41999 - 4x4 Crawler Exclusive Edition

[arobert125]

I'm going to open and build the only one I bought....gonna open it on Christmas Day.

[Diabolos80]

Locutis I don't understand how you have managed to not move a single crawler... And even if you havent, there are enough members here, myself included, who will testify to ROIs of 50-90% within weeks. Obviously the crawler IS making us money now, regardless of what kajiji is doing for you. Besides, Willy is right. Rare is the market price sell of a collector's item on local classifieds. On ebay we're seeing returns similar to your Emerald Nights, but in a fraction of the time.

Also I think you're seriously underestimating the worldwide appeal of Technic. And your "meh, I can afford 3 of everything and I don't need to sell" strategy is great; but I can't afford it. If I want my Tower of Orthanc anytime soon, I need some profits to roll into it.

[cohens714]

I have flipped 8 of these and it has never taken me more than 24hrs to sell them.  The average sale price was $400 and I offered free shipping.  After fees my take home on each set was about $120.  We can argue if it was the right move but for me cash in hand is king especially with something so easy to flip.

[Guest ph4tb0i]

I'm still quite confused about this set.  I missed out in the initial offering from LEGO Shop at Home, and not having a Lego store anywhere near me, I was out of luck.

 

In the weeks after initial release, I saw prices surge past $400 and wrote this set off my list (I wasn't willing to pay that much for one).  Over the course of 6-8 weeks, people continued to be able to buy these up at retail, including local Lego stores, which irritated me (as I don't have that option).

 

Through a very big blessing, I was able to receive the notification that Toys R Us (.ca) had some back in stock early in the morning several weeks back.  I bought 1, then 2 more (for my son, and a friend), then realized I wasn't logged into any account when I ordered, and ordered several more within my account so I could properly track the order(s) in case some got cancelled.  To my amazement TRU shipped my sets a few days later, and I got them.

 

TRU.ca charged Canadian retail for the sets (249.95), plus 5% GST and 8% PST.  That came out to $283 CDN.  I have been trying to sell them on several sites, including Kijiji now for 3+ weeks at $350 and no dice.  Not one inquiry or order.  Where are all the real buyers of this set?

 

I'm debating on returning some back to TRU as Technic isn't my usual forte (though I do collect these big motorized sets, I don't want an army), I collect Town and City and Creator sets.  I have no problem keeping 3 Grand Emporiums (worst case I open and build them), but keeping several of these sets would upset me.

 

Given the fact that the other sites have prices in the $400+ range, plus shipping to Canada ($50+) plus customs would charge 5%+8%, I can't see why I can't even sell ONE in a city of 800,000 for $350, which is only $67 over cost.

 

In my opinion, the market on this set is extremely skewed towards the resellers/flippers.  I've had experience reselling rare sets, and it's nothing like this.  I've sold modular buildings after retirement, Emerald Night sets, Creator and Town houses, all for 50% over issue, to more than 5x issue, and there's always interest in these sets.

 

I know everyone will say "hold them and after a few years it will be a good investment", however, I can't seem to see that.  If the typical Technic builder/collector isn't buying these up like hotcakes at $350, how will more time make any difference?  At least with my Green Grocers, my Emerald Nights, etc., there was supreme demand in the months following, and I still have demand every few months.

 

I do have 16 years of marketing and pricing experience with another market that is similar to this one, (I am the Director of a corporation for a distributor of a collector's product), and analyzing the sales numbers on this set now after some time has passed provides a very disturbing outlook.  At work I developed a proprietary system of analyzing sales and pricing data, over a period of time, and providing an analysis of sales forecast.  I have applied this knowledge to my Lego investing, and have been pretty successful.  I jumped the gun when I saw this set, without knowing what the real sales of it were.  

