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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/11/2016 in all areas

  1. As promised, here is our pre-order posting for the much awaited Disney Collectible Minifigures Series. This pricing will only be available here on Brick Picker and on Brickset! Boxes - $209 (Incl. free shipping within the US) Sets of 18 - $73 (Incl. free shipping within the US) International shipping: Box - $25 Sets of 18 - $10 Please DM us here with the quantity and item(s) you would like to order. Payment by PayPal only. Please include your PayPal email address and we will invoice you directly.
    13 points
  2. Built the Speed Champions Camaro (75874) set with my 5 year old (who mainly played with the minifigures). Modified it a bit to get it to fit inside an Ikea Synas LED light box ( http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60241544/ ) that we just purchased. We will probably end up using it as a night light for his room as it does not shed too much light, with plans to swap out different sets as we purchase/build them.
    10 points
  3. Coolest coffee table I've even seen.
    10 points
  4. I let my nephew build one of the morrow dragon ninjago sets I got for $35 a few weeks ago. It kept him busy for hours while the rest of us packed (we're moving somewhere warm) ☀️ It was so worth it for him to not keep asking me for something to do and make a mess
    8 points
  5. My story is boring compared to the last few but I built the Flatiron Building to distract me. I wasn't looking forward to the build because of how small the finished product is but I was really surprised and how it ended up. It looks fantastic with other architecture sets around it and was a very enjoyable, if slightly repetitive build. This is also a good set for people to part out or to use the parts to make your own MOC with.
    5 points
  6. Found 1 21110 at TRU yesterday. and It's on sale for $0.98. Unbelievable.
    5 points
  7. I found a dollar in a jacket that I hadn't worn in a year.
    5 points
  8. Seems simple. 1) buy set 2) sell damn goat.
    4 points
  9. Maybe the seller mistook you for a new buyer and simply didn't want to ship to you.
    4 points
  10. I'm confused, did you actually mean to buy the Minor Disagreement on Hoth sets, or did you get snow blindness from the box art and accidentally put them in your trolley?
    4 points
  11. Knock on wood, I've not had problems with new accounts. I always check it out to make sure I'm covered by eBay. So far, only once has a product been purchased by someone that hijacked someone's account (and that account had more than 0 feedback). eBay covered me. As far as new buyers are concerned - they show up every single day. I like to make sales, so, I'm willing to take the risk. I don't want to turn them away.
    3 points
  12. There is no confusion: Buyer A buys an item and seller Martae refuses to ship it and cancels for what the seller thinks is a valid reason. Buyer Martae buys an item and Seller B refuses to ship it and cancels for what the seller thinks is a valid reason. However, one situation is deemed unreasonable by the poster but the other isn't. On topic - I sold a few $200+ items over Christmas to new buyers and had no problems. I always give the benefit or the doubt to a new buyer but I do some extra research if it is an odd sale or a particularly high priced item. Please remember that everyone starts at 0.
    3 points
  13. Last year I sold 5-10 items to brand new ebay accounts and had NO issues what so ever. As long as you ship the item to the confirmed address you are covered. For some of the items I sold that were larger (more expensive) I added insurance.
    3 points
  14. had lego put tamper-proof seals all around, including the glued corner, it would help immensly. secondly, all self checkouts have scales linked to a DB with weight/barcode.whats stopping any BM chain to install one at the return counter? these are very sensitive scales so a scammer would have to be very precise, which would then translate into too much work dinging their fraud profits.
    3 points
  15. On: buy in price, demand after EOL, production length, the alignment of the planets, your risk tolerance and patience, etc., etc.
