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Cinderella's Romantic Castle for $114 shipped.

Let me put real numbers on here before people play Monday morning quarterback. Paid $169.59 (6% Sales Tax) for 10937 and received 40107 free. Sold for $259.99 (plus shipping). eBay fees = $24.07 PP fees = $8.92 Net to me $57.41 plus the 40107 (which I have not sold yet, but for round numbers, let's put the net value of that at $12.59) So, $70 profit on a $169.59 purchase (41.3% return). I spent more time on this post then I did listing and shipping this set. People can talk about potential profit all they want, but you have to take into account carrying cost and space. If you have a rent free warehouse, I suggest you buy as many exclusives as you can afford. Me, I have a 6x12 storage closet in my basement designated for Lego. If I can turn a quick holiday profit for minimal work, I will do it. I will be happy to take my $70 and re-invest and flip it. If someone wants to have a little contest against their future AA earnings with a set timeframe, I would be happy to do that. My multiple transactions can be seen as a wash with storage/carrying costs.

This is just a teaser people. The real show gets released in November.

When a store makes a mistake in my favor, I correct it. I do not take free stuff. ...Borderline theft in my mind... I doubt many others have the same philosophy. I will use all the tricks and try and get the prices as low as possible but I always stay within the rules. I treat retailers the same way I would hope that my customers would treat me.

Communicate well and go the extra mile for your buyers. There are some, like me, perhaps, that will annoy you with questions and "demands" but try not to forget that, in the end, you are the one receiving the money and they are the customer. When I sell to someone like that I don't enjoy it but I understand because I've been in the same position. Use well-focused, well-lit photos. Point out any significant flaws in condition (without making it sound like you dug it out of a dumpster). Some of us do care about that... Then package properly. Do your level best to make sure the set arrives for your buyer in the same condition that you sent it. You can't stop USPS from running it over but you can guard against five other heavy boxes stacked on top of it and/or simply being dropped and crunching a corner. $5 or so in shipping materials can save you 5x that in return postage and/or feedback problems, among other things. Absolutely go for signature confirmation but make sure your buyer knows before you ship. My very first sale had a case opened because I didn't warn the buyer of signature confirmation and the package came back to me after two failed delivery attempts. Many have said photos / video of packaging don't matter and I would tend to agree. eBay is so buyer-oriented in disputes it may not help. But it might help you feel better until you get a few big sales under your belt. It's really not so hard, honestly.

I feel like I've read this conversation before...

The only comment Trek made on the 7965 thread in Sept was wanting a new UCS MF and even apologizing for wanting it in the same post LOL Never seen Trek ridicule someone. As he stated, definitely not his thing. Didn't see anyone ridiculing you over it unless its under another thread which definitely could be the case. Kind of like this one being in AA

Still good availability here. Think this is more of holidays shortage

Fair enough. But I gave them $1600. They sent me a fake (not even a real Lego brand) skeleton minifig. Nothing else. They stopped all communication after I paid them. Haven't heard from them in over three weeks. This person was a scammer. No question. Hence the reason ebay sided with me. I was the one ripped off here. You will never hear the other side of the story because he/she is a thief and won't communicate. But thank you for your prompt response.

A Dutch website has apparently confirmed the August 2015 exclusive will be a UCS Tie Fighter. Set #75095. RRP 229,99 Euro No other details or pictures. http://www.speelgoednl.nl/lego-75095-exclusives-tie-fighter

Open a SNAD case - that gets sellers attention faster than anything else, as it causes a defect and you can escalate to get eBay involved. It doesn't even matter if you don't want to send it back - you can ask for anything reasonable (or even not reasonable but I know that's not the case here) -- you can ask for a partial refund in the amount it will cost you to get the missing pieces on BL, for example. Worst case scenario, eBay will tell you you have to return for refund, but you don't have to do that, you can just keep the set. If you don't want to go through the hassle at all, then a negative feedback is warranted, IMO, because of the lack of communication/resolution from the seller. If a seller screws up but fixes it, I either leave positive or no feedback.

