Request Valuation of Used Market Street, Cafe Corner

y2josh

I was tooling around Goodwill today and happened upon what I believe was a tub of LEGO with Market Street, Café Corner and Fire Brigade. There's definitely no instructions, and the only minifigure that appears to be present is the woman with the white shirt and red pants, but I can already see that a lot of the rare pieces are definitely there (the dark blue arches and the hideous old windows, for example). The pieces are a bit dusty, but I can clean them off easily enough, and so far the only piece with any markedly visible issue is one of the green plates which has a bit of a small warped spot near the edge.

Obviously, the Fire Brigade isn't worth much in this condition, but if Market Street and Café Corner wind up being complete, what would be a fair price to ask for them (both to a fellow Bricksetter and also if I went the eBay route)? Again, no instructions, and essentially no minifigs. And I still need to verify everything is there, but I'm pretty hopeful.

mathew

Doesn't this belong in the brag discussion? Seriously, what do want us to tell you? Start sorting. Bricklink what you don't have. List here or on ebay for what you feel would be a fair price for a used set.

y2josh

It certainly doesn't belong in the brag discussion, as I'm looking for advice on the best way to sell it and didn't mention what I paid for it, nor do I intend to.

Pitfall69

Many people will pay top dollar for a used Market Street and Cafe Corner. There would still be people interested in a used Fire Brigade. Figure how much people are paying to "bricklink" a Cafe Corner and Market street.

Pitfall69

You should be able to get $650-700 for Cafe Corner and $450-$500 for Market Street. This would be top dollar. I would hold out on Fire Brigade and wait until it is gone for good although I would think you could get at least $90 for it.

gmpirate

If it were me, I would bricklink the missing parts and box and sell it as "complete" on Ebay. You can just check the completed auctions to see what you would get. Fair has nothing to do with it, just what people are paying :)

mathew

y2josh said:

It certainly doesn't belong in the brag discussion, as I'm looking for advice on the best way to sell it and didn't mention what I paid for it, nor do I intend to.

You found a box at goodwill probably containing over a thousand dollars worth of Lego and that's not a brag? If anything you should know what to do with it.

samiam391

mathew said:

y2josh said:

It certainly doesn't belong in the brag discussion, as I'm looking for advice on the best way to sell it and didn't mention what I paid for it, nor do I intend to.

You found a box at goodwill probably containing over a thousand dollars worth of Lego and that's not a brag? If anything you should know what to do with it.

If I'm understanding all this correctly, he wants to know what a fair price would be for all of it. He just wants some simple advice. Sure, he may have a price in mind, but he also wants to hear the input of other people. Two heads are better than one.

I think @Pitfall's prices are pretty accurate, with a slight deduction. If you do not have minifigures or the instructions... or even the box, the price he gave will take a slight hit. There will also be a lot of labor on your part. you'll have to check each set is complete. If not, then you will have to buy the pieces, sort, build again. You also need to make sure the pieces you are missing aren't the rarer, more expensive, ones. Sometimes it is more profitable to sell it incomplete, rather than spend large sums of money to make it complete. Even though we like to convince ourselves otherwise... I personally always want to see the completed model.

FatMatt

I have found it worth while with some of the more expensive "used" sets that I receive incomplete, to bricklink any missing parts including the instructions. It will raise what you can get for it by more than what you are putting into it for minimal effort.

y2josh

^To that end, looking around for a set of physical instructions, the cheapest set I can find looks to be $169.99 on eBay... which doesn't seem to be worth the price difference between used with instructions and used without. I know it's a different story with any pieces of the model that may be missing, but is it really going to be worth it to hunt down the manuals? I'm just trying to figure out the point at which I'm going to start losing against a possible return by trying to 'complete' the set... especially if the model turns out to be all there.

Redbullgivesuwind

If $169 is the cheapest instructions I wouldnt bother. Its not going to add to the price by that much. As someone else said if there are rare or expensive parts missing then it would be worth just selling it as incomplete. Either way your gonna make a nice profit. Cause it depends on how guilty you feeltaking it form goodwill and not teling them what its worth. :-P

sadowsk1

It sounds like you have a tub of unorganized Lego that needs to be sorted. It makes me think of counting chickens before they hatch situation. I hope it goes in your favor! A tub of Lego at goodwill can be a score in itself even if it doesn't build anything at the right price.

kim43235

I've always dreamed to get a box of cafe corner of market street at goodwill. You made it. I know you try to maximize your profit but no matter how undersell it, you should be still good. I wouldn't bother with physical instructions. Just spend a weekend building these gorgeous sets to see if they are complete and list it on ebay at $0.99 and big profit after seven days.

y2josh

Well... Market Street is definitely not all here. I'm going to try to finish Café Corner tonight, but for now, the first floor is all there, at least.

madforLEGO

y2josh said:

Well... Market Street is definitely not all here. I'm going to try to finish Café Corner tonight, but for now, the first floor is all there, at least.

Well at least if you wanted a December project, you found one :-)

FatMatt

I agree if the instructions are $169, it probably isn't worth it. I did not realize they were that much. I have paid $50 or so in the past for UCS instructions which gives me an extra $25-$50 profit on average. Another option if you don't want to invest the time into it is to do a bulk bathtub washing and drying, and then put the lot up for auction with a very descriptive listing. I have sold bulk lots with CC and GG in them that I did not feel like sorting, and even the auction prices with unconfirmed completeness went skyhigh. That will save you hours of sorting. I guess it goes back to how we value our time.

y2josh

^I don't necessarily know that they SELL for $169, but the only guy with a listing is asking that for them. It's possible they'll turn up at a more reasonable price somewhere down the line. It doesn't shock me that much, though. I've seen what the UCS Falcon instructions go for.

prevere

Definitely worth bragging about y2josh. Although you're not a braggy guy - that's a good thing. So I understand you not posting other than for advice.

Great find. I would post it online for what you want for it. Sit and wait - your buyer will come along.

y2josh

Quick question for you Café Corner experts. Outside of the slopes (hollow stud w/texture versus solid stud w/o), are there any other 'close, but not quite' pieces I should be keeping a look out for that could have been used if this was a bric-a-brac model?

mrseatle

Wow! You done good! The way you started the question I thought you were gonna ask if you should go back in the morning and get it...