    3 points
  16. I'm not making the trip unless I get free healthcare too.
    3 points
  17. Twice a year Walmart resets all the toys (periodically they send additional updates, but nothing major). Those times of year are February & August. 30 days before they changeover you can view the Addition & Deletion list. This list says everything going to be added and deleted to/from the shelves. When this happens stores are encouraged to identify the newly deleted items and mark them down 10% at the store level. They are "supposed" to be left in the section they belong (called the home from here on) until the changeover happens. Shortly before the changeover the home office will then send price changes for the deleted items. Because the number of price changes number in the thousands, they usually download them over the course of a week. Dept managers are supposed to make the changes within 48 hours. many times they don't sometimes days or weeks pass by. Stores didn't proactively markdown the deleted items will be sitting on higher quantities and will likely see additional home office markdowns (usually no more than 3 total markdowns at the home office level). The small updates I mentioned above are why you see a random item suddenly show up in clearance. For example say Lego releases a product line too late for the February changeover but all they can have it on the shelf in April. Sure enough April will roll around and a update comes through. Everything I said above applies to these updates Walmart likely ordered the Millennium Falcon for all stores before Christmas knowing a $150 item would only sell in select stores after Christmas. Once the changeover occurred it got the axe in many stores. I never saw a $35 Falcon but the fact that everyone saw the same $35 tells me it was a home office markdown. I am not sure if it saw multiple drops or went straight to $35. The Spaceport is a similar concept which went to $89, $59 and then $30. Walmart just wants what it views dead inventory gone. From our standpoint we see a $150 awesome item for $35. Walmart sees a big boxed item that won't sell taking up space of something that will sell. It also doesn't want these items taking up its valuable backroom space. This past year Walmart did the same thing with the Meccano Mechanoid robot. A $159 item ended up at $40. In my opinion since the new CEO took over we have seen faster and lower clearance prices. It seems like they are actually trying to move out old inventory. Individual Store Price Changes The above covers what is supposed to happen, now I will address a few good and bad things stores do. Each store is allotted a certain amount of money for in-store markdowns (not home office changes). It is up to the store manager how this money is spent. Some store managers don't want to spend it since it counts against the bottom line. So when a changeover occurs they ignore the 10% markdown idea, they wait for the home office price change to come which doesn't count against the bottom line.This is why some stores have clearance with only a $.02 discount (or even $.01). Some stores go the opposite direction, 30 days ahead of the changeover they do 10%, then each week or every other week they will do an additional amount. Problem for us investors these stores usually never have much for big markdowns since they methodically marked down the items. It would have sold at the 10,20 or 30% off. Nothing is left for a second or third home office markdown. Some stores ignore the 10% thing and just start marking down clearance to whatever the feel like. These are the stores that cause us all the confusion but provide the best deals. They strictly want freight gone. You will notice the biggest markdowns are literally on the biggest boxes. The general rule is department managers are supposed to take care of their own clearance merchandise. Some stores have one person in charge of clearance. You can usually tell the difference by how well organized it is and how often the markdowns are down. Department managers have other priorities, they often neglect to change prices or even bother with clearance. Sometimes a one shot cardboard display will arrive (usually on a pallet). They call this a feature, it comes in deleted. Some stores mistakenly immediately clearance it. Other stores may actually carry a few of the items. Last fall there was one of these for Lego Friends. Some of the items stores carried, some didn't. Since this was a feature, there wouldn't be any home office markdowns to get rid of it. Any price changes were at the store level. While we all think Walmart could make more money by dropping prices slower and certain items, they aren't collectors. They strictly look at moving through product and getting something in that will sell. Saving $1000 by slowly selling Legos and jamming up clearance sections and backrooms while waiting for them to sell is not their model. The average Walmart does $70-110 million a year, they have bigger fish to worry about than clearance. The headaches associated with clearance are not worth the extra money in slowing down the sales to get every cent of profit. Ever seen the items that have been in clearance for months, they are damaged, ripped or open. Walmart get no credit if these get claimed out (aside from a tax credit).