Clearing some storage space... 7939 Cargo Train - $220 cash 3677 Red cargo Train - $220 cash 79003 Unexpected Gathering - $70 cash 75021 Republic Gunship - $100 cash 21103 Delorean - $35 cash 75003 A-Wing - $30 cash 79014 Dol Guldur Battle - $70 cash Bought my wife a Loius Vuitton wallet (to match her bag and purse) with the sales of the above

Everyone has their own investment strategies.

If PS has made it this far into the holiday season without going to "call to check . . ." or "sold out" status, it is unlikely to be retiring this year.

Come on UCS JAR JAR BUST!

We're getting old, my friend

I don't know why Ebay permits pre-selling. Seems kinda shady to me.

Can we get this in a flowchart please? Thanks.

I guess I'm bored. If it were me: Poor/no response, important pieces missing, unwilling to return = negative feedback. Poor/no response, important pieces missing, willing to return = SNAD, then (not positive) feedback depending on how it's handled afterward (pieces sent, partial refund, return all valid possibilities) Poor/no response, minor pieces missing, unwilling to return, new/good feedback history = negative feedback Poor/no response, minor pieces missing, poor feedback history = SNAD to help weed these people out Cooperative response, important pieces missing, new/good feedback history = neutral or no feedback Cooperative response, minor pieces missing, new/good feedback history = positive feedback with mention of issue Cooperative response, lame feedback history = neutral feedback

Since what I posted i have gotten 10 emails telling me to let people sell them cheap as it will be more for us to sell and make more money, one email said he sold most of his HH and now he is sorry, and another email from a guy that sold 2 SSD so he will have money to go after the clearance stuff after Christmas, for selling Lego for 14 years most of the people I have known regret buying the wrong sets and the main thing they regret is "Selling there stuff way way to early" Now like I said if you need the money well thats different, but people should not be spending hundreds and thousands of dollars using Rent,Car payments, Food,etc. Ed

Lord knows we can't have a WVM market discussion without you saying this for the 358275734273422347698432763th time.

This is not really a correct statement.

I don't understand why everyone is knocking him. shootyb giving his away is great news for everyone else.

I wouldn't sell it now either but who cares if others do? In fact, it's good for all of us who don't sell right away.

I don't understand unless you really need the money why sell the Batman Ayslum so quick, wait and these will be $400 and up. Thats why about 75% of investors crack way to early, just remember you will never see this set again.

Actually all of the major retailers have this back in stock in the USA.

Every single one of my Friends kids has switched from SH to SW this Christmas and it

UCS Jar Jar Bust sitting on a Tie Fighter? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

I agree as well. It is a very nice set. But not for the kids nowadays. A couple of months ago my doctor came over to my house to pick some lego for his grandson's birthday. He also brought his grandson with him. So I nicely grouped all the sets I was willing to sell by theme. Guess what... the grandson did not even give a look at the city sets. Even the Dino sets were not interesting. All he was grasping at was Chima and Ninjago. The rest he did not care for a bit. With alot of trouble his grandfather could convince him to also take a Star Wars set. So that is the future of investing I believe. Again... I think the Joust is a wonderful set. I would ask for it for X-mas if I was a kid. But I think we are slowly becoming extinct.

Yet another Tie Fighter? TLG won't stop until there are 1,100 different variants on this set. However... this could be mis-informed information. NEVER TRUST THE DUTCH. I quote that straight from Austin Powers, and the bible. It's somewhere towards the back, if I recall; perhaps in the index. But really? How many Tie Fighters do we need?

I took a chance and bought a used Harry potter and city lot on eBay for $100 shipped that included hogwarts castle (4842), the knight bus (4866), and the bank & money transfer (3166). the listing said they weren't sure if they were complete but I can see the 3 sets have all of their minifigs and the castle has a lot of the big pieces so I thought it would definitely be worth the gamble since there was a lot of recognizable pieces and especially since the hogwarts castle has the manuals and box for it as well.

I think another member suggested a private group that members here could divulge bad sellers/buyers. A seller who does something like this definitely needs to be exposed.

