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Comparing BO and Another Site's Wishlist Tool
My husband, Joe, was putting together parts for a set for me as a gift (which I got last night - but have NO idea what it is yet, because he feeds me the instructions in parts so I can't determine the whole too quickly, lol) and he had the opportunity to compare BO's wishlist tool with the competition's (BL). His feedback was kind of interesting, I thought.
SUMMARY
While Brickowl's Wishlist Magic tool is FAR superior to BL's (see why below), with BL's significantly larger number of stores (hence, more competition and competitive pricing), it was cheaper to source most parts on BL. I gave him a bit of a hard time about that, but from a customer POV, I do get it. He saved $300, was able to get all parts (several weren't available at all here), though at the cost of EIGHT HOURS of dorking with their wishlist tool. The same results (but at a higher price with missing parts) took MINUTES on Brickowl.
So BLUF, Brickowl's Wishlist tool is WAY WAY WAY better than BL's (usability, accuracy of functionality) and appears to be much more accurate in terms of finding you the optimum price (including shipping), but our site's smaller store base is affecting cost and part availability from a buyer POV. Which makes total sense.
BRICKOWL WISHLIST ADVANTAGE
1. The biggest is that when you select a second store that has any overlap in parts with your first selection, the system AUTOMATICALLY moves those parts to the second (or twelfth <s>) store if they sell it for cheaper. That is huge - BL does NOT do that. This alone saves a ton of time and money based on part availability.
2. He said Brickowl's tool excluded stores where you would not meet the order minimum or lot limit. The other side did not do that for order minimums, which he said was a huge hassle.
3. He found Brickowl's far more user-friendly to use.
BRICKLINK WISHLIST ADVANTAGE
1. More stores - hence more part competition, availability, and competitive pricing.
BRICKOWL WISHLIST NEGATIVE
He had nothing negative to say, save to obtain his entire list (three parts short), would have cost $1000 (it's a huge MOC, am dying to get started and know what it is, lol), no matter how he sliced it among stores or using the "let Brickowl do it" option. That does imply that the letting Brickowl load it option comes darned close to self-choosing stores tho, which is actually a plus.
BRICKLINK WISHLIST NEGATIVES
1. This was his biggest nightmare - it was all about what ORDER you added stores to it, since their system does not auto-reallocate the same part to a diff store you add if they have the same part as another added, but cheaper. He ended up recreating the list multiple times to get the pricier parts from the "right", cheaper stores.
2. He said he killed, literally, an entire DAY, getting the maximum order list for the cheapest including shipping ($700).
3. Their list has you add stores with min. orders to it that you list doesn't meet, forcing you to add things if they're the best option to get a unique part that makes it worth getting to that minimum (he said he had his settings right, FYI).
4. Their "do it all for you at cheapest price/shipping" option is NOT the cheapest - their automation came in at $1100+ he said, but his patient dorking with it and rechoosing stores in the right order got it down to $700.
5. He shifted into a "start with the expensive parts" option, but hand-choosing stores required scrolling through screen after screen when you sort stores by name, which was a nightmare he said.
SUMMARY
While Brickowl's Wishlist Magic tool is FAR superior to BL's (see why below), with BL's significantly larger number of stores (hence, more competition and competitive pricing), it was cheaper to source most parts on BL. I gave him a bit of a hard time about that, but from a customer POV, I do get it. He saved $300, was able to get all parts (several weren't available at all here), though at the cost of EIGHT HOURS of dorking with their wishlist tool. The same results (but at a higher price with missing parts) took MINUTES on Brickowl.
So BLUF, Brickowl's Wishlist tool is WAY WAY WAY better than BL's (usability, accuracy of functionality) and appears to be much more accurate in terms of finding you the optimum price (including shipping), but our site's smaller store base is affecting cost and part availability from a buyer POV. Which makes total sense.
BRICKOWL WISHLIST ADVANTAGE
1. The biggest is that when you select a second store that has any overlap in parts with your first selection, the system AUTOMATICALLY moves those parts to the second (or twelfth <s>) store if they sell it for cheaper. That is huge - BL does NOT do that. This alone saves a ton of time and money based on part availability.
2. He said Brickowl's tool excluded stores where you would not meet the order minimum or lot limit. The other side did not do that for order minimums, which he said was a huge hassle.
3. He found Brickowl's far more user-friendly to use.
BRICKLINK WISHLIST ADVANTAGE
1. More stores - hence more part competition, availability, and competitive pricing.
BRICKOWL WISHLIST NEGATIVE
He had nothing negative to say, save to obtain his entire list (three parts short), would have cost $1000 (it's a huge MOC, am dying to get started and know what it is, lol), no matter how he sliced it among stores or using the "let Brickowl do it" option. That does imply that the letting Brickowl load it option comes darned close to self-choosing stores tho, which is actually a plus.
BRICKLINK WISHLIST NEGATIVES
1. This was his biggest nightmare - it was all about what ORDER you added stores to it, since their system does not auto-reallocate the same part to a diff store you add if they have the same part as another added, but cheaper. He ended up recreating the list multiple times to get the pricier parts from the "right", cheaper stores.
2. He said he killed, literally, an entire DAY, getting the maximum order list for the cheapest including shipping ($700).
3. Their list has you add stores with min. orders to it that you list doesn't meet, forcing you to add things if they're the best option to get a unique part that makes it worth getting to that minimum (he said he had his settings right, FYI).
4. Their "do it all for you at cheapest price/shipping" option is NOT the cheapest - their automation came in at $1100+ he said, but his patient dorking with it and rechoosing stores in the right order got it down to $700.
5. He shifted into a "start with the expensive parts" option, but hand-choosing stores required scrolling through screen after screen when you sort stores by name, which was a nightmare he said.
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