Australian General LEGO Update

[slobey]

I've picked up about 10 of Technic Pick Ups for around $55ea from the DZ.

Don't get me wrong, I got some good deals too but there was a co-ordinated raid on all the big W stores (including regional) which cleaned out most of the UCS B-wings, X-wings and other drop zoned Star Wars sets. 

[Jules_K]

Don't get me wrong, I got some good deals too but there was a co-ordinated raid on all the big W stores (including regional) which cleaned out most of the UCS B-wings, X-wings and other drop zoned Star Wars sets. 

Us poor souls working 9 to 5 have no chance with the drop sales!

[TheDarkness]

Yep all online stores in Oz have some sort of annoying issue that makes buying a real pain. If an item is out of stock, say so before making me click into each and every item to figure out what is in stock or what isn't! Hopefully one day Amazon lands in Australia then all our issues will be solved.

It is incredibly frustrating and their stock levels are all over the shop. 
Amazon.com.au does exist, just next to nothing there including Lego. 

[Alucard1982]

Us poor souls working 9 to 5 have no chance with the drop sales!

;(

[Ryan Junior]

If Amazon lands in Australia , people may not buy from us anymore . bit hard to compete with Amazon . 

 

[Jules_K]

If Amazon lands in Australia , people may not buy from us anymore . bit hard to compete with Amazon . 

 

Amazon doesn't seem to have any impact on any of the other people on brickpicker in the US and Europe, in fact many resellers sell through Amazon so it may actually be advantageous.

[TheDarkness]

If Amazon lands in Australia , people may not buy from us anymore . bit hard to compete with Amazon . 

 

People will still buy from us. Just means flipping will be much harder to do. That doesn't phase me in the slightest as I invest

[Ryan Junior]

Amazon doesn't seem to have any impact on any of the other people on brickpicker in the US and Europe, in fact many resellers sell through Amazon so it may actually be advantageous.

We will probably find out one day . I loved it when we used to be able to buy from Amazon, and overseas , and sell here. The Ozzie Dollar has killed that opportunity for now. 

Yes Flipping has gotten a lot harder . 

 

[Jules_K]

The lowest shipped price on Ebay for ToO has already jumped to $410, I already regret not getting more.

[ED-209]

People will still buy from us. Just means flipping will be much harder to do. That doesn't phase me in the slightest as I invest

I too invest and don't do much flipping at all, unless i can get a minimum of 40% profit. Examples of this are harder to find CMF or high demand sets. I buy sets on sale and wait for EOL. I'm pretty new to the game, so the wait is a long one but buying and stashing is fine with me, as it takes up space, but not much time. This will change once I put inventory on the market, but I expect my margins to be decent.

I find the whole flipping scene to be insane. I seriously don't understand why people do it sometimes. Maybe someone could shed some light on it for me.

Take BSS for example. I see people selling a set (let's take Ant Man for example) at the SAH price. As far as I know, this set is sourced from SAH and sold for the same price. The seller only gets VIP points, but has to deal with PMs, packaging and postage. I don't know about all of you, but I double box my sets, which includes a bit of DIY cardboard shaping. Let's say that the process of posting ad, replying to buyer, boxing, going to the post office and shipping takes 30-40 mins. That's half an hour of work for very little gain. A lot of BSS QF are sold at profit, but very low margins, mostly amounting to a few bucks. Even if you are a high volume seller that can make a good chunk of change, there is a lot of work involved in making that money. I know some currently available sets that are sourced and flipped at a decent profit, but not all are.

I guess my question is "Do people have too much free time, or don't even value their time at all?" Some sets on BSS are sold for even less than 20% off retail, the UCS Tie is an example. I'm perplexed at how these sellers are making money. Are they selling stolen goods, or taking a loss, or something else?

[Alucard1982]

I too invest and don't do much flipping at all, unless i can get a minimum of 40% profit. Examples of this are harder to find CMF or high demand sets. I buy sets on sale and wait for EOL. I'm pretty new to the game, so the wait is a long one but buying and stashing is fine with me, as it takes up space, but not much time. This will change once I put inventory on the market, but I expect my margins to be decent.

I find the whole flipping scene to be insane. I seriously don't understand why people do it sometimes. Maybe someone could shed some light on it for me.

Take BSS for example. I see people selling a set (let's take Ant Man for example) at the SAH price. As far as I know, this set is sourced from SAH and sold for the same price. The seller only gets VIP points, but has to deal with PMs, packaging and postage. I don't know about all of you, but I double box my sets, which includes a bit of DIY cardboard shaping. Let's say that the process of posting ad, replying to buyer, boxing, going to the post office and shipping takes 30-40 mins. That's half an hour of work for very little gain. A lot of BSS QF are sold at profit, but very low margins, mostly amounting to a few bucks. Even if you are a high volume seller that can make a good chunk of change, there is a lot of work involved in making that money. I know some currently available sets that are sourced and flipped at a decent profit, but not all are.

