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LEGO can correct this situation by either producing boxes with a see through flap like was done in the 70s/80s(...as mentioned above) or a completely sealed box that must be ripped open to gain access to the contents. MISB is a term that will be useless very soon. CVIB will be the new acronym of choice... Contents Verified In Box

That's an Amish Sandcrawler.

Nothing worse than having an auction with a massive amount of watchers and then the item ends up selling well below market price.

I had a pretty good week last week, and that was with fewer items for sale than I usually have. Likely just an anomoly for one week. Keep your eye on it though, and like Pacific said maybe lower a price or two here or there. Also...many buyers sort with "ending soonest" or "newly listed" so you might be in that dead zone of like 18-25 days listed, where you aren't really on those peoples radars.

Looks like it is time to invest in a portable x-ray screen Ideal for use in security, military, police and LEGO Brickpickers Suspect bag and package inspection EOD evaluation Vehicle inspection Customs searches including petrol tanks, airbags, wheels and dashboards Counter surveillance sweeps and through-wall scanning LEGO Investing

Yeah, you know the rest. When I read the story of the BPer here who opened up a box of puzzle pieces instead of LEGO I thoroughly enjoyed freaking out and waving my arms around and generally joining the discussion. I really didn't ever expect, though, that I'd have my own story to tell! Bought a Daily Bugle on clearance at a local Kmart a few weeks ago. Got to parting out our pile of Daily Bugles tonight, opened this one and... yeah, LEGO bags containing a lot of random junk toys. Some of them are actually either reglued or heat sealed. Pretty amazing, going to return it tommorow. In my defense, when you see the photo of the seal, it doesn't look obvious at all to the naked eye, the camera just picks up the tampering really well. If I strain my eyes I can just barely see the slightest scratch at the seal area. Pretty freaky. There's also a Walmart bar code sticker stuck to the back making me wonder if they were pulling the old barcode scam at Walmart and then returned it to Kmart after extracting the contents, or ???

Ebay does not always fee on shipping, that all comes down to how you sell, when you sell, how much you sell, whether you have a store, etc. The only fee I pay on ebay is a final value fee on BIN items, and those fees are roughly 8% of whatever I sell the item for. Now keep in mind I do pay a flat rate monthly fee for my store. I think there are a lot of resellers getting in the game. However, many of them are just buying and hoarding, they have no idea what it's like to sell. Once they start trying to sell things too quick they will realize how much time and money they are losing. Also, they will not like dealing with negative customers, returns, overhead expenses such as shipping labels, boxes, tape, bubble wrap, etc. So while there are many newbies to the game, many of them will be weeded out or quit before they're ever able to make a significant difference.

Helms Deep not going anywhere??? Not sure what you mean. Helms Deep was available multiple times between $90-110. Right now the cheapest one on ebay is $170 and the set just retired a few months ago. As far as the VC, well it's still available at TRU and some other smaller retail stores. You have to give these sets time!! Just wait a couple years and you'll see, both Helms Deep and VC should give decent returns, even if a lot of people are hoarding them.

Post Christmas credit card bills and Summer holiday bookings I think is the main reason for the downturn. Competition is fierce of course (we compete with each other!) so buy the right sets as cheap as possible. Last year I saw nobody browsing the Lego aisles in supermarkets but, now I see other blokes during every visit checking eBay prices before loading their trolleys. I'm changing strategy now and the first theme I'm dropping is CITY as current sold prices are poor, FRIENDS may be headed the same way due to massive increases in supply. So bad that I've returned over 200 sets (even at -40/50%) in the last month alone! By the end of this year, I'll be holding large

So...give it to me straight. Are you infering that there might be too many resellers?

THE BUBBLE IS HERE ! JUMP SHIP ! WOMEN AND BRICKPICKERS FIRST !

There are 5 major reasons for this: 1 Too many resellers 2 Too many resellers 3 Too many resellers 4 Too many resellers 5 Gee, I told you so. Nobody wanted to listen. Its only going to get worse.

I'm about 4 episodes in now. I really only watched off and on over the last 5 episodes, but did get the season 5 finale. I'm looking forward to finishing up this season, mostly to see how it ties into the greater whole.

How you sort depends on what you are looking for. If looking for something specific 'lowest price + shipping' is your friend. If you are just looking for 'a good deal', people probably chose a broad search topic (like 'lego') and either look for auctions that end soon or BIN items that are just listed. In the last two cases you would be out - but your buyer pool is probably the former - looking for something specific. I would simply try and list everything as before for a week and see how that goes. Or even better, do this for half of your (identical) items and see which sell and which don't. For the same price.

Agreed on the decreased demand, but perhaps it is because it is an online only item, and so far limited to LEGO Shop at Home and TRU at MSRP. The average consumer is not seeing this item in store and I do not think many people even know it exists. I think this will help it fly under the radar and if combined with a lower production run will make this set a big winner in the long run.

" Lego investing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get ".

This is a revolution

The only change under the new update is now ebay requires tracking numbers to be verified. You will get credit for 1 day handling if you upload your tracking within 1 day AND that tracking number is verified at some stage. Verification means a scan somewhere along the way (could be acceptance, sorting facility or even just delivery). As long as it is scanned somewhere you will get credit going back to when the tracking number was entered into ebay. They did this as alot of sellers would simply type in a random number for tracking to get credit for items that are not trackable (baseball cards in envelopes etc). This allowed alot of sellers to recoup the FVF 2% credit for TRS and where taking money out of ebay coffers. They go by when the tracking is uploaded, not when it is scanned for handling time. Again as long as it is scanned somewhere along the way that counts as verification. You can still print a label and not mail it for 3-4 days and get credit for 1 day handling as long as it scans somewhere. This was to rectify the fake tracking number issue, not the lazy seller issue.

