This month (November 2016) marks my first complete year as a LEGO reseller and active BrickPicker, as well as the second anniversary of coming out of my Dark Ages. Okay, I was reading catalogs and buying a few cool sets for my kids every year before 2014, but nothing like the full-on assault of having to catch up with all that LEGO has offered in the past. To celebrate these milestones I thought it would be a nice idea to contribute some of my key lessons from the past year back to this community.

First of all, a little background. What really got me out of my Dark Ages was LEGO Trains, actually, it was a Fleischmann N-scale model train set that I used to have when I was a kid and which my dad brought over from Europe to the US 2 years ago. Enthusiasm over introducing my son and daughter to model railroading quickly turned into disillusion because I realized that none of the US manufacturers made tracks compatible with my N-scale track, and that just buying extra rolling stock was going to set me back hundreds of dollars for single-purpose items, which break irreparably when played with by (young) kids. Then a little light-bulb went off in my head: What if I bought LEGO trains instead – we could build our own trains, cars etc., and whenever we wanted something different, we just take it all apart. So with my wife’s blessing, Santa brought the Blue Cargo Train set (60057) and two Horizon Express sets for Christmas 2014. Unbeknownst to her, I had also managed to get an (already retired) Maersk Train, a few My Own Train carriages and some other random train-related bulk lots. I participated in a RailBricks contest (the last one they did before unfortunately shuttering the magazine) and started my decent into the delightful madness that is the world of AFOLs.

Since I’m a train guy, you won’t hear stories from me about having to have this or that Star Wars ship, or those exclusive SuperHeroes minifigs. Sure, my son has a Millenium Falcon and Poe’s X-Wing, and the key SW characters as buildables, but our LEGO buying was first focused on Chima (my son loved it), then shifted to Bionicle, and now my kids’ playing revolves around Harry Potter – we don’t own any of the sets, but have a few minifigures and a lot of imagination. My daughter has a lot of Friends sets which she loves, but is slowly growing out of her interest for these (my kids are 10 year old twins at the time of this writing).

Then November 2015 hit, and I started investigating the value of some sets, and joined the BrickPicker forums. My first purchases started rolling in ….. Pirate Chess Sets from LEGO Shop-at-Home, and a few handfuls of 10697 Brick Boxes from WalMart. As I really love the brick, I had determined I was going to start my own BrickLink store (having designed several train cars and placing tens of BL orders I had gotten familiar with how this worked). And I read and read and read on BrickPicker, and participated in the discussions, and grew wiser and smarter and, I must say, warier as time went by.

Here are the key lessons I’ve learned from my first year:

• The buying part is easy. The buying part is fun. Great adrenaline rush. But for many of us, there’s too much to buy. Just because it’s 50% off doesn’t mean you NEED to buy it. Case in point: I picked up a 31033 Vehicle Transport at Target in January 2016 for $10 (RRP: $25, so 60% off). Not a particularly nice set, it had just been released, available everywhere, and who will buy from you as a beginning Ebay seller? Needless to say, this set still sits unsold on my shelf.
• It’s all about buy-in. Where previous strategies mainly revolved around getting your hands on as many of the expensive sets as possible before they quickly but inevitably retired without much fanfare, the LEGO reselling game is undergoing a massive change. Buy-in price seems to be the key factor now. As a beginning buyer I was excited when I saw 20% off. A year later, 40-50% is where my heartbeat starts increasing.
• Selling takes time. It’s not difficult, it just takes time. Time to establish yourself as a trustworthy seller. Time to wait for prices to rise to a level you’re comfortable with. Unless you stumbled upon something truly desirable and unavailable, or if you are able to price significantly below others, don’t count on things selling within the first 30-day listing period. Darth Revans, Iron Patriots and Silver Centurions are obvious exceptions, but those don’t come by often. For other items it is a slow, slow game – listing and relisting.
• The game changes continuously. What works one month might no longer work the next month. Every Bob and Sally has LEGO items in their Ebay store. More and more people join and try to eke out an ever smaller amount of profit. Amazon throws up a gate. Ebay and Target stop a lucrative giftcard cycle. You need to stay in touch or your investments become much harder to sell, or your profit evaporates.
• Making a decent profit is not easy. At least, not for big(ger) sets. Just look at Ebay: You bought a set for $100 and want to make good profit. If you sell for $150 (shipping included), you will pay ~$18 to Ebay/Paypal in fees, and ~$10-$20 in shipping (in the US, depending on where you live). That’s $30-$40 off of your selling price, so you end up making $10-$20. A small profit is also profit, but you’ve spent time on this set, buying it, storing it, packing it, listing it, checking comparables etc. Unless you’re shifting hundreds of these sets a month, this will not be worth your while.
• Your time is valuable. Even if you consider this “only a hobby”, before you know you’re in your car driving from one Target to another. I have 6 or 7 Targets in a 15 mile radius from my house, and a similar amount of Walmarts. Popping into one is a quick affair. But when those clearance rumors swirly, and stock checkers are unreliable, your “quick check what they have” becomes a 3hrs+ road-trip. Plus, with 800+ LEGO sets on the market, you’re quickly spending 20-30 mins per store checking resale values, BL part-out costs etc. Then you need to list. Take a picture or two. Research what others are listing for. Do your administration (which for a detailed oriented person like me means adding a row for each set in a 30+ column spreadsheet tracking all sorts of aspects of your purchases). And for those of us who do the part-out route, there’s time in sorting out the set contents, setting up an organizational system, updating BL inventories etc.
• Choose your game plan. There is too much going on (what with LEGO producing 800+ sets a year as mentioned before) to play all fields. Unless you’re sitting on vast amounts of spare capital, you cannot AND go deep on expensive sets, and cover all themes (Modulars, SW UCS, GBHQ, SHIELD Helicarrier, Advanced Technic models etc) and part out, and BrickLink …. Pick one strategy that best fits your lifestyle. Your options are:
  • Good old-fashioned investing – buy expensive sets for true investment purposes, i.e. stash them away for 3-5 years post retirement and see if that magical 3xMSRP has appeared.
  • Clearance hunting for quick flip – grab those 50-75% off sets, and list them within a year to see if you can get >MSRP to get 75-100% ROI.
  • Diamonds in the rough – take a punt on a few sets that you believe are “iconic” and not soon remade. Remember: First rule of fight club is that nobody talks about fight club. Sit back and watch others scramble over the “common” sets, and rake in the profits when the sets are retired and people realize they “need” them. Or at least, that’s the theory.
  • Buy for part-out. Split your sets into minifigs, buildings and vehicles, and sell them separately for more than the original sets’ cost. I’ve had some luck with this strategy, though it was never my game plan – especially with Dimensions (minifigure and video-game discs sold separately, with the minibuilds as parts for my BL store inventory).
  • Buy for parts. Look at which sets have good BL value, but be careful: unique/niche parts can drive up the value but see very little sales. Be selective.
• Don’t be a sheep. Tied to the previous point. It is so easy to get carried away. “Great deal on this SW UCS – now 30% off!”. Sure, but if you have a budget (and I recommend you have one from the get-go), plonking down a few hundred bucks on a set that you’ll likely have on a shelf for the next 2-3 years might not be the wisest decision. Plus, there are many others who jump in on this, so you need to battle your competitors in a game that is not your strength. Net, stick to your own plan.
• Document. Document. Document. Keep track of what you spend and how much you earn. A spreadsheet is good enough. Don’t count on profit until you have it in your PayPal account. Account for all expenses – boxes, shelving, tape, you name it.
• Find the right marketplace. Depending on your location, you have multiple options. Each marketplace has its plusses and minusses. The key ones are:
  • Ebay. First choice for many. Used by bargain hunters, savvy shoppers and has generally a good, sizeable audience. To really have a good experience, you need to be honest in listing (duh), take lots of pictures, price right, ship fast, and have a return policy (and ideally, a generous one). Also, you need to use PayPal, and unless you work yourself up to Top Rated Seller, count on 12% of your total sale price (including shipping!) to be taken as fees.
  • Amazon. Until very recently the absolute best place to start selling. Everybody shops at Amazon. Unfortunately, unless you pay $1k and provide proof of purchase (and potentially a letter from TLG proving you are an authorized reseller), you cannot list LEGO anymore. I was lucky to get grandfathered in based on a few sales I had in the spring and summer. FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is the best one of the lot – limited effort (buy, add to inventory, pack and ship to Amazon – they take care of the rest) and a lot of eyeballs. This comes at a price: up to 20% of the sale price goes to uncle Jeff, but the “Prime” label makes up for that by commanding a premium price from buyers, and people happily click away. Plus, you get a chance to be featured in the Buy Box. Just be aware of returns – you might have to swallow the occasional destroyed item.
  • Craigslist. Flea-market audience. Has the hassle of having to meet with people (and finding a place where to do this can sometimes take a lot of back-and-forth with your buyer), but once the sale is made you have no risk and no obligations. Also: no fees.
  • BrickLink (and BrickOwl, its key competitor). AFOLs only. Limited eyes, but limited fees (1-2%). Your buyers know what they want. Shipping is extra, so no need to accounting for shipping costs in calculating your price. The only downside is that setting up shop properly is not easy – adding shipment methods, figuring out how to price those methods correctly etc. all needs some research. Of course you can do without, but you get more sales if you do it right.
  • Facebook selling groups. No real experience here on my end. I’m part of my local Buying/Selling group, but what I see is not instilling much confidence: used cars, pitbull pups and phones. I doubt anyone will want to buy a LEGO set at a reseller premium there. Others have reported more success.
  • There are other apps and marketplaces: Offerup, Kijiji in Canada, Gumtree in the UK, Marktplaats in the Netherlands and Belgium …. I have no experience with these but from what I’ve heard, they fit in with Craigslist/Facebook above.
  • Conventions, flea-markets, garage sales. Very interesting venues, each with their own dynamic. You could get away with charging a premium at conventions (and potentially at flea-markets), but often your participation comes with a fee, so you need to account for that. Again, not an area I have dabbled in so far.
• Read up on key threads. Check what happened to 41999 to understand how the horde can get carried away sometimes. Read the Amazon/Ebay/CL threads for tips on how to get started, and for answers to commonly experienced questions. Check out the Ethics forum to understand what is being frowned upon – if we don’t keep certain practices and standards, retailers will counteract and remove things like the ability to stack coupons, or the acceptance of printed coupons, or even the privilege of a hassle-free return. And before you make your first purchase, check the speculative bubble thread – if you are still convinced you want to do this after reading that thread, you’re probably strong enough to handle what’s coming (or rozy-eyed enough to not care).
• Master the art of stacking. There are published deals (50% off at Target!) and there are “make your own deals”. The latter have the benefit that they are YMMV (your mileage may vary) – others likely won’t be able to replicate them. Several retailers (Toys’r’us, Kmart/Sears, Meijer, BAM, Ebay, Galeria-kaufhof and mytoys in Germany to name a few) have coupon and discount policies that allow for the stacking of offers. Combine sale pricing with credit card discounts, with reduced-price Gift Cards, with 20% off coupons, with Buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) offers, with points/rewards program certificates, until your buy-in price approaches $0. Then rub it in other’s faces on the "What LEGO set did you buy today" thread.
• Get in on those loyalty programs. For the price of a small piece of your soul, join as many rewards programs as you can. Ebay Bucks, TRU Rewards, Shop-Your-Way, Meijer mPerks, BAM club membership, Barnes & Noble membership, you name it. Carry the card. And if you don’t mind carrying multiple credit cards, use store-specific CC’s for your purchases, and earn discounts and cashback. Just pay them off every month, please.
• Be truthful in accounting. This goes two ways:
  • Don’t get into trouble with the IRS. If you sell for profit, you are generating income. Better report it (plus in the US you can deduct the expenses incurred in making the sale, such as car mileage, shipping materials, storage materials etc.). Officially you should also register yourself as a reseller in your state/county (unless you block people in your state from buying from you). For my state (Ohio) this was really not a big deal – a small fee, some paperwork, and a twice-a-year reporting duty (so far always $0). Also, configure your selling accounts (Ebay, BrickLink) to automatically charge sales tax on purchases made by local buyers. You can only do this on Amazon if you have a professional selling account – when you sell as an individual you’ll just have to pay the sales tax out of the sales price. As a benefit: I get to buy tax-free in the few places that haven’t banned resellers (Amazon, Walmart) as long as it is for store inventory.
  • Think about how you account for points, freebies etc. There are many ways to skin the cat, but I prefer this approach: Points never count as a discount on the purchase made to earn them, only as a discount on the purchase where they are used. Freebies count as a $0 purchase, and everything I earn on them is (gross) profit. So, those sets I bought at LEGO S@H for $75 to get the free Gingerbread House really cost me $75, even though I sold the GBH for $50 and made $40 profit after fees and shipping, and got 150 points as part of double VIP.
• Get approval from your S.O. (Significant Other). Some of us are blessed with AFOL partners. Some of us have bargaining partners – if you want to do this, then let me do my thing. Some of us have eye-rolling partners. And even some of us have to pretend and work undercover. Oh, and some don’t have partners, but I’m giving them a break and will not tap into my arsenal of AFOL bachelor puns. At least come to some sort of an arrangement. LEGO should never be the reason a relationship ends, and should never be more important than your S.O. I had big plans (and still have big plans) regarding my BL shop as well as regarding my LEGO Train building hobby. They’ve been slowed down – my wife protested against the amount of time I was spending on this and she was right. <Insert doormat pun here>
• Practice self-constraint. No you don’t have to buy it all. Often I go all the way through the checkout process and then take a breather. A quick comparison with other sites. Read some reviews. Think "yes it is x% off, but you still pay $y". And after amassing a closet full of LEGO: “First sell enough until you have more funds and more space, then buy again”. What also helps me is that I have a (very short) list of sets I really want to have for my personal collection. If there ever is a good deal on those, I’ll jump on it (ideally using Ebay Bucks or Credit Card reward dollars). For the other deals: there will be more deals in the future.
• Be helpful and you’ll be better off for it. Just like you need to build up a reputation of trustworthyness on Ebay or Amazon, I advise everyone to do the same on BrickPicker. Look out for your fellow BP-ers. Help them score a deal when needed. Post those deals when you see them (even if they don’t interest you), or at least, post them after you had your fill. Because all the goodwill you’re building up will help you get better deals yourself – via member-to-member private messages, or just by being "in-tune" with what is happening on the marketplace. And unlike many other platforms on the vast World Wide Web, Brickpicker is a very civilized, high-intelligence online forum. Conversations are kind, well articulated and insightful. Moderators intervene at the right time, and with clear principles. And everyone likes a giggle.

Unless you are a professional reseller (and I know there are several that frequent BP), remember that this is supposed to be a hobby. You’ll enjoy it more when you keep your love of LEGO alive. Scale back when you don’t have time. Sell if you need cash. Pop seals and build if there’s something you’ve now taken a fancy to, or if the market for the set has cratered. But please, please don’t get in over your head.

To conclude my story: I have spent considerable time over the first half of 2016 on building inventory, writing software to manage my BL store’s sales and pricing analytics, and sorted through about half of my sets and parted them out. I listed ~20k parts on BL, and have seen some nice sales coming through. However, as this is my hobby, I’ve had to take a break from adding to my BL store and it has been in hibernation mode over the past months as other priorities took over. I have continued to list sets on Ebay and Amazon to keep some sales going. I bought well – some initial purchases were not as good as some later ones when I got clearer on what I needed to look for in sets, however, those were offset by some lucky finds (Ghosts for half price, anyone?). I resigned myself to contributing to reporting sales and delightful banter to BP, and with ~3.5k posts to my name in just a year, I think I’ve been quite successful at that strategy at least.

To round it all up, some statistics from my first year:

Total resale purchases including supplies, shipping costs and fees: $7.3k
Average discount over MSRP: 44%
Total sales revenue: $3.0k
ROI on those sales: >175% (But I sold quite a lot of freebies which drive ROI up)
Average fee paid (Ebay, Amazon, BrickLink/BrickOwl): 11.2%
Parts amassed for my BL store: ~110k

Quote

Separately, the fantastic deals posted on BrickPicker allowed me to scoop up $2.5k in sets for personal use with a retail value of almost $5k, which equates an average discount of 49%.

Here’s to a great second year!

Here is the list of current and upcoming polybags in the LEGO world.  If you've found a polybag that's not on this list, or have any update to give us, please note it in the comments below.  This information is put together from a number of different sources on the Internet, including real world reports. Availability in your area may vary.  This information is US-based.  These are from within the last 12 months.

Polybags Currently Available

Polybags Coming Soon

Polybags That Appear to be Unavailable

Introduction to Asia:

In recent years, The LEGO Group has seen its sales of our favorite toy brick rise greatly, especially in Asia. Here, the local LEGO Scene is abuzz with activity, with annual sales seeing a 35% increase across Asia in 2013. With the recent opening of Legoland Malaysia just over a year ago, with another Legoland slated for Japan in 2017, its not surprising that the brick is becoming so popular.

I am aware that many of you have questions about what the LEGO Scene in Asia is like. As such, this will be the first in a series of Articles detailing almost every aspect of the Asian Market, from Lego Polybags to the LEGO “Mecca” that is Hong Kong.

An Overview:

In light of recent events with the opening of the first Legoland in Asia and The LEGO Movie, the local LEGO Market is growing day by day. Local LEGO User Groups (LUGs) conduct mass orders frequently, while resellers scramble to procure newly released LEGO exclusives for the hungry Asian market.

Asian LEGO Prices have always been higher than those in the United States and much of Europe. The local MSRP is roughly double that of the US and EU. Prices here are pretty close to that of the UK, Australia and New Zealand, but while all these regions have Official LEGO Stores, Asia has close to none.

As such, LEGO Exclusives and Polybags such as the 40078 Hot dog Stand which was given away for free with purchases, sells for well over SGD$25 or USD$20 on the local eBay. One can only imagine how much other exclusive sets and polybags sell for.

40078 Hot Dog Stand 
Very Hard to Find in Asia

As a LEGO Collector myself, it is quite a challenge getting all the sets I want at prices that I can afford. With such high MSRP at local retailers and toy stores, and the absence of LEGO Exclusive sets, it is no wonder that resellers are thriving on the price difference. A good example of this would be In’s Point in Hong Kong, a small building with many shops dedicated to selling LEGO Sets that are retired, Hard to Find and LEGO Exclusives.

General Trends:

I can’t say much about which themes or sets are more popular in Asia, as it is generally the same as the UK, US, EU etc. However, the sets that perform the best seem to be the LEGO Store Exclusives such as the Ultimate Collector Series of Star Wars and Batman Sets, CREATOR Models such as the T1 Camper Van and MINI Cooper, Seasonal Exclusives and of course, LEGO Ideas or CUUSOO.

As you can see, there is a very large price difference between the USA prices of LEGO, and that of Singapore, Hong Kong and the rest of Asia. This trend also exists in regular sets and Retailer Exclusives. For example, 21109 Exo-Suit retailed on the secondary market for well over USD $80 in Singapore, despite having a US RRP of only USD $35.

It is worth noting that straight off the mark, there is already a significant price difference in the retail prices of sets in Asia and the USA, presenting significant opportunities for Turboflipping sets to overseas buyers, capitalizing on the price difference. It is interesting to see how the growth rate and appreciation value of sets in Asia is actually less than that in the United States. This may be due to many collectors or investors buying from overseas, and lowering prices by selling for less than the Asian Retail amount. Hence, resulting in the "negative appreciation" of certain sets.

As in all markets, retired sets increase in value as well, which is good for the LEGO Investor. A recent listing for 9492 TIE Fighter sold for more than USD $120, despite being fairly recent and having a US RRP of USD $55.

So there is indeed money to be made in the Asian Market, with Exclusive sets fetching really high prices.

For those who wish to make money, Turboflipping and Capitalizing on new releases and Retail Price differences is the way to go. As for investment, I would suggest stocking up on the Original Trilogy Sets such as the Death Star and Red-Five while they are still available. It is worth to note that like the rest of the world, it is the OT Vehicles that register the highest profits.

Asia Exclusives

An advantage that Asia has over the rest of the world however, is in the release dates of its sets, and various Asian “Exclusive” sets. Asia typically has early releases of LEGO sets, with the January wave being released in early December, and August Wave released in June. This makes exporting sets from Asia to the USA or UK particularly profitable.

