Leaderboard

Wow. This thread exploded. While I don't think anyone here works for LEGO, nor would speak up if they did, I believe this kind of reseller witch hunt strategy they are pushing has more to do with brand protection than sales threats. LEGO has vwry strict terms for its authorized retailers. They likely view these mass orders as people attempting to circumvent this established system. Aside from the main topic, I would like to point out that this community is becoming increasingly hostile. I, like emes, have taken a couple steps back for now. While I can definitely say there is a wealth of valuable information here, there is an equal and increasing number of posts where people are trying to either outdo each other or segregate the user base by one criteria or another. Let me remind everyone that we are all fans of LEGO here, to one degree or another. This site is a tool to help investors, be they small time, big time, part time, full time, young, old, retired, whatever. I kindly ask anyone here that if you are not going to be conducive to a respectful and mature environment, to leave, or at the least, be silent. There are enough devolved, immature cesspools where you can be elitist on the internet. This forum does not need to be one of them.

Willy was warned weeks ago and now you have been as well. By the way, you said about 3 things that were uncalled for. Insulting people will not make your point come across any better. You are an amateur troll. Quality trolls know how to insult people without them knowing it.

98% of this forum is opinion.......besides who would be the one to differentiate between fact and opinion????

I would I would agree with you BUT, you can in fact buy a set and compete tomorrow and here's how and why they care. Say I go buy a Wolverine Chopper set for $20 from LEGO Shop at Home or the Lego store. Then I go home and crack it open, build the figs, build the helicopter and then list each individual minifig on Ebay as well as the copter. Now there's going to be some kid or adult out there who ONLY cares about the Deadpool and doesn't want to buy the set just to get it so they'll pay me $10 for it, and so on with the other parts of the set until I've made $35 on it AND I've kept Lego from selling 5 of those sets because someone got each piece they wanted without having to buy the whole set. Make sense???

This is a discussion that affects every single person who logs onto our site, whether you are just curious about the value of your collection or a hard core reseller. The vast majority of members are concerned with the value of their LEGO collection. To restrict quality discussion among an elite few would not be in the best interest of the site IMO. StarBrickCity brought this point up previously and while it has some merit, there are more negatives than positives in my view. This site accepts all sorts of LEGO fans and to make a special section for a select few could upset the rest of the members. A topic like this needs to be discussed by all members, because it can affect all members. Glad Ed came in to squash this horrid idea. If this place became a "paid" site, I'd be done here. Not that the big spenders would care, but there are a few of us who remain "small time" for a reason - in my case I invest in many other things and like to diversify, which is why you won't ever see me buying 50 funhouses, though I have the money to do so. I don't necessarily agree with Diabolos in that your buying power should be limited - hell I don't really care because I'll figure something else out, I've been doing that and doing it well for the past 15 years. But I feel that this is moving in a direction of many of the larger investors simply "assuming" that the rest of us are dealing in chump change and that they should be reserved some sort of golden mecca of topic discussion. Further, I feel like that would take this site in a direction different than what the Mack's vision for this place was. I don't want to speak for the teeny-boppers who frequent this site, but kids like Comicblast and Darth Lego have learned alot about not only investing, but life in general from listening to the advice of some of the big dogs around here. I think that's something you guys should be proud of...seriously. Do you really want to throw up walls and leave those kids out to talk in private? Is it that big of a deal? Those guys are learning alot from you, and if we could get more kids to learn to be fiscally responsible and smart like they are, we probably wouldn't have the problems with welfare and other government assistance that we do. This next generation needs the mentorship that YOU can provide. Just my two cents.

Oh my gawd dude are you for real? Please tell me you're a physics professor just having fun on too many cups of coffee There's no way you're a genuine human being, this has to be an act, right? Please? I mean, there are just too many outlandishly ridiculous things going on in this one post for this to be anything but staged. I don't think I've ever been called an idiot in such idiotic terms. And so much irony! I don't see how a real person of this intelligence could possibly hold a job worthy of the pay required to support your stated buying practices. And you're so wrong about so many, many things! Honestly, I'm really really glad you showed up today. I hope you don't get banned too quickly, you're a lot of fun. Keep up the good work!

