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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/10/2016 in all areas
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Some deals at Target.com: http://www.target.com/c/lego-toys-featured-brands/-/N-56h33#navigation=true&category=180009&view_type=medium&sort_by=bestselling&facets=d_deals%3ASale&offset=0&pageCount=60&page=1&response_group=Items%2CVariationSummary&zone=PLP&isLeaf=false&custom_price=false&min_price=from&max_price=to Some highlights: Birds $31.50: http://www.target.com/p/lego-ideas-birds-21301/-/A-16752394#prodSlot=_1_3 Amazon PM'd Birds:http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Ideas-21301-Birds-Model/dp/B00PE12ZJO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460290287&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+birds Technic container truck $56: http://www.target.com/p/lego-technic-container-truck-42024/-/A-15647711#prodSlot=_1_13 Crook's hideout $42: http://www.target.com/p/lego-city-police-crooks-hideout-60068/-/A-16751056#prodSlot=_1_17 There are several others that may be worth it, too.15 points
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12 points
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Twice a year Walmart resets all the toys (periodically they send additional updates, but nothing major). Those times of year are February & August. 30 days before they changeover you can view the Addition & Deletion list. This list says everything going to be added and deleted to/from the shelves. When this happens stores are encouraged to identify the newly deleted items and mark them down 10% at the store level. They are "supposed" to be left in the section they belong (called the home from here on) until the changeover happens. Shortly before the changeover the home office will then send price changes for the deleted items. Because the number of price changes number in the thousands, they usually download them over the course of a week. Dept managers are supposed to make the changes within 48 hours. many times they don't sometimes days or weeks pass by. Stores didn't proactively markdown the deleted items will be sitting on higher quantities and will likely see additional home office markdowns (usually no more than 3 total markdowns at the home office level). The small updates I mentioned above are why you see a random item suddenly show up in clearance. For example say Lego releases a product line too late for the February changeover but all they can have it on the shelf in April. Sure enough April will roll around and a update comes through. Everything I said above applies to these updates Walmart likely ordered the Millennium Falcon for all stores before Christmas knowing a $150 item would only sell in select stores after Christmas. Once the changeover occurred it got the axe in many stores. I never saw a $35 Falcon but the fact that everyone saw the same $35 tells me it was a home office markdown. I am not sure if it saw multiple drops or went straight to $35. The Spaceport is a similar concept which went to $89, $59 and then $30. Walmart just wants what it views dead inventory gone. From our standpoint we see a $150 awesome item for $35. Walmart sees a big boxed item that won't sell taking up space of something that will sell. It also doesn't want these items taking up its valuable backroom space. This past year Walmart did the same thing with the Meccano Mechanoid robot. A $159 item ended up at $40. In my opinion since the new CEO took over we have seen faster and lower clearance prices. It seems like they are actually trying to move out old inventory. Individual Store Price Changes The above covers what is supposed to happen, now I will address a few good and bad things stores do. Each store is allotted a certain amount of money for in-store markdowns (not home office changes). It is up to the store manager how this money is spent. Some store managers don't want to spend it since it counts against the bottom line. So when a changeover occurs they ignore the 10% markdown idea, they wait for the home office price change to come which doesn't count against the bottom line.This is why some stores have clearance with only a $.02 discount (or even $.01). Some stores go the opposite direction, 30 days ahead of the changeover they do 10%, then each week or every other week they will do an additional amount. Problem for us investors these stores usually never have much for big markdowns since they methodically marked down the items. It would have sold at the 10,20 or 30% off. Nothing is left for a second or third home office markdown. Some stores ignore the 10% thing and just start marking down clearance to whatever the feel like. These are the stores that cause us all the confusion but provide the best deals. They strictly want freight gone. You will notice the biggest markdowns are literally on the biggest boxes. The general rule is department managers are supposed to take care of their own clearance merchandise. Some stores have one person in charge of clearance. You can usually tell the difference by how well organized it is and how often the markdowns are down. Department managers have other priorities, they often neglect to change prices or even bother with clearance. Sometimes a one shot cardboard display will arrive (usually on a pallet). They call this a feature, it comes in deleted. Some stores mistakenly immediately clearance it. Other stores may actually carry a few of the items. Last fall there was one of these for Lego Friends. Some of the items stores carried, some didn't. Since this was a feature, there wouldn't be any home office markdowns to get rid of it. Any price changes were at the store level. While we all think Walmart could make more money by dropping prices slower and certain items, they aren't collectors. They strictly look at moving through product and getting something in that will sell. Saving $1000 by slowly selling Legos and jamming up clearance sections and backrooms while waiting for them to sell is not their model. The average Walmart does $70-110 million a year, they have bigger fish to worry about than clearance. The headaches associated with clearance are not worth the extra money in slowing down the sales to get every cent of profit. Ever seen the items that have been in clearance for months, they are damaged, ripped or open. Walmart get no credit if these get claimed out (aside from a tax credit).12 points
