Retiring Soon - open speculation

[Guest]

Limits can tell you things but it is not as black and white as that. Slave 1 has been limit 2 since it came out I think. SC could be limit 5 because they are trying to get rid of them for EOL. I would say EV is limit 1 because it is going away but some sets were limit 1 to slow the horde when they launched like the Tumbler. Pet Shop limit has changed like a million times and it doesn't seem to be doing anything except being produced non stop forever. So.....maybe?

Edited February 24, 2016 by MarxMarvelous

[landphieran]

19 minutes ago, Stud-Flipper said:

Does the quantity limit on Lego Shop at Home correlate with a set's EOL? Because for example, the 75059 Sandcrawler still has a full limit of 5, but the newer 75060 Slave I already has a limit of only 2 ???

The limit 5 on Sandcrawler is re-seller bait.

I also want to mention that people should more greatly consider licensing in their EOL estimations. As long as Pet shop, Tower Bridge, Sydney Operah House continue to sell well their is very little incentive to not produce more. They aren't bound to movie timelines, end of licensing agreements, fee's from licenses etc. I imagine TLG will continue to keep these sets around until they become stale. At this point I'd say, consider how many instances the horde over-reacted. in how many sets you plan on purchasing. 

Edited February 24, 2016 by landphieran

[Battrax]

18 minutes ago, MarxMarvelous said:

Limits can tell you things but it is not as black and white as that. Slave 1 has been limit 2 since it came out I think. SC could be limit 5 because they are trying to get rid of them for EOL. I would say EV is limit 1 because it is going away but some sets were limit 1 to slow the horde when they launched like the Tumbler. Pet Shop limit has changed like a million times and it doesn't seem to be doing anything except being produced non stop forever. So.....maybe?

Yes... and the 10241 Maersk EEE had been at limit 2 in the USA LEGO Shop at Home as long as I remember, even after it was marked "Retiring Soon" from what I recall.

[jay4e]

31 minutes ago, Stud-Flipper said:

Does the quantity limit on Lego Shop at Home correlate with a set's EOL? Because for example, the 75059 Sandcrawler still has a full limit of 5, but the newer 75060 Slave I already has a limit of only 2 ???

And 10236 Ewok Village is the oldest of the 3 and has a limit of just 1. So If I were looking to buy one of these sets right now, Ewok Village would be my best bet?

the problem with limits is they are manually adjusted.  Thus a limit can be set to 1 or 2 when supply is weak, but then may never be changed when supplies increase.  I would also not put much faith in LEGO Shop at Home having a strict SOP around limits and how they should be set.  Thus they may just be the whim of who ever happens to look at the inventory and sales history at a particular time.  

Much like everything else on LEGO Shop at Home its very much speculative and buyer be ware.  US shop at home in particular is either very keen on screwing with resellers or run by monkeys...

I would say your speculation that EV is most likely to be approaching EOL is correct.  well at least as correct as speculation can be.  However I will also say that if either SC or S1 go EOL not long after EV, they will likely have better returns.  

Edited February 24, 2016 by jay4e

[allthingslego9]

1 hour ago, landphieran said:

The limit 5 on Sandcrawler is re-seller bait.

I also want to mention that people should more greatly consider licensing in their EOL estimations. As long as Pet shop, Tower Bridge, Sydney Operah House continue to sell well their is very little incentive to not produce more. They aren't bound to movie timelines, end of licensing agreements, fee's from licenses etc. I imagine TLG will continue to keep these sets around until they become stale. At this point I'd say, consider how many instances the horde over-reacted. in how many sets you plan on purchasing. 

Can you explain what you mean by re-seller bait?

[Armor]

[lostontheverglow]

6 hours ago, allthingslego9 said:

Can you explain what you mean by re-seller bait?

I would assume he means that no reasonable person actually needs 5 SCs for his or her personal collection. It may just be TLG trying to find resellers (who buy 5 SCs) and banning them.

[c_rpg]

On 25-2-2016 at 2:39 AM, lostontheverglow said:

I would assume he means that no reasonable person actually needs 5 SCs for his or her personal collection. It may just be TLG trying to find resellers (who buy 5 SCs) and banning them.

I agree you are filrting with the hammer if you buy 5 sandcrawlers, but there's plenty of sets that have limit 5 which no reasonable person would buy. For example: Rey's Speeder, Anakin's Custom Jedifighter, Poe's X-wing,...

