12 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

I may well have unorthodox methods and constantly changing strategy, but it all pays me well and I'm more than happy right now. The primary reasons for me getting back into "The Game" is that my main business interest is facing a long delay so I do have some extra time and funds so I may as well get on with it, right?

A.) Most LEGO does suck and we alos know that there's lot of turkeys to avoid, even at 50% off.

B.) If the right set(s) come along that have the potential or buy-in to set the World on fire, then why not go 99x or all in?

That is the thing.

A.) true, but with you it is always doom or Instant $$

B.) With tescos 60080 deals for example true, I would have ordered as many as would have been possible, but there are sets in between your "ALL IN" and "total turkeys" ;-)

Edited December 1, 20178 yr by Sozial

Strange thing with the Asda prices last night, when looking on the iPad sorted by price all where in order, when looking on my phone the ones with the good discounts where out of sync eg Duplo Jungle at £18 was between sets at £27/£28. Made it a lot easier to spot the better deals, of course by the time I was looking the 'Sold Out' tags also made them easy to spot.

21 minutes ago, Sozial said:

That is the thing.

A.) true, but with you it is always doom or Instant $$

B.) With tescos 60080 deals for example true, I would have ordered as many as would have been possible, but there are sets in between your "ALL IN" and "total turkeys" ;-)

As I said... unorthodox methods ;-)

There's been an improvement in several sets this year and I've had more time to sit down and think about them properly, research the aftermarket and ask the kids around me what they also think. If I see good results, I stay on the same path, but adapt quickly when the terrain changes.

Let's not be too concerned with how a fellow Brickpicker operates, but just focus on "The Job" in hand and help each other out when we can. Most of us keep the "gems" to ourselves which is understandable as we are still competitors at the end of the day.

It's a shame that we can't all form a cartel and fix the prices across all selling platforms, the "OPEC" of LEGO ;-)

Been a lot more picky with my purchases this year. For example, the only things I've bought for the last couple of months are the mega cheap Riding Clubs, £30 Police stations and Louvres. Can't see much going wrong with that to be fair. Probably would have gone for a couple of lines on the Asda deals last night but I was pretty much asleep just for the several hours when it was posted until all the good stuff went. I notice the Friends Grand Hotels are starting to look good now and these were my very first purchases with a very good discount a couple of years back-ish. Defo bought a few duds last year though amongst some success stories such as Trevi and Wall-E.

If you're all struggling I've got no chance as a newbie, my picks so far 2 x Yellow Subs, 1 x Friends Catamaran, 1 x Friends Stephanie's house and 1 x Kwik-e mart.

Any thoughts on those picks?

7 minutes ago, richiej1979 said:

If you're all struggling I've got no chance as a newbie, my picks so far 2 x Yellow Subs, 1 x Friends Catamaran, 1 x Friends Stephanie's house and 1 x Kwik-e mart.

Any thoughts on those picks?

buy-in prices ?

 

5 minutes ago, roxio said:

buy-in prices ?

The two subs were £32 each, catamaran and stephanies house both £32 each and Kwik-e mart £150. ?

 

52 minutes ago, richiej1979 said:

If you're all struggling I've got no chance as a newbie, my picks so far 2 x Yellow Subs, 1 x Friends Catamaran, 1 x Friends Stephanie's house and 1 x Kwik-e mart.
Any thoughts on those picks?

First of all... welcome!

I wouldn't say that we're struggling, it's more like the marketplace has changed due to LEGO/retailer policy changes and a lot more resellers on eBay and Amazon. As Roxio say, buy-in is critcal as you need enough meat left on the bone to make a worthwhile profit. As a rule of thumb, I deduct 15% from the final sale price on eBay as this covers the Final Value Fee and the PayPal fee. For example, if you paid £30 for your Yellow Sub and sold it for £60, you'd make £21 pre-tax profit. I say pre-tax as HMRC will be on your case if you're deemed as being a trader and eBay pass theis information to HMRC upon request without the seller's knowledge or permission.

As for you choices, I'd say the MAXIMUM buy-in for me on the sets you stated would be:

• Yellow Subs - £35  (slated to do VERY well, but competition will be fierce)
• Friends Catamaran - £30 (look at eBay sold prices for the already retired Dolphin Cruiser with RRP £59.99)
• Friends Stephanie's House - £30 (not sure)
• Kwik-E-Mart - £130 (not often discounted, but should do well)

I personally would've bought only Yellow Subs, but it is good to diversify in the early stages.

In the old days, nearly any LEGO set at 50% off was a have-to-buy, now it has to be a very good set and an even much bigger discount if it isn't. My advise to you is to read the Brickpicker pages as much as you can as there's a lot of information in there.

Hope this helps you ;-)

 

4 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

First of all... welcome!

I wouldn't say that we're struggling, it's more like the marketplace has changed due to LEGO/retailer policy changes and a lot more resellers on eBay and Amazon. As Roxio say, buy-in is critcal as you need enough meat left on the bone to make a worthwhile profit. As a rule of thumb, I deduct 15% from the final sale price on eBay as this covers the Final Value Fee and the PayPal fee. For example, if you paid £30 for your Yellow Sub and sold it for £60, you'd make £21 pre-tax profit. I say pre-tax as HMRC will be on your case if you're deemed as being a trader and eBay pass theis information to HMRC upon request without the seller's knowledge or permission.

As for you choices, I'd say the MAXIMUM buy-in for me on the sets you stated would be:

• Yellow Subs - £35  (slated to do VERY well, but competition will be fierce)
• Friends Catamaran - £30 (look at eBay sold prices for the already retired Dolphin Cruiser with RRP £59.99)
• Friends Stephanie's House - £30 (not sure)
• Kwik-E-Mart - £130 (not often discounted, but should do well)

I personally would've bought only Yellow Subs, but it is good to diversify in the early stages.

