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I made my very FIRST sale ever! Sold a handful of polybags on Bricklink (IronMan, Martian Manhunter and Lake Town Guard). Wow, does that feel good.

I find all of this fascinating. So let's consider this seemingly widespread idea that Lego doesn't care about and/or maintains a positive view of resellers (financially, at least)... Just think of it this way: Assuming each individual buying Lego has a finite amount to spend on the product (because assuming otherwise would be insane), why on Earth or anywhere else would the company want to share any of that income with us? Let's take the Tumbler as an example, from Lego's perspective: Ideally, every individual who actually wants a Tumbler to keep will buy it directly from an authorized store - online or otherwise. It is foolishly shortsighted to think that "a sale is a sale", and that Lego shouldn't care what happens afterward; because for every Tumbler bought at $300 from a reseller there is $100 less that will be spent by someone on OTHER Lego products. Of course this is not strictly/directly true, but the concept is blatantly obvious to me and surely dominates the perspective. If you are an economics expert able to disprove this assumption, please be my guest. I like education. Otherwise, on the most obvious core business level, reselling hurts the manufacturer in a significant way ($$). But not all reselling is created equal. What sort of product is most susceptible to this kind of lost profit scenario for them? Certainly not the minor stuff. Mixels are not the concern here. Almost anyone buying Lego in the first place has another $5-20 to spare for whatever small set they want. It's the big exclusives, naturally, that hurt the worst. Expensive, difficult to find sets are not as widely distributed and therefore harder to deliver directly to the target consumer in the first place. Those consumers who want but can't afford it all, at least right away, or right now, may hesitate to buy... then one day find out they waited too long and suddenly TH at retail is a thing of the past. Perhaps they aren't even getting it for Christmas since the price went up so much. What happens if they really want it, though? They pay a premium to a reseller and then cannot afford to buy the PS or PC or PR as early as they planned, (read: at retail), if at all. That's what I'm calling the direct effect of reselling on Lego's profits. Indirectly, too, that person may become frustrated and give up on the modular line entirely. Perhaps they move on to another line of Legos, or perhaps another manufacturer gets their $$ next time. In almost any case, the end result is less money flowing from that consumer to Lego themselves. Again, I know it doesn't always work this way. The pattern of an immediate and drastic rise in value of EOL (or those soon to be) exclusive sets of 50% or more tells us that there seems to be plenty of demand to meet the supply (of reselling), so far. But I think, given that we are in a period of extreme Lego sales growth, it is a pattern that will eventually sputter and die. Nevertheless, this pattern just makes it that much more obvious how much more money the target consumer COULD be spending on Lego sets at retail. Anyone think Lego not paying fairly close attention to the secondary market at any time? Seriously? Oh and besides the whole losing money / sharing profits issue? When the average target consumer is pissed off at the whole reselling trend and tells Lego about it, possibly using lots of not-so-nice words, and/or threats to take their money elsewhere, guess what? Lego probably ought to do something about it. When brand store employees give constant feedback about dealing with all the phone calls from the same resellers each week, followed by the multitude of identical questions and disappointed visits from target consumers due to sets being unavailable, over and Over and OVER, it has got to have an impact. No one with any business sense at HQ is cackling with glee over shelves being empty when demand is still there. So, back to the Tumbler. I can't believe this and RI haven't substantially entered the "something wicked" discussions, yet (and Mars Rover, for that matter). Personally, I see the recent highly limited distribution practices as an experiment toward limiting the reselling phenomenon... in parallel to whatever exactly is going on with unpredictable retirement of exclusives. By controlling the rate of distribution of these limited production sets AND making it more random when they both appear and disappear, the target consumer who doesn't closely track such things stands a MUCH better chance of finding one for themselves at retail, do they not? Of course, other factors have to fall in line for it to happen... but personally I think I am seeing some evidence that this is exactly what is going on. And as Ed has said again and again and again, the savvy, dedicated reseller who rations their purchases out over time and chooses sets wisely based on empirical data more than the reactionary herd mentality, WILL be able to keep up with most of it, and perhaps even reap greater rewards (at the expense of the herd, no less). Meanwhile, Lego DOESN'T MIND this type of reseller quite as much, because they are not constantly emptying shelves and causing big hassles jumping from one EOL (or newly released limited production) set to another. Yes they do still steal some profits down the road, but if they do so acting more or less as the target consumer would, what can really be done about it?. Remember, no one likes drama. The wise ones around here have already camouflaged themselves from the hammer fairly well, and are now encouraging others to do the same, because the more that thing is swung around the less safe it is for everyone here. Sparks are beginning to fly. The number of "investors" is growing exponentially, it would seem, and acting so undisciplined at times that a threshold of tolerance (by the public, by retailers, and by Lego) is quickly being reached. If we are only 3.7% of overall sales (a completely random number, fyi), but 60% of the non-monetary problems (and rising), guess what? Action is going to be taken. Could Lego modify their business model to include and gain an advantage from a significant sector of individual resellers? Probably. Should they? I doubt it. The reasons go well beyond the current marketplace. Perhaps the hypothetical "experiments" going on lately are designed to answer just that question, though. All I know is, unless you are in this for a quickie, it's time to wake up. Your friendly, fatherly alarm clock has been ringing for a few weeks, now. Stop snoozing. Times are changing. Kudos to those who have already started to adapt.

