Mass update prices

plastic-brickscouk

Ok, I may have missed something here but is it possible to mass update a number of items to either the 6 months average price or the current average price?

If not, is this an achievable feature or could the ability be added to download as a bsx file to reset prices in brick store and then upload the update?

Alex

walstib

HI Alex,

Having asked for something similar, mass update prices from a file, I vote in that direction.

I guess we have Owl format when thinking of the inventory download. That would be good enough for me now, though BSX would be nice.

I have not tried but I believe you can use excel, two files, and transfer prices at least manually. I would think it could be automated somehow, with some program or time.

All the more reason I am thinking stoking the fires under a new program like Brickstore that would do this kind of thing for the community.

I am leery of using one site's resources to accomplish something on another site, an in between solution would give me peace.

You can use just one stockroom to sinc here if you organize things right, I think this would be one way to accomplish this in the short term. Assuming you mean the average price from BL rather than the average here.

Joe

Lawrence

I have added to the list to allow mass updating of inventory to set the prices to the price history, either current or sale averages etc

walstib

I have not tried but I believe you can use excel, two files, and transfer prices at least manually.

I forgot there is no import for the downloaded file after changing.

Thor

Admin, as a retired business attorney, I would caution you to consult with legal counsel before implementing any systemized site-wide feature that would allow different sellers to price their goods the exact same as other sellers. Having multiple different unrelated sellers set (i.e. fix) prices at the same "average" prices established by the group could be considered a form of illegal price-fixing. BrickOwl providing them the means to do this could cause problems for you as well.

This is one reason why I have never used "average" prices on BL when pricing my goods. Never! For one thing, I never want to be "average". But legally, it just seems suspect when a group of different unrelated sellers use a feature whereby they can all set the same prices.

The fact that BL and BrickStore have had this feature for so long is irrelevant. It just means they have been lucky so far. All you need is one PO'd member or disgruntled buyer to file a class action lawsuit or complaint with the Justice Department. Price-fixing claims are very difficult and expensive to fight. You may win in the end, but you will probably go bankrupt long before you win.

BTW, I am not saying that giving all sellers the ability to set the same "average price" *IS* illegal price-fixing. Just that it MAY be. It at least raises red flags in my mind and might be something you should check out first before implementing as an official site-wide feature. As far as your or BO's potential liability is concerned, it is one thing if private off-site software like BrickStore offers this ability to users. You cannot control that. But once you embrace and offer this feature yourself, you create potential liability for yourself and BO. All I am saying is check it out before rushing into it.

Thor

Graham

Perhaps it could be called a guide price?

I am not in any way a legal eagle, but surely price fixing is when a group of companies fix a set high price? oil companies do it all the time!

The 6 month average is just an automated collection of real data from all sales - hardly anyone sells at the average price, and the real price range between sellers can vary by several 100%

personaly I like looking at (and utilizing to some degree) "guide prices" comparing 6 month against current shows the trend (up or down) and gives you an idea of advertised price of an item without having to look at every piece individually.

Perhaps selling sets is different, but parting 2000+ parts and trying to figure out a price without a guide - I shudder to think...

Thor

There is a difference between merely providing information or raw data on average prices versus putting in place a system whereby multiple unrelated sellers can set their prices at the same "average" prices. Legally, BO should not be providing a "guide price" or guiding, suggesting or proposing any specific prices at all to multiple different sellers. Especially when BO's owner and admin is also an active seller of the same goods.

All I am saying is be careful. Check it out. Don't just assume everything is OK. BO is a global site. Some countries (including the USA) can be very strict in their antitrust and price-fixing laws. I have been involved in several multinational price fixing cases during my career and have seen first-hand how the competition authorities in the USA, Canada and the EU aggressively handle these matters. In one case, the Japanese government printed average and suggested prices for a certain commodity, which several Japanese companies adopted. They were all hit with criminal and civil actions which resulted in them (as well as a US and German company) paying over $1,000,000,000 in fines, penalties and civil damages. And the USDOJ, Canadian Competition Bureau and EC don't just go after the big guys. They have also gone after little mom and pop operations and put some of them out of business. For an interesting read, go to the USDOJ website and look under the Antitrust Division for some of their "success" stories.

Play it safe. Play it smart. Play it clean.

Thor

YELLOW FARM BRICKS

agree with Thor and also, commercially the average principle tends to drive prices ever lower as everyone seems to want to claim their prices are "below average". Clearly this is not in the site's long term interest... This is a problem on the other site, more so because they allow dodgy sellers to remove labour cost from the parts prices and add it on at the end of the invoice hence artificially reducing the parts prices and making the average a complete nonsense. I am VERY pleased to see this is not allowed here but also caution that anything systemic that encourages sellers to use average pricing is not a healthy business model.
Robert

walstib

I certainly agree with Robert's points here, I said something simmilar in another thread.

I have over 5000 parts not listed here that I have manually taken the time to price and it has been a lot of work.

I would still like to mass update *my* prices from a file. It was certainly a bigger issue first starting a store the way I did without syncing. That was only a few hundred parts but no small amount of time to look at this window, enter here, copy search click click.

I orgainize my large part out's in brickstore, now I have been transfering prices to parts I knew were not here yet, it's becomming more and more difficult to keep track of what does and does not have to be priced without a lot of looking and cross referencing.

I would think Mass updateing prices can be separated from setting to average prices in some way.