Australian General LEGO Update

[greencardy]

On a side note, has anyone else found the "Creator Family House" to be rare as hen's teeth? I had a couple earlier on and thought that they would be a dud and got rid of them at cost. My wife has recently told me that she would like to build one and for the life of me I couldn't find one since Mid-Oct. Have these become a less-exclusive exclusive ~ TRU, Toy World, DJ.

 

I know that K-Mart has cleared their stock, I was monitoring this set a while back as I wanted to buy a couple for a MOC if it went on clearance.   I found out it being on clearance too late and could not find any left.   Even emailed Kmart and the only stock in qld was somewhere up north.

 

Since then I have only seen it at Big W for $88 but even that stock has gone and also at Myer/David Jones/Toys R Us for $100.   But usually is has been a one by itself.

 

I really like it myself, looks great on display.   I find people love the fact that it lights up.

 

[JeffProbst]

I've barely seen the Family House at any stores, and there appear to be next to none on Ebay for sale as well. This is the only place I can find them in stock at Australia:

https://www.justbricks.com.au/lego-products/creator/31012-lego-creator-family-house.html

 

They're RRP however they seem to be selling for $130+ (inc. shipping) on Ebay.

 

I got a couple last week from DJs for about $65 each. Very happy with that.

 

Will try to move them later next year

[Jules_K]

There's some good specials going on at shopforme.com.au - Just got a SOH for $280, that's the best price I've seen on this set. Other good specials are Bennys Spaceship for $105 and Bike Shop & Cafe for $70.

Edited December 26, 2014 by jkaesler

[ykusnadi]

There's some good specials going on at shopforme.com.au - Just got a SOH for $280, that's the best price I've seen on this set. Other good specials are Bennys Spaceship for $105 and Bike Shop & Cafe for $70.

SOH for $280. Thx for the info.

[AFFOL]

Picked up a VW at toyworld eastland for $130 something, 20% off. Store is actually closing down.  I will checkout the SOH for $280. Myers had 60% off the second lego set. 

[JeffProbst]

I saw three Town Halls at Toyworld for $240. Was seriously tempted but decided against it in the end 

 

Also had Horizon Express, Pet Shop, Ecto-1, Family House and Winter Village Market 

[Alucard1982]

For the life of me, I can't work out what a SOH is, care to elaborate 

[Alucard1982]

Argh, got it never mind

[Alucard1982]

I would of jumped at the TH for $240, I grabbed 4 when it was BOGO50% at Myer. Heading in tomorrow as our stores were closed today, might hit up DJ first to grab some PS, or more TH

[Alucard1982]

Was the Myer BOGO60% only today (my Myer was closed) or does it span over a couple of days. 

[Jules_K]

I saw three Town Halls at Toyworld for $240. Was seriously tempted but decided against it in the end 

 

Also had Horizon Express, Pet Shop, Ecto-1, Family House and Winter Village Market 

 

I would pick these up straight away. Right now you could make $50 each on these after fees and shipping, the returns on these 12 months down the road will be big!

[Jules_K]

Was the Myer BOGO60% only today (my Myer was closed) or does it span over a couple of days. 

 

It was advertised as today only. I'm heading into Myer tomorrow so will let you know if they keep the promotion going, although no doubt all the good stuff will be well gone.

[Alucard1982]

Just got back from my shopping adventure. 

 

Our Myer wasn't open yesterday, but ran it's "one day sale" today, not much to speak of but couldn't resist the 60% off so I grabbed the following:

 

2x 60047 RRP $149.95 - both for $208.00.

2x 60036 RRP $129.95 - both for $180.00

 

Then I wandered over to DJ and picked up:

 

2x 31012 (Both $80) 

1x 10244 ($150) - Personal collection

 

Then like an octopus waddled over to Kmart and grabbed

 

1x 60050 (Clearance $55)

2x 3186 ($29ea) - My pick for a sleeper set, just have a hunch

 

How did everyone else go with their shopping?

[JeffProbst]

The only thing that I bought was a Cargo Terminal for $99 from K-Mart. I might go back for a few more as the thread that I just found on this forum seems to paint it in a positive light.

 

The Myer that I went to was stripped clean. The only thing of interest was four or so Sea Cows but the boxes were pretty beat up so I left them alone.

 

The Toyworld that I mentioned before has 20% off LEGO all year round so I am hoping that some of the stuff is still there when I am in the area again.

[AFFOL]

****i

 

Went to kmart in a few locations in the east of melbourne there were no sales. Target no sales. Myers in Eastland had little in the way of exclusives apart from a beat up Simpson House. Here the deal of the day was buy two toys get the third free. After some calculations I decided that it was not a great deal as there was 20% off at toyworld anyhow. Picked up another VW and closed in on two creator family houses. I then headed over to david jones in Doncaster and toys r us. David Jones had a pathetic array of lego. Toy's of us was very disorganised products were not priced, there were no labels on racks, there was indeed no sale, so I left. I know the glen has usually plenty of lego and so does knox myer but I think I have what I need at the moment and waiting on the new stuff to be upload onto shelves. 