In the old days, nearly any LEGO set at 50% off was a have-to-buy, now it has to be a very good set and an even much bigger discount if it isn't. My advise to you is to read the Brickpicker pages as much as you can as there's a lot of information in there.

Hope this helps you ;-)

 

Thanks for the help! The Dolphin Cruiser looks good, wish I'd got more now. 

Yep, I loved the subs too, I wanted to get more but decided spreading my investment would be best. I'm happy to keep one o the subs for display too if things don't work out. 

Kwik-E-Mart has me worried a little, I think that would do better in the U.S but hopefully there's enough Simpsons fans over here to make that set worthwhile.

You've also got to look at the potential retirement date. The catamaran and Stephanie's house are 2017 sets their post retirement jump is further away than if you'd stuck to 2016 sets. 

8 minutes ago, richiej1979 said:

If you're all struggling I've got no chance as a newbie, my picks so far 2 x Yellow Subs, 1 x Friends Catamaran, 1 x Friends Stephanie's house and 1 x Kwik-e mart.

Any thoughts on those picks?

It also depends on your sales strategy.  Don't buy if you do not have a plan as to when you will sell. It pays to know if you are buying to flip or to hold.

Just now, elkolonel said:

You've also got to look at the potential retirement date. The catamaran and Stephanie's house are 2017 sets their post retirement jump is further away than if you'd stuck to 2016 sets. 

Yep, I need to be in the game a bit longer to learn the release dates. I don't mind sitting on £60 though for an extra year.

I've picked up a couple of old Star Wars sets too but I doubt they'll do much if anything at all. 

LEGO 75155 Star Wars Rebel U-Wing Fighter  - I loved Rogue One and got this for £40 new on Facebook.
LEGO Star Wars Resistance Transport Pod 75176 - This was £20 and I couldn't help myself, definitely not an investment set.

 

I have bought 2x Jungle Exploration Site + 2x 60167 Coast Guard Head Quarters just for the Christmas. I now see what it is to be "that Lego guy" among my friends, relatives and relatives' friends - they ask me for sets I dont have and I need something as a substitute for them at least. Imho the 60167 might do well in the future

8 minutes ago, kumas said:

I have bought 2x Jungle Exploration Site + 2x 60167 Coast Guard Head Quarters just for the Christmas. I now see what it is to be "that Lego guy" among my friends, relatives and relatives' friends - they ask me for sets I dont have and I need something as a substitute for them at least. Imho the 60167 might do well in the future

This could be the beginning of a local selling network for you. Get your friends to spread the word so that you become the "Go To" man in your local community when the locals need LEGO for their kids. It's worked wonders for me and has got my some big cash buyers.

The Jungle and Coast Guard sets could be good flippers in 2 weeks' time or keep them for another 18 months. If it was me, I'd rinse and repeat.

4 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

This could be the beginning of a local selling network for you. Get your friends to spread the word so that you become the "Go To" man in your local community when the locals need LEGO for their kids. It's worked wonders for me and has got my some big cash buyers.

The Jungle and Coast Guard sets could be good flippers in 2 weeks' time or keep them for another 18 months. If it was me, I'd rinse and repeat.

hopefully they buy all the friends/nexo stuff I got 50% off and cant get rid of ...

10 minutes ago, kumas said:

hopefully they buy all the friends/nexo stuff I got 50% off and cant get rid of ...

Let them know and spread the word asap ;-)

Why do you flip the Friends sets you just got? Do you not think it's best to wait two years? 

Not much on Asda or Tesco tonight. Bit boring. 

41 minutes ago, richiej1979 said:

Why do you flip the Friends sets you just got? Do you not think it's best to wait two years? 

Not much on Asda or Tesco tonight. Bit boring. 

A lot of Asda's prices have crept back up so you can all lock your wallets away now.

Intresting one for those of you who have to buy for birthdays after Christmas TRU are closing some UK stores. I don't think the Lego sales will be to good though as the horde will swarm like locusts at 20% off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42204182

7 minutes ago, Will 4 said:

Intresting one for those of you who have to buy for birthdays after Christmas TRU are closing some UK stores. I don't think the Lego sales will be to good though as the horde will swarm like locusts at 20% off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42204182

LOL - It's the best news I've heard in ages. There is a "God" after all ;-)

46 minutes ago, Will 4 said:

Intresting one for those of you who have to buy for birthdays after Christmas TRU are closing some UK stores. I don't think the Lego sales will be to good though as the horde will swarm like locusts at 20% off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42204182

The strange thing is they've just opened a brand new store near me.

50 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

The strange thing is they've just opened a brand new store near me.

Are you in Reading too? That's also a new branch.

4 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

Are you in Reading too? That's also a new branch.

I'm in Bracknell, small world.

Intresting one for those of you who have to buy for birthdays after Christmas TRU are closing some UK stores. I don't think the Lego sales will be to good though as the horde will swarm like locusts at 20% off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42204182

The entire organisation is well overdue a complete overhaul. Management haven’t done a good job in keeping up with market trends and managing the business, hence why they aren’t as profitable as they could be. One of the things that they have subtlety done is stop doing price matching. I expect that they’ll close those stores that have high rents in order to reduce their outgoings and then conduct a review of what’s left based on current and future profitability based on whatever strategy they come up with. 1st yr MBA student could come up with such a turnaround plan.

41314 - FRIENDS Stephanie's House is £32 (RRP £64.99) at John Lewis. Reseller price has been over £70 so wait until the New Year for the QFLLs to make their £2 profit first! I passed, but bought more 21309 S5 ;-)

Edited December 2, 20178 yr by TabbyBoy
Fat fingers