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Welcome to Lego Investing. I have been in this game since the 1990's and my prime years were from about 2004-2007. All I can tell you from all my years of collecting and ebaying is that there is no guarantee, but the large lego sets are the closest thing to a guarantee as you can get. While not every Large set is a home run, you are pretty much guaranteed to NOT lose money, which is more than you could say than any other investment. Legovesting has become increasingly popular in the last 3 years, making it more difficult to make money as fast, and Ebay fees and the post office are continuing to cut into profits heavily, but you can still make good money. Just not as much and as fast as the mid 2000's. There are many naysayers on this forum about the Tumbler and they have their reasons. I personally believe this is as sure a bet as any due to the fact that despite what many people on this forum state, the interest for this set is VERY HIGH. It has more reviews than almost any other UCS set that was out for only 16 months, and has been a consistent top seller on Amazon since it has been out. While more interest drives more people to hoard, there is only so much supply out there, and this was hoarded less than many of the other sets out there. While the extra couple hundred resellers that picked up the set to resell will cause this set to take longer to sell out at lower price points, once it does, it will rise higher than the average 200 dollar set. Right now there are only 78 resellers for this item on Amazon. That is much less than Red Five, DS or many other UCS level sets. The set is already up to 300+shipping on Amazon which again is higher than Red Five or any other set retired in the last several months, and it's only been sold out a week, and there is even a small trickle of supply likely secondary to returns. The set was only available for about 16 months before retirement which is about 8-12 months less than the average UCS Set, again decreasing supply. People state Batman is not a "popular" commodity or as popular as Star Wars or Jurassic Park. While it is not at the level of Star Wars, it is very high. Batman has been popular in a tv format since the 60's and more popular in comics for lord knows how long. Batman has had 7 and soon to be 8 movies made, and will continue to have movies made. Batman will always be at the forefront of people's minds. People state that the Nolan Batman trilogy's time has come and gone, and thus interest in the Tumbler will die. Well look at the Delorean!!! Hasn't had any reason to be on the forefront of people's minds in 20 years except it was the 30th anniversary recently and people are paying 150 for some dinky little car that doesn't even look like the real thing. People state that no one will want to buy a Lego model of a car featured in only 2 Movies. Again, I point to the Delorean. The Millenium Falcon is only in 4 movies! The Super Star Destroyer in just one. The Nolan Trilogy is one of the definitive trilogies of the 2000's and is revered. It was a box office monster. The Heath Ledger Joker is one of the most legendary performances of all time. Batman, and especially The Dark Knight is HIGHLY RELEVANT and POPULAR. Especially among the crowd that can afford a 300 dollar lego set. This set will do well. How well is the only question. Lego investing is one of the safest investments out there because the number of Lego fans, unlike almost any other toy out there, will always continue to grow. Lego is not a Fad. It is not a beanie baby or a furby. It is a time honored toy, in which a lego from 1950 will still interact with a lego from 2016 the same. Lego never dates. While building techniques improve, (just look at the early X wings and first Star Wars sets, which I bought all of them when they were first release in 1998) a Lego from 50 years ago still functions the same as a lego today. With a constantly growing fan base, there is a constant stream of people who are becoming new to lego. With a constant influx of new Lego fans, there is a constant stream of AFOL's. Lego has always been a "higher" end toy as the prices for legos are higher than an average toy of the same size. Because of this it is a toy that tends to skew more toward the "upper" and "upper middle" class. Because of this, there are always children who grew up with Lego's that have a high likelihood of making a good salary. This leads to more AFOL's who when they start earning those salaries want to capture the magic of their youth, and also share it with their children. They then buy the sets they couldn't afford as a child, and then further the resale market. For many of these people, they will pay whatever it takes to get what they want. Lego is one of the most unique toys out there and it's ability to withstand depressions and stock market crashes makes it one of the safest investments out there.

figured it was you...

That's a great link right above, lets revive this forum a little BPs! if you got your money on bundle #5, you may just be getting my bricks too anyway, as cheap as I am, as lazy, as....as NOT-participating-in-SH.T as I am, I'm going to make a little version of Mos_Eisley $-4-likes idea, give this post 10 likes and I'll spend $10 on raffle ticket, up to 50 likes/$50! Let's go. (I'll pay on last day of the raffle Ed) And on the side, buy some tix too! Plus like Mos_Eisley post that I provided...

Spent my ebay bucks on this giant thing! Good times building it, took about 8-9 hours and it's cool to see the thing taking shape as it's coming together. Highlights for me were the micro scale vehicles and quinjets for the deck.

