A Disappointing May 4th Sale from LEGO® in the USA

If you’ve been an AFOL for a while and if you’re a Star Wars™ fan, then you’ve probably been tracking the multi day sale surrounding Star Wars™ day. Typically the sale includes the release on a new UCS set or some other larger Star Wars™ themed set, a gift with purchase set related to the theme, Double VIP points, and discounted sets.

Being in Europe, I check in with with the US sales, but I have to wait until 6 AM my time so I can see the sales start on the east coast of the US. This year I logged in a little after 7 AM on 1 May to check out the sales and let me tell you, I was disappointed in what I saw.

So they had the new A-wing Starfighter™ (#75275-1) for sale and the gift with purchase is #40407-1: Death Star II Battle available for purchases over $75. Additionally, there are a few other new sets available, but I won’t go into those now.

The big disappointment… there are no sale items. No sets are discounted at all. Zero. What!?!?! Why????

How can you call this a sale without anything at a discount?

To top this off, Amazon.com in the US has nine sets which are at least 20% off their retail pricing at the time of this post. Walmart.com has about the same at the time of the post too. Scoring sales in the US has to be done outside of Shop @ Home this weekend. Shop @ Home is only if you want some of the larger sets or the gift with purchase set.

Want to feel worse? Well the sale is on in Europe. Checking out the Lego.de site (Germany’s Shop @ Home page), there are a few deals posted.

#75253-1: LEGO Star Wars™ Boost Droid - 20% off - 159,99€ (~$177)
All of the Action Battle sets are 20% off
#75242-1 and #75250-1 were sold out, but they were both 20% off as well.

Not the greatest list of deals, but at least they had a few items to pick from.

Then onto Smyths Toys in Germany… you can see my post about Smyths here. Here are the sales they list for Star Wars™ sets:
-#75257-1: Millennium Falcon - 144,99€ (15€ off or ~$160 which still works out to the US retail price)
-#75256-1: Kylo Ren’s Shuttle - 96,99€ (23€ off or ~$107 in the US vs. a $129.99 retail price)
-All 3 new helmet sets for 49,99€ (10€ off or ~$55 vs. a $59.99 retail price in the US)
-75255-1: Yoda - 84,99€ (15€ off or ~$94 vs a $99.99 retail price in the US)
-#75253-1: LEGO Star Wars™ Boost Droid - 130,90€ (~69€ off or ~$145 vs a $199.99 retail price in the US)

There are a few more sets available for sale as well, but I won’t list them. Looks like Smyths might be a good place to hit the Star Wars™ sales in Germany.

So why is this? Has LEGO reduced their Star Wars™ inventory so they don’t need to run sales as often? Has competition in the US been removed and the big retailers just fall in line with LEGO to rake in profits? Are we seeing a COVID-19 impact? Are sales so good in the US that LEGO doesn’t need to discount? I’d appreciate hearing some insight from LEGO on the reasoning behind the sale and pricing.

Does anyone have any insight they can share here?

Any different views on this? Is it really a great sale and I’m just missing it?

Are We Entering the Best Time of Year to Buy LEGO Sets?

I know what you’re thinking… there isn’t a bad time of year to buy the plastic brick. Well I’m coming at it from the pain to your wallet or credit card bill. I have an older post that I try to update when I get new information on how to find the best priced LEGO sets out there. Bricks can get expensive fast and looking for opportunities to get discounts can be a big win.

I’m writing this post in early October 2019. While it doesn’t seem like Christmas to me, the retailers are definitely thinking about Christmas. To them Christmas means selling a lot of stuff to include toys. A big seller on the toy list is the plastic brick (yeah, probably Mega Blocks too… AUGH!). A quick look at Brickset’s Amazon.com discount list (in the US) shows a whole bunch of sets already 30% off with some over 40% off. While these aren’t the big modular buildings or Creator Expert sets, there is a good variety of sets on the discount list. I expect this list to continue through November and December with changes here and there so give it a look every now and then to see if there’s something that you’ve been eyeing up.

In the past both Walmart and Amazon.com have done limited sales on some of the big sets. This has included some of the big Star Wars sets, Modular Buildings, Creator Expert sets, and some others. Keep your eyes open. Usually by the time big sales get posted on the LEGO Fan Media, the sales are over. Rumor has it that last year Walmart had a very short run discount on the UCS Millennium Falcon (#75192-1).

