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BrickSync and New BL Auto-Checkout
Posting here as a heads up, since I know most BS users check this forum.
With BL's new auto-checkout, they have created an "in progress" order function. This is described by user discovery and confirmed by admin response to the OP, as well as user testing on BL in this thread: https://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=227074
There MAY be a period of up to 10 minutes where order items are deducted from your BL inventory BEFORE that order actually exists. It's not clear yet if that order actually appears in the BL API with a new status, or if its held outside of their normal orders table until its confirmed. If the order is abandoned, BL adds the order items back to the inventory.
As it relates to BS, it could be possible that BS tries to sync your "missing" items back into BL during this 10 minute window. If the order is confirmed, you could be overstated on inventory if you use blmaster. If the order is abandoned, your inventory could be duplicated, and again a blmaster command might propagate that error.
I have not actually had any issues on sync yet, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this.
With BL's new auto-checkout, they have created an "in progress" order function. This is described by user discovery and confirmed by admin response to the OP, as well as user testing on BL in this thread: https://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=227074
There MAY be a period of up to 10 minutes where order items are deducted from your BL inventory BEFORE that order actually exists. It's not clear yet if that order actually appears in the BL API with a new status, or if its held outside of their normal orders table until its confirmed. If the order is abandoned, BL adds the order items back to the inventory.
As it relates to BS, it could be possible that BS tries to sync your "missing" items back into BL during this 10 minute window. If the order is confirmed, you could be overstated on inventory if you use blmaster. If the order is abandoned, your inventory could be duplicated, and again a blmaster command might propagate that error.
I have not actually had any issues on sync yet, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this.
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This does seem to answer my question above though - there is no new status visible in the API. I'm pulling an orders list when I receive the IPN, and the "in progress" order is not returned.
> Just to confirm, this would only be if you were running a sync or a blmaster command on Bricksync. Correct?
>
Generally yes, however BS does try to do a full sync at regular intervals (once a day?).
So do we stop auto checkout until API issue is resolved?
But BrickSync certainly assumes that the visible list of orders is coherent with the current inventory!... If some inventory is removed and BrickSync can't see _why_ it was removed (the order is not visible), that could cause problems, as DadsAFOL correctly guessed.
Arrggh, that is just terrible. Unless BL fixes this, I'm not quite sure what the best solution is, for both "sync" and "blmaster"...
From the animosity I hear that BL has with BO this will probably the wedge they want to drive between the two sites, so do not expect them to have any desire to fix. It is one of the many reasons I prefer Brick Owl over BL. The aggressive nature of the BL owners, capitalising on the needs of the Lego Community!
I have thought about linking my store to both sites, but I hope in the long term supporting Brick Owl with the cheaper fees and easier interface will be the better animal to back. (The old slow and steady manoeuvre - think rabbit and hare story). There should be room for two sites in competition, with different ways of doing things to allow for different people's ideas to propagate and support, which is good for the community I hope.
I do hope that the situation is resolved in case I do have to sit on the fence and take orders from both sides, as I do want more orders in the store, but there are many things about BL I absolutely hate.
And I most hate the aggressive nature of buyers and sellers, with some really awful and unnecessary feedback posted on sites, the admin constantly creating updates, that creates chaos, and ignoring the users and doing what they want mostly - just look at the forums - absolute mayhem for everyone!!!! And why are "loved" features deleted? Surely some beta testing would help, but wait...isn't that what is happening at the moment, and I see those that do not participate are black listed...how unfair?
I just want a steady ship!
Really who wants to wake up to this sort of chaos? Especially when it can seriously risk the experience my buyer and I share. It can be difficult enough with dealing with inventory and the postal service, who wants to use a website which is a constant source of conflict!
I took a long hard look at both sites before I chose Brick Owl, I had hoped that sales would be higher, but I am new and business is always slow to start with (only been open 2 months), but BL's website is certainly not something I want to have to deal whilst I learn the important stuff. And try and add to the their catalogue, work out the number system - good luck!
Obviously the people who run that site do not really care about the members - just listen to all the reviews...(BO easier to use is a constant message - just not big enough yet...)
Well many member and I are working hard on the latter. Perhaps it is time to support Brick Owl and help make this site better than BL. This might be the time to choose!
Hare or Rabbit?
Good luck people - with heartfelt feelings!
Castle.
Are you able to check the time that the qty on bricksync last matched the qty on BL of each item, by looking at a log.
If you are, you could ignore any differences in quantity between BL and BS that have only occurred within last 30 minutes, giving BL time to perform its cancellation if necessary.
Obviously this would mean that legitimate changes on Bricklink would not get synced straight away, but that is better than getting incorrect syncing, for the Instant checkout cancellations.
Any more thoughts? Do we know this is how BL will handle things for good, or is it a growing pain?
Tyson.
