Predictions on Discontinuing Sets and their Secondary Market Value

Pitfall69

I have two!!! Please, I didn't just see you suggest that. "Let it goo. Let it goo" Make it stooop!!! Make it stooop!!!

Ronyar

The trick is finding the Frozen merchandise (and not letting the little ones get their hands on it before you sell it!)

brickupdate

@Pitfall69‌ I have to say, I was never able to manage just "25 mins of my time used to order, list, pack and ship." on selling three sets. It always seemed to take forever to calculate exact shipping stuff, take and post photos, find the right boxes and packing, get it all safely boxed and labeled, and then waiting on line at the post office. Clearly, there are efficiencies that elude me (eg: buying boxes in bulk, printing mailing labels at home), but that prep time was always a huge factor with eBay for me.

doriansdad

Lego and Mattel must be scrambling big time to get the Frozen license.

FollowsClosely

Selling 101: Tip234: Purchase one set at a time. Open shipping box to verify contents and remove invoice. Reseal and store untill you ship.

Pitfall69

FollowsClosely said:

Selling 101: Tip234: Purchase one set at a time. Open shipping box to verify contents and remove invoice. Reseal and store untill you ship.

This.

All my boxes are in my garage as well as packing material. I use the same boxes my sets came in to ship out the sets I'm selling. I have never purchased a box to ship anything in.

As far as time, it doesn't take that long to take a photo or two with my cell phone and use a previously created template to list my item(s). Shipping is included in my Buy it Now price and I just guesstimate what it might be based on past shipments I'm usually spot on. My post Office is only 2 miles away and most of the time I don't have to wait in line.

BrickDancer

@doriansdad wouldn't Frozen already be part of the Friends Princess license? I'm expecting to see TLG release a set of her in the next wave to ride the popularity wave at the moment.

doriansdad

BrickDancer said:

@doriansdad wouldn't Frozen already be part of the Friends Princess license? I'm expecting to see TLG release a set of her in the next wave to ride the popularity wave at the moment.

No they are not princesses. Lego does not have the rights to any villains either. I have not heard who is getting the license for Frozen construction toys.

Ronyar

That's where you are off. They are BOTH princesses. Inflation is real. You get two princesses in one movie. ;)

prevere

Forget the people. I just want a Lego Olaf.

Ronyar

I'll be incredibly surprised if Lego doesn't release at least one Frozen set as soon as they can get one designed and into production. No idea how fast they can turn a set around like that, but they will be kicking themselves if they miss out on that sales opportunity.

cloaked7

FollowsClosely said:

Selling 101: Tip234: Purchase one set at a time. Open shipping box to verify contents and remove invoice. Reseal and store untill you ship.

That doesn't work with $10K+ of LEGOS.

Pitfall69

^What if you only have 5 UCS MF's ;)

pharmjod

I rarely receive boxes from LEGO orders that are worth reusing to ship. They almost all have some minor crushing or creasing that impacts the stability for me. I am afraid that the set would be damaged even if quite a bit of packing material went in the box. I purchase boxes periodically and it just becomes part of my costs. I fortunately have an AWESOME USPS driver that lets me just hang a sign on the mailbox anytime I have packages. She is happy with the business I give her. I very rarely ever go the Post Office. I have been experimenting with Fed Ex lately and have had good success there though. All told, I too am getting a little tired of reselling. I am somewhat in the middle. I probably have at or close to $20K worth of inventory, yet it is not something I do for a living. Mostly just as a fun hobby that funds itself and generates extra each year. It is becoming more work than fun though so I will probably try to be out by Christmas or close to it. I will then be very selective in what I pick up moving forward.

doriansdad

Ronyar said:

That's where you are off. They are BOTH princesses. Inflation is real. You get two princesses in one movie. ;)

No they are not official disney princesses hence do not fall under the princess license. Neither have been coronated. There is talk of anna going to be the crowned the 12th princess and elsa possible the 13th at the end of this year. Trust me I have had to swallow this convoluted garbage on the disney forums since November (the money was worth it tho lol).

FollowsClosely

cloaked7 said:

FollowsClosely said:

Selling 101: Tip234: Purchase one set at a time. Open shipping box to verify contents and remove invoice. Reseal and store untill you ship.

That doesn't work with $10K+ of LEGOS.

Does for my stock, and I have multiple $10Ks. Yes it takes up twice as much space, but I have plenty of space.

cloaked7

^ I suppose that's the difference, space. The uncharted frontier! Oops, wrong 'space'. he he Space is a premium for me. I have to make the most of what little I have.

