Questions about box damage and tape seals

[biking_tiger]

Box condition matters to a small but vocal minority of future buyers. Everyone else doesn't care, especially as an item becomes increasingly rare.

I'm not sure a damaged box limits future price as much as your future buyer pool, and even at that, the limitation is small.  I noticed some GEs sealed and graded (like other toy collectibles) in plastic cases on eBay going for well above the standard price. I'm not sure who buys those things at that mark up, but they exist. I just doubt they represent the bulk of future buyers/builders for rare sets.

It's never all/nothing. Box condition matters to some people some of the time, but you're going to gain a premium price for rare/retired LEGO either way.

Edited January 15, 2016 by biking_tiger

[PlasticDude]

Box appears to have double tape on one end... does this seem abnormal, should I be concerned?  

 

Set is NIB Grand Emporium which I picked up local guy for $250.

[Bold-Arrow]

The seals look like they shifted, which is normal for older bigger sets. ( I dont see a second tape, but that might just be my old age ) .

As a rule of thumb , if you had concerns, you should have asked to have the set opened right there and then before cash exchanged hands. 

[PlasticDude]

1 hour ago, Bold-Arrow said:

The seals look like they shifted, which is normal for older bigger sets. ( I dont see a second tape, but that might just be my old age ) .

As a rule of thumb , if you had concerns, you should have asked to have the set opened right there and then before cash exchanged hands. 

Didn’t notice it till tonight... a couple days later

?

If you zoom in you “should” be able to see the double tape

?

Edited May 21, 2019 by PlasticDude

[Mgip21]

19 minutes ago, PlasticDude said:

Didn’t notice it till tonight... a couple days later

?

If you zoom in you “should” be able to see the double tape

?

Have you checked the weight?  I can definitely see both pieces of tape though?

[$20 on joe vs dan]

I was told a story from an long time AFoL. When the Wall-E sets first came out there was a correction to the set later on to fix a stability issue w/ the Head unit. Anyway, folks that wanted their sealed box corrected took it to their local Toy r Us where a Lego rep would open the seals, replace the bag(s), and then re-sealed the box. Apparently these reps carry around a portable sealer and corrections resulting in double seals were the result.

Just sayin that double seals is not automatically a bad box.

 

[fuzzy_bricks]

32 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

I was told a story from an long time AFoL. When the Wall-E sets first came out there was a correction to the set later on to fix a stability issue w/ the Head unit. Anyway, folks that wanted their sealed box corrected took it to their local Toy r Us where a Lego rep would open the seals, replace the bag(s), and then re-sealed the box. Apparently these reps carry around a portable sealer and corrections resulting in double seals were the result.

Just sayin that double seals is not automatically a bad box.

This may need to be filed under the "What a Lego store employee told me" thread.  I never heard about them resealing the boxes on site.  I believe a bunch of them got corrected before they hit the retail shelves and they would have had double seals. 

I had a couple Vampyre Castles that had double seals, and I think I remember reading that there was an issue with the GE getting double of one bag so they had to repack some of them.  You shouldn't loose too much value if you cut the seals to check.

[ravenb99]

Lots of double sealed sets out there.  Just saw some ucs hulkbusters which were too.  Didn't know about that one.  Orthanc had the messiest looking double seals that I can remember

[$20 on joe vs dan]

1 hour ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

This may need to be filed under the "What a Lego store employee told me" thread.  I never heard about them resealing the boxes on site.  I believe a bunch of them got corrected before they hit the retail shelves and they would have had double seals. 

I had a couple Vampyre Castles that had double seals, and I think I remember reading that there was an issue with the GE getting double of one bag so they had to repack some of them.  You shouldn't loose too much value if you cut the seals to check.

not exactly. Basically A regional Lego rep was visiting all the Toy r Us stores correcting the Wall-E sets on shelves. The AFoL was happening to visit at that time to exchange the Wall-E set...the rep took his, opened seals, substituted the affected bag(s), and then had a handy-dandy portable seals dispenser to re-seal the box...I'm sure there's a few of us here who would give anything for that dispenser.

