Leaderboard

If one has unlimited capital, he should not be dealing in Lego. He should buy politicians and whatever else 0.01 percenters do...

I'm amazed that Emazer's decisions are still so influential on so many. He happily admits to only selling $20k per year to avoid receiving a 1099 from PayPal. Even if he doubled that on the side, there are plenty of people who are moving 5x+ of those numbers every year. Those are the people I'd want to be duplicating.

PM Jeff or I. I'm sure we can come up with a donation from BrickPicker to buy some sets or from my own personal stash. Even if you can give us an address, we can have Amazon deliver some....

Everyone has limits. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

In looking at your pile I see that 15 of those are mine from my cancelled order. Please forward them on, thanks.

Brickpickers, A local boy is battling a rare form of bone cancer and has been quarantined in his house for months. His aunt is asking the community to cheer him up with a special Lego wonderland at his school. He was scheduled to make a trip to the Lego world headquarters in Denmark but that has been postponed due to recent setbacks. Read more here: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2014/03/12/Lego-build-aims-to-cheer-ill-boy.html I am planning to donate some sealed sets but I wanted to ask if there was anyone else that would be willing to donate? The aunt's goal is 10,000 bricks. I am hoping that we can get enough support to turn this into a LEGO Flash Mob. Imagine how awesome it would be if we could send him dozens of sets to build and create with? If you have a set or two you are willing to donate, please PM me and I'll provide the address of their home or school. I think this is a great way to give back and demonstrate the strength and goodwill of the LEGO community. Thank you for the support. P.S. If this is the wrong forum for this sort of thing, please move this thread.

I met Gavin's Aunt today. I can't begin to tell you how happy she was to hear what everyone is doing for him. She was extremely grateful. She did give me Gavin's home address so I'll PM everyone that wanted to mail him something. I told her to warn his mom that some random packages will start arriving over the next couple of weeks :-) I also told her about the Death Star. She couldn't believe that either! $65 more until we reach our goal! She suggested that I wait until after the event is over tonight before making the purchase just in case he receives one. I will send her an email to see if he got one. He did receive some bigger sets, but not a Death Star from what I could tell. Here are some pictures from the event. I think this will be a birthday to remember :-)

That's because most people who are really successful at something don't need to tell everyone in a public forum exactly how much money they are making.

He talked me into it and I caved when he offered to pay for shipping. Here's what I get for $100:

While passing through.... K-Mart had Daily Bugle on clearance for $37 and additional 30% off. Picked up four. Also found Wal-Mart with $25 unexpected gatherings and $33 Goblin Kings. Really strange as I've never seen their clearance prices this low.

I don't think any bitterness is directly aimed at Iketart (or anyone else that scored $8 hearses), but more at Lego.com for canceling some orders (some presumably placed earlier, and most, significantly smaller) while filling other, larger orders. Another example of their inconsistent ordering process!

I wasn't surprised. Everytime someone brought the set up in conversation, I kept harping on about all the little details going for it but did anyone listen?

I'm listening to eBay staff in a seminar right now, and it appears that the "new" tracking requirement is that you upload the tracking number within your handling time, but the "scan" requirement for the USPS can be at ANY point along the delivery time between you and the buyer. I.e, if your post office misses doing an acceptance/departure scan and the item gets scanned two days later in the sorting center, or doesn't get scanned till it gets delivered, eBay is saying that will satisfy their requirement. I hope that's right, it is straight from the horse's mouth (the guy in charge of shipping metrics at eBay).

I see a few reasons: 1. Some people have online stores that benefit from a breadth of product line and use it as a differentiator. 2. Small sets are easier to buy since they're not as expensive. 3. There are very few large sets from Super Heroes, TMNT, Friends, Ninjago, Lord of the Rings and Hobbit sets, popular themes for most investors. 4. It's easier for small sets to earn strong ROI since their cost bases are smaller.

I was walking through Walmart for clearances, found nothing. i was about to leave but saw a worker returning a LEGO box to the shelf. the box looked different than anything else. He kept looking for a space for the LEGO but couldn't find it so just put it in an empty space. I quickly swooped in to look at it. It was the LEGO Batman - The Batmobile: Ultimate Collectors' Edition 7784. unbelievable! its 7 years old! the guy couldn't scan it and had to look it up $45. Question for members, the box is very beat up and there is scotch tape on the sides. the seals look in place. should i open it up to confirm it has everything or weigh it and see if it weighs what it should? would like to keep for investment.

tdw, you can specify that sets must be returned unopened and eBay will back you on that. Kids aren't going to wait to rip into their LEGO until Mom or Dad finds a sale after Christmas. The return bogeyman is nothing to be afraid of. A certain number of returns will happen, but most people are too honest, too lazy, or, most of all, just plain don't care enough to pull sparkly shenanigans with returns. The few who are a problem are a cost of doing business that can be added to all your other costs and split amongst all your customers. Any time you and your competitors are dealing with the same challenges, you have the opportunity to do as well as or better than they do, it just depends on your smarts and your willingness to find the best way. Its only when your competitors gain an actual advantage over you that you have to worry and pedal faster or think a lot harder or find a way to get an advantage over them. eBay is a level playing field among like sellers - the diamond sellers like TRU have their type of challenges, the top rated plus sellers another type, the riff raff yet another.