Pitfall69

^Don't worry about that; most people don't have a lot of space.

Ronyar

No they are not official disney princesses hence do not fall under the princess license. Neither have been coronated. There is talk of anna going to be the crowned the 12th princess and elsa possible the 13th at the end of this year. Trust me I have had to swallow this convoluted garbage on the disney forums since November (the money was worth it tho lol).

Ah, I understand now. I was under the impression Disney would hurry up and add them ASAP so that they could include Anna and Elsa into every princess item they sell. With TLG's long design and production window, I have to guess they will have been given a proper coronation long before they could get a set out. No idea what their licensing is like though, but you'd have to think they would have negotiated for the entire princess line in case the theme was a hit. If not, then they won't be negotiating from a position of strength, as anyone can see the money to be made on Frozen merchandise.

doriansdad

Well if TLG is going to shell out the mammoth amount of cash Disney will ask for Frozen they are going to have to produce entire waves and not just 1 or 2 sets under the Princess theme. I have a feeling Mattel / Mega Bloks is in a much better position to produce a huge Frozen line as TLG already has way too many themes going on and a Frozen line would destroy their Friends and Princess line.

TheLoneTensor

Honestly, a MegaBloks Frozen line might just do the same thing.

cloaked7

TheLoneTensor said:

Honestly, a MegaBloks Frozen line might just do the same thing.

@TheLoneTensor What do you mean by 'the same thing'?

TheLoneTensor

Sorry, I meant that for Lego considering a Frozen line (and paying the license, etc.), they have to consider, do we pay for it and risk eating into Friends, or do we let Mega Bloks grab it and have them eat into Friends.

Of course, who knows what the current license is. With the existing Lego Disney lineup, maybe they t already have Frozen locked up. Don't forget, as of Sept last year, Disney had no idea that Frozen would be as phenomenally successful as it has been, they may have given the license away cheap as a toss in. Everyone is certainly playing catchup with the merch.

FollowsClosely

^^^^^^^^ I set aside about 350 sq feet of shelf space for lego storage. It is worth it to me as it not only convenient, but the sets are protected as well.

prevere

Speaking of Frozen... I thought about recreating this for my daughter, than I paid some bills and got back to real life.

#https://ideas.lego.com/projects/58608

Pitfall69

"The cold never bothered me anyway."

Shib

^^I want that set just to get all those trans blue parts to make a Superman's Fortress of solitude!

prevere

Luckily, my daughter has grown a bit tired of Frozen. Now we play Worms Armageddon with daddy instead. Yeah!

cheshirecat

Luckily, I don't have a daughter. (so have neither any idea nor interest in what are and aren't Disney princesses)

Pitfall69

^I have no interest either.

pharmjod

I don't know that not having a daughter is lucky... They are pretty special :)

klatu003

At our house, Superman hangs out in his Fortress of Sealatude

prevere

I will say that I've seen and heard about girls taking an interest in Super Heroes figs, much more than say, Star Wars. Small survey of course, but it's interesting.

FollowsClosely

My girls say the same thing about Super Heroes as they dis of Star Wars. Why are there hardly any women supers?

BrickDancer

@prevere I loved to play Worms! I laugh so hard when the Donkey get's pulled out lmao!

Farmer_John

FollowsClosely said:

My girls say the same thing about Super Heroes as they dis of Star Wars. Why are there hardly any women supers?

They did get the right to vote...what more do they want? ;-)

Pitfall69

Someone asked about the Imperial Shuttle earlier. I sold mine for $420 a few months ago with some damage. This is not a great time of year to start selling in the US. I don't expect much movement from around $400 until the fall.

graphite

^ what venue did you sell on? ebay?

Pitfall69

Yes, I'm sorry. I should have been more specific, but I keep getting booted off the forum, so I tried to make a quick comment.

I took a ton of pictures and sent the buyer an email telling them that it is very hard to find these in mint condition and he agreed.

graphite

^ Was just curious because I sold my last one on Bricklink for $380 about a month ago. So just wanted to compare.

hoyatables

Pitfall69 said:

Someone asked about the Imperial Shuttle earlier. I sold mine for $420 a few months ago with some damage. This is not a great time of year to start selling in the US. I don't expect much movement from around $400 until the fall.

That was me - thanks, Pitfall!

Yodalicious

prevere said:

Speaking of Frozen... I thought about recreating this for my daughter, than I paid some bills and got back to real life.