Those aren't junk! That's a premium selection of classic Goodwill merchandise!

Sorry to read and see you got one of these tampered sets justafrog. Really sucks. Can't believe people actually do stuff like this...it's almost worse than just stealing a set because in this scenario the lost may not be accounted for until much later and affects more than one person if you were to sell it as brand new/sealed. People who do this should be made to walk bare feet on lego in their cell for a few yrs or be force to collect and sort bricks. Usually I try to check the seals really well...if something is kinda loose I just don't buy it. But sometimes it can be hard to tell. Sucks but instead of opening sets...try weighing it? Would these scammers actually go to the length of making it weight the same as a regular set? Probably not. Too bad, not every store will want to spend the time/resources to check video and their system to try and see who actually returned this.

Most of the sets you will find on the market and are not retired so far tend to have a negative CAGR (due to being on sale during holidays, near christmas, ...), especially when it is their first year on the market (have a look at the 2014 released sets when it comes near christmas). So it depends on the theme and then on the set you are going to purchase.

Buy it. I will own one the moment it comes out. About to pass a certification test for work - I get a $500 bonus that after taxes... comes to about $300. Cha-ching! Can't wait for this set. I finally built my SSD and I just stare at it sometimes. I think Im in love.

God I hope this is a true. Hoth vehicles were the best for sure. thats really what I hope doesn't get messed up in the new movies. I want some good vehicles. Name a Hoth vehicle people didn't like. You can't... because there isn't one! (if you have one you don't like... just let me have this one. lol)

I was going to ask if a complete Hogwarts castle 4842 and The Burrows 4840 including box and manual was worth it for $75 but I think Brickpickers would send me to remedial school again like and ban me from the forum. I picked it up during lunchtime. http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/tag/4389786754.html

Here is the link.

We were all newbies once, I never said all newbies won't be able to make money, just said that MANY of them will be weeded out, not all of them. Being a newbie now is a lot different than being a newbie 4 or 5 years ago. Years ago there was way less competition and a lot more room for error.

Don't you remember - It was declared long ago, that more sellers will only make things better. Besides CAGR is up - How could things not be better!

Found this picture today: which sumarizes well which astronauts/spationauts/cosmonauts I prefer along the years.

Sleeper sets are a thing of the past sorry to say. Too many people in the game now.

Finished building 75019 AT-TE last night. Funny how a Lego set can help you appreciate a film more. I still stand by my opinion that the Star Wars PT are bad movies, and that fact caused me to dismiss the different ships and vehicles in them. I put on AOTC while building this thing and they did have some pretty neat vehicle designs in the movie.

Yeah, someone bought in single order two of my 4628s that walmart was selling for $15+tax each black friday. Their cost was 92.96 total. There is gold in them plain bricks...

Probably Intertoys. They have PS and GE for -

    Lego used to pack larger sets with a flap where you could see inside. I remember some space sets from the 80's being that way. I would cheer for that packing method.

Anyone who invested in these friends sets in the uk has made a wrong move (unless the got them over 50% off), you can still get them easily wth good discounts too, including Olivia house for under 50 quid, even the older sets like the bakery and pet vet thing is still around.

Don't forget ball in a cup!

Hmmm - I found what Matt was talking about "Same Day Handling Cut-off". It says that is the time cutoff it must be ordered by for same day handling. So that to me makes me think if they buy it before 4PM PST (what I set it to), then it must ship out next day, but if they don't, it wouldn't ship out for 2 days. This is the exact text under it: "Select the time by which you must receive cleared payment for an order to qualify for same business day handling."

This might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Lego does NOT fill their product boxes with crap from Goodwill.

Yea, thats the thing. I mainly only want the SSD IS and MF. I dont have any of these sets open for myself and I was planning on using that $$$ for 2xVIP on new SSD HH GE to sell later but this seems like a pretty good deal considering a possible SSD EOL looming.

this is the Friends sub-forum so yes, I mean Friends sets only.

you're welcome. I think all the questions can be answered here in the forums or by searching and reading the blog entries here. But before beginning with investing there are some decisions to be made: like... do you want to spend more or less money in your new hobby? ... do you want to start with small sets, large ones or a diversity of sets? ... do you want to quick flip sets, part them out and sell seperately, hold them back for ages? ... will you stay with only a few themes or broaden your variety (when successful)? ... where do you want to sell (craigslist, ebay, amazon, ...)? to name only a few of them! The decisions and answers are up to yourself, but the people here can give you good advice! Good luck

don't buy that prince of Persia set at Barnes and Noble.

What Star Wars vehicle is basket shaped?

In the words of Rodney Dangerfield "My wife doesn't respect me. She makes me mad because she talks during sex. She calls me right from a hotel room." Did you show her your SSD?

Amen to that. I get all my bubble wrap and cardboard from work. It's high quality stuff and saves a fortune Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I'd buy anything at 70-75% off. Hell, I'd buy Duplo at that high of a discount. ;)

Normally TB is Tuberculosis but on this site it's Tower Bridge Welcome to the forums!

Some of you read my light box article. I just recently discovered a new use for it! This is my three-legged, blind in one eye, cat named Tom. I am sure that everyone here with cats knows that if you leave a box on the floor, the cat will eventually end up inside the box. When I saw this, I grabbed the camera. My cat was very cooperative and looked up for most of the pictures. When I created my light box, I planned to photograph minifigures with it, but I guess it works pretty well with pets, too!

Only 60% of my Vh came today, but wanted to take a pic anyways! Also got a a few more martian manhunters to add to my collection of 40

No, it's done with SNOT. Build a big wide tower of depth 1 and then lie it down. Follow that link and you shall see.

8 usd for VH ??? OMG, I want to live in America :-)