Leaderboard

Toys R Us has changed the conditions of their rewards program as of early 2015. These changes are not well documented on the TRU reward website and these changes are important if you wish to gain maximum value from their rewards program. Here's a short guide on these changes, how the program works, and how to gain maximum value from TRU rewards. 1) Sign up and point accrual. You need a TRU rewards account, its easy to sign up online or in person. Here's the link for on-line sign up. You get 1 reward point for each dollar spent, the equivalent of 4% back on your purchase. 2) Reward Amounts. Rewards are issued in $5 increments, and require 125 points for each $5, up to a maximum reward of $200 or 5000 points. You can set your desired reward level online here (you need to be logged in for this link to work). You can "bank" up to $200 in future rewards (5000 points) at this link. If you don't opt in to point banking (and you should), TRU issues rewards every 2 weeks in whatever value you've earned, if you have at least 500 points accrued. These rewards come by postal mail and are also posted in the "My Rewards" tab online. 3) Reward Restrictions. THIS IS IMPORTANT. TRU changed their reward program, and your reward certificate/coupon can ONLY be used to purchase a SINGLE ITEM ONLINE. You will want to carefully consider what value of coupon you want the certificate to be issued for. If your reward certificate is of value greater than your most expensive item, that item will show as $0.00 at checkout, but the remaining value of your certificate will be lost. At present, you should be able to use your reward certificate to purchase multiple items in store, but be sure to check before you use a certificate worth more than your most expensive item. 4) Rewards on demand. If you've opted into "points banking" above, you can have TRU issue a reward certificate instantly and any time by the "Create a Reward" link on the right side of the "Rewards Preferences" tab. You can issue your own reward in $5 increments up to your point balance at any time. It takes about 10 minutes for the reward to appear in your account under "My Rewards". 5) A flexible way to use rewards. Given #3 and 4, above, the easiest way to use rewards is to set a high reward level (I use the maximum, $200) and then just issue yourself certificates when you have the points using the procedure in step 4. As a bonus, this happens instantly. 6) Purchases. You use your certificate in person by scanning the coupon/certificate. You can also use it online by typing in the number during TRU checkout. If you have a balance remaining, you must pay that. Tax is ONLY charged against any balance remaining, not on the sale price of the item. 7) Percent-off coupons, Sale Prices, and rewards. Coupons and discounts work differently when also using a reward certificate. The reward value comes off the price of the item before any percent discount is applied. This means that percent-off coupons aren't nearly as valuable when cashing rewards, and will only apply to any remaining cash balance on your item. If a TRU item is on sale, your reward will be applied against the sale price. Carefully choose your item and make sure you know its price before completing your purchase. 8] Dollars-off coupons and rewards. Dollar-off coupons work just fine. Note, the minimum dollar amount for a coupon to work ($5 off a $25 or greater purchase) is applied to the item price after your reward coupon has been applied. 9) Reward Expiration. Reward coupons expire 60 days after you issue them. 10) Returns. THIS IS ALSO IMPORTANT. If you return an item purchased with a reward certificate, you forfeit the reward certificate and it will NOT be reissued. Choose your reward items carefully as you basically can't return them. 11) Double Rewards Points. If you use the TRU credit card, you receive double reward points on all purchases, the equivalent of 8% back. You can use your TRU credit card for partial payment during checkout, and still receive double points for your entire purchase. 12) Online and eBay purchases. TRU is pretty good about knowing who you are when purchasing both online and via eBay, and there purchases accrue reward points just like in person. If you're logged in, you can see all your purchases online at this link. That's it! Good luck in accruing and using points. Be sure to issue your certificate for close-to or less than the amount of the item you want, try to use a dollar off coupon, and know that the item basically can't be returned.

I ended up with 55 of them. I'll start selling them 3-4 years from now. Until then, I'm on a ramen noodle diet.

I don't usually buy City but...

As contradictory as this sounds, I'm loving the terrible 2's. The little guy is trying to make sentences and how things are starting to register with him like traffic lights, red is stop, green is go. I'm especially lovin' when he shows an interest in the hobbies I like. He'll bring his lego (Duplo) downstairs to build with me or he'll ask to go outside to play "hockey ball"! I've even been turning down the overtime at work to make sure I don't miss this part of life because I know the teens are right around the corner. Good times!

6857 Funhouse and 76013 steamroller bundle $139 shipped Set of mixels series 2 $85 shipped

My wife made this out of it for the kids.