#https://ideas.lego.com/projects/58608

This was actually done by a friend of mine (my wedding photographer to be accurate). All that trans blue! He worked on it for quite some time as can be imagined.

CCC

Does it still come apart OK, or has he had any problem with cracking with all those polycarb-polycarb connections?

Yodalicious

^ Hasn't taken it apart yet. His daughter would be heartbroken.

prevere

Yodalicious said:

prevere said:

Speaking of Frozen... I thought about recreating this for my daughter, than I paid some bills and got back to real life.

#https://ideas.lego.com/projects/58608

This was actually done by a friend of mine (my wedding photographer to be accurate). All that trans blue! He worked on it for quite some time as can be imagined.

He did an amazing job.

tamamahm

TheLoneTensor said:

Sorry, I meant that for Lego considering a Frozen line (and paying the license, etc.), they have to consider, do we pay for it and risk eating into Friends, or do we let Mega Bloks grab it and have them eat into Friends.

Of course, who knows what the current license is. With the existing Lego Disney lineup, maybe they t already have Frozen locked up. Don't forget, as of Sept last year, Disney had no idea that Frozen would be as phenomenally successful as it has been, they may have given the license away cheap as a toss in. Everyone is certainly playing catchup with the merch.

It is a funny question in a way. I really do not think Lego would ask that question about a Minecraft, or any other of the umpteen lines they put out where they are really targeting the male market. "Hmm... Should we get that Minecraft license and risk eating into Star Wars, or do we let MegaBloks grab it? "

I guess the question is, is adding a new line targeted towards females any different than adding in any other line?
With a typical line added in, it provides
- New, new, new. Kids do gravitate to new ideas and themes, thus Lego needs to refresh.
- Options. Some kids have no interest in Chima or City or Super Heroes, but hey... Minecraft is pretty cool.

In both cases, the reasons for adding a theme is to provide something new or options to keep kids interested in Lego, so that they keep wanting more. They also target kids that may have no interest in the items available, but this new target area may draw in a new group of people.

I am not sure the female demographic is much different in that. Not every girl out there is going to be interested in Friends, but they might be interested in another line, or a new line may cause them to want 'more' than they typically have. Sure there is going to be some eating into the Friends line, but is that really any different than eating into the City line? I'm sure there are plenty of kids that opt out of City for other areas.

Adding in Princess, at least targets a slightly younger demographic than the Friends line. Where Lego misses, though, is they have yet to put any targeted line out for girls that want anything past Friends. Both my girls are getting a bit 'eh' on it, because they already have it. The newness factor is gone, and Lego is not bothering to replace it or add in anything that targets their demographic. They need a way to keep that new demographic they have created and get them interested in options once they are out of Friends, or once the newness of that wears off. Frozen is a no brainer to add, in my opinion, because there are plenty of kids that will gravitate to it, but still plenty of kids that will not want princess themed sets. I think also, with as much Frozen merchandise moves at the moment as well, it would also pull in new customers.

tamamahm

FollowsClosely said:

My girls say the same thing about Super Heroes as they dis of Star Wars. Why are there hardly any women supers?

It is very typical of Lego. My daughter spent some time looking for female characters in the Super Hero sets several weeks ago. It was a bit frustrating for her.

She is one that is moving out of Friends... Asylum was the only set in Super Hero that ended up interesting her, and much of that was due to Poison Ivy.

dougts

Adding a Frozen line makes no sense at this point. Adding a couple of Frozen sets to the next wave of the Princess line? Absolutely. Honestly, they should have had one in the first wave to coincide with the movie.

Yes I know Frozen merch is hot now, but the movie has been out on DVD/BR for a month or so already and the luster will begin to fade quickly as new movies come out and kids move on to the next big thing.

tamamahm

^ I will agree, @doubts.
Both Disney/Lego, or at least one of them, made a mistake to not have out merchandise for the new movie. I really never did understand why they did not put out a basic Frozen set with the first wave. That really is the entire idea of merchandising a movie.

dougts

tamamahm said:

Where Lego misses, though, is they have yet to put any targeted line out for girls that want anything past Friends.

Well, they launched Friends in Jan 2012, then launched Princess in Jan 2014, so they have doubled the number of "girl" themes with the mini-dolls. It makes sense to expand the options slowly and strategically versus over-expanding all in one shot.
I think opportunity to do a one and done Frozen theme was 6 months ago, not now, but I would expect to a set or two at some point in the Princess theme. Perhaps the next move for LEGO is to do one-and-done themes tied in with new movies, like they do on the "boy" side with PotC, LR, Hobbit, etc.