royalfan

That’s completely fair — I think most people here would probably say the same. I’m not really looking at it as “investing” either. I buy sets because I like them, and I’m not trying to optimise for returns or anything like that. What I found though is that once your collection gets a bit larger, it becomes surprisingly hard to keep a clear picture of what’s going on — not just the value, but things like how it’s changed over time, or which sets are actually moving vs just sitting there. Using BrickLink for checking prices is exactly what I was doing as well. The part I found tricky was keeping that consistent over time without it turning into a bit of a spreadsheet exercise. So it’s less about “is this a good investment?” and more just: having a consistent reference point seeing how things evolve over time and not having to manually keep everything up to date But yeah, I completely get the “just enjoy the sets” side — that’s definitely the main thing. That’s really helpful — and honestly very familiar. What you described is pretty much exactly the path I went down as well: Brickset for the overall picture, then Excel to fill in all the gaps — especially for things like BrickLink orders, Pick-a-Brick, and the odd purchases that don’t fit neatly anywhere else. It does work, but like you said, it gradually turns into something you have to maintain rather than something that just gives you a quick overview. The time aspect you mentioned is actually a big part of why I started building something for myself. Not to change the approach, but to try and keep the same kind of visibility without having to keep everything updated manually. Completely get what you mean about interests shifting as well — LEGO has a way of expanding into all sorts of directions 🙂 Really appreciate you sharing how you approached it — it’s useful to see how others have handled the same problem over a longer time horizon.

That makes sense — I think that’s probably how most people approach it. I’m the same in terms of only buying sets I actually like. The value side only really became interesting for me once I started wondering what my collection looked like as a whole over time, rather than set by set. BrickLink is definitely the best reference I’ve found as well — especially when you look at sold prices rather than listings. I’m not really trying to treat it like an investment either, more just getting a clearer picture of what’s going on in the background. That’s a great perspective — and honestly, I think that’s what makes LEGO different from most other things. For me, the interest in value only came much later, and not in a “what can I sell this for” way, but more out of curiosity. After a while I realised I had no real sense of what my collection looked like as a whole — especially over time. But I completely agree with you — the enjoyment side is the main thing. If anything, I’ve found that having a clearer picture just adds a bit of context in the background, rather than changing how I approach it. And I think it’s perfectly fine for people to treat it in completely different ways — that’s part of what makes the hobby interesting.

I’ve been trying to get a clearer picture of how my collection is actually performing over time, and I’ve found spreadsheets pretty limiting. They’re fine for tracking purchase price, but once you try to: - keep values consistent - calculate ROI properly - track changes over time …it starts to get messy quickly. Another issue I ran into is that a lot of price references are based on listings rather than actual sold prices, which doesn’t always reflect reality. And being based outside the US, I also found constantly converting values into my local currency pretty tedious. Curious how others here are handling this? Are you using spreadsheets, any specific tools, or just tracking things more casually? — I ended up building a simple tool for myself to solve this (mainly using BrickLink sold data and keeping everything in one currency), but I’m more interested in how others are approaching it.

Hi everyone, I’ve been working on a LEGO collection tracking tool over the past few months and thought this might be a good place to get some feedback from fellow collectors. It’s called BrickLedger, and the goal is to provide a clearer picture of your collection from a financial perspective: track what you’ve paid see current market value (based on BrickLink sold listings) understand how your collection is performing over time I’ve tried to prioritise accuracy and transparency — for example, ROI is based strictly on recorded purchase prices, and values are grounded in recent sales rather than estimates. I’ve also recently added CSV import for those already maintaining their collection in spreadsheets. I’m currently running a small beta and would really appreciate any feedback, particularly around: whether the numbers feel trustworthy anything confusing in the interface whether this is useful for how you track your collection If anyone would like to try it: 👉 https://brickledger.app The app is currently behind a login, but I’m happy to provide access — feel free to message me or email support@brickledger.app. Thanks in advance. BrickLedger