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Trailers are kind of like your garage, you put things in it with a plan to take care of it later and then one day you realize you have on overwhelming problem. The store I work for rents the trailers at about $500 per month. An average Walmart store will generate around $500,000 in profit per month, on sales of 6-11 million. Trailers costs are a trivial (assuming you only have a few). The manpower involved in taking care of the problem once you created it is huge. There are a few legitimate reasons for trailers. Anytime there is a remodel you will get 10-30 trailers, Black Friday is 5-10 and layaway is 5-10. I know of one nearby store that owns its own trailer and it uses it to store fixtures. I suppose its possible that some stores own their trailers. I imagine that if Walmart builds a location that is much busier than the building was designed for they will need additional space in perpetuity. The backroom of my store has slots for around 400 pallets. Each truck gives you another 26 slots, though highly inefficient space. Lets use Black Friday as an example. You have 10 truckloads of freight that need to be in the store by Thanksgiving day. These are currently stored outside in trailers (legitimately due to space issues). That means you need to clear space in the store for 260-400 pallets (assuming some came double stacked). Two weeks before Black Friday you start thinning out the main aisles of the store (called action alley) but the reality is you can't clear that much space. You put as many as you can in the backroom but that clogs aisles so it is rather limited. The easy answer is to pull the Black Friday freight out of trailers and put the inventory currently on the sales floor into the trailers. If you have great sales on a Black Friday then you will sell through the product and can pull your freight back to the floor. If not, you have a serious space problem. Given the sales at Christmas, the freight doesn't stop coming in. You barely have enough staffing to process the new freight let alone 5 trailers of old. If you don't get those trailers emptied Black Friday weekend it is too late. Its quite possible that space or time become an issue in the run up to Christmas and additional pallets are put into the trailers. So the trailers sit with a mess of freight until January. Now in January your staffing is dramatically cut for about 3 weeks, not to mention the sales are lower so not as much merchandise is moving. Now you are looking at February. I assume you see where I am going. February & March the priority is resetting shelves (called mods). Now you are looking at 4 months of merchandise getting older. The stuff in the trailer just isn't that valuable to the company. An interesting note is everything in the trailers needs to be listed (called trailer listing) or it is not covered by insurance. This is rarely done because it is time consuming and because no one was planning on leaving the trailer full for 4-400 months. This is why a store shows 20 in stock but has no location. Usually the trailer problem is an indicator of bigger problems in the store. So when a Market Manger (like a District Manager) finds out what is going on, his/her priority is not emptying trailers that cost a few thousand a month. It is fixing the overall store and the management. Eventually the merchandise will be split up between all the stores in the market. So our 5 trucks of freight is spread out between 10 stores. The 13 pallets one store got is likely completely different merchandise than anyone else got. This is one of the reasons why we randomly find old stuff in one store but not others. You asked if other large retailers do this, I don't know but I do know there are no retailers as large as Walmart. There may be some Targets that rival sales of specific Walmarts, but as a whole Walmart is in a different volume category. Sam's Club, Costco and Home Depot have sales numbers per store as high but don't deal with anywhere near the volume of freight.9 points
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Fixed...
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Wake me up when they hit 70% off.6 points
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Buying a large exclusive set is like eating at a buffet: take what you want and eat what you take. When you're done with your first plate though, you can't take the uneaten food back to the buffet line and exchange it for something different that looks better. On a serious note either keep your Tower Bridge, try to trade it, unload on Craigslist for minimal loss, etc, but don't return it 9 months after you bought it. It's a practice known as stock manipulation. In all honesty, if you can't afford to hold on to one TB AND acquire other sets, you probably aren't ready to jump into LEGO investing right now. This games takes LOTS of capital.6 points
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And voila all MSRP...... And of course I find this in the worst week... gotta wait till the 14...
