recycledbrick

Order Management: Packing An Order

I don’t put every lot in an individual bag. I don’t put all the pieces in the same bag. I try to use the least amount of bags. Almost every buyer does expect the New and Used pieces to be bagged separately. Even if a buyer tells me to put it all in the same bag, I still separate New and Used.

I use various sizes of zip bags. I have smaller than this and larger. What ones I use depends on the size of the order and the size of the pieces. Orders can be just all small pieces so get some small bags

I will pack the smaller bags into a larger bag. Sometimes the bags will open during shipment. This will help keep the pieces from roaming around and falling out in case something happens to the bubble mailer.

The larger pieces I will pack into larger bags. These ones I don’t usually put into a larger bag.

Instead, I take all the bags and will wrap them into bubble wrap. Even if I will ship it in a bubble mailer. This keeps the pieces from moving around and getting scratched in shipment. I put these bundles into a bubble mailer. I will print out a label and it will be ready to go to the post office.

Sorting Pieces For Your Store

Once you have your store set up you need to get some pieces to inventory. Everyone has a different way to sort. I have changed the way I sort many times. When you get a large lot of parts like this to sort it can be daunting.

I sort according to Bricklink’s categories since it is how I have to list the pieces. I usually start with a few of the big categories first. Bricks, Plates, Slopes, Tiles and Wedges. I have this checklist on the totes that I store pieces in. When I sort out the categories I check it off with a dry erase marker so I know what has been done in that tote.

I will go through a box of parts and pull out all the pieces that fit in those categories. No matter what the size or color. This is after I have sorted out the Bionicle parts and now are grouped into categories.

I have two Ikea kitchen cabinets with six drawers each. The boxes are from Ikea as well. When it is time sort down to the part level I sort into this boxes. You can use anything but I like that I can keep the parts in the drawer and shut it when I am done. At least with these pieces I try to keep each box a different piece but will put some together to save space. For the Animal categories I put them all together.

When those bins are too full I will either bag them up to inventory later or I will take a bin and sort it out by color. At this time I will check the condition. If it is too scratched, has bite marks or discolored the piece is discarded

I use trays from the Master Builder Academy sets. I got a lot from a seller on Bricklink some years ago. I use zip bags as well. Other sellers use cups or make a custom sorting tray. Find whatever works for you and works for your sorting area. Now it is time to enter the pieces into my store.

The only thing that I never do is sort by color. It is harder to sort the pieces out when they are all the same color. I have always tried to find more efficient ways to sort the used bulk pieces. So far this is the best way that I have came up with to sort.

Adding Pieces To Your Store: Part Out

Parting out a new set is an easy and fast way to add pieces to your store. When you look up a set in the Bricklink catalog you will get what is below.

I am using set 76117 Batman Mech vs Poison Ivy Mech since this my next set to part out. Under the My Inventory there is Add to My Inventory and Part Out. The first one is if you want to add the complete set. I mostly part out sets so I will choose Part Out.

The next screen has a lot of info so I have broken it down into sections. Here you can select the quantity of sets. Choose if you want to keep the Minifigs whole or part them out as well. You can choose to add the Instructions, Box and Extra Parts. I recycle the instructions and boxes. They sell but slower than I want to deal with.

The next section of this page you can selection condition, New or Used. Set the Prices to Current Items For Sale Average or Last Six Months Sales Average. The first is the average prices for what is currently available. The second is what the pieces have sold for in the last six months. I am currently using the current average. I also have Upload all Items as Stockroom A checked.

I don’t do tier pricing but you can set discounts depending on how many pieces are bought so I skipped it. The Consolidate should be checked when you are parting sets out. This will combine the new pieces with what you have in your store. If you don’t, the new set will make new listings. That means you will have multiple listings for the same piece. It clutters up a store and can confusing to new buyers so make sure you have Consolidate checked. Of all the options below it I only have New Price changed. This way the prices are updated for the pieces that are in my inventory. Click Submit for Edit at the bottom.

