Rek's Guide to LEGO Buying (SG) 2016 - 20160630

Disclaimer: Do note that this guide is meant mainly for buyers within singapore. Some information may be outdated or incorrect. Do alert me if you have spotted such discrepencies.

Date: Jun 2016

Basic Jargons

RRP - Recommended Retail Price (can also be SRP - Singapore Retail Price)

MOC - My Own Creation: a LEGO structure not in any set. usually fan designed.

LCS - LEGO Certified Store

LCP - LEGO Certified Professional

Timeline of a LEGO set

The trick to buying a LEGO set at a good price depends largely on when do you buy it. Some of you may have already noticed that there is a pattern to it.

Period	Production	Initial Launch	Waves	EOL	Off Shelf
Stock	NA	Low	High	High	NA
Price (secondary market)	NA	Up	Down	Down	UP
Comments	During this time, Parts are being produced. Factory Leaks are possible.	Low Stock as everyone are rushing to get thier own set. Scalpers will go in during this period to create a further perception of limited stock and drive prices higher.	This will last for at least 6 months as more sets flow into the market. Due to abundance stock, ppl will stop buying high from secondary market and prices will go down.	Items has stopped production. However, stock level is still high on retail outlets.	Items are no longer sold in retail store. Prices are decided by secondary market.

This is a basic timeline of a LEGO set’s life span. so, as a consumer, you get to pick WHEN you buy. :)

Types of LEGO

Regular	Common LEGO sets that you see in almost every shop
Monostore Exclusives	Exclusive sets that are only found in LEGO Monostore. They used to be called 5-digit sets until recently LEGO changed the numbers system. However, Exclusive sets still retain the starting number of 1. example, for 2015, 10246: Detective's Office , 10247: Ferris Wheel. 71006: Simpson house has proven not to be an exclusive. so…. 76023: The Tumbler is a ? only time will tell.
White Tags	These sets usually comes prediscounted. They do have a RRP, but they were never released at that price. These sets have a very good price/part ratio. examples will be 60026: Town Square and Advent Calendars Robinson will indicate these sets with a price cancellation. Metro indicate by white tags. Some places never indicate at all, but will sell at the discounted price.
Lifestyle	LEGO Related products - Keychains, KeyLights, Lamps, etc, etc
TRU/ Target/ Walmart Exclusives	As the name implies, these sets are exclusive to these stores.
Clearance	Sets that has gone off the shelf in order to make space for new sets and has returned with a high discount in order to encourage clearance. Recently examples are Lone Ranger, Galaxy Squad, Ninjao Final battle Arc, Chima Insect Arc. Latest clearance as of apr 2015 is TMNT at bricksworld.

White Tags
2014	41056		44.9	34.9
2015	60070		49.9	39.9
	60071		74.9	59.9
	70228		74.9	59.9
2016	41133		59.9	74.9
	60111		49.9	59.9
	60131		39.9	49.9
	70324		34.9	44.9
	70327		44.9	59.9
	75141		39.9	54.9
	76056		49.9	64.9

Where to buy

LEGO Mono - Shops that are authorised by LEGO to use thier Brand name as signboard. these shops are only allowed to sell LEGO Products

Chapalang - They sell LEGO and a whole range of other stuff

Dept Store - Department Store that carries LEGO. LEGO usually do not give 20% discounts. However, during these store’s storewide sales, MIRACLES happen.

Name	Type	Location	PAB	Discount / Membership	Comments
Bricksworld	LCS	Ngee Ann City (Flagship)	LEGO PAB	$300 in a single reciept / $25 for 3 years. 10% Discount.
		RWS	LEGO PAB
		Vivo City	LEGO PAB
		Suntec	LEGO PAB
	LEGO Mono	JEMS	NIL
		Plaza Sing	NIL
Toyshunt	LEGO Mono	Great World City	PAB	$300 in accumulated reciepts / $30 for 1 years. 10% Discount.
		Novena Square	PAB
		Century Square	PAB
Secret Chamber	LEGO Mono	Thomson Plaza	PAB
		Holland Village Shopping Center	PAB
		Causeway Point	PAB
The Brick Shop	LCS	Jurong Point	PAB
	LEGO Mono	NEX	NIL
		Bedok Point	NIL
Brick Station	General Toys & Games Boutique	Serene Center	ONLINE PAB	No Membership. 15% Discount all year round.
MLBS	Chapalang	Bugis Junction	Standard PAB	$300 in a single reciept. 10% Discount. 20% off one receipt birthday month.
Gift Greetings	Chapalang	GWC	NIL	$10. 5% discount	Tanglin Mall Outlet does not carry LEGO
		NEX
Toys’R’us	Toy Store	Forum Paragon Vivo City City Square Mall The Centrepoint Tampines Mall United Square Suntec City	NIL
Metro	Dept Store	Paragon The Centrepoint Causeway Point	NIL
Robinson	Dept Store	Raffles City Hereen JEMS	NIL
Isetan	Dept Store	Shaw House Wisma Atria Parkway Parade Tampines Mall Nex Westgate	NIL	Do note, some of these store carry little to no LEGO
Takashimaya	Dept Store	Ngee Ann City	NIL
Hamley’s	Toy Store	Plaza Singapura	NIL
Simply Toys	Toy Store	Plaza Singapura Bugis Junction

This is a guide to LEGO buying, not a street directory. go use your google map or whatever.

Ebay, Carousell should always be used only as a last resort. otherwise, you are just feeding scalpers.

What kind of Fan you are

Knowing yourself will enable you to better plan for how you would like to purchase. I for one, have spent years to figure out my own pattern. I do hope this will shorten yours.

