Buying from LEGO Brand Stores and shop.lego.com (S@H)

CCC

I don't know. Clearances at Tesco have been good recently if you can find the stuff.

LegoFanTexas

Just to get back on topic... Keep in mind that you get 5% back from Lego in VIP points, plus they often have a free giveaway, so that evens out the tax.

Right now, free shipping plus the free poly bag, makes a $100 purchase very reasonable after sales tax. Plus, that tax does help fund civilization, which isn't such a bad thing. :)

Pitfall69

^I agree. That was good to slip that in at the end ;)

LegoFanTexas

Pitfall69 said:

^I agree. That was good to slip that in at the end ;)

:) You're killing me!!! I wasn't trying, I swear!

Next thing I know, you'll be expecting a box!!! :)

Pitfall69

I just thought of something. Lego should have sets available without a box and instructions for people who are going to toss the box and can download the instructions from their website. Hmmm???

gmpirate

LegoFanTexas said:

Just to get back on topic... Keep in mind that you get 5% back from Lego in VIP points, plus they often have a free giveaway, so that evens out the tax.

Lol, yeah right. Depends on what state you are in. For many it just cuts the tax in half.

Brickarmor

Being in SC, I've got 6% tax and no Lego store in the state, but the ones in Atlanta and Charlotte are only 90 mins away. I win.

FatMatt

LFT said:

The whole point of having large numbers of people own assault rifles is to ensure our government fears us, to prevent the government from becoming what it has already become, a massive entity that rules over all our lives. This wasn't supposed to happen, our Constitution clearly lays out the very specific powers our Federal Government is supposed to have, and specifically reserves all other rights and powers to the states and to the people.

Thumbs up. :)

BrandonCP said:

Good= Social services

This greatly depends on what the "social services" are. Certainly not the kind that are currently being forced upon US citizens.

Bandit

^ sigh I thought we were done with this.

linchman

Is anyone else having problems with the S&H VIP points today? I just went in to order something before the end of the free delivery and the VIP box in the shopping bag page doesn't show my points, instead I have the sign up to the VIP program. I've emailed customer support but no reply as yet.

I'm hoping it's a temporary glitch in their system.

gdelahousse

@linchman, earlier in the VIP box, I saw a message that the VIP was under maintenance and they were not available but it seems to be fine for me now.

linchman

@gdelahousse thanks for the info. I'll try again later.

arock68

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to purchasing and collecting LEGOs on a serious basis. I began about two months ago, so I am still getting a feel for how things work, and analyzing trends and behaviors, etc.

So here is my question... when I am looking at buying things on LEGO.com, I have come across things that have been out of stock at the moment, but have an anticipated date for when they will restock. When the status shows up as "SOLD OUT" in red letters, does that mean that the product either has been discontinued, or is on the verge of it? Will they not be restocking? I am specifically speaking about The Black Pearl 4184 in this case.

Any info or insight would be greatly appreciated! I don't want to miss out on the Black Pearl, and I certainly don't want to pay secondary market prices for it!

Thanks in advance!

-Aaron-

Bumblepants

Try looking on Walmart.com or Target.com if you are in the US. One or both of those should still have it for a decent price. You can also try calling S@H and speaking with someone. Always helpful and they might find one for you

LegoFanTexas

arock68 said:

I am fairly new to purchasing and collecting LEGOs on a serious basis. I began about two months ago, so I am still getting a feel for how things work, and analyzing trends and behaviors, etc.

Welcome! :)

My 2 cents of advice... take an afternoon, get some coffee (or whatever you drink), sit down, and spend a few hours reading the retirement thread. Start back dozens of pages, best if you go back to the start of 2012 if you can, read it as if they were just written as you go, and get a feel for the changing thoughts and trends.

That thread is a goldmine of information, some of it useful, some of it not, but all of it paints an interesting picture.

None of us really know when sets are really "gone", other than when you can't find them anymore. Some sets give you lots of warning, others just vanish without a trace.

arock68

Thank you LegoFanTexas. :) Could you please provide a link to the retirement thread that you mentioned? Thanks again for the input!

Kanohi

http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/1958/predictions-on-discontinuing-sets-and-their-secondary-market-value#latest

There's the link to the thread. Good luck !

arock68

Thank you Kanohi. I had actually already started that one a few days ago, and spent many many hours sifting through. Definitely lots of good info there. I found my eyebrows inadvertently going up a lot of times. :)

y2josh

Just so you know, in terms of the Black Pearl, the only online retailer I've seen with it in stock at RRP is Target. It's gone at Amazon and Wal-Mart. TRU has still has it, of course, but you can still get it from resellers for cheaper at this point.

brizio

I am interested in buying a set that S@H has on "Call to check product availability" status. I called the Customer Service and I got confirmation the set is still available. They also told me my only option is to order it via phone. Do you know whether there is another option? If I recall correctly in the past I red somewhere that it was possible to have a specific set added in S@H set basket to be bought online. Is that true? Did you have any specific experience on this?

rocao

I don't specifically recall the previous mention to which you are referring, but items in the "call to check" status can't be added to carts, and I would think that even if there was a glitch where you could make it to checkout, i.e. saved cart from a previous status, that it would just reduce the quantity to 0 and prevent ordering if you tried to check out.