You need to advertise the raffle as "retiring soon"...

well then I'm gonna stay on topic for once...

I started this thread so that all of the Tumbler condition chatter can be centralized into one thread, where it will hopefully not be read because... well people really don't care. Thanks P.S. I have 10 Tumblers. Some are dinged up, but I have two of them that are in A+ mint condition that I polish daily.

Alright, I'm selling likes! I've already bought some raffle tickets, but just for fun, for every "like" this post gets from members who joined before the time of this posting, I'll spend an equal amount on more tickets, up to $250. If it gets beyond that, I'll figure out how much more I'll spend. Let's set a like record!

Removed coupon link - it is invalid try this

That's some serious tumbling.

Target online item return Architecture Studio. 111.89 instead of 159.99 Perfect seals.

I was so happy to snag a Tumbler from Target before the price shoots up... Then it arrived today in a giant box without a single shred of packing materials. All corners are crushed and there's a ding in the top edge. At least my girls can make a new space ship out of the box. I won't risk returning it.

Welcome to Week 3 of the Top 10 Best Selling LEGO sets as listed by LEGO S@H. How does this Blog work? While the LEGO Shop at Home best sellers list is updated weekly, we will be updating it every Wednesday. The list includes only sets. Minifigures, keychains, Pick a Brick and other products are excluded. If not enough sets are listed on the S@H Best Sellers page, the weekly entry could be shorter than 10 sets. I will comment only on those sets that are new to the list, or that for whatever reason may stand out on a particular week. For example, if a set has been on the list for 10 weeks in a row, then it may warrant a comment or two. I am keeping an Excel spreadsheet with each set that appears on the list, its weekly placing (if any) and the total number of weeks that it has been on the list. I will try to publish it for the first time in one of the next few entries. For now, this is a US based best sellers list. I am still trying to figure out how to do other regions. Pretty simple! Note for this week: The Top 25 Sellers page in LEGO S@H is filled with non-sets this week. As a result, this week's list will be shorter; there are just not enough sets to fill a complete Top 10. Now that we got that out of the way, let's take a look at this week's Top 10. Top 10 (7!) Best Selling Sets (LEGO S@H) #1: 40201 Valentines Cupid Dog - Previous Week: #1 - Buy Now! #2: 10251 Brick Bank - Previous Week: #2 - Buy Now! #3: 75827 Firehouse Headquarters - Previous Week: #3 - Buy Now! #4: 75105 Millennium Falcon - Previous Week: #4 - Buy Now! #5: 75102 Poe's X-Wing - Previous Week: #7 - Buy Now! #6: 31027 Blue Racer - Previous Week: N/A - Buy Now! So, this one is a surprise. I truly can't figure out why these small Creator set managed to make it to the list this week. Sure, it is a nice little model for only $5, but unless people are buying it along with a larger set I really don't see why it is so popular. Especially online! #7: 60036 Arctic Base Camp - Previous Week: N/A - Buy Now! The Arctic Base Camp is the larger (by piece count) of the CITY Arctic themed sets, so it isn't really a surprise to see it on the list considering LEGO slapped a 30% discount on it. This set, along with the Icebreaker ship, received pretty good praise from some forum members as well. Well, this week was a short one! Not really that many movers in the Top 5! As always, feel free to leave your views and suggestions in the comments section below! Thanks for reading. View full blog article

Here is the coupon images. I'm not sure why it changes to 20% with the export to Passport (iOS) vs 15% if printed or if exported to Google Wallet. I'm putting both up. T&C state that the coupon is as good on the phone as it is printed. Removed coupon link - it is invalid

That box has a monty python and the holy grail feel to it.

So beware of any new forum members from Berkshire that write trunk instead of boot and line instead of queue.

Languages: American LOL Only if I get staff discount and exemption from any rules deemed unreasonable.

I think the last guy started selling LEGO after reading the latest news.

http://www.lego.com/en-us/careers/jobdescriptionpage?title=E-commerce+Fraud+Assistant&id=53573722 Interesting job opportunity...

I do like what I am seeing on Ebay and bricklink - min. price 980 euros and 850 respectively and number of listings gradually coming down.

Here is an article about the school and fundraising efforts from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Only my third post on these forums, and just wanted to commend you on your effort. Just bought my tickets last night, which makes me supporter #426. However much you raise, I think what you guys are doing is awesome! I remember when we had to raise money for our school every year, my mother would go around and sell cookies to her colleagues at work so that we wouldn't have to do it ourselves in our neighborhood. And she did this every year for 12 years! Hopefully, everyone is procrastinating like me. Best of luck!