In the past, LEGO has looked to unload some of the sets it wants to retire around this time of year. It used to be that LEGO ran some big sales immediately after Christmas to unload sets. More recently, LEGO has unloaded sets over the Black Friday weekend with deals on Modulars, Creator Expert sets, and some others. Definitely check out your nearby LEGO Brand Store or LEGO Shop @ Home during that time period. Of course, LEGO will also release some new sets around this time of year for you to pick up and they will run some promotional sets too. There traditionally is a “free with purchase,” Christmas themed set or two that get released in the November/December time frame.

Formerly known as EBates, now Rakuten.com also increases money back deals leading up to Christmas. Last year LEGO Shop @ Home had 5% to 7.5% back during their Brick Friday to Cyber Monday deals. Walmart, Amazon.com, and others often do the same. If you are signed up for this program, take advantage of it..

The big retailers always change how they run sales and deals. Just because they did something in the past doesn’t guarantee that they will do it again the same way this year. So pay attention to the sales. Our friends in the LEGO Fan Media usually do a good job at updating us on upcoming sales and deals. There are many out there so pick your favorite. I look at The Brick Fan as it does a good job keeping up with current and upcoming sales.

I’m not an affiliate and I don’t get paid to advertise for all of these companies and sites. It’s up to you to pick where you want to spend your money. So happy hunting and happy building!

New LEGO® Shop @ Home Rule for Collectible Minifigure Buys

I went to order some of the new Disney Series 2 minifigures from Shop @ Home. The maximum limit per order was listed as 18. While placing that order, I figured I’d throw in a few more of the LEGO Movie 2 minifigures. I added 5 to my order. A little while later I received an email from LEGO stating that my order was cancelled because I “went above our purchase limits” for the LEGO Movie 2 minifigures. The message went on to state:

“We sometimes put limits on popular sets so as many LEGO fans as possible can get their hands on them. Although you won’t be able to buy those sets right now, we regularly change and remove purchase limits, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on our website over the next few months.”

WHAT?!?!?!

So I contacted LEGO Shop @ Home customer service. The answer I got was:

“As we want in the beginning to let every LEGO® Fan have the chance to buy the Minifigs without loosing [their spelling, not mine] all stock straight away there is a limit per household of 18 for Disney Series 2 and 40 for THE LEGO® MOVIE 2. So if you reached this quantity in multiple past purchases, every future order which has these sets included will be cancelled by the system.”

Well thanks for letting me know that! I realize not everyone buys that many, but I like to have some extras for my collection and then to sell (when my store re-opens). Apparently I will not be able to use Shop @ Home for that any longer. There are only 18 minifigures in Disney Series 2. What are the odds of ordering 18 and getting the full set? Not very likely is my guess.

Customer service pointed me to LEGO Brand Stores. I was told that I could buy full boxes of Collectible Minifigures (40 in a box) from the stores and that they don’t have limits there. That would be nice if I had one nearby that was easily accessible.

So if you want more than just 18 Disney Series 2 sets, where can you go online from the US (at the time of this posting)?

Amazon.com in the US has the following:
-LEGO MOVIE 2 - Can order up to 30 minifigures for $3.92 each.
-Disney Series 2 - Can order up to 30 minifigures for $3.92 each as an add on (you need to purchase something else and add these to the order)

Walmart.com in the US has the following:
-LEGO MOVIE 2 - Can order up to 12 minifigures for $3.92 each.
-Disney Series 2 - Not Available
-Harry Potter Series - Can order up to 12 minifigures for $3.99 each

Target.com in the US does not appear to sell collectible minifigures online.

Are there any other online locations that you can buy them without a ridiculous mark up?

Obviously you can just go to a physical store to buy them too.

Happy building!

The (Not So) Secret Way to Buy Discount LEGO Sets (2018 Update)

Back in 2016, I wrote a post with some references for where you can find LEGO at a discount.  It's time for a update.

LEGO Shop @ Home: Buying from the source can sometimes be a good deal.  This however is not always the case.  For most of the year, they throw a lot of sets up for sale that they weren't able to sell.  There are a few key times however.  The Star Wars set sales during the May the Fourth sales and the Brick Friday Sales offer some great deals.  Often they throw a few other sales in there, but you need to pay attention to them.  If you get on their mailing list, you can get notices of when they are coming up.

BrickSet.com - Amazon.com deals in the US: Amazon has kept a good deal of discounts on sets.  If you pay attention, they have a great deal of some of the main lines (CITY, Friends, Star Wars, etc.) at a 20% discount.  As they approach Christmas time, they often increase sales to include discounts of 30% or more.  It's definitely worth it to check this site out before buying a LEGO set to see if there's a discount.  BrickSet used to have a Walmart sales site, but that one has since been shut down.  

