General Collecting and Investing Forum

These are just my opinions but these are some rules I try to stick to when purchasing a set for investment. 1. Get the best deal and buy on sale. I think too many people (including myself when I first started) jump on sets at retail just because they think they will be more valuable later. Now there are some instances which this will work but in most cases you are cutting in to your potential profits. Why? Almost every set goes on sale at some point. If you think you have another year before EOL then you have another year to keep waiting and watching for the price to drop or the item to go on sale. Target, TRU and others will have a BOGO 50% off at some point. You will…

I am new to lego collecting. I see people talk about flipping sets such as the tumbler. How is it that anyone can sell an item for above MSRP? I can buy the tumbler from lego shop for 199 and yet someone out there is willing to pay $250-$300 on eBay? Appreciate the insight.

I noticed an auction up on Ebay for the Minifigure Collectors Series Lego Movie boxes(60ct) and the seller in question has pre-sold 96 of them already, with a shipping estimate of February 20 etc. How is it even possible this seller can get ahold of this many of this item, let along guarantee the buyers they will have one when they aren't for sale on Lego's site yet. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Movie-Minifigures-Series-12-New-box-case-of-60-Sealed-Packets-Lego-71004-/191046321073?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item2c7b3f83b1 If the seller didn't have good feedback I'd almost think they were in the process of a cash grab with $19,000+ pre-orders.

I am still a rookie at this game and so far I've been doing alright with just selling sealed sets. However, when I run some numbers on Bricklinks, it seems parting out some sets can be very lucrative. However, I have to factor in the time it takes to sort out the pieces and the amount of time I will be sitting on bricks and cost of storing these bricks. Does the opportunity cost out weights sitting on some exclusive sets/modulars? So I want to know how long were you in this investing game before you dive into selling parts? How well have you been doing? What tips you got for the newbies in picking the right sets and general advice? Thanks in advance!

I am wondering how long everyone has been investing in Lego. I purchased my first Lego set for investment in March of last year and started selling March of this year. I am particularly interested to see how many people have been doing this for more than 2-3 years. It seems Brickpicker has given many of us (including myself) the idea of investing in Lego sets but I'm curious to see who may have been doing it even before Brickpicker. This is not intended to be another Lego bubble discussion, I'm actually curious to hear from some of the investors who have been doing this for a number of years and get their perspective on changes they have seen over the years.

I'm pretty new to this investing thing, but I'm curious to know what other people's experiences are. I currently have about 5k invested at this point (not including sets I've already sold) but have made 1k off the sets I've sold, so only consider myself to be 4k in. Is there are a point where you broke even, and if so how long did it take?

I was wondering, how many can one invest and still not kill the market? Your thoughts please

Just curious about the diversity of the LEGO sets we all own here that are our own personal collection and that are for investment. (if you only do Minifigures or MOC's include those in our discussion) Including my 4 children (somehow they mixed up my sets with theirs - the little boogers) we personally have to total of approx. 60 sets. Mostly Star Wars, Ninjago and Friends with a mixture of City. Investing wise I rotate from 250 to 300 sealed and loose sets. It depends on what is moving at the time. I have mostly Star Wars, Harry Potter, Friends, Ninjago, City, Super Heroes, CMF's and Modulars. (with a splatter of a few other themes here and there) By far I …

I am posting this as I been getting alot of E-mail from people saying they really screwed up by buying hundreds of the small cheap sets, instead of getting the Big and exclusive sets. Now I guess Everybody on here would get as many old Exclusives as they could afford at the regular Retail price right now if that had a chance. Like the Remote AT-AT, Imperial Flagship, Carousel, Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, Dubai, Statue Of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Imperial Shuttle,Diagon Alley, 10195 SW Dropship, SW 8129 AT AT and there are more, but the point of this is so most screwed up and missed the Train on Most of these. So I am telling you that you don't have to screw up this time. Eve…

Hi and sorry in advance if there is a topic about this already. I recently bought a used set that was supposed to be 100% complete. After auditing the pieces, it was missing nearly 10% plus some of the pieces appeared to not be part of the original set as advertised. Counting pieces can take quite a bit of time, exceeding 10 hours for large sets. As a result of this experience, I am concerned that I will go through this exercise with all my used set purchases. So if I'm going to wind up spending over 10 hours counting pieces whenever I buy large used sets and some of those pieces are not original, I was wondering how much time it takes and money is saved by buyin…

Sorry if there is already a thread about this, but I'm wondering what is usually the going rate for a used/open set (that is still available in stores)? Is it normally half the price of retail? Most of the info on the BP price guide is for retired stuff I think.

