[POLL] LEGO Clearance Reports

[Toys N Bricks]

Featured Poll: October 2012

There's been some tensions last time regarding the Wal-Mart clearance. Some people were not too happy with us posting these clearances due to the nature of some of the reports (i.e some sets are discounted at some stores while some stores have them at full price).

Should Toys N Bricks continue to post these clearance reports on the front page? Are they helpful or are they only bringing disappointment when you can't find it at your store? As usual, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

Should we continue to post clearance deals on the front page?
You may select 1 of the following 3 options

• Yes
• No
• Other (please specify)

At Toys N Bricks, we value freedom of speech and will respect your opinions and feedback. The vote results and suggestions would allow us to further improve our services and enhance your Toys N Bricks experience.

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[Kodiak10]

Posting Clearance on the Homepage is great, although Walmart should be the exception unless its mostly Nationwide or you may note the "Region" becuase their lack of uniformity. I suggest to lock the Walmart thread in the "Sales and Deals" becuase its way to long covering almost a year and just start up a new one.

[neomonkey]

I think clearances should only be posted if it's an nation advertised sale like the current Kmart one. The random Walmart clearances shouldn't be on the front page except for maybe the one after Christmas.

[Gooker1]

Posted Wal Mart clearances are fine if people would post the location. It allows people to know if there's anything left at those stores. If someone cleaned them out, that's fine, that will allow those nearby to know not to go to that store.

[popnfresh]

Why wouldn't they be posted on the front page, it gets the word out much more efficiently and gives more people a chance to find great prices. No one is forcing anyone to rush out and try to buy anything, if you do that and come back empty handed, thats on you, and nobody else. The front page is not a promise to anyone, and no one has a right to be upset that someone else found a great deal.

If someone doesm't happen to see a thread buried in a huge list of threads on the page, they might miss out, but if its on the front page with big colorful graphics and pictures it is much easier to notice.

I would be fine with one person finding a great deal from front page news, even if it hurts the feelings of 100000 cheapskates who couldn't find it at their store.

[crazybirdman]

Well that's not very Spock like of you. :P I agree with Kodiak, the thread for walmart is fine, but maybe make is seasonal? Lock it every few months and start a new one.

The guy who owns the comic book store down the street from me marked all his Star Wars LEGO sets 1/2 off. That's not exactly front page worthy. But if it was a national chain, and the sale was consistent, then maybe

[cupishalfempty]

In personal experience, because a walmart clearance was posted on the front page I was able to go to my local walmart and buy a set that was on the shelf at full price but scanned at half. I'm more than happy to filter through the information opposed to having to search and potentially miss it.

[RainingBoroSI02]

Yes, I do support the updates because it alerted me to keep an eye out for sales. It can be discouraging to hear of great deals, and personally the 30% off clearance in July was the first I've ever actually seen (didn't see anything after Christmas and the supposedly awesome Feb sales). Locations are helpful, and I have seen many cases of members helping to clarify and explain where they found stuff, but it would also be good if everyone actually filled in the location information on their profile with something more specific than a state or utter nonsense.

[peanut]

Yes for sure keep doing clearance! Adding a YMMV disclaimer is plenty good imo. Be nice people and remember there will always be another sale :)

[tensor]

Right, I think sales should always appear on the homepage when they are "legit." What determines legit is likely a judgement call by the admins. The problem I had with the Walmart thing was that a 2-post newbie had some outrageous claims and then refused to tell us where these deals were found. A day later, that "deal" was displayed on the homepage, when it wasn't a deal at all.

Short answer: YMMV disclaimer on any brick and mortar clearance situation is helpful.

[tensor]

Oh, one more thing, if there was an option to never see YMMV posts, that would rule, because I've found I do nothing but waste gas when I try chasing these things down. Right now, I'll just ignore them.

[vynsane]

I vote yes, with the caveat that a boilerplate sentence reminding people of the fact that clearances are always YMMV be appended to the end, as others have suggested.

[dilbert12]

People should understand it depends on the local store for clearances. I get my updates via RSS feed or on Facebook. The sooner people are aware, the better as clearance items can go quickly.

Some people may need YMMV highlighted in the post as they may not be aware, new, or something.

[Morgan19]

Voted "yes". Wouldn't you rather have the option to pursue (or not pursue) a possible sale, vs. not knowing about it at all? It sems like the obvious choice...

m19

[tensor]

Voted "yes". Wouldn't you rather have the option to pursue (or not pursue) a possible sale, vs. not knowing about it at all? It sems like the obvious choice...

m19

Pursue is certainly the word to use. It's quite frustrating especially with the recent Kmart "deal." I see a few posts with people who scored a ton, but mostly I see posts about people (including myself) not finding diddly squat. They aren't finding scavenged aisles or only a couple sets on sale, they are finding nothing on sale. That's a lot of frustration and wasted time chasing down phantom deals.

