Beware When Ordering LEGO from Walmart.com

I used to purchase a lot from Amazon.com here in the US. They had some great deals and the free shipping with orders over $35 was reasonable since it’s very easy to spend more than that amount on LEGO sets. Then Amazon just gave up on quality shipping. As I posted here, my orders arrive with little to no packaging in larger boxes and the sets looked like they had been used in a soccer game as the ball. The last straw was when I would order a larger set and they wouldn’t even put it in a box. They would just stick the shipping label on the outside and call it good. I went to the UPS Store to return one and the worker asked why I didn’t re-package it. It was because that’s how it was packaged when I received it. Needless to say, I think I purchased one or two LEGO sets from Amazon.com over the past year.

More of my orders went to Walmart. The discounts were often the same and the shipping quality was much better. I received well packaged sets in boxes that arrived looking brand new. This went on for a while, but has recently gone down hill. At first, I started receiving sets in padded packages. The items would get smashed and I had a lot of returns. The final straw came when I received this…

I’m sorry, but nothing in the item description said I was going to receive a set where the front packaging was peeled off. How did this even happen? My suspicion is that when Walmart does their pickup in store or home deliver orders, they typically put big stickers on the items. People didn’t want LEGO sets with big stickers on them so they return them. Apparently LEGO just recycles those sets back into their inventory and you get this. And get these…

It’s been a great run, but unless Walmart can guarantee that I am going to receive a new set or if they can tell me that the set will arrive damage (and give me a substantial discount for the damaged set), I’m not interested anymore.

Target has been the holdout so far. They continue to package items well and I don’t receive beat up sets. We’ll see how long that lasts. The unfortunate part is that Target has not had the sales that Walmart and Amazon have had.

Let met know in the comments what your experience has been. Have you found a way around receiving beat up sets from any of the big retailers? Have you received worse?

UPDATE: Free Castle Polybag (or not a Scam)

On 10 August 2022, the actual 90th anniversary of LEGO, fan media highlighted an opportunity to get another exclusive set. I saw a similar post on The Brick Fan, Brick Fanatics, and Brickset so I assumed this was the real deal. Here’s how it works. You order $50 or more of LEGO sets from an approved giant list from Walmart, then you go to https://www.lego90offer.com/, type in a bunch of personal information, upload a copy of the receipt, and they will process sending you a polybag for free.

It sounded like a good deal to me. Walmart runs a lot of sales of various themed sets and sometimes they are fulfilled by LEGO’s warehouse. I went on and ordered $59 worth of items as of course you can’t get $50 or $51 to be just over the limit. So then I went to the site to upload my receipt… As mentioned above, it is lego90offer.com. The site has logos for LEGO and Walmart along with some official terms, but that’s about it. I couldn’t find anything on the offer on Walmart’s website and it doesn’t show up on LEGO.com’s offers either.

So when you go to upload, you provide a name, address, email address, optional phone number (I didn’t list it), and then a copy of your receipt. My receipt was from an online order so it had my address and name as well.

It felt a bit awkward putting all of this personal information onto this random site, but I went ahead and uploaded my receipt and information anyways. I soon thereafter got an email stating that my order was received and would be processed in 24 hours.

We’ll see what happens. Am I the only one who found this process to be rather sketchy? The terms say you can only get one so I’m not going to try again.

Let me know if you get your copy. Post a comment here or email me at store@bricksforbricks.com.

Happy building! (I hope.)

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6 September 2022: It’s been almost 4 weeks and a yellow padded envelope showed up in the mail with what sounded like bricks inside. I opened it up and my guess was correct.

This takes “only the best is good enough” to a whole new level. It looks like someone bought a bunch of plastic bags, got the bricks on Bricklink, put a printed card and instruction booklet in, and called it a day. I guess it’s Walmart though so “save money, live better” is their slogan. My opinion, this lacks the luster of a promotional set given it’s presentation and quality. Maybe LEGO should consider how they do their future Walmart promos.

I was going to add this to my BrickLink store, but a quick check showed that people were trying to sell this thing for $75 to $90 each. Really? Come on! I will wait to post it in the store until the pricing comes down to a more reasonable level.

Have You Ever Purchased Your Bricks at Smyths?

Many Americans looking at LEGO fan media sites may have heard of a store called Smyths before and have never actually seen one. It is usually mentioned on some of the European sites. Well for those of you who are curious here’s a short peek into the store.

First, a quick overview… Smyths is a toy store located in the UK, Italy, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. While they have a physical presence, they also have an online presence too. You can order to have it shipped to your house with free shipping starting at 29€ or you can order online and pick up in the store.

The short story… it felt like a Toys R Us store back in the US before they closed only the words were not in English and there wasn’t a giraffe.

Let’s focus on the important part… or parts… or bricks…

The store I went into had one side of an entire aisle (maybe 75 feet long) full of LEGO sets. They appeared to have most of the themes too and the sets they did have were well stocked. They did not have the very large sets like the #75192-1: Millennium Falcon, but their online store lists the stock at each store. That way you can see where they have sets and go to another store to get what you want.

Some specific things that caught my eye:
-They did not have the latest collectible minifigures (the DC Super Heroes series). They still had Disney Series 2 and Series 19 and both were still at full retail of 3,99€
-They had the #42056-1: Porsche 911 GT3 RS from the Technic line still. This has been retired in Europe for over a year. I’m tempted to go back and get it as a set to hang onto to sell later since it has been retired in the US for a while now.
-#21046-1: Empire State Building was on sale for 69,99€. The regular retail price is 99.99€ according to Brickset so that’s pretty good. The regular retail in the US is $129.99 so the sale price works out to be around $77 with the currency conversion. That’s not too bad.

