I bought a lego 8043 on eBay for $175, a Buy it Now with free shipping. I'm not sure how someone can offer this item $25 cheaper than lego.com, but it looked trustworthy because this was from a seller over 300 feedback ratings, and 100% positive.

A few strange things happened though.

(1) The UPS tracking showed the item coming from Omaha, NE but the eBay listing showed "item location: Washington".

I probably would have never noticed this, if it hadn't been for the following:

(2) Two days after the item was shipped out, but before it arrived at my door, the UPS tracking showed "return requested by seller". When I look at the UPS tracking now, it shows that the item is on its way back to Omaha, NE.

Of course, after I saw (2), and then (1), I became very suspicious that something illegal is going on. I asked for a refund. First the seller said, don't worry, I'll take care of it, but I was afraid that he might be dealing in stolen goods, and I don't want stolen goods arriving at my door. So I said that I want a refund so I can buy the item somewhere else (at a higher price, because I don't know any other place where I can get it for $175). The eBay seller then gave me a refund.

So now, I don't have a 8043, but I do have my money back, and of course I could just leave it at that. But I still don't know what exactly was going on. I find the situation suspicious, but I have no real evidence. I don't know who sent this item (UPS won't tell me), I have my money back, but I have no address I can write to, and no phone number I can call, so I don't know how to figure out if this seller is legitimate or not.

My suspicion is that the reason the seller can sell expensive brand new lego boxes at low prices is because he buys them with a stolen credit card. If that's the case, I definitely want to report it. On the other hand, the high feedback rating makes me unsure that my suspicion is correct, and, I have no real evidence.

Is there anything I can do to figure this out? Whatever it is that is going on, I'd like to know what it is. Also, I'm wondering this now: If the seller is legitimate, then how does he manage to sell it $25 cheaper than lego.com ? I know that sometimes there are sales where you can get things cheaper (from toysRus or lego.com) but this is a brand new item, released less than a month ago, so how can someone sell this $25 below the price at lego.com?

One more thing, this has probably nothing to do with it, but I'll just mention it anyway: lego temporarily stopped selling 8043 because of technical difficulties with some of the components. People that experience problems with 8043 will likely receive a service pack to fix the problems. I'm not concerned about this issue, I'm sure that lego will resolve that issue one way or the other.

Edited August 24, 201014 yr by hoeij

G'day,

I have no idea but maybe the goods are held at a warehouse elsewhere!

As for how he or she could sell it cheaper, if he is a registered business he would be buying it cheaper then retail, at wholesale prices. The reason lego.com sell the sets at their RRP is to ensure they do not undercut the retailers so that retailers can continue to make their profit. That is how any manufacturing business works anyway, so I assume it is same with lego!

As for your suspicions, you might be right, but do you really want to waste your time? If something fishy is going on they'll get caught sooner or later!

I'm sure it's fairly common, but what're you going to do?

You have no idea about a single seller unless you track them for some time.

Perhaps the manager or a LEGO store who reports them stolen or as damaged boxes back to headquarters; perhaps merely a shoplifter... but you never know, it could be someone who got it as a gift and didn't want it (sent across country from Grandma with no gift receipt). Just don't get worked up over an assumption.

If it really bothers you, follow his sales on ebay. Next time you see one of his items ask how he can sell it cheaper than it's ever been sold for in stores.

If it really bothers you, follow his sales on ebay. Next time you see one of his items ask how he can sell it cheaper than it's ever been sold for in stores.

I did. Much of his sales are expensive lego boxes, like the carousel, big star war boxes, etc. He'll list say two of them, sell them quickly because they're $25 cheaper than anywhere else (with free shipping) and sell the same thing again the next week.

I think I may have found the seller, goes by jnlweb, right? Currently selling one of the Carousels. Looking at his record, expensive items are indeed being sold, like hoeij said. Not just Lego, but also Dyson vacuums, iPods and RC cars.

Edited August 25, 201014 yr by slopemodified

Lower prices are quite common on ebay and are not necessarily something to worry about. TLG gives volume discounts to resellers who buy the sets in large quantities. I've bought a lot of items on ebay over the years (Lego as well as other things) that were cheaper than MSRP. TLG's own pricing on this particular set is also inconsistent. The S@H price is $200, while some (but not all) US Lego stores sell it for $180 and some European retailers carry it for as low as 130 euros (about $165). Combined with other, store-specific discounts, there might be some arbitrage opportunities there.

However, the return request you described does remind me of one experience I had a few years ago. I got a buy-it-now 6986 MISB set at $150, a very good price. The guy was also selling many other old sets at such prices. I didn't receive anything for two weeks and when I asked the seller what was going on, he refunded my money, claiming that the set was damaged in transit and was returned to him. When I checked his feedback, there were several other comments saying the same thing. It was obvious that the excuse he gave was a cover-up, but I got my money back and didn't think much about it. (and got another such set at an even better price later on)

Edited August 25, 201014 yr by CP5670

8043's are also being returned to sender from official websites. Bearing in mind the issues with the LA's & Gearing it is perhaps the reason. Certainly wholesellers get the Lego at pretty hefty reductions; and if they can shift in volume then the reductions can be large. E.g. buying via online shops in Switzerland can save me 50 CHF (on a 250 CHF product) including shipping and credit card tax.