So to answer your question, to pursue a true sale that is honored chain-wide? Absolutely.
To pursue these non-sales like the recent Walmart and Kmart bs, no thank you.

[lego the hutt]

I think clearances should only be posted if it's an nation advertised sale like the current Kmart one. The random Walmart clearances shouldn't be on the front page

^This is how I feel. (I voted other because I wasn't sure of the exact definition of the "clearance" wording. Some clearance sales are advertised and standardized throughout all stores...in that case that sounds great for it to be on the front page. Other times clearance sales like at wallmart vary greatly)

If a sale can't be confirmed with an official advertisement it shouldn't be front page material.

People can still find random clearance info in the sales and deals forum. There is simply to much variation from one store to another to post that kind of info if it was not from an advertised promotion.

Thank You for your time and effort. Keep up the good work.

[brickarmor]

While I voted yes, I can see how it may be frustrating to view something on the front page that is really quite sporadic. But can't we just assume now that this is simply the nature of WM clearances? I'd be fine without the front page announcements as long as the forum thread continues to deliver "information" (for lack of a better word). Indeed, as someone else said, learning that these clearances are going on is good incentive to check nearby stores, and check them thoroughly. I think it boils down to the fact that the people who found stuff are thrilled they heard about it here or could spread the word here, while the folks who "pursued the phantom deals" are upset 1) at not finding anything and 2) feeling misled and angered by the wasted time. I don't want to say "sour grapes" because that's not exactly it, but... I can tell you that this summer I spent HOURS, arranged days, got babysitters, etc. to scour stores across the state, and sometimes it was jackpot but most times it was a bust. Just how it goes; 5 stores are devoid, #6 has QARs falling out the door. I can also tell you from my experiences that even though my clearance hunting was a modest success, I won't be doing it on the same scale next year. Too much wasted time, too much money I don't have for Bricktober and Brick Friday...

[sadowsk1]

I think it's good to post the clearances by members that maybe have a few posts under their name at least. I think if a person is willing to make a claim that there is a deal they should have the courtesy to post their location. I don't see the harm in posting a location to let people know if there is anything left worth getting. There are a lot of people that turn their post into a brag, not very helpful.

[chongcheng]

First and foremost - I must state that I am not from US. So no matter how enticing the sales are, it won't affect me.

I like the spirit of TNB - to share all these offers. Granted at times, these might be abused and does certainly cause some tensions, some got great bargains while other may have absolutely nothing. I am kinda of disappointed why I don't ever get these sort of offers in my country

But always great to hear someone got some great bargains and good to know how low the prices ever went.

I would say - Keep the reports up!

[Ice]

Posting Clearance on the Homepage is great, although Walmart should be the exception unless its mostly Nationwide or you may note the "Region" becuase their lack of uniformity. I suggest to lock the Walmart thread in the "Sales and Deals" becuase its way to long covering almost a year and just start up a new one.

Hi Kodiak, the thread has been split.

I think clearances should only be posted if it's an nation advertised sale like the current Kmart one. The random Walmart clearances shouldn't be on the front page except for maybe the one after Christmas.

Hi neomonkey, unfortunately, even for nation advertised ones like Kmart, it appears to be pretty random for some stores as well. Some members like tensor are unable to find anything.

Right, I think sales should always appear on the homepage when they are "legit." What determines legit is likely a judgement call by the admins. The problem I had with the Walmart thing was that a 2-post newbie had some outrageous claims and then refused to tell us where these deals were found. A day later, that "deal" was displayed on the homepage, when it wasn't a deal at all.

Short answer: YMMV disclaimer on any brick and mortar clearance situation is helpful.

Sorry about that tensor. We actually waited quite some time before posting it on the front page (first post was on September 3rd while our front page post was on September 24) as we want to be a reliable source for LEGO deals. The reason why we posted it on the front page is because it wasn't only new members that were reporting crazy finds (such ascowbug who found some sets for about 65% off and markerpk who found Quinjet Aerial Battle for $25.)

That being said, we'll continue to try to confirm more reports (like this Kmart one where there were at least 2 reports for each set listed) before actually posting it on the front page as well as adding YMMV for all clearances. Of course, if we wait too long to report the clearances, some members would not be too happy because everything would be gone by then.