Predictions on Discontinuing Sets and their Secondary Market Value

madforLEGO

I had someone report that they did not mean to purchase, or pay for, and item that they received two weeks ago... Some real skivvy, or extremely stupid, people out there on eBay.

uriel

Yeah, I had some bad experiences on ebay too. Abusing the Ebay Protection system. I usually win, but I hate having the funds frozen for a month or so.

mountebank

This discussion triggered my curiousity so I went looking through my last 100 eBay sales (over 2 years, it's hobby selling for me) and I see 3 chargebacks (which to be fair i didnt lose money over) and 2 "lost in the mails" (one of which I'm sure was untrue). 

The amount of chargebacks is on the rise. It wouldn't surprise me to see PayPal excluding these from seller protection at some point.

dougts

ebay doesn't want to do anything to police obviously fraudulent buyers. so they just keep sticking it to the sellers over and over again.

canon03

From someone who rarely but occasionally sells on eBay, how would you protect yourself from these claims?  Is insurance and signature confirmation not enough?  

I take anywhere between 10-20 pictures during the packing phase to prove condition and box seals prior to shipping.  I would hope that would be sufficient.

mountebank

Having online confirmation of delivery on a delivery company's website has been enough for me to keep my money in chargeback cases so far. This is for the UK.

roxio

canon03 said:

From someone who rarely but occasionally sells on eBay, how would you protect yourself from these claims?  Is insurance and signature confirmation not enough?  

I take anywhere between 10-20 pictures during the packing phase to prove condition and box seals prior to shipping.  I would hope that would be sufficient.

photos and videos are useless, tracked shipping and insurance every time and only send to paypal addresses.

Legoboy

And what is the basis of an 'unauthorised purchase'?

madforLEGO

roxio said:

canon03 said:

From someone who rarely but occasionally sells on eBay, how would you protect yourself from these claims?  Is insurance and signature confirmation not enough?  

I take anywhere between 10-20 pictures during the packing phase to prove condition and box seals prior to shipping.  I would hope that would be sufficient.

photos and videos are useless, tracked shipping and insurance every time and only send to paypal addresses.

True, but I would not call photos useless. For my really expensive items I pack up I tend to take pictures of it in the box, how it is packed, and how it is sealed up when I am done. I still use tracking and sig confirmation as well.

BlueberryWaffles

How long is the Rogue One Y-Wing going to stick around? I was thinking about getting it as part of the $125 60th anniversary promo. Will it still be available then?

flord

In January? Yes.

Brainslugged

I'd been assuming that Assault on Hoth was going to be 50% off to shift stock at some point as it's such a bad set. However, it had recently been saying "retiring soon" on Lego's website, and over the 10% off promo leading up to Xmas it was backordered till Jan. So up until Friday I'd been considering pulling the trigger on it. I figured 10% off, plus a £10 online coupon, plus 10% cash back, plus £2.50 off my first purchase with the cashback company (forget what it's called off the top of my head), plus an Xmas build-up freebie, plus VIP points and it MAY just be about worth getting.

So I ummed and ahhed about it for a couple of days, but then on Friday December 23rd it vanished from the UK Lego website. It doesn't even show it as retired. It just doesn't show up at all. The other odd thing is that I would have almost bet my life that the original retail price in the days I was thinking about it was £220 (so down to £198 with the 10% off). However, the day before it vanished it was listed at £230 (reduced to £207). Plus Brickset had the £230 price and so did the retail stores and the store guy I spoke to had no knowledge of a £10 price hike the prior day. Can anyone confirm if I am indeed going mental or was there a very odd price increase the day before it potentially retired?

All I really wanted from the set were the two droids, as everything else I either have or is only worthy of the parts bin. To buy the droids online would probably have been £30, plus a bit of hassle, plus knowing that some rando has had their mitts on my Lego. So I couldn't decide whether to go for the full set (with several discounts) or just the droids. But if there's one thing that makes me want something even more, it's suddenly thinking I can't have it. So when it vanished from the online store, I ended up reluctantly buying it from a physical Lego store on xmas eve with no other discounts over and above the 10% off and no freebies other than a calendar. I still don't know if I made a bad decision, but I just really really wanted that white protocol droid in particular and had never managed to get the prior one. I still can't believe I paid almost full price for one of the worst Star Wars sets ever and got no freebies to soften the blow.

So... bearing in mind it looks like this set will vanish from shelves pretty imminently, is that enough to make anyone else more likely to pick this up in the near future? Or could it have just temporarily been removed from the site due to depleted stock?

Lobot

@Brainslugged - The original RRP of #75098 was £220 but, if I recall correctly, all of the larger sets on the S@H website (e.g. £100+) were subject to a £10 price-hike in early 2017 which made it even more ridiculous!

And, yes, I was also waiting for a significant discount on it, and was very surprised when it was deleted from their system a few days ago.  I would have ordered it at 20%+ off, but it wasn't to be.  Personally, I think that it's gone for good, as the UCS TIE Fighter which was also flagged as 'Retiring Soon' has also disappeared from the site.