I guess my question is "Do people have too much free time, or don't even value their time at all?" Some sets on BSS are sold for even less than 20% off retail, the UCS Tie is an example. I'm perplexed at how these sellers are making money. Are they selling stolen goods, or taking a loss, or something else?

I agree with the statement that your making, however hopefully I can shed some light on my strategy which is 70QF/30LTI. As you probably aware cashflow is an important part of any business strategy. I started with an initial investment of $250 (HH) and using a QF strategy when starting out allowed me to reinvest into more sets. I'm currently paid to study full time through work, so I have an abundance of spare time to undertake the mundane aspects that you have mentioned. Another aspect is the creation of rapport, I have created quite the customer base through the BSS pages by using a dangling carrot mentality. I also use the page as a dumping ground for the sets that I need to move (for a variety of reasons). QF strategy on eBay is for the generation of performance feedback, people will buy off a seller with a constant higher ratio of feedback opposed to a LTI that seldom lists.

[ED-209]

Thanks for the insight Alucard.

I understand building rapport. With ebay it is very important. By doing CMFs, I have gotten about 40 rep points this year and decent profits from 40-150%, but let's face it, they are small fries sales. My aim is to get to three figures reputation on ebay, I'm around 30 sales away from that. BBS does make ebay less attractive though, as their fees are exorbitant. QF on ebay with it's fees can even equate to zero profits, but I suppose it can add positive seller ratings.

Not sure what you mean by dangling the carrot. Building rapport on BSS is good, but I mean, how much rapport do you need? People are more quick to name and shame scammers than naming good sellers, unless that seller has been targeted as a dodgy dealer. If you have what people want at the right price and are a well-organised seller, well you can say that 'money talks' rather than rapport.

I understand doing sales for VIP points, but let's face it, it's only 5%. On the other hand, I see polybags can go for a lot on BSS. They are free so all profits are money in pocket. 35 bucks pure profit for Winter Soldier (if you were lucky enough to get one) is doing pretty well for an item which cost nothing. However, personally I see selling for just VIP points too much in accordance with my version of the time vs money equation. 

I guess my real question is how someone would sell a UCS Tie fighter for 230 bucks when the Target discount price was 240 (20% off). This is a new set, and with the Aussie dollar so low I can't see how it could have been bought cheaply from abroad. Furthermore, SAH do retail pricing, so (unless the set was stolen goods), why would you sell a set at a loss? You can see other examples of this on BBS, but not usually on ebay.  

[Ryan Junior]

I don't think feed back scores on ebay matter much .I have a very high feedback score. But people will buy of the guy with a very low feedback score if his price is cheaper - as long as he doesn't have a tonne of negative comments .

What is BSS. ? 

[Alucard1982]

Buy, swap, sell

[Ryan Junior]

So the facebook page? Yeah? 

The way that I see it , is the facebook page is mostly where people sell the lego that is part of their personal collection . Buyers remorse - they just want to get their money back , and most of it was probably bought at 20% off retail.  There is so much pressure there to sell at retail or below.  They are primarily not trying to earn money , but primarily are about trading or supporting their lego addiction. And they resent having to pay EOL prices . They are not paying tax, they don't have a gst threshold to stay under. They want the money now - so they flog off the lego in their house  - and buy more lego. And they won't buy anything off you while it is still listed on  Lego.com.  It is just the way it is. Can't change them - just have to outsmart them, and sell stuff that they already recognize at EOL prices. They want more than 10% off ebay prices. 

Doesn't mean we have to give them what they want, but often someone else , who has one sitting around the house will, if they wait long enough. 

[ED-209]

So the facebook page? Yeah? 

The way that I see it , is the facebook page is mostly where people sell the lego that is part of their personal collection . Buyers remorse - they just want to get their money back , and most of it was probably bought at 20% off retail.  There is so much pressure there to sell at retail or below.  They are primarily not trying to earn money , but primarily are about trading or supporting their lego addiction. And they resent having to pay EOL prices . They are not paying tax, they don't have a gst threshold to stay under. They want the money now - so they flog off the lego in their house  - and buy more lego. And they won't buy anything off you while it is still listed on  Lego.com.  It is just the way it is. Can't change them - just have to outsmart them, and sell stuff that they already recognize at EOL prices. They want more than 10% off ebay prices. 

Doesn't mean we have to give them what they want, but often someone else , who has one sitting around the house will, if they wait long enough. 

Yea, BSS is FB buy sell swap

However, I can't say I agree with all of your points.

 

Do they hate paying over retail and have a major disdain for resellers? Yes.

Do they actually refuse to or never pay over retail for current sets and are immune to impulse buys? No.

 

One big draw is that buying a newly-released set locally puts said set in their hands much quicker than it would waiting for it to arrive from the other end of the Earth via SAH. High demand sets can sell above retail for this very reason. This is especially true for sets with a value of less than 200 dollars.