    3 points
  18. I've been bitten by the LEGO ship bug. Not sure if I know where to stop. This made an appearance at my TRU yesterday and I decided I couldn't resist. My 4 year old loves it. Wife digs it to. So fun techniques to it and best surprise - it has wheels. The wheel movement works the paddle wheels and the oars. I might even do a write up on this one. We had a good time putting it together. We also built the Knight's Cycle 30371 polybag
    3 points
  19. 3 points
  20. And voila all MSRP...... And of course I find this in the worst week... gotta wait till the 14...
    2 points
  21. So some years ago I bought a few Mill Village sets #7189 and broke them down for Bricklink. But I didn't list the goats on Bricklink because I was going to list them on eBay, but never did. Thankfully, in the meantime the set retired, no more sets with little white goats, and I didn't sell them for cheap. Nice to find a bag of 30 of them in a drawer Also, I thought I just had a single Delorean #21103 set, but when moving a few things around earlier this evening, I found two more. Woot! Any stories you have of finding forgotten goodies?
    2 points
  22. Block individually, although it probably won't do any good as they seem to just be creating new accounts. eBay will not allow you to block all buyers with 0 feedbacks (unless they have unpaid item strikes). The best way to deal with the non payment issue is to list your items as BINs and require immediate payment. Incidentally, I have never had a major issue with a 0 feedback buyer, the scammers you need to worry about are the ones that hijack an older account with high feedback numbers.
    2 points
  23. I tried again to use some LEGO cards last week and LEGO Shop at Home would show the value, but wouldn't process them when I'd place the order. Eventually, I hammered them enough the balances were gone. I had to get a refund for those. Luckily, the large amount I had a few weeks ago worked on the GBHQ. I'm pretty much done trying LEGO cards from there.
    2 points
  24. Gone fishing - caught 12 Shark Suit Guys.
    2 points
  25. I don't think it's worth $40 either, just pointing out that this site is showing it going for $47.33 CDN in my portfolio. Even at half the price, it's a nice incentive on top of $30 off a unique set. Even if you don't like superheroes, this would be great for a large amusement park display, which Lego seems to be into lately.
    2 points
  26. The no-receipt-no-return suggestion addresses the original post that started this thread: people were returning sets they bought from another store in the same mall to get the TRU price refunded. Doesn't help against content-scammers, but neither does spiderwrap or security sticker. Only a "strictly no returns" policy does, or some sort of anti-theft mechanism that irreversibly marks the box once opened (even via a glued side). Or a trained returns staff member who can analyze the sets and knows when something is stolen/opened, but that sounds like too much effort to me (they would have to weigh, compare, check for key pieces etc. Now if LEGO were to change their packing so that bags cannot be resealed, or so that boxes cannot be opened without leaving a visible trace, that would help as well.
    2 points
  27. I tried to see if my kid had interest in Nexo Knights.... nope zero can't compete with Ninjago
    2 points
  28. Amazon priced matched TRU... 20% off all Nexo Knights.
    2 points
  29. I put my whole mouth in the dip.
    2 points
  30. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maitre+de+jeu+(MDJ)/@45.403284,-71.891474,3a,75y/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s-fXJKZZTG0AQ%2FVNYA9sXhgkI%2FAAAAAAAAAFE%2F6xgm-1F4UE4!2e4!3e12!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-fXJKZZTG0AQ%2FVNYA9sXhgkI%2FAAAAAAAAAFE%2F6xgm-1F4UE4%2Fs203-k-no%2F!7i720!8i540!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x37f44b2d91ad9b03!6m1!1e1 this picture is from 2014. no one touch them since 2014???
