Steal of a Deal / Recent LEGO Purchases

[Luciant]

It's just a difference of perspective.

Those who purchase Lego for their children, friends, family, etc. that are not really collectors themselves.
Those who purchase Lego who are AFOLs and the purchases are generally for their family collection.

The former view Lego in terms of availability of a specific item they are after, prices only apply in terms of what they are willing to spend for that person. Sales are just nice ways for them to save money on their gift purchases.

The latter view Lego in terms of an expensive addiction. When one has an expensive addiction, they eventually decide it's smarter to buy more of the item at a discount, resell the 'extra' to cut the cost of the item you want to keep. Some eventually decide to take advantage of that on a larger scale to make their sets free, or make profit. Those people usually have done research to know their product and their market, so shouldn't they benefit in terms of profit for their hard work?

I've never met a Lego store owner / reseller who wasn't an AFOL first themselves. Most Businesses you can enter without really knowing and possibly make money. With Lego, that is almost impossible... and the information is freely available to those who wish to spend time... take advantage of it to the extent you wish it to benefit you... be it 1 set or 10 sets.

[NIGELTTF]

To me buying 22 of a set just to resell it seems like an ****** thing to do.

To me hearing such comments is offensive. He's making a living in a perfectly legitmate way. I have no problem buying lego on clearances. You obviously feel its unfair, well suck it up. Life's not fair.

And there's a huge difference between this and toy scalpers. Toy scalpers actually exacerbate scarcity that runs up prices on the rare stuff. By the time something is on clearance you've had a year or more to buy at MSRP, and declined.

While yes, I'd love to scoop up discounts...I can't exactly blame resellers on doing the same, even if they have a profit motive. Perhaps because I do buy extras and have sold a few, and plan to continue to do so....but it is so very very different than sscaplers...which is a **** thing to do.

[melsig]

We were at the LEGO store this evening - because my son absolutely had to pick up some tan bricks from pick a brick - and I noticed a Space Police Gold Heist in the sale bin for $9.95. My son loves SP, but it's before our time LEGO-wise and we don't have much, so I was happy to pick this up for such a price. I'm still scratching my head over where it came from though. Is it common to find the odd old inventory at LEGO stores?

[CrazyRus]

We were at the LEGO store this evening - because my son absolutely had to pick up some tan bricks from pick a brick - and I noticed a Space Police Gold Heist in the sale bin for $9.95. My son loves SP, but it's before our time LEGO-wise and we don't have much, so I was happy to pick this up for such a price. I'm still scratching my head over where it came from though. Is it common to find the odd old inventory at LEGO stores?

I'll bet you it was a return. While their policy is that returns accepted up to 90 days they'll accept it pretty much forever, especially if you are not known to do it all the time. I know that somebody returned Taj Mahal to the store right before the Xmas and was happy with $150 GC they gave him/her....

[harrelmusic]

To me buying 22 of a set just to resell it seems like an ****** thing to do.

To me hearing such comments is offensive. He's making a living in a perfectly legitmate way. I have no problem buying lego on clearances. You obviously feel its unfair, well suck it up. Life's not fair.

And there's a huge difference between this and toy scalpers. Toy scalpers actually exacerbate scarcity that runs up prices on the rare stuff. By the time something is on clearance you've had a year or more to buy at MSRP, and declined.

While yes, I'd love to scoop up discounts...I can't exactly blame resellers on doing the same, even if they have a profit motive. Perhaps because I do buy extras and have sold a few, and plan to continue to do so....but it is so very very different than sscaplers...which is a **** thing to do.

I always sense there's some kind of cosmic yen/yang if there's a clearance deal that's good for profit. I'd never have the money to buy 22 of them, but if I did, and there were 22 left in stock, I'd probably leave 4-5 based only on the fact that I can imagine a 10-year-old kid coming shortly behind me with $50 of birthday money and gift cards. What a score that would be for him/her. In the end, leaving 10-20% of the available sets when it's a big haul like that at least leaves the possibility that 4-5 other people are going to score a good deal too. At a minimum it will make at least one other person happy if it turns out another reseller comes behind me 5 min. later and buys the remaining stock. Call it yen/yang, call it karma, I have a hard time clearing out stock to that volume. I think that's what Brick & Blue meant. Luckily, I'm only theorizing because I don't have $1100 to invest.

