Checking Local Inventory
Items are priced differently from store-to-store. Use the Inventory Checkers to search your item and see its current real-time stock availability and pricing at stores near you.
The Inventory Checker pages are a very important resource when trying to find deals locally. The search results on BrickSeek are updated as soon as the retailers' own inventory systems are updated, which often only takes minutes from the time a change occurs at the store.
As a reminder, the total number of store results returned on the Inventory Checker pages do vary by membership level, with Extreme members seeing more store results than Premium members, and Premium members seeing more results than free users. Also, advertisements are not displayed to logged in Extreme and Premium members, but they are visible to free members.
Searching a SKU or UPC
Let’s take a look at the Inventory Checker pages so that you can learn how to use this page to help you find great deals. Due to popularity, we’ll use Walmart in our examples.
Using the Inventory Checker pages is very simple -- just enter the SKU or UPC of the item you’re wanting to search, the zip code of the area you want to search, and then click the 'Check Inventory' button. (This page doesn’t default to the UPC field, so if you want to lookup the item by its UPC, you must first tap on the UPC toggle before entering the UPC in the UPC field.)
SKU Finder
If you don’t know an item's SKU or UPC, you can use the SKU Finder to assist you. Click on the SKU Finder button; type the name of the item you’re looking for; then click on the item from the results that are returned.
Product Info
Once you search a SKU, the results page will load. Depending on your browser and display, you may have to scroll down the page to see the local results! The screenshot below is a good example of needing to scroll further down the page to see all of the local search results.
When you’re viewing the search results page, there are a few things that you may notice right from the start -- like a picture of the item, the reported MSRP, the SKU, the UPC, and a link to a scannable barcode for that item. There are also links to the BrickSeek Snapshot for that item, its Pricing Records page, its Walmart product page, and a button to add the item to your Local Alerts. Extreme members will also have a button to hide the item from their feeds. You will also see that friendly shareable BrickSeek URL, as well as any available online pricing information for the item.
View Barcode feature
Can't find the item on the shelves and need help from a store employee to help you locate it? Click on the "View Barcode" link to pull up the item's scannable barcode, and have it handy in case an employee needs to scan it with their handheld device to view its other possible locations in the store.
Local Search Results
Now let's focus on the item search results, so that you know how to interpret the information returned to you. Starting with the Availability column, you’ll see the stock status and any applicable in-store quantities. The exact quantity counts do not appear for all retailers or for all items. They’re color coded for ease of use, with red being out of stock, green being in stock, and yellow indicating that there is limited stock.
Next, we’ll take a look at the prices, which are also color coded. If the price is blue, then it’s the lowest price in your results. If it’s grey, then it’s the highest price in your results. If it’s black, then it’s somewhere in between the highest and lowest price returned to you. You will also see the percentage discount displayed here, which is based on the item's current price versus its reported MSRP. If you are an Extreme member, you’ll also see the Shopping List button, which we’ll cover separately in another section of the tutorials.
