Surprising appreciation

Astrobricks

I’m sure many of us have been caught off guard with the prices being paid for relatively mundane sets on the second hand market during the pandemic. I just looked up #41340 Friendship House which I picked up two of at about $40, and now I see it listed as going for $150 new on BL. 

What sets have surprised you with their supposed value lately?

CCC

PF medium motors. 

Charmiefcb

Juniors/4+ X Wing. I think it's still available and some re sellers have more than doubled the price on it.

Astrobricks

Set numbers please :)

Russell844

Goat.

BrickByBrick

Set #70626 Dawn of Iron Doom. Retail price was $60, last 6 month sales average $219 new. I can't believe the time twins minifigs seem to have become the most expensive Ninjago figs.

The_Rancor

#9525 Pre Vizsla’s Mandalorian Fighter. Was £50 retail when originally launched in 2012 but now averaging £150 bought price new on Bricklink. It’s not massively steep but quite a few similar sets of the same era have not gone up that much - likely due to renewed interest in the Mandalorian mythos and maybe a little more appreciation of the Clone Wars. Plus, Pre Vizsla is a fantastic Mandalorian minifig.

Another step up in the same release year was #9526 Palpatine’s Arrest (AKA I AM the Senate set). Retail was £60, current new price average £215. I mean, it is the set that allows you to reenact all your meme fantasies though!

Astrobricks

^ and ^^ It sure looks like it’s the minifigs driving those prices. I notice Huw has added the information of how many figs are unique to each set (thanks @Huw!). #9526 is 6 of 6, and #70626 is 5 of 6.

1265

Back in 2010, TRU discounted #2853590 Chrome Stormtrooper online for $0.99 each.  I purchased 80 of them.  I already had 2 from their in store promotion, but jumped on them when I saw them listed at that price online.

Astrobricks

Personally, I’m not really minifig oriented, but while we’re on that theme, I (and 5674 other bricksetters) have the GWP #5002123 Darth Revan which is now going for anywhere from $75-110. 

HenkdeVries

I'm always surprised to see GWPs being sold for way beyond the RRP like #30628 which I see on offer here in NL for at least €50.
 
And #21310 also surprised me, prices are going above €300 easilt for MISB. But then again I am not a collector of modular buildings and those older ones are also crazy expensive...

Marshallmario

    #21310 Old Fishing Store seems to have really gone up in value rapidly. It was available thru Lego until Oct. 2018 and I remember it being on sale for $100.00 at the very end? (am I right on that?) It’s now at $350.00 and I’m not sure I can afford to open the one copy I have. 
      The designer had several other seaside sets that he submitted but were not chosen. Has anyone heard anything about instructions for these other sets being available after a certain waiting period?

graphite

CCC said:

PF medium motors. 

This didn't surprise me at all.  LEGO announced they were done with PF, but limited what people could buy.  A lot of people rely on those for various creations and the new system just doesn't work well for the "turn it on and let it go" type of function that the PF allowed so of course they are going to go up in price.  Its a shame because LEGO probably could just keep making them and make money on them even they don't want to put them in their own sets.

Fizyx

graphite said:

CCC said:

PF medium motors. 

This didn't surprise me at all.  LEGO announced they were done with PF, but limited what people could buy.  A lot of people rely on those for various creations and the new system just doesn't work well for the "turn it on and let it go" type of function that the PF allowed so of course they are going to go up in price.  Its a shame because LEGO probably could just keep making them and make money on them even they don't want to put them in their own sets.

I think there's likely a pretty good market for 3rd party PF-compatible motors and electronics.  I don't know if it would be worth the startup costs necessary to get initial designs/manufacturing, etc, but I think especially if you could come up with a wall-plug style system with a control panel like the 9v trains.  Personally I've been thinking of building out something that I could plug into the wall and then use to drive potentially all the Fairground sets at the same time off one control panel using like an Arduino or a Raspberry pi or something similar. I have to imagine that I'm not the only one that would be interested in such a system and the flexibility it would bring.  Not having to have battery packs for everything would be amazing, even if I have to run some wires to different places.

CCC

graphite said:

CCC said:

PF medium motors. 

This didn't surprise me at all.  LEGO announced they were done with PF, but limited what people could buy.  A lot of people rely on those for various creations and the new system just doesn't work well for the "turn it on and let it go" type of function that the PF allowed so of course they are going to go up in price.  Its a shame because LEGO probably could just keep making them and make money on them even they don't want to put them in their own sets.

