Some of these sets are rare, some were discounted by SAH for months. There also seems to be susbtantial geographical disparity in distribution - a bit like those Panini sticker albums where everyone in the same area had the same doubles.

 

I like the Panini reference.

1 minute ago, exciter1 said:

I like the Panini reference.

Those guys made OPEC seem like a fair trade organisation the way they manipulated the market. Travel to another city and you´d be able to swap all your duds to complete the collection in a heartbeat.

41176 the secret marketplace. This is the one with the green dragon. It disappeared first from what I remember. It was clearanced around me for $30 before Christmas. Only picked up one thinking it was too early for it to retire. Oops.

41178 dragon sanctuary, the purple dragon one. I don't think I ever saw this one clearanced, it just disappeared during Christmastime and never came back. I did end up getting a bunch at a closing Kmart for about $30 each. I got excited when the price shot to $80+ and sold one then. Then another at $100, and a couple at $125. Now I have one left that I have listed at $150, which has got to be about as high as it will go right? I also let my wife open and build one because she likes the elves line....this was before the price went up. A couple reasons I think this one does better than the secret market place, besides maybe that it's more rare, is the color of the dragon and the build itself. There's already another elves set with a green dragon. This is the only purple one. And for anyone collecting all the dragon sets , this ones main build is a tower thing that has a spot for each of the different dragon eggs.

SMP won´t do as well in Europe since it was the last of all sets to retire and was available at 50% off for months at SAH. 41178 and 41174 are scarce in some countries like Germany, but were easy to find in many others.

1 hour ago, Clintonjoseph said:

41178 dragon sanctuary, the purple dragon one. I don't think I ever saw this one clearanced, it just disappeared during Christmastime and never came back.

Was part of the great Meijer clearance of Jan'17 ... got mine for $20 each. Easy money, even when flipped immediately like I did for $80. Could also be found on clearance at KMart.

41171,73,74 and 76 are still easy to find here.

21 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Was part of the great Meijer clearance of Jan'17 ... got mine for $20 each. Easy money, even when flipped immediately like I did for $80. Could also be found on clearance at KMart.

I found a couple at Wal-Mart clearanced for $25, but I had to use coupons for any I found at KMart.

Any set I do not posses will do great.

Just now, Val-E said:

41178 and 41174 were easy to find in many others.

for only 6 months.

Now 41178 is selling for 150 in US and for 100 in EU, I think also in EU it will reach 150 for xmas

The interesting thing about 41178 is it was a very good seller while available @ retailers.  One of the best among all in the category and it was never steeply discounted (at least in US).  

So now you have an already desired set that was unexpectedly retired after a 4 month run.  Very few sellers across all platforms and.....

 

 

I've not seen any Starlight Inns since February. Not seen a Dragon Sanctuary at all this year. 

I'm half expecting a couple of the 2017 sets to go later this year. I notice some are already discounted significantly on Amazon recently. The question is will any short-run set pick up a 'retiring soon' tag? 

TRU had 41178 for 31.99 I believe before Christmas.  I was looking for a filler gift for my daughter and just grabbed one.  Gave it to her---of course she played with it for a day maybe----could've given her any Elves set and it wouldn't have mattered.  Children are so fickle.  And hindsight can be so cruel.  

Is 41174 Starlight Inn going to be the new champion of Elves? 

No UK sellers on Amazon and has sold for 4x RRP + on ebay. 

1 hour ago, Villager Chris said:

Is 41174 Starlight Inn going to be the new champion of Elves? 

No UK sellers on Amazon and has sold for 4x RRP + on ebay. 

The thing about 2016 Elves is every country seems to have a different winner. Germans are falling over themselves for 41178 and 41171, the UK has 41174 and the US has 41176 doing well too, whereas it was 50% at SAH here!

I think it is all down to supply and maybe 41174 wasn´t carried by TRU and similar in the UK. It´s interesting that 41177 also had a very short run but is not doing as well as the rest. 41173 is also mediocre.

Didn't get in on the early end sets but I have some confidence in the queen dragon set.

41176 rewarded me well this year after buying some at -50% at SaH last year. For some inexplicable reason, I actually like most sets in the theme. Kids like dragons and... so do I ;-)

41178 was hard to get hold of and I only have 3.

2 hours ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

Didn't get in on the early end sets but I have some confidence in the queen dragon set.

Be surprised if it tops RRP quickly.  There is a lot of 50% stock out there.  

10 hours ago, feed said:

Be surprised if it tops RRP quickly.  There is a lot of 50% stock out there.  

This was already tracking above RRP on ebay until the 10% profit qf crew took advantage of the £1 fvf offer.

I'm holding mine for a while but I think they'll be over £100 by xmas. Can see lots of fans having it on their xmas lists and parents not realising its hard to get hold of.

11 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

This was already tracking above RRP on ebay until the 10% profit qf crew took advantage of the £1 fvf offer.

I'm holding mine for a while but I think they'll be over £100 by xmas. Can see lots of fans having it on their xmas lists and parents not realising its hard to get hold of.

Well, I’d be delighted if they do.  But I’m sat on 20 at ~£33 per and I’d move them all at £80 per before year end to clear capital for Jan / Feb eols.   They haven’t been selling at more than 1 a day, so I unless demand really ramps, can't see them increasing much before Christmas. 
 

10 hours ago, feed said:

Well, I’d be delighted if they do.  But I’m sat on 20 at ~£33 per and I’d move them all at £80 per before year end to clear capital for Jan / Feb eols.   They haven’t been selling at more than 1 a day, so I unless demand really ramps, can't see them increasing much before Christmas. 
 

Patience - it has only just retired and is still widely available in shops. 41178 and all the other 2016 gems had slow starts until Xmas stock was cleared out too.

I don´t expect 41179 or any 2017 set to reach the giddy heights of last year´s bunch but they should still do well about 6 months from now.

41174 is indeed doing quite well. Already approaching 2x RRP in The Netherlands. Not regretting that I got a few of this set at 44% off.  

4 hours ago, Val-E said:

Patience - it has only just retired and is still widely available in shops. 41178 and all the other 2016 gems had slow starts until Xmas stock was cleared out too.

I don´t expect 41179 or any 2017 set to reach the giddy heights of last year´s bunch but they should still do well about 6 months from now.

Could it be that the the appreciation is not based on some "spectacular" design" of the first wave sets - but simply the fact that as a new line not many ppl saw it as either viable or worth investing in? because in my opinion many of the last year sets are visually pretty nice as well

5 minutes ago, crayxlp said:

Could it be that the the appreciation is not based on some "spectacular" design" of the first wave sets - but simply the fact that as a new line not many ppl saw it as either viable or worth investing in? because in my opinion many of the last year sets are visually pretty nice as well

1st wave Elves sets were generally poor performers so resellers probably gave them a wide berth after that. PLus some only had 6 month lives and there were supposedly richer pickings in classic lines like SW IST or Final Duel.

2nd year and 3rd year sets retiring this winter will suffer as resellers are now aware and have been stockpiling. We just have to see  if there is enough demand for them to go around now or not.

Thanks for your insight, but maybe i wasnt exactly precise in my question: my question was whether you see some diametrical difference in quality / visual appearance / appeal  of the sets throughout the waves