Hi, all !

Been passionately collecting and building Lego sets for the last few years and recently stumbled across the world of investing and potentially making money back from Lego sets ! Now I’m totally new to the investing aspect of Lego so please go easy on me, has anyone got any tips or could point me in the right direction of where I should be looking to improve me knowledge in this area ?

Any replies would be awesome and much appreciated !

Thank You ?

Go big or go home. There are much better things to do with your time if you aren't slinging volume.

There are a lot of large corporations doing this on a huge scale. The margins are going to continue to decrease and the small timers will eventually be pushed out. May as well avoid the headache if you aren't committed. 

I recently scaled back such that I only spend a month or two in the fall working it as a side job. When the holidays are over I detach and move on. Often I donate or auction off my damaged returns. My total profit isn't as good but its a middle class salary for 2 months of part time work. You can easily do six figures if you dedicate the time and resources to it. Do what makes sense to you in your life. If you have more consistent long term ways to make good money i'd choose that route.

Small Timer here...how I see it after about 2 years on this board:

I think many small timers fall into "Subsidized AFoL" category where our interest/Hobby in LEGO keeps us on top of deals that come along which we take advantage; meaning we buy 3 or 30: if we like it: one for our personal collection,  one for a quick flip to recover costs, and one to stash as a lottery ticket. If we don't like it then flip all to buy something we like.

Few hobbies allow for this kind of sustainability...but it can ofcourse get out of hand really fast. 

The side benefit is that the structure is in place to resell...and I find that I often resell random stuff I come across...the negative side is I'm ALWAYS looking for random stuff to resell so maybe my psyche has been F'd w/ all this and i can no longer be an ignorant consumer...which I kinda miss.

Edited January 28, 20205 yr by $20 on joe vs dan

2 hours ago, MusiKyle said:

 

I'm too susceptible to the dopamine from the reward-motivated behavior in the hunt and I frequently find myself anxious.  Building Lego is relaxing, it reduces anxiety.  Wait a second... so part of the thing making me anxious is the same thing I use to calm down the anxiety!

It me! I'm that! I get real jittery during clearance season, especially.

I got into this because I was already apt to shop Target and Meijer clearance aisles and picked up a set here and there for friends and family. Then I was rolling SYWR points at Sears/Kmart and that's how I found this place. As a stay-at-home dad it's nice to have something to do, something to collect and tend to that isn't just dishes and laundry. Basically I see this as a way to get any Lego set my kid could ever want, plus finally buy the major sets that I've always wanted (nevermind the $$ and time invested :D).

28 minutes ago, keymomachine said:

It me! I'm that! I get real jittery during clearance season, especially.

I got into this because I was already apt to shop Target and Meijer clearance aisles and picked up a set here and there for friends and family. Then I was rolling SYWR points at Sears/Kmart and that's how I found this place. As a stay-at-home dad it's nice to have something to do, something to collect and tend to that isn't just dishes and laundry. Basically I see this as a way to get any Lego set my kid could ever want, plus finally buy the major sets that I've always wanted (nevermind the $$ and time invested :D).

Perfect job for a stay-at-home.  Great addition to someone who's business includes a warehouse.  Nice additional income for a 9-5er.  Questionable thing to do for anyone else.

Can't recall where, but I heard/read a comment recently similar to this : "I'm either making money, or spending it." 

Reselling lets me convince myself that I'm doing both at the same time. :-)

I agree that one wont get 'rich' doing this, but I've found it's a good side-hustle.  But I agree that one does need time and space to make it worthwhile.

I came in to this thinking it was about investing. Still playing the game but I've long left that notion behind.

These days it's more like...

ebay: "50% off final value fees for this weekend only!"

me:

 

 

LegoChris, my advice is to make sure you calculate all the fees, taxes, and extras you will have to pay before, during and after the sale. A Lego set on sale for 20% off, may seem like a good deal, but after all fees, it may only end up being less than 5% off. If eBay is going to be your main way to sell, become very familiar with both sold prices and what others are asking prices. There is a huge difference between the 2. These things were what I had problems with when I started out a few years ago. 