Hey emes whenever I hear this proverb I add something to it and it might be worth thinking on it "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime, instead sell him the fish"

It's my opinion that 101% of this forum is opinion.

Simply put, any LEGO set sold on the secondary market, at any time, can take business away from LEGO and the other retailers selling current sets. Most people have limited funds to spend on LEGO sets and must choose between old sets on eBay or new sets on LEGO S@H, Target or Amazon. Money spent on the older set is money taken away from the new LEGO set money pool. Of course resellers do buy a ton of sets, so it might balance out, but LEGO might view any reseller as a threat. The reseller does have a very important ally in all of this...eBay. eBay makes a ton of money from reselling LEGO sets. Just a thought...

First I feel bad that this thread was hi jacked and i hope to get back to it. I just want to say that I don't think your concept of announcing that you are choosing to not participate in the forum as much because it is not worth your time or upsets you or whatever. I don't think that helps the community and is part of the problem. So you are helping to add to the problem instead of trying to fix it. It just doesn't fix itself. When StarCityBrickCompany came to us about the idea of "private forums", I told him that at one time, I was a new programmer, didn't know anything about it, so what was I? I was one of those annoying new posters asking a ton of basic questions. I am sure the advanced guys hated me. But as time went on, and I kept educating myself, I became a help to the new annoying people that I once was. My point is, there will always be new people that ask questions and just want answers. But what help can they give if they don't know better. Back in the day, even if I wanted to help, most of the time I needed to know the answer myself. It takes time. Just like the other guys just said, its a new forum, not even 2 years old. There is a large mix of different levels. All forums suffer from these issues and it takes time to get it there. The mods have been doing a great job and in my opinion the forum has grown quite a bit in the last year in maturity. You can post and read as much as you want. I really don't want it to irritate you or stress you out. Hopefully from time to time you benefit from a good sale on set you are looking for. Some of these non givers may become one in time and educate you on something going on. In the end, it usually all averages itself out. If you find people looking for that quick answer, kindly reply "That has been asked before, you can find it in a blog/forum/etc" I do that myself to the new people that come on and say "I need to know what to buy". I tell them to search the site, there is a ton of information here and if you have specific questions post them.

This is a discussion that affects every single person who logs onto our site, whether you are just curious about the value of your collection or a hard core reseller. The vast majority of members are concerned with the value of their LEGO collection. To restrict quality discussion among an elite few would not be in the best interest of the site IMO. StarBrickCity brought this point up previously and while it has some merit, there are more negatives than positives in my view. This site accepts all sorts of LEGO fans and to make a special section for a select few could upset the rest of the members. A topic like this needs to be discussed by all members, because it can affect all members.

Brick Fanatics is reporting a LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Game Trailer on Youtube: I'm a bit confused by the trailer, but we'll see how it turns out when it actually is released!! Finally, there's an awesome poster for the game, and I have to say...it looks like the best part!

Well, I don't have any kids although I would like to have a daughter of my own some day if that ever happens. Don't know why, I just rather have a girl over a boy for some reason. Anyway, here I go. 1. Male 2. Almost thirty 3. I really can't pick just one theme. I may lean towards Space in general especially years ago but now my tastes are rather divesified. 4. I like everything for numerous reasons and can see endless potential in all of them, truthfully. I'm not picky. 5. I'm such a devoted fan that I'll die with a Lego brick in my hand! :lol:

Since this is a Target Post, A good investment money maker are the Mega Bloks Halo Big sets, Target has the Rhino Set half Price $42.99 I got 14 of them, Toys R Us still wants $90 for them, but the Big halo sets are the good ones. I been buying and selling the Mega Bloks Sets for a few years now, and do pretty good on them. So for $42.99 its a good deal. Ed

If you have a Lego store around not to far from where you live you are better of getting it at the Lego store as you get VIP Points, but the main reason you are sure of getting a mint box. If I got one from FAO I would be saving about $1.00 or two, with paying the tax.