Sometimes, Asia also gets ahold of certain sets that are unavailable to the rest of the world. For example, the LEGO CUUSOO Shinkai 6500 Submarine was exclusively released to Japan, and now sells for over USD $600, while the LEGO Architecture Marina Bay Sands was exclusive to Singapore (my country!) and is worth around USD $400 or so.

Recently, LEGO partnered with Shell to release a second wave of the Shell-Ferrari LEGO Polybags to accompany the Annual Formula 1 Night Race in Singapore. This is similar to the 2012 Wave of polybags, except this time it is exclusive to Singapore only. As expected, this made the prices of the original Shell-Ferrari Polybags increase by quite a bit, to around USD $100 for a set of 7 (1 of Each).

2012 Shell Polybags
Exclusive to Singapore and Asia

2012 Shell Polybags
Exclusive to Singapore and Asia

In Conclusion:

There is money to be made in the Asian market for LEGO, and the growing market and popularity of our favorite brick is only going to increase profits and prices. For those of you who are investors, you might want to consider contacting your friends or relatives in Asia to help you get ahold of some of these nice Asian Exclusives. For those of you who are resellers, it wouldn’t hurt to add International Shipping to your listings to get a nice 50% to 100% profit on new exclusives.

This is my first ever Brickpicker article, and it is only the “Introduction” to LEGO in Asia. I’m thinking of making this the 1st of a 3-part series talking about Asia in general, so do tell me what else you would like to see or what I can improve on by leaving a comment!

Also, if you have any other questions, do feel free to send me a private message so I can address them directly.

Cheers!

Ever since a Lego store opened in my area, I have been fascinated with the concept of Pick A Brick (PAB) cups. The clear cups, coming in two sizes, offer the customer with the ability to not only choose what they want from a wall of different elements, but also how much they want through packing methods that have been refined over time.

As years went by, my ability to fill every nook and cranny grew. My collection of empty cups grew. And my interest in the cups as investment tools grew as well. Once I realized that the cups offered people with ways to purchase bricks for extremely cheap Parts Per Piece (PPP) ratios, I saw that the cups could lead to excellent investment returns. The following is the result of my investigation into the cups and whether they pack an ideal investing punch.

The Large Cup vs. the Small Cup
Currently, most Lego stores sell two types of cups. There is the small cup, which retails for $7.99 USD, and the larger cup, which retails for $14.99 USD. Obviously, most people believe instantly that bigger is better value, but is that the truth? I conducted a volume test to make sure.

Upon first site, the only noticeable difference between the two sizes other than their height was that the small cup has a wider ring along the bottom of the cup.

For the test, I calculated the volume of each cup and the lid, by filling each container until full with water and then pouring that water into a liquid measuring cup. My unit of measurement for this test is the Milliliter (mL), which I believe provides a more accurate measurement (a Milliliter is equal to 1 cm cubed). However, I have also translated the values to their approximate imperial cup equivalents for universal understanding.

The results displayed on the chart show that the large cup is indeed a slightly better value than the small cup (at no lid, it is 0.28 cents cheaper per mL). This is also good since the smaller cup can’t fit some of the longer elements, such as large plates. I included the differences between lid attached, and lid barely touching the rim because I have found generally, Lego employees are very lenient and if the lid isn’t on, will even provide tape so you can close it with it only touching at one point. Overall, the results of this test mean that it is more economical to pack your pieces into the larger cup, assuming you can pack the big ones just as good as the small ones.

How to Maximize Cup Space
There are several methods to packing parts into your cup. As the cups are cylindrical rather than square or rectangular with 90 degree angles, it is difficult to maximize cup space. This is where all the interesting methods come in. Generally, I would say that packing a small cup is much easier than packing a large cup because it is easier to get your hand into. When packing a Pick A Brick cup, the main objective is to place elements in a way that leaves very few air pockets. Unfortunately, dumping bricks into a cup and shaking it every once in a while still leaves lots of wasted space. In the following section, I will explore the four most popular methods of packing, and see how they fare against each other.

Method 1: Dumping
This method of packing involves pouring bricks down into the cup with no strategy and little to no brick placement. This method is not desirable when packing bricks/plates bigger than 1x2, as it leaves lots of air space in the cup, and the brick placement is random so does not follow the circular curves of the cup.

Bottom Line: good for packing irregular-shaped small pieces or when you are in a rush. I highly recommend against using this method with large bricks, as it wastes lots of space.

Method 2: Central Tower(s)
The central tower method is my personal preference, because it allows you to pack in bricks and irregular pieces without consuming as much time as level packing or circular placement. Basically, this technique involves creating a square tower that grows in size as it reaches the top of the cup, surrounded by smaller pieces or plates that fill in the curved spaces. You can also use this method by making multiple stacks or towers of pieces.

Bottom Line: this method is great if you want a variety of bricks or plates (placed in the “tower) and irregular parts. Plus, it is less time consuming compared to the following two methods.

A partially complete cup packed using the central tower method.

Method 3: Level Packing
Level packing involves making multiple levels of bricks in a circular shape, before putting them into the cup. Generally, the “levels” of bricks grow in size to match the growing width of the cup. This method was made famous by the YouTube video claiming “pack 169 2x4 bricks into a PAB cup” (link below). This method can be time consuming and it is best to practice at home before trying it at the Lego store.
Bottom Line: level packing is a great way to pack a large amount of larger bricks (2x3, 2x4 etc). However, the method is difficult if you aren’t already familiar with the level dimensions you are using.

Link: Pack 169 2x4 Bricks into a PAB Cup (a example of Level Packing)

Method 4: Circular Placement
The last, and arguably most difficult method, is what I call circular placement. Usually used to pack 1x2 or similar bricks, the method involves carefully arranging the bricks into circle-based formations to maximize space. The bricks are seldom connected and this method is very hard and frustrating. If you aren’t good at reaching into small spaces and gently placing bricks, stay away from this method. I have pasted a link to an example of this method below.

Bottom Line: only use this method if you are packing small bricks and have lot of time. Do not use this method if you have difficulty doing small, intricate tasks.

Link: Example of the Circular Placement Method
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notenoughbricks/4910234440/in/photostream/

Extras: Lids, Rings, Tips and Tricks
In addition to the basic methods, there are several tips and tricks that I use to squeeze in a couple extra bricks. Here is a list of them:

• The Lid: the lid of the cup will sit in different places, depending on how many bricks you packed in. However, no matter how full the cup is, there is always the same amount of room in the “stud” of the lid; the cylindrical part that sticks out. Always fill this up, whether it is with 2x4 bricks or 1x1 plates. Remember: wasted space is wasted money.
• The Ring: as you may or may not have noticed, the cups have a small ring on the bottom encircling the circumference of the cup. This allows the cups to be stacked with the stud. To make use of this area, I usually fill it with sideways 1x2 bricks, resulting in an extra 18 bricks in a large cup.
• Containers: If you are including barrels or stoves in your Pick A Brick cup, be sure to slip pieces into them. You can also use this trick for small windows by placing them facing away from each other, and then inserting a brick in between them.
• Sales: As with most items in the Lego store, Pick A Brick Cups rarely go on sale. However, they have been known to be included in promotions such as “buy a large cup for the price of a small”, or just the regular 2x the VIP points promo.
• Other Methods: some Lego stores sell their Pick A Brick stock by the pound. I generally would discourage this as it is much more expensive unless you are buying large, rare parts. Also, some Lego stores offer boxes for $70. These boxes are the boxes that the pieces came in, so you only get one piece and it is pre-packed. However, these boxes are still a good value, especially since they feature 90 degree angles. Lastly, we have the Holiday PAB boxes, which are given out with special purchases. Use these boxes wisely, as the corners are straight and allow for easy packing.

So which method is the best? Ultimately, other than the first method, all make good use of the space, so it depends on your time and what pieces you are packing. But, since I know you all love charts and numbers, here is how the different methods compare when packing 1x2 or 2x4 bricks. Keep in mind that some methods (like the central tower method) are meant to be used with a specific combination of pieces so this isn’t the most accurate representation of how they work, and that I made it so the lid is touching in one place at least. I did my best to accurately replicate each method, keeping within a half-hour packing timeframe for each to model the amount of time you might have in a store.

The chart shows that the last three methods are all very successful, and any of them can be used to efficiently pack bricks. If you use the level packing method and pack in 695 pieces like I did, then you will end up paying 2.15 cents per piece. That is about the best deal you find on new Lego, period.

Scoping Out Useful Pieces
Whether you are planning on buying a Pick A Brick Cup for yourself or to invest in, it is important to know where the good pieces are located. You can drive to different Lego stores to check them out, but it would be preferred, especially if travel distances are long, to check them remotely.

The two ways to check the selection of a stores Pick A Brick wall are to call the store and ask them, or to use the website Brickbuildr. Brickbuildr is a user dependant site where visitors to Pick A Brick walls can input what was there and when for other people to see. While I have found the information to be generally reliable if new, the site is not free of inconsistencies. Lastly, always make sure to ask a Lego employee if they have any elements that aren’t on the wall. Usually, they are very helpful and may even take you into the back to look for other pieces.

Scoping out the right piece is very useful if you are strategically planning a PAB haul to maximize profits. Knowing ahead of time what is on the wall can allow you to research the value of the pieces to determine which will lead to the best profits.

Link: Brickbuildr:
http://www.brickbuildr.com/view/pab/

Investment Returns
When you can pack in the elements for such low PPP ratios, the investment potential for PAB pieces is huge. By using a part-out website such as Bricklink, you can sell the pieces as individuals. This may sound tedious, and it isn’t for everyone, but since the stock can be purchased at minimal pricing it is quite profitable.

The pieces I have chosen for my investment returns chart are all pieces that I myself have purchased from a Pick A Brick wall. As I earlier concluded that large cups are better than small ones, everything is based off if the elements were packed into a large cup. Unless otherwise stated, my approximate piece counts are based off my previous estimates using the best result and my theory of one stud volume. Basically, one stud volume says that a 1x1 plate is half the size of a 1x2 plate, a third of the size of a 1x1 brick and so forth. Obviously, this theory is proven (a plate is a third the height of a brick), and is a cautious estimator because generally the smaller a piece goes, it can pack more one stud volume into a cup.

The chart shows two things. One, smaller elements are much more profitable than larger ones based off the sheer number that you can pack into a cup. Two, Pick A Brick investing can be extremely profitable. Now before everyone runs off to buy up all the tiny pieces at their Lego store, remember that selling even one cup’s worth of pieces can take a long time, and to move stock faster you will have to lower prices. If you already part out sets, than you should seriously consider starting to invest in Pick A Brick cups.

Selling pieces for a profit of 160 dollars is unprecedented when the stock cost you $14.99. Plus, I haven’t seen or heard much of PAB elements being used for resale on Bricklink so as of right now, there is little competition. Pick A Brick cups give part out investors a fresh and cheap source to an already thriving market. For that reason, their investment potential is massive.

In conclusion, Pick A Brick cups offer great PPP ratios if you can pack them right, and a decent ones even if you don’t. Whether they offer a profit-pouring punch really depends on investor; if you already work with Bricklink you will enjoy spectacular profits, if you don’t, I suggest you dabble before taking the time and space to start a Bricklink store. But one thing is for sure. Packing a PAB cup is fun, challenging, and the rewarding contents will leave you smiling.

]

As a LEGO investor and collector, there are many places where you can buy new LEGO sets.  In the United States, large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target and Toys R Us sell massive amounts of new LEGO sets.  Great Britain has similar large retailers like Argos, Myer and Tesco.  Of course EBAY is a worldwide option for new and used LEGO sets.  That leads us to The LEGO Group and its Shop At Home(S@H) online site and brick and mortar stores.  The LEGO retail sites make up the backbone of their entire business model and is the one place that you can buy all the new LEGO sets.  But a question arises, why would a LEGO investor and collector buy directly from LEGO when they can get the same LEGO set cheaper from another large toy retailer?  One reason...the LEGO VIP Program.  Let's take a look.

I would like to go into a short discussion about the benefits, and how best to use the LEGO VIP program.  First off, as with any purchase, you should do your research and determine what is the best deal for you.  There are times when it would be better to buy something at Walmart or another large retailer for 40% off, than buying from LEGO just to get the VIP points.  But there are advantages to the VIP program that you cannot get anywhere else.  Opportunities may arise when you can maximize your points and choose to buy from LEGO directly, instead of other retailers.
 

  In summary, the LEGO VIP program allows you to earn points for each dollar you spend either at a LEGO store or using LEGO Shop at Home.  You earn 1 VIP point for every dollar you spend.  For your information, this article is focused on US purchases, because of my experiences with LEGO and the program.  For every 100 VIP points you accumulate, you will earn a $5 VIP Reward towards a purchase of LEGO items.  What that means is that, if you buy a Haunted House from LEGO Shop at Home (LSAH) for $179, you earn 179 VIP Points.  This earns you one $5 VIP Reward and 79 points towards your next reward.  Now, you may use that $5 VIP Reward on your next purchase, or you can save it up and accumulate more rewards dollars.  In its basic form you are talking about a 5% discount to your LEGO purchases.  Not bad, but probably not enough to really get you to purchase from LEGO directly unless you had to.  This brings us to some of the other nuances of LEGO VIP program.  The VIP program also gives you access to exclusive sets and deals.  When you combine those sales and deals that is where you really start to maximize your LEGO VIP benefits.  Signing up for the VIP program also gives you access to the VIP emails.  I like these emails because they highlight upcoming deals or new sets that are coming out.
 

  Just as there are certain items that you can only purchase from LEGO, LEGO “exclusive” items, there are also VIP “exclusive” items.  If you are going to want to buy your Haunted House, then you have to buy it from LEGO as an exclusive, why not collect your VIP points for those purchases.  In addition, LEGO VIP members have access to purchase items that non-VIP members do not; for example, the 10230 Mini Modulars set.  Clearly purchasing this set is a personal decision, but you must be a VIP member to get it.  Also, VIP members have access to certain items early.  This year the 10229 Winter Village Cottage was available two weeks early to VIP members.  This could allow you to pick up a few sets early and sell them to the eager buyers.  Potentially picking up some profits. I personally cannot bear to part from my sets, so that is not a benefit to me.
 

  Now we have talked about the basic program and exclusive purchases where you would want or have to use the program.  Let’s talk about how to maximize your VIP point accumulation.  If you want to really get the most VIP points from your purchase, then you want to buy items when they earn the 50 VIP “bonus” points or better yet “double” points!  Double points and bonus points can be earned a couple of ways.  Every month LEGO has deals for VIP members where sets are listed as bonus points where you earn an additional 50 VIP points for the purchase.  You can find these deals by looking at your LEGO VIP account and looking for Promotions.  As a bonus VIP point example, if set 6868 Hulk’s Helicarrier Breakout is earning 50 bonus points, then, when you purchase the set for $49, you earn 99 VIP points instead of 49.  This is a bigger advantage on some sets than others clearly, but it can add up.  When you start getting double points, things really start to add up.  That Haunted House we were talking about earlier, if you are getting double points for your purchase, it is worth 358 VIP points.  That means $15 in VIP rewards.  OK, I understand that we are still just looking at 10% off, but the article is about how to maximize your VIP points, not to convince you to pass up the 40% off sale at Walmart.  Double points are even better for earning VIP rewards.  To earn double points LEGO has different monthly deals that you can take advantage of, they also give double points for all collection purchases, and certain times of the year they offer double points on all purchases.  I try to strategically make my purchases from LEGO to take advantage of these offers.  I used the double points on all sets this summer when I picked up my Monster Fighter and The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) collections.  An example of a collection is the LOTR collection that contains all seven of the sets out at the time.  The way LEGO grouped the collection gave you the Shelob Attacks set free, and it earns you 705 VIP points.  Now you are talking a $20 set free and $35 in VIP rewards.

You might think at this point that we have discussed all the ways to maximize your purchases, but there is actually one more consideration.  LEGO also likes to splash in free shipping here and there for purchases over $75.  I think they are very strategic about this.  For instance, when they release a number of new sets, they sometimes have a double points promotion, but not free shipping.  All the eager buyers bought their stuff early. If you are patient you may see a free shipping offer start in the middle of the month.  Double points and free shipping is the way to go if you can get it from LEGO.  In the chart below I have tried to provide an example of the graduated benefits of a purchase of the Haunted House.  Clearly highlighting the sweet spot of double points and free shipping.  

  I hope this helps with your understanding of the LEGO VIP program and how to maximize your rewards.  One final way to maximize the VIP points is to look at the LEGO Sales and Deals and combine them with some VIP points and free shipping options.  Some great specials can be found at times, so it pays to check daily.  I personally like to save up my VIP rewards and get those sets that are more expensive.  That is who I got my first Super Star Destroyer with just VIP Rewards and more recently my Death Star for $100 and VIP rewards.  It is almost like getting free sets to me.  How much do I have to sell the Super Star Destroyer for to make a profit?  Not much.  

!500 BrickPointsThis article was written by David (a.k.a dschooley). This was a great idea for him to bring this article to our attention and explain it. We do know people that don't ever buy from LEGO or use the VIP program. If you use the program and shop smartly you can definitely gain a nice advantage when you use your points. We thank David for taking the time to write this excellent article and have also awarded him

No quiet "moo moo" noises being heard regarding the 70810 MetalBeard's Sea Cow set.  It's quite impressive when any set increases over 40% from MSRP ($249.99) within only 2 months of "availability" *.  

Currently, MISB prices are $350 on average (bricklink, amazon, ebay, brickpicker)
* note: availability varied by region and retailer.

While most Lego collectors and investments were buying sets such as The Tumbler, Death Star, Pet Shop and UCS X-wing in the closing months of 2015, 70810 was quietly going in and out of stock before disappearing.   Not everyone was ignoring this set or quite by surprise of it's recent performance.  Check-out the forum topic for this set (link below).

So now that it's "retired", why the 40% jump in value in 2 months?  "Supply vs. Demand" in my opinion.

• It appears Lego didn't produce as many 70810s as other Exclusive sets based on reported box tape seal codes.
• Maybe the set lost it's initial appeal.  The Lego Movie debuted 2 years ago. Many of its features become available in cheaper sets such as 70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! and Emmit's 70818 Double-Decker Couch.  There was also a larger version of Metalbeard available (70807 The Movie MetalBeard's Duel)
• The $250 cost was deemed too expensive.

We may never know why this set was ignored by many at retail.   One thing was certain, the majority of online 70810 reviews were  positive. 

Regarding the long-term aspects, only time will tell if demand continues to make this set rapidly appreciate.  The upcoming Lego The Movie sequel will most help as well as if Metalbeard appears in other Lego movies (Ninjago, Batman, etc...).

For more information about this set, please visit the following brickpicker.com page and the original Designer Video.

http://www.brickpicker.com/bpms/set.cfm?set=70810-1

J457GQKR7R25 LEGO investing is becoming more and more popular as both LEGO fans and even some more conventional investors begin to realize that there is more to our beloved bricks than just the fun to be had playing with them. With a little bit of effort, they can turn a tidy profit, as well.

My first experience with selling LEGO sets was when I first discovered eBay. I happened to have a few Castle sets tucked away, and I was delighted to find that I could sell them to eager collectors for an average of three times what I'd originally paid for them. Wow! Now I ask you, how many things have you ever bought that you can say that about? Needless to say, I was very pleased with the outcome.

Fast forward almost twenty years. I decided to take another look at how those same sets are doing on eBay now, with a vague idea that I might like to reacquire some of them. I was curious to see if they were still selling for a premium, or if enough people had since gotten into the act to make even the old sets commonplace and therefore less valuable. I found that although the prices hadn't gone up much since I sold mine all those years ago, they hadn't decreased either. In other words, they were holding their value in spite of there being a lot more people on eBay these days.

This inspired me to take a closer look at LEGO investing. I figured, if nothing else, I could justify buying a couple of the new Lord of the Rings sets by telling myself I wasn't really spending lots of money -- I was investing it. In the process I discovered that there are other options available besides buying sets and then waiting several years for them to appreciate in value before reselling them for a profit. What I’ve learned was the inspiration for this article.

