Amazon Warehouse Deals - Worth the Risk?

[Emodular]

3 hours ago, cissi said:

Pro scammer experience #2, I suspect the same person did this.

DAAAAMN. No more AWD for me.

[CrabslayerT]

So I know this is not lego related but would like to ask if anyone has any experience of buying consoles from AWD?? Looking at PS4 for £250. is it worth the risk?

[fuzzy_bricks]

Got a 7965 Falcon off AWD.  Listed as Very Good - Item will come repackaged.  This was my first "repackaged" item, but the price was $125, so as long as it included all the bags and they were sealed, there was still some meat on the bone.

This was the box I received.  It looked like the box had been reused as it had a label cut out and multiple layers of tape on it.  I was halfway surprised they shipped this out, but then they did give me the Walmart treatment when I ordered an I-rex from them.  I expected to find loose bags and instructions inside.

.

This is what was inside wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap.  There was some slight creases on the item, but overall seems to be in fair shape.  There was an FBA sticker over the UPC.  Weight is a little over the value I've found by ~2 oz, so I may cut the seals to make sure everything is good to go.

 

[edgecrusher]

I don't believe I've ordered anything listed as repackaged, so can't give much concrete insight on the purchase. I'm fascinated the outer box looks like crap and the actual Lego box is in "shipped by wal-mart" shape. If you're reselling this, I would almost definitely cut the seals to make sure everything is there, and that everything is Lego. The weight difference is a little off-putting, and the difference in price between the cut seals and open box verified complete with pictures is like $10-15 tops right now. With the ability, via TRUTH, gift card and coupon magic to get TFA Falcons down under that purchase price (if you can find them), I'd maybe try to get in and out of this set. I unloaded the last one (AWD open box) I had before the holidays for $192 shipped after getting no hits at $215 for a couple months. I cleared about $35 after fees on an 8 month hold. Not great, but not terrible. 

[aw004g]

Anyone else having trouble pulling up AWD. It doesn't work at all in mobile and is wonky on the full site.

[Alpinemaps]

Yes. I noticed it late last night that I was having trouble on mobile. Considering there was a ton of stuff yesterday and now it's gone, I'm calling glitch.

[BRIX23]

18 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Quite a few of the 2015 Friends Advent Calendars for $17-$18 on AWD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00WI3ZTEE/ref=mp_s_a_1_184?qid=1455729071&sr=1-184&m=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&refinements=p_4%3ALEGO&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lego

Useful if you didn't pick one up to open and you want an advent calendar to open next season. That's nearly 50% off RRP.

I picked up a couple city ones at a similar price and opened them and they were complete, unopened and new.

You selected the used like new option and arrived ok?

[jc201507]

29 minutes ago, rshafer23 said:

You selected the used like new option and arrived ok?

Same question: Amazon "used like new" means what? open box sealed bags? damage but sealed box? or open bags?

[dcdfan]

Same question: Amazon "used like new" means what? open box sealed bags? damage but sealed box? or open bags?

My experience is yes. All of the above & used previously built...

[Alpinemaps]

21 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

 

My experience is yes. All of the above & used previously built...

Could come built, or part open.  But, my Advent Calendars, as skeptical as I was ordering them, came minty fresh.  I opened the side seals and all the items were in their trays, all still sealed, and no punchouts on the box.

YMMV but I was fine with it.  Even if it had been punched (but the bags were still there) that would have been fine.  It's for the kids to have some extra stuff to build in December.

[gbg108]

Agree with dcdfan, the descriptions on AWD are very arbitrary and it seems they vary dramatically based on the judgment of whoever puts it in the system, so YMMV.

My personal experience with AWD...I've purchased over 30 sets in various conditions and I have never received one with an open bag or previously built.

Best experience -- Bought a mini cooper which had a perfect sealed box and if not for the AWD sticker by the barcode there'd be no way to tell.

Worst experience -- Bought a Slave I which was missing the windsheild and the 8x32 lose plate. All the bags were there so most likely the inspector just didn't realize. 

Average experience -- The contents of the box are fine and new. The box itself is crushed and has been smothered in packaging tape. 

Personally I don't care about boxes so AWD has become the place for me to buy sets I build. My main advice is to know what to expect in the box, especially if you don't plan to build it immediately.

 

Edited February 17, 2016 by gbg108

[Deadfraggle]

31 minutes ago, jc201507 said:

Same question: Amazon "used like new" means what? open box sealed bags? damage but sealed box? or open bags?

I took the plunge last week and ordered my first Amazon Warehouse Deals.  Used-very good.

All 6 sets have arrived, still sealed. Some dents for sure, but I've seen worse in stores. Consistent with what I've purchased with a discount or bonus VIP points at a LEGO store in the past. Pleasantly surprised.

YMMV, as I'm sure more seasoned AWD vets have had less desirable outcomes.

[ichiroll]

Read this thread and gonna give it a whirl as well on some advent calendars.