 

I believe in 18 months leading up to 2-3 years, no one will even care about this set.  Just like flippers and mass resellers have started to ruin the market I'm involved with outside of Lego, so are some flippers ruining the Lego market, in my opinion.  Why did I get involved in reselling? Because I was ripped off by a seller on Bricklink from Quebec, and decided to make back some of that loss ($600 of my son's saved up allowance, birthday, and Christmas money) by honestly reselling discontinued Lego sets locally so I can help others not get ripped off.  I don't buy Lego to resell to make a ton of money, I buy what I like and what I think others will like at a moderate markup to help pay for my hobby.  I own 4 Delorean sets, all of which will be built.  I own 2 Pet Shops, both built.  I own 4 Grand Emporium sets, 1 built, 3 sealed in boxes.  If I decide not to sell them, I won't, and I'll just build them for my own Lego displays.  If they become worth $300+ on the market, then so be it, someone can buy them from me.  I hold nothing waiting for extreme profits, I sell in stages to help offset other costs.

 

Why did I buy several Technic Crawlers?  I don't even know now...

 

Locutis

 

 

I would say if it wasn't my HST exemption on the sets I probably wouldn't have even bought them in Canada. At 283 you're already taking a huge hit on your margins, not including the shipping costs and fees that would entail if you sell them online. 

 

Anyone who's wanted one in the GTA most likely has one now (I unloaded 4 during the second wave when demand was super hot), so your choices really are either returning them if you can, or waiting it out and letting the set appreciate. I think $400 is a reasonable floor on this set with much more room to grow in the future. 

[Quacs]

I have flipped 8 of these and it has never taken me more than 24hrs to sell them.  The average sale price was $400 and I offered free shipping.  After fees my take home on each set was about $120.  We can argue if it was the right move but for me cash in hand is king especially with something so easy to flip.

 

Me too - I've sold two, and both have taken less than 24 hours to sell on eBay.  I would suggest you go on eBay, list it with their Global Shipping Program (if they have one in Canada), or make sure it's listed on eBay UK.  These will sell at 400 USD. 

 

As someone said earlier, a classified ad site is probably not the best place to sell this set.  Why would it be different for this set than any other?  I can't tell you.  All I know is that this set has sold big on eBay consistently over the last two months.

 

Flipping these allows you to invest in more Lego.  How can that be bad?

[Guest ph4tb0i]

His problem is two fold: 

 

1. His/her entry cost is high. In the US this set is only going for 200 (assuming your state tax is ~8% that's only about $216USD to buy a crawler. Because he/she is buying it as a personal item (i.e. he/she does not have a business to absorb the consumption tax), he/she is paying the ontario 13% consumption (aka HST) tax on top of the 250 MSRP. At ~283 ish, he/she is entering the market at an almost 30% disadvantage (minus ebay/paypal fees, etc.).

 

2. He/she will have to ship by Canada Post unless he takes it over to the states and uses USPS (couriers delivering to USPS from Canada will usually not touch anything above $200 because of US CBP "red tape" against high value goods).. In a worse case scenario this can result in an almost 300% increase in shipping fees (I haven't done the estimates by canada post but yeah, it's that crazy here), so that's eating into his margins even more. 

 

So right now there's really a couple of choices for him (or her): 

 

1. Return the sets (or sell them to a fellow BP-er at a low enough cost, but I doubt anybody here would pay 283 + shipping for it). 

2. Wait for the sets to appreciate further before selling (which he/she does not feel that they would climb any more beyond the $400 going price right now on ebay). 

 

Hope that answers the questions my Amerifriends!

[gregpj]

His problem is two fold: 

 

1. His/her entry cost is high. In the US this set is only going for 200 (assuming your state tax is ~8% that's only about $216USD to buy a crawler. Because he/she is buying it as a personal item (i.e. he/she does not have a business to absorb the consumption tax), he/she is paying the ontario 13% consumption (aka HST) tax on top of the 250 MSRP. At ~283 ish, he/she is entering the market at an almost 30% disadvantage (minus ebay/paypal fees, etc.).

