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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/30/2018 in all areas

  1. Thought I would give some info on some trends i’ve been seeing in the store this past week, maybe help decide what sets to invest in: Lots of kids want dino sets. Almost every Dad that comes in makes a comment about wanting the Saturn V rocket. I have a used one on display and most people are amazed at the size of it. Wish I had kept more Wall-E. Only had 2 and they went quickly at $145 each. Really all of the ideas sets get positive comments from parents. Elves more popular than Friends. People have asked about Minecraft, a theme I only have very few sets of, I guess i’ll have to get more. Not much interest in Brickheadz. More interest in mixels than them. Most popular CMF is babysitter and banana guy. Also the skeleton trick-or-treater from monster series, but i’m sure that’s just seasonal. Other figs most popular are any random storm/clone trooper. As for used sets, many like the Indiana Jones sets, and mention they didn’t realize there were ever indy lego sets. I also had about 5 power miner sets that all sold really quickly on the first day. Once again, thanks for all the positive comments here!
    15 points
  2. Thanks for voting, really appreciate that. Thanks! ? Another bit of news about my model - An organisation called the FBHVC (Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs) have included my model as the feature article in their latest members magazine. As well as this they have invited me to display the model on their stand at "The Classic Motor Show" at Birmingham NEC from 9th - 11th November, so I'm hoping that might help to drum up some extra votes.
    6 points
  3. I've now finished making the brick built versions of the wagon and all the other accessories that accompany the traction engine model, so the set is now complete. Really pleased with how it has turned out - it feels more like a complete set now that all the extra bits have been built and I think that it would make a nice display model but also has that "play set" feel to it that I think the LEGO review board would appreciate it, if ever it went all the way on LEGO IDEAS! Now if I could just persuade enough people to vote for it!
    4 points
  4. I have requested Amazon send me an example of what they are looking for in terms of Certification. Be interesting to see what PRERANA S.'s reply says. In the meantime I'm selling what is affected by the request. (only have 1s and 2s of the 8 sets requested)
    3 points
  5. Just finished the cantina 75205. Fun set, not difficult to build at all. Loving it that they finally put in a Wuher figure! All in all a great set.
    3 points
  6. After they rejected the perfectly acceptable certificates and asked for photos (yeah right) , I decided to not mess around and sold off and/recalled the remaining stock of items which I didn't feel like selling off below market (for which there are always alternate listings).. In order to close the case out and put the issue to bed (for now hopefully), I responded to the followup denial email with the message posted below. Hello - I have reviewed the list of ASIN again. I currently have none of the listed ASIN in stock on amazon and have no remaining stock to sell. Since I no longer have stock, I have deleted the ASIN listing from my store's inventory. I would request my application to sell these ASIN be withdrawn or closed. Thanks for your help, This morning they responded that they were complying with my request and the case was closed, so i'm hoping this is it for the asin dementors.
    3 points
  7. I started working on a popsicle stick castle. It’s hard. This is close to 35 hours of work. Split across the last 4 long nights. About 1200 sticks and 20 hot glue sticks. Almost 2500 individual cuts using a pair of wire cutters just to trim the round ends off. And this is just the base. It’s 2 foot by 2 foot. But it’s sturdy and flat as hell now. I’m proud.
    3 points
  8. I met a lady last month that worked for Lego for several years. Her position was removed after the last restructuring. She was in charge of small to mid independent accounts in Florida. From Ma & pa to Publix and BAM. She said that Lego hated online stores for a while, but they were realizing they had to keep up with trends. She didn’t quite elaborate, but she gave a key point that she knew about b&m stores that would probably also apply to online stores: Lego considers itself a luxury item. They do not like to be in heavily discounted stores or gas stations and stuff like that. Versace doesn’t want to be sold at Macys. The other things you sell are as important as how much you sell. They also want to know how much you expect to sell annually. So if you have a website that specializes in retail arbitrage, no love from them. But maybe if you’re selling expensive STEM and coding kits, or fair-trade, all-natural Montessori teaching materials made from petrified unicorn droppings. You may have a chance. She told me 35-45% with unlicensed sets often being more expensive. Lego does not cap the prices you can sell at, but has a very strict minimum. If they catch you advertising a price on a set below their minimum, they freeze your access to that set for something like 3-6 months.