What are your goals?

Before we get into the different ways you can profit from investing in LEGO, it's important to understand that how you measure your success as a LEGO investor has a lot to do with what your goals are, both as an investor and as a LEGO fan. With that in mind, I want you to ask yourself a few questions:

• Do you want to start a part-time or full-time business?
• Do you simply want to make enough profit to pay for your LEGO hobby?
• Do you collect as well as invest?
• Do you like to build sets according to the instructions, or do you prefer to design and build your own models (MOCs)?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, but answering them honestly for yourself will help you decide which approaches to LEGO investing will fit best with your personality and needs. I think you'll find it helpful to keep this in mind as you continue reading.

Many people are familiar with buying and selling complete sets. However, that's only one way of making a return on your investment. A second approach is to part out the sets. Let’s look at each one of these methods from an investment standpoint and see if one is superior to the other when it comes to turning a profit.

Selling complete sets

This is perhaps the simplest and most straightforward form of LEGO investing. You buy a set at the best price you can find (every dollar you save off retail is another dollar of profit), and then hold on to it for from several months to a few years and wait for it to appreciate.

Most serious investors keep the sets they buy for investment purposes MISB (mint in sealed box) to reap the maximum profit. That's not to say that you can't also sell sets you've opened and built, but as a rule they won't be worth quite as much as they would be if you kept them pristine. As a compromise, you can buy one set to build and extra sets to store away as an investment. Many use this as a way to make their LEGO hobby self-funding.

So, what kind of returns can you expect? It varies. Some sets have had exceptional returns (see Table 1), while a few others have actually lost value (see Table 2). Most fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Pros

This is the simpler form of investing. You buy a set and put it away to appreciate. You have to put some thought into choosing the set(s) most likely to go up in value, but other than that there isn’t a lot of work to do until you get ready to sell it. Even then, one box is easier to deal with than 100 small orders.

Cons

It takes a lot of patience (and storage space) to buy and store away all those sets for months or even years. There’s always the temptation to want to open up and build one, and the worry that something might happen to them. Plus, a lot of the value of the set depends on the condition of the box, and it isn’t always easy to get a perfect box, what with shipping mishaps and the like.

It's beyond the scope of this article to go into all the ins and outs of choosing the right sets to invest in. Let me just say that even if you're already certain you only want to trade in complete sets, I suggest you continue reading anyway. One way the investment potential of a set is determined is by looking at how many unique parts are in it and what those parts are worth if sold separately. In the next section, we'll take a closer look at that side of the market.

Parting out & splitting sets

Dividing up a set and selling off the pieces actually falls into two categories: parting out, and splitting.

Parting out means listing and selling each part from a set individually. This is usually done through Bricklink.com. Bricklink even has a handy tool that allows you to enter in the set number, and it will list all the parts from that set for you so you don't have to enter each one individually. Parting out is probably the best way to get maximum value from a set, although there are drawbacks to this method, which we will discuss shortly. Bear in mind that the sets which earn the most money from being parted out are the ones with the most useful and/or unique parts, like the modular houses, or any of the other large, adult-oriented sets.

Splitting a set means dividing it up into its component parts, rather than into individual pieces. For example, you could take the Uruk-Hai Army set (#9471), and list the wall in one eBay auction, the hook shooter in another, the Eomer figure (with or without his horse) in another, and so on. This is less work overall, because you are selling a few chunks of a set rather than hundreds of individual parts.

Pros

Like an old car, the parts in a LEGO set can usually be sold for more than the value of the set as a whole. Also this value can be (theoretically) available right away, instead of having to wait months or even years for the set to go EOL (end of line) and start appreciating in value.

To see whether this holds true over time, I gathered data on sets that were still in production as of the writing of this article as well as the same retired sets we looked at previously (see Tables 3, 4, and 5). As you can see, some retired sets are actually worth more MISB, though not by much. It's also worth noting that even if a MISB set turns out to be a loser in the secondary market, you can, if you choose to put in the effort, still recoup your investment by parting it out.

Cons

The downside of parting out sets is that it's much more time consuming than selling it whole. You have to sort the pieces and organize them in a way that you can easily find them again when you start getting orders. And each of those orders has to be picked, packed and shipped, plus you have several transactions to keep track of instead of just one. It's also very likely that you won't sell everything immediately, which means it still may take time to turn a profit. And some parts may not sell at all; experienced LEGO sellers report that they usually end up with a lot of "odds and ends" left over. (None of these issues is necessarily a deal-breaker. Just make sure you go into it with your eyes open.)

Combining collecting with investing

Some LEGO investors prefer to sell off only part of a set and keep the rest for their own collection.They may, for example, sell the minifigures from a set and keep the rest of the parts. This is often done when they find themselves with duplicate figures which would be redundant in a display, or when they're looking for a less-expensive way to add to their stockpile of parts for building MOCs. Experienced collectors estimate that by doing this, they can recover from 50-75% of the cost of the set -- or even 100% if this technique is combined with buying the set at a discount.Those who like to collect minifigures can do the opposite, buying a set for the figures it contains and then selling off the other pieces to help offset the cost.Either way, this can be a great way to make what is otherwise a rather expensive hobby more or less self-funding.

Factors to consider

Choosing which approach to LEGO investing is right for you involves several factors, of which profit is only one (and some would argue not even the most important one). It's a decision each LEGO investor must make for him- or herself. Here is a list of the main factors you'll want to consider when deciding whether to buy and hold complete sets or sell the parts.

Temperament - Some people enjoy building each set exactly according to the instructions, while others prefer to build MOCs. Which type you are will influence how you feel about splitting up a set versus keeping it intact. There's nothing wrong with taking your own preferences into consideration. This is supposed to be fun, after all, so why force yourself to do something if it makes you uncomfortable? In the long run it isn't worth it for a couple of extra bucks.

Time - Sorting, storing, listing and then packaging and shipping all those thousands of individual parts can be quite time-consuming compared to selling whole sets, and you have to be able to keep up with the work load so that you get the orders shipped out in a timely fashion. It's a good idea to divide the amount of profit you're making by the number of hours you're working to get a realistic picture of what you're actually earning.

Timing - If you want to make a profit on a MISB set, you usually have to wait for that set to appreciate in value. If you part it out, you can realize a profit right away (maybe). You'll also want to keep a close eye on the market as a whole to help you determine the best times to sell particular sets.

Your goals - If you want to invest in and sell LEGO sets as a business and your primary goal is to make money, then you may actually enjoy the work involved with running a store selling parts. A LEGO business certainly sounds like more fun than a lot of other things you might do for a living! On the other hand, if your main goal is to help fund your own LEGO collection, that's another reason to keep an eye on the amount of your free time each method takes up. You don't want to spend so much time on the business that you have none left to build your own sets.

Space - Many investors prefer to focus on only the large sets because that's where they can make the highest amount of money for the least amount of work. However, you need to remember that you're going to have to store all those big boxes somewhere, perhaps for years. Not only will they be taking up closet space, you'll need to take steps to make sure they're safe from hazards such as water damage, mold, insects, fire, and even curious children. Do you have enough space in your home to store enough product to make the business worthwhile (with "worthwhile" being relative, depending on your goals)? You can always rent space at a storage facility, but the added expense will eat into your profits. If, on the other hand, you plan to part out sets, you'll still need space to store and organize them, as well as workspace for sorting the parts and filling orders.

Patience - If you choose to hold onto a set, do you have the patience to wait for it to appreciate? How about the self-discipline to resist the urge to open and build the set? If you don't, you may want to look for ways to flip the set more quickly.

Opportunity cost - Every dollar you have tied up in your LEGO inventory is a dollar that isn't available to spend on something else. Do some research. How long does it take for a set to appreciate compared to how long it takes to sell all the parts of that set? The same principle also applies to time. Every hour you spend sorting parts and picking orders, or worrying about the safety of the sets in your basement, is an hour you aren't spending doing something else.

Knowledge -- a LEGO business is still a business. How much do you know about how business works? Are you good at managing money? Do you enjoy tasks like record keeping and market research? Answering these questions doesn't necessarily help you determine whether to sell sets or parts, but it's a factor in deciding how large and/or complex you want your business to be -- or whether you really want to turn your hobby into a business at all. ConclusionI hope this article has given you a clearer picture of what your options are as a LEGO investor, and the information you need to make an informed decision based on your own situation.One final thought: Sure, you might be able to make more money with less effort by picking up overtime at work. But isn't life too short to spend it doing something you hate just to make money, when you could be surrounding yourself with LEGO instead?And if you can do both at the same time – jackpot!

“ED”itor's Notes There is often talk on these and other LEGO sites about a possible LEGO “speculation bubble.” LEGO fans and collectors alike wonder if the good times in LEGO investing will come to an end with the implosion of the LEGO secondary market, similar to the Baseball Card market of several years ago and its tremendous collapse. Well, I, for one, have always argued against the speculative bubble theory. Why? The main topic of this article...parting out LEGO sets for resale, is the main reason why I don't believe there will ever be a complete collapse of the LEGO secondary market. There is a value to each and every new LEGO piece produced. There will always be value to these little plastic bricks...for MOCs mostly, if there continue to be LEGO fans. Unless LEGO starts mass producing individual pieces for sale at a super cheap rate, the parting out of new LEGO sets will be a viable option to make money for the LEGO collectors and investors out there. Even if a LEGO set depreciated well under MSRP, most LEGO sets can be broken down into parts and resold for at least what a person paid for it. There is an inherent value to them there bricks, so the LEGO sets that perform poorly still have a respectable value associated to them. This could not be said for Baseball Card, Beanie Babies or any other collectible's markets that imploded. Many of those collectibles became worthless after their bubbles burst. That should never happen to a LEGO set in my opinion if The LEGO Group continues to produce sets and bricks in the same ratio and price range that they do now.

On the topic of “parting out” LEGO sets, my own personal feeling is that it is a ton of work for the money, yet it remains a viable income source for many LEGO fans. It's tedious, time consuming and require individuals that are willing to painstakingly sort and store thousands upon thousands of LEGO bricks. If you actually calculate an hourly wage from parting out LEGO sets, it would probably equate to a minimum wage job. While this may be acceptable to many LEGO collectors, I would prefer to gamble and invest in complete, MISB LEGO sets. The parting out process does give a fallback solution in case of a severe depreciation of a LEGO set though. I am not writing off the LEGO parting process as a waste of time or effort. The entire Bricklink community and MOC world benefits from the process and many Bricklink stores probably do make a decent return on their efforts, but from a personal standpoint, I am a person with limited time for such endeavors and the investing in sealed MISB LEGO sets is my choice of LEGO investment. Bottom line is this...to each his own. If you are patient and enjoy the repetitive nature of sorting and separating thousands of pieces, then LEGO parting is for you. If you enjoy the quick strike nature of buying and flipping MISB sets, then I would recommend against it. Both methods can make you money, it's all a matter of preference.
 

 There have been many recent articles, all over the web, in local papers and on the radio. They're saying that LEGO investing is better than gold. It's sensationalist. It excites the imagination. It sounds easy. These articles point up the sets that have increased in value many times above their initial costs. Dreamers sweep store shelves expecting instant returns and easy money. Conventional wisdom says that you'll never lose money on LEGO, it will always be worth at least what you bought it for. What if it's not?

I'd like to take a journey through the dusty backrooms of stores and the dark corners of investor's storage areas to look at some themes that proved to be so unpopular that if their demand and value hasn't remained flat, it actually got worse. These are themes that got the same market push as every other theme, but failed to capture the target audience.

Let's take a look at some licensed themes from recent history:

The first theme that we'll take a look at is Prince of Persia. Disney's attempt to turn a video game franchise into a profitable film franchise. LEGO released 6 Sets consisting of 7569 Desert Attack, 7570 The Ostrich Race, 7571 The Fight for the Dagger, 7572 Quest Against Time, 7573 Battle of Alamut, and 20017 Dagger Trap Polybag. All combined, this theme sold at retail for a total of $190.95 (Pre Tax of course,) the current value of these sets averages to $178.75. That's a return of 94% of the initial investment. It would be worse if not for the Polybag, which I calculated at retail of free because I couldn't find any data about cost.  (So, I assumed it was free.)

The second licensed theme that we'll discuss is The Lone Ranger. (Personally, I loved these sets and wanted more. {if I could get them on steep discount.}) Disney released the Lone Ranger to poor reception and poor reviews. The days of the Western might be dead, and this theme sure did seem like a nail in the coffin. This theme consisted of 6 sets and 2 Polybags. They are 79106 Cavalry Builder set (How they can be cavalry without horses I don't know. I guess Artillery is confusing,) 79107 Comanche Camp, 79108 Stagecoach Escape, 79109 Colby City Showdown, 79110 Silver Mine Shootout, 79111 Constitution Train Chase, 30260 Lone Ranger's Pump Car, and 30261 Tonto's Campfire. The combined retail total before tax is $291.92 but when I get the average sold price for the last 6 months on Bricklink they sold for a grand total of $283. Slightly better than Prince of Persia with 97% remaining value.

It's probably not LEGO's fault that these themes died on the vine. Some might argue that if the source material had been better received, there would be greater demand on the aftermarket. It's a fair argument, but you could also point out that if LEGO had done a better job on the sets, they might have succeeded despite the failures of the original properties. If you think it's the fault of the source material, let's take a look at a LEGO owned theme that they got very wrong.

For our non licensed theme  we'll look at the horror of Galaxy Squad. It is a continuation/expansion of the classic Space theme. Science Fiction has been popular for a long time, and little boys have always wanted to be an astronaut and kill space bugs. This theme had a whopping 10 sets and 2 polybags. The sets are 70700 Space Swarmer, 70701 Swarm Interceptor, 70702 Warp Stinger, 70703 Star Slicer, 70704 Vermin Vaporizer, 70705 Bug Obliterator, 70706 Crater Creeper, 70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech, 70708 Hive Crawler, 70709 Galactic Titan, with polybags 30230 Mini Mech, and 30231 Space Insectoid. That's about 4000 pieces of fun right there. All of those sets together would cost $479.38 at retail before tax. How much is Bricklink's average sold price for the entire series? $320. You're losing a full third of your initial investment if you bought these at retail and sold them for the average price.

Are these the only themes that have lost money? By no means. Early predictions are putting the future of Chima in the toilet. I'll let those of you inclined to do so research other past themes to see which ones should cause speculators to run for the hills.

For those people who jumped in head first, thinking that investing in LEGO would be like printing money, this should serve as a sobering wake-up call. If you had bought any of these themes at retail, you'd have saved yourself time by handing $5 bills to random people on the street, or better yet, save the money by burying it in a coffee can in your backyard.

With every success story and humble brag about the times when someone guessed right, there's someone cursing the hundreds or thousands of dollars tied up in inventory, eating storage space. What can you do with all those Ostrich Races or Crater Creepers? I hear Toys for Tots accepts any toy that is unopened and unwrapped. You could break them down for parts, but that's a whole different headache.

The average values that I list are not a complete indication of the value of these sets. Looking at Bricklink, many have sold or are currently available for notably less than the average. On the other hand, some bought these sets at significantly below average pricing. Prince of Persia has 2 unique animals (ostrich and camel) that have some demand on the parts market. Some people are making money on these sets. Smart money avoided these themes from the beginning, most even avoided them on clearance. Some, however, are wondering if it's possible to use these sets to make storage for their moneymaking investment. If you haven't thought about it, even if you sold at the listed average price, the amount of your return is at least 7% lower due to fees.

If you're buying LEGO for investment and you don't know or don't care about the themes that you are buying, chances are that you're throwing money away.

You are browsing in the construction toys aisle of your local retail or toy store. You carefully look at the three main choices of building blocks: LEGO, Mega Bloks and KRE-O. You can’t decide which one to buy for your children –they all look the same on their boxes. This article outlines the advantages & disadvantages found in both LEGO products and inexpensive alternatives so that you can choose what’s best for you.

At the moment there are many alternatives to LEGO bricks on the market, the two main ones being Mega Bloks and KRE-O.

Mega Bloks, a Canadian company, was called “Ritvik Toys” when it started in 1967 and later changed its name to Mega Bloks in 2002. It quickly became one of the main players in the building blocks industry. Mega Bloks, over the years, have created everything from Smurfs to dragons in their products. Mega Brands (includes Mega Bloks, Mega Puzzles, Board Dudes and Rose Art) currently has over 1000 employees. There are four different types of Mega Bloks’ bricks:

• Maxi size, introduced in 1985, is intended for very young children. The blocks feature slightly rounded corners and edges and have tall rounded studs.
• Mini size, introduced in 1989, is designed for toddlers and preschoolers. The bricks, like Maxi size, have slightly rounded edges and corners. Mini size bricks are the same size as LEGO DUPLO bricks.
• Micro size, introduced in 1991, has sharp edges and corners and is for experienced builders. This size is the same size as ordinary LEGO bricks.
• Nano building system, introduced in 2004, is the smallest of all of the bricks that Mega Bloks have made and is not compatible with any other type of plastic bricks.

The LEGO Group has filed many lawsuits against Mega Bloks for the use of “their” studs and tubes construction system. LEGO believes that this is a violation of its trademarks, but most of their lawsuits have been unsuccessful.

Possibly after seeing the success of LEGO's girl orientated theme, Friends, Mega Bloks have decided to launch new “Barbie” and “Hot Wheels” (both by Mattel) themed sets next year (2013).

KRE-O is manufactured by Oxford, a Korean company, and marketed by toys and board games company Hasbro. KRE-O, unlike Mega Bloks, is relatively new to the industry and includes sets based on the recently released films Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Battleship, which were both based on Hasbro’s toys. KRE-O, which means “I create” in Latin, keeps growing in popularity ever since it launched in June 2011. KRE-O’s human figures are called Kreons, and look for the most part like LEGO minifigures. A third line of sets have been confirmed and will be based on the 2009 revival of Star Trek and a new 2013 sequel are to be released in the future.

Although brands such as Mega Bloks and KRE-O are seen as alternatives or copies, people still buy them simply because of the fact that they are the cheaper than good quality LEGO bricks. Plus, if a child has collected a lot of LEGO sets, then the kid’s parents buy him Mega Bloks sets, the bricks from the clone sets will still be compatible with official LEGO bricks. Many young children wouldn’t know the difference between LEGO and clones, so parents usually buy Mega Bloks and other copies, that look like LEGO, but are actually worth much less money.

Parents buy clones for their children because they are inexpensive, but there are also many disadvantages of buying non-LEGO building blocks/bricks. Many of the bricks that are included in Mega Bloks or KRE-O sets are of poor quality and do not go together well. Some builders combine clone bricks with LEGO bricks in their models; however, their creations are usually mismatched with dull coloured and loosely connected Mega Bloks and LEGO bricks. Mega Bloks is also known for having a substandard website (compared with LEGO.com) and limited support for builders.

Official LEGO products, on the other hand, are of great quality and are very durable. The LEGO Group has a team of designers that invent well-designed sets that children will eventually play with. One of the advantages of buying LEGO sets is that they don’t usually devalue in price, as there are many people willing to buy second-hand LEGO on auction websites such as eBay, etc. Another good thing about LEGO is that they have the rights to many exciting themes (such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, DC & Marvel Super Heroes, etc.), which have produce rare bricks and sets. LEGO also have an awesome website (LEGO.com) that boasts downloadable building instructions, games, video, an online shop, and many more exciting things. There are also lots of devoted LEGO fans, who connect with each other through the internet in forums and fan groups. Mega Bloks, unlike LEGO, has little fans and is practically ignored by LEGO enthusiasts.

Another great advantage of buying the different kinds of LEGO bricks (Quatro, DUPLO, Normal Bricks, TECHNIC, etc.) is that they all click into each other. DUPLO bricks slot nicely into Quatro bricks, Normal Bricks click on underneath DUPLO bricks and so on.

