My order status

[redcell]

^^^ What he said

[Bricklectic]

If im understanding correctly, essentially what youre saying is this:

Target limits purchases to 3.

Us resellers hate that and want more.

Violating the limit policy lightly works and isnt flagged.

Flagrantly violating the limit policy gets you banned and invites scrutiny of resellers in general, potentially causing more effective limits to be put into place at a later time, like amazon.

So to keep the golden goose alive, please refrain from going wild.

Pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered.

Is that the basic idea?

Not sure I agree. At some point policy will likely match amazons. Maybe we should milk it while its still doable. Not everyone has the same sourcing options. For some Target may be the primary source, especially on deals like this week.

[landphieran]

4 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

If im understanding correctly, essentially what youre saying is this:

Target limits purchases to 3.

Us resellers hate that and want more.

Violating the limit policy lightly works and isnt flagged.

Flagrantly violating the limit policy gets you banned and invites scrutiny of resellers in general, potentially causing more effective limits to be put into place at a later time, like amazon.

 

If its okay to violate limits lightly, set the limit to what the actual limit is and enforce it. Its that easy.

Image you have a kid and you let them run around the house with an ice cream cone 95 out of 100 times. But 5 in 100 times you ground them for doing it. Not a very effective policy.

[Achilles]

19 minutes ago, redcell said:

I'm curious...what policies do you follow and how do you determine what they are?  The clearest examples are places like Barnes and Noble that will sell to resellers, but impose hard quantity limits.  That's pretty clear...they will sell to you up to a point and then stop.  However, what about places like Target that simply reserve the right to refuse to sell to resellers and freely allow customers to place multiple sequential orders.  What do you follow there? 

I basically follow the Amazon/SAH method for all sites - which I guess in this example would mostly mean places like Target and Walmart. If it lists a QTY Max 3, I order 3. I don't place multiple orders of that item. A week later (Amazon), or month later (SAH) - if it's still on sale, or if it goes back on sale again in the future, I'll order again.

I understand some people like to go very deep on individual sets, which admittedly I tend to avoid doing. It's pretty rare for me to have over 30-40 of any $50+ set. I can only think of a handful off the top of my head. Obviously, following limits makes that trickier to get hundreds of any given set. I also probably do more in-store shopping than most folks. I don't necessarily wait for sets to be on the verge of retiring either, so I take advantage of sales throughout a set's lifespan. Getting specific sets at 30% off when you are targeting them is pretty easy to do. Usually when I strongly suspect a set is within a year of going, that's when I tend to start buying. Sometimes I am wrong and end up holding longer than I intended to, but it's not that big of a deal - it's very rare.

And yes, there are some sets this makes it hard to acquire large quantities of, but in my experience there are very few "golden gooses" that are exponentially bigger than other strong performers - and personally, I am ok not getting them. Consistently doubling up with a variety of sets isn't hard to do when purchased at 40-50% off, even 30% off.  And I find in the post TRU/Kmart world, there are more and more retailers carrying LEGO. For me, I find it EASIER to get stock today than say even a few years ago. And I increase my yearly purchase budget every year.

Would I LOVE to have a pile of Town Halls sitting around? Of course, but I am not losing sleep over it. Nor am I struggling to make money without them.

I am definitely NOT trying to come off as telling everyone how to operate. My horse isn't THAT high. I am well aware people have different goals/budgets/methods/targets/options. I think I was just trying to say one can still do just fine doing this while staying in the ring, so to speak. And I do admit, I get antsy about the idea of folks specifically abusing certain policies that make it tougher for ALL of us in the future. And as I said, it can be just as helpful to assist folks in avoiding bans in the first place, then just assuming everyone is going to get banned and have a way to get around it. I don't think banning is inevitable, or should be.

In full disclosure, the only place I ever got banned was K-Mart, like 10 years ago. Before I even knew banning was thing. I was taken completely by surprise. And if I had known I COULD have gotten banned, I would have adjusted accordingly. I didn't think they cared. Honestly, I would have been appreciative of someone giving me a head's up that it was even an option and how to avoid it.

 

17 minutes ago, landphieran said:

@Achilles I understand your sentiment, however what i don't agree with is places like Target and Walmarts "reseller policies". If Target and Walmart didn't want resellers they would put in actual stock/order limitations over night. This is a very easy programmatic check. Amazon has enforced this for years. Walmart even tried it, then backed it out.

