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My cosmic cubes say shipped. But the tracking doesn't show anything yet. We will see what comes. Hopefully its breast pumps since I can't ever use a damn coupon on them at TRU.

Thought I would share my first real investment set. I'm not bragging, just excited I was able to pick up a couple! (I do have 3 GE's for for later too but I'm not really counting those)

Damage claims? Do you know who you're talking to? Emazers laughs at taxes, customs, return policies and damage claims. He laughs right in their faces.

So here is how I am Boxing up My SSD and Death Stars. I am using the 24"x8"x20" Box that you get at Staples or Uline Bundles of 25.Put a few layers of paper or Bumble wrap, Put the SSD in the Box, I take the paper and pack it all around the sides, put a few layers on the Top and then I put a Fed,Post office flat box on the top. Seal the box up. The weight is 19 lbs, 10 oz. Simple job. "As for how much shipping is if mailed in the US. I Live in baltimore Zip Code 21220 and I checked Fedex Site for me mailing it to Zip Code 90017 in Cal. Fedex Ground was $33.69 now thats not including insurance. So thats pretty cheap for going from the East Coast to West Coast. Ed

build an internal skeleton / brace inside the shipping box using cardboard from spare boxes. place folded "L" shape pieces at the 4 corners and non-folded "-" pieces along the 4 sides and large "-" pieces in the bottom and top of the box). i have pics somewhere as this is how many of my MISB sets are always packed and shipped. also use that slightly twisted paper as packing material (or bubble wrap). A sturdy shipping box (despite the heavier weight) is also encourage

Shipping ssd shouldn't cost $80 and that includes insurance

All you haters get out of here. Kmart is shipping me Wolverine Choppers.

Lol Someone needs to count how many times that vid appeared on this thread alone My guess is at least 5 times, at least twice posted by yours truly

Got a package today. I have no idea what I ordered. Wife gave me a dirty look. Need her to go away so I can open my surprise. Feels like Christmas Update: Ssd ordered Saturday morning arrived today. Wow super fast shipping from tru. Box condition: mint as hell. They even put air bubbles in the pacakage. Honestly the box was close enough in surprised they put them in there. Overall: 9 out of 10

I would suggest taking a hard look at your inventory over the next month or so and sell off the sets that are not true "winners" during the Christmas season where you can at least make your money back on them. Everybody buys sets that they wish they didn't in retrospect and if they are just going to sit taking up space without any real growth in value then it's better to cut bait so you can use that space and money for sets that are winners.

big air bubble "pop" during transit more often than not with heavier sets.

http://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/retirement/at-96-dad-may-be-the-oldest-living-lego-builder-1.8121734

You convinced me, I'm going to retirement homes this week-end to preach how cool my legos are and how smart it would be to buy my Atlantis and Prince of Persia sets.

Honestly, I think this set is understocked by resellers and investors. I spent a year and a half telling people to buy this set and many blew me off. I would harp every time there was a Double or Triple VIP points to buy this or other large exclusive that wouldn't be discounted by other means. Many members would go and buy a Camper Van or Sopwith Camel instead. Talk about sets that are mass held.... One last point on the SSD. It was too costly for many to hoard. Don't let two months of up and down stock/inventory and rabid buying taint your view. We have no idea how many SSDs were produced in comparison to other sets, especially large ones. Many people said they bought them, but much of that is internet bravado. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

Seriously can't get enough of this picture right now!

Sounds cool. Hope they used lots of Kraggle

sounds like a good plan to me. My wife was the same way till she saw some money coming in, then of course more boxes followed , and so on and so forth .. It..will..never..end.

most people buying those expensive sets dont play with their Lego, they display them . I personally enjoy the build and the display. Rarely touch them after that .

It's already planned...

It's not hard to buy right before EOL. The signs are always there. I got plenty of SSDs and I had zero in June. I like the scramble.

Stopped by Raleigh lego story yesterday. They ran out first day. They expect more next week and plan on having plenty on 9/1. They did have one on display. Looks pretty cool. Too bad it's not a technic set though, steering and an engine would have really been nice. I'll start loading up in 3 years...

I wholeheartedly agree. I hate USPS with a passion. The only time I use them is when I ship out loose minifigures. It's no surprise that they're losing millions of dollars each year.

I have shipped 4 in the last month or so. Weighs 20lbs boxed with bubble wrap. Fedex as been around $32 for each one after the ebay discount. I took the first one to a ups store and it was $80. Never again.

Thanks for the advice. I'm thinking of packing all of mine now just to get it done with.

I have yet to come across a 100% minty fresh SSD box. There is usually a small dent or crease somewhere. The set is too large and heavy, and the box material is too thin. I will be stating up front in my listings that boxes are definitely not guaranteed to arrive mint.

This occurs with KMart a couple of times per year. They have website errors with older sets that surface after retirement. I forget the last set this happened with last yr (or was it earlier this yr) but everyone received a newer & different set than expected (even with pickups). It was one of those too good to be true deals. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

I agree with exciter. I have (and sold) MISB sets from mid-2000s and those box seals held up well even before I bought them. Tape is tape when it comes down to it and there isn't much you can do other than common sense. Keep out of the extreme heat, cold, light , etc... as much as possible, don't get them wet, stack sets properly, and never fed them after midnight. Honestly, I focus more effort on packing the sets properly for shipping. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

Great. I made 1.5x what I paid in profit after tax in less than 3 months. I know a lot of people are enamored with the high prices that these humongous exclusives fetch, but I hate dealing with them because they take up too much space, tie up too much capital, and carry too much transactional risk for my tastes.

