Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.
BRICKPICKER

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Brickpicker Blog

Brickpicker blog articles on LEGO investing, news, reviews, evaluations, discounts and more...
Show all categories
I just wanted to bring attention to a new sort of Evaluation Corner article / Set Review that was submitted by Donotinsertinmouth(DNIIM)...
75005 RANCOR PIT REVIEW
The review is very similar to in depth LEGO set reviews that members do on the Eurobricks forums. I have always admired those sorts of reviews because of the time invested and the visual nature of the reviews. What DNIIM did was to take a Eurobricks set review and add a BrickPicker flair to it, with some investment data and analysis added.
I enjoy all types of content and this sort of morphed Evaluation Corner article and Eurobricks set review makes for another option for BrickPicker members. I will place the high quality reviews on the BrickPicker homepage under the Evaluation Corner section and reward all the good ones with 500 Brickpoints.
Nice job DNIIM...
 
So tons of articles on here are investment based articles and this is going to go right along with it. But I wanted to do something just a little bit different to see the type of response it got. So I decided to build a set as I was writing an article on it and take pictures along the way and then include them in the analysis. My starting set is one I have been waiting for a while to build: 75005 The Rancor Pit.
The scene with Luke and the Rancor pit is one of my favorite scenes of all time from Star Wars. This is one of the greatest scenes because it has about half of the coolest Star Wars characters all in the same scene. When Lego announced a new Jabba's Palace along with a Rancor Pit to go with it, I knew I had to have both of them.
I was a good boy and waited until I found a decent deal on both of them. I decided to go from the ground up so I started with the Rancor Pit first. I am going to walk you through the set as I build it as well as give you my outlook and investment thoughts at the end.
First off, who doesn't love a Rancor? That is one of the most awesome monsters of all time and it really deserves it's own movie. However, when you look at the box, the set is only 380 pieces, so it seems like you are really paying for the Rancor which worried me that the rest of the set was nothing great. I got it with a Kmart deal and some rewards dollars so I paid about $43 for it. At $60 though its pushing $.20 a piece after you pay tax/shipping which seems a little high.
However, when I opened the set, I was amazed at how much came with it. It seemed like way more that 380 pieces. This is what it looked like opened below:

Looking through it, its because of more than just the giant rancor. The base of the “Cage” is made of giant Lego flat plane pieces. On top of that, there are column pieces which are two half pieces that fit together as the equivalent of about 10 normal Lego pieces for each column. Then you have the Gate, which is massive, so that the giant Rancor can fit through it. On top of that, there is an extra people-sized door. I definitely see the worth in it now; Price per piece just doesn't really do this set justice.
I opened the pages and start off with the most fun part: The minifigures. The Gamorrean guard is awesome. If you have seen the original, he is a very nasty green color and doesn't have a lot of features. As you can see below, this one is way better looking. He is very detailed and has some awesome armor on him:

Next was Luke, which comes with the bone he uses to fight the Rancor in the movie. This minifigure is the normal Jedi Fighter Luke, but the bone he comes with is actually pretty sweet as seen below. It's much bigger than the normal Lego bones and I think it adds a nice bit of playability to the set:

Now for the best part, the Rancor. First off, this minifigure has all the makings of being a legendary minifigure. If you don't know, to be a legendary minifigure you must have at least three of the following attributes:
Be huge –5 times a normal minifigures Have 10 or more pieces Be able to eat a normal minifigure Be a Rancor There are some Legendary minifigures that only meet the first three criteria, but this one meets all of them evidenced by the picture below:

Just for good measure to prove my point:

Lego Luke didn't stand a chance. The Rancor also stands up well unlike the Cave Troll in Lego LOTR Mines of Moria. On to the set.
Really after you open those three minifigures, its a little bit of a letdown, not because the set is bad, but because most of the building is pretty normal block on top of block building. After you build the towers, you put in the giant gate which is really detailed and really well done. On top of this, you add a bucket and pitchfork on the side which I think really make the set. This is one of the reasons Lego is so amazing. They never forget to add the minor details that make something stand out:

On to bag two and you get more minifigures. One of them is another exclusive mini to this set, Malikili. He is done pretty well, although his shirt is off just like in the movie. Luckily they didn't copy him too much as I think most people who saw the movie would have rather him kept his shirt on. The skeleton that comes with it is actually really cool. Though he looks like the ones that comes with the Mines of Moria set, this one is actually set up so you can move his arms and legs and make them stay in place. You can put him anywhere on the set you want!

The rest of the second bag is pretty uneventful – just building the floor of the area that holds up the cage's columns. However, right at the end, Lego again adds those small details that make something amazing. There is a key and some extra skeleton pieces that you can stick inside a trap door on the back of the platform. Along with it, there is a Lego skeleton head for good measure:

Bag 3 includes the columns. This is pretty straightforward and is the quickest bag by far:

Bag 4 completes the set by having you add the top parts to the cage, a door on the side and some Lego torches at the entrance of the cage (again with the detail Lego!). The set put together, even without Jabba is pretty impressive:

All in all its an awesome set to build. Its one of those sets that takes you the perfect amount of time. You can build it in about an hour or less, maybe two with a child, and there is nothing brutal or tedious at all. Since you build it from the floor up it stays together well. It's very sturdy too – I usually try to move my sets around and feel how well they hold up; this one seems like it could hold some weight the way it was designed (which makes sense if it has to hold Jabba). Here is a picture of how I am leaving it set up:

So on to my investment thoughts:
Absolute home-run.
First off, before we get into numbers and analysis, you need to remember one thing. IT HAS A RANCOR IN IT. The Rancor is incredible, possibly the best minifigure out there – it rivals the dinosaurs and dragons. Going farther, the Rancor is exclusive to this set and it was just rebooted this year with Jabba's palace. Unless the Rancor makes an appearance in the new movies, which I doubt since he died along with Jabba, I think this will be the only one of all time. Looking back in the Star Wars theme, while there are plenty of sets that didn't do that well, the ones that did were typically the ones that were out of the ordinary (like something outside of the main story line but were still iconic) and the ones that weren't remakes of another set. I think this Rancor figure will be $60-$70 alone within two years.
Along with that, it has 4 other minifigures which really adds to the value – especially the redone Gamorrea and the exclusive Malikili. Even though Malikili is not a hugely popular character, a lot of people who collect Star Wars will want him just to have another different minifig with all the remakes out there.
Investment Data
Finding comparable sets to this set is pretty rough. First off, this set has a small number of pieces, but a lot of minifigure value. Also, it is the first set of an iconic scene in the movies. Looking for that criteria, I only came up with three good comparable sets to look at in the same price range.
General Grevious Starfighter (7656) – This set doesn't have the minifigures, but it is an iconic ship and it has one very iconic minifigure in General Grevious. The piece count is also fairly similar, though it is the least similar of the three I chose.
Mos Eisley Cantina (4501) – Mos Eisley Cantina is much closer. It has 5 Minifigures plus a giant Dewback. It's also a very iconic scene from the movie and it was really the first set to show that scene (besides the old Landspeeder).
Jabba's Palace (4480) – You knew this one was coming. The original Jabba's Palace has the huge minifig for us to compare to: Jabba himself. It does have a few less pieces, but is depicting an iconic scene from the movies that happens to occur over top of this scene. So let's see how these sets compare:

Though the retail price is not really similar, adjusting for inflation, and the fact this set has a few more pieces, the prices make sense. I think this set will definitely see at least the same growth as these. I would actually argue that besides Jabba's Palace, this is the best one out of the 3. If the Rancor Pit hits the average of these three, it would see 16.6% CAGR. If we assume an investor holds this set for two years, this means the set is going to be worth about $80 at that point. Nothing amazing, but a good safe growth.
However, there are a couple of things that increase this outlook in my eyes. Number 1, the Jabba controversy. Everyone remembers that a bunch of people thought the new Jabba's Palace was going EOL early. Everyone went nuts and these were sold out everywhere. I would say that there were a lot bought that will be circulating around now, but many will just be stashed away until the set EOLs. If people decide to stick with them, you have to get a Rancor pit to go along with it. Plus, with the price of the Jabba's Palace, this set really looks like a deal for an add on and makes the set all the more impressive.
Secondly, I think this set is a big sleeper because its not a UCS set and is not an iconic Star Wars ship. I think it will be passed over quite a bit, especially with the way StarWars sets have evened out a bit over the last few years. I even think most people will go off of the old Jabba sets to think that the Palace will do better. However, in a few years when the movies start back up, we will have a new generation interested and watching the old movies, and this set will have just recently been EOL'd driving the price up.
The last big x-factor here is playability. Besides us older AFOL's loving these set as a display, this has tons of playability for children. I can't imagine that kids don't have this Rancor eating every minfig in site. I know I did, and I am 26 years old!
I think this set will really jump in the first year after EOL. Plus, there will be sales where you can get this set down to around $40 by adding it on with bigger sets in deals that include a % off your total sale, or something of that nature. At that point, you really can't lose. I think this set will end up being right around 20 CAGR after 5 years, but I think we are going to see 25-30% CAGR in the first two years. If this is correct, we will see it go for around $95 dollars 2 years after EOL. If you pick many of these up for about $45 each and pay $20 in fees (shipping and seller's fees), then you are looking at a 67% ROI in two years, which is excellent. Try finding that in a savings account!
While it maybe isn't going to set records like the Haunted House or the Tower Bridge, I think it is a solid investment and will be perfect for an investor looking for safe bets and solid returns. Either way, if you like Star Wars at all or have children, buy this set! You will not be dissapointed.
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
OK, admit it. Whenever you hear the term "SpongeBob", in your head, you are humming the theme song of the cartoon show. You aren't alone!
SpongeBob Squarepants, the TV show first aired on Nickelodeon on May 1st, 1999. It is the network's longest running show ever. The first SpongeBob LEGO sets were released in 2006, starting with the 3827 Adventures in Bikini Bottom, 3826 Build-a-Bob, and the 3825 Krusty Krab sets. In total, the theme has 14 sets in 7 years.
You might wonder, how does such a minor theme:
1. Succeed in general as there are so few sets?
2. Fair as an investment?
Let's start with Number 1: How does SpongeBob as a minor theme succeed in general with so few sets?
Well, how many of you had the theme song running through your head after reading the first sentence or so? Probably at least 80%, and majority of you are adults and AFOL's. Now think of all the children who have grown up with SpongeBob merchandise like underwear, to SpongeBob advertisements. How many of them do you think had the theme song running through their heads? Probably close to 95% (hey, if you've ever worn Spongebob under your pants, it's pretty hard to forget him after that!). To give you an idea of how much SpongeBob has spread globally, I'll give you some numbers to think about: 43 countries, 80 stations. SpongeBob has spread to 43 countries and 80 different TV stations. This is truly impressive for a show about a sponge who walks around in his underwear.
Number 2: How does SpongeBob as a minor theme fair as an investment? This is my favorite part of this article. SpongeBob has the 17th highest CAGR of all LEGO themes at around 16.32%. CAGR is basically the overview of how a theme performs.
Since the SpongeBob theme has only 14 sets, it is fairly easy to say that the theme is a solid investment. Let's look a little more in-depth to figure everything out.
3827-1: Adventures in Bikini Bottom Author's Analysis:
The first of the SpongeBob has set a high bar. This set has been staying solidly above the $100 mark and has appreciated 178.14% above its original retail price. As the first set of the theme, I believe that TLG was “testing the waters” of the theme and market first, so they gave this particular set a fairly low Price Per Piece at only $0.07. This is arguably one of the most iconic sets of the theme featuring the unforgettable SpongeBob and his companions Patrick and Squidward, as well as SpongeBob's pineapple home and Squidward's moai home. This set has underperformed the CAGR of the theme slightly, but still has offered a very good investment increasing $90 above retail at times for those who where able to get one back in 2006.
3826-1: Build-a-Bob
Author's Analysis:
One of my personal favorites in the SpongeBob theme, the 3826-1 Build-a-Bob had a $0.07 Price Per Piece just like the 3827-1 Adventures in Bikini Bottom with whom it was released alongside. This set has been hovering between $110 and $100 for the past year, so we shouldn't really expect this one to increase by much more. This is one of my favorite LEGO SpongeBob of all time, and is very similar to the busts from the Ultimate Collector's Series Star Wars line of sets.
3825-1: Krusty Krab
Author's Analysis:
This is the final SpongeBob that was released in 2006. This set displays a very important part of the SpongeBob storyline: the place of SpongeBob's employment a.k.a. Krusty Krab. This set has been on a steady increase, increasing 16.4% in the past year, and 267.03% above retail. This one is showing signs of increase, so it might be the time to pick a MISB one.
4982-1: Mrs. Puff's Boating School
Author's Analysis:
The fourth set of the theme and the first of the year, this set has an increased Price Per Piece, as TLG realized what a market the SpongeBob theme had, and nearly doubled the Price Per Piece ratio for this set. This set has done remarkably in the secondary market as many others in the theme, doubling in value. In 6 months, this set has increased by 30%, and 6.26% in the past month, so I would say it is time to pick this up, if you haven't yet! Not a must-have of the theme, but a very nice investment.
4981-1: Chum Bucket
Author's Analysis:
A very cool little set, featuring the never-seen-before villain Plankton. For those of you who don't follow SpongeBob, the Chum Bucket is a restaurant run by Plankton, who tries to steal the secret recipe for the Krabby Patty. Obviously not as iconic of a set as others in the SpongeBob theme, but still a fairly high performing set increasing 2.67% in the last month, though it has been staying between $98 and $108 for the past year. Still a very solid investment if you had picked it up for its retail price of $34.99, giving you a 218.66% return! I do not expect this set to go anywhere in the near future, but still not a bad set to pick up in the future...For a good price, of course!
3832-1: The Emergency Room
Author's Analysis:
This set hasn't really move for the past year, but still, as most of the SpongeBob theme, it has appreciated more than 150% above retail at an impressive 198.5%. As a build, really not all that impressive. As a location that plays a fairly small role in the whole of the SpongeBob theme, it is no surprise to me that it has not moved very much in recent months.
3831-1: Rocket Ride
Author's Analysis:
Now here's our oddball of the theme: 3831-1: Rocket Ride. This one has still appreciated above retail at a generous 196.87%, but this year, it has gone down by 10.37%. Don't be fooled, though! I think this one may make a comeback, based on the prices that current listings are asking for, especially as the most recent two sold listings of this set sold for $142.99 and $119.00 respectively.
3830-1: The Bikini Bottom Express
Author's Analysis:
As one of the cheapest SpongeBob sets at original retail, this one has appreciated 246.27% above its original MSRP, and has drove up 18.16% in the past 6 months, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Bikini Bottom Express arrives at the $80 mark in a couple months, though beyond that time period, I don't think it will increase in value much more.
3834-1: Good Neighbours at Bikini Bottom
Author's Analysis:
This is probably as close as we will get to a remake in the SpongeBob theme. This is also probably the biggest “flop” in the SpongeBob theme also. Appreciating a meager 16.6%, it is hard to believe it comes from the same theme as the 3830-1: The Bikini Bottom Express or its predecessor 3827-1: Adventures in Bikini Bottom. I think this set could make a comeback, as the most recent NISB eBay sales have been close to $60.
3833-1: Krusty Krab Adventures
Author's Analysis:
This is a downsized version of the 3825-1: Krusty Krab. Remakes/near remakes don't seem to do well in this theme, do they. Let's take a different look though: This set has increased by 52.64% in the past year and 94.1% up from retail. 4 years of retirement, and doubling in value in a year is a sure sign of an investment winner. Though down 1.6% in the past month, of the past 4 new listings, 3 were above the BrickPicker price, one of them $59.99! Definitely pick one up!
3816-1: Glove World
Author's Analysis:
It's hard to look at a current set and predict its performance, but this set mimics battle packs of other themes, using 4 minifigures, and a fairly high Price Per Piece of $0.12. This small set could be worth $50 with time (2-3 years).
3815-1: Heroic Heroes of the Deep
Author's Analysis:
A bit difficult to say the name 5 times fast is it? Featuring probably the most ridiculous minifigures of the entire theme, but we have a very surprising piece of information. This set sells for approximately $5 more than normal retail on eBay which is 30.09%. I will guess that this set will do very nicely upon retirement, just because of preliminary signs such as selling above MSRP.
3818-1: Bikini Bottom Undersea Party
Author's Analysis:
Nearly a direct copy of the 3827-1: Adventures in Bikini Bottom and a similar set to 3834-1: Good Neighbours at Bikini Bottom, this set has skyrocketed in value for no apparent reason. Up 27.54% in a month to $62.28, or $12 above normal retail, this is a very odd set, in a good way. This could be a sign to be winner. I would pick up at least 1 as an investment, and one to build if you are a SpongeBob fan, as this is a cheaper alternative to other prior versions.
3817-1: The Flying Dutchman
Author's Analysis:
This is probably my favorite of the current sets available currently. It has has a fairly detailed dock and seashore, plus it has a very nice variant of SpongeBob and Patrick who are both decked out in pirate gear. Also, as the first boat of the SpongeBob theme, this set will do well upon retirement.
Conclusion:
LEGO has had licensed themes be extreme successes like Harry Potter, but we also have had LEGO sets that weren't such big winners, like Toy Story. Lucky for us, we have a winner if we stand by SpongeBob. We see winners pass and if we are lucky we have a few of that set. Rarely do we know for sure what is a good investment, but by interpreting behaviors of sets, we can sometimes get a pretty good guess. Funny and popular cartoon, so why not a funny an popular LEGO theme? The theme might not be as large as Star Wars or as mainstream as Ninjago, but its still a winner. When these sets retire, they go unnoticed: Perfect getaways, and near-perfect investments.
We can look at it from the sets of the past, and get a fairly good idea of how the sets of the future will do, and I have to say...we have pretty good odds. Though a LEGO minifigure in his underwear may not be the most pleasant sight to the eyes, I'll bet the green bricks that he will bring you, will!
 
Among the most reliable small LEGO sets that you can invest in are the beloved Battle Packs. Though not talked about as much as large sets like the Tower Bridge or even the non-UCS Millennium Falcon, money manages to take form in all shapes and sizes. In this article, we will focus on Star Wars Battle Packs, which first started in 2007, with two Battle Packs: 7655-1: Clone Trooper Battle Pack and 7654-1: Droids Battle Pack. Star Wars Battle Packs had kept up a tradition of having two opposing battle packs that could battle against each other. It wasn’t until 2012 that a battle pack included both sides of a battle. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the Battle Packs:
7655
This battle pack comes from the first wave of battle packs to be produced from the Star Wars theme, and set the stage for future Clone Trooper battle packs that used the pattern of 2 identical minifigures, one leader, and one specialized trooper. This set has done great in the several years that it has been retired, tripling in value! I wouldn’t expect another similar battle pack, but at the same time, I wouldn’t pick one up for $30, so I would not pick it up, and invest in other battle packs.
7654
One of my favorite battle packs because of the number, though if it had been 1234, it would have been better. LOL This battle pack has the most minifigures of any of the Star Wars ones, and has very fitting droid carrier. This set has been on an overall decline, but it shouldn’t get lower than the low $20’s.
7668
This is the first battle pack to include 4 identical minifigures. It has been on a curious decline over the past 6 months, and could fall down to re-investable levels. If it ever hits $17 or lower, I would pick up as many as possible, as it will make a bounce back up to the high 20's eventually. The number of units sold, and the sold price line graphs have basically mirrored each other interestingly. When the price goes down, the quantity sold also goes down, and vice versa. This seems to be caused because sellers are waiting for the set to increase back to former levels, though this is only a guess.
7667
This is the first Storm Trooper Battle Pack, and the first to include an airborne ship in it. Included are 3 identical Stormtroopers, and a Shadow Trooper. The build isn't extremely impressive, but it is a great set to build a Stormtrooper army! This is definitely a great set to do this, and it has appreciated to above $40! That's nearly $0.50 per piece! This set has seen good gains over the last 2 months, increasing about $10. I think that this could be the first battle pack to be worth $50 eventually. It being part of the Original Trilogy probably has something to do with it too...

