nk4002r

Both auctions were bought by the same trader: http://www.trademe.co.nz/toys-models/lego-building-toys/lego/minifigures/auction-587428208.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/toys-models/lego-building-toys/lego/minifigures/auction-588426893.htm Either really obsessive collector with deep pockets or someone believes these are actually gold... Or they might be onto something and will try to sell two nearly sequential numbered certificates on eBay for $2000? If I've found it, I would have kept it, but it might be smart to sell now and then buy it back real cheap once the prices settled down as more are found... Some people want to be the first to secure these for their collections.

I've also got a cancelled order like that. The official explanation is that overseas stolen credit card fraudsters used these forward shipping companies. Due to privacy reasons, they could not reveal to the customer where the package was shipped to or something like that. But we all know that it is to protect regional price mark ups ignoring international currency fluctuations. But you can still get a good deal from Toys'r'us - they started to ship internationally - although they have a GST miscalculation and charge the GST, if the total+15%exceeds $400 - so effectively charging gst from $315 instead of $400. Very annoying, because the shipping costs are not exactly cheap. I've had tons of "fun" sorting through Series 10 Lego figures in Wellington. 5 boxes worth in Jville, 4 in Moore Wilsons and then spent over 4 hours in the Lyall Bay Warehouse sorting through figures - I think there were 12 boxes. Insane, either my method is wrong or I was too late or there were no Mr Gold over there... I hope they'll do a reedition or other give away bags, because 5000 is just way low. Even from Star Wars standards: there were 10000 chrome gold C3PO's and possibly 20000 Chrome Vaders ! (I've got both of those) May the 4th be with you too ! I am not sure if the Han Solo figure is worth to place an order this year - I've bought stuff in previous years.

On TM the ARF Trooper last year was going between $35-$50 even for $1 no reserve auctions, if I correctly remember. The international prices are getting lower too, in April you could only find them for $60-90 USD... http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?q=tc-14

Looks like the May the 4th sale will include a free exclusive chrome silver TC-14 variation of the C3PO figure: http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/StoresEvents/otherfiles/1033/downloadB179E2783E22308BA9A28290DA96E1BD.pdf

I think that they mean that the GST is included because the prices they charge is the exact same as the local toy store prices. However, I agree with you, it is highly questionable and very unlikely that a foreign website will collect GST on behalf the NZ Govt and that they will send the 15% of the sales value to the IRD... Maybe they have an agreement and that is the reason why their pricing is much higher than the US Lego.com ? I previously thought was that their pricing is for NZ Lego sales protection, as it would be difficult for Lego to undercut toy store prices for direct sales as the toy stores are their biggest customers, if you know what I mean...

Yes, the Midi Falcon is a good deal. It has sold out in the US and on Bricklink it was selling for close to $70 (US) for a wee bit. So there is demand for it, do you have the apetite for buying up the entire TW stock for international resale ? I can't recall it being cheaper than $55, not sure, if Kmart clearanced it or just sold out at the time the 8087 was on clearance. Even used ones sell pretty high, so I'd recommend grabbing 1 at this price. I bought mine for exact cost a while back, but haven't yet put it together.

Toy World Wellington also got the 8043 again and the new 10231 Space Shuttle for $169.

Cool, hopefully you can get one from them. If that search does not help, you might also try iqtoys.co.nz - they got the 10218 $300 shipped.

Not only Kmart, but Farmers also has Series 5. The first series were only sold by Toy World & The Warehouse, if I correctly remember. Toy World Palmerston North has Series 2,3,4 & 5 and all of them are marked #1 through 16 with black marker ! So you can quite easily pick out what you need without being touchy feely ! I was quite surprised, excellent service, unfortunately I did not get a chance to buy any. (I have a complete set of 4 & 5 for sale).

Actually I won the Cloud City, but I am not proud of myself. The bidding got carried away and I've paid too much... :) The Bricklink price does not make sense, seems quite high, you can pick one up for $400 USD on eBay. But I mainly wanted the Lando & Boba figures from this set. The printed Boba Fett figure price sky-rocketed, it used to be only $70... Not long ago. It would be interesting to chart out the values of Lego sets & figures from eBay & Bricklink sales history. Kind of like a stock market. Lego could use it to figure out which sets to release. This year's Podracer is quite good, because the Watto has been on my wish list.

FYI: you cannot contact people until you have at least 10 posts... I too got hit with that when I started posting. This is an incredible item and I wish you the best of luck with it. I'd personally recommend keeping it, you might will regret selling it. You won't be able to get one again that is for sure. This was featured in several DK books too.

Toyco.co.nz has 25% off all Lego. Many sets sold out already (some of the best ones), but they have the 10195 Dropship for $375 which is quite tempting - this might be one of the last chances to pick one up before it gets discontinued and reaches collectible status.

I also caved - 6 packs of glued magnets, but I really liked the shadow trooper...

