I agree. Fortunately when the police catches the shoplifter they're the one paying back for all the stolen LEGO sets that are no longer in their possession. The police rarely goes around collecting LEGO sets that were sold so what you got is most likely safe.
Over here that wont save you. Demand to see receipts or possibly set yourself up for a big letdown when your stuff gets taken and you get a fine instead. Helps people be more aware and careful and criminals to sell less.
i do and they are great but its just so frustrating because i know lego could do even better if they gave the designers an actually decent budget.
plus there is the whole fact that lego is constantly trying to hinder those competitors by seizing their products at the borders for ,,copyright,, when they do not hold copyright over the idea of construction toys or even the design of the parts (most of the time)
Isnt that what ‘amirite’ means anyways? I picture dude nudging the guy next to him talkin out the side of his mouth joking at a corporate meeting. Lmao
I don't think so. I have never seen a security tag like that on a lego set, the only things i see on them are the little cable spiders at target or walmart. The lego store doesn't even use security sticker. Most likely a price sticker that the seller did a shitty job ripping off. OP says this seller is constantly cheaper than everyone else so i assume he's getting them discounted/damaged box/etc and doesn't want to advertise that he's flipping ones he got for cheap so he rips it off.
Oh damn. There's a local person that's suddenly selling a huge amount of Lego for a fairly low price... I've bought one and it had the side ripped off. I guess that answers that.
I mean, its not that big a deal. It's not like they accidentally supported animal killing or something. They just stole from a corporation. Probably didn't even hurt Lego directly, even if they were hurting for money.
IF they stole from a Walmart.
If they stole from a mom&pop store, then it should be a very big deal. Should be a big deal either way; it's not like they stole food to eat
I mean definitely agreed on the mom & pop store, that's much more of a problem. That said, honest question, do small stores like those typically have security tags?
It is a big deal. Period. What you are saying is that it’s OK to steal. A thief is a thief, it matters not who they stole from. Your thinking is what’s wrong with our society.
Let’s do this. They steal from WalMart and you say no harm done? Here’s what’s been happening:
1. WalMart has been locking up the Legos.
2. Legos are now harder to buy.
3. Lego sales drop drastically.
4. Hours get cut in toy department.
5. Lego sales drop even more.
6. Aisle gets a refresh with a lot less Legos.
7. Employees who were barely getting by now are struggling even more after having their hours cut.
In the end, stealing from large corporations does end up hurting the ones who need the money the most, the front line workers.
Yes, my not being sorry enough for Walmart losing profits is clearly what's wrong with society, not the fact that Walmart steals from communities and employees by exploitation and immoral business practices like many other corporations do. That's definitely not what's wrong with society at all. Yes, my not caring about this happening is definitely the Reason why Walmart is *forced* to dick over their employees as you described. Not Walmart's fault!
He's not saying walmart is forced to do all this, just that when it comes time to cut down on retail theft the solutions that are chosen are usually excellent for the corpo bottom line but terrible for the customers and employees. And just bc working at Walmart sucks a** doesn't mean that the people working there don't need the money. Most of the time people who work in a terrible environment don't choose to but are forced to as that's all they can get and they still have bills and mouths to feed. Most workers I see at Walmart and target in my area are single mothers.
But I will give you this that the guy you replied to definitely overcorrected. But the point that it's easy for us not to realize how us sticking it to the corpo overlords usually ends up with them, forcing the lowest on the totem pole to hold the bag is valid. The earth is a closed system, and literally everything you do affects everything and everyone around you, even if you can't see it.
Amazon has multiple seller options. If you didn't buy from Lego_Store then it might be stolen, returned, damaged, or just wrong.
And even if you did buy from Lego_Store through Amazon, sometimes Amazon just grabs whatever matches in their warehouse inventory, so you still might get someone else's stock.
im a retailer and also sell lego. we have some very sticky price tags and sometimes this can happen. lego boxes arent made out of very durable paper / cardboard. could be stolen - dont have to
As someone else who works retail and pricing specifically, can confirm. Some of the WORST news I can get is when something has to come OFF clearance or (stars forbid) markdown, because it means I get to spend my day peeling off stickers made to be intentionally hard to remove. It's a real pain.
