FAQ & Site Info

The short answer is that you don't, and neither does the seller. Even sets sold in retail stores can have issues. Because of that, the seller's position is: For items which are listed as SEALED, buyers should in no way interpret that to mean complete. As the item is sealed, and seller has no means to both preserve seals and confirm contents, buyer should interpret SEALED to also mean potentially INCOMPLETE. No refunds or returns if buyer discovers that contents are INCOMPLETE. As most buyers prefer a SEALED set, seller will not break seals to confirm completeness.

1 - Contact your card issuer. 2 - Tell them you wish to add an alternate (or gift) address to your card. 3 - Place the order and enter the 'gift address' as the billing address, do not enter the real billing address. 4 - The card issuing bank should then authorize against the 'gift address' (and the seller need never know about the real billing address). Any order that arrives with two different addresses will be refused.

I will, however the following are the constraints applied. Resellers/Collectors do not get any special discounts. You pay the same listed price as anyone else. Resellers/Collectors do not get any cherry picking of box quality. Orders are filled with whatever box quality is readily available based on the description in the offer to sell. If you require a special box condition, then the original listing no longer applies, and you will be charged a premium price. My intent in selling these items is to sell to people who are buying for personal consumption, and who care less about the exterior box than they do about the contents of the box.

I will accept PayPal provided that the intended shipping address is the same as the billing address on the PayPal account. For anyone needing shipment to another address, please read the FAQ about 'gift address shipping'. If you place an order via PayPal, and the Confirmed Address on the PayPal account is different than the address you enter on eCrater, the order will be canceled and payment refunded.

I offer two types of shipping: USPS First/Priority (auto picked depending of the weight of the items) and USPS Express Mail (expedited handling) Handling fees are: included and $10.00 (respectively). Orders where you want Express Mail/expedited must be received (with payment) no later than 8 AM Eastern Time (5 AM Pacific Time) to get same day shipping. The eCRATER site is not set up to automatically quote/charge the correct shipping for Express Mail. Contact the seller if you desire this service. Seller will have to issue a manual invoice.

Certain items, where my inventory is very low, and the demand is very high, are limited to one per customer. That policy is intended to distribute fairly to all customers, and to avoid concentration. If you have purchased one of a particular item, and you want to buy another at a later date, a quick email note would be recommended to avoid having an order canceled unexpectedly.

Order cancellations will only be honored if they occur immediately after the order was placed. If you wait an extended period of time (more than an hour), it is very possible that your order has already been filled. See 'terms' at the bottom of this page, and scroll down to 'Returns/Cancellations' for more details. Due to changes imposed by the payment services, any order canceled will not yield a full refund. This is due to non-refundable fees that the seller has no control over.

Exterior box conditions vary, sometimes greatly. Items are accurately described, but many are now 10 years old, or more. The passing of time will subtlety affect box conditions. Seller is selling a LEGO set, which primarily refers to the LEGO building parts and the associated instructions. As such, the box may (or may not) be suitable for collect-ability, or for resale. Seller is required to describe the sets as NEW or USED. NEW refers to any set which has never been assembled or played with (regardless of box condition or box seal). USED refers to sets which have been previously assembled or played with, or where there is doubt about the completeness. If you desire a perfect exterior box, please contact seller BEFORE/PRIOR to placing order. Unless you contact seller BEFORE/PRIOR to placing an order, seller is not responsible for customer's perception of exterior box condition when the order arrives. Item is listed as SEALED, but buyers should in no way intepret that to mean complete. As the item is sealed, and seller has no means to both preserve seals and confirm contents, buyer should interpret SEALED to also mean potentially INCOMPLETE. No refunds or returns if buyer discovers that contents are INCOMPLETE.

Orders are shipped on Friday morning, for those orders received by Thursday evening, 8 PM Eastern Time (5 PM Pacific Time).

Please read the 'gift address shipping' FAQ entry.

Virtually all of the LEGO brand sets that I sell are retired/discontinued. Prices for retired LEGO brand sets are based on market conditions (supply, demand, etc). Those prices are almost always higher than the MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) that was in effect at the time the set was widely available from the usual retailers. It is the responsibility of the customer to determine if the price the set is offered at, the description of the set, and all associated information, meets the customer's needs. Customers should ask all necessary questions before placing an order. All sales are final, no returns.

For 2021, orders are shipped two times per week: Tuesday and Friday. Orders are shipped on those days based upon orders received by 6 AM Eastern Time (3 AM Pacific Time). No shipping on postal holidays. If Tuesday or Friday is a Postal Holiday, orders will ship the day before (Monday or Thursday). During the 3-4 weeks after Thanksgiving, I will ship on a daily basis.

The suggested method is to use a US buying/consolidating service. One such service is MyUS.com (or AccessUSA). The re-shipment service will also have to handle payment clering. The order will be shipped to MyUS/AccessUSA, who will fill out all the customs paperwork and send it along to you.

That the flower on the longleaf pine (pinus palustris). The picture was taken in February 2008, about 300 ft from my front door.