Well you'll need to adjust your offer. Walmart already sold its soul lol

Umm.... I passed up those same Mines of Moria at Target again for $55 and some odd cents the other day. Some Creator sets on sale for barely a dollar off (hooray), and the couple of Spongebob sets still left on shelves. I wish my Walmart had any sales. Both of the two around me are stuffed with stock delightfully covered in a coat of dust and I would be more than willing to help them by taking them off their hands....for 50% off of course....and their soul. :devil:

I guess by "looking for a bargain" on eBay I meant looking for a price that's lower than other places. In terms of "bargaining" on CL I would mean the back and forth between buyer and seller to get to a price they can both agree on. Am I confusing the terms? I always overprice a little when I sell off my old furniture on CL. Nearly always the buyer will say "So would you consider X amount instead?". The only time someone didn't bargain was when I was selling off my old window a/c units during a heat wave and I got nearly a hundred responses from people who would pay anything for relief from the heat at that point!

I am sure the algorithm takes into consideration a mix of quality (which sets) and quantity over time as well as othe factors as emes pointed out. The best thing to do for the forseable future is to avoid high quantity purchase from S@H.

Yes, that's where the SB coupon was. It expired yesterday though.

If you re-release sets, the old sets will lose value. If this becomes commonplace and people know that LEGO will remake popular sets, the retired sets will not increase in value. How rare will they be? Not rare at all. You will destroy the LEGO secondary market if every set is remade. The only reason a collectible increases in value(besides metals) is the rarity of the item. Not rare...not valuable.

If you include yourself in this description, then I certainly agree. I can see your time on this site will be limited. Oh, by the way, you are the first person to earn the TROLL AWARD.

consider this your one and only warning, the next post you make attacking a member or calling anyone an idiot you will be banned.....that behavior will not be tolerated period. You have been warned.

Enjoy high detailed pictures of this new hobbit set http://www.fbtb.net/2013/07/21/sdcc-79103-lake-town-chase-preview/ Personally I dislike it... or better say not like it at all.

Man iketart you stole how fast i received some negative reputation... 5 posts and already -6 thats almost worthy of an user award if someone asks me.

TLG have their reasons and it will boil down to what they think is a profitable decision. There are plenty of obvious reasons why this may be so that have been fleshed out in this thread already. Throwing up counter-arguments for why it won't work or why it's unfair serve us no purpose here, the decision has already been made. They would have considered all those anyway and the potential negatives must be far outweighed by the positives. Plus you have to remember that these decisions are made at the macro level and just because they may not work for an individual situation or example, this has very little bearing on the global Lego empire which TLG is concerned with. What we need to focus on is strategies for overcoming these new limitations, we've had a few of those brought up already. There is also the positive aspects of the policy such as potentially limiting reseller volumes which in turn can only improve the value of your brickfolio.

You're right. Because you should have bought every Orc Forge you saw. My entire state has 3 Targets that say "limited stock"

I visited a Shopko Hometown in Michigan (no Shopkos in my area) while visiting family. Their price for the set was $65 USD? What the heck?

Here is real example I want Harry potter. all of them. Well...my son does. If I can't get them from resellers...I am not going to the lego store to get him lone ranger. Just because I want eol hp sets doesn't mean mean I will settle for a chima. In this case why would lego care if I pay 200 for a castle set on eBay. My son will get it..everyone Will be happy...son will get hooked on lego..and ask for NEW lego sets....then I will buy retail sets. What I really don't understand is take the funhouse. They are cranking them out for 40 bucks a unit..costs them 15 @ the most. Lots of time no stock at lego stores I go to. Why in the heck don't they just flood the market with them? These are diamonds, oil or currency where you don't want to flood the market..in fears of lowering future sales prices. Why would they care? If the market want millions of these things...and you are doubling your money each time you sell one...then why stop? To protect the resale market from crashing? Interesting discussion. Lego marketing is reason this thread..perhaps on of them will go rogue and chime in?

No, I'm just saying that LEGO would in fact rather sell two sets than sell one and have you sell one. In fact, I'm saying the exact same thing you said.

they dont care about money??? That is hilarious!!!!! Besides control=money!

