Hello, digging for more information to reaffirm and add a little to what I saw in an older thread.

So I bought a used Grand Emporium from a guy today and the thing was covered in a couple years worth of dust and dirt. No instructions or box. It was completely built though and I compared it to mine and the thing appeared 100% complete. I wanted to clean it so I submerged it in water and started pulling the bricks apart. It was way easier in my head to pull the whole set apart than reality, lol. I got tired of trying to pull apart every little piece so I now I have a mess of top two floors looking like a bomb exploded with the base level sort of there and intact.

For the time and expectations of buyers on ebay, what would you all have done? If I could go back in time I would have taken a picture of it assembled before I started my shenanigans, lol. Would you just damp cloth clean it, hose it off all intact, or do what I did and start to take apart every piece and clean it with mild soap? I assumed buyers would want the thing disassembled, but now for the time it's taking and also realizing it's just a giant unorganized mess, I'm starting to second guess myself, especially with not including instructions. Should I take the time to organize the mess by any sort of system? Thanks for your help.


P.S. - Dual wielding brick separators did not have the epic effect I thought it would on this tear down.

As stated, you should have taken pictures before doing anything. If the dust was bad then I would have cleaned it as well but just to make it clear in the listing it would come disassembled. I sold a modular a while ago built and it was more costly in shipping. Honestly your preference.

1. Take apart

2. Wash & dry

3. Rebuild (bricklink any missing pieces)

4. Photograph

5. Disassemble and place in zip locks by floor (photograph in zip locks too so your buyer knows what to expect)

6. List on ebay for $1,000,000 (or going BIN)

7. Ship once it sells

8. Have a cold one

9. No one ever said this would be easy.

Used sets are a lot of work and corner cutting will cost you. Taking it apart is essential for dealing in used sets. Then wash with warm warm soapy water if it's not too bad; if it's really bad and smells then use white vinegar and water. It works amazing, I too, the smokiest nastiest bricks and turned them into beautiful little money makers using this technique. I have rebuilt every used set I have sold but 1. That 1 took 4x as long to sell. It's really easy to sort by color as you take it apart and buyers usually will leave a + for sorting by color.

Good replies, thanks all. I can see there isn't much of a way to avoid the time factor with used if you want to be the best in the game. I will try to stick with my usual sealed in box for now, lol. Couldn't pass up the $80 deal.

1. Take apart

2. Wash & dry

3. Rebuild (bricklink any missing pieces)

4. Photograph

5. Disassemble and place in zip locks by floor (photograph in zip locks too so your buyer knows what to expect)

6. List on ebay for $1,000,000 (or going BIN)

7. Ship once it sells

8. Have a cold one

9. No one ever said this would be easy.

This is exactly it. The only way to verify complete is to wash and rebuild, note, and locate missing pieces. It's work, but fun because you get a chance to build who knows what from week to week, and then find it a new home at a nice profit.

I would sit on it a while if you don't need the money. Will fetch more in a year, lots more in 3.

I bought a large used set lot this past summer, and I am NEVER getting into used again lol! Waaaay too much work! The Taj Mahal was the bane of my existence for months.... cleaning, sorting, ordering, damaged pieces. After finally finishing I did sell it for a grand profit though. I'm currently going to sell an Emerald Night Train this winter, but I'm so sick of used sets I was going to try and sell that one assembled with a little dust. I did rebuild to ensure it was complete though. Any thoughts on that one? I'm just not sure how it will do assembled, but it seems like others have done it.

^ I pretty much agree with this and at least in my experience (with sets under $200 - $300 value as used) it just makes more sense to part out on Bricklink.

I sold a number of used sets on the Bay, and only built a couple for fun.  It was much to slow to build them all if just flipping sets.  Instead the parts were sorted by color, then verfied against either the manual's part list or a print out of a part lists  (listed by color).  Parts were then bagged by color.   Much saner than building each set. The sets had manuals, so the listing picture was a tight shot of the manual cover. 

What about the extra pieces that came with the original set? I have a baggie of them from my DS. Should I include them, or does it just confuse buyers? What is considered standard/good practice?

What about the extra pieces that came with the original set? I have a baggie of them from my DS. Should I include them, or does it just confuse buyers? What is considered standard/good practice?

It's up to you. As long as you complete the set 100% then I would say it doesn't matter. I usually keep the extra parts and save them. They come in handy from time to time.

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Throw them in your lego bin

I've started selling my first lots of random pieces, doing the 100 piece grab bag + a minifigure, we will see how it goes, sold a few, slow going so far

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Throw them in your lego bin

I've started selling my first lots of random pieces, doing the 100 piece grab bag + a minifigure, we will see how it goes, sold a few, slow going so far

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Brickpicker mobile app

 

How much are you selling them for?  

You have to enjoy selling used sets because it is a lot of work. I enjoy finding incomplete sets on eBay and restoring them to complete sets via Bricklink. It's time consuming and potentially costly but it's fun for me so that's why I do it.

I think for starters, it is useful to first start selling used sets. Granted it is more work, but you get to know the market better. It will imo guide you better for your buying of new sets.

The first 6 months that I started out 'investing' I bought several big lots very cheap and sold plenty with alot of profit, however, with the cleaning, the sorting, the building, the advertising, the shipping, it had too much of an impact on my life (full time job, young daughter, household) so I stopped doing it and focussed only on the new sets.

It depends on how much you want to earn I guess. If you have the time, you can make a very nice extra with the second hand sets and I would recommend it.