So I am currently working on a blog article where I want to examine if selling sets together in pairs is really worth the effort and if you can really make more money this way. 

 

I have several pros and cons, but I want to get data from Ebay to give a good look at what happens in the selling world. 

 

What I need is some good examples of sets that are retired and sell well together. I thought of a few so far, but I want to get enough possibles so I can get enough data to make it applicable.  I thought of these so far:

 

POTC Queen Annes and Black Pearl

 

HP Hogwarts Castle and Battle for Hogwarts

 

What are some others?

As a buyer, I hate bundles. When I see them...unless used LOT...I skip the listing. I am currently looking for anything potter for my son..and am amazed at the people pairing up these sets....with no qty discount.

Maybe the old Jabbas Palace and Jabbas Prize.

 

The SW Mini builds from 2003/04 that had a group of 4 sets combine extra parts to make an additional 5th ship.

I sell in bundles all the time, typically anything that is of the same theme.  It helps a lot when there are hundreds of listings for a particular item b/c you get views for both items.  If someone is looking for both then great if they are not, then they can buy one of the other hundreds of options. 

It creates a unique listing that separates you from the many others.  i do not do bundles for more unique sets with fewer listings. 

If I have multiples of a certain item I will try and bundle it with another item from the same theme so I can make an additional listing...the more listings you have the better the chances of getting more sales. I have several extra listings b/c they are bundles and they sell just as well as my single set listings.
 

I also bundle smaller sets.  The reason being if I have a 30 dollar set and it cost ten to ship...that's too much...if I have two items that are both 30 bucks...it still costs ten to ship and makes it more bareable for the buyer.  (Still expensive but better than 10 for one set.)

 

Finally, it opens a new group of sets I normally wouldn't look at...the really cheap ones.  Last year when the hero factory stuff was on clearance they were going for 6 and 7 bucks.  If I sold one at a time, by the time I paid fees, shipping and took the time to list, I would be getting nothing.  If i took 5 or 6 sets and bundled them together, I was able to create a listing that I sold for 100 bucks and only cost me 30ish.  If I sold them one at time it would not only take longer but the cost to ship each one of them to separate places would have eaten all the profits.  Bundling allows me to sell small sets I normally wouldn't touch b/c the margins are too small. You place a bunch of small margins together into a bundle and it adds up.


I do not offer a discount on my bundled sets either except on shipping. (Which is typically free anyways.)  I know people expect a discount when buying more than one set but when your bundle is unique or full of retired sets...they can't really get them anywhere else except us third party people who are probably charging around the same price.  (They would just have to pay for shipping on the two items rather than once....deal with two sellers etc.)

I bundles.

 

EDIT  I sell most of my bundles to parents buying gifts for their kids and dont have time to shop around and to those foreign companies that buy a ton of American stuff and then ship it off to whatever country they are from to resell.  The similar theme here is neither has the time to really investigate who much these things cost individually.  As long as you are near retail...they are fine with it.  

EDIT EDIT: A good bundle would be the Jabba palace...the rancor pit...sail barge...desert skiff (of course once they are retired.)

I sold 3 retired police sets as a bundle today - 7741, 7743, and 7744. I thought they went all together nicely a as bundle especially bc 1 large set, 1 medium, and 1 small. Buyer seemed very happy to pay 1 shipping fee for all three.

I would imagine many similar sets in the same theme would go together well.

I sell in bundles all the time, typically anything that is of the same theme.  It helps a lot when there are hundreds of listings for a particular item b/c you get views for both items.  If someone is looking for both then great if they are not, then they can buy one of the other hundreds of options. 

It creates a unique listing that separates you from the many others.  i do not do bundles for more unique sets with fewer listings. 

If I have multiples of a certain item I will try and bundle it with another item from the same theme so I can make an additional listing...the more listings you have the better the chances of getting more sales. I have several extra listings b/c they are bundles and they sell just as well as my single set listings.

 

I also bundle smaller sets.  The reason being if I have a 30 dollar set and it cost ten to ship...that's too much...if I have two items that are both 30 bucks...it still costs ten to ship and makes it more bareable for the buyer.  (Still expensive but better than 10 for one set.)