Guys you are seriously missing the point on this. Lego doesn't care at all about the money. You all need to realize that if every one of us sold every lego set we own right now it wouldn't even equal a fraction of what Lego sets Target sells in one day. What Lego cares about is control of their brand. When a ton of random people sell their product they don't have control of the marketing, pricing or quality control. This is the main reason they try to limit this reseller scenario as much as possible.

Guys, what TLG is doing here is not new, and it's not unique. Companies do this all the time. The reason an organization does this is because they perceive the unauthorized reseller to pose some kind of threat to their primary market. Whether their perception is accurate or not is another story, but it's really irrelevant because perception often becomes reality, and companies take action on that perception. With all of this stuff, regardless of what you're buying and selling, work your hardest to make every transaction appear to be an average, typical transaction, and you'll never have an issue with being banned. TLG is doing this because they perceive resellers as a threat. This discussion should shift from "why does TLG do this" to what are some ways that we can collectively work around this. Reward cards, VIP programs, etc.. are great because they usually get you free things or a discount, but if handled inappropriately they also give the retailer an easy way to identify your spending patterns and an easy way to flush out resellers. Also, not sure I'd be posting my eBay/Amazon id on sites like this, nor would I make my handle the same as my eBay ID, nor add a link to an eBay store. You never know exactly what extent companies will go to when their market is threatened, and all they'd have to do is buy one item from you and they have confirmation that you're reselling NISB items, along with your name and address. They could easily take this to an extent where people are banned based on address that never even purchased from LEGO Shop at Home.

I've already taken the plunge at 70, so I would defintely continue to fill my stock at that price point. But with the availability seeming to dwindle locally, I couldn't see them dropping to 50 and actually staying on the shelves.

2 Girls 1 & 3 next month ANY Lego - just bricks and minifigures I can't see any option for them - they're gonna love it because I do My littlest just loves to take minifigures to pieces but my older one loves to build and create already - she has also followed instructions (with some help) on two occasions to make small cars.

You might have misunderstood me. I'm not saying any such thing, nor am I saying that I have any great wisdom that you need. I never said there should be a "special" forum for anyone, and I certainly wouldn't participate in it if there was one...I said the community has to decide what kind of community it wants to be. For the record, I don't know how you'd vet who gets to be in the "special" forum, so the idea is DOA to me. But your reply is exactly what bothers me about this site. You haven't taken the time to comprehend what I'm actually saying. There is an old Chinese proverb that basically says "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." With few exceptions, when people have asked me things on this site it has been of the "give me a fish" variety. In other words, I've been asked "tell me what product to buy and where to buy it and when to sell it", along with a host of other questions that I likely don't know the specific answers to. That's basically begging and it's not what I want to do nor do I want to encourage it. I'd rather be on not only the teaching people to fish side of things, but also like to learn from others what they know about fishing. There are a lot of guys here who know a ton of stuff, and I've definitely benefitted. Their voices are often overwhelmed by those who know very little. It's a simple choice regarding the type of community I want to be a part of, and I'm not saying I'm better than you or that I have some great wealth of knowledge that you need, and that I'm going to withhold it from you.

Your points are well taken. As Ed previously suggested I encourage you to keep participating the same way you have been doing in the past, as the more quality posters we have in the forum, the more we will attract in the future. This is still a pretty young forum, give it some time and I am sure it will keep getting better. Hope to keep reading your comments, they are always very useful.

Can I get a forum where ONLY I can see it, read it and post to it? Kthnx

It's too bad you feel this way. I have always valued your posts and could count on an intelligent reply. To be quite honest, I'm disappointed in your stance on this matter. I have heard many intelligent and informative members say they just "lurk" for fear of the mentally challenged on the forums. There is an old saying... The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke Well, let me convert this to something that is related to any social forum... The only thing necessary for the triumph of forum spammers and spazzes is for intelligent men to "lurk." See my point? With all due respect, the only way to make a forum better is having the intelligent members participate in discussions. By lurking and purposely withholding your views, you are no better than the "oh-cool-I-can-make-money-with-LEGO" people you complain about. They offer nothing and neither do you.