Buyers		Set / Box Collector	Buyers who just collects for personal reasons but never build due to various reasons.
		Opportunist	Buyers who only buys when there is a good sale or clearance.
		Scalper	Buyers who intentionally buy out items on the shelf in order to create demand.
		Investor	Buyers who buys for investment.
Builders	MOCer	Purist	MOCer who only use pure LEGO parts. Even if they have to stick to the very dim light brick. However, these ppl are usually very creative with LEGO elements and different methods to work ard.
		Creator	MOCer who are open to any options to make thier lego creation look better. Wireless lightning, LED strips.
		Digitizer	MOCers who first do thier designs on software and proceed to procure the parts to bring them into the physical world. Advantage: unlimited parts/colours at your disposal to create your design
	Instruction Builder	Builders that only build according to instructions and wont take the step further into MOC. Why? from my understanding, these ppl finds building LEGO sets very therapeutic, relieving thier stress as the pieces goes into its proper place without fault. MOCing will take up time and create un-neccessary brain activity which neutralise the stress-reliving effect.

Additional Bonus

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ETc28u1LBhUIgBd63ija_RRPLQ2nRqQ-KlPdulKw57g/edit?usp=sharing

LEGO Viewpoints - 20160628

http://www.thewackyduo.com/2016/05/why-i-stop-buying-lego-for-investment.html

Happen to pop into AFOL group when someone accidently added me and this was in the front page. Yes, I'm no longer in the AFOL group as a member so I dont recieve updates on whats happening. But I believe everything happens for a reason. so perhaps i should share some views on this.

I must say, he does bring up alot of strong points. If i have read this in the earlier days of my collecting, it might have made some changes. Of course, i do not regret what i have collected so far, to me, they are still treasures. but perhaps i might not have over stretched myself like i had. Greed is my sin and i would have made an excellent Orange Lantern.

Do note that from his view point, he isnt discouraging ppl from investing but just stating why is it harder to invest.
It is too commercialise: Agree on this point. At the same time, its good for me. as sets that are unpopular will always go on clearance. clearance = cheap parts.
Sets are more expensive, making returns challenging: Disagree on this point. Making 10% profit off a $600 set is more than making 100% profit off a $5 set. If you havent guess which example i'm quoting, you are out of touch. To make the second example match the first in profit, you will need to deal with 10x more ppl, which will include low-ballers, pilots, picky scalpers.
Locally overprice: Disagree. The discrepancy between our prices and overseas is the reason why sellers are able to flourish. If they have the means or they fly often, they can profit by bringing sets back at low cost. at the same time, can afford to give a better discount.
Rare is a relative word: Agree. Its almost like trying to pick a 4D number. The worst part is, after you picked a winner, bros will come to ask you for bro price. 
Beware of scalpers: Disagree. Scalpers through buying up all the shelf stock will create an impression of product shortage. That itself will justify them selling it at RRP when they gotten it at a discounted price. How to counter this? Educate yourself. Though the time span of the product has changed, it will still go through the phrases which i have talked about before. Just get the item when it is in its wave phrase when waves after waves of the product will hit the shelves with no end to them. The wait will slowly die out when everyone has gotten thier sets.
Children are left out of the equation: Hard to make any comment on this. Too far into the future for me to see. i always believe that every generation will have its own idols, ideals and toys. whether your children will play LEGO is something totally out of your control.
The existence of replica: Agree. I myself do purchase some of these. but only when there is no LEGO-equivalent. Helps alot in covering Ironman's numerous suits. for parts wise, i still feel there is a long way to go for them to match LEGO. kekekeke. like in the KFC commercial, its just not LEGO. Some friend dont feel the same way and are switching.
The loss of LEGO trademark: Disagree. With the loss of the patent, LEGO will be pressed to keep thier edge. Quality should be the key but there has been a steady decline in it. In the past, we used to marvel at the strength of the person who can break a LEGO part during normal usage. now, all kinds of parts are breaking, especially reddish brown ones.
Box collectors: Disagree. These are the kind of collectors who spurs newbie collectors into a buying frenzy and after buying, what they can do is only sit on the boxes waiting for price to rise.
You only need one set: Agree. Anything more, you should have just bricklinked it. unless you are building an army of something. otherwise, building 1 set will be enough for skill gathering and stuff.
It is suppose to be a toy, not an investment: Disagree. Simply because of the price point. A modular set will easily take a tenth of your pay. 

Once upon a time, i had a conversation with "he who shall not be named". I believe that LEGO should be made as cheap as possible, everyone help one another to get better discounts (i do that myself, helping ppl get sets at a discounted price.), sharing information on sales, fight scalpers by putting a ceiling on the price on various selling channels, (which is what i do too.) How do you put a ceiling on the price? Well, when ppl do a search for the item, most of the time, he will pick the lowest priced seller. by putting in the discount price, you will ceiling it as prices higher will not be able to move. With easy access to LEGO, creativity will freely flourish.

"He who shall not be named" says let the free market do its work.

Off topic: Some will just say, Rek, you have the biggest bricklink store in Singapore (Rek's Store - 153,477) If you can just lower your price alot, you can help the creativity flourish greatly! 2 different issue, basically putting in ceilings does not cost me anything but effort (of course, there are buggers who ask you to buy and dont pick up that kind of nonsense.), but lowering price of my bricklink store will directly increase my cost, time and effort.

Today I realise that much of what i did was wrong and "He who shall not be named" had more sense in economics than i did. By keeping prices low, i have helped to cultivate the generation of scalpers, ungrateful buyers. in the long run, more harm came out of the motive to do good than good itself.

TRU Nexo Knights Event - 20160617

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lego/lego-nexo-knights-power-up-to-become-a-nexo-knights-hero-attack-the-lava-lands/1064102013660702