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Getting party favors for my daughter's 7th birthday party...5 points
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But you didn't post a deal.. You posted some vague reference to a potential deal we're apparently not thinking about correctly. I'm trying to say it politely, but you aren't exactly being helpful. And if you don't want to share, I truly have no objection to that - I don't always share everything either - but I won't tell people to just try harder. I personally think it's condescending and unhelpful to the BP community.5 points
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I have been an assistant manager for Walmart for the past 2 1/2 years, I have overseen several areas of the store including toys. Before I came to Walmart I spent 3.5 years selling on eBay to support my family (not exclusively Lego). Since working at Walmart I use Amazon FBA as my method of selling. Due to financial constraints my Lego experience is only of the quick flip variety (problematic to some of you, I know). I would be more than happy to try to answer any questions or clear up any confusion you may have regarding Walmart and how it affects our lives as investors and collectors. I can only answer based on my experience and I certainly am not speaking for the company. I have gained a great deal of knowledge from this site and would be happy to give back. I have disclosed my name and the store I work for to Jeff & Ed but I will not be posting that info here. I also have a wife and two kids so I likely will only be able to answer questions nightly.4 points
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So some years ago I bought a few Mill Village sets #7189 and broke them down for Bricklink. But I didn't list the goats on Bricklink because I was going to list them on eBay, but never did. Thankfully, in the meantime the set retired, no more sets with little white goats, and I didn't sell them for cheap. Nice to find a bag of 30 of them in a drawer Also, I thought I just had a single Delorean #21103 set, but when moving a few things around earlier this evening, I found two more. Woot! Any stories you have of finding forgotten goodies?
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Only 3.5 weeks early this year. Must be slacking...
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Cleaner strikes again.4 points
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I'm not making the trip unless I get free healthcare too.4 points
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You said you bought as investment. How does a used one from Craigslist replace that investment item? If any, that CL one is a "build, perhaps later resell' option, not an investment option per se. Sounds to me like you rather have a case buyers remorse - but returning something 9 months after you bought it sounds weird to me - not sure a store manager is going to agree to this.4 points
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Dude! Get out of my store!4 points
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I don't know where Target found these Tow Trucks (and they are in stock), but that thing retired over a year ago. The price doesn't really make it worth the purchase, but... weird. http://www.target.com/p/lego-city-tow-truck/-/A-14922497#prodSlot=_1_144 points
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You are right I was not being helpful at all. Go to BrickLink and find the lowest price, usually in the $150 range. Talk to the seller about large quantities, usually if you order more they will go down on the individual per piece price. Depending on how many you order and the shipping methods used you can get them within the $160 range. Import taxes and duties will depend on the country you purchase from. If you want to know exact duties paid use a duty calculator. Also you can make a good amount of money on parting out sets if you use the pieces to complete Monthly builds or SDCC exclusives or any other small exclusive style set. The instructions are free on the LEGO website and as long as you are not selling the instructions and you let the customer know where and how to get the instructions for free then I don't see anything unethical about that. I hope that clears everything up.4 points
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the problem with nexo knights is the quality of the cartoons. they aren't very good. I don't understand how they could make ninjago so well, yet bomb on chima so badly with the cartoon series. I was really hoping they would see and learn from their mistakes from chima and make nexo knights a lot better, but so far, they have not. the writing is too childish and immature, and that is from a child's perspective. my son was super excited to watch them when they initially came out (me too if being honest, I love lego cartoons typically), but now doesn't care after 4-5 episodes. the voices are weak, the storylines are lame and not following any real arc, and its quite repetitive. every episode basically has them getting their butts handed to them by the exact same bad guys every week and then they "power up nexo knight style" and win in 2 seconds and show is over. its just terrible. they really need to reset the series and writing. I write this because even though the cartoon is bad, some of the sets are terrific. the styles are unique, fun to build, very colorful, and stay together well to play with. I compare the sets against batman v superman, marvel superheroes, and even many star wars sets (ugh to battle of takonda, if you are ever having trouble sleeping, just look at that set or worse, build it), and they are just a lot better, but my goodness, the cartoon is not doing its job and gaining a fan base for anyone to want these sets. The Fortrex, Clay's Rumble blade, Moltar's Lava Smasher, and the King's Mech suit are terrific sets. I will admit Jestro's Evil Mobil was not that fun of a build and lacks playability, hence why it hit clearance first, but if they could get better writing and voices in the cartoon, these sets would be winners. I am an eternal optimist, and I hope they hold on for season 2 and fix these problems and make the cartoon series pop, which might then make the sets pop in value long term. And to end on a happy note, check out pics of Jestro's Volcana Lair. How awesome does that look?3 points
