Leaderboard

My sales are fewer but for bigger dollar amounts the past couple of days. I'll take shipping less and making more. Sunday at about 2 a.m. my time I'll get emails from about three buyers freaking out and wanting to know if I'll have what they just bought out in the mail in the next half hour. When I don't answer immediately (because I'm like, you know, asleep...) I'll get five emails each from the same people to wake up to on Sunday morning, just to tell them no, I can't ship on a Sunday. Then on Monday and Tuesday I'll have half a dozen desperate people who just realized that Christmas is on Dec. 25 this year begging for overnight delivery. I'll put on my fake serious-sad face that I learned from TV anchormen and tell them sorry, we don't offer overnight shipping. On Dec. 24 at 6pm I'll hear from three people who purchased books to go by media mail in the past 5 days and want to know why the hell they aren't there and do I realize I've RUINED CHRISTMAS?! (I do it every year... I should change my handle to justascrooge). And then, a blissful silence will fall on Dec. 25 precisely at midnight. I consider it a Christmas Miracle. A series of small orders will occur on Dec. 25 and 26 from remarkably sane people and sales will increase nicely for the remainder of the month as people spend their Christmas gift money or realize that their lame relatives, once again, failed to get them what they wanted so they have to buy it themselves. 'Tis the Season.

This seems to happen a lot. Open it man, enjoy it. Especially if you have more than one. I felt the same way in the past but then I woke up and realized that money isn't everything.

Best way to eliminate trolls. Just don't reply to there comments or argue with them back and forth.

If you're planning out your entire investment strategy based on what one guy posts in these forums, you're going to fail. Emazers has more experience than most in this game, and he was giving his educated opinion. I'm willing to bet not a single person on this forum thought that this set would be gone right now. Lego is always changing the rules of the game and sometimes you're going to be caught off guard. Emazers has always said to buy early and often if you want a set in order to protect yourself in case Lego pulls the rug out from everyone. Read the advice on this board, do your own research, and make up your own mind instead of blaming others.

Emotionally, I have that problem with Super Heroes sets. I've never been into the comics they're based on, so if I just buy based on my own interests I'd never touch 'em. But you've got to consider past performance. Folks love Batman. I mean, even Wyldstyle fell for him.

What are you guys looking for? I'm genuinely asking. While most of the trolls are annoying to me, they do keep things going, in my opinion. If every topic stayed exactly on topic at all times, every topic would be exactly the same. Set releases, set goes on sale at various times, set is close to EOL, set is gone. The chatter would all be the same just changing set name and number. This is probably better for its own topic, but since it's being brought up here I just thought I'd ask here.

This thread needs bleach like nobody's business! I've already lost days of my life reading (or scanning past) meaningless drivel in these forums. It seems to be getting worse by the week. At this rate one of two things is going to happen sooner than later - these forums become yet another low-rent hangout for trolls, surpassed by a "better" site that doesn't tolerate as many childish displays of egoism and misunderstanding, or, the authorities here finally decide not to tolerate as many childish displays of egoism and misunderstanding, and implement "features" that make it harder on all of us to accomplish that. Do your part and stop with the digital litter. Please. Sincerely. Thank you.

Some people make a living selling this "crap" all year long - The world is by no means ending on 12/25.

The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear. -Buddy the Elf

The best sources for replacement Lego strings I've found have always been in commercial fabric & weaver supply shops or the "loom store" (but I think they are just a one-off local company). They carry "cotton thread" spools in numerous gauges & colours that can be a nearly perfect match. You can replace with better colours to match your build such as realistic brown ropes, tan-green anchor lines etc. (if you're not a purist of course) If you have a sample of the thread you are trying to replicate they can probably order the exact gage/colour you need. You might try searching for "cotton thread suppliers" or perhaps "nylon thread suppliers" with more location specific luck.

Amazon's cheapest is $230. This thing is solid. If I find some at msrp believe I'm buying them

To be fair, if he had actually taken the advice in that same post to buy it whenever he could and not leave it too late, he wouldn't be without one now. Some people always need someone else to blame for their own mistakes.

The "prophet" who has 90% of BP drinking the Kool-Aid. Anytime anyone says different or has a different opinion than his, the Kool-Aid Mafia accuses that person of being a hater and jealous.