[Quacs]

14 hours ago, ichiroll said:

Read this thread and gonna give it a whirl as well on some advent calendars.

If you go in not expecting anything close to MISB, you'll be fine.  For every one decent box, you get ten that are either trashed or heavily dented.

[jaisonline]

7 minutes ago, Quacs said:

If you go in not expecting anything close to MISB, you'll be fine.  For every one decent box, you get ten that are either trashed or heavily dented.

Very true.

I purchased an Emerald Night train 2 years ago from AWH listed as good / used.  Was very surprised to find out it was a semi-crushed box with 2 of the 4 tape seals barely holding.  I decided to open it and verify the contents just to be saw. everything inside was sealed. Wow  

my lone sea cow was a $200 AWH deal. The box is totally crushed but inner contents were sealed and complete.

Other sets have been the direct opposite. Missing stuff. Boxes ruined. Every now and again, you'll find a gem using AWD. 

[ISO8T0]

FWIW. My approach to AWD would be for one purpose. To build. Because you are dealing with returns you need to treat them as just that. You don't know what the previous buyer did. So by buying to build you will have no problems cutting the seals (if they are intact) and verifying the contents.

So by taking this approach there is no risk at all with AWD.

[Pedilego]

I've purchased a 10240 UCS X-Wing, a Mystery Van, and Arendelle Castle Celebration on AWD. The cheaper sets had dinged up boxes but the contents were all there. But the X-Wing was missing Bag 2 so I returned it.

[gbg108]

5 minutes ago, pstebbing said:

FWIW. My approach to AWD would be for one purpose. To build. Because you are dealing with returns you need to treat them as just that. You don't know what the previous buyer did. So by buying to build you will have no problems cutting the seals (if they are intact) and verifying the contents.

So by taking this approach there is no risk at all with AWD.

In general I agree but if you know what the contents of the set are supposed to be, it can make sense to buy for resale. I bought a Sea Cow in January for $205 on AWD, verified the contents were complete and flipped it two weeks later for $380. Obviously this isn't the norm and that particular sale was just a matter of the timing being right, but the point is there are times when buying from AWD for resale can work, again, assuming you know what the bag count, minifigs, rare parts, ect are supposed to be. 

IMO, pros to buying on AWD for resale:

1) Easy way to save 18% on exclusives 

2) You know the box is going to be damaged and so will your future customer. This means no dealing with box snobs and most likely no returns due to box damage during shipping. 

3) You personally verified the contents and in most cases likely have pictures of everything. Seems to me to be less of a target for scammers.

cons:

1) Save ~18% today, sell for ~18% less tomorrow. The math works fine so in general this isn't a con. However the box will take up the same amount of space in your storage area. So you need more square feet of storage space to invest the same amount of capital. 

2) Potential to get open bags or missing pieces as others have stated. Amazon support is great but it's one more thing to deal with. 

3) Verifying the set contents takes a bit of time and when selling you'll probably need unique pictures of each damaged item. So a more time invested per set.

4) Mental health, lol. A storage room full of these beat up boxes can start to look depressing  

When I first started investing I bought a number of sets on AWD for investment because of the savings, however as I started to realize the cons I've now almost completely stopped (Mainly reason #1 and #4). Now I mainly buy builders like you said but occasionally I'll still buy for resale. 

Certainly if I ran a parts store it would be a no-brainer for getting exclusives.

 

 

[ichiroll]

Just curious, is there a way to view Lego inventory based on AWD, kind of like how you can view inventory by a specific seller?

[cissi]

Considered my recent experiences, I see the rate of AWD fraudulently returned lego sets gets higher and higher. It wasn't like this about several months back. It's frustrating and I'm seriously worried about humanity (lol). Anyone found similar things?

[dcdfan]

Considered my recent experiences, I see the rate of AWD fraudulently returned lego sets gets higher and higher. It wasn't like this about several months back. It's frustrating and I'm seriously worried about humanity (lol). Anyone found similar things?

At this point, I'm so tired of having to return previously built sets and sets missing pieces that I just read about the good fortune everyone else has...

[cissi]

19 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

At this point, I'm so tired of having to return previously built sets and sets missing pieces that I just read about the good fortune everyone else has...

Yeah... I kinda decided to stay away from AWD sets starting today...

I guess one day AWD will be the so-called too-good-to-be-true.... and honestly, it's not even that good. lol

[ISO8T0]

Target is becoming awd w the inventory they are currently shipping out.

[ichiroll]

Yeah... I kinda decided to stay away from AWD sets starting today...

I guess one day AWD will be the so-called too-good-to-be-true.... and honestly, it's not even that good. lol

Exactly same here. Sending back all the advent calendars I ordered a few weeks ago.

[cissi]

Thanks for the feedback. Not that it's good to know people are having similar issues but good to have the confirmation that this issue somewhat became a general phenomenon nowadays.