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Chin up! We'll get through another round! Slow-moving parents of young children despise faster-moving parents of small children who get there first. Fast-moving parents of small children despise adult collectors who buy the last box on the shelf when they SHOULD leave it "for the children!" Collectors despise the collector/casual investor who buys TWO of a set (shocking! Just shocking! Even if they are the LAST TWO!!) and don't leave any for the purist collector. Collector/Casual Investors despise the Mid-Level Investor/Collector who don't leave any for them. Mid-Level Investor/Collectors despise the High-Level Investor/Reseller (often those counting on Lego for a significant amount or all of their income) who don't leave any for them. It's not "sick" for someone to buy more Lego than another person, or for them not to leave Lego on the shelf for the children, the parents, the purist collectors, the casual investors, the lazy, the stupid, or the weak. We're not talking bottled water in a hurricane here, we're talking a luxury toy. I won't call you whiny if you don't call me sick. Or, better yet, keep calling me sick all you want instead of taking steps to make sure you can compete with me on the fair and level playing field called "Open Hours" at the store selling Lego.

Thanks for making my life easier. Clicking "Like" is so much less work than writing all that

From the TRU main page, click on "Weekly Ad", then on "Flip Through Local Ads" on the next page, then click on the ad that says "1 Day Only!". Sorry - I don't know how to post a link. I'm an unfrozen caveman AFOL, and your technology frightens me.

If their parents REALLY love them, they'll buy the sets from you at a high price on eBay. You're just giving the parents a chance to prove their love to their children through their wallets, which is the way of our people. You're a good person.

I seriously doubt anyone in this forum relies completely on LEGO reselling. Most of us, if not all, do this as a side "business".

Not sure what your point here is. And I can't pay my wages and operating expenses if I sell the merchandise I purchase at the same price I bought it at either. When people shop on eBay and from Amazon 3rd party sellers, when all other venues are sold out, do they expect people to lose money? And I think you're forgetting. Resellers are job creators too. Every time Amazon takes a fee from a sale, that's more employees they need to hire to fulfill orders. How many more jobs do you think Amazon created since they started FBA? Thousands of small business allow Amazon to fulfill orders, creating jobs. How many UPS, FedEx, or trucking companies in general hire on additional truck drivers, loaders, etc during the holiday? We create jobs. We create demand. We pay taxes. The only difference between a retail store and a reseller is the price they are able to purchase their merchandise at.

I think the government takes too much out of my wage for taxes.

As with anything in life, there are those that prepare, and then there are those that don't. And more often than not, the ones that do not prepare are the one complaining about the ones that did.

I have no problem clearing a shelf if it's a great deal that I can make a lot of money on. Heck, I should start leaving a business card explaining where they can go to purchase the merchandise from me at my price. I have had several conversations with people who think you're some kind of monster, and a spoiler of Christmas's of kids when you're a reseller of toys. Everyone that buys my stuff is grateful for being able to find it somewhere for their kids. Not every person in the United States has a Toys R Us nearby, so they are perfectly fine paying a mark up to buy an exclusive item for more money. Some people don't care about spending more money and not running around through 15 stores to find one item. I provide a service. I find those items, and I risk my hard earned dollars purchasing stuff I think I will be able to make a return on. I do all the work to find that hard to find toy, and I charge a premium for that service. Not everyone wants to pay that premium, but from my experience, enough will and do which keeps me in business. I always ask people that hate on resellers, "What makes what I do any different than what TRU or Walmart does?" Then I explain to them that they purchase stuff at a lower price than they sell it at. By their hatred of resellers, they should hate retailers too, because they don't just give the toys away to make kids happy. Let's clear things up, every single toy I buy for resale has been sitting on the shelf since September most times. I do my research, and I go out and check out the field to see what's out there. Some stuff I scoop up at full blown retail knowing I'll get a bigger return, other stuff I wait for sales on. If you got an item that your kid just HAS to have, why are you waiting until November or Black Friday to save 20%?