There are also two things that LEGO has, but Mega Bloks doesn’t. These two things are the TECHNIC building system and Mindstorms. TECHNIC uses beams and pins (instead of bricks) to build models. Some TECHNIC sets even come with electronic motors, lights and remote controls. These electronics are part of a sub-theme called “Power Functions” and they make TECHNIC vehicles & machines run. One other thing that Mega Bloks and KRE-O don’t have is a robotics system. The LEGO Group has created Mindstorms, a theme in which builders create a model out of LEGO TECHNIC elements then add the Mindstorms NXT brick (the robot’s “control centre”), three motors, and four sensors (which can provide information about obstructions, different colours, etc.). This makes a fully-fledged robot that can be programmed by using the included software on a computer. You can even make it move in the direction you want using an app on your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone.

The main drawback with LEGO products is the cost. The LEGO Group prides itself on having strict product control, which generates exceptional products. With good quality comes higher prices, and that’s generally why numerous parents go for the less expensive option(s) when it comes to construction bricks/blocks for their kids. But as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. It doesn't take long for children to get frustrated with inferior quality bricks from KRE-O or Mega Bloks and toss them in the trash.

If you are planning on buying some construction toys for your children, my recommendation is to find out (if you haven’t already) what suits your child and buy that product. If you don’t know what is best for your kids, then I suggest going with good quality LEGO –even though it may cost more, it’ll last longer and is (in my opinion) better overall. Also, from the standpoint of collecting and investing, the LEGO brick is far and away the brick to pick. LEGO investing has exploded over the past several years has become the toy of choice for not only children, but adult collectors and investors as well. All in all, LEGO is the way to go in my opinion.

What kind of building toy do you and your children prefer? What type do you have the most of in your home? Share your opinion in the comments below.

This is a guest post by Nathan (a.k.a. Yodaman5556), who is a blogger, a Star Wars and LOTR fan, KFOL (kid fan of LEGO) and all-round LEGO fanatic. He enjoys spending afternoons experimenting (and building) with LEGO bricks. He blogs about LEGO news, information and rumours on his website, BrickExtra.

We Thank Nathan for taking the time to write this excellent article and have also awarded him 500 BrickPoints! Please check out his website BrickExtra, he does a great job covering LEGO.

This blog entry I struggled with the title, and considered a "while you were sleeping" title or something else to really convey how I felt about the current state of Lego investing. Unless one were sleeping, it is easy to see how the Tumbler 76023 has taken off. "The Horde" should be proud. While I am sure plenty of Tumblers ended up in the hands of little Timmy, the horde can pat themselves on the back for plowing though the last 4,000 copies that Target and Target-eBay had left in record fashion being the last retailer standing after LEGO Shop at Home, Walmart and other online retailers ran out of stock.

Lets take a quick peak at some numbers.

Tumbler 76023 - Retired  - Retail $199.99 - current Amazon Buy Box (USA) - $324.99 (as of 11AM on 1/26/16) - Approximately 62% initial bump. Yes I know that it is not the most accurate barometer of price, but I have to pick something. It looks to be trending just under $300 on ebay, with multiple completed sales over $300. Ebay may be cheaper at the moment, but it isn't far behind.

Merida's Highland Games 41051 - Retired Retail $19.99 - Amazon Buy Box (USA) $32.90 (11am 1/26/16) increase of approximately 62%. I picked this set because of the $19.99 buy in was easy to compare to the $199.99 of the tumbler. Both retired in the USA on the same day, both have exact same "bump" although if you were not sleeping, you noticed trends and were able to stock up on your princess quota. I was able to grab a fair amount of this particular set for around $7. They were 60% off an already marked down clearance price. To achieve the same returns, one's buy in on the tumbler would need to be around $70. Anyone manage that price without them falling off a pallet somewhere? Doubtful. WIth my $7 buy-in I am around 470% increase before fees shipping, and I am pocketing around 350% after fees shipping. The Tumbler would need to hit about $939 to realize similar gains if purchased at retail. This set is small, easy to ship, and I don't have to have a heart attack about scammers and shipping issues when I ship out a $900 tumbler.

Other Notable Mentions

Ariel's Amazing Treasures 41050 - Retired Retail $12.99 - Amazon Buy Box (USA) $28.88 (11am 1/26/16) - Approx 222% increase. This is only other retired Princess set in the USA. I personally picked up 10+ at steep discounts (more than 50%), so was sitting on 400% gain before I dumped mine late last year and at Christmas time.

Sleeping Beauty's Royal Bedroom - Sold Out Retail $12.99 - Amazon Buy Box (USA) $17.50 (11am 1/26/16) - These were blown out at LEGO Shop at Home for $9, and are currently on sale at targets for $5 or so. For those looking to instantly triple up on an item and get started selling, solid choice here to get going.

Cinderella's Romantic Castle 41055 - Available Now Retail $69.99 - Available pretty much everywhere. This is the gambling set right here. This set will retire eventually, but we could have another dolphin cruiser on our hands and have a set that won't die. I personally sold a few in the $130 range (on ebay) during Christmas 2014. I think that this is a reasonable goal for this set to reach within six months or less than retirement. I personally think that this one is done and Lego recently made "one last batch", and when current supplies are gone, we will only see limited restocks. As an experiment for this article I wanted to see how cheap I could acquire them in the USA without too many tricks. I was able to pick up 4 from Jet.com (seriously horrible business model) for around $43 each (38% discount), with no tax using a 30% off first order and opting for no returns. They shipped from TRU and they lost around $80 in the deal according to my attached invoice from TRU. Seal codes were 47R5 for those keeping track, so fairly fresh. For me this set only needs to now hit $86 for me to "double up" and I should be sitting pretty when it goes over $100. If we truely had power as a collective, we should be after this one in full force.

Note: This article was written "for the horde" and all the new investors that are all over the Tumbler with gold and glitter and rainbows. There are other sets out there doing just fine, we just don't talk about it.

The universe of LEGO Star Wars is changing. Some of the changes may be too subtle to notice at first, but it began more than a year ago. Before we look into the changes taking place now, and influencing the future, let us take a look at the way things have always been.

Historically the LEGO licensing of the Star Wars brand has always been consistent. Star Wars had a three-year cycle between movies starting with The Phantom Menace in 1999, the year that LEGO acquired the rights. There were theatrical releases of Star Wars films in 2002, 2005, and 2008. Three years was sufficient for LEGO to create new sets and visit new ideas. Enough time passed to fully explore the themes presented in each film, and supplement them with Original Trilogy sets. In 2008, The Clone Wars presented an opportunity for an ongoing series to promote and stimulate sales of sets. The continued Media support gave the creators time to revisit and update older sets. The continued use of the same, or similar vehicles, allowed The LEGO Group to refine older designs, while simultaneously experimenting with a few new concepts.

TLG created sets based on The Old Republic and The Yoda Chronicles. Those sets that performed poorly post retirement. Star Wars: Rebels received a limited number of sets. Presumably LEGO learned from the lower popularity of Intellectual Properties that were not live action Star Wars films. Each time that Lucasfilm expanded the brand, LEGO was there. (Look for the Freebuilder sets on clearance at stores near you within the next year)

There was no pressing for LEGO to completely turn over all of the available products. They could phase out the previous film slowly to prepare for the next one. Original Trilogy sets could bridge the gap between the last of the previous film and the first of the new.

That's most of LEGO Star Wars history.  Before we proceed, let's take one last detour to the not-too-distant past. December 2014, the Millennium Falcon 7965 and X-Wing 9493 retired after nice, long runs: the TIE Fighter 9492 had also retired only a few months prior. The resellers were prepared for steady gains, because collectors that missed out were scrambling to find something that would fill a collection. It should have been at least 2 years before the next version of these iconic, and frequently remade, ships hit stores again. June 2015 rolled around and a very similar Millennium Falcon was leaked. The steady growth stalled and then fell. A new X-Wing and TIE Fighter also accompanied the Falcon, and the values stalled (momentarily) for their recently departed relatives. In December 2015, a bunch of Star Wars sets that had only been out for a year unexpectedly retired instead of reaching the average 18 month life span.

In my opinion, the one year life cycle will not be an anomaly, it will become the new normal. We live in a universe where Disney is going to be releasing one Star Wars movie a year for the foreseeable future. For the first time in LEGO history, a new film will demand new product every Christmas. Long time collectors will want the new ships and characters, and new collectors will want whatever is most current. Turnover will be accelerated. I foresee the last of the Rebels packaged sets retiring in June 2016.

Going forward, I believe that we'll see predominately Sequel Trilogy and Anthology sets. Refreshes will come, but they will be aligned with the film releases. Rogue One should facilitate the return of classic Original Trilogy sets. So, people who went deep on AT-ATs should be prepared for a quick return of this popular vehicle, and plan accordingly. The new version will probably have Stormtroopers and/or Scouts instead of Snowtroopers.

We are less likely to see the return of Clone Wars or Prequel Trilogy sets. Some PT will be released, but they will be fewer and further apart. The fans that were kids in the PT era will have aged and become AFOLs in this new universe. They may be on the lookout for neo-classic PT sets. I'd almost expect some movement on these in the coming years. People who snapped up discounted Jedi Interceptors, Grievous Wheelbikes and other "Hero" vehicles with main characters should see good returns. The 75019 AT-TE and the 75021 Republic Gunship which featured prominently in both the Clone Wars and two of the Prequel Trilogy, are likely to gain demand.

LEGO has also shown they are willing to release variations within a year; with the release of both 75102 Poe's X-Wing and 75149 Sacking of Jakku, we will have 2 concurrent X-Wings on shelves. (Although my force sense says that the Sacking of Jakku will be a store exclusive.) Some people are even speculating about a third X-Wing, a classic one, for the launch of Rogue One. Although I think that's less likely to happen in 2016.

In summary, my intuition tells me that we will see faster turnover (to keep up with the new films), fewer sets from movies that do not feature events or vehicles in the new films, and potentially faster remakes of popular ships specifically because they will be featured in an upcoming films. We're also less likely to see Prequel Trilogy sets in heavy rotation as Disney moves forward with OT era and ST era sets.

What does this mean for the future? "Difficult to see . . . Always in Motion is the future." We will need to look at new factors. Look for the one offs. If there is an important character that doesn't make it out of the movie alive, any set with that character will become a key later on. If there is a vehicle that is used prominently in a single film, it will become desireable later. Rey's Speeder will do nicely post retirement. It is well made, represents the vehicle nicely and is unlikely to be used in another film. It's also a cheap set that many will have ignored. It will be revisited eventually, because LEGO is never completely done with remakes, but it will be years, unlike the TIE Fighter, X-Wing, Millennium Falcon, AT-AT, etc. Will the old Han in 75105 be enough to lift that set up when another Millennium Falcon will (almost) definitely be out in 18 months? It's possible. . .

Looking at recently retired, or in production Prequel Trilogy sets the Jedi Interceptors (75038, 75135) and Grievous Wheel Bike (75040) are likely to be steady gainers. The Naboo Fighter (75092) and Sith Infiltrator (75096) will probably fly under the radar for a little while before picking up steam when fans realize that they missed their last chance at retail. Did anyone notice that the AAT 75080 quietly retired? Scene builders will want some of these, and won't be able to get them from retail. The Republic Gunship and AT-TE (75019 and 75021) will probably be highly sought in the near future.

Only time will tell if my predictions are right. I feel strongly that the old model has been destroyed by the (Disney) Empire. For better or worse, we should anticipate changes. In the past, OT sets were the safest bets, but with the anthology films coming, we'll see more and more of those. In addition, We'll likely see some movement on a few sleeping dogs. Imagine a Han Solo film or even one about Boba Fett without a hint of Jabba the Hutt. Unlikely I think. Now, imagine those disappointing Jabba's Palace and Sail Barge sets when TLG makes a smaller "Encounter with Jabba" set.

Really, it is better to anticipate change than to be caught unaware and have to catch up. If nothing else, it's all food for thought.

One addendum, premium sets like the UCS sets will always have their place and demand. That is unless The LEGO Group continues to dilute the brand with inferior playsets or future remakes.

May the bricks be with you . . . always.

Anybody who buys LEGO sets and bricks daydreams about a future in which one does not need to go to the store to obtain them. There will be no need to waste a half an hour or more in time and several dollars in gas from the drive going to their destination, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle. Not only that, but the time wasted being in the store and having to wait in long lines will be saved. In addition, there is a possibility that after all the wasted time, gas and effort, the retailer you are seeking this product from will not have what you seek. What's a consumer to do? Well, the first idea that comes to mind is Amazon.com. This online giant retailer will enable you to order tens of thousands of products from the comfort of your home and have it delivered to your doorstep in one day. But what's a person to do if the product is not available once again or is too expensive to ship or too fragile? I have a better solution...let's take a look.

Yes, now with the advent of the internet that Al Gore created for us… people can forego those antiquated procedures of trekking to a store and actually conversing with people. The ultimate solution comes straight out of Gene Roddenberry's imagination, into your screen via Star Trek, and what looks to be soon, straight into your home! I am speaking of the Star Trek Replicator...

The Star Trek Replicator has already become a reality through 3-D Printers. According to the website Wikipedia, a 3-D Printer/Printing is :

...a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. 3-D printing is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling (subtractive processes).

3-D printing is usually performed by a materials printer using digital technology. Since the start of the twenty-first century there has been a large growth in the sales of these machines, and their price has dropped substantially.[2]

The technology is used in jewelry, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, and many other fields.

The most well known 3-D Printer that has attracted mainstream media attention over the years is the MakerBot, founded roughly four years ago in 2009 by Adam Mayer, Zach Smith and Bre Pettis.

While mostly used by hobbyists, a few are trying to make money through producing small goods, like bottle cap openers and other small knickknacks. It is looked at as the beginning of what is to come. The MakerBot produces products in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polylactic acid (PLA), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). ABS plastic is of paramount importance for our discussion because that is what LEGO bricks are made of.

The newest incarnation from MakerBot goes by the name of The Replicator 2X, the same name used in Star Trek and goes for around $2,800.00. The Replicator 2X can produce objects in two colors and has taken over the 3-D Printing market since competitor 3-D printers, like the Thing-o-Matic, have been been discontinued. An even newer version, the CubeX, can print in three colors and goes for around $4,000.00. Even for those that lack the skill to be able to create their own products, MakerBot has a vast community made up of fellow hobbyists who create and share their designs for others to produce.

Other 3-D Printers exist and have even been shown on such popular shows such as This Old House. The $70,000 ZPrinter 650, by the Z Corporation, is one such example. To see what the future holds, watch this YouTube video segment from the show...

Like most revolutionary gadgets, their prices may be high to start and their processes slow, but in the next 10 to 20 years these gadgets should be able to produce detailed goods right in your home, at an affordable price. So what does this mean to LEGO investors and collectors? To the LEGO investor, it could mean that your retired sets will be valued at the level of vinyl records in today's age of digital music. There will still be a value in rare and vintage LEGO sets, but a decrease in your investment is a possibility. Why? Because LEGO fans will be able to easily reproduce an iconic set like the 10179 Millennium Falcon in their own parts, so why buy an old and expensive version...the box? Why buy a new LEGO set if you can reproduce them in your basement? This can lead to a possible demise of The LEGO Group itself.

Unfortunately for LEGO investors, your plastic brick empire will be the first to fall from the earliest mainstream 3-D Printing boom, compared to normal action figures which will fall in later upgrades, due to their simplistic shape and design. The days of making money off of “parting” brick pieces will be history due to the ease of printing whatever you need on a whim, and great for parents who deem LEGO an expensive toy for little Johnny or Jane! Free sourced data files by like minded tech savvies who deem the product too expensive will do to LEGO what many did to the music industry by sharing songs through file-sharing sites such as Napster founded by Sean Parker, Shawn Fanning, and John Fanning.

Who will need LEGO to produce bricks when you will be able to produce them cheaply yourself? Bigger sets. More creative sets. Cheaper sets. New colors. How about special bricks that MOCers have wanted LEGO to make for years, but have not had their wish granted? They can make their own “custom” LEGO bricks now. Not only that, the aftermarket MOC instruction business will explode with large and creative models that were only obtainable to a lucky few LEGO Master Builders years earlier. Some of the large CUUSOO models that were not approved because they were too big and pricey will be built by LEGO fans at reasonable prices.

Companies(...and not just toy companies like LEGO) will try to fight off 3-D Printers by slashing down their prices on their products to no avail. Companies will threaten lawsuits about patent infringement, but how can you stop people producing bricks in basements? Want to build a set from 2013? Want to build an exclusive or a new set from 2023 to 2033? No problem, just go on to one of the many Lego fan sites which will have instruction manuals for the vast majority of sets. The new cost of a LEGO brick will be the cost of the raw materials and some electricity to run the machine. No shipping, no gas, and the ability to have instant gratification! Century old companies will cling to lawsuits for survival and have sites taken down that have their patents. But the internet is too vast to stop the inevitability of these businesses going the way of the dinosaur. Beam me up, Scotty!

References:
1. "3D Printer Technology — Animation of layering". Create It Real. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
2. Sherman, Lilli Manolis. "3D Printers Lead Growth of Rapid Prototyping (Plastics Technology, August 2004)". Retrieved 2012-01-31.

Probably I'm not the only one surprised by the early retirement of several quite recent Star Wars sets. I decided to make an overview of all non-polybag Star Wars sets in Europe and in the United States. The list below is the result. It is divided in subs '2013', '2014', 'January 2015', 'during 2015'. At least in the Netherlands you can find toy stores that still have some of these retired and Shop-at-home-sold-out sets, some even from 2013. Hopefully you will find this list useful in your shopping efforts. Collecting and investing conclusions: below list. 

This list was last updated 25 March 2016. Updates can be seen under the list. 

2013

2014

JANUARY 2015 

DURING 2015  

All data were first gathered on the 25th of January 2016,  except the Ewok Village and Red 5, which data were gathered on the 27th of January 2016. Data thereafter amended corresponding to the updates listed below. References: Brickset, Brickpicker and Lego Shop at Home. Exp.: "expected shipping in case item is out of stock". Av.: "first date of availability of a set".

With retired sets, the number of available days is given. Green: more than two years availability. Orange: one to two years availability. Red: Less than one year availability.

