COVID-19 / Coronavirus Discussion

[Shortbus311]

Yep, so after looking, all of my N95 mask auctions were removed. None of them had any of the key phases Ebay said that they were looking for in them... meanwhile there are still 20k other listings for N95 masks up....

And just in case any of you felt like climbing your high horse... I bought two cases of these 2 years ago at a hospital liquidation auction for $10... I do a lot of woodworking, and as I believe someone else had mentioned on here they are great for keeping saw dust out of your lungs. I still had 1 full case left and was selling the boxes of 20. So no, I did not further dwindle current supply for a profit.

[Pseudoty]

Look at the second pic

Brand new Advanced PURELL 8oz https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F392716132374

[elmaslıefendi]

Just watch the gold price skyrocket when this medical crisis hits a few million people. The market is going crazy over 80-100k infected, imagine 80 million.

LEGO & everything else will effectively "crash" because the Dollar itself becomes worth less the more the gold price rises. Gold rises=Dollar falls. Since Nixon did his magic it already lost 98% of its value but hey... golden times!

[KvHulk]

The fear mongering on every single news outlet is pretty pathetic.

[elmaslıefendi]

6 minutes ago, KvHulk said:

The fear mongering on every single news outlet is pretty pathetic.

Keep playing it down, Mr. Tough. Doesn't matter if this fear is "pathetic" or justified. Fear is fear. And fear can lead to a serious "everything-goes-downhill"-scenario. You can be relaxed, but the other 97% isnt, your toughness won't help. This strategy works if the majority feels the same way. But we're just a small fraction. I'm more worried about all the fear leading to a major crash, not scared of the virus itself.

[KvHulk]

22 minutes ago, elmaslıefendi said:

Keep playing it down, Mr. Tough. Doesn't matter if this fear is "pathetic" or justified. Fear is fear. And fear can lead to a serious "everything-goes-downhill"-scenario. You can be relaxed, but the other 97% isnt, your toughness won't help. This strategy works if the majority feels the same way. But we're just a small fraction. I'm more worried about all the fear leading to a major crash, not scared of the virus itself.

Yeah, I'm the confrontational tough guy. Ya got me.

[elmaslıefendi]

13 minutes ago, KvHulk said:

Yeah, I'm the confrontational tough guy. Ya got me.

I didn't mean to criticise your attitude towards this virus, of course the media panic is pathetic, just sayin' this won't help. We can find it pathetic all we want, it doesn't matter. What matters is how prepared we are for a possible crash.

[CosmicSpeed]

1 hour ago, elmaslıefendi said:

Just watch the gold price skyrocket when this medical crisis hits a few million people. The market is going crazy over 80-100k infected, imagine 80 million.

LEGO & everything else will effectively "crash" because the Dollar itself becomes worth less the more the gold price rises. Gold rises=Dollar falls. Since Nixon did his magic it already lost 98% of its value but hey... golden times!

Edited March 6, 2020 by CosmicSpeed

[iahawks550]

38 minutes ago, elmaslıefendi said:

I didn't mean to criticise your attitude towards this virus, of course the media panic is pathetic, just sayin' this won't help. We can find it pathetic all we want, it doesn't matter. What matters is how prepared we are for a possible crash.

A crash means buying opportunity. 

[Ed Mack]

Here is a video to help keep perspective and to educate.  I learned some interesting facts...

https://podcastnotes.org/scott-adams-periscope-sessions/naval-ravikant-coronavirus/

[jeff_14]

Just saw that the shares in Spin Master (a significant toy maker with links to things like Paw Patrol, etc) are down 40% yesterday alone due to so much of their product being made in China. Which leads me to wonder if a silver lining to all of this is increased purchases of reseller lego. If there's a shortage of non lego toys (which drives more people to Lego) and/or a hit to Lego's own production, parents are still going to want to buy toys from somewhere. This could be like a reverse of last year when some of us had to go to unusual efforts to source those China exclusive new year sets. Would be ironic for China to come to us for consumer products.

[Ed Mack]

A list of chemicals that one can use to disinfect items:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-03/documents/sars-cov-2-list_03-03-2020.pdf

[Ed Mack]

Just now, jeff_14 said:

Just saw that the shares in Spin Master (a significant toy maker with links to things like Paw Patrol, etc) are down 40% yesterday alone due to so much of their product being made in China. Which leads me to wonder if a silver lining to all of this is increased purchases of reseller lego. If there's a shortage of non lego toys (which drives more people to Lego) and/or a hit to Lego's own production, parents are still going to want to buy toys from somewhere. This could be like a reverse of last year when some of us had to go to unusual efforts to source those China exclusive new year sets. Would be ironic for China to come to us for consumer products.

I was reading The LEGO Group's annual financial report yesterday and I bet they are not happy about their exposure in China.  

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/aboutus/news/2020/march/annual-results

[Sauromosis]

4 minutes ago, jeff_14 said:

Just saw that the shares in Spin Master (a significant toy maker with links to things like Paw Patrol, etc) are down 40% yesterday alone due to so much of their product being made in China. Which leads me to wonder if a silver lining to all of this is increased purchases of reseller lego. If there's a shortage of non lego toys (which drives more people to Lego) and/or a hit to Lego's own production, parents are still going to want to buy toys from somewhere. This could be like a reverse of last year when some of us had to go to unusual efforts to source those China exclusive new year sets. Would be ironic for China to come to us for consumer products.

