Are you interested in selling on Bricklink / Brick Owl?

dagsbricks

I'm interested in creating a guide for those who want to sell on Bricklink or Brick Owl. Or maybe you do sell but want to ramp up your business. I don't want to just write what I think you want to hear. If you are interested in a very comprehensive guide, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Express your opinion at http://goo.gl/forms/43WHbbWkyI.

Thanks!

Brian

dagsbricks

It seems I should have linked to a little more info. This is not just a guide to selling on Bricklink. This would also include acquisition, sorting, organizing, shipping, and how to optimize your profits. http://www.dagsbricks.com/2015/01/lego-techniques-dags-bricks-tell-all.html

1974

There's a huge dif between BL and BO. One has a cornered the market completely, the other is irrelevant. Focus on what is important ;)

prevere

I think there's a lot of opportunity for sellers offering vintage parts from the 70s through the early 00s on Bricklink.com. So many sellers fight over parting out new stuff, while the cost of vintage parts continues to rise because supply continues to dwindle (aka classic space parts, decorated and specialty pieces too).

Certainly more time-consuming, but in some cases, I think people might be blown away for what certain parts sell for.

CCC

1974 said:

There's a huge dif between BL and BO. One has a cornered the market completely, the other is irrelevant. Focus on what is important ;)

BL isn't irrelevant :smiley:

More seriously, neither is BO. Quite a few sales are done through BO. I find buyers are different at both sites.

1974

You can read, BO is the one who is irrelevant. If you think otherwise, put up the numbers and we'll talk

CCC

Sure BL is the biggest by far. But that doesn't mean BO is irrelevant, not for the people that choose to sell and buy there. I occasionally sell on both, and find different things sell differently on both sites. For example, minifigs seem to go for better prices on BL, whereas large numbers of new parts seem to get better prices for me on BO. Maybe it is down to less competition there.

That said, new minifigs get even better prices on eBay, even after fees.

1974

The only thing I've heard about BO is that BL sellers say they make more money over there .. so it can't be cheaper to buy there, no?

eBay is made of silly, you can sell anything for just about anything

dagsbricks

1974 said:

You can read, BO is the one who is irrelevant. If you think otherwise, put up the numbers and we'll talk

I sell on both sites, the same inventory, same prices. My BO sales are fiercely competitive with my BL sales. Some months, even better. So far for January, I've made $626 on BO and $411 on BL. I even had a 10% off sale on BL to encourage more sales. That factor still doesn't account for the large difference. ;-)

CCC

1974 said:

The only thing I've heard about BO is that BL sellers say they make more money over there .. so it can't be cheaper to buy there, no?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends how long the buyer wants to spend comparing prices and part availability.

goshe7

1974 said:

The only thing I've heard about BO is that BL sellers say they make more money over there .. so it can't be cheaper to buy there, no?

That is an incorrect conclusion. For example, I have 10 items listed at the same price on both sites. Three sell on BL and 5 sell on BO. Assuming negligible differences in fees, I have "made more money" on BO.

dougts

More options are better for buyers and sellers. No reason to run down one and pump up the other, unless you have a stake in them

I'm glad both exist, competition is good for the end users in any case

goshe7

dagsbricks said:

It seems I should have linked to a little more info. This is not just a guide to selling on Bricklink. This would also include acquisition, sorting, organizing, shipping, and how to optimize your profits. http://www.dagsbricks.com/2015/01/lego-techniques-dags-bricks-tell-all.html

I missed that aspect on the survey. So back on topic, here are my thoughts.

About 6-12 months ago, a seller offered a free "tell-all" as they exited BL. You got what you paid for; interesting insight, some details, and some ideas.

If I am to purchase something, the "value" needs to be clear and readily applicable. For example, if you have tips on organizing inventories of 500k+ parts, it is of little use to me. Same if your organization is for 5k parts.

As part of that, and possibly as a general approach, I would be interested in a "purchase per topic" model. I like my inventory and don't want to change. But I am interested in your approaches to acquisition. I would rather buy a single topics until I'm familiar with the product.

dagsbricks

goshe7 said:

About 6-12 months ago, a seller offered a free "tell-all" as they exited BL. You got what you paid for; interesting insight, some details, and some ideas.

Yes and I either missed it or it was sadly lacking great information. Good, yes, but nothing I would have paid for.

goshe7 said:

I would rather buy a single topics until I'm familiar with the product.

Interesting idea.

I don't plan to make anybody pay for what they can already find on the interwebs. I'd be using my personal experience in many realms along with lots of gleaning from other sellers. Sadly the BL forum stuff past 6 months old has been aetherized. But I'll have hard data! Exact methods! Specific materials vendors! Even charts!

DadsAFOL

1974 said:

You can read, BO is the one who is irrelevant. If you think otherwise, put up the numbers and we'll talk

You mean numbers like these?
Statistics
Total Orders 3,535
Store Page Views 782,807
Active Carts 108

CCC

^ including stuff that BL doesn't give you - number of people with open carts in your store.