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Toys R Us has changed the conditions of their rewards program as of early 2015. These changes are not well documented on the TRU reward website and these changes are important if you wish to gain maximum value from their rewards program. Here's a short guide on these changes, how the program works, and how to gain maximum value from TRU rewards. 1) Sign up and point accrual. You need a TRU rewards account, its easy to sign up online or in person. Here's the link for on-line sign up. You get 1 reward point for each dollar spent, the equivalent of 4% back on your purchase. 2) Reward Amounts. Rewards are issued in $5 increments, and require 125 points for each $5, up to a maximum reward of $200 or 5000 points. You can set your desired reward level online here (you need to be logged in for this link to work). You can "bank" up to $200 in future rewards (5000 points) at this link. If you don't opt in to point banking (and you should), TRU issues rewards every 2 weeks in whatever value you've earned, if you have at least 500 points accrued. These rewards come by postal mail and are also posted in the "My Rewards" tab online. 3) Reward Restrictions. THIS IS IMPORTANT. TRU changed their reward program, and your reward certificate/coupon can ONLY be used to purchase a SINGLE ITEM ONLINE. You will want to carefully consider what value of coupon you want the certificate to be issued for. If your reward certificate is of value greater than your most expensive item, that item will show as $0.00 at checkout, but the remaining value of your certificate will be lost. At present, you should be able to use your reward certificate to purchase multiple items in store, but be sure to check before you use a certificate worth more than your most expensive item. 4) Rewards on demand. If you've opted into "points banking" above, you can have TRU issue a reward certificate instantly and any time by the "Create a Reward" link on the right side of the "Rewards Preferences" tab. You can issue your own reward in $5 increments up to your point balance at any time. It takes about 10 minutes for the reward to appear in your account under "My Rewards". 5) A flexible way to use rewards. Given #3 and 4, above, the easiest way to use rewards is to set a high reward level (I use the maximum, $200) and then just issue yourself certificates when you have the points using the procedure in step 4. As a bonus, this happens instantly. 6) Purchases. You use your certificate in person by scanning the coupon/certificate. You can also use it online by typing in the number during TRU checkout. If you have a balance remaining, you must pay that. Tax is ONLY charged against any balance remaining, not on the sale price of the item. 7) Percent-off coupons, Sale Prices, and rewards. Coupons and discounts work differently when also using a reward certificate. The reward value comes off the price of the item before any percent discount is applied. This means that percent-off coupons aren't nearly as valuable when cashing rewards, and will only apply to any remaining cash balance on your item. If a TRU item is on sale, your reward will be applied against the sale price. Carefully choose your item and make sure you know its price before completing your purchase. 8] Dollars-off coupons and rewards. Dollar-off coupons work just fine. Note, the minimum dollar amount for a coupon to work ($5 off a $25 or greater purchase) is applied to the item price after your reward coupon has been applied. 9) Reward Expiration. Reward coupons expire 60 days after you issue them. 10) Returns. THIS IS ALSO IMPORTANT. If you return an item purchased with a reward certificate, you forfeit the reward certificate and it will NOT be reissued. Choose your reward items carefully as you basically can't return them. 11) Double Rewards Points. If you use the TRU credit card, you receive double reward points on all purchases, the equivalent of 8% back. You can use your TRU credit card for partial payment during checkout, and still receive double points for your entire purchase. 12) Online and eBay purchases. TRU is pretty good about knowing who you are when purchasing both online and via eBay, and there purchases accrue reward points just like in person. If you're logged in, you can see all your purchases online at this link. That's it! Good luck in accruing and using points. Be sure to issue your certificate for close-to or less than the amount of the item you want, try to use a dollar off coupon, and know that the item basically can't be returned.

I ended up with 55 of them. I'll start selling them 3-4 years from now. Until then, I'm on a ramen noodle diet.

I don't usually buy City but...

As contradictory as this sounds, I'm loving the terrible 2's. The little guy is trying to make sentences and how things are starting to register with him like traffic lights, red is stop, green is go. I'm especially lovin' when he shows an interest in the hobbies I like. He'll bring his lego (Duplo) downstairs to build with me or he'll ask to go outside to play "hockey ball"! I've even been turning down the overtime at work to make sure I don't miss this part of life because I know the teens are right around the corner. Good times!