That they appreciated doesn't surprise me. How much they did does though. The last ones I sold went for almost 4x cost price. Towards the end of the PF run, I was always adding a couple to orders to meet GWP thresholds and on a couple of occasions bought only m motors. Most sold for about 1.5x cost but they suddenly jumped in price. The last ones sold to a company that charges customers a fortune for online lessons with "free" genuine lego packs sent to them, so no doubt they needed genuine lego ones to go with their kits rather than the cheaper knock offs.

nwr122

Items in my collection for which I can see no reasonable explanation for the increase are: -

#21027 - Berlin Skyline
#21026 - Venice Skyline
#8019 - Republic Attack Shuttle

All were purchased for building but are sat in a backlog and I just look at them and think why???

The_Rancor

Republic Attack Shuttle was heavily featured in Season 7 of the Clone Wars, particularly in the last episode or two.

Not sure why the Skylines have gone up though - I can only hypothesise people wanting a metaphorical holiday escape in these times through a building experience?

autolycus

nwr122 said:

Items in my collection for which I can see no reasonable explanation for the increase are: -

#21027 - Berlin Skyline
#21026 - Venice Skyline
#8019 - Republic Attack Shuttle

All were purchased for building but are sat in a backlog and I just look at them and think why???

Once I receive the Dubai skyline that I ordered yesterday, I will have every skyline set but those 2. There were several times I almost bought them within a year of retirement. At that point, I would have paid no more than a $5 premium. I had no other skylines yet, but I was interested... Now the cheapest new Venice in the US on Bricklink is $170. Berlin is much worse at $180 for used and ~$250 for new. Most of that price jump occurred in 2020. As much as I'd like to complete my collection of the skylines, I just can't justify that price.

Astrobricks

#21026, #21027, and #21032 Sydney (currently $110 new on BL) are the oldest retired skylines, so their appreciation kind of makes sense if people started collecting them late and want the full set.

nwr122

The_Rancor said:

Republic Attack Shuttle was heavily featured in Season 7 of the Clone Wars, particularly in the last episode or two.

Not sure why the Skylines have gone up though - I can only hypothesise people wanting a metaphorical holiday escape in these times through a building experience?

Thanks for the explanation @The_Rancor

nwr122

Astrobricks said:

#21026, #21027, and #21032 Sydney (currently $110 new on BL) are the oldest retired skylines, so their appreciation kind of makes sense if people started collecting them late and want the full set.

That's helps, thanks @Astrobricks

Bobflip

I actually thought #75098 was pretty decen... oh, wait. 

DB361

Just been going through a couple of odd items I had that had fallen off eBay, and #70639 Ninjago Street Race of Snake Jaguar was one of them. £24.99 RRP, now going for anywhere between £60 and £90! I know retired Ninjago nearly always does well, but not being the biggest Ninjago expert out there, any reason why this one has skyrocketed?

Bumblepants

DB361 said:

Just been going through a couple of odd items I had that had fallen off eBay, and #70639 Ninjago Street Race of Snake Jaguar was one of them. £24.99 RRP, now going for anywhere between £60 and £90! I know retired Ninjago nearly always does well, but not being the biggest Ninjago expert out there, any reason why this one has skyrocketed?

that hung around on sale forever too. odd

Mr_Cross

Oh! Okay. I was expecting discussion about Ed Sheeran or James Blunt or something. As you were.

Astrobricks

Bumblepants said:

DB361 said:

Just been going through a couple of odd items I had that had fallen off eBay, and #70639 Ninjago Street Race of Snake Jaguar was one of them. £24.99 RRP, now going for anywhere between £60 and £90! I know retired Ninjago nearly always does well, but not being the biggest Ninjago expert out there, any reason why this one has skyrocketed?

that hung around on sale forever too. odd

Reminds me of #21117 The Ender Dragon of which I saw dozens of copies sitting in Target at 50% off (I bought 3), and which BL says is now going for $150 new.

veyniac

Astrobricks said:

Reminds me of #21117 The Ender Dragon of which I saw dozens of copies sitting in Target at 50% off (I bought 3), and which BL says is now going for $150 new.

That was one of the first Minecraft sets ever, which makes it somewhat of a collectors item. Also, the wing parts are worth $20+ each.

madforLEGO

While not gangbusters, #31050 Corner Deli could been had for like 20-22 USD each and now are hitting about 70-80 USD each.

