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Just bought the Mini Cooper - this is my dream set - I have been driving Mini's since 1995 - my brother is Chairman of the local MIni owners club - so excited to build this!

You know what baffles me? They can do unique printings for such limited items as the new Unikitty, but doing decent prints for the Mini Cooper (front emblem is ugly as hell as a sticker) or Orthanc would be too much to ask for? I am beginning to be seriously disgusted by this level of monetization.

Probably every set....LOL. You just don't pay attention to most of the "regular" sets going in and out of stock.

bookmark this post so you will remember ( use this URL, http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/10786-best-way-to-tell-bricklink-value/?p=300649 ) let's use 10220 as an example of all parts you want to add to your bricklink store. go to http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=10220-1 then click "Part Out" under the Lots for Sale section ( http://www.bricklink.com/invSet.asp?itemType=S&itemNo=10220-1 ). follow the steps (you can use see "avg sold price by last 6 months" here. pretty cool feature)

Most of you might not no this but Mega Bloks came out with the POTC ships in 2006, and Back them they were very poor seller, Toys R Us had to lower the price to $40 each on the big ships and sometimes they had the buy 2 get one free, which thats when I loaded up on them and then the price started climbing fast. as even now they sell for $200 or so. As for the Lego Black Pearl and Queens Revenge I kept telling people to load up on them, but most didn't. And $60 at Costco for the Pearl was more than a steal, and instead of just having 60 I should gotten 100 or more for $60 a dumb move. so I did wind up having 60 Pearls and 60 Queen Revenge. So If Lego does the Sets again in 2016 I will Load up on the ships again. Ed

My mecha are patiently waiting

The beauty of the classic space line was that there wasn't any real story or predefined roles...it was up to the child to create their own universe. The sets simply served as a support to the imagination. As a kid I equated it to the classic Star Trek. Yellow was command, blue were sciences, and red was engineering. White was usually support and black were commanders due to there relative rareity. Going from the promotional videos I inferred that the new greens are some kind of SAR (search and rescue) or salvage. But in the end it is up to the imagination. The universe is yours to create...

That's actually a cool looking out house. They need to have a crescent moon on the door. Sent from my iPad using Brickpicker

Exo suit - Blacktron edition! >Blacktron Exo Suit by Legoloverman, on Flickr

No man on one here thinks you are dumb you just have to be mindful of how you word your posts. Trust me man if you have the money buy a DS you won't regret it. Is it gonna be a 10179? Nope, but you will make some money.

With the extra 2x4s and 1x4 flat tiles Lego sent me, I made my model's roof extra sturdy. Even the fragile roof is t too bad anymore. Four 2x4s in the front and one 1x4 at the very rear. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

bought today ... 3x stunt plane 60019: $9.98 ea 2x jet rocka 44014: $17.48 ea 3x family house 31012: $48.60 ea 1x batwing battle over gotham 6863: $9.40 2x constitution train chase 79111: $47.10 not bad at all ...

I disagree with a majority of this. For one, I don't need a second job, nor want a second job. Could I find one that pays $20/hour, of course I can. But that would be work. Buying and selling from my home is not even close to work. It's actually a stress relief from my real job. As far as being a hobby, it most definitely is. The only thing my investments or flipping does is provide more money to have fun with and scour deals looking for good buys. That is the hobby, and that is the fun part for me. I have a pension, I have a 401k, I have other savings and investments. For me, it's nothing more than disposable time I would probably be wasting somehow else. But, good discussion and a fun topic.

Awesome don't buy any then......definitely a loser.

We are the same person.

I picked up a bulk lot on Craigslist today and just had my first dealgasm. It was a 30 lb. lot for $70 which was great by itself. I just flipped through it real quick and there was a Robie House on top. Can't wait to start sorting. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I would really like to see that. I hate that R2D2 head full of acne...

Thanks a lot. I was trying to do a similar task where setting up pricing without having to look it up separately. The avg sold by last 6 months option is exactly what I was looking for.