I don't get your buyers remorse argument. An item in a personal collection usually gets built, not sitting BNIB. I don't know what type of idiot would buy a set BNIB only to sell at a loss a week later. But hey, FB is bursting at the seams with fools.

I've sold used sets at ebay prices and Hot Dog man (who is a current lego item) for 15 bucks, which is 3x retail price. Never underestimate the greater fool theory.

There's definitely a herd mentality in BSS, it's just the nature of this strange beast. I someone pressures you to sell at whatever low ball price they are offering, just (politely)  tell them to stop spamming your FS thread and bugger off and buy it from brick link if it's so convenient and cheap to buy from there.

[Ryan Junior]

I don't get why people on BSS would sell sets that they could sell at double retail now , - for retail price. Unless they are just trying to cash in from when they bought them at 20% off . Or maybe they have way too many of them - or need cash in a hurry. It is baffling . 

[Alucard1982]

I don't get why people on BSS would sell sets that they could sell at double retail now , - for retail price. Unless they are just trying to cash in from when they bought them at 20% off . Or maybe they have way too many of them - or need cash in a hurry. It is baffling . 

It's down to the precedent that has been set and a false sense of loyalty. I sell on eBay however if I can get a commanded price on the BSS page without fees... What I do get annoyed at is the perceived sense of entitlement that exists on the page. I've asked by a previous customer to give him a better price as I capitalised on the VIP points or recently sell him a PS below RRP because he didn't reach his quota.

[ED-209]

I don't get why people on BSS would sell sets that they could sell at double retail now , - for retail price. Unless they are just trying to cash in from when they bought them at 20% off . Or maybe they have way too many of them - or need cash in a hurry. It is baffling . 

It is baffling. But I have a theory.

Some people collect card rewards. I my self collect David Jones points via my American Express. If you have enough points you can redeem them for David Jones gift cards. I get 100 bucks every 3-4 months if I use the card enough. If you buy Lego with that card, whatever reselling you do from your purchase is essentially pure profit.

Some buy three sets, one to build and one or two for 'Ron'. Perhaps their other half is pissed at the spend and demands hubby sell the set in a hurry. Unexpected expenses like dentistry bills and car repairs can force a sale under purchase price. I think that shows a lack of foresight. A fool can intend to make moeny, but end up losing it.

Now don't get me wrong, there's a lot of smart people on BSS and OZLUG FB groups, but there is a good share of people possessing below average intelligence. It's a great place to find deals. The SW Lego group posted 75079 Shadow Troopers battlepack was coming up on clearance at some Woolies in some stores for 60% and 50% off. I went to my local yesterday, no luck. Went back today and they were 50% off. I got 4 of em, and yea, i'll flip 'em even though I don't flip much.

[slobey]

I'd have to agree with ED-209 I tend to do the same with Fly buys and Myer One. On the BSS page there are plenty of people who QF. They'll buy popular sets during sales such as Myer and TRU buy 1 get 1 half price (25%) or Myer buy 2 get one free (33% off) sell it just under retail and you make a tidy profit especially if those buying are unaware of the sale. The Australia wide BSS isn't too bad as the admins don't usually tolerate people who question prices, my local one is a different story.....

[Ryan Junior]

It could also be due to panick selling due to fakes being introduced .Have you all seen the new Jurassic World fake sets from China /Hong Kong.  There are over 50 or so listings of them on ebay . Too many to report for me . Some people might panic and flog off their sets . 

[ED-209]

It's down to the precedent that has been set and a false sense of loyalty. I sell on eBay however if I can get a commanded price on the BSS page without fees... What I do get annoyed at is the perceived sense of entitlement that exists on the page. I've asked by a previous customer to give him a better price as I capitalised on the VIP points or recently sell him a PS below RRP because he didn't reach his quota.

ebay is more clinical, you usually don't have to deal with time wasters and lowballers. The main OZ bss has treated me well so far .I haven't sold a lot, but I still find bss more profitable. Essentially it is the market that sets the price.

I reckon what you have with that customer there is a slippery slope. If you don't cut him off and say sorry but the price is firm, he or she is going to want a discount every time and tell their mates to do the same. One demand leads to another. This is not a customer that I would want.

Edited August 5, 2015 by ED-209

[TheDarkness]

People always want something for nothing. I don't do "what is your best price?" or any of that rubbish. I sell at the price I want or else it goes back into the cupboard until I try again. 
The sense of entitlement is disgusting but then some of these people haggle store managers for every last cent reduced

 

[JeffProbst]

Did the White House Architecture set ever reach retail here?

[Alucard1982]

People always want something for nothing. I don't do "what is your best price?" or any of that rubbish. I sell at the price I want or else it goes back into the cupboard until I try again. 
The sense of entitlement is disgusting but then some of these people haggle store managers for every last cent reduced

 

I'm starting to think that I must have an attractant for the entitled. Just had a PM from another letting me know that he wants a Scooby Doo MM for LEGO Shop at Home prices not eBay prices ????