 

2. He/she will have to ship by Canada Post unless he takes it over to the states and uses USPS (couriers delivering to USPS from Canada will usually not touch anything above $200 because of US CBP "red tape" against high value goods).. In a worse case scenario this can result in an almost 300% increase in shipping fees (I haven't done the estimates by canada post but yeah, it's that crazy here), so that's eating into his margins even more. 

 

So right now there's really a couple of choices for him (or her): 

 

1. Return the sets (or sell them to a fellow BP-er at a low enough cost, but I doubt anybody here would pay 283 + shipping for it). 

2. Wait for the sets to appreciate further before selling (which he/she does not feel that they would climb any more beyond the $400 going price right now on ebay). 

 

Hope that answers the questions my Amerifriends!

 

Option 3... Sell them to someone outside of eBay who would gladly pay $1000US for two shipped to the UK. That's what I did and it pays for the two I'm keeping. One to build one to hold for the future.

 

ps it's 13% in Manitoba where Locutis is.

 

pps Kijiji is the land of the cheapskate in Winnipeg and elsewhere. I was offered $300 for a $6000 glass and marble dining room table I was asking $2800 for. Seriously?!

[willy431]

I tend to agree with your disdain for large resellers, who don't collect and build...like walmart, Kmart, target...can't stand them! Where, pray tell, do we fall on your morality meter if we have $18k in sealed new inventory...and $4k used played with Legos scattered around every room of the house...save the 2 bathrooms and kitchen? Actually...don't bother to answer...go flip your crawlers....it's for your kid after all. Gmafb.

I don't like my competitors either...big or small...but I don't need to make myself feel better by getting on a virtual soap box and preaching to virtual people with fake names

To each their own.

Ps. I sent you his email address that you pm do me for. Good luck with the sale...but be warned...he is a ...a.....a....reseller! And he doesn't even have a kid!

Back to the topic....natick and Braintree are out. They got 3 each this morning.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I tend to agree with your disdain for large resellers, who don't collect and build...like walmart, Kmart, target...can't stand them! Where, pray tell, do we fall on your morality meter if we have $18k in sealed new inventory...and $4k used played with Legos scattered around every room of the house...save the 2 bathrooms and kitchen? Actually...don't bother to answer...go flip your crawlers....it's for your kid after all. Gmafb.

I don't like my competitors either...big or small...but I don't need to make myself feel better by getting on a virtual soap box and preaching to virtual people with fake names

To each their own.

Ps. I sent you his email address that you pm do me for. Good luck with the sale...but be warned...he is a ...a.....a....reseller! And he doesn't even have a kid!

Back to the topic....natick and Braintree are out. They got 3 each this morning.

 

Always good comments. I think I stick with Ed - he doesn't like the people who do what you do AND don't really like Lego. Obviously you do.

 

We all like to invest, resell, whatever - I really like to deal hunt. But I think the good things are we should try to bring Lego as much business as we can. How? Buying our own legos, getting others into Lego, etc. I take pride when I talk someone into buying a set for the first time. Those are the people I want into Lego sets.

[Fcbarcelona101]

Always good comments. I think I stick with Ed - he doesn't like the people who do what you do AND don't really like Lego. Obviously you do.

 

We all like to invest, resell, whatever - I really like to deal hunt. But I think the good things are we should try to bring Lego as much business as we can. How? Buying our own legos, getting others into Lego, etc. I take pride when I talk someone into buying a set for the first time. Those are the people I want into Lego sets.

 

I'm with Willy here lol.

 

I don't think he likes the people who do that, he just (like me) does not care about what others do as they are completely free to do whatever they want with their money and time .

 

They probably just see it as some people see stocks. I am sure many here don't like X or Y company at all, but still invest in them because they can generate positive returns.

 

Don't misunderstand me though, both Ed's and your opinion is valid and I am not trying to change your minds at all. Freedom of speech is a good thing

[Coneil21]

Always good comments. I think I stick with Ed - he doesn't like the people who do what you do AND don't really like Lego. Obviously you do.

