Buying to resell

[Lobot]

I enjoy building my Lego sets far too much to not open them, so it’s not normally an issue for me! That said, a few times I’ve purchased small SW sets and sold the minifigures and/or unwanted parts and kept the rest for my spares box. It’s been really fun and has been a good way of adding to my collection without spending too much.

I don’t have a problem with anyone trading Lego; most sets are available for a decent time-span so there should be enough available for everyone who wants them at the 'retail' stage. It’s similar to the stock market, you invest in the hope that your money will grow but there’s a distinct possibility that it could go down as well! Same with Lego; there aren’t any guarantees...the market may drop at some point, so if anyone wants to invest in Lego UCS ‘futures’ it’s up to them.

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Different people (both children and adults) start on LEGO at different ages. Personally I really wished I would have started sooner. Right now I'm trying to build up the family collection so that my kids have a nice inventory to make their own creations with. I've also gotten all of my nephews, nieces and a lot of friend's children into Lego. They all hate me of course because it's an expensive hobby.

I'm very grateful for resellers because I've been able to get my kids older (discontinued) sets and certain minifigs that they want. The majority of the older sets I purchase are used but I've been fortunate with getting sets that are in really good condition.

[Rogue Angel]

Star Wars Legos pose a very unique situation. They are a commodity that practically always increases in value given time, and you can usually sell them at any time if you want. This makes for a very dangerous situation for my wallet. For me there are three tiers:

Tier 1 sets, which I will be buying - it's just a matter of finding a good deal, or sometimes I just buy the first one I see.

Tier 2 sets, which have figures I want or are cool sets, but I'm not sure I'd want to spend the money on them (Often time it will be a $40-$50 sets that I want 1 or 2 $10 figs from, so If I can find it for $25 or $30...)

Tier 3 sets, which I don't want, and would only buy at 75% off for parts.

The danger for me is that I can buy Tier 2 sets on sale, with the knowledge that I can always resell them if I want. This also happens with Tier 1 Battlepacks (You can never have enough Snowies or Troopers, right?)

What's even worse is that they still usually retain 75-90% of their value after their opened, so there's no huge incentive to keep them sealed like there would be if I collected action figures.

I can't tell you how many sets I've purchased thinking "I probably won't keep it, I'll just resell it" and it ends up in my collection. I did sell off my Episode 3 clones from the BPs a couple of years ago and made double what I paid for them, since I decided I was never going to MOC episode III.

Edited January 14, 2012 by rogueang

[Eskallon]

Thanks for all the input guys, its been really interesting to see your views on this issue.

I have been thinking about making an investment and purchasing the Super Star Destroyer, keeping it in MINT condition and then selling it when I need a bit of cash. I might wait till a sale hits it and I can get some kind of discount on it. My only issue is temptation since it wont be possible for me to invest in two.

[legolandia]

Thanks for all the input guys, its been really interesting to see your views on this issue.

I have been thinking about making an investment and purchasing the Super Star Destroyer, keeping it in MINT condition and then selling it when I need a bit of cash. I might wait till a sale hits it and I can get some kind of discount on it. My only issue is temptation since it wont be possible for me to invest in two.

The SSD does certainly have a high likelihood of making good profit on in the future. But that is not the case for all LSW sets. I personally got the 8039, 6211, and 7666 recently for either the same amount they were sold for or even less. And these sets have been discontinued for a while.

[Lobot]

Thanks for all the input guys, its been really interesting to see your views on this issue.

I have been thinking about making an investment and purchasing the Super Star Destroyer, keeping it in MINT condition and then selling it when I need a bit of cash. I might wait till a sale hits it and I can get some kind of discount on it. My only issue is temptation since it wont be possible for me to invest in two.

I think that the Executor would be a good choice if you’re looking for a longterm investment, although as I said before nothing is certain! Most really sought after (and high value) sets seem to be large, OT, UCS, and have limited availability or include rare minifigures. This set is expensive, and I don’t expect that it will ever sell in the quantities of the current Death Star, for example, so it could be quite popular in 5 years.... I might grab another one if it ever goes on sale, as it’s probably a more sensible investment than the stock market at the moment!

[Eskallon]

Yes I see what you mean, the UCS sets are the ones which are almost guaranteed to sell for higher prices. I guess if you were to wait long enough so would most other sets.

I would have thought 7666 would have sold instantly for a high price, but I guess anyone who wants this set would opt of the UCS version.

[mutley777]

I buy quite a bit of lego and while it is never intentionally bought for resale from time to time I do part with some sets. My reasoning is that I would rather buy mutipules of a set on sale now than pay over the odds at a later date if I do want another. This way I am never out of pocket as I always have the resale chanels for sets I don't want later.