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Btw, Amazon also have Birds for $31.50 (limit 2 per order) www.amazon.com/LEGO-Ideas-21301-Birds-Model/dp/B00PE12ZJO?3 points
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Starting in 2015, there are no guaranteed winner sets anymore, no matter which theme.3 points
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All of them.3 points
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No large landmarks have retired in this new age of lego investing. There are 200 TB sellers on amazon and it's not even retired. This was unheard of when the Taj and Statue of Liberty were retiring. It's going to take several years to turn a decent profit on this one and that's only if it ever retires.3 points
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This is a good point. My suggestion would be to build the set. Display the set. Enjoy the set. Keep all the boxes and instructions and resell 5 years from now for more than you paid for it...used.3 points
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I'm going to need a bigger gift card.3 points
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As long as they saturate at 2.5x my buy-in, I'm ok with it.3 points
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Remember this folks and I'm sure he'd accept a fruit basket or something during the holidays...3 points
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To differentiate this from the more serious reviews this (and any others like it) will have an "OUTSIDE THE BOX" title. It seems like not many people really like this set. Reviewers are down on it, prices are down, heck, I didn't even want it for myself. I found one at a price that was too good to pass up, so I thought, why not? Since it's a set that I wasn't super excited about to begin with,I thought that the Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up was perfect for an outside the box review. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 76037 Name: Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up Theme: Marvel Super Heroes Parts: 386 Price: $39.99 BOX CONTENTS Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a large Tile, a comic book, a sticker sheet and 2 instruction books. BUILD AND EXECUTION: Rhino: All right Spider-Man, time to put your dukes up! Spidey: Uh, did you forget something? Where's your Rhino suit? Rhino: I forgot, I got a new one. I need to put it together. Spidey: Oh, ok. I can wait. Rhino: The instructions aren't really clear which of these goes on which side. Urgh. Spidey: What? Did you buy that thing at Ikea? Rhino: I've got it. This is going better than I expected. Spidey: Well, just wake me up when you're done. Rhino: Look, if you want this fight to start sooner, you could help you know. Spidey: Well, I guess so. After all, I do have a High School science award. Spidey: You know, all the money you spent on this thing could have been used to go straight. Rhino: Shut it web-head. Spidey: I'm just saying, I spend like $35,000 a year on webs and spandex because of you guys, and this elliptical machine must be at least 20X that. Rhino: I'm gonna enjoy squashing you like a bug. Get it? Bug! Ha ha. Spidey: Spiders aren't bugs Einstein. Spidey: Hey Rhino, you're a sharp one, huh? Sharp as that horn. Rhino: Shut up! Spidey: What are those holes in the fingers for? Rhino: Just these little explosive projectiles. Spidey: Rhino's shoot missles? Rhino: Ok, now I turn the key and press this button and Hang on a sec. Nope, I flip these switches and rotate that knob and . . . Spidey: Getting bored now. LATERZ! Spidey: Man, that guy's dense. Hey, someone's making a sand castle. Spidey: What kind of castle are you making? Princess, Medieval, Nexo-Knights? Sandman: Go away bug. Spidey: Oh come on, spiders aren't bugs. Spidey: I was going to ask if you wanted me to bury you in the sand, but it looks like you're taking care of that. Sandman: Leave me alone. Spidey: I'm not really getting this abstract watcha-ma-call-it. Did Picasso make it? Spidey: You know,I hate sand. It's coarse and gets everywhere. Spidey: Hey Mr. Grabby-Hands, I'm not that kind of date. Sandman: I told you to go away, now you're going to get it! Spidey: Hey stop with the shaking! All of my change is coming out of my pockets! Spidey: Hey look, there's Taylor Swift! Sandman: Where? Spidey: I'm outta here. Iron Spidey: Weird place for a sandbox. Something about it is making my Spidey sense tingle . . . Spidey: Is it my day for meeting weirdos? Luckily I got away from that guy. Iron Spidey: Look, it's getting bigger all by itself. The sensors in my Starktech limbs will tell me more about it. Spidey: What the, who are you? Iron Spidey: I'm Spider-Man. Spidey: Hello me, meet the real me. Sandman: Now there's 2 of him? Spidey: I spy with my spidey eye something with a hammer. Iron Spidey: Is it Hammertime? Get it? Can't touch this - oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh. Sandman: It's about to be. Spidey: Why do I feel like I forgot something? Rhino: Hello from the other side! Spidey: I should have known that Rhino was an Adelle fan. Iron Spidey: Hey, did you notice that not all of this stuff is sand? How's he do that? Spidey: Sand-and-other-stuff-man is just way too long to yell in a fight. Rhino: Hey, where'd he go? Rhino: Get down