Updates

• 27 January 2016
• 10236 Ewok Village and 10240 X-Wing Red 5 were added. Thanks @fossilrock for the tip. 
• 75058 MTT: changed from 'retired' in Europe to 'temporarily out of stock, retiring soon' in Europe.
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'available' in the US to 'out of stock, expected shipping Feb. 10 2016".
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'out of stock' to 'available' in Europe. 
• 75060 Slave I: changed from 'out of stock, exp. 29 Jan.' to 'exp. 9 Feb.' in Europe.
• 75079 Shadow Troopers: changed from 'out of stock, exp. 30 days' to 'exp. 7 Feb.' in US. 
• 75094 Tyderium Shuttle: changed from 'exp. 26 Jan.' to 'available' in Europe.
• 75095 UCS Tie Fighter: changed from 'exp. 26 Jan.' to 'available' in Europe.
• 75099 Rey's Speeder: changed from 'exp. 26 Jan.' to 'available' in Europe.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 29 Jan. to 'available' in Europe.
• 28 January 2016
• 10240 X-Wing Red 5: changed from 'temporary out of stock' to 'retired' in Europe. Note: was only 'temporary out of stock' for a few days; previous status: 'retired'.  
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'out of stock, expected shipping Feb. 10' to 'exp. Feb. 12' in US.
• 75075 AT-AT: changed from 'out of stock, expected shipping 29 Jan.' to 'available' in Europe.
• 75101 First Order Special Forces Tie Fighter: changed from 'out of stock, exp. shipping 29 Jan.' to 'available' in Europe.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'temporary out of stock' to 'available' in Europe. 
• 29 January 2016
• 10236 Ewok Village: changed from 'temporary unavailable' to 'available' in US.
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 12 Feb.' to '13 Feb.' in US.
• 75060 UCS Slave I: changed from 'exp. 7 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75078 Imperial Troop Transport: changed from 'exp. 26 Jan.' to 'available' in EU.
• 75079 Shadow Troopers: changed from 'exp. 7 Feb. US' to 'available' in US.
• 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Mar.' in US.
• 75096 Sith Infiltrator: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to '17 Mar.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 13 Feb.' in US.
• 30 January 2016
• 75078 Imperial Troop Transport: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 11 Feb.' in US. 
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'available' to 'temporary OOS' in EU.
• 31 January 2016
• 75078 Imperial Troop Transport: changed from 'exp. 11 Feb.' to 'exp. in 30 days' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 6 Feb.' to 'exp. in 30 days' in US.
• 1 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 1 Mar.' in EU.
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 13 Feb.' to '14 Feb.' in US.
• 75078 Imperial Troop Transport: changed from 'exp. in 30 days' to '14 Feb.' in US.
• 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter: changed from 'exp. 17 Mar. to '15 Feb.' in US.
• 75096 Sith Infiltrator: changed from 'exp. 17 Mar." to '15 Feb.' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. in 30 days' to 'exp. 6 Feb.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'exp. 13 Feb.' to '14 Feb.' in US.
• 2 February 2016
• 75060 UCS Slave I: changed from 'exp. 9 Feb.' to '8 Feb.' in EU.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 6 Feb.' to 'exp. in 30 days' in US.
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'temporary unavailable' to 'available' in EU.
• 3 February 2016
• 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter: changed from 'exp. 15 Feb. to '14 Feb.' in US.
• 75096 Sith Infiltrator: changed from 'exp. 15 Feb. to '14 Feb.' in US.
• 75095 UCS Tie Fighter: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 8 Feb.' in EU.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. in 30 days' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' in US.
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'available' to 'temporary unavailable' in EU.
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'available' to 'temporary unavailable' in EU.
• 4 February 2016
• 10236 Ewok Village: changed from 'exp. 9 Feb.' to 'available' in EU.
• 75058 MTT: says 'temporarily unavailable, retiring soon' but when clicking on entry it says 'sold out' in EU.
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 14 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75060 UCS Slave I: changed from 'exp. 8 Feb.' to 'available' in EU.
• 75078 Imperial Troop Transport: changed from 'exp. 14 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter: changed from 'exp. 14 Feb. to 'available' in US.
• 75095 UCS Tie Fighter: changed from 'exp. 8 Feb.' to 'available' in EU.
• 76096 Sith Infiltrator: changed rom 'exp. 14 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 10 Feb.' in EU.
• 75107 Jango Fett: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75111 Darth Vader: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75111 General Grievous: says 'temporarily unavailable' but when clicking on entry it says 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 5 February 2016
• 75058 MTT: changed from 'temporarily OOS retiring soon OR Sold out' to 'Sold out' in EU. 
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 19 Feb.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'exp. 14 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 10 Feb.' to 'exp. 10 Feb.' in EU.
• 75107 Jango Fett: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75111 Darth Vader: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 75112 General Grievous: changed from 'temporarily unavailable' OR exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' in EU.
• 6 February 2016
• 75058 MTT: changed from 'sold out' to 'not on the website' in EU.
• 7 February 2016
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 19 Feb.' to 'exp. 18 Feb. OR 19 Feb.' in US.
• 8 February 2016
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' OR 1'9 Feb.' to 'exp. in 30 days' OR '18 Feb.' in US.
• 75060 Slave I: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' in EU.
• 9 February 2016
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. in 30 days' OR '18 Feb.' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'exp. 10 Feb.' to 'exp. 25 Feb.' in EU.
• 75107 Jango Fett: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75111 Darth Vader: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75112 General Grievous: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' to 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 10 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' in US.
• 75060 UCS Slave 1: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' in US.
• 75082 Tie Advanced Prototype: changed from 'available' to 'exp. in 30 days' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' OR 'exp. in 30 days' in US.
• 75107 Jango Fett: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75111 Darth Vader: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 75112 General Grievous: changed from 'exp. 17 Feb.' OR exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' in EU. 
• 11 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' OR 'exp. 26 Feb.' in US.
• 75060 UCS Slave I: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 18 Feb.' OR 'exp. 26 Feb.' in US.
• 75085 Hailfire Droid: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 17 Mar.' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' OR 'exp. in 30 days' to 'exp. in 30 days' OR 'exp. 18 Feb.' in US. 
• 75107 Jango Fett: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' in EU. 
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' in EU. 
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' in EU. 
• 75111 Darth Vader: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' in EU. 
• 75112 General Grievous: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' to 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' in EU. 
• 12 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 26 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75060 Slave I: changed from 'exp. 26 Feb.' to 'available' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 18 Feb.' to 'exp. 30 days' in US.
• 75107 Jango Fett: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' to 'available' in EU.
• 75108 Clone Commander Cody: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' to 'available' in EU.
• 75110 Luke Skywalker: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' to 'available' in EU.
• 75111 Darth Vader: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' to 'available' in EU.
• 75112 General Grievous: changed from 'exp. 16 Feb.' OR 'available' to 'available' in EU.
• 14 February 2016: no changes vs. 12 February. 13 February not checked. 15 February not checked.
• 16 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'available' to 'exp. 29 Feb.' in US.
• 75059 Sand Crawler: changed from 'exp. 1 Mar.' to 'exp. 24 Feb.' in EU.
• 75060 Slave I: changed from 'exp. 19 Feb.' to 'available' in EU.
• 75082 Tie Advanced Prototype: changed from 'exp. 30 days' to 'exp. 29 Feb.' in US.
• 75085 Hailfire Droid: changed from 'exp. 17 Mar.' to 'available' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: changed from 'exp. 30 days' to 'exp. 29 Feb.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: changed from 'exp. 25 Feb.' to 'exp. 24 Feb.' in EU.
• 17 February 2016: no changes.
• 18 February 2016
• 75059 Sand Crawler: from 'exp. 24 Feb.' to 'available' in EU. 
• 22 February (19-21: not checked)
• 75059 Sand Crawler: from 'exp. 29 Feb.' to 'exp. 5 Mar.' in US.
• 75082 Tie Advanced Prototype: from 'exp. 29 Feb.' to 'exp. 5 Mar.' in US.
• 75093 Death Star Final Dual: from 'available' to 'exp. 6 Mar.' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: from 'exp. 29 Feb.' to 'exp. 10 Mar.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: from 'exp. 24 Feb.' to 'available' in EU.
• 1 March (22-29: not checked)
• 75059 Sand Crawler: from 'exp. 5 Mar.' to 'available' in US.
• 75082 Tie Advanced prototype: from 'exp. 5 Mar.' to 'available' in US.
• 75093 Death Star Final Dual: from 'exp. 6 Mar.' to 'available' in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: from 'exp. 10 Mar.' to 'exp. 14 Mar.' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: from 'available' to 'exp. 13 Mar.' in US.
• 25 March (2-24: not checked)
• 10240 Ewok Village: from 'available' to 'exp. 30 days' in US.
• 75034 Death Star Troopers: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75035 Kashyyyk Troopers: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75036 Utapau Troopers: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75037 Battle on Seleucami: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75040 General Grievous' Wheel Bike: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75043 AT-AP: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75044 Droid Tri-fighter: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75045 Republic AV-7 Anti-Vehicle Cannon: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75045 Coruscant Police Gunship: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75049 Snowspeeder: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75050 B-Wing: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75051 Jedi Scout Fighter: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75052 Mos Eisley Cantina: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75053 The Ghost: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75054 AT-AT: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75058 MTT: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75060 Slave I: from 'available' to 'exp. 7 Apr. in US.
• 75072 ARC-170 Starfighter: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75076 Republic Gunship: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75077 Homing Spider Droid: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75081 T-16 Skyhopper: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75083 AT-DP: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75084 Wookie Gunship: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter: from 'available' to 'exp. 21 Apr. in US.
• 75090 Ezra's Speeder Bike: from 'sold out' to RETIRED in US.
• 75095 UCS Tie Fighter: from 'available' to 'exp. 3 Apr. in US.
• 75102 Poe's X-Wing: from 'exp. 14 Mar.' to 'available' in US.
• 75105 Millennium Falcon: from 'exp. 13 Mar.' to 'exp. 3 Apr.' in US.

Conclusions and perceptions
(attention, SPOILER ALERT as regards which vehicles aren't featured in the new Star Wars movie!)

• In 2013 there were 26 new Star Wars sets. All have been retired or at least can't be found on LEGO Shop at Home anymore. 
• In 2014 there were 30 new Star Wars sets. In Europe all of these but the UCS Sand Crawler have already been retired. The Sand Crawler is out of stock until tomorrow (expectedly). The Sand Crawler is also the only available set in the United States. The 'sold out' sets will probably retire soon.
• Whether the Sand Crawler (the last surviving Star Wars set of 2014) will be retired soon, isn't clear. On the one hand, it's a special set (UCS). On the other hand, it isn't featured in The Force Awakens. I recommend you don't wait too long to buy this set, just to be sure. 
• If you happen to find any 2013 or 2014 sets on the shelves of your local toy store, now is probably your last chance to get them. 
• Beginning 2015 there were 20 new Star Wars sets. Remarkably, 9 of them have already retired, 1 sold out (in Europe). Several of the other sets being out of stock and none of them having specific reference to the new movie, it seems likely the remaining half of these sets will be retired soon. If you can find a retired 2015 set in your shop, now is the time. These will probably become collector items, having only been available during 1 year. Out of those sets I personally have highest expectations of 75083 AT-DP. 
• During 2015, 21 sets were issued. 7 of them deal with subjects found in the new movie. For easy reference, these are marked blue in the above schedule. Half of these sets are out of stock in Europe. I personally see this as an early retirement warning (especially for the non-Force-Awakens-sets), but opinions on this may differ. 
• For the sake of completeness: no sets exist for numbers 75026, 75027, 75047 and 75061 to 75071. According to Brickset, 75057 is going to be a 2016 Marvel set (?) and 75098 is going to be a 2016 Star Wars set. 
   

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BrickPicker.com was designed and created with the LEGO investor and collector in mind. Through the use of eBay's Terapeak data, we have given the LEGO enthusiast current prices and growth trends of various new and retired sets. We try to keep our information and data fresh and accurate and give the LEGO investors and collectors out there tools in which to make smart LEGO purchases. One such new investment tool we have included in our LEGO set data is called the CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate. It can be found on the top right hand corner of the Set Guide page:

The compound annual growth rate, also known as CAGR, is a formula that is applied to an investment(in our case, a LEGO set) to help determine the investment's annual smoothed* return. The final percentage that you get upon calculating the compound annual growth rate is a smoothed rate of return that shows the positive or negative growth of your investment over a specified period of time.

The CAGR can be used by LEGO investors and collectors to understand what an investment has historically yielded on a yearly basis. Obviously, this formula can’t predict what the future yields of a particular investment(LEGO set) will be, but it can be used as a barometer to gauge the investment's future viability within the market. This number can also be used to calculate an investment's average growth rate over several years.

The formula for calculating the compound annual growth rate of an investment uses the number of years in an investment period and the nth root of a growth rate’s total percentage. The formula is fairly straight-forward.

Using this formula, we can create an example of a compound annual growth rate based on an amazing fictitious LEGO set. As we research the LEGO set, we see that it has solid annual growth and is probably worth purchasing. In the year 2009 our amazing LEGO set had a beginning value of $100.00 after it was discontinued (EOL...End of Line). In 2010 the set jumped to $120.00. Then in 2011 the set ended at $150.00 and by 2012 was a hefty $250.00 for a MISB set. If we place these numbers into our formula, it will look something like this:

The amazing LEGO set that we purchased back in 2009 had an annual return rate of 35.72%. Not bad!

Using the CAGR formula allows us to take an investment's measure by eliminating the volatility, or the up-and-down changes that occur during the fiscal year. Overall, this gives us a much better impression of how the investment is actually performing than if we looked at it month-by-month or even week-by-week. CAGR is especially helpful when you are making decisions on long-term investments.

One very common use of the compound annual growth rate of investments is to compare two potential investments side-by-side. For our purposes, two or more LEGO sets can be compared to one another. This allows you to get a feel for how they are performing over a long period of time and make educated buying decisions. This formula can also be used to determine the growth of various LEGO sets within your own personal LEGO collection and help you decide which sets are keepers and which sets are heading to EBAY to be sold.

You may ask, “Why do we need to know data like this, these are just LEGO sets, not some stocks or bonds?” Well, while it is true that the topic of interest on this site is LEGO bricks, those popular little plastic toys, it is also true that when discussing these said LEGO bricks, the terms money, worth, price, evaluation and investing are also used in correlation with LEGO sets and bricks. LEGO sets and bricks are just the medium, or commodity, we are interested in. Just like other investors use stocks, bonds, gold, oil or whatever to buy and sell for a profit, a good majority of BrickPicker members want to make money from their “toys” and are curious as to their LEGO collection's current value and future prospects.

The CAGR is a useful tool for the LEGO investor and collector because it levels the playing field when comparing LEGO sets. It takes into consideration the investment years and time frame a set has been on the primary and secondary LEGO markets. It also accounts for compounding, which other data does not. While the CAGR number in itself is not an exact number on a yearly basis(in that it does not total up exact annual growth rates and find an average), it is a very useful guide when looking at how LEGO sets compare to one another in annual % growth(or in some cases, non-growth). Regardless of popularity, theme or set size, the CAGR formula converts some basic data(MSRP at release, current price, investment years) for LEGO sets into ONE simple number that can easily be compared to other sets, thus enabling the LEGO investor and collector to make educated LEGO purchases. I hope you find it useful...

* The term "smoothed" in finance and accounting circles means to remove “peaks and valleys” from data and results

We would like to give a special thank you to one of our users TheBrickMeister (aka Brad) for enlightening us to this type of calculation. It's very valuable information that will go a long way to making the site better and more information for all of our users.

One of the most exciting times for a LEGO investor results from visiting LEGO S@H (LEGO's online storefront), looking for a particular set and suddenly realize there is a tag with the following message: "Retired Product"; Expectation and hope suddenly becomes joy.

If you are reading this article, odds are you are already familiar with the concept of EOL (End Of Line), but just in case I think it would be appropriate to summarize what it means. LEGO produces different sets along the year, and each design has a planned life cycle that only the company Execs. are aware of. Once this cycle is completed, the set goes out of production to make room for a new design, usually meaning that to acquire the already retired set a prospective buyer will need to go to the secondary market (Us!). As with anything, this decrease in supply will, hopefully, translate into an increase in set value and help the investor get a decent return of his/her investment.    

What is the problem, then? If we know that sets retire after a couple years of being in production why do we even worry about exactly when this will happen?; Well, that's the million dollar question, LEGO is now known for being very secretive AND not really consistent when it comes time to retire a particular set. This means that while an specific modular might retire 2 years after introduced, the next may last 3 or 4 years before it is pulled out of the shelves.

Having no concrete knowledge of when a set is retiring transforms into a dilemma for almost every single investor. With limited funds and an objective of maximizing profits and turnover, purchasing sets that are as close to retirement as possible becomes the most efficient way to be successful. Of course, this means that, occasionally , some investors will completely miss out on a popular set that retired before they expected OR will be left holding onto sets that will not retire for 2 or 3 more years! Tying their money, and space, for such a long period of time is definitely not the best way to make their business as efficient as possible.

But, how can we as investors have any clue about when a particular set is to be retired? Well, there is really no clear cut answer. Even though there are some clues and events that may indicate a set is nearing retirement, there is usually an understandable controversy surrounding every single one of the "leading indicators". My point is that, while I tried to collect and summarize some of the possible signs suggesting retirement, none of these should really be taking as the one and only guide when developing an investing strategy. My objective is only to list them and give mostly new investors an idea of some of the things we talk about more deeply in the forums.

LEADING INDICATORS:

1- Retiring Soon Tag

Clearly, one of the most telling events in a set's life is when LEGO S@H assigns the tag "Retiring Soon". Even though it may seem that this event pretty much guarantees a sooner than later retirement, the process is definitely not as straightforward. One of the things that may happen is a set with the tag lingering on the shelves and online storefront for months after the tag has been assigned. This could be a way for LEGO to "Clearance" a set without actually lowering the price, basically pushing potential buyers to make a purchase before the set goes away forever. Another thing to consider is that most of the products that retire never even get the tag assigned to them at all. Think of the Haunted House model that according to the majority of the investors is as close to official retirement as it is going to get. The set never had the Retiring Soon tag, it basically went from being In Stock, to Backorder and finally to Sold Out. This is a more common transition, especially with the larger exclusives.

2- Sudden, and deep, discount in official LEGO outlets

As above, this is another sign that most of the sets do not ever show. However, opposite to the Retiring Soon tag, once a set experiences a deep discount from LEGO stores and S@H (think 30% or more), it is almost a certainty that it will be retired within the next couple of weeks. As you can imagine, once a set is discounted in this manner it goes to Sold Out status in a matter of days if not hours. [img url="http://community.brickpicker.com/uploads/2014/10/Untitled1.png" cks="responsive"]   The image above shows sets with both the Retiring Soon tag and the "Sale Price" discount.

3- LEGO Limits

This is one of the most controversial items on the list, and for good reason. As most of the members in the forums know, LEGO is known by limiting the amount of a same set you can purchase, especially the hard to find exclusives. Most of the time, the limits start at 5 per household and seem to be lowered as a set is nearing retirement, usually to 2 or 1. Having said that, there really is no clear evidence indicating that this pattern actually correlates to going EOL, and several sets a year completely deviate from this perceived pattern.

4- Time on the Shelves

Again, a very difficult sign to interpret. It seems that in years past LEGO was a little more predictable when it came to figuring out how long a particular set would be available for. Estimates and comments seem to place the average availability of a set at around 2 years, but as most of you know LEGO seems to have been extending the life of popular sets for 4 or more years!. However, with some exceptions *cough, DS*, once a set has been available for 3 or more years and is sharing shelf space with newer and similar models (think Modulars), it is pretty safe to assume that retirement will come sooner rather than later, making it OK to start stocking up.

5- Production Run Codes

For an introduction to Production codes, please go HERE This somewhat recent discovery can also be considered helpful to help determine potential EOL. If we as investors see a set available in 2015 that has been showing some of the other signs of retirement, and discover that the production codes indicate current inventory came from several months ago, it could lead us to believe that LEGO has stopped production of the set and is simply waiting for the last batch to be completely sold out. As with any of the other indicators, tread carefully when using production codes.

6- Retired Product Tag

Finally, the Holy Grail of LEGO investing. Once a set is assigned this tag on LEGO S@H, its death is official. This is the tag that generates more joy and excitement among the community members and, other than being able to find the set at other retailers (notably TRU & B&N), it means that any opportunity to acquire this set is pretty much gone.

Finally!

In the end, the point is that there is no sure way to determine if a set is nearing its retirement. The best we can all do is take a look at all of these signs in aggregate and share our opinions in the forums hoping for that beautiful day when the Retired Product tag shows up in LEGO S@H. Thanks for reading.  

Will box damage reduce the value of my sets when it is time to sell them?

We have all asked ourselves this question at some point, and it is actually seen on the forums relatively often, so I think it is time to evaluate a little more in depth how much does box condition really matter for the LEGO investor once it is time to get rid of some of those sets we have stored in our closets (or whole rooms, if you are lucky).

There are very different types of damage to consider, ranging from the typical small creased corner, passing through the 2cm puncture, to the the run of the mill completely trashed box. It has been my personal experience that most of these does not really matter much when it comes the time to sell the sets, mostly due to the fact that the large majority of people who buy LEGO in the secondary market do so to build them instead of as an investment, and as a result most of them have absolutely no use for an empty box. However, I will take a more objective approach in this article and find actual examples of sets sold over the past two months on eBay with different levels of box damage and try to compare to the same sets in MISB condition. This comparison will really give us a pretty good idea about how justified are the worries of some investors regarding the condition of their boxes.

Let's see some examples and compare the prices each auction ended up selling for against each other as well as Brickpicker's Price Guide (New). Again, this are all SOLD listings.

Example 1: Quidditch Match 4737 (BIN)

Example 2: Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider 9449 (Auction Style)

Example 3: Dino 5888 Ocean Interceptor (BIN) 6 copies, same damage.

Example 4: Heartlake Vet 3188 (BIN) 5 sold sets

Example 5: B-Wing 10227 (Auction Style)

So far, this have all been relatively cheap or even still available in stores, let's see some examples of more expensive retired sets.

Example 6: Boeing 787 Dreamliner 10177 (BIN)

Example 7: Grand Carousel 10196 (BIN) The seller did not have a picture of the damage, but in his description he notes: "Box had other boxes stored on top and the set box is mashed in on the top and one corner. The damage is not all that bad but if you are looking for a pristine box then do not buy this one."