Very welcome. You and your brother really do a great job with this site. Glad to be a part of the site and your fundraiser.

Tomorrow (friday 22.01) interspar.at will have a lego deal with 20% off.the code is 616lego0515 and it also applies to already discouted sets. Perhaps the 5euro newsletter coupon will also work. E.g. The arocs will be there for 127,70E included shipping to germany

enough for what...? [emoji53]

Finally got my donation in. Sorry for the delay. Been meaning to for a while now. The badges all the donators had were a nice reminder (not that you haven't done an excellent job posting it everywhere).

Sold a set of 12 (1 & 2) for $199.99 + shipping this morning. Buy in was about half that

Even that is not true, or at least not without digging into every listing. Ebay reports the final price as sold, even if that final price was for a 2nd/3rd/4th quantity item that never sold. So if I list qty=2 of a set and ask $100, the first one will show as sold $100. If after selling the first one I raise my price to $1000, and then end the listing, it will show up in ebay sold listings as sold for $1000.

Galeria Sunday Sale is this week -13% on Lego City and -20% on Lego Duplo. It should stack with the PaybackCoupons, that worked last time. (Possible Couponcodes are:Vorteil2187, Vorteil7927, Vorteil2186,Vorteil2851) Newsletter coupon didn't work the last weeks, so I don't think it will work this time.

I got one for €50 last year. One that will either some day (when it's finally not sold in retail stores any longer) rise in value enough to be interesting to sell it, or if not I'll just give it to my daughter as a birthday present or something. She's 6 now, so I still have 1-3 years before she'd feel too old for it.

Something you might consider having a go at Grav, would be to sell as open box sealed bags. You can open and flatten the box, and tuck all the sealed bags into a mailer. Most people are army building and intend to open the box anyway, so selling open box or even no box shouldn't be that difficult... especially when you can cut the shipping in half (US buyers) or a quarter (Canadian buyers). I've only listed a couple, but I've sold just the figures for ~$20 + $2.5 shipping. I have bricks leftover for MOCing or bundling together later, and I'm already in the black with a good buy-in like the BOGO offered last week! Definitely comes down to your buy in cost though, and the worthwhile value of it after that number has been recovered. As with anything on here I guess.

I'm not a power user yet (as I just haven't had the time), but I *just* found out about this. I'd seen the banner a few times but it just didn't catch my attention as it seemed like random publicity... Also not a fan of the vid used for the raising of the funds, but it's *definitely* something that everyone using this site should do. BP is a great site even for lite users.... I'd simply suggest to Ed that the banner be more attractive and focused on the raffle.. and Lego. Idk, different colors maybe? I'm definitely in. Good luck! - David

Doesn't matter if they are smashed or not -- they sell for the same on ebay and amazon. "May show shelfwear" -- I've never ever had a problem or a return. Im not a collector - just a seller.

Good idea. Now we just need a mod to move 2/3 of The Tumbler thread into this one. I polish my mint Tumblers twice a day, by the way.

Have you seen my mansion?

