Not very good news

[Zzero6]

Hi everyone,

 

First off, I want to say that i just registered on this site today.  This site is just amazing and I absolutely love it!  Kudos to the owner or owners of this amazing website.

 

I just started investing a couple years ago.  I live here in Dallas, TX.  I have gotten pretty close to the Lego store and the manager here in our city. We have a very nice working relationship.  They do not hesitate to give me any kind of info I need.  

Anyway, just a couple of days ago, one of the secondary managers told me that Lego will be cracking down on bulk buyers both online and in their stores.  They showed me the email they are sending out to people like this.  I was not very happy to hear about that.  I will be talking to THE head manager in a couple days to see if all of this is true and how it will effect me.  I know we can purchase these in other retail outlets but I buy a lot of my stuff from Lego as well.  

 

Has anyone else heard this?  How will this effect the way we purchase items, especially the exclusive stuff Lego gets mostly.  Also, this pretty much means that my VIP card is going to become worthless.  

 

Any kind of feedback you might have will be welcome.

 

Thanks

[justafrog]

There have been a number of threads the past few months outlining the effects of this policy from Lego. Yes, it is affecting some resellers.

 

Because your local Lego store knows you are a reseller, you'll probably be banned from it unless the local manager is a rebel and willing to pretend he doesn't know it.

 

One of my basic personality traits is the forming of contingency plans. If you find yourself under an online LEGO Shop at Home ban you can likely work around it by using a friend's or relative's shipping address and a different credit card than you've been using to order in the past. I don't know if Lego is to the point of tracking "the banished sellers" IP addresses, but if so an IP masking service might also be needed.

 

Bottom line, depending on whether Lego - online or in store - catches you or suspects you enough to ban you - there are other steps you can take to continue buying from them, if you are willing to take the time and effort to do so.

 

Read a bunch of this site - lots of good info and you'll find the threads (or someone will post them, I'm sure - I'm on a brief break from a large project so can't go hunting atm) - and take heart: it's not hard to be smarter than a corporation's one-size-fits-all policies. 

[Guest eightbrick]

Hi Zzero6! Glad you like the site, it was created by two (genius) brothers (usernames Ed Mack and Jeff Mack).

As for the Lego issue, it seems as a result of all the outrage regarding the Minecraft product they have been tightening up their stances on people buying multiples of sets, especially the 41999 Technic Crawler Exclusive. Some members have even been banned from Shop At Home and are not allowed to buy some items, as a result of continued multiple buys. I'm not really an expert on the subject so I don't have much more information, but I wish you all the best in the future of your brickvesting career!

[comicblast]

Welcome to BrickPicker. I'm sure Brian and Justafrog touched on this, but one of the big reasons why LEGO is cracking down on resellers is because of the recent increases of exclusive sets. When large scale sellers buy up all the copies and leave Little Johny without a set, this obviously is not what TLG has in mind, thus their limits on sets as well as banning some buyers (resellers) from buying from LEGO Shop at Home (LEGO Shop)

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I think bottom line is if you conform to buying limits, you wont get banned. Most of the people on the website that have been banned have bought A LOT of stuff from what I can tell.

[stephen_rockefeller]

A fellow competitor I see.......I kid I kid!! Which store are you speaking of, the Dallas or Frisco one? Bottom line is that if you are really into making money on LEGO, a large portion should not be purchased from the lego store anyway. If you have been doing this for a while then you already know this. Anyhow, welcome to the site!!

[Zzero6]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I am a small timer.  I don't buy too many sets at once.  a handful here and there.  

 

Hey Stephen, I go to the Frisco location.  I only buy the stuff that is exclusive at the Lego store.  Only if I can't find it anywhere else.  I rarely have anything more then a handful of any one set.  I think i am pretty good at knowing Lego but I would love any pointers you might have.  If you want to share with a fellow competitor.  

 

As for the threads that already touched on this, i am sorry but I did not really look too hard.  There are so many threads that I didn't know how long it was going to take me to find it on this subject.  

 

Again, absolutely LOVE this site!

[glucapg]

All these stuff increase the legend of Lego

[legoman12323123]

All these stuff increase the legend of Lego

 

I can guarentee at least 95% of the users on this site dont have the captial to purchase enough legos to get a permanant ban from lego.com it only applies to a few investors like emzors .. that guy is nutz

 

P.S - also dont go around buying 50 funhouses or HH that will also get you banned.

[sadowsk1]

That's good to hear.  Level out the playing field for small timers.  

[Alcarin]

I can guarentee at least 95% of the users on this site dont have the captial to purchase enough legos to get a permanant ban from lego.com it only applies to a few investors like emzors .. that guy is nutz

 

P.S - also dont go around buying 50 funhouses or HH that will also get you banned.

 

 

Well it might not be about not having enough capital.... I could pour about 10.000

[stephen_rockefeller]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am a small timer. I don't buy too many sets at once. a handful here and there.

Hey Stephen, I go to the Frisco location. I only buy the stuff that is exclusive at the Lego store. Only if I can't find it anywhere else. I rarely have anything more then a handful of any one set. I think i am pretty good at knowing Lego but I would love any pointers you might have. If you want to share with a fellow competitor.

As for the threads that already touched on this, i am sorry but I did not really look too hard. There are so many threads that I didn't know how long it was going to take me to find it on this subject.

