Month: July 2011

Amazon [Didn’t Steal] Money from Me

I recently wrote (Amazon: You can’t fire me, I quit!) about how Amazon.com is canceling the accounts of California residents because of the state’s attempts to get them to collect sales tax.

Today, I got the monthly report from Amazon describing my earnings. Out of curiosity I clicked the link to see my account balance. Here’s what I saw:

Alert Account Closed

This account is closed and will not generate referrals. Access to this site is for historical purposes only.

Your Payment History Unpaid Balance: $98.31

…followed by a list of previous commissions I had earned.

I’ve never actually received a check from Amazon. Their policy is to send you payment when you reach $100 in earnings. Which now, I will never do. Damn them.

Update 10/6/2011: They did send me a check after all, after deducting a $15 fee. I changed it to direct deposit so I should get a payment every $10 earned. Now that they’re allowing payments to California residents again, this post is moot.

LEGO makes a deal with Marvel too?!

I just posted about the new deal with DC Comics, and now I hear that LEGO’s Disney deal has expanded to include Marvel superheroes as well! So it looks like we’ll be getting Spider-Man back also. According to an article on stitchkingdom.com:

The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises – Marvel’s The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters. The LEGO Marvel’s The Avengers movie line brings such ever popular Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form. The LEGO X-Men collection includes minifigure comic versions of Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool, while the LEGO Spider-Man sets offer minifigure comic versions of Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus. The first buildable characters in the LEGO SUPER HEROES collection are highlighted by Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man. Select figures will be unveiled in the LEGO booth (#2829) during Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center July 21-24.

LEGO Batman is coming back, with reinforcements!

Good news for superhero fans! LEGO and DC Universe (aka DC Comics) have announced a new partnership made through Warner Brothers that will have LEGO making new sets featuring Batman and other heroes from the DC Universe. According to an article in Variety,

The multi-year licensing deal, made through Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will start rolling out the new line in January, starting with 13 characters, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and villains the Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn and Lex Luthor.

This is great news for minifig collectors and superhero fans! LEGO made Batman themed sets a few years ago, which have become highly valuable to collectors in the past few years. My advice? Buy as many of these new sets as you can afford and stick them in your attic for a few years, then sell on eBay.

LEGO at NMRA 2011

Earlier this month I was involved in the LEGO display at the National Model Railroad Association‘s (NMRA) National Train Show held this year in Sacramento, California as a part of their annual convention. Members of the Bay Area LEGO Train Club (BayLTC), Sacramento Brick Builders, and Puget Sound LEGO Train Club joined together to put a large display of LEGO trains and other models.

BayLTC Display at NMRA Group Photo

Click either photo to see my pictures from this event or view them all as a slide show.

Amazon: You can’t fire me, I quit!

You might have heard by now that Amazon.com has decided to discontinue the accounts of California residents, such as myself, due to a new California law requiring them to collect sales tax for sales to California residents. If you want to know the details, Google it. The point is, I’ve had Amazon links on my site for a while now, and over the past couple of years have not yet even reached the $100 minimum threshold to get paid for it, and now they’re cutting me off. That annoyed me, but what annoys me even more is that Amazon is trying to interfere with the state’s internal business. They’re even starting a petition to get something on the ballot to reverse it, and that really upsets me. I don’t want to get too political in this blog, but I really don’t think it’s OK for a company that claims it doesn’t have a presence in California to be trying to have a say in the state’s politics.

So I took off all the Amazon links (If I missed any, please let me know). I’m open to participating in other affiliate programs, but I’m done with Amazon.