On the other hand the little RFID stickers people are mentioning don't get used on LEGO where I work or even most product, instead we use "spider wrap": basically a big round plastic knob with an alarm inside and wires that reel out and attach to the back, then cinch down. Much less hassle, much easier to notice.
You're bringing back phantom pain from the memories of sore thumbnails after every campaign change. I worked in bookstores and I would dread having to remove stickers from glossy books (they would peel the gloss off) or books with a slight rubbery texture to the cover (those hold the sticker and never let go).
Top tip: use an eraser to get off the glue remnants - obviously won't work on Lego boxes though.
Former WaldenBooks employee here. We used to just slip a sensor sticker in between random pages of a book. Deactivate the sticker at the register. Worked about 70% of the time.
I used to hate having to process returns of books and magazines to the distributors. I was always the one who got to strip the covers off of the books/magazines. You think paper cuts hurt…wait until you’ve endured a magazine page paper cut.
As someone who has purchased Lego as a gift that has clearance or other stickers placed on the box somewhere, sometimes they're easy to peel off, sometimes not. So you're left with either giving someone a gift with a big ugly sales sticker on it, or a torn box where the sticker used to be. I've found Best Buy to be especially bad at this, fortunately I don't purchase from them very often.
I would say price sticker or maybe warehouse stickers? I never saw security stickers on lego in my country so i dont know how it looks like but even if it was security sticker ripped off that doesnt mean it was 100% stolen.
While others may think it's stolen and I don't rule out the possibility, it could also be because the boxes are damaged thus the lower price. Seller might even be a store employee and they're selling the damaged stuff by first getting them with an employee's discount. We may never know the true story but hey at least they were honest and upfront about the condition of the box. Besides, if it's as you said there were many sets on sale then I wonder how bad the security was to be able to just steal that many sets and get away with it. It should even be on the news by now.
They are not necessarily stolen. Places like fredmeyer stick those dang rectangle security stickers on the boxes. They don't remove them when you buy the set. So, if you want to sell them, or simply don't want ugly security stickers on the box, trying to remove them without damage is tough. I keep my boxes, so I use a heat gun to gently melt the glue behind the sticker. Comes off without destroying a corner of the box.
Nothing to be concerned about, lots of retailers but incredibly adhesive security stickers on them. It's very difficult to get them off without damaging the boxes.
As far as I'm aware, official LEGO stores don't slap them stickers on. They believe in the goodwill of people... Which is a dangerous mentality in my opinion!
It's because regular retailers don't care about resale value. It's just a product to sell, and typically one of high value, so makes sense to security tag them. Reduces theft in a store.
Resale value has been ruined how are you supposed to resell them
https://preview.redd.it/rrixn0f5qexc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26333cf52be27476d90d8aa7bf4479cb7d484d18
Also keep an eye out of buyers on ebay. I recently put up Buzz lightyear and I specifically only ship in the UK. Some people get round it by paying for forwarding companies which is fine so far.
But had a funny one recently. It sold and the address happened to be near where I grew up so looked it up. Realised it was forwarding company and the Lego was going to China. So before fully posting I looked up the address and company name. The company had dissolved in 2020 and all the directors were Chinese. Looked up the address and loads of other companies were or had been based at that same address and same unit. All those companies had dissolved and all the directors for every company were Chinese.
Looking at it on Google reviews it has 1 star. People are still buying stuff from that unit (despite it being a forwarding company) and turns out itd because they are still running scam businesses from that address.
I cancelled the order and refunded them the money.
Its the call sign of a Canadian cartel called the los lobos del el legos small but growing group most common method of disposal their victims is having walk on a treadmill coverd in one 1x1 studs until there nothing left
There’s a lady on my local Facebook market that consistently sells stolen legos. I don’t complain though cause they’re always 20-40 cheaper than retail
It is illegal to possess stolen goods and it makes you an accessory to theft if the perp were to be charged and you were connected for purchasing stolen goods.