It was explained to me that their computer system had now been updated to flag (in addition to having a clipboard with local names on it) what they called

And I appreciate quite a bit, from quite a few people here as well, including you. I just feel like there's an element here that's very disrespectful at times, and the net result for me has often been a form of self-induced frustration, rather than a feeling that I'm actually helping anyone. I think as a community BP will have to make some decisions. Two that come to mind are 1) Do we want to be 911 for everyone who doesn't understand eBay jumps in (vs. being willingto be helpful before people get involved, which I think is the right place to be), and 2) Should all the random whining that adds no value be allowed to continue?...I'm referring specifically to the threads we see complaining about TRU, eBay, PayPal, etc...

I hope the "paid site / free site" topic doesn't hijack what is a very critical topic. That being said, I hate the idea. If we only look to those at or above our level how will we ever learn from those with fresh ideas who are new to the game? If someone want to have their own reindeer games go start your own site and I'm sure you'll attract those who share your sentiment. Ed and Jeff clearly don't feel that's how they want this site to work so we just have to accept there will be plenty of noobs to match with the pros. This is a community that has fought itself for too long and it's because of that behavior that we don't have a voice. Ed and Jeff give us that voice more than any other site. Sure I subscribe to FTBT, ToysNBricks, HothBricks, etc but those are far more on the fan side of the spectrum. I was on board with Jeff and Ed from day one because they get "us". They understand business and the business of Lego reselling. Now any of you that honestly think you're not one of the hated resellers because you call yourself an investor is dillusional. We're not welcome either way. It's all business one way or another and whether there's people like me who pay taxes on it and have a corporation to do it through or some stay at home dad who's staying just under the IRS limit for reportable income it doesn't matter. We all do the same thing; we look for deals, we buy them up, and we wait until they appreciate before selling. So if one group here thinks they're better than the other please take a step back and look at what we need to do as a collective group to make things better for everyone. Pointing fingers doesn't help. I can take responsiblity for the holes I put in a stores shelf, can you?

I think if some people want to deprive the rest of the members of knowledge through a paid site, those people should be deprived of the knowledge shared on the free half. Just because I don't drop 2 grand a month doesn't mean I'm not hip to the game. Believe it.

+Over 9000. Well said. I don't think anyone could have said it better. I think I speak for both DL and I, that we have learned so much from everyone here at BrickPicker, not only about LEGO's and fun and games, but about managing my money, what to do with it, and how to spend it. Before this, I would have spent all my money on Clone Troopers and Jedi minifigures...for $5 a pop. Not exactly what you would call responsible nor "money-smart". I think that you guys have also learned from us teens, how we suck at grammar, and how people can change for the better if they are given the right circumstances and people to work with. Gosh, this is turning into some mushy adult thing isn't it....

False......times frame does matter to LEGO. If I am selling my sets while they are still available from LEGO then I am their competiton. If I am selling after the set is retired then am I still their competition?? Nope! You are saying investors and resellers are the same because they both sell sets. To be honest I'm confused why TLG even cares about resellers.......they got paid originally regardless of how many times a sets changes hands through a sale. No one is making Lego bricks in their laboratory and then reselling them.

We see a lot of amazing MOC in this thread, thanks for that! There is only few Technics MOC though while there are awesome things done too! Personally I'm Technic fan (I hope I'm not alone ...) so time to time I

Here's what I have on display at the moment.

There is no way I would spend $13,000 on those sets, to many cheap small sets and sets that could take many many years to make money. With $13,000 I would load up on lots of big sets that will bring in the big bucks for sure. Anybody thinking about it I would think twice about it.

I'm waiting for Kerrmando to jump on here and tell us he bought the whole thing and is currently driving a U-Haul over there to pick it all up. That guy pushes some pretty serious numbers.

Now that chima, galaxy squad and lone ranger look to be flops...they have plenty of unused capacity. Why not crank up the presses and prerelease green grocer and cafe corner? If they rerelease those and Harry potter sets....I will be first in line with a couple grand to buy these sets...as would others. What is really to stop them? Nothing. Do they want to be a collectable--or dominate the young boy toy segment? With increasing the minecraft run of 10k...and the 5 year death star run..they don't seem to care much about exclusivity and residual value. Give the real consumers what they want lego. We want cafe corners and green grocers. Make them yourself or leave the resellers alone.