What's the best way to sell Lego?

[jsnweitzel]

My son is still young and I have no intention of selling the Legos we have. He's still got at least a few more years of collecting but I assume he may one day tire of them (gasp!) and devote his attention to other things like dating. At that time he may choose to sell them or store them.

So that got me thinking, what would the best way be to sell large quantities of Lego?

My son has been very lucky with gifts and has over 280 sets with over 45,000 pieces. Many of these are smaller sets but he does have many larger ones as well. Even better, is that some of his sets have been passed down to him from family so his sets date from late '70s to current. Almost everything is complete.

I know about Bricklink and of course there's Craigslist or Ebay. My thought is that it would be better to document everything and sell it as one large lot but that would lower the number of possible buyers because the price would be higher and shipping would be high. Selling and shipping individual sets seems very tedious and certain sets will have more buyer interest and maybe have a premium but other sets would have less interest and maybe not sell. We'd only be selling because he'd want cash, so waiting long lengths of time would be detrimental as well.

Prices seem higher on Ebay but there are fees.

What does everyone else think?
Sorry my post is so long, but the economics of Lego fascinate me.

[lukeskywalker]

There are fees on BL too, At least I think That's what it said. Paypal also takes its cut.
Right now, I use BL because there's no emergency and I just sell My high dollar figs that I don't really want.

[Derek]

Selling that many sets in one lot can be tricky. First off, what kinds of sets does have? If he has licensed sets, the aftermarket prices for discontinued sets can rise astronomically. Prices for discontinued Batman and Star Wars sets are now through the roof. If he has any high value Star Wars sets, he can bundle them with other, less popular sets.

If you want to go that route, I would stick to eBay or craigslist. That type of selling isn't done very much on bricklink. However, if you want to sell individual sets, go bricklink all the way. Seller fees are relatively low (3%), and there are no listing fees or other fees.

[lukeskywalker]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

[ncbarrett]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

I think it will stay the same.
those who don't have them and get the new ones, might be interested in the original.

[lukeskywalker]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

I think it will stay the same.
those who don't have them and get the new ones, might be interested in the original.

I guess it would be like Jango Fett. Even after the "new one" came out, the old one retained value.

[SpaceViking]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

I think it will stay the same.
those who don't have them and get the new ones, might be interested in the original.

I guess it would be like Jango Fett. Even after the "new one" came out, the old one retained value.

Hmmm... maybe I'm wrong [and dont mind if I am... we dont have any batman figs in our house ], but I don't see old batman minifigs holding their astronomical value with the new sets coming out. I think much of the demand for Batman figs right now is driven by kids, not collectors. "LEGO Batman" is still marketed in products other than Lego (like PJs and t-shirts) that keep my son asking for it. Given the choice between old/rare/expensive and new/plentiful/cheap, the folks buying toys for kids will go with the new sets. I would expect older style figs to still be more expensive than new style figs, but the new figs will pull demand from the old style.


Back to the original question, each site to sell lego has advantages/disadvantages. All charge fees, but bricklink is the most reasonable. Complete sets can command a higher price on ebay, but it can also be hit-or-miss. I find complete themes (or multiple sets of the same theme) sell better on ebay than on bricklink, but bricklink is more predictable. For complete sets, amazon marketplace is another choice. Prices tend to be higher there than ebay even, but the return policies are set by amazon and not the seller and tend to be favor the buyer.
And while the fees are a bit higher than ebay+paypal, I find taking paypal out of the transaction is an advantage.

HTH.

[jsnweitzel]

This is off original topic, but everyone's talking about Batman, so I'll join the party.

Concerning old Batman prices dropping when new ones are for sale, could we make a comparison to the Harry Potter sets? Are old HP sets still worth something? Just because you can buy a new Hogwarts, doesn't mean a collector wouldn't also want older generation Hogwarts as well right?

I know Batman commands high prices so they may drop some, but I hope Lego makes a new original batcave which would be completely different and therefore collectors may want both.

[ricefields]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

I think it will stay the same.
those who don't have them and get the new ones, might be interested in the original.