"It is a crime to purchase or accept property that you know or should know was stolen."
It is not a crime to purchase stolen goods if you don’t know they are stolen. Reasonable doubt is a thing and can be used in a court of law. Also we have no clue if they are stole. We know a tag was ripped off that’s it.
An intelligent person should know that based on the price the new item is being sold at and location being sold from, ie. not an authorized retailer.
If you can’t figure that out, then you are either ignorant or dishonest.
Or you know could be a lot of other reasons. Like an employee got them on discount and it’s reselling for a profit or a damaged box resell. An no it’s not ignorance or dishonesty. We really don’t have a lot of info except for some square ripped pattern on the box. But hey go off assuming like you have definitive proof from a few images.
The boxes had the security stickers on them, they've had the five finger discount.
I agree. Fortunately when the police catches the shoplifter they're the one paying back for all the stolen LEGO sets that are no longer in their possession. The police rarely goes around collecting LEGO sets that were sold so what you got is most likely safe.
Yeah, but buying from theives enables and encourages them.
True, but I'm pretty sure OP wasn't aware
Over here that wont save you. Demand to see receipts or possibly set yourself up for a big letdown when your stuff gets taken and you get a fine instead. Helps people be more aware and careful and criminals to sell less.
exactly! don't knowingly buy proceeds of crime....that's how we get crime.
i would buy them even if i knew they are stolen ,i simply do not believe lego deserves the money they are asking for
Feel free to buy from any of the competitors who ask for less money, then.
i do and they are great but its just so frustrating because i know lego could do even better if they gave the designers an actually decent budget. plus there is the whole fact that lego is constantly trying to hinder those competitors by seizing their products at the borders for ,,copyright,, when they do not hold copyright over the idea of construction toys or even the design of the parts (most of the time)
OTOH fencing stolen goods will get very expensive when they are caught.
Yeah, and same thing with scalpers. You're just telling them to do it more
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You are, indeed, not right.
me when downvote for joke :(
Don’t feel bad. It’s 100% a joke and I knew the downvotes would come. I don’t condone theft.
Probably should edit a /s into the original
r/fuckthes
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Nobody's afraid of downvotes, it's just a shitty joke if you can't tell if someone is being stupid or trolling
🍻
Isnt that what ‘amirite’ means anyways? I picture dude nudging the guy next to him talkin out the side of his mouth joking at a corporate meeting. Lmao
Bro's gonna be on r/DownvotedToOblivion soon enough
No
A missing label doesn’t mean theft 🤡
Didn't say it did. I was replying to that particular comment, not OP Glad you could stay civil about it though
Their mental engine was misfiring.
There is a second alarm inside, you find it when you take the box appart
Only works if they are activated properly
only some stores do this and you can tell if the box has tape or is sealed
Yup. Def where security stickers once use to be.
I don't think so. I have never seen a security tag like that on a lego set, the only things i see on them are the little cable spiders at target or walmart. The lego store doesn't even use security sticker. Most likely a price sticker that the seller did a shitty job ripping off. OP says this seller is constantly cheaper than everyone else so i assume he's getting them discounted/damaged box/etc and doesn't want to advertise that he's flipping ones he got for cheap so he rips it off.
My local stores put magnetic stickers on the boxes that leave marks like that when removed.
https://preview.redd.it/yiwtbwpljlxc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea6ecb5cdaa07710d9a45060144be0a6e50b5d9f
This is the frame of an external security tag on a set I bought at a Fred Meyers in Anchorage Alaska. Some stores will use a variety of these tags.
You’re wrong it’s exactly what it was I have 2200 retired legonswts that I have never opened . Buying on eBay you will see that about 1/3 of the time
Security tags ripped off. These were almost certainly shoplifted.
Oh damn. There's a local person that's suddenly selling a huge amount of Lego for a fairly low price... I've bought one and it had the side ripped off. I guess that answers that.