8014
This is my #1 Battle Pack. Comes with 3 identical Clone Troopers and one Clone Gunner. There is also gear included that can be attached to one of the Clone Troopers to make him look like a commander, though I prefer him without. A great army builder, and was in high demand because for a couple months, a plain white Clone Trooper could not be found in any sets produced by TLG at the time. In May 2013, the battle pack made an impressive hop of 41.83% to the $22.14 mark, after a steep dip the month before, returning to basically its previous position. A great set to build, but I don’t recommend it as an investment at this point.
8015
This battle pack has the second biggest number of minifigures at 5. Like its counterpart, 8014, this battle pack includes 3 identical silver droids and 2 identical black ones. Though not a traditional battle droid, it still can serve as a army builder. This is the only battle pack to have a different price than its counterpart, costing a magnificent $2 less than 8014, a large difference for a $10 set. The value of this set is all over the place, but I expect that it will eventually plateau at about $20, because there are a bunch of these sets out there, but not as much demand as other battle packs.
8083
This is the part of the first set of battle packs not to be centered around the Prequel Trilogy. It has a normal pattern of minifigures, with two identical, one commander, and one specialized trooper. This set saw one of the longest production runs of all Star Wars battle packs, at exactly 2 years, most others only lasting about a year in production. This set hasn’t completely finished appreciating, and I think it will be above $20 after the holidays. I don’t think a $5 profit is worth it for this set at this point, but if you can get it at MSRP or lower, great!
8084
This set of battle packs was the last of those who featured separated forces, which is to say, all the minifigures in the battle pack were on the same side. This set is one of the more simple battle packs, with a speeder and fairly sparse control pad/center. It is only valued at $12.48 as of May 2013, so I expect that it will appreciate eventually, and it is a good time to pick it up if you haven’t yet. Like all other battle packs thus far, it will eventually reach the $20 mark.
7913
One of the most recently retired Battle Packs, and according to BrickPicker data, hasn’t appreciated that much, but I believe that this is mostly due to people selling the individual minifigures separately from each other, skewing data. In fact, this battle pack is worth on the higher end of $15 to $16, and is still on the increase. Though it doesn’t have any minifigures from the actual Star Wars movies, the minifigures do come from the Clone Wars, which should give them a little more attention.
7914
The Mandalorian Battle Pack is the first to have 4 identical minifigures. Each has a jetpack and three out of four have built weapons. It is pretty hard to guess the direction that this set will take, but my gut tells me that it’s going to be up. This is the first Battle Pack to feature minifigures that haven’t really been talked about at all in the Star Wars movies, though there were several Clone Wars episodes that included Mandalorians.
9488
This Battle Pack and the 9489 Battle Pack are the first to be released with 2 opposing forces within the same battle pack. To be honest, I didn’t really like the idea of this at first and thought that it was quite stupid for TLG to do this, but I do like that we get more variants of minifigures, instead of getting about 4 in the older version, we now get 6+. The most recently released battle packs have also taken these approaches, but it is yet to be determined how these battle packs will do upon retirement.
9489
This is the most recently retired Battle Pack, and is the first to retire without the other that it was released alongside, though it is easier to do this since the battle packs aren’t related that much. This is one of my favorite battle packs because it has a bunch of iconic minifigures, plus it has a fair amount of pieces. I think that by the holidays, it will be a $15, and then will be upwards from there.
75000
Along with the 75001 Battle Pack, this is the most recently released battle pack. This set includes 2 conventional minifigures, and 2 Droidekas, whom many deem not to be minifigures due to the fact that they use a lot of pieces. I think that this set will kick off, just like the 8014 battle pack because of the plain white clones, as it is a great army builder.
75001
This is the first Extended Universe Battle Pack, and the minifigures are largely unrecognizable unless you have read one of the books. I don’t think that this will appreciate as much as the 75000 battle pack, so I would try to steer clear of these EU Star Wars sets, though some, such as the Rogue Shadow, have done well.
 
Deals in Ireland stores
SMYTHS
Smyths website :http://www.toys.ie/
Star Wars on sale:
LEGO Star Wars: free lego planets when you spend 10+ LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon 7965 LEGO Star Wars The Malevolence 9515 LEGO Star Wars Rancor Pit 75005 LEGO Star Wars Z-95 Headhunter 75004 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Attack 7956 LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter 9492 LEGO Star Wars Saesee Tiins Jedi Starfighter 9498 LEGO Chima on sale
LEGO Chima Equilas Ultra Striker 70013 LEGO Chima Boulder Bowling 70103 LEGO Chima CHI Waterfall 70102 LEGO Chima CHI Battles 70113 LEGO Chima Target Practice 70101 LEGO Chima Razcals Glider 7000 LEGO Chima Eris Eagle Interceptor 70003 LEGO Chima Ring of Fire 70100 LEGO Chima Ring of Fire 70100 LEGO Chima Ultimate Speedor Tournament 70115 LEGO Chima Craggers Command Ship 70006 LEGO Chima Lavals Royal Fighter 70005 LEGO Chima Lennox Lion Attack 70002 LEGO Chima Wakz Pack Tracker 70004 LEGO Chima Crawleys Claw Ripper 70001 LEGO City: None
LEGO Ninjago: None
LEGO Super Heroes:
LEGO Spider-Man Daily Bugle Showdown 76005 LEGO Spider-Man Spider-Cycle Chase 76004 LEGO Technic:
LEGO Technic Excavator 42006 LEGO Technic Pick up Tow Truck 9395 LEGO Monster Fighters:
LEGO Monster Fighters The Mummy 9462 LEGO Monster Fighters The Werewolf 9463 LEGO Monster Fighters Vampyre Castle 9468 LEGO Monster Fighters The Ghost Train 9467 LEGO Hero Factory:
LEGO Hero Facotry Breez 6227 LEGO Hero Factory Core Hunter 6222 LEGO The Bat vs Bane Tumbler Chase 76001
If you regularly read threads in the forums, especially the thread in the “Amazon” section, then you have probably seen something about “CamelCamelCamel”. Now your first thought might be “Why don't they just call it 3 Camels? That's way easier” and that's understandable, but your second thought should be “ Am I totally missing out?”. Yes is the answer to that question.
It's really very simple. CamelCamelCamel is a free website where you can sign up and be sent an alert any time items you desire on Amazon.com hit a certain price threshold that you set. You wonder how these guys on BrickPicker immediately see when Amazon has a sale. A bunch of Camels is how.
Setting this up takes about 5 minutes, provided you know the sets you want, know what price you want to pay for them, and have an email address (I know, they clearly ask a lot of you). To do this:
Go to the website at www.CamelCamelCamel.com Right on the front page click “Signup” and follow the process to become a member. This is where you will need that email address. Once done, you can click inside the search URL at the top and immediately type ina set you want to put on your alert's list. Once you have the set/item you want, select the title which should be a link and it will take you to a page were you can set the price thresholds. You have three options: Amazon Price, 3rd Party New Price, and 3rd Party Used Price. Here you can set up a threshold for all three or just the ones you want. You can also set a label for each that will be present when you are alerted. Currently my Haunted House alert says “Buy This”. Once you are done, click “Start Tracking” and you will see your tracked items. Rinse and repeat. So what does CamelCamelCamel offer besides this? Well number 1, what more do you need? I think someone is expecting a little too much for free...
Either way, the site delivers. Let's say you have already set up a giant wish-list of all the sets you want but can't afford on Amazon. Here you can click a link at the top to “import your Amazon wishlist” straight into your tracking system and then set price thresholds.
On top of that, there is a CamelCamelCamel browser add on as long as you use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome (yes they discriminate against Internet Explorer). DOWNLOAD THIS. It's amazing!
Once you install it, you click a cool little camel while you are on an item page in Amazon and a chart shows up and shows you data from the website over the past several months so you can see if this has been less or more, etc. This is shown below:

