Hi there! New member from Texas!

[deptotx05]

Hi everyone!

I grew up playing with LEGO for years and years and have recently wanted to get back into collecting LEGO again as an AFOL (these acronyms aren't too bad!). Not knowing where to even begin, I wandered into my local Target store to browse some sets, decided to buy nothing, then wandered over to two separate LEGO Stores and made a few purchases to build my personal collection. Excited, I came home and wanted to dive into more and research a bit about the LEGO community on the internet. I recently stumbled across the Brickpicker community when I was fumbling around webpages exploring my desire to get back into LEGO. What an amazing community with tons of great information! 

Finding BrickPicker changed everything.

Now, I am not only interested in looking for LEGO sets that I would be interested in building/displaying for myself, but also in the investment potential for LEGO. I especially like the potential feedback loop of supporting my own LEGO collection using profits from investing/selling in LEGO. Thanks for being such a wonderful resource.

Now, that said....I am a complete newbie and don't even really know where to start (or to commit, rather). I spent most of the last 2 days reading and researching FAQs, stickied forum posts, and the like on BrickPicker, but a few things are keeping me from pulling the trigger on my first few investment choices.

Buying sets at a discounted rate seems extremely important in maximizing your returns, but I haven't been able to find any good readings on discounts or how to best research for discounts. I guess the most general question I have is how often do sets go on discount? Do the most popular sets go on discount or the least popular sets? Do sets go on discount before EOL? How often does Amazon/Target/Walmart change what they are discounting? Daily/Weekly/Bi-Monthly?

Along those lines, I am having trouble with the Target Discounts tool on this website. When I look up the Target discounts and click "Buy it Now" or visit the site using the link on the far right, the Target website no longer has the item discounted for the same price it is listed on BrickPickers. Is this simply lag-time between the Target Discounts on BrickPickers and Target deciding to take items off discount? For example, I was looking at Arctic Ice Crawler 60033....Target Discount says $9.99, but when I click the link it is listed at $14.99 on the Target website. I am finding this discrepency is more the norm than an outlier....maybe I am just not using this tool correctly?

Hopefully I can get beyond the decision paralysis of what to start investing with. I believe I would like to invest in 5-10 sets to try and turn a profit. I heard it said to try and target sets that are ~2 years old or so in anticipation of EOL, so I have been trying to locate ~2 year old sets with 25-30% discounts. I am looking to diversify buying into multiple sets and multiple price ranges. Some things I had my eye on that appear to be on sale now, just looking for some feedback:

- Lego City Arctic Ice Crawler 60033 (2014 set @ 33% discount)

- Lego City Arctic Outpost 60035 (2014 set @ 28% discount)

- LEGO Super Heroes Spider-Helicopter Rescue Play Set (2014 set @ 26% discount)

Keeping my eyes on  LEGO Star Wars Return of the Jedi Imperial Shuttle Tydirium Set #75094 and some other sets.

 

Looking forward to hearing back from you all. Thanks so much for all of your hard work.

- Travis

[lobo1969]

Welcome!

[deptotx05]

Thanks for the welcome

I'm not even sure if this is the proper place to be asking so many questions, so if you think there is a better avenue for me to go about asking this investing advice, please let me know. Thanks!

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

To answer your question about when sets go on sale. anything is possible.. some walmarts have the new millennium Falcon for 50% off, and its only been out for about 5 months.

[thoroakenfelder]

Welcome.

You can't go wrong buying the stuff that you like. As long as you enjoy your LEGO sets, you'll be ahead, even if they don't increase dramatically in price. Discounts are sometimes random. Who can explain why one walmart has a set for 50% off and every other one in a given 50 mile radius is full price?

Of your choices, I'd probably feel more secure in the future performance of the Shuttle Tyderium than the city or Spider-Man sets.

[terrymc4677]

Welcome to the site, and good job on your initial research. It's nice to see a new member who does a little leg work before introducing themselves instead of just blindly asking what to buy. That being said, I'd cross the spider-man helicopter rescue off of your list. It's a dud. Super heroes in general has become a tough theme to gauge. The sets are mini figure driven, and there are rehashes and counterfeits from China that have been keeping demand stagnant. That set in particular is a tough sell. It's been on sale and / or clearance forever and doesn't seem to be highly sought after. There is really nothing special about it. I've been selling off all of my Super Heroes sets and will not be buying anymore except for a few exceptions or unless they are deeply discounted. 

The two Arctic sets will have more potential to grow once they have dried up in the wild. When investing in City sets, the sub-themes that don't get remade every couple of years and unique vehicles are the sets to focus on. The Arctic sub-theme should have plenty of time and opportunity to grow. Good luck!