Maegnus Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) I doubt this is going to happen, based solely on the fact that it would present a logistical nightmare. I am considering selling my entire collection of Lego, most of which is broken down into towers of drawers. Shipping it would be impossible. I could potentially open up a BL store, but part of my problem is I don't have anywhere near the time it would take to build any of these sets back. I have a lot of stuff that is rare and worth a decent amount of coin. Just going through Brickset and checking off the sets that I know I own since 2005, it gives me a $6700 US retail price, of which many sets were surely missed, some sets were multiples, and excluding my entire childhood collection from 1990-2005 (oh, and the other entire collection I bought off a man who grew up with classic space in the 70s and 80s). There's also my extensive minifigure part collection, and the probably $2000 I've spent on BL orders (~300 orders) and third party elements. If I had to give a rough estimate of what everything is worth, I'd say $15,000-$20,000. Hard to say. Some of it is very sorted, while some is loose in bins that could use a hose down (old sets in there are dusty). Obviously I'd like to sell it all in one shot, but I highly doubt anyone has the means or the money to do so. I know some of you have bought/sold entire collections in the past. Care to share some insight/experience? Something tells me the local classifieds won't get me any serious offers. I'd probably be looking for at least $5,000 for everything, which I can't see anyone in this community having disposable. My brickset inventory Am I insane? Just thinking out loud here. I haven't had the time for the stuff in the last few years, and I don't see myself regretting it if I got out of the hobby altogether. But I'm in my early 20s, and I know many of you will say to sit on it for 10 years, and then I will be glad to have kept them when my career is more settled. Such a dilemma. Can you guys direct me to threads of others who have wrestled with this (I couldn't find much with a search)? Thanks for your support. Edited March 9, 2011 by Maegnus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Follows Closely Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) You have some big ticket items in there. The modular houses for example (>$1,200). From what you described, I would drop 5K on that, I am sure you would have no problem finding multiple guys/gals here that would agree. Edited March 9, 2011 by Follows Closely Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted March 9, 2011 Yeah and I think it makes sense to try and sell it as one chunk and leave the valuable stuff in there, instead of selling what I know would go fast (e.g. modular buildings or every batman fig ever made) and ending up with a bunch of bricks I can't get rid of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimBee Posted March 9, 2011 5K for all of it? You'd be losing quite a bit there, even with just the recent sets, I think. No doubt I would buy it if I had the 5K to drop, though. My suggestion would be to open a BL store and sell it individually, full sets preferably, but if you don't have the time, then sell pieces in bulk. If you have all of them sorted by piece and/or color, you could put all of them into one lot and hopefully people will buy more than a few. Good luck with whatever you decide to do with them. It must kind of sad, though, to see all of those years of collecting go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Follows Closely Posted March 9, 2011 Yeah and I think it makes sense to try and sell it as one chunk and leave the valuable stuff in there, instead of selling what I know would go fast (e.g. modular buildings or every batman fig ever made) and ending up with a bunch of bricks I can't get rid of. If you do not need the cash, I would hold onto the blocks. You will most Lilly regret selling. The price to replace would be crazy. Otherwise any bricklink owner would give you 5k. If you are serious I may even drive up up north from va Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) If you do not need the cash, I would hold onto the blocks. You will most Lilly regret selling. The price to replace would be crazy. Otherwise any bricklink owner would give you 5k. If you are serious I may even drive up up north from va I'm definitely seriously considering this. I doubt I'd hate or love myself for selling; it feels like the logical thing to do right now, and I doubt I would lose sleep over it. I've milked it for many years, and it might be time to move on. It's been in the back of my mind for at least a year. I haven't had the time to touch the stuff, and I haven't really missed it. If anything, I feel like it is kind of holding me back/weighing me down. My mind isn't fully made up, but I'm leaning toward getting rid of it all. I'd keep my custom polar express train for my christmas tree, but that's about it. That's the type of deal I'd probably prefer. If someone was willing to champ it out and drive a truck here, I'd definitely give them a deal. If anyone is remotely interested, PM me and I can give you some photos and a better sense of what I've got. Edited March 9, 2011 by Maegnus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Donut Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) GL selling. Edited March 9, 2011 by Donut Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrickArtist Posted March 9, 2011 I may be interested in the 'droids battle pack', 'Clone troopers Battle pack',and 'Hailfire droid and Spider Droid'. How much might you like for those? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edmond Dantes Posted March 9, 2011 Where in Canada do you live? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted March 9, 2011 Where in Canada do you live? Gatineau (right next to Ottawa) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeya Posted March 9, 2011 There's this show called "Pawn Stars" that runs on the History channel (TV) here in the US. It's actually one of my favorite shows, btw. These guys run a pawn shop and they make a living buying things off people and reselling them. They had an episode where a guy had a lifetime collection of Lone Ranger stuff. He had different types of stuff: clothes, photos, lunch pails, toys, and so on. That guy wanted to sell everything he had in one big lot. At the end, the pawn shop guys didn't make him any real offer. Their advice to the guy was to NOT sell in one big lot, but rather to break it up in sections. They pointed out that collectors willing to buy the lunch pails probably aren't so interested in another group of things, like the clothing. Those types of people just want vintage lunch pails, because that's their bag. So my advice would be to break things out by theme, basically. I'm guessing you don't want to have a million tiny ebay sales and a million trips to UPS to ship off box after box. And selling in one big lot is either impossible or you're selling at a big loss. But I've had my fair share of experience with eBay, and I recommend the following. Take a few sets, for example... let me look at your collection link there... okay perfect example. You collected a bit of Indiana Jones. Take all of your Indiana Jones, and make that one eBay lot. If you have the time, assemble them. And in either case take really good photos for the posting. I can't emphasize the photos enough. Imagine five Indiana Jones sets nicely laid out on a table, with their instruction books fanned out in front of them. Someone who has missed the Indiana Jones wave will see this, someone who only collects Indiana Jones, and they will be willing to buy the sets for more than MSRP, even used. I can all but guarantee it. One lot with 5 sets in it is much more attractive than to hunt down set after set over a period of time; buyers will appreciate this. Boom, there's a few thousand bricks out the door right there. Rinse and repeat for other themes. Group by theme and year. If you can post and say "here are all the city sets from 2003" or something like that, you will get collectors willing to buy it. Another tip, for the collectible minifigures, just sell those all at once in complete sets. Sell a complete set of S1,S2, and S3 in one big lot. Guarantee newFOLs who are late to the CMF train will want all of them so far; super easy sale there. Well, good luck. Didn't mean to rant on for so long. I wish I had a collection like yours. At the rate I'm going, it shouldn't be too long, lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted March 9, 2011 There's this show called "Pawn Stars" that runs on the History channel (TV) here in the US. It's actually one of my favorite shows, btw. These guys run a pawn shop and they make a living buying things off people and reselling them. They had an episode where a guy had a lifetime collection of Lone Ranger stuff. He had different types of stuff: clothes, photos, lunch pails, toys, and so on. That guy wanted to sell everything he had in one big lot. At the end, the pawn shop guys didn't make him any real offer. Their advice to the guy was to NOT sell in one big lot, but rather to break it up in sections. They pointed out that collectors willing to buy the lunch pails probably aren't so interested in another group of things, like the clothing. Those types of people just want vintage lunch pails, because that's their bag. So my advice would be to break things out by theme, basically. I'm guessing you don't want to have a million tiny ebay sales and a million trips to UPS to ship off box after box. And selling in one big lot is either impossible or you're selling at a big loss. But I've had my fair share of experience with eBay, and I recommend the following. Take a few sets, for example... let me look at your collection link there... okay perfect example. You collected a bit of Indiana Jones. Take all of your Indiana Jones, and make that one eBay lot. If you have the time, assemble them. And in either case take really good photos for the posting. I can't emphasize the photos enough. Imagine five Indiana Jones sets nicely laid out on a table, with their instruction books fanned out in front of them. Someone who has missed the Indiana Jones wave will see this, someone who only collects Indiana Jones, and they will be willing to buy the sets for more than MSRP, even used. I can all but guarantee it. One lot with 5 sets in it is much more attractive than to hunt down set after set over a period of time; buyers will appreciate this. Boom, there's a few thousand bricks out the door right there. Rinse and repeat for other themes. Group by theme and year. If you can post and say "here are all the city sets from 2003" or something like that, you will get collectors willing to buy it. Another tip, for the collectible minifigures, just sell those all at once in complete sets. Sell a complete set of S1,S2, and S3 in one big lot. Guarantee newFOLs who are late to the CMF train will want all of them so far; super easy sale there. Well, good luck. Didn't mean to rant on for so long. I wish I had a collection like yours. At the rate I'm going, it shouldn't be too long, lol. Great post. I really appreciate your wisdom! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hoeij Posted March 16, 2011 I'd probably be looking for at least $5,000 for everything, which I can't see anyone in this community having disposable. I do think there are people here that can drop that much in one bid. But I think the bigger issue is the one mentioned by Zeya, people bidding on this lot, when they determine their offer, they'll look mostly at the parts that they are interested in, and bid close to 0 for the parts they're not interested in. You probably know this, and that's why it doesn't feel good to sell, you know that if you sell everything in one go, then the price won't be great. You can sell large lots, but you have to split it up at least by genre. You'll probably also feel better if you sell gradually. Say you sell Cafe Corner. This frees up only a little bit of space of course, but now you have $400 in your pocket, maybe even more (I haven't looked at the price lately). That's pretty nice, and easy to get used to. That will then make it easier for you to sell more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RubeusHagrid Posted March 17, 2011 Some of that is even from this year like PQ and police battle pack, are you really sue you want to sell if you have only just bought this? I would be interested in some sets: 7090 Crossbow Attack 7093 Skeleton Tower 7094 King's Castle Siege 7624 Jungle Duel 4842 Hogwarts Castle 7660 Naboo N-1 Starfighter with Vulture Droid 7946 King's Castle 7947 Prison Tower Rescue 7948 Outpost Attack 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue 7950 Knight's Showdown 8683 Cheerleader 8684 Vampire 8896 Snake Canyon 10173 Holiday Train What would you want for each of those? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted March 20, 2011 FYI I'm getting a lot of responses about this. At the moment, I am only considering full sales for everything, and currently have one pending. Thanks for the interest! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flare Posted March 22, 2011 I PMed you, I'm interested in a few of the sets. Looking forward to your response Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RubeusHagrid Posted March 22, 2011 I PMed you, I'm interested in a few of the sets. Looking forward to your response Did you read his last post before posting? FYI I'm getting a lot of responses about this. At the moment, I am only considering full sales for everything, and currently have one pending. Thanks for the interest! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flare Posted March 26, 2011 Did you read his last post before posting? No, I actually read it after posting. And since we can't delete our own posts, I couldn't do anything about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted April 3, 2011 Looks like the deal I had pending has fallen through. Trying to garner some more interest in this as one big lot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brickmack Posted April 4, 2011 Well, I think you are insane. Hopefully your sure about this, a lot of times I feel guilty just selling a few parts, but an entire collection would be hard to get back/replace if you changed your mind. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RubeusHagrid Posted April 4, 2011 I would really like your Harry Potter sets and IJ Jungle Duel Tent (+Structure) I would pay you extra to find the parts for me. Let me know what can be done. Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drock Posted April 4, 2011 Yes, I absolutely think it's possible. I just don't think you'd be able to find the right buyer on Eurobricks (or any other such website). Maybe I'm naive to think this way, but most of us here are LEGO enthusiasts, and got into the hobby because we enjoy collecting, building, displaying or "playing". I also think that a lot of AFOLs have interests in only specific themes. I think what you really need is someone who makes a business out of LEGO (I picture the comic book guy from "The Simpsons"), and knows he could turn what he paid you into a large profit. A guy up the road from me has a LEGO resale shop like that. I just don't know where to find them online to advertise this sort of thing. Have you tried craigslist? I've seen other multiple-thousand dollar lots of LEGO for sale there (I saw one for $20,000 recently) - I don't know if those kinds of sales are actually made or not. But that would ensure that someone is local or willing to drive to you. Best wishes and Good luck selling. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeya Posted April 4, 2011 A guy up the road from me has a LEGO resale shop like that. Maybe you could PM him the shop's address. Then it's just a google search away from a phone number, and maybe a deal. If he's a big reseller, I'm sure he's no stranger to dealing with shipping, etc. He probably receives shipments like this all the time. I guess it would be an import since the OP's from Canada. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brett J Posted April 5, 2011 Looks like the deal I had pending has fallen through. Trying to garner some more interest in this as one big lot. Hey there, I just registered today because someone directed me to your posting. Can you send me a message, I'm near Toronto and could be interested. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maegnus Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) Hey there, I just registered today because someone directed me to your posting. Can you send me a message, I'm near Toronto and could be interested. Hi Brett, Thanks for your interest. I currently have a couple buyers who both seem interested. One is pretty close to me. I will keep you posted. Edited April 5, 2011 by Maegnus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
