General Collecting and Investing Forum

How do you determine what sets you will buy? Price per piece - playability - theme - gut feeling.

Is there a site where you can find out how many sets a single piece is found in? I think I saw something mentioned before about putting in your loose pieces to see which different sets it could makes up?

What are some cheap set that you peoples think will do well in the secondary market? Cheap = $0-$50

How should I go about finding used Lego within my area? Any other suggestion beside craigslist?

Hello, I'll have a chance to visit a Lego Store in Anaheim in the first week of november. (I'm Canadian and the nearest Lego Store for me is 800km from where I live!) Can I except some deals/clearances at this time of year or it's totally random? And it's possible for me to use my canadian VIP point in the US? And anyone know if it's possible to ask to ship at a Canadian address?

A Large part of my investing comes from polybags. I have found that these small sets will turn larger profits around holidays, people use them as stocking stuffers and put them in Easter baskets. You can also get minifigs and specialty pieces cheap, far below the secondary market. Heres a few I have picked up recently if anyone is interested. - WINZARS PACK PATROL - TC-14 - GANDALF AT GALDUIR - FRODO'S COOKING CORNER - SPACE INSECTOID [30231] - GHOST W. CLOCK [X2] - ZOMBIE COFFIN CAR - MINING QUAD Let me know what you think of polybags in the comments!

I have been looking at the prices for items bought at the SDCC and am curious if others have partaken in events such as these? Are there generally exclusives as some of the local events such as... http://vacomicon.com/ Are there events that are better than others for Lego sets? I pretty much sell anything collectable. (And some crap that i just got cheap.) Are there large events like SDCC on the East Coast? Are there any shows that you would recommend on for LEGO/Toy collectors? (Do any compete with SDCC?) Thanks for the input-

Earlier, I saw a post but now I do not know where to find it. There was a statement made by one member. He or she said "hopefully we are not like investors buy from other investors" and that results in increasing price. I do believe there are lego lovers joining the lego market every second. There must be someone who was lego fan when he or she was young and later picks the hobby up again..... But thinking about "investors buy from other investors" just concerns me. I, myself, started investing just three months ago after accidentally finding out why some sets were so expensive and later realizing that was called "retired sets"...and then knowing there was actually an…

When did you start collecting and how old are you? Did you get started as a collection or as a resell investment ?

In the other thread about the state of large set investing, a few people mentioned taxable status and perks associated there with. I've only recently got to the size where I really need to worry about such things, so I was hoping those in the know could provide some insight. I am not incorporated, last year and just was designated as self employed for the purposes of Lego reselling. (Not counting my other jobs, of course.) I have simply just been paying sales tax on the stuff I buy, and when selling I don't do anything special regarding taxes, Amazon charges it to the customer and that's that. If anyone has the time to go into depth on what I SHOULD do r…

I was wandering aroynd eBay Spain and stumbled upon this http://www.ebay.es/itm/4000007-Ole-Kirks-House-Extremely-Limited-Just-a-few-made-for-LEGO-Workers-/140898860058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item20ce39fc1a#ht_500wt_922 What do you think? Does anyone own this?

So I just posted a thread about the Catwoman set going EOL suddenly with no "Retiring Soon" tag ever attached, but there is some other odd business going on too... 9489 - Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper Battle Pack was listed as "Retiring Soon" for at least a couple months now. Within the last few days, that tag has mysteriously gone missing. The status on LEGO Shop at Home is still "Sold Out," but apparently it is no longer retiring??? My officialy stance is that Lego pulled a fast one on us. When I first saw that "Retiring Soon" tag on this set, the first thing I did was ****** up 12 of them when they were on sale for $10 at Target. I'm guessi…

I am in the process of re-bagging my used Tower Bridge to sell in the future and was wondering what would be the best way to organise pieces into bags? 1. Build order? 2. Type and size? 3. Colour coordinated? 4. Random? Also, would you recommend using original bags (which have been carefully opened) or would you use resealable bags? Any pointers would be appreciated.

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?

Hey to all Brick Pickers out there I purchased an auction lot with Lego Sets 6868 Hulks Helicarrier Breakout , and 9496 The Desert Skiff. Both Boxes where opened when I recieved them and can anyone tell me how many bags / loose pieces should be in each set? The Helicarrier set still has the Hulk Minifigure wrapped in plastic. So Thats a plus, and the Desert Skiff Set looks to have everything.

