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New Minifig question.

tons_of_brickstons_of_bricks
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I have quite a bit of minifigures at the moment and noticed quite a bit of them have those nasty collage pictures. I was thinking of updating the pictures for the ones I have, but was just wondering about my new figures. I honestly don't have a problem with assembling them just once to take a picture (I actually used to assemble all my new figs awhile back to make them easier to identify), but I know some people are picky about new pieces. Should I put a note in the description of the minifigs that I do assemble just once or could I just leave them as is and not worry about it?

Comments

  • 8 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • area 51 Bricksarea 51 Bricks
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    I wouldn't worry about it, I have assembled some of my minifigs just to take pics but disassemble them after that. Since they haven't been handled/played with I still count them as new.
  • leopard37leopard37
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    @firestar246 I believe some buyers may have an issue. You could just keep them assembled and note that on the ones you use for pics. I'm doing my best to find pictures of all figures I add, but some of them just aren't taken by TLG.
  • RandyippRandyipp
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    Selling new requires trust, be honest and explain they were assembled for catalog photos. I would never assemble then disassemble a figure, that is literally the definition of used and is highly suspect behavior. There are sellers who sell used figures as new, even if they should be used "like new". Anyone could easily disassemble a set built once and sell those parts as new, the only thing stopping someone from doing so would be integrity. Transparency and honesty with buyers is always the best bet.
  • CalibrickCalibrick
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    Firestar, I'm right there with you, I hate the collage figures (though they are better then nothing). I think I've taken photos of 90% of what I list that was a collage, but there are a few more to go.

    I personally agree with Randypip - once assembled, new becomes used/like-new IMHO. It was touched for something beyond sorting (heck, it was assembled then unassembled). My personal, respectful opinion only.

    For images that I don't have the parts for, since the entire site uses TLG-provided images, would it be inappropriate or illegal to find TLG-OWNED (only!) images and upload those? There are still some very old ones bouncing around online in the way back machine, etc. To be crystal clear, NOT from another site or something someone else took, but one that TLG explicitly owns. That might be an alternative solution, though I would absolutely defer to @lawrence on that one.
  • leopard37leopard37
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    @Calibrick Those are the photos I upload when I create a minifig. The ones that appear on TLG website are acceptable for here. However most minifigs are shown with a weapon/tool in hand and therefore not applicable.

    Tyson.
  • GrahamGraham
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    I’ve listed the figs assembled for pictures as “it’s the actual one shown” (I leave them assembled) i believe it’s ok to sell assembled figs as new, but to then disassemble and list as new is not. But then will anyone know? It’s really down to being honest, personally I wouldn’t have a problem with listing figs assembled/disassembled as new as long as it states the facts in the comments. But then it’s pointless disassembling them!
  • tons_of_brickstons_of_bricks
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    Thanks for the replies everyone! I personally disassemble all minifigures (new and used) when shipping them out simply because I know I have fun putting minifigures together when I get sets for my personal collection.

    I guess what I'll do is just make a note in the figures like I used to.
  • CalibrickCalibrick
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    @graham, I do exactly what you do - I think it's fine to assemble a new minifig (I actually do that for anything not factory-sealed to avoid part loss, but I also note that specifically in each listing) and still call it new. For me, the discriminator is UNassembling it and then selling it as new. Just my humble opinion, but I think people expect it's never seen shoving together if it's new (unless like me you sell them already shoved together). But again, I'm 100% up-front that I do that in each listing.

    Firestar has an interesting point, I am taking away someone's fun which I hadn't considered... but I am also concerned about parts scraping together in the polybag in storage or getting lost.

    As with most stuff, there's no right way or wrong way really, just that we're clear with our customers, no? :-)
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