[HandyHand]

2 hours ago, c_rpg said:

I agree you are filrting with the hammer if you buy 5 sandcrawlers, but there's plenty of sets that have limit 5 which no reasonable person would buy. For example: Rey's Speeder, Anakin's Custom Jedifighter, Poe's X-wing,...

Well, I could see someone having 5 grandchildren and wanting to give each of them a Rey's Speeder as a gift. It would be stretching it already for 5 Poe's X-Wing as gifts, but it's totally unbelievable for someone to gift 5 Sandcrawlers.  

[gmpirate]

You are not going to get banned for buying 5 Sandcrawlers. You can get banned for having a buying pattern of a reseller.

[Deadfraggle]

16 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

You are not going to get banned for buying 5 Sandcrawlers. You can get banned for having a buying pattern of a reseller.

I don't disagree with you, because you're probably right that buying the allowed quantity of any one item isn't going to get you banned, but buying 5 SC in one shot might go a long way towards establishing the "reseller buying pattern" you reference.

Particuarly true, if your VIP account is newish, you wait until double VIP or some other good LEGO Shop at Home promo week, and then repeat that behavior for other exclusives within a few days. Just tips for some of the less experienced.

[Phil B]

On the subject of "Retiring" .... I hadn't noticed this before but Blue Baseplates (#620) have retired and there is no substitution in the LEGO Classic section (only grey, tan and green). Other retailers are also out ... Amazon's cheapest is a 3PS selling for $17. Apologies if this is old news, but I thought it might be good to know especially for those of us who use these as "ocean" or "lake" in our MOCs.

[Crustybeaver]

You are not going to get banned for buying 5 Sandcrawlers. You can get banned for having a buying pattern of a reseller.

Purchasing 5 Sandcrawlers IS the buying pattern of a reseller.

[Deadfraggle]

15 minutes ago, Phil B said:

On the subject of "Retiring" .... I hadn't noticed this before but Blue Baseplates (#620) have retired and there is no substitution in the LEGO Classic section (only grey, tan and green). Other retailers are also out ... Amazon's cheapest is a 3PS selling for $17. Apologies if this is old news, but I thought it might be good to know especially for those of us who use these as "ocean" or "lake" in our MOCs.

That 3 pack is actually a decent little deal, someone posted it about a month ago. It's been lingering in my Amazon saved items cart. I guess I need to pull the trigger on a couple.

I'm getting ready to do a hack project on a small Ikea table to make a LEGO table for my boys. These should work nicely. I saw the project on Pinterest. I'm probably going to instantly regret posting that last statement on a message board.!

Edited February 27, 2016 by Deadfraggle
The baseplate 3 pack (blue, green, large gray) seems to have increased from around $25 to $90 on Amazon....

[Phil B]

7 minutes ago, Deadfraggle said:

That 3 pack is actually a decent little deal, someone posted it about a month ago. It's been lingering in my Amazon saved items cart. I guess I need to pull the trigger on a couple.

I'm getting ready to do a hack project on a small Ikea table to make a LEGO table for my boys. These should work nicely. I saw the project on Pinterest. I'm probably going to instantly regret posting that last statement on a message board.!

I'd like to see the Pinterest link. I'm also working on plans for a LEGO table - I'm thinking a U shape, each interior side being 80" long (i.e. 8 baseplates) and 40" deep (i.e. 4 baseplates), with room under the table for slide-out boxes with all our sorted parts. I'm not going to plaster this with baseplates (32 per table, plus 16 for each of the corners = 128 baseplates ... not going to happen ) but like to have the size right in case I ever decide I want to. Then I'll put a train track around it, and designate one area as Heartlake City for my daughter's set, one as modulartown and one will have the christmas village I've posted about on this forum before. Now just to find the time .....

EDIT: I see you interpreted "3PS" as "3pc", but I meant Third Party Seller. Not sure if that LEGO Education deal for the whole set is still around.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Phil B

[Phil B]

Lo and behold! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A997496/ref=twister_B019J38RKS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 $28.68 (for some reason the alternative selection is a clone brand)

[king156]

2 hours ago, gmpirate said:

You are not going to get banned for buying 5 Sandcrawlers. You can get banned for having a buying pattern of a reseller.

What is a buying pattern then?

