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Phil B

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Everything posted by Phil B

  1. If this is regarding the gift card deal, that is still working ... just bought one 10 minutes ago for $127.50
  2. More hypotheticals: They knew they were going on vacation, asked for expedited shipping in the hopes it would arrive before they left. It didn't arrive in time, they are now gone on vacation and not checking their mail. You will hear from them again once they return, and the package will show as delivered. With a little luck they will file a return request because "it didn't arrive on time", or they just chalk it up to "too bad, we tried".
  3. Is it possible your customer has a Vacation Hold on their address? I do this when I travel. Packages delivered by USPS get a similar status on my end until the mail gets delivered once I return.
  4. I saw this IRL last weekend at BrickFair VA. Unfortunately they didn't get it put together in time for the World of Lights event on Friday evening, but it looked impressive in daylight as well during the public days on Sat and Sun.
  5. 2024! I mean, retired LEGO sells at a premium, right?
  6. My City Space Station was shipped without a shipping box as well, with a $74 WM clearance sticker on it, a "destroy" tag, one seal broken, but the contents were pristine.
  7. They are located in Bentonville, AR, so I am pretty sure they buy pallets of Walmart returns and resell them. Hence the chance of getting pasta filled LEGO set boxes ... Sent from my SM-A356U1 using Tapatalk
  8. VIPOutlet has a bunch of LEGO sets that qualify for the JULYFINDS 20% off coupon over on EBay, including the big Bugatti Sian for $310 after discount. It is VIPoutlet, so best to buy for personal build. Sent from my SM-A356U1 using Tapatalk
  9. According to the guy who runs the program, when talking at BrickWorld Chicago, they are dynamically allocating the entire 150,000 set production allotment over all 5 sets (as a first-time trial). So the underperforming sets' allocations get reduced, and the capacity gets added to the in-demand ones.
  10. OMG. I went to the Stripe virtual support assistant, who was clueless, but offered to connect me to a live agent. To do so, it asked me to "pick my account" - and it showed two accounts with the same name. Turns out, Stripe created two identically named accounts - one for all my BrickOwl payments, and one for my BrickLink payments. I didn't see the payment, because I was always looking at BrickOwl. On the main screen, I switched over to the other account and lo and behold, there was my payment. Why there are two accounts with different balances is beyond me, but at least I found the payment!
  11. 2x2 Dome Top Brick in Orange (part 553). I'm now struggling with their payment. They paid using Stripe which I configured a while ago but apart from customers on BrickOwl I have not had anyone use it on BrickLink. It's been 5 days and I still see no evidence of a payment in my Stripe dashboard. I have just written to BL Support to see if they have any info on the payment. I know Stripe is slow to post, but this has been 5 days ... anyone any insights or similar experiences with Stripe?
  12. Hmmm .... should I be worried? This is the buyer's address on a BL order: Address: <snip> 100 Print Shop Rd. LEGO SYSTEMS, INC. Enfield CT 06082 USA Account was created in early May. 4 Feedback. Ordered close to a 100 pieces of one part. Picked my most expensive shipping option. Curious.
  13. This fruitcake requires a little knowledge on the difference between 10020-1 (non-limited Santa Fe engine) and 10020-2 (limited Santa Fe Engine). Basically, there are 3 differences between the sets: A unique numbered tile (with Axxxx serial number) A tile with LEGO logo A box with the "Limited Edition" bar on it Out of these, 1 & 2 are the most valuable (in terms of need to have to call a set Limited). Look at this listing, especially at the Item Description: https://www.ebay.com/itm/286573927124 :facepalm:
  14. Decided to grab my 3 missing modular before the tariffs hit. Got each for slightly below market value - paid $2.2k before taxes, including a whole lot of replacement parts for yellowing. The Green Grocer had all the white very yellowed which I replaced. A lot of LBG parts were yellowed too, but most I could place in such a way that it wasn't visible from the outside. For Market Street there was minor yellowing on the white, but almost all the light blue had severely yellowed. I was again able to turn the bricks in such a way that it wasn't noticeable. Surprisingly, Cafe Corner was pristine. I now have all the Modulars (but not all of them built yet). That's next on the list. People say these early modulars are not as fun to build as the newer ones, but I had a blast doing this. Probably fueled by the fact that sometimes you are holding a $30 part, or a handful of rare slopes at $3 each. Guess that's the investor in me ;-) Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk
  15. There is also a 15% off promotion for another group of LEGO sets as part of Circle Week. Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk
  16. Ebay has a tiered promo with coupon code SHOPANDSAVE. One of the eligible sellers has several CMF lots, including factory sealed boxes of Series 27 for $154, before coupon savings ($10 off post tax for orders $150+). Ends up being 20% off versus buying a sealed case at retail. You can buy multiples to get the seller savings and hit another tier, but the tiers are less lucrative the higher the purchase total (i havent done the math to see if the bulk discounts offered by the vendor offset the loss in savings from the coupon). Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk
  17. This is a pass for me. 214 pieces for about $17.50 in points, and all the "prints" are stickers. Plus the baby space fig is one we already got earlier.
  18. Going to do a shoutout to my current most favorite LEGO Youtuber: BrickTsar (https://www.youtube.com/@BrickTsar). He has a very particular style, and focuses mainly on classic LEGO, but I find his off-the-cuff and improvised style rather funny. He's also a reseller and runs a BrickLink store.
  19. Barnes & Noble is running a 50% off "thousands of books" sale, which includes this book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-secret-life-of-lego-bricks-daniel-konstanski/1145255055?ean=9781464234415
  20. One more: santa bucks at Meijer, combined with a lot of sets on 20-30% off. I also had both a 2x rewards points and a 3x rewards points, which both applied at the same time. Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk
  21. Double GWP at Lego LEGO Shop at Home today: Holiday picture frame at $70+ Fortnite Brite Bomber returns for select themes at $90+ Sent from my SM-A326U1 using Tapatalk
  22. I can simply remove the Kroger logo build and replace it with a KMart logo, add some different color masonry bricks to show crumbling plaster, remove all the outside displays and all the customers, leave one car, and voila, a KMart.
  23. Am I allowed to toot my own horn here? Pretty proud of this one ... Updated pic with full background surround:
  24. I started my reseller journey with the intent to open a BL store, which is what I did (see my "First year as a LEGO reseller" blog post on this site). Only when I realized that often I could sell whole sets faster with less work is when I added the EBay/Amazon sales channel. I have always been small potatoes, doing the reselling more as a hobby than a serious business undertaking (though I do report business income to the IRS and have a reseller's license (and sales tax reporting obligation) with my state. You will need at least 100,000 parts in your store before you will see significant order volume (unless you bargain-price, but that has its own issues - see @raindog's commentary above). Having a good organization system is a must. You do not have to be the cheapest to get sales; for most buyers it is the "single trip experience" that gets them to shop at your store. For me it has been a great hobby that I can scale up and down based on the demands of my real-life job. Right now I get less than 5 orders per month, but I have a lot of parts ready to be uploaded and expect that once I do, order volumes will go up again. It is not going to make me rich at this point, or be able to compete with my regular income. For that you need a significantly larger operation, with warehouse space and staff. There are others on this site who can tell you the complexities of running such an operation.
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