So what are you waiting for? Go get those alerts set up so you aren't like me and wait to set them up until a day after the Lego Haunted House was $135! I mean seriously, what was I thinking?!?
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
If you have been registered on BrickPicker for a while now and have been cruising though the site, you have probably seen some references to a site called “BrickLink”. You may also hear the phrase “BrickLink it”. This is referring to a site called BrickLink.com that sells everything Lego you could eve think of. For those of you who haven't visited the site or haven't explored all of it benefits, I wanted to make a quick blog about the things that you should look to BrickLink for and what benefits the site has.
There are thousands of sites out there and none of them are the best at everything (except maybe the upcoming classifieds?!?). The site itself is a listing website. Think of it like Ebay Stores. Everything is a Buy It Now listing and each seller has a store of other items they are selling along with the one you are looking at.
Like other websites, BrickLink sells new and used Lego sets. They carry pretty much every Lego set ever made (obviously carry is referring to the sellers, but its hard to find a set with no listings). On top of that, they have a “parts” and a “minifigs” section where you can buy every Lego part and minifig ever created at very good prices. On top of this, they also sell the original instruction booklets and boxes for the sets as well as stickers and other inserts.
To begin to buy, visit the main page www.bricklink.com. You will have to create an account to begin using the site, so click the link on the side that says “registration”. Registration is very simple; all you will need to have to do is your email address and your name, etc. Once registered they will send you an email confirming your account and you can log in!
Once there, you can click on the “Buy” section and choose between sets, parts, minifigs, boxes, instructions, etc.
Another cool section here that a lot of other places don't have is the “custom items” section. Here they allow people to list their custom items they have created out of Lego or involving Lego. An example is a Star Wars Hoth themed Chess-Set. This is one of the only sites with something of this nature!
Once you decide what you want to look for, you can click on that section inside of the “buy” tab, like “sets”, and you get a listing of themes or you can search for a certain item. Once you have narrowed down the item you want to look for, you can browse through all of the items matching your search. Items are automatically listed in order of best price, lowest to highest so that you see the best deals first.
Each listing shows the price and condition of the item as well as whether it is complete or not. BrickLink includes sellers from all over the world, so you will be able to browse foreign listings as well by price. You can sort these at the top, along with by used and new, and by the listings completeness.
BrickLink listings show the price just for the set itself; shipping is an extra price added on that the buyer pays. The bad thing is you must look for it rather than it being listed right on the page like at Ebay. To do this, click on the seller's name to go to their store. At the top of their store, you should see something called a “Splash Page”. If you click here, 99% of the time the seller will list what their shipping prices are for standard items. You can also click a button to message the seller and inquire how much shipping would be to your zip code.
Another great BrickLink feature is the “Wanted List”. If you go to the home page by clicking “Home” at the top, you will see a middle section in the website dashboard called “Wanted List”. If you click this, you can choose sets by theme and create wanted lists for them. They aren't all on the same list like Ebay's watch list: Instead you can sort them anyway you like. You can also filter the listings by price, by country the seller is from, and by used/new, complete/incomplete. This feature also allows you options to set up email alerts. You can set price minimums so that if a new listing is set up that is lower than your watching price, you will immediately be emailed. I have these set up on about 20 sets, and every few weeks I get a set off BrickLink for a pretty good price.
BrickLink sellers also have the ability to create savings for you two ways: By having deals/sales and by offering bulk pricing. If you look for items in the “buying” section, you will commonly see discounted prices shown by the original price with a line through it. This means the seller is having a sale. This is another way the benefit of the wanted list comes into play. If you are watching an item and a seller decides to discount it under your price minimum, you will get an email.
The bulk pricing is really great for investors. A set you want multiples of may be a little overpriced if you buy one, but if you buy 4, the seller might give you a $10 break per set. This can sweeten some deals for anyone looking to big time invest in a certain set. Some sellers also offer bulk pricing if oyu buy multiple items from their store.
If you have ever heard of someone saying they want to “Rebrick a set”, BrickLink is really the place to do that. You can click on the widget on the front page dashboard called “Wanted List” and then inside here click “Part out a set”. Once you click this, you can choose the set and tell BrickLink if you are looking for all of it, part of it, minifigures, etc. Once you are done, this imports all the set data into your wanted list. Once there, you can browse and see all the best listings for these items and try to use several sellers to get all the parts you need to put the set together.
The real BrickLink advantages
Why use BrickLink? Well, first of all, its another Lego site to waste all your time on. But more importantly, it carries more than about every site out there variety wise. Though Ebay has a very big customer and seller base, there are more consistent listings for every item on BrickLink, especially if you are shopping for individual parts or parting out a set.
The Wanted list is really nice – about the only thing that compares to it is CamelCamelCamel which is a site that watches Amazon.com for price drops. The emails are really nice and they send you the exact listing so you can quickly go there and checkout.
The custom Lego listings are another really great part that no one else really has. If you are into special projects, you can browse these listings and find something you really like or just get ideas on what to do next. There are thousands of listings here where as there are only a limited number on Ebay.
So try BrickLink out! Make sure once you are there you visit the BrickLink help tab on the front page. They have everything you need to know about the site there – in much more detail than I can in a blog!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
When doing some research on Ebay for another article I did, Should I throw away the box from the set I just opened? I noticed some outrageously high prices for used sets on Ebay - way over the Brickpicker pricing. At first I just figured these were just some Buy It Now (BIN) listings that one poor sap jumped on, but looking through them, more than half were auctions where tons of people bid. I became curious as to why – what makes these auctions so appealing that people spend extra money over the average Ebay price on the used set?
I decided to find out and report some raw data back along with some of my conclusions that would put together a good example of how to maximize what you can get for your used set on Ebay. For my data, I picked sets that are well retired and sell often on Ebay. I wanted these to be several different sizes and all have good used growth so we would get a wide range of results.
I came up with six sets I decided to do:
10030 SW Star Destroyer 10143 SW Death Star 2 10196 Grand Carousel 10217 HP Diagon Alley 6211 Middle Star Destroyer – went with this so I had a little bit of data on the same set – just large and small of it 7741 UCS BatMobile Now I decided to look each of these sets up Used on Ebay. Old listings on Ebay only last for 90 days, so this is guaranteed to be recent data. I looked up the sold listings by “Used” and “Highest price plus shipping”. I took one BIN and one Auction from each and recorded all the details from them. From this we can discern two general things: What it takes to maximize profits on a used set and what it takes in a BIN listing to have someone pull the trigger.
First a few of the rules of my search:
Sets are allowed to be incomplete (As this proves how well they created the listing) but cannot include any significant extras like other sets or minifigures. Shipping is only included if it is a flat rate – otherwise we will use a control shipping amount of $10 All listings were from US- Not discriminating, just a control. Sets that were listed as used but actually sealed are excluded. Sets that only had one bid were disallowed Now for the data. The criteria from the listing I pulled are explained below:
10030 Star Destroyer
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $631.04
BIN Listing Sold: $948 plus calculated shipping (10$)
Percent over BP Price: ((958/631.04)-1) *100 = 50.2%
Included everything, box and instructions Had an extended description of the item and how it was used under the Ebay condition of “Used” (This is something you can set up in your listing where you expand on why it's marked the way it is. It appears directly under the “condition” section at the top of the listing.) Mentioned the pieces were separated in Ziplock bags Details what's not there : Inner Boxes Ebay Store Described how he ships with insurance, and how the box will be packed. Had a picture of each individual part of the set, instructions, box, pieces. Doesn't mention smoke free. Colorful Mentions rules (these are things that a seller says about how payment must be, how feedback must be, etc,) High Feedback and rating. Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-STAR-WARS-10030-IMPERIAL-STAR-DESTROYER-UCS-COMPLETE-SET-MANUAL-BOX-/321128057125?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item4ac4b94925
Auction Listing Sold: $860 plus calculated shipping (10$)
Percent over BP Price: ((870/631.04) -1)*100 = 37.9%
Included everything, box and instructions No extended Description Doesn't say how shipped Described all parts that had wear and imperfections. Up-close pictures of the box and instruction manual and the set itself 10 pictures. Not Ebay Store Described how it would be shipped: included insurance and delivery signature. Pictures of all wear along with individual parts of set. Smoke free Ended 4:30PM PDT on Sunday Not really high feedback Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Imperial-Star-Destroyer-10030-Ultimate-Collector-Series-/310669058297?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item485551a0f9&nma=true&si=%252FZDV%252BMT2o3W%252Fhz0JThzyuYnz%252Bc8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
10143 Death Star
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $534.20 although around $580 when sold (will use $580)
BIN Listing Sold: $898 plus calculated shipping (10$)
Percent over BP Price: ((908/534.2) -1)*100 = 70%
Everything included, box and instructions. No extended description Mentions separated in ziplock bags Ebay Store Describes whats not there – inner boxes Explains how it will be shipped with insurance. Detailed condition description individual pictures of each part of the set. No mention of smoke-free Colorful Mentions rules. High feedback and rating. Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-STAR-WARS-10143-UCS-DEATH-STAR-II-COMPLETE-SET-ORIGINAL-MANUAL-/221225299902?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33820e2fbe&nma=true&si=%252FZDV%252BMT2o3W%252Fhz0JThzyuYnz%252Bc8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Auction Listing Sold: $790 plus $30 shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((820/534.2) -1)*100 = 53.5%
Includes Everything, Box and instructions No extended description Explains why selling the item. No real description of the item. No Ebay Store. Shipping with Insurance. Pictures of each part of the item. Smoke Free home Mentions Rules. High Feedback Ended 11:27PM PDT Saturday Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-UCS-10143-Death-Star-II-100-Complete-/161043619163?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item257ef29d5b
Lego 10196 Grand Carousel
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $836
Auction Listing Sold: $910 plus $28 shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((938/836) -1)*100 = 12%
Comes with everything but the box No extended description Detailed description of the item and assures buyer they are all in good shape Pieces separated in Zip lock bags Describes all imperfections Explains why getting rid of it Shows pictures of each piece and how its bagged separately. Not an Ebay store No mention of the shipping Mentions smoke free home. Very colorful Mentions rules High feedback 5:09PM PDT on Tuesday http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-GRAND-CAROUSEL-10196-NO-BOX-/130937532512?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item1e7c7c3060
BIN Listing Sold: $899.99 plus calculated shipping ($10)
Percent over BP Price: ((909.99/836) -1)*100 = 8.9%
Includes everything but the box No extended description Describes some wear on the books Describes how great the set is Tells you how they are separated in bags by color Not as Ebay store No mention of shipping details Shows pictures of boxed item and the parts inside No mention of smoke-free Colorful High Feedback and rating Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-GRAND-CAROUSEL-Set-10196-100-COMPLETE-inc-ALL-MINIFIGS-instruction-bks-/261217188213?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item3cd1c1f975
10217 Diagon Alley
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $176
Auction Listing Sold: $248.35 plus Free Shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((248.35/176) -1)*100 = 41.1%
Everything included, Box and instructions No extended description Pieces are separated by bag number in bags Lightly touches on condition Not an Ebay Store No mention of shipping Pictures of everything it came with Smoke-Free Ended 6:41PM PDT Monday Low number of feedback Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Diagon-Alley-10217-Harry-Potter-Hagrid-Malfoy-Weasley-Hermione-minifigs-/121095099975?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item1c31d49647&nma=true&si=%252FZDV%252BMT2o3W%252Fhz0JThzyuYnz%252Bc8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
BIN Listing Sold: $225 plus calculated shipping ($10)
Percent over BP Price: ((235/176) -1)*100 = 33.5%
Everything included, Box and instructions No extended description Run on sentence through whole listing Individual bags Assures all pieces present Not an Ebay Store No mention of shipping Pictures of each individual piece put together Smoke-free Barely any feedback at all Listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-Potter-Lego-Diagon-Alley-10217-/171038391583?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item27d2aebd1f
6211 Star Destroyer
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $140.33, was about $155 last month (we will use $155)
Auction Listing Sold: $284.99 plus Free Shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((284.99/155) -1)*100 = 83.8%!!!
Includes everything but box No extended description Mentions it will come disassembled but nothing about bags Says where he got it Possibly incomplete and describes condition as Excellent No mention of shipping or insurance No mention of smoke free Pictures of individual parts and booklets Ebay Store Ended at 9:49 PM PDT on Saturday http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-ESTATE-FIND-STAR-WARS-6211-IMPERIAL-DESTROYER-99-COMPLETE-WITH-MINIFIGS-/400508526016?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item5d402b1dc0
BIN Listing Sold: $224.98 plus 14.99 shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((238.97/155) -1)*100 = 54.2%
Includes everything but the box No Extended Description Describes condition Never been played with Doesn't mention how it will come (assembled or not) Stock picture Not an Ebay Store Doesn't mention how it will be shipped Smoke-free High feedback and rating http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-Imperial-Star-Destroyer-6211-100-Complete-Mint-Condition-/181129900994?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item2a2c2ef3c2
Lego 7741 – The UCS Batmobile
BrickPicker Used Set Price: $107.60
Auction Listing Sold: $152.50 plus calculated shipping ($10)
Percent over BP Price: ((162.50/107.60) -1)*100 = 51%
Everything included but box No extended description Explained why selling Says Mint-Condition Says how shipped (disassembled) Not an Ebay store Pictures of separated piece and instructions – also shows pieces fully separated No mention of shipping or insurance No mention if smoke free Low number of feedback Ended 1:00PM on Friday http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Batman-The-Batmobile-Ultimate-Collectors-Edition-7784-/230966063631?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item35c6a6720f
BIN Listing Sold: $149.95 plus $18.95 shipping
Percent over BP Price: ((168.90/107.60) -1)*100 = 56%
Everything but box and instructions Extended used description Says condition good Doesn't say how it will be shipped Ships insured Up close pictures of the item No mention of smoke free Alludes to the fact they insure it Ebay store Colorful Mentions rules High feedback http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Batman-Super-Hero-Ultimate-Collectors-Edition-7784-THE-BATMOBILE-Complete-/300882925933?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item460e05196d
Analysis
There is a lot of raw data here, but we can definitely come to a few conclusions based on the data collected as well as some educated guesses for how an Ebay Auction for a used set should be created. I tried to pull the same types of things out of each listing that I felt “made” the listing or were uncommon in normal listings and put the data together so we can go through each and figure out how much it really affects the price. These are the following:
Completeness: Everything included along with the instructions and Box? Extended Description in the condition field How it is shipped: In bags, disassembled, assembled, etc. If the listing explains why they are getting rid of it. If they offer a detailed description of the item. If it comes from an Ebay store If they discuss their shipping at all and offer insurance. Detailed Pictures of the item itself Smoke free home? If the listing is colorful and decorated If they mention rules: Payment rules, bidding rules, etc. High Feedback score and percent. (Score is how many they have, percent is how positive) Completeness
The implications here are pretty obvious, so we probably didn't need a whole lot of info here, but we do have a few interesting points. In the auctions, there were 3 that didn't include the box. This suggests that, while it certainly helps to have the box, don't assume you can't get top dollar for your item just because you don't have it. If you go above and beyond in other sections, this wont be a dark spot on your listing.
Looking at the data for the BIN listings, you actually see some that don't have the box and one doesn't have the instructions as well. This suggests that BIN is more impulsive so making a good listing of that type may not matter if you get lucky enough that someone clicks that beautiful BIN button.
Verdict: Not a deal breaker
Extended Description
The data suggests this doesn't make a difference for auctions as none of them have it. A few have it in the BIN section, but this doesn't seem to really matter there either, as it was only in 2 of the listings.
Verdict: Don't waste time on it, though it wont hurt you.
Describing how you are shipping it
In the auctions, everyone of them mentioned how they were shipping it. 4 said in separated bags, where as 2 just mentioned it would be disassembled. In the BIN listings, half of them mentioned it would be in separated bags, but the other half mentioned nothing at all. To me, the biggest take-away from all this was that none of the listings that were included mentioned the item being sent still assembled. Most people buying used sets want to build them and don't want to receive them already together.
Verdict: Disassemble your used set and put it in separated bags.
Why are you selling it?
4 of the 10 listings mentioned a short sentence about this, ranging from “we don't have room for it”, to “it has been in storage”. Nothing really definitive here, but sometimes I think it helps people understand why your selling something when they are trying to buy it. I don't necessarily like saying something negative about the set like “Its too big”, but just mentioning that you don't need it, or you need to make some space wont hurt anything.
Verdict: Add something small. It may make the buyers feel a little more comfortable.
Detailed Description
The descriptions of these listings ranged from a few words to being very detailed. I think most of us would agree a detailed listing is really important, but a few of these didn't have much except “Complete, display set”. This makes it a little less important than I thought.
Verdict: Important to have something, but past a few words not a huge benefit.
Ebay Store
I included this one just to see if people preferred to buy from an Ebay store or not. As for the Auctions, only one was an Ebay Store. As for as the BIN listings, half of them were from Ebay stores. That's not necessarily that surprising since most Ebay stores prefer BIN.
Verdict: Ebay stores don't seem to make a big difference.
Shipping Details/Insurance
My feelings on this before looking at the data were that describing how you were shipping and shipping it with insurance could really help your listing. After looking at the listings it seems almost half of them did that. This probably means that while its not a requirement, it definitely can help. I would say around 20% of the people on Ebay ship with insurance, but 5 of these listings mentioned it so it seems more of the better listings on Ebay include this. Plus if you use it, you will save your butt in one of those times where the post office decides to lose your package.
Verdict: Ship it with insurance and describe how well your packing it and mention that it's shipped with insurance in the listing. It's a win-win.
Pictures
The takeaway from this section is: If you aren't going to use detailed pictures of your used set, you aren't going to get top dollar. Now, there was one BIN that used a stock picture, but chances are that person just got lucky. I think this proves that you are throwing away money if you don't take your cell phone or digital camera and just snap a few extra pictures.
Verdict: Take the time to take some good detailed pictures.
Smoke-Free Home Exactly half of the listings mentioned they were smoke-free homes. I am not going to pay as much attention to the BIN since it only takes one person to buy. So looking at the auctions only, I see 4 of them mentioned that they were smoke-free homes. While leaving this out probably doesn't hurt your auction, mentioning it (assuming its true) takes just a few words and it will only help to assure your buyer, along with details about the condition, that its in good shape and that your a caring seller. I know I wouldn't decline to buy something just because they did not have smoke-free in the listing.
Verdict: As long as it's true, mention it.
Colorful Listing
This is probably the thing I was least sure about when I started looking at listings. I generally don't care what the listing looks like – I am just worried about the product. However, I am just one person and not everyone shares my same opinion. I think a colorful listing can only help, but it takes time to get this right.
Only 1 of the auctions had colorful listings. This seems to point to the fact that people care more about the product and the actual words in the description and the pictures you present. In the BIN listings, half of them had this because they were from Ebay Stores. I think this does help a slight bit for BIN because when people are about to take that leap of faith and purchase an item with a click rather than just bid. So a colorful, decorated listing probably helps your listing look a bit more professional.
Verdict: For an auction, its not worth it unless you have set up a template earlier. In a BIN it can probably help, but may not make too much difference.
Mentioning Rules
This is a section I didn't think about until I actually saw the listings. Once I read a few that had some listings about how people have to pay, how they need to bid, etc. I thought it made the seller sound more professional and much more serious when they have it.
However, only two of the auctions had it, so it definitely wasn't a deal breaker. Half of the BIN listings had it, but I think that goes back to the fact that BIN is a little different and the buyer is taking a leap of faith. So here, the more professional you sound, the better chance your listing has of selling in a BIN situation.
Verdict: It's probably not worth it for an auction. However, for a BIN it may create a better sense of professionalism in your listing.
High Feedback
Obviously you can't control your feedback score more than just selling items and getting positive feedback. But I wondered if it required high feedback scores (percentage and number) to make the most money. The answer seems to be “no”. Half of the auctions were listed by a seller with low feedback (< 200). What's even more telling, is that one of them only had a feedback score of 4, and still got top price. I think this means that customer's don't pay that much attention to the number of feedback.
I did notice that most of the feedback percentage scores were 99.5%. So that might suggest that the percentage matters a lot more, but its pretty difficult to have lower than ~98% feedback on Ebay unless you scam people, so it doesn’t tell us a whole lot.
All but one of the BIN listings was by a seller with high feedback. I think this makes sense because, again, the buyer is taking a chance on the seller by clicking BIN. So they are probably more aware of the seller's feedback.
Verdict: Don't worry about your feedback score unless the percentage is really low.
Auction End Times
I was a little curious about this, and will be looking at it later in another article. Most people feel that an auction that ends on the weekend is better. The data here shows half of them did, but the other half were during the week so this seems inconclusive.
However, none of them ended in the morning, so I think its safe to say people don't like to wake up early to bid on auctions .
Verdict: Jury is still out, but don't end your auction in the morning.
Further Analysis and Conclusions
When I sat out to look a this, I thought we would see listings that got 20-25% more. But incredibly, we saw all of the top listings but the Grand Carousel hitting 40-50% higher than the average that comes from Ebay. This is incredible and really makes me rethink how I list used sets. There is a ton of money out there in Legos, as we know, but this just shows how much a good listing makes a big difference in your final price.
Another thing we can surmise is that a good listing works just as well with an Auction as BIN. Definitely with an Auction you are taking a chance, but BIN generally may sit around a lot longer if you list it for 30-40% more than the BP used price. The BIN listings averaged 45.5% over the BP used price and the auctions averaged 46.55% over the BP used price. So you can get more for your auction (Up to 80% evidently on the smaller star destroyer), but your listing doesn't have to be quite as good to sell with BIN – you just need some luck with a buyer.
So why was the Grand Carousel much lower than the others? Well, I decided to calculate the BP used price/BP New price to find out where it was at:
10030 Star Destroyer 57% of new 10143 Death Star 2 49% of new 10196 Grand Carousel 67% of new 10217 Diagon Alley 79% of new 6211 Star Destroyer 46% of new 7781 UCS Batmobile 43% of new Looking at this data, the Diagon Alley and Carousel have used prices that are very high compared to the new price. I think this definitely had an effect on the Grand Carousel. If the used price gets too high, its going to hit the New price ceiling and people will just buy new.
But why didn't Diagon Alley see the same results? - Well it is a more recent set and cost's a lot less money so I think this shows people are willing to spend a higher percentage on a set that costs less.
So there is all the data. What conclusions do you all draw from this? What do you think could be done to make this data more conclusive? Put your thoughts in the comments!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
We are in the midst of one of the best clearance times of the year for several retailers, including the two biggest and well known Lego retailers: Target and Walmart (I'm ignoring you TRU because you seem to think that clearance is a 5% discount on a set overpriced by 30%). A lot of people post the great deals they find in the forums. Unfortunately we see a lot of people saying they never find these deals.
Well, while its true that not every Walmart or Target in every area puts clearance items out, I wanted to go through some clearance tips for both of these retailers as well as show pictures of what to look for just to make sure no one misses anything.
Walmart
Generally Walmart does major clearance once in the summer and once at the first of the year after Christmas, just like Target. However, clearance can also be sporadically spread throughout the year depending on the sets that are going EOL and how many are left at a local Walmart. In my experience, the Walmart toy managers have a lot more say so over when they can put things on clearance. Also, they are much worse at stocking and commonly find old sets that are clearanced in the system in the back.
On top of that, Walmart doesn't stick to a straight schedule for when to clearance items. For instance, they started clearing MF and Super Hero sets in March, but still haven’t started other summer clearance (my Walmart has 100 sets sitting on the shelves that are old and will need to be moved once the new fall sets come out).
My strategy with Walmart is to check every time I go. I go to Walmart about once a week at least as there are three within close vicinity to me, and 5 in my town. I check every time I go because it only takes a few minutes if I am already there and I don't want to miss anything. If you don't visit Walmart a lot, this becomes tougher. If there is one close to you, I would try every two weeks or so. If there is not, I would watch closely for deals on clearance at Walmart posted on this site and then check at those points.
Walmart will also tell you over the phone whether they have clearanced sets if you can get to the toy department. Not everyone will go check, but if you get someone in the toy department they will tell you if they know.
So where do you need to check in Walmart? In my experience, there are 4 places: The Lego isle, a toys-only clearance isle, a store clearance isle, and the ends of an isle.
When clearance sets are in the Lego isle, they are normally in their usual spots with red tags posted under them on the shelves as shown below:

Its usually pretty obvious when these are on clearance because of the tags on the actual shelves. Because of this, things are gone fast. When this happens, I always check everywhere in the isle behind all the big sets to make sure that nothing got pushed behind something else. People will hide items and some employees accidentally push something behind another set while marking clearance. I have scored a few sets this way because I was persistent.
Walmart will sometimes red tag the boxes themselves, but not tag the shelves. In this case, it usually means it was manager-decision clearance because there were too many of an item, or its damaged, etc. For these, make sure the Red Tag with the UPC is on it. Chances are it won't come up in the system if it isn't. Watch the price as the teller rings it up as well. I had a time where I wasn't paying attention and an MF set I was buying didn't have the sticker and the teller rang it up retail.
If your Walmart uses a “toys-only” clearance isle, it is usually right by the toys, normally the last isle from the door, or an isle close by to the rest of the toys on the edge of another section. This usually never moves so if you go to a new Walmart and find this, it should always be there. In this case, employees throw anything clearance here, meaning most of the time looking in the isle for clearance is not going to find anything. Here is an example:

In my experience, this isle is extremely messy. It usually has signs a the tops of the isle showing that the items there are clearance. Because this isle is a mess, it unfortunately means you need to go through everything. I have found sets accidentally put behind MegaBlocks and Kinects, I have found them under dress up toys, etc. Its pretty much a rummage sale. The employees will also put anything discounted because of damage here as well. If something looks open – make sure it has all the pieces. Walmart is not above putting a set that is obviously missing pieces back in the isle. Keep your receipts as well as they will take returns on them, but usually only if you have the receipt.
A lot of older Walmarts don't put clearance in a special toy isle or leave it in the regular isles. They throw all clearance items in two or three isles, normally on the outskirts of the store (but sometimes in the very middle near the front) that have big clearance isle signs. Here is a picture:
Things are generally terribly kept as half of the items are discounts because of damage so items don't stack or don't fit properly and just lay on top of each other. I usually just shovel through everything. This isle is the easiest thing to miss if you are in an older Walmart. Most people look for the toy clearance isle, but some do have this “everything goes here” clearance isle in the store. Usually there wont be sections or any type of order to it, so make sure you inspect behind everything big.
I went to my hometown a while back and went to an old Walmart there. I saw nothing in the clearance isle... until I moved a giant boxed dog carrier that was smashed up. I found a Vampyre castle right behind it.
Some small Walmarts that don't carry a lot of items (the really old and non-super Walmarts) will put clearance on the sides of isles because they don't want to take up a full isle. Usually each sections items has its own section clearance side isle. These will look like this:

It could be shelves too. These will not be there year round so be vigilant. One of my smaller Walmarts here recently did this – I just thought they didn't ever have clearance. First week I got a 5887 Dino Defense for $69. A month later I got a SW 7964 Frigate for $69. Can't imagine what I missed before that...
Target
In my experience, Target is much cleaner about what they do with their clearance. Since they really only have clearance times twice a year, its really not worth checking until the first week of July and the first week in January. There are exceptions to this, but not enough for you to run to Target twice a week.
Targets generally don't have a store clearance isle. Every section has either its own clearance section, or they clearance items right in the isle (most do this, especially the newer ones because it looks cleaner). This makes it easy because they are right out in the open.
If they do have a small clearance section, it will either be on the ends of the isles, or it will usually be right in between the sports section and the toys section. Here is a picture of the toy clearance isle:

Notice how much cleaner it is. You can look behind other items for sets, but chances are you wont find them as most Targets keep things pristine. If you find them inside the actual Lego isle, they should be in the their normal places and look like this:

Notice how the set has the clearance tag up in the top corner. Luckily, there don't have UPCs because Target puts them in the system for the main UPC. This means if a tag is missing, you don't have to worry. Plus Target has price checkers on every three or so isle ends.
Target also periodically reduces clearance sets where as some Walmarts will leave them there forever. Every week or so after putting something on clearance, Target will up it by 20%. If they only have a few of the clearance item you find, its probably worth just buying it. But if they have a multitude of them, you can take a chance on them making it farther up the clearance scale. I am currently doing that for.
Well that's what I have seen – I wanted to share to make sure no one else every missed a clearance sale. What types of clearance have you all noticed?
Note: Some of these pictures were found on the web as I didn't have examples of all of these in my area.
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
My ascendance from darkness has been gradual and, in many ways, continues to be so. In my younger days the light shone brightly; a satisfied youth entertained by the simplest yet richest of pleasures. The treasures of enlightenment were mine and there had never been reason to question the integrity of the beacon that burned bright. As I grew, the temptations and pleasures of the world impressed upon me, and what I once knew to be dazzling faded into insignificance. For many years, girlfriends, music, good times and popularity occupied my mind. Most of those pleasures gave way to the necessary, yet equally distracting, responsibilities of adulthood: the mortgage, the job, the house, the wife, and eventually the kids.
Yet, forming in the womb of responsibility was the seed, the desire; the need for release, the necessity of light relief. Whilst maturity brought reward and satisfaction, there was something missing; something I once knew of: Lego.
It started with a chance meeting: children swapping collectible minifigures in the playground at the school where I’m a teacher. I took a glance and I liked what I saw. The details of what was glimpsed then do not remain with me, however, the knowledge that that instance was a catalyst is clear.
Happening upon Series 6 minifigures being sold in WH Smith was to be my second dalliance with my childhood friend. I saw the Roman Soldier on the packaging, and believing (in my naivety) that through the packaging I could feel a shield, I dutifully paid my £1.99. Upon opening I was disappointed to find the surgeon and to discover that what I presumed was a shield was the standard base plate supplied with all collectible minifigures. The fact that my Series 6 Surgeon minifigure now holds a special place in my heart is testament to the fact that this occasion was significant in my journey out of my dark ages. The Roman Soldier still eludes me to this day; however, I’m sure one day he’ll be mine.
It continued slowly and not without more disappointment: a totally blind purchase of another Series 6 minifigure left me with the rather undesirable Flamenco Dancer – an event which left me feeling disillusioned; maybe the light which had once shone strongly WAS just a childhood thing best left alone when in one’s mid twenties? Then again, maybe not; my two-year-old daughter adored the Flamenco Dancer who can probably be credited with igniting the flame of love within a new heart, which in turn gave me an excuse (needed or not) to pursue my journey to re-enlightenment.
Then, by a variety of means, I began to build a collection: Sun newspaper giveaways, small ebay purchases, more collectible minifigures. I began to take out my vast assortment of pre-dark age Lego whenever I visited my parents’ house. My brother-in-law began to show signs of emerging too, asking for and receiving Creationary and Lord of the Rings sets for Christmas. The Lego sessions at my parents’ house became family affairs; myself, my daughters, my wife, my brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law all on the floor, surrounded by the bricks and pieces that had brought so much joy years before.
Now, things are slowly getting back to the way things were. My new Lego collection is small (it fits in a shoebox) and real life doesn’t allow much money to spend on it, but I build and I create and when I do there is freedom and relaxation. There’s that old satisfying feeling of following the instructions, enjoying the model, breaking it down and adding the pieces to the pile and then creating again. There’s a knowledge that a lost part of me is now, once again, found.
 
