Are Lego sets just in general worth more money when they are put together or are the worth more when there taken apart and in bags?

With loose LEGO, if it's new in bags, it's worth more and is considered NEW.  If it's out of the bags, the LEGO is considered USED, so the price between built and taken apart is negligible.

If it's a used set I would say it's worth more if you take them apart, clean them if needed, and put them in bags rather than leave it built. It saves the new buyer the hassle of taking it apart before being able to build it. 

To elaborate on that answer though... If you have the knowledge that the set is 100% complete, it's still difficult to portray that fact to a potential buyer if all the photo shows is a bag of loose bricks. By building the set and taking photos of it once built you can more easily demonstrate the 100% complete statement. However, Lego is a building toy, so naturally most buyers want their set to arrive disassembled in bags (ideally sorted by size like a NISB set would do) so that they can enjoy a fresh build experience. You'll also reduce shipping costs significantly by disassembling, since you don't take up nearly as much dead-space in a box when they're densely packed in a bag vs constructed. 

34 minutes ago, grieschd said:

Are Lego sets just in general worth more money when they are put together or are the worth more when there taken apart and in bags?

In a perfect world, every used set I sold would have pictures of the set fully built, and then additional pictures of the set taken apart (with all pieces fully inventoried, and separated).

But since time is money, you do the best you can - based on the specific situation.

Getting a little more money, for much more work & time, is generally not worth it.

Edited February 4, 20178 yr by KShine