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The Exo-Suit was listed as 'Retiring Soon' in the S@H and then it actually made it to the 'sales and deals' stage.
The Tower of Orthanc just vanished from one minute to the next.
Judging from the thread title, it would suggest sets rarely get to the 'Retiring soon' and 'sales and deals' stages, but just dissapear.
Interesting to see the degree of anti-investor sentiment in the comments. I always imagined that criticism of resellers was a highly marginal point of view among AFOLs, its prevalence much exaggerated wherever it was brought up. How much do others notice it when the topic is raised among the non-investor component of the community?
(Warning - the next bit turned into a rant by mistake)
Also, the people moaning about not being able to afford a set just gets me annoyed. So what, you missed it, move on with your life. I can't afford an Aston Martin, or a private jet, but I don't keep moaning about it on the internet. And yes we can site the cost of the bricks isn't the same etc, but the reality is the price of everything is simply determined by what someone will pay. And if you don't want to pay that much you can't afford it, end of argument. If you want to blame someone, blame the people with more money than you, that want to pay that much, not the person selling the set!
Believe it or don't, but people holding sets to sell later is good for the people looking for an old set long discontinued from LEGO. Because people can rant and rave about people doing this, why LEGO only produces some sets for a limited time and then they are gone (and should be remade), etc. However, at the end of the day, copies of these sets in box after retirement would be MUCH harder to find if there were not folks doing this.
Without investors/resellers I probably wouldn't be able to get any of the older sets MISB, but I would probably see a lower selling price for sets offered in a used condition.
I guess it always depends on the sellers themselves. I recently made an offer to someone for #10193 and #7189 combined, which, by my research, was a little less than the going rate on ebay (but he would save ebay fees for one).
The extremely rude response I received from the seller, rather than making me a counter offer, made me realise that unfortunately not all sellers are AFOL friendly nor have they ever been Lego fans - they can be incredibly rude w*nkers only in it for the greed and this is a market I do not want to buy from nor support - i'd rather go on without having the sets than give my money to someone like that.
On the other hand, some sellers are forthcoming and happy for the set to go to a place where it will be used and cherished, rather than be sealed away for years only for it to be sold for the highest profit.
There is a fine line between being a good salesman and an utter greedy wanker.
So, labeling someone a 'greedy wanker' vs. being a 'good seller' depends on the perception of how good of a deal you get? '
Someone wants 'X' for the items. You offering 'y' does not mean he should just grovel at your feet and beg you to take away the items for that amount, no matter how fair you may think it is. What you do not know is this, are they really being a 'greedy wanker' or are they trying to feed their kids?
Also, in the US (Im guessing in other countries as well), it is against eBay policies to circumvent the auctions/listings by cancelling a listing and selling outside of eBay. If eBay has the policies in your country I would say expect a 'No' when someone makes an offer outside of the listing.
If someone is receiving a rude response in an eBay communication with a seller/buyer, then submit it to eBay for them to review it as I believe that some responses are unacceptable by eBay's standards. Then again, if someone was violating the eBay rules/standards (in their country) by asking to make a purchase outside of eBay then expect eBay to hound the person submitting the complaint as well.
The problem in general I see is that apparently people think it is OK to treat everything on eBay like it is craigslist or some 'want ad' in the local paper and haggle and try to do so outside of eBay (even though it is listed on eBay). Unless someone posts a 'Best offer' button in their eBay listing they are likely not interested in offers (even if it was 'reasonable' offer in the eyes of the submitter). If they ask for offers outside of eBay again many time I think eBay considers that a policy violation (again at least in the US).
The person in question posted it in a german gumtree type site and all his prices were 'VB', which means as much as 'make me an offer'.
In plain english: He did not say what he wanted!!
I made an offer, which was maybe 10 - 20 EUR less than both combined go for on Ebay. I wasn't being cheeky or unfriendly. I was trying to do business and cross off some things on my 'to get' list.
But instead of receiving a 'sorry, but unfortunately.. .. Hoiw aboiut yoiu add xxx and we have a deal.. ' kind of response I received a message which I regarded non-business like and extremely rude. No doubt he will sell all of his 200 odd sets he has listed to some poor folks out there.
And no, it had nothing to do with not getting a great deal. That person juist came across like a complete and utter wankstain.
How are these related? I agree with your first part (and there's no probably about it - it would be a near certainty you wouldn't be able to get them MISB), but not the second part. The relationship of supply and demand is always in effect. This is a really weird thing to even argue actually, because resellers do exist, in Lego and every other collectible, so it's all moot.
Given the potential penalties Ebay puts on "misbehaving" sellers, either that guy was a moron, or it didn't quite go down like you're describing. If things go south with you and another human, find another human, but don't generalize others as a result. Either way, no, Ebay is generally not a bartering situation, mostly because (assuming it was put up at a fair market price), it's a extra hassle for the seller that results in him getting less money, so what's his incentive? Note, I did write fair market price up there, meaning it'd be just a matter of time for it to sell normally anyway.
Most sellers I assume don't care one way or another. Me, I don't care because it's none of my business. Even so, I've found the occasional unscrupulous buyer who is quite happy to lie through his teeth to get score a bargain on sets, so things tend to even out.
Really i was just applying the strongly negative word of"greed" to characterize the collector who is the partner in setting the market price. Any hatred sound be equally directed at them both. Or neither if you choose to consider this like many other economic situations in life.
Without resellers somebody looking to sell would probably have based their reselling price on the original price paid when they bought the set, not the inflated aftermarket value.
Oh and I wasn't talking about sending them an offer on Ebay. ;)
@MattsWhat: Yes, it's also retired in Germany.
Anyway, looks like it's (#75920) gone them, head on over the Walmart in Canada if you want one! I guess we should make a prediction on the aftermarket value (or has this thread gone completely?). Im going to say we will see it somewhere around 1.5x for the forseeable future. It might drift up, but the presence of the other raptor set limits it for the moment.
#60075 Excavator and truck
#60057 Camper Van
#60007 High Speed Chase (guessing someone at LEGO is saying 'thank god' for that one to finally be gone)
#76012 Batman the Riddler Chase
#76017 Captain America Vs Hydra
#76021 Milano Spaceship rescus
#76019 Starblaster showdown
#76039 Ant-man final battle
#31026 Bike shop & Cafe
#31010 Treehouse
#31025 Mountain Hut
#42009 Mobile Crane MK II
#42029 Customized pick up truck
#75055 Imperial Star Destroyer
#75043 At-Ap
#75038 Jedi Interceptor
#10240 Red 5
Some of the older SW battle packs are gone as well now.
Saw 4 at the one near me yesterday, and 4x of the #75916-1. It's the first time in a while I felt like I was getting a good deal just to be able to find a set on the shelf at MSRP.
I know infos like this one coming from store clerks are not necessarily reliable, but I thought I'd still put out here what I had been told.