Again, absolutely LOVE this site!

Yeah I like the Frisco store better, its nicer and less riff raff. The store in Dallas is closer to me but I don't like as much. Do you find much clearance stuff like at the walmarts or targets around you? I have to really be looking and keep on top of it because as you probably already know clearanced sets don't last that long. The Target on eastchase Pkwy and 30 in Ft Worth had some decent prices a few weeks ago, I think they still might have a few ghost trains marked down to 39.00 if you are into the monster fighters theme.

[Diabolos80]

All these stuff increase the legend of Lego

Lots of toy companies have tried to artificially increase their legends and failed miserably. Let's hope TLG tightens up this nonsense before they start losing customers.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Well it might not be about not having enough capital.... I could pour about 10.000

[Guest TabbyBoy]

If Lego really wanted to screw us up, all they have to do is re-release UCS Millenium Falcon, Cafe Corner, Greengrocer, Cloud City, VW Beetle, etc.  They could also buy off us on eBay and leave negative feedback too if they wanted to.  I buy within limits even though 99x Tower Bridges is still within the "limit".  The REAL thread to us in not from Lego but, from the deluge of investors joining the gravy train.

[justafrog]

If Lego really wanted to screw us up, all they have to do is re-release UCS Millenium Falcon, Cafe Corner, Greengrocer, Cloud City, VW Beetle, etc.  They could also buy off us on eBay and leave negative feedback too if they wanted to.  I buy within limits even though 99x Tower Bridges is still within the "limit".  The REAL thread to us in not from Lego but, from the deluge of investors joining the gravy train.

 

1. Lego will only go to a small amount of trouble and expense to thwart resellers, because we're only worth a small amount of trouble and expense. Tracking purchases is done by the computer and bans are easy to hand out based on whatever criteria they choose to plug in. Re-releasing a set just to upset some resellers is like me using my husband's .45 to take out a buzzing fly.

 

2. eBay will put a stop to competitor shenanigans, even when the competitor is Lego. IF Lego wanted to play dirty, VeRO is the way for them to do it, but even there they do ultimately have to put up or shut up, and VeRO only works on things like counterfeits.  And, #1 also applies to this.

 

3. The strong will survive.

 

Edited to add: Buy 99 Tower Bridges (lol, typed "Cranes" the first time - my husband's crane fetish influence) and see what happens. "Buying within the limits" is probably not the safeguard some think.

[Guest eightbrick]

Edited to add: Buy 99 Tower Bridges (lol, typed "Cranes" the first time - my husband's crane fetish influence) and see what happens. "Buying within the limits" is probably not the safeguard some think.

Crane fetish? That's fowl. Very fowl. Extremely fowl. What, no one gets it?  

Sorry, couldn't resist!

[Alcarin]

Why would you put 4000 on your bank? Aren't you worried someone will take it?

 

Because I like having decent capital in the reach of 24h cycle IF needed... If i need Cash and I had it all on LEGO or in Stocks it would take days and weeks or even months to sell it all and obtain cash...

[stephen_rockefeller]

Because I like having decent capital in the reach of 24h cycle IF needed... If i need Cash and I had it all on LEGO or in Stocks it would take days and weeks or even months to sell it all and obtain cash...

You missed the joke.......you said you have money ON the bank and not IN it, get it??????

[Guest eightbrick]

You missed the joke.......you said you have money ON the bank and not IN it, get it??????

But whenever I call the bank I get a swish... (just thought I'd add to the confusion... hint: basketball  )

[rcdb1984]

Why do we always use the funhouse as an example?  It's a cool set, but why out of all sets would that be the buy 200 of them set?

[stephen_rockefeller]

Why do we always use the funhouse as an example? It's a cool set, but why out of all sets would that be the buy 200 of them set?

We use it because it was the set one member here got banned for buying to many of.

[Zzero6]

Yeah I like the Frisco store better, its nicer and less riff raff. The store in Dallas is closer to me but I don't like as much. Do you find much clearance stuff like at the walmarts or targets around you? I have to really be looking and keep on top of it because as you probably already know clearanced sets don't last that long. The Target on eastchase Pkwy and 30 in Ft Worth had some decent prices a few weeks ago, I think they still might have a few ghost trains marked down to 39.00 if you are into the monster fighters theme.

Hello Stephen,  I am the same way.  I like the Frisco one much better.  The Targets around here have some things discounted now and again.  The ghost train was one.  But other then the usual 10% on this and that, nothing that stood out.  I missed out on the Orc Forge though.  For some reason I put it off.  I didn't know it was a Target exclusive until I found this site a few days ago.  By that time, it was too late.

[JoshTX]

me using my husband's .45 to take out a buzzing fly.

 

 

 

I'd like to see this. I'm more of a long barrel shooter, the poor accuracy of handguns frustrates me at times. If you could take out a moving fly from any distance with a .45 I'd tell you to start shooting competitively.

[justafrog]

I'd like to see this. I'm more of a long barrel shooter, the poor accuracy of handguns frustrates me at times. If you could take out a moving fly from any distance with a .45 I'd tell you to start shooting competitively.

 

Heh. I'm a fair shot, but my husband is ridiculous. Last time he was at the police range with a buddy, he shot a very small lizard off a rock on a dare at about 15 yards. (Yes, I know, cruelty to lizards is wrong, but it was a quick death and an impressive shot   )