[Phil B]

1 hour ago, king156 said:

What is a buying pattern then?

Anything that is not the buying pattern of a "normal" (grand)parent. We can only guess as to the metrics. What has been observed on this forum is that:

1) Long-standing accounts can do more bulk-buying than new accounts ... older accounts can order multiples of the same item and not get banned (although YMMV as to what is "bulk")

2) Buying exclusives is likely getting you on the radar faster than buying "normal" sets. Even buying 1 of a larger number of exclusives can get you banned, especially if you have a new(ish) account

3) Repeat buying of the same items can get you banned (e.g. order 2, wait a few days, order 2 again).

Then again, for every story confirming one of the above 3 points, you will find a story that defies it. Best advice I can give is: start slowly, take your time, and don't use LEGO Shop at Home for mass buying of exclusives.

EDIT: 4) Using fraudulent Gift Cards (knowingly or unknowingly) gets you banned swiftly, not only at LEGO Shop at Home but also at other online retailers.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Phil B

[fossilrock]

A supermocr' could legitimately buy 5 sandcrawlers for the sole purpose of making one giant sandcrawler from it.  Would 99% of the people buying sandcrawlers use it for this purpose?  More than likely not, but I bet there are a few of them out there.  I could also see the same being applied to any modular building, and sets like Tower of Orthanc, the Ghostbusters Firetower, ewok village etc.  I've seen many of modular buildings where it took at least 3.

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by fossilrock

[gazza]

a lot of the arctic city sets have been retired. still available at some stores here in Australia though.

Edited February 28, 2016 by gazza

[Lordoflego]

9 hours ago, Deadfraggle said:

 

Particuarly true, if your VIP account is newish, you wait until double VIP or some other good LEGO Shop at Home promo week, and then repeat that behavior for other exclusives within a few days. Just tips for some of the less experienced.

I've seen it mentioned before, that newer VIP accounts are at higher risk, why? Mine is as old as VIP program I think, am I safe?

sorry, pls move it to correct thread.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Lordoflego
Wrong forum

[Tex]

Id probably disagree with with any of the banning, but they seem to moderate the purchases closely.

Over the last 2 weeks i placed separate orders for roughly 15 individual sets, consisting of only the Ewok Village, sandcrawler and tower bridge as well as one SOH.

Of all the orders, the 6 tower bridges i placed, only one was canceled

The one SOH was no problem

of the 5 Ewok villages, only 2 went through

2 sandcrawlers and only 1 went through

As i went on i noticed that some of the orders were canceled within a day and then as i continued to place orders they were canceled immediately, i waited a few days and manged to get another Ewok village sent to me. So far no problems, but they seem to just cancel orders immediately and will not "ban" anyone    

[dcdfan]

Id probably disagree with with any of the banning, but they seem to moderate the purchases closely.

Over the last 2 weeks i placed separate orders for roughly 15 individual sets, consisting of only the Ewok Village, sandcrawler and tower bridge as well as one SOH.

Of all the orders, the 6 tower bridges i placed, only one was canceled

The one SOH was no problem

of the 5 Ewok villages, only 2 went through

2 sandcrawlers and only 1 went through

As i went on i noticed that some of the orders were canceled within a day and then as i continued to place orders they were canceled immediately, i waited a few days and manged to get another Ewok village sent to me. So far no problems, but they seem to just cancel orders immediately and will not "ban" anyone    

Sure...

[Tex]

27 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

 

Sure...

I apologize for the poor picture

[Salimr]

On February 27, 2016 at 10:26 AM, Phil B said:

I'd like to see the Pinterest link. I'm also working on plans for a LEGO table - I'm thinking a U shape, each interior side being 80" long (i.e. 8 baseplates) and 40" deep (i.e. 4 baseplates), with room under the table for slide-out boxes with all our sorted parts. I'm not going to plaster this with baseplates (32 per table, plus 16 for each of the corners = 128 baseplates ... not going to happen ) but like to have the size right in case I ever decide I want to. Then I'll put a train track around it, and designate one area as Heartlake City for my daughter's set, one as modulartown and one will have the christmas village I've posted about on this forum before. Now just to find the time .....

EDIT: I see you interpreted "3PS" as "3pc", but I meant Third Party Seller. Not sure if that LEGO Education deal for the whole set is still around.

You could use sticky tac or Velcro if you don't want the base plates there forever