    2 points
  31. Only 3.5 weeks early this year. Must be slacking...
    2 points
  32. Trailers are kind of like your garage, you put things in it with a plan to take care of it later and then one day you realize you have on overwhelming problem. The store I work for rents the trailers at about $500 per month. An average Walmart store will generate around $500,000 in profit per month, on sales of 6-11 million. Trailers costs are a trivial (assuming you only have a few). The manpower involved in taking care of the problem once you created it is huge. There are a few legitimate reasons for trailers. Anytime there is a remodel you will get 10-30 trailers, Black Friday is 5-10 and layaway is 5-10. I know of one nearby store that owns its own trailer and it uses it to store fixtures. I suppose its possible that some stores own their trailers. I imagine that if Walmart builds a location that is much busier than the building was designed for they will need additional space in perpetuity. The backroom of my store has slots for around 400 pallets. Each truck gives you another 26 slots, though highly inefficient space. Lets use Black Friday as an example. You have 10 truckloads of freight that need to be in the store by Thanksgiving day. These are currently stored outside in trailers (legitimately due to space issues). That means you need to clear space in the store for 260-400 pallets (assuming some came double stacked). Two weeks before Black Friday you start thinning out the main aisles of the store (called action alley) but the reality is you can't clear that much space. You put as many as you can in the backroom but that clogs aisles so it is rather limited. The easy answer is to pull the Black Friday freight out of trailers and put the inventory currently on the sales floor into the trailers. If you have great sales on a Black Friday then you will sell through the product and can pull your freight back to the floor. If not, you have a serious space problem. Given the sales at Christmas, the freight doesn't stop coming in. You barely have enough staffing to process the new freight let alone 5 trailers of old. If you don't get those trailers emptied Black Friday weekend it is too late. Its quite possible that space or time become an issue in the run up to Christmas and additional pallets are put into the trailers. So the trailers sit with a mess of freight until January. Now in January your staffing is dramatically cut for about 3 weeks, not to mention the sales are lower so not as much merchandise is moving. Now you are looking at February. I assume you see where I am going. February & March the priority is resetting shelves (called mods). Now you are looking at 4 months of merchandise getting older. The stuff in the trailer just isn't that valuable to the company. An interesting note is everything in the trailers needs to be listed (called trailer listing) or it is not covered by insurance. This is rarely done because it is time consuming and because no one was planning on leaving the trailer full for 4-400 months. This is why a store shows 20 in stock but has no location. Usually the trailer problem is an indicator of bigger problems in the store. So when a Market Manger (like a District Manager) finds out what is going on, his/her priority is not emptying trailers that cost a few thousand a month. It is fixing the overall store and the management. Eventually the merchandise will be split up between all the stores in the market. So our 5 trucks of freight is spread out between 10 stores. The 13 pallets one store got is likely completely different merchandise than anyone else got. This is one of the reasons why we randomly find old stuff in one store but not others. You asked if other large retailers do this, I don't know but I do know there are no retailers as large as Walmart. There may be some Targets that rival sales of specific Walmarts, but as a whole Walmart is in a different volume category. Sam's Club, Costco and Home Depot have sales numbers per store as high but don't deal with anywhere near the volume of freight.
    2 points
  33. Getting party favors for my daughter's 7th birthday party...
    2 points
  34. Built a few more polys today: 30262 Gorzan's Walker 30312 Demolition Driller 30397 Olaf's Summertime Fun
    2 points
  35. But you didn't post a deal.. You posted some vague reference to a potential deal we're apparently not thinking about correctly. I'm trying to say it politely, but you aren't exactly being helpful. And if you don't want to share, I truly have no objection to that - I don't always share everything either - but I won't tell people to just try harder. I personally think it's condescending and unhelpful to the BP community.
    2 points
  36. Found one Grievous Wheel Bike 75040 for €26,99 (German overpriced RRP was €29,99) at local drugstore while searching for rolled oats. No deal of the century but at least cheapest oats I ever bought
    2 points
  37. Two things I have noticed about this set. First, I have never had so much fun with a completed lego set after the build. My son and I have had an ongoing competition for 2 days now and it's still super fun and addictive. Second, no lego set has ever made me curse so much as this set has. This set is a must have for lego fans of any age and for those that just enjoy a good challenging game without electronics.
    2 points
  38. Galen Marek for those of you (like me) have no clue about "Legends" stuff.
    1 point
  39. I started after it was gone and didn't have one for me, so this a a huge discount compared to the prices you (we) reseller scum charge
    1 point
  40. I went to the Science and Industry in Chicago last weekend with my family and we went through the Lego Exhibit there. They had an area in the back where people could create their own buildings with tons of open Architecture Studio sets as the building material. Overall it was quite incredible to see some of these sculptures.
    1 point
  41. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding(s)...
    1 point
  42. 1 point
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