33 minutes ago, Brad W said:

LegoChris, my advice is to make sure you calculate all the fees, taxes, and extras you will have to pay before, during and after the sale. A Lego set on sale for 20% off, may seem like a good deal, but after all fees, it may only end up being less than 5% off. If eBay is going to be your main way to sell, become very familiar with both sold prices and what others are asking prices. There is a huge difference between the 2. These things were what I had problems with when I started out a few years ago. 

Totally this! Fees take up way more than you realize when you finally piece them altogether from the different places such as tax on the purchase, Paypal, Ebay Final Value Fees, Postage (people hate paying extra charges for shipping - they want to see it built into the price) and cost of shipping supplies. I've had things that I raised the price by three times what I bought it for but then got screwed over because the box size was too big and I listed Priority Mail and had to eat it. It's dumb things like that that get you.

To me, I enjoy the hunt and use the extra money to buy things like a car lift for the garage or parts for my cars. It's fun hobby that supports another hobby.

You shall succeed, just like legosteve

The best advice I can give is to go slow and make sure that you have outlets where you can realistically move everything that you buy before you buy it.  It's very easy to buy way more inventory than you can easily sell and get overwhelmed.  If you're operating on a smaller scale, the price you pay for each set you buy is critical...you want to get the largest discount you can to maximize the absolute value of the profit you make on each sale.  This matters less as you scale up and start moving volume, but is pretty important when you're starting out.

  

The best advice that I ever had

Now there's a time to laugh, a time to cry
A time to live and a time to die
A time to break and a time to chill
To act civilized or act real ill
But whatever you do in your lifetime
You never let an MC steal your rhyme

I only got into reselling on a very small scale (around 100 sets of varying size) and the time and effort is just not worth it. There are many other ways you can make more money with a lot less 'stress' in terms of packaging, returns and storage space.

If anyone is interested in 18 X 75884's let me know

It all starts innocently enough...flash forward a year and you're driving across the country with a rented trailer full of 2015 Bionicle sets wondering, "What am I doing right now?"

Edited January 29, 20205 yr by sauromosis

1 hour ago, sauromosis said:

It all starts innocently enough...flash forward a year and you're driving across the country with a rented trailer full of 2015 Bionicle sets wondering, "What am I doing right now?"

  

Like most Brickpickers, I’m not right in the head. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. Everyone loves the chase or finding the great deal, the trick is learning to love selling. I only sell on EBay, which has different considerations verse Amazon sellers. Don’t buy every set just because it’s 50% off. Buy shipping boxes to fit your sets, most boxes are under $2 and are worth every penny. I stay away from mid-size sets [$50 ish] unless I have a good feeling about them cause fees and shipping take a big bite. Little sets under a pound are easy, cheap 1st class mail. Larger sets give you more margin and shipping seems more reasonable given their size and weight. A lot has changed over these 7 years but, still having fun.

I used to have fun - The excitement of the hunt, the find, the deal.

It's hard to believe that there was once a time when every day felt like christmas morning.

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 3:54 PM, terrymc4677 said:

I'm just here for the memes and bad puns.

On 1/29/2020 at 7:02 PM, Jimking23 said:

Like most Brickpickers, I’m not right in the head. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. Everyone loves the chase or finding the great deal, the trick is learning to love selling. I only sell on EBay, which has different considerations verse Amazon sellers. Don’t buy every set just because it’s 50% off. Buy shipping boxes to fit your sets, most boxes are under $2 and are worth every penny. I stay away from mid-size sets [$50 ish] unless I have a good feeling about them cause fees and shipping take a big bite. Little sets under a pound are easy, cheap 1st class mail. Larger sets give you more margin and shipping seems more reasonable given their size and weight. A lot has changed over these 7 years but, still having fun.

there is nothing worse than a set you just sold for $20 with free shipping weighing in at 17oz.

there is nothing worse than a set you just sold for $20 with free shipping weighing in at 17oz.

Trim the flaps! Lol Shipping truly is the worst part of this whole deal.


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