I'm a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to buy it truth be told, but hopefully the new 2018 UCS sets will fill the void in my collection!

madforLEGO

LEGO sometimes 'loses' sets on their site. Did you try searching the site by using the set number?
In my experience, LEGO typically does not remove sets from sites when they retire but have notices of 'Sold out' or 'retired product' stamped to the item

JamesJT

Looks like you can't trust paypal seller protection anymore. I just got this message on one of my (many) charge backs, "After reviewing the information we received, we were unable to cover the payment in this case". I provided a confirmation signature and a scan of the postal receipt showing the address. 
Also, right now my paypal is locked until I provide tracking numbers for the 10 items I sold over Xmas. I can't withdraw, refund or buy anything.
My ebay selling days are numbered.

pharmjod

Do you not print shipping through ebay? It auto loads the tracking info.

stevemack

JamesJT said:

Looks like you can't trust paypal seller protection anymore. I just got this message on one of my (many) charge backs, "After reviewing the information we received, we were unable to cover the payment in this case". I provided a confirmation signature and a scan of the postal receipt showing the address. 
Also, right now my paypal is locked until I provide tracking numbers for the 10 items I sold over Xmas. I can't withdraw, refund or buy anything.
My ebay selling days are numbered.

USA or UK?

JamesJT

stevemack

USA or UK?

Uk

ryjay

JamesJT said:

Also, right now my paypal is locked until I provide tracking numbers for the 10 items I sold over Xmas. I can't withdraw, refund or buy anything.
My ebay selling days are numbered.

Your not updating your info for buyers?  You're kidding right?  I'm not seeing this as a paypal problem if you aren't informing your buyers with up to date information.

Paypal and ebay both have a system, and sure there are flaws within that system, but if you play outside it, you are creating more problems for your self.

JamesJT

ryjay said:

Your not updating your info for buyers?  You're kidding right?  I'm not seeing this as a paypal problem if you aren't informing your buyers with up to date information.

Paypal and ebay both have a system, and sure there are flaws within that system, but if you play outside it, you are creating more problems for your self.

The items were sold 24th to 26th while the post office was closed.

ryjay

James, are you shipping outside the ebay shipping platform, or do these problems accure when you ship outside the UK?

stevemack

JamesJT said:

stevemack

USA or UK?

Uk

I find this really hard to grasp, I’m a business on ebay and haven’t had a single chargeback claim I’ve lost in years.  I’ve had the ones that come through instantly/within an hour or so as fraud when the account has been hacked before the set was sent and one that had been sent and paypal covered the loss.

Where they have asked for address changes I say no or cancel the order.  Can you elaborate further on some of the cases and tracking information you have? What services have you used for postage etc; first/second signed for/special/parcelforce are all valid for paypal claims to the listed address.  If you have proof of posting that’s no use at all, must be tracked/signed for.

BooTheMightyHamster

@Brainslugged

Hi - I was in the Leicester Square store yesterday, and Assault On Hoth was on the shelf with the 30% discount that's being applied to some sets.

@Lobot - They had UCS Tie Fighters too, but full price still!

JamesJT

ryjay said:

James, are you shipping outside the ebay shipping platform, or do these problems accure when you ship outside the UK?

No all above board. I've had issues with UK and abroad. I have had 7 charge backs in the last 6 weeks and I wrote a song email to request a tightening of security. I guess they started with me.

stevemack said:

I find this really hard to grasp, I’m a business on ebay and haven’t had a single chargeback claim I’ve lost in years.  I’ve had the ones that come through instantly/within an hour or so as fraud when the account has been hacked before the set was sent and one that had been sent and paypal covered the loss.

Where they have asked for address changes I say no or cancel the order.  Can you elaborate further on some of the cases and tracking information you have? What services have you used for postage etc; first/second signed for/special/parcelforce are all valid for paypal claims to the listed address.  If you have proof of posting that’s no use at all, must be tracked/signed for.

It's the first charge back I've lost. I used Royal Mail Tracked and Signed for. I have a GPS verified signature and the postal receipt. I normally use 2nd class signed for and only to address on the order details. 

stevemack

Have you called paypal and spoke to someone? If you have a physical signature and delivery confirmation/posting evidence to that address you should have won.

stevemack

Can we see the tracking information? Send it via PM if you don’t want it public, I’m wondering if there’s something else stated on there such as delivered to neighbour etc

Strider64

I've stopped selling on Ebay years ago, for me there are too many crackpot buyers out there and it's too small of a profit for me to hassle over. I can understand some buyers on Ebay getting upset at the scammers that are selling on Ebay, but why take it out on honest sellers? 