The only difference between someone clearing out all the shelves today v Black Friday is the media/social hype. I honestly don't blame people for playing it smart as long as they don't have an unfair advantage. I do some real estate business on the side and whenever I find a good deal I go for it, if I was to let it slide in hope that a more needing person might or might not make an offer on it, then I would have to stop calling it a business and turn it into a hobby. Just my 2 cents

I think "If I were relying on reselling LEGO for any part of my income so that I could meet my financial responsibilities, I'd be extremely worried about myself. But that's just me. I've never sold any LEGO. " Is a bit of a paradox or oxymoron. It's like saying "If I had to rely on a job to pay my bills, I would be extremely worried because I never had a job." Or, a better analogy: If I had to rely on a parachute to safely land on the ground after jumping out of an airplane that I have never jumped out of... If I had a car that I had to put gas in that I never had... If someone tried to cut off my tail that I don't have... However, on the pragmatic side, one should be worried about meeting financial obligations by a means that they don't engage in. If I had to pay my bills by selling sea turtles, I would be very worried about myself. I have never even seen a sea turtle. (this area left blank). Never mind, I always lie. And.... Definition of 'Luxury Item' An item that is not necessary for living, but is deemed as highly-desired within a culture or society.

Phew

Lies. We all know you clubbed several children and the two other investors over the heads with Nerf Bats, scooped up all the Lego on all the aisles (everyone wants to know how you stack up 200 sets in your arms at once...) and ran, chortling evilly, to the cashier, whose family you threatened if she wouldn't let you buy everything. (Seriously, though, that's a cool way to handle things with the other investors present, will have to remember that one if I find myself in line waiting for a store to open on sale day.)

My kids are going to go bananas over this. They love LEGO, they love Minecraft, they love to spend my money.......

Even the government is tightening the noose on resellers, lol.

Just need to interject here

New coupon! Enjoy and let us know what works and doesn't... http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=22728306&ab=Tru_homepage_aspot:2:In-Store-Only10-Gift-Card#truhp/110313

Ouch, that makes locating anything a lot harder. My local Targets do the same thing but in the "general" toy area. You would spend a lot of time looking for some deals and sometimes never find any. They should follow what Walmart does and make one clearance section where all clearance items would be.

And before someone says it, if a parent simply can't afford to purchase a set for their child, it is also a great opportunity to let them know they love them so much they are willing to be the "bad guy" for a couple days just so that they can spend that money on things that really matter in the long term: education, food, shelter and other basic needs. Plus, they'll get a chance to teach their sons that you can't always get everything you want and working hard will pay off almost always.

I would suggest Quacs blog about Technic investments. It might not answer your question specifically (or it might

Make that at least two of us (I sell a bunch of non-LEGO stuff too). Since you are my boss, dad, mom, teacher, and/or law-enforcement officer, I will do what you say.

I bought 2 today, just because I think it's a great looking set. I haven't seen any reviews or anything. I hope my tastes in aesthetics don't come back to bite me in the butt. For $43 (after the $10 gift card), you really can't go wrong.

This is highly ironic coming from the person who repeatedly does this.

Your tears make me laugh. Get a grip mamma's boy.

If you haven't already, try Old Spice High Endurance. I used to be a Speed Stick man myself before switching. I'm happy with the results.

Really? If you were a merchant buying and selling toys for a living you'd be "extremely worried" about yourself? I'm dying of curiosity to know what exactly is worrying about how someone chooses to make a legal living with toys? Sigh, okay, fellow rich American (as 99% of all Americans are compared to most parts of the world...) Lego isn't a "luxury" because you don't have to also own a yacht to buy a set. How about we agree on "non-necessity"? If I buy all the pink socks at a store because I just loves me some pink socks (or there's a market and I want to sell them), am I a sad person because I didn't leave some pink socks for a pink-sock loving person coming in the door behind me? This site is for investors. I piggyback on as a reseller (a close relation to an investor) for now. Some pure collectors such as yourself also piggyback on, presumably because they're hoping to get some information that will help them find set bargains themselves. Not sad, not sick, not worrying. Just a difference in desired outcome.

Lego seems to want to be in classier, higher end malls in dense population areas that aren't stinkholes. Memphis, sorry, but you're a stinkhole. On my side of the country they didn't put one in Oakland or Stockton, either. Stinkholes. If you look at their target buying audience for expensive sets - rich people, nearly-rich people, wannabe-rich people, collectors who would rather have the newest Lego than pay the light bill, and parents well enough off to dote on their children and buy them pricey toys - you can see why they make a decision for this city and mall over that city and mall in most cases.

At my local TRU they had 6 VC. I was there at 5 mins to open with 2 other resellers who made the effort to be there early. We split it up 3 ways and everyone was happy. Parents were buying Doc McStuffin something or others with no interest at all in VC.

The competition is getting fierce for these non-exclusive sets...LOL

I was thinking it was because it said only 20K made in the title. I didn't know that.

