Leaderboard

This is an excellent thread. Way too many people concentrate on buying and don't ever try out selling before they are just too deep. I am one of these people and I have long since learned my lesson (I think). For the first year and a half all I did was buy. I bought up over 1000 sets during this time. I would say that I was addicted (still am). The point came where because of money and space it was time to offload some of my sets. In order to buy more I would need to start selling first. So in January of this year I started selling. This was an eye opener. I know everyone says that it takes time to list, sell, package, ship, etc but you really don't understand until you do it yourself. It is very time consuming. You also have to expect there will be problems. Lost packages, buyer returns, etc. This all eats in to your profits and time. I know a lot of people say large sets are the way to go and I agree to a point. Just know that those sharks on eBay/Amazon looking for sets to scam people on aren't looking for small inexpensive sets. I've got burned a few times already and it is always on large sets. A mint condition Imperial Shuttle returned banged up and opened, a Robie House returned destroyed after FedEx left the package in the rain, a AS returned because the buyer "bought it for someone who didn't like LEGO", a Robie House and AS on the way back now for a mystery reason, 0 feedback buyers everywhere, etc. Some of these can be avoided with experience and others are just part of the selling process you have to deal with. And here comes the big one everyone is warned about over and over but never really understands until they sell.... FEES. The fees are much more of an impact on your bottom line than you may think. Make sure you find a good fee calculator online and just play with it a little and enter some values in for sets you have. See what you must sell at to get a certain return on your investment. This is easy and takes just a couple minutes but it will be an eye opener for some who haven't even thought about the selling side of this yet. Make sure you add in estimated shipping costs and add a little for supplies. I know most people don't think about tape, boxes, paper, ink, etc but it adds up very quickly when you start selling at a higher volume. As an example I have spent $40 this year just on packing tape itself. I made the mistake as I am sure a lot of others do of thinking if rough times come or I need the money to reinvest I will just sell a bunch of sets and be fine. The truth is it takes a lot of time for things to sell. Like others have posted its not like selling stock. It will take months before you can sell a large inventory of sets. If you need your money fast you will be basically giving your sets away to sell them fast. Many times I have been the lowest price and still had to wait weeks for the item to sell. To sum this all up I am still learning but I feel much more confident that I have gone through the selling process and know what is involved. It will actually change your investing and buying decisions. It has drastically changed mine and now I am making more money and spending less time because of it. Since I started selling in January I have sold almost 600 sets totaling just over $37,000. This has allowed me to grow my investment to over 2100 sets and make much better investment decisions. If anyone wants the exact numbers on profits, fees, etc on those 600 sales you can PM me. Buying is only half of the investment process. Make sure you try the other half before you get in too deep.

Nice job with the list. I have added a Packing Code textbox to the brickfolio, so if you chose to want to start populating that, then I can start to group and aggregate data to see what is going on here. It will automatically remove and uppercase the data so that it is formatted nicely. How badly do you want that other information added? I have no problems adding it, but I just want to know if what percentage of people will really fill out the case pack info or the other codes that you are tracking there.