i see the awards are back... i demand ask for a Thor badge

So, you've stumbled across brickpicker.com and are overwhelmed by the number of different threads, blogs and sets. First, welcome to this community. Lots of users will happily welcome you, others, maybe no so much. Especially if you populate different threads with a variation on 'what should I buy' or 'is this a good set to invest in'? I'd argue both of these questions (other than gifs and sarcastic rejoinders) form the basis of every single thread, so instead of asking about a particular set, check out the thread dedicated to that set and start at the beginning. I can almost guarantee that some posters like it (some will even give logical reasons why) as an investment and some posters don't (also, sometimes logical). It is your job to weigh these pros and cons and decide where your opinion rests. You, of course, are free to post questions like the two mentioned above, but the answer will probably just be rehash of things already mentioned in the thread earlier. That, and forum members may be slightly less inclined to be helpful if they feel you posted it because you are too lazy to go back and read the whole thread. They might even be sarcastic/mean about it. A tidbit of Advice If you've read the thread and still want advice, at least try to be specific. Perhaps state the price and quantity you are considering and your ideal hold time. I bet a post that asks a question in this manner will be much better received. I know I'd probably answer this question with a little more insight and help than I would otherwise offer. Now, that is for a single set which has a dedicated thread. What if you are a new investor/collector/browser or Lego aficionado and you want to ask about several sets at once? I offer you this, a shopping list of what you should be buying today (according to me). I am looking for these same sets for one reason: they are either sold out or retired from either the Europe or North America shop at home and I believe they aren't coming back. I also believe that they have some potential, and carry a very low risk because they are becoming harder to find at MSRP or on sale anywhere. That isn't to say they can't be found – some might be found quite online still, depending on your market. Others might be in store only, so this shopping list is a handy thing to check when out with the family browsing retailers and trying to kill time. Veegs' Awesome Quick Guide of the Best Hopefully Soon to be Officially Retired or Already Retired in Some Markets Lego Shopping List. (Items may come back into stock. Not an official guarantee. Veegs is not responsible for your investment choices. Success rate may vary wildly.) Architecture: A nice range for all budgets! This line is one of my favorites, and I think the new Cityscapes, while neat, aren't as desirable as the standalone sets, which will hopefully push demand for older sets. Availability in Canada isn't great, but I think Barnes and Noble in the US still have some of these (your area may vary). No clue about Europe or other markets, but I'd keep my eyes peeled for any of these. Imperial Hotel 21017 Villa Savoye 21014 United Nations Headquarters 21018 Bradenburg Gate 21011 Leaning Tower of Pisa 21015 Seattle Space Needle 21003 At this point, I'm a buyer of any/all of these at MSRP CITY: Quite a few City sets qualify for my list, but these are two I particularly like. The Ice Breaker was a Toys R Us exclusive (at least in Canada) and boats are, in short, awesome. The Snowplow is pretty cool, and there is no remake (yet) on the horizon. Could this be the next Logging Truck? (I bought a lot of them...still not enough) Unique City sets often do well, and despite the constant police/fire sets, the themes overall CAGR% is rock solid, so there is money to be made on this theme with the right sets. I'd include Coast Guard Patrol 60014, too, if you can still find it. Arctic Ice Breaker 60062 Snowplow Truck 60083 Disney Princess: I am a huge Princess fan. I think this theme is on the cusp of doing some great things for investors, and have a separate blog in progress. For now, though, I think this is the best pick of the four that meet the sold out/retired criteria. Only Rapunzel set so far (minus a 2014 polybag) and a massive fan base (including my daughter). Disney toy collectors are out there (my daughter watches so many Disney un-boxing videos and such...I experience it first hand) and I doubt we're getting another Rapunzel set anytime soon or a remake – rumors have Belle coming this summer. I love this set. Rapunzel's Creativity Tower 41054 Friends: Quite a few others on the sold out/retired list but I gravitate towards these two. The Mall is a good anchor set for any town, and the last large Friends set to retire (Riding Camp) did well. I think this will do just fine in 12-18 months. I opted for the Beach House over a couple other mid-sized sets because Heartlake seems to have a boatload of stores but not that many houses. The new Emma's House and Livi's Mansion (although the mansion seems smaller than Emma's house?) bring some balance, but I think this set is one folks will pay double MSRP for to add to their collection. Heartlake Shopping Mall 41058 Stephanie's Beach House 41037 Ideas: Gorgeous set, and the growth in the European market has me believing in this set more every day. From the dedicated thread for this set I know folks are still able to find this in North America and use coupons or other magic to get it on sale. Your skill level and experience may dictate that, but I still think it is a great set at MSRP. Birds 21301 Pirates: Short run for a theme, and this is the flagship of the line. Still floating around at MSRP in Canada, but plenty got in on sale recently. I suspect if it is available around you, you can probably wait and get it on sale. Unlike others on this list, I'd prefer this at least 20% off before going nuts. The Brick Bounty 70413 Marvel: I was going to include Guardians of the Galaxy but I've already discussed those sets here: Ant-Man is growing like Wolverine's Chopper Showdown did and should be sought out in your region and purchased. Easy to store and probably easy to ship, great set for a brand new investor to track down and buy. Check recent sold listings on eBay to see what I'm talking about! Ant-Man Final Battle 76039 Star Wars: These will be the hardest to find, even at full retail price. In case you didn't know, a new Star Wars movie came out in December 2015!!! There are a few others I'd throw on this list, too, but I think these four are the best of the recently sold out/retired lot. At least in the North American market. Imperial Star Destroyer 75055 AT-AT 75054 MTT 75058 Mos Eisley Cantina 75052 The Hobbit: Stragglers are still out there from the third wave. It had the shortest run that I can remember from any/all of the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit waves and scarcity drives demand. Impressive sold listings for Lonely Mountain and Mirkwood Elves so I'd snap up remaining stock of this final wave. Unlikely to ever be made again and a huge fan base, coupled with the fact that there are no decent Medieval sets on the horizon (I'm not counting Nexo Knights, people!) There are many other sets that fit my criteria (sold out or retired in at least one market) but I think these are your best bets, even at MSRP. That being said, I happily nabbed plenty of sets not on this list but at a discount. Obviously, if the set is sold out/retired and you can get it for clearance prices, you probably don't need me to tell you to consider it (unless it is Ninjago, The Lego Movie or Chima, then consider longer...still might not be a great buy in) and probably nab it. Remember items marked clearance probably won't be in that store when you come back, so don't hesitate too long. Do a quick check of Brickpicker values or a scan of recent sold items on eBay, and if you see it trading significantly above the clearance price I'd probably advise pulling out the plastic and buying. Also, as per my exclusives 2016 article, no need for a new investor to start throwing money at exclusives! I doubt we're getting a surprise winter/spring retirement of a bunch of huge sets (sarcasm – I expect zero, maybe one Star Wars set around May the 4th) so put your money into sets that are already primed for post-EOL growth. Probably the safest place to put cash, and you can get your feet wet selling some of the sets on this list tomorrow (Ant Man, for example) or in a few months. I daresay all of the sets on my list will be able to be sold for a decent profit in 9-10 months. Low risk, short hold time (if needed, most will benefit from longer holds before plateauing but nothing wrong with cashing out sometimes) and good to great upside. Winner, winner, buy BigBlueDogBricks a chicken dinner. All photos courtesy of brickpicker.com, opted for one per theme discussed otherwise I felt it would be a little too picture-happy. Happy Hunting, Veegs View full blog article