This is getting kind of sick. Many of you go and clean out stores without thinking twice about what you're doing, but when you're on the outside looking in, you complain. Enough is never enough, and when you have it all, you still want more. Instead of thinking of others, you only think about yourselves. It seems like you get the thought in your heads that only resellers are buying LEGO or looking for the next deal, and 'if I don't buy all of them, another reseller will!'. Exercise some restraint and leave some for others. You don't need everything. Some non-resellers are actually looking to purchase a set when a sale arises. I'm all for getting a deal on LEGO, but at the same time, I know I'm not the only person who should benefit.

If you click in the "1 Sold" link it shows the price at the time was $ 380

I bought a whitecap bay at my store. It finally dropped from $96.

When I ordered mine it told me it was OOS at my store after I went to pay. But there were like 10 yesterday. Im just gonna go over there.

Mini cooper would be awesome!!!

TRU website is active with $80 price and it appears to stack with SAVE20 discount. Grabbing a bunch of these plus riding camp

DNIIM, this has been bugging me for a while, but why do you spell Ninjago with a c ? I would flip #1, not so sure about #2 though

It was in their toy catalog

Sure, why not. I consider myself working class, because I actually have to work for a living... More like non-working, working class hate... Paid for by the taxpayers.

Wow...lets get some working class hate going on in this thread. Shall we turn this into a political forum?

It is on BrickOwl right under the initial preview pictures. Link directly to PDF: http://brickowl.com/lego_instructions/pdf/studio_21050_instructions_6062928.pdf Link to BrickOwl page, and in-site previews: http://brickowl.com/catalog/lego-architecture-studio-set-21050-instructions/viewer

I hate the sets and hate the game. Ill flip it if they make it though. Sooo easy.

Well, both of the two Walmarts near me typically never has polybags anywhere. When they do, it seems like a shipping error and they get stuck wherever the employees felt like sticking em' which is usually back in the clearance aisle. Same thing for Minifigures, they never got them before except this year they seem to be rather half assed in trying to. In short, my one Target is actually pretty reliable.

That's not nice. Sorry, nobody cares whether or not you care whether or not he buys it.

As product availability drops, it is to be expected to see the availability fluctuate on the website just based on how inventory management systems work. I don't have any inside information on Lego itself, but I do work frequently with e-commerce systems. My guess is that Lego has a single master inventory management system. They will have various distribution centers/warehouses scattered around the globe. I would imagine that the e-commerce site would be set up in their inventory management system as it own "location or locations". Which means that the inventory management system probably has an on-hand inventory count allocated to the site. That data is what the site code uses to determine the availability status to display. There is probably a threshold and if the inventory count drops below that point, the status changes from "available" to "call" to prevent over committing a limited number of units. As the on-hand counts decreases across the system I would imagine that units are reallocated to locations/warehouses. If one warehouse has 1000 units and another has only 10, it makes sense to ship all 10 to the other facility and close out that unit for that particular warehouse. Now the receiving warehouse has 1010 units. This would also be true for LEGO Shop at Home. There may very well be newly available units being reallocated to LEGO Shop at Home as the counts dwindle. For instance, if TRU is going to be having a large sale they will have already stocked up. If there are 50 units left un-ordered at the facility that handles TRU, those 50 units might be reallocated to LEGO Shop at Home. Having a set fluctuate between "sold out", "call", and even "available" is not cause for assuming the product is suddenly going to be back forever. Changing a product status to "retired product" as has been done for the UK LEGO Shop at Home would be an an actual change made by a person, as opposed to an automatic system change based on stock levels. I think that all MF sets except the Haunted House are still on their way out and that this upcoming sale at TRU will be the last hurrah.

Last I heard from my store manager was they would not be getting anymore in. It is done. The only reason I think this time it may be true is he yelled it at me lol. Time will tell.

While some of my fellow AFOL friends could care less about TMNT Lego, I am actually a big fan of them. I grew up watching the TMNT cartoons and playing with the TMNT action figures. From an investment standpoint I'm not really sure where this theme is going to go. It doesn't seem to be a huge hit, but I guess time will tell. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the new 2014 sets listed above.......I really wish Lego would do a big TMNT set kind of like they did with the Arkham Asylum set for Batman, rather than a bunch of $30-60 sets.

Was it because they sang "I like to move it move it" over and over while answering your call ?

Flipped a mini Hogwart's express locally to a guy who also bought some action figures from me. 10 bucks for a polybag I paid 3.99 plus tax for a couple weeks ago. Now if I only I could find a bunch more people to buy these for 10 bucks a pop....

My favorite is when I have one of something listed and get this message: "Please to you can ship many item this of. I business own and pay will I you (40% less than asking price) with paypal. Just hold on a friggin second Yoda. As you can see I only have ONE and I'd like to get a discount that great also.