Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[Emvisawthatswho]

This is FBA, not FBM. Buyer received full refund already. Just received item back from FBA to me. Took the buyer more than 3 weeks to return the item. I sold 3 others, no issues, all had same weight (within fractions of an ounce).

Filed a case with amazon. Let’s see what happens from here. Sucky part is you eat the fees also, not just the sale price.

Quick update: filed a case last night. I previously requested removal of my item from my inventory since it was “unsellable”.

Back and forth with amazon - pics of this, descriptions of that. A+ service by Amazon.

“Hello from Amazon Selling Partner Support,

I understand that you are requesting for a refund on missing parts on removal XxXxXxXX


Upon reviewing, I have confirmed that there are missing parts on the item you received. Thus, I am happy to report that your reimbursement request for BO1xxxxxxxxxxx was approved. Please allow 3-5 business days for the refund to reflect on your account.”

Money’s already in my account

Hope they tag this buyer and see if they are a repeat offender. Been re-selling Lego for many years and never had a case like this.

[Loghamel]

Anyone have any experience selling large and/or expensive retired sets on Amazon?  I have some sets I'm looking to get rid of, but I'm not sure I want to take the chance of Billy Bad Thief making a claim against me and sending me back his laundry in my LEGO box. 

Examples are: 

10236 Ewok Village 

21137 The Mountain Cave 

75021  Republic Gunship

75055 Imperial Star Destroyer 

75919  Indominus Rex Breakout 

They're all pushing at least $300 and have been retired for a while.  Hoping some of you have experience selling sets like these and they're all good experiences.

 

[Brick625]

10 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Anyone have any experience selling large and/or expensive retired sets on Amazon?  I have some sets I'm looking to get rid of, but I'm not sure I want to take the chance of Billy Bad Thief making a claim against me and sending me back his laundry in my LEGO box. 

Examples are: 

10236 Ewok Village 

21137 The Mountain Cave 

75021  Republic Gunship

75055 Imperial Star Destroyer 

75919  Indominus Rex Breakout 

They're all pushing at least $300 and have been retired for a while.  Hoping some of you have experience selling sets like these and they're all good experiences.

 

If you don’t want to take the risk try selling them on Craigslist. EBay and amazon both come with risks. 

 

[redcell]

Anyone have any experience selling large and/or expensive retired sets on Amazon?  I have some sets I'm looking to get rid of, but I'm not sure I want to take the chance of Billy Bad Thief making a claim against me and sending me back his laundry in my LEGO box. 
Examples are: 
10236 Ewok Village 
21137 The Mountain Cave 
75021  Republic Gunship
75055 Imperial Star Destroyer 
75919  Indominus Rex Breakout 
They're all pushing at least $300 and have been retired for a while.  Hoping some of you have experience selling sets like these and they're all good experiences.
 

Yes...it's a crap shoot. Prices are good, but returns suck.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[cladner]

4 hours ago, Loghamel said:

Anyone have any experience selling large and/or expensive retired sets on Amazon?  I have some sets I'm looking to get rid of, but I'm not sure I want to take the chance of Billy Bad Thief making a claim against me and sending me back his laundry in my LEGO box. 

Examples are: 

10236 Ewok Village 

21137 The Mountain Cave 

75021  Republic Gunship

75055 Imperial Star Destroyer 

75919  Indominus Rex Breakout 

They're all pushing at least $300 and have been retired for a while.  Hoping some of you have experience selling sets like these and they're all good experiences.

i have sold through all my  Ewok Villages  Minecraft Villages,   GE, Town hall haunted house in last year.  all FBA.  knock on wood i have had zero scams on any of these large high value sets.  i wouldn't even think about selling any large sets FBM because i'm a lazy pos and i like to get top fba dollar. plus every amazon scam begins with selling fbm.   only stupid or desperate scammers are going to try and scam an expensive package that has been verfiably shipped out of an amazon warehouse. 

in my experience, if you are going to sell large sets fba, you have to imagine yourself as the customer and cater to that experience.  u spend a ton of dough for an overpriced lego, you don't want a mangled smooshed box.

at a minimum, you have to pre-package the set in its own separate new  clean properly sized outer box  to ensure that it doesn't get crushed by aggressive shipping personnel. and so that if it does gets sent back to FBA, its well protected.  

