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We should steal Lego's blueprints for DS, so that they can't make no more...

Outside of the realm of fantasy and rank speculation, there is zero evidence to support the theory that this was an intentional ploy by TLG. You and a lot of the other conspiracy theorists around here are making the classic mistake of trying to figure out another person's intent at arms length by applying your world view to the situation. Keep in mind, TLG has gross revenues each year of over $3.5 billion. How many DS sets do you think sold in the days after it hit sold out status? Let's just say that retailers sold a total of 10,000 copies and that TLG sold each of those copies to those retailers at its standard wholesale discount of 30% (the number sold is almost certainly high and the wholesale discount that retailers like Amazon and Walmart command is likely low). Based on those numbers (which I admittedly pulled out of my butt), this ploy would have driven sales that represented approximately $2.8 million in revenue or less than 1/10 of 1% of TLG's annual revenue. I'm not sure if you've ever worked in a company whose business generates revenues in the same neighborhood as TLG's, but I have and I do currently, and I can tell you that I've never seen anyone waste time or resources playing stupid games like everyone seems to thinks TLG is playing with resellers here, particularly to have such an insignificant effect on corporate revenues. To assign intent to these recent events is to believe one's self to be far more important in the eyes of TLG than one actually is.

The six stages of DS investing... Complacency - I could be slowing building my inventory of 10188s but they take up a lot of space and I don't have the money to tie up. Panic - Oh crap 10188 is showing sold out! Lube up the CC, Ima' get 'em while they're hot! Denial - Listen, it's not coming back, 'Sold Out' is just a place holder until they mark it retired. It's like the exact same thing with different letters. Anger - WTF do they mean they're making more?? It's retired! I'm taking this s**t back! Depression - Lego investing really sucks, there's no big money anymore and what little I can make is gonna disappear when this bubble pops. Acceptance - I'm actually happy I got these 10188s. I can make some space at the bottom of my bed and just skip lunch for the next few months.

Luke has failed we need a true hero

yes

Completed the TB yesterday, took about 9 hours total. This set is very large when completed and looks amazing. I found this to be the most challenging/annoying build thus far....not because of the difficulty, but the sorting involved! Over 4000 pieces, and the bags were not numbered! I guess they didn't bother numbering bags for the older sets, there didn't seem to be much logic with the various pieces in the bags. Stopping every few minutes to look for that "one" piece was annoying. Here is a better pic.

I just picked up two MISB town halls at retail. Thank you fossilised Lego market of Namibia!

This is actually about a week or maybe two old now, so not 'built today' but built recently! I'd mentioned plans of doing this in a few other threads during the spring. Finally finished my first iteration. This is my modular Bike Shop & Cafe, comprised of 3 copies of the 31026, plus a tiny handful of extra bricks from my own collection. I googled other people's variations on this set, and I think mine came out quite unique; I was going for the older building look that fits the early 1900s (and other modulars) for the shops on the ground floor, but wanted to do a 'new reno' flat on the upper floor. I managed to keep a handful of the original set's features present on the ground floor, but went full custom on the next floor. The modernized hipster flat is complete with an eco-friendly green-roof, providing fresh produce for the chef next door at Chez Albert. One may also note the owner of the flat has purchased some of the abstract art from the painter that lives next door too... [did I go too far? lol] My images are too large to fit in one post... Edit: and now I can't upload any more? Guess this is all you get. I have a whole wack of shots of the inside, everything is fully furnished. Aw well.

So should I begin scouring local Targets for returned Death Stars marked 50% off?

Unleash reverse panic! http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Death-Star-10188 Out of stock, expected ship date Aug 09 2015

OMG! I think Lego did this on purpose. So people will be bankrupt once PR, PC, Tumbler and PS retire soon.

To add to this; "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. I find that I frequently need to remind myself of that quote. Anyone who works, or has worked, for a corporation should know that no matter how profitable a company is, or just how well oiled of a machine they appear to be... screw ups happen... more often than outsiders know.

up to 21 and have 4 more waiting at the walmart near my vacation destination. please stay sold out.

