LEGO discounts really a bargain?

[kenji]

I think lego is super cheap to super rich people

and

I think lego is super expensive to poor people

[Mister Phes]

i have also made bids 1 day prior and won.

/quote]

I always bid in the last 10 seconds and 95% it works and saves me lots of money... I can explain why but I'm not going to unless asked.

[kenji]

i still believe ebay holds great bargain. at least i can speak for the US ebay. if you are patient and don't overbid in your zeal you can get a great bargain. i have routinely seek for 30% discount even after shipping compared to retail and have won! to give you some idea to the savings i get, the sets i have won to-date (all price are after shipping cost):

6209 slave 1 for $40

7705 gate assault for $20

7781 batmobile vs twoface for $24

7782 batwing vs joker for $33

7781 & 7782 loose without box without instruction for $30 (instructions and original batmobile rims i bought off bl for ~$4 -- the order contained other items so i have to proportionate the cost). the items were in the original plastic bags but i could see the rims were the newer (uglier) version so i bought the older rims off bl.

6208 b-wing and the jedi star fighter vs droid ship and the clone scout walker (i dont remember the set numbers) for $35 (total 3 sets are $65 retail)

7477 t1 typhoon for $46 (i have seen someone got one for only $36 - was on my watch list)

all items were misb!!! or were advertised as misb.

i have my trick of winning super low bids but not going to reveal it as it's still my primary venue for buying cheap lego sets. :-P

recently target is selling the bionicle playsets at a 50% discount. the battle of metru nui is going for like $35 i think. but i doubt any shop would sell star wars, batman or exoforce sets at a huge discount, so i'm still going to stick with ebay for now. :-)

haha natalie, looks like your "secret ebay definite win bid with a low price trick" has just been revealed to all of us by other members. what i think is, if more people know, more people will do itand hence for you the prie has just lifted a liiiiittle bit on ebay. but then, relax, not all of us are bidding on the same thing.

[natelite]

okay - you want to know how? here's how... target for items ending midnight or early morning. no one (at least for US auctions) stay up to bid at that time. peak bidding is around 8pm to 11pm est based on my experience. doesn't matter whether you included the description or not, or the set number. my experience is that there are quite a few bidders out there who specifically query for lego and only bid on items about to end (<3 hours). bids go up like crazy for those sets.

[SuvieD]

okay - you want to know how? here's how... target for items ending midnight or early morning. no one (at least for US auctions) stay up to bid at that time. peak bidding is around 8pm to 11pm est based on my experience. doesn't matter whether you included the description or not, or the set number. my experience is that there are quite a few bidders out there who specifically query for lego and only bid on items about to end (<3 hours). bids go up like crazy for those sets.

Good advice.

You can also look to bid on items during summer verses any other time as people are getting rid of stuff during spring cleaning but everyone wants to be outside to enjoy the weather. Some holidays are good times to look. Avoid buying on weekends (starting with Friday evening). Also not the most fruitful but look for the most recently posted buy it now (BiN) auctions. Deals are there to be found as not everyone prices their stuff at top dollar for BiN. Most do but I have seen MISB sets sell for a fraction of the cost it could have and I myself have gotten a a few really nice used bulk LEGO deals for much less than if I had not used BiN. If the seller is offering numerous BiN you can also get them to give you deal on them by asking nicely. A lady had five buy it nows of about 6-8 lbs each for $25 each. That is a good deal on its own, but I asked her if she would give me one of them free if I bought the other four. It saved her time to only have to ship to one person so she did.

Best advice for ebay is be patient. Deals are to be had and suckers are born every minute. Wait and you will find good prices. Jump on the first thing you see and you will pay too much.

Happy sniping!

[kenji]

okay - you want to know how? here's how... target for items ending midnight or early morning. no one (at least for US auctions) stay up to bid at that time. peak bidding is around 8pm to 11pm est based on my experience. doesn't matter whether you included the description or not, or the set number. my experience is that there are quite a few bidders out there who specifically query for lego and only bid on items about to end (<3 hours). bids go up like crazy for those sets.

haha.. thanks for yout secret technique. i will make sure i spread it around to benefit other people.

[natelite]

it's not going to matter. you are relying on old information while i have first mover advantage. it's about time i work on a new trick.