here so I can squash you bug! Spidey: I already told you, Spiders aren't . . . oh never mind. Iron Spidey: Hey Mr. Grabby hands, I'm not that kind of date. Spidey: Ha ha, I already said that loser. REACTION: I started off unimpressed with this set. I looked at it through the eyes of an adult who wants to display his toys,and not a child that wants to play with them. The entire thing looks like a mess. It's a mishmash of unrelated things that are just supposed to look like Sandman taking over a construction site. The Rhino is entirely disappointing. Why you build him a suit instead of a big figure is beyond me. All of that said, as I played with the set to tell my bizarre little story, I gained some appreciation of all of the play features. They were not designed for me.They were not designed for adults. A kid could have fun with all of the moving parts. But, this set is not for me. Let's take a look at the minifigures. This is the biggest reason why anyone buys Super Hero sets, so they should be amazing,or spectacular, or even ultimate. First off, there's Iron Spider(-Man). This guy's unique. I mean red and gold is Iron-Man's thing. Anyway, he's got 4 robotic arms attached to a neck bracket, and I think that's inaccurate. I thought he only had 3 in the comics. I like that his back printing looks like the retracted limbs. Sandman is boring to look at, but you can't blame LEGO, he's always been boring. He's got a 2 sided head and brown joker hair. The sandy torso and tan limbs show that he's always mid change and sometimes angry. I didn't think that there was anything they could do to Spider-Man, but they gave him those 2 tone legs. It looks good, but I am bored of getting Spidey figures. Rhino, well, he's just some dude, Pretty sure he's got a clone head. 2 Sided torso printing doesn't make him look any more like a bigfig. FINAL THOUGHTS: There's a lot of tan in this set. People like to buy tan parts for MOCs, I think if you get this set cheaply enough, there's a good demand for the parts. The large tile is the same one used in most UCS sets. Iron Spider is the big draw for this set. So he's sure to appreciate a little bit once this set goes. I'm stuck thinking about how roundly unpopular this set is. Will it pass into obscurity once it is out of sight, or will people clamor to grab it later on to complete a collection? Not being a fan of this set, I tend to come down on the former. For me, it's a parts set and that's where the value will always lie. If you have a child that likes LEGO and Super Heroes though, this set is a winner for them. Lots of interesting parts, a couple of Spider-Men and some guys for them to beat up. Invest cautiously at steep discounts. Help support the site by buying on Amazon. EXTRA PARTS: Some people might not include the super jumper in extra parts, but that's not me. I definitely don't think it belongs in the set.2 points -
Discussion about Nexo Knights has been moved to the Nexo Knights 2016 thread.2 points
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My son downloaded the Merlok app and seems to really enjoy it. He has about 8-10 hours into it this weekend. The Lava Smasher is a cool set with a really sweet looking villain. We paid full MSRP (impulse buy).2 points
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OK, fair enough. My new suggestion...put it safely in a closet and forget about it.2 points
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Oh no low battery now that is terrible2 points
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Agreed. The only ones I have are from the Walmart snafu2 points
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Was able to get 3x ideas birds thanks to a post in daily deals. I used discounted GC so the deal got even better. About $82 'out the door' for all 32 points
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I found a dollar in a jacket that I hadn't worn in a year.2 points
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Yes. Minifigures Plus has been an excellent source for Collectible Minifigures for years and their prices are very, very competitive. They even discounted sealed cases for BrickPickers last series.2 points
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since i cannot buy all of this.... my pleasure to share this with you guys. Alot are doing the same here and manage to find awsome deals because of this. Thanks to all. Maitre du jeux: Granby and Sherbrooke, If some price are higher than MSRP. tell him and he will ajust.2 points
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I don't like paying tax on $0 items Doesn't mean I haven't in the past.2 points
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Not bad for $100 eBay bucks in my pocket ETA: BUT if you already count your ebay bucks as discount when buying those TRU gc, you should not count the bucks as a discount now2 points
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Back to selling.... LOTR Fun packs (3) - $30 eBay Iconic Easter CSGs (10) - $130 eBay Iron patriot/silver centurion - $69 eBay2 points
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2 points
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In the Netherlands. Until 14th of April, Wannahave days on Wehkamp.nl.2 points
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it's really not too bright, it's just not tempered by the weathering that was apparent in the film.2 points
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Went to local Gamestop, asked if they happen to have a LEGO Super Heroes: Silver Centurion Exclusive Minifigure. SCORE! free. I cant believe I got lucky.2 points
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This is a very swooshable set, I dig it.2 points
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Yay!!!!!!2 points
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2 points
