Selling Used as New: A Short Rant

Pikka

A friend of mine recently ordered a large and diverse batch of new parts from a BrickOwl store. When he received the package he realized that the condition of all parts is Like New at best. My friend confronted the store owner, a jovial guy, who admitted that the most parts he stocked were indeed being played with – assembled and disassembled by him personally. They still looked newish though, so he genuinely didn't see any problem with selling them as brand new. Nevertheless, he accepted the return and offered a full refund without much arguing.

I checked reviews of the store in question and they are rather good. There are a few negative and neutral ones, mainly due to unrelated issues, such as a long delivery time. So I wonder how on earth someone can prosper on BrickOwl with such a shady business practice? The most BrickOwl sellers I know go out of their way to carefully part out, store and pack their bricks. Unfortunately, it seems that if there is no obvious damage (major bitemarks, cracks, dents or scratches) most buyers aren't too picky about the new parts they receive.

But there may be another explanation, even more unsettling. My friend, and possibly many others, didn't leave any review. I asked him why and he said: "Sure, I'm not happy with the whole thing, but it could've been worse. I only leave reviews if it is great or horrible experience. The store owner is just a petty opportunist and not a jerk. I learned a lesson and got my money back. So, why bother?"

Any thoughts?

P6tu

I believe it is rather different and personal for everyone, how they leave the feedback. Myself for example, I always leave a feedback (if possible, in few cases the feedback button has vanished :S ). Now, depending on the service, I usually can't find any reason to give negative feedback, so I leave a positive one, but I type out any shortcomings (if any).

Geert Middelman

As a store owner who tries to stock with some rare, unusual but older parts, this competition is frustrating to say the least. I spend hours sourcing discontinued sealed sets on eBay, yard sales, etc, just to be able to have that one rare part. That rare part might be available as used, but I'd be one of the few stores that has that part stocked new.

Concerning the quality, parts straight from sealed sets are not always mint or pristine either. If there are some obvious scratches on larger or more expensive parts, I put them aside and sell them as batch on eBay, to make sure what I sell on BO and the neighbours, is actually in new condition.

Then the feedback, I think people are very black and white in feedback. If it's horrible, it's a negative one, with a clear description. If it's remotely satisfying experience (wether full refund, or proper receipt) it's just a standard positive. Now, if there is initial dissatisfaction with the order, and it is resolved by the seller, as it's done in your example, I would expect a positive feedback. As seller it would be very rough if you provide a full refund, or send a correction shipment for missing pieces to resolve any issue, and still got hit with a negative feedback.

Calibrick

I agree with Geert, this is a horrible practice by that seller (respectfully, shame on you if you're reading this - you are violating the BO terms of service, even though it may strike you as harmless) and unacceptable. They are violating BO terms.

Heck, when someone buys New from me and my inventory was off and I have to replace it with quality used, I TELL the customer, as well as refund them (yet at least they're getting some parts for their build) - some customers are parting out sets to sell as new, and if a used one is in there, we inadvertently make them a liar if that goes unnoticed. And there are sue-happy folks out there, unfortunately.

Geert raises another great point - the unintended consequence against the good folk truly sourcing and selling new as new.

With feedback, people are people - I always take no news and good news. Happy people rarely leave feedback unless they are over the moon or super-consciencious (wow, I know I slaughtered that spelling) of the online seller's need for feedback. Unhappy people almost always leave feedback I would have thought - I guess I am wrong! Most people are good natured and don't want to hurt a small online seller unnecessarily - but there are also opportunities who are aware of that.

I'm not saying I would EVER leave neg feedback for basic things if they were resolved or there was good cooms and we agreed to blow it off, such as a missing part, etc. That stuff happens, I'd never "punish" a seller for that.

But for clearly and knowingly mislisting used as new? Even if they're nice? That's the very rare time I probably would leave kindly worded negative feedback: "A jovial person who makes issues right, but knowingly mislists used parts as new."

HeartlandBrix

A similar thing happened to me not too long ago on a bulk lot buy on another site. Seller advertised "used, clean & disinfected", but when I opened my package, there was grime and dust on many of the parts. If the seller cleaned them, they just stuck the parts under some running water, let them air dry, and called it good. I would have felt bad leaving a negative review, though, because everything else was good with the order: fast shipping and good price for a used bulk-lot buy so I didn't feel cheated on part quantity. It was also obvious from the seller's page that selling Lego wasn't something they did regularly, but rather they were just trying to "clean house". I didn't believe the seller warranted a positive, though, because it's obvious they didn't take any time to clean/disinfect like they said.

If my ALL my parts are there, ALL the parts match description, and ALL the parts were clean, then the "positive/negative" review system works. The black/white "positive/negative" review is tough to use, though, when a "complicated" transaction like this occurs. The order wasn't fully positive, because there were problems with it, but it wasn't fully negative because other conditions were met, and he did get his money back. Like Pikka's friend, I tend to stay silent in these transactions, "flag" the seller with a personal note to myself, and move on. I can also be relatively wordy, so leaving comments to clarify my rating tend to take up more room than there is available.

If a site has a "rank between 1 and 5" system, or "positive/negative/neutral" rating like BrickOwl, though, I'm much more likely to leave a review for the seller: Shipping? 5 (went out next day). Got everything I ordered? 4 (10-15% were non-Lego). Part quality? 2 (dirty/grimy/dusty, definitely not cleaned/disinfected, but no broken pieces; poor advertising). Overall? 3.

Geert Middelman

Maybe this is worth looking into, the point/idea heartlandbrix is raising. I would favor a rating system where you can quantify individual parts of the transaction. Shipping and packaging might be top notch, while quality of product might be subpar.

Calibrick

I actually like that idea (ranking different transaction aspects) a lot!

Jay37

If it can be implemented, I think this would be a more flexible and realistic method of feedback, and perhaps give stores more of an idea of what, if anything, they might need to work on.

Papa Pearson

I'm not sure about the number rating system. Seems good on the surface, but I think it could hurt some stores in the end. What gets you a 5 star rating on an order and what gives it a 4? Take Calibrick, I have placed several orders with them, perfect each time, 5 stars easy, but what I think is a 5 someone else is going to think is a 4. Its too subjective and broad. That's why you limit the choices, Positive and Negative. We can talk all day about what does or doesn't constitute a Negative experience. As I think about it, a star rating may work for like shipping time, packaging and maybe a few other aspects of an order (Cali actually said that first), but I don't think it should replace the Positive and Negative.