Is buying sets on sale always a good investment?

happyskunky

When I go to Toys R Us, Walmart or Meijer  it seems like they always have lego sets on clearance.

Will Lego sets always increase in value?  Is it a good idea to buy clearance sets when you can?

I enjoy putting the sets together but I also would enjoy reselling to make some money to buy more sets I want to keep.

New to all this just curious.

monkyby87

In general, any Lego set on sale is worth it, in my opinion.  Not all sets have huge increases in value, but virtually all do increase to some extent.  Some take longer to appreciate, as some themes are more popular than others.  I really only buy sets that interest me though on clearance, since I don't resell my Lego sets.  To get a good feel for things, check out Ebay or similar sites and see what some older sets are going for. 

In my neck of the woods I've found Meijer to have the best clearances.  Wal-Mart is always hit or miss for me, and Toys R Us has such high markups to begin with their clearance sales aren't often all that great of value.

Bumblepants

Not always. Exhibit A: Construct-a-Zurg.

SumoLego

I think it also depends if you part sets out.  

Although I don't recall the details, there is a certain 'foolproof' formula based on a minimum per-piece cost that a Bricklinker parts guy I know uses when purchasing sets at clearance prices.

monkyby87

It really does depend, but most all Lego will increase in value a little, if nothing else because they aren't available anymore. 

Billybrown

I'm finding that in general I'm having to pass on the 33% discounts much more as their are sellers that have larger amounts of stock to resell, so I've ended up going for more 50% off hence reduced buying. Generally I make 80-100% gross within 12 Months of retirement, however galaxy squad was one line that was a duffer for me, bought a tonne @ 50% off and even then I still wait to get my margins. My turnover over time will reduce and in doing so my net profit, but that's the way I feel the re-selling market is going. Not sure if the bubble will burst entirely but it's certainly deflating a little for me personally. A lot of course does depend on the theme.

superstarbeejay

The galaxy squad sets have been a disappointment but only short term. I think they will do ok eventually but they were still heavily available reduced at Legoland last time I was there and have only recently disappeared from discount stores (forget which one) at half price. They didn't fly off the shelves at half price. However, if people stocked up looking for a short term hit then they were a massive failure.

monkyby87

Some sets do hang around for a while, and the wait can be long.  The LOTR Pirate Ship has been out of stores for a while now, but it's been everywhere for sale it seems, so any increase in price will be a long time coming.  That's just one example.  I have a spare sitting in box I'm trying to sell.  I don't really have a need for it, not even for parts.