That's the crazy part. Instead of trying and failing to get cute with "ohhhh, this guy bought 4 of this over a 3 month period and has shifty eyes, he's clearly a reseller!" versus "Oh, 90 in this order? no problem, clearly wants to build a fleet of hearses for his handicapped children!" I wish LEGO would do the sane thing, like, for example, Amazon does, and just put a true and non-entrapment limit per sets, with or without the "refresh" a week or whenever to allow the same person to buy more. It's just the nuttiest system.

Wizard Battle! Who doesn't like a break dancing wizard?

Thanks for all the updates and your opinion frog. i'm not too concerned about this round of seller updates from ebay. The main bother is trying to keep up with them and adapting. I'm more excited to get my TRS back next month after losing it for 3 months over uploading tracking. Use vacation setting when going on vacation, doh!!

Funny how years ago I could get a pack of two baseplates (plain or road) together for five bucks. I don't know why they are this kind of expensive now other than Lego can and what can you do about it? Yeah I get it, inflation, economy, blah blah blah. Whatever. In any case, I wish there was a current option to purchase 16x32 baseplates outside of BrickLink. I can see those getting scarce in a couple years.

Some people like to hoard, with no intent to resell.

I'm guilty of low-balling people on ebay using best offer, as a buyer there really isn't any reason not to. The seller either counteroffers with the real price that they're willing to sell the item for, or they'll accept your lowball. I've made offers for some items at 50% off the BIN price that have been accepted, especially if an item has been sitting around for a month with no one buying or watching. Sometimes people just want to get rid of stuff.

i just received an amazon email stating my student rate increased by $10 to $49

We are up to $140 for the Death Star. That's incredible! If you would like to donate to the DS fund, please PM me with the amount you'd like to give. I'll coordinate everything once we hit our goal. In the meantime, I'll be heading to the event tonight to give him a set from our personal collection, meet the family, and try and gather some intel for what other kinds of sets he might need, want...or better yet, DREAM of having. Thanks to all who have pledged so far. Keep spreading the word out!

I like the 20$ donation as it allows for some nicer sets . Plz PM me you email. Thanks. It would be cool if it says donation for brickpicker instead of random strangers

I got the Vh covered

I started using it last month after DNIM kept singing it's praises. That and I was getting tired of all of the messages with offers anyway. I think it helps when you have someone that wants to buy a lot of items and they enjoy haggling the price down. I just make sure to bump up the initial price when I'm listing. Then there are always those surprise buyers that purchase the inflated priced item.

Darn it frog, I'm a doctor, not a rocket technician ;)

Hey, anyone who disagrees is free to opt out of TRS plus for November and December. For me as for many sellers those are my two best months, so I don't mind at all how many of my competition fear the 90 day window and give up their search position (and it's only 90 days if they buy on Nov. 1, it gets shorter and shorter as the season progresses). In fact, in retrospect, you're all right - the eBay return window is FATAL. Be sure to opt out of TRS plus.

Red flag deals is basically just run by deal hunters. It is updated frequently, basically as soon as someone catches a whiff of a deal. Sent from my iPod touch using Brickpicker

frog - I do agree with you that a lot of parents will be lazy or simply don't care about the money but as someone else has already said some parents will let the kids open the set they rx'd and then find it after xmas and send that item back to the ebay seller. Even lazy has a $ amount where hey that is worth my while. I am not normally a flipper so I am not impacted much by this but I will have to think about whether to opt in or out on any sets that I would flip in Nov and Dec (I'm currently leaning towards out on any potential flips). Who wants to sell the next minecraft which they paid $35 and sell it for $100 to return a month plus later when anyone can get it for the $35. How about an AS that sold for $100-200 over MSRP during the xmas craze? How many sellers would want those back if Lego made them available in Jan? The seller is out any potential profit and now has to sit on the set until it is retired or the price goes up due to another shortage. This should really cause a problem for the folks (game consoles, etc) where you are looking at $100s of dollars of a markup during the xmas craze. I think even lazy parents become less lazy when they can buy the item at a local store or even online in Jan and return it to the ebay seller and save quite a bit even after losing out on postage (to and from).

I like to offer free shipping. People like to think they are getting something throw in, even though nothing is free. I figure the cost of the farest ship. Cross country for me and with eBay global shipping is closer, to decide how much to add. Plus no one should complain I charge too much to ship.