Fairground mixer. This set is an engineering marvel. There is a WOW factor that took me all the way back to Space Lock-up Isolation Base. If sleepers still exist, this may be it for 2015.

Perfect, except that after #5, you're supposed to loop back to #2 a few times before moving on to #6. It's sort of like Chutes & Ladders.

Research Institute.

Another case of a sold out reverting to something other than retired

The bigger problem is OP ordered from the seller's website and not eBay

It´s not a surprise now you´ve told everyone!

Watch, TLG will surprise us by retiring 3 modulars at once (PS, PC and PR).

Certainly, (b) is the more likely scenario, no argument there. But to dismiss the possibility that TLG is aware of and potentially exploiting the secondary market when it's useful seems a bit naive to me. If TLG has decided that they do in fact want to EOL DS and they still have 20,000 of them sitting in their warehouse (poor big business planning and all) they would want to move that inventory ASAP. Two ways to do that 1) have a sale or 2) create the impression they are already gone.

Bought the Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion today. Toys R Us markup up to $95. But used the 25% off coupon to get it down to $71. Then used my 20% off gift cards to get it down to $57. Forgot I had a $25 R Us Rewards, otherwise I would have gotten it cheaper.

You're in the what set did I build today thread... the answer is clear, build it!

i wonder how much you have to pay someone to say its an 8.0. and woo-hoooo anyway - its an 8. at this sales price point it seems sort of silly to have wasted your money on grading.

There is one fundamental flaw with this theory...by the time that a set hits "Sold Out" status at LEGO Shop at Home, TLG has already made all of the money that it is going to make on the set and does not gain any further direct benefit from the 1000s of units that are sold in the wake of the retirement. Once TLG sells a set at wholesale to a retailer like Amazon or Target or Walmart, it has already made its money on that set regardless of whether the set is sold to a consumer one week, one month, or one year later.

sold yesterday for $1025 + $99 shipping - bit of an anomaly with the grading but still...$1K http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Lego-Star-Wars-10221-SUPER-STAR-DESTROYER-Ultimate-Collector-Series-AFA-8-0-/331606693022?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d354c949e

These mechs are awesome. After discovering Mixels purely by chance, and then discovering people were building mechs out of these sets I had to have a crack at it myself. Unfortunately I'm a poor photographer

he means if you are reselling these down the road that the condition of the box will not drastically effect the value of the set.

Built the Shuttle Tydirium last week, and it's now my new favorite non-exclusive Star Wars kit. All it needed was a stand, so I bricklinked the parts I needed so the stand is as new and shiny as the rest of it. Beautiful kit for those of you (like me) who do not have the UCS version.

stop Raptor time...

Sales made last week on eBay (all prices include shipping): Creative Tower 1600 #10664 - sold for $95, paid $35 at Walmart Winter Soldier polybag - sold for $17, free promo at LEGO Shop at Home Jurassic World Gallimimus Trap polybag - sold for $12, free from Gamestop Series 2 Lunk Mixel #41510 - sold for $13, paid $5 Architecture Fallingwater #21005 - sold for $150, paid $90 City Helicopter Rescue #4429 - sold for $70, paid $12 Ant Man Final Battle #76039 - sold for $33, paid $15 Lego Movie Double Decker Couch #70818 - sold for $30, paid $11 Jurassic World Raptor Escape #75920 - sold for $70, paid $40

they say pictures are worth a thousand words, so I'll let this picture do the talking...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

That one is on my list! I completely ignored FM until I saw the FW and then suddenly had to have them. I think this will continue to happen after FM retires and FW is in stock. This series, even though the content isn't my thing, is incredible.

Grabbed a couple of Trevi Fountains when they were 33% off the EU price at amazon.uk earlier.