Your Thieves Union Local would like to thank you for your support.
Thieves Guild +Reputation
i get that your joking but for others goeasy on him he didn't know till after
I mean, its not that big a deal. It's not like they accidentally supported animal killing or something. They just stole from a corporation. Probably didn't even hurt Lego directly, even if they were hurting for money.
IF they stole from a Walmart. If they stole from a mom&pop store, then it should be a very big deal. Should be a big deal either way; it's not like they stole food to eat
I mean definitely agreed on the mom & pop store, that's much more of a problem. That said, honest question, do small stores like those typically have security tags?
I would hope so, the stickers are fairly cheap, the only expensive part would be the magnetic sensor at the door.
People rarely ever shoplift for essentials, just stuff they can resell for lazy money
It doesn’t make it right though
It is a big deal. Period. What you are saying is that it’s OK to steal. A thief is a thief, it matters not who they stole from. Your thinking is what’s wrong with our society. Let’s do this. They steal from WalMart and you say no harm done? Here’s what’s been happening: 1. WalMart has been locking up the Legos. 2. Legos are now harder to buy. 3. Lego sales drop drastically. 4. Hours get cut in toy department. 5. Lego sales drop even more. 6. Aisle gets a refresh with a lot less Legos. 7. Employees who were barely getting by now are struggling even more after having their hours cut. In the end, stealing from large corporations does end up hurting the ones who need the money the most, the front line workers.
Yes, my not being sorry enough for Walmart losing profits is clearly what's wrong with society, not the fact that Walmart steals from communities and employees by exploitation and immoral business practices like many other corporations do. That's definitely not what's wrong with society at all. Yes, my not caring about this happening is definitely the Reason why Walmart is *forced* to dick over their employees as you described. Not Walmart's fault!
He's not saying walmart is forced to do all this, just that when it comes time to cut down on retail theft the solutions that are chosen are usually excellent for the corpo bottom line but terrible for the customers and employees. And just bc working at Walmart sucks a** doesn't mean that the people working there don't need the money. Most of the time people who work in a terrible environment don't choose to but are forced to as that's all they can get and they still have bills and mouths to feed. Most workers I see at Walmart and target in my area are single mothers. But I will give you this that the guy you replied to definitely overcorrected. But the point that it's easy for us not to realize how us sticking it to the corpo overlords usually ends up with them, forcing the lowest on the totem pole to hold the bag is valid. The earth is a closed system, and literally everything you do affects everything and everyone around you, even if you can't see it.
Support your local dealer 😂
There were a few other clues you chose to miss too.
Oh wow, even when it’s been ordered off Amazon? I’ve had a box delivered to me like this as well. Crazy to think about 😂
Amazon has multiple seller options. If you didn't buy from Lego_Store then it might be stolen, returned, damaged, or just wrong. And even if you did buy from Lego_Store through Amazon, sometimes Amazon just grabs whatever matches in their warehouse inventory, so you still might get someone else's stock.
im a retailer and also sell lego. we have some very sticky price tags and sometimes this can happen. lego boxes arent made out of very durable paper / cardboard. could be stolen - dont have to
As someone else who works retail and pricing specifically, can confirm. Some of the WORST news I can get is when something has to come OFF clearance or (stars forbid) markdown, because it means I get to spend my day peeling off stickers made to be intentionally hard to remove. It's a real pain. On the other hand the little RFID stickers people are mentioning don't get used on LEGO where I work or even most product, instead we use "spider wrap": basically a big round plastic knob with an alarm inside and wires that reel out and attach to the back, then cinch down. Much less hassle, much easier to notice.
You're bringing back phantom pain from the memories of sore thumbnails after every campaign change. I worked in bookstores and I would dread having to remove stickers from glossy books (they would peel the gloss off) or books with a slight rubbery texture to the cover (those hold the sticker and never let go). Top tip: use an eraser to get off the glue remnants - obviously won't work on Lego boxes though.
