How the QFLL crushed my Lego dreams

[Poly 30286]

I just need to vent...

Saw a cute little polybag Christmas tree set for $3.49 at Target the other day. There were at least 20 of them in stock. I went back the next day to buy one for my holiday display. All of them were gone! Couldn't they have left a few for the end user? Bah humbug!

[dcdfan]

12 minutes ago, ebelle122 said:

I just need to vent...

Saw a cute little polybag Christmas tree set for $3.49 at Target the other day. There were at least 20 of them in stock. I went back the next day to buy one for my holiday display. All of them were gone! Couldn't they have left a few for the end user? Bah humbug!

Did you check the Christmas section? BTW, they're @ all Targets...

Also, this should probably be in the complaint thread rather than it's own topic...

Edited November 21, 2015 by dcdfan

[Poly 30286]

6 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

Did you check the Christmas section? BTW, they're @ all Targets...

Not a one left in my usual Target. (I will have to check around at others)

6 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

Also, this should probably be in the complaint thread rather than it's own topic...

I thought about general complaint, but.... I have so much anger towards QFLL's that I might write 100+ posts in this topic all by myself. Should we let the MODs decide?

Or I could write a blog?

[cosmic brick]

Why didn't you buy it when you saw them in the store?

[Veegs]

To be fair, you only have yourself to blame. Never pass up Lego sets you want.

[justapilgrim]

I bought all at my store, it might have been me

[Alpinemaps]

If you see something you want, buy it when you see it.  Not trying to pile on - but if you want it, get it.

[BrickLegacy]

Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice...

[gregpj]

6 minutes ago, dcdfan said: Did you check the Christmas section? BTW, they're @ all Targets...

Not a one left in my usual Target. (I will have to check around at others)

6 minutes ago, dcdfan said: Also, this should probably be in the complaint thread rather than it's own topic...

I thought about general complaint, but.... I have so much anger towards QFLL's that I might write 100+ posts in this topic all by myself. Should we let the MODs decide?

Or I could write a blog?

Write a blog ... Try to channel that anger into something more productive than some complaint here. Why are you angry? What impact will it have on you collecting? What would you like the QFLLS to know? LEGO to know?

There are many here who will have no sympathy for you, but many who will.

[fuzzy_bricks]

How do you know that 20 individuals didn't buy one each?

I will say that I wish polybags could be ordered online, I know TRU offers some, but I wish some could be ordered through LEGO Shop at Home.  Where I live I just don't have access to any stores that carry them, which I realize isn't Lego's fault.

[DenJ91]

I don't see how it's his fault saying he should have just bought them when he saw them.  I think what's fair is that people should be able to buy a lego set when it's available within reason.  I totally agree that he should be upset.  If there were 20, and he just didn't think about getting it, he has that right to believe it would still be there next day. it's not like there were 1 or 2.  

Look, I resell lego as well...obviously, but I tend to buy 1-3 of anything.  not 20-100.  If people want to do that, so be it, if the stores sell them to you, can't stop you. don't hate you. but doesn't make it right either.  I'm in favor of having "little timmy" (so to speak) be able to get a toy he wants and for his parents to have the means.  When a set is retired, then that's the time to cash in and people who buy pay because they want it and or missed out.  

I hope this all makes sense. Do what you want, everyone has the right, I just lean to the side he's on to and understand why he's upset that's all I'm saying.  

the whole quick flip thing with as many people that buy lego today is killing a lot of things.  it's way to saturated, and lego doesn't mind.  they'll just keep producing more and the sets you want retired take longer and cost less.  not a recipe for success in my book. 

trying to be completely civil and fair here to understand both sides btw.  everyone will have there own outlook. 

Edited November 21, 2015 by DenJ91

[KShine]

While everyone is here, reading/writing on this forum - someone else (who never posts) is out there right now, finding/buying all the poly bags!!!

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, DenJ91 said:

I don't see how it's his fault saying he should have just bought them when he saw them.  I think what's fair is that people should be able to buy a lego set when it's available within reason.  I totally agree that he should be upset.  If there were 20, and he just didn't think about getting it, he has that right to believe it would still be there next day. it's not like there were 1 or 2.  

