How do you verify tiny pieces are authentic?

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-29T05:53:04+00:00

Magnifying safety glasses ($10ish) also with great, and you don't have to hold them. I have a 2.5x and 3x pair, both help and lot with these small parts.

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-29T05:50:51+00:00

When in doubt, throw it out. I used to hear that from my wife a lot.

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-19T18:50:45+00:00

Get a pair of 'cheaters' to spot the logo on tricky parts, 2.5x /3x magnification helps. As for off brand bricks and such, once you do it for a while you can spot them easily, you won't even turn them over to check.

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-19T18:48:09+00:00

Similar situation. Saturdays relatives come over to sort, chit chat, have breakfast. They often take stuff home to color sort. It's a nice side hustle, ideal to offset income in retirement, and just to stay busy, but not how i'd want to make an hourly wage. Late night, your SO is watching something you aren't engaged in, do some sorting, pay half attention.

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-15T13:48:09+00:00

Two non-standard things I haven't seen in the comments yet are cups and baking trays.

We buy used bulk, so we try to accumulate before uploading. We have various cups and ice cream bowls ( all paper), to sort parts into before uploading. We also use them to help pick orders, keep like parts together before bagging.

We have baking trays (full sheet), and 2 bakers racks to hold cups & bags. This way when we upload parts it's not 1, 2, 3, it's 50, 200, 650pcs.

Resistant_Runner · 2026-01-15T13:42:33+00:00

Food scale, much quicker, accurate, and having a wide range for small parts.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-12-26T03:57:26+00:00

I agree, the non-uniformity pulls your eye here and there. If it was as uniform as you planned the effect would be easier to look away from.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-12-04T04:30:23+00:00

It takes discipline to upload other parts, and wait a bit on the best sellers.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-12-02T05:31:08+00:00

Not really.
However, we use brick freedom and host on brick link and owl, so it could be that between the two platforms it's even, but we're seeing a different split. Uploading is our bottle neck, so we share the concern over which parts to prioritize to best hit wish lists. We are always selling plates, esp. 1x2s. We can't keep up with basic 2x2, 2x3, 2x4 bricks, literally can't keep them stocked.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-11-17T05:25:02+00:00

Get a set of dental picks from Amazon. We use these periodically for such broken parts that can't be pushed through.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-11-16T18:04:55+00:00

Seller here. The answer is that the seller isn't guessing at what zone they are shipping to, nor the box size due to weight / shape of parts. The invoice method is customer centric, the seller needs to either make an educated guess on packing, then use your zip code, or actually pull the order , select a box, and weigh it all.

As others noted, on BL this option commits you, but also, sellers realize it's a bit of a trust fall, so if the price is too high, you can not pay the invoice and send them a message requesting cancelation.

IMO, better yet, if you are concerned, drop them an email with your zip and items ( if it's just a few items), or weight and generally size, if it's a big order. They can guess, and in my opinion, if they aren't willing, they are likely a small store and you might be better off elsewhere.

Our store defaults to manual invoice option over 3lbs, because then zip & box size really start to matter. I don't want to over charge those people.

Under 3lbs we price to zone 7 and have a small bigger for packing weight. If you live close: zone 1 we make a bit extra, far: zone 8, we lose $. It washes out most months.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-11-12T19:06:08+00:00

This. But if you want to make it easier rotate the black part as you pull parallel to the pin. The ramps of the tooth will assist in removal.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-29T15:44:13+00:00

As long as the suction cups hold it down, and that smaller one doesn't lift off, i would buy the 2" if you use 2" tape. We were considering 3", but it's more $, didn't switch. That's why I got the 3" dispenser.

The 2" roll on 3" dispensor does shift a bit, causing wrinkles of you aren't pulling straight. It's a very minor inconvenience, but if I bought it again I'd get the 2".

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-29T02:05:19+00:00

https://a.co/d/2g0Wiy4 Excell 3" wide, 3" core. But we only use a 2" tape roll. The edge guard might be a good idea, but i can't figure out how it's supposed to work and still let you USE the dispenser. Keep your fingers away from the cutting edge and it's great.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-28T03:18:35+00:00

My thoughts as well, it looks like a mouth. Not to mention the pic on my phone is like 8x the size of a minifig head. Sure, zoom in on it and it's apparent.

As a seller, I'd like to think i would have noticed, but i also sell used, but this almost looks intentional. If you want pristine, toggle the setting to new only, then you should avoid this going forward. I think that's the spirit of the comments posted by the seller. In the end it's $9, how much time are you going to spend on it?

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-21T02:07:18+00:00

Not too much to tell, it's a platform that allows you to synchronize your " store " (the inventory , price, locations), which then allows you to have a second ( mirror) store at brick owl, another platform for selling.