There is often nothing dodgy about these enterprises; they are just massive warehouses with a business model of scraping a few % off the the final sales price; using cheap shipping firms (who are also working in bulk). Shipping a 100 units, with a profit margin of 5$ is not small...

I would have chased the reason for the recall first.

Edited August 25, 201014 yr by roamingstudio

8043's are also being returned to sender from official websites. Bearing in mind the issues with the LA's & Gearing it is perhaps the reason. Certainly wholesellers get the Lego at pretty hefty reductions; and if they can shift in volume then the reductions can be large. E.g. buying via online shops in Switzerland can save me 50 CHF (on a 250 CHF product) including shipping and credit card tax.

There is often nothing dodgy about these enterprises; they are just massive warehouses with a business model of scraping a few % off the the final sales price; using cheap shipping firms (who are also working in bulk). Shipping a 100 units, with a profit margin of 5$ is not small...

I would have chased the reason for the recall first.

I tried to figure out the reason for the recall, but nobody would tell me. The seller on eBay didn't give me any real information in his responses, and UPS wouldn't tell me who the sender is, so I don't know who I can ask what the reason was.

I tried to figure out the reason for the recall, but nobody would tell me. The seller on eBay didn't give me any real information in his responses, and UPS wouldn't tell me who the sender is, so I don't know who I can ask what the reason was.

A few people in this thread had their products recalled during delivery. If the Ebay seller is a 'front' for a warehouse then perhaps the same thing happened.

I think I may have found the seller, goes by jnlweb, right? Currently selling one of the Carousels. Looking at his record, expensive items are indeed being sold, like hoeij said. Not just Lego, but also Dyson vacuums, iPods and RC cars.

It did sound a bit strange from the first post, although the price would likely be down to a business buying wholesale and the different location being their warehouse which is quite common.

Having read the post above and seeing that the seller is also shipping other high-ticket items i think its most likely that they are bulk buying returns pallets. Often sellers who have an eclectic mix or such products have bought them as returns and sifted through for anything sellable.

Bearing in mind 8043 has known problems and many were returned you can expect alot of them to appear on these retail-return pallets. It's quite normal.

M

Thanks everyone for your explanations. Perhaps I should have given the seller more time to solve the return-to-sender problem.

I keep going back and forth between two thoughts, one is "why can't the seller tell me why the item is returned to sender?". The other thought is: "Someone with 300+ positive feedbacks, that's got to be legitimate" (after all, if something illegal is going on, he might have gotten away with it 10-20 times, but 300? That's hard to imagine.)

If the item were shipped directly from lego.com then that would be a clear signal that something is amiss. But since the item didn't arrive, and UPS won't tell me who shipped it, I do not know if it comes from lego.com or not.

By the way, over the last three years I've bought about 100 items through eBay/bricklink, and I've had very few problems. In the two or three cases that there was a problem (item didn't arrive) I've always gotten a refund. So I've never lost my money buying something online. From what I've experienced so far, eBay/bricklink is quite safe. Note also that in this particular case, when I became uncomfortable and wanted to get out of this deal, I received a refund in just 2 days. So as far as I can tell, this particular seller is perfectly safe to deal with.

Thanks again for all of your explanations. I really don't like the thought of being involved in something illegal, so it makes me feel much better to know that the (now cancelled) transaction was most likely legal (if so, then it was a mistake of me to not give the seller more time, because instead of a refund I much prefer to have the spectacular 8043).

Edited August 25, 201014 yr by hoeij

Yeah I think you turned into Sherlock Holmes to fast! I bought the 8043 today for 130 Euro's incl shipping so $175 doesn't seem to strange.

Yeah I think you turned into Sherlock Holmes to fast! I bought the 8043 today for 130 Euro's incl shipping so $175 doesn't seem to strange.

You are right.

In fact, the mystery is now solved. The reason the sender issued a "return to sender" was simply because the sender had shipped the wrong item! So I was suspicious about nothing, just a simple shipping mistake that is currently being corrected.

You see? All went ok. One thing though: 300+ feedbacks on ebay is not very much like a professional. Some here said wholeseller or warehouse. No way. With a 10,000 feedbacks you might have a warehouse, but he seems like a private seller. My guess is a toyshop employee or something. Also it happened a thousand times on ebay that people built up a good feedback in being a buyer, or seller for small items, and then they put a hundred expensive items on ebay in one week. Things they don't even have and freaks are greedy to get. Ipods, Macbooks, cell phones dadada. You know how it works.

Anyway, good to be conspicious. I for example never buy any sets on ebay or BL. Only s@h and amazon, not marketplace. You never know if someone took out the minifigs or did other jokes, not that this wouldn't happen. And I am not in the mood to find out something like this a five years from now, cause I often wait to open sets. Or worse, I sell them sometimes on ebay if I find no use or space anymore, and I don't want to be accused for something I didn't even know about.

I NEVER buy from eBay, only from BrickLink

The chance that someone on Bricklink is a dodgy scammer rather than a genuine LEGO fan is much less (plus the stuff I am buying isn't the kind of thing a scammer is going to try and rip you off with, how many scammers are going to try and rip you off with an obscure printed part from a TownJr set for example)