Wrong Mold Variation Received...

Pikka

A buyer messaged me a few hours ago claiming he received a wrong Lego part. I've checked and realized he received a part that has two mold variations, which we don't differentiate. My reply was as follows:
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"BrickOwl stores can choose if they want to differentiate mold variations. We decided not to, and that info is displayed on all our pages, in a column on the right side.

According to the BrickOwl catalog, “Ski with hinge (6120/29178)” and “Ski without hinge (99774)" are just mold variations. If you go to the part’s inventory page ( https://pikka.brickowl.com/store/lego-ski-with-hinge-6120-29178 ) there is important info on Mold variations (see attached image)

'Some Lego parts are made with slight differences, we don’t differentiate these small differences so this part may actually be one of the parts below. If you would like a specific variation, please contact us before placing your order and we will check which type we have in stock.'

Since we chose not to differentiate, the full name is shortened and just say: Ski (6120 / 29178). Also, the picking list doesn't mention the mold variation (see attached image). We keep both versions together and only check the type if a buyer asks. In this case, the difference is more than just cosmetic, but buyers usually don’t care."

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I fully understand the buyer's frustration so I offered to send the right version, free of charge. It's not a big deal, but a similar issue may arise again. So, what would you do in my place? Also, do you think that some mold variations are so different from one another that they should be separate items?

Area 51 Bricks

I would say it is important to specify the different mold variations as a lot of buyers may be trying to complete an old set and they may want it to have the same mold type as the original piece.

Vosblokjes

I think we need Lawrence for this one.
Looking at the catalog there is no general Ski entry anymore, only the 2 different ones.
Going to your store, I do see the general one, clicking on it indeed shows the info as in your screenshot, but look at the URL "https://pikka.brickowl.com/store/lego-ski-with-hinge-6120-29178", so it is the one with hinge.
And clicking on the catalog link I get to the hinged one as well.
Same goes for your 99774 (but the unhinged URL and link).
As a personal note, for many items I can understand why a store/buyer will not differentiate, but his ski is so different that it can make a big deal, I don't understand why these could be the same

So I think that somewhere along the line the catalog was changed, no longer having a undifferentiated item, but only the 2 different ones.

It is also possible that I don't see the general one in the catalog because I have set my store to differentiatie mold variations.
Because looking for 4085 I only see the 4 molds in the catalog, but I can find 2 general ones in your store. And for those 2 the URLS and catalog links don't go to a general catalog entry.
So something strange is going on.

Lawrence

@BasKrie If I understand your message correctly, the system is working as intended. Generally, there are no "undifferentiated" items, we have a few and slowly remove them

Hoddie

The catalogue hasn't been changed - when a store states they do not differentiate mould variations, those variations are simply 'hidden' within their store. Such a store could list their skis against either variation (or, indeed, both) but when viewing their store, the info about the variation is not shown.

The problem arises when such items appear on the listings pages - the fact that the seller does not differentiate moulds is not known until the buyer clicks through to the store, and then it's easily missed - especially for new buyers.

It might be an idea to have items listed separately when a store doesn't differentiate. Perhaps a tab for 'variation one', another for 'variation two', etc. and then a final one 'all' which includes all variations, including those items from stores who choose not to differentiate.

Pikka

@BasKrie I think that depending on your choice as a seller (differentiate or not) the BrickOwl system changes how you (and others) see those different molds in your shop. So, catalog does show 2 different names, but my store doesn't – they are just skis and hinges (with or without) are not mentioned at all. Yes, these two skis are very different and they should be completely separate items. There are other examples as well, this being especially telling: wheel rim with pin hole or axle hole https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-wheel-rim-18-x-14-with-axle-hole-55982-67125.

Hoddie

^^ completely agree - I've complained about those rims being linked previously, it really is not appropriate to consider them mould variations.

Lawrence

On listing pages, the item name should be shown without the variation component, to try to highlight that the store does not differentiate. We do also have a warning on every item page within the store that is a variation. I've now removed the mold variation on the wheel rim and added it as a related item.

Vosblokjes

Lawrence, how can the store URL and the catalog link on the store item page hold the name of a variation when the item in the store is supposed to not be a variation, I think it makes it more complicated for buyers.

And on the general item page in the store there are also 2 links to the store inventory for the different variations.
LEGO Ski with Hinge (6120 / 29178)
LEGO Ski without Hinge (99774)
Clicking on the first I expect that I get to the Hinged one, but it reverts to the undifferentiated one, this could be very confusing for a buyer.

Lawrence

I certainly agree it's confusing. In the early days of Brick Owl we went through many different iterations of dealing with mold variations, all with different upsides and downsides. This is the "least worst" version we settled on.

P6tu

Hello,

Just adding my comment from the customers side. I am not the specific customer in this current case, but I've landed on this issue as will. Not with the ski, but with exhaust pipes (40620 vs 71137) and windows (60032 vs 2377).
In some cases the mold variations are purely cosmetic, but in some cases they differ also from the usability perspective - and that in my opinion is not a mold variation. But this is the world we live in and Lego is the one to state, which is a newer mold and which is a new part.

LONG STORY SHORT - yeah, I know now to tell apart if a store is concidering the mold variations or not, but it would be better to scream this out in some other way, than just a small slightly gray text "we do not differentiate mold variations". For a beginner it will just be unnoticed. It would be also good to somehow scream, if mold variations differ from the usability/functionality.

Slightly OT: My first case was with the windows for an old airplane that had the 2377 windows. I was missing about 20 of those and I bought them multiple times from different stores and I didn't even notice that I received the "wrong ones". I did not understand, why did I have an insane amount of those "wrong" windows and where do they come from (I'm somewhat lazy and I just check visually if everything is there more or less with the order and then stash them into my "incoming" bin to sort out later). After this exhaust pipe incident I started to realize, why I still had those windows missing and why I had around 100 of them already...

We live, we fail, we learn...