6857 Funhouse and 76013 steamroller bundle $139 shipped Set of mixels series 2 $85 shipped

My wife made this out of it for the kids.

One of my TRU shipments. This box was 20 x larger than a Unimog w/ zero air bubbles.

WHY DID I NEVER THINK OF THIS You just made my day.

I'm the sucker that paid 229 (minus red card and discounted gift card) for another R2 at 4:29 am CST. I promptly went back to sleep and dreamed of untold riches...

Keep those stacks down to 10 - 12 sets each or you'll have some flattened modulars at the bottom to deal with in 24 months. Also note that a large cat weighs about as much as two GE's, so keep the stack a bit on the short side if the top set will be serving as a feline lookout tower. Had to learn all this the hard way. Can't believe Lego doesn't put helpful warnings like this in place of the useless "Don't feed pieces of your Fire Brigade to any child three years of age or less"...

Spent all of my expiring SYW points on Kmart. I bought some City, Bionicle and Ninjago. None of these were for investments. They were all future gifts for my son. It felt great to buy something that was 100% gift and 0% investment. I can't wait to see the smile on his face when he opens these, or better yet, when he asks me how proud I am of him when he builds them on his own. (edit: spelling mistake)

Not that I can think of. Just make sure to fill out the paperwork.

Pretty sure Lego made one of these for every child on Earth :)

I'm planning to grab 10 myself. If I find more than that I will pick them up and offer them to other BP members at my cost + shipping if anyone is interested.

7965 Falcon for $230 + shipping Have 6 left, will hold out for higher numbers next time.

Why do people gather together and stay up until late on December 31st ? New year falls on January 1st year after year.

Why are people anxiously awaiting these retirement status updates? Do you need confirmation of what you've been able to see with your own eyes for months now?

I loved the box when I first bought one to build. I hated the box when I had to find room to store my investment.

Re selling price : I heard the same thing regarding 9493, 9515, 9500, 9492 and 7965.

Meijer is having 15% off general merchandise this weekend (3/13 - 3/14) when you use your Meijer credit card. This will stack with the already 25% off on this set. This is the time to stock up. Comes to $83+ tax each.

Individual pages for many sold out items have no details on them as of now, so perhaps we'll see the mass retirement today. e.***., http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Grand-Emporium-10211?fromListing=listing

If anyone is selling 9515s for a loss, they're doing it wrong.

Agreed. When I display unique figs that come with a helmet and hairpiece, I usually take a trans minifig head (or similar piece) and mount the helmet on that and have the fig hold the helmet. I am sure that is what I will do with this one.

Comic book store with Wil Wheaton.

Yeah, I quickly learned eBay and Bricklink sellers don't budge on this set I was lucky (that someone owed me a favor) to get me this set especially with it's authenticate printed tile which more than makes up for the box condition. Plus the manual is in excellent shape. All said and done, everything cost $115 with postage.

Guys and girls, I cleaned up this thread. Some posts were edited and deleted. The original poster created a thread and even posted an offensive language acronym.. Some folks replied with suggestions while others didn't. Let's move on. Also.. REMNDER.... Ed and Jeff DO NOT ALLOW BUYING / SELLING solicitation on the forums. Those posts were also removed.

They'll let you order them anytime... Whether they fulfill the order or ban you is the real question. Only one way to find out! *edit... *OR* ... le sigh*

I think the set is a poor investment. I mean it hasn't even hit $1000 and it's been like 3 or 4 months. Jeez Louise!

Wait, so you're saying that the release of a movie will increase interest in movie-related merchandise?

There was a brief(ish) moment that some members were getting under my skin but I've done a lot of thinking and realized how awesome this entire community is and my attitude was not reflective of how I feel about this forum and it's members. I'm good now!

