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So here is what I have been working on this quarantine. Before: After: Needs a bit of trim and some paint. Everything is easily removable so it can switch back to being a clothes closet. Stores the same amount of LEGO as before. Not visible are the left and right alcoves (about 2ftx2ft each) that contain more boxes and storage. Can't wait to start using it!

Wife wanted a home office and the only option was our garden shed out back. Took about three weeks. Had to install three new larger windows, new subfloor, reframed the door and installed a new one, trenched and buried electrical 75ft, new 20 amp breaker in the panel wired, vapor barrier, insulation, wood tongue and groove pine, installed a screen door. Likely do plywood planks for the floor tomorrow. All told about $1000 w a small window A/C unit. It’s only about 70 sqft so not much of a chance for multi use space. It was her Mother’s Day/ birthday gift. She keeps calling it our Covid Cabin.

Sold a Worriz minifig on BL today.

also cash has cooties and ofcourse the wife may not be monitoring Paypal acct

I never look at seller location, always just order on "Lowest price + shipping". There is really no difference between charging shipping or free shipping towards the buyer, apart from the fact that they miss out on EBay Bucks for listings that charge for shipping. I don't know for how many buyers EBay Bucks are a thing though. As a seller, yes, with actual shipping you might save a few bucks sometimes (when EBay misquotes the shipping costs to the buyer), whereas with free shipping you might sometimes need to pay more (and this is more of an issue for those on the coasts than for us midwesterners). Benefit of free shipping is that it qualifies you for Fast & Free (if you have 1-2 day handling times and allow for returns) which bumps up your listing's visibility to buyers who use "Best Match".

It used to take over the entire room. Not pictured are my BrickLink store and my current projects scattered across the floor. With this closet, I can return the room back to being a proper study (ok, the BL store still needs to find another home). Since that makes the wife happy, I'm happy.

For the builders out there, there is a pretty good Saturn V Launch Tower MOC that uses this set as its sole source of parts. Not perfect, but pretty darn good bit of re-engineering. So, if you like that, grabbing the bus set at a discount isn't all bad. (Link: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-34528/BennyBenster/saturn-v-mobile-launcher/?inventory=1#comments)

The Mountain Windmill by Hanwasyellowfirst https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f966f364-7cee-44ad-8870-6d7ff1cfe053 Achieved 10,000 supporters on 11 May 2020. Submitted on 10 Feb 2020. 4th submission by Hanwasyellowfirst. 3rd one to reach 10,000 supporters. His first was The Seven Dwarfs' House, which was not approved. The second was The Legend of Zelda: BotW Stables, which is currently under review. This set was at 9200 supporters just 5 days ago. Currently, there are: 15 sets with more than 75% support 2 sets at more than 90% support (LEGO HeroQuest @ 9688 and House from Up @ 9035) Mining Site currently sits at 8785 with 13 days left Most recently posted is Community - Greendale Community College (https://ideas.lego.com/projects/1e2c362e-43ab-4f8c-8340-6b7b13cd14de) which has ~8500 supporters and was posted on May 4 (7 days ago)

As a buyer... Sort by price + shipping, always, and purchase the lowest price from the most reputable seller I am comfortable with. Fast and free means nothing to me. As a seller... This is my price + actual shipping + 2 day handling time.

Saturday, I read an article on how baseball cards from the 80s and 90s are worth virtually nothing. Sunday I investigated my cards and found that to be mostly true. I also listed a few items that showed some promise, and in the last 24 hours I've sold 3 lots on eBay, for a total of $29.39. Not bad for holding on to two large, heavy boxes of cards for 30 years. The rest of it is destined for the recycling bin. I could list some stuff for <$1.00, but it's not worth the effort. On the plus side, my daughters enjoyed the stack of Garbage Pail Kids that I found.

Last week people... Huw from Brickset was generous as always and posted about the raffle... https://brickset.com/article/51331/2020-brickpicker-raffle-win-cool-lego-prizes!#comments

Sounds like a lot of work...I would have moved.

This is why in my shop I refund a minimum of $3 + the price of the piece so you can go to another store and not feel like you are getting gouged twice on shipping.

I imagine you'd end up with more east coast sales and the west coast buyers would think you're overpriced. At least that was my concern. It's a little more work in listing to calculate, but at least then the CA buyers can get the same set for <$10 shipping.

Didn’t realize these were out already...

I'm on the west coast (CA) and offer free shipping for my Ebay listings. My suggestion for coast to coast shipping would be to find the max shipping cost and factor that cost into the total price. For example, I can use my CA zip code and enter 10007 as a destination zip code on USPS.com to get the cost. Say it's $12 for a 2lb Priority package. That $12 gets factored into the Free Shipping price in the listing. If you want to get more exact, do a reverse search for a legit address (Zillow, Google earth, etc) for John Doe at Paypal/shipnow for an exact shipping cost. Likely, the average across the country it pretty even for the states west vs east. If a Death Star ships 1 state away, there's more cash in my pocket. But if it goes to Maine, I know I'm covered. Remember, the buyer pays the shipping, not the seller if you offer free shipping and do it right. Set it up when you list the set and you won't have to worry about it when it sells.

