I just read an article in the Washington Post about PLEY, formally Pleygo.  It would appear that they have received some venture capital to increase their capacity and develop a warehouse on the East coast.  Could this hinder the LEGO secondary market in any way?  

 

On a side note related to the article...That must be some special scale and weighing algorithm that can differentiate between LEGO bricks and colors.  LOL.  I can see these sets being returned with candy wrappers mixed in.  

I just don't think this is a good idea......I'm not just saying that because I didn't think of it lol :)

Wow.  "Ownership is old school."  I must be from the oldest school there is.

 

An yeah, how they can tell which pieces come back and which one's don't . . . 

I would think they had hard time counting all the pieces of the big sets and just go for the smaller kids-would-like sets.

(I know they say they have good scale and algorithm doing the job... but they said so... who knows if you don't receive a set with missing pieces)

 

Seriously, who owns a TB would only want to own it for 2 weeks?  

 

 

 

 

And... used bricks, seriously, sometimes grosses me out... (got some from ebay before)

I can see someone getting a Death Star and pulling out the maximum amount of minifigure parts they could and then returning it.

Wow.  "Ownership is old school."  I must be from the oldest school there is.

 

An yeah, how they can tell which pieces come back and which one's don't . . . 

They say they have a special scale and program that can tell if all the parts are returned.  How can they tell if it's the correct color?  How about swapping minifigs, say some old CITY minifigure with some Superhero minifigure?

There are going to be a lot of missing pieces...

They say they have a special scale and program that can tell if all the parts are returned.  How can they tell if it's the correct color?  How about swapping minifigs?

that's why I think what they say is a bit BS... sorry...

 

seriously, taking loss on missing parts/minifigures probably costs less than developing such an accurate algorithm to figure out EVERYTHING GENUINE in the set is there. Unless they have a 50 or 100 years business plan, I would guess swallow the loss from missing parts is easier than the fantastic algorithm they claimed to have developed.

I wonder if anybody has worked out how to unseal and reseal a Lego box without leaving any trace whatsoever.  If so, what's stopping them from replacing the pieces of a 10179 with the same weight in Mega Bollocks from eBay?  If not as if they buyer will open it to check it is as this set will probably be kept to "mature" a bit more.

Hopefully they clean the pieces after each rental.

I wonder if anybody has worked out how to unseal and reseal a Lego box without leaving any trace whatsoever.  If so, what's stopping them from replacing the pieces of a 10179 with the same weight in Mega Bollocks from eBay?  If not as if they buyer will open it to check it is as this set will probably be kept to "mature" a bit more.

Yeah, want to try to get a chunk of plastic weighing the same as DS and return it instead?

I bet just regular wear and tear would probably lower the total weight a little bit if enough bricks are worn...

 

I really doubt they would have 10179 though... lol

If so, let's all get it from them!

I don't see this working.

I wonder if anybody has worked out how to unseal and reseal a Lego box without leaving any trace whatsoever.  If so, what's stopping them from replacing the pieces of a 10179 with the same weight in Mega Bollocks from eBay?  If not as if they buyer will open it to check it is as this set will probably be kept to "mature" a bit more.

Great point.  Swapping out Mega Bloks could be a huge issue.

They say they sanitize the sets. That you can return a set with up to 10 missing pieces. The $15/ month only gives you access to sets with up to 250 pieces. To get the big sets it is $39/month. It sounds like they get their original inventory from their members.

How long till someone swaps one of those fake minifigures with the LEGO ones?

It'll be fine as long as a family is happy to receive a "Tower Bridge" that contains half it's original parts and half random replacement parts and cat hair.

Even assuming every single renter enters into this with the most honest of intentions, pieces will be lost at most rental stops, so that some poor schmoe wanting to build the actual set will find himself with dozens, maybe hundreds, of missing pieces that have been replaced with pieces of no use to him.

And their claim to be able to replace the correct missing pieces by weight would be adorable if it weren't so dumb it makes me worry about their ability to dress themselves and come in out of the rain. :)

How long till someone swaps one of those fake minifigures with the LEGO ones?

I guess it really depends on how many sets (therefore how many minifigures you can swap) you are allowed to borrow with $19 fee in a month and see if it's worth doing it. Didn't go to their site, don't know exactly their policy. But I will probably just walk away from this interesting business people trying to do.

They say they have a special scale and program that can tell if all the parts are returned.  How can they tell if it's the correct color?  How about swapping minifigs, say some old CITY minifigure with some Superhero minifigure?

Looking at their website, they also depend on the next renter to tell them if a piece is missing / wrong. This is of course the expensive way to do this. Also, any renter can lie about it and pley would need to eat the cost.

I am more interested in their projections on missing or broken LEGO pieces on returned sets. Most kids chew or experiment with those bricks. They surely do not think they will get the sets returned 100% every single time. I would love to listen to their pitch to these venture capitalists.

i'll be looking to short this company on the real stock market if ever given a chance.

I don't see it affecting the secondary market much, the people who are going to take that route probably were never secondary market customers in the first place.

Cat hair...Dog hair...People hair...Chew marks...Gum...Boogers...All good stuff.  I can really see the company taking off!!!

Cat hair...Dog hair...People hair...Chew marks...Gum...Boogers...All good stuff.  I can really see the company taking off!!!

 

I'm sure strange people will get a thrill out of renting a set, jiggling it around in their shorts for a few and then sending it back.  Just like they currently do with Netflix discs.

This is on par with the "Jump to conclusions mat" that was hot in the 90's!

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I think the real key is at the bottom of that article:

 

The company will use the money to build out an East Coast warehouse, expand its business into Europe, and double its staff. It will also start renting other toys, mostly pricier, educational ones.

 

I'm guessing they are finding all of the above to be a problem and hoping that moving onto toys with fewer pieces and maybe to a different audience might help them.

This is one of those ideas that looks great in theory to people with no experience in the industry, but is a total cluster f... in practice. Dumb people with too much money love these ideas.

Do they have a way of going after the subscribers who will inevitably steal from them?