One of my TRU shipments. This box was 20 x larger than a Unimog w/ zero air bubbles.

WHY DID I NEVER THINK OF THIS You just made my day.

I'm the sucker that paid 229 (minus red card and discounted gift card) for another R2 at 4:29 am CST. I promptly went back to sleep and dreamed of untold riches...

Keep those stacks down to 10 - 12 sets each or you'll have some flattened modulars at the bottom to deal with in 24 months. Also note that a large cat weighs about as much as two GE's, so keep the stack a bit on the short side if the top set will be serving as a feline lookout tower. Had to learn all this the hard way. Can't believe Lego doesn't put helpful warnings like this in place of the useless "Don't feed pieces of your Fire Brigade to any child three years of age or less"...

Spent all of my expiring SYW points on Kmart. I bought some City, Bionicle and Ninjago. None of these were for investments. They were all future gifts for my son. It felt great to buy something that was 100% gift and 0% investment. I can't wait to see the smile on his face when he opens these, or better yet, when he asks me how proud I am of him when he builds them on his own. (edit: spelling mistake)

Not that I can think of. Just make sure to fill out the paperwork.

Pretty sure Lego made one of these for every child on Earth :)

I'm planning to grab 10 myself. If I find more than that I will pick them up and offer them to other BP members at my cost + shipping if anyone is interested.

7965 Falcon for $230 + shipping Have 6 left, will hold out for higher numbers next time.

Why do people gather together and stay up until late on December 31st ? New year falls on January 1st year after year.

Why are people anxiously awaiting these retirement status updates? Do you need confirmation of what you've been able to see with your own eyes for months now?

I loved the box when I first bought one to build. I hated the box when I had to find room to store my investment.

Re selling price : I heard the same thing regarding 9493, 9515, 9500, 9492 and 7965.

Meijer is having 15% off general merchandise this weekend (3/13 - 3/14) when you use your Meijer credit card. This will stack with the already 25% off on this set. This is the time to stock up. Comes to $83+ tax each.

Individual pages for many sold out items have no details on them as of now, so perhaps we'll see the mass retirement today. e.***., http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Grand-Emporium-10211?fromListing=listing

If anyone is selling 9515s for a loss, they're doing it wrong.

Agreed. When I display unique figs that come with a helmet and hairpiece, I usually take a trans minifig head (or similar piece) and mount the helmet on that and have the fig hold the helmet. I am sure that is what I will do with this one.

Comic book store with Wil Wheaton.

Yeah, I quickly learned eBay and Bricklink sellers don't budge on this set I was lucky (that someone owed me a favor) to get me this set especially with it's authenticate printed tile which more than makes up for the box condition. Plus the manual is in excellent shape. All said and done, everything cost $115 with postage.

Guys and girls, I cleaned up this thread. Some posts were edited and deleted. The original poster created a thread and even posted an offensive language acronym.. Some folks replied with suggestions while others didn't. Let's move on. Also.. REMNDER.... Ed and Jeff DO NOT ALLOW BUYING / SELLING solicitation on the forums. Those posts were also removed.

They'll let you order them anytime... Whether they fulfill the order or ban you is the real question. Only one way to find out! *edit... *OR* ... le sigh*

I think the set is a poor investment. I mean it hasn't even hit $1000 and it's been like 3 or 4 months. Jeez Louise!

Wait, so you're saying that the release of a movie will increase interest in movie-related merchandise?

There was a brief(ish) moment that some members were getting under my skin but I've done a lot of thinking and realized how awesome this entire community is and my attitude was not reflective of how I feel about this forum and it's members. I'm good now!

For resale, it makes it easier to say 'retired' when it's actually able to be confirmed by potential buyers.

I just looked up your purchase on eBay. It says your seller is in Vietnam...

If you searched for it on LEGO LEGO Shop at Home it showed "ship in 30 days" in the search results (shop results tab), but clicking on the link to visit the page of the actual set showed it as available.

I am super sure. Plus, I probably wouldn't spell my name wrong. Not saying I haven't done that before, but it's not likely.

Oh you bought one, nuts. I just PMed you. I could have shipped a Shuff for you. Ship a Shuff, shay that 10 times fasshhsst.