    3 points
  9. TJ Maxx/HomeGoods started stocking holiday toys and found some old TRU exclusives. $70 75191 Jedi Starfighters, $30 75175 A-Wings, and $8 Master Wu/Phasma/Finn Brickheadz.
    3 points
  10. Celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary three days early as my wife and I had lunch and enjoyed a largely kid free day. It was a very good use of a vacation day. Going to the pumpkin patch with the kids soon. Also bought a like new Nintendo Switch console with two controllers, all cables, etc. with the Splatoon 2, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 and Super Mario Odyssey games for $260 on Craigslist and beat 5 others people to it according the father I bought it from. It was a great day!
    3 points
  11. Decent build. The mouth-tail-wing play feature is clever. Box art doesn't do it any favors other than being kitschy. Looks better in person. Kind of a matching companion for the BB8 set.
    3 points
  12. Brickheadz...? Never heard of 'em. I re-invested all the profit from my Steam Rollers in these.
    2 points
  13. Looks like The Builder has opened a second BP account....
    2 points
  14. I have been to numerous Bricks and Minifigs franchises and several other independent Lego resale stores. As a customer, I like to treasure hunt in the bulk bins and build-a-minifig area. I love to find a piece I need for a set or a cool minifig piece I haven't seen before. The stores I have enjoyed the most have bulk bins that are full, but not overflowing as it's hard to look through them without a ton ending up on the floor. Most importantly though, they are not "cherry picked" to the point of being pretty much red, yellow, and blue bricks. I won't even bother looking at the bulk if there are no interesting pieces or colors. As for the build-a-minifig area, when the bins have decent parts that are not all boring city figs and are not all scratched or chewed on etc, then I'll dig through them and likely find something I like. One last suggestion, be as fair as possible when people bring stuff to sell or trade. I have seen a lot of terrible reviews for some stores because people feel like they got ripped off. If they feel like you were fair, they will bring you more stuff in the future or tell other people to bring their Lego to you. I will drive an extra hour to take my stuff to the store that I feel is more fair with me than the one that is 10 minutes from my house. Good luck on your store! Opening right before the holiday season seems like a smart move.
    2 points
  15. You know, you gave me a great idea. What happens if we all pool our resources together and launch an new online toy store. I even have a name...Toys Are Us!
    2 points
  16. I can see this thread ending ugly...
    2 points
  17. The only explanation is that there is no explanation.
    2 points
  18. Had the most amazing birthday weekend! My wife surprised me with a weekend in Napa with friends. They were sitting in a limo waiting for me after we parked. I had no clue! Lunch at Goose & Gander, wine tasting at a few vineywards, dinner at Morimoto's, golf the next morning, and then brunch at Brix. She's not happy about our storage room being full of Lego, but I guess she still loves me. haha
    2 points
  19. Click the image link to watch a video on Flickr and see how this opens up including interior. Grimmauld Place (Video) by Inthert
    2 points
  20. just surprised Target did not use the actually payment amount to gate the distribution of the gift card. silly math but I am not going to complain
    1 point
  21. wish you all the best and hope you enjoy the journey
    1 point
  22. If you're at a volume that you can handle it yourself on BL and eBay, I wouldn't be too worried. Generally, the LEGO reseller market seems to have taken a bit of a dive in the past year or two since "peak" LEGO sometime around the "better than gold" stuff a while back. I've probably had the highest margins this year (and that's not because of aging stock). If you're happy to sit on inventory a while, diversify your sets, and enjoy self fulfilling on eBay/BL/here, I think you're just fine. And as a reminder, the Toy Safety requests covers way more than just LEGO - Amazon has been requesting them for a variety of Toy brands. We're just on a LEGO forum. Amazon has been moving the goal posts for a long while. They have a larger "supply" of sellers than there seems to be demand for them, so I think they're probably happy to occasionally thin things out a bit through various means. So far as your last sentence: I think most folks move pretty quickly to FBA which means we aren't directly handling sales/returns/customer service - that's on Amazon. I know I couldn't come close to self-fulfilling my daily order volume without setting a dedicated shipping space and a full time job for it.