The second SDCC minifigure has been revealed and it's a Bard the Bowman variant from the Hobbit. So far this year's minifigures are much better than the previous years because they are such niche characters. It's frustrating that Green Lantern, Phoenix, Bizarro, Shazam, Spider-Woman and Green Arrow are all exclusive minifigures that cost an arm and a leg because of how LEGO decided to distribute them.

If you're trying to add a complete set to BL, just select "part out a set" from the sell page.

I had just started this insane hobby of hoarding/selling plastic when POTC was being cleared out...ended up with 4-6 of either ship. Had I known Costco had pallets of them (30 min away) I would have been selling everything I owned to buy them. Although, I will admit I had serious reservations because week after week I would see them on discount in various retail stores and I though to myself...how will this do well...no one wants it now. Newbie anxiety, killed loads of free money. Doh.

I believe this is what you are looking for: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=93604 Has a 6 month average price on BL used at about $1

I ordered 1 too on the 14 JUly (In Stock on 16 July), but current delivery status is " We need a little more time to provide you with a good estimate. We'll notify you via e-mail as soon as we have an estimated delivery date. " Looks like it's backorder on Amazon. I'll update the code once received.

Now available for purchase on the US LEGO Shop page (appears to be VIP only as expected) - http://shop.lego.com/en-US/MINI-Cooper-10242 Includes free Flashback Shredder Figure and MINI Cooper Mini Model (40109) as well. Limit 2 per household.

Built 8781 Castle of Morcia. Interesting build: 1. It has a neat function where you can convert the castle from good guy to bad guy with a few flicks of some turntable-mounted bricks. 2. It doesn't fully utilize the third dimension of it's baseplate for any functions (disappointing) 3. It has some of Lego's royal blue color - a really slick color. 4. Since it's a Knight's Kingdoms II set, it has all four of the really trippy knights - monkey (green), bear (red), eagle (light blue), and wolf (purple). Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I just watched "Blazing Saddles" again the other night. This is a really good deal. The Mel Brooks Collection (9-Disc Blu-ray Set) $22 Amazon.com has Mel Brooks Movie Collection (Blu-Ray) for $21.99. Free shipping with Prime (free student accounts available) or if you spend $35 or more. Use slick fillers to find other eligible items to help reach the $35 requirement. Thanks calistyle, DJ3xclusive, & giveNforgive Amazon.com also has Mel Brooks Movie Collection (DVD) for $18.99. Free shipping with Prime (free student accounts available) or if you spend $35 or more. Use slick fillers to find other eligible items to help reach the $35 requirement. Thanks calistyle, DJ3xclusive, & giveNforgive Includes: Blazing Saddles Spaceballs Young Frankenstein High Anxiety History Of The World Part 1 Robin Hood Men In Tights Silent Movie To Be Or Not To Be Twelve Chairs

Welcome to the forums!

They usually give the mini figs away randomly thru out the day. As far as getting in line to purchase the exclusives, good luck. Most of the exhibitors buy a normal pass so they can get inline at the various vendors, that's why when you think you're there early the line is already capped.

Welcome, LegoBuildingMama.

I'm not sure if this guy needs a troll badge or a handicap tag.

Found New Friends Sets at Target today! 41033 , 41034, 41036, 41038 priced $30, $30, $20, $60

If the classic Batmobile comes with an exclusive TV series fig it will fetch insane prices which will put Azog to shame.

not if you're trying to buy them, if you're selling them then i'm sure it'd be a great price to get, but it won't happen

That's the point. It's hard to tell with pretty much most sets. Otherwise, there would be zero risk involved. However, when your prediction about a sets EOL value changes from $600-$1000 in a matter of a few posts, it tends to take away any of the credibility of your "prediction".