Why are you selling your T1 Polys? They should have no problem going right back to $50+ in no time at all.

Let's not! Sale prices are a good enough gauge for the purpose of this thread. It lets folks know what's selling and for what price. Everyone can keep their profit numbers to themselves.

At least the next Idea review sets are cool.

The Town Hall is retired as far as I know and I do not believe it will make a comeback with the exception of a sporadic and short lived in stock appearance. While LEGO can indeed change their core philosophy and reproduce retired sets, I haven't heard such a drastic change is coming. But a change is coming nonetheless. Reproducing retired sets would reduce the value of LEGO sets on the secondary market and I don't believe LEGO wants to reduce the value of their product, either on the primary or secondary markets. LEGO is very smart and does pay attention to the values of their sets on the secondary markets regardless what many think. The two work hand in hand with one another. The perceived high values on the secondary market filters over to the primary market every day. Many LEGO fans or collectors will pay $400 for a set because they know it increases in value after retirement. If this sets dropped in value after use and time, how would buying patterns change? Quite a bit I would say. LEGO has ALWAYS been an expensive product. When I was a kid 40 years ago, till now, it has been an expensive product. But like with anything that is of high caliber and finely produced, there is an increased price tag. You get what you pay for is very true with LEGO sets and people don't seem to mind paying for this higher cost, because they know they are buying a product made with the highest standards and the potential to increase in value after purchase. Should you buy a Town Hall now at $300 if you don't have one? Probably. I bought a Cafe Corner at $575 and a Taj Mahal at $400 and that has turned out well. I'm not saying the Town Hall will reach those levels, but it will be a non hoarded, short production run Modular, so I say there is a good chance of this set hitting lofty numbers.

I brought this one back to discuss the old grey/new grey editions. I had noticed that you were lashing out at Danny (2 years later), but after seeing how much effort you put into it - I just didn't have the heart to tell you.

I don't think Danny will be responding since the thread is from over 2 years ago.

Sales are starting to pick up for sure. Just yesterday sold: Cap America Avenging cycle $43 2x Wolverine Chopper for $95 each 2 x Umbaran MHC for $50 each Hulk minifig promo polybag for $39 Clone Troopers Battle pack for $34 Makes me feel like I priced the 6866 too low, but I only paid $15 each. Had 10 only have one left.

Not really liking either of these. Pretty disappointed.

This article will help educate you: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/you-see-sneakers-these-guys-see-hundreds-of-millions-in-resale-profit/

I have been into the LEGO investing game for about a year now. Mostly impart to all the good deals shown here I have a nice stash going. I definetly want to move some sets I aquired at deep discount this year to recoup some money for future investing. Question is when is the right time to list on ebay. For Black Friday? after Cyber Monday? 2 weeks before the 25th? When does the mad dash for desperate parents begin!? Thanks for any insight on the matter, hopefully we all make a Scrooge worthy profit margin this holiday.

seal (or box stamped) codes would be one way to figure out which grays are likely in the set. ha

lol I didn't even notice! Over 2 years ago the prices might have been less (though I don't really know ^.^). haha I'm lying on the floor laughing now ;-)

May I say, "don't count your chickens before they hatch" Post when you get the cold hard cash and we will be impressed with your savvy business acumen.

Lol, "The Best of the Worst". Now there's a title I have a legitimate shot at!

LEGO Ideas results for sets #009 and #010. The winners are.................both LAME!!!!!!!!! A f'ing bird? really?

bazinga!

