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Potential for February: BrickFan article

I have been having problems with Ohio, too (I live in Northern Illinois, so not exactly a coast-to-coast affair). And the number of people who have mentioned how concerned they are because what they bought from me is their kids' only Christmas present makes me think I must be rivaling Santa at this point for the number of children relying on me for a good Christmas. "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care In hopes a scumbag reseller's items would show up there." Luckily, I think the items should make it fine as the ones that are still held up are from November. During the first week of December, I started warning people who wanted to ship with USPS, so hopefully they remember those conversations come December 24th.

i'm in the same boat, been fighting with my 1 sensible brain cell all day.

I will welcome a period of Star Wars fatigue (it will be much better than our previous period of Star Wars disdain).

The Architecture line sure has taken a weird turn.

Approved Sept 2020

I had an order earlier this year that was shipped on time, label printed on time and bought from Amazon, shipped same day and scanned, but got "stuck" at one USPS hub for 2 weeks. I lost the A-Z case. Once the package was delivered (a month late), I was able to open a case and they reversed the decision.

Looks like sellers are dumping inventory. I’m holding back, let’s see how this plays out. Get rid of the bottom feeders and see where this goes.

This is a very slow seller in UK, but I agree that this will slowly go up in RRP, as people didn't stock up on it.

I agree, but have had some hiccups with this when the package is not ever marked "delivered". Once it is marked delivered, even if it is 2 months late, you can get the A to Z reversed if you bought shipping from Amazon. Just make sure to ship on time and get a scan within 48 hours of label creation. I pretty much shutdown MF and Ebay a week ago after seeing the delays from the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. What a mess. My FBA inbound stuff has shifted to a warehouse nearby and is getting checked in very fast the past 10 days. Right now, I can send in an FBA shipment and get products sold faster than USPS can deliver an order! Amazon's own delivery service has been performing well from my experience.

just tell her to open AZ claim with INR as the reason, as long as you bought shipping from amazon you are good

Name "Razor Crest" was copywrited in Germany by a guy who produces his own knock-off LEGO sets. Since Germany is part of the EU, by agreement, the copywrite applies across the whole EU. I wonder if this is why Disney, err Moff Gideon destroyed the Razor Crest. If they can't have it, no one will.

if you haven't already, might be time to unload those 75030 you got lying around. i have to say Han's hair is fabulous in part deux.

Realistically, it's got to just be ego massage. Like you said, I don't think any of the revenue streams generate much income, and (even if slightly), he is hurting himself by doing this.

My weekend:

Glad you got rid of it locally! Shipping that bad boy is expensive!