I did the OP on BL that is referenced above. Thanks for posting and giving a rational view on this here DadsAFOL.
I don’t expect too many people exit the payment process after clicking order, but obviously my buyer did, hoping to add something forgotten. For a store my size I would think the probability of an inventory sync problem this way is quite small. For a large store like DadsAFOL...
I am not currently an API user outside of Bricksync and BrickStock. But I will at least be looking at the BL InProgress indicator now before dipping in and out of blmaster on/off.
Aside from DadsAFOL's attention on this I have not seen any real interest in this subject on BL forum. The admin's response to my bug report did not make me think they saw the current process as something to fix. There was just reference to clarifying an error message displayed to the buyer when backing up from the payment, back to BL.
Thanks again for @DadsAFOL and @Stragus' contributions.
@minifigforlife Downloading an inventory is pretty heavy, I wouldn't want to do that constantly to be able to monitor changes... and I don't see how it could even be robust with usage of blmaster, the software would have to _guess_ if an order had been subtracted without being visible, compared to manual changes.
@Lawrence Off-topic: On Android, Chrome browser, the thread page keeps scrolling up "a page" whenever I type a character in the post box. I can't see what I'm typing, that's a new and rather annoying bug...
"But I will at least be looking at the BL InProgress indicator now before dipping in and out of blmaster on/off."
How exactly would you check this Cosy? I'm uploading a lot of new inventory lately and running blmaster quite a bit so would appreciate some illumination.
Tyson.
Just to be clear for anyone reading this the mentioned new "In Progress" indicator is on a BL sellers orders received page. It is text (link?) in the upper right between current and filed. My volume is way too low for me to happen upon seeing it in action yet. My text reads: In Progress (0)
So presumably if an order is in progress and not yet paid/created fully that counter will show a number. I don't know if that text becomes a link to a page with orders in progress like the surrounding text are links or not.
I'm hoping a large store sees this in action and posts. When I have time I might do my own test to see. If I do and have something I will post back.
Chris
I would test this in your store but you don't ship to Canada! Ha. You could test in my store. I think you would have pretty good timing for this to actually occur on a store my level as well.
Tyson.
PD: @Lawrence On W10 Chrome also is happening to me the same as @Stragus explains
Perhaps those in good terms with the BL staff could try to suggest that API feature (I think they may not like me very much, based on how my bug reports have been ignored).
(And the little "scroll up" bug appears already fixed, thanks Lawrence!)
@Lawrence On W10 Chrome the scroll up (appears to be a two page up) still occurring.
> Perhaps those in good terms with the BL staff could try to suggest that API feature (I think they may not like me very much, based on how my bug reports have been ignored).
It's not personal, mine are ignored too. Actually to be fair, that should be acknowledged rather than ignored. Same result though - bugs still persist :(
I've learned through a bug today that BL is actually creating two order records and consuming two order numbers per auto-checkout order. One must be a "temporary" order to facilitate the checkout amount, then a final order is created when the payment is received and the temporary order is (supposed to be) destroyed. I'm sure there is some logical reason for this, but I can't fathom why they couldn't do this with only one order record. So the "in progress" order is apparently a different order number than what gets finalized.
That further complicates the idea of exposing "in progress" to the API. The "in progress" order is always destroyed. If no payment, then its destroyed and items returned to stock. If payment is successful, the items are transferred(?) to a new order and the original order is destroyed.
-Duplicate/blank order generated due to PayPal payment status.
?
What's the recommended/safest approach to address the scenario raised above by @Dadsafol ?
For a manual cancelling of an order I use 'blmaster' to add the items back on BL and then do a full sync. This might be overkill, but it's the simplest, and happens rarely enough.
But for the scenario discussed here, the temporary order gets cancelled automatically, and one doesn't get notified of it.
Thanks in advance for the help. Like @minifigforlife I'm worried that I might be losing sales on BL for not having instant checkout configured.
The fact that the order is not exposed t the API is the problem. This is how I see it.
Two days ago I had my first non-instant checkout order since I set it up in October.
It felt a shock at how slow and cumbersome it was having to manually send out an invoice. Plus I'm still waiting to get paid for the order so it hasn't even been sent yet.
Can't say for sure whether I have gained or lost orders (although the only way I can see to have lost them is if someone wanted to order in batches); but it has certainly been easier for me to process them, and much quicker. I estimate on average two days quicker to get the parts out the door.
Matt
> The instant checkout behavior I mentioned last year appears to be hidden from the API, so there is no issue. Everything is working smoothly.
Thanks for the confirmation! I'll be setting up Instant Checkout shortly, and hopefully the sales on BL will resume their normal levels and catch up to BO.
In some cases (like stickered items as of mid 2013) you might need to create them first in the BO database which can be done from the parent > create stickered child (with the possibility to submit the BLID right away)
Tyson.