 

Finally, it opens a new group of sets I normally wouldn't look at...the really cheap ones.  Last year when the hero factory stuff was on clearance they were going for 6 and 7 bucks.  If I sold one at a time, by the time I paid fees, shipping and took the time to list, I would be getting nothing.  If i took 5 or 6 sets and bundled them together, I was able to create a listing that I sold for 100 bucks and only cost me 30ish.  If I sold them one at time it would not only take longer but the cost to ship each one of them to separate places would have eaten all the profits.  Bundling allows me to sell small sets I normally wouldn't touch b/c the margins are too small. You place a bunch of small margins together into a bundle and it adds up.

I do not offer a discount on my bundled sets either except on shipping. (Which is typically free anyways.)  I know people expect a discount when buying more than one set but when your bundle is unique or full of retired sets...they can't really get them anywhere else except us third party people who are probably charging around the same price.  (They would just have to pay for shipping on the two items rather than once....deal with two sellers etc.)

I bundles.

 

EDIT  I sell most of my bundles to parents buying gifts for their kids and dont have time to shop around and to those foreign companies that buy a ton of American stuff and then ship it off to whatever country they are from to resell.  The similar theme here is neither has the time to really investigate who much these things cost individually.  As long as you are near retail...they are fine with it.  

EDIT EDIT: A good bundle would be the Jabba palace...the rancor pit...sail barge...desert skiff (of course once they are retired.)

 

This is an incredible post. Plus as many as I can give you. I really appreciate the views. Makes writing an article so much easier - I can only solidify my views and things when I read others. How else will I know when I am being short sighted?

+1 pickleboy. You're doing it right. The extra exposure the listing receives is a safe bet against the 'bundler's discount.'

Putting five CMF character names in your listing title will sell five figs for $13 a lot faster than selling each will get you $15.

It's interesting about the Hero Factory bundle, which seemed to buck the trend and be worth more. Also, I like the bundles selling to parents, goes right along. So I think another point to make here is demographics. Collector's aren't going to pay you market value for bundles, but gift-givers will.

I only have 10 or twelve listings at any time, and usually 2 or three are bundles of smalls. I don't bundle my sets because I need to get maximum profit from each big sale, and I'm willing to wait. I'm more of a hobbyist, and there's no use rushing a hobby.

+1 pickleboy. You're doing it right. The extra exposure the listing receives is a safe bet against the 'bundler's discount.'

Putting five CMF character names in your listing title will sell five figs for $13 a lot faster than selling each will get you $15.

It's interesting about the Hero Factory bundle, which seemed to buck the trend and be worth more. Also, I like the bundles selling to parents, goes right along. So I think another point to make here is demographics. Collector's aren't going to pay you market value for bundles, but gift-givers will.

I only have 10 or twelve listings at any time, and usually 2 or three are bundles of smalls. I don't bundle my sets because I need to get maximum profit from each big sale, and I'm willing to wait. I'm more of a hobbyist, and there's no use rushing a hobby.

 

Thats it

 

could not say it better myself really.!

This is an incredible post. Plus as many as I can give you. I really appreciate the views. Makes writing an article so much easier - I can only solidify my views and things when I read others. How else will I know when I am being short sighted?

Please feel free to use any or all of it.  I don't care if you just cut and paste.  keep up the good work on the blogs.

Personally, I hate bundles unless they are moving them for a discount. The only time I have ever used them as a selling tactic has been for trying to grab extra attention and to move a less attractive set with a more attractive one. For example, I bundled some Dino Tower Defenses that I purchased for 30% off along with the Defense HQ. It helped me sell the HQ's for $225 shipped when I normally would have had a hard time moving them for those profit margins. I would not have been able to profit much from the tower defenses alone so the bundle was the best option. 

So DNIIM your basic conflict here is exposure per listing vs. Discount per bundle. The major points you should hit would be time, demographic, item desirability, competition, and shipping.

Should be an interesting article, I'm looking forward to it.

i recently sold my 10179 for $3500 - i got that price because i bundles it with a chrome 3po!

 

the bundles are nice to throw in, and will make a buyer more eager to buy if there is an extra involved