First of all: it is 3rd of May already and no updates on the website - just a teaser. Are they going off US Central time ?? Also, may I add that the $80 shipping is not that outrageous considering that they use Fedex/DHL type tracked, signed for service. I'd challenge you to walk into any post office in the US/EU and get a better postage (they ship from Netherlands/Holland, right ?). You won't. Well at least not for big sets as mentioned, it is not fair that you'd have to pay the same shipping if you only bough a keyring... But my biggest pet peeve is the pricing. I know, the exchange rate went up in the last week or so, but it is a US web site, why shouldn't we get the same pricing ? For example, I quite like the Public Transport set. At $100 USD it seems a little steep, but it is a very nice bus and I like the tram too. That would be $124 NZD. Instead, it is $200. TW has it for $189, so it is just too much even, if they have a 20% off sale for everything... Star Wars is even worse, I was surprised to see the Battle for Endor for $100 USD, it was $250 here and I actually paid $200 - but that was well worth it. Still, Amazon recently had it even cheaper. But all right, those are older sets and the pricing may have been set at a time, when the exchange rate was almost 1 to 2. How about the 8070 Super car, $120USD vs 250NZ and it just came out? The $100 NZD difference would cover shipping. The bottom line is, I'll probably sit this one out, even if they give free shipping and a bonus free White Boba Fett with every order... Sorry, if I am stating the obvious as this has been discussed before, I am just disappointed. Probably also because I forgot to bid on the Batman figure on TM today, went for $26, not bad at all. Better go to sleep now.

I've seen those in Toy World this weekend for the price quoted. They also had the new smaller Technic sets, dump truck and mini mobile crane and mini off-roader. The Warehouse also had the small Technic sets, but not the Backhoe. The Mini Mobile Crane has the same sized box as the Star Wars Gungan battle and both sell for $50, which felt a little high for the mini crane, but maybe that is just me... I thought that Star Wars are especially expensive due to the licensing and the technic set does not have any figures - but then again it might just be that the Gungan battle is really attractively priced.

The Creator Truck 3-in-1 6753 is $110, which is pretty good deal for nearly 1300 parts, but I bet that Farmers clearanced it lower in the end (although I've missed it - sold out in our Farmers). Space Police was also nearly 50% off, but they only had 5983 (sorry, I can't recall the price). They also had a Star Wars 3-in-1 Super Pack for $80: Freeco Speeder with the 2011 battle packs, but they also had plenty 8085, which defeats the purpose in a way. Then again they did not have any 2011 battle packs only the 2010 Hoth packs. There will also be a Genosis Super Pack which is certainly more promising... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?S=66378-1

Please, let me join the queue. I also have a Harry Potter blue car (used but OK) to sweeten the deal. :) That is worth $20 (USD) on eBay.

+1 to Nikkiwi, thank you very much for the trade.

Yes, the combo sets work out well, Farmers and Warehouse have them (each different type). I think a battle pack is free or maybe both ? I've missed out on this one, because already had all 3 sets: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?S=66368-1 But I bought 1 like this just for the Wampa - my son already has a Snowspeeder and the other two sets, so those I put on TM: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?S=66366-1 Normally the combo sets would only contain last year's battle pack, but they seem to have broken the pattern with the above 2 combos: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?S=66341-1

Don't know, I think this is a specific shipment just of the 8043, because they sold the first wave really fast and there was a crunch. But we may get lucky. Normally the next year stuff gets a very limited release in the States (ToysRUs only right before Xmass) and we only get them late Jan or Feb, again I'd love to be proven wrong. Those battle packs are awesome, they will be hard to resist. I am planning to wait until they come out in a combined set though... This year I jumped in too soon and then they released several 3 in 1 sets, now I'll wait for those.

Lego 8043 is back in stock here in NZ: -Fishpond: $651, ouch: http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Toys/LEGO_Sets/Technic/0673419129374/?cf=3&rid=2118303077&i=1&keywords=lego+8043 -iqtoys; $400 shipped, wow: http://www.iqtoys.co.nz/product/lego-technic-motorized-excavator-8043/ FYI: ToyWorld may also get a pre-Xmass shipment (very soon) ! If I may add: I've nearly completed my 8043, fantastic model, totally worth it. I even have the bucket of the old 8851 from my childhood and that one works very well on this model.

This reminds me of the movie quote: "Do you want to make 20 bucks the hard way ?" I've been wanting to buy something off TW, it would be cool to get a $20 gift card... Why put it all on TM ? Do you own TM stock or something ? I mean it is $10 off the drain ! Also, do you realize that the 20% applies to a single item only, so the total would be $115+postage ($50 + $50 - 20% + $25), if the check out girl does not recognize me that I've had this coupon a month ago once already. I mean why don't you just go to TW ? FYI: Whitcouls had a 25% toy sale last week, I ended up missing it. I've got distracted - an eBay buyer claims that the package did not arrive after leaving positive feedback and buying more off me and eBay just blindly refunded the full purchase amount. Beware of eBay selling - you must always ship in a way that you have a tracking number...

Now that is Funny ! Thanks guys, saved me money and disappointment... :)

Thank you. The only way to distinguish is to know your source. Basicly all version 1's were withdrawn and called back to the headquarters. I've kept the version 1 for my own collection.

I actually resent the feudalistic connotation of that. But have to get used to it, because I don't plan on becoming a very active member... :-) Are you in Wellington ? This is for local pick up only, sorry you cannot pass, if you are disqualified. :)