So back on topic. I've noticed a uptick in orders this week for lower end sets < $50. I'm moving a lot of clearance finds for nice profits, except Chima. Gonna build a fort I guess. Did manage to unload all the SGE I had for $7 profit each. Looking like I will be stuck with the 4 Frozen Friends Collections I have, or gifts for my daughter's classmates... I wasn't in the game last year, so I can't compare, but I am happy with this year. I'm not going to go buy a Ferrari, but will have some profit to reinvest in better sets.

It doesn't matter. It can be the greatest set anyone has ever seen, but if stores have it and every reseller on ebay and Amazon has it in quantity, the price won't go anywhere.

My sales stopped when two things happened - I raised my prices from $122 to $125, AND I added individual and small set Mixels to my store. My individual sales have been fantastic, but my full sets stopped selling. I'm fine with that. I'm holding steady at least at $125. I'll let people undercut me for now, and then slowly increase once again when I start getting sales again.

A couple people have been wondering why you should be investing in this set now, at RRP, considering it's everywhere again. Because that's when you invest. Buy 'em up now. While stock is plentiful, and they are easy to get. And then sit and hold. These will sell out again. They will either be TOOS, or they will be gone forever. If they just go TOOS, price will shoot up a bit. If they're gone for good (like everyone was assuming for awhile), they will see their old numbers. And, once it is retired, it will go through the roof. I don't know about anyone else, but now is the time that I'm stocking up for the long haul on this set.

Steal the women! Rape the horses!

I think we need to summarize the last 5 or 6 pages. Fallingwater is a great set. So are most Architecture sets. They have no minifigures. Patience is needed. People are not making money flipping the a $100 set for $130. Real resellers flip Elsa's Shiny Shack or whatever it's called.

Kids' room from the 80s by LegoJalex

Hello New BrickPicker members and forum users... Due to spammers, jerks and bots that attack the site and forum constantly, we have implemented a 20 Post Approval System for new members and forums users. Each of your first 20 posts needs to be approved and content checked by Admins/Mods. After the Admins or Mods approve 20 of your posts, you will no longer need to get approval to post. We constantly check for new posts, but we apologize if there is a slight delay for post approval. Thanks...Ed Mack

Looks like 18 available at TrU.ca right now

I meant that I never saw it discounted on SAH.

Exactly. Ignoring troll posts does wonders. Instead, report them and we'll take care of the rest :)

If you're ever in Windsor, I'll definitely need you to come over for tea. You just seem so damn pleasant!

Looking back - 3 of the last 4 years, I had more sales during the second half of December than in the first half - so don't give up on the season just yet.

GE, TH, and HH all seemed to have quite a few instances of availability after they sold out from LEGO. SSD, SC, and now AA have dried up much quicker. I wish I had acquired more of this set (you can never have enough, right?) as I currently sit at 4 plus I have 2 loose nearly complete sets. My stock room is bursting though with the plethora of effective retirements this year. I just couldn't buy them all and didn't have the capital available in the past couple years to stock up on all these sets. It has been a fun and exciting year though.

For everyone just wanting one of these, sell or trade something that has appreciated. Got a HH or SSD? You'll get a AA at msrp that way. Someone will probably trade an AA for an HH.

Its a feeding frenzy,,,,,,,,,,, (on Ebay) 38 sold on Mon 44 on Tues 31 on Wed.

My 2 cents... I see many posts about buying this set (and others) now during a very short window of opportunity. From my investor's perceptive, it's a great set and I'lol eventually own my fair share. Just be aware this set will be available throughout 2015 at many (if not all) online retail web sites. Thus, this set isn't a "must buy" now unless it's for building, a gift, etc... If you are currently flipping now on eBay, Amazon, etc... please be aware of web site buyer holiday return policies and think about having a 10-20% restocking fee listed on your eBay auctions. I just be proactive and protect yourself against some crooked buyers who might return new sets to you next month (or Feb) when these are more available. For myself, I have storage space already allocated just in-case some of my eBay buyers try to return this set for refunds As you are aware, it's a larger box. Plus there are accounting workarounds to use for 2014 sale refunds that are reversed for your income tax reporting. Happy holidays and selling.

Lego did an excellent job with the design. Here are some high resolution pics just taken.

This is doing quite well already. Already breaking $300cdn on eBay!

WVC=winter village cottage 10229 WVM=winter village market 10235

I have been sticking at the $124-125 mark for some time and continue to sell through pretty well. I have a large inventory of these so am willing to sell as the price continue to slowly move upward. I definitely am not part of the undercutting game.

