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I have missed you people. Been freakishly busy, which is great, but I need dawdling time, darn it! Update on us for my friends here - we're done with books! Yay! The last of the donations are out the door and the inventory space is all LEGO and room for expanding LEGO. We're pretty much a non-presence on eBay these days, which is a total sea-change for us. We'll continue to use the eBay account for some clearance with our 20 free/month, but to be out of that Cassini search nightmare and the twice-yearly hoop-jumping sellers changes is an amazing weight off. Two years ago (yes, it's only been that long!) when I wandered onto this site to say, "Hey, guyz, wut's going on in this thread?" I knew nothing about selling LEGO. Today, it's our family's entire income. So much growth yet to do, but it's all exciting, and every time I get a little frustrated with this problem at BrickLink or that problem at Brick Owl, I have to stop and laugh at myself. It could be WAY worse, like... on eBay! I did have a surreal eBay-like experience on Brick Owl the other day, customer contacted me and asked if he placed $100 or more in his order could he have 50% off and free shipping. I don't know why he didn't ask for one of my daughters, too, must have been an oversight. Anyways, popped into this thread since the topic is nearest and dearest to me these days to catch up, hope to be around a little more often! We did go through a few iterations until we settled on our current one. This photo is from right after we upgraded to "real" inventory boxes (rather than recycled, added our pulling carts, etc. Works like clockwork, four of us can work together in the space now filing parts, pulling parts, counting and packing parts. We still do our shipping and parting out at home, someday we'll buy a house that can incorporate the entire business (first choice) or lease a little commercial/light industrial space (second choice) but this does well for us at our current income/size.

Just made a nice little CL pickup. Hogwarts, 8019 Republic Attack, and a 50 pound tub full for $100.

emazers did.

Everyone had 48 hours earlier this week, when it was clear DS was retiring based on LEGO Shop at Home status changes, to buy their fill at MSRP. If you didn't buy then, why now? And if you bought your limit, or quota, etc. back then, why has that number increased now that buying more is an F5 scenario? Have a plan and stick to it!

usually once every 28 day.

Southcenter mall grand opening today

You forgot the /micdrop

I am not good with numbers I need that Brickson special edition spreadsheet but I'm not a reputable member so you tell me

There is very little risk with this set. Even if it isn't sold out and more are produced, it is a one year theme at maximum. The last Dino sets are doing well.

A bed of joker bumper cars. If only it had a steamroller headboard. I was getting low so glad to be able to find some more

You apparently haven't met my wife!

I have mine listed at $2K. I'm ready to go.

I know this is the complaint thread, but legodelorean I thought I should respond with a positive... I've had that happen to me before on CL...an individual kept changing times and then ran late. I decided to chance it and stick around and accommodate...come to find out, he was from out of state and was visiting friends/family and the family things kept getting in the way. He eventually showed up and loved Lego and we had a long chat in the McDonalds parking lot. Now we keep in contact every so often about sales and other items to look out for. He keeps an eye out for stuff I want in his local stores, (that I may not be able to find or get) and I do the same. Moral of the story...stay positive, sometimes good stuff comes out of frustration, even on CL. (Not that you needed the pep talk...haha...just sharing my experience).

My 2 cents. (IMHO) It is done. A large company, or small company would continue to stock pile orders on this set if this was going to go into another production run. Every day it sits is another Day Lego is not doing back orders on it. In effect, they could have just flipped it over to "Temporarily out of stock" collected 500 orders a day on it and then execute a production run to fill those orders with guaranteed sales and profit. They choose not to do these. They have made a decision to use the production capacity for other, more profitable activity. Production Capacity is limited and their future plans call for this capacity to be used on other production runs. They are not looking a week or two down the road. They are planning capacity runs for 12 to 18 months down the road. Look at the Simpson house. It wasn't retired. There will be another run on the Simpson house. The production plan calls for it. It is just a question of when. Other sets will have a future run as well (R5, Pet Shop). They treat them differently when they plan future activity but they just are not sure when. Also, they know there will be runs because they have agreements with retailers they have to live up to. Delivery must be made by x date on 10,000 units, 15,000 units etc. The agreements between Lego and Target, Walmart, TRU are massive contracts with multiple delivery's, penalties for performance, etc. I know we look at this at a micro level when it is our cash in the game but my inventory is a drop compared to other collectors, investors and retailers. If this was not done it would not be tagged as sold out. (IMHO)

There's more than one set there. Ship on the right is 8085 Freeco Speeder. That's not Hoth Han, that's Cold Weather Anakin from the Freeco set. Thi-Sen figure is also in Freeco set but not shown in your photo (that might be his legs on the stormtrooper). The other ship is 7679 Republic Fighter Tank, think it was a Target exclusive. It came with two clones. That stormtrooper helmet is from neither set. Not sure about the torso on the stormtrooper.