Pickle's attitude and approach- I hope- is one that captures the spirit of this board as a whole, and for those that disagree they will learn from it. Outside of Lego investing, life will teach you this: you get back what you give. Call it God, Karma, or whatever you prefer- it's essentially the same. And even those "evil, greedy, faceless" Corporations are employing good folks like we are all here. Fair is fair... right is right... wrong is wrong. Pickle, thank you for an outstanding post that should be a mantra for the BP community, and I will quote you here directly: "I treat retailers the same way that I hope my customers would treat me". Ethical practices, in life, business, and the rest of it, always reap the highest ROI in the long-term.

I disagree. That'd like letting them win. Keep reporting them to eBay keep sending hate mail. Keep telling lego. Or for most of you.... Start.

I went into Target today and there on the floor was a Sea Cow. Surprised the (*&^ out of me. I have not seen too many of those on target shelves (zero) so I picked it up and looked at the UPC tag and it said "On-line Deal $174.96" Sure enough - it rang out for $174.96 and then I used my target Credit Card for another 5% - so total with tax was $176. Woo Hoo. I threw in a Joker Steam roller so I could get the minifigure cube as well. Merry Christmas to me!!!!

Dozens of fulfilled orders over the past 2 weeks.... not a single feedback left. Why is it so hard for these people to take 2 seconds to leave some feedback?

Scored a loose UCS R2D2 off of Craigslist for $80. Seller said he doesn't guarantee that it's complete, and the instruction manuals and sticker were well used. I called LEGO Shop at Home and bought replacement instruction booklets and sticker sheet for $16 shipped.

Outstanding post Neo. It saddens me too that a generation will miss what the Castle and Kindgom sets are all about... my plan is to acquire three, and leave it at that. I wish the state of our global culture was that this set would be a blockbuster. But you are right, this isn't what the kids "want" right now... here's to hoping that changes in a couple generations.

Have you guys looked at the Elves workshop 1/2 lately? Holy hell. Beautiful returns for a set that was a "freebie" during double VIP. Going to sit on our inventory for a couple years and see what comes of it. This set is a true beauty.

From my perspective, J.J. Abrams gets the benefit of doubt. He has given us: Lost The recent Star Treks MI: 3 Super 8 (absolutely outstanding film) Cloverfield (another incredible film) ... and has focused his work on being LESS CGI-dependent, and more story development, character-development, and old-school filming techniques that feel much more authentic (ex: puppeteered Yoda (awesome) versus CGI Yoda (sad.). Thank GOD Michael Bay wasn't given this project. Honestly, I can't think of another director more qualified to handle this material. I believe he'll do for SW what Jackson did for LOTR, and what Sam Raime did for Spiderman 1-2. Here's to hoping.

Odd thing was that the seller had 600+ perfect feedback. I question if he/she could have had their account hijacked. Recent update...Ebay made me fill out a police report and after I did that a few days later (today) they issued me a full refund for $1601.99. I can say that I'm thoroughly impressed with Ebay. Good news is that the seller never responed to my emails asking what happened so it was very clear it was a scam and Ebay quickly ruled in my favor. Chris.

My morals aren't for sale. I will still feel the same in three years. And no doubt the Shopwith will beat the Coast Guard patrols...way to completely miss the point. To Stephen's point, I have had retailers do the same for me as well.

Just picked up one at the Columbus store. They are keeping them in the back and you have to ask for it. Thought about bribing the little kid next to me a shinny quarter to pick up another one but his mom looked like she was going to sound a Amber alert.

Interesting you mention that, I honestly quite like it! Only thing is the price, there is no way I can justify $60 for it even if I admire the set. $29.99 seems more reasonable, maximum $34.99, how Lego thought they could justify x2 that I have no idea, really is an extreme example of MSRP inflation/exploitation depending on your POV.

I'll be up at midnight. If its new years eve I'll be buying frozen instead of drinking. My wife is starting to worry.......

Don't be surprised if they show up at Toys "R" Us though I'll be checking

*knock, knock, knock knock knock* Do you wanna murder some Jedi?

Growing up, anyone who drove a junky car, we referred to it as a sh*tbox...I think this qualifies as such.

At this rate it will probably make through next holiday, lol