Home› Brick Owl

Thoughts on instruction/packaging in inventories

LawrenceLawrence
edited July 2013 in Brick Owl Vote Up0Vote Down
I was thinking of by default including all sticker sheets, packaging, and instructions within the inventory of a set. When you part out the set into your inventory, every item has a checkbox so it can easily be removed, and I may setup some default settings so you can have packaging excluded by default for example.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Comments

  • 8 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • AladineAladine
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    GREAT. Please also add additional paperwork coming in sets (catalog, poster etc). Most of the used sets listed/sold will not have them, but it would (together with listing variations) make BO catalog a really outstanding one, the most complete ever seen until now.
  • walstibwalstib
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I think it's good for the part out function, the delete boxes are nice. A little part out option for assemblies within the part out would be cool too.

    I think the boxes and instructions having their own , whatever you call that... entry, it would get confusing having them in the everyday visual inventory.

  • walstibwalstib
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I think the boxes and instructions having their own , whatever you call that... entry, it would get confusing having them in the everyday visual inventory.
    Just to expand on that a bit. If the instruction and box (sticker now too) entries were not links beside the main inventory, but a stand alone section like gear or parts, it would straightforward to me.

    To have a instruction entry on the set page, and another within the inventory, is where I see possible mixups. Separate the links from being beside each other, a clear separation somehow, and having everything in the inventory as well seems fine.

    To have all things in the everyday inventory seems odd, but it is probably more a break from tradition I'm used to than anything else.
  • walstibwalstib
    edited July 2013 Vote Up0Vote Down
    To have a instruction entry on the set page, and another within the inventory, is where I see possible mixups.
    It's not without precedent in the community though, BL does this with "book cards" for old education sets. They are the instructions as well as stand alone in the inventory as activity books IIRC.

    It confused me.....
  • DagsBricksDagsBricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    How will sets be considered complete? If all the pieces are there? Or does the box, stickers, and instructions need to included for complete?

    Brian
  • AladineAladine
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    What people consider as complete, differs a lot. Some call a set complete when all parts and minifigs are there, others call it complete when stickers are there too, and some will consider it only as complete when everything that was in the set when originally sold is there. Why not go away from this word 'complete' and have check boxes instead like 'parts complete', 'minifigs complete', 'stickers applied', 'instructions included' ...
  • quigleyquigley
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I would encourage a "break from tradition", in the sense that I wouldn't mind having anything and everything associated with a set linked through the inventory system (yes, even assemblies, of which minifigs are a subset). However, I would in the same breath suggest that the default "view" of a set inventory only include the basic list of parts (no extras, alternates, assemblies, packaging, etc).

    THEN, make a set of inventory options for each user to include each of these other groups. I perceive that your philosophy is to offer only the most practical user options (and not the laundry lists we see on BL), but there are several VERY different types of inventory users - sellers parting out sets may want to see everything, while new users may get confused seeing the same thing listed 2 or more ways in the same inventory (e.g. assemblies and variants); collectors may wish to view the pieces exactly as they came out of the box (no assemblies, but with variants and extras), while sellers of used parts may prefer to see assemblies (including stickered parts) in inventories as they would like to sell them in their store.

    If you can overcome the technical challenges of offering all of these different ways to use the inventory system, what may seem like a cluttered mess of options at first will become a dream come true for the many users of this system. How many countless hours have been spent on BL arguing about these issues, and then trying to patch up inventories to make the greatest number of users happy! You have a chance to step right over this timeless obstacle right from the beginning, saving your energy for more fruitful things.

    One "option" on BL you won't have to bother with at all, btw, is the "Display Inventory Line ID", because your intuitive user interface (which you wrote in only one week!) doesn't require users to muddle around with these numbers. No more 6-digit Match IDs coming in from users either. :)
Sign In or Register to comment.