How to sell a large collection?

[Lego Mike]

I love Lego, but I've got too much here, and at this stage of life, I'm just not into having large accumulations of stuff -- except books! I don't have a precise number, but I've got about 200,000+ parts and a few dozen sets I've built and taken apart. It's all stored away in plastic bins, carefully sorted by part type, etc., and it's just not doing me any good.

So it's gotta go.

There are several things I'm keeping, as I do still love Lego. I just don't love having all this stuff I'm never going to use. I was never much for MOCs, anyway.

But how in the world would I go about selling that volume of Lego? I don't want to open a BrickLink store; I'm a professor and writer, so I need MORE time, not less. Everything's ready to be hauled out, I just don't know how to find someone to do the hauling (after paying for it). I live in South Korea, too, and there's not a large secondary market.

If push comes to shove, I will put it out with the recycling. Again, I love this stuff, but there's no point keeping things around merely for the sake of possessing them. That's just not my style. Most of this stuff, I should never have bought in the first place! :D

[idlemarvel]

If you can collect the all the parts for the sets, ideally with box and instructions, you could sell those on ebay. With their global shipping program the world is your secondary market. The rest you may have to sell by weight. I recently did this with 6 crates of vintage lego pieces. Although I am in the UK some of my buyers were in Europe and North America. It was quite a satisfying activity, avoided unnecessary landfill and made me a few dollars.

[Lego Mike]

2 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

If you can collect the all the parts for the sets, ideally with box and instructions, you could sell those on ebay. With their global shipping program the world is your secondary market. The rest you may have to sell by weight. I recently did this with 6 crates of vintage lego pieces. Although I am in the UK some of my buyers were in Europe and North America. It was quite a satisfying activity, avoided unnecessary landfill and made me a few dollars.

It's not a bad idea, but I've already sorted the zillions of parts by type, and I also never keep the boxes. I can't imagine how much time it would take to go fishing for the parts for what is likely over 150 sets, at least.

I'm thinking more of a single sale of the whole lot.

[1963maniac]

I bet a Bricklink seller would love this! Bricklink shows 28 China, 12 Japan and 43 S. Korea stores. If you knew some of the set numbers you have that would help sell the whole lot. I would guess that one of those S. Korea stores would want the whole thing and may even come and get it from you. Then you would not even have to pack it up and ship it! 

[Knight3]

안녕하세요 :)

Could I ask you what themes you have collected? Like Technic, Star Wars, etc.

I'm also interested in this post, because I too have a big collection (around half of what the OP has; mostly technic and some Star Wars) - most of them are lying in my granny's home, so I have not yet decided what to do.

 

"If push comes to shove, I will put it out with the recycling" - if you ever decide to recycle - please give it to me! :)

[Peppermint_M]

If local second hand shops exist, you may be able to sell through them, or even just donate. I know that Thrift Stores exist all over the world and even if you get a minimal return, you are setting it somewhere that is not landfill or to be ground up into plant pots...

[Lego Mike]

On 10/19/2023 at 12:09 AM, 1963maniac said:

I bet a Bricklink seller would love this! Bricklink shows 28 China, 12 Japan and 43 S. Korea stores. If you knew some of the set numbers you have that would help sell the whole lot. I would guess that one of those S. Korea stores would want the whole thing and may even come and get it from you. Then you would not even have to pack it up and ship it! 

That's what I was thinking, though I'm not sure how to price something of that volume. I'll have to take another look and give it some thought.

 

On 10/19/2023 at 2:10 AM, Knight3 said:

안녕하세요 :)

Could I ask you what themes you have collected? Like Technic, Star Wars, etc.

헬로! As I recall, the parts I have are mostly from Lego City, the Lego movies (The Lego Movie 1 & 2, Ninjago, and Batman), Marvel and Classic. Basically, a lot of stuff from 2015-2020. The sets I built and didn't sort out are modular buildings, Creator Expert, Speed Champions, BrickHeadz, some Star Wars (a lot of Microfighters), and so on. It's almost too much to evaluate as a whole, hence my problem. :)

[dr_spock]

Maybe contact a local Korean LEGO User Group (LUG).  They may have members who like to buy LEGO in bulk.  The easy everything must go way is to price it by the kilogram, have them come and pick it up.  You don't get as much for it as compared to sorting it out into sets and pricing each accordingly. 

[Lego Mike]

13 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Maybe contact a local Korean LEGO User Group (LUG).  They may have members who like to buy LEGO in bulk.  The easy everything must go way is to price it by the kilogram, have them come and pick it up.  You don't get as much for it as compared to sorting it out into sets and pricing each accordingly. 

Right. That's what I'm leaning toward. I measured what I have to sell, and the bulk of it is 31kg, not counting the used sets that I didn't part out.

I also took a look at some of the BrickLink sellers I usually buy from to see if they might have any sets to trade for in addition to a considerably reduced price for the parts. I'm not looking to make a profit or a big score, so as long as I feel like I'm happy with the exchange, all's good. I'm going to donate any money I get, though, so more is better than less. Obviously.

Any suggestion for what a suitable price might be? There are many variables, of course, but just a rough guess. I've never had to think of buying/selling Lego by the kilogram. Ha ha.

[Rogue Redcoat]

20 hours ago, Lego Mike said:

Any suggestion for what a suitable price might be? There are many variables, of course, but just a rough guess. I've never had to think of buying/selling Lego by the kilogram. Ha ha.

If it's all real Lego (no fake brands) then anywhere from $20 to $40 depending on the type of parts.

This is based on what I see others are selling Lego for. 

Also, are there any Lego Pirates?

But please don't recycle it 

[Lego Mike]

On 10/22/2023 at 9:36 AM, Rogue Redcoat said:

If it's all real Lego (no fake brands) then anywhere from $20 to $40 depending on the type of parts.

Also, are there any Lego Pirates?

All real Lego here. From time to time, I have purchased the stray Oxford Blocks set, as they make interesting Korea-themed stuff, but I always kept them carefully and strictly quarantined. ;) There's a Chinese company making huge World Heritage Site sets, too, but I got rid of that stuff last year.

And alas, no, almost no Pirates stuff here. I'm more of a Classic Space fan myself. I may have a few pirate minifigures, but that's all.

Thanks for the price perspective!

[The_Lego_Fan]

Rebuild the old sets and sell them individually online  

[breadandbutter]

I agree rebuilding the sets is a good idea too. @Lego Mike you could also try selling them on the Bricklink Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2318028917/. 

Groups like that can reach a huge, targeted audience of Lego fans and resellers from all over the world. Once you're logged into Facebook, you should be able to request to join the group. Then you can make a post with photos and details of everything you have available. With nearly 25,000 members, I'm sure there will be plenty of interested buyers.

When I was in Seoul last year, my guide, Lee from GoWithGuide (https://gowithguide.com/korea/seoul/guides) also brought me to the huge Dongdaemun market. There were so many toy stores there selling Lego among other things. It might be worth Mike asking some of the owners if they'd be interested in buying the whole collection. They could probably sell it on easily.