[dustin35]

I bought Monster fighters set 9468 Monster fighters off of ebay the other day.  When I received the box the seals were intact but as some stated it seems that another factory seal was placed over it.  Has anyone heard anything about this set having two seals by lego?   Both the original and reseal #'s match each side.   Just wondering if I should worry.   I would hate to open the set as I like my sets sealed.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

Does anyone know when LEGO started official seals instead of glue?

[steveviscious89]

7 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

Does anyone know when LEGO started official seals instead of glue?

I'm trying to remember if I ever had a set that was glued...

[donbee]

Does anyone know when LEGO started official seals instead of glue?

This year.

[Gummielg]

Hi

Has anyone seen this kind of seal on a lego box before?

[Pseudoty]

48 minutes ago, Gummielg said:

Hi

Has anyone seen this kind of seal on a lego box before?

Welcome and GREAT job finding the proper thread and not starting a new one. 

Unfortunately, I can not see the picture you uploaded. Can you try again?

[Zepp]

Double factory seals happen. Perhaps it was a randomly QC'd set that was pulled off the line for a quality inspection. Or they had a batch that all needed something added due to an error. Personally I try and avoid sets with the double seals. I hate having to explain to buyers that I didn't open it, as its obviously a Lego factory black lined seal with the curved edges, etc.  It can affect the resale value sometimes.

On another note, I have several really old larger sets in storage that have started to have shifted seals over time, and others that have lost their adhesiveness all together and popped open. Again it affects the value because it goes from sealed to open just from sitting too long, and some buyers are hesitant to believe that I didn't mess with it while open. I guess these arent meant to store forever (I'm talking stuff from the late 90s) and I should unload them sooner than later.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Zepp

[Gummielg]

Edited April 15, 2021 by Gummielg
Delete

[Gummielg]

31 minutes ago, Zepp said:

Double factory seals happen. Perhaps it was a randomly QC'd set that was pulled off the line for a quality inspection. Or they had a batch that all needed something added due to an error. Personally I try and avoid sets with the double seals. I hate having to explain to buyers that I didn't open it, as its obviously a Lego factory black lined seal with the curved edges, etc.  It can affect the resale value sometimes.

On another note, I have several really old larger sets in storage that have started to have shifted seals over time, and others that have lost their adhesiveness all together and popped open. Again it affects the value because it goes from sealed to open just from sitting too long, and some buyers are hesitant to believe that I didn't mess with it while open. I guess these arent meant to store forever (I'm talking stuff from the late 90s) and I should unload them sooner than later.

Ah, okey. So you belive this is a genuine lego seal. I've tried googling for a long time now but can't find anything similar.

Thanks for the reply. 

[Gummielg]

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

Welcome and GREAT job finding the proper thread and not starting a new one. 

Unfortunately, I can not see the picture you uploaded. Can you try again?

Hi. Thanks, hopefully this will be the site that can finally help me. I tried uploading the picture again, but difficult because I can only upload from an URL and not just a file on my pc.  I can try to explain it if you still don't see the pic. The seal is just beside the original. It's a tape seal with a white "stamplooking" paperpiece with the nr 87231815 and the letter E just under the numbers.

[exciter1]

15 minutes ago, Gummielg said:

Hi. Thanks, hopefully this will be the site that can finally help me. I tried uploading the picture again, but difficult because I can only upload from an URL and not just a file on my pc.  I can try to explain it if you still don't see the pic. The seal is just beside the original. It's a tape seal with a white "stamplooking" paperpiece with the nr 87231815 and the letter E just under the numbers.

Try just a copy/paste on the image, without posting the entire URL.

[Gummielg]

1 hour ago, exciter1 said:

Try just a copy/paste on the image, without posting the entire URL.

Hmmm, I must be doing something wrong. I can't copy/paste anything other than text. Tried directly from source too. I'm on my mobile now, I will try later on the cpu.

[Gummielg]

18 hours ago, exciter1 said:

Try just a copy/paste on the image, without posting the entire URL.