Author:  The_Boyz_Bricks  Posted:  Jan 27, 2024 13:08  Subject:  Re: Variants Thread - January 26  Viewed:  55 times  Topic:  Catalog Cancel Reply

BrickLink ID Card The_Boyz_Bricks (121) Location:  USA, Idaho Member Since Contact Type Status Nov 6, 2022 Seller Store: Red Bolt Bricks

In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:    Hello again everyone, My initial post on this subject earlier this month has garnered almost 700 replies, which is right about the level of the BrickArms threads a few years ago. A New Thread So I'm starting a new thread with some new information, and hopefully a few links that will help you navigate through this complex discussion topic. Here is the original post: https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1447090 Here are three Help topics: https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625 https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2626 https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2629 Here is a list of my replies on this subject: https://www.bricklink.com/messageList.asp?overTP=Y&q=variants&qS=Y&msgID=&uName=admin_russell&ID=&status=&v=c&max=50 If you don't wish to read all 700 replies in the previous thread, you can at least look through some of these for answers to most of the questions that have been raised. ************************************ The Responses We sent an email out to all active sellers a couple days ago and we expected a flood of responses in the Forum. As much as it may seem to be an overwhelming response, we do appreciate all the members who have posted and shared their feelings about this project. Keep them coming. So far I have seen two YouTube videos addressing this issue, and I'll post in this new thread to respond directly (and completely) to what they are saying. I will be answering directly several of the more detailed replies over the next day or two in an effort to clear up any misunderstandings. ************************************ The Research The following is an example of the some of the research that has been done to help determine the course of action we are taking. When it comes to Frosted Bricks, we took a look at the price guide, the inventories that contained these special bricks, and we studied the nature of the bricks, at least as far as we could. What we found was that bricks listed under the normal (umbrella) entries sold on average for over twice the price, and the volume of sales was 17 times of bricks listed under the frosted entries. In addition, sellers listing under the main entries didn’t have to spend the time sorting out their parts. So from a marketplace standpoint, these frosted entries are simply an inefficiency (see image below). In the inventories, there was only spotty information about which sets these bricks are in. This is likely the main reason for the lower sales volume, because the BrickLink inventory system drives sales for vintage parts. We started adding frosted entries to the catalog over 20 years ago, but they are only reflected in 24 inventories to date. When it comes to the bricks themselves, there were actually more variants than what are currently shown on BrickLink. And we’ve never been able to settle on a reason for these peculiar markings. Some have suggested they are simply the same patterns one would find on solid color bricks of the same era. Whatever they are, though, this type of variant is typically found only in sellers’ notes and not reflected in standalone BrickLink entries. In fact, it is a peculiar thing that these entries were only for Transparent versions of the part. We don’t really do that on BrickLink. Normally, all the colors are placed under one entry. But perhaps the best reason for removing these entries is the lack of a real use case for any of our members. For new users, these entries clutter up important basic parts categories, and if they end up on a wanted list, they can certainly cause problems. For the seller who wants to fill out vintage sets, these entries do not solve their need completely, because there are serious color matching issues with older transparent parts. It is not “plug and play” with these variants, and truth be told, it would be easier to obtain the necessary selection of parts by using the main entries. For the hard core collector looking for information, BrickLink has very little to offer in the case of the frosted bricks. We don’t need separate entries to add representative photos and comparison images of variants, and we were likely to never complete the “collection” of these entries due to the large number of different patterns. In order to preserve what knowledge we have, we plan to release new Help pages for certain variants covered in this project. Stay tuned. Will these variants be marked for deletion or be removed from the catalog completely?

Message is in Reply To:

Variants Thread - January 26 - Admin_Russell

Hello again everyone, My initial post on this subject earlier this month has garnered almost 700 replies, which is right about the level of the BrickArms threads a few years [...] (4 months ago, Jan 26, 2024, to Catalog)

Message Has 1 Reply:

Re: Variants Thread - January 26 - Nubs_Select (3821)

[...] Since they will be merged there won’t be anything to mark for deletion presumably (4 months ago, Jan 27, 2024, to Catalog)

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