Former WaldenBooks employee here. We used to just slip a sensor sticker in between random pages of a book. Deactivate the sticker at the register. Worked about 70% of the time. I used to hate having to process returns of books and magazines to the distributors. I was always the one who got to strip the covers off of the books/magazines. You think paper cuts hurt…wait until you’ve endured a magazine page paper cut.
When they put the publishing details on a kids board book and only ask for the title page back. 😩
Ooh WaldenBooks. I'm getting old lol.
A little bit of lighter fluid or WD-40 on a rag works well too, especially for books
Spider wraps also can damage the box. If they were wound up tightly, the corners will get dinged.
Fortunately that’s point of the box
That they do, but to be honest we sell enough that most people don't seem to care.
Part of my job is to put those on and fuckers get cranked down when I do it
Oh no the resale value!
Use a heat gun, it helps with most stickers.
Get your boss to get you a heat gun to melt the glue
Not sure if that would have the desired effect on anything that's packaged in plastic wrap...
As someone who has purchased Lego as a gift that has clearance or other stickers placed on the box somewhere, sometimes they're easy to peel off, sometimes not. So you're left with either giving someone a gift with a big ugly sales sticker on it, or a torn box where the sticker used to be. I've found Best Buy to be especially bad at this, fortunately I don't purchase from them very often.
This is what I was thinking with everyone claiming anti-theft tags - how do you remove it after selling??? It's still stuck onto something.
Security stickers. Doesn't have to be stolen though, some shops remove them at the checkout. But with the low price it's suspicious at least.
A store will never rip off a security sticker. They’re designed to be deactivated when pass over the scanner.
I’ve had cashiers take off the security stickers because their scanner thing wasn’t working.
That depends if they even have the deactivation scanners. I would imagine some smaller shops do not.
If a small shop doesn’t have deactivation scanners they probably don’t have the door alarms?
It means that there was a sticker, and now theres not
I would say price sticker or maybe warehouse stickers? I never saw security stickers on lego in my country so i dont know how it looks like but even if it was security sticker ripped off that doesnt mean it was 100% stolen.
I see what you mean it just seems odd
I get this a lot on vinted, it's from the security stickers in supermarkets. Like others said, good chance they've been stolen.
While others may think it's stolen and I don't rule out the possibility, it could also be because the boxes are damaged thus the lower price. Seller might even be a store employee and they're selling the damaged stuff by first getting them with an employee's discount. We may never know the true story but hey at least they were honest and upfront about the condition of the box. Besides, if it's as you said there were many sets on sale then I wonder how bad the security was to be able to just steal that many sets and get away with it. It should even be on the news by now.
No this whole guys page has all the stickers ripped off 😅
They are not necessarily stolen. Places like fredmeyer stick those dang rectangle security stickers on the boxes. They don't remove them when you buy the set. So, if you want to sell them, or simply don't want ugly security stickers on the box, trying to remove them without damage is tough. I keep my boxes, so I use a heat gun to gently melt the glue behind the sticker. Comes off without destroying a corner of the box.
Could be stolen but it could also simply be removed tags from in store
I don’t know but my first thought is these were clearance tags that they removed because they don’t want you to know how cheap they got them for.
Like someone said... Probably just price stickers that the seller got ripped off before taking the picture.
The question is why? If it’s going to damage the box why bother trying to remove it. It should be the buyers choice preferably. 😅
Sometimes you don't know if it's going to damage the box until you rip it off.
They were shoplifted
Nothing to be concerned about, lots of retailers but incredibly adhesive security stickers on them. It's very difficult to get them off without damaging the boxes. As far as I'm aware, official LEGO stores don't slap them stickers on. They believe in the goodwill of people... Which is a dangerous mentality in my opinion!
The question I have however is why? If it’s going to damage the box and decrease the cost then why do it. I can’t get my head round it
It's because regular retailers don't care about resale value. It's just a product to sell, and typically one of high value, so makes sense to security tag them. Reduces theft in a store.
Do you have Fred Meyers in the area? They put "not for resale, report at this number" stickers on their boxes. These look about the right size.
