Good non-retail Lego bargains

[Mandalorian Candidat]

This forum has kind of died down in activity lately, which is a shame because I've found a renewed interest in SW-related items because of the Lego sets. Since we have 4-5 months until the MF, TIE set, and UCS Y-Wing are released and the post XMas clearance frenzy seems to be over, maybe we can discuss non-retail Lego finds.

I've been hitting up ebay lately for some older sets I just didn't bother getting from pre-2003. What would everyone consider a good bargain or a pig in a poke? All of us sooner or later get hyped over a particular auction and may think irrationally about the final price.

Last week I bought older loose complete X-Wing and B-Wing sets. I compared the X-Wing price on this particular auction and found by doing the BIN feature + shipping it would come to $30. The min bid was $15, but I saw most auctions ending over $30. I got it for $30 and was satisfied because it was in great condition, missing no parts (except for two very minor tool pieces), came with clean instructions and the guy charged a very reasonable amount for shipping ($5 for priority).

The B-Wing cost me slightly more: about $35. I love the set but not as much as the X-Wing and think maybe I payed more than I wanted to but that's my decision and I'll live with it. All together I payed about $70 including shipping and got two clean sets slightly cheaper than new at retail.

I also ended up with a flash speeder ($9 with shipping and insurance) and the gungan sub ($17 with shipping), which are both supposed to be loose but complete.

I thought all of them were good if not decent deals since they are no longer available at retail or from Lego S@H (the gungan sub is still going for $50, BTW), the shipping charges weren't too bad, and they are all complete and clean.

Does anyone else have a good ebay/bricklink/online story or want to share their opinion on price vs. availability?

[JediTricks]

I haven't done any non-retail Lego transactions, except for an A-wing someone gave me, 100+ 2x1 black plates from VT, and 5 lbs of all sorts of bulk black bricks from Thrawn a while back (that worked out REALLY well actually, I wish more sellers out there would offer 'em this way). Oh, and I suppose the Vader's TIE vs Y-wing bundled with the Snowspeeder was none too shabby as well, but that was retail.

Nice get on the Gungan Sub, that's crazy! Flash Speeder is kinda lame IMO, but you paid less than retail so you win. :D

In 2000, I picked up a 2nd X-wing set at TRU just after they got really hard to find because someone online put up instructions on how he turned an X-wing set into a B-wing (this was well before the B-wing was even announced). It worked out pretty well, and even though I'm sorta hard up for parts right now, I still haven't taken that set apart.

[Kidhuman]

I havent bought any Lego's on Ebay or bricklink, but when I get some extra cash I will be looking to do so. I wanna army build and bricklink has some good deals on armies of stormies and such. I have also seen some nice sets I wanna get off of there, it is kind of annoying ot look through it all most of the time. I need a day or two where I am at ease.

My only story would be this guy picked me up some clearance final duel sets. Good price and quick shipping. ;)

[Mandalorian Candidat]

My only story would be this guy picked me up some clearance final duel sets. Good price and quick shipping. ;)

Who was that masked man? :)

Yeah, the Flash Speeder isn't as dazzling as the larger ships, but my son has one and has fun running over battle droids so maybe I was a little jealous. Surprisingly, I've seen them jump as high as $20 before shipping so when I saw this one at around $4 I jumped at it.

I'd like to get a older MF for the Leia (well, not just for that minifig) but they go for well over $100. Since S@H ran out of TIEs they are going for higher $s. I really want to get one as well as the AT-ST because it's the cheapest way to pick up a Chewie other than just buying the minifig.

[bobafrett]

I'm still searching for a Skiff. I passed on it so many times at reatail, perhaps because it didn't have any skiff guards, or maybe something about the price that I just couldn't justify paying for, and I thought I would see them on clearance.

[Mandalorian Candidat]

The skiff's OK, but not too great. Maybe I would feel differently if I didn't have one. The Jedi Luke's now been done to death but I think when it was released the only other one was in the speeder bikes set. How much are they going for on ebay bf?


On another note. Anyone know of a good place besides ebay or brickshelf/bricklink/brickwhateverit'scalled to find "reasonably" priced older sets?

[Mandalorian Candidat]

Got my gungan sub and flash speeder yesterday. It really burns me how these sellers jack up the shipping charge then ship it really cheaply.

anyways, the sub was complete and it is just huge. I didn't realize how complex it is. I want to customize it so that you can take it apart to give three individual subs like the one in the front that comes off from the main hull.

[JediTricks]

If they don't say "and handling" in the ebay auction, they can get into trouble for jacking up shipping prices on you.

Did the Sub come with its little underwater base thingy and the clamshell element?

[Mandalorian Candidat]

If they don't say "and handling" in the ebay auction, they can get into trouble for jacking up shipping prices on you.

Did the Sub come with its little underwater base thingy and the clamshell element?

This particular auction said something other than handling...like processing. So I paid about $2.50 or so for someone to put butcher paper on it and drive it down to the post office.

The sub had all three figures, the two lightsabers, two brown cloaks, the underwater base with 4 seaweed type pieces, a clamshell, a starfish, a manta ray (or whatever they're called on Naboo), and the anchor thing on the front of the ship along with everything else I could find in the instructions. The set itself had bricks that were pretty much used. Nothing was damaged, just worn like a kid owned the set. It doesn't really bother me because it was a great price and the seller was good and responsive.

Right now I'm actively trying to get an AT-ST (mainly for Chewie) and the TIE Fighter. The TIE just sold out on S@H so the prices jumped really high on ebay. I'll probably have to wait for them to drop like they normally do.

Also on the lookout for:

A-Wing
Naboo Fighter
Droid Carrier
MTT (yeah, this'll cost me)
AAT (little more than lukewarm for this one)
Darth's TIE/Y-Wing (if I can dig up a good deal)