As I live on a coast, I like to determine what shipping is across the country then build that into my free shipping offers. Allows you to stay competitive with other sellers and make a little extra on closer sales.

I'm pretty sure their city/zip code information pops up when you click on the offer amount. If I'm on the fence, I'll throw the zip code into the USPS calculator.

I offer free shipping (even if its priced in, people still like free shipping). I price things higher, with the best offer option. Offers from the west coast will usually stand a good chance at getting declined. You also save (if you offer free shipping) on would be fees charged on shipping costs for international sales. Also, the "fast & free" (while debatable as to being worthwhile for some) is still a plus. As far as fearing that things won't sell because of higher prices - eventually, everything sells.

I do the same as a buyer. The important part of the process is finding, what I hope is, the most reputable seller.

I'm an avid buyer (unfortunately) and the "fast & free" moniker isn't even a blip on my radar...I didn't even realize it was a thing until I just read your post

I would never qualify for fast and free anyway as I put a 4 day handling time on all of my listings. I don't care for daily drives to the post office. All larger boxes I have also been listing as actual price shipping with ground shipping. If the buyer is close I go ahead and pay the difference for priority because the cost difference is negligible. Honestly, I haven't noticed any difference in the amount of sales before I started selling/shipping this way a year ago and after.

30 minutes each way? Yea, I'd charge for that. Your time and gas would determine the charge. I would recommend asking them to pay via Paypal before you leave your house for the drive. Ask them to pay now, and then you'll deliver at whatever stated time you can. Getting stood up on local sales sucks, especially with a drive like that. So getting the money up front electronically is an added bonus. You might want to take a pic of the set(s) on their front step to prove you dropped them off.

I just purchased tickets...what a great fundraising idea! Always happy to support local schools...and if I haven't said it already, thank you for this awesome website.

Depending on how far the drive is, you may need to negotiate a delivery charge. And for Paypal, you'll lose a commission unless they choose friends and family. And require payment before you even start the car. I have accepted Venmo as payment while we stand in the parking lot. Once the $ shows in my Venmo, they take the set and go. I like cash, but Venmo is nice too, and no commission charge.

You should check the price on some of the GPK cards.

I believe the industry term for this is a She-Shed.

Currently Monday morning in India. CPC approvals are starting the trickle in. :-)

Smooshed 2 complete sets worth of DC CMF's at Target and got them to price match Best Buy. Sooo much smooshing.

FOMO ownz me. LEGO will go one of two ways to deal w/ supply chain shortage and the forthcoming down economic news: either extend all sets "life" w/ prolonged OOS till things go back to "normal"; or they short list a bunch of sets (based on history, strategy, and licensing commitment) for quick retirement. Clearly the past months have showed that LEGO is not planning to slow new sets coming to market...given supply chain issues something has to give. I am guessing at licensing requirements but I think they are based on number of units and duration...and they would be sunken costs. LEGO should be motivated to maximize the return on these agreements. I think all the big non-license sets will be the first to go since they require more resources.

Is Wal-Mart.com running out of boxes. Today’s lego brought to you by Frito-Lay...

Creator Expert London Bus on sale at Zavvi $20 off RRP + free shipping (and no tax in some states) Use the link -> https://us.zavvi.com/toys-lego/lego-creator-expert-london-bus-10258/12540189.html Use the code at checkout -> LDN10

I live on the East coast and used to offer free shipping. I grew tired of losing money to shipping on the West coast, so now I charge actual shipping. I factor the cost of shipping to Chicago to price my items up. It has been a better approach for me. The reality is that it is expensive to ship to the West coast and pricing up an item to include the actual cost of shipping to LA or Seattle makes it impossible to sell. Well, this is my experience anyway.

Just finished building this beauty. Bought NISB for $350 and was deliberating whether to flip for profit. Glad I build it. Probably can sell for higher my buy in anyway.

Welcome! Selling can indeed be fun! As for the cards: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29143131/150000-worthless-baseball-cards-coronavirus

I have yet to post on the site (first time caller, long time listener) but with more than a hundred sets (from 2012-2016) thought it was time to sell so my story thus far. Had no idea of the interest or demand, especially during the pandemic. Initially thought of selling the lot (bad idea). Simply posted on Facebook/marketplace and seeking local buyers (though have shipped 2). Incredible amount of interest on DC Batman and Star Wars. Indeed, had 3 separate sales this morning totaling more than a $1,000. Likely could have made more on eBay (though no fees when in person) but pleased to clean out the basement. Still have more than half that I have not posted (most remaining are higher ticket items or highly valued). People I have met (social distancing) are incredibly thankful and generally nice people. They are getting a good deal but fortunately any money I make is not to feed the family—we will have some fun with it when the virus leaves (and my wife will be happy that our basement has been cleared out-except for the baseball cards).

Made a decently playable kids game this morning with my daughter and wife. You roll to get the snowballs and the buttons, arms, scarf, nose and hat. I quickly chopped some dice with a chop saw when I realized what a pain it was going to be to glue/tape the paper dice together. Pretty good for a few hours!

Picked up two new foster kittens from my local spca this morning. They are pretty shy. Will try to get them socialized and ready for forever homes. Been doing this 10 years now, it's very rewarding. If you ever thought about volunteering at a shelter I can't recommend it enough.