Lego Sets and Mini-Figures - Ka-Ching

[FC-Treasure]

So I've been selling my daughter's old Lego's on eBay. She is in middle school now and has lost interest. Back when she was about six years old, Lego sets were the "go to" gift for her and she asked for them at her birthday parties, for Christmas from relatives, etc. I have to admit, I sunk $100's of dollars into Lego sets.

Now here is the crazy thing... They have appreciated in value! We were careful and kept the sets together. They were on display for years, then we broke them up and placed them in separate bags. We did not keep the boxes but we did keep the instruction books (also available for download on the Internet as pdf files).

One of my daughter's big treats was to take any money she saved and go to the Lego store in the mall and buy "blind bags" of lego Mini-Figures. I remember rolling my eyes and thinking how much she was wasting her money...

Ok, so here is "Bunny Guy". I got $28 for him. Some are getting more. This ebay auction has them for $40 bucks and they have sold 332 of them (original price, $4.xx) NEW LEGO MINIFIGURES SERIES 7 8831 - Bunny Suit Guy | eBay

= 5x ROI

And this is the statue of liberty. I sold one for $16, but this auction has sold 455 at $21 a pop! NEW LEGO MINIFIGURES SERIES 6 8827 - Lady Liberty (Statue of Liberty)

= 3X ROI

Then, there is Harry Potter's Hogwarts castle. I orginally paid about $125 for it I think. They are going for $200 - $250 now, used on eBay. LOL, or $549++ if you didn't open the box and play with it.

= 2x ROI


We did have to spend a lot of time ensuring the sets were complete. The instruction booklets list all the pieces with pictures and quantity. We had several "family nights" were we sorted Lego's. It was oddly enjoyable, kind of like coin rolling.

I think I might stop buying stocks and buy Lego's instead. The ROI seems much better. (just kidding)

 

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[Beans]

Lego mini figs are great when you can find them. I use to do LEGOs until the mini figs stopped being included at the TS. Had about 50 pounds of bricks and sold them at the local flea market.

 

[FC-Treasure]

Lego mini figs are great when you can find them. I use to do LEGOs until the mini figs stopped being included at the TS. Had about 50 pounds of bricks and sold them at the local flea market.

I've got 8 pounds of bricks as well. I think I'm going to put them up in 2 pound lots and mail them in a fixed rate priority mail box. Looks like they are about $10-$12 dollars a pound on eBay. I'd like to sell them all in one 8 pound lot, but the box is too big and would cost too much to ship. I really like the flat rate boxes, they make life easier.

 

[cyberdan]

I really like the flat rate boxes, they make life easier.

The flat rate padded envelopes cost the same to ship as the small box but could hold many times more in volume. I once sold about 20 cellphones. The sm box could only hold 4 or 5 and bag more than 20. (the phones were not the huge ones)

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Lego's are a great investment. Been buying and selling new sets for a few years now. This year I sold off the entire lot and had enough to pay for a cruise for me and the wife and kids.

Best flip I had was 10288 Death Star, Bought for $250 and sold for $600. (was hard not to open that one)

A few years back found some Harry Potter sets on clearance and flipped immediately for a nice profit.

Had fun shopping for them too, was hard not to open some of the sets.

The Cons?
They take up lots of space
Expensive shipping, large boxes.
lots of traveling to find them

Don't know if I'll get back into it, but had fun while it lasted.

total ROI was about 55%

great lego investing site
www.brickpicker.com

 

[Beachkid23]

That's cool on the Legos I just bought a box of them this weekend for five bucks there wasn't very many Legos in there but there's probably 25 mini figures. And that's mainly the reason I did buy them. Now I don't know who goes with what and what matches with who so I may just do them as a lot.

Probably two years ago I picked up a Statue of Liberty Lego set for $25 and sold it for 1800. It was huge and a bear to ship. But I was shocked it was worth that much.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I pick up Legos when I see them but only if they have minifigs. Those are easy to lot up & sell for a decent profit. Unfortunately I'm not interested in taking the time to sort through the bricks & figure out the best way to sell on eBay. That's why I have 2 large boxes of bricks sitting in my storage room.

 

[FC-Treasure]

Now I don't know who goes with what and what matches with who so I may just do them as a lot.

LOL, I did not feel it was worth my time, but my daughter really got into selling them, so she did the legwork and identified which mini-figures were valuable and located their accessories. She was using eBay sold auctions and had a general idea of what they were then we verified her data before listing.

