Cost-effectiveness of Bricklink

[Anatomist]

Long story short: 35 years old, new to Lego, decided to give it a shot creating some custom castle/pirate dioramas as the background image for some comic book/stories (for non-comercial usage). I like digital photography, quite decent with Photoshop, will work on some ideas...

With that said, now it is time for me to do the casting of my show: knights, peasants, heroes, princess, etc...

After checking Bricklink.com, I am under the impression that it might become quite costly to get everything I want, averaging US$2.00 per minifig (ok, there are some quite expensive ones, but over all, it's somewhere between 1.50 and 4.00 bucks each).

The question: What is the most cost effective away to acquire used (yet in good condition) minifigs without spending weekends digging through garage sales or blind bulk purchases? E-Bay, Bricklink or some secret source you might have?

On a side note, I have some Star Wars related minifigs that have no value for me. Where do I go to make them available for trade (I know, where ELSE can I go).

Thank you.

[Eilif]

Welcome to LEGO and EB, Anatomist!

Price of minifigs. Yep 1.50-4 bucks is pretty much what you will spend on minifigs at Bricklink. If most of them average around 2 bucks, you'll probably be getting off easy. Search mixed minifig lots on ebay and you might find some at lower prices.

As you have surmised, mixed lots and resale shops (there's an excelent article here) are a great way to acquire brick, but not so great for quickly acquiring alot of specific minifigs.

If you have star wars minifigs, selling them on ebay or bricklink may be a good way to bring in some money to acquire more minifigs. Once you meet the required number of posts, it may be feasible to post them here and arrange a trade. I've had several good experiences trading with EB'ers.

Consider other forums as well. Classic Castle may be a good source to acquire, but castle vigs are valued there, so that may affect your acquisition On the other hand, trading your SW figs at a Star-Wars site like From-Bricks-to-Bothans may get you more castle figs.

Good Luck

[Anatomist]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I had a chance to read your article before posting, great source (thank you again for the link).

I'll list my Star Wars minifigs on E-Bay and take advantage of the situation and sell some other old stuff there to bring the Lego cash in. :)

Once again, thank you for your contribution.

[Tom Bricks]

There's also this forum if you want to trade some of the figs you have and if others on this sight have the ones you need. About $2.00 if pretty good though so I would probably just use Bricklink.

[puddleglum]

If you are looking for specific, out of production minifigs, BrickLink is pretty much your only option. eBay is a possibility but you'd have to be patient, and spend a lot of time looking through auctions to find what you are looking for. There is a chance you will find a deal there, though. If the minifigs in current castle and pirate sets are useful to you, then you'll probably be well served to just buy some of those sets, since they will also come with acessories and parts that are good for castle and pirate building.

As for selling your old SW figs, I strongly recommend opening a BrickLink store, especially if you are going to be building up BrickLink feedback through purchases there anyways. I have made over $600 selling my old SW figs on BrickLink! You will get higher prices than on eBay, and the fees are substantially lower.

[Anatomist]

Thank you for the contributions. I believe the trade forum is the best fit for my needs since I have 1/2dozen SW minifigs, it might be better just to trade them than try to get money from it.

On a side note, after some basic research, the minifigs available on sets that are currently being sold are, in fact, more cost-effective if you buy the entire set! Thank you for the tip, I did some basic math and seems to be a reasonable investment (even if the parts that come in are not something you are interested at the moment, it is still a good deal).

Once again, thank you.