Another re-seller quits

[Achilles]

Personally, with all the leg work, fees, risk, storage, research and everything else - for my time, if I get less than 50% profit after fees on a set, I consider it a loser in my book (and my goal numbers are actually much higher than that). Now, if there WEREN'T lots of sets capable of getting those profits or more, it might be different. But it's hard to think of 10-20% as a success when there are winners that will draw much bigger out there. If I wanted 10% return, I'd just invest with my financial planner. I want more aggressive returns, and for that, you have to take the risks and do the work. And of course, not all of my LEGO investments are winners (I've made lots of pretty awful purchases) - but my sets that end up much more than 100-150% profit make it balance out and worth it.

[asharerin]

Maybe I view things wrong, but when I invest in the stock market a 10% average annual return is considered strong. It is funny to see people on this site scoff at a 20% or so return on investment.

​That is because investing in stocks and running a reselling business are two completely different animals. One is a passive investment earning passive income while the other is a way to create a job for yourself and takes alot of time and energy. I am not bashing the idea of creating a job for yourself as it sure beats working for someone else but most will want a lot higher returns reselling compared to passively investing in a company where all the work is done for you (at least I do).

[iahawks550]

99% of the people on this site don't depend on the income generated from "investing" For most, it's a hobby.

[GhostDad]

Personally, with all the leg work, fees, risk, storage, research and everything else - for my time, if I get less than 50% profit after fees on a set, I consider it a loser in my book (and my goal numbers are actually much higher than that). Now, if there WEREN'T lots of sets capable of getting those profits or more, it might be different. But it's hard to think of 10-20% as a success when there are winners that will draw much bigger out there. If I wanted 10% return, I'd just invest with my financial planner. I want more aggressive returns, and for that, you have to take the risks and do the work. And of course, not all of my LEGO investments are winners (I've made lots of pretty awful purchases) - but my sets that end up much more than 100-150% profit make it balance out and worth it.

​If your financial planner says he can get you a 10% annual return starting now, he's lying to you.  Given current bond and stock prices, you might be able to squeeze out a 1% real return (ie nominal - CPI).  Then of course you'll pay that to your financial planner in fees.  Not that legos are a can't lose investment or anything.  It's just... look around, man.  Every financial asset is expensive these days.

[oneknightr]

In my best Rick Harrison voice "My buddy who's an expert says it's worth about $25K. I'll give you like $100. I'm taking all the risk."   

[asharerin]

Hopefully one day we can have a real brickpicker where we can trade in a lego derivatives market. Taking and managing physical possession is too cumbersome for just 20%.

[Follows Closely]

...​Really??? 20k?? ...

 

​

... It is funny to see people on this site scoff at a 20% or so return on investment...

​Is this one of your guys stash?

Edited June 10, 2015 by Follows Closely

[GhostDad]

Hopefully one day we can have a real brickpicker where we can trade in a lego derivatives market. Taking and managing physical possession is too cumbersome for just 20%.

​This!

P.S.  I called up AIG, and as it so happens they're rolling out a full line of Chima default swaps later this year.

[micbelt]

​

​Is this one of your guys stash?

​I was not talking specifically about this lot, I meant it as an observation about what i see on this site. It is not my lot, I live in Baltimore and it was mentioned that this is in California, I think.

[BrickLegacy]

Personally, with all the leg work, fees, risk, storage, research and everything else - for my time, if I get less than 50% profit after fees on a set, I consider it a loser in my book (and my goal numbers are actually much higher than that). Now, if there WEREN'T lots of sets capable of getting those profits or more, it might be different. But it's hard to think of 10-20% as a success when there are winners that will draw much bigger out there. If I wanted 10% return, I'd just invest with my financial planner. I want more aggressive returns, and for that, you have to take the risks and do the work. And of course, not all of my LEGO investments are winners (I've made lots of pretty awful purchases) - but my sets that end up much more than 100-150% profit make it balance out and worth it.