 

With all due respect, I think the line you are drawing to distinguish between "good" and "bad" Lego sellers is rather arbitrary and self serving. Everyone is here for their own reasons. At the end of the day we all do the same thing -- we buy Lego sets as cheaply as possible and then sell them for more money. You can be driven by a life long love of Lego, but explain to me how that makes you a more worthy reseller than the single mom who knows litttle about Lego but stumbled upon a way to help defray the cost of her kids braces?

To the extent we need to draw any lines in order to distance ourselves from the "undesirables," the barometer I prefer to use is INTEGRITY. I don't care what someone's reasons are for partaking in this secondary market. Anyone who conducts themselves with integrity while both acquiring and selling inventory, to me at least, is a "good" reseller.

[legopocalypse]

I'm not saying Lego has but was just saying that there are plenty of businesses that do lie to their customers. Fortunately Lego is not one of them and hopefully they never will.

[toni8284]

FYI, lego store in Christina mall, DE Still had 2 41999 left

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

With all due respect, I think the line you are drawing to distinguish between "good" and "bad" Lego sellers is rather arbitrary and self serving. Everyone is here for their own reasons. At the end of the day we all do the same thing -- we buy Lego sets as cheaply as possible and then sell them for more money. You can be driven by a life long love of Lego, but explain to me how that makes you a more worthy reseller than the single mom who knows litttle about Lego but stumbled upon a way to help defray the cost of her kids braces?

To the extent we need to draw any lines in order to distance ourselves from the "undesirables," the barometer I prefer to use is INTEGRITY. I don't care what someone's reasons are for partaking in this secondary market. Anyone who conducts themselves with integrity while both acquiring and selling inventory, to me at least, is a "good" reseller.

I'm not actually. The original point was people who buy it like crazy in insane amounts just to resell. Your mom and her kid obviously don't fit in that category.

I never said any of it is wrong - if I did I didn't mean it I have a fever of 102 right now, lol - but I am talking about people who don't love lego, who are buying tons and tons of it to resell, etc. that's probably barely any of the people on this site and certainly not you.

I don't really care- I sell with compassion. I lost stuff where I barely make much money and then I spend it on other people. That doesn't make me better than anyone - I just with there were more sellers like that and less that buy 100 haunted houses and jack up the market price on eBay when they are still around.

I really don't do this to make money. I do it because its fun. Money is a side thing - but like I said, I don't spend it on myself much.

I do wanna make the point that I wasn't meaning to condemn anyone or make what I do morally right and make that the line. It was more of a - I wish that there weren't as many people with the toys r is view of selling lego. Again I could barely identify anyone on this site that fits in that category

[Coneil21]

I'm not actually. The original point was people who buy it like crazy in insane amounts just to resell. Your mom and her kid obviously don't fit in that category.

I never said any of it is wrong - if I did I didn't mean it I have a fever of 102 right now, lol - but I am talking about people who don't love lego, who are buying tons and tons of it to resell, etc. that's probably barely any of the people on this site and certainly not you.

I don't really care- I sell with compassion. I lost stuff where I barely make much money and then I spend it on other people. That doesn't make me better than anyone - I just with there were more sellers like that and less that buy 100 haunted houses and jack up the market price on eBay when they are still around.

I really don't do this to make money. I do it because its fun. Money is a side thing - but like I said, I don't spend it on myself much.

I do wanna make the point that I wasn't meaning to condemn anyone or make what I do morally right and make that the line. It was more of a - I wish that there weren't as many people with the toys r is view of selling lego. Again I could barely identify anyone on this site that fits in that category

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to respond directly to you. My point was more in general. Now get some rest and make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to respond directly to you. My point was more in general. Now get some rest and make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids!

I know it was - I was trying to clear up and add a good point to it since my comments weren't well thought out before.

