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Parting out a 75192 Falcon? Seriously?
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it is pretty sad that TLG makes it difficult for buyers/collectors. I have always been frustrated by the lack of circulation of sets in Australia, in the old days, we missed out on roughly half or more of any yearly set release and I rarely see the polybag sets. Sydney has been scorned over the minimalistic levels of the Falcon they have ordered in.
I have had to suck in some awful prices in regards to price gouging...had one person email me from greedybay and demand I give him a positive feedback. Having paid twice retail for the set, reassured I let him know that I was less than happy, and he should be grateful I was willing to pay in the first place.
Unfortunately it is people like myself who have made the gouging worthwhile. And I will likely continue to support them and see something I have the money to pay for.
Castle
> Hello,
> it is pretty sad that TLG makes it difficult for buyers/collectors. I have always been frustrated by the lack of circulation of sets in Australia, in the old days, we missed out on roughly half or more of any yearly set release and I rarely see the polybag sets. Sydney has been scorned over the minimalistic levels of the Falcon they have ordered in.
> I have had to suck in some awful prices in regards to price gouging...had one person email me from greedybay and demand I give him a positive feedback. Having paid twice retail for the set, reassured I let him know that I was less than happy, and he should be grateful I was willing to pay in the first place.
> Unfortunately it is people like myself who have made the gouging worthwhile. And I will likely continue to support them and see something I have the money to pay for.
>
> Castle
Can you not buy direct from LEGO shop at home down under?
Regards gouging Amazon re-sellers are not much better. However I have a permanent filter attached to Amazon searches - so I only see stock "sold by Amazon"
Ninjago City currently at +30% or more on Amazon, whilst available in stock from TLG direct.
have had nothing but disappointment with eBay. So don't go there any more.
Yet to have Amazon officially down here, and the word is it is likely to fail as many big brands have, simply because our population is not big enough. Amazon maybe a household brand but we have some big companies gearing up to take them on. Come on Aussie!
Unfortunately TLG Sydney has been the number one enemy for AFOL's who were much younger when there was no internet and no instant communication.
For example over 50-75% of all sets released last century never officially made it to Australia or populated throughout the country. Many items you see in the hands of collectors now have been imported in to the country since the internet became live with online markets or were available only on the east coast.
I have heard that Sydney has continued to fail and the new Falcon is in short demand. Whether Sydney has control or not, my interaction with Sydney has never been good.
I ordered a set in 2010 and though I paid a massive transport fee that should have seen it delivered in an overnight bag, TLG made me wait three months whilst they filled a shipping container and the set was shipped over with other orders. Since then the service may have picked up, I can not be bothered, especially when it was cheaper to buy and ship another very large item from the US, at 25% cheaper than retail, including freight, and I had in my hands in a couple of weeks.
Also TLG is supposed to have exclusives - not available from retail stores - just another scam, I have yet to see any exclusive not appear on the retail shelf at some point - so just a rip off if you are in a hurry for a new set. And price often cheaper a little later and with no delivery fees and long wait!
So unfortunately I do support the scammers and the way I see it TLG Sydney is more than happy to support them too!
Castle.
I am surprised, would have thought Australia would be quite a big market!
Perhaps you afol's could get together and petition TLG?
Everyone seems to think we are one great big happy place to live.
Having been heavily ridiculed on another post, I will leave out the narrative on Australia's issues and stick to MY personal understanding of Lego products from MY PERSONAL prospective and also give you MY background and MY experiences and why I end up supporting the scams. A bit long winded, but the background stuff tells half the story.
In the old days, we had our leading toy supplier, with many other names and the bigger retailers, but not the giants they are now all selling some form of Lego product. Mostly all the prices were the same from one store to another....so no need for shopping around to much. The biggest set would have cost on averaged a half week wages if you could find it, but the average set was pocket money. So all good, kids could build towns and space sets and have a bit of fun.
Unfortunately if you look at the AUSTRALIAN catalogues of the times - and I have most of them still until TLG stopped producing them.
We received roughly around a third of what was being delivered to the US. I only know this by comparing the set releases against the catalogues, and here we exclude the specials like the ones for the Concorde.
In the ninety I was introduced to catalogues from overseas and Sydney was contacted, and they refused to address the matter and no explanation was given, however they did make it clear that they would protect their monopoly.