this requires more work and labeling and shipping material cost which you will make up on the back end by making sure to price higher than the fbm'ers to collect that premium.   i put fba stickers on the set in the box and also on the outer box i send it in just in case  returning customer sends it back without my perfectly set up protective outer box. i have not lost any sets to returns doing this.  i have had 3 returns in the last 6 months selling large fba and all 3 were resellable w/o me having them recalled.  unlike vast majority of sub $80 set returns which are just outright minifigure rip offs.  maybe i'm just lucky or lazy and lucky.  it's working.  most people buying big sets on amazon fba are not scammers but people who believe that fba prime tagged products are somehow more legit or superior than those 3p fbm.  i know its crap.  thats just how people think.  if its prime it must be better.  at least that's what we are told to chant at the underground Jeff fan club meetings.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by cladner

[labfreak7]

Anyone else get this email??

 

[marcandre]

6 minutes ago, labfreak7 said:

Anyone else get this email??

 

That's ridiculous. Sound like the are describing a R.Kelly minifig ?

[isocleas]

TP-2.com https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004WIZA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kjTCDbWPZNTHZ

[odysea11]

2 hours ago, labfreak7 said:

Anyone else get this email??

 

Of course...just after I sourced another lot of them. Poor Bucky.......no respect! Amazon is out of control.....

[beatpoppa]

On 9/3/2019 at 7:29 PM, cladner said:

i have sold through all my  Ewok Villages  Minecraft Villages,   GE, Town hall haunted house in last year.  all FBA.  knock on wood i have had zero scams on any of these large high value sets.  i wouldn't even think about selling any large sets FBM because i'm a lazy pos and i like to get top fba dollar. plus every amazon scam begins with selling fbm.   only stupid or desperate scammers are going to try and scam an expensive package that has been verfiably shipped out of an amazon warehouse. 

in my experience, if you are going to sell large sets fba, you have to imagine yourself as the customer and cater to that experience.  u spend a ton of dough for an overpriced lego, you don't want a mangled smooshed box.

at a minimum, you have to pre-package the set in its own separate new  clean properly sized outer box  to ensure that it doesn't get crushed by aggressive shipping personnel. and so that if it does gets sent back to FBA, its well protected.  

this requires more work and labeling and shipping material cost which you will make up on the back end by making sure to price higher than the fbm'ers to collect that premium.   i put fba stickers on the set in the box and also on the outer box i send it in just in case  returning customer sends it back without my perfectly set up protective outer box. i have not lost any sets to returns doing this.  i have had 3 returns in the last 6 months selling large fba and all 3 were resellable w/o me having them recalled.  unlike vast majority of sub $80 set returns which are just outright minifigure rip offs.  maybe i'm just lucky or lazy and lucky.  it's working.  most people buying big sets on amazon fba are not scammers but people who believe that fba prime tagged products are somehow more legit or superior than those 3p fbm.  i know its crap.  thats just how people think.  if its prime it must be better.  at least that's what we are told to chant at the underground Jeff fan club meetings.

 

 

 

 

Seconded.  I never contribute to sales discussions on here but feel compelled to comment here.

FYI - I portfolio invest and have no 20+ unit positions & therefore my experience may not represent yours... 

I sold off all my "big set" inventory - EEE, HH, EV, Tumblers, GE, TH, PS, GC plus some one-off big sets like SSD and SOH [and a bunch of mea culpa Orthanc and Death Star losses] - over the last 2 years.  All FBA.

My returns have been on the smaller <$100 minifig-centric sets I sold, never on the big ones with the big exceptions being a MF and a few $$ 1st series Friends sets.

Against total sales volume my losses have occurred at amazing breakage % (< 1%).

YMMV

[FM]

I am considering switching to a Pro plan for the upcoming Holidays. I have a lot of inventory I want to move, and the 10 cu. ft. limitation for the personal plan is too little (plus I would get the benefit of Amazon withholding Sales Tax for me for customers in my own state, which I currently have to deduct from my sales proceeds). I have 2 questions for the pros:
1. Apart from having to submit some sort of an ID to get "re-verified" (and having my listings on hold), are there any other cons to switching to Pro? I assume it won't affect my gated status, correct?
2. I am also considering setting up an LLC to run my business (instead of running this on personal title). Is it easy to update my account to make it owned by my LLC? Should I do this at the same time, or rather sometime later? Or is this impossible without starting a new account?
 