10194 was released in April 2009 for $99.99. It remained available on lego.com and amazon until Oct / Nov 2011. The nearly 1,100 element set consists of 3 minifigures, an A3 Pacific inspired steam locomotive, a tender and a dining car. It was also released with Power Functions and track (called K10194 Emerald Night Collection) http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/K10194_Emerald_Night_Collection One of the earlier press releases can be found below. http://brickset.com/article/247/10194-emerald-night-is-real! I've been a Lego train fan only since late 2012 with my first Hogwarts Express 4841 (to run around the Christmas tree) and 9467 The Ghost Train purchases. I just missed buying the 10219 Maersk Train (later bought this MSIB). The Toy Story Western (open) Train and Lone Ranger Constitution Train (MISBs) are also in my collection. A MISB 10132 Motorized Hogwart Express was recently sold. All my opened sets have been modified to work on 9V track. After a year of hunting for a good deal, I finally was able to purchase set 10194 complete (w/o box) for well under the current brickpicker used value of $255. As of last month, I've observed new 10194s selling for $310 to $375. http://www.brickpicker.com/bpms/set.cfm?set=10194-1 The brinklink inventory can be found at. The average cost of bricklinking this set w/ used parts will cost around "1,082 Items in 189 Unique Lots totalling US $217.76" during the last 6 months. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=10194-1 A couple of elements are pretty pricey. - Tan Window 1 x 4 x 3 Train with Shutter Holes and Solid Studs on Ends run about $4.40 each (10 needed and are exclusive to this set) - Dark Green Slope, Curved 2 x 4 x 2/3 No Studs without Bottom Tubes with Two Gold Stripes Pattern run about .60 each (18 needed. also exclusive to this set) For detail pics of the box and manual (8 bags), please refer to this Eurobricks review... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=59204 Let the building begin. Unused stickers will not be applied My previous build threads. 7780: The Batboat: Hunt for Killer Croc : http://www.brickpick...-croc-batman-1/ 7782 The Batwing: The Joker's Aerial Assault : http://www.brickpick...arison-to-6863/ 7786: The Batcopter: The Chase for Scarecrow : http://www.brickpick...-for-scarecrow/ 10123: Star Wars Cloud City : http://www.brickpick...ars-cloud-city/ 10173: Holiday Train : http://www.brickpick...-holiday-train/ 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon : http://www.brickpick...lennium-falcon/ 10226 Sopwith Camel : http://www.brickpick...-sopwith-camel/ 10181 Eiffel Tower : http://www.brickpick...l-tower-advice/ 10194 Emerald Night train : http://www.brickpick...-emerald-night/ 10196 Grand Carousel : http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/13647-building-10196-grand-carousel/ 10225 UCS R2D2 : http://www.brickpick...0225-ucs-r2-d2/ 75059 UCS Sandcrawler : http://www.brickpick...59-sandcrawler/ 21021 Architecture Marina Bay Sands http://www.brickpick...rina-bay-sands/ 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1 : http://www.brickpick...busters-ecto-1/

Mini Cooper Polybag 8/1 Free with $99 Purchase Looks like possible UCS Slave1 on the 18th Per the Brick Fan. Link

You always upsell, never down sell someone. Jeez

As someone that is going to try and sell a couple of these down the road, I don't care why someone buys this. It's not my job to educate them on their purchase or what is or is not a "good" deal. I don't care if it's for their kids, themselves, of if they want to light it on fire.

Then you seriously need to rewatch it, because Vader spends most of the movie on the Executor. Here's its badass introduction:

This doesn't seem like "young children" set to me. Maybe the DS or the Sandcrawler, or Ewok Village, but not this one.

Where exactly are you selling? If eBay, as it sounds like, you do take returns (or you offer full refunds without requiring a return) - "no returns" only works for certain buyer complaints such as the buyer changing their mind; the first time a buyer opens an item not as described case, you'll find out that you take returns, regardless of whether the item really was as described or wasn't. You also have little to no choice about dealing with people with 0 feedback - you cannot block them, you cannot (within eBay's rules) state that you will not accept their purchase, and if you are in the habit of cancelling their orders, you will find yourself with a defect rate for cancellations beyond what eBay will accept and will no longer be selling there. Amazon is even more stringent.

Last year was my first as a seller, and I had no problem meeting the minimums. I think this year is actually better - if I recall, last year the 25 sales had to be between Sep 1 and Oct 31, and the restrictions started on Nov 1 - so you have more time this year. 2 things - first, lots of people start buying Christmas gifts in September so demand is already picking up then. Second, as others have noted, it's pretty easy to get 25 sales if you're doing it just to get ratings/build your numbers. Just realize you aren't going to make huge (or any) profits - but once you're qualified, you will rake in big $$ in Nov-Dec. Wal-Mart has their clearance in July-August, so stock up on stuff at 40% off and get your money back selling in Sep-Oct, then bring out your big money-makers for Nov-Dec. No sweat. Good luck and have fun!