#75881 Speed champion 2016 Ford GT and 1966 Ford GT could be gotten for about 25-30 USD and now is hitting 90-95 USD

CCC

veyniac said:

Astrobricks said:

Reminds me of #21117 The Ender Dragon of which I saw dozens of copies sitting in Target at 50% off (I bought 3), and which BL says is now going for $150 new.

That was one of the first Minecraft sets ever, which makes it somewhat of a collectors item. Also, the wing parts are worth $20+ each.

And those wings were about £1.45 each on bricks and pieces. I bought 10 pairs for a project but never got round to using them. 

eggshen

Bumblepants said:

DB361 said:

Just been going through a couple of odd items I had that had fallen off eBay, and #70639 Ninjago Street Race of Snake Jaguar was one of them. £24.99 RRP, now going for anywhere between £60 and £90! I know retired Ninjago nearly always does well, but not being the biggest Ninjago expert out there, any reason why this one has skyrocketed?

that hung around on sale forever too. odd

The only thing that I can think of is that the Zane minifigure only comes in two sets (the other set is #10765 but in that set he has a shoulder armor piece). It also is the only set that contains part MINI ARMOUR W/ ARMS, NO. 7, but that part only sells for $0.72 on bricklink. 

andhe

There's often a weird thing where sets that were unpopular on release (so no-one bought them) end up being harder to find on the secondary market hence the inflated price.

Surely no-one is paying $150 for a Minecraft set? Sometimes all this investment stuff feels like investors just buying stuff off each other than actual Lego fans wanting to buy or collect sets.

Astrobricks

andhe said:

There's often a weird thing where sets that were unpopular on release (so no-one bought them) end up being harder to find on the secondary market hence the inflated price.

Surely no-one is paying $150 for a Minecraft set? Sometimes all this investment stuff feels like investors just buying stuff off each other than actual Lego fans wanting to buy or collect sets.

At least Lego isn’t a NFT 🙄
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token?wprov=sfti1

Marshallmario

andhe said:

There's often a weird thing where sets that were unpopular on release (so no-one bought them) end up being harder to find on the secondary market hence the inflated price.

Surely no-one is paying $150 for a Minecraft set? Sometimes all this investment stuff feels like investors just buying stuff off each other than actual Lego fans wanting to buy or collect sets.

Perfect example is Star Wars vinyl caped Jawa. Cloth cape fit well and looked great, sold well and now has no vintage value. Vinyl cape didn’t fit or hang well, looked terrible and no one bought. Vintage value thru the roof!

andhe

Astrobricks said:

At least Lego isn’t a NFT 🙄
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token?wprov=sfti1

I don't fully understand it but it slightly explains the ability of the creator of twitter recently selling the rights to his first ever tweet on the platform for millions of dollars.

Feels like those companies that sell stars or plots on the moon. 

FireFox31

Speed Champions from 2015-2017 have doubled in value.  Individual $15 cars are now around $45, larger $50 sets are now over $100.  I bought cars at $12, haven't gotten around to opening them, and now they're 4x that value.

Why have these 6-wides gone up in value?  Should I buy a few of the 2019's still available for $12 in hopes that they'll appreciate?  A few Porsches would be ok with me.

Jackad7

FireFox31 said:

Speed Champions from 2015-2017 have doubled in value.  Individual $15 cars are now around $45, larger $50 sets are now over $100.  I bought cars at $12, haven't gotten around to opening them, and now they're 4x that value.

Why have these 6-wides gone up in value?  Should I buy a few of the 2019's still available for $12 in hopes that they'll appreciate?  A few Porsches would be ok with me.

I wasn't overly involved in LEGO when the speed champions came out but I actually really like them. They are a great mix between the high detail big models and the minifig scale "play" vehicles. They are fun for MOC builds because they are a good size while also looking nice. I would expect to see a degree of appreciation on Speed champions in the future. Maybe not as much as the originals but it wouldn't hurt to grab extras.

madforLEGO

FireFox31 said:

Speed Champions from 2015-2017 have doubled in value.  Individual $15 cars are now around $45, larger $50 sets are now over $100.  I bought cars at $12, haven't gotten around to opening them, and now they're 4x that value.

Why have these 6-wides gone up in value?  Should I buy a few of the 2019's still available for $12 in hopes that they'll appreciate?  A few Porsches would be ok with me.

People had lots of disposable income in 2020 and you have a lot of collectors that are also completion-ists and want the old cars.

Yellowcastle

Aren’t we leaning towards the mega-thread now?