What did the listing on their website say for weight? They could have said it was 100lbs on eBay but you didn't buy it there so you haven't got much of a case unless the website listing was incorrect. Now, is there any chance the UPS shipping weight is showing a dimensional weight instead of an actual weight??

Well it doesn't really particularly matter. Why I chose that I don't know, but I mean, Sandcrawler has stickers, SSD had stickers, Slave 1, Helicarrier, DS, etc., etc. The point is, for a set of that caliber there should be more printed parts. And honestly, most of those sets I just listed, aren't really anything special with regards to the parts the could be printed vs. stickered. So why put the effort into making such a massive item and make new parts, colors, whatever, but them skimp out on the stickers?

The DS "sold out" last week shows that's not the case. The DS went sold out and within 48 hours all major retailers were out of stock. Now the status has changed to "Sold Out -- Just kidding, we're making more" and all those major retails that just sold through 1000's of units will now place orders for more. Thus, TLG gets more sales to retailers simply by faking "sold out" status.

My buy in is $96 USD. Still have the option to get more. I've been trying to push the price up to $190... whenever the lowest price is at $185ish, I will list mine at $190. Then 5 new sellers with quantity of 1-2 each will list theirs at $175!! I will sell another two or so at $188, then bump it up a bit until it reaches FBA level. As for RE sellers increased, that was due to Lego posted limited amount on its store again. Loved the panic to see the # of sellers went up double. Now lets hope RE reach the $100 mark and IR reach $225 by end of next week. Yes I agree, this is pretty fun!

Just left 2 RE's at Waterloo, NY WM they are at the customer service desk. I bought 4 already that's all the budget could handle for now. Also 7 or 8 Cantina's for $49 in the clearance section at the front of the store along with a BUNCH of other sets to match the current WM clearances.

So crazy it isn't a printed cockpit. UCS set, come on!

Lego Modular Candy Store with Kitchen Store by Elizabeth Nevermind

Record Store by SEBASTIAN-Z

no offense but any chance we can avoid turning this thread into a conversation about prequel vs OG like we all had read a million times before. there are no new points to prove. Thanks.

Where are you, we've got some work to do

This probably won't last long but hoth base lizard looks legit.... think they used the rubberized gallimimus from 30320

I respect your principles. What worries me as a seller, though, is that even if I decline an unsolicited offer, the buyer may purchase anyway and then hit me up for the discount again. That's where I get worried. He's already bought the item, so now he can try his hand at feedback extortion or worse. I've run into this scenario enough times that my general response to non-serious (ie very deep discount) offers is 'block and move on'. The chance of closing a deal with those guys is generally near zero, and unfortunately the chance of headaches is at least 50/50.

Absolutely. When I see people and their insta-block mentality, I just think "that's someone I don't want to do business with". You are driving away customers. How would you feel if Walmart flat-out banned you for asking about a bulk clearance discount, or a sketchy price match? Better yet, how about if your Lego B&M store kicks you out for asking for a break on a damaged box? Just about everyone is looking for a deal, and the definition of such need not be the same for both buyer and seller. Have a little tolerance. You nearly have a point, but don't make the mistake of assuming this person is calculating your profit margin in their head when they ask. That's not their problem. Maybe they just have a budget and a need and are hoping for the best. I had an older rare sealed star wars set listed last year and got a generic message asking if I would take barely over half the BIN price. Sure, I rolled my eyes, but then I made a short professional reply declining the offer. The story got interesting (and suspicious to me) when I was basically begged to reconsider by a 12 year old kid looking to spend all his birthday money on the one set he wanted most. Taking the story at face value, I replied again in a much more friendly manner, apologizing that I couldn't accept his offer, and suggested he search for used sets instead. Three days later I get notified his grandpa agreed to pay for the difference, and I got my full asking price and made a kid really happy with no hassle whatsoever. No need to jump to conclusions about who is a true fruitcake and who needs to be blocked from your "shut up and give me your money" business, people.