Target only wants resellers when it best fits them, unfortunately the way they handle that policy is terrible and ham-fisted. They have this nebulous fraud detection/cancellation policy. The fact you don't know if you are going to get banned or if your orders are going to go through, is A BAD POLICY and a BAD website/user experience.

They need to establish a policy and enforce it through the website. They want their resellers, just not certain ones and only at certain times with some quantities but not too many quantities. This screams to me that they have terrible technology and sales leaders making poor decisions.

By no means am I defending these guys (Target, Walmart) - I agree 100% with you. It's frustrating and annoying. And yes, they take advantage of US when it suits them. But ultimately, they are the ones with the power in this situation. I wish they were all way more clear cut about it all too. I just want to help prevent MORE terrible and ham-fisted policies from them and other retailers in the future. *I* Don't agree with their reseller policies either. But they clearly don't have to care what I agree with. And we are all well aware that retailers and even Shop at Home have a Love/Hate relationship with Resellers, which does kind of go back to my original point. As long as we don't rock the boat too hard, or piss off too many customers who whine and complain, I think things exist in a stable balance. I am on your side here, guys, I promise

Now that everyone knows my secrets...

 

[Belac]

2 hours ago, Bold-Arrow said:

I am weak .. i see a sale and it is game over

I know, I so nearly bought classic bat caves from zavvi.  glad I have to get back to work at my real job!

[Bricklectic]

9 minutes ago, Achilles said:

 

I understand some people like to go very deep on individual sets, which admittedly I tend to avoid doing. It's pretty rare for me to have over 30-40 of any $50+ set. I can only think of a handful off the top of my head. Obviously, following limits makes that trickier to get hundreds of any given set. I also probably do more in-store shopping than most folks.

 

 

This about sums up the source of the difference of opinions.

Some of us fundamentally differ strategy wise. If you want to go deep, say 300+ sets on a soon to retire set, there arent that many options besides reordering unless your friends/neighbors/in laws with a Walmart Store manager.

[redcell]

6 minutes ago, Achilles said:

I basically follow the Amazon/SAH method for all sites - which I guess in this example would mostly mean places like Target and Walmart. If it lists a QTY Max 3, I order 3. I don't place multiple orders of that item. A week later (Amazon), or month later (SAH) - if it's still on sale, or if it goes back on sale again in the future, I'll order again.

I understand some people like to go very deep on individual sets, which admittedly I tend to avoid doing. It's pretty rare for me to have over 30-40 of any $50+ set. I can only think of a handful off the top of my head. Obviously, following limits makes that trickier to get hundreds of any given set. I also probably do more in-store shopping than most folks. I don't necessarily wait for sets to be on the verge of retiring either, so I take advantage of sales throughout a set's lifespan. Getting specific sets at 30% off when you are targeting them is pretty easy to do. Usually when I strongly suspect a set is within a year of going, that's when I tend to start buying. Sometimes I am wrong and end up holding longer than I intended to, but it's not that big of a deal - it's very rare.

And yes, there are some sets this makes it hard to acquire large quantities of, but in my experience there are very few "golden gooses" that are exponentially bigger than other strong performers - and personally, I am ok not getting them. Consistently doubling up with a variety of sets isn't hard to do when purchased at 40-50% off, even 30% off.  And I find in the post TRU/Kmart world, there are more and more retailers carrying LEGO. For me, I find it EASIER to get stock today than say even a few years ago. And I increase my yearly purchase budget every year.

 

Personally, I think you are being too cautious.  If Target wanted to limit each customer to a strict limit, it could do so, but has chosen not to.  Imposing quantity limits does not necessarily mean that Target only wants to sell a certain number to each customer, it could just as easily indicate that Target wants to throttle the pace of purchases by any one customer to give as possible the chance to get in on a deal.  With a quantity limit of 3, I end up ordering a lot less than I did when the quantity limits ran to 99.

[TANV]

Got my Monster Book! Set was in a box and well packed.

[iahawks550]

Did anyone order more Nebulons through Amazon business last week? If so, shipping status? Mine still shows preparing, but makes me wonder if they actually had them. 

[TANV]

1 minute ago, iahawks550 said:

Did anyone order more Nebulons through Amazon business last week? If so, shipping status? Mine still shows preparing, but makes me wonder if they actually had them. 

I ordered some through AMZ Business back on Oct 13. They've been arriving this week, sometimes with the shipments being broken up. For example, I ordered (4) and (2) arrived two days ago, (1) arrived yesterday, and the last is supposed to arrive tomorrow. And then I got another order that's arriving all at once in three days.

