(...) I feel that there will come a time(in the very near future) where MISB only will matter in case of smaller completely sealed boxes like Battle Packs.  With the rise in popularity of LEGO sets and their known high values, there will be criminals and con men/women looking to skim parts and minifigures out of the easily opened larger sets.  Until LEGO changes box styles and security, a simple hair dryer can remove a seal.

 

I am coining these phrases now...

 

VIB...Verified In Box    VIBN...Verified In Box(NEW)    VIBU....Verified In Box(USED)

 

Unfortunately, this is where the world is heading.  Everything has to be verified.  Soon, the most important information will be how many sealed bags a set has so it can be checked before and after a sale.

 

This message has been posted 1 year ago, and I still do not see anything like that on ebay (for instance).

 

Would you guys be ok to add this "VIB"(******/U) inside the description of your unsealed lego sales ?

 

Instead of:

 

Lego millenium falcon 7965

 

The content has been checked, every bags are here and unopened

Be free to ask any question or some more pictures.

 

write:

 

Lego millenium falcon 7965 VIBN

 

The content has been checked, every bags are here and unopened

Be free to ask any question or some more pictures.

 

Note:

VIBN = Verified In Box (New, bags unopened).

VIBU = Verified In Box (Used, bags opened).

 

The verification only concerns bags number (meaning the buyer may not receive a lego box full of small soldiers), so you can also add something like: Main pieces (wheels, sails, minifigures) have been checked. Little bricks can still be missing.

 

If many of us use these "VIB" acronyms it will be help both sellers and buyers if it becomes a standard.

This is a very interesting discussion. I have no opinion yet. Just an example of what happened to me. Dunno if it is relevant.

 

Some months ago someone offered me a sealed MISB 10179 USC MF. So I asked the price for that must have set and he said he would ask the general average bricklink price for a sealed UCS MF. I told him I would think about it. Cause it is alot of money. Not too expensive. But alot of money.

Then he wrote me and added that if I were to be interested I had to come and pick it up. And when I would he insisted we would open the seals together at the spot to check that all the contents were there. Also he wanted to open the set so he would not find his own set on ebay later for a higher price.

 

I just thought this was very weird.

 

Despite some bad experiences that occur sometimes. I think that if we stop relying on the completeness of a new and sealed legoset in general it will be the beginning of the end.

Well, to be honest it's more about seller issues with dishonest buyers. It's far more this way. (sellers with a lot of sales are honest of course)

 

"Hey, I bought you a 7965 and it's full of megabloks ! Refund me !"

 

It's hard to prove that you didn't shipped some small soldiers instead of legos when you don't have any proof that the box wasn't already opened when you shipped it...

 

But that's more of a "lego sets: to open or to be opened" topic.

 

(this one is about the VIB acronym consensus)

 

 

Note: about the guy who didn't want to see his spaceship (spaceship !) on ebay, it's because he's a fan and wanted to sell it a nice price to another fan.

Instances of having issues are very very rare, and opening up each set before selling will immediately create doubt for the buyer that it is complete.

 

Regarding scams -  a seller looking to scam can always claim anything, regardless of what you do (photos you provide, statements you make, etc).

 

Scammers will seek out the easy targets - so don't be one. (No tracking & no signature over 250 would be great examples of easy targets).

This discussion took place about a year ago and from what members have stated on these forums, verifying contents in a box is already being done by some retailers upon return of a LEGO set. I have a friend who is a manger at a local Super Walmart and he tells me LEGO boxes are getting sliced open with razors and the minifigures are getting removed. He is not sure whether it is customers or the employees, but it seems as more and more people learn of the value of LEGO sets, there are more issues such as this.

While the vast majority of LEGO boxes are not tampered with, there is appears to be an increase of such criminal behavior. Unless LEGO changes their seals or boxes, it could become a bigger issue in the future. The question you have to ask yourself is would you want the contents of a $700, $800 or $1000+ LEGO set verified before you buy it? Do you trust the seals (which can easily be removed with a hair dryer)? If you are just going to build the set, what's the difference about MISB? I would think having all the parts is more important than having the pleasure of cutting the seals yourself.

While I'm not telling members to slice open all their boxes, I can see a day in which sites like ours and Bricksets list the amount of bags in a box. Maybe LEGO will even get proactive and list the bags and individual contents of each bag in the instruction manual.

Sent from my iPad using Brickpicker

I wish Lego would return to their old model of boxing where there is a light weight outer shell and then the heavy duty carboard slide-in insert.  This would seriously reduce the number of issues with product tampering as those old boxes would be much harder to open up without showing the damage. 

 

I recently was at a Walmart that had two Cargo Terminals at $69 but both boxes felt extremely light, the seals seemed intact but I know all the pieces weren't inside.

I see more and more stores around here that use empty boxes on the shelves. If you want to buy the set they will take one from the back.

This discussion took place about a year ago and from what members have stated on these forums, verifying contents in a box is already being done by some retailers upon return of a LEGO set. I have a friend who is a manger at a local Super Walmart and he tells me LEGO boxes are getting sliced open with razors and the minifigures are getting removed. He is not sure whether it is customers or the employees, but it seems as more and more people learn of the value of LEGO sets, there are more issues such as this.

While the vast majority of LEGO boxes are not tampered with, there is appears to be an increase of such criminal behavior. Unless LEGO changes their seals or boxes, it could become a bigger issue in the future. The question you have to ask yourself is would you want the contents of a $700, $800 or $1000+ LEGO set verified before you buy it? Do you trust the seals (which can easily be removed with a hair dryer)? If you are just going to build the set, what's the difference about MISB? I would think having all the parts is more important than having the pleasure of cutting the seals yourself.

While I'm not telling members to slice open all their boxes, I can see a day in which sites like ours and Bricksets list the amount of bags in a box. Maybe LEGO will even get proactive and list the bags and individual contents of each bag in the instruction manual.

Sent from my iPad using Brickpicker

 

By the time it ever got to be that bad, I think that LEGO would change their sealing methods.

Why not have the boxes shrinkwrapped with say, a holograpic logo on every side?  I mean, shrinkwrap with a unique "very-difficult-to-counterfeit" pattern that only Lego has access to.

 

Opening boxes to verify contents is unthinkable as I don't care what anyone says.  If it's not MISB, it's worth less, maybe a lot less.  The buyers' mentality has to change for VIBN to be acceptable when asking a high price.

 

Or... how about Lego just drop seals all together and go back to perforations?

All the more recent sets that I have bought have the cardboard finger put throughs to open the box. It's very hard to open this type of box without showing it as the box shows it