There is no now I will see why you hate them....I still support the USPS we have been doing this 5 years and they literally have had a 99.9+ % success rate delivering our items and I appreciate their quickness and am amazed how they are able to accurately process so much everyday. that being said I feel you have some good points there customer service is most definitely lacking and of course they will lose damage or misplace packages. I wont start up the debate again just say for me it has been an absolute fantastic shipping option with an amazing success rate with over 15,000+ packages delivered. Ebay's updates are a different story and just always learn relearn adjust adapt. I like frogs points about how to look at it as an opportunity to outdo your competition. Good Luck All!

Got some bday money and blew it on: 1x 79014 Dol Guldur Battle (Azog!!!) 1x 79002 Wargs (Azog's puppy!!!) 2x 79011 Ambush (where is Beorn in bear form??? October maybe?) Have Unexpected Gathering and entire fellowship of the ring and bunch of Uruk-hai from Five Below ready to join forces in my new Detolf glass case from Ikea. Going to use some Mines of Moria walls with the Dol Guldur sets and Wargs to tease out Battle of the 5 Armies before There and Back Again sets come out. Gonna grab me that bear from Forest City set for Beorn till Hobbit sets come out in October...if they have a Beorn Bear. Was going to crack a Helms Deep for the Detolf case, but having second thoughts with its value rising and ??? about the October sets for final movie. Would clear a whole shelf out if one of the sets is Witch King and Fell beast or huge Smaug...Fingers crossed!

Nobody has claimed any of these so feel free to pledge what you can and post here. You guys are awesome! I'm giving him a Millennium Falcon. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I seem to remember a bunch of posts saying the Ucs b wing was a dud and would never make it back to MSRP. At $99 it was a no brainer.

River, use a scan form. You can get them to print whether you're using eBay shipping, PayPal, stamps.com, etc. It puts all your packages on one form so that the post office only has to scan one sheet of paper and everything is scanned. You need to use the bulk shipping feature of whatever postage system you're using, and the scan form will be an option.

Living by yourself in a house filled with cardboard boxes? I kid, I kid.

I disagree. Small timers who are smart and pick the right sets can still make a nice profit, regardless of whatever Mr. Tart does.

Yeap, emazers ain't says nothin... too busy laughing

You never know, maybe they realize he could be making a life-size hearse and needed 100 sets of the same pieces/colors. I know some of you are massive MOC builders. I'm afraid to show my wife the 6 I ordered (actually 4 are backordered or in iketart87's pile). If she came home to a wall of sets like that, I would need a hearse, preferably made of LEGO.

I hate this blizzard. I have been stuck doing schoolwork all day, when I wanted to go check Walmart and Target since school was cancelled today. Plus, there is too much snow. 12 inches already fell in about 10 hours and I was stuck shoveling all of it. The worst part is that there is still more on the way.

The way Lego handled it is my issue. If the cancellation email just said we are too dumb/lazy/stoned to figure this mess out so we are going to cancel all your orders and sell them at a later date, that would have at least been truthful.

No offense or hard feelings to the original poster (iketart) but this is a joke that someone can order nearly 100 units of anything without being a store. Iketart didn't do anything wrong. Cheers to him! Lego's system in-place is the joke, Talk about having a minor monopoly on VHs in the secondary market. Wish I didn't own 20 at $17 anymore.

Lego is always very fair and accurate when determining who is a reseller for the ban hammer. (I wish I had the guts to go for broke and order like that. I'm such a sissy.)

I have posted about Martian Manhunter several times already as have other members explaining who he is. And here I thought this was the Superheroes forum. That's what it says near the top.

The collective super hero knowledge on this forum = fail. Martian Manhunter in the "Marvel" game?

Crossed the line for me .. when the ups, fedex, usps guys start seeing each other everyday dropping package off at my doorstep and start to conversate with each other haha

Maybe it could help it but I think the Bwing 10227 is one that everyone is gonna be seriously punching themselves for not buying. I really wish I had picked up more. Its already back up to MSRP and is only gonna grow. 8 months on the open market. This one does look nice though for sure.

Chin up! We'll get through another round! Slow-moving parents of young children despise faster-moving parents of small children who get there first. Fast-moving parents of small children despise adult collectors who buy the last box on the shelf when they SHOULD leave it "for the children!" Collectors despise the collector/casual investor who buys TWO of a set (shocking! Just shocking! Even if they are the LAST TWO!!) and don't leave any for the purist collector. Collector/Casual Investors despise the Mid-Level Investor/Collector who don't leave any for them. Mid-Level Investor/Collectors despise the High-Level Investor/Reseller (often those counting on Lego for a significant amount or all of their income) who don't leave any for them. It's not "sick" for someone to buy more Lego than another person, or for them not to leave Lego on the shelf for the children, the parents, the purist collectors, the casual investors, the lazy, the stupid, or the weak. We're not talking bottled water in a hurricane here, we're talking a luxury toy. I won't call you whiny if you don't call me sick. Or, better yet, keep calling me sick all you want instead of taking steps to make sure you can compete with me on the fair and level playing field called "Open Hours" at the store selling Lego.