  
| Author: | calebfishn  | | Posted: | May 15, 2024 16:01 | | Subject: | Re: Where is the scale for box condition ? | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, cosmicray writes:
| | I'm seeing a large variety of sellers, grading box conditions with numerical
numbers.
Is there a place where the list of what those numbers mean is defined ?
When I see 9.3/10, or 7/10, without a defined grade list, they are (essentially)
meaningless (or something the seller made up out of thin air).
Nita Rae
|
These grading systems are pretty meaningless on Bricklink. They are arbitrary
and mean only what the seller wants it to mean. They are not related to Bricklink's
definitions of condition, and seriously, I don't see how they could be.
Whether sets, boxes, minifigures or parts, a written description is always
preferable to a a grading system of assigned numbers or letters, because it is
less subjective and open to interpretation. What to the seller looks like a 8/10
may appear to the buyer as a 6/10, but there is less argument around a statement
that a box doesn't have any tears or dents.
Often, sellers attempt to use grading systems from the world of collecting such
as from stamps, or trading cards or coins. That is where they get terms like
"Mint". A problem is that first of all, Bricklink is not specifically
targeted at collectors and second that many of the Lego products for sale on
Bricklink are not analogous to collectables like trading cards or coins.
I don't think anything demonstrates this better than the word "mint",
and its permutations, i.e. "MISB". In coin and stamp collecting, a "mint"
item is one that has never been circulated, i.e. appears exactly as it came from
the mint. It is hard to imagine describing a set that sat in a retail store
for months, then was purchased at liquidation discount, and put up for sale on
Bricklink as "never circulated". Even worse, is when sellers apply "Mint"
to used sets, parts and minifigures. I am sure that they believe their item is
in particularly nice condition, but they can't reasonably be interpreted
as "mint".
A coin, or a stamp or a trading card does not have an inventory. It's just
one piece. So, the condition for grading these things will focus almost entirely
on the surface appearance. But that doesn't work well on Bricklink where
many things, (sets, and minifigures) do have an inventory of several parts, (or
hundreds)that are relevant to condition.
In minifigs, an attempt to grade on surface appearance only, leads to some real
howlers, such as "Mint condition - missing the head and legs." or even
better, "Severely scratched torso. Missing head. Otherwise Mint." For
some sellers it seems, if there is even one part of their used (or abused) minifigure
that is absent scratches, they'll emphasize that and call it mint, or VGC
or 9/10.
I'm not saying sellers are dishonest. It is understandable. I mean, I think
all my parts are really awesome too. But the problem is that this application
of irrelevant standards from the world of collectables will lead to misunderstanding
by buyers, and then conflict and unhappiness. Then someone who got a less than
perfect item will come on the forum and propose that Bricklink implement a standard
grading system for the Lego sold here. No, Bricklink should not do that. There
already is a standard, which is "describe any damage".
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Message is in Reply To:  Where is the scale for box condition ? - cosmicray (3498)  | I'm seeing a large variety of sellers, grading box conditions with numerical numbers. Is there a place where the list of what those numbers mean is defined ? When I see [...]
(20 days ago, May 15, 2024, to Selling) |
28 Messages in this Thread: Msg 1 - cosmicray (3498) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
 Msg 2 - yorbrick (1185) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
  Msg 3 - SylvainLS (46) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 4 - 1001bricks (52476) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 5 - yorbrick (1185) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 6 - Nubs_Select (3827) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 7 - jennnifer (3537) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 8 - infinibrix (5026) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 9 - cosmicray (3498) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 10 - Dhobeck (42) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 11 - SylvainLS (46) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 12 - 1001bricks (52476) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 13 - SylvainLS (46) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 14 - 1001bricks (52476) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 15 - Nubs_Select (3827) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 16 - Saitobricks.ca (37) 19 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 17 - yorbrick (1185) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 18 - Dhobeck (42) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 19 - SylvainLS (46) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 20 - cosmicray (3498) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 21 - infinibrix (5026) 19 days ago May 16, 2024 to Selling
Msg 22 - Dhobeck (42) 15 days ago May 20, 2024 to Selling
Msg 23 - Nubs_Select (3827) 15 days ago May 20, 2024 to Selling
Msg 24 - SylvainLS (46) 15 days ago May 20, 2024 to Selling
Msg 25 - 1001bricks (52476) 15 days ago May 20, 2024 to Selling
Msg 26 « - calebfishn (2146) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 27 - Bond (776) 20 days ago May 15, 2024 to Selling
Msg 28 - GQruel (191) 19 days ago May 16, 2024 to Selling
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