*There is one sold listing for around $1,700 included in the mean. Example 8: Cafe Corner 10182 (Auction Style)

Apparently, there is now way for me to go back more than 60 days of my own sold listings so I won't be able to actually place the pictures in here of my own personal damaged box sales, but I can at least tell you about some of them

Example 9: Hogwarts Express 4841 (BIN) Completely trashed box, dented, crushed, creases everywhere.

Example 10: Imperial Shuttle 10212 (BIN) This one was way back when the price was hovering around $ 320 (Feb-Mar). Sold two in a week, one MISB one damaged for the exact same price. (Price guide value from Mar 13)

Now that you have seen first hand the real impact box damage has on the value of your sets, I would like to leave you with some comments.

First of all, it is very important you take into consideration that most of the time a set with box damage will end up being significantly cheaper for you as an investor than one that is MISB. For example, on the recent Amazon Haunted House and AA sale a few weeks back several members, including myself, received boxes in bad shape. I can't tell you what some of the others did, but I did contact Amazon who suggested sending me a replacement for the set at the same price, or that I kept the set for a discount that ended up being $ 36, bringing the set down to around $ 100!. This is not something uncommon when dealing with Amazon, as most of the time they prefer to discount a significant percentage of the price instead of going over all the hassle and cost that involves getting a set back from a customer and issuing a replacement. This is not unique to Amazon, however, as you will probably get the same treatment by customer oriented sellers with great reputations on eBay and even with some of the other major retailers.

Another thing that you have to consider relates to when you actually decide to sell the damaged box set. If you are listing on eBay you are better served by making very obvious that your item comes damaged both in the title and in the description. This is one of those cases were you don't want to downplay the level of damage your box presents in hopes of getting more money, as the buyer could very well ask for a refund/discount or even file a SNAD (Significantly Not As Described) case, in which case the probabilities of you losing both the set and the money are relatively high.

So, when selling sets with damaged packaging I suggest including something to the effects of *DAMAGED BOX* in the title and then once again in the description with a more detailed explanation. Of course, you also need to add several images showing every single crease or imperfection, for those buyers who just don't like to read the descriptions. Even then, you might get some complaints, but that is true of pretty much every listing. If you are really worried about this though, you can even message the buyer before shipping to confirm he knows he is getting a "damaged" item.

Finally, when selling these type of product (I would say always, even) use the Buy It Now format. By listing the price you want, as long as it is realistic, you will pretty much secure exactly the amount you are expecting. The special problem with listing damaged boxes in auction format is that you don't know if the buyer you are looking for will come during the 7 days your item will be listed for sale. With BIN you will have plenty of time to get a buyer who is not really interested in the box at all to purchase your item. If you want to see cases in which box condition does seem to have an impact, it will almost always be in auction style listings.

Those are the three major factors to consider when investing in damaged boxes. As with anything, there are pros and cons, but I consider that in this case the benefits (discounts on price / higher profits) outweigh the costs (more time listing / somewhat higher risk).

One last thing I would like to mention relates to highly collectable items, like a 1st Edition 10179 or similar sets. In those rare cases you are in fact better served to secure a MISB set in order to maximize your profits when it comes to sell it. Having said that, there are really not that many sets that would fall into this category.

I hope I have put some of your concerns to rest when it comes to holding onto those damaged boxes. As you could see yourself, most of the time the impact they have on your profits is negligible and certainly well less than what you usually get in the form of discounts when originally purchased.

Thanks for reading.

*Whether your item sells or not will also depend on your feedback and listing terms. I know this is pretty obvious, but wanted to include this note just in case.

Here is the list of current and upcoming polybags in the LEGO world.  If you've found a polybag that's not on this list, or have any update to give us, please note it in the comments below.  This information is put together from a number of different sources on the Internet, including real world reports. Availability in your area may vary.  This information is US-based.  These are from within the last 12 months.

Polybags Currently Available

Polybags Coming Soon

Polybags That Appear to be Unavailable

Editor's Note: Here is another great article written by one of our members, Mos_Eisley. This article covers an issue that many collectors face and answers questions for those that are just starting their LEGO collections. Mos_Eisley received 500 BrickPoints for having this article published on the site. -Jeff

So you’ve decided to enter the dark and alluring world of LEGO investing. Soon you’ll be scouring the internet every day for all the best deals, stopping at every Target and Walmart (maybe a Toys ‘R Us here and there if you’re feeling lucky) you pass in the hopes of finding some great clearance discounts, and explaining to your significant other that this is not weird. But once you pick up all these great finds, what do you do with them? It doesn’t take long before a collection of MISB LEGO sets can become overwhelming:

I’ll get into specific storage ideas later, but first a little background on my experiences so far. When I first started dabbling in LEGO investing, I was able to hide my prizes away in a spare closet. It didn’t take long though before the sets became too much for the closet and started to spill out into the spare bedroom. While I thought it was awesome to have a room littered with sets, not everyone else in the house agreed. I soon realized that if I was going to continue doing this, I was going to need a better solution. After filling the closet and the rafters above the garage, I knew my only option was to get a storage unit. Obviously, renting a storage unit can really start to add up, so for most, making room somewhere in your house is a better option. Since I didn’t have any other choice, I found a nice, clean storage facility near my house and got myself an inside, 5’x10’ unit.

This was really nice. Now, every time I made a purchase, I just stopped by the unit and unloaded the sets. No more mess at home. For about two years I was able to contain everything very tightly packed in the 5’x10’ space. During this time I wasn’t selling any of my sets and it was time to expand again. I moved everything into another storage facility, using a 10’x10’ space this time. Once again, this was able to contain my collection for another two years. After this one was filled, I got an additional 5’x10’ unit to hold the overflow.

At this point, I felt that I had too many sets, too much money tied up and that it was time to start selling some of the collection. I had done a really poor job of keeping my sets organized. In an effort to maximize storage space, I had just packed everything into the unit from wall to wall and floor to ceiling so there was no way of getting to the sets in the back rows. I rented a 10’x20’ space and methodically moved everything from the smaller units into the larger unit. Although slightly more organized, I still had never invested in any type of shelving for storing my sets. I simply stacked the sets as tightly and as high as I could again:

After selling about half of my collection, I decided it was time to store everything properly. I invested in eleven metal racks from The Home Depot and I have been very happy with the results. My 10’x 20’ is now filling up, even with my inventory stacked all the way to the ceiling, but at least most sets are relatively easy to access.

The point of all this is to understand that storing MISB LEGO sets takes a lot of space. Putting away a few sets here and there isn’t an issue, but if you really want to buy a lot of sets, you will need a lot of space to store them all. Not to mention quite a bit of time, patience and money.

That’s a cute story, but how should I store my sets? Let’s take a look at some options:

1) JUST THE SET

Whether you’re storing your sets in a closet, cabinet, basement, attic or storage unit, simply take your sets and stack them on shelves, floors, or anywhere else you can find room for them. This is the least expensive method and it requires the least amount of space. Standing your sets like books is the safest method for protecting the boxes, and it also looks cool to see all those sets lined up like a LEGO set library:

LEGO boxes aren’t very sturdy, so when you start piling them on top of each other, the bottom box(es) will eventually collapse, which can lead to also damaging the boxes at the top of the stack if they go tumbling to the floor. A Chrome C-3PO vanishes every time someone stacks their investment sets in this manner:

If you have no choice and need to stack your sets unprotected, be sure to create an overlapping stack as if you were building with bricks:

Stacking like this will better protect the boxes and allow you to stack higher with less chance of your stack eventually crushing the lower boxes and tipping over. Regardless of how you store unprotected sets, try to avoid stacking them against walls and consider putting acid-free kraft paper between sets and/or any walls. Over time, the boxes can begin to stick to the walls and each other. You’ll want the sets close together though because bricks will settle at the bottom of the box when standing on edge. This pressure can cause the boxes to bow and the seals to sometimes break loose if there is space around the box.

The main problem with this method is that your sets are unprotected from dust and damage. The more you have to move the sets, the more shelf wear and other damage you are bound to cause to the boxes, potentially lowering your eventual return. Sure, a damaged, retired set will still fetch a fine price, but collectors will appreciate and pay for the chance of getting a pristine box.

PROS: inexpensive, easy, space-saving, you can actually see all your sets
CONS: no protection for your investment, stacking limitations

2) STORE MULTIPLE SETS IN LARGER BOXES

When I first started collecting for investment, this is how I stored my sets. When LEGO ships sets to stores, they come in cartons that usually have multiples of the same set. How many sets these shipping cartons contain depends on the set’s box size. Battle packs arrive in cartons of eight. Huge sets like 10188 Death Star and 10179 Millennium Falcon come one per carton. Sets like 7965 Millennium Falcon and 4184 Black Pearl come in shipping cartons that contain two sets. 7785 Arkham Asylum and 6210 Jabba’s Sail Barge came in cartons that had three sets inside:

There are many more sizes. These boxes are great because they are the exact size of the various sets you will want to store in them. Two 2507 Fire Temples can be safely stored in a carton that takes up nearly an identical amount of space as the two sets would take if they sat unprotected on a shelf. Not only are the sets more protected in general, but now you can safely stack more sets on top of these sets without having to worry about crushing them. Still use caution when stacking though because although LEGO ships sets in these containers, they aren’t necessarily the strongest boxes around. An overlapping stack of sets in their original shipping cartons is far more stable than the same stack of unprotected sets.

Not everyone has access to these shipping cartons, and not all sizes are ideally stored in their original cartons. I don’t want to deal with five or six small cartons of battle packs. Instead, I’ve found that the medium moving boxes from The Home Depot are perfect for storing 54 battles packs:

Using these moving boxes, you can easily and safely store and move a lot of sets at a time. The Home Depot has several sizes, but I find the medium ($1.12 each) and large ($1.36 each) to be the most useful. You can fill them up with quite a few of the medium and smaller sized sets, throw them in a closet and not have to worry about your sets being damaged the next time you need to move them. For extra protection, you can wrap each set in acid-free craft paper or bubble wrap when you place them in the moving box to reduce any possible damage from the sets sticking or rubbing against each other. Depending on the weather in your area, you may want to enclose each set in plastic to protect against humidity, regardless of which storage method you choose. Using moving boxes is a great way to go. For less than $2.00, you can easily protect many of your investments. Since LEGO sets vary in size, you won’t always perfectly fill the moving box, which means you are taking up a little more space than you might if you just had your sets stacked in the same space. However, using moving boxes will allow you to utilize vertical space that you can’t safely do with just the sets alone. Be sure to label the contents of your boxes so that you don’t have to dig through all of them to find the set you want!

PROS: better protection of sets, less expensive, easy, allows for vertical stacking
CONS: can take up a little more space, can’t see your sets

3) STORE SETS INDIVIDUALLY IN SHIPPING BOXES

I feel this is the absolute safest method for storing sets for investment. Although it is by far the most expensive and space consuming, I feel it is worth it to not only properly protect the sets, but also have them ready to ship:

As I said earlier, I used the second method when I first started storing sets. The first year I did a lot of selling, I found myself spending way too much time each night packaging orders. Since most sets were expensive and sold individually, I figured I may as well have the sets stored so that they were ready to ship. After switching to this method, the next time I sold it was a much better experience. I was getting the same amount of orders processed in less than half the time.

There are many sources for shipping boxes. My first shipping boxes came from boxes that were going to be thrown away at various stores. These were free. That’s about the only good thing I can say about them. They were often a little (or very) dirty, smelly, damaged, and you never knew exactly what sizes you might get. Shipping in boxes that aren’t the right size can cost you extra in postage and packing supplies, and possibly damage the sets if you don’t properly package them.

If you plan on shipping using the U.S. Postal Service, they provide free Priority Mail shipping boxes. Since most sets weigh more than 13 ounces, you will have to ship via Priority Mail, so you may as well use their free boxes. They come in various sizes that will work well with smaller sets like 9471 Uruk-hai Army, 4866 The Knight Bus and 7869 Battle For Geonosis:

Once you start getting into the larger sets, you’ll need to find another source for boxes. Uline.com is one of the best. They have just about every size you could ever need. I usually get three different sizes from them and these hold most of the sets I save.

• 19”x 12”x 3” ($1.06) – perfect for the $50-$60 sets that come in boxes like 6212 X-wing Fighter and 7628 Peril in Peru
• 20”x 16”x 4” ($1.46) – great for $75-$120 sets like 10219 Maersk Train and 6210 Jabba’s Sail Barge
• 24”x 16”x 4” ($1.29) – ideal for $100-$150 sets with boxes the size of 8038 The Battle of Endor and 10217 Diagon Alley

There are a couple other sizes I use as well, but this article is probably too long already! All the above boxes are sold in quantity minimums of 25. The more you buy of each size, the lower the prices, but you must buy in bundles of 25. You’ll notice that the smaller 20”x 16”x 4” box above is more expensive than the 24”x 16”x 4”. You can buy the cheaper 24” box and keep/ship those smaller sets in them, but for me I don’t want to waste the extra 4” of shipping box when I don’t have to.

The individually boxed method is great, but probably not for everyone. Buying lots of shipping boxes gets expensive. You’ll eventually get the money back when you sell the sets, but in the meantime you have money tied up in shipping boxes that you could have invested in more sets. The shipping boxes are also not the exact size of the sets, so there is usually a fair amount of wasted space around the sets. Generally, two sets individually boxed take up about as much space as three of the same set without any protection. However, my ultimate goal is to provide future buyers with sets that are in near perfect condition so it is worth it to me to lose some space and investment money. Like the above method, consider using acid-free craft paper, bubble wrap or plastic to protect the sets inside the boxes. Make sure to label the contents!

PROS: best protection of sets, can stack higher, sets are ready to ship
CONS: expensive, takes up a lot of space, can’t see your sets

4) A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

I currently use a mix of methods two and three. Eventually I will use all three, having one of each set out for display, but right now I just don’t have the space for it. I like method three for the protection it gives sets and the fact that I can easily and quickly ship sets when the time comes for it. I like method two because it allows for a better use of space. I also individually box sets, then put them in the moving boxes so that I am able to safely stack sets higher than I could otherwise:

THE WRAP-UP

Regardless of which method you use, you will probably need some sort of shelving system eventually. Most stores like Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, The Home Depot and IKEA have many shelving options. I like these two that are available at The Home Depot:

The plastic one on the left is only $26.87 and the metal one on the right is $83.97. I chose the metal one since it’s a little sturdier and has easily adjusted shelves to maximize space. There are plenty of options between these price ranges, and more expensive ones.

For long term storage of sets, make sure to consider the weather where you will be storing them. LEGO bricks shouldn’t be stored in extreme temperatures. If your garage or attic will get below freezing or extremely hot, keep your sets in the climate controlled areas of your home. ABS plastic can handle temperatures from -4 to 176 ºF but that doesn’t mean that stickers in the sets and seals on the boxes will like those temperatures. Humidity can also cause damage to boxes and instructions, cause stickers to peel, seals to come loose, and various other problems if the sets contain metal or wiring. If humidity is an issue where you live, you should try to store your sets in air tight plastic bags if possible. If you keep your sets out, direct sunlight will cause fading to the box art.

One final recommendation is to keep your sets away from exterior brick walls and off the ground or floor! You probably won’t be experiencing really high flood waters, so just a few inches should do. If you keep your sets on the floor, boxed or not, and any kind of moisture comes in contact with them, you are going to lose a lot of value. You’ll likely have to open the set to find out what condition your instructions, stickers and parts are in.

LEGO investing is a fun, but expensive endeavor. Be sure to protect your investments!

Tracking your Lego investments is one of the most important topics that are discussed on the BrickPicker forums.  Since I see quite a few questions popping up on the forums about how to keep track of your Lego investments, I figured I’ll write a blog article about it and maybe some of you will find it helpful.

Terminology

First we need to get our terminology straight as it will help us to pick out appropriate tools for the job.  There are few ways you can treat your Lego business.

1. Long term investment-You buy complete brand new sets hold them for a period of more than one year and sell them at a premium after those sets are discontinued.
2. Short terms investment- You buy new sets now on sale and at discount and hold them for a period of less than one year and sell them during holiday rush at a premium.  I would lump arbitrage investment here as well, where you buy sets in US for cheap and sell them on eBay international to take advantage of currency rate and pricing differentials.
3. Flipping Used Sets- You buy used sets, usually in lots, rehab them to completion put them together, (The fun part if you are an AFOL and/or have Little Legomaniacs around the house), take pictures and sell them on eBay.
4. Parting out, PAB, Lego pounds-Well... the title says it all.

Now the question is what can we use to keep financial record of our business?  We need to examine each individual point and see where it falls and what is important to us.

Long Term investment -What is important?  Our cost basis, our annualized return on investment, record of lots purchased and timing of those lot purchases.  It is quite likely that we will be purchasing same items over the course of year or two for different prices before we sell it so our calculations need to account for that blending as well as holding periods.

Short Term investment and flipping used sets - We can treat it one of two ways as a short term investment or as a retail business that carries inventory. For the purpose of this paragraph let’s treat it as a short term investment.  Annualized rate of return is no longer important we are holding it for less than a year.  We basically can resort to simple cost and profit calculation. Revenue-Cost=Profit.

Parting out, PAB, Lego pounds - In my humble opinion if you are heavily involved in this type of investment you are better off treating it as a retail business with inventory. So what is the difference?  In investment scenario you are concerned with cost basis and sale price. In a business scenario to be successful you need to be concerned with properly matching revenue and expenses.  Let me illustrate the difference.  I am simplifying some things from GAAP and tax accounting but the illustration will hold true.

Short term investment

Business Accounting-double sided bookkeeping

So if you are heavily involved in parting out and bulk bricks you might as well treat your flipping as a retail business model.  If you don’t do a lot of parting out then treating flipping as short term investment is easier.

Choosing appropriate tools for the task

Now we are ready to discuss the tools and I will go backwards on the list.   If you choose a retail model I strongly recommend investing into QuickBooks pro.  It natively supports inventory, double sided accounting, general ledgers profit and loss reports and much, much more.  At $250 retail and there are many coupons floating around, it is very affordable and keeps you sane.  Also comes tax time it can provide you with more opportunities for deductions. As a side note if you make significant amount of money from this activity and live in US. I suggest establishing LLC or Corp and a separate business checking account.  Cost for registering Corp. or LLC is nominal, it does not require an attorney can be done online and it protects you legally.  In the most basic sense Corp and you are two separate legal entities and you are generally not personally liable for misdeeds of the corp.  There are of course exceptions to this rule but they involve fraud, negligence and certain poorly executed contractual obligations. You don’t have to quit your day job to register LLC or Corp.

Short Term Investing - Excel and some intermediate formulas is all you need.  Let’s start with layout.  For my template I chose a logical left to right vs mathematical format.  I buy the set if it is used I rehab it and incur cost along the way I sell it and incur selling costs (eBay, PayPal commissions.)  For the sake of my blood pressure I chose not to track packing costs separately I do incorporate them in my sale’s price  or I inflate shipping a little bit to cover my supplies.  Trying to keep them separate in excel will very quickly turn into running your business as a business with inventory and I can live with slightly inflated performance view of my investments.  We also need at least two tabs on the spreadsheet one for tracking details one for summary reporting. Once you’re done with your headers go ahead and click this   button on your excel Home Tab toolbar.  This will add named ranges to your spreadsheet and will allow you to extend your ranges by Tabbing into the next row.  I’m assuming you are using 2007 and up excel version. First 6 columns are self-explanatory.  Purchase Price per 1 set is actually a weighted average formula so I must digress to explain what weighted average is and why I choose to use it.  

Digression begins:

I buy a used lot of six sets for a $100.  

  If I use simple average method to determine cost per each set it comes out to be $16.6 each.  Now let’s say I need to spend $3  on bricklink  to rehab 8016 I look at the market price of 12.73 and say to myself that I’m already in a hole for this set and I’ll just throw it in a trash and I’ll be wrong and lose profit in the process.    My cost per set should be allocated based on that set’s market value weight in my purchased lot.  Here’s how we do it.