It was only around a year ago when LEGO finally released the long awaited by many Lord of The Rings theme. With the great success of the books, and more recently the movies, the release of a theme revolving around Middle Earth seemed to be one of the best licensing options available, and we can be grateful LEGO decided to go with it.
The release of the LOTR theme was no accident. Even though the movies were already close to a decade all, LEGO probably knew that with the release of a new trilogy of the prequel book, The Hobbit, there was still a lot of money to be made and popularity to take advantage of. So, they decided to also release a sort of extension or sub-theme entirely related to the newer Hobbit movies, and those will be the focus of this article.
As many of you probably know, The Hobbit book was in fact the first of all that related to Middle Earth coming from Tolkien, released way back in 1937. Despite this, it is clear that the LOTR series has garnered a lot more fans and popularity over the years than its predecessor, so we could make the argument that this will be translating into better performance of LOTR sets than Hobbit ones.
 However, there is something I really think we should keep in mind, especially now that only the first of The Hobbit movies has been released. If we take a look at the box office numbers for the whole series, we will see that The Hobbit’s first movie has collected around $1,017,000,000, and that compared to the LOTR movies, it is only surpassed by the most popular of the three, The Return of the King (by about $ 100 million). The other two LOTR movies collected way less than The Hobbit did, and that to me is a very good sign. Taking into account that the first movie usually comes around to set the stage for the whole trilogy, we can be sure that the coming releases will contain a lot of more action and interesting scenes. This will probably translate in better box office numbers, and that usually defines the popularity of the series.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that The Hobbit LEGO theme will be performing better than the Lord of The Rings, just that we should not be discounting it as an inferior sub-theme. These sets will be getting a lot of attention once they are retired, and even if they end up performing a little less well than LOTR, the figures will probably be fairly similar.
One last thing before we get into analyzing the first wave of Hobbit sets. In a previous article released on the Evaluation Corner dedicated mostly to the Lord of the Rings, I talked about the similarity I saw between it and the Harry Potter theme that just recently ended. I would recommend that you at least read some of the first paragraphs of that article, since I believe that this theme will follow the same route.
Let’s now evaluate specific sets:
- 79010 Goblin King Battle

My Analysis: This set is the largest and most expensive of the whole Hobbit first wave of sets, and it recreates one of the most interesting scenes from the movie, in my opinion. The set comes with around 840 pieces and 8 minifigs, so in theory it would appear to be a good value for the money, especially considering the Goblin King maxifig.
The eight minifigs included are all exclusive to this set, with the exception of Gandalf the Grey. Three of those minifigs are goblin variations that will probably not get too much attention, but the other four I do consider them to be pretty special. Most importantly, the set comes with a maxifig of the Goblin King, one that you will for sure never see released again and that already sells for around $14 on eBay. Maxifigs overall have proven to be really popular, and I don’t see this one being the exception.
The other three are dwarves, Ori, Dori and Nori. They are so far exclusive to this set and necessary for anyone looking to complete the Company of Dwarves, so if they remain exclusive we might see a nice bump to this set in the secondary market. Considering that there are two more movies coming out, I feel that not all three will stay exclusive, but only one of them would be enough.
The set itself has not been one of the most well received ones by collectors and investors, and constantly sells for way less MSRP on most retail outlets and even less on eBay auctions. Having said that, we have seen similar issues with other sets along the years that in the end have proven to be great investments.
Value Prediction: Once we have more data about the performance of LOTR sets after retirement we will be able to give more accurate predictions of value, but this set should at the least sell for close to $ 200 by 2015 assuming it retires by the end of this year.

79003 An Unexpected Gathering

Comments: This is without a doubt the highlight of the first wave of The Hobbit. One of the most important factors this set has going for it is that it can easily be used both on LOTR and Hobbit collections, as Bag-End plays a decent role in both movies/series. The structure is very unique and has a really nice mix of display and play features, including new elements, nice color scheme and great collection of minifigs. I really don’t think any LOTR/Hobbit collection can be considered complete without having this set.
The minifigs included are 2 that can be considered common, Gandalf and an exclusive variation of Bilbo, and four characters that at this point are only included in this set: Balin, Dwalin, Bombur and Bofur the dwarves. As it is the case with most of the Hobbit sets, LEGO seems to have made a point of including exclusive dwarf minifigs in order to incentivize the purchase of all the sets in the series, if someone is looking to get the whole company of dwarves and does not want to buy them individually. What this set has that most of the others don’t to add even more value besides the minifigs, is the unique design as well as the significance of the structure in the movies. Plus, coming with a nice mix of new elements will surely help its future value.
Value Prediction: This is my favorite set of the line, and will in my opinion end up being o the top performers of the whole theme. I see it showing a CAGR of around 25% by the time it has been retired for two years. In my opinion, this could be a conservative estimate if the dwarves end up staying exclusive.

- 79002 Attack of the Wargs

Comments: This set is not talked about that much, but I believe that it has the potential to be a really good performer. I find it to be very similar to Attack on Weathertop, with the important difference that this one seems to be better priced than 9472. What I like the most about this set is that recreates one of the scenes that can be considered the climax of the first Hobbit movie, as well as the inclusion of the wargs.
As it happens with 9472, I think that the minifigs and creatures included in both sets will be responsible for much of the future growth we should be expecting. The wargs are selling for a nice amount of money already on eBay and in the event that they do not reappear in any future sets, something I see very probable, then this set will become the only chance to acquire them. Even more, this set includes one of the main characters of the whole movie, Thorin, that at this point is also exclusive though I do not see how LEGO could keep him from reappearing in the future. The other minifigs include Yazneg (more than likely only included in this set), Bifur, and a couple of hunter orcs.
Value Prediction: Again, the performance of this set will be closely related to the minifigs in it remaining exclusive and the wargs not being included in a lot of sets in the future. I think it would be safe to say that the set should see a CAGR of around 24 % by the time the set has been retired for 2 years. (Assumes retirement by the end of 2013)

- 79004 Barrel Escape

Comments: This set is a Toys R Us and LEGO exclusive, so it is one of the “hardest” ones to find out there, resulting in the positive CAGR while the set is still in production. The trajectory of Toys R Us exclusives has not usually been one of the brightest, with Home One being the poster child for underperformance, but in this case I have the feeling this set will end up performing relatively well. It is hard to know for how long this set will be on the shelves, but considering that is exclusive AND related to the upcoming second Hobbit movie, it may last longer than the other sets in the first wave.
The set includes five minifigs, with four of them being exclusive to the set. The “common” minifig is Bilbo Baggins, and the exclusives are 2 Mirkwood elves (including the chief), Oin and Gloin the dwarves. These last two, especially Gloin on account of him being Gimli’s father, are probably going to be the most popular of the bunch.
The set itself is very interesting, and has some features that are not seen in some of the others, including a brighter color scheme.
Value Prediction: If this set is selling that good while it is still available and has yet to be featured on the movies, then I would argue that it has the possibility to do just as well once it goes EOL. A CAGR of around 22%, the number is currently presenting, would be a good guess after it has been retired for around two years.

- 79001 Escape From Mirkwood Spiders

Comments: Another of the “special” sets featuring scenes from a movie that has not yet been released. This is also one of the smallest sets, but in my opinion is also a very unique one. It comes with four minifigs: Legolas, Tauriel, Kili and Fili, all exclusive to the set.
For the size of the set, it does come with several interesting play features that I think increase its appeal. For example, besides having the minifigs, it comes with a couple of relatively big brick built spiders and some glow in the dark accessories as well. Also, the set does come with several different weapons and “spider web” to catch some of the minifigs. The set itself consists mostly of two small tree structures, but once again I think the main highlight is the pair of spiders.
Value Prediction: These somewhat small sets a lot of times end up having great CAGR numbers, and I believe that will be the case with Mirkwood Spiders. Considering the exclusive minifigs, especially the two elves that I believe will stay exclusive to the set, and the brick built spiders, I see this set with a CAGR of around 27 % once it has been retired for two years.

- 79000 Riddles for the Ring

Comments: The smallest and less impressive set of the bunch is also the cheapest one in this case. This set recreates a very fun scene from the movie, that serves to reintroduce to us the Gollum some hate and some love from the LOTR series. The structure itself is built from around 100 pieces, and it includes only two minifigs, not really bad for the price you pay. The issue I have with this set is that both minifigs are characters we have already seen before in some other sets, so a lot of people will simply not see this set as a real must have.
Value Prediction: From what I said above, I see this set as being the worst performer of The Hobbit’s first wave. I actually agree with a great review of this set written by Grolim, and see the set with a CAGR of around 12 % by the time it has been retired for two years, that will more than likely become 10% in the longer term.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you see, I expect this theme to have an average CAGR in the low 20s by the time the first wave has been gone for around two years, a number that would put it very high on Brickpicker’s theme ranking. These sets hold great value on the minifigs they contain, as pretty much every single set comes with exclusives. It would be naïve to assume that all of the dwarves will remain exclusive only to sets in the first wave when there are still two more movies coming out, but I am sure that at least a couple will only appear on the first wave. Figuring out which ones would be the hard thing.
To conclude, I would recommend every investor to include several of these sets in their Brickfolio, and once we start seeing the great numbers the first wave of LOTR sets will more than likely provide, I don’t see many people doubting about these sets anymore!
Thanks for reading.
 
I thought I would share my views on Brickvesting and purchasing Lego in Australia.
Firstly, a bit of background on me. I enjoy Lego. I played with it as a child and I still play with it. The Duplo that I had as a child I still have and my son plays with it. I have worked my way through the themes of Space, Town, Technic, Creator and most things in between.
I have over the past few years gotten back into Lego and I have been collecting both current and retired sets. Since the advent of online auctions sites such as eBay, I have been able to buy as an adult, some of the sets that I wanted as a child. The urge to check for a certain set I remember from childhood can strike at any point and thanks to the internet, I can check on the availability and more importantly the cost of such sets.
As an AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego), I have collected some sets that I have wanted from years back. Within my house I have sets on display. I even have the odd piece at work. I do not hide my hobby, however as I am about to explain, not being in Northern Hemisphere does pose a number of hurdles with collecting.
I will point out that I very rarely keep the boxes of any sets. I know that a complete set (with box) is worth a whole heap more than just the pieces and the instruction book. To be honest, I only have one set that is complete by that definition. I do keep all of the instructions from the sets I have.
(Please note: The following is from my observation and memory. If I make a mistake, please let me know.)
Within Australia, there are very few retailers that sell the big items. Of late with the introduction of online shopping just taking off with the large department chains and they are slowly selling the bigger items online only as they cannot guarantee that the item will sell in store. Almost all of the department stores, toy stores and even supermarkets sell the smaller sets (that is under $50).
Another thing that occurs in Australia is that not all sets are available for sale that may have been made available in the Northern Hemisphere. I purchased set 7344, the Dump Truck. I cannot recall this set being released in Australia and I purchased it online from the US.
Until recently, Lego charged a fee for all purchases made from their website. The prices are AU$ prices and regardless of the exchange rate, the sets are more expensive than say the US or the UK. I purchased the Polizia Lamborghini and from memory, the shipping fee was $30 on a $120 set. Now a days, Lego does not charge a shipping fee for anything over $150 for the order.
The other issue is that with sites such as eBay, the shipping price for Lego can vary greatly. I have seen $20 sets with $40 shipping. Thanks, but no thanks. A big issue with collecting in Australia is the shipping cost. Some sellers I have purchased from have had very reasonable shipping costs. I have purchased sets from the UK, the US, within Australia, Germany and other overseas locations. For me, the cost of shipping with a box is not worth the cost as most of the shipping to Australia is based on volume and not just weight.
There are other avenues such as BrickLink to be able to purchase sets, again the shipping costs can vary dependant on the location of the seller however in my experience the costs have been realistic.
At times I have wished there was an option to be able to take the slowest form of delivery to keep the shipping costs down. Again this is subject to the seller and their method of delivery.
With respect to Brickvesting, I am new to the concept, even though the concept is not. We have all seen the amazing ride the Lego Millenium Falcon (10179) has taken due to the popularity of both Lego and Star Wars. Don't we all wish we bought a couple of pristine sets when they first came out! It has been intersesting to read the blogs about people selecting undamaged sets and storing them away for the purpose of accruing value to either be sold at a later date or kept to increase in value, the same way as wine collectors do. From my situation, the sort of Brickvesting I would be getting into is the old sets from the early 1980s to 1990s that are starting to come back into vogue. Watch what happens to the Blue 1980s Space Minifig when "The Lego Movie" comes out.
It does seem the Brickvesting is as much hit and miss as the Lego themes and sets themselves. Whilst "The Hobbit" as a movie was popular, the Lego sets seem to be doing ok. The "Harry Potter" series appears to have waned off due to the movies becoming dated and interest being lost. I cannot say much for the " Dino Riders" set other than I liked the helicopter enough to get it. To me, the Lego Technic range has always been my favourite, I have spent a fair bit on cranes, planes and helicopters. The Soccer and Ice Hockey sets are another example, in my opinon where you would not make a return on any potential investment.
What I am also interested in seeing the future of is the Lego Minig Series. To me the idea of having a box of packets unopened is a interesting and frustrating dilemma. It is great to know you may have a Mr Gold in the box but without openening the box to open the packets, how are you to know what is inside. The increasing number of series of Minifig sets may have the potential to devalue the overall collection. Unless Lego continues the idea of a "rare" (5000 or less) minifig within the set, the interest in the sets may die off.
Another item I have noticed with Brickvesting is where do you store these items whislt they accrue in value? For those who have the storage space and the right conditions, half of you issues will be taken care of.
I know that there are more detailed blogs regarding Brickvesting. I am presenting my view of an interesting aspect of collecting Lego. I hope that people continue to Brickvest as it will continue the sets being available long after they have been retired by Lego.
With regards to collecting from Australia, I wanted to share some of the issues with pursuing my hobby from a country where the cost of purchasing an item ultimately comes down to how much will it cost to send it to me.
I am wondering how many others are out there and if you would like to share your experience in buying and collecting Lego?
 
