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[FUT lugnet.market.theory]
G'day folks,
I've been thinking about this for quite a while so I figure
it's probably a good discussion topic.
I've bought many LEGO sets over the past little while, mostly
from eBay. Probably somewhere handy to $2500-worth. The mix
of sellers has been wide: some high-volume, some first-timers,
some exclusively sell LEGO, others are more general.
In all of these transactions I am noticing the same thing: I
very rarely receive a set stated to be "Complete" that actually
is 100% complete and unsubstituted. To put some rough numbers
to it, about 50-75% of the "Complete" sets I buy are missing
pieces and/or have pieces substituted (ignoring sealed sets).
Sometimes the pieces are obscure in the instructions such
as accessory-type pieces that don't strictly attach to the main
model, or pieces that are just hard to see in the instructions
and don't have a structural impact. But sometimes I am missing
major structural pieces that make it impossible to build the
model. And substitutions are predominantly only for colour, but
colour is very important to "Completeness". As an extreme example
I once bought a set that was supposed to contain 2 pieces in
black, which was *extremely* rare and long out-of-production.
Instead I got 2 grey pieces substituted. (I didn't know about the
rarity of the black pieces until after I'd bought the set.)
In all of these cases I find 95% of the sellers to be very helpful
and they almost always send the missing pieces (but I do wonder
then where they get them from). In some cases where the pieces
are very basic and seller is overseas, I usually find my own
replacements and just let the seller know about it---sometimes
we work out a small discount for the next time. I guess
overall that it's not a huge deal to have pieces missing, but
after dozens of transactions it does get a bit tiresome knowing
that there's only a 1-in-3 chance that something I bought will
be complete when it arrives.
I'd just like to hear others' thoughts on this. Are missing
pieces this frequent of an occurrence for you? How do you
deal with it? How do you think it happens in the first place?
It'd be cool if both buyers and sellers replied.
Thanx,
KDJ
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LUGNETer #203, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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| (...) Same frequency as you experience on eBay (which is why I'ver pretty much stopped buying sets there) well under 5% (instead of 30%) for trades/auctions run here. never yet happened to me on BrickBay. Hmm.... maybe you should stop buying on eBay (...) (24 years ago, 15-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.theory)
| | | Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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| (...) I bought only one open set. It had a few minor missing parts and one major missing part (a red Technic chair). That's only if you count just the main model [1], If you count the alternative model [2] it had a lot of missing parts, mainly (...) (24 years ago, 15-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.theory)
| | | Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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| (...) Hm. This is an issue for me from the seller's point of view. I have quite a few space and town sets picked out of my collection that I'd like to sell, and indeed I've sold some of them, but I've made a few mistakes: missing pieces, wrong (...) (24 years ago, 15-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.theory)
| | | Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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| (...) You've raised an important issue. I try to be absolutely concientious in my dealings, and I frankly don't know why there is so much laziness among some sellers. If a person doesn't care about his/her good name and reputation for honorable (...) (24 years ago, 18-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.theory)
| | | Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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| (...) ...snip... Speaking as a buyer, I am generally more pleased with Brickbay set purchases than with Ebay purchases. Here's the most important thing I've learned for Ebay Lego purchases: Generally speaking, if you haven't bought from the person (...) (24 years ago, 18-Apr-01, to lugnet.market.theory)
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