Here's one Winter Village set up:

So the answer is no?

I figured this topic is in need of a good bumping so here is a Eurobricks topic where member Dirk1313 has somehow already acquired the set and modified it into a convertible! This certainly is one sweet ride. It seems scaled well with action figures or Lego's Scala dolls from back in the day.

Yeah, just like how the 7965 has been holding back the 10179 for the last 2 years

The nightmare stagecoach could use the skeletal horse from 9462 Lol The Monster Halloween Picnic, are those 2 minifigs in the middle suppose to be in the middle of ehem "passionate things" ? It makes sense if you ever watch the Halloween movies :D

Well, that plus ALL of Episode V where Vader invades Hoth and chases the Falcon across the galaxy in the Executor. But other than that, yeah all it does is blow up. :-D

3 more characters are shown in the latest LEGO Club Magazine. http://www.thebrickfan.com/more-lego-collectible-minifigures-71007-series-12-minifigures-revealed/

Jeff closing this very thread due to "waste of bandwidth"

People saying a set will retire <enter date> with absolute certainty though they really have no @$#%@#$ clue?

My wife's um....errr....cycle

We certainly have some high level execs from TLG among us.......I mean how else could some of you speak with such absolute certainty about these sets. I would think having such a high profile job within TLG wouldn't afford you the time to be on these forums all day but I sure am grateful that you are.

(Not sure if this is the right place for this. Apologies if it's not.) The Investor Phase: If you have savings, a decent job and a credit card that you don't need to pay off for a year, it's VERY VERY EASY to do this part. You just check various places every day for deals and buy buy buy!!! The lack of space in my house caused by stored Lego and my large credit card bill (0% interest until this October) are testament to this! Like most BrickPickers I'm aware of, my approach was generally to buy on 30% discount or more and get at least one of each set for my personal collection and then multiples of sets I thought would do well at EOL. Despite not really being a very organised person, I spent a fair amount of time logging all my sets and where they are stored, in anticipation for the day I start to sell them. I have about 1000 sets, ranging from the small ones up to SSD (one of). which isn't including minifigures and polybags. The Turning Point: I left my well-paid day job a couple of weeks ago (not by choice) and am going to try to be self-employed instead. With no steady income and possibly needing to downsize our house, and the credit card to pay off in October, I NEED to start selling the Lego for cash and space. If only I'd just left all the money in a savings account! Ah well! The Seller Phase: About 3 weeks ago, I sold my first set (on eBay). Since then, I've sold another 11 on eBay (10 posted and 1 sold this morning). Total money back in my pocket is about

Poor Tim Howard! Congrats Belgium and thank you USA!

That is a good point. I don't even think about the show when I look at these oddball little buggers. What I see is a bunch of interesting characters with uniquely useful pieces ....and I want them all.

A deadline is fast approaching to the reveal of the final product as you can see from these teasers being systematically released. via The Brick Fan

If you forget about the TV show, the sets are damn cool and creative. I didn't even know there was a show, but I liked the sets. The CMFs still come to mind when I think of these sets and their possible potential.

Book 2. Starting the Tender. Step 5 done Step 8 done Step 15 done Tender built. Very simple and fast build. Only 18 steps. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

I too will probably nab my first Triple E in August!