Some investors out there have seemingly unlimited capital and look like, at least on this sites forums, that they just throw money around. Most likely that is not the case – everything the successful investors do is still perfectly calculated and planned before hand to make money – and not lose it with wasteful spending.
For those of you who are scared to get into the investing part of it because of your limited capital, fear not! Anyone who is interested in Investing can get into it and make sure they take all the precautions to try and safely manage their capital.
First of all, you need to make sure you have budgeted the rest of your monthly expenses around your paycheck accordingly. I won't tell you how to manage your money as it is your money. I wanted to express my way of doing it on a limited budget. Every month, I have a chunk of money that I put directly into a savings account that counts as money that I am not allowed to spend on my monthly expenses, or entertainment, etc. This is money I am saving for a rainy day, retirement, etc. so eventually I will invest portions of this money so it is not just sitting in a back with .025% interest.
Well, Lego can be one of those investments. So I suggest if you have a piece of your paycheck that you keep out for savings in a separate account (if you don't use a separate account, I would suggest doing so as its usually free and WAY easier) then find a piece of this per month savings that you want to put back and invest into Lego. If you keep your monthly expenses inside a piece of software like Excel, make this a section and give yourself that chunk as a ceiling for the month.
Now just having something to keep track of your money and a set ceiling for money spent per month doesn't mean anything unless you stick to it. I normally keep all of my Lego receipts and immediately log them in this when I get home. This also really really helps you set your standards high as to what sets you are going to buy. Think if you only had $20 to eat on a week – would you be impulsively buying fast food? Probably not. You would make sure you made your money count. This will be the same for your Lego Investing.
Another big problem for limited capital investors is one that I experience constantly: I just bought this awesome set for investing, got it here, and I saw it and I want to build it now. Problem is, you spent your investing money on this set and if you build it, you will lose the investment (opening the box loses value) and you have now spent the investing money on entertainment. This is a tough choice most of the time, so I deal with it in a couple of ways. First off, when I receive a set I bought online for investing, I check to make sure its in good shape and then it goes back into the box back into storage. If you leave it out all day, you are going to eventually succumb to temptation. Second, if I do give in, the money I spent on that set immediately is taken out of my other monthly spending money for entertainment, etc. This acts as a really good deterrent to keep me out of that box.
Now for choosing what sets to buy. No one here can tell you for sure which are the sets that will earn big time money when they finally retire. But, there are plenty of members here that have a boat load of experience on predicting sets values. Articles and reviews tell you everything you need to know. And if you have a question on a set, post in the forums as you will get plenty of opinions on how well a set may do. The best part about the forums is that you normally get a mix of the pessimists and the optimists which means you get both sides of the argument every time. On limited capital, I normally go for the sets that people agree on pretty astoundingly that they will do well. They must have a history in the theme of doing well and are very popular so there is little chance of a failed investment.
After you have chosen sets to buy, the problem becomes – what can I spend to make sure I am safely and smartly spending money? Well, no one can tell you for sure, but I want to offer an example of what I have come up with that has seemingly worked for me:
First off, I only buy sets that have been out for 6+ months. This gives us great data, especially on BrickPicker to tell how popular the set is (how many have sold) and what people are willing to pay for it. Second, I determine a price where I feel like even if the set was a dud in the secondary market, I will be able to mostly get my money back. This can become tricky as we don;t know what a set will do, right? First off, if a set fails, chances are its not going above its retail value. So lets start there. Next, you will most likely have to sell it and ship it. The highest fees around are on Ebay which are roughly 11%. If you use Paypal, you are looking at another ~3% (this is off your total sale as Ebay transfers you all of the money then bills you for their fees). Shipping usually is right around 10% of the retail price roughly with a minimum ceiling of $5 to be safe (for small sets that are $10, chances are it won't be $1 to ship). With shipping, it all depends on where its going, but since you have control over that in most sales sites, 10% is a good estimate. This leaves us with 24% off retail. Next I look at the current BrickPicker data for the set New. Once I have that and my 24% off retail estimate, I average them together. Whichever one is lower gets weighted 3/4 of the average as a further precaution. This becomes my suggested buying price (including tax and shipping). Let me show you an example. One of my favorite investments right now is the 7965 Millennium Falcon. I wont go into why this is a good investment in this article, but I feel it is. 7965 costs $140 retail (yes I rounded the penny):
$140 * .76 = $106.4
BP price New = $127.45
Average = (($106.4*3) + $127.45)/4 = $111.66
I should look to spend no more than $111.66 total for this set.
Let's do another example:
9474 LOTR Helm's Deep Retail = $130
$130 * .76 = $98.8
BP price New = $105.26
Average = (($105.26*3) + $105.26)/4= $ 100.42
I should look to spend no more than $100.42 for this set.
So what about sets like 10228 Haunted House that never get discounted? Well this can be a problem. Lets take a look at my formula for the Haunted House:
Retail = $180
$180 * .76 = $136.8
BP new is an amazing $213.32
Average = (($136.8 * 3) + $213.32)/4 = $155.93
As you can see, on exclusive sets like this that don't see a ton of discounts, this is very rough. In general, this is why it is a suggested formula. I see the suggested price and decide whether I am willing to risk the extra money I might not get out of it if its a dud depending on my thoughts on the set. I think the Haunted House is a serious home run, so I would take my chances.
Obviously this could be improved in many more ways depending on themes, size of the set, price per piece, etc. I plan on improving it in the future, but for now this gives me a good safe amount I feel I can trust.
Now another common problem that comes up: Let's say you pull the trigger on a 7965 you get from Walmart.com after discounts at $105. When you receive the item, the box has got some rough points on it. Some don't worry about it and others probably worry about it a little too much. FCBarcelona recently wrote an article debunking how much this affects the value of a set.
However, as a limited capital investor, I strongly urge you to talk to the retailer. Either get a further discount on the set or have them send you a new one. Yes the pay off may only be a couple of dollars, but when you are investing on a very limited budget, that money counts more than ever. Pus, though it requires a call or an email, it really wont cost you anything most of the time to try and get it replaced or get a damage discount.
Another thing I see differing opinions on is clearance. Every one here that seen clearance Legos knows how excited you get when you see that mega discount on all these sets. Most of us probably go get a cart and just shove everything into it we can reach. Chances are, items that are clearanced off are always going to meet my investment standard above, but that doesn't mean they are sound investments. I would still make sure you go through the process of searching Brickpicker and other websites for data to make sure this is a sound Lego purchase. A bunch of people may have bought Build-A-Zergs on a whim, but they still overpaid at 70% off. With limited capital you have less chances to take, so don't just purchase something because it is clearance.
Returns
Returning items can sometimes be just as important buying them for a limited capital investor. Let's say you have $200 to spend per month on Lego investments. Early in the month, you find a 7965 Falcon on sale and score it for $105. You now have $95 left for the month. Late in the month, Amazon puts the Tower Bridge 10214 down to $195!!! But you already spent your monthly money? This is why you keep the receipt. With a receipt, pretty much every store that carries Lego's will let you return them and get the money back on your credit card or in cash. If you don't have a receipt, many will take it back, but they give you store credit which could encourage you to further spend money and means your capital is continuously tied up until you spend that gift card. Now you can return that Falcon and get that Tower Bridge knowing its a once in a lifetime deal.
Rewards Dollars
When you earn rewards points with something like Ebates or the Ebay Bucks Program, or others, most will treat this as free money – which in some ways it is. They count it as money immediately off their investment and then spend accordingly.
While there is no strict reason again this, as a Limited Capital investor, I like treating them another way. Every dollar I earn in rewards dollars I still use, but count them against my Lego Investor capital for the month. This can seem weird – now you are just going to save more money in your savings account? In truth, it is a safety precaution though. It means you get your normal monthly investments but you have more money on hand. On top of that, this really helps curb your spending. I used to get a $10 rewards gift card to TRU and immediately go buy something for $25 because I said “I'm getting it for $15”. But I may have still overpaid in this instance and used money that I could have saved for later, or kept as investment money.
This is just another added safety precaution to make sure I get the most out of my Lego investing without taking the risks.
Conclusion
Nothing comes without risk – there are levels involved anytime you invest in something, even your 401K. But there are ways to manage and eliminate some of those risks. The above wont help you do that completely, but it should serve as a guide to those of us with very limited capital. It should also encourage investors who are shy about getting into the game that there are safety precautions you can take to make sure you don't end up failing at the end.
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
11. 8083-1: Rebel Trooper Battle Pack
 
12. 6209-1: Slave I
 
13. 7153-1: Jango Fett's Slave I
 
14. 4483-1: AT-AT
 
15. 7143-1: Jedi Starfighter This article is a continuation of an analysis of the BrickIndex of LEGO Star Wars. The BrickIndex is a handy BrickPicker tool that allows the user to view the overall Top 20 Performing sets from all themes, or a single theme. It helps to decide what sets might be skyrocketing in value, and what you may want to pick up for the future. This is the third segment of analysis of four, the introduction, first, and second parts can be viewed by going to:
http://www.brickpicker.com/forum/index.php/blog/15-a-teens-perspective-comicblasts-blog/.
 
11. 8083-1: Rebel Trooper Battle Pack This is the first battle pack in the LEGO Star Wars BrickIndex, and is one of the most recent Star Wars battle packs to do so (9489-1: Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper Battle Pack is the most recent). Battle packs have a good reputation for being reliable investments, often doubling in value within 2 years of retirement, so it is no surprise that the 8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack is seeing big gains. This is the first Battle Pack to include Rebel Hoth Troopers, which makes it much more sought after than one of the many Clone Trooper Battle Packs. Its counterpart, the 8084-1: Snowtrooper Battle Pack also has fairly unique minifigures, making them both popular, though the 8084 is not in as high demand. After its initial jump in March 2013 to about $16, it has plateaued for 2 months, but most likely will make an increase to $20 by October.
12. 6209-1: Slave I
Slave I is one of the most iconic [personal] vehicles of the entire Star Wars saga, right up there with Snowspeeders and Walkers. This set is proof that a remake can still have great gains, since it is the 3rd of four versions of Slave I. 6209 Slave I has a much better design than those from previous versions. One of the reasons why I think that this particular version of Slave I is appreciating better than the most recent version (8097) is because the design and structure of both ships are very similar, but commanded a price tag over $25 less than that of the 8071, which made it more economically reasonable. Now that the prices are nearly the same, I think that it will begin to even out and plateau.
13. 7153-1: Jango Fett's Slave I
This is the most valuable Slave at $224.93, a stunning value for a 360 piece set.There was a small dip in value in December 2012, which is surprising, considering that usually prices go up during this time, but seasoned sellers usually sell during this time, which could be why there was a dip. After the initial drop it bounced right back up to be nearly the same value as it had in November, and has stayed constantly like that ever since. I don’t expect a whole lot of movement in this set, but there is still a fair amount of NISB 7153 being sold, with between 5 and 15 sold per month.
15. 4483-1: AT-AT
Another surprisingly old set to be in the Top 20 list, at 10 years since it was first produced. It made a huge jump in value in the month of April 2013, up $50 from its former $220, but I don’t expect this set to move up anymore than this because the most recent AT-AT [8129] is cheaper than this version (though there are always people who are completists and “have” to have every Star Wars set). There is still a good amount of these set sold with about 5 per month. The AT-AT is one of the greatest sets LEGO has ever made in my opinion, so I wouldn’t hesitate to grab a used one for a decent price!!
16. 7143-1: Jedi Starfighter Another really old set here, but a very recognizable one, at that! This set has had huge gains over the past few months, starting in December 2012 at $39.47 and peaking in April 2013 at $53.67! Jedi Starfighters are very popular sets, and at almost any given point, TLG will have at least one of them in production, the current one being 9498 Saesee Tiin’s Jedi Starfighter including an unprecidented 2 Jedi minifigures, and one protocol droid. I expect that this set will continue to climb slightly, hitting the mid-$60 mark by the holidays before a steady decline back to about $45. Don’t forget to read segments 1/4, and 2/4 by going to my blog page, and stay tuned for the last, but not least section: 4/4!!
Thanks for reading!
 
I think we all know that purchasing sets directly from LEGO S@H or actual LEGO stores is usually not the best choice when it comes to LEGO investing. It is a somewhat rare event when LEGO really discounts a set or a group of sets enough to make it worthwhile when taking into consideration that sites like Amazon, Walmart and even Toys R Us constantly run promotions that put sets well below 20%, the typical maximum discount offered by LEGO (with some exceptions). There is, however, one thing investors need to take into consideration: LEGO promotional items.
You have seen them in different shapes and form: Han Solo Hoth, TC-14, Hot Dog Cart, Friends Ice Cream stand and many others. LEGO is fond of offering exclusive polybags and minifigures in an effort to provide an incentive for people to purchase in their stores while avoiding having to discount their own merchandise. Most often than not, the products offered in this manner are completely exclusive and impossible to get other than on the specific period they were offered, and may require a specific amount per order to get them.
The value of this promotional items varies a lot, but I think it is safe to say that the majority hover between $ 13 to $ 20 in the secondary market. Some may go for much more as soon as they are released, while some may grow in value over time just as any other LEGO set. What I wanted to point out, even if it is obvious, in this article is that this promotional items can be a very valuable resource for LEGO investors looking to buy items in the LEGO store or S@H, especially those products that are exclusive like the Orc Forge, Orthanc, etc.
The periods when this promotional items are offered can be a way for investors to acquire "discounted" sets that would otherwise have to be purchased at retail. Let's take the soon to be retired and much talked about Orc Forge as an example of what I mean.
MSRP: $ 39.99
Target Exclusive
This is one particular set that very rarely saw a discount of any kind over its MSRP. Being a Target exclusive pretty much guaranteed that the demand for this set was high enough for it to sell pretty well at retail, as well as over it on secondary market outlets like eBay and Bricklink. So, was it impossible to get this item discounted? Of course not. If you remember, Target had a pretty decent sale a few months ago where they discounted, if I remember correctly, 20% of your $100 order. Let's examine an scenario where an investor purchase 3 of them during that sale: (taxes are omitted for simplicity purposes)

So you end up purchasing each set for around $ 32. Now, let's say the same investor was short of money and had to wait a complete month to reset his/her investment budget. This investor thinks the Orc Forge will be a huge hit, and would love to own at least 3 more sets before they retire, well, bad news, Target has the set back to full retail and no sale to take advantage of. The investor decides to go to the local LEGO store and at least get some VIP points in the process. Surprisingly, the current promotion offers a Jor-El exclusive minifig on $75+ orders. Our friend decides to purchase only 2 more sets, and this is how things turn out:

In this scenario, his average price per set is once again around $ 32. The investor was able to purchase less sets for basically the same amount once he decided to sell his Jor-El promo minifig on eBay or Bricklink for $ 15. Had he purchase three as originally planned, the average price paid at the LEGO store would have been over $ 32, but considering the set is rarely discounted, even $5 below MSRP is a pretty good deal.
Selling these promotional items as soon as possible will guarantee you better profits than waiting a couple days. While the initial scarcity level in the market will push the price of your item higher, in a couple of days the flood of these will push it back down. If this is the case, then holding onto it for a few months can also be a choice you would want to consider.
I know the content of this article may seem very basic and obvious to the big majority of you in this page, but I do hope that some of the new members and overall new to the LEGO investing world members consider the value of the promotional items LEGO often offers every month. They can really help get that exclusive set the "discount" you would rarely see somewhere else.
Thanks for reading.
Guest
Galaxy Squad, Lego's latest interpretation of their "evergreen" space theme appears to be a mix of the old Insectoids theme with a splash of Space Police III and a touch of Ninjago (you`ll see about that later). The similarity to the Insectoid theme of the 1990s is what first drew me to the sets, as it is always nice to see a fresh take on a classic theme. A look at the sets of Galaxy Squads first line individually and as a whole will lend some insight into the theme. Are the set`s on a cosmic collision course to lost profits? Let`s find out…
Before taking an in-depth look at the sets individually, let's see how they stack up to eachother in terms of price per piece and price per gram:

70700 Space Swarmer

Lego.com description:
Zap the alien buggoid before he nabs the Galaxy Squad's robot!
The evil alien buggoid is buzzing around in his Space Swarmer. Don't let him capture the Galaxy Squad robot sidekick with the ship's grabber mouth! Help him to blast away from the buggoid's sonic gun with his jet pack! Get to safety, then aim and fire the blasters to stop that swarming space critter! Includes 2 minifigures with weapons: alien buggoid and robot sidekick with a jet pack.
Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons: alien buggoid and robot sidekick Features grabber mouth, opening cockpit, moving wings and poseable legs Also includes jet pack, alien sonic gun and a blaster Dodge the Space Swarmer's grabber mouth! Blast that bug! Dodge the beams of the alien sonic gun! Measures over 1" (4cm) high, 5" (14cm) long and 3" (10cm) wide Brianl3`s Analysis: In mildly successful themes, the smaller sets are often the surest bets as they require little capital and offer the most consistent returns. Space Swarmer is a beautiful little set with an alien, blue android, and a small alien ship modelled after a fly. The set is a great starter kit to the theme as it introduces the central conflict while sticking to a great little bug build that will satisfy Insectoid fans. I believe the set, which currently has a CAGR of 25%, will have a five-year CAGR of 15%. This is above the average of ~11%, and if you buy it at a discount will lead to solid profits.

70701 Swarm Interceptor

Lego.com description:
Swat the alien flyer with the split-function Swarm Interceptor!
An armed and dangerous alien mosquitoid is speeding this way on a space flyer! Stop that creepy crawler with blue team leader Solomon Blaze and the split function Swarm Interceptor! When the action gets too hot for one Galaxy Squad ship, split the Swarm Interceptor into 2 fierce fighting machines: an agile flyer with detachable guns and a powerful turret with hidden flick missiles! That pest doesn't stand a chance against the split-function Swarm Interceptor with Solomon Blaze at the wheel! Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons: Solomon Blaze and alien mosquitoid.
Includes 2 minifigures with weapons: Solomon Blaze and a winged alien mosquitoid Features a cockpit that rotates when you move and flip the ship Splits into flyer and turret Flyer features opening cockpit and detachable blasters Turret features dual hidden flick missiles Also includes alien flyer with weapons Weapons include alien gun and a blaster Activate the split function to fight back with 2 fierce fighting machines! Deploy the turret's hidden missiles! Flip the Swarm Interceptor to see the cockpit rotate with the ship! Measures over 1" (4cm) high, 7" (18cm) long and 7" (20cm) wide Flyer measures over 1" (5cm) high, 3" (10cm) long and 4" (11cm) wide Turret measures over 4" (11cm) high, 5" (15cm) long and 3" (8cm) wide Brianl3's Analysis: This set is the worst performing Galaxy Squad set with a positive CAGR, sitting at 14.76% right now. The turret function of the jet is an interesting idea, but was poorly executed and when in turret mode it looks very awkward and is unstable. The set just fails to conjure up any measurable reading on the "wow" scale, and despite lacking heavy discounts like 70705, it has had slow growth. The blue team seems to be overly represented, with three sets focusing on the blue team, and only one each on the others, and I would say this is the least noticeable out of the team blue models. The set loses the feel of the theme with the inclusion of a useless alien vehicle. Given the set's slow growth despite not seeing many sales and sub-par components, I think its CAGR will halve itself over a five year period, resulting in a set worth about 28 dollars in 2018. I would generally advise against sinking capital into this set due to its low predicted CAGR and you have a better chance of finding a sale on some of the other sets.

70702 Warp Stinger
Lego.com description:
Neutralize the Warp Stinger with Billy Starbeam's speederbike!
Stop the angry alien mosquitoid behind the wheel of the fearsome Warp Stinger! It's using the Warp Stinger's shooting function to attack the Galaxy Squad heroes. Go after it with red team leader Billy Starbeam and his speederbike! Watch out for the Warp Stinger's sticky cocoon trap! Fire the detachable blasters and team up with his robot sidekick to save the world from those overgrown bugs! Be ready for a serious bug battle against the Warp Stinger's cocoon, moving wings, detachable gun and shooter function. Includes 3 minifigures with assorted weapons: Billy Starbeam, robot sidekick with jet pack and winged alien mosquitoid.
Includes 3 minifigures with weapons: Billy Starbeam, robot sidekick with jet pack and winged alien mosquitoid Features shooter function, opening cockpit, detachable alien gun, cocoon, moveable wings and poseable legs Speederbike features detachable blaster Weapons include blasters, energy blades and an alien sonic gun Fire the Warp Stinger's shooter function! Move the wings and legs of the Warp Stinger! Zap the alien bug! Measures over 8" (21cm) high, 9" (24cm) long and 10" (27cm) wide Speederbike measures over 1" (3cm) high, 3" (7cm) long and 2" (6cm) wide Brianl3's Analysis: This is where the Galaxy Squad line struts its stuff. A brilliantly designed "mosquitoid" is the main attraction here; with the lime colors fitting perfect with the trans red making for a convincing enemy for the red team leader,"Billy", and his robot pal. With interesting construction techniques, and a robotic bug just as classic as the original Insectoid theme, the set is probably the most popular of the first wave lineup.
Thanks to the red team minifigures (the most AFOL-celebrated team color) and stunning creation, I think the set will continue its success run (currently it is the best performing set at 30.44%) once it heads into its aftermarket life. I predict it will continue to be the strongest performer of the Galaxy Squad theme with a CAGR of 18% for the next five years. If you are going to invest in one Galaxy Squad set, I would recommend you look at this one.
70703 Star Slicer

Lego.com description: Stop the alien Star Slicer with the blue team heroes! The Star Slicer is creeping along on its locust legs out to capture the blue Galaxy Squad team. Stop the alien's Star Slicer before he gets Solomon Blaze's sidekick with his stinging claws! Split the Galaxy Squad vehicle into an armored car and agile flyer to take the fight to the aliens! Stay away from the Star Slicer's shooting function and its sticky cocoon! Includes 3 minifigures: Solomon Blaze, robot sidekick and an exclusive red alien buggoid.
Includes 3 minifigures: Solomon Blaze, robot sidekick and an exclusive red buggoid Features shooting function, poseable stinging claws and a cocoon Solomon Blaze's vehicle splits into an armored car and agile flyer Weapons include 3 blasters Activate the split function, enhance your firepower and outsmart the aliens! Fire the missiles! Measures over 5" (15cm) high, 9" (24cm) long and 8" (20cm) wide Solomon Blaze's vehicle measures over 2" (5cm) high, 4" (10cm) long and 3" (7cm) wide Armored car measures over 3" (9cm) long, 2" (6cm) wide and 2" (5cm) high Agile flyer measures over 3" (8cm) long, 3" (7cm) wide and 1" (3cm) high Brianl3's Analysis: This set is the only limited edition set of the Galaxy Squad theme, with its release being contained to select retailers thus far. The "praying mantas" style machine is unique, but has been noted to be fragile and prone to breaks. The blue vehicle back up the two blue team minifigures, Solomon Blaze and his robot sidekick, but isn't half as impressive as some of the other Galaxy Squad ships. The exclusive red-colored buggoid minifigure will add to the exclusivity attraction of the set.
Despite its limited availability, I don't see this set enjoying hugely lucrative profits, as it is one of the less popular of the Galaxy Squad series. That said, the set is already sitting at a respectable 24.56% CAGR, and has gained almost ten dollars in value since its release. Initially, it was worth more due to preliminary hype, but like most Galaxy Squad sets saw a decline in value. I predict the set's five year CAGR rate will be at about 16%, resulting in an investment worth 83.99 by 2018. Depending on the popularity of the Galaxy Squad series and future competition, it could surpass that number in a shorter period of time, or not meet it at all.