[AFFOL]

Correction= Calculations were also based on type of stock and I repeat David Jones lego pathetic, do not make the effect to get there, try other locations.

[AFFOL]

Oh my gosh, I think the champagne has gone to my head, I meant effort not effect

[Jules_K]

I only checked out Myer today and boy was it trashed! Pretty much all Lego was gone except Star Wars Ghost and Imperial Hotel. There was a lone Sea Cow which I would have picked up if there was a 2nd, but no dice.

[JeffProbst]

Ventured out again today.

 

Found a rogue Hillside House (5771) in Toyworld for $100. Might build it though as I really like the look of it. Do regret not picking up some Series 1 Mixels as they had stacks of them

 

Myer Southland had at least 10 Sea Cows and I couldn't say no to the buy 2 get 1 free offer that expires today. Will flip one now, build one and hold the other. 

[Alucard1982]

Reading over the last few pages, I've realised that we've got a few new folk running around, welcome all

 

To help out the new guys with divulging the errors that I have made over the last 2 years I've been investing in LEGO is that the Australian market is quite different to the American and European markets that our fellow BPers are from. I normally rationalise my purchases with the mindset that our total population is possibly contained within 1 or 2 cities in their country and their market is possibly 10 - 15x ours (I've recently done economics at Uni and used LEGO secondary market as my case study) and purchase sets and quantities to reflect this.

 

What have bitten me over and over again is trying to aligning my thought pattern with the US market, one such example are Series 1 mixels, I bought a ton of these and have only managed to offload a couple of sets, all to O/S buyers - no interest in the Australian market.

 

The best strategy that I have found to work is to have an ample supply of a set that is considered "popular", I'll use the "Haunted House"as my personal example, I purchased one of these sets at my local Kmart for $180 initially to test the market, I managed to flip this within 24 hours and since my local Kmart had about 30 of these sets sitting on the shelf (on clearance) I would buy 2 at a time and restock as they went, limiting the possible risk to me. In the end I was getting them for $110 and flipping them for $230ish.

 

QF and long term investing is hard work and from my experience far from an easy buck, unfortunately we have to deal with a platform that favours the buyers opposed to the sellers that pay the fees.

 

I'd be greatly appreciative for others to throw around their experiences and advice.

 

- J

[AFFOL]

Hi, thanks for the info. I generally purchase popular stuff in two's, except for creator family house I bought five on sale recently. However, I did buy the exclusive sopwiths. I am under the impression these are favoured more by the U.S market with the CARG at 25 or something so I do not expect  to sell them to the Aussie Market. I have noticed in Melbourne a lot of the hobby stores closing down, such as that one near Flinders Street station, I wonder if this reflects the public's interest in planes and trains, or is it that everyone is now into lego. Infact, I did notice that the ghost train in the monster fighters range in kmart did not move fquickly rom the shelves. What are your thoughts.

[Alucard1982]

I think due to the lack of Family Houses, you should be on a winner (or at lease you won't lose money).

 

I think that the trains are a mixed market, they seem to remake them immediately after the previous model expires. I personally don't hold hope for the new High-speed train as its quite generic (& boring), I was able to pick these up for $120 earlier in the year and they struggled to sell at $160 for a QF.

 

Depending on where you are at, I strongly suggest opening or at least having an eBay account, as I'm a strong believer in cash is king. If you find an awesome set that you know will fetch you some $$$ QF it and use those funds in a more expensive purchase. 

 

On the hobby stores, I think that it is a generational thing, with us GEN Ys preferring electronics over models, etc, so their market could not sustain the many outlets and hence they are closing down, with LEGO it can be aimed at all ages, with the higher end attracting the AFOLs.

 

On the Ghost Train (I am a mad Halloween fan & Monster Fighters was and is my favourite theme) is that it is a seasonal set and will only really spike in late september and october, with Halloween becoming increasingly more popular over here I think we'll see small gains. I think that if Monster Fighters was launched last year in Australia it would have done a lot better, as the shops really ramped up Halloween.

 

Happy to answer any other questions, if you like.

 

J

 

J

[Alucard1982]

Oops I forgot about the SW Camel, I don't think we'll see any spikes in this set for at least a couple of years due to the over saturation in the market (TRU were selling them for $109 for weeks), now that it has retired (presuming) we have to wait till excess dries up and the QF die down (TH is currently going through this).

 

I think that the SW Camel would hold my sentiment to the UK/US market, but I might be surprised (I have 3 for long term).

[Jules_K]

Sopwith Camel I've got a couple but I'm avoiding buying any more. I know the US is going nuts for this at the moment, however the availability of this set seems to be really widespread here, and demand isn't very high. I use Ebay sold listings to gauge the level of demand for a set, and in the month leading up to Christmas, by far the busiest of the year, only 11 sold. Compare this to R2-D2 (30 Sold) and VW Camper (38 Sold) during this same period gives you an indication of the demand.

[fanohockey]

Hi guys,

Right now I'm in Europe so missing out on all the great deals but I have managed to pick up a few retired polybag from some lego stores. Do you think there is a good market in Australia for polybags given that you can hardly buy them there?