9 minutes ago, bagalux said:

Nice! Is the £3 FVF some kind of promotion? Available how - automatic?

Yeah its a promo, check your selling account and activate if you've got it.

I spent the summer of 1998 selling Beanie Babies. I still feel dirty taking over 10k off a dad for buying 4 "collectable dolls"... just... ouch. 

I sold enough of those stupid toys as a 9th grade student in high school to purchase my 1st car! Beats working fast food any day.
My mom held all hers and is still donating them to local police stations and hospitals when they need.

8 hours ago, Salimr said:

I sold enough of those stupid toys as a 9th grade student in high school to purchase my 1st car! Beats working fast food any day.
My mom held all hers and is still donating them to local police stations and hospitals when they need.

And with that life experience in the pocket, you probably saved on the need to go to university too! Like any bubble or Ponzi, the people with good timing/luck make money.

11 hours ago, Val-E said:

So you probably need to selll the remaining one for about 400 euros to compensate for the rest! Just goes to show that a  free promo is not always so good if what you buy to get it is a turd.

I beg to differ. If the selling value of a free promo is higher than the best discount you could find on the set (remember, in The Netherlands we don't get discounts as good as local stores in Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland or UK regularly have), then that promo makes it worthwhile to get that set and use the revenue of selling the promo as discount on that set.

• Parisian Restaurant --> Generally considered as the most beautiful of current Modulars. Don't think this will be a turd after it retires.
• Doctor Who (+ minifig to get to €65) --> This was bought for my own collection, so the promo gave it a really nice discount I couldn't get otherwise  
• Sandcrawler --> GBH sale will serve as discount on this set. I couldn't have gotten it cheaper elsewhere anyway.
• 2x Ecto-1 (at the time I believed it was going to retire that year) --> GBH used for my own collection, so they will have to stand on their own merits. Closest to being a turd.  

1 hour ago, Val-E said:

Like any bubble or Ponzi, the people with good timing/luck make money.

Right. Be at the top of the pyramid and you win. Join late and you're at the bottom feeding those at the top. 

I never forgot when I read an article about some smart entrepreneurs who started the "Postcode Lottery" in The Netherlands, using the innate fear of many people of being excluded from a big price falling on their postcode and their neighbours enjoying the price while they're left empty handed. Of course, the only real winners of any lottery are the ones organising it, as long as the value of the combined prices is well below the total value of lottery ticket sales. 

4 hours ago, Haay said:

I beg to differ. If the selling value of a free promo is higher than the best discount you could find on the set (remember, in The Netherlands we don't get discounts as good as local stores in Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland or UK regularly have), then that promo makes it worthwhile to get that set and use the revenue of selling the promo as discount on that set.

• Parisian Restaurant --> Generally considered as the most beautiful of current Modulars. Don't think this will be a turd after it retires.
• Doctor Who (+ minifig to get to €65) --> This was bought for my own collection, so the promo gave it a really nice discount I couldn't get otherwise  
• Sandcrawler --> GBH sale will serve as discount on this set. I couldn't have gotten it cheaper elsewhere anyway.
• 2x Ecto-1 (at the time I believed it was going to retire that year) --> GBH used for my own collection, so they will have to stand on their own merits. Closest to being a turd.  

When I saw your Ecto1 purchase I got a sinking feeling and, sure enough, I did the same thing for the same reasons. Perhaps the only smart move was only buying one.

In hindisight would you have bought other stuff or do you stand by the originals? Doctor Who and Ecto were both discounted to 50% at SAH this year and we now know that they won´t perform as well as expected in 2015.

 

Ghost is doing better than SW and you would have got returns a year earlier, right?

Ghost is doing better NOW. At the time if SW/MC sent into Amazon it was instant double up as soon as it hit warehouse. Ghost wasn't doing that at the time

Ghost is doing better NOW. At the time if SW/MC sent into Amazon it was instant double up as soon as it hit warehouse. Ghost wasn't doing that at the time

I got a combo that I think was pretty sweet from a SW perspective. Ghost + battle droid troop carrier + GBH for a total of $111 after taxes

1 hour ago, Val-E said:

When I saw your Ecto1 purchase I got a sinking feeling and, sure enough, I did the same thing for the same reasons. Perhaps the only smart move was only buying one.

In hindsight would you have bought other stuff or do you stand by the originals? Doctor Who and Ecto were both discounted to 50% at SAH this year and we now know that they won´t perform as well as expected in 2015.

Doctor Who was discounted to €45,50 in The Netherlands before retiring. The one I bought in 2015 at full price came with a GBH which I sold for €30. So that was a sweeter deal in the end. Plus I've enjoyed this particular Doctor Who set in my Lego Ideas display ever since I built it.  

But in hindsight getting more WALL-E sets would have been a better way to go than those Ecto-1 and Doctor Who sets.  

I see under $150.00 @eBay

1 hour ago, brickolodon said:

I see under $150.00 @eBay

Yup, the virus seems to have calmed down. 223 USD on Amazon and  sales rank plummeting. Seems only the British are buying now on Ebay. No sales on Bricklink and 80 euros / USD is the SP.

How long till we see it back at 70 USD on Amazon?

Glad I at least got to squeeze a little juice from this before everyone caught on. I still have a feeling we night see another 40139 mega jump perhaps either during the holiday shopping rush or something.

 

Can we do this again next year for 40223 Snow Globe?

 

Nice try suckers! I sold my sets for $50-60 and put that back into 21031 Lego Birds! Who's laughing now!!!

*tap tap* 

Is this thing on?

I should have 4 according to my order history. Now I just have to find them..

Boom! Back down to 190 USD on Amazon. The only thing comparable with the madness of those  soccer moms rushing to buy this last week is that of the resellers now rushing to undercut each other.

One on hand, this case has actually helped restore my faith in the robustness of the Lego resale market as it has followed a classic supply and demand pattern and now we know the reason for the initial spike. It´s also good to see that non lego fans can still be hooked with the right publicity.

On the other, there are still so many units of this little 4 day special bad boy hoarded that it illustrates the problems of chronic oversupply.

Edited September 14, 20178 yr by Val-E

Looking at this data, prices should be back to what they were pre-bubble by the end of next week.

Down to 160 FBA now. Kudos to those who sold in the eye of the storm.

Sold 2 of my 4 and was all smiles with the sales. Kept the last 2 because I had planned to really sell them during full on holiday shopping times thinking they would spike then. As I read the customer reviews, I think people bought the hype and let their buyer's remorse overtake them when they saw the actual size of it.

Perhaps this might spike a little again during holiday rush but I question whether it gets back to ludicrous levels again.

Edited September 19, 20178 yr by MrToes16

Time to get some influencers to retweet the article lol

14 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

Time to get some influencers to retweet the article lol

With Star Wars buildable Darh Vader as the subject. No way I clear those black doodies before the new one comes out.

4 hours ago, Val-E said:

With Star Wars buildable Darh Vader as the subject. No way I clear those black doodies before the new one comes out.

thought the exact same thing the other day.

Down to 110 USD now on Amazon. Half what it was worth 3 weeks ago but still double the August price.

It was selling just fine around $155 shipped. Not sure why some sellers are so eager to take $45 less.

Down to 110 USD now on Amazon. Half what it was worth 3 weeks ago but still double the August price.

 

How much did you dump?

16 minutes ago, Jackson said:

It was selling just fine around $155 shipped. Not sure why some sellers are so eager to take $45 less.

Maybe because they know it will be going to $85 soon (which is still too high).