Set Name: Marina Bay Sands (Republic of Singapore) Set Number: 21021 Theme: Architecture Year Released: Late 2013 / Early 2014 Retaile Price: SGD 89.90 (converted to $64.77 as of March 10, 2015) # of Elements: 602 # of Minifigs: 0 Introduction : This set was a limited edition set exclusive to Singapore. I've read that only 10,000 sets were produced and was available in the Marina Bay Sands gift store and selected retailers. Box: The box design is beautiful with various pictures of the hotel. The standard black Architecture styled was used. The box itself is comparable to the Lego Ideas / CUUSOO Back to the Future set (10.24" x 7.48" x 2.76") and esign. When opening the box, the sturdy manual (booklet style) and elements are easily seen. Lego used two standard tape seals with the "seal code" on one of them. note: My box was damaged when purchased. I purchased the box separately from the rest of the set. Elements: Lego included 5 bags of elements. Nearly all elements are widely available except the 1x8 black Marina Bay Sands printed tile. Unfortunately, fake versions of this element has been seen on eBay so be very careful when buy the set used. I would assume most sale listings of this set w/o the box and manual probably contain a reproduction Marina Bay Sands tile. For more pictures, information, and pricing about elements, please refer to

I have more if this set then any other stockpiled. And no plan to stop. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Brickpicker mobile app

click on your balance. U can see fees by transactions. U need to factor in inbound shipping . Profit bandit is a very helpful app also AmazonnSeller app

Hate to ruin the party, but I have reach my limit on these. 100

Bahhhhhhh

The only market I know of for glued sets are the lego store displays. I hate to break it to you but I don't think anyone will want those glues sets. :(

I think where hxckid88 was going with this is it not as easy as saying the word "sell". You need to learn how to use your decided marketplace, set up your listings, deal with customers (ebay, Craigslist etc.), deal with any scams or legit shipping issues. Then do your taxes at the end of the year... etc. etc. For someone like myself this is all new to me, and I can definitely say I've put quite a bit effort in research and asking members questions on here alone.

ja sch

I found this gallery with a whole bunch of minifigure guns made from basic parts in sets. Much as I like the customs by BrickArms, Brickforge, etcetera, I enjoy making my own designs from official parts and I find stuff like this inspiring so here you go. FIRE AWAY! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nannanz/sets/72157600275378854/

I've been pleasantly surprised by the performance of modulars lately, and GE is my single biggest investment (well, after DS... sigh). But at some point, there must be diminishing returns from a strategy that breaks down to 'buy $150 Lego sets at MSRP and sell them on eBay for double your money one year later'. That's just too easy not to end up being overexploited.

Expectation = Hope Speculation Reality = An item Is Only Worth what the market will bear TODAY. There are Lessons to be learned here. There is no sure thing. Losing Thousands of Dollars on Lego Speculation is horrible. Only gamble with what you can afford to lose. And then generate positive cash flow. It is not easy...but not Rocket Science. If you have to cash out because of an "emergency"...Your business model is probably flawed. In my situation I cannot ever afford to cash out. Income from flipping, short term and long term holds of Lego and other items is what helps give me Financial Security. Buying a bunch of crap and selling a few items on Ebay does not make you a good reseller/investor. If you are not "In The Black" every month..you are treading water. I think many people would be better off funding a Roth IRA than trying to be a reseller. How many people have experienced the shame of being Lego Rich but Money Poor. Of having your wife cave in to your speculative spending and struggling to pay the CC bills. Of bragging to your friends about making money when in reality you struggle to buy gas and credit card interest eats you away. Of keeping up the farce until one day you throw in the towel and fool yourself into believing "it wasnt worth the time".

Question for the original poster. Seems to me this list is all the sets you do not want anymore. Where are all the big exclusive sets in your collection. Most members who have been investing for any length of time would have a few exclusives in there portfolio. I do a 180 on sets I have in my portfolio all the time. Re-assessing sets we own is something that we all must do regularly. I assume most off your list were bought with a 30-50 percent off discount. Moving them quickly individually on ebay or amazon to break even or take a slight loss can be done. It requires rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty doing the work. It will fetch you a better price than selling it all to one buyer.

Very true. I've got a stack to flip and a stack to hold. Sounds like a Kenny Rogers song.

I'll trade you 2-3 Targets for your 1 WM with the Xwings another 2-3 Targets for a Meijer I'll send you the ones closer to mykingdom if you don't mind LOL

I agree! Good post! (ducking, running, hiding...)