Hi All From an investment perspective, how would you rank / rate the following deal packages, assuming that the total cost for each package is the same? (package A) two Haunted House (#10228) (slight dent on both boxes) (package two Maersk trains (#10219) and one Golden Dragon (#70503) (all MSIB) (package C) two Summer Riding Camp (#3185) and two Golden Dragon (#70503) (all MSIB) (package D) ten Golden Dragon (#70503) (all MSIB) Thank you.

Hi, Today I attended a briefing session in Durham Cathedral (in UK), about a fundraising activity they are having where they are going to build a replica, and raise money by getting people to sponsor the bricks. It is going to be a minimum, yes minimum, of 100,000 bricks, and will be 3.7m x 1.7m x 1.5m (12ft x 5ft6 x 4ft11). It is being designed by a UK (I believe) company that works with Lego and designs/builds their Legoland models. Anyway, they are looking for volunteers to help build it, so thought I would share, though apologies on the lateness of the post as briefs were today and I found out myself last minute, but there may still be time to get involved if y…

Just need some advice/opinion from you experts. I'm a novice that started 'investing' and flipping sets for last 2-3months, fun hobby as I like to read forums and look for deals. Hours spent on sports/fantasy league stats before has turned into Lego hunting and researching Been successful flipping some small to med sets locally (Toronto area in CAN) - no delivery, just face to face for 10%-25% ROI. As my inventory grows, my question is for larger sets ($100+ CAN prices) like Haunted House, Arkham Asylum, Vampyre Castle or Helms Deep do some of you post it immediately for opportunity of a quick flip/small profit or are you waiting for EOL/retirement before posting and …

So I bought a Lego from an Amazon 3rd party seller and the lego box says Misship and a bunch of different barcodes. Just wondering what this means. People buying these mis-shipped items for way under retail and reselling them? How do you go around finding mis-shipped items? This post probably doesn't make any sense haha sorry

Out of town for work, and spotted a Vampyre Castle at a Walmart in the clearance section. The seals on the box are completely intact - but on one end of the box, the panel between the seals is completely ripped. Like if you tried to open the box without cutting the seals first. I am confident looking at the box that it hasn't been opened. For resale though, my question is, would you keep it in the sealed box? Or open the box and just keep and resell with the complete set of bags plus instructions? Guessing I could part it out around Halloween next year.

I was in the Lego club when I was growing up, receiving Lego Mania magazines time to time in the mail. I still have the magazines from the early to late 90s. My favorite part of the magazine was seeing other Lego members showing their creations. Has anyone else been in the Lego club while growing up? If so, what was your favorite part of the magazine? Are you in the Lego club as an adult?

I just bought 2 items. One 9466 Monster Hunters: Crazy Scientist for 35.00 and one 9472 for 60.00. My question is should I take back the "Attack on Wheathertop" and grab 2 more Crazy Scientist? I'll be selling everything before Chirstmas of this year (October - November).

So I didn't see anything posted on this before, so here goes with my first new topic Did some reformatting on my tracking spreadsheet and using autosum and a division formulas I worked out a total percentage off MSRP and PPP ratio for all my sealed sets. And was wondering if anybody else does this and their thoughts on it. The metric may not be all that important but it does help in the feel good department lol. Currently, my fledgling brickfolio is showing an overall 32.8% off retail and my PPP ratio is just under .08 cents a piece. So on spreadsheet at least it seems that I am doing pretty good so far. Thoughts, comments, ideas? - Vince

Wanted your guys advice on this. Thinking of buying both the BP and QA or just getting the IF. What would be a more solid for investment in the long run? In terms of space 1 is always easier to store than the 2. Input always appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi guys, I'm new to the joys of Lego collecting and have a couple questions. Question 1: On Ebay and CL I'm seeing a lot of sets for sale that have opened boxes but sealed bags, I don't quite understand this. If you aren;t going to build the set, why decrease the value by opening the box in the first place? Is it possible people are building the sets, then somehow re-sealing the pieces back into their original bags? Question 2: I realize that MiSB is the way to go as far as re-sale value is concerned, but if I also really enjoy building the sets I buy, does the "used" market still offer the ability to make some decent $$ too? If so, this might be the way…