Above is what you get next. Everything in the set will be listed. These are just the first two entries. You can change the prices here if you want. The minifigs I usually round them off but otherwise I leave the prices the same. At the bottom of the very long page click on Verify.

Verify Items give you a new list. Here you can see the My Remarks: TN.022.11 for the Skeleton Arm. This is my location for the piece. The My Remarks field is the best way to keep track of where the pieces are stored at. I save a PDF of this screen for future use. This is the only time I see the locations of the existing pieces in my inventory. Otherwise you have to look up the locations manually if you can’t remember where every piece is. I can’t. There is an Upload button at the very bottom.

The piece are now in your inventory or Stockroom. If you make a mistake you can part out the set with a set quantity of -1 and it will remove all the pieces that you just uploaded. I know for sure that this works. You can check out the pieces in your Stockroom.

Adding Pieces To Your Store: Manual

I mostly add New Pieces through the Part Out Set. I mostly add Used Pieces manually. Bricklink’s definition of New is that it has to come directly from a new set and not used in any way. An assembled set that was used for display only are Used pieces. Used shouldn’t be well worn. No discolorations, no bite marks and no heavy scratches. You can sell pieces that have a lot of wear but I try to keep my used inventory as new looking as possible. Start by going to Catalog and then Parts. I am going to add a 3001 Brick in Black to my store.

Next to Inventory on the top of the pictures is Add Item. Clicking there will take you to the screen below.

You can select Parts, and then go to Select Item and so on. I don’t add pieces this way. I do everything from the catalog page for each piece. If I need to look up a piece to add it or see if I have it in my inventory everything I need is one one page. I will look up the 3001 2×4 brick in black.

The Color Info tab will show Lots For Sale, On Wanted List, Price Guide Info and Known Colors. Known Colors is what sets the piece has appeared in. If you click a color it will take you to another page and see what the piece is going for or click on the Price Guide tab.

Above you see the prices for New and Used pieces. Current Items For Sale and Last 6 Months Sales. We selected one when we parted out the set. Here you can see the prices and decide which to use. The piece and how many I have are factors for pricing. I go back and forth from Last 6 Months and Current Items. Go back to the previous screen and click Add to My Inventory takes you to a new screen. I usually will open this in a new tab and go back and forth to look up the prices.

This is the top of the next page. You can list with your own image if you want which I do for Custom Items which you can check the box here. Don’t worry about the color of the image here. It will change to the correct one on the next page. Select the color.

You can enter a location in My Remarks here which I usually do when I am adding pieces manually and the quantity.

Next is the price you want to enter and then the Condition so select New or Used. The only other thing I use down here is Stockroom.

I will have all the pieces that I add manual got to a Stockroom. That way if something goes wrong I can catch it before it is released into the store. Click Review Item.

This is the final step. You can double check to make sure everything is correct before clicking Add to Inventory. A new screen will appear where you can view or add another piece but I usually just click back on the browser a couple of times. Your piece is added so now go and all the rest. Parting out is faster but if you choose to have a used inventory this will be the primary way to add pieces since I don’t part out too many used sets.

Adding Pieces To Your Store: Brickstore

I showed the ways to add pieces to your store using what Bricklink gives us. There are makers of third party software that might make it easier to add pieces. I have tried to use software before it can be difficult to figure out how to use them. This one is called Brickstore. It is available on this website: Brickstore. You can follow the installation instructions on GitHub.

Open Brickstore and this is the main screen. The very first thing that you need to do is log into Bricklink otherwise you can’t add or edit anything in your store. Under the Brickstore tab at the top of your screen go to Preference and then Bricklink

Enter your BL username and password. Make sure that the info is correct. If there is a problem uploading or downloading from your store, this is probably where the problem is. Close off the settings and back to the main screen, first image. Select New and a new screen appears

To do anything on this screen, click on the brick with the green plus sign and another new screen appears.

On the left is all the BL categories. In the middle are all the pictures in the category and on the right are the colors that it is available in if Known Colors is selected. I selected a 2×4 Brick 3001 in orange. In the bottom right you can add your quantity, condition, your locations in the Remarks field and pricing. It is probably easier to leave the pricing blank and just enter your qty, condition and locations and then click add.