You figured out my loophole. I have been hanging out at truck stops all month offering to pump truckers gas in return for them allowing me to do a $1 partial pay. They pay the rest I get 5x rewards.

I picked up 15 Raptor Escapes as well from several different Walmarts I passed on my way back home from visiting my parents after the Fourth of Jul holiday. I am thinking about hitting up a few more to scoop up the last few remaining in my area.

Just picked up the last 15 in my state. Here is to hoping for zombie type returns, with a limited production.

There have been mixed results with getting the dollar off and % off to work together. It can work, but I think it depends on what you are buying. Certainly it will require buying 2 items. The % off will come off the most expensive item, but I suspect the second item may need to be over the cost of the discount, and/or over some minimum that is not listed on the coupon terms. Another factor may be the cashier and what they will and will not do, though some times they may not even tell you what they did. In general stacking coupons and using GC + TRUTH 10% will be YMMV.

Yes, but it wasn't 'temporarily out of stock' and then 'sold out' until this week. Anyway, everyone knows it's over-hoarded, been out too long, the figures look dated, the build techniques make duplo look sophisticated, and there's a bigger, better, cheaper DS due out any day now. So really, everyone should be loading up on Exo-Suits ('retiring soon'!) or Mixels series XXXIII.

This is why people go postal. Kudos for how you handled it, my next step would be to walk into that store and take up a meditation pose on top of the customer service counter until a refund goes through. (alternative solution: give me equal value in free Lego sets - from clearance, of course) My complaint is about a set of used Indiana Jones sets I bought off eBay. The pics show all the vehicles and a little over half the minifigs, but no instructions, nor the "accessory" components of several sets - like trees, campfires, maintenance vehicles, etc. Also, they were displayed on a shelf with some other sets not included in the lot, so I ask the seller before purchase if the sets are complete with all pieces, minifigs, and instructions - I didn't have time to count / verify for myself (especially the figs - oops) before the auction ended. The reply was along the lines of "yes, maybe a couple small things missing, but it's all there". I got the lot at a good (amazing if complete) price. And of course, what showed up was exactly in the pics, plus all the instructions except for 7 sets. I contacted them to voice my displeasure about being misled, and got no willingness, even some defensiveness with NO acknowledgement of the careless reply. If I hadn't put in the work cleaning, sorting, building, and cataloging the missing parts, I'd just SNAD this but feel that is no longer an option. I hate asking for partial refunds but feel that is the only fair solution. Ugh...

That was a George Clooney movie with his mileage points. I wanted my TRU pilots wings. Ex- funny so did I and it actually shipped.

I'm glad I bought a Sea Cow today.

he just saved me 15% on my car insurance. <wah-wah>

You'll run out at some point and then my kids will eat.

Thinking 700$ this holiday season, maybe $800 tops .

Rant: I went to a Target on Saturday and found a couple Knowhere Escapes on clearance. I got in line and used my credit card (instead of Red Card) to buy them because my kids dropped my RedCard in a difficult to extract location in my van. After I finished paying the cashier moves on to the next customer and I ask for my receipt. He looks confused and I again ask for my receipt - he says "I'm pretty sure I gave it to you". I think he's pretty cocky for saying such a thing considering he's 1/2 my age but maybe he was having a bad day (I worked a little retail myself before). I patiently wait on the side for him to finish with that customer behind me. He flips the flashing light, gets impatient that a manager hasn't come after 20 seconds and says he's going to go on to the next customer and I ask him to kindly reprint the receipt. Lower manager comes over and asks if I really need the receipt to which I reply "Uh, yes, I would like it." Lower manager grumbles "fine" and drags me over to security. Security is asked to reprint the receipt. Security is gone for 10 minutes and higher manager asks why I'm waiting. I told him I'm asking for a receipt and he assures me it will only be a couple more minutes. 10 more minutes and I walk over to the return counter and ask if I can just do a return and rebuy to I can get my receipt. Higher manager asks for my receipt to which I give a look of "SRSLY?" Higher manager says security can't find the transaction so it probably didn't go through because it was my checker's first day on the job (lucky me). Manager says he'll ring me up again and to call the Target support line if I get double charged (he scribbles a number down on a sheet of paper). I ask for his business card and he says he doesn't have one. I get in the van and apologize to my wife who has been sitting in a hot car for almost an hour. I get home and confirm that my card was double charged. I call the Target number scribbled down and it's a disconnected Target #. I call the manager back and give him an earful and say I want the issue resolved. He takes my phone number and promises a resolution and states he will call back. He never called. I have tried calling him back 3 times but the operator says he's busy or he's no in. I have filed a chargeback and have to wait on this nonsense. I just lost a little faith in the survival of our human race.