[melsig]

I know that somebody returned Taj Mahal to the store right before the Xmas and was happy with $150 GC they gave him/her....

Seriously!?! Were you the lucky customer to pick it up?

[pitdroid]

I have a 11 year old son. Our house is full of Legos. And I mean full. To support our habit I mean hobby. I started selling on blink. I almost never sell above retail and I almost always leave at least 1 of something in the store. I've also at times when I see kids or parents in the isle looking I ask them if they want one of the ones I got if i have taken them all. I dont' feel I have to but I like helping new Lego kids with their habit. ahaha.

[bono1900]

Just bought two of Space UFO Abduction 7052 for $13 each at warehouse.com
May be not a steal but they do not sell Aliens in Russia for any price.

[CrazyRus]

I know that somebody returned Taj Mahal to the store right before the Xmas and was happy with $150 GC they gave him/her....

Seriously!?! Were you the lucky customer to pick it up?

I wish. One of the employees I know grabbed it for himself

[Legobrandon]

I know that somebody returned Taj Mahal to the store right before the Xmas and was happy with $150 GC they gave him/her....

Seriously!?! Were you the lucky customer to pick it up?

I wish. One of the employees I know grabbed it for himself

I guess that is one of the perks about working at a LEGO store, you get the first pick on retired sets that get returned.

[bombcar]

Got a 7498 for $70 at the San Diego Lego store - crushed box but not opened. They even increased the price to $100 flat so that I could pay for it entirely with VIP points and thereby have no tax.

[momtoo3boys]

This site has 10179 for $1500. They take paypal so it looks like a awesome deal!

http://legoshop.storenvy.com/products/2 ... ium-falcon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[legogod]

Got a 7498 for $70 at the San Diego Lego store - crushed box but not opened. They even increased the price to $100 flat so that I could pay for it entirely with VIP points and thereby have no tax.

They increased the price for you and it was a good thing? They wouldn't just let you spend 70 dollars worth of VIP points? Just wondering as it sounds weird.

Jared

[atmail35]

Got a 7498 for $70 at the San Diego Lego store - crushed box but not opened. They even increased the price to $100 flat so that I could pay for it entirely with VIP points and thereby have no tax.

They increased the price for you and it was a good thing? They wouldn't just let you spend 70 dollars worth of VIP points? Just wondering as it sounds weird.

Jared

Isn't the msrp on the police station $99.99? I'm confused, but haven't had my coffee yet. maybe bombcar meant $70 vs $69.99 to avoid the sales tax?

[bchorean]

http://legoshop.storenvy.com/products/2 ... ium-falcon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

is this real?

they got death star for $250 also

[Legobrandon]

http://legoshop.storenvy.com/products/2 ... ium-falcon

is this real?

they got death star for $250 also

Either a scam or a really good deal. I'm putting my money towards a scam. However, they could not know anything about the secondary resell market value of the Falcon so they are listing it at a low price. Plus it is out of stock anyways.

[bchorean]

the death star is tempting too...are there such a thing as fake legos? i cant find pictures of conterfeits etc...i heard of 10179 clones but cant google any proof etc

[BrickFan1982]

Just got 3 Whitecap Bay sets at Target for $55 each, I let them there for a week to see if they dropped from 30 to 50% off but they didn't (most grueling week of my life, since I thought someone would snatch them up) so I gave in to avoid more anxiety LOL

[meyerc13]

the death star is tempting too...are there such a thing as fake legos? i cant find pictures of conterfeits etc...i heard of 10179 clones but cant google any proof etc

It wouldn't be fake, it would be a scam. There are two running. The first is they take your payment but never ship anything. You're out your money until your credit card company/bank reverses the charges.

The second scam involves stolen credit cards. You pay the scammer, they use a stolen credit card to order the set from LEGO and have it shipped to you. They take your money and disappear. The person whose credit card it is finds out and reports it to the cops. The only address on file with LEGO is yours. You get blacklisted and can no longer order from LEGO. The cops may decide to prosecute you for receiving stolen merchandise. They may also seize your computer as evidence. You could return the set to LEGO to avoid this, but you'll pay for shipping it out of your pocket. You may also have a hard time reversing the charges since you did receive an item (albeit stolen). You could be out all of the money.

If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

[starfire2]

Agreed!