For many like me, this was no hardship, as history shows that Lego lost its way and nearly belly flopped. I was busy anyway and bought the occasional set when it was in the bargain bins.
So comes the internet... we only got good browsing speeds in the last ten years, so access to big sites dealing with overseas buyers only became popular after probably 2005 onwards - from my memory - please no opinions wanted. I had heard about Scambay around 2009-2010 and heard it had been popular, and since then I have bought sets from all over the world, mostly at twice the retail price and with massive shipping fees.
Unfortunately as the delivery destinations for many sets was either Europe or the US, unless imported in or sent through as presents, the source for many sets has to come from overseas.
It also means that a minifig that might be common and worth a few dollars in Europe or the US is priceless and likely unique in Australia. Though I will not discuss what I cherish, rest assured I am struggling to obtain 50% of the items I want, because of two reasons, cost of postage and access to sellers - some simply will not ship to Australia.
So for example because TLG Sydney imports a limited stock of any product, as time goes on the sets become more valuable, and it does not take much research here to determine that Space, Castle and Train are the most valuable of all sets, lets put aside age as a factor and uncommon items related to the likes of Star Wars and other niche markets.
Funny that the three mentioned above, were the most highly prized and wanted sets, I have heard many retailers morn that TLG has failed AFOLS and retailers by dropping on the table poor designs and often highly priced items, making them undesirable from a financial prospective. Castle and Lord of the Rings moved very fast through the stores, except for the occasional sets like the Kingdom Carriage from the Kingdom series, and Lake Town set from Lord of the Rings also floundered. Trains have also floundered a bit because it is a niche market, not everyone wants to spend hours "building" the train before setting up the track. Consequently many retailers avoid these niche items, making Sydney the source or premium retailers the only other option.
So being stuck with limited or no supply in Australia and the US and Europe bursting at the seams, even with the cost of postage included overseas seller become attractive.
Also taking into account our, sparse population finding someone who wants to sell, a quality set that was limited in supply in a location which is accessible is also hard.
So onto the actual story:
A nutty seller who demanded more than retail price for a BNB set - quite expensive one. I contacted him and offered to drop a deposit and pick it up the following week, it was a couple of hours drive for me. So retail price, a week to get, no inspection or guarantee of product and the cost of time and fuel. Which would have been an extra $30 for fuel. He then immediately demanded another $50.00 EXTRA.
On Scambay I found the same item for 25% less than his original asking price,including dropped at my door in two weeks and of course guaranteed through our nasty friend PayPal.
So in the end, even though the US seller made a good mark up, it was still cheaper and simpler for me to buy from him than locally.
And to finish the story, 40 weeks later the product dropped of the local marketplace to my knowledge unsold. Which brings me to the final problem I have, some sellers are simply too greedy in Australia. (I did enjoy advising of my success to the seller...)
And this brings to mind the idiot who charged we twice retail and then demanded positive feedback...
And another story where a seller was offering for sale another large set, also a few hours from home, (at the cost of BL prices of course), dropped a deposit until I could pick up a couple of weeks time, told this was all good, and was hammered daily, until I agreed to drop the sale and let the seller keep the deposit, or pick up immediately. As I was unable to do the latter...I did the former and lost money. So being able to get shipped to my door also makes the higher price more attractive and some psychotic seller does not have my phone number, or the ability to cause me further grief!
Sorry for the long winded story. But all part of the privilege of being a collector and AFOL, and the reasons I end up supporting greedy sellers.
Castle.
Not that it's any consolation but living up on the top of the globe in the far corner of Europe is not too different in many ways. A physical TLG store does not exists here at all. TLG online prices are 20% higher than rest of Europe it seems. And many other things...
In many ways I feel your pain.
Ken
Wow! That's some serious hassle. Retail should never be so painful for a customer. Until I'd read your story, I couldn't fathom why I had a few Australian customers (not complaining - all are welcome), and why they were willing to buy so little and yet pay the high shipping fees. Now I get it!
Sometimes we don't know how good we've got it. I've been moaning (typical Pom) because our nearest TLG Store is a 1hr 10 min drive. I think I need to start feeling lucky.
Appreciate the sympathy and sorry to hear that other are also having trouble. They say there is always someone in a worst position so cheer up....
TLG is the most frustrating company I have ever dealt with...the old saying applies to them...they hop around like a frog on a heated frying pan, damned if I can work out it, but some people sure know how to cash in!
Castle