Subject:
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Re: The meaning of "Complete"
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Wed, 18 Apr 2001 19:15:12 GMT
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Viewed:
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539 times
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In lugnet.market.auction, Kyle D. Jackson writes:
> [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).
...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 before (and hence have a history with them), then take everything in
the description with a grain of salt - the more warning bells going off the
bigger the grain of salt should be. Then set your final bid price
accordingly (i.e. - lower feedback and no photos(1) equals lower bid
amount). This means that many times you won't win, but if you do, then the
chances of being "taken" are minimized.
I recently bought two incomplete sets as part of one auction from a buyer(2)
on Ebay and the photos clearly showed the missing and color substituted
pieces. The text description was very detailed and helped me decide on a
bid amount that matched the condition and completeness of the sets being
sold(3). 6930 is now finished and 6972 is almost done to the level I am
going to finish at(4). The price was a fraction of what could have been
paid and I had FUN buying and making the sets more complete!
Hope this helps,
Bob
(1) Not having photos immediately lowers my price since a picture is worth a
thousand words.
(2) <set:6930> and <set:6972>
(3) When buying incomplete sets, I also try to take into account how much I
may have to spend on Brickbay to improve the set and maybe bring it up to
speed in terms of completeness.
(4) Since I don't sell any of my sets (as of yet anyways), I make
compromises for myself in terms of color and size substitutions when
re-creating a set that I didn't buy MISB.
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