Proposal to delete old empty store lots

Lawrence

Unless there is opposition to the idea, I'm planning to automatically delete all store lots which have a quantity of zero and were last sold over a year ago. I would be interested to hear if there are any that would oppose this idea. This represents approximately 30% of the lots on Brick Owl and would result in speed improvements for those stores and an improved inventory management experience.

WESTIEKATH

I think that is a good idea Lawrence. I do try to go through my inventory (when I get the chance ) and delete any lots which I have sold. With that idea it would be so much easier - so personally it is a thumbs up from me.

Calibrick

Oh wow, I understand this would probably save data space, but I actually deliberately keep my zero lots so I can easily add quantities to them later if I obtain them in a large lot I sort out. That way, I retain my BO Lot ID for that item/color/quality (e.g., new, used), which I use offline as a unique identifier for auto-mapping mycost for tax purposes. BO's MyCost field doesn't go to enough zeros for my needs, so I have to do all this in Excel. :-)

Could it be an opt in/opt out for sellers possibly (default to erase, but folks like me can deliberately go in and set to preserve)? That way you get the win-win of improved service performance, but for the rare folks like me it won't mess up our "systems". :-)

robernat

@lawrence Nothing against the idea, but there are a few things I might wanna keep around so I don't forget about them (I purge empty lot's myself, so I encounter the selected ones regulary, and have a reminder that way). A tag 'do not purge' on those lot's would be nice :-)
sidenote: I notice that the inventory of blocked stores and non active stores remain around, it might not represent much, but is there a reason for that?
For instance:
https://bricksters.brickowl.com/
Blocked in 2014 if I recall well, yet his complete inventory is still sitting there...
Why not purge the inventory of such stores?

Stellar

I agree with the same as @robernat says

MinifigMan

> @robernat said:
> sidenote: I notice that the inventory of blocked stores and non active stores remain around, it might not represent much, but is there a reason for that?

My store is non-active at the moment (been like that for a while) but my inventory is still current and I plan to update prices and reopen. As I have times with little and lots of free time, I close my store when I'm busy with work.

Teup

Thanks for the idea and for asking. I have nothing against it. Could even be after a month if you ask me.
But I do think it makes things a bit less clear. The interface would somehow need to accomodate to indicating those lots will be purged, 0 size lots are visually identical to other lots so it's not immediately obvious that different rules apply to them and when that's going to play out.

How about a feature that asks sellers with alot of 0 size lots occasionally if they wish to delete them? Possibly with a box to enter up until what date. "Do not purge lots last sold in the past ... days".

By the way, some lots may be updated to 0 from synchronising inventory and be last sold 2 years ago. That would probably mean they are purged instantly upon syncing. I don't see how that is a problem, but if you wish to purge things more subtly it's better to tie it to "quantity last modified" rather than "last sold" (but maybe you already intended it like that).

peaceoflego

That's a great idea. I think a year might be a long time to delete. I would think once a month might be better. The question is will the sold price history will be saved somewhere for other stores to see for how much items were sold for so they can better calculate their future store item inventory prices.

Hoddie

> @Meytals said:
> That's a great idea. I think a year might be a long time to delete. I would think once a month might be better. The question is will the sold price history will be saved somewhere for other stores to see for how much items were sold for so they can better calculate their future store item inventory prices.

I don't really understand BO's "price history" if I'm honest and I've been here a long time. It seems to combine lots available with sales completed unless I'm missing something.

This site needs a lot more documentation to explain and demystify the various workings of things, particularly regards sellers, inventory management and catalog editing (which, admittedly, gets easier if you stick with it).

Calibrick

IF Lawrence approved it, I'd be more than happy to help with, document, and work with anyone on catalog editing, inventory management, and other basic seller procedures in more detail than currently available - I develop engineering and end user processes and procedures for my day job. :-)

Back into this discussion: I would like to just rehighlight, "could we opt in/opt out for sellers possibly (default to erase, but folks like me can deliberately go in and set to preserve)? That way you get the win-win of improved service performance, but for the rare folks like me it won't mess up our "systems".

Just don't want that lonely comment to get lost in the discussion. :-j

bricksinbins

Sounds like a good idea. I just recently deleted over 1000 empty lots...
A year is ok, maybe even 6 months would be ok but lots over a month old is way too quick. The lot history comes in handy from time to time and if it was purged already after one month it would be too soon.

Teup

I really think a shortcut link to deleting all zero quantity lots and a message that pops up now an then to delete them when you have many, might just be all we need. No need for invisible mechanisms that may be unclear to the users that way. I'd surely click it if it came up.

leopard37

I would click it more often but there is a warning not to do it too often. Or is this only for your whole inventory, not 0 quantity items. Perhaps removing the warning for the 0 quantity items is in order.

Tyson.

Gaston.La.Brick

I think it works pretty well on Bricklink.
* By default, when a lot reaches an inventory count of 0, it's removed (immediatly).
* There is however a switch called "Retain" that a seller can enable for each lot in their inventory.
* Lots that have this switch and get to an inventory count of 0 are moved to a "Stockroom" but basically: they are not deleted

So in short: by default removed, only when the user overrules this lot per lot.
Works pretty good for me.

Calibrick

Can you do a blanket "overrule all" on BL? (I have over 12k lots, I don't fancy setting them all individually, if this becomes an option over here <s>).

Brickingamazing

I see this is an old thread but it doesn't look like this has been implemented yet? I assume if implemented we would lose the ‘History’ which journals the quantity changes, price changes etc?

If still on the road map then i’d suggest a configurable retention period in the store settings - maybe say 1 month to 2 years, potentially defaulted to 1 year?

Might be advisable to communicate to store owners of the upcoming change too so they can export their inventory or change the default in advance.

GrayCityBricks

What is the status of this feature? Is it now optional? I would really appreciate it!

Calibrick

I'm still hoping that it would be optional if implemented (I reuse those old lots at stock refreshes <s>). :-)

Bricks-Shop

For me it's a good idea to delete old unused data. I always delete the empty lots to have a clean overview.
But maybe there are some people working in another way, they need the empty lots remaining.
I guess if there would be the choice like "delete empty lots (default)" everybody could decide which they to go. In my opinion the most user won't use the empty lots.