I was thinking... that IF the new (improved) DS comes out at the end of 2016... will Lego make use of the microfigures like in the UCS Helicarrier? This could potentially change the whole concept of a Lego Death Star without even hurting the current one.

let the games begin.

People driving & texting (or whatever it is they're doing with the phone) & typing...

Great score, but that isn't a 50# tub unless there is gold in the bottom.

If that cape from the ghost is the same that was the Dementor's and Voldemort's from Harry Potter, that figure is a winner right off the bat as they were going for quite a bit on Bricklink. The Skeleton Trick-or-Treater is awesome as well. This is a home run theme, I personally really like about all of them after rolling my eyes when first hearing about them.

Regardless, this will be interesting to see how it develops over the next few weeks.

I picked one up when I came across it at WM. I liked the reptors and considering Jurassic World as the first theme to complete.

I hope you are right. I can't wait for this to triple

Actually the uncertainty is a good thing! It should not be too easy. In all seriousness... even buying these JW-sets at RRP and it not retiring now will make you money in the long run. Dinosaurs are popular!

They have this rolled out for seller's, it's not highly useful yet (at least to U.S. sellers) last I tried it and it's not visible to buyers. It's part of the planned rollout of immediate payment on the site, a la Brick Owl's current functionality.

SW 75039 - V-wing came out in Feb 2014 and was done by November 2014. 75041- Vulture Droid - Feb 2014-Feb2015 just barely a year. who cares about these dinky sets which will be remade again in 2017. As far as JW early EOL goes, if they do retire early - super graavy. I'm accumulating JW sets because they have potential to be dark horse for xmas winner. JW bluray release will be in October-November & if they are not big this year, long term its a no brainer. Dinosaurs+LEGO = $$$. My gut is telling me though Raptor Escape is done for whatever reason. Any other set that goes and stays to SOLD OUT, that's a sign its over. I'm not overthinking this one and letting the short availability head-fake allow me to miss out on that potential profit. and i still have another 74 days left on my receipts.

Nice to have you back Frog, and nice to hear about your success. That is just downright awesome.

This man speaks the truth. Until the embargo is lifted later this summer/fall, the images and certain "rumors" will be removed. I know its not fun, I like talking about it too.

boooo. i mean, Grrr roarrrrr

Takes a little longer for people to realize its hard to find. It has jumped $9 on amazon the last 48 hours which has also corresponded it to sell much faster in ebay in the low 60s the past few days. Think if none are found or restocked this week you will see larger jumps on both sites

Lowest price on Amazon is 960 ( includes shipping )

If I were Poe, I'd repaint my x-wing...

Depends...Do you want me to give Trek a heart attack? LOL

It should be interesting to see how the market reacts to the Death Star. Investing in $400 sets is not for everyone and there are plenty of ways to make money. I think the next opportunity will be on these small and mid sized STAR WARS sets currently on shelves. Many of them could be replaced earlier than usual in favor of The Force Awakens sets.

Sorry, but those that are saying "yeah, I got DS's for around 200" but fail to mention they were using a lot of reward points doesn't really count. You had to spend a few thousand to get that price point using your points. I've had to spend over a few grand to use discount VIP points to land a SW exclusive. But, I won't blazingly state 'yeah, I got a SW exclusive for 30.00", even though I did because I used the points. I had to spend money to get that discount. To rookies on this site, that read these things, they are going to be VERY mislead when things like this are brazenly stated... Ok, i'll admit the B&N discount where a bunch of adults were signing up multiple fake kid accounts to get death stars did make a score. But that was a legit store discount deal, that was taken advantage of almost nefariously. Many of these people blazingly admitted to signing up multiple fake accounts, which breaks their store policy. To me this was basically like scamming the system and many of those were obtained mostly unethically. I'm talking simply using ethical means to obtain Death Stars legitimately when real store discounts occurred. Using points doesn't count, because that's not a common discount available to anyone at any time. So while some might have got 200 DS you had to spend a lot (and many times well more than what a DS will land you in profit) to achieve it at that price. Ghostdad is right on this one, that discount deal on DS wasn't always available and hasn't been available in a long time.

Honestly, when sellers pull this crap, I leave their store. I don't care if they have lower prices, I don't care if they're one of the few that have the part I need. When they make it overly complicated, I just don't feel like figuring it out and I move on. My store is easy - you buy and that's it. Maybe it's because I don't have 100K+ in parts, but I just can't get behind all that confusion.