Hi, I'm new at the Lego investing game, although I have been a reseller for years. My son is a big Lego enthusiast, so this is something we can do together. So far I am averaging about $1000 per month on lego purchases. I spent a lot last month because I was able to get some really great deals locally on some big sets, but now this is really draining my bank account. I am actually buying more than I am selling on Ebay. I haven't sold any of my newly acquired sets, because I am waiting for them to increase in value. From reading this forum, it sounds like its a minimum of 6 months. So this brings me to the question.. how do you guys afford to spend so much on sets that you…

I bought the Avengers Quinjet set and of course it came with the right corner being crushed. The box is still sealed and intact. Any idea how much this decreases the value?

Mod edit after merging threads. ============= original post. ============= There is a republic frigate at my local store and its $50, but the box is beaten up. almost like someone sat on the thing. How much does it matter for the condition of the box? is it worth getting you think?

Recently I have found quite a few thrift shop lots in full gallon bags. Just curious what people are generally paying. I have picked them all up for about $8 a bag.

What % of the retail price would you pay for a set without minifigs? Seems like most people want the minifigues and that adds value tothe set. I'm not sure how much to pay when I see lots on ebays that ddon't have minifigures. Are blocks readily available to buy?

Hi! i´m thinking on sell mi Lego collection but i´m not sure how much is it. I looking for any set on price guide but it´s complicate put the price for all together. I have some box and instruccion but not for all. Someone could give any valoration for it. Thanks for all. Sorry for my english im from canary island. 6844 – sismobile (1983) 6874 – moon rover (1985) 6368 – jet airliner (1985) 6677 – motocross Racing (1986) Aquazone 6195 – Neptune Discovery Lab (1995) 6175 – Crystal Explorer Sub (1995) 6115 – Shark Scout (1995) * Ninja 6088 – Robber´s Retreat (1998) 6033 – Treasure transport (1998…

Good Evening. I have an opportunity to buy a lot of partially build sets. The goal is to rehab them to completion and sell on ebay. Problem is the guy selling does not have manuals for them and I am not sure what those sets are. Could you let me know the ball park number I should offer for this? He is estimating it to be 80 pounds. <center> <a href="http://s802.photobucket.com/user/matrosov1/media/Internet%20Formus/Lego/01111_7ORUplRgVx1_600x450_zps3291df49.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo 01111_7ORUplRgVx1_600x450_zps3291df49.jpg"/></a> <a href="http://s802.photobucket.com/user/matrosov1/media/Internet%20…

This is my question: How much time on a regular day do you spend on Legos. This includes building sets, BrickPicker, eBay, Amazon, buying sets at stores, etc. This number probably varies from day-to-day, so if you like, please give us an average week usage. This is how long I estimate that I spend on Legos: Sunday: 5 hours? Monday: 3 hours Tuesday: 2 hours Wednesday: 2 hours Thursday: 2 hours Friday: 3-4 hours Saturday: 5 hours? The reason why my Saturday and Sunday numbers have a "?" next to them is because this number varies greatly on the amount of homework I have. Feel free to factor stuff in like that into your numbers!

A Silicon Valley executive was charged with four felony counts of second degree burglary after allegedly creating his own barcodes and placing them on Lego toys at Target stores to get major discounts. He sold 2,100 items on Ebay and made $30,000. The Supervising Deputy District Attorney is not sure why Langenbach would go to such great lengths. "It's a bit of a head scratcher, the complexity of the crime and the amount of resources needed to commit the crime leave you scratching your head", she said. "Mr. Langenbach is a VP of a successful company, living in a nice home and making money gainfully and in his free time creating false barcodes and going into Target…

My funds for lego investing have dried up rather quickly this holiday season so ive been brain storming ways to increase my capital for legos. I was thinking that a profitable business approach could be as simple as buying a mint sealed set that has retired, sending it in to be professionally graded and then flip it on ebay. what do you guys think

How the Lego Color Palette Has Changed Over the Last 40 Years Just some fun graphs on how the palette has changed/increased through the years.

I'll get my 10179 tonight and I want to be sure the box contain the millenium falcon I read that it's possible to reseal a box, so I'm a bit nervous about that. Anyone have some tips for me to be sure "how to be sure the box is the intact original" and "how to inspect a box" Everyting look ok on the photos: Thanks!

How can you cut down on the amount of money you spend on the hobby and, instead, using that money for LEGO investment?

I've just bought a used Tower Bridge 10214. The set was kind of a mess when it arrived (partially dismantled, not organised at all) but I knew the risks! It also stank of smoke so I decided to completely dismantle, sort and wash the pieces to make it my own. I'd really like to check the pieces are all there but I'm about to move overseas and don't have enough time to build it. There are about a million teeny bits (rounding up for emphasis!) and the idea of counting them makes my head hurt. I might weigh it all and compare to a complete set's weight but I also wondered if there was a way I could just check it for rarer pieces being present - just to make sure I…