1.  Determine Set’s percent contribution/weight to market value of the lot (Set Market value/Total market value of the lot)
2. Allocate Purchase cost to the set.  (Lot total cost X Set Weight from step one)

Based on that my 8036 cost is now only (17.47/248.47) X 100= $7.03.  Spending $3 to rehab it still leaves me with a healthy profit. 

Digression ends

Back to purchase price per 1 set formula it looks like this rewritten with column headers vs cell references. ((Set Market price*Quantity)/SUMPRODUCT((Entire column where my lot numbers are="Lot 1")*(Set market price entire column)*(Lot Cost entire column)))*(Lot cost cell/Quantity cell). Sumproduct formula explanation is in order.  In its very basic form sumproduct multiplies ranges of columns and delivers sum of multiplications.

Sumproduct of these four cells is 13  2*2+3*3.  

I use it here to test conditions.  SUMPRODUCT((Entire column where my lot numbers are="Lot 1") will either return 1 or 0 for each row because it’s either my lot 1 or not from there the rest of the formula will either be 0 or the value since 0 multiplied by any value is 0.  With this formula all you have to do is populate your total lot cost for every row in that lot and adjust the formula slightly for each lot to have excel automatically calculate weighted average price per set in a lot.

Total purchase price per quantity =Quantity*Purchase price per 1 set

Lot number -we need to populate for every row to have the sumproduct formula work for us.  Simple copy paste does the trick.

Lot cost -we need that to have our weighted average price per set formula to work

Set Market price - comes straight from BP Maybe premium members will be allowed to connect via ODBC to it.  Hint Hint.

Bricklink cost=Cost to rehab the set.

Sale price- Well… your sales price

Qty sold is your qty sold

Gross Revenue- IFERROR(Sale price*Qty Sold,0)+Shipping charged-Shipping Paid. I put error handling in here because I use Sale price column to write in status of my sets i.e. Listed, waiting for parts etc.  With this iferror formula it will return zero if I don’t have a valid sales price in that row.  I also have shipping spread added to my gross revenue because I’m still experimenting with pricing to cover my packaging costs.

Shipping charged and Paid were already explained.

EBay insertion fee- you can use that to keep track of those.

eBay FV fee -IFERROR(0.1*(Sale Price*Qty sold+Shipping Charged),0) again error handling here and your standard 10 percent eBay commission on sales+shipping.

PayPal Fee - FERROR(0.029*(Sale Price*Qty Sold+shipping charged)+0.3*Q,0) very straightforward  PayPal fee of 2.9% + 30cents per transaction. Shipping in both eBay FV formulas and PayPal Fee formulas are user populated.  I am assuming that shipping could be different for any two items sold from the same lot and you can use simple arithmetic to add to the shipping.

Net Revenue- IFERROR(Sales Price*Quantity+Shipping Charged-Shipping Paid-eBay Insertion Fee-eBay FV fee-PayPal Fee,0).  I incorporated this column to have a little fun with analytics when it is time for me to think about opening eBay store.

Total Cost- SUM(Total purchase price for qty,Bricklink cost, EBay FV fee, PayPal Fee)

Profit is your total gross revenue-Total cost. Profit Margin or more accurately net profit margin is IFERROR(Profit/(Purchase price for qty+Bricklink cost),0).   With all this out of the way  here’s a screen shot of the populated details

Entirely useless and confusing for analysis.  That’s why we need a summary tab and a pivot table in it. To create a pivot table  go to your insert tab and click pivot table button

You will see popup like the one below, Click on the button on the right and select the range where your detail data is.  And just follow the prompts from there.

You will end up with a blank pivot table and list of available fields

At this point you can start to experiment by dragging fields from the top right section of the minipivot into the different areas of the bottom right section. The populated pivot table  in the screenshot summarizes my performance per lot purchased. I can get as detailed or as high level as I want and have multiple pivots side by side for quick dash boarding analysis with just a few clicks. Ok we are done with short term investment tracking.  

Long Term investing

Using Excel for long term investment tracking becomes an exercise in advanced excel and quite frankly is not worth the effort.  Most of us already have personal accounting software like Quicken Premiere that supports investment tracking natively.

Go to your tools menu and then select add account option.  You will see this screen.  

Click on Brokerage under Investing and retirement. Once the next screen comes up click Advanced setup link at the bottom of the screen.

Select  I want to enter my transactions manually on the screen that appears and click next.

Name your account and click next

Next screen you can skip or enter information on it if you have startup cash that you are allocating towards your purchases

I suggest you skip this screen and start fresh.

Select No on this screen

Done! Click Finish

  Now find your newly created account it should be in investing section of the left sidebar and click on it. We have a clean slate time to enter some transactions

  Double click on the first line and you’ll see the popup below. Change Enter Transaction drop down list to Buy-Shares Bought And populate your information.  You also have an option here to select your cash account or credit card as source of funds for this purchase. 

And then hit enter/new button

My ticker is my set number. Hit Next

  Quicken will protest and we’ll have to tell it to shut up and hit next

Here you can actually assign asset class to your Lego portfolio.

Fire brigade belongs to Large Cap in my opinion, Dolphin cruiser would probably be Mid Cap. And hit Done

.  

Rinse and repeat until you’re done with your transactions.  Of course you can type this info in directly into ledger screen if you wish.

Pretty soon your ledger screen will look busy.

Click on holdings button

Now right click on your investment  and select price history from submenu, click on New and enter new price.  I suggest doing it once a month to have a good historical representation.

And That is all folks!!!.    

Lego store displays are rare for the most part. These plexiglass covered, Lego dioramas can be found at any local Toy R' US or Target. The thing that makes them rare is that they are not for sale to the public from Lego or any department store. Rumor has it that they are supposed to be destroyed or returned to Lego when they are done being displayed, yet somehow, some find their way onto eBay and similar auction sites.

Displays can range in size and shape. I have seen tiny minifigure displays from the San Diego Comic Con to large, 4 foot cases with 4-5 complete sets inside. Most Lego displays are glued together from Lego and cannot be taken apart. Some are lighted, some have movement, some have sound or a combination of all three. In short, there is a display for most of the major Lego categories and most Lego fans favorite set types.

But the question remains, are they worth anything? And if they are worth something, how do they compare to a regular Lego set that is new or a used one that is complete? Let's take a look at a variety of Lego displays.

The Lego Collector displays from the San Diego Comic Con or similar Lego expositions probably are the safest bets when investing in displays.

A display similar to the above General Grievous display is a numbered set from Lego and is limited in it's production. Most sold in the $25-$50 range at the show, yet on eBay, these displays bring back double that amount. The Lego store displays are a little trickier when it comes to figuring out investment value. As I stated earlier, it's really up to an individual buyer to set a price for an item. A large, 4 foot display can run anywhere from $100-$500 on eBay. One thing is certain, displays containing STAR WARS sets(such as the one below), bring in more money than a similar sized non STAR WARS display(similar to the Agents display below).

Both sets are the same size and contain about the same amount of sets, yet STAR WARS Legos almost always bring back more money in auctions. Another consideration is the size of a display. These 4 foot store displays make an awesome impression in person, but they are huge to be honest. Lego seems to be downsizing some displays so that they are attractive in appearance, yet don't take up too much shelf space.

The smaller size decreases the value of the display slightly, but it seems that there is more interest in the mid sized displays, because people can actually fit them in an office or bedroom. Most 2 foot displays can go for anywhere from $75-$250 and some of the more expensive STAR WARS displays can hit $400 or more. Last, but not least are the Lego displays not based on actual sets. Stores such as Toys R' Us and Target have had custom designed displays that fetch big time money. Toys R' Us displays that are 18-20 inch plastic replicas of Lego minifigures(see below) have consistently brought in $500-$1000+ on eBay.

Target displays of R2-D2 and Yoda have brought back over $500.

As you can see, these rare displays can bring in big bucks, but unfortunately, they are very hard to come by.

So what's the bottom line? Are Lego displays worth anything and will they increase in value? It's this author's opinion that Lego displays will continue to increase in value. This is based on the fact that the large, vintage minigure replicas of the 80's and 90's have reached exorbitant levels. The current plexiglass Lego dioramas that are being produced are relatively new to the scene.

Although there are some dioramas that were produced in the early 00's, most have been made over the last 4-5 years. As with most collectibles, VINTAGE MEANS MONEY and Legos are no different. As the years go past and more and more of these displays get trashed or destroyed, the remaining ones will become more valuable. At least that's what I'm hoping for(because I have an office full of Lego displays .

As with anything, it's all about the "eye of the beholder". Some, like myself, love these miniature plastic worlds and don't mind paying top dollar for them. Others think they are a waste of space and would rather invest their money in a 'new in box' STAR WARS set. For the investor who really wants a bang for their buck, Lego displays are not the way to go. Vintage, 'new in box' sets are the more consistent investment over the long haul. But at least you can view a completed Lego set in a display. I mean, what fun is it looking at a sealed box? LOL.

Any questions or comments are welcome. Thanks.
 

People are always looking for the next hot investment.  With today's volatile stock market and falling real estate prices, people are looking for someplace safe to invest their money.  I'm here today to make a case for LEGOS.  That's right, you read it correctly...LEGOS.  Hard to believe?  Maybe, but let me show you some interesting tidbits and data that help me substantiate my claim.

In 2000, LEGO was named "Toy of the Century” by Fortune magazine as well as by the British Toy Retailers Association, beating out such other classics as the teddy bear and Mattel's Barbie.  These simple, colorful and durable blocks have been around since 1958 in their current form and are more popular than ever.   The LEGO Group works with other top entertainment franchises, such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, to keep their ideas fresh and popular.   Fifteen 'billion' components are produced every year by the LEGO Group.  They even have a line of LEGO video games that are available on all current video game consoles.  Impressive, to say the least.

I know what you are thinking...How does this information make me money?  Well, first of all, it indicates that LEGO is a solid company that keeps up with the times and puts out a quality product.  Secondly, it shows that people, both young and old have a love affair with these little plastic bricks and will pass this interest to the next generation.   Both these ideas are important in building a strong foundation for the LEGO Group's future and gives an investor a little piece of mind when plunking down hundreds of dollars to buy a new LEGO set for investment purposes.

Before we look at the data that backs up the idea that LEGOs are a solid investment, let us discuss what LEGO investing actually is.  When I 'invest' in LEGOs, I usually buy a new or used set that is MIB(Mint In Box).  MIB means that the LEGO box was never opened or the parts used in any way.  The box is still factory sealed and in good condition and is stored carefully in a smoke-free and clean environment.  Investing in older and rarer sets that have been assembled(box has been opened, obviously) is also an option for investment, but for our discussions here, we are talking about sealed boxes.

When speaking of LEGOs as investment vehicles, I like to associate LEGO sets with stocks.  There are thousands of different LEGO sets, just like stocks.  Both can be bought and sold rather easily.  As with stocks, there are LEGO sets that are top performers when it comes to investment purposes and then there are your dogs, or poor performers.  But unlike stocks, most of the LEGO sets that have been created over the last 50+years have increased from their original MSRPs(Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) if they were kept in MIB condition.  That's more than a lot of stock investors can say.  How many times has a new company's stock price tanked soon after launch?  Too many to count,  I'm afraid.

Take a look at the chart below...

IMAGE	LEGO SET	RETAIL PRICE	CURRENT PRICE	% INCREASE
	10018-1: Darth MaulPieces: 1868	149.99	393.47	162%
	10019-1: Rebel Blockade RunnerPieces: 1747	199.99	713.75	257%
	9302-1: Community Builders SetPieces: 1670	179.99	73	-59%
	3724-1: LEGO DragonPieces: 1530	98.99	464	369%
	8466-1: 4X4 Off-RoaderPieces: 1102	119.99	412.5	244%
	10001-1: MetrolinerPieces: 782	148.99	275.28	85%
	3804-1: Robotics Invention System V2.0Pieces: 717	199.99	224.22	12%
	7317-1: Aero Tube HangerPieces: 706	89.99	94.17	5%
	6290-1: Red Beard RunnerPieces: 698	99.99	170	70%
	4709-1: Hogwarts CastlePieces: 682	89.99	161.98	80%
	8538-1: Muaka & Kane-raPieces: 633	69.99	61.4	-12%
	3451-1: Sopwith CamelPieces: 574	49.99	133.37	167%
	7316-1: Excavation SearcherPieces: 471	49.99	36.96	-26%
	6472-1: Gas N' Wash ExpressPieces: 470	49.99	114.09	128%
	8539-1: ManasPieces: 457	89.99	149.32	66%
	7186-1: Watto's JunkyardPieces: 443	49.99	194.35	289%
	6776-1: Ogel Control CenterPieces: 422	49.99	35.12	-30%
	6292-1: Enchanted IslandPieces: 419	69.99	143.75	105%
	8549-1: TarakavaPieces: 411	49.99	50.74	2%
	4708-1: Hogwarts ExpressPieces: 410	49.99	90.4	81%
	8465-1: Extreme Off-RoaderPieces: 365	39.99	79	98%
	8008-1: StormtrooperPieces: 361	34.99	41.5	19%
	8007-1: C-3POPieces: 341	34.99	67.75	94%
	4707-1: Hagrid's HutPieces: 299	29.99	44.35	48%
	10002-1: Railroad Club CarPieces: 293	37.99	359	845%
	6291-1: Armada FlagshipPieces: 280	49.99	104.81	110%
	10000-1: Guarded InnPieces: 253	24.99	75.08	200%
	8242-1: Slammer TurboPieces: 253	19.99	28.08	40%
	7315-1 :Solar ExplorerPieces: 242	34.99	34.77	-1%
	7166-1: Imperial ShuttlePieces: 238	34.99	84.96	143%
		2300.7	4911.17	113%

This is a chart of the 30 largest LEGO sets from the year 2001.  The year 2001 was chosen to show a ten year time frame when comparing the MSRPs to current values, which is a common investment time period.  Next to the LEGO set name and piece count, the set's MSRP and current market value according to www.BrickPicker.com are displayed.  After that, the percentage increase/decrease over a ten year time frame.  www.BrickPicker.com gets its information directly from eBAY auction results and averages out these results to get current new and used values.   eBAY is the most accurate source for used and older LEGO sets in the market today.  On any given day, there are 200,000+ LEGO listings on eBAY, both domestically and internationally.  LEGOs are one of the five most active categories on eBAY, which also includes collectible baseball cards, stamps, coins and Barbie Dolls as other active categories.  

As you can see from the data, over 80% of the LEGO sets increased in value, some drastically.  Some of the sets even tripled and quadrupled in value over a 10 year time frame, such as set# 10019(Rebel Blockade Runner) and set# 3724(LEGO Dragon).  That's some serious money if you had the foresight to purchase a few of these sets 10 years ago.  To put it in perspective, compare these 30 LEGO sets to the 30 largest US companies that make up the DJIA(Dow Jones Industrial Average), which is the benchmark for stock investing.  Back in October of 2001, the DJIA was at 9075.14 points.  In September of 2011, 10 years later, the DJIA was at 11153.98, for an increase of 22.9%.  During the same time period, the total increase for the 30 largest LEGO sets of 2001 is 123.5%.  That is over FIVE times the gain in value over the DJIA.  Impressive once again.  

To be honest, it is amazing how these 'toys' increase in value.  The world wide economy has been in a major recession for years, yet there are some sets that show 100-300% increases during that time period.  Www.BrickPicker.com has a feature, called the BRICK INDEX, that will show you the Top 25 LEGO sets/items that have increased in value the most over a 6 month time frame.  The BRICK INDEX also has another option that shows which sets have increased the most over their MSRP.  It is quite common to see 100%+ increases in market value in popular categories like STAR WARS and the TOWN(Modular Homes), even after a couple of years.  One reason for such an increase in value could be the fact that LEGO discontinues sets after a couple of years, thus creating a sort of a 'limited' edition for each set.  That, plus the fact that most of the LEGO sets are opened and built, not put away and saved to sell at a later time for profit, also increases their value.

Investing in LEGOs is not without its drawbacks, though.  As with any sort of collectible, the safe storage of the collectible is very important.  It is no different with storing LEGOs.  Although the actual LEGO brick is pretty much indestructible under normal conditions, the LEGO boxes and instructions need special care.  Due to the fact that maximum value is obtained when a LEGO set has a box and instructions that are in excellent and sealed condition, an organized and safe storage method is required.  A system of shelves in a spare room works well, but it takes up a lot of space and a lot of potential investors might not have the extra space to put aside for thousands of LEGO bricks.  LEGO boxes come in all sizes, but if you have a rather large collection, they start to take up entire rooms, unlike coins or stamps that take up minimal space.  Also, the storage area needs to be dry, smoke-free and out of direct sunlight.  The LEGO boxes also show shelf wear relatively quickly, thus reducing values even more.

Another issue that confronts the LEGO investor is insuring the entire collection. Insurance companies look at you like you have two heads when you tell them you want to insure LEGOs, but with some collectors and investors, they might have tens of thousands of dollars worth of bricks and boxes in their basement.  After speaking with my insurance agent, he stated it was possible to insure a LEGO collection, but a breakdown of the individual sets and their current market values are required.  A site like www.BrickPicker.com can help with a current market value of a person's LEGO collection by using their BRICKFOLIO tool.  The BRICKFOLIO tool of www.Brickpicker.com enables a collector to input their entire collection of LEGO sets and get up to date values for the entire collection.  It can be printed out and then turned over to the insurance company, so the collection can be insured under the investor's home owner policy.

Thus, in conclusion, it is this author's opinion that LEGOs are a worthwhile and fun investment.  Although it is not your typical sort of collectible like coins or stamps, LEGOs appreciate quickly if the proper sets are bought and stored correctly.  A site like www.BrickPicker.com can help show what LEGO sets are hot and increasing in value and which ones should be avoided.  Their BRICK INDEX shows the top value gainers in the past 6 months and from MSRP.  Now in days, online auction sites like eBAY are very useful in buying and selling these collectible LEGO sets.  Also, www.LEGO.com and www.Amazon.com are useful in purchasing new LEGO sets.  All three options are listed on the www.BrickPicker.com's SET GUIDE for comparison.  Personally, I have seen my own collection double in value over the last 3-4 years and that coincided with one of the worst economies of the last century.  LEGO investing is something that has gone under the radar for years now, with only a few smart people tapping into the market.  I'm here to say that everybody can get involved, even to a small degree, and make money from LEGOS...and have FUN doing it. 
Keep those bricks clicking...

Edward Mack
AFOL and LEGO Investor...

So, you have found Brickpicker and probably have already bought a number of sets that you plan on selling at some point in the future. Or, maybe you are a somewhat seasoned investor that has accumulated a large number of sets and are just now starting to sell your first few items. Either way, I wanted to give you a by no means comprehensive list of best practices for listing your items for sale. Whether you list on BP’s Brick Classifieds, eBay or some other site, I think these basic first steps will help increase your sales and reduce the risk of potential issues. 

1 - General Tips 

Before getting into more details, I wanted to provide some general tips when listing LEGO in any platform. Following them will help you avoid some of the most common problems sellers encounter when selling online, and might also help you get more exposure to potential buyers. 

• DO avoid using “Good till’ Cancelled” listings. Using 30 day fixed price formats allows me to easily see which listings may need a price reduction; if I have had to relist more than once, then I usually do some quick research about current prices. Furthermore, I have read that eBay’s search engine tends to favor listings that are not “Good till’ Cancelled”.
• DO avoid Auctions. While this format has its uses (want to get rid of something quick or such), most of the time it can cause you to leave money on the table. Do some research, list fixed and get what you expect from your items!
• DO check before publishing your listings all the information is correct.
• DON’T list open box sets as New. While most of the time you should not have a problem when doing this, some buyers will receive a set with an open box, bags sealed, and still open Not as Described cases or a return request.
• DON’T list parted out sets as New. Pretty much the same reasoning as the point above. 

One last, but slightly controversial, suggestion for those using eBay: 

If you have reached the standards to become Top Rated, but are reluctant to because of the requirement to offer returns, understand that every single seller on eBay is already obligated to take returns. If you won’t take a set back, buyers have the option to simply open a SNAD case, which might count against you, and return the item just the same.

The 20% benefit in Final Value Fees is very much worth it! 