Inspiration: https://www.google.com/search?q=cardboard+box+structures&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=saEAVd-vC6ieywPxtIKwBw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=1075

^ Scenario 5 has been in placed for quite a while. Reward certificates are always applied first. So be careful when using them with $x off $y coupons or the free poly with $y purchase offers. Even when the coupons are scanned first, the system will still give priority to rewards bucks. At least in my experience

That's really helpful. I am more concerned about No. 7 and No. 8. I set examples and please correct me if I am wrong: Scenario 1: What I want to buy: 1 x excavator 42006 @ $100 each What I have: $50 value reward certificate + 20% off coupon What I pay out of my pocket: ($100-$50 certificate) x 80% = $40 Scenario 2: What I want to buy: 1 x excavator 42006 @ $80 onsale (normal price is $100) What I have: $50 value reward certificate What I pay out of my pocket: ($80-$50 certificate) = $30 Scenario 3: What I want to buy: 1 x excavator 42006 @ $100 each and 1 x Sw @ 70 each What I have: $50 value reward certificate and BOGO 40% off coupon What I pay out of my pocket: ($100 - $50 cerficate) + ($70 x 60%) = $50 + $42 = $92 Scenario 4: What I want to buy: 1 x excavator 42006 @ $100 What I have: $50 value reward certificate and $10 off $40 coupon What I pay out of my pocket: ($100-$50 certificate) -$10 = $40 Scenario 5: What I want to buy: 1 x SW @ 70 What I have: $50 value reward certificate and $10 off $40 coupon What I pay out of my pocket: ($70-$50 certificate) = $20 Note: $10 off $40 coupon doesn't applied anymore since the price is below $40 after you apply the certificate (not quite sure about this?)

I just looked up your purchase on eBay. It says your seller is in Vietnam...

I can't vouch for undercover boss, but here are 47 of my 55. His tower o' rollers should be twice as tall as mine if he has 100. I love this set at 50%.

I think I'm one of the only people around here that like this version better than the old sail barge. The angled front section is actually more screen accurate than the old version, look at the movie stills again. It wasn't done to hide the cannon. The cannon was added because Lego seems to have a quota of "shootable things" in sets now. People like the old version because its a bit bigger and has a smoother angle to it, but it's not as accurate. I'm holding off on buying these for investment. I bought a lot of JPs, so not much money left over to put into this set. I like both, but I liked JP more as an investment because it's unique and will most likely never be remade again.

It's back, I grabbed one. I haven't seen one in the shops recently probably due to being "Sold Out".

60052 AWD for $128.

Rumor coming from the same source behind the UCS Helicarrier, The Kwik-E-Mart, and UCS TIE Fighter is now saying each of the upcoming Ideas sets for Big Bang Theory and Doctor Who will retail $109 NZD which is roughly $80 US making these the most expensive sets under the line. I'm not too keen on $80 but hopefully either design will merit the amount and not just licensing. Also a rumor of release dates around October or November this year. Source: 1 2

This was what I meant by my statement.

Ok I see how you actually asked a question and were hoping for an answer instead of discussing your investment strategy, fair enough. I don't think you should conclude too much about the community here from that though, from what I've read people weren't overly judgmental but simply went a bit off topic. Now to answer your question: If you look at your brickfolio, the current prices are more meaningful than MSRP or what you paid for. When it comes to selling, it doesn't matter at all how much it once cost but just how much it is worth today. Obviously, if you intend to dump it quickly, you won't get what's listet as current value, but rather a percentage of that. How much depends on how exactly you are dumping it. I don't know how fast exactly you want to get rid of it and how much time you are willing to spend. Here's what I would do if I would try to dump everything: First, you should find some good threshold for how much a set should be selling for in order to be shipped individually, I would recommend $30-40. Anything lower than that needs to be sold in bulk somehow. Now for the sets above that threshold, look at the physical dimensions. Find out what box size would fit all or at least most of all sets and buy as many boxes as you have sets that fit them, along with filling material. These things can also be ordered online easily. And then, start packing these sets, so that they are 90% ready to be shipped. Now you could put everything up on eBay, if you want to make sure that it gets sold, auction it starting for $1, let all your actions end Sunday evening. Streamline your payment process. Paypal makes your life easier, I wouldn't hesitate to accept PP exclusively. Up next, streamline your shipment process. Have an easy way to label all those boxes with the corresponding recipients. Then bring all those sold items to the pick up place (e.***. post office), depending on how far that is, you definitely want to avoid individual trips but at the same time, you need to wait until everyone paid on PP for one shipment batch. For sets below that threshold, make smart bundles, aimed at other investors. Put them up on a place that's more suitable for re-selling like BC. Price these bundles competitively and they will sell, but expect making losses for sets that don't have a promising future. You will need to find a buyer that is planning to brick them on BL or is willing to go through the micro management of selling them individually.

