Here's a question I've answered in varying levels of detail in the past, but only in 1:1 replies that have long since been buried under the shifting tectonic plates of YouTube comments. Finally the idea developed inside my thick noggin to write this stuff up in a place where it can actually be found for more than a day.
Q: Why don't you name specific Bricklink vendors in your haul videos?
- A1: I don't keep track.
- Most packages arrive without their seller account aliases on or inside them. I make so many purchases for the Jangbricks channel, both online and at brick & mortar stores, that it would be a genuine headache to always match every single purchase to its specific original source.
- A2: I don't have any favorite sellers to recommend.
- I have purchased from nearly 200 (two hundred) different Bricklink sellers, only 10% of which have I patronized more than twice. When I'm shopping for items that I want or need, I just search for them. I don't browse a tiny list of "favorite" stores with my fingers crossed, hoping one of them will have 1/4th the stuff I'm looking for. No single seller has ever had anywhere near the breadth of stock to satisfy my needs from order to order, and that's actually perfectly fine. The multi-seller marketplace system works, and it works really, really well.
- A3: You don't want to buy from the places I do anyhow.
- You want the items you want presently, not the ones I wanted a week or two ago. Even if you happen to want the exact things I bought, by the time my haul video is on YouTube the next 20 customers after me may have depleted that seller's stock, or another store may have listed the same items for lower prices. If you want to do like I do, then do like I do. Look for the items you want, and buy them from sellers that have them in stock at reasonable prices and with good feedback.
- A4: Some people suck, and I don't need that drama.
- Some packages do arrive with their seller account aliases on or inside them, and it would be no trouble at all for me to read off those names "on air." However:
- If I name some vendors on video because they include a card or printed receipt, but don't name others who don't (see A1, above), some of the latter will get all mad and make up a litany of slanderous fabrications about me, because, well, they suck. I don't need that drama.
- If I name some vendors as on video and proceed to have really bad experiences, some sellers will get all mad and make up a litany of slanderous fabrications about me because they messed up and I simply shared my experience honestly, and they can't handle that, because they suck. I don't need that drama.
- A5: Some sellers are really anxious to exploit both me and you, and that annoys me.
- I have, in the past, named some stores on camera when packages arrived with their seller account aliases on or inside them. What followed almost every time were streams of private offers from other sellers whose eyes lit up green with dollar signs. These were "offers" to use my channel as an advertising platform to get more money from you, my viewers. "Buy from my store and plug me in your videos and I'll give you a permanent discount [sic]." To be honest, there's nothing wrong with that, so long as there's no attempt to hide the deal, e.g., "Hey everyone it's YouTuber here and I just happened upon this great new seller out of the blue, all on my own." However, I personally choose to keep advertisements and core content separate & distinct. I like being able to tell you that if you see me plugging a product or service in my own voice, it's because I wanted to, not because somebody hired me to do so. That's not to say anything against anyone who does honest product placements & paid, scripted ad content. It's just not something I, myself, am particularly interested in, and I don't like being pestered to partake.
