Selling sets, some advice please

John1958

Hi all

My 12 year old son has decided that he wants to sell his Lego models that he has made, and he has made a lot. We kept the instruction booklets, and that was more in case they ever got damaged than anything else, but we didn't keep the boxes.

Currently we are making sure that they are all 100% complete and I am photographing each set along with the mini-figures that go with them plus the instruction books.

Do you think this is the best way forward towards helping him sell them? He has all sorts of sets from lots of the differing franchises. I guess we will then have to break each set down into it's constituent parts, to then send them to the buyer?

So, really I am after some help/advice from the experts please.

Where is the best place to advertise them? Somewhere that will accept photo's too?

IF, and we don't have this problem yet, but if any sets are missing any parts are they sets still saleable?

Would we be better off breaking all sets down into one massive box and just selling it as a box of X thousand Lego bricks. Basically.......HELP!!!!!

Mr_Cross

Note down the numbers from the sets (and names of the sets if you can) list them in the marketplace here. Give an idea of condition, or use your photos (preferrably edited down to about 400px wide). Take a look on Bricklink here where you can find prices for sold items over the last six months, if you make your prices lower than the lowest average price there the sets will have the best chance of selling.
State postage costs too.
DO NOT BREAK DOWN INTO BULK BOXES!

Good luck.

SumoLego

You'll make far less selling 'bulk' LEGO.  But you may also want to do other things with your time.  If you can readily identify sets, check the relative prices of those sets, and start with those sets.

I'm sure there's a happy medium between maximizing your time in differentiating and selling sets, and being done with the project and letting someone else do it.

aduk

Good advice from @Mr_Cross.
Under no circumstances break them down.
If they don’t sell on here you could try eBay ( look out for special deal days with reduced fees for selling). Completed sets from popular themes - e.g Harry Potter, Star Wars and modular buildings to name a few will all sell well on eBay or here. If selling in a large collection at the same time you may find a local buyer willing to collect. I got my first job lot of Lego sets in Liverpool (about 5 years ago) and I have never stopped since then.😀

ryjay

Always remember there is no one "best" way to do this.  The question I always ask is, what are you trying to get out from all this? Recover cost, make a profit, clean up clutter, teaching moment, or as for some, just sell for fun. 

The route I always would go is ebay.  But the selling method will change based upon my objective.  BTW, ebay accepts lotsa pictures per listing as you asked.

brianoblivion

I would say eBay is definitely the best way to go unless you're unfamiliar with it and don't have a membership. New sellers usually don't do as well because they haven't built up any feedback and buyers can be wary of dealing with first time sellers for several different reasons. I would research prices before going through the tedium of breaking down individual sets. Some sets haven't appreciated or even retained their value and putting in the work of counting and sorting pieces and making sure nothing is missing for a $10 ninjago set might not be the best use of your time. Especially since you no longer have the original boxes which lowers the overall value of each set. But of course, that's your decision. I would also strongly advise not to mass everything into one bulk lot.

If you have missing pieces the sets are still viable, they're just not worth as much. You could look to order replacement parts from bricklink but depending on what's missing and the overall value of the set in question (when complete) this may not be financially worthwhile. Sorry there are no easy answers to any of this. You could always have a yard sale. Maybe a collector will take everything off your hands in one go? Regardless, best of luck with everything.

colay

Having been someone who has wanted lots of pieces and bought 'collections' broken down from here, it is hard to say what is best. IMO, you need to work out what is best for you/your son. If maximising sale price is key, and time is no issue, then sell as individual sets, but if a person wants more than one, you may get offers for multiples that work out less per set. If you want all gone in a fewer visitors to your home or trips to the post office, then listing down all sets and being open to an offer for the lot may be the quickest and easiest way, but get you less money. You need to equate what your time means to you as a monetary value. If you are bagging individual items between now and Xmas, but have all the time in the world to do so, then go for that. If you need say £200 by the end of next month as he wants to buy a PS4 for his birthday, then bulk may be the way to go. Having sold, not just Lego online via eBay etc, I forgot how listing lots of items for sale at once had my head spinning on who was buying what and multiple queries coming on each item etc.

If parts are missing, and you are listing as individual sets, list the missing pieces. Ive bought things where key parts have been missing and not been informed and the BL prices for a part were half the price of the set in some cases.