When I've inquired about "call to check" products in the past, the CSRs always have to do a little digging in their system to check on how low the inventory is, if there are any remaining shipments expected, etc. This seems the only way to access this information and put in a backorder request.

I suppose there's some reason you just don't want to order it over the phone. It strikes me as a little odd if you were already on the phone with the person, since time is always of the essence with products in this state.

jdylak

Just did this with Winter Post Office. She was telling me it is "currently sold ou...oh wait, looks like we have a few back in". Anyways, she did ask if I wanted to go back and order it online or pay on phone. But yea, she did give me the option.

Also, GREAT customer service as the lady was a collector as well and we talked for a while bout different sets and such.

stevenzhang

I have placed an order on the phone for the lego replacement parts at Lego direct. I am wondering whether I will received an confirmation email for the order? Do I collect VIP points for that order?

Thanks!

norm103

No points no confirmation is give with lego direct

stevenzhang

Thanks a lot! @norm103

I felt a bit strange as I did not receive any confirmation. Hope the order will turn up one day in my post :)

CCC

No, usually no contact after the phone call. They'll just show up one day.

Si_UKNZ

Yeah, often as long as 2 or 3 weeks. And you won't get a price breakdown either so I hope you remember!

CCC

And all the parts will come in one big bag too!

Legoboy

When I order missing or defective parts over the phone, I always receive an email. I don't however if I'm buying replacement parts.

Diggydoes

CCC said:

And all the parts will come in one big bag too!

That's the worst thing about ordering replacements via s@h! Especially when ordering Tiles together with Bricks :(

Bosstone100

You can request an email from replacement parts dept. with a list of what they are sending. Neither of them tells you if they aren't sending something for some reason. Kind of aggravating to be honst.

madforLEGO

^-- Yeah I have learned to do two things when order parts from parts direct:
1) copy the order summary (parts and number and what not) into a Word doc
2) ask them to review the list of what is being charged for and sent.

Lately they have bee better at telling me what they have and do not have when placing the order though.

I think they also need your email address on file, if they do not have it then they cannot send you the notice.

seonadancing

I only got the confirmation through a credit card alert that my card has been billed for the bricks.

Matthew

Is anyone else having trouble buying/requesting replacement parts online? I put through two requests last week, one for a small missing part, the other for some city torsos (buy). I've had no contact other than the auto email a few minutes after sending the form...

cmrt1014

Having just picked up my order today, here's the timeline for my order:
- submitted order online on 2/11
- reply email with cost 2/12
- phoned them on 2/16 (I got busy)
- CC showed pending transaction dated 2/16 (never actually charged)
- package mailed 2/27 (From NJ)
- CC showed pending transaction dated 2/26 (charged 2/27 - 2/16 pending still there)
- arrived on west coast today 3/1

Itemized receipt was in the package dated 2/18. Prices to the 1/1000 cent per part ($x.xxxxx).

$2.95 shipping and handling.

stevenzhang

@Matthew, me too! I sent two orders last week as well: one for missing parts for my new purchase (which they never replied, apart from auto email), the other one is for purchasing replacement parts and they did not reply (still have the auto mail though), untill I called and asked, then they push my order through...

madforLEGO

This has occurred on my part orders since I first started ordering, especially where my submission is different that the order invoice sent to me to pay for. Actually my last part order was the first time I was not missing parts from the order when it was picked, but I think it dropped off a part from the submission to the person creating the order.
I have however had instances where:
A part is missing but on the invoice, sometime a entire quantity of that part (IE 10 of a specific minifig head)
A Part is missing but another group of parts is in its place, number was wrong on the invoice.
In both instances I have responded to my order confirmation email to report the issue and they simply resend out the missing parts without much fuss, I guess they are used to such things occurring. Although if you do it enough times they may think you are scamming for free stuff.

But I expect this with the increased traffic they have for part ordering. Either due to typing errors, or someone at the CS or Warehouse is a bit jaded that people are ordering parts this way.

stevenzhang

My order for the replacement parts still have not arrived yet....very slow process compare to bircklink! My missing part request still do not have any reply....they used to be quite quick on this. Not sure what happened.

jasor

I'm a Southern State American that believes in guns, marriage for everyone, healthcare for all, corporate loopholes, and consumerism through environmental activism while pumping as much oil from Alaska as possible.