I added the same piece in different colors and quantities. Everything you added shows up on the main screen. The price field is red. If you select all the pieces you add you can update to the current prices.

If you click on the $ with the Bricklink Head it will give you pricing options. I am choosing Current Inventory Average and click Ok. The prices will now be filled in. If you are done you can now upload your new inventory to your store. Under File there is the option to upload.

Select the second option Mass Upload to Clipboard. Once selected it will open a new tab in your browser to your Bricklink store

Selecting the Export it will have put everything you added into the clipboard. Click in the big empty rectangle and paste it in.

Once pasted, then click Verify File.

You can check to see if everything is complete and then click verify on the bottom of the screen. Now those pieces are now in your inventory. Next you can use Brickstore to update the prices in your store.

Updating Prices In Your Store: Brickstore

Unless you go piece by piece in your store, this is impossible to do on Bricklink. The sellers have been promised for years that there would be inventory tools added to run our stores and another year goes by with no tools. That is why Brickstore is the only way to mass update the prices in your store.

On the main screen select Bricklink Store Inventory. It will automatically start downloading your store inventory.

Now you will have a file with all your store inventory. You can save it for a backup in case something goes wrong on BL or you accidentally erase your store. It is always good to have a backup. As with adding pieces, you can select all your store and click on the $ with the BL Head and all your pieces will be updated to the new prices. Getting these updates into your store is easy unless you have a large store. Bricklink can’t handle large amounts of data being updated. It gives you a warning about adding more than 1000 lots if info so you will have to select your store in large blocks.

Select as many parts on screen you want to update on BL and go to the Export again but this time select the 3rd option Mass Update. We don’t want to Upload this to your store otherwise you can double this in your inventory and mess things up.

This screen is actually the bottom of the screen that was used to add new pieces. Click Verify and it will show all the updates and finish it off. Now if you have a large store you can go back and do another block. This is a much quicker way than choosing one piece at a time on Bricklink to update.

These are just 2 things that can be done with Brickstore. On the main screen you can see where you can import your wanted list, orders and shopping cart. It took awhile to figure out Brickstore so I hope this will get you off to a quick start.

Using Stockrooms

When I part out new sets, anything that isn’t in my inventory goes into a Stockroom so I can give it a location. The same when I manually add pieces. You can have three stockrooms. A,B and C. When you go to your inventory you will see a screen below. You can sort By Category, By Color and so on. Right now I have it sorted By Availability so I can see the Stockrooms.

Right now I have 284 pieces in 39 lots in Stockroom A. The Available is what is available in your store right now. The Stockroom items aren’t available for purchase yet. Here is a couple of the pieces in Stockroom A.

Here is where I add the location info for the pieces into the My Remarks field. I can update that here and deselect the Stockroom A box. Clicking submit on the bottom releases the pieces into my store.

When you hover over your My Store tab you will see that there is a notice about notifying about the lots you added to your store. Whenever someone saves a piece to their Wanted List they can get a notification about the piece being available in your store. Clicking on it will take you to a new page to send out the notifications.

These sometimes will bring in a sale. Just because it shows a piece is on a wanted list not everyone will get a notification about that piece. I have hundreds of pieces on wanted lists but I have the notifications turned off. I use the stockrooms to manage the new listings in my inventory. The way that I part out orders works for me.

FAQ on Bricklink

New users often have the same questions and don’t alway search the forum to see if it has been asked before. Here are answers to those questions

Do Minifigs Come With Accessories?

No. If the picture doesn’t show something, then it doesn’t come with it. This have been a problem with the Collectible Minifigures. If you want one with the accessories and the stand it is considered a Set. If you buy one in the minifig category, the listing will say Minifigure Only and that is what you get. It can be confusing because sellers will say in their listing that they include accessories. Just don’t expect to get them most of the time since the seller isn’t required to.

What is this piece?