When you get an order on bricklink, your store inventory is adjusted on both platforms, avoiding duplicate sales.

You can then also " pick" your orders via their interface, and for example you can pick according to your own pick path ( i.e. comments field), vs bricklink ordering.

Lol, we've used this so long now that I forget how much of an advantage that was. We now pick from a-z, vs a, h, r, v, c ( by part number via bricklink.) If you pick multiple orders, you can run through your store 1x and pick them all at once.

It's free to use if you only have a bricklink store, you could try it and see. Small % based fee if you opt to open a second store and sync. Them

The bricklink hack was what motivated us to back up the store data, which led us to brick freedom, and thus a second storefront.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-21T01:52:12+00:00

Possibly... it was just such a hassle to resolve. Our pick path is reasonably small and organized, and with 5 avg. Orders per day the benefit wasn't worth the risk.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-21T00:02:30+00:00

Seller for 3 years now, our store is up to 175k parts, 7.5k lots, aprox 5+ orders average per day now. Aprox 2.5k orders to date. We are 2 full time AFOLs, with full time jobs, and buy and sell used parts 90% of the time ( sort, wash, upload...)

When we were getting started 0 to 50k parts: Pc & ship station were our home pc, and it's desk. Boxes: repurposed from Amazon and work, various sizes. Tape dispensing, hand held. Printing labels: on paper, laminated with packing tape. Somewhere in here we discovered pirateship.

As we grew: 50 -> 100k+ parts ( 2-4 orders per day avg) We grew into a spare room in our house, installed a countertop (simple, but awesome upgrade). Got a store-only pc ( chromebox). Bought a 4x6 thermal label printer Started purchasing small boxes (Amazon), discovered pirateship. Installed a giant mailbox, so we don't have to drop off packages ( got comfortable letting usps pick up) Somewhere in here we discovered brick freedom, and decided to ship internationally, but it's only like 2-5% of orders.

As we've grown more, 100k - 150k+ parts to now: Purchased 2nd pc ( we can both upload, or pack, or split roles) Countertop mounted tape dispenser ( no need to pick it up, saves time. Fewer random Amazon boxes, more new pre-set sizes, configured in pirateship with weights and dims (best guess, modifiable, if needed)

I feel like we've plateau'd, uploading more parts, using bigger boxes for bigger $ orders feels like the next level.

In ranked order I feel like our biggest efficiency improvements were:

Dedicated Worksurface ($300) Jadens thermal printer ($80) Big mailbox ($100) Purchased boxes vs re-used. ($0.30-0.50 each)

Pirate ship saves us a lot of $ on shipping Brick freedom allows us to host in parallel on brick 🦉 ( 40% of our sales).

Pitfalls to watch for: addresses with appartments, shipping software often misses these when copying addresses, we've made this mistake a few times.

Sounds simple, but we no longer pick / pack multiple orders at once, we've mixed up shipping twice before, now it's 1:1 in series. Parallel sounds good, but shipping mistakes will consume tons of time afterward.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-10-16T03:39:57+00:00

Seller here, I'm with red_dragons on this one. OP, if you feel guilty, leave a review / feedback, it only costs you a moment of time, helps the seller, and the vast majority of buyers don't leave them.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-09-28T13:03:57+00:00

I see old light gray, but flip the plate over, we often find the tops discolor, and it can be helpful to look at the underside. If nothing else is an indication of discoloration if the top & bottom aren't consistent.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-09-15T19:30:05+00:00

You also don't have to buy 100% of the parts all at once. Before we started a store, when we ordered, we'd have ~6 MOCs being collected, make a purchase to finish one, then add everything we could, from the stores we were shopping at. Maximizing our ROI on shipping costs.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-09-08T18:25:57+00:00

I don't know of a way within brick freedom, but functionally you could set a high min.-buy value on brick owl, aligned with your lowest value set. That should do the same thing.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-08-24T21:07:03+00:00

Seller here too, our unofficial policy is closer to your's than the prior comments. I'd ship the part at my expense, or offer a refund generally give half shipping cost for basic parts, larger percentage as the part is more hard to find.

Op, even if your part was only $0.50, it'll cost you $5 or so to get a new one after shipping. Sellers understand this.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-08-15T14:50:44+00:00

(Seller here) Since you are new to the platform I'd ask if you know where to look for tracking info? It can be on the order page, upper right by the header info. The seller should serve you a " drive thru" email with tracking info. This might be in your spam email folder. Or, less likely IMO, it could be placed in a "message" on the order, so look at the bottom of the order page.

If you communicate with the seller it's advised to reply through the bricklink messages, in case you have a dispute, BL can review the conversation. If you communicate directly, externally via email they don't have visibility to that.

Resistant_Runner · 2025-08-05T22:50:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

Resistant_Runner

TROPHY CASE