It made sense for the Tower Bridge to retire once the Opera House arrived but here we are.

Yeah no doubt this is a heavily stocked item among resellers, I have 72 and am aiming to have 100 by November. It could well jump to around double RRP within six months of EOL with it sitting around that price for a year or so while the flippers offload. Either way this is an iconic set and is destined for greatness.

Good choice. I bet building Lego is a good way to enhance brain capabilities and to fight deterioration of braincells.

A bunch of random parts for the SDCC Batmobile. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

They will ultimately double in value the month after we decide to sell them. That's my luck anyway. I think we all agree the trains are the keepers, but I also looked at that the Colby City & Silver Mine and thought "man those look fun, to build or for kids to play with." Oh well, we shall see.

Wow! I didn't even know what the Brandenburg Gate was, but after you mentioned Berlin I decided to look through some photos I took last summer when I traveled through Europe....and here it is! Besides that, I've seen Empire State Building, Space Needle, Big Ben, and Trevi Fountain.

Thanks. The architecture sets are the wife's. Now the decision, to flip or hold? I think I will probably flip some to show the wife this whole lego thing can make money and put her mind ease, for little while. Then I'll prolly hold about ten. That kinda the plan at the moment anyways.

Thread needed a poll, so go back and add the places you've been Edit: Fixed it as you need to have answered both questions in a multi question poll, which was needed to fit in more than the 20 option limit.

Can you imagine trying to figure out what gray pieces go to which set?

"Choppers" shipped. I swear Kmart, if you really deliver some Choppers I might actually visit one of your fine retail locations.

lol I triggered the kmart "FraudDelay" notice. DNIIM, your move!

For hobby sellers, the most difficult part is meeting the "25 sales during Sep-Oct" requirement. To meet this, I typically unload minifigs and polybags during the requirement window. The requirement is for 'sales', but they don't need to be high value items, or even toys. Polybags are easy to store, pack, and ship, and one only needs 3-4 sales a week to meet the requirement. Even if I sell them for a small loss, I easily make it up through the price difference and volume gain during Nov and Dec compared to selling on other channels. If you don't have minifigs or polybags on hand for this year, plan ahead for next year. Target seasonal clearance and CMF boxes are a good steady source. Friends Animal polybags (which EE had on sale at 30% off earlier this week) are good too. [i miss the days when magnet figs were not glued to the magnets. When they went on sale, they were a home run for this purpose.]

Basically the entire LOTR and Hobbit line...

I like the new Smaug, but many on this forum don't agree with me. I think the Smaug maxifigure is one of the best of all time and that the set will be a nice investment if bought at a discount. If people look closely at it, they will see a quality item.

This is how we dealt with having three corner buildings.. A pedestrian corridor! The Parisian Restaurant will go next to the Fire Brigade. (We're in the planning stages of moving our city to a dedicated space in the basement which will allow us to get even more creative with the layout. We'll probably do a two-sided city and modify the subway to have stops at each end of the city.)

Now unless you are building one or buying a few to hopefully sell these on ebay for Christmas, you shouldn't be buying any, these should be out a solid 3 years, you should be buying,GE,HH,DS,Camper,Toert Bridge.

I am torn on this theme, I haven't gotten anything at less than 50% off, and a couple of the sets are really languishing on shelves (Colby City, Silver Mine specifically) - But the thing that strikes me is I think the sets are really GOOD. They are well designed, they look fun for kids, they are of course a rarity being a western theme... The flood of the sets still being out there hurts, but I think this will be surprisingly good performers in the long haul. I also am doubtful another Western theme will be coming out any time soon. This Christmas season will be very telling. I almost wonder the sets would be more popular if they weren't tied into TLR specifically, and were just a more generic western theme.

As a few of you may remember, I bought a used TB for $130 off eBay a while ago. I completed the build today, and I am thoroughly impressed. I estimated that I spent 9 hours on the build in total. Here are some pictures including a few from unusual angles that most people don't see. Completed build: Slightly odd for the road to be uneven, but neccessary for the bridge to fold. Problem can be easily fixed by adding a flat plate. Coolest part of the build in my opinion. I really like that the slopes and plates match up so well. Uniquely printed shield, one for each side. Very nice little display window. Another nice touch to the set: mini cars. It's amazing what you can build with 10-20 little bricks! It's interesting that Jamie Berard (designer of the TB) decided to change to a different construction of the side columns rather than using the cheese-slopes lined up. Personally, I would have preferred a standardized system across the board. Normal construction: Construction of the top layer: Bird's-eye view of the interior of one of the towers: Views of the underside of the blue overpass of the bridge: Underside of the bridge: View of the length of the entire bridge: Interior of one of the towers. I tried to fit my camera lense inside, but it is too big. This is the best I could manage: Panels that give the TB the columns for each tower are attached using a basic SNOT technique (Stud ******ot O****** Top): In the end, there were only 5 missing pieces that I couldn't fulfill with my own pieces: 3 1x1 tan flat bricks, and two 2x2 tan flat tiles. Not bad. I'll just message the seller to see if he can find them, and if not, free replacement bricks from Lego CS.

81 available....

Vampyre Castle, unless I'm being baited into a joke in which case I say Very Clever.