BrickPicker.com: As mentioned last time, BrickPicker is more of a resource for those who collect, invest, and sell on the secondary market.  It focuses on LEGO sets that have long since retired and where people are willing to pay big money for some of the rarer sets.  They do show some current discounts on Amazon in various countries and if you follow the forums, you can see what deals people are finding at some of the big brand stores.

Walmart and Target: Both of these retailers have either pushed all of the fan sites to take down their sales searches or people took them down on their own.  I'm not sure what happened, but I have yet to find an easy way to find the LEGO deals at these stores.  Has anyone found something useful out there?  If so, please let me know.

Ebates.com - Okay so this is not a way to save money buying LEGO in a direct way.  However, there are a few ways you can take advantage of it.  For those of you not familiar, Ebates is a website where you sign up, go to the website before you shop, and then Ebates and you get a cut of the total sale when you are done.  If you sign up, you get spam emails every day.  The good news is, you can use it to buy LEGO.  LEGO Shop @ Home is currently (as of 30 March 2018) offering 2.5% cash back.  You place an order, they hold onto 2.5% of the sale, and then they return it to you in quarterly payments.  You can receive a check or link it to your PayPal account.  Before Christmas time 2017, Ebates had a 7.5% cash back deal on LEGO Shop @ Home.  Combine that with Double VIP points and it was a pretty good deal!  Also, you can share their site with friends and get a $25 referral payment.  The link I placed is just to the site and not an attempt to get the $25 referral payment out of you.  Amazon.com and Walmart are linked to Ebates too, but often they are linked to specific categories of products.  I have yet to see them give cash back for toys.

One final note is not related to discounts, but finding those hard to find sets.  Right now, it has been a challenge to buy the Millennium Falcon (#75192).  There are a number of websites out there that help you track inventory.  I have been watching zoolert.com.  You can set it up to track a product and get notifications on availability and pricing.  For the Falcon, it shows availability (or lack thereof) at Walmart, Target, Toys R Us (for a bit longer), Lego, Amazon.com, and EBay.  It does not show BrickLink.com or other LEGO secondary market sites.  If there is a set out there that you are looking for (maybe the Falcon), it may be worth it to use a site like this one.

What else am I missing?  Feel free to comment on any sites I'm not aware of or you can email me here.  

I'm not an affiliate to any of these sites and I am not paid to endorse any of them.  If you want to support Bricks for Bricks, please check out my BrickLink store.

The Downsides of Amazon!

A word of caution if you plan to buy LEGO sets from Amazon.com (in the US).

I placed an order for some LEGO sets through Amazon.com and then through LEGO Shop at Home and both of them arrived on the same day.  When I opened the two, I was shocked to see the differences in the two packages.

The package on the left is from Amazon.com.  I ordered three LEGO Star Wars sets.  As you can see they arrived in a fairly large box and there was a small sheet of brown paper tucked in with it.  There was a large amount of open space in the box where the sets could shift around during shipment.  I was thankful to see that the sets were not damaged when I opened the package.  The previous two orders I've had from Amazon.com with large LEGO sets have suffered damage and have required me to send them back for a new set or to just deal with having a damaged box in my store.

The package on the right is from LEGO.  You can barely even tell that it is the new modular building, the #10260 Downtown Diner, is in the box and you can see the 60th Anniversary Lego set (#40290).  The team at LEGO packaged it up good with a lot of air packs to make sure there was no damage.  The sets arrived in great condition as they always do.  

So why is this?  I checked in with a friend who spent some time at Amazon and learned why.  My thought was that some worker didn't seem to care or maybe Amazon is trying to save money by not using as much packaging.  I was wrong on both accounts.  From what I learned, everything is automated.  The items are picked by robots off of shelves and the computers tell workers at the very end what box to use.  There are then machines that spit out the appropriate amount of tape and the packaging to use.  So workers don't even have a choice.  They take the materials they are given, package them, and send the box on its way.  

My question was, wouldn't they be concerned about items getting damaged and having to deal with returns?  Well the goal is speed.  Get the packages out as quickly as they can.  Amazon has such a huge volume of orders that they can't take the time to carefully package items.  