I suspect they're fulfilling the earliest orders first before moving onto recent ones, if there's still supply.

[stackables]

13 minutes ago, TANV said:

Got my Monster Book! Set was in a box and well packed.

I wonder how hard this would be to turn into the Necronomicon

[exciter1]

11 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

Did anyone order more Nebulons through Amazon business last week? If so, shipping status? Mine still shows preparing, but makes me wonder if they actually had them. 

I received my 11/14 order on 11/17

[FM]

Did anyone order more Nebulons through Amazon business last week? If so, shipping status? Mine still shows preparing, but makes me wonder if they actually had them. 

I placed multiple orders of 15-20 units and they're showing up 1-10 at a time. Fortunely this set's box is pretty sturdy so 2 of the 3 that were in bubble mailers were undamaged. I have received about 60% of what I ordered and the rest are in transit. Some of the ones delivered yesterday still say Ordered in the AZ app.

[skinsfan0521]

I've only received 1/3 of the orders that I placed back in October. Each order didn't have the same qty. The other two say that they're supposed to be arriving 11/25-11/30, but no shipping information on either of those orders yet.

[exracer327]

Received a couple of target orders.  I'm not sure who I'm more mad at, Target or UPS.

Box one: two HP Great Halls.  Both have stickers for European boxes.  However, when we went to pick up the box both sets dropped to the sidewalk because the "bottom" of the box had been completely cut open.  Yes, it had been cut open.  One set bore the brunt of the damage as it landed on our concrete step.  The other one seems to be OK. 

The box was definitely cut open though AND the driver had the chutzpah to place it on our step in such a way that we would never see it had been cut open.  What other result would occur except that when we picked it up, the product would drop out the bottom and land on the concrete?!  The box has a ton of air pillows, but what good do they do when the box is wide open and the driver sets it with the opening down?!  At least the order came complete.  

Box two: two ski resorts.  These are from the Mexico plant.  Huge box!  The largest I have ever seen from Target.  Six total air pillows with LOTS of room to move.  *sigh*  There is a crease in the middle of one of the sets because it was laying on top of the other set.

I'm expecting one other delivery of large sets but I'm already dreading it.  I am so thankful I picked up all my other orders - all of which were in great shape.  

[raindroplet]

Placed an order for a Downtown Diner for a personal build when it was flickering on backorder. Was good for a while but went from backorder to "waiting on new stock" this morning. Let's see if LEGO disappoints me once again. 

[Zepp]

My Nebulon Amazon order from October 14 finally shipped on Sunday 11/22 and is arriving tomorrow.👍

[Shortbus311]

Got my monster book from B&N. It arrived in it's own box separate from the set I ordered to get it. It also has a B&N price tag on the bottom of it for $24.99. Seems that some stores may have these and are selling them for $25?

[iahawks550]

5 hours ago, Shortbus311 said:

Got my monster book from B&N. It arrived in it's own box separate from the set I ordered to get it. It also has a B&N price tag on the bottom of it for $24.99. Seems that some stores may have these and are selling them for $25?

If it's anything like their exclusive Potter minifg collection, it's possible they sell the leftovers after awhile.

[Shortbus311]

If it's anything like their exclusive Potter minifg collection, it's possible they sell the leftovers after awhile.

It isn't adding to my cart anymore online. They may possibly be gone already? I just sold my one on Ebay for $108.50, basically getting my Hogwarts Express for free and a couple dollars to spare. Went to try for another and it won't add, even with 2x Privet Dr the only set left available online.

[Fcbarcelona101]

10 minutes ago, Shortbus311 said:

49 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

If it's anything like their exclusive Potter minifg collection, it's possible they sell the leftovers after awhile.

It isn't adding to my cart anymore online. They may possibly be gone already? I just sold my one on Ebay for $108.50, basically getting my Hogwarts Express for free and a couple dollars to spare. Went to try for another and it won't add, even with 2x Privet Dr the only set left available online.

I think it is showing as “Sold Out” in the main Black Friday deals page.

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/h/black-friday-cyber-monday-deals

 

[melting]

Nebulons arrived minty sealed case  from Legoland Cali

 

 

[Bold-Arrow]

Wife opened my package without my permission and found a Dickens inside . I feel violated. 

[exciter1]

1 minute ago, Bold-Arrow said:

Wife opened my package without my permission and found a Dickens inside . I feel violated. 

 

[33Lego]

Just found out my Target Circle account is under review. Asked me to email them. Might ordered too many during the 40% sale 😛

Anyone having similar experience? What they will do?