[kenji]

it's not going to matter. you are relying on old information while i have first mover advantage. it's about time i work on a new trick.

ebay has been there for around 10 years, trust me, there are no new tricks.

hahahahahahahahahaha

good luck with your future bidding.

[natelite]

it's not going to matter. you are relying on old information while i have first mover advantage. it's about time i work on a new trick.

ebay has been there for around 10 years, trust me, there are no new tricks.

hahahahahahahahahaha

good luck with your future bidding.

are you trolling? or just naive? i joined ebay 3 months ago and i already learned something. so is that the final final last "trick" then? or will there be another final final absolutely final last trick still waiting for discovery?

by your logic, no one can get a good deal from the stock market since it existed for 100s years. hmm, yet we hear of "price corrections" daily.

[kenji]

easy natalie, easy, i was only thanking you for informing me something i had anticipated but could not quite grasp.

since you have only joined for 3 months i guess you still have alot to learn and i would recoomend patient is the key to success.

therefore as a respected member here i shared my tricks around and so do you.

there is no need to include the'stock market' and 'price corrections' here so we all get amazed and frightened, believe me, new methods are being discovered in most aspects of life, however i would reckon there is a limit to how much technique there is for 'bidding for cheap lego on ebay', especially since you have announed all your tricks, don't you think so? *sweet*

don't get so tight up, and i wish you can find yourself a good deal on ebay tonight.

[snefroe]

you call all these things 'tricks', people? sure, you're better off when your bid ends at midnight instead of 8 or 9 in the evening. Sure, you're better off bidding in summer than just before christmas... sure, getting in contact with sellers is a great way to expand your own network, picking up the objects you won, instead of getting them by postage services is all very well, hoewever:

that advice doesn't really get me anywhere if, for instance, the MISB space monorail bid ends at 8 today. It's not as if these sets appear every day and every hour on ebay so i can just choose the bidding that suits me best. the best thing you can do? Hope and pray there's no one else who wants the object you're bidding on! :-P

... or maybe I should just ask Phes to have some mercy with us and tell us his big secret strategy, would you, Phes? please tell me, so i can finally get my Galaxy Explorer at a ridiculous price! :-$

[kenji]

oh comon sne please give phobbes a break, he has already told us all the tricks he knows and i must admit the advice is all very helpful in some way.

[SuvieD]

that advice doesn't really get me anywhere if, for instance, the MISB space monorail bid ends at 8 today. It's not as if these sets appear every day and every hour on ebay so i can just choose the bidding that suits me best. the best thing you can do? Hope and pray there's no one else who wants the object you're bidding on! :-P

I have one in decent condition I want to get rid of. PM me if you are interested in buying it from me. It has a few extra parts and figures. Don't waste time with ebay buy from people you know. ;-)

Oh and Kenji, how old are you?

[natelite]

since you have only joined for 3 months i guess you still have alot to learn and i would recoomend patient is the key to success.

therefore as a respected member here i shared my tricks around and so do you.

this made me laughed...out loud.

for snoe, there is no other way except to go through every single auction. do not skip over the "bulk" or "loose" auctions for you can get full sets in those. for eg, i saw one such auction for the entire t-1 typhoon being sold under "loose lego maroon and tan bulk parts" and it went for $1.99 and $10 shipping for a total of $12. they included the minifigs too. i could see the entire helicopter right there in the pile. sold for $12. get the instructions from BL and you're set. the only thing missing was the large &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; dino.

i rarely look at old sets but don't discount bulk or loose auctions. they may contain hidden treasures.

[Vader]

easy natalie, easy, i was only thanking you for informing me something i had anticipated but could not quite grasp.

since you have only joined for 3 months i guess you still have alot to learn and i would recoomend patient is the key to success.

therefore as a respected member here i shared my tricks around and so do you.

Respected member???? Hell son youve been here 5 mins and your respected? Please dont make me laugh... Respect is earned and you sure as hell have earned it from anyone yet!

