New member here.

When is a box considered Mint ? What expectations are there from both the buyer and seller ( something happens during shipping ) regarding this definition ?

The term "mint" is very subjective. One persons mint is another persons near mint or excellent. Be very careful buying "mint" because you never know. I NEVER list anything as mint even if it could be considered mint. There's always some dirtbag that will want a discount because its not up to their mint standards.

I think MISB is rather subjective....slight corner nicks etc.....I don't think there is a great trend yet on graded sets.....I hope not!

I have wondered this myself, but I agree with earlier responder that I would not advertise a set was mint because it is just to subjective and what is mint to you may not be mint to someone else.

90% of people do not know what MINT means. If an object is MINT then it looks better than new, it should be a exceptional item that has NO to virtually NO FLAWS. Most LEGO sets off of the retailers shelf would not qualify as MISB specially if there is a hard to remove price tag on it...

Most collectors would be satisfied with NISB as long as there is not major damage to the box.

I come from the comic collecting world and there is a huge difference in quality, and more importantly in price, from Mint to Very Fine to Very Good. And I can tell you a VERY small percentage of brand new comics on the shelf can be considered MINT or even NEAR MINT.

I'm waiting for someone to have a Jerry McGuire moment.....lol! I can't understand why most collectors would like to have sets in a box. You can collect baseball cards, have em graded and still be able to look at them. Comic books once graded, you cannot open but look at the front and back...but can read online. With Lego, unopened MISB or NISB only can put on a shelf or closet....they are meant to be open, built and enjoyed...unless your investing!

you will never see a misb unless you are at the factory and pick from assembly line. A phrase I often use when selling a set is "normal shelve wear" I follow this up with something along the lines of new sealed box no creased corners or dents.

Many sets are sold to people who want to build them, so the term MISB is not as important as you would think.  As stated earlier, if the contents are perfect and the box is in fair shape with a few minor flaws, most buyers will be happy.

Well to me MISB means the item is mint(never opened if contained in sealed bags), inside the box. Doesn't mean the box is mint, but does mean box is sealed, never opened.  I try to describe the box and the item separately if possible. Obviously with Lego, no one knows what the contents look like until opened.

I will never say that one of my items is "mint".  You are just setting yourself up for returns.  I will say the set is NISB and describe the box condition.  I will say that it is in "excellent" condition is there are no creases or marks of any kind.  If the box has creases I will describe them and say where they are on the box.  This is to protect me just as much as inform the buyer so when he claims that something isn't as described, I have something to fall back on.

On 10/01/2014 at 1:03 PM, chinothegeeko said:

Well to me MISB means the item is mint(never opened if contained in sealed bags), inside the box. Doesn't mean the box is mint, but does mean box is sealed, never opened.  I try to describe the box and the item separately if possible. Obviously with Lego, no one knows what the contents look like until opened.

Hi, new here and trying to get used to all the acronyms. Fortunately, these old posts shine some light on my questions. I was hoping to find some definition, but to me this makes the most sense as MISB refers to the adjective 'mint' related to the content and not the box. Otherwise, MISMB would be more appropriate. :-)

Anyway, learning a lot here

thanks