Look, I resell lego as well...obviously, but I tend to buy 1-3 of anything.  not 20-100.  If people want to do that, so be it, if the stores sell them to you, can't stop you. don't hate you. but doesn't make it right either.  I'm in favor of having "little timmy" (so to speak) be able to get a toy he wants and for his parents to have the means.  When a set is retired, then that's the time to cash in and people who buy pay because they want it and or missed out. 

Your logic just doesn't make sense to me.  I guess you're assuming one person bought all 20.  But let's say it was you (or someone like you).  So 7 people came in and bought 1-3 of the polybag in the last day.  Why is that unreasonable to assume that happened?

QFLL'ers are an easy target, and I get it. But it's just as likely that Grandma and Little Timmy came in and bought a few each.  And 6 more people just like them did.  It could have been me.  I would easily buy 4 of them.  One for my desk, one for my wife, and one for each of the two kids.  Doesn't take but a couple of people in a 24 hour period to make that happen - that's following your model.

It's a $3.49 item.  It's an impulse buy item.  It's very likely that other people impulse bought it.  And it's gone.  Why should people *NOT* impulse buy it, so that it's there for OP to buy the next day.  It's actually a bit unreasonable to assume that it's going to be there the next day.

I'm not just talking about Lego, either.  This is true for tons of other products.  My wife worked at the Disney Store in the mid-90s.  We learned early on that if we wanted something, and saw it, to buy it.  Why?  Because they ran through stock so quickly, and rotated stock so quickly, that there was no guarantee that it would be there the next day.  It was reality then, and it's reality now with TONS of different products.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Alpinemaps

[Ed Mack]

23 minutes ago, KShine said:

While everyone is here, reading/writing on this forum - someone else (who never posts) is out there right now, finding/buying all the poly bags!!!

I just went to three Targets and bought 145 of them....Not....LOL

[Poly 30286]

First off, I am overwhelmed by all these responses. Allow me to clarify a bit.

The long story is this:

I browse at Target almost every day after going to the gym, so it was three days in a row that I saw a plentiful supply of polybags. I wasn't sure whether this tree was the same as Santa's Visit and I'm overspent on Christmas by about $500 already. Yes, I should have bought it and then returned if I changed my mind, but that's my life: I just keep missing the boat. Which leads me to why I am so angry at QFLL's.

I have been collecting modulars since FB. My budget is very tight (four kids, one retail grade income) so I buy for myself last. I bought the PS in March of 2014 thinking I had more time to save for TH. I had planned to buy TH on my birthday, Oct 22, but by then they were gone. I was shocked and hurt and desperate to find one to keep my collection as complete as I could (no way I could afford GG and CC), so I coughed up an extra $100 and bought TH on eBay in early November. The only explanation I have for my troubles with the TH is that the QFLL's heard it was EOL and they pounced. I know that this was also a good long-term buy, but I suspect that it was the flippers that got me by the shorthairs.

<insert BS about JW, etc. Quick money goons are messing with end user availability... Waah! I want my toys back!>

I'm just a little cat in a dog eat dog world. "Oh Christmas tree!"

[chinothegeeko]

First off, I am overwhelmed by all these responses. Allow me to clarify a bit.

The long story is this:

I browse at Target almost every day after going to the gym, so it was three days in a row that I saw a plentiful supply of polybags. I wasn't sure whether this tree was the same as Santa's Visit and I'm overspent on Christmas by about $500 already. Yes, I should have bought it and then returned if I changed my mind, but that's my life: I just keep missing the boat. Which leads me to why I am so angry at QFLL's.

I have been collecting modulars since FB. My budget is very tight (four kids, one retail grade income) so I buy for myself last. I bought the PS in March of 2014 thinking I had more time to save for TH. I had planned to buy TH on my birthday, Oct 22, but by then they were gone. I was shocked and hurt and desperate to find one to keep my collection as complete as I could (no way I could afford GG and CC), so I coughed up an extra $100 and bought TH on eBay in early November. The only explanation I have for my troubles with the TH is that the QFLL's heard it was EOL and they pounced. I know that this was also a good long-term buy, but I suspect that it was the flippers that got me by the shorthairs.