That's a double edged sword...yes parents will still buy Christmas gifts for kids but a deep recession could cause people to stop paying a premium to collect lego sets. Lego is probably producing like normal but if demand slows, then supply will go way up. 

[ravenb99]

16 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

That's a double edged sword...yes parents will still buy Christmas gifts for kids but a deep recession could cause people to stop paying a premium to collect lego sets. Lego is probably producing like normal but if demand slows, then supply will go way up. 

from doing this so long and going through stuff like 9/11 back in the sports card days higher end collectibles will hold up fine.  The mid level stuff does tend to suffer.  Stuff at bargains if you can offer it will spike in sales.  Did have 2 of my worst days ever recently when all the news broke about it being in the US.  So scare tactics will always slow down sales of non necessity items but they usually rebound few days later.  

 

[jeff_14]

18 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

That's a double edged sword...yes parents will still buy Christmas gifts for kids but a deep recession could cause people to stop paying a premium to collect lego sets. Lego is probably producing like normal but if demand slows, then supply will go way up. 

A deep recession will always be that threat, but assuming we're not heading for that but rather a slowdown or mild recession, short term disruptions in toy production could be a gift to our community.

[elmaslıefendi]

1 hour ago, iahawks550 said:

A crash means buying opportunity. 

Or losing opportunity. Just depends on what situation you're in, may catch you off guard. The safest route is to buy eternal money aka gold & sell/trade it for property or stocks later on when everything crashes. Bad if you have a lot of plastic laying around though.

[Darth_Raichu]

36 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

That's a double edged sword...yes parents will still buy Christmas gifts for kids but a deep recession could cause people to stop paying a premium to collect lego sets. Lego is probably producing like normal but if demand slows, then supply will go way up. 

My stock portfolio told me how bad I am at trading. I am  sticking with what I know better

[oneknightr]

I received word that the San Jose Toy Show this weekend is cancelled due to coronavirus fears. Not surprising they cancelled but still sad. Was looking forward to taking the kids. I guess it's for the best.

[Mark Twain]

13 minutes ago, jeff_14 said:

A deep recession will always be that threat, but assuming we're not heading for that but rather a slowdown or mild recession, short term disruptions in toy production could be a gift to our community.

I'm concerned about the moves eBay and Amazon pulled recently to limit the pricing or ban sellers of goods they deemed "crucial." This is done largely to protect this image and brand with consumers who don't realize that there is a broader marketplace of 3p sellers. We provide a small niche service during the holidays as resellers, often selling x3 x4 or higher above rrp. Toys certainly aren't "crucial" BUT if the marketplaces view this as an opportunity to further protect their relationship with consumers by implementing  more pricing and seller controls on 3p sellers during key periods we might be in for a world of trouble as resellers once November roles around.  

[Darth_Raichu]

7 minutes ago, Mark Twain said:

I'm concerned about the moves eBay and Amazon pulled recently to limit the pricing or ban sellers of goods they deemed "crucial." This is done largely to protect this image and brand with consumers who don't realize that there is a broader marketplace of 3p sellers. We provide a small niche service during the holidays as resellers, often selling x3 x4 or higher above rrp. Toys certainly aren't "crucial" BUT if the marketplaces view this as an opportunity to further protect their relationship with consumers by implementing  more pricing and seller controls on 3p sellers during key periods we might be in for a world of trouble as resellers once November roles around.  

I do not think eBay is that stupid.  They know what fuel their website during that time of the year.  They need every single bit of the commissions & fees to compete with retailers.

Amzn on the other hand, is so big they may just be ok with losing that market. 

[Sauromosis]

1 hour ago, Mark Twain said:

I'm concerned about the moves eBay and Amazon pulled recently to limit the pricing or ban sellers of goods they deemed "crucial." This is done largely to protect this image and brand with consumers who don't realize that there is a broader marketplace of 3p sellers. We provide a small niche service during the holidays as resellers, often selling x3 x4 or higher above rrp. Toys certainly aren't "crucial" BUT if the marketplaces view this as an opportunity to further protect their relationship with consumers by implementing  more pricing and seller controls on 3p sellers during key periods we might be in for a world of trouble as resellers once November roles around.  

Yeah and they may have used this to suspend accounts with a lot of slow moving stuff in FBA, we'll never know. I hope the people can get back active.

[brickolodon]

7 hours ago, elmaslıefendi said:

Just watch the gold price skyrocket when this medical crisis hits a few million people. The market is going crazy over 80-100k infected, imagine 80 million.

LEGO & everything else will effectively "crash" because the Dollar itself becomes worth less the more the gold price rises. Gold rises=Dollar falls. Since Nixon did his magic it already lost 98% of its value but hey... golden times!

i see $1685.00 where skyrocket?

Edited March 6, 2020 by brickolodon

[elmaslıefendi]

11 minutes ago, brickolodon said:

i see $1685.00 where skyrocket?

I said when a few million are infected. We are at 80k. Reading thoroughly is hard, I know. Gold hit 50€ a gram just last week, that's a 5 year high. Right now it's down 3-4€ again... which makes no sense at all, because nothing got better, just worse, more infected, Syria etc... Fed is just massively buying right now artificial manipulation, like always. Gold has potential to hit 15.000€/oz if a real worst case scenario sets in. 2008/09 was not a real crash, we dodged a bullet there. I just hope this virus won't be the black swan...

[Brystheguy]

39 minutes ago, elmaslıefendi said:

I said when a few million are infected. We are at 80k. Reading thoroughly is hard, I know.

You know, you could have gotten your point across with the first two sentences. The only reason for the next one is to insult someone.