70704 Vermin Vaporizer

Lego.com description: Take the sting out of the alien scorpion with the split-function Vermin Vaporizer! The alien scorpion is on the rampage with a cocoon to capture the green Galaxy Squad heroes! Help green team leader Chuck Stonebreaker and his robot sidekick to bust the buggoid in the awesome Vermin Vaporizer! Tag team the alien invader when you activate the split function to turn the Vermin Vaporizer into a mighty mech and a battle buggy! Fire the mech's dual flick missiles and powerful cannons with Chuck Stonebreaker in the opening cockpit! Then attack the aliens in the battle buggy to save the day – the Galaxy Squad way! Includes 3 minifigures: Chuck Stonebreaker, robot sidekick and alien buggoid, all with assorted weapons.
Includes 3 minifigures: Chuck Stonebreaker, robot sidekick and alien buggoid, all with weapons Features laboratory, computer, flick missiles, split function and big cannons Other Vehicles include alien scorpion and split-function Vermin Vaporizer's 2 detachable vehicles: mech and battle buggy Mech features opening cockpit, flick missiles, big cannons, poseable arms, legs and torso Battle buggy features detachable blasters and tires Alien scorpion features flick missiles and a cocoon Shield accessory included Weapons include alien sonic gun, 2 blasters and an energy blade gun Activate the split function for 2 more hero vehicles! Analyze the cocoons in the Vermin Vaporizor's laboratory! Fire the flick missiles! Battle with the mighty mech! Measures over 5" (13cm) high, 7" (18cm) long and 5" (15cm) wide Mech measures over 5" (13cm) high, 3" (8cm) long and 4" (12cm) wide Battle buggy measures over 1" (3cm) high, 2" (5cm) long and 1" (4cm) wide Alien scorpion measures over 3" (10cm) high, 1" (5cm) long and 1" (5cm) wide Brianl3's Analysis: This is my personal favorite of the Galaxy Squad theme. Sporting attractive green accents that spice up the white tank-like truck, the set is a rugged technological beauty. The mech's joint set up doesn't compare to the mechs of the retired Exo Force theme, but you can see that TLG obviously learned some lessons from that practise, and the finished result is a twin cannoned killing-machine that works great in "turret mode" as well. The alien and alien vehicle are disappointing, but the green trooper's robot buddy is exclusive and does not appear in any other sets in this or the second Galaxy Squad line.
Currently sitting at a negative CAGR around -27%, the set is one of two Galaxy Squad sets that have yet to show positive results. The main reason for this is the set is widely available for lower than MSRP prices, and there has yet to be measurable interest in the set on the aftermarket. The easy access to the set for cheap prices has likely harmed any chance of it taking off in a dramatic fashion, but I think the set is solid enough to rake in positive returns after a couple years. I'm predicting a 7% CAGR for a five year period, meaning the set will be worth $84.13 in five years. Don't expect it to make positive gains until a year or two after its official EOL, it seems like the kind of set that will stick around on shelves for awhile. Probably a sleeper set.

70705 Bug Obliterator

Lego.com description: Defeat the deadly alien dragonfly with the split-function Bug Obliterator! The deadly alien dragonfly is trying to capture the Galaxy Squad orange team heroes in a cocoon prison. Soar into battle with orange team heroes Jack Fireblade and Ashlee Starstrider in the Bug Obliterator! Hit the button to transform the Bug Obliterator into a rugged armored rover and a swift attack ship that can battle those bugs from the sky! Launch the hidden flick missiles and fire the laser guns to send those alien bugs crawling back to where they came from! Includes 4 minifigures: Jack Fireblade, Ashlee Starstrider, Robot Sidekick and winged alien mosquitoid with weapons and a cocoon.
Includes 4 minifigures: Jack Fireblade, Ashlee Starstrider, Robot Sidekick and winged alien mosquitoid with assorted weapons Features moveable and opening cockpits, flick missiles, cocoon and laser guns Vehicles include alien dragonfly and split-function Bug Obliterator that splits into 2 more hero vehicles: armored rover and swift attack ship Armored rover features flick missiles, opening cockpit and laser guns Swift attack ship features an opening cockpit, flick missiles and laser guns Alien dragonfly features moveable tail with poseable legs and wings, and a cocoon Weapons include 3 blasters and an alien sonic gun Activate the split function, enhance your firepower and outsmart the aliens! Launch the armored rover! Fire the missiles! Measures over 3" (10cm) high, 10" (27cm) long and 9" (25cm) wide Armored rover measures over 2" (6cm) high, 5" (15cm) long and 2" (7cm) wide Attack ship measures over 3" (9cm) high, 11" (27cm) long and 36" (93cm) wide Alien dragonfly measures over 1" (4cm) high, 9" (23cm) long and 5" (15cm) wide Brianl3's Analysis: I like this set, how the starfighter splits into a truck and jet, and the alien dragonfly is one of the best buggoid vehicles. Unfortunately, I cannot justify saying that it has high aftermarket potential, especially when the last space theme flagship, 5974 Galactic Enforcer, ended up with a -2.6% CAGR. In fact, the set has 5974 written all over it; while the essential elements of a winner are there (the biggest set of a theme, special features, rare pieces, etc.), the set has seen far too many discounts to be of worth anymore.
Due to the wide availability of the set for rock-bottom prices, I wager that it will suffer a five year CAGR of -0.90, resulting in a set worth $76.45 in 2018. Numbers don't lie, and while the majority of the other Galaxy Squad sets have enjoyed positive CAGRs (perhaps due to preliminary hype), 70705 has a -38.76% CAGR, and regrettably looks like the makings of a dud.

These are my predicted valuation estimates for the sets of the first Galaxy Squad theme. A higher than estimated price could be caused by a shortened supply, increased demand, or continuation of the Galaxy Squad theme. A lower than estimated price could be caused by a variety of factors, from general lack of interest to Galaxy Squad being replaced by another space theme in the future.
Time to hit the panic button? The failure of the two largest sets of the first line, 70704 and 70705, which both have negative CAGRs is a very bad omen for the theme. Usually, the largest set should be one of the best performers, and when it isn't, things usually go wrong (Atlantis' Neptune Carrier's bad performance led the way for the rest of the theme, as did Battle of Alamut for Prince of Persia).
The space theme has lost many fans who have defected to the ever-popular Star Wars theme. Unfortunately, any space theme by Lego faces direct competition from the Star Wars line, something that would be considered nothing less than suicide by most investors. With the Lucasfilm license offering an unmatched cash cow for both parties, I don't see the Star Wars license disappearing any time soon.
Additionally, the overarching space theme has been anything but a haven for investors. The last line, Space Police had few successes and the theme before that, Mars Mission had to see multiple line releases before significant aftermarket interest was generated. Plus, if you are to include Alien Conquest as a space them (I don't I think of it as a space theme), you can add that to the list of recent star-crossed disappointments – thus far Alien Conquest has seen nearly no success.
Perhaps the most discouraging piece of evidence against the theme is that none of the sets made the Amazon.com top 100 Lego bestsellers list. Normally, a theme will see at least a couple sets represented in the bestsellers list, but Galaxy Squad has no such pleasure.
Hopeful signs
The good thing about the sets not selling well, is, well they have to be sold. These sets are going to be discounted by ridiculously large margins in the coming winter clearance season if they continue their lacklustre sales, and that provides a perfect time to stock up.
While the line has been criticized at times for not offering variation among characters, this is because Lego is following the formula of success that helped make Niinjago a winner. Let's look at the parallels: there are four factions, each with a "main protagonist, with the orange team having an extra female character (just like how the first line of Ninjago had both Kai and Nya as fire ninjas). It is arguably a closer relative to Ninjago than Chima, and it will be interesting to see how this factor pans out in the aftermarket.
The first line of Galaxy Squad sets is clean, relatively fresh, and well executed. Unfortunately, it looks like it will follow the footsteps of similar recent themes, with only the smaller sets seeing monetary gains. Four unique characters are part of the model that made Ninjago a wild success, a model which Galaxy Squad has tried with somewhat success to replicate.. Sadly, the space theme just doesn't seem to generate enough interest to follow that path. Bottom line, don't buy any of these at retail for investments, especially the more expensive sets. A stellar opening wave? Not exactly. But, if you play your cosmic cards right, you could come out with healthy profits.
*Statistics and data for this article was taken from Brickset, Bricklink, and Brickpicker*
The relationship between LEGO and Maersk has existed for decades. Other than both companies being founded in the same country, I have a really hard time finding exactly how or why these two titans decided to occasionally produce sets together, but we can all be glad they did since most of the sets produced under the shipping company's brand have been quite successful once retired.
One of the reasons I personally find the Maersk line appealing is that they add some more realistic feeling to the models and, consequently, to any CITY or modular layout. Maerks is a pretty well-known brand and I am sure pretty much everybody has some knowledge of what they do or, at least, the logo. LEGO fans are always interested in adding more realism to their LEGO layouts, as evidenced by the multiple MOCS, CUUSOO projects, etc, that base their designs on well-known businesses like Starbucks and McDonalds, and the Maersk line of sets gives them exactly that.
So far, there have been 7 Maersk themed sets released, with the first one being the Container Ship in 1974. Let's take a look at how they have performed in the secondary market
- 1650 Maersk Container Ship

Comments: This is the set that started the whole Maersk "theme". Released in 1974 exclusively in Denmark, it is probably one of the oldest LEGO sets we will get to analyze for a while. As it happens, there is no MSRP information, and no CAGR as a result, but we do have some information about a couple of somewhat recent sales. In 2011, the last three sales for this set were recorded in the price guide, with 2 used ones selling for around $200 and the one New copy selling for around $1,500. I am really not surprised with the value of this set considering its age and more than likely its huge appeal with LEGO/Maersk collectors in general. It would be interesting to see more recent numbers, as if they are close to 2011 this may very well be one of the most valuable sets "out there", but at this time there are no listings currently for sale on eBay and the few on Bricklink that ask at least $1,500 have apparently not been sold for a long while.
It would be a very interesting set to own, in my opinion, as it is a very classic looking vintage set that would go great with the newer versions of the ship. For anyone interested, used copies are listed for $400 on BL.
- 1651 Maersk Line Container Lorry

Comments: There is no data for this set in BPs Price Guide. The only thing we have about it is the current listings in Bricklink, that go from $ 600 to more than $1,000 for used sets to over $ 4,000 for sealed ones. I don't really think anyone will ever pay that much for such a "simple" set, but as I have said before this is really a niche market, so it is not impossible.
- 1552 Maersk Truck and Trailer

Comments: This little truck was released in 1985 and as it happens with our previous entry there is not enough data on the price guide to accurately know its worth. The only new copy listed on BL asks almost $ 2,000, while the used sets go from $ 400 to almost $1,000. The market for this really old sets is very limited, but I am sure there is someone out there that would be willing to add this vintage set to their collection.
- 1831 Maersk Line Container Lorry

Comments: Finally getting close to the present time, this little truck was released in 1995 and has seen a lot more activity than the previous entries over the course of the years. The set was, once again, only released in Denmark as a promotional item. Currently, it has a market value of around $ 135, so definitely a lot cheaper than those released previously. I guess this was the first of these sets that was released once LEGO had really started to go more mainstream. The set has sold a couple new and used copies over the last 12 months, but nothing really worth noting.
- 10152 Maersk Sealand Container Ship


Comments: One of the newest versions and the first ship to be released after the original Maersk model in 1974, just 30 years earlier. As it had been the case with some previous models of the theme, this set was released in Denmark but was also available in LEGO S@H, so it was more available than the rest, and it was also the first one of its size closing in to 1,000 pieces in total. The model is very realistic looking, something that sure played a role in the good performance of this set in the secondary market, currently selling for around $200 New and with a CAGR of almost 12%. Even though this set was more available than the previous one, it is still a somewhat rare model to find, and only a couple have been sold each month over the last year.
Price wise it seems to be very stable, with only a small bump in price since the month of October, when it went from $ 183 to $ 205.
- 10155 Maersk Container Ship


Comments: This was a re-release of 10152 in 2010, so a fairly recent set. A LEGO exclusive, this version of the container ship has produced some very nice returns since retired back in 2011-2012. With an MSRP of $120 and a current market value of $220, the set presents a nice 22.74% CAGR. I would expect this set to continue growing some over the next year or couple years, BUT with the all but confirmed rumors of the 10241 Maersk Ship floating around one has to wonder whether that set will have a negative impact on this version. I would assume it will, but since there is no way to check the impact this one had on 10152 I can't really be sure. We also need to wait and see how similar the new version ends up being.
- 10129 Maersk Train


Comments: I think all of you are very familiar with this guy right here. The first Maersk train ever released came out in 2011 and was the first of the "theme" to cross the 1,000 piece barrier. This model would make your shipping ports one of the most realistic sections of your entire LEGO city along with the ships and some of the trucks, it is really an impressive looking train. Of course, you could add some tracks and motorize it with LEGO Power Functions to make it even better. Investment wise, well, you know what most of us have been saying about this train for months now: most wish they had picked up a lot more. The train has really exploded in value since its retirement, with a current market value of $ 210 and a CAGR over 32%. Over the past 6 months the set has grown over 70 %, consistent with the spike in value after going EOL. There is still room for growth with this model, and I don't think picking one up at current prices would be a bad move at all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those are some solid numbers. With the upcoming release of a new Maersk Ship, and after taking a look at the numbers above, I believe investors should seriously consider adding several copies of the new set over the course of its run. If it follows the path of all of the previous models then there is a lot of upside for a relatively low risk.
Thanks for reading.
INTRODUCING THE BRICKPOINTS STORE...
Jeff and I have been hinting around over the past several months on ways to earn BrickPoints. We also hinted about various ways to spend these points. Well today I am here to inform and explain the current BrickPoints system and the new BrickPoints Store.
The BrickPoints system is based on site activity and producing site content such as LEGO set reviews and LEGO blogs and articles that get published on the BrickPicker site. A member gets points for all sorts of site activities. Here are is a summary of what members get for various site activities:
5 BrickPoints: Start a new thread or topic in the forums 1 BrickPoint: Reply to a forum thread or topic 1 BrickPoint: Comment on a blog article 1 BrickPoint: Comment on an image in The Gallery 500 BrickPoints: Join the BrickPicker site(one time) In addition to those simple and automatic ways of achieving BrickPoints, you can earn large amounts of Brickpoints submitting LEGO Set Reviews or writing blog articles for our Community, Brickvesting orEvaluation Corner Blogs. Points are awarded as follows:
LEGO Set Reviews: BrickPoints are awarded on content quality and quantity. A member will receive 10 BrickPoints for every 1000 characters submitted for a LEGO set review. Extra BrickPoints will be awarded for graphs, charts and pictures or just all around exceptional content. You can earn hundreds of points for one quality LEGO set review. Blogs: When a member submits an article about LEGO bricks, sets, investing, collecting, etc... for approval, the member can receive anywhere from 10 to 500 BrickPoints for an approved article. Articles that get posted on our homepage(Brickvesting/Evaluation Corner) will receive the maximum of 500 BrickPoints for their efforts. Other articles that get posted in the Personal/Community Blog section will receive points based on content and quality. All in all, there are plenty of ways to achieve BrickPoints. New ways will be added in the future as well that reward the active, dedicated and content producing BrickPicker members. Now the question is, how do we use these BrickPoints? One way...THE BRICKPOINTS STORE!
Just like the name states, it's a store that accepts BrickPoints as payment for various LEGO sets. Think of it as a reward system for BrickPicker members. The more active you are on the site, the more BrickPoints you will earn and the better chance you have of earning a LEGO set.
It's very simple. Once a member earns enough to qualify for one of our posted LEGO sets, they will use the checkout process to notify Jeff and I that you want a certain set. The member will fill out the form so that we can mail that member the set that was chosen. The BrickPoints will then be deducted from the account. The posted LEGO sets can vary from time to time because of availability, so I cannot promise exactly what is posted, but replacement LEGO sets will be of similar cost, size and makeup. LEGO Gift Cards can be substituted in some instances.
The LEGO review BrickPoints have been added to the totals and the BrickPoints Log is now active. 5000 BrickPoints were deducted from those members who received a STAR WARS mini set previously. This was done to make it equal for all members and to assure everyone that our previous promise of a STAR WARS mini set to the first 100 members to reach 5000 BrickPoints was and will be satisfied. There will be many more ways to earn and spend BrickPoints coming in the near future, such as utilizing BrickPoints for FREE advertising and listing fees on the up and coming Brick Classifieds. In the meantime, Jeff and I hopes that BrickPicker members will enjoy and utilize this new feature. Thanks. Please let me know of any issues, questions or comments... Ed Mack
Perhaps the biggest part of LEGO investing is finding your "knitch" of LEGO that you feel comfortable and wouldn't mind being stuck with for a very long time. Popular choices of favorite themes (not for investing) are:
Star Wars Ninjago Creator Monster Fighters Town Modular Houses **Please Note: LoTR/The Hobbit and Super Heroes have been omitted because of lack of retired sets.**
But are these themes actually good investments, or are they just “cool” to have? Let’s look at the stronger performers of the themes.
Basic Set information:
Investment Set Information:
I hope you noticed several of the sets that were compared, such as the Green Grocer, the Zombies, Ice Dragon Attack, and the UCS Millennium Falcon. What makes these big names of investing so big? One big reason is because for three of the four, excluding the UCS Millennium Falcon, the sets were the first of the first, and the experiment. Really, it is because of their success that the themes are still around. Had they been a flop, the LEGO Group would have stopped producing theme. The UCS Millennium Falcon is just a monster of a ship, and outstanding, as well as iconic. Enough about individual sets, how about whole themes?
In the cases of Town Modular Houses and Ninjago, the sets that appreciated the most were the pioneers of the theme: the sets that TLG used to “test the waters”, similar to those of the CUUSOO theme. I recommend trying out different themes, right when they come out, because if the theme does “kick off”, you probably have winners. The Star Wars gainers are a different story. The three listed sets, Millennium Falcon, Death Star II, Imperial Star Destroyer, and Republic Attack Gunship, are amongst the larger of the theme. The biggest amount gainers from Star Wars have MSRP’s of at least $100, which suggests that larger sets appreciate more than medium to small sets.
Lastly comes Creator, which is one of the more successful “home-grown” LEGO themes. In this theme, we also see that the sets that appreciated the most were more expensive in comparison with the rest of the theme. This theme is often overlooked by many LEGO fans, but a good amount of winners come out of the theme, so I would watch out.
To summarize, the favorites of the LEGO investing world are more successful because of:
Pricing Size of Set/Piece Count First of the first I would try to pick up sets from the starting of the theme, especially CUUSOO, Super Heroes, and Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, which are the newest themes.
In my next article, I will be going over less popular themes, and whether there are winners, or not.
 