Buy a bunch of polys, preferrably at discount, preferably the ones for which there are not many FBA sellers on Amazon (or their prices are sufficiently high). Between Sep 1 and Oct 1, price them dirt cheap

I am not sure what to think about your first sentence. Seriously could go in so many directions

The August 2014 LEGO Store Calendar is now available in PDF download form. HIGHLIGHTS: FREE exclusive MINI Cooper Mini Model with purchases of $99 or more - August 1 - 31, 2014 FREE Worriz' Fire Bike with purchases of $50 or more - August 25 - September 14, 2014 Starting August 1, new Chima sets, during the month other sets will become available: Duplo Friends Star Wars Architecture Trevi Fountain VIP Members get early access to a NEW exclusive LEGO set - August 18 - 31, 2014 LEGO MINI Cooper available for purchase - August 1, 2014 The VIP early access set is widely expected to be one of the two CUUSOO sets which are scheduled to be released in August 2014. Personally, I think we will be getting a Creator model, possibly another modular series set. Thoughts, opinion? Post below! 4901-EC-AUG2014-StoreCal.pdf

Legodog, really excellent points! No one is good at everything, and it's far better to know if you loathe or suck at selling (and if you can or can't get better) early on than to keep buying and have a huge number of sets to unload when you will hate every moment or just be bad at it.

1) 5% of "expert" predictions 2) seal code theory 3) 95% of "expert" predictions Official Tonysbricks Trust-O-Meter

Hard to go wrong with me motley crew.....oh yeah. SPACESHIP!!!!!

The picture was taken well before the Monster Fighters sets like back in 2009 but I agree the skeletal horse of The Mummy would look more interesting. Perhaps this will answer your question?

Just a second after the retirement of 10188

The Mini Cooper will be out on Aug. 1st. Whats the MSRP on that one? if its at least $99 then score because you get the Mini poly with it too ... will definitely max out on this set on opening day ... and you get the Chima poly .... so two polys for spending $99 ....

Good question... It does not hurt to buy some I guess. The production run was not very long of series 1 (also in the US). So even with Cartoon Network being popular the production halted. I will go out and find some loose mixels in the wild to complete series 1. And if it was not a success why would Lego bother to produce series 2? Curious as well about other people's opinions.

The name of the exact butterfly whose wing-flap in Peking will cause rain in Central Park.

I believe your opportunity will come young grasshopper

I smoke tea leaves of a very special tea tree, for stronger prognostication effect

Mostly just going on patterns that previously retired sets exhibited shortly before eol. Going oos everywhere, small amounts coming into stock for brief moments, price spike on the 3rd market from panic buying, and multiple ridiculous posts from delusional brickpickers

come on man you are a veteran here you know just to ignore knuckle head statements like the the ones running rampant in this thread.

To summarize... Facts: 1. 19R4-20R4 run is basically sold out in USA. 2. Europe has 24S4 run, which is still widely available Speculations: 1. Will there be something like 40R4 run in USA? 2. Will 24S4 lasts through the end of the year in Europe? 3. Would lego redirect 24S4 to USA, if there is leftover stock in Europe at the end of the year? 4. Is 10221 retiring at the end of this year?

That is exactly what I am thinking... Where does this "oh my god, I'm not sure this set will become a winner, because it's price is too high/ takes too much space to display/ box art is crappy/ enter another strange reason here..." come from? I sadly cannot explain, but, looking into the past of other UCS and big sets, they all grew a lot after several years. Why shouldn't the new sets follow the same path (even according to the argumentation space/ price/ bla)? Many of the sets even start to grow in price even without being officially "EOL". I haven't got enough space to display and so the target group hasn't neither? Nonsens IMHO, argumentation based on nothing! The MF sells for lots of money and so do the other UCS/ modular sets already EOL. There is always a target group that has the possibilities to buy these sets (even when it is a christmas present for the beloved husband, e.***.). And even more and more BP members come up with an argumentation against sets growing in worth because they didn't already double after 2 weeks... where has the patience gone, which is an essential requirement for selling sets after a couple of years (after EOL, AND (!) NOT days and weeks, even months after EOL!). Just my 2 cents...

Be careful ordering these from Kmart. I ordered them last week and got shipped older friends sets instead.

Yes I can confirm that Lego store employees have no clue what they are talking about.

Just picked up a 10225! Super stoked!