Save those finger strikes for hitting F5, UAA! For Nighthunter22: SW is Santa's Workshop 10245 I have no idea what WVM or WVC stand for. *UAA = Use An Acronym

This was my first quarter to sell Legos that I've been acquiring all year. Did well with advents (except the two Friends that will have to wait until next year), unloaded my readily-available tumblers for a small profit and will restock towards EOL, and sold all of my Riding Camps for a tidy profit each. Other Friends did not sell, but they did not sell out and/or were not retired. I think next Christmas should be better when more of my sets are retired and gone. I didn't even bother listing City, Technic, or Star Wars this year (not retired long enough and waiting for episode 7). CL brought out the weird and insane this season. Two people trying to offer below MSRP claiming I should give it to them for X or less because "it's available at TRU for X but is sold out." And despite "cash only", I've had people try to barter for ammunition, a Wii, and tattoo services.

Don't even get me started on the "FDA".

The books have a huge following and this is reflected in the movies. Unexpected Journey grossed more at the box office than all but one Harry Potter film. This set also has connections to the Lord of the Rings franchise plus makes a fantastic display piece with iconic characters. There will always be demand for HP, LoTR and Hobbit sets and this one is only going to rise in value.

Nice looking set you have there. Good luck and welcome.

My Target has almost all the 2015 sets out on shelves when I went today. Emma's House, the hot air balloon, the pizza stand, those little animal sets with babies, the whole shebang! No Lighthouse though :(

Well, it's been a fun season, and championship week is finally here. Our first ever Brickpicker Fantasy Bowl will feature theplasticmanor vs ElGuapo. Playing for third place will be fatboycarney vs mikesellsbricks. 1st place gets $230, 2nd place $100, and 3rd place $30. Prize money will be sent via a paypal friends payment once week sixteen is finalized. Make sure to post a picture of the set you purchased with your winnings! Congrats to those who have made it this far, good luck in your final game, and thanks for the fun season! I'll run it again next year if we have enough interest.

17hrs and almost 200 packages later, I'm going to bed for 4hrs. In retrospect, one package every 5min is not very efficient.

The thing is that Emazers' advice and strategy will only work as long as the amount of capital invested in the sets that he continually touts remains -- on an aggregate basis -- near historical levels (or demand grows in proportion to the amount of capital invested). As more money flows into that type of set, there will be more of those sets on the secondary market and the longer they will take to appreciate. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good strategy and one that I certainly practice to a degree, but the Emazers of the world seem to assume that the world as it exists today is static and unchanging such that what has historically been a sure thing will now and forever more remain a sure thing. However, as more resellers generate more money from this strategy, the more money there will be out there searching for a place to land and if that money is continually re-invested into this strategy, the strategy becomes unsustainable. I'm already seeing this happen. I had a very modest number of FBs and they have been very slow to move this year. I'm deeper on GE and will be interested to see if the pattern repeats. The next few years will be very revealing as to the long-term viability of that strategy.

Jais I know there is risk on what I am doing with the 7965. Heck the problem is I just cannot say no to buying an MF near EOL. It is one of my favorite toys in my star wars collection. So it could be a case of me being overly positive on it in spite of potential facts. I have bought some (10 or 15 not sure yet) but not dozens. So my risk is somewhat limited. I probably should be stacking up further R2's and ditch the MF's but I just cannot help myself. Hoping they hit $250 and flip them in the Spring before the new ones come out though I will keep one for me to build and one for me to keep sealed in addition to the one my family already has open. By the way on the SGE my note was just in reference to those people with stacks of SGE's. I took mine back early and never looked back. I'm also out of Minecraft (made a lot on it but I wanted to end early) and out of Max Tow Truck and out of a few other things. What I am putting into inventory at this point is stuff I want to hold longer term. I am also trying to cut off my spending completely (and then of course the 2x vip comes along) because I want to have cash and space for new things going away or QFLL in the new year. So trying to decide out of what I've acquired what to move into QFLL mode. But with Christmas coming, I hauled 45 packages to USPS and FedEx today and actually want a little break with my family time for Christmas, so still hoping I sell a lot but toning it down on acquiring until being in line 1/1 for the Slave I. I hope it is not limit 1 per family. I hope it runs out like the Tumbler. Keep and Flip and hold LT.

Good thing I did not order AA otherwise I would have had to wrestle with these difficult decisions :rofl:

One thing I forget to add is one thing that appears to have worked strongly against resellers is the lack of discounting on most lego this holiday season. MSRP = no resellers purchasing = product on shelves = no need to purchase from resellers. It has worked amazing well.

Lets go ahead and add TP for exciters toilet paper posts today