 
 
The search function on Ebay is nothing to go “Lego” over (Get it? Like “Loco”? Nobody? Alright...), but it is something that a buyer can utilize to their advantage to quickly find sets they are interested in and to be more aware of everything listed on Ebay so they don't miss out on that great deal.
If you are searching for a single specific item you want, searching is pretty straight forward. Just type in what you want and then select categories or sorting mechanisms to simplify your search and find what you want.
But what if you are an investor and you are looking for 40 different sets at the same time? It can be very tough to look though each individual item, look at all auctions, all Buy it Now, all Best Offers and then keeping track of when you last checked, checking for new items consistently, and remembering what you had already seen.
So what does Ebay offer and how can you use it to quickly find what you want and monitor for deals you can snag or snipe quickly to make Ebay a worthwhile investment vehicle?
1. Option to use Boolean logic to search multiple words or phrases at the same time
If there are people who aren't familiar with Boolean logic, it is a very simple process to bring in more than one variable in a search and perform an operation between them (among other real world things). There are three major functions: AND, OR, and NOT.
If you have an AND operation between two items in a search function, this means the listing must include both words. The AND operation is by default in every Ebay search and is invisible to a searcher. Basically, if you have more than one word in the search bar, all of them must be in the listing.
This can be a dis-advantage in certain cases. If you search for “Helm's Deep 9474”, and a listing doesn't have the item number in it, the search doesn't return it. This is when the OR function becomes a big help.
An OR function between two or more words means to search listings that include just one of the words. This is denoted in Ebay searches by parenthesis in the following manner:
(Helm's, Deep, 9474) <-- Ebay = Boolean --> Helm's OR deep OR 9474
This is really good to use as you can search for several different items at the same time. This cuts down on how many different searches an investor might do.
The NOT function is a way to denote you want to search for something without the word in the listing. Ebay denotes this with a “-” in front of a word as shown below which means the listing doesn't include the word “minifigures”:
-minifigures
On top of these functions, you can search for a specific phrase by putting quotes around it. To search for the exact words in the exact order “Helm's deep”, simply put in “Helm's deep”.
Practice using Boolean as you can make some really great searches from this – but it takes work to get good at it. Put several together to make sure you find every item there is and maximize your searches potential. An example is below:
(Helm's,deep,9474) -”no minfigs”
My above search says to search for listings that include “Helm's”, “deep”, “9474” and does not include “no minifigs”.
2. Limit your search in the search query bar, not the categories.
The search categories function in Ebay is helpful in its own way, but can actually cause you problems in some cases. If you are searching for a certain Lego set, its great to be able to cut out all the listings from the “automobiles” categories. However, non-obvious categories can keep you from seeing every listing.
It amazes me still, but despite how easy it is to list on Ebay now, people are still really lazy with their listings. Commonly, people will list their item in the wrong category, or even the wrong section. This is bad for the seller because less people will see their listing. However, you will benefit from this if you do see it. Less people will be bidding against you. I love finding these as they are diamonds in the rough and they are ALL OVER Ebay. I find one of these every few days.
The same goes for subcategories. I never just click “Sets” when looking for a set because people could accidentally post it in any subcategory there.
A good example of this was a seller who posted a used 10225 R2D2 on Ebay. He listed it in the Lego category, but put it in “other” instead of “Star Wars”. On top of this, his listing didn't include the item number and it was in “Bulk bricks/lots”. I was the only one who bid on this used, but complete set. I got it for his opening bid of $95 which is close to $50 off the BP used price!
3. Make sure you limit your search using the other quick refinements.
You are welcome to look through 1000 listings if you want, but I prefer to view about 4-5 different sets at a time with any listings that don't apply to me weeded out. This is why I do use some of the other limiting functions Ebay provides outside of the category and the search bar options. I have about 50 searches I run in Ebay, 5 or 6 times a day. The quicker I can browse through them, the better.
Buy it Now or Auction:
This is the easiest way to cut down half the listings immediately. You might be interested in viewing both, but in my experience it is much easier to view them in separate searches as a lot of times you may want to order them differently. Buy it Now usually gets ordered by “lowest price” first, where as you may want to view auctions ordered by “ending soonest”. Also, I am in a different buying mindset based on which I am looking at.
Price:
The benefit here is obvious in that you can choose listings within your price range. However, there is a hidden benefit here that applies to Legos specifically. Minifigs are commonly sold from sets separately. When sellers list these, they list keywords from the original sets these figures were in. While this helps the seller, it is really annoying to people who want to view actual complete sets only. However, most of the time these Minifigures are priced considerably lower than the set. If you set a price minimum that is lower than the set would ever cost, but higher than the minifigures would be, you will filter out a lot of these listings and speed your browsing up.
New/Used/Not specified:
“New” and “Used” have obvious implications. However, I absolutely love “Not Specified”. These are usually items that are incomplete, something is wrong with the box, missing the instructions, etc. These can annoy you when looking for new, flawless sets, but there are a lot of people who filter by “new” and “used” only. Because of this, Not Specified gets viewed much less and considered much less. This means you could score a great set with a small side flaw for really cheap.
An example of this: I recently found some items in “Not Specified” that a seller had found in a storage bin he bought at auction (he explained this later to me in a message). He had never bought Lego sets before, so he didn't feel he could sell them as new because they were previously owned, but didn't want to list them as used because they hadn't been opened.
Result? Helm's Deep for $90, Jabba's Palace for $60. Epic Dragon battle for $90. All the sets were mint.
Best Offer:
In a previous article I discuss how great Best Offer is. If you are using Best Offer to try and get a good deal, I suggest using it in a separate search and refine it to only that. This makes it easier to look through them.
The other refinements Ebay offers are not very helpful and can even cause you to filter out items that you do want to look at. Specifically “Character Family” and “Age Level”, etc.
4. Ebay Saved Search Function
Ebay's saved search function is not the most robust feature, but it can be very helpful. After you have set up a search perfectly to your liking, you can click the star below the search bar to save it. Ebay saves it to your “My Ebay” and you can then go back to it later.
Besides the obvious benefits:
Every day Ebay will send you an email detailing new items in your search. When viewing your search list, you can tell which searches have gained new items since it was last viewed. You have an easy way to clicking search through and see new items from one link. I plan to do a future article on what the best searches are and how to maximize the benefit.
Give several of these a try and post your best searches in the comments!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
In an Article titled “I've been Searching for a Set Like You: Ebay Searching Tips and Strategies”, I commented on Ebay's search function and how you can maximize your Ebay searching potential by properly limiting searches. I wanted to expand on that with some great search examples I use as well is showing more in depth how I created them. This should help give you ideas for your own Ebay searches to check. I realize by doing this I am creating more competition for myself on Ebay, but hey, we all have to give a little!
Ebay's saved search function is really great for this because you can quickly look up a search you have used hundreds of times by going to “My Ebay”-> “Saved Searches” and clicking your search. Some people set up bookmarks in their browsers, or set up a thousand Ebay search homepages, but to me this keeps the clutter down on your browser window and lets Ebay handle alerting functions that you won't get out of a browser bookmark.
If you are an investor and you have 40 different sets you are looking for, you have to make sure your searches are perfectly honed. This takes trial and error and is never finished (don't worry, it's not hard) I edit one of my 50+ Ebay searches everyday as I find a keyword that doesn't belong, or something that is bringing up an item I don't want to see . The less irrelevant listings on the page, the quicker you get to those scorching deals you are looking for. To get the best Ebay deals, you want to search several times a day. Who knows when you will catch someone posting a 10179 Falcon for $800 because they don't know what it is actually worth? The quicker you can search through items, the more deals you will be able to see.
Before creating a search, you have to first decide what you want to look for. I recently decided to make a search in Ebay for a few UCS starwars sets that I want to agressively watch for and see if I can find a steal on. Used or new does not make a difference to me (For these three I would invest in a new or build a used) and as I discussed in the last article, I don't want to miss those great “Not Specified” deals. So I decided I wanted to look for three sets – 10179 MF, 10030 Star Destroyer, and the 10143 Death Star 2. A starting point for a search for these sets might look something like this:
Lego (10179, 10030, 10143, “Millennium Falcon”, “Star Destroyer”, “Death Star”)
The above syntax tells Ebay that I want to search for any of the arguments separated by commas.
This might seem like a perfectly good search – but try it. You will see, because of clone units, there are about 5 MF sets, 6 SD sets, and three sets with “Death Star” in them. This is all clutter because I am only wanting to view these three sets. Generally I start all searches with “Lego” and then a giant parenthesis with all the words I want an OR operation on. After doing that, I slowly filter keywords using the NOT function until I have the perfect search.
This is the part where some buyers think about just using the item numbers. Well, what if a seller on Ebay lists a great price on your desired item, but doesn't put the item number in the listing? Because of this, you need these other key words like “falcon” or “star destroyer”. So I recommend filtering out these other set numbers as you will keep 95% of the irrelevant listings from showing up in your search. For MF, there is 7965, 7778, 4504, 4488, and 7190. For SD, there is6211, 10221, 30056, 8099, and 4492. For DS there is 10188, and 9676. Adding those as NOT statements to my query gives me:
Lego (10179, 10030, 10143, “Millennium Falcon”, “Star Destroyer”, “Death Star”) -7965 -7778 -4504 -4488 -7190 -6211 -10221 -30056 -8099 -4492 -10188 -9676 -custom
Now my search query is really great as I have a lot of keywords to make sure I bring in the sets I want, but I am filtering all the sets that could be matching my keywords, but are false positives. I will still get a few sets I don't want in there, but 95% of the search will be worth it.
Here are a few other saved searches I love to use consistently – I created these searches and I look at them every day a few different times:
Buy it now sets.
In this one I am searching for individual sets that I am currently looking to grab as an investment. Currently that list is: Haunted House 10228, Vampyre Castle 9468, Tower Bridge 10214, VW bus 10220, Dino Defense HQ 5887, and Epic Dragon Battle 9450. My search query looks like this:
Lego (“Haunted House”, “Vampyre Castle”, “Tower Bridge”, Volkswagon”, “Dino Defense”, Epic Dragon Battle”, 10228, 9468, 10214, 10220, 5887, 9450) -10187 -video -games -6089 -custom
I added the other NOT arguments at the end to weed out some other sets that commonly come up in this search along with video games and the word “custom” as I don't want modified sets. On top of this I set the price limits from $60 to $225 as none of these sets should be under or over that, weeding out incomplete sets in most cases, single minifigures, and sets with outrages prices. I also select Buy It Now only. I then check this several times today to look for newly listed sets for great prices.
Best Offer small sets
I covered this in my Best Offer articles, but I like using Best Offer search queries on smaller sets that I am looking to stock up on that are going EOL. My current favorites right now are 9489 Endor Rebel Trooper Battle Pack, 6865 Captain America's Avenging Cycle, and 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase. In this case, I search for these parameters:
Lego (9489, 6865, 6858, “Avenging Cycle”, “catcycle”, “Endor Rebel trooper battle pack”)
To go with this search, I set the price range to 8-15 dollars and then in “more refinements” I select “Accepts Best Offer”. Obviously you can put any sets you want in here and adjust the price accordingly. I suggest trying to pick sets that are near the same price, etc.
Full Retired UCS Star Wars set search
I use this to watch for any retired UCS sets that I feel are good investments. I leave out the ones that aren't retired, as well as the “busts” sets and the Obi Wan's Jedi fighter and ATST left out as well.
lego (10179, UCS, 10143, 10030, 100129, 10134, 10175, 7191, 7181, 10129, 10212, falcon, millennium) -knight's -castle -B-wing -10018 -4488 -65771 -10227 -10225 -6074 -10039 -7778 -4504 -"red five" -10186 -10221 -10215 -10240 -10188 -10026 -"Wan's" -batman -7194 -7190 -7965 -custom
All of the words I added with the NOT functions were listings I see commonly in that query that water down my search. I set the price range from $100-$1000. This is one of my favorites and I refresh it constantly to look for sets that pop up that are good deals.
The “I'm Bored and want Legos” Buy It Now search
I have a couple of larger search queries for when I am really bored and just feel like browsing for some deals on random sets – different themes, retired, small, large, to build, etc. The one I use the most is below:
Lego (“Indiana jones”, “star wars”, “starwars”, “lord of the rings”, “pirates of the caribbean”, “harry potter”)
I then will filter this by Buy It Now, price above $40 and sort by “newly listed”. About once or twice a week I catch a deal on a set that pops up and is fairly under priced and I immediately grab it.
Some other great search ideas:
Auctions on your favorite sets sorted by “ending soonest”. Auctions under $10 ending soonest in your favorite theme – this one is great if you are into minifigures! Best Offer on bigger sets you like and then sort by “Newly Listed” and start at the bottom of the last page. As discussed in the “Best Offer” articles, these people are more likely to accept Best Offers. Add some of you search queries in the comments! You can always PM me as well if you are having trouble with a search. Remember it is a process – you should always try to see how you can better filter your search if you see an item in it that you don't want to see.
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
In the world of Lego Investing, one of the best ways to save yourself money and maximize your investments is by using rewards programs. In a world of advanced technology, almost everybody accepts credit cards now, and even more so, most stores now offer their own credit card. Assuming you have good credit and know how to properly use a credit card, this can be a huge advantage in the investing game. If you prefer not to use a credit card, there are many great rewards programs you can use to still maximize your profits accordingly.
First, a slight disclaimer. I am speaking about all of this from my own experience. Absolutely do not go out and apply for 20 credit cards immediately and start spending money as if it is free. All recommendations as to how to use a credit card and how applying and using it affects your credit report are outside of the scope of this blog. I encourage anyone taking my advice to be sure you know all the risks behind every action you take based on my recommendations.
Now that we have that out of the way, we will start with rewards programs that don't require a credit card:
Lego VIP program
The upside: The VIP program has been addressed already on this site multiple times, especially well in an article by dschooley called LEGO VIP Program and Maximizing Your VIP Rewards. Here is the gist of it: Every time you buy a set from a Lego store under your VIP program account, you get rewards points – specifically 1 for each dollar you spent. Once you get to 100 points – you have $5 VIP rewards dollars you can use on a purchase in a Lego store or at Lego.com. This equates to a 5% cash back program which is really good. At certain points they have double VIP points on certain sets as well as special VIP exclusives you can get along with your rewards points. Plus, ITS FREE TO SIGN UP – you just select to sign up with your next purchase.
The Downside: Lego sets directly from Lego are not discounted usually so the 5% you get back may not equate to getting a 30% discount at Amazon.com.
Barnes and Noble Membership
The upside: This one is a really nice under the radar rewards program. I was curious about it awhile back so I posted to see if anyone else had it. Several people reported they had pretty good luck with it. So I decided to give it a try. With this card, you get 10% off every purchase in Barnes and Noble. This is outstanding – most programs are only 2-5% cash back or % off the purchase. Clearly Barnes and Noble is serious about their membership. Plus, every holiday they will send you a 20% off coupon, and it STACKS with others (are you listening TRU?). Plus Barnes and Noble is not a hugely popular Lego supplier, meaning some bigger sets will sit in their stores long after EOL and you can snag them up for 30% off after they have already shown they will be a big money maker. I recently snagged a SW Frigate 7964 from there with this for around $85 (BP price is $115) and it was MISB.
Also if you like to read, they have 40% off hardcover books as well.
The downside: The only real downside is the membership is $25 a year. So make sure you intend on spending enough money there for it to be worth it. I got that money back just on the Frigate and since then have bought 3 other sets with some massive savings. The upside is – if you want to make a few single time purchases because there are a couple of good sets in store, you can get the membership free for two months with an online purchase.
TRU Rewards R US Program The Upside: I know, I know, we all can't stand these money grabbers. But lets be honest, every once in a while they have a sale where we figure out some good deal and we don't care enough to not buy that great deal . This program is not amazing, but it's free so it makes sense to have it if you are ever going to shop there. For every $1 you spend, you get 2 points. Unfortunately 500 points = $5 so it's only 2% cash/rewards back. Every month they calculate your points and if you have enough for a reward, they make a gift card in $5 increments available to you for use. You can sign up in store and you can use coupons while getting the Rewards.
The downside: Not a whole lot – its just not that great. Only shop at TRU if you know its a good deal – BOGO 50% off etc.
Now for the beefier credit card portion for those of you who love rewards.
Target Red Card
The upside: This one is pretty simple: 5% off every purchase. I love this one because you don't have to wait for any rewards dollars to come back or mature – Target plays it hard and just slashes 5% right off your purchase. This has been discussed on this site multiple times so this is just one more plus for it. I have it and I and my wife love this card.
The downside: Besides the downside of every credit card, none.
TRU Rewards are Us Credit Card
The Upside: Now while the rewards program is not that great, this one gets a lot closer. You get double points for every dollar you spend – that's 4% cash back which is pretty substantial – especially if you are already getting BOGO 50% or something of that nature. Also, there is another major immediate benefit – 15% off your first purchase. They don't always have this going, but in regular intervals if you open a card, you get 15% off your first total purchase. Now, though this doesn't apply to exclusives (which would rock), it does apply to everything else and it stacks with every deal and any coupons you have. I took advantage of this with a $20 off coupon, along with a BOGO sale and then of course the 15%. That was a good purchase!
Also, they will commonly send you coupons in the mail encouraging you to use your card in store, and if you qualify for the Mastercard, out of store. I recently got a coupon that gave me 100 rewards points each for my next 5 purchases on that card. I bought lunch with it at work for a week. I also received aa coupon for $25 off a $125 purchase. It was fully stack-able so I used it in a BOGO sale on two 7965 Falcons ($90 a piece!).
The Downside: None really besides the normal. Just as always with TRU, make sure with your deals that you are getting an actual deal and not a TRU deal (130% retail -30% = you are still paying retail).
Amazon Credit Card
The Upside: This is a card that was just recently brought up in the forums and several people, including Ed Mack, came out talking about how they loved it. Now, I didn't buy a ton from Amazon until I got into Legos so I had never really thought about it again. I decided to re-investigate and found out that this is an awesome card.
First of all, when you open it you get a $50 gift card immediately applied to your purchase. When I opened mine, I got a discounted Tower Bridge for $229 - $50. That one will turn out to be a pretty good deal.
On top of that, every purchase on Amazon.com gets 3% cash back. Now that I am into Lego investing, I make a lot of purchases on Amazon.com, so this is a really big help. Also, you can use the rewards right on Amazon. The credit card also gives you 2% back on gas and groceries (which is awesome) and 1% on everything else. So you can save up for Lego purchases by just spending money on everyday purchases.
Downside: None besides the normal with a credit card. Only thing past using it on Amazon, there are some other cards with the same or better rewards – which we will get back to later.
Discover Card
I love my Discover Card. I kept seeing commercials about all these cash back programs and free money, plus coming out of college and getting married, I had to start improving my credit for purchasing a house. I signed up for a Discover card. Their opening reward for the card is not necessary great for investing: It is 0% APR for 12 Months. This can be a help though because if you see a bunch of sales one month, you wont have to immediately pay off the card.
The real reward is their extensive cash back program. First off, every purchase is 1% cash back which is pretty standard. However, every quarter Discover has a different 5% cash back program in a different area like Restaurants, Home Improvement, Theaters, Gas Stations, Groceries, etc. The best one: Online purchases. This comes around about once a year for three months. There are usually three areas per quarter they allow the 5% cash back on.
On top of that, they have 100s of special cash back programs throughout the year. Common ones include 2% cash back on everything in your birthday month, 2% cash back when you set up automatic bill pay with your credit card and several 2% cash back holiday's. They normally have about 5-6 of these going on a time and some are always there.
Even more, they have 100s of special retailers that if you navigate from Discovers site to the retailers site and use your Discover card, you get up to 20% cash back. I use these for things like Kohl's, Lowes, and Home Depot. This adds up really quick.