I'm just a little cat in a dog eat dog world. "Oh Christmas tree!"

If you really want one PM me. I'll sell it to you minus shipping and PayPal fee

[citymorgue]

I understand this sentiment to a degree.  I'm on a very tight budget, and there have been times that I wanted to buy a Lego set and realize, no I need to keep the money because of other obligations.  It's only happened on a couple of occasions, but it can be frustrating that within a few months when I can afford it, it's already been picked clean.  I can't afford to just impulse buy things anymore, so I have to plan my money out accordingly.

I can have patience at times, but there have been times where something comes out that I want and have the money at the time and it's already been picked clean so I have to wait.  But by the time it's available again, I don't have the money anymore.  It's frustrating, and it's life, but it is frustrating when people come in and pick stores clean.

[Pseudoty]

Here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-games-30286-lego-christmas-tree/28742724?ean=0673419236485

if you don't have a BN membership to get free shipping or can't afford it buy one off of me on eBay and I will drop ship you one from BN and refund your payment 

Merry Xmas from the QFLL Team 

[KShine]

35 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

Here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-games-30286-lego-christmas-tree/28742724?ean=0673419236485

if you don't have a BN membership to get free shipping or can't afford it buy one off of me on eBay and I will drop ship you one from BN and refund your payment 

Merry Xmas from the QFLL Team 

Thanks - I just bought them all (sorry ebelle, I just couldn't help myself).

[Alpinemaps]

29 minutes ago, ebelle122 said:

The only explanation I have for my troubles with the TH is that the QFLL's heard it was EOL and they pounced. I know that this was also a good long-term buy, but I suspect that it was the flippers that got me by the shorthairs.

We used to have quantity sold in the Price Guide, but that information isn't there any more.  If it were there, I could confirm for you how many were sold in a particular month over the last year (since it's been just over a year since TH went sold out), and we could prove whether it was QFLL'ing that occurred, or just regular investing.

I'm going to guess that it was investors, not QFLL'ers, that snapped up THs.  Conventional wisdom says this is a set to hold onto, not flip for a few bucks right after it went to sold out or retired status.

I never picked up a TH for building myself.  I'm actually Bricklinking it.  (I got my quota for investing, which is separate from my personal buying activities).

I get what you're saying. I don't know if you have access to multiple Targets or B&N, but there are plenty of ways to get ahold of this polybag right now, even if your local Target is out.  And a number of people are already stepping up to help out.  That's definitely an awesome part of the community.  I've done that in the past, too.  I don't mind picking up things for people at cost.  There's plenty of action to go around for everyone.

[No More Monkeys]

10 minutes ago, KShine said:

Thanks - I just bought them all (sorry ebelle, I just couldn't help myself).

i think there is some sort of untold limit, or it would have been gone by now. that tree set was there for couple of weeks

Edited November 21, 2015 by No More Monkeys

[Pseudoty]

12 minutes ago, No More Monkeys said:

i think there is some sort of untold limit, or it would have been gone by now. that tree set was there for couple of weeks

No limit, well at least not less then 99, and it has been there for 2 months sold my first one 9/27. 

[Migration]

This thread is funny. You saw it three days in a row and didn't buy it but now blame Quick Flipping Low Lifes because you didn't want to spend the $4. Your lack of a Christmas Tree is no bodies fault but your own. Things sell out a Christmas. 

Just a quick edit:

last year when target had Simpsons CMF for $1.48 I bought 100 of them. Used ten as party favors and donated the rest to my kids school (which in turn used them as rewards for reading). So just because large numbers of a very inexpensive item disappeared overnight doesn't always mean QFLL. 

Edited November 21, 2015 by Migration

[marcandre]

Why would you go back a day later for a $3 poly

[fossilrock]

Eventually the QFLL will be a QFML - quick flipping money loser with his head underwater.  So, eventually they learn, or maybe not. Some seem impervious to that.