32 replies to this topic

[Eskallon]

Hiya,

So theres been an issue concerning me over the last few days, and its mainly concerning the UCS sets but it can span all Lego products. The issue of buying to resell. As we all know theres always been a huge resell value in the Star Wars sets. Older sets can get up to 10x as much as the original price and larger UCS scale sets manage to sell for often triple or higher once they have been taken off the market.

So my question I pose to you is; Do you buy sets to resell at a later date?

If not/so whats your opinion on this, do you agree with the massive increases in price after the discontinuation?

Yours
Eskallon

[LEGOman273]

Could a mod please move this?

[Eskallon]

Legoman273, on 11 January 2012 - 06:07 PM, said:

Could a mod please move this?

Why, I want to target it at Star Wars fans since thats where this issue happens most. It could be in general discussion but its still more targeted at SW fans.

[LEGOman273]

Because the topic is not specifically SW. If moved, general disscusion of this topic would be allowed. Right now, such disscusion would be off topic.

[Mr Man]

Eskallon, on 11 January 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

So my question I pose to you is; Do you buy sets to resell at a later date?
If not/so whats your opinion on this, do you agree with the massive increases in price after the discontinuation?
Yours
Eskallon

At the moment I only buy sets in my price range (Battle of Naboo, BP's etc), but someday when I get some more disposable income I want to 'Catch 'em all' so I'm grateful to people who sell them on after their run is over but I really hate paying over the odds for them, If I did sell for the money I would only charge a modern inflation on the sets.

[Anio]

Controversial topic spotted ! :p

[sharky]

I normally frown upon buying and reselling of toys when the toys are still in the regular retail market stream.  However, in the case of Lego the distribution is so good that I see no harm as one is almost always able to get the current product via many different stores at the Regular Retail Price.  Sometimes I really wonder about the mindset of someone who would buy something overpriced on ebay when they can still order it from many other sources online.  When a product is discontinued by Lego the only option is the secondary market, and the market dictates the price.  Supply and demand and all that sort of thing.  If no one bought to resell there wouldn't be the ability to get old sets still sealed as if they were new.

Personally, I don't buy strictly to resell.  Mostly because it would be like a drug dealer who is addicted to the product he is selling.   I find it hard to part with it.

Edited by sharky, 11 January 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[Ritz Brick]

While I never have sold any of my sets, I do take in the factor of "what's this going to be worth in 5 years" when buying a set I may not totally enjoy. My UCS Falcon is now around 1,000 on Bricklink, while I'd never sell it (at least for a really long time) I do like how much it's gone up.

[StoutFiles]

Anio, on 11 January 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

Controversial topic spotted ! :p

I don't know why we're not allowed to have controversial topics as long as it has something to do with LSW.  It's much more entertaining than "I want this set, and this set, and this set" as well as "they should make this set with 10 figures and it cost $20."

Speaking of which, what happened to the "Is Anakin good/evil topic?  Sometimes this forum is a killjoy on anything slightly off base, as soon as a thread gets moved it dies because no one visits the other areas.

[Anio]

StoutFiles, on 11 January 2012 - 08:13 PM, said:

I don't know why we're not allowed to have controversial topics as long as it has something to do with LSW.  It's much more entertaining than "I want this set, and this set, and this set" as well as "they should make this set with 10 figures and it cost $20."

Oh, you get me wrong.
I totally agree with you.

But still, this is going to be a controversial topic.  

[KimT]

Legoman273, on 11 January 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

Because the topic is not specifically SW. If moved, general disscusion of this topic would be allowed. Right now, such disscusion would be off topic.

How about you leave such decisions to the staff?
I'll allow this, as long as it sticks to LEGO Star Wars sets and merchandise.

Personally I've done plenty of buying and reselling.
I made quite a lot of money on White Boba Fetts, the Visual Dictionary and some Star Wars sets found on sale.
It's been getting difficult lately though, as the Financial Crisis has forced several toystores to put sets on sale often.
And that's at 30-50% off which makes reselling nearly impossible.

[sharky]

Ritz Brick, on 11 January 2012 - 08:03 PM, said:

While I never have sold any of my sets, I do take in the factor of "what's this going to be worth in 5 years" when buying a set I may not totally enjoy. My UCS Falcon is now around 1,000 on Bricklink, while I'd never sell it (at least for a really long time) I do like how much it's gone up.

I've regretted selling every set I've sold which fortunately isn't a lot.  Sometimes with toys one has to draw the line somewhere, get rid of the old, and make way for the new.  But, no matter what, keep you Lego.  

[Hollander]

If I remember correctly we already had a thread for this kind of discussion.

[Larrynautik]

I buy some sets for selling them later with profit.

Among the rules I've chosen to apply, I will never sell the set 25% above its Shop@home retail price. This permits to someone that starts collecting them to find them for a reasonable price. And this first rule implies a second one ; only sell them to well-known AFOLs. So, I try to find sets on sales, but I only buy the ones that interest myself too, so I buy two of them finally.

But most of the sets I buy are for me only, though. I buy for myself before buying for selling later. It is not a priority, and I will never sell a set from my personnal collection.

[JackJonespaw]

I never sell my sets. Maybe when I get more money, I'll buy more than one 10188, to sell.

[Brickadeer]

Eskallon, on 11 January 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

So my question I pose to you is; Do you buy sets to resell at a later date?

I generally do. But the point is that I buy (a) sets that I like (b) for a price that I find reasonable and © that I'm willing to keep even if I should not be able to sell them, simply because of (a).

Quote

If not/so whats your opinion on this, do you agree with the massive increases in price after the discontinuation?