Funny, someone is selling that very same one on ebay.fr right now. http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-Ultimate-Collectors-Millennium-Falcon-10179-1st-edition-set-/111468646511

The person who bought it a year ago at 20% probably had little idea what they were doing, though. With Technic either buy early very cheap or sit it out till the last quarter before retirement - amazon had them for 35% off for a whole month late last year so you can have your cake and eat it.

Tons on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1.A0.H0.Xlego+maersk+sticker.TRS0&_nkw=lego+maersk+stickers&_sacat=0

Better to just leave original stickers unused, then buy custom stickers online to give it a more interesting, real life look. Plenty of choices on ebay.

Just a point re: The obviousness of The Lego Movie being "a kids' movie," and not for adults... There are very, very few modern wide-release "kids' movies," esp. with a $60,000,000 budget. Restore a brand from yesteryear in the hopes of capturing identification from post-13 viewers ('15 ex: Alvin & Chipmunks [win,] Pan [lose] ) or elongate a successful 21-min format brand ('15 ex: Spongebob [win]) are the two en vogue pitches... 99% of "kids-only" long-format media is direct to shelf. Movies like The Lego Movie may seem like a sure thing in retrospect, but it wasn't. Pan lost $80MM this year with huge brand recognition, Hugh Jackman, and a recognizable young star. Even if you kill it with script & story, you have to get people to show up... to secure distribution channels they had to show a specific, proven plan for how they were going to get 13-24 yr olds interested, and 24-39 to bring the family. They cast Morgan Freeman, Chris Pratt, Liam Neeson, and Will Ferrell, then give them hundreds of witty double entendres and callbacks like every other animated feature to get people like me to bring the family... My 4 and 8 year old remember the song... I remember about 100 Star Wars callbacks. Parents were not just considered, they were counted on. No parents, no Lego Movie.

Hero Factory 44023/44024 (total cost $6) on eBay for $36.

Simple really. the CEO of the parent company wants to build an online shopping portal, which is SYW (blend of ****** and alibaba). Rather than fund this the normal way, with massive VC cash, he is going old school. Basically leaching cash from Kmart and Sears to build up the new company. Kmart will go under as it debt increases and ultimately file for bankruptcy (again), and likely disappear as assets are sold off. Sears may not die out completely but will also declare bankruptcy (again), and some of their sub brands may be sold off (craftsman, lands end, kenmore, etc). But since SYW, SEARS, and Kmart are all separate corporations SYW will be insulated from the bankruptcies. SYW becomes a billion dollar shopping portal (probably not but thats the plan...), and the parent company goes on to higher profits after shedding all the dead weight (ie debt). and of course we get to ride along, filling our own pockets, then jumping ship when we see the waterfall...

Sold mine for $295 today. Buyer left a note to "Take care of the box so it doesn't get damaged and so the seals don't break, im buying this for my son as a gift." Because sealed boxes are what every kid looks for before building a set...

So, is this like saying, "I'm not driving to Cleveland for it?"

anything to do with Lego Star Wars at 40% discount

I think my TRU box experience beats anyone's. This is everything that was inside. No bubble bags or anything. LOL