If you thought I was done – my other favorites are their Cash back monthly spending rewards programs. After you spend a lot on the card, Discover starts sending you deals for more cash back in the mail every month. One of my favorites is based on your monthly spending. For instance, they will tell you if you spend $1000 a month for the next three months, they will give you $150 in cash back. And this stacks on top of everything else I have just mentioned. There are months when I calculated I got back 8% of my total purchases for the month.
Now that you have the rewards – what can you do with them? Well you can get them to just send you a check, deposit the money in your bank account, you can link it with your Amazon account and use it immediately there, or the best – more online retailers. These retailers swap around every month or so, but commonly there are some good retailers (including ones that sell Legos) that you can use your cash back on and get a little extra. For instance, you will get a $50 gift card for $45 in cash back. There are hundreds of these. Last year alone, I earned about $400 in cash back on this one card. I never paid any interest so it was a great deal.
fThey also have a great referrals program. Anyone referred by a card member gets some special deals upon opening the card and the person who refers them gets $50 in cash back. I refer people as much as possible and then buy Legos!
Downside: None besides normal. This one is my favorite.
Chase Card
The Upside: This card is very similar to the Discover card in its rewards programs. This makes sense because they are direct competitors. Their starting reward is a little better for an investor – If you spend 500 within the first 3 months, you get $100 cash back.
They also have the quarterly rewards programs and most of the time they are different than Discover's. This allows me to have 4-6 areas I get 5% cash back in every quarter.
Unfortunately they don't have all of the extra rewards programs Discover does, but they do have the online retailers where you can get extra cash back. They normally have different ones than Discover as well, so again you can double up in a since.
Chase's rewards dispensing program is awesome though. You can immediately apply the rewards straight to your monthly statement or you can spend them at select retailers in which you will, like Discover, earn more money for your cash back.
I have also found Chase's support to be super. Once I accidentally missed my payment by a day and they removed the charge after I called. They are also right on top of fraud – they call me anytime a purchase is made outside of my area, etc.
Downside: None but the normal Credit Card downside.
Other Credit Cards
There are tons more of these out there. I have several more, but the above two are by far the best to me. I have one more, the PNC Everyday Rewards Card that gives 4% back on gas and groceries always – unfortunately that card is discontinued for new applicants. But there are a ton more rewards cards out there and if you get a big portfolio of them, you can ensure you are getting 5% or so back on every purchase you make.
Walmart Credit Card:
I decided to check this one out recently. There isn't a lot here. Their card is done by Discover, but its premier card is much better. You don't get anything special for using it at Walmart, so I would just stick with another.
Again, just be careful. There are safe alternatives and ways to never spend a dime in interest. Make sure you don't or you are just cutting into these fabulous rewards you just earned. But if you do it right, you will be thoroughly rewarded!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
As I have been opening sets lately to build them and increase my display, I have come across a problem: What do I do with the boxes to my used sets? It takes up room to keep them, but I am afraid if I ever decide to sell one of my display sets, I will be disappointed with how much money I lose for not having the box.
I decided I had to find out because I am quickly running out of room in my downstairs closet for all my open boxes.
This was a very difficult venture with a ton of information. Unfortunately, I have to do it all by hand so I can't use an incredible amount of information because there is no way I can process it all. So I decided to categorize sets into three different levels: Medium sized sets, Large sets, and Massive Sets.
First, you may wonder “what about small sets?”. Generally I feel those won't have very relevant data because they are very cheap. With the way Ebay data goes up and down, I felt it would be difficult to get a good read on data. Also, those boxes are very easy to store. These were going to be negligible to the data I wanted to see for set boxes that actually take up a decent amount of space.
Since I am using Ebay listings for my data, I had to have a control. In this case, my criteria were this:
Must be sold in last two months Must include instructions Must clearly state or show box/no box Auctions only – Buy it now only takes one person to jump so I feel auction data is more relevant In line with the last point, any prices considerably higher than my other findings that only had 1 bid were excluded. Listings that were poorly listed (no pictures, no description, etc.) were excluded at my discretion. Listings with a considerably damaged box were not included. Once I had these criteria, I decided to figure out what sets to fit in my three categories. In general, I am assuming when you decide to sell your used sets, they are well retired and you either don't want them any more, or they are worth so much you are willing to part with them. So I tried to find three semi-similar sets, that were retired, in each category to collect data on. I tried to keep the piece count and minifigure count reasonably close, the used value close, and growth since retirement close. This is what I came up with:
Medium Sets:
The Burrow 4840 SW AT-AP Walker 7671 Indiana Jones Flight of the Flying Wing 7683 Large Sets:
SW Imperial Shuttle 10212 HP Hogwart's Castle 4842 POTC Queen Anne's Revenge 4195 Massive Sets:
Taj Mahal 10189 Eiffel Tower 10181 SW Star Destroyer 10030 Note: Some of my choices came from trying to find enough Used set data as well.
So as for the results? Let's make sure we go over a few things. First of all, this data should be used as a aide when deciding. I do not have the tools to show anything majorly conclusive, but I do have enough data to help you understand what could happen if you don't keep the box. Make your own decisions as you wont find anything absolutely definitive here. I will give my analysis and recommendations after the data is displayed.
Medium Sets:
The Burrow 4840:Average Used price with box: $107.15 Averaged used price without box : $94.50 Percent loss: 11.8% SW AT-AP Walker 7671:Average used price with box: $61.87 Average used price without box: $50.53 Percent loss: 17.4% Indiana Jones Flight of the Flying Wing 7683:Average used price with box: $80.70 Average used price without box: $69.79 Percent loss: 13.5% Analysis: This is very interesting. The average percentage you lose by throwing that box away is 14.24%. Luckily, these sets aren't that expensive, as the loss would be between $11 and $13. That tells me that throwing one away won't break the bank. But throwing 30 of them away means I may have lost $300+!. This is assuming all of your sets increase in value and you can create good sales listings, etc. when you decide to sell. Either way, we learn that it definitely does have a decent effect on the price.
My Suggestion: Neutral – Completely up to you. If you think it will be a super winner and you have room, keep it. If you aren't confident in the set, chances are you can make up the money by making an excellent Ebay listing. If you don't think you will ever sell it, who cares?
Large Sets:
SW Imperial Shuttle 10212:Average Used price with box: $301.02 Averaged used price without box : $279.58 Percent loss: 7.1% HP Hogwart's Castle 4842:Average used price with box: $221.72 Average used price without box: $194.60 Percent loss: 12.23% POTC Queen Anne's Revenge 4195:Average used price with box: $161.51 Average used price without box: $158.31 Percent loss: 2% Analysis: These numbers are a little tougher to examine. One one hand, with the Hogwart's Castle your box was worth about $25 which is pretty substantial. However, with the POTC Queen Anne's Revenge, your box was only worth about $3. The average percent loss here is 7.1%, but its tough to make a final call since the numbers are not very similar.
My Suggestion: More data is needed here to make a true educated guess. I would lean towards keeping the box just because I wouldn't want to possibly lose $25. But, on the other hand, these sets are still most likely worth way more than they were purchased for, so if you are out of space it may be worth eating the money – especially if you can store a new set for investing in its spot. I will most likely address more sets in this category for further analysis at a later date to get more conclusive information.
Large Sets:
Taj Mahal 10189:Average Used price with box: $878.65 Averaged used price without box : $834.15 Percent loss: 5.07% Eiffel Tower 10181:Average used price with box: $734.82 Average used price without box: $681.02 Percent loss: 7.32% SW Star Destroyer 10030:Average used price with box: $682.47 Average used price without box: $589.97 Percent loss: 13.55% Analysis: The percentage loss is lower than the medium sized sets, but because these are worth so much money, these boxes are pretty expensive to a builder. The 10030 box would cost you almost $100 dollars. Though these take up more space, it would be hard to part with them knowing you lost this much money just for throwing something away.
My Suggestion: Keep it. You will find somewhere for it and you will enjoy that extra money if you ever have to sell it.
So there it is! Hope everyone enjoys the data. I may expand on this in the future as I know this is just the tip of the iceberg. If anyone has any suggestions, put them in the comments and I'll take a look at it!
If anyone is curious, I can send you the raw data as well.
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
Most people can figure out the bidding function on Ebay with ease. Proxy bidding is a very simple concept to understand:
If you bid higher than the current bidder, the price only goes up to just above their bid. Once the auction ends, the highest bidder wins. If you bid a max higher than what the auction ends at, you only have to pay the current bid, not your max. Most people take this general simplicity, along with the fact that the highest bid wins, and think they don't need a strategy. However, to be a successful Ebay buyer, you should practice and learn to bring a strategy to every auction you bid on. Each way to bid has different pros and cons and can be the difference from scoring an item for super cheap, or overpaying.
1. Making sure you are the highest bidder throughout the auction to the end.
To clarify, this is referring to people who will watch an item on Ebay and make sure they are always the highest bidder every time they look at the item. Generally there is not much plan before hand to this. After you are outbid, you decide whether you want to go higher or not. Eventually you win the auction assuming you continually outbid everyone else.
Pros:
This is a very simple method and is reactive than proactive. Some people don't like to plan, so this is easy. Each time you look at the auction, you place a new bid. Watch it until the end and make sure you win. Its not necessarily as nerve-racking as other options as well.
Simple Less nerve-racking Ensures you win more often. Cons: This line of bidding is not one I use. You don't win anything in a proxy auction for how long you lead. This isn't NASCAR. All that matters is who wins at the end. Generally, you overpay this way too because there are more bids. You are also more susceptible to impulse bids as you create more situations where you continually look at the auction to see if you are still winning.
Leading doesn't matter. May overpay. More susceptible to impulse. You play your hand to everyone – no one is surprised. I don't recommend using this method, but some may have success with it.
2. Bidding the highest amount you will pay and leaving the auction.
This one is very simple. You decide before hand you are only have $2500 to spend, and you can't go any higher on that beautiful 10179 Millennium Falcon. So you throw the bid in there and if you win, you win and if you lose, you don't have to mortgage anything. Again, you only have to pay what the highest bid was that lost to you, not your max.
Pros:
Typically this is better for lower priced items or when you don't have a ton of time. You can take the time to decide what the most is you would pay for something and then set it and leave it. If you win, great! It requires very little effort past the first bid. Also you are safer from people who bid at the last minute to steal an item (snipers) as you have already entered your highest bid.
You can set a price before hand so you generally don't more than you want. Requires very little effort past first bid. Don't have to pay your max if its lower. Generally safer from snipers since you have already bid your max. Cons:
Though you don't necessarily have a chance to make a bad decision and overpay, you can still pay more than what you did using a different strategy. Other strategies may not drive the price up as much. There are a lot of people that become curious if they detect a high max bid and will bid trying to find what the max you bid was.
May pay more than using a different method. Can be nerve-racking in final minutes hoping you aren't sniped since you have been leading the auction the whole time. 3. Sniping
This really seems to be everyone's favorite and the most used method. It entails waiting until the final seconds of an auction, and then bidding the maximum you will pay, or just a high amount, to try and win the auction in the final seconds before the current winner, or anyone else, can put in a new bid. Doing this is exhilarating for some and a nightmare for others. The moments when the auction hits 10s are like no other in buying. You know if you have done this before.
Pros:
If you time it right, no one can retaliate and outbid you because they are out of time. People who would possibly reconsider and outbid you are out. This generally means you will get the lowest price for the item possible. And you only have to really pay attention to the auction at the very end.
Other bidders can't retaliate Lower price for the item Only have to watch the end of the auction. Cons:
This method can be easily mitigated by number 2. If the max is high, choosing what to bid can be a pain. Also, if you bid too low, you have no time to reconsider either. So generally you have to make sure you bid your max. Also, I find that in auctions for things that have a lot of bidders, there are most likely several others employing this method, meaning there will be tons of bids in the final seconds. Also if you mess up putting the bid in, or you forget about the auction, or you lose internet access even, kiss it goodbye!
Requires you to be present for end of the auction. Others will be using this as well in more popular auctions meaning mass bidding at the end. You are out of time if your bid doesn't win. 4. Gradual Bidding
Think about being at a live auction and every time someone bids, a person in the back immediately outbids them. That person is sending a message. They are saying “this is mine, just give up”. If you do this as a bidder you can generally get things for less because it frustrates other potential buyers.
To do this, every time you see you are outbid, try to guess what the persons max was and just barely outbid them. Why not put in your max bid? You want them to outbid you so that when they do, you immediately take it back again. Think about how frustrating that is.
Pros:
Though this seems the same as just setting a high max bid, when people realize a high max is there, they bid higher to try and find it. This means less bids until it hits near what it will go for. The more you make them bid and show them you are winning, the more they get frustrated and give up.
This method is best used in conjunction with sniping. Do this early and snipe at the end if you are outbid within the last day by a determined bidder.
Weeds out the bidding pool. Sends a message that you want the item. May score item for less if everyone gives up. Cons:
The biggest drawback for this method is that you have to watch like a hawk. With mobile phones this is much easier, but obviously its still time consuming.
Time consuming to do right. Susceptible to sniping if you don't eventually set a high max bid. Doesn't work well on lower priced items. Some other general bidding recommendations:
Make sure you don't set too many max bids on too many auctions at the same time. Just because you think the max bid wont win doesn't mean you don't have to pay it if it does. This can be dangerous. If an item you are watching has zero bids, I suggest leaving it that way. The more time something has no bids, the more time people think maybe it isn't worth it. You can take advantage of that and snipe it late for low. Don't always look for the lowest starting bid. People start items at $.99 because they pay less fees to do so. These items will go way above that. Don't ignore a 10179 just because it starts at $2000. If no one else pays attention, you might get it for cheaper. Make sure you always clean up your watch list and have it sorted by “Ending Soonest” so that you can easily stay aware of your items. Comment on the article and give some of your auction strategies and let me know if you employ any of these!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 
I have been on Ebay since the late 90's. Back then, I was a very early teen and I grew up watching my Dad use Ebay to buy old toy Train sets as he was a giant train enthusiast. He and I loved Ebay because you could get online and see thousands of items from thousands of buyers and had choices to buy used or buy new and be able to get a possible discount off a store price.
My Dad once commented "The bad thing about Ebay is you can't haggle. Haggling is the only way to get the best price". Obviously in an auction format, haggling never came into play. But once "Buy it Now" became an option, haggling was logically the next step.
Ebay responded with the "Best Offer" feature. This is not a new feature in any way and has been out for many years, but it surprises me how little it is utilized. Just as with Craigslist, yard sales, or your best friend's stash of stuff he needs to get rid of, Ebay has buyers who urgently need to sell something or are willing to come down on a price. Some sellers don't really know what people will pay for their item or they need the money and aren't firm on the price (and all us sellers know how good it feels to finally sell something on Ebay).
As a buyer, we should take full advantage of this. Don't be afraid of "Best Offer", as the title suggests, it is your best friend. Here are some ways you can use this to your advantage:
1. Items with large quantity and Best Offer = Big Savings
Lets say you want to purchase a set like 9489, The Endor Rebel Trooper Battle Pack. You feel this would be a good investment and you start searching Ebay. Most people will look for auctions and try to snipe a few at super low prices, or look for "Buy it Now" sorted by lowest price. This is extremely time consuming to maybe save a dollar or two here and there.
Instead, I search for sets with "Best Offer" checked (you can enable this in "more refinements" on the left hand side under the "show only" section on the right. This is will bring up a box in the middle of the screen. Click "show only" on the left side menu. On the right there is a check-box that says "Accepts Best Offer"). I then search through for ones with multiple quantities and ones in independent Ebay Stores (as these are more likely to have multiples).
Lets say doing this for the aforementioned set, you come across a seller with 20 of them listed at $12.99 each (retail) with free shipping.
In this case, I suggest offering to buy all 20 at a price point of , say, $9.50. The seller will most likely be tempted by this because: 1. The seller gets to ship them all to one person in the same box. 2. The seller moves all that inventory at one time. With the money saved on shipping, chances are this is only a few dollars less than the seller would have been made waiting them out.
Obviously the same applies for bigger sets, but that requires more capital and shipping is not quite as easy. Listings with Multiples for bigger sets aren't as common, so this advice is more effective for smaller sets. But I have had success when I do find a large quantity listing for a big set, so don't be afraid to use this advice in that situation.
Example: I recently purchased 10 of the Lego "Captain America Avenging Cycle (6865) listed at $13.99 for $10.50 using Best Offer.
2. Items that have been listed for longer have a better chance of accepting your Best Offer
This is a very simple concept. The longer something has been for sale, the easier it is to get it at a better price. One of my daily Ebay checks is to search for certain Lego sets with “Best Offer” and sort by “Newly Listed” and then go to the last page (unfortunately Ebay doesn't have an “oldly listed” option). These sets have been here for a while and chances are these buyers are willing to take less. Make them an offer and you may get lucky – they may just want someone to finally buy it! I find I can offer these sellers a little less and they will take it more often than a seller who just listed a set.
Example: Recently there was a New Lego Death Star 2 (10143) listed for $1150. It had been there quite a while. I offered the seller $600. He counter-offered with $800. I did not end up buying it (probably will regret it), but according to BP data, that would have been $350 off!
3. Best Offer puts unreasonable prices in play
Most of us see the over-priced stuff on Ebay. We feel sorry for the uneducated seller's who don't have BP to show them what their set is actually worth. So most of us probably write off 90% of listings when searching for a set. But “Best Offer” means it could sell for any price! Assuming you have the money, putting in a fair offer wont hurt anything at all. Also, they have the option to counteroffer and you can possibly negotiate down to a fair price.
Example: I offered on a Lego Helm's Deep (9474) that was listed for $140. The seller accepted my offer of $110.
4. You can add a personal message to a Best Offer or Counteroffer
A LOT of people don't do this, mostly because they just don't know what to say. In my experience, this always helps. If you are buying it as a gift, let them know. Or just put a friendly note in like “Hopefully we can work out a deal as I love this set!”. Things like that make a seller feel better about selling to you. Just think about things you might say in a friendly bartering session with a friend. I have had a lot of success with this as well when they send back counter offers. If they offer $500, I may offer back $450 and say “I really don't think I can go any higher”. These work in normal haggling and Ebay is no exception. (Note: I do not condone lying in a personal message to a seller).
Example: Commonly I will offer low and then add “Let me know what you think. I am really interested and am willing to come up if need be”. I find their counteroffer is lower than if I send no message at all.
These are just a few things to consider when using Ebay Best Offer. Some other advice:
Be sure you have the capital and are willing to pay for something you offer on. If you put out 20 Best Offers and all of them are accepted, this could be a big issue. Try not to low-ball a seller. Though you get 3 Best Offers on an item, sellers have a tendency to shut down completely if they think you are being unfair with your offers. I usually start with about a 30% discount from their original price. A message to them helps with this as well. If someone is really friendly to me in a message, its hard to assume they are low balling and being a jerk. Make sure you read the listing completely before you submit an offer. When you submit an offer, you are bound to it if the seller accepts it. There is nothing worse than submitting an offer and then figuring out the item is not what you wanted. If you find your Best Offer is immediately declined and you think it was fair, move on. In my experience, these sellers have it checked, but aren't going to take a reasonable offer for it. It usually indicates they are pretty firm. Just give it a try next time you are Ebay and leave any more info or suggestions in the comments!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
 

Account

Navigation

Search

Configure browser push notifications
Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.