I just got a great deal on 30+lbs of Lego blocks from yard sale. I plan on putting the sets together and buying the instructions from bricklink. After I have some fun putting them together I thought I would sell them on eBay. Many of the sets are retired and I should be able to get some money for them. What I want to know, is it worth buying the original boxes to complete the set. Also if I decide to keep the mini figs will it hurt the cost they go for. Thanks!

Unless it's an older, rare set, I've never found the box inclusion to really be worth the time and effort. Shipping large boxes like that doesn't come cheap. I have found that instructions help a set hold it's value much more than the box, minifigures as well, even more so. I have sold hundreds of used sets on ebay, and 95% of the time don't have the box, and I usually don't see much of a difference in what I get and what someone else gets when they have the box. You're really probably selling to a different market when you have the boxes, more of a collector, where mine I'm sure are going to builders. If you're bricklinking the instructions, stay on the lookout for the prices, they can vary wildly on bricklink. You can also find a lot of instruction lots on ebay as well and might get lucky for someone to have a lot that you need, but I would think Bricklink would be the way to go. Makes building them a lot easier too:)

If you want to maximize profits selling the as close to 100% as you can get them. Sometime throw smaller sets (less than $20 value) in with a larger set of the same theme and list a little higher. If you already have the instructions included them. Huskers is right that you won't see a return on your investment if you buy the original boxes to resell with the sets. Most people looking for used sets really don't need/want the box since they will be building and displaying the sets they'd probably rather not pay extra for the box unless it's a "collector" set like Modulars or UCS sets. But even then it's probably not worth your money to invest in the boxes.

Instructions > Box to increase value of a set.... Its way better getting instructions than to having to print them or look on the screen!

I agree, boxes are not worth the trouble. your gain will be small, and it will be more of a hassle when it comes to shipping.

Boxes are valuable in certain cases...maybe larger and rare sets. UCS STAR WARS sets for example. Most smaller sets, quality instructions outweigh the box.

Boxes are valuable in certain cases...maybe larger and rare sets. UCS STAR WARS sets for example. Most smaller sets, quality instructions outweigh the box.

100% agree here.

Also popular sets that never had a refresh (e.g. Sandcrawler, Cloud City). Heck, even the Batcave and Arkham box were prob worth buying used before the 2012/2013 refreshes .

Instructions are diff key.

Yep. Boxes can be worthwhile for the right set. I recently sold two Grand Carousel boxes for $50 each. -djm