mean to judge any other seller's approach - that's just not my place. So long as the general platform is kept simple from a customer POV, then it's all good in my book. :-)
And I'll also very cheerfully take any and all of those 100-lot $10 orders - you charge through them, and get them done, only to find those awesome folks return over and over and over again with MUCH bigger $$ orders and smaller lot counts. I'm here to sell and make $$ for me (we all know our LEGO love isn't cheap! <s>) and my charity (insert CCFA plug here). :-)
And this only applies when buyer and seller are EU based.
And last time I read (6 months ago I think), a restocking fee is legal, as long as you have it stated in your ToS and should be a reasonable amount.
Same goes for return shipping cost, you have to have that stated in your ToS, otherwise the return cost are for the seller to pay. I know a lot of big companies offer free return, but there is a tendency to stop with that, there is no law that they have to refund those cost.
Retailers can make a deduction from the refund if they believe the value has been affected because the consumer handled the product more than was necessary - which is loosely defined as being more than they would have been allowed to handle the product in a store. In terms of a Lego set, you wouldn't open one in a store, so you shouldn't expect to be able to open one at home and then expect a full refund. HOWEVER, and this is where most BO sellers will lose every time, retailers are not allowed to make any deduction for diminishing the value of the goods if they have not provided consumers with the information about their right to cancel. No other deductions, such as cancellation or restocking fees, can be made when a consumer exercises their legal right to cancel.
As you say, return shipping costs are down to the seller unless they explicitly say that the buyer must pay.
In many cases members states included additional protections beyond those required by EU law. For example, in the UK:
The cooling-off period increases from 14 days to 1 year and 14 days if the retailer doesn't meet all their legal obligations. It can be something as simple as failing to display the business address.
It’s also illegal to display any notice that deliberately misleads consumers or deceives them about their rights, e.g. a statement that says you don’t accept returns or offer refunds. This is actually a criminal offence and could result in a criminal record!
An online retailer must have a complaint-handling policy, and as part of EU law, must include a link to the European Online Dispute Resolution platform (this is something BO could help with by default).
Lego may say they don't accept returns of PAB or BAP but that doesn't make it legal. In fact, their T&Cs seem to suggest they can now be returned:
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/page/terms-and-conditions
Lego used to prohibit Lego Education stockists from selling to customers outside their designated region. They were expected to refer you to your local stockist. When one of them attempted to do this I challenged them on the basis that a refusal to sell to me constituted discrimination based on the secondary characteristic of country of residence. They agreed to speak to Lego and a few days later I was allowed to make a purchase. I've since bought from stockists all over Europe, so clearly the policy changed.