We missed some stuff, but the miracle of eBay allowed us to identify some of the listing mistakes. There is evidently a few people on eBay that are buying sets with valuable mini-figures, extracting the figures, then listing the other pieces. They will low-ball you on "best offer", which is a warning sign that you need to re-check your listing. Here is an example: LEGO Set: 75002 This is a small set, but the Yoda and Storm trooper mini-figures are worth more than what the set typically sells for..

 

[FC-Treasure]

I pick up Legos when I see them but only if they have minifigs. Those are easy to lot up & sell for a decent profit. Unfortunately I'm not interested in taking the time to sort through the bricks & figure out the best way to sell on eBay. That's why I have 2 large boxes of bricks sitting in my storage room.

I've seen a couple of tricks to getting more out of a bulk (by the pound) lot. One is to sprinkle mini-figures in with the bricks. Another is to mention what Lego sets are involved if you know. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman, etc.

I think there are some Lego enthusiasts who are building out themed "armies", e.g. filling a room with Star Wars Sets, Lord of the Rings sets, where they are positioned for battle, etc. So they are always looking for certain "themes".

 

[BobinSouthVA]

I've seen a couple of tricks to getting more out of a bulk (by the pound) lot. One is to sprinkle mini-figures in with the bricks. Another is to mention what Lego sets are involved if you know. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman, etc.

I think there are some Lego enthusiasts who are building out themed "armies", e.g. filling a room with Star Wars Sets, Lord of the Rings sets, where they are positioned for battle, etc. So they are always looking for certain "themes".

I had a few of the 30211 Uruk-Hai from LOTR that I wish I had bought more of. Some guy bought all of them, doubled my profit and he was looking for more.

 

[FC-Treasure]

I had a few of the 30211 Uruk-Hai from LOTR that I wish I had bought more of. Some guy bought all of them, doubled my profit and he was looking for more.

So what is the deal with those sets? I had one up for sale a while ago and there was a lot of interest. I sold it for $35 and it had all the mini-figures. Was there something special about it that I did not realize? The person I sold it to said he was building an army.

 

[trdhrdr007]

Picked up another lot this morning from Goodwill. Around 5-6 pounds with at least 15 minifigs for $8.99. They smelled like cigarettes so I stopped at Walmart & bought a couple of laundry bags for delicates. I'm running the last batch through the washer as I type. Once they dry I'll pull the minifigs. Will probably weigh the bricks & try to sell them locally. I think I have around 40 pounds.

 

[FC-Treasure]

Picked up another lot this morning from Goodwill. Around 5-6 pounds with at least 15 minifigs for $8.99. They smelled like cigarettes so I stopped at Walmart & bought a couple of laundry bags for delicates. I'm running the last batch through the washer as I type. Once they dry I'll pull the minifigs. Will probably weigh the bricks & try to sell them locally. I think I have around 40 pounds.

That's awesome! Bricks seem to be worth about $9.5+ a pound after fees and shipping on eBay. This one auction has sold 2.5 TONS of bricks at roughly $15 a pound (but with free shipping and fees).

2 POUNDS OF LEGOS Bulk lot Bricks Parts Pieces 100% Lego Star Wars, City, Etc.

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Picked up another lot this morning from Goodwill. Around 5-6 pounds with at least 15 minifigs for $8.99. They smelled like cigarettes so I stopped at Walmart & bought a couple of laundry bags for delicates. I'm running the last batch through the washer as I type. Once they dry I'll pull the minifigs. Will probably weigh the bricks & try to sell them locally. I think I have around 40 pounds.

thats awesome, I never see them in the thrift stores around here. pretty sure they take them out for their web site.

 

[trdhrdr007]

Like anything good Legos don't last long at the thrifts unless they are over priced. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Over the last few months I picked up a lot of about 25 pounds for $15 and a lot of about $10 pounds for $17 at the same thrift. Sold the minifigs from the 1st lot for over $100. In the same time period I saw a few more lots in the same store. Prices were 3-5 times more for lots that were 1/4 the size & were over half mega blocks. Who knows what the people doing the pricing were thinking.

 

[FC-Treasure]

Here is one of my recent auctions. 4 pounds of random bricks for $43.99 + $12.60 shipping. I am finding bulk bricks harder to sell for a premium. I don't know what was special about this lot that made it attractive to someone.

Black, Gray, White LEGO Blocks plus Space Pieces | eBay

 

[blacksheep4289]

I picked up a giant unopened box of a yoda lego statue at a garage sale for $110. Sold it for $350 the next day. I'm sure I could have gotten more, but I'm not greedy lol.