I've sold a used 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer (1195

i do believe accidentally buying something is an ailment exclusive to wives...

Great thread and a reality-check for formulating an investment strategy... Big, expensive, proven lines (mods, UCS, etc.) really are not that exciting to acquire. But they pay. And less folks hold them as entry-costs are high. And demand will always drive their price in the right direction. The problem is.... Buying (for example) four hundred bucks a month in 2-3 next-to-eol large sets is, well... boring. Two clicks on Amazon and it's over. Lather, rinse, repeat next paycheck. All done on-line in three minutes. Not very thrilling. But the same four hundred can be a blast to spend, considering the thrill of finding epically discounted sets that are long retired- or very near it- in obscure locations. Acquisitions of this type feel like an adventure, and large discounts are deceptively appealing. It really is fun to stumble on deeply bargained or long-retired sets. Sadly.... The less fun strategy typically would have paid a lot more. A $5,000 miscellaneous "bargain" inventory of low-demand sets acquired over unimaginable trips and hours spent to collect them risks never seeing a return. Think of the fuel costs, selling fees, etc. Had the same 5K been spent on, say, the next-to-eol modular- and that single set alone even purchased at or near MSRP- expect investor/collector demand, ROI, and potentially a lot of it. As an investor, $5,000 of hodge-podge is completely unappealing. However, $5,000 of the GE alone, or SSD alone, or R2 or AA or TH or any other set that will have future demand- let's talk business. I would gladly negotiate and find a win-win situation for someone that needed to liquidate $5k of a single set that is a Winning set. I don't want to sort through a mountain of clutter as an investor. But tell me you have 12 SSD's and are looking to liquidate the lot as a whole... Now you're cooking with oil. Regardless of your strategy... Post your deals and use affiliate links through this site. Do your buying/selling through the brick trader channels right here. The most knowledgeable, qualified, and respected Lego investors have chosen Brick Picker as their home.

So jealous of you Meijer folk.

It did wonders for Prince of Persia and The Lone Ranger!

In the US, not saying world wide, but December 18, 2015, the movie screen opens and the opening black screen with the standard Star Wars opening theme music and the Episode VII text title screen comes up. That is all that is needed to vault this set and many other retired Star Wars sets up up and away. The quality of the movie does not matter. It will be good enough. I hope it is a home run. But that date, that music, that opening text title screen and I think we will see significant valuation moves in the two weeks following. Mark this post. Come back and tell me I was spot on or to go hide behind the chair in the back of the theater on December 31st. I think I will be spot on.

Yeah 30 til cancelled with make offer is what I use for anything over $50. Under $50 I dont add the make offer part. I normally add 10% to my price when I have the best offer available. Some people get a real kick out of saving a buck with the best offer but most of the time I get that extra 10%. One last thing if you have a lot of the same item dont list all of them at once. Keep the quantity low as people seem to pay more for an item when they think they might miss out on the deal.

The paint on the pilot isn't just random. It's Black 3, Vader's wingman during the trench run. I am digging the TIE and will definitely be getting one on day one.

Keep money from your "business" and your household seperate. However you financed your startup...you have more than enough to work with. ALWAYS put your initial capital and profits back into your business. Resist "taking profits" for at least 18 months. If you are in a situation where your present inventory is going to stagnate, consider selling off some inventory at hopefully break even. Be patient, make good purchases with at least minimal profit built-in. Some recent items from Brickpicker posted last month: Horizon Express - 92.00, Kings Castle - 99.00 and Research Institute still shows up from time to time. Any heartache and losses are part of "Going to School". Get to the point of having a quality rotating inventory to create the CASH to pay for deals when they are available. Resist credit card debt.