eBay has updated their late delivery policy for December: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Helping-buyers-understand-shipping-delays-and-what-you-need-to/ba-p/31412134 “We are aware shipping is causing concern for both buyers and sellers this holiday season and we are working to reduce frustration where we can. While there is some unpredictability in delivery reliability, most items are still arriving on time. We’re managing estimated delivery dates, continuing to give sellers credit for meeting their stated handling time, and advising buyers to anticipate potential delays. How we’re protecting you during the holidays Late deliveries this holiday season will not impact your seller performance rating as long as you continue to meet the expectations you set in your listings. You receive credit for shipping on time when any one of the following happens: Tracking shows a physical carrier scan any time within your stated handling time Buyer answers “Yes” to item arrived on-time when leaving feedback Tracking shows a delivery scan within the latest delivery date for the shipping service selected Even in cases where a buyer may see a faster delivery estimate, your shipment will be considered on time if it arrives by the latest day for the shipping service. For example, if you use a standard shipping service with a 1-5 day delivery time plus your stated handling time of 2 days, the item needs to arrive within 7 working days. If your package is delivered any time during this period, we recognize that you shipped on-time. If you meet one or more of the above requirements, we’ll automatically reflect on-time shipping for the transaction. You will not need to contact eBay customer support. We continue to monitor and evaluate carrier transit time and delays and we’ll make adjustments where necessary. We’re updating estimated delivery dates to set expectations We’re updating estimated delivery dates to provide buyers with the best information possible, and we ask that you meet your handling times, do your part to ship as quickly as possible, work with your buyers when an issue arises, and keep your inventory up to date. We encourage you to check each carrier's alert pages (USPS, FedEx, UPS) for the most up-to-date information. When a buyer makes an “item not received” request A buyer can only open an “item not received” request after the estimated delivery date plus 1 day. When a request is opened the seller has 3 business days to respond before the buyer can ask eBay to step in. If tracking on the item shows movement within the past 10 calendar days and the parcel is in the destination country, we’ll keep the request open for 10 more days from the time the buyer asked eBay to step in to allow additional time for the item to be delivered. After that time, if there is no updated activity, eBay will consider the item lost and we’ll ask the seller to refund the buyer. What we’re telling buyers Through onsite messages as well as in the eBay app, we are letting buyers know there may be some delivery delays, encouraging them to be patient, to pay attention to estimated delivery dates on listings, and to continue supporting small businesses. 12.8.20_Buyer_Shipping_LP_Desktop_Shipping SNA.png As our sellers and carrier partners face record-breaking e-commerce orders, COVID-19 closures, and weather events that may lead to package delays, eBay continues to monitor and evaluate the environment we’re operating in and will make adjustments where necessary. We appreciate your commitment and patience. Thank you for selling on eBay”

Terrible investment, IMHO. A Deathstar has been around forever. Huge numbers produced in both this model and the previous one. Big, bulky and unlikely to increase significantly for the first couple years after retirement.

3, 2, 1.....

I got no volume, being greedy is my only play

Approved June 2020

Seems ok over here.....

that is the crux of the issue is that everything is stuck in transit. u can't really file an a-z if it still shows in transit. i have been using customer communications as an opportunity to document for amazon exactly what is going on by pasting updated tracking info from USPS website which while not perfect is definitely better than what the customer sees going through amazon. amazon is telling them the package is "lost" = total bull$hit. its not lost if usps shows its in portland or at 10:57 pm yesterday. apologies, empathizing with customer claiming you are also waiting for amazon delivery (true), claiming that amazon was pushing you to use USPS because they had it as having the quickest arrival date (true as i'm typing this even) . so far its working ... i'm done selling for holiday delivery and turned things off. getting to be a riot at ups store with people finding out how much it costs to ship something on time right now.

10268 Vestas Wind Turbine Retired in UK

Heavily modified..... LOL. Well said.

Did you buy insurance? With all of these delays I have been buying the insurance just incase. For USPS its like .90 up to $200. I figure its worth it for a piece of mind if the INR doesn't go my way.

In fairness, the wooden Lego mini figure is IMO ok. I’ve had a few and the quality is good, comes in a nice presentation box. it’s not worth the money they ask but hey, this is Lego we are talking about!

Who even knows if the guy invests in Lego himself? he s just trying to get people to watch his videos. That's his hustle, he may not care about over saturating our market.

It's not retiring. Lets not waste our time with this one.

i just don't get the logic in these people who do these youtube videos or lego investing / flipping twitters etc they are just inviting market saturation, "hey everyone quite your job & buy these sets..." 2022 - "why are so many of XXXXX on ebay its been years"

I watched the full retirement list video. I like this guys advice, for selfish reasons.

Was this your source? I dont think its accurate. I cant even find the beetle on the EU lego websites.

tax exempt, purchased with a Redcard to negate taxes, purchased with another cashback card that is equivalent to tax rate?

Slave 1 @ Target 15% off ($101.99)

🤦

eBay is aware and has adjusted their policies toward late shipments accordingly. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Helping-buyers-understand-shipping-delays-and-what-you-need-to/ba-p/31412134

Interesting...

It was Red. I saw him vent. Haha. Amusing to realize the game came out about two years ago with little fanfare if any at all. Then sometime earlier this year somebody did a Twitch stream I think because they felt like it and now the game's kind of a big deal. With friends I can see it being fun. With a bunch of randoms however is a different story.

