After reading a couple of interesting posts I thought I would toss my own thoughts on what the Lego.com retiring soon moniker means to me.  To me this is definitely going to be the bane of the secondary market in time.  It indicates to everyone interested in Lego that their time is nearly up to purchase particular sets.  It also indicates to resellers that the time to buy is now.  I'm sure there will be the usual procrastinators inside of there yet, but I think overall less.  I think that for every one person who buys one knowing that a set will soon be retired there will be another reseller buying two of them to hopefully sell to the person that missed that time window.  If Lego stays on top of and consistent with their labeling of sets 'retiring soon' it will definitely start to take the steam out of the secondary market and make buying and holding a regular occurrence with the majority of sets.  (this is not meant to be a bubble thread)  I apologize in advance if it somehow evolves into that or an ethical debate.  Overall this doesn't bother me, just one of those things I've given a moments thought to.

50% off everything!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0l3bqhwqRU

Looks like the Orc Forge is back up on the Lego website.  And yes, it's still listed as "Retiring Soon", "Hard to Find", and "Temporarily Out of Stock".

They are reading these threads and Fing with us.

They are reading these threads and Fing with us.

I've wondered about this possibility myself

They are reading these threads and Fing with us.

I think you are overestimating them.

Lego is in the business of making $$$, just like every other business out there.  I guess the "retiring soon" posts on their site are just a way to drum up more sales on sets that were way overproduced.

I think you are overestimating them.

 

I was also being sarcastic

Lego will do anything and everything (within the law), to make money like all other companies do. The retiring soon label is just one of those things to drive up sales on a certain set.

They are reading these threads and Fing with us.

I hope they are laughing too.  It is kind of funny.

I was also being sarcastic

Oh well in that case, I think you underestimate them. 

It really means:  We are WAY overstocked on this item and need to sell it to the "sucker investors" at full retail or a slight discount so we can move it quickly and make shelf space for more product.

It really means:  We are WAY overstocked on this item and need to sell it to the "sucker investors" at full retail or a slight discount so we can move it quickly and make shelf space for more product.

I agree with that.

I wonder how many (if any) BP members are Lego employees. That reminds me as I have to be at a famous place in Windsor at 07:00 tomorrow! ;-) There's better ways for them to screw us if they really want to.

It really means:  We are WAY overstocked on this item and need to sell it to the "sucker investors" at full retail or a slight discount so we can move it quickly and make shelf space for more product.

Are we talking about Orc Forges here? If so, I 100% agree. Ed said in a different thread something like "The sets that do well are the ones that no one suspect." Having more than 5 of a set and blabbering about it to everyone lowers the value of your set in the future, so really keep your "secret weapons" to yourself, IMO. 

 

Uhh...Everyone, the Orc Forge is a great investment! Why don't you buy 50 of them today!

After reading a couple of interesting posts I thought I would toss my own thoughts on what the Lego.com retiring soon moniker means to me.  To me this is definitely going to be the bane of the secondary market in time.  It indicates to everyone interested in Lego that their time is nearly up to purchase particular sets.  It also indicates to resellers that the time to buy is now.  I'm sure there will be the usual procrastinators inside of there yet, but I think overall less.  I think that for every one person who buys one knowing that a set will soon be retired there will be another reseller buying two of them to hopefully sell to the person that missed that time window.  If Lego stays on top of and consistent with their labeling of sets 'retiring soon' it will definitely start to take the steam out of the secondary market and make buying and holding a regular occurrence with the majority of sets.  (this is not meant to be a bubble thread)  I apologize in advance if it somehow evolves into that or an ethical debate.  Overall this doesn't bother me, just one of those things I've given a moments thought to.

It means that this is the last shipment of this product. They are done making this product. Once it's sold out, they won't make more and that's when the value starts going up.

The best "Dark Horse" sets I have are not declared on my Brickfolio or discussed here for that very reason.