Astrobricks

It’s getting harder to tell the difference between a surprising secondary market value and the general price increases of all retired sets.

Yellowcastle

I can’t think of any sets I recently missed/passed that didn’t quickly get expensive to chase after EOL

CCC

Ulysses!

FireFox31

What are the valuations of the first BrickLink Designer Program sets?  BrickLink shows very few sellers offering them up at probably 3x their original values.  That low amount of inventory doesn't seem like a reliable indicator of price.

The thing which shocks me about those:  When they were for sale, they didn't sell out fast at all.  I remember casually considering which I would buy over the course of a month.  The castle (and saloon?) eventually sold out, but none others did (that I noticed).

I kind of regret only buying one.  But I'm not an investor and fully intend to build my Science Tower.

Astrobricks

FireFox31 said:

What are the valuations of the first BrickLink Designer Program sets?  BrickLink shows very few sellers offering them up at probably 3x their original values.  That low amount of inventory doesn't seem like a reliable indicator of price.

The thing which shocks me about those:  When they were for sale, they didn't sell out fast at all.  I remember casually considering which I would buy over the course of a month.  The castle (and saloon?) eventually sold out, but none others did (that I noticed).

I kind of regret only buying one.  But I'm not an investor and fully intend to build my Science Tower.

2020 has shown us that literally anything retired (or just out of stock long enough) may appreciate dramatically.

Chang405

Some $20 City vehicles I had bought in 2013 have surprisingly appreciated with some (60056, 60059) selling over $100 on eBay. I hadn't opened them so I sold my NISB ones and bought used ones instead. 

MinifigInSpace

From what I understand, Galaxy Squad had a mixed reception upon it's release. The sets at the time were commonly discounted, and I remember seeing them sitting around on the clearance shelves for a while. I could only afford buying two small sets at the time, but for some reason the theme appeals to me to this day. Most of the sets weren't very good. But the colors, theme storyline, and minifigures were rather cool.

About three years ago I was able to start buying more GS sets and minifigures, and was pleasantly surprised to find them so cheap. I bought a couple sets, broke them apart to make Galaxy Squad MOCs, and kept the minifigures on display. They seemed easy to collect.

I recently looked at my minifigure collection, and realized all I needed were two more Galaxy Squad minifigures to complete my collection. "Easy and cheap," I thought. I headed over to Bricklink, and was shocked to see both the figures and sets getting higher in price. Looking at other secondary markets, the Galaxy Squad line is selling for much higher prices in general too (even incomplete sets).

Here's one example: When I checked Bricklink three years ago, I remember seeing the Winged Mosquitoid selling really cheap without the antennas ($1.30-2.00 I think), and there were several around that price. To obtain a complete one was about $3-4 I believe. Not only are there very few for sale currently world-wide, but they are suddenly going up in price. Even compared to last year the price jump is notable.

Is there a new demand for Galaxy Squad, or is it because there isn't much left for sale on the market?

Speedman29

Don't about jumping in price, but three medium to high priced sets were available in a local independent toy shop at rrp just a couple of years ago. They had a full shelf of the sets and the advertising to go with it as well.  

CCC

I don't think there has been a sudden jump, nor us it really confined to Galaxy Squad. A lot of the more unique minifigs across different themes have increased in price. Aliens and monsters tend to do well. Humans not so well. But even then, some bugs from GS that were in multiple sets are still really cheap but the ones with those strange antennas have done well.

Astrobricks

I’ve just discovered that the Quinlan Voss and Luminara Unduli minifigs from my #75151 Clone Turbo Tank are worth almost $80 each in the US according to BL.

The_Rancor

Vos is a very good representation and Dark Disciple probably helped his popularity. Luminara was decent too and better than a Clone Wars representation, and the light up lightsaber version.

Mynatt

I sold a used target cube this past year that included a Ninjago Lloyd DX figure. Never really thought much about the figure, I thought the Super Boy would be the main attraction. Then I saw this article showing how Lloyd was sought after. 

https://brickset.com/article/58782/top-ten-most-expensive-ninjago-minifigures-male-vs-female

Looking at some of the recent sales, it seems like Lloyd DX sometimes sells more alone, than the full cube??? The cube and the figures seem to sell at an odd range of prices.
Examples above might be lightly cherry picked but still thought it was interesting.

Sold the cube as a set instead of individually. Super boy was also sought decently after. Oops.

SumoLego

^ Is this for real?  I think I have a few of those kicking around somewhere!