Lego as Investment ... Why not?

[DrJB]

I have another hobby where I 'care' for a saltwater fish tank. Some people are very much into this and collect the rarest (most expensive) corals. To offset some of the costs, some reef-hobyists have invested in setups to grow/propagate then sell their own corals.

When it comes to Lego, some 'invest' in rare sets to precisely offset their addiction, while others are in it for the pure thrill of resale/profit ... Nothing wrong with either but lately, and with the 41999, this has resulted in many speculators at one end and unhappy fans at the other.

Some now even talk about 'investing' in Lego ... and seeing the lisiting on eBay for 41999, this appears 'real', for many other sets as well.

What's your take on this? Again, the idea is not to alienate/divide, but rather just to share a multitude of opinions.

BTW, unlike corals, one cannot setup a propagation/growth tank for Lego(s) ...

Edited December 5, 2013 by DrJB

[dr_spock]

Check out this thread from May 2013 on investing: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83038

[LukeClarenceVan]

I think it's fair enough. I mean, I don't have the patience or capital to invest this way, but nothing wrong with offsetting some of your costs or even turning a profit from what you love.

[samlr]

Lego is not a bad placement and you can clearly earn money. An average of 200% on 3 years, choosing some specials sets, more if you have time and space to spare. Personnaly, I invest to pay my collection. I would not have been able to buy my 10179 MF without investing in Lego.

[stackables]

You can be a weirdo like me who just builds Star Wars sets and keeps the other themes I like sealed. I don't plan on selling my lego sets but just in case I have to, I would get most of my money back. Investing in toys is always a risky investment. There is always the possibility of a crash like what happened to baseball cards and comics. At least with legos, if the bottom falls out we can still have fun building the sets.

[fieldbricks]

If you're serious in Lego investing, check out www.brickpicker.com. Honestly, though, some members on Eurobricks dislike Lego investors as they simply buy Legos for the cash, and don't care about the values and characteristics of playing with Legos. I, personally think that this is a pretty good idea.

[WaysofSorting]

For a long time I was an avid hater of resellers and "investors." Arguably, I still am - but I'm also slowly leaning to the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.

I love the brick. If I can get two of a set, sell all the figures from one and end up breaking even (while still keeping one set of figs and two sets of pieces) - then why not? Where should my loyalty be? To myself, my family, and my wallet or to the plastic figures from set number 2?

Hardly is a return that clear cut - but there are cases where it works that way. And there's the "squatter" mentality, where you buy a large set (especially at clearance) Allow it to retire, then sit another year, then put it on market for triple its MSRP. The internet is a weird place. Somewhere, out there...somebody will buy it.

It takes an extra level of commitment and sacrifice on the front end (and a lot of patience in between) but I definitely see the benefit of doing this, if for no other reason than to offset and fund my main hobby. I have a friend who is currently doing this with Collectible Card Games. It took him six months of hundreds of essentially "microtransaction sales" but he's saved up enough to start an LLC, get a small inventory, and work with a distributor. He makes zero money, and all profits are going right back into the slowly, slowly growing business. But...a little over time adds up. I have a sizable chunk of funds ready for the holiday season...part of me wants to try an experiment where all I buy are sets to resell and see how well I do by next summer...

[Herky]

it has worked for all the folks who are selling cafe corner, green grocer, market street and many more at huge markups from the original purchase price

odd though, 1970's and 1980's era lego sets are not really that expensive but these 21st century sets are in some cases through the roof...just check out ebay for the statue of liberty or eiffel tower or the carousel...folks are tripling their money easily and the market to buy is there, key is finding the right sets to stock and invest in

[BrickG]

Lego is pretty safe and it's pretty easy to guess which sets will do well. For the first time in my life I have the capital but I still lack the patience. Takes freakin' years to see a good turnaround. I'm not a "years" kind of guy :P.

Then there's the issue of actually SELLING them. To sell enough to make a good amount of $$$ you'd end up working a pretty good amount of time. To sell enough to make business level $$$ you're basically going to full time it like any other job. My current job takes all my time.

[large88]

It does not have to take years to make profit on a set. I keep a close eye on all the Amazons here in Europe. And by doing so I have been able to double my money on several sets. The trick is to buy a set, in an other country via Amazon, that is simply more expensive here.

Mostly I use sets that will sell for about 50 euros here, so I want to buy them for about 25 to 30 euros on one of the many Amazons in Europe. You have to keep a really close eye on the prices because the sales are very short some times.

I did this with the Dolphin Cruiser from Friends. I bought a bunch for 24 euros per set on Amazon in Italy and sold all of them here for 50 euros per set within a week. This is an extreme example but it works great. Sometimes it takes about 1 to 2 months to sell everything but there is still a quick profit.

And don't forget that it is better to have profit now than to wait 2 to 4 years for a set to retire. You might be able to make a bigger profit in that period of time by quickly buying and selling lower priced sets.

[Off the wall]

Here's another opinion..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2013/10/03/collecting-for-hobby-and-investment/

Edited December 5, 2013 by Off the wall

[naf]

Be careful with Lego as an investment, once it starts becoming a job it might diminish the fun that the brick brings you. I thought about investing a bit in order to offset the costs of my collection, but ultimately decided against it. First, it takes a long time for sets to appreciate to make this a worthwhile endeavor. As in a few years after the set retires. That's a lot of money to tie up for that amount of time, and lots of space needed to store all your Lego. Plus, it seems like everyone is jumping in the Lego bandwagon, hoarding sets they think will net them money. Lots of inventory in the aftermarket = more competition = lower aftermarket prices.

I might rethink investing in a few of the most exclusive sets like Ewok Village or Orthanc when it looks like they'll retire, as they seem to climb in price quite a bit compared to other sets. But other than that, I just budget my money and hunt for the best deals instead of investing.

Edited December 5, 2013 by naf