Sometimes I struggle with actually sending to draw the line when more I am just saying - I wish it were more like this.

Really morals are funny anyway - there is always someone who will think anything someone else does is wrong. Lol

And I should get some rest. However I am on my way to a lego store. Didnt want to bail out on my friend. I am only half conscious. This is commitment. Or pitiful. Can't tell which

[rcdb1984]

Don't forget the exclusive holiday set comes out today....double VIP points, and a free set.  Great savings if you live by a Lego Store!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Don't forget the exclusive holiday set comes out today....double VIP points, and a free set.  Great savings if you live by a Lego Store!

We are trying to have a deep conversation and you gotta be all cheerful. Man. Lol

[TheOrcKing]

TRU.ca charged Canadian retail for the sets (249.95), plus 5% GST and 8% PST. That came out to $283 CDN. I have been trying to sell them on several sites, including Kijiji now for 3+ weeks at $350 and no dice. Not one inquiry or order. Where are all the real buyers of this set?

Given the fact that the other sites have prices in the $400+ range, plus shipping to Canada ($50+) plus customs would charge 5%+8%, I can't see why I can't even sell ONE in a city of 800,000 for $350, which is only $67 over cost.

 

In my opinion, the market on this set is extremely skewed towards the resellers/flippers.  I've had experience reselling rare sets, and it's nothing like this.  I've sold modular buildings after retirement, Emerald Night sets, Creator and Town houses, all for 50% over issue, to more than 5x issue, and there's always interest in these sets.

 

I know everyone will say "hold them and after a few years it will be a good investment", however, I can't seem to see that.  If the typical Technic builder/collector isn't buying these up like hotcakes at $350, how will more time make any difference?  At least with my Green Grocers, my Emerald Nights, etc., there was supreme demand in the months following, and I still have demand every few months.

I have 4x4 Crawlers listed on Bricklink.  Haven't sold one.  I don't like eBay, so I'm not touching it.

I am sorry to hear you are having such insane difficulty trying to unload any of your Limited Crawlers at all through numerous means by the sound of it. Unfortunately, I think most will see the part about not using eBay as your problem; not that I blame you. It has never been my favorite place to deal with in the past personally.

Your statement about the set itself being focused towards resellers is interesting as just who exactly has been buying up the set? That buyer only known as Max (or whatever) must be one heck of a reseller to keep buying them up in (what I would guess) an attempt to corner the market on the Limited Crawler. Who in their right mind seriously needs 200+ of any set? Is he trying to build a life size version he can drive like an actual car?

Anyway, I believe there are plenty of actual collectors wanting the Limited Crawler but the whole "Limited Edition" part is what has drawn out investors like a moth to the flame. Seeing the plastered "Only 20,000 made!" on the Lego site is like knowing beforehand the results of a horse race. Even if the odds are sketchy, you can bet just about everybody is going to gamble it all on a sure thing.

[wesman888]

I just picked up one at the Lego shop at Glendale mall. There are 3 left out on the self.

[@rtisan]

I just picked up one at the Lego shop at Glendale mall. There are 3 left out on the self.

I would get them and flip them immediately if you need the money. That`s an easy $200 each in profit. 

[Diabolos80]

I would get them and flip them immediately if you need the money. That`s an easy $200 each in profit.

Maybe not quite $200 right now... The high price is around $460 shipped, minus fees, packing materials, shipping... My profit on my last ebay sale was $140ish.

I dunno why I even mentioned this. Obviously it's still a great flip.

[wesman888]

I would get them and flip them immediately if you need the money. That`s an easy $200 each in profit.

They only allow me to get one.

[Anakinisvader]

They only allow me to get one.

 Send in friends and family, heck, hire an illegal alien  --  just get em.

[wesman888]

 Send in friends and family, heck, hire an illegal alien  --  just get em.

And no one wants to help me.  I was so tempted to ask anyone to help, but did not have the guts to ask.  LOL...