Dumb and dumber.

ahhahahahahahhahaha guys thing is im the sller im selling that lot at

BBT - yes!

Ok as an example, just sold another RI for $105 on Amazon. Amazon credits me $7 towards shipping. So $113 minus shipping then?

I think this line is going to do very well in the coming year. The 'TRU exclusive' nightmare is finally coming to a close, which has clouded the actual potential of this line over the last ten months or so. Even now, there are still a few VCs and werewolves floating around at TRU in Canada (as well as the other sets in the line in other places at MSRP), so I don't think we'll see the best gains until next Halloween and 2016. That being said, I think this line has classic appeal and unless it is remade in the next 12 months or so those that stuck by the MF line will be rewarded. Or I'm delusional.

Well, they did it with super Heroes http://www.brickverse.com/2013/09/super-heroes-invade-death-star.html They should totally do the same with Friends

I read it as "Death Star & friends", which would be a very strange children's show.

Huh, I have found the little plume first on about every Goddess I have. I always try to shake the bag to get the accessories to a corner to feel them so it stands to reason why it's this way for me. Overall, yeah, the spear is a very obvious indicator for her but that doesn't mean somebody else is wrong if they have a different strategy.

Nobody is spreading the good word here. It is just opinions of what is acceptable damage and what isn't. Some people are slighly more forgiven than others. I i.e if you are going to dump the box because you are going to build your LEGO and you don't have room for empty boxes taking up space, then you may not care about condition. Investing on the other hand means condition can affect profit so condition is much more important. Locutus001 is simply pointing out that Lego without a box or heavly damaged can equate to the price of a used set (even if bags are still sealed). Maybe not exact, but pretty close particulary if it is a set that may not be in huge demand or is still in circulation.

Wrong, spear is the easiest and fastest to feel.... period.

@Marzipan: Also you should take into consideration that most people who happen to think about LEGO investment will ask the same questions and a lot of them will wonder if it really is worth it with all those risks and WORK involved. I would say that the majority is not willing or able to store a lot of LEGO sets and also is rather limited when it comes to spending money on it and holding it for several years. So all those 1.000$ investors won't trouble the market (though there might be a lot more investors today, the number of high end investors didn't grow that much I'd guess, since at a certain point of money stock market and other things might be more profitable with less tax/work involved (not to mention the storing room! ever stored LEGO products worth 100.000$? I didn't (yet))). Another point is that TLG (or was it TLC?) is expanding what they have. You see new themes popping up and a much greater variety than before (and I guess that this trend will go on for a while). So as investor you actually have to chose what you want to buy. For example: SSD seems to be worth an investment so as investor you will probably want to buy some. How many? Putting all my money on one set is a higher risk so I won't. So let's say I buy 10xSSD = 10x 400$ = 4.000$ (for !!!10!!! SSD) Another set might be the Tumbler, Evok Village, R2D2 and let's also take all the modular available SSD 10x400$ Tumbler 10x200$ Evok Village 10x250$ GE 10x150$ TH 10x180$ PR 10x150$ PS 10x150$ PC 10x150$ 16.300$ this list can go on and on buying only other exclusives (ToO, Simpsons House, Seacow, UCS X-Wing, AA, HE, T1Camper Van, Mini Cooper, UCS Sandcrawler, WVM, DS, SWC, TB) This leaves us with a variety of other sets that also might appreciate after EOL, including the ideas theme! So most investors probably won't have 10x of each set, also most investors probably do not have the time and space for all this. So are there risks? Yes! Are there still good investment chances though we face a lot of more investors today? Absolutely! That's only my opinion, but reading about other peoples investments here (e.***. Emazer, I bet Ed'******'Ed have quite a lot as well, etc.) makes me believe that others share this opinion in some way.

This thread seems to be going a little off course. However I think it is a valid point that TH costs substantially more than other modulars and there is not the same demand for sets that break the 100 and 150 euros/USD psychological barrier. I will also say that this difference is even more important when we consider that it is priced at a 1:1 ratio between USD and EUROS when the real Exchange rate is 1,25 (although falling). This makes it a much more costly set in the EU which impacts on sales and on the amount of stock shops want to carry. Then there is box size vs shelf space to consider too. Here, salaries have fallen in recent years yet LEGO maintain some of the highest prices in the world - this means that there are very few people willing or able to spend a fifth of their monthly salary on a 200 euro set. In Germany or the UK it is more likely to be a tenth of the average salary and in the USA maybe even less? That may explain why there is a stock shortage in one area while others have still got plenty.