10173 is def a nice set to own sealed. Here's a hint on what my summary post will be like. If I was in your situation... I wouldn't open a sealed 10173 since they usually sell for a nice dime before the holidays. I would rather buy a used set and sell the MISB one. Better yet, I might even buy the latest Hogwarts Express and add holiday themed cars to it. I'll do the latter with the Hogwarts train (like last yr) or use the Emerald Night loco and tender. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

Haunted House has not been in the last two or three catalogs, and its associated theme (Monster Fighters) is long gone. I would expect it to go EOL at any time. Tower Bridge is trickier, but has been around as long as GE and also not featured in the last several catalogs. I do think that appearing (or not) in the catalog is one sign worth paying attention to; it's just not definitive by itself. Still, as emazers and others have pointed out, if you wait for the "retiring soon" badge to appear, more often than not you'll be at least a few months too late to buy at or below retail...

A good investment too is to have a kitchen garden, and especially make grow some salad. Awesome ROI (about 800%) (radish are ok too, if you want several kind of vegetables in your vegetefolio)

Now I'm confused. Was the Emazers I spoke to a front, to conceal you're image. I always wondered why he talks in the third person sometimes.

After reading hundreds of thousands of posts(...and that is just The Orc King...LOL) on this and other sites, people need to have more patience. Time is your friend, but many people think week to week, month to month. Many of you already know how I feel about short term flipping...I really don't recommend it. Why? Because as many have mentioned above, flipping sets for many members equates to a minimum wage type of job. Now don't get me wrong, you can make money short term flipping sets, but how much money for the time invested is the real question. There are some exceptional sets at times that can be flipped for a solid profit, but they are the minority. This is also not a knock on small sets. I just bought 20 smallish sets from Amazon and Target two days ago, so I am a believer in small sets. But you need to market small sets properly to get the best bang for your investment buck. Flipping $15 sets one at a time is a waste of time IMO. You are better off coming up with creative combinations of sets(lots) that might entice a buyer, which reduces commissions slightly and saves time on shipping and packaging. Back to my original point, expectations are too high given the time frame in which many work with. LEGO investing is not a 2 or 3 month process. It can take years. People getting involved need to invest money that they "don't need to live off of." If you need to short term flip sets to make rent payments, you will be homeless soon enough. Do some people pay their rents/mortgages off of LEGO reselling...yes, I'm positive there are some that live off of that money, but the vast majority of resellers cannot make enough to support themselves. The exceptions might have a true knack or insight to picking the proper sets or connections to locate cheap products. If you get involved with LEGO investing with eyes wide open and some spare cash, space and time, you can make some decent money. Otherwise, it's a a lot of work for a little money.

Your time is never worth zero. Birth to death, we all have a limited number of hours on this earth, and those hours are WORTH something. Sometimes, they're worth dollars. Sometimes they're worth relaxation or family time or the actual hobby of building LEGO (versus a hobby of selling it) or volunteering at an animal shelter or taking a cooking class or sleeping. For those who enjoy selling LEGO as a hobby, that's fine - but the cost of time is some of your hobby hours pursuing that, leaving you less time for your other hobbies, from building LEGO to whatever else you might like to do. (Side note to Alcarin's post: in the event that someone cannot find any other paid work, working for a pittance might be more attractive than no money at all. I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods job-hunting-wise, but in the U.S., despite what the cable news channels and the lazy claim, it is hard to NOT find work if you really want it, for minimum wage or better, provided you're willing and able to get off your butt. )

I do find it a little comical when people add in the the "cost of time" to sell the items. This would most definitely be true for those who rely solely on sales to pay their bills. For most of us, it's a side hobby and we have a full time job. The "cost of time" to sell is only applicable if you would be doing some other money making venture at the same time. If the time you used to sell would otherwise be spent watching tv, going to a ballgame, eating dinner, going on a date, etc. the "cost of time" is actually ZERO.