Also, off topic. :P S@H is my only option unless I make a 4 hr drive. I find myself using it more when the "exlclusive" set bug hits, and I dont want to spend the gas money. I dont mind the taxes vs gas prices as much.

I really miss the B&M PAB wall though.......

madforLEGO

^^-- When you say your order for Replacement parts has not arrived yet, do you mean you received no order confirmation from LEGO yet so you can pay for your order, or you already paid for the parts and the parts have not arrived yet?
If the former, I almost always get my order confirmation to go buy them in about 2-3 days after my order. If it has not showed up then you may have to re-order.
If it is the latter:
BL has many different, and non-business, sellers in many different places, AND rely on feedback systems, which means guys are going to send stuff faster.
LEGO part warehouses are mostly in Europe, and it is a company. So trying to compare BL to LEGO part replacement is a bit ridiculous IMO.
If you are in the US and order, they warn you when paying for your order that it will take up to 14 days (I believe business days) to get your order. Almost every time it should up by about the 14th day (give or take)
If you think BL is faster then fine, and many times BL is cheaper too, BUT sometimes you cannot find a seller that will sell bulk new parts at a good rate. Usually bulk rates on parts that are new usually see higher prices on BL, and again if you can find them cheaper on BL, great.
Sometimes you cannot find a certain part in la
I do not think you can really compare BL to LEGO, that is like comparing Apples to oranges IMO.

madforLEGO

jasor said:

I really miss the B&M PAB wall though.......

I think the biggest issue with PaB online is the shipping.
The shipping gets ridiculous, which is another reason to use the CS buy a part sometimes, but be careful as the part prices may be different than what is in the PaB section on LEGOs site.
But really when it boils down to it, some parts on PaB are cheaper onlne (especially large plates or brick)if you buy them from online if you really are counting dollars IMO.

Basta

From today S@H has free shipping on orders over $100 in Australia or $75 in the US. I assume a similar offer is available in other markets.

One thing I noticed is that in Australia this offer is valid until the end of August (almost 5 months) in the US it is only valid until mid June. The amount of time seems strange, although welcome, maybe TLG are thinking of doing permanent free shipping.

I have not actually ever brought any thing from S@H as the prices are for the most part too high plus the $45 shipping fee doesn't help. I'm thinking Mini-Modulars look good for part of my first order though.

MorkMan

Mini-Modulars is a great set. I'm looking at it now and it's fun to move the placement of the buildings. Every week or so I change up my "street" and now I'm MOCing a building to go alongside. It's a fun challenge, and not a "large build" one at that.

JBricks27

When does the free shipping end?

madforLEGO

Hey as long as free shipping lasts until may the fourth promo then that is all good to me

Basta

According to the web site, free shipping ends:

Australia - August 31st (Orders over $150, They changed this from $100)
US - June 15th (Orders over $75)
UK - August 31st (Orders over £50)
EU - August 31st (Orders over 55€ , for the few countries I looked at)

Briking

I placed an order with S@H a couple of weeks back and am still waiting on a PAB order that was included. According to the order history it shipped on the 16th. The mini Sopwith freebie shipped in a separate parcel on the same day and has arrived.

This order generated 3 Tracking Numbers - but the only one I can track is the mini Sopwith. Of the other two, one shipment has already arrived. But the PAB is still outstanding. When I click on the tracking number for the PAB order it throws up an error page from TNT. In Dutch.

Anyone else had this problem? And is there a way round it?

paul_merton

The PaB stuff usually takes longer to arrive than everything else, so I wouldn't worry too much yet.

If it never arrives, simply contact S@H and they'll put it right.

StormKitty

@Briking, I placed a S@H order on 8 Apr, it consisted of a large PAB order which I topped up with a #31001 Mini Skyflyer so that I could get the freebie #40049 Mini Sopwith Camel.

Everything apart from my PAB order was shipped out immediately and arrived on 11 Apr. My PAB order was marked as shipped out on 16 Apr which as @paul_merton says will take much longer, my shipping email confirmation states 'should arrive 13-18 business days from the date you placed your order', so I'm not fretting too much ;-)

I too was a bit thrown when my PAB order tracker threw up an error page in Dutch but it only happens on my phone and it works absolutely fine on my laptop no probs.

Briking

Not so much the time it takes - I'm used to that. It's the fact that the tracking number doesn't actually help you to track. Seems a pointless system to put in place if it doesn't work...!

None of the codes starting with "3SLEN" ever go further than the error page. And plugging them into Yodel's tracking doesn't work either. And this is using Chrome on Win 7, so not a phone issue.