*vader*

[snefroe]

oh comon sne please give phobbes a break, he has already told us all the tricks he knows and i must admit the advice is all very helpful in some way.

but i do welcome any shared experience/advice , the thing is that i'm only bidding on boxed sets and they very often are rather expensive and popular. sure, i know a few sellers who are using the 'buy now' option, and yes, i use that rather often, but even in those cases, i always find that old lego is expensive! :'-(

a few weeks back yoda bid on a boxed classic space ship on my behalf. we started to bid in the last 10 minutes or so to see if there was any activity, any one who was already bidding very high... after all, you don't want to get any bad surprise, like a freak already having set a maximum bid of 200 dollars or so... so we started at 30 euro,... we knew that 30 would be overbid in the last minute anyway, so 30

[kenji]

that advice doesn't really get me anywhere if, for instance, the MISB space monorail bid ends at 8 today. It's not as if these sets appear every day and every hour on ebay so i can just choose the bidding that suits me best. the best thing you can do? Hope and pray there's no one else who wants the object you're bidding on! :-P

I have one in decent condition I want to get rid of. PM me if you are interested in buying it from me. It has a few extra parts and figures. Don't waste time with ebay buy from people you know. ;-)

Oh and Kenji, how old are you?

i am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth, you?

[xwingyoda]

i am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth, you?

and one step closer to being chambered :-| !!

*yoda*

[natelite]

old boxed sets? well, can't help you there...that's kinda like a big neon sign saying "BIG BUCKS"...

my art is more how to get good deal on ordinary, easy to get sets. *sweet*

[SuvieD]

i am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth, you?

I am five for the fifth time and enjoying every minute of it. :-D

I really like getting a good deal on parts lots. I once bought 30 lbs of "used" parts for $4 a lb plus shipping. It ended up being 80% new starwars and harrypotter parts with some very nice rare older parts.

One trick I forgot to mention is the price trick. Nearly everyone has $20 to spend on ebay but not everyone has $200. If you hold off on your spending for a while you can get a nice large lot with much more than you would with several small lots for the same price. Harder to do, but it can and usually does pay off. The only negative is that many of the people selling on BL and ebay itself buy up large cheap lots to resell so competition can be steep. They know how much they can make off of a lot and are usually willing to out spend the average personal use buyer.

[kenji]

but you left a point, that is in buying large lots you are never 100% sure what you are gonna get.

[SuvieD]

but you left a point, that is in buying large lots you are never 100% sure what you are gonna get.

I know! *wub* That is one of the great things about it. It is like buying a bag of sand knowing that with a little sifting you will find gold! A true treasure hunt. ;-)

[dunamis]

Interesting thread. I agree with a lot of what has already been said.

- I'm on the West Coast so I definitely agree with the timing aspect. I usually go to bed around 1AM so I always check Ebay and see what auctions are ending soon. That's 4AM Eastern and sometimes you can grab some good deals in the middle of the night.

- I've got a ton of good deals with BiN auctions. I got a complete Technic Airtech Claw Rig for $50 on a BiN because I happened to do a search right when it was listed. I also got the technic control center the same way.

- Buying lots on Ebay is great too. However, it is a bit of a surprise as to what you actually get. Like someone previously mentioned, look at the photos - that can tell you a lot about what you are buying. Keep in mind you will likely have to do some sorting and cleaning though.

I've probably done 150+ LEGO purchase transactions on Ebay and 99% of them have been positive. I've only been stiffed one time and paypal covered all but $25 of my loss.

[snefroe]

but you left a point, that is in buying large lots you are never 100% sure what you are gonna get.

that's also the case with boxed sets really. very often you'll find that printed parts have been replaced by normal parts or small parts are missing. normally i wouldn't make a big deal out of that but it is best to take these things into consideration when you're bidding...

[kenji]

Interesting thread. I agree with a lot of what has already been said.

- I'm on the West Coast so I definitely agree with the timing aspect. I usually go to bed around 1AM so I always check Ebay and see what auctions are ending soon. That's 4AM Eastern and sometimes you can grab some good deals in the middle of the night.

- I've got a ton of good deals with BiN auctions. I got a complete Technic Airtech Claw Rig for $50 on a BiN because I happened to do a search right when it was listed. I also got the technic control center the same way.

- Buying lots on Ebay is great too. However, it is a bit of a surprise as to what you actually get. Like someone previously mentioned, look at the photos - that can tell you a lot about what you are buying. Keep in mind you will likely have to do some sorting and cleaning though.

I've probably done 150+ LEGO purchase transactions on Ebay and 99% of them have been positive. I've only been stiffed one time and paypal covered all but $25 of my loss.

150 transaction!? you must be a true collector.