LEGO... well I don't know anyone who works at LEGO.  My guess is that they are interested in sets arriving in good condition.  They don't want to pay for returns and they know that they have fans who are interested in collecting sets that arrive with boxes in good condition.

So some advice...
     -If you want to buy sets in good condition for the purpose of collecting, I recommend
     buying them directly from LEGO unless you can pick them up from a store in person.
     -While Amazon often has some great deals on sets, buy from them only if you plan to build
     the set and don't care what the box looks like or if you don't mind a set arriving damaged.
     -Amazon has a great return policy, but keep in mind that you might not always be able to
     get a replacement set.  You can always get your money back, but I have had a number of
     occasions where they would not offer me a replacement set based on the price that I paid.  I
     could buy another set, but not at the same price.

What are your thoughts?  Do I have Amazon completely wrong?  Does LEGO not care as much as I think they do about damage during shipping?  Is it really just UPS or FedEx or the USPS damaging boxes along the way?

3 LEGO Orders for the Price of 2 (almost)

I placed a few orders recently for some LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures and encountered an interesting situation.  The goal was to get polybag 30607 Disco Batman and Tears of Batman.  I also wanted to add some more of the minifigures to the store.  I placed 2 orders for 19 minifigures each.  That put me over the $75 minimum to get the polybag, ensured free shipping, and got me a Batman Poster.  Sweet!

A few days later the first of the 2 orders arrived.  The next day, 2 more packages arrived.  I opened them up and LEGO sent me a duplicate of one of the orders.  SCORE!  Free minifigures!  3 orders for the price of 2.  WOOHOO!!!

And then my conscience got the best of me.  I (sadly) emailed LEGO customer service to tell them of what happened.  The first response back said that I could return one of the 2 orders I placed for a refund.  So I emailed again and said that I wanted to keep my 2, but didn't want to pay for the third.  Could I keep it anyways?  In my mind I was like, "Yeah right!  They won't let that happen."  As a seller of LEGO, I would feel terrible if I made a mistake like that and would want someone to let me know what happened.  The next customer service rep emailed me back, thanked me for my honesty, and sent me a free shipping label.  So I ended up not keeping the extra 19 minifigures, extra bonus set, and poster.  I did however do the feel test on the bags and ended up swapping out a few that I didn't want for some that I did want.  I didn't think that was wrong to do as they all have the same price, right?  

With that being said, I have not seen the new LEGO Batman Movie yet.  Have you?  What did you think if you saw it already?

Oh and if you want one of the LEGO Batman Movie posters that I got, just place an order at my BrickLink or Brick Classifieds store and I'll include it for free if you mention this post.

LEGO Shipping Damage

I've ordered LEGO sets from Amazon before and they often show up trashed.  For whatever reason UPS tends to kick them around the warehouse and truck before they deliver.  Also I'm not sure what Amazon's packing plan is, but I got one small set once wrapped in a bag.  It looked like the workers at the Amazon warehouse had stepped on the bag a few times before shipping.  Luckily for me, the plan for that set was to open it and add the minifigs to the store so it wasn't a big issue.

LEGO Shop at Home tends to use FedEx for larger items and then smaller items arrive USPS or FedEx SmartPost (FedEx hauls the long distance and then delivers to the local USPS for final delivery).  The LEGO distribution point is in Southhaven, MS which is just across the state line from Tennessee.  More importantly it is right near Memphis, TN where FedEx's major hub is.  So if you select the faster shipping methods, LEGO is right there to give it to FedEx so they can fly it to you.  I would assume FedEx Ground is right there as well.

I'm not sure what the community's opinion is, but overall I've had good luck with LEGO Shop at Home in terms of damage.  Everything is usually well packed and arrives via FedEx or USPS with minimal damage.  It all changed yesterday when one of my May the 4th orders arrived.  

I ordered #75142 - Homing Spider Droid as it was on sale for $23.99 vs. the regular $29.99.  I'm not sure how well the picture captures it, but it looks like someone punched it before putting it into the box.  The set was well packed with protection and there was little space for it to get jostled around during shipping.  The other set in the box was not damaged either.  

LEGO has a returns program and I could easily do that, but I wonder if it's worth it.  I'm 99% sure that the contents in the set are not damaged.  In the end I will either build the set or break it apart and sell the minifigs so does it really matter that the box is damaged?  

I'm curious as to what your thoughts on damage to sets are?  Does it matter if your set shows up with a damaged box as long as the contents are okay?  Would it matter more if it was a larger, more expensive set?  What do you think?  Thanks for sharing!