NOS. New old stock

[Off the wall]

Question.

Still playing catch up because I didn't discover Lego until late in life. I'm buying some retired products off of eBay and Amazon. I don't have a specific question about ebay since I've been participating there as a buyer and seller since 1998 and know the ins and outs of being both a buyer and a seller. My question is for those of you who buy NOS-new old stock-from resellers. Anything specific that I should be on the lookout for when buying NOS? Factory seals? Anything specific to beware of?

I have nothing against resellers. They make it possible for me to obtain things that I would have missed out on all together. Their higher prices that I have to pay are simply the cost of getting a late start in this hobby.

Thanks to all.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I'll tell you my experiences on the ebay. Most is probably obvious

Always check feedback, how often their sale are, and most recent sales. There was a case where I purchased some sealed sets for great prices from the same seller. They had hundreds of positive feedback, 100% pos. I saved them on my account. Every month or so Id check to see if they had anything I'd want. After about 6mos or so, their account was flooded with negative feedback resulting from customers failure to receive items, usually bigger $50-$300 dollar sets and there account closed. I'm sure they knew what they were doing, but that is something that can still happen on ebay. Everything there is somewhat of a risk and based on trust, by someone you don't know. But thats why I love PayPal. I never lost any money because some one blatantly lied and I bought lots of New and 2nd hand sets from there. Although, a few 2nd hands where a little more beat up or missing an important piece (Cypress Tree, 6390 Main Street), than what was in the description. Paypal always refunded on the very rare occasions out of hundreds where I did not receive an item at all.

About factory seals, most larger (think $11.99+ boxes) if not all sets have a rectangular or circle stickers. 1 - 2 per side depending on size of box. Rectangular ones sometimes have a black bar or production code (a few numbers & letters) and are usually on the bigger of these two types of sets. They should look flawless, never cut, layered or carefully peeled off and reapplied.

Sets that have perforated thumb hole boxes can be a bit trickier to to determine if there has been tampering if the person was could a cutting between the flaps and re gluing. If it's not immediately obvious, then there is probably nothing wrong and you'd never know until opening it.

I hope this provided a little insight and did't waste your time reading what you already knew

[Off the wall]

About factory seals, most larger (think $11.99+ boxes) if not all sets have a rectangular or circle stickers. 1 - 2 per side depending on size of box. Rectangular ones sometimes have a black bar or production code (a few numbers & letters) and are usually on the bigger of these two types of sets. They should look flawless, never cut, layered or carefully peeled off and reapplied.

Sets that have perforated thumb hole boxes can be a bit trickier to to determine if there has been tampering if the person was could a cutting between the flaps and re gluing. If it's not immediately obvious, then there is probably nothing wrong and you'd never know until opening it.

I hope this provided a little insight and did't waste your time reading what you already knew

Thanks, that's the type of information I was looking for!

As far as ebay goes, bought and sold on it since 1998 and I've seen about everything. It's changed a lot in the past few years as far as buyer protection is concerned.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Glad I could help. I figured that stuff about ebay was a bit redundant. I just thought that whole spiel about that seller was one worth mentioning