New to parting out sets

KingAlanI

So I got a deal on 10 #30205 on BrickLink. I decided to only build one and use some parts from another, leaving me with eight.  I worried that the seller would take it badly if I just relisted them. So I opened them for pieces, and added a few #41104 parts that I didn't use in my build. I also did 4 #10692, which was tedious because of scale and because it was already late.

I checked prices on most parts and aimed to be equal to or slightly under the lowest price for that color in new condition.

I want more rare color bricks and plates for myself, so I kept those. I have plenty of common colors and special pieces, which is why I sold. The total list price minus would-be fees is about my purchase cost, so I'm basically taking my profit in the rare colors.

Is there a better way to list individual pieces? Is it tedious to fill orders for a bit of this and bit of that?

KingAlanI

Also, I figured that much of the value for #30205 would be in the minidoll, and I was right, but I was surprised that the hairpiece was listed for as much as the head, torso and legs added up to. (I listed the mini parts separately to appeal to builders who wanted to mix and match, and to keep the torsos in their little bags)

madforLEGO

KingAlanI said:

So I got a deal on 10 #30205 on BrickLink. I decided to only build one and use some parts from another, leaving me with eight.  I worried that the seller would take it badly if I just relisted them. So I opened them for pieces, and added a few #41104 parts that I didn't use in my build. I also did 4 #10692, which was tedious because of scale and because it was already late.

I checked prices on most parts and aimed to be equal to or slightly under the lowest price for that color in new condition.

I want more rare color bricks and plates for myself, so I kept those. I have plenty of common colors and special pieces, which is why I sold. The total list price minus would-be fees is about my purchase cost, so I'm basically taking my profit in the rare colors.

Is there a better way to list individual pieces? Is it tedious to fill orders for a bit of this and bit of that?

I would opine that if you find filling out small orders tedious then breaking up sets and being a bricklink store may not be for you.
However, I do believe you can do orders for a piece by a set number of pieces needing to be ordered. For example, if someone wants a 1x1 brick then they must buy 50 of them at a time.

MattsWhat

You can set the 'bulk' to do that ^
But you can part out sets, setting the quantity of the parts you are keeping to 0. That's the quickest way.
But, if you always keep the rare parts your store will struggle. The bits that are desirable to you are the bits that other people will probably bother to shop at your store for,  over all the other stores.  Which also highlights the price being a factor - pricing as the cheapest is not always the way forward. For example, you need 6x#92222 to build a bat pod. If I have 6 in my store I can charge more than if I have 1 and still get customers. Knowing the uses of these key parts is important to getting the prices right, as is having these rarer parts in your store so people start their orders with you.

KingAlanI

madforLEGO said:

I would opine that if you find filling out small orders tedious then breaking up sets and being a bricklink store may not be for you.
However, I do believe you can do orders for a piece by a set number of pieces needing to be ordered. For example, if someone wants a 1x1 brick then they must buy 50 of them at a time.

It doesn't sound that bad to me, I've done well with a few small sealed set orders and various non-LEGO sales elsewhere. I worried that it would be worse than I thought.

I was aware of that feature but don't seem to have enough of a particular kind of piece to call for it. Maybe I'll try that with small high quantity parts like 1x1 round plates.

MattsWhat said:

But you can part out sets, setting the quantity of the parts you are keeping to 0. That's the quickest way.

But, if you always keep the rare parts your store will struggle. The bits that are desirable to you are the bits that other people will probably bother to shop at your store for,  over all the other stores.  Which also highlights the price being a factor - pricing as the cheapest is not always the way forward. For example, you need 6x#92222 to build a bat pod. If I have 6 in my store I can charge more than if I have 1 and still get customers. Knowing the uses of these key parts is important to getting the prices right, as is having these rarer parts in your store so people start their orders with you.

I was afraid of that. I see this as a middle ground between selling or keeping it all. I did consider quantity available - I don't need to worry about price matching someone with 1 or 2 and I do need to be concerned with someone who has dozens or hundreds. More inventory would help to spread out shipping charges, one reason i added as much as I did and am looking for me.

MattsWhat

^don't get me wrong, you're doing the right thing. It just takes a little while to get going and have regular orders.
Using the part set option makes it hard to see the price of each part being charged by others, but you can set it to quantity average to give yourself a chance.
Finally, setting the price of all the parts you are selling at break even means you are almost certain to make a loss (you'll never sell every brick from a set). Even with keeping the bricks you want you might want to try to set them a little higher to get closer to break even. 

CCC

And there is nothing wrong if you sell on what you have bought. If you bought 10 and want to sell on 8, that is your decision and nothing to do with the original seller.

madforLEGO

Also I think to be really successful, or at least worth it to be having a BL store in the first place, you will want a large selection which I think will also entice folks to buy from you (I know such large inventories entice me), but in doing that it sometimes take a lot of capital, storage, and attention to detail IMO.

KingAlanI

I figured it would take some time to get started, apparently I'm on the right track of a close approximation of it.
Maybe I should've asked about the etiquette of reselling what I just bought before I actually opened the bags.

I wasn't setting prices to break even, I was doing that piece by piece and it happened to end up that way. I probably would be a decent amount above that.

I'm debating how much of my existing spare parts to sell. Most is Used anyway. Maybe some of my huge red, white and blue surplus can go.

KingAlanI

I've gotten a lot of small orders, for a couple pieces. If they want to pay the S&H, more power to them. I'm not losing money on it. I just got an order for nearly 200 pieces. I'm going to part out #30131 next.