Let's take the famous set 10179 for example. I didn't have the money to buy one when it was available for a reasonable price (more precisely, I decided to spend the money differently), and right now I'm not willing to pay the price that is demanded by traders. These are the two reasons why I don't own set 10179, and under the current circumstances I'm not willing to change this fact. Whether I agree to certain price increases or not is besides the point, simply because I'm not in the capacity of influencing them.

You might ask the question if I'm not bothered by the fact that I don't own one, and the question is "no". The point is that if I had one this would imediately mean that I had spent my money differently - something I didn't want - or to pay a price for it that I find unreasonable - something I didn't and still don't want to do.

Edited by Brickadeer, 11 January 2012 - 11:01 PM.

[lego envy]

I buy for myself to keep , but if i had to i would sell to make a profit and buy it again in the future if the price was right..

[legomonk]

I dont resale really but I do trade. I like getting pollybags and noticed the jumped in price once they became hard to find. So I picked up some here and there and found I could trade them to other easily. I am happy people do it or I would have never gotten my favorite set 7166 imperial shuttle. that set was out during my dark ages and now I have one, thanks to bricklink.

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Eskallon, on 11 January 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

So my question I pose to you is; Do you buy sets to resell at a later date?

If not/so whats your opinion on this, do you agree with the massive increases in price after the discontinuation?

First of all, I've made it a rule to never buy a set at full price. However I will break my rule under two circumstances. 1) Prior to the Holidays of 2011, I bought the new LEGO SW BPs (plus the sets were only $10.99) when they were released right before Christmas as a gift to my son. I wanted him to have something that was just released and that his friends wouldn't have. That trend was broken this past year with the different release date. 2) The set is an exclusive (specifically the 5 digit sets) that I won't find at retail stores and the only way for me to get it is at a LEGO store. Even then I try to hold out for sale or a LEGO promo like "May the 4th" and/or free shipping.

I always buy sets on sale for myself and my kids. When sets go on sale, I buy extras to sell off the minifigs and increase the amount of bricks that my family can build from. I will also buy sets that are 50% off to sell or trade at a later date to get sets I really want that I could not get otherwise. My family has only been collecting LEGO heavily for about 3 years now.

Personally I don't really care about the massive increases in price because it's simple supply and demand. If there is demand for a set after LEGO discontinues a set or line, then people who want the sets bad enough will pay for them. Every person has their own threshold on what they're willing to pay for specific sets.

As already stated, if people didn't buy sets to resell, I wouldn't have been able to get older sets that I missed out on.

Edited by Sir_Basil_Ashton, 12 January 2012 - 02:07 AM.

[StoutFiles]

I currently have never resold a set.  I keep the manuals and boxes though in case I ever needed to sell them for financial reasons, you never know what will happen.

As for selling for a profit, that's an interesting game.  You'd need to find sales, and they'd need to be on high reward sets that are about to go out of print.  For instance, getting the Death Star on sale now would be a steal since it will likely command a high price when it's off the market.  You'd need to figure in shipping costs, and the time your money is waiting on a resell instead of out there working for you in other investments.

[ISDIronClaw]

I do not buy with the intent to resell, but sometimes it does happen. I sold my 10030 Star Destroyer on E Bay for a nice profit, only because I needed more money to fund a project. I would have kept it if it was in the bley color verses the older gray. I do have doubles, triples, and quadruples of certain sets, but my main intent is to use them for projects. Now with that being said, if I ever tire of any or all of my Star Wars Lego collection at least I know I can make a tidy sum off of it. I think one should buy to enjoy the set, not just to turn around and resell it once it gets discontinued. I do appreicate the people who do buy and sell in bulk and from that I am pertaining to Brinklink. Thank the maker for Bricklink.

[Ritz Brick]

I just think buying 10+ of a set for the purpose of selling them takes away the fun of it. I'm sure a kid would;ve loved to get an Emerald Night (not knowing they were soon out of stock) instead of some guy hoarding 30.

[Brickmamba]

Well I rarely go out and purchase with the intention of reselling in mind, at times sales like 3 for 2 is a good time to pick up a set at a good discount and if the other 2 sets are not needed then i will throw em back in the market.

As some people has said people that do resell give others a great opportunity (coming out of dark ages) to pick up a set that is retired that they have missed out, if it wasn't for resellers i would have never picked up great sets like the sand-crawler and jabba's sail barge to name a couple  

[mortesv]

I don't buy to to resell. However, I appreciate that some people do. Most of my UCS collection is bought from others. The people I bought from has cared for the sets I bought - and perhaps some of that care was due to better be able to resell :)

I do think that some prices are a bit hysterical - the 10129 is often much more expensive per brick that the 10179 - but in the end it only reflects that the sets has become collectors' items. Thus they will probably continue to increase in value - and even though I do not have any intend of selling any of my LEGO at the moment, I might do it someday - when I can make a million selling my sole.

More importantly - when buying these very expensive sets, the most crucial argument when discussing the purchase with your spouse is that it is an investment and that it will someday pay for the kids' college tuition

So no matter how ridiculous the price of a set is, one day you'll probably ask an even more crazy price for it - whether you like it not :)

[Orange Leader]

Ritz Brick, on 12 January 2012 - 07:18 AM, said:

I just think buying 10+ of a set for the purpose of selling them takes away the fun of it. I'm sure a kid would;ve loved to get an Emerald Night (not knowing they were soon out of stock) instead of some guy hoarding 30.

This. Scalping is a bad thing in general, even that there is plenty of LEGO. It's often used with hard to get Star Wars action figures as well.
I don't sell my opened and build LEGO sets unless I'm in financial trouble.