Most pieces either have a 4 or 5 digit number printed on them. With Bricks, plates and tiles it is printed on the bottom of the piece. Other pieces it can be a challenge to find where smaller pieces don’t have anything on them. If you have a smartphone, the iPhone has a magnifier app now. Before it was option in the Accessibility settings. I use this a lot to figure out what a piece is. If it doesn’t have any marking then you can always post a picture in the forum.

Are these LEGO or are these fake?

Just because a piece doesn’t say LEGO doesn’t mean it is fake. Some pieces are too small to have that printed on it. Some older pieces like minifig headgear never had any markings except maybe a number inside. But the new version has LEGO, item number and other numbers. Some pieces have been made for decades so you might get a mix of older and new pieces. If it is marked LEGO it is a real piece. If it just has the copyright mark “©” it is a real piece. If it just has a one digit number it probably is. The biggest way to tell is if the plastic is the same. Most of the clone pieces the plastic is much cheaper. If you have a question about a piece you can post the picture in the forum. Just don’t assume that the seller is trying to pull a fast one.

Why Do I Have To Pay Sales Tax?

Due to the South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling the rules have changed. Before a company had to have a physical presence in the state to charge the tax. Now if the order is coming to your state you are charged a tax. It is a Use Tax rather than a Sales Tax because you are going to use it in your state. This includes ordering form other countries. This is collected by Bricklink and the sellers have no control of it. The sellers don’t make anything extra from this and actually have to pay fees in the entire payment including the tax.

Why Does It Say Seller Doesn’t Ship To Me Or No Shipping Options Available?

With Bricklink collection Sales/Use Tax now can be the reason. The seller has to take accept an Onsite payment method. Stripe or PayPal Onsite both work. This is nothing that the buyer has control over. The seller needs to go and change their payment methods. Now if the seller is in another country they may not want to ship to your country which has nothing to do with the tax.

Bionicle Brain Stems

HOW DO I GET THESE APART?

When sorting a pile of used pieces you will find some connected together. The good things is that they were almost all designed to come apart. Almost all. The one that I come across the most is the Bionicle Head and Brain Stems from the original Bionicle line. Unlike most LEGO pieces, once these were connected they are going to stay that way.

Even though these really are supposed to stay together, Bricklink has no listing for this assembly. Unless you sell it as a Custom item, there is no way to list it in your store. You will pull and twist on these to no avail. You can build the devices that others have built from LEGO pieces to pop them apart. They do work but my hands were sure tired. This is the easiest way I found.

WARNING: DON’T USE ANYTHING WITH A SHARP BLADE!! DO ONLY UNDER ADULT SUPERVISION!!*

Find a butter knife or another non sharp object. It needs to have a tapered handle so there is a smooth transition between the blade and handle. Slide in the butter knife between the back of the head and the brain stalk where the axle goes in.

You can twist the blade and most of the time these will pop. Or you can slide the assembly down to the thicker part and these pieces will be separated back into two. I have had some that really stuck together so sliding the assembly down the butter knife was the only way to pop them apart.

Now you have two pieces that you can list on Bricklink.

UPDATE: Since the time I originally wrote this, Bricklink has finally added the complete assemblies to the catalog. Now they don’t have to be apart but I will still list these separate.

*(Not responsible for injuries to yourself or others)

Projectile Launcher Six Barrel

HOW DO I GET THESE APART?

The 18588 Six Barrel Shooter and the 18587 Trigger are two pieces that once together aren’t meant to come apart.

I don’t know if there is a really good reason to try to separate these pieces. If you need one and not the other just don’t assemble a new one or you can easily buy them separately on Bricklink.

You got to flip it over and just a butter knife. Same warnings apply to this as with the Bionicle heads. You can wedge one knife behind the trigger piece and with another knife on the other side. If you tilt the knives in, it will contract. Another person will have to use something to push it through.

I didn’t have any helpers today but you can see the damage I caused to the pieces trying to get it apart. I have actually succeeded before but it isn’t worth it. Both pieces are fairly cheap on Bricklink. If I have any available in my store they will be available here: 18588 and 18587. Otherwise I don’t recommend trying to separate these.