Sync Inventories between BL and Brick Owl

brickstackers

Hello everyone!
As my store is growing, I am making more sales. Now, I am starting to worry that someone will buy the same item at or near the same time on each of the two LEGO parts sites.

How are you larger stores handling this as I know you too carry your mirrored inventory on both sites? Do you simply upload a new inventory file to sync your inventory or do you manually go into a site and take out the parts you sold?

Also, If I upload a new inventory file here to Brick Owl to sync with BL, will it delete all the open carts my customers have in my store? If I delete my current Brick Owl inventory and reupload the entire BL master inventory, will that delete all my current open shopping carts?

I wish there was an easy way for inventory to sync when we make a sale.

Thanks,
Kris

Loremonger

Brickstore update won't mess with carts because it matches up lot IDs.

In other news, http://brickpacker.com/

brickstackers

Ok, @loremonger your saying use the update and it won't double the inventory will it?

Badlove

Try Brickpacker

Loremonger

@msudawgs56 That is correct. The update file should not double up your inventory. I ran into a problem with this a while back, but I think it was user error. My advice is to do an import/update with just a few lots first, just to verify that it is working how you expect it to.

Pantzman

This happened to me twice before I had to decide which way to jump. It was embarassing having to contact customers to tell them I no longer had the parts they wanted.
I landed here and haven't regretted it so far. Far more orders here!

Pantzman

I didn't know anything about Brickpacker. Got to step 3 and got stuck. I don't even know what my Brickowl API is ( or what an API even is!). Can anyone help please?

Loremonger

Your Brick Owl API (application programming interface, for what it's worth) is a key that gives brickpacker.com permission to modify your inventory. You set it up on your Brick Owl Profile page. It's the last tab.

Brickpacker.com has a setup tutorial in the forums. It's a bit tedious, but once it's up, it works pretty well. Just remember to update it when you add new inventory.

Enoch

Bricked

Uh-OH! I was waiting for this.

Graham

The owner of said interface site is very helpful - just drop him a line - he's probably reading this thread anyway.

I got stuck trying to sync, and be honest I've left it for now - sales here are "good" and I am not sure I want to go back to the headaches associated with BL -

here all the seamless integration with PP and then USPS make life so much easier not to mention lack of bugs and server problems. Add the handshakes with Brickset and Re-Brickable… makes this a 100% better place to sell. IMO

To MOVE here all you need do is load your BL store into BS - save as BSX file - then upload that file (BSX) to BO (keep external ID - if you think you may want to trade in both places)

Graham

I should add to the "list of good things"

"Admin" who apparently rarely sleeps or eats - is very responsive, quick to respond to anything that comes up… no more waiting several weeks for a reply, and is pleasant in response too!

G

Maraxette

@Graham

How do I save my BL inventory as .BSX file?

Thank you in advance
C.

Maraxette

Never mind, I did not have the right version of BS to do that

brickstackers

Thanks @loremonger and @badlove

brickstackers

@loremonger One more question please. If I part out a new set in Brick Store, what is the best method to ensure my inventories are matched up and no duplicate lots are created when I update both sites?

I will still Mass upload the Brick Store xml file to BL. Should I then "Update" Brick Owl with a copy of my entire BL inventory just as you described above, or should I simply upload the Brick Store .bsx file of the newly parted out set as a "Merge Items" upload? I want to prevent the duplicate lots being created here.

I went back into BL and made sure that "retain after sold" is checked on all lots. This should keep my lots #'s consistent now, reducing the amount of duplicate lots.

I appreciate everyone's help!
Kris

SuperBrick

@loremonger One more question please. If I part out a new set in Brick Store, what is the best method to ensure my inventories are matched up and no duplicate lots are created when I update both sites?

I will still Mass upload the Brick Store xml file to BL. Should I then "Update" Brick Owl with a copy of my entire BL inventory just as you described above, or should I simply upload the Brick Store .bsx file of the newly parted out set as a "Merge Items" upload? I want to prevent the duplicate lots being created here.

I went back into BL and made sure that "retain after sold" is checked on all lots. This should keep my lots #'s consistent now, reducing the amount of duplicate lots.

I appreciate everyone's help!
Kris

I use the Brickstore merge items option without any issues. I always make sure to select the options:
"Add quantity from file"
"Merge and use new personal note"
"Merge and use new public note"
"Merge and use new external ID"
For these last three options you want to make sure you pick one of the "Merge and use" options to make sure that differences in these fields do not cause new lots to be created.

Gerrit

Loremonger

@msudawgs56 See Gerrit's reply above.

If you part out using Brickstore, and then do a separate upload to each site, you can then match everything up on Brickpacker. It does a pretty good job matching up new inventory using part numbers and descriptions.

Alternatively, if you part out to BrickLink and then update your entire inventory to Brick Owl, that will also work.

Enoch

brickstackers

Thanks @loremonger & @superbrick

goshe7

What is the step I'm missing? I'm trying to update my BrickOwl inventory based on a changed BrickLink inventory using BrickStore. The specific issue I am having is that sold-out lots on BrickLink are not updating on BrickOwl. What is inventory of 0 on BrickLink is still the old inventory level here.

File - Import - BrickLink Store Inventory
(Figured out I have to make some trivial change to get the items to "Update" (otherwise export XML is blank)
File - Export - BrickLink Mass Update XML to clipboard
(also tried saving and uploading the BSX file)

misbi

Sounds like your stockroom tag isn't getting exported from Brickstore. Is the stockroom column visible in BS? If not, try enabling it.

SuperBrick

What is the step I'm missing? I'm trying to update my BrickOwl inventory based on a changed BrickLink inventory using BrickStore. The specific issue I am having is that sold-out lots on BrickLink are not updating on BrickOwl. What is inventory of 0 on BrickLink is still the old inventory level here.

File - Import - BrickLink Store Inventory
(Figured out I have to make some trivial change to get the items to "Update" (otherwise export XML is blank)
File - Export - BrickLink Mass Update XML to clipboard
(also tried saving and uploading the BSX file)

Are these sold out items still listed on BrickLink in your stockroom (you need to use the retain option). If the lots have been deleted from BrickLink these lots will not get updated since there will not be anything in the file to update them with.

goshe7

^ I think the "retain" is the issue. I've made the change. Will see how it pans out. Thanks all!