I agree with most of this.  I also think it depends on scale.  Some people have their operation setup where they can find a box for just about anything so packing and shipping takes the same amount of time for a polybag, battle pack or SSD.  I find myself scrambling to find boxes that aren't too big for certain sets.  By the time I find the right one and get it packed, weighed, sized and a label printed I've burned up a half an hour.  I know that sounds inefficient but I'm not at the volume to justify having everything on hand.  I'm not real strict on trying to calculate an hourly wage for this venture/hobby.  If you add up all the time I'm on brickpicker, I'm making pennies per hour.  I enjoy this as a hobby, a way to earn some side income, and most of all, a way to justify the feeding of my hoarding instincts

[Darth_Raichu]

99% of the people on this site don't depend on the income generated from "investing" For most, it's a hobby.

​Whatever you call it, the amount of work to sell the items FOR PROFIT is the same.  Unless the actual SELLING is the hobby (ie. you sell even if you do not make / loose money), everyone still need to take time away from their actual hobby to do the selling, packaging, etc etc.  Why put so little valuation to time that could have been used for something that you actually enjoy ? 

[oneknightr]

I agree with most of this.  I also think it depends on scale.  Some people have their operation setup where they can find a box for just about anything so packing and shipping takes the same amount of time for a polybag, battle pack or SSD.  I find myself scrambling to find boxes that aren't too big for certain sets.  By the time I find the right one and get it packed, weighed, sized and a label printed I've burned up a half an hour.  I know that sounds inefficient but I'm not at the volume to justify having everything on hand.  I'm not real strict on trying to calculate an hourly wage for this venture/hobby.  If you add up all the time I'm on brickpicker, I'm making pennies per hour.  I enjoy this as a hobby, a way to earn some side income, and most of all, a way to justify the feeding of my hoarding instincts

​I'm in the same boat as you. I don't have an easy to obtain supply of boxes, so every time I get something delivered from Amazon or TLG, I evaluate to see if the box is a good size to keep. When I'm ready to ship something, I go through all the boxes I have to find the one that has just enough space for packing materials to protect the box and nothing more. It's definitely work and it takes up storage space but I hate paying for shipping boxes. Oh, and I have to deal with my wife complaining about why I have all these empty boxes laying around. 

[Darth_Raichu]

​I'm in the same boat as you. I don't have an easy to obtain supply of boxes, so every time I get something delivered from Amazon or TLG, I evaluate to see if the box is a good size to keep. When I'm ready to ship something, I go through all the boxes I have to find the one that has just enough space for packing materials to protect the box and nothing more. It's definitely work and it takes up storage space but I hate paying for shipping boxes. Oh, and I have to deal with my wife complaining about why I have all these empty boxes laying around. 

​And with all of that, is it ok to net $15 (ie. 10% ROI after fees) for a $150 Pet Shop ? 

[Achilles]

I think empty boxes may be the Brickpicker spouse's #1 complaint.

[gregpj]

I think empty boxes may be the Brickpicker spouse's #1 complaint.

​^ This along with all the little air pillows. I've been using them at will lately just to reduce the amount of space taken up by them.

I've been thinking about this person who is selling their collection .. maybe their end game isn't quitting but rather trying to take their profits in one lump sum and move on? If they manage to sell anywhere close to their 28k asking price, they must have made some cash overall.

If you're moving a lot of volume, taking a smaller return for such little work (you didn't have to source any of the sets) might be worth it. If you're a long-haul investor, you probably want a little better deal for the risk/storage factor.

I do feel the need to point out that using the BP value as the overall value is a huge red flag to me. Many of those sales to US customers include the cost of shipping in the overall value (when a listing has free shipping, obviously that can't be filtered out). There are a ton of big sets too, shipping isn't that cheap that you can ignore it... So from the 33.5k estimate, take about 6% off the top for shipping and material costs. Now if you sell on eBay, take roughly another 12% off (9% + 3% .. assuming seller probably qualifies for a small discount). That brings us to:
    33,500 - 4020 (fees) - 2010 (shipping) = 27,470.

Looks to me like this seller would profit handsomely from a 28k given some sets are retired and many (if not all) were likely sourced below MSRP. Advertising the overall value at 33.5k with a discount to 28k is just marketing.... a number designed to get you to negotiate less.

If you wanted to make 20% today, 22k is the max price. For 10% its 24.7k. If you already have the storage facility + work area, getting 10% off is decent. Plenty of those sets still have room to grow. If I was interested, I'd start at 21 and try to meet around 23. Alas, I'd be in the most trouble ever if I ever made a purchase like that without consulting the other income earning adult in the house.