@sjbdeebo2 Scraping (Extracting raw data from a page) 1, Download the page or if using an API, query for the product. 2, Parse the HTML using XPath or CSS selectors. The SelectorGadget add on is useful for working out XPath to elements in a page. You'll need to find a library to do this such as Nokogiri for Ruby. If you are using an API you have to basically do the same thing using XPath or parsing JSON to get the data you want. 3, Extract the price value and compare against a list, CSV or Database using Regex such as [0-9.]+ 4, Send a notification, sound an alert whatever. Thats basically the process. Simple right . Also if you are going to use Amazon Product API, try to find a library that handles the requests, that thing has tight security , had to write 150 lines of ObjC just to generate the URL with Auth last week. @TheBrickClique How much have you benefited from your program? Have you scored some great deals from it?

First of all who ever said there was price equity for American (or Danish) products when sold in China that it would be at US Levels? Do you really think that when people buy MS Windows and other products "legally" in China they pay what the US rate is? I think not. Second if the China plant is a JV with a government owned entity I am sure product will move. Who knows, but if you know how to integrate well to China you do fine. Just my opinion.

How about if LEGO reverses course and decides to cater to children almost exclusively? What happens if LEGO stops producing these upscale sets for AFOLS? What's replacing the multitude of AFOL sets retiring this year and early next year? How valuable will these current AFOL sets become?

Thanks to Alpinemaps I am on the mixel side, I have so many and sold so many I feel like the Star Trek Tribbles space station episode.

This looks amazing. Hopefully it will spark some additional interest in both the LOTR and the Hobbit line....not real sure how anyone can like one but not the other.

Well, I thought I would join the mixel train. I decided to stockpile flurr after talking to some BPers and reading the threads. He seems to be the hot ticket and wanted to make sure I had plenty'o'stock of him. Then I'll complete the blue sets and carry on with filling out the complete sets of 9. I don't know how slumbo got in the pile, he must have felt left out.

I think this is maybe the most hoarded set of lego at the moment.

What's your Amazon store name? I would like to buy a bunch and cancel. :)

Three weeks ago. If people aren't buying yet, they certainly are looking.

At least we wouldn't have frenzies like this. But I think it is good advice nonetheless. If there's a good reduction on a set you like, buy it. Don't wait til the last minute. I think it is an issue with consumers in general... wait price not low enough... wait some more, it can be lower... ah let's wait another bit, 40% off means it can be 45% off too...whoops... sold out

It's still better than the working title, "Gungans Arise".

In the expanded universe, he escapes the Sarlac. If he shows up in VII - I may or may not squee like a schoolgirl at a boy band concert.

This is the only Blacktron set I had as a kid and I thought it was awesome. The color scheme and asymmetrical design were 180% different from the other space sets that Lego was making. Unfortunately I didn't get any more Blacktron sets, but I remedied that over the last year I now have the complete Blacktron I collection.

I can see where this fits into this thread. Please let me know what you decide. Very curious.

Use a shorter network cable,

You make a good point. But you forgot to consider that if Lego makes a predetermined amount of sets, they are still getting the same amount of money. Let's pretend Lego sells a predetermined amount of 500 sets. In the first case you buy set #300 and the guy buys set #301. Eventually Lego will sell it's 500 sets and make $100000. In the second case you buy the 500th set. Lego still made $100000. In both cases Lego is happy. I believe Lego likes us resellers (to a degree) because we clean out the remaining stock that they want to retire and free up space for newer products. We also increase the value of Legos in the adult world. This value lets resellers and collectors have hope and keep buying more Legos to their collection. How many of us tell ourselves that it's okay to spend thousands of dollars because in the worst case I can just sell it at retail price? How many of us hold onto a Haunted house because it looks cool and in the worst case I'll just build it? They just want to control us to a degree that we don't crash our own market and affect their Lego value in the future. We are all tiny pawns in their grand scheme of things.

Aaand Nov 4 order got cancelled, too. At least they gave me 400 VIP points for free to easy my mental torture.

Soon people will want sets to retire before they're released.

Ha! Apparently a word that rhymes with latch and starts with Sn is unconditionally in the naughty word list here. I expect the use of this word on this website is most likely an anagram of "grab" as opposed to the derogatory name.