    1 point
  23. Hello everybody! I'm new on this community but not in LEGO. Hope to find helpful tips and some profit!! See u
    1 point
  24. Repeating what others have said, any Brickheadz worth anything remotely close to 10x were Comic Con exclusives. I haven't been paying close attention, but the best I've seen for any retail-available BHz are 2x (~$20) so far. We've seen them on clearance in waves from $7 down to maybe even $1-2 for the lucky few. So, it's pretty hard to bite the bullet on sets at retail price unless you want one for yourself (or there's a promo like gift or 2x VIP points). In my opinion, this theme is still too new to have much data or history in sales and value. However, it sounds from rumors it may not last long anyway. I lean on the more pessimistic side, so I'm not having high expectations. You won't lose money, but you may not make enough to be worthwhile. I'd be happy buying at $5-7 and selling for $20-30. Others aim higher. *Edit: Ha, sorry, more repetition from multiple response at the same time.*
    1 point
  25. Your question is about as basic as it comes. I understand that you are on day 1 of looking into Lego investing, but do yourself a favor and do some research and learn how bricklink, Ebay, google, etc... work and how their platforms can help answers questions like this.
    1 point
  26. thanks gents - good to know . back to using gc for instore pickups which were working perfectly. annoying how these other gc have gone on vacation leaf peeping in an RV in southern maine instead of amplifying my purchase power.
    1 point
  27. I'm experiencing the same thing and assumed I missed the fine print stating one per customer. (I haven't bothered to look if that's the case...it's been a long week.)
    1 point
  28. anyone else partaking in target gc deal experiencing a delay in terms of getting the gc for items that shipped? orders placed late sunday evening showing tracking number, received the shipping notice but still no email with gc. did a bunch of instore pickups to start the sale off on sunday but the round of online orders for shipping is messing up my rolling. frickumsickum. maybe they need a little extra time to put more stickers on my boxes and use them for warehouse football punting practice. 8^/
    1 point
  29. Chocolate Box Cottage by Full Plate
    1 point
  30. Frankenberry, Booberry, and Count Chocula by Michael Buffum
    1 point
  31. I made an online order over the weekend and just picked it up tonight. 2 separate $50 orders to get a couple of the 25% off coupons for later xmas gift purchases. Wasnt concerned about the bricktober freebie, figured it would be all gone by the time I got in. Turned out they had 3 packs left sitting on the customer service counter, so I politely asked if in-store pick up qualified for the free minifigures. She checked the 2 orders totaled over $75 and tossed a box in. Nice that they dont need to scan the promos so it seems they'll be flexible giving them out. Sent from my SM-G950W using Brickpicker Forum mobile app
    1 point
  32. For a small commission, TB will coach you both on how to talk to the CSR and fill out the form. Typos at no extra charge.
    1 point
  33. 1 point
  34. Jawa by Jérôme Barchietto
    1 point
  35. It’s another language for me already and now I gotta read between the lines too? Lol Im quitting this lego selling game thingy.