I guess it would be like Jango Fett. Even after the "new one" came out, the old one retained value.

did you mean boba fett, there is no rerelease of jango fett, the minifig or his ship?

re boba fett slave 1, the value of the 1st and 2nd versions did drop when the new one came out, I had two of them each and I sold them at what I thought was the height of the market right before the new one came out. And when the new version came out, I saw alot of sellers trying to unload the slave 1 and they were not selling so they missed the opportunity. Did the same thing to gen greivous ship, naboo fighter, etc. I got burned when the a wing and b wing were rerelease so I decided to sell in most cases of rereleases. The original versions were rare and valuable but are no longer when the 2006 versions came out. of course this does not apply to every set, clone turbo original version is still valuable when the clone wars version came out.

Re batman value, I already witness dropping values on ebay from completed listings though there could be some other factors at play. I would sell if one were intending all along to sell.

and to get back on track with the original question - do not sell in one lot - you get less value for your sets even though you spend less time. you get a lot less buyers when the dollar value goes into the thousands and lots of low ball offers. And sellers of lots always overestimate their value do don't fall into that trap - I always challenge the sellers knowledge of the sets and market when I ask them to provide a list of all their sets and values that make up their asking price. 99.9% of the time, they cannot come up with a justification for their asking price and 99% of the time their lots never sell - i don't know if I missed them but rarely do I see auction listings for large lots ie > 100 sets.

[lukeskywalker]

Please let me know if you put them on craigslist as I'm in the area. I'm wondering if the value of classic lego batman will go down with the new theme coming out.

I think it will stay the same.
those who don't have them and get the new ones, might be interested in the original.

I guess it would be like Jango Fett. Even after the "new one" came out, the old one retained value.

did you mean boba fett, there is no rerelease of jango fett, the minifig or his ship?

No, I mean't Jango. That's what the mando battlepack is, a jango re-release.

[legitimatealex]

My vote would be to sell them on Bricklink. My brother opened up a shop on there about two months ago and he's been having loads of success selling even whole sets.

[hrdcrgamer]

The best way is to sell them online. You'll have to note the condition and take high quality shots to verify the condition. If you have the instruction manuals and the original packaging as well as highly desirable sets those are likely to add to the value and demand.

[Rook]

DO NOT SELL!

Ok this might not be the answer you're looking for. But here's my reasons not to sell:

1. Not all sets will increase in value over time.
2. Used Lego in general tends to decrease in value.
3. Your son might grown back into Lego as an adult. (See Lego Dark Ages)
4. Your son may want to keep him for his kids.

On person note I was number 3 & 4. Although I still don't have kids. I very glad to have some of my original minifigure sets from 1978. ;)

[jsnweitzel]

DO NOT SELL!

1. Not all sets will increase in value over time.
2. Used Lego in general tends to decrease in value.
3. Your son might grown back into Lego as an adult. (See Lego Dark Ages)
4. Your son may want to keep him for his kids.

Ultimately, it would be his decision, not mine. But at age 7 he has over 280 sets, 42,000+ pieces, retailing at over $4,000. I'm sure it will grow even more at x-mas. I did contribute to the addiction but many of these are gifts from a large family.

So if he has a few more years worth of buying before he loses interest, it could easily top $10,000 in lego.
That would mean several bins in my basement until he finally gets a home of his own. I think that this would be a lot of lego even for several grandkids and it would be easier to spoil the grandkids after they are born vs storing the legos for close to 20 years (hopefully).

If he chose to sell them and got $5 grand, then I think it's worked out for everyone. To keep it simple, if a $20 toy was given to him and he sells it for $10 or $5, he not only got the enjoyment of playing with it but now he's $10 or $5 ahead. Some of the toys out there are junk now and will be junk later, destined to be donated to the local Goodwill. I will never complain about buying him lego, much better than Bakugan or Pokeman or [insert Japanese cartoon name here].

[gator06]

I would agree that Lego is a relatively good value in toys if you consider the possible resale value like you would a car or something else. If you are planning to sell them, I would advise keeping the boxes and instructions safely sealed away. It seems as though the value of a complete set is considerably more with those parts.
When I was a kid, I thought my lego collection was very expensive, but from an adult perspective, it equals out to a pretty good value of money/hour of fun/learning. It gets even better if you can justify it into the educational budget. For example, 8-10 hours of art class for a couple kids costs about $150-$200. The same money spent on lego brings a similar amount of problem solving activity in assembly from instructions, then the technical reasoning play time beyond that is bonus.... Or so I have convinced my wife. :)