Advice for selling off childhood collection

RuMontag

Hello!

I avidly collected Legos when I was growing up (mainly between 2008-2015), but in a year I will be going off to college, so I would like to sell off my collection. I have used Brickset to catalogue my sets, as well as for misc. Lego-related news for a while, so I figured that if anyone had any advice, they would be here! :P

I am looking to sell off the bulk of my collection. This consists of around 150 sets totalling 40k bricks. I also an NXT, and a sizeable set of power functions elements. Most other parts are loose in bins, unsorted, as I primarily MOC'd, especially towards the end of my time with the hobby. (If I decide to sell here, I will provide more detailed info)

My gut instinct was to try to sell the parts by the pound (i.e. on eBay, craigslist, etc.) However, the parts are all roughly 95%+ accounted for, even though the sets are not sorted: there were only a few occasions where bricks left my collection, so most sets would likely be fairly complete.

However, I do not feel I have the time available to sort/rebuild the collection to sell as individual sets.

Knowing this, would it be better to attempt the sell the entire collection in one go to a collector/interested member of this forum? Are there people willing to buy a lot of this size?

Has anyone else been in a situation similar to this one, or are there any suggestions for me as a seller? I am looking to pass on my collection in a way that would be easiest for me as a seller and most valuable to potential buyers. Any and all help is welcome!

Thank you!

datsunrobbie

If you have parents with an attic where you can stash your LEGO, my advice would be to keep it. I gave all my LEGO to cousins when I moved away years ago, and was really happy to get a bit of it back 30 years later. 

If you do sell, complete sets generally sell for more than bulk by the pound. The only way to really know what's going to sell is catalog what you've got and post in the Marketplace thread. Reading in that thread will give you insight about other people's selling experiences.

CCC

Someone has to sort it and it is a big job. So any offers you get are likely to be based on weight if unsorted. Even if you say what all 150 sets are, as a collection it won't sell for the value of those 150 sets if all mixed up.

ryjay

I like datsunrobbies's suggestion.  I think as is, the collection might be more valuable to you in the future then anyone else in the present.

Your in an interesting situation....what it sounds like to me, is you have is just a bunch of lego pieces, however to you, there are "sets" in those piles.  First, what do you value your collection at...and second, what do you value the top 10% of your collection at?  If you find value in that top ten %, then it may be worth taking the time to reassemble those sets to sell individually. The rest just sell off as lots by weight.   I know you said you dont have much time, but if you want to max out value, you might have to put in the time...otherwise I'm still hearing a large pile of lego pieces.

Good luck with college.....& give datsunrobbie's advice some serious thought...often, "rebuying" you childhood later in life can get real expensive! :)

MrJackson

I'm glad I never got rid of my old Lego. I spent the last couple years gradually reassembling the old collection and now that I have a Lego city in my basement a number of those old Town sets have had new life breathed into them. Plus, it was interesting comparing 25+ year old sets to the modern ones I'd see every day when I worked at Lego till a couple months ago. My son will have the best toy collection on the block. They never go bad and never go out of fashion or style. Like someone said, if there's room in you or your parents attic, don't simply toss them. Odds are you'll regret it.

daewoo

I had lots of Castle and Space when I was a kid.  They were all sold off by my parents in a garage sale after I left home for college.  I wasn't a happy camper when I found out after coming out of my dark age.

Mr_Cross

I still have all my LEGO from when I was a kid, mainly space, so glad my Mum didn't give it away or sell it. I think my Dad threw my MEGO Superman away at somepoint before University and I didn't discover until many years later. Still gutted about that. Try to keep what you can, or at the very least the sets that are special to you.

Astrobricks

Funny how every time this topic comes up we find out that Brickset is a great place to find out how to keep your LEGO collection, not so much get rid of it :-)

hoyatables

Don't get rid of it.  

vwong19

Your Indiana Jones and Lord of the Ring collections would be of interest to many collectors. If you could pull those out you could get some decent value from them assuming they are in good condition and complete with manuals. Your other sets are common and probably not worth as much so would I wouldn’t waste your time separating them out.

RuMontag

A late update: everything is sorted by color (which I always wanted to do!) but will not be sold any time soon...

In fact, I've actually messed around with MOC'ing (digitally) to relieve stress of late. I was a little late to the party with FORMA, but that hasn't stopped me from trying to Bricklink a kit, minus the exclusive parts... As I feared, I've been drawn back in and don't look like I'll be getting out any time soon. :)

I'm still considering separating out some of the more valuable stuff, but the more I think about it the less I want to do it. In other words: darn you, thank you.

SprinkleOtter

RuMontag said:

A late update: everything is sorted by color (which I always wanted to do!) but will not be sold any time soon...

In fact, I've actually messed around with MOC'ing (digitally) to relieve stress of late. I was a little late to the party with FORMA, but that hasn't stopped me from trying to Bricklink a kit, minus the exclusive parts... As I feared, I've been drawn back in and don't look like I'll be getting out any time soon. :)

I'm still considering separating out some of the more valuable stuff, but the more I think about it the less I want to do it. In other words: darn you, thank you.

That's what we're here for. :)

mdtvandy

As an AFOL, I think the thing I regret most is my dark age during college. As a lawyer, having the bulk of my LEGO collection--sorting, building, MOCing--has been a great way to relieve stress.

RuMontag

Four year update: I'm in my last year of college and back into the hobby...

I've set aside a number of sets with sentimental value that I want to hold onto and picked up 10497 as the capstone of my NCS collection—which has gotten me back into working with that theme and on and on... I still plan to separate most of the Hobbit/LotR and Indiana Jones sets since they don't interest me much and I know that they have some value. I'll be giving a portion of the remainder to a friend who runs a design studio for kids where he uses Lego as an instructional tool.

I'm glad that time got away from me that summer and that I held onto what I had :)

560Heliport

Welcome back! We'd like to see whatever you build!