2 - Title

As a seller, we need to make sure that the title of your listing has as much relevant information as possible. As you can imagine, having the key words in the title will make your item more visible when buyers start looking for sets using a particular site’s search engine. 

Obviously, the most important things to include in the title are the brand (LEGO), the theme and the set number and name. While you could argue that most end buyers don’t have the set numbers memorized, some re-sellers and investors do, and this provides a faster way for them to find your listings as well.

Besides these key identifiers, let’s take a look at some other pieces of information that might save you time and help you avoid issues with your buyers. 

New Sets
You might think that if you are selling a new set then things should be pretty straightforward when listing, and I would agree. Unfortunately, there is a portion of buyers that simply don’t research or review the items they are purchasing as much as someone like you and me would. For this reason, I suggest you follow the Dos and Don’ts below. 

• DO NOT include condition qualifiers in your title that are subjective in nature. While it may be tempting to include the acronym MISB (Mint in Sealed Box) in your title, or description, this opens the door for buyer dissatisfaction and potential Not as Described cases. Box condition IS subjective. 
• DO include NIB (New in Box) if you are set in having one of these nice acronyms in your title. While I don’t do it myself, this one is a lot more straightforward and less subjective than some of the others. 
• DO include the phrase “Damaged Box” if your set shows more than average shelf-wear. This is a judgment call, but as a seasoned LEGO buyer you should have an idea of how much damage is too much. This will reduce the chances of a buyer buying without reading the description and then opening a SNAD case. 

Used Sets
As you can imagine, listing used sets requires a little more detail. While you still want to include the basic information (brand, theme, name and number), you also want to make sure you indicate whether the set is complete or incomplete. To me, this is the most important piece of information to have in a used set listing title. 

Also, make sure to indicate if the set includes the box and the instruction manuals. Once again, this saves the buyer time, as well as potential headaches for you. 

• DO mention if your listing is “Open box, sealed contents”. Some people care very little about the box or the fact that it is open. Indicating that the contents are sealed will lead most buyers to believe, as they should, that a set is new; just not what Paypal and eBay consider to be New.
• DO mention if a set is parted out. Make sure to be very clear about what component of the set you are selling.
• DO include if the set includes a new sticker sheet or set of instructions. Some buyers are really attracted to sets that have a “newer” feel; being able to apply stickers is a big one in my book. 

3 - Description

The description space is where you will make sure that you cover as many details as you need about your listing. 

• DO make sure to repeat the information from the title once again. As redundant as this sounds, it is very important that you reduce the chance of buyers assuming or misinterpreting information. Dealing with returns or other buyer issues will waste your time and keep you from making as much money as you should be!
• DO include details about your return policy and Unpaid Item Case timeline. I usually just let buyers know that I will give them 4 days to pay, unless they contact me about it, and will require that the items be returned to me in the same condition as they were originally sent.
• DO include a shipping policy. Let buyers know how you will be shipping the items, so they know you won’t just be slapping a label on a set and sending it away (please, don’t do this). Also, make sure to indicate if you will be requiring signature upon delivery (and you should for items over $750, or its foreign equivalent).
• DO take the time to find or make your own template. While this is not a deal breaker, it makes your listings look a little more professional than most.
• DON’T mention that the set is MISB (I know this is the second time I mention this). I usually have a little note that reads, “Box shows shelf-wear” on my listings; helps reduce expectations and makes me look better if the box arrives MINT. 

4 - Images

Obviously, another extremely important portion of any listing is a proper picture. While uploading photos to any site is pretty simple, I still wanted to leave you with some basic advice you can follow. 

• DO include your own picture. I for one had deviated from this a little as I found myself with less time to sell than I would have liked, but have started to do it again as I believe it does make a difference, especially for used sets and damaged boxes.
• DO print a sign with your username and place it in front of the item. This can help assure buyers you actually have the item and also, to a lesser extent, help create your brand.

Buying LEGO sets is extremely fun, but I believe selling is just as much! Hopefully this article has provided some basic advice you can follow while you start your journey into the very unique world of LEGO investing.

Thanks for reading!

A happy belated New Year to all my readers, all nine of you. May this coming year bring you discounted exclusives, 80% clearance finds in out of the way stores on long retired merchandise and superb buyer feedback in 2016. I'd also like to quickly take a sentence to remind readers that the Mack's, a.k.a. The Founders, a.k.a. The Collectors, a.k.a. The Guys Who Made Me Take the Blue Pill, are still raising money for St. Paul's and it would be a darn shame not to support such a great cause. I could cite a boatload of research that supports the notion that giving money away makes the giver undeniably happier, or could chastise those that read content (including this rubbish) but don't want to give back in any way, but I'd rather give a polite reminder that time is running out to buy tickets and the sets up for grabs could easily be the centerpiece of a budding collection. At the minimum, there should be lots of great stockroom photo sharing when these sets find new homes, and hopefully some education for little Macks.

Back to business. What is BigBlueDogBricks targeting for 2016 in terms of exclusives? I'm sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Ol' Blue is favoring, but I'll give a little background in case you are new to my flow. This will be my fourth year dabbling in Brickvesting (yeah, I'm starting to feel a little bro-ish using that term...might have to coin something new) and I am now confident classifying myself as a solid middle tier investor. I see lots of new members posting in various forums and can only assume you might want to hear a little advice on what kind of buying someone who was once like you is preparing to do.

Side anecdote: Just before Christmas I was contacted by a fellow in the Greater Toronto Area who wanted to buy a couple of large sets. We chatted back and forth and he correctly assumed that because I had so many listings I was doing this as more than a casual hobby (like someone 'accidentally' has hundreds of Lego sets for sale at the same time?) and he asked a few questions about Lego investing and such. Yeah, not much of an anecdote yet...Anyway, he tells me that along with his brother they are getting into Lego and think investing is cool. They opt not to buy any of my sets (although they were underpriced from ebay sales around 20-25%, and I sold a couple of the sets they were interested in within a week for more than what they thought was too steep) but he did end with an interesting question – so you're buying tons of Pet Shops and Tower Bridges now, right? I chuckled, because I think people often get drawn to Brickpicker and think the big shiny sets are the easiest way to get started. I am a prophet preaching Anything But Modulars now, though, as I believe there are quite a few better strategies to be successful that are faster and provide a greater overall return than simply picking the current oldest modular and throwing money at it. Worst. Strategy. Ever.

So, if you are relatively new or just don't have a lot of capital to invest what should you buy from the exclusives? Well, I've ordered my 2016 picks chosen from all the sets under the 'Hard to Find' label on Shop at Home (Canada), along with a quick rundown of why it deserves that ranking. I'll be back soon to talk about large (but not exclusive) sets that are on my buy list, and finish up with a smaller sets hit list. Fun!

BigBlueDogToys Anything But Modulars Buy List Order, Winter 2016, Exclusives

Ewok Village 10236

Current Amazon.com sales rank: 149 in building sets

I'm sure plenty of other investors have this at or near the top of their list. It is the oldest Star Wars large (not officially a UCS) set and, in case you don't know, Star Wars is totally a thing with people. They by and large seem to love it, if box office results indicate anything. It was listed as 'check back in February' for a few months (but was always available to buy at other retailers, at least in Canada) and is now listed as temporarily out of stock. Rumors have maybe three or four large Star Wars sets in the pipeline, so something seemingly has to give. I'm not advocating going crazy for a small to mid-sized investor (I have four from a flash sale from Walmart Canada) but it will probably be the first set I buy during the next double VIP + promo event. If you want to read a lot of Ewok love (or conversely a lot of Ewok hate) the dedicated thread is long and I can summarize: opinion seems divided, not much in the middle. I'm a lover, not a fighter, so these furballs are alright with me. Despite a good sales rank, it hasn't been around nearly as long as the modulars on my dishonorable mentions list so I'll let its current relative popularity slide.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier 76042

Current Amazon.com sales rank: 344 in Building Sets

A couple of whispers from far off places (Singapore, if you don't care to read the retiring soon thread religiously) have this retiring sooner rather than later. Limit is 1 from Shop at Home. It is massive. Ewoks are running circles around it according to sales rank. So why buy? Unlikely to ever be remade, I'd say, or at least not anytime soon. Difficult for small and medium-sized investors to hoard a set this large and expensive. Marvel fatigue might be setting in a bit (perhaps more of a Superheroes malaise, really) although I think the core fan base will still buy. Hasn't been around that long, but I'd still rather use double VIP to get a couple in the spring and then reevaluate.

The Fairground Mixer 10244

Current Amazon.com sales rank: 840 in Building Sets

Overall the worst sales rank of the sets I've chosen to focus on today, which makes me happy. Almost swapped this with the Helicarrier...consider it a toss up for me. A poor seller in a crowded Lego release schedule seems very likely to get the axe sooner rather than later. I have a couple now but would actually be quite happy to aim for double digits here. I think it is a unique kind of set and is priced well for Canada! I was happy to grab Maersk EEEs when they were sitting with the retiring soon label for months and others were buying (presumably) modulars. I've sold some of those EEEs while those that invested in other large sets are potentially still sitting on them, and I've got cash profits to put into another hidden gem. It will be interesting to see if a third carnival type set gets released this summer, or if the Friends rollercoaster (heavily rumored) and other fairground sets are released in its stead. This summer the set will turn two, it isn't a great seller at the moment and doesn't get a ton of chatter on Brickpicker. I am going to throw a little money down on this one. Or a lot.

The Simpsons House 71006

Current Amazon.com sales rank: 229 in Building Sets

I loved this set a couple months ago, and still love it now. Solid seller, not as flashy in sales numbers as a few other very large sets. Read more here: 

Sandcrawler 75059

Current Amazon.com sales rank: 285

Second oldest Star Wars UCS-type set after Ewok Village. Reasoning is largely the same as Ewok Village, as I think this won't make it to 2017, comes from a hugely popular line and looks ballin'. I nod to EV first as I am afraid the Ewoks might not make it until Q4 (a.k.a. Retirement season) but I'm willing to gamble the Sandcrawler will. Also use some Helicarrier reasoning here: massive set, big price tag and big box keeps a lot of smaller and even mid-sized investors from going too deep on it (at least most of them).

There you have it – this is a shopping list of what I'd like to nab during the spring double VIP. I'm not going to panic and grab them earlier as I am reasonably confident the sets on this list will not suddenly become unavailable permanently in February, and every percent discount or promo makes me more competitive in a crowded marketplace. I'm not going to order more than one or two of each, and not in quick succession or anything crazy that would merit a ban hammer, but will spread them over a week or two as I've done every promo period in the last couple years.

Honorable Mentions

Volkswagen T1 – Sales rank 385. Sales number indicates perhaps (finally) a little buyer fatigue? It has been out for seemingly forever and the new box design in 2015 virtually guaranteed (at least to me) that there would still be more time in 2016 to get more (not that I need more). I'll reevaluate in a few months. Those hoping The Lego Group wouldn't want three large car models on the shelves at the same time must be gutted.

Mini Cooper – Sales rank 495. Slower than the T1, so an argument could be made that it might be retired ahead of the T1, which will become the new Death Star a.k.a. Live Star.

Sydney Opera House – Sales rank 412. Tower Bridge is 183. Significant difference? As far as I know, the Opera House doesn't have a new box design, while the Tower Bridge does. I'd wager this goes in 2016 and the Tower Bridge stays. Just a hunch. That being said, I personally don't like the Opera House as much as a few of the others on this list, and I don't have enough money to go 5-10 deep on every set. I can't see myself wanting/getting more than 4-5 of these. It has also been discounted in other markets which has generally been linked to sets that are on the way out. If my sales stay strong this might get some love in the next few months.

Dishonorable Mentions

Pet Shop – Sales rank 89. 89! That is gross. I think modulars look like easy money and lots of folks are drawn in by them, but if it keeps selling this well I'm not convinced it will even retire this fall. If you are starting out, no problem grabbing one or two, but I think it is insane to tie up too much capital here. Plenty of other sets out there that should/could retire sooner and give a cash return faster.

Palace Cinema – Sales rank 145. Also gross! If the Pet Shop didn't retire, then the Cinema HAS TO, right? AMITRITE? Perhaps not. Given sales numbers, why shouldn't the Lego Group have five modulars available at the same time? As long as investors keep stocking them away, I suspect they'll retire slowly.

The difficulty for me is that in a perfect world, I would have piles and piles of each set, especially exclusives but that isn't realistic. I require stock turnover and sales to drive new investment, and my success (or failure) to move stock dictates approximately what I can spend. The spring double VIP event will be a good time to add a few large sets that I hope/expect/pray will retire at some point in 2016. When each set starts doing the in and out of stock dance, I'll probably squeeze some funds together to buy some from another large retailer, but I like to get at least a couple of each targeted set from Shop at Home in the mid to late cycle of its life. If you think I should be buying more Pet Shops, sound off in the comments section!

Veegs (BigBlueDogBricks)

Hi. I’m a new investor/collector/AFOL. One issue I have encountered with my new hobby was how to protect the fragile LEGO set boxes from shelf wear and the interior home elements, such as moisture from possible water leaks, dampness from high humidity areas like basements, dust and smoke. Several years ago, I discovered various brands of storage bags and thought these would be an excellent answer to these issues. These bags are large, very durable, and reusable. They would wear out with constant use, but for items that will sit awhile, like LEGO sets, they are worth looking into. They are also transparent, which would enable the LEGO collector and investor to view what is in the bag while the sets are stacked on shelves or similar storage areas.

I’ll first describe the features and advantages of using them to store your LEGO investment. Then I’ll list brands, sizes, prices, and sources.

• Provides protection
• Accurately described as “with their pleated bottom and secure zip seal, they are perfect for storing even your bulkiest items while helping to protect them from moisture, dust and pests.” They also help prevent cigarette smoke from damaging boxes.
• Makes it easy to move or transport your boxes Most brands have a handle
• Reusable After selling the LEGO set that was stored in the bag, the reusable bag can be unzipped and used on the next LEGO investment.
• Transparent Enables the LEGO collector and investor to view what is in the bag, without actually opening the bag up.
• Inexpensive In the worst case, you’re looking at $1.50 per LARGE Lego box, a small price to pay for extra protection. And remember, they’re reusable.
• Group similar sets together Put similar or same sets in the same bag.
• Takes up no extra space in your storage. Unlike some paper products(cardboard), these bags take up little space.

There are 3 brands that I have come across. In each case, consider only the XL and XXL sizes.

1. StorIt

These are the cheapest and can be found at dollar stores. However, their largest bag will not fit the large Lego sets like the Haunted House.

For $1, you can get one XXL size 24” x 20” (60.9 cm x 50.8 cm) or two XL bags size 20.5” x 17” (52.1 cm x 43.2 cm)

They are priced much higher online ($4 at Amazon). Look for them in dollar stores. If you can’t find them, you can order then from Dollar Tree but the minimum purchase is 36 at $36.

Dollar Tree: http://www.dollartree.com/cleaning-storage-hardware/storage/EZ-Stor-Plastic-Storage-Bags-with-Handles-XX-Large/212c261c261p299576/index.pro

2. Zip N’ Go

These are part of the Space Bag series, those bags that let you suck the air out of them with a vacuum to save space. However, no worries. These bags are normal and don’t suck. I have seen them at Linens N Things but cannot find them anywhere online.

For around $13, you can get two XL size 22” x 22” (55 cm x 55 cm) AND two XXL size 28” x 28” (71 cm x 71 cm). The XXL bag will hold the large Lego sets like the Haunted House. In fact, you can store two large sets comfortably in one bag, making the extra cost just over $1.50 per set.

3. Ziploc Big Bags

For $12, you get three XXL size 24” x 32” (60 cm x 82 cm). These would be the most expensive at $4/bag but are the strongest with a double zipper.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Ziploc3pk-Bigbag-Closet-Storage/dp/B000V9N1WO (Note: At the time of this writing, I saw them on Diapers.com for $7 with free shipping for orders over $49)

Here are some actual photos of the storage bags being utilized with LEGO sets:

All in all, these large transparent storage bags are a LEGO investor and collector's best friend. The storage bags help protect from the dust and moisture that can be found in every house, yet will also protect from major water damage from possible pipe leaks and smoke damage from fires or cigarettes. Also, the prevention of shelf wear, which can reduce the value of any Mint In Sealed Box LEGO set, is another big positive. While not structural in any way like cardboard boxes are, these bags don't take up any valuable space like paper products do. So do yourself a favor and pick up a couple of boxes and start protecting your LEGO sets. In the long run, you won't be disappointed.

With the advent of CAD software for the Lego community, programs such as Ldraw(www.LDraw.org) give the amateur Lego bulider ways to record and document their creation's 'instructions.' For some talented people, this is a pathway to making money from their hobby. On any given day on eBAY, there are 5000+ listings for custom Lego models, instructions and minifigures. Obviously, someone is buying these custom Lego items.  

As with anything, there are quality custom creations and then there is the garbage. As a Lego collector and fan, I have invested in a lot of these custom creations. Some people have a knack for creating some pretty cool stuff, that they sell on eBAY and make a pretty penny doing it. There is a huge amount of time invested in these creations by the builder. But that time investment is rewarded with numerous sales on eBAY. Let me share some of these custom creations with you...  

One of my favorite custom Lego companies is ArtiFex Creations. They have a large presence on eBAY with their custom Lego lighting for various large scale models and a Lego 'cleaner.'  

EBAY LISTING: Lego Brick Lights PRO PLUS Kit

EBAY LISTING: Brick Duster Kit

I have seen the lights on their R/C Turbo Tank model and they work great and have purchased the Lego Duster and it does a spectacular job of removing dust from my Lego displays.  

They also dabble in model 're'creation. One such item is their Star Wars R/C Turbo Tank.  

EBAY LISTING: Custom R/C Motorized Turbo Tank Instructions & Lights - Lego Star Wars 8098 7261

Awesome is all that I can say. I have bought and built this monster and it is something any Lego Master Builder would be proud of. Over 4000+ pieces, R/C controller that works multiple functions, lights, working rocket launchers, etc...It is a creation that took a year to make and I can see the love and effort that went into it.  

Out of those 5000+ custom Lego listings on eBAY, the majority are for custom minifigures and their accessories. It is a huge market. Anything from custom weapons to headgear to entire figures, make up the major part of custom Lego creations. My favorite custom Lego minifigure creator is a gentleman by the name of Haunted Pirate. This guy comes up with some stuff that Lego was afraid to make. LOL. Minifigures replicating famous movie villains is his specialty. Characters such as Chucky from Child's Play...  

EBAY LISTING: Lego Custom Horror Minifig Minifigure Display Chucky Childs Play

Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street...

EBAY LISTING: Custom Lego Minifig Freddy Krueger Halloween Display

Jason from Friday the 13th

EBAY LISTING: Lego Custom Minifig Jason Friday the 13th Movie Display

All in all, some awesome creations in my opinion and not a bad price. For a basic investment of anywhere from $30-$50, you can have a one-of-a-kind minifigure. He even made a couple special ones just for me. Pretty cool.

Besides custom Lego models and minifigures, there is a large selection of custom instructions that use the LDraw CAD system that are for sale on eBAY. Instructions for Star Wars models such as the Imperial Walker...  

EBAY LISTING: Custom Star Wars AT AT Imperial Walker are top notch.

The most popular custom instructions are for the Lego Modular Buildings in the City/Town series. The Modular Buildings line of Legos were based on actual Lego fan's designs that Lego converted into actual sets. These sets can be combined to form an entire town block. Sets included buildings such as grocery stores and pet stores. Lego fans continue to produce new and interesting custom instructions for this Lego line and sell them like hotcakes on eBAY. Instructions like these hospitals...  

EBAY LISTING: Custom Lego Hospital Instructions CD

EBAY LISTING: Custom Lego Modular Building Instructions Hospital

are also top notch custom creations. As you can see from their listings, these designers have numerous types of buildings to compliment the stock Lego sets. So in conclusion, this author can safely say that the custom Lego market is growing year to year. The amount of 'custom Lego' listings continues to rise annually on eBAY and other Lego sites. Custom sets, instructions and minifigures are being created by the average Lego fan and being sold for a profit. Build or make a quality Lego creation and there is money to be made...a lot of it. All you need is a vision, some spare time and of course, some Lego bricks...