Any idea when the Death Star will be discontinued? It's been around about 4 years...way past normal set lifespans in stores. Thoughts?

As referenced above....

"We are currently making more, so please check back soon for availability."

ugh.

I had enough of these Lego games. It's time to return my recently purchased 10188s just in-time to watch Sharknado 3 tonight.

Haha.  Yet another head fake from TLG.  *sigh*

I need to return mine so I can get some Palace Cinemas, Parisian Restaurants and Pet Shops because we all know they are getting retired!  They have SOLD OUT notations!

Logistics issues in the warehouse:

Ed's (your choice of Ed) Lego warehouse?

Let's see how many people rush out to return or sell the ones they recently procured.

It´s a banhammer trap.

Aw shucks... 

Edited July 22, 201510 yr by biking_tiger

Who is going to be the one to call the home office and tell the that we don't approve!

Damn it. Well at least I'm not too upset that WM cancelled half my orders. lol.

The possibilities:

1) Left hand is not talking to right hand and LEGO Shop at Home is confused

2) The Lego peeps in store were speaking the truth and a big pile of plastic balls are coming

3) The last few vestiges of stock from all parts of the world will be cleared out in 0.09 seconds from LEGO Shop at Home

4) I was right and Lego has hired psychologists to screw with resellers.

The solution is quite simple really (I've been doing this all day instead of saying Noooooo)

I have lost all faith in this set

Glad I was only in for 2.

Trading two 10188s for 20 Raptor Escapes!

So glad I wasn't part of it this time!

Maybe it's a GLITCH????

The Canadian site still has only "sold out"

So glad I wasn't part of it this time!

ditto...and I won't be the next time either. I'm still not buying any of this set. Like I mentioned a few pages back, there are several other "safer" investments than this set. It will be interesting to hear how many refunds are requested from buyers who paid over $400 for this set on eBay or Amazon over the past week and a half.

Between this and the EU sold out fiasco , I have learned that many folks don't have a clear investment strategy . 

IIRC, this is the second time this year it was depleted from all retailers...this is the first time it was documented so heavily.

Between this and the EU sold out fiasco , I have learned that many folks don't have a clear investment strategy . 

I'm very much convinced of that, because if many did, then thousands of DS's wouldn't dissappear in a day, but there would be a lonnngg slow phase out as people bought a few here and there.  But, so many need "one more fix", and hence you have to know when to say when, otherwise, lego is going to be like "well, we didnt' expect to sell out of stock that quickly, maybe we should do one more run because there is demand." 

This is why i'm also hesitant going further with many other exclusives.  The same is happening with the Red5, and i'm sure we might see it happen with some other sets too.

Between this and the EU sold out fiasco , I have learned that many folks don't have a clear investment strategy . 

That's not entirely fair.  Panic buying at the (perceived) end of life IS a strategy.

That's not entirely fair.  Panic buying at the (perceived) end of life IS a strategy.

and having some ready to sell during said end of life while people panic is as well

and having some ready to sell during said end of life while people panic is as well

Especially like that $600 guy!

That's not entirely fair.  Panic buying at the (perceived) end of life IS a strategy.

Panic buying is fine if that's what works for you.  Panic returns are what punish sellers and retailers and just make it bad for everybody.  How likely is it that Target or Walmart will stop selling online exclusives or make it difficult to return them if they all of a sudden end up with 600 $400 DS in stores where they don't belong?

The whole point of investing at EOL is minimizing risk of holding money tied up inventory and storage issues.  People may abuse the system to minimize their risk by returning items by simply stating "Not as described" or "damaged".  As noted above I wonder how many Amazon returns are going to pan out if that message stays up on LEGO Shop at Home for more than a few days.

I'm very much convinced of that, because if many did, then thousands of DS's wouldn't dissappear in a day, but there would be a lonnngg slow phase out as people bought a few here and there.  But, so many need "one more fix", and hence you have to know when to say when, otherwise, lego is going to be like "well, we didnt' expect to sell out of stock that quickly, maybe we should do one more run because there is demand." 

This is why i'm also hesitant going further with many other exclusives.  The same is happening with the Red5, and i'm sure we might see it happen with some other sets too.

That's not entirely fair.  Panic buying at the (perceived) end of life IS a strategy.

Buying at end of life is more a psychological edge than anything else.  Buyers get the shot of adrenaline from "I got one more!" and seldom have to deal with the remorse that may follow.  A lot of these same buyers were clamoring for one more chance to purchase a HE, AA, SSD, TH, or HH last year or earlier this year and each person who got one or more is very happy with his/her respective purchases and received the adrenaline boost to go with it.

Slow and steady is the best way to purchase (not in ROI terms) but, as we have repeatedly discussed, not everyone can keep $4,000 in one SKU sitting in their house for 2 years waiting for EOL.  Scrambling at or near the end of the set's lifetime is really the only strategy for a number of our members, and if the scramblers miss out, that is their decision.