Subject:
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Buy The Brick: A Full Review
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lugnet.market.auction
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Oct 2000 05:16:17 GMT
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Buy the Brick: A Price Guide for Complete Lego Sets
by Steve Waibel
Review by Sean Harrington, harrington@macgenius.com
By creating "Buy the Brick: A Price Guide for Complete Lego Sets," Waibel has
taken the next natural step in the evolution of Lego as a phenomenon and as a
force in the collectible industry. His first issue, released for Winter 2000,
is a logical compendium of Lego sets laced with a dizzying array of pricing
data, organized by U.S. set number in a Tomart-like grid. Pulling in at a
modest 24 pages, less than half of which is actual pricing info, the guide
seems to be more fluff than substance, particularly at a $4.95 cover price.
Where Waibel falters is in over-assessing the worth of the data he's collected
and collated. He starts off immediately by devaluing it. "Remember this is
just a guide. Pay whatever it takes to get that set you have been searching
for. The values indicated are what people have paid in the past. A set may be
very desireable and it's value may rise." He's telling us information that we
already know. What would be more useful is knowing the sources of the data.
How do we know that the data is valid? Nothing in the guide serves to support
his data, only a statement that he has collected the data himself. Also, his
set information is too complete to have been personally assembled. The data
must have come from one or more online public set databases, and yet he claims
ownership of all contents of the guide.
A further annoyance is the 15 Top Selling and 15 Most Popular sets lists near
the back of the guide. The concept is interesting, but how is this data
quantified? Is it based on sales from his South Bay Collectibles company, or
from eBay, BrickBay, or all combined? Why not either restrict the lists to a
more typical 10 items, or expand them to 20 items, and include set numbers and
pricing information to save the reader from having to look them up on another
page?
The guide suffers greatly from form over substance. As previously mentioned,
less than half of the guide deals with current pricing info. A large portion
of the rest simply presents the same LUGNET set reference info we've all pored
through until all hours of the night. And the form itself is not that great to
begin with. Waibel seems to suffer from the "more fonts = more creativity"
school of desktop publishing. From the painful inclusion of a Zapf Chancery-
like face in his opening greeting, to the poorly leaded and spaced mess of
either Arial or Helvetica Black throughout, the guide is an unfortunate
example of how NOT to design and layout a publication, especially one that you
plan on charging money for.
Now, there are many things that Waibel does right. The pricing information
seems correct for the items I am familiar with, if not somewhat polarized (the
highs seem VERY high and the lows seem VERY low). Including the original
retail price would be a nice touch, as would ranging the pricing from set
condition (i.e. non-boxed, opened, sealed bags, sealed box, etc.). Including
footnotes indicating top performers as well as explanation of abnormal prices
would be great. Clarifying that the prices are all in U.S. dollars is also a
must.
Using the set number is a good starting point and is very easy for first
timers, but adding additional groupings by themes, or perhaps year released
would be great. Adding the piece count, an icon for the theme, year released,
and perhaps even flags for releases by continent would be great. This would
probably necessitate a single column approach rather than the double column
layout that was used.
What's the bottom line on the publication? The answer isn't that easy due to
the way in which the publication was solicited. Being resourceful, Waibel
gleaned email addresses from eBay auctions as recipients to his first
promotional email, an act that he has apologized for beyond the bounds of
necessity due to a few, very reactionary LUGNET'ers. Complicate this with the
fact that Waible wants to charge for the publication AND that he's a
collectibles trader, and you get a lot more negative reactions from people
(myself included) who didn't understand the leap of faith between collecting
data and organizing that information and charging for it.
Would I pay any amount of money, up to the requested US$4.95 for the
publication? Probably not. Although I purchase a LOT of Lego sets through eBay
and other online auctions, and although I have at times been VERY frustrated
at the prices I've had to pay there, I don't see any relevance to the data
Waibel is providing, especially considering it's unqualified data. If the data
was collected from the LUGNET members' set inventories (i.e. by adding price
paid and date acquired to the field list) I would find that data much more
reliable.
Do I think a newcomer to Lego set auctions could use the info in this guide to
their benefit? Absolutely, however, it's unlikely that they would know where
to find the guide. Veteran Lego set purchasers would probably be as jaded as I
am on the subject and would not actively suggest it as a source of info to
newcomers. So Waibel's guide is plagued by the problem that it's receiving
audience might not care for the data, and those who could use the data
probably don't show up on Waibel's radar yet.
In it's current state, Waibel's guide does little to earn it's US$4.95 price
tag. Even with the promise of a US$3.95 per month price with an extended
annual subscription, the guide still seems like one person's idea of how Lego
sets should be priced. If Waibel were to make the suggested modifications,
including quantifying the data, it would be something that I would look at
once every month or so, but not for a cost. Adding advertising to offset costs
or to redirect the source of income would probably be a better way to go. Even
more advantageous would be to work with LUGNET to include the guide as a
benefit of extended membership, charging members an additional annual amount
if they wanted the information. Also, the guide must be kept more current than
just a quarterly publication.
Considering all these options, it's clear that Waibel has his work cut out for
him. In addition to overcoming the large ration of bad will that his
unsolicited email generated, he also has to enhance the publication to the
point that he can justify charging for it. As the harbinger sounding the
coming of age of Lego collectibles, it's one who's music may not fall on
receptive ears.
Sean Harrington
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Buy The Brick: A Full Review
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| (...) <snip.. go read it. its good.> (...) I have to say, even thoa it may come off as somewhat negative, this is a great review. Sean really does a nice evaluation. I was wondering myself whether this is something I might want to buy. I have been (...) (24 years ago, 11-Oct-00, to lugnet.market.auction)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: "Buy The Brick"
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| Agreed. I think Steve's efforts look promising, and I think he deserves any compensation he receives from it. I personally don't find the information worth the price, and I'd certainly prefer NOT to be solicited as a result of using Lugnet. The (...) (24 years ago, 10-Oct-00, to lugnet.market.auction)
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