We know from them driving past the other blown up transports that this wasn’t new. I think you’re being pretty generous with the writing, which in its defense, was rightly more concerned with character development this episode than action. These were completely undefended transports . . . They couldn’t even speed up to avoid being intercepted because their cargo would blow. They had a huge contingent of storm troopers at the base and literally one of them sitting atop a transport armed with a blaster would have been at least something in the form of protection. It was an action sequence for the sake of action sequences and it was fine for what it was in the context of the plot but the scene really could use a bit more thought in terms of logic.

I read it differently. You’re a secret Imperial mining operation. So you’re going to try to stay under the radar. TIEs patrolling or flying cover isn’t very covert. I agree with the goals of pirates, tho. They were Rebels or freedom fighters or terrorists. But you can’t go around calling these folks terrorists these days, so I’m guessing that’s why they went with pirates. I also wonder if it was acceptable losses for the Imperials to let the transports get blown up, to keep themselves under the radar. Or if the terrorist activities had just started.

Agreed. My profit this year is triple last years profit and I think we will look back on this year as a bit of an outlier for comparisons. Finding that "sweet spot" for pricing and demand is always a challenge. As items get older and the price rises, the demand and sales rank also starts to decline (and likelihood of scams/refunds might also rise.) It's always a delicate balance.

My feelings are that Favreau has a good sense for trusting what works (or will work). Robert Downey Jr made Iron Man (and IMO is largely responsible for the Marvel empire), but Favreau fought like hell to get him (when no one involved wanted anything to do with him). But I still believe that Filoni (with his sense/respect for Star Wars) is the secret sauce that makes it work.

You guys are killing me. What are you aiming for if you're viewing 10813 and 10753 as losers, and how often are you hitting that target? I guess I could view 10753 as a loser since it only gave me a profit margin of 103%. It was no Pet Center, Whack, or Emma's Art Cafe, but if you're viewing sets like those as losers, you're working from a very skewed perspective. If I didn't know you'd been around long enough to know what you're doing, I'd say that you'll be in a rude awakening in the years ahead when the market calms down from COVID.

The pirates scene didn’t work for me logically. You’re a secret imperial mining operation with finite resources but you leave important transports unguarded? Pirates goal is usually to loot and sell cargo, not blow it up, right? How can a whole group of pirates each have a thermal detonator and not one of them carry a blaster? Why didn’t the pirates mine the road? Why didn’t the Empire have ties flying patrol in the air at the time? Ultimately it was a fun action sequence to watch but not something really thought out that well.

T-Rex / Dino-mech at Target limit 10

First episode that I thought was well balanced. Mando actually did a lot of things and it did not feel like he was guest staring in his own show. Everybody got to kill / destroy something, even the Stormtroopers The guy who wrote and directed this episode (Rick Famuyiwa) should write and direct every other episodes. Per his imdb, he also wrote and directed the prisoner episode which was also one of the best from season 1.

How long until the trooper with the tray becomes a meme? Isn't it amazing how many new ships/vehicles/locations we have seen in 1.5 seasons of the Mandalorian verses 6 years of planning for the sequel trilogy of SW movies? BTW, previous episode had forerunners to First Order drop ships. I had to watch it a second time to verify they were different. Very cool. I have Yogurt going through my head from Spaceballs - Merchandising... merchandising.... merchandising... Spaceballs the flamethrower.

They should team up with Stephen King and make Christine.

Sold through 4 17101 Boost sets (buy-in $40 at WM 2 years ago) at $250 shipped each via BrickOwl. I was the only US seller on that platform, and somehow a lot of newbie buyers found their way to my listing. Received 10 quote requests in the last 72 hrs, out of which 4 turned into sales. With $12.50 in total fees this was a nice money maker

In my opinion, the main reason for its success is the relatively shorter production run.