^This. Many inept sellers never realize they work (and sometimes work very hard) for below minimum wage and or no wage at all. If a hobby seller goes into this knowing that fact and does it anyway (because they're willing to give over some of their hobby hours to selling some LEGO and maybe help to defray the cost of some other LEGO they can use), it's not a bad deal for them. But for a true investor or reseller looking to make actual profit, it can be and often is a VERY bad deal once you factor in time sink and consider what other paid work you could get for that same amount of time. And lets not forget opportunity cost with tied-up capital and space/quality of life cost with storage of inventory. I'm not one to discourage anyone else from making money, and there are definitely ways to make money in LEGO, but self-deception is a costly habit and should be avoided. Looking at two numbers, "I paid $20, someone just sold one for $50, so I've made $30!" is just plain foolishness. Kidding yourself that you have "no costs" because you sell on CL or find your own recycled boxes is just plain foolishness. Cost of Goods Sold. Time. Storage. All Other Expenses. Start adding those up, consider opportunity cost, and determine what you're actually making. Selling LEGO is simple, but it's not easy to make a profit - that takes both work and basic accounting skills.

News Flash.... Intelligent life believe to be spotted on Earth. We are sending a team to confirm location and verify. :)

If the Curiosity found actual life this set would hit 500$.

Over the past few days I've purchased: 10030 Star Destroyer, complete with instructions but no box - $345 shipped ($300 selling price plus $45 shipping/insurance) and 10175 Vader's Tie Advanced, complete with instructions but no box - $195 shipped ($175 selling price plus $20 shipping/insurance) ...both from the same brand new, zero feedback Bricklink seller. Seller seems totally legit, pics look good...so either I've struck gold or I'm getting royally screwed (and I'll avail myself of Paypal's buyer protection). I'll find out in a couple days when the 10030 shipment is due to arrive. I'm a bit leery because my previous "too good to be true" BL experience - a $250 used/complete 10019/Tantive IV - turned out to be a total mess, though I did ultimately get my money back. We'll see. Got my fingers crossed. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I can provide an excellent example of this. I'm in LA and saw a "Retiring Soon" placard on FB at a local Lego store early in the set's EOL spiral. Put on notice, I ordered a couple from Target.com using my Red Card. Within the hour I discovered that I could get a discount on three sets from a local contact, so I canceled the Target order, uncertain that I wanted to go all-in on the set. My contact failed and I only got one, so I rushed back to Target.com only to discover that they'd bumped it to $250 overnight. Literally. Sure enough, it soon disappeared from all retailers and got the "Retired Product" tag on LEGO Shop at Home. [shakes fist at the sky.] I agree that the past doesn't allow us to predict the future, but we're not dealing with absolutes

Same here. I missed the boat on a couple of sets I wanted and bought them higher than MSRP (still less than market price at the time though). As long as you pick the correct sets, you will still make money. One of my better investments like those would be The Zombies. Bought a bunch between $90 and $113 shipped within the last yr. Been selling them over $210. Which I could have bought sets like MS, GG, GC, Eiffel, and Taj for 2x MSRP. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

Ha, I see how it is. I don't send you a message on Ebay for a couple of days, and you track me down here..... Yeah, I don't see a lot of the Hobbit sets posting huge gains in the future, but I think Unexpected Gathering would definitely be one to keep. I have good feelings about Lake Town as well. I still see UG's on clearance racks at Wal-mart every now and then. I just visited a store that had 12 at $49 each, although those weren't investment worthy. They had been transferred in from another stores in bundles of 3- they had taken stacks of three, wrapped the stack in packing tape, then slapped the transfer sticker across the edge of the boxes. I asked a store associate if I could buy them by the bundle for cheaper; she said, "Naw, these aren't supposed to be taped," and started slicing the tape between the boxes. She got a couple cut then dropped her box knife, which hit her right between the eyes (fortunately it was the butt end of the knife, not the ultra-sharp-piece-of-metal end). Pretty classic Walmart, from start to finish.

If anyone still needs a 20% off BandN coupon PM me. Paying it forward

They're still releasing the movie, they're just ditching Bruckheimer after because they have other ways (Marvel, Pixar, etc.) of making much more money. The guy has been a failure for awhile now... POTC has been a big part of Disney since the late 60's, so it's not like the franchise is going to die. I think LEGO releases some sort of theme with the movie in 2016. edit - Oh, and if Jerry wants to make more "mature" movies... how about not making us wait 3 decades for Bad Boys III.