[Darth_Raichu]

I think empty boxes may be the Brickpicker spouse's #1 complaint.

​

​^ This along with all the little air pillows. I've been using them at will lately just to reduce the amount of space taken up by them.

 

Shoving the air pillows to the empty boxes solves both problems  ie. "No honey, the boxes are for storing my mailing supplies"

[El Guapo]

As an investor, you should buy low and sell high.  Seems like a simple concept but people always seem to forget it.  Buying Haunted House at $350 or whatever 20% off isn't buying low.  Will it go up from there?  Sure, but you needed to buy these sets at retail (or lower - since we all get AT LEAST 5% off retail, right?)  Not trying to step on the toes of anyone trying to make a nice buck or anything, but hey, they did place it on a public forum, so they are opening it up for discussion.  Paying anything approaching 20K is crazy.  Selling fees on ebay are roughly 12% - 15%, plus shipping - think $12-$20 to ship each set.  There are also losses...figure 5% of your income will go back to cover stuff that you don't expect - complaints by buyers, scammers etc.

[stephen_rockefeller]

The buy high sell higher works also.......there are plenty of ways to make money, buy low sell high is just one of those ways.

[Val-E]

I agree with most of this.  I also think it depends on scale.  Some people have their operation setup where they can find a box for just about anything so packing and shipping takes the same amount of time for a polybag, battle pack or SSD.  I find myself scrambling to find boxes that aren't too big for certain sets.  By the time I find the right one and get it packed, weighed, sized and a label printed I've burned up a half an hour.  I know that sounds inefficient but I'm not at the volume to justify having everything on hand.  I'm not real strict on trying to calculate an hourly wage for this venture/hobby.  If you add up all the time I'm on brickpicker, I'm making pennies per hour.  I enjoy this as a hobby, a way to earn some side income, and most of all, a way to justify the feeding of my hoarding instincts

​A box resizer or cutter is the second most important tool for an an investor after registering on this site.

[Val-E]

As an investor, you should buy low and sell high.  Seems like a simple concept but people always seem to forget it.  Buying Haunted House at $350 or whatever 20% off isn't buying low.  Will it go up from there?  Sure, but you needed to buy these sets at retail (or lower - since we all get AT LEAST 5% off retail, right?)  Not trying to step on the toes of anyone trying to make a nice buck or anything, but hey, they did place it on a public forum, so they are opening it up for discussion.  Paying anything approaching 20K is crazy.  Selling fees on ebay are roughly 12% - 15%, plus shipping - think $12-$20 to ship each set.  There are also losses...figure 5% of your income will go back to cover stuff that you don't expect - complaints by buyers, scammers etc.

​I wish I had more RRP TH´s instead of discounted AA´s

[El Guapo]

The buy high sell higher works also.......there are plenty of ways to make money, buy low sell high is just one of those ways.

​Yes it does...and is why I kick myself whenever I look at Tesla's stock price.

 

[Val-E]

Dio you find teh box resizer to be that much more effective than just a handled razor?

​Standard 2USD Box cutter works just fine for me. Shipping air bags means shipping air and that costs money.

Edited June 10, 2015 by valenciaeric

[tonysbricks]

Reselling lego is working for your money. Investments like stocks is your money working for you. Nothing wrong with either (I do both) but I expect much higher returns if I am working for the money. And, working for your money is a double dip ... each you you spend working is an hour you are not spending doing something (else?) you enjoy.

[pete411]

I love Lego. Building with it, buying it, thinking about it... it's my hobby. The thrill of finding that hidden stash of hard to find Lego sets. Scanning the boxes to see that they're marked down 50%. It's thrilling, sometimes frustrating, and well, fun. I get a lot of enjoyment out of my hobby plus I get to make some extra money on the side? Sign me up. I know that lots of you believe that having no attachment to the inventory is the best way to go, but that would take a lot of fun out of it. For me, it's a part time job and a full time hobby.

Oh, and I wouldn't buy that guy's Craiglist stash. That's like buying somebody's WOW account so you can trounce around as some rando level 90 character. Bleh.