How's the MISB secondary market?

[desultor]

This weekend I was surprised to see Indy's Temple Escape 7623 on sale at the Downtown Disney LEGO store (Anaheim, CA), at just over $40 - down from $60. I had purchased a used copy earlier from a Bricklinker for the same (plus shipping), but was quite tempted to nab another for parts, and thought about selling off the minis (having just read Nannan's essay on selling minifigs). That essay reminded me of my amateur business venture years ago, buying cases of Magic: the Gathering cards, ripping the packs, and selling the rares. It seems that minifigs are the rares of LEGO.

My question though, is about selling unopened boxes after they've gone off the retail market. Nannan says "Don’t sell sets – they’re a hassle to ship and are also costly and space consuming. Shipping a large set outside the US will cost you nearly $50." Shipping doesn't concern me, as the buyer would pay that. Space isn't a problem. Up front cost seems to be the only issue, assuming MISB LEGO sets don't depreciate. On the contrary, they seem to spike in cost once they've gone off the market. Or do they?

For example, say I buy three Temple Escapes on sale at $40. I open one for me, and save the other two for 6 months or so. By then they'll at least be worth full retail price on Bricklink, and I could sell them at $60 each to make back my initial investment of $120. Hey presto, free LEGO!

Any thoughts?

[Glacarcheo]

Wait, I too have some questions, firstly, how do you make profit with that articles strategy? You just pay yourself back for the price of the sets! Also, what if I'm a Bionicle collector?

[Fumoffu]

I can't comment on the US or Bricklink but in New Zealand what you are planning to do will work. The NZ equivalent to ebay is Trademe and there's people selling MISB sets there all the time and you can usually find older sets going for more than their RRP. I saw someone pay NZ$70+ for the Sep Spider Droid set when that set retails for NZ$50 when it was available in the shops ... and it only got sold out in the shops since Christmas.

Anyway I'll like to thank you for your post otherwise I wouldn't know about Nannan's article. Its a very good read. Cheers.