Sorry this answers neither question ... At $1 per item you need to sell 40 items/month to pay for your Pro fee so if you're targeting 40+ items sold per month it's a no-brainer to upgrade. And much more importantly you become buy box eligible with a Pro account. BB eligibility will probably take a few months to get depending on your sales volume so if you're planning on a big December get the pro account asap and send in (assuming you're FBA) a bunch of low $ items to help sell-through to get BB eligibility.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

I am considering switching to a Pro plan for the upcoming Holidays. I have a lot of inventory I want to move, and the 10 cu. ft. limitation for the personal plan is too little (plus I would get the benefit of Amazon withholding Sales Tax for me for customers in my own state, which I currently have to deduct from my sales proceeds). I have 2 questions for the pros:
1. Apart from having to submit some sort of an ID to get "re-verified" (and having my listings on hold), are there any other cons to switching to Pro? I assume it won't affect my gated status, correct?
2. I am also considering setting up an LLC to run my business (instead of running this on personal title). Is it easy to update my account to make it owned by my LLC? Should I do this at the same time, or rather sometime later? Or is this impossible without starting a new account?
 

Sorry this answers neither question ... At $1 per item you need to sell 40 items/month to pay for your Pro fee so if you're targeting 40+ items sold per month it's a no-brainer to upgrade. And much more importantly you become buy box eligible with a Pro account. BB eligibility will probably take a few months to get depending on your sales volume so if you're planning on a big December get the pro account asap and send in (assuming you're FBA) a bunch of low $ items to help sell-through to get BB eligibility.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[Phil B]

4 hours ago, FM said:

Sorry this answers neither question ... At $1 per item you need to sell 40 items/month to pay for your Pro fee so if you're targeting 40+ items sold per month it's a no-brainer to upgrade. And much more importantly you become buy box eligible with a Pro account. BB eligibility will probably take a few months to get depending on your sales volume so if you're planning on a big December get the pro account asap and send in (assuming you're FBA) a bunch of low $ items to help sell-through to get BB eligibility.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

 

Not sure I understand the "Buy Box Eligibility". I frequently have the Buy Box on LEGO listings with my personal account. I have seen comments like this on Seller forums, and I thought it meant you get Buy Box on listings for your own products (i.e. where there is no competition because the products are items you make).

 

UPDATE: Just pulled the trigger on moving to a Professional plan. After confirming my Credit Card details, picking the "Toys & Games" category, and giving an indication of my listing volume, I had to do a txt-message verification and was immediately approved. Account shows Professional and all my listings are still active. I now have access to Tax Settings as well (no settings there when you are on an Individual plan).

Edited September 7, 2019 by Phil B

[asharerin]

You don't need a pro plan to be buy box eligible (this was phased out 4 years ago). You don't even need it to get ungated in categories anymore (phased out 18 months ago). A total newbie with an individual plan will win the buy box if they are FBA. Just be careful tinkering with any settings (bank deposit methods, changing plans, changing addresses, changing tax info etc) this time of year as there is a very good chance a bot will flag your account for review and you will be asked to send in docs, even if you have sent them in previously. 

[legorunner]

8 minutes ago, asharerin said:

Just be careful tinkering with any settings (bank deposit methods, changing plans, changing addresses, changing tax info etc) this time of year as there is a very good chance a bot will flag your account for review and you will be asked to send in docs, even if you have sent them in previously. 

Why would upgrading get your account flagged - Is this registered as unusual activity? I'm in the same boat as @Philb and was planning on upgrading to a PRO plan this month for the increased storage, but I really don't want to somehow lose selling privileges over this. 

[Phil B]

28 minutes ago, asharerin said:

You don't need a pro plan to be buy box eligible (this was phased out 4 years ago). You don't even need it to get ungated in categories anymore (phased out 18 months ago). A total newbie with an individual plan will win the buy box if they are FBA. Just be careful tinkering with any settings (bank deposit methods, changing plans, changing addresses, changing tax info etc) this time of year as there is a very good chance a bot will flag your account for review and you will be asked to send in docs, even if you have sent them in previously. 

You CANNOT do the upgrade without "tinkering" with your bank/CC settings. There is a screen where you are asked to (re)confirm your details - it didn't remember my CC details, but did remember my Bank Account. After entering my CC (which was a change) and confirming my bank account, I got two messages in my inbox saying I made changes (one for CC, one for Bank Account), even though I clearly didn't change anything on the bank account side.