1x1

Isn't the maximum size for ups through eBay circumference + length no bigger than 180cm? That's too small for most big sets like the tumbler or bucket wheel.

pharmjod

I've sold the tumbler on ebay several times. At least in the USA I don't think there is a size limit on eBay. You will just pay more to ship big boxes through whatever service you use

prevere

@JamesJT - when you say abroad, are you shipping to countries notorious for fraudulent activity? Italy, Russia, countries in South America for example are on my exclusion list.

ryjay

prevere said:

@JamesJT - when you say abroad, are you shipping to countries notorious for fraudulent activity? Italy, Russia, countries in South America for example are on my exclusion list.

....and in the US we call it Florida! :)

77ncaachamps

BlueberryWaffles said:

How long is the Rogue One Y-Wing going to stick around? I was thinking about getting it as part of the $125 60th anniversary promo. Will it still be available then?

Get it at WalMart. It should be on sale. $48 I believe.

Yodalicious

ryjay said:

prevere said:

@JamesJT - when you say abroad, are you shipping to countries notorious for fraudulent activity? Italy, Russia, countries in South America for example are on my exclusion list.

....and in the US we call it Florida! :)

HEY! I take offense to...

...yeah, you’re right.

hoyatables

Thoughts on whether / when Krennic’s shuttle and the other wave 1 Rogue One sets will go?  I have most but still haven’t gotten the shuttle and it is calling to me...

Bumblepants

I would guess Rogue One sets disappear to make way for Young Han or summer sets.

Fizyx

hoyatables said:

Thoughts on whether / when Krennic’s shuttle and the other wave 1 Rogue One sets will go?  I have most but still haven’t gotten the shuttle and it is calling to me...

Based on the sales on that one over the last half year, I wouldn't be surprised if it retires sooner rather than later, BUT I would probably wait to make sure you get a good deal since it's been on sale so much. 

tmgm528

Kinda in a similar predicament. Keeping my eye out on U and Y Wings from Rogue One on Amazon, currently sitting at 63 and 47 bucks. Odds Amazon drops these prices further?

Bricklover18

Looking back I made the right decision by buying most of the series 1 mixels for 99 cents a piece at my local lego store. 

prevere

Buying series 1 of ANYTHING is a good idea.

tmgm528

prevere said:

Buying series 1 of ANYTHING is a good idea.

I knew my Galidor bid would pay off! 

BillyBricks84

tmgm528 said:

Kinda in a similar predicament. Keeping my eye out on U and Y Wings from Rogue One on Amazon, currently sitting at 63 and 47 bucks. Odds Amazon drops these prices further?

Watch your Walmarts for the Y-Wing as it has been going down to $35 there during the last few weeks. About half of the Walmarts around me have (rather, had) it at that price, while the others are still at $48. 

prevere

tmgm528 said:

prevere said:

Buying series 1 of ANYTHING is a good idea.

I knew my Galidor bid would pay off! 

Oh Galidor. The Cleveland Browns of Lego series. (I can say that as a Browns fan who also owns Galidor).

tmgm528

prevere said:

tmgm528 said:

prevere said:

Buying series 1 of ANYTHING is a good idea.

I knew my Galidor bid would pay off! 

Oh Galidor. The Cleveland Browns of Lego series. (I can say that as a Browns fan who also owns Galidor).

I also happen to be a Clevelander who owns at least a few bits of Galidor. Im not sure if anyone can really be a 'fan' though of the Browns though as they are utter trash. At least we got the Cavs right?

MrJackson

tmgm528 said:

I also happen to be a Clevelander who owns at least a few bits of Galidor. Im not sure if anyone can really be a 'fan' though of the Browns though as they are utter trash. At least we got the Cavs right?

I trust you're going to the parade for the winless season that they're having on I believe this Friday?

tmgm528

@MrJackson Seeing as the high here on Friday is 4 F I'm gonna say no! :P

prevere

MrJackson said:

tmgm528 said:

I also happen to be a Clevelander who owns at least a few bits of Galidor. Im not sure if anyone can really be a 'fan' though of the Browns though as they are utter trash. At least we got the Cavs right?

I trust you're going to the parade for the winless season that they're having on I believe this Friday?

I'm planning to dress up as Gorm for the parade. But most people will probably mis-take my costume for a gimp. 

MrJackson

Here in the Philadelphia metro area, we we looking forward to wind chills of -20, or something ridiculous like that.  Wanna trade? Fortunately, work called and is closed tomorrow and Friday cause busses are having issues and there's classrooms with heating systems that are also having issues. So, once my wife and kid recover from this stomach bug, do I build my monorail station for my city, my Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Assembly Square, London Bus, Porsche, or Super Star Destroyer first?

tmgm528

@MrJackson We're getting about the same so not much to be gained :P

hoyatables

Krennic’s Shuttle got down to 18% off on Amazon. It’s no 27% off, and I’m sure I could probably do better if I were willing to go out and stalk Walmart or Target, but I pulled the trigger to avoid missing out altogether. 

Y-Wing was 20% off last I checked. It’s a fun set. My last Y-wing was two generations back, so it was fun to build concurrently and see them side by side.  

madforLEGO

Back on topic a bit, has anyone seen the price skyrocket for the #10248 Creator F40 Ferrari?