Overall, I’m not an expert on LEGO set pricing in Europe or Germany so I don’t know if the prices were on par with LEGO or higher or lower. I know Toys R Us used to raise prices on LEGO to above what you could get at Shop @ Home or in a LEGO Brand Store. If any Europeans are reading this, let me know what you think on pricing at Smyths.

My closest Brand Store is about 30 minutes away and this Smyths is about 25 minutes away in the opposite direction. I don’t have a pull to hit one over the other, but I do have to pay to park to visit the closest Brand Store. Also I still buy most of my bricks on sale from Amazon.com or through Shop @ Home so unless I find great deals on the local economy, it isn’t worth it with the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro.

Where I live in Germany, they do have Walmart/Target type big box stores, but their LEGO set selection isn’t very large. From the last time I was in the US, I recall that Walmart and Target have boosted their LEGO set offerings as Toys R Us went away. Smyths definitely seems like a decent option if you don’t live near a Brand Store and don’t want to shop online. I’ll have to pay attention more to see what their sales are like or if they ever have special offers.

In the meantime, happy building!

(and no, I was not paid to build this post or to advertise for the store… especially since my blog is written towards American LEGO fans and most Americans don’t have a Smyth’s nearby to visit)

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.

Read this Before Buying LEGO® Branded Products at Walmart

I know some people are anti-Walmart, but I fully admit that I shop there occasionally.  I typically do not purchase LEGO® products there as I can often get them cheaper on Amazon.com.  That was until I went to Walmart.com this past weekend.  With the buildup to the Christmas shopping season the sales online have been getting better.  It always makes me mad when I see the discounts get larger.  "Why did I buy that set a few months ago when I could have waited and saved sometimes $10 or $15 more?"  

Anyways, Walmart shelves typically don't have lots of great sales, but the web site had some great sales that Amazon.com had yet to match at the time (Amazon.com did a few days later).  I found the following sets (before tax):
     -#75149 - Star Wars Resistance X-Wing Fighter - $57.59 (retail price = $79.99 --- 28% off)
     -#31052 - Creator Vacation Getaways - $41.59 (retail price = $69.99 --- 41% off)
     -#75148 - Star Wars Encounter on Jakku - $38.39 (retail price = $59.99 --- 36% off)
     -#75138 - Star Wars Hoth Attack - $15.99 (retail price $24.99 ---36% off)

Besides the fact that I think I should never buy a set at retail price ever again, I was very pleased with these prices.  Unlike Amazon.com, Walmart would not ship to my doorstep.  I had to go to the store.  Thankfully the store is only a few miles away and there were some other items I needed to pick up anyways (more revenue for Walmart... what they want, right?).  Anyways I got a text and email when the order was ready for pickup.  All I had to do was bring my phone to a pickup area at the store with an ID.  They scanned a bar code in the email on my phone, checked my ID, and handed me the sets.  Odds are a worker had picked them the previous evening off the shelves and they were probably at the retail prices set by the LEGO company.  It was quick and easy and I got a great deal.  I can't complain about the experience considering the great deals I got.

So if you're in Walmart and you think you see a great deal on the shelf or there's a set that you really want, check their web site first.  You could save yourself a bunch!

Is now the time to buy? - Fall 2016

I don't have any sets to review this week or interesting LEGO® related stories, but I can say that I've been buying a bunch for the store to plus up sets and some sets that I plan to break apart for minifigures.  If you pay attention to the sales out there (for the US) at Amazon.com, Walmart, and Target there have been a lot of sets for more than 20% off and oddly enough a lot for 30% or even 40% off.  

If you haven't read any of my previous posts about buying sets, I highly recommend using some of the online tools that scan all of the sites for sales.  My favorite is Brickset's buying tool.  It shows the sales from LEGO®, Amazon.com, Target, Walmart, and Bricklink.  On the linked page you can see the top sales and then if you drill down you can see all of the sales down to some that are only 1% off.  A screen shot from the site is below.  It's pretty easy to use.

As for themes, it seems that there are sales for all of them.  Friends, City, Train, Disney Princess, Technic, Nexo Knights, Ninjago, Architecture, Minecraft, Dimensions, Creator, Duplo, Super Heroes, and... did I miss any?  Oh yeah, Star Wars.  If you've ever paid attention to Star Wars sets, they often are not on sale and they are usually very expensive.  You can now find a few for 30% off and a bunch for 20% off.  Search for them and if you had planned on picking up one, get them while they are discounted.  Some of the sets have been listed for a while, but others are only or a limited time.  For example, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle - #75104, was 20% off at Amazon.com and Target for only a few days.  Then it slipped back to 12% off on Amazon.com.  Also to note, Amazon limited the number of Kylo Ren's Command Shuttles you could buy to only one.  I did not see what Target did.  A disappointment to note... Target discounted the Star Wars Sandcrawler - #75059 by 10%.  It's not a lot, but I have never seen it discounted before.  The sale was misleading though.  You couldn't order the set online, you had to get it in the store.  Of course, none were in stock within a 50 mile radius of my home.  Stink.  What is not listed?  Collectible Minifigures, Speed Champions, Exclusives, and some of the newer sets that were just released.  

What does this tell us?  Are inventories high and retailers are just trying to unload stock?  Are they trying to get early sales ahead of the Christmas season?  Are these just teaser sales that will end in a few days/weeks?  Time will tell I guess, but if you are a LEGO® fan and have been looking for a particular set, now is the time to pick one (or more up).  What are your thoughts?