djanscak

Google 'eventual consistency' - it's likely that eBay has to use a model like this at the scale they operate at. The highest bidder will win but your view of the highest bid may not be correct at that point in time depending on which node in their grid serviced your request.

Fair call. I sometimes get caught up in the bargain hunting only to find other factors make it not quite worth the hassle.

Don't forget to weigh up whether saving an extra 25c per fig is worth finding and travelling to Myer. Spending $5 in petrol/parking/trainfare to save $5 at the checkout could qualify as stupid too.

It was still $189 at my local Kmart (Clarkson, WA) a few days ago. They had one left.

You might have enough space to write 'Albert' instead of 'Chez'!

Saw a shelf ticket at K-Mart Ocean Keys on Saturday. No product though and the shelf space assigned to it looked a bit small for the box.

Don't get me wrong, I know the big corporates have a lot to answer for but I don't think I'd be able to be so assertive. Thanks for sharing.

I think the rate you get all depends on the credit card you use. I normally use xe.com for exchange rates and then add 3% to give me an idea of what will appear on my statement.

I don't have anything enlightened to add but I thought I'd point out that many recent sets also have smaller, classic-sized cars eg Parking Garage, yellow Cargo Train, 2012 Hospital, 2007 Service Station...

I dunno. I like a bargain as much as the next person but I wouldn't be comfortable with demanding an item at less than cost price because of what's probably an honest mistake.

I doubt it, this happens every time they run out of stock. I think all the Euro Amazons share inventory as they, in my limited areas of interest, seem to run out of stock simultaneously.

Am I the only person who is intrigued by the asteroid?

Amazon.it (Italy). I've bought Death Stars from there before. They had some in stock even cheaper last week but have yet again changed what they'll ship to Australia. It seems all Lego is off limits for Aussies from there at the moment.

You can tell sometimes. If you're logged into Amazon and your default shipping address is in Australia and you're browsing the desktop site (as opposed to the mobile site or iPhone app or whatever), some product listings will state in red bold text that they cannot be shipped to your default address (near where they state how quickly the item is usually shipped, who the vendor is, etc). I have noticed an increasing number of recent items which have no such warning but do indicate they can't be shipped during checkout. Interestingly, the message during checkout indicating they won't ship items varies between those where they notify you on the listing and those where they don't. Further, their iPhone app used to tell you which items can't be shipped during checkout. Now it just says 'some items can't be shipped...', leaving it to user guesswork or going to the desktop site to work out which item is the problematic one. Ugh.

Just picked up the Garage for $99 at K-mart Ocean Keys. Staff are busily(ish) putting the Sale stickers up in the Toy sections.

France, Italy, and Spain all ship a subset of their Lego to Australia. Interestingly, the subset of what they will and won't ship is different across all three, appears (for the most part) arbitrary, and is subject to change. They do seem to be a bit more consistent in refusing shipment of whatever is in the latest wave and newer exclusives.

Thanks for the kind welcome folks. I went through a stash of old Lego a few months ago and found some of those warped pieces. I haven't yet worked out what needs replacing but I'll definitely hit Bricklink when I do. I've already placed several orders to replace pieces lost from new sets - I'm sure the lost pieces will all turn up eventually (unless they were eaten or pocketed by rug rats). Thanks for the link to the sales thread - I have a feeling I'll be sneaking home several purchases...

Now that's a price I can stomach!

G'day! I've been lurking these forums for about 6 months and thought it was time to be a bit more involved. I grew up with Lego. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with Town, Castles, and my favourite, Classic Space. One of my earliest memories of Lego is of the joy I had when my brother and I got 6951 Robot Command Centre and subsequently the horror I felt when I left the built set too close to a heater the next day. Ugh. My three year old son discovered Lego about a year ago through Lego Star Wars on our Xbox and a handful of Lego Star Wars ships my wife bought me in the mid-00s. Those ships didn't get me out of my dark ages but my son's passion sure did. We've since amassed a ginormous collection of current and recently retired City and SW sets and, for better or for worse, show no signs of slowing down. I've taken to reselling bargains found overseas on eBay and Gumtree to subsidise our own purchases and it's worked out pretty well so far. The key is not to be too greedy so that everyone wins. Ultimately, I'd love to restore my CS sets, especially my melted Robot Command Centre. I may give MOCing a go eventually but time is way too limited for that at the moment... Have a good one!

I picked up a MISB Star Wars Venator set on Gumtree a few weeks ago for $115. I almost felt guilty... The funny thing was, Gumtree was having technical problems with forwarding email enquiries to advertisers. I only got the set because I phoned instead of emailing. The seller got a bunch of emails about the Venator a few days later which were submitted to Gumtree prior to my phone call. Score!

I've bought a couple of things from Big W online, including the 7498 Police Station when they had it for $95 last year. From memory, they weren't the quickest to dispatch and the packaging wasn't great but the price was good. Our boxes end up in the recycling these days so I don't mind a bit of crushing if I've saved some cash. No idea if shipping will be free or cheap on the SSD but they definitely have free shipping from time to time. I sent an SSD from WA to NSW a couple of weeks ago via Aust Post and it cost $70 - that box is MASSIVE! Oh, and one more thing...they have a store stock lookup so you can check if any stores close to you have the selected item available; that was handy when I was chasing those City Fire sets they had on clearance for $30 last year...