    1 point
  36. The Great Wall of Amazon update: After 45 minutes of charismatic discussion with a seller support rep, 6 finely crafted argumentative emails, and 3 weeks of tearful despair, I have broken through the Amazon wall and can list Lego for sale again. I don't know if any of my persuasion did anything, or if it was just blind luck, but something worked. My main arguments: 3 seasonal years of 100% 5 star ratings Their arbitrary determination of who could sell and who couldn't based on listings on Aug 23rd. Pointing out that Amazon's requirements to sell were impossible for a small seller to fulfill. The wall kept saying I wasn't approved in the "used and refurbished for this item". How could that be, I am selling new. I would be taking my business account to Walmart for tax exempt purchasing. The seller rep commiserated with me, sent an email to higher up explaining my situation, and told me how to email higher ups. I was clicking around today and suddenly found I could list again. I was shocked. I quickly created a 60 unit shipment with no problems. One problem. I still can't list Merida's Highland Games. It is the only set I found that wouldn't work. I also cannot list any Used or Refurbished sets, only new or collectible ones. Weird. Another note from 8 days ago. I could only list items from my 33 inactive inventory listings, so I decided to switch one to seller fulfilled from FBA. I priced it low, sold it in a few hours, and shipped it out 8 days ago. Did that matter? Who knows. So, to all you who have some history selling on Amazon, don't give up. Keep pestering them with strong clear arguments. You never know. I had no active listings on Aug 23rd, but I will soon.
    1 point
  37. I have done this for a couple of years. The nice thing is that you can check your inventory page every month or so and scan the spread between your price and the buy box price (or low price). You can see which products are inching closer to your initial sales price and might start selling in the near term. You can also see which ones are not appreciating (damn you 6860) and decide whether you want to lower your price to drive some turnover.
    1 point
  38. Here's my story. I sold 327 LEGO items on amazon, all FBM, between Jan- end of June this year when I decided to take a break from selling for the rest of the summer (both to enjoy the summer and also let prices continue to rise on the sets I have). I have been selling on amazon since 2013 though volumes in 2013 were less than 100. 2014 I sold 487 items. 2015 786. Rather than switching my listings inactive to take a break, I instead opted to increase my prices to a point where nothing sells. I had a pro account for the first half of the year and then downgraded at the end of June. haven't sold anything since June 27. What do you mean you aren't paying $499 for a grand emporium (yet)? All my listings are active. I can add sets I have never sold including 75916 . Since these events have unfolded, I have gone through and made sure to list ALL the sets I have in my possession that I intend to sell on amazon one day - even ones that haven't retired yet. Pet Shop. Palace Cinema. TB. EV, Irex and all JW sets. Of course, I have an untenable price beyond what any sensible person would pay now, but I wanted to make sure that I had my foot in the door. I am thinking about listing sets that I haven't even begun stocking yet with unrealistic sales prices to discourage any actual sales but to make sure I have a presence in the listing.
    1 point
  39. OK, time for me to share. I actually contacted Amazon late last week, since we were in the middle of the shake-up. Here's is what they had to say about the TFA gate. This was before the sets were ungated earlier this week. This definitely points to the counterfeiting problem, as we discussed earlier in this thread. Greetings from Amazon. Thank you for writing to us. I am CSR from Catalog team. I understand the concern about the gating on the product ' Star Wars - The Force Awakens LEGO sets'. Gating has nothing to with the movie release. Usually when movie releases and if there are products related to the movie are getting sold, that's when the problem arises. Let me explain how doe this work 1. When movies get released, interest around the products related to movies will trigger the sales of products and sellers try to sell products which are of low quality for the lowest price which will affect the healthy competition in the market and it will affect the buyers. 2.. Gating is on products where we feel the possibility of counterfeit products getting sold on Amazon website. We at Amazon, to keep the catalog genuine and provide authentic products to our buyers, we gate the products. However, I see that you are approved to sell these products for now. You can go ahead and list the products. We at seller support cannot really assure the decision our business team makes for the future because of the above factor. Gating is based on real time and not on forecasted results. If you have any other question in this regard, please write back to us. I will personally assist you.
    1 point
  40. What's cheap to buy on dating sites?
    1 point
  41. Yep, I'm good for Rey, Troop Transporter, Kylo Ren and Poe. I'm still restricted on the Falcon, but it's still in the Star Wars category. Sorry guys!
    1 point
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