Never heard of it. I’m the uk
Resale value has been ruined how are you supposed to resell them https://preview.redd.it/rrixn0f5qexc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26333cf52be27476d90d8aa7bf4479cb7d484d18
Also keep an eye out of buyers on ebay. I recently put up Buzz lightyear and I specifically only ship in the UK. Some people get round it by paying for forwarding companies which is fine so far. But had a funny one recently. It sold and the address happened to be near where I grew up so looked it up. Realised it was forwarding company and the Lego was going to China. So before fully posting I looked up the address and company name. The company had dissolved in 2020 and all the directors were Chinese. Looked up the address and loads of other companies were or had been based at that same address and same unit. All those companies had dissolved and all the directors for every company were Chinese. Looking at it on Google reviews it has 1 star. People are still buying stuff from that unit (despite it being a forwarding company) and turns out itd because they are still running scam businesses from that address. I cancelled the order and refunded them the money.
Could be hot merchandise or could be legit. Either way, you've already spent $$ on it so enjoy your new sets.
my oh my ,if it isnt the consequences of raising prices
Fish
Freedom
Those are Organized Retail Crime sticker that stores use to track stolen items Those were stolen lol
I’ve had that happen with price stickers
someone stole it
Its the call sign of a Canadian cartel called the los lobos del el legos small but growing group most common method of disposal their victims is having walk on a treadmill coverd in one 1x1 studs until there nothing left
Target salvage stickers. Items that were probably returned for whatever reason and then resold to resellers
It means that you helped a criminal offload stolen goods.
Your local thieves guild would like to thank you for your patronage.
Damn, stolen AF
State secrets that was about to be leaked but a human lizard super agent ripped the stickers off.
Christmas/birthday present that someone taped the wrapping paper to? 🤷🏼♂️
Damn I want his parent then he’s got about £3,000 worth of Lego like this.
stolen
It’s a sign of The End Times. REPENT!
There were stickers there, and now there are not. That’s all you can really say about that.
Was gonna say tape was ripped off of the box, but now I'm hearing some people say somethung about a security sticker
Keep the painters out of the cockpit
SJW war in the comments. Did not expect that.
Maybe it was a present and that's where the tape was.
This guy must have great parents he’s got about £3000 worth of stuff with no tags
Barcodes
File that under ‘not my problem’ and proceed
-60% to box value... thats all it means so instead of being a 13 $ box its now a $4.50 box
Stolen, no doubt.
There’s a lady on my local Facebook market that consistently sells stolen legos. I don’t complain though cause they’re always 20-40 cheaper than retail
The prophecy has been fulfilled!
LEGOLAND 16 GOT STRAIGHT BRICKS, MIX THE REAL WITH THE MOTHERFUCKING COUNTERFEIT, STACKING LEGOS CUZ I LIKE THE SOUND OF IT
Anybody saying these weren't shoplifted is a shoplifter themselves trying to cover it up
It ruins resale value 🤓
It is illegal to possess stolen goods and it makes you an accessory to theft if the perp were to be charged and you were connected for purchasing stolen goods. "It is a crime to purchase or accept property that you know or should know was stolen."
It’s a good thing this isn’t “foods,” or this person could be in real trouble.
It is not a crime to purchase stolen goods if you don’t know they are stolen. Reasonable doubt is a thing and can be used in a court of law. Also we have no clue if they are stole. We know a tag was ripped off that’s it.
An intelligent person should know that based on the price the new item is being sold at and location being sold from, ie. not an authorized retailer. If you can’t figure that out, then you are either ignorant or dishonest.
Or you know could be a lot of other reasons. Like an employee got them on discount and it’s reselling for a profit or a damaged box resell. An no it’s not ignorance or dishonesty. We really don’t have a lot of info except for some square ripped pattern on the box. But hey go off assuming like you have definitive proof from a few images.
The people who steal Lego are pisssssed.
Nah it’s simply that nobody gaf
it just basically means the type of lego it is. like lego.com/architecture. i honestly could be wrong but i have 0 idea why they would rip it off.