My BO wishlist for 2016

Hoddie

I think we've become spoiled by how easy BO allows us to buy and sell Lego, but even the best sites can be improved. This would be my wish list for 2016:

- Faster approval of catalogue edits, with new additions given particular priority
- Ability to reply to feedback
- Recording the file name in the inventory history when a lot is created or updated by a BSX file.
- A store setting that requires each seller to select whether they are selling as a registered business or a private individual, thus showing buyers at a glance whether consumer protection laws apply.
- When a store declares itself as a business, the automatic implementation of basic consumer laws for EU sellers, in particular the inclusion of the statement in the email invoice that confirms the legal right to cancel the order.
- Better implementation of displaying (in a tab, perhaps) how some parts link to each other, for instance left and right wedges, tyres to their rims, hinges to each other, etc.

Anyways, thanks for 2015, and here's to an even more successful 2016.

robernat

I think we've become spoiled by how easy BO allows us to buy and sell Lego, but even the best sites can be improved. This would be my wish list for 2016:

1. Faster approval of catalogue edits, with new additions given particular priority
2. Ability to reply to feedback
3. Recording the file name in the inventory history when a lot is created or updated by a BSX file.
4. A store setting that requires each seller to select whether they are selling as a registered business or a private individual, thus showing buyers at a glance whether consumer protection laws apply.
5. When a store declares itself as a business, the automatic implementation of basic consumer laws for EU sellers, in particular the inclusion of the statement in the email invoice that confirms the legal right to cancel the order.
6. Better implementation of displaying (in a tab, perhaps) how some parts link to each other, for instance left and right wedges, tyres to their rims, hinges to each other, etc.

Anyways, thanks for 2015, and here's to an even more successful 2016.

When I started selling back in september 2013, I was very hesitant on the autocheckout with instant payment, I started with quotes only, then started slowly to set up shippingbands, today +95% of my orders go with autocheckout, still with some 'overdues' (but that is mainly due to the lack of catalogdata), hardly a problem, but yes, this whole selling (and buying) experiance is an absolute 'wonder' from my point of view, so MAJOR THANKS to Admin Lawrence for launching this, probably with much hesitation and doubts whether it would work, but it does work in the most pleasurable way :-)

Responses to the wish list:
1. yes, in the long run something should be done, the faster the better IMHO, and I'm still available to help out should Lawrence accept help and find ways to allow access for such.
2. So far not much need for me, but I agree that it could be handy in the long run.
3. No longer applies for me, as I fully sync, but I do see it's importance, so yes (and it can't be that hard to implement IMO)
4. Agreed
5. Yes
6. Allthough I find the way it displays 'good', I can see the importance of having some more accentuation on that, maybe a few extra colors on some fields might do the trick.

My personal whishes:
1. More active contributions from others, this would improve the whole database faster, which would be good for both buyers and sellers, basicly: this would be good for ALL.
2. Seperate 'known' database colors from 'whislist' colors (who appear as being 'known' colors in the database because of it).
3. Less generic pictures of parts that do not exist in certain colors (acceptance of only known colors OR actual pictures of 'unreleased' colors)
4. A way to import inventories trough Bricksync in stead of having to do it manually (as the latter is Extremely slow), this is mainly for older sets and to link up items to existing inventories.
5. A way to submit data while creating an item in the database: ID's, picture, sizes, weights, etc As the current process needs to been done in several steps (and is a burdon because of Hoddie whish #1)

That's about it, besides that: WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS YEAR !


Eric

Aladine

@Hoddie
- faster improval of catalog edits
IMO submissions are approved VERY fast if submitter gives enough information (my experience: mostly within 24 hours). An immediate approval will never be possible, as submissions have to be verified to avoid catalog entries of fake or non-existing parts. Maybe possibility of submitting a photo (not a computer image) together with the submission would help.

Stragus

I really dislike how catalog submissions require multiple steps, I have even stopped submitting them... By the time the first step is approved (if ever), I often forgot what I was doing!

For example, this set is missing a bunch of minifigs:
http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-pirates-chess-set-40158

But I can't create the minifigs because the set's inventory is missing parts. Note that this seems to happen all the time when some parts belong to multiple minifigs in the same set.

The current process is:
- Add missing parts to inventory
- Wait for approval (this can take a long while)
- Create minifigs with all the parts
- Wait for approval (this is usually faster)
- Submit BLID for minifigs
- Wait for approval (or not really, using BrickSync's forceblid command)

Could we please convert all that into a single step catalog edit?

Besides that, my most desired improvement would be: when browsing stores, being able to see lot quantities right away without having to click "Add to cart" all the time.

Hoddie

Indeed, I'm currently in that predicament. I've had the Dr. Who set since before Christmas but I still can't part it out due to so many pieces missing from BO. I created a lot of the missing parts but they took so long to approve before I could add images and then add them to the inventory that the set ended up back in its box for another week. I'm now trying to create the minifigs but all the torsos and legs are missing. There's no guidance on how to create either of these parts, which are both assemblies, so I've just created new items and if they get approved I'll take it from there. It's such a lengthy process that I now need to take notes to remind myself what I've done and what needs to happen next.

A decent history of our own submissions would be a massive plus in this regard. It doesn't need to be anything special, just a textual list of what changes we've had approved.

I took delivery of some 2016 sets today ready to part out but the new inventories are so incomplete that I'm dreading actually starting. This isn't BO's fault, Lego seemingly isn't keeping on top of their inventories, but there's next to no incentive to dive in and fix what's missing, because (a) it takes so long for new parts to be approved, and (b) you then have to remember to add them to the relevant inventories, add the IDs, perhaps an image, etc..

I've spent all afternoon manually creating a BSX file of a set because it didn't exist on BO (or BL to be fair), even though the inventory does exist on lego.com. Turns out many of the pieces are new colours of existing parts, so I've then had to add the Lego IDs where the instructions show them (which, for some reason, it only does for some). I now need to wait for those IDs to be approved before checking whether an image is needed or whether one will be pulled from Lego's servers. I still couldn't add everything because I realised late in the day that there are 4 new parts that I need to create and I'm still waiting for the last batch I created to be approved so don't want to pile any more on top.

I don't pretend to know how much work this all takes behind the scenes but I'd love to see catalogue edits being approved within 24 hours. If that's possible to achieve I don't mind how many steps are involved in the process. It's when it takes a few days (sometimes weeks) at every step that it becomes unmanageable.