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I'm looking at the Lego Super Star Destroyer on eBay and I see that a number of people are selling it for ~$600 USD. From time to time there are bids that sell at ~$300 USD that claim to be sealed and brand new. These sets come from Hong Kong or China from a user that has a 0 feedback. This seems to me to be a bit fishy since the set is now discontinued and it should fetch higher than the original selling price of $400 USD.

If you search Lego minifigures from the superhero lines, you get Chinese users selling packs of five minifigures for far below the asking price again. I asked about this one in the past.

Has anyone else noticed this? Do we have a brick authenticity problem? mj

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Star-Wars-Super-Star-Destroyer-Spaceship2-New-Building-Set-Battleship-/251594504283?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item3a9433785b

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The SSD auction will be a scam and the minifigs are indeed knock-offs of which eBay is awash.

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    That's terrible. There are lots of people bidding on those items and it's a pity that they're getting robbed.
    – mj_
    Jul 24, 2014 at 1:01
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    In terms of the knock-off minifigs, these are all over the place, including Amazon through sellers.
    – Zhaph - Ben Duguid ♦
    Jul 25, 2014 at 13:48
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    @mj_ Indeed - there apparently is no end to either human greed or human foolishness :(
    – Zhaph - Ben Duguid ♦
    Jul 25, 2014 at 13:50
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For sets currently available through LEGO.com or other online retailers, the cheaper sets may be authentic, but part of a scam known as drop shipping.

This type of scam works like this:

You order a remarkably cheap, new LEGO set from eBay or the like.

The seller uses your contact information and a stolen credit card to purchase a set directly from an authentic retailer.

You pay the illegitimate seller.

You receive a package directly from LEGO that has a packing slip with someone else's information on it.

The "seller" now has cash from the transaction without needing a PIN for the stolen card.

You now have a cheaper set that was obtained via illegal practices.

A 3rd person is a victim of credit card fraud.

LEGO products are unfortunately ideal for this type of fraud, as they are high value and high in demand.

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    Also, depending on the laws in your area, you could be complicit in the credit card fraud by accepting a package in this scheme. At the very least, you may owe the defrauded individual the value of the LEGO set you've obtained as a result of the fraud. As in, the full paid value of the set. And the only restitution you would have would be to go after the fraudster.
    – Nick2253
    Oct 31, 2014 at 23:15
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    In the US at least I don't believe it works this way. For sets bought directly from LEGO with fraudulent, the most that was done to the recipients (who did pay their real money on eBay), was to request they send the product back and try to get eBay to reverse the purchase due to fraud. The person who was ripped off is not given a refund by LEGO, but instead they have to report the fraud to their bank and request a charge back be processed. The name of the recipient can't be given to the CC victim, only to police at written request. The recipient is a victim as well, not a perpetrator.
    – user3911
    Oct 31, 2014 at 23:26
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    Note that 'drop shipping' is a perfectly valid and common commerce transaction. It'd be better to say that scam uses drop shipping as pat of the ploy, but isn't called that in and of itself.
    – DA.
    Dec 27, 2015 at 8:46

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