[Foreman Porgy]

http://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/fba-damaging-my-product-by-shipping-in-envelopes/499990

Good thread for anyone who has every had their boxes crushed *Cough Cough 

[Foreman Porgy]

Is it normal for certain new sets or certain sets in general to be restricted on Amazon? 

[Loghamel]

Starting to make an inventory list of things I'm going to wipe out for the holidays.  I noticed the 41148 ASIN (B01KIEP8IG) that I used before now brings up the replica set 43172.   What the heck do I do now?  There is a 'new' listing for 41148 that has all of 9 ratings and a sales rank of 371,630.  Where as the one they mashed-up has 77 ratings and a sales rank of 47,872.  That's going up much higher around the holidays with the new movie coming out.  It's obvious they just changed the set number in the title because there are reviews from 2017.  The new set didn't come out until this year.  Should I just sell 41148 locally?  Anyone ballsy enough to send in a 41148 for the old ASIN which is now for 43172 and see if a parent catches it?  It is literally the exact same set with a different number on it.

 

[cladner]

42 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Starting to make an inventory list of things I'm going to wipe out for the holidays.  I noticed the 41148 ASIN (B01KIEP8IG) that I used before now brings up the replica set 43172.   What the heck do I do now?  There is a 'new' listing for 41148 that has all of 9 ratings and a sales rank of 371,630.  Where as the one they mashed-up has 77 ratings and a sales rank of 47,872.  That's going up much higher around the holidays with the new movie coming out.  It's obvious they just changed the set number in the title because there are reviews from 2017.  The new set didn't come out until this year. 

Should I just sell 41148 locally? 

Anyone ballsy enough to send in a 41148 for the old ASIN which is now for 43172 and see if a parent catches it?  It is literally the exact same set with a different number on it.

 

i'd say yes - local sales are the way to go .  i only have 2 left at $25 buyin so i may end up donating them.  i think you get dinged by a whiny customer if you send it in the regular way.  doubt you will move many on the secondary listing.   one other option would be to send it in COLLECTIBLE  - LIKE NEW - and then under the description list it as 41148 and probably might be able to sell it for $67-68 that way.  very annoying how amazon mucked up the listing for the old and new sets.

Edited September 16, 2019 by cladner

[Loghamel]

18 minutes ago, cladner said:

i'd say yes - local sales are the way to go .  i only have 2 left at $25 buyin so i may end up donating them.  i think you get dinged by a whiny customer if you send it in the regular way.  doubt you will move many on the secondary listing.   one other option would be to send it in COLLECTIBLE  - LIKE NEW - and then under the description list it as 41148 and probably might be able to sell it for $67-68 that way.  very annoying how amazon mucked up the listing for the old and new sets.

Even more annoying how LEGO made an exact copy, artwork and all, of a set.  I'm still dumbfounded that they did such a thing.

[skinsfan0521]

Can anybody find the ASIN for Brickheadz Minnie? I see Mickey, but not Minnie. Thanks!

[JOEBRICK376]

8 minutes ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Can anybody find the ASIN for Brickheadz Minnie? I see Mickey, but not Minnie. Thanks!

B07CL7PGHS

[skinsfan0521]

3 minutes ago, JOEBRICK376 said:

B07CL7PGHS

Thank you!

[zskid00]

On 9/18/2019 at 2:16 PM, skinsfan0521 said:

Can anybody find the ASIN for Brickheadz Minnie? I see Mickey, but not Minnie. Thanks!

 

On 9/18/2019 at 2:24 PM, JOEBRICK376 said:

B07CL7PGHS

 

I still have an active FBM listing for this, but the actual Amazon page is down.  My account shows the following under suspected intellectual property violations (yikes!):

Listing removed

Potential Trademark Misuse (LEGO)

Edited September 20, 2019 by zskid00

[Phil B]

54 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

 

 

I still have an active FBM listing for this, but the actual Amazon page is down.  My account shows the following under suspected intellectual property violations (yikes!):

Listing removed

Potential Trademark Misuse (LEGO)

This happened half a year or so ago with the TLBM Bricktober Minifigure Set (B07695JTTP). Never returned. I'm unable to list or sell these on Amazon ever since.

My theory is that a jealous seller files these claims once their stock is depleted, and the Amazon bots just pick it up without validation, and without giving us recourse.