HTH

John1958

Thanks for all your comments guys, it really is hard trying to decide which way to go for the best outcome!!!  The worst part is to actually get a 12 year old to get "stuck into" what is essentially HIS plan!!!!

natro220

A couple additional pieces of advice:

Bricklink.com will be your best friend. They have inventory lists for all available sets, and I find it's much easier to check off pieces and find what's missing than utilizing the instructions. Also, keep a running tally of pieces each set is missing. You can then input those missing parts into a wanted list in Bricklink, and find the easiest way to acquire all or most of what you need.

Also, if you use the main Brickset site, you can create a profile that buyers can see, and if you mark sets there as "owned" buyers can see all that you have on offer (rather than listing numbers and names in the marketplace). If you stay on top of unmarking sets as they sell, this is a great way to keep track of what you have left and lets buyers see everything in one go.

datsunrobbie

Another possible option that nobody has mentioned is to buy some if not all of the sets from your son and put them in storage, so that in 20 years you can bring out all those sets when he comes out of the "dark age". It is quite common to hear AFOLs lament selling a set years ago and have trouble finding (or affording) replacing it when they get back into LEGO. The flood of nostalgia from opening back up sets that you have not seen in a decade or two is a sight to behold.

JudgeChuck

I would second what @datsunrobbie said. I was very lucky that my parents kept all my old LEGO boxed away, so that it could be played with by their grandchildren and, when they were old enough to do so, they did. It was also the first time in about 30 years that I had seen any of it, most of it still built from the last time my brother and I played with it, so I was able to re-discover all of this, while enjoying it for the first time with my daughters.
At the very least keep a few of his favourite sets squirreled away. :-)

MorkMan

datsunrobbie said:

Another possible option that nobody has mentioned is to buy some if not all of the sets from your son and put them in storage, so that in 20 years you can bring out all those sets when he comes out of the "dark age". It is quite common to hear AFOLs lament selling a set years ago and have trouble finding (or affording) replacing it when they get back into LEGO. The flood of nostalgia from opening back up sets that you have not seen in a decade or two is a sight to behold.

I would third @datsunrobbie and second @JudgeChuck My parents did this for me for my sets and it was the one thing they saved I appreciated. As do my OWN children. They don’t care they aren’t mint or aren’t complete. They just love playing with Dad’s LEGO. 
I might not keep/buy all of it from his collection, but would keep the really cool or impressive sets. Anything that is fun to play with and/or just the ones he plays with the most. 

John1958

More excellent advice guys......please keep it coming!!  It is highly appreciated.

John

ryjay

John1958 said:

Thanks for all your comments guys, it really is hard trying to decide which way to go for the best outcome!!!  The worst part is to actually get a 12 year old to get "stuck into" what is essentially HIS plan!!!!

John, what do you consider to be the best outcome? 

 I think this is what makes it hard for  many, not really knowing what results they'd like based upon the effort they put in.   It really isn't hard unless you want maximum dollar for the sets, then it takes a bit of work & time, but if your happy just getting a % of money back quickly and moving on, not too hard at all.

BTW, when you say "stuck into" do you mean him "following through" and not dumping it on you? :)  If so, welcome to the world of 12 year olds, lol

CCC

natro220 said:

Bricklink.com will be your best friend. They have inventory lists for all available sets, and I find it's much easier to check off pieces and find what's missing than utilizing the instructions.

With a kid, it might be a good idea to follow the instructions, and get them to build it one last time as they check through the parts. That way they can tell if they liked building the set again or not, and get a final check if they really do want to get rid of it.

John1958

ryjay said:

John1958 said:

Thanks for all your comments guys, it really is hard trying to decide which way to go for the best outcome!!!  The worst part is to actually get a 12 year old to get "stuck into" what is essentially HIS plan!!!!

John, what do you consider to be the best outcome? 

 I think this is what makes it hard for  many, not really knowing what results they'd like based upon the effort they put in.   It really isn't hard unless you want maximum dollar for the sets, then it takes a bit of work & time, but if your happy just getting a % of money back quickly and moving on, not too hard at all.

BTW, when you say "stuck into" do you mean him "following through" and not dumping it on you? :)  If so, welcome to the world of 12 year olds, lol

I think in his head it would have been a 5 min job........but he now knows you get nothing for nothing. Mum and I are helping, but it's his idea, so we are mirroring the amount of effort he put in!!!  :-)