Megablok: Looking for advice on selling large Castle collection

Comments

• samiam391 Member Posts: 4,487

  January 2013

  I find your username offensive.

  

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• samiam391 Member Posts: 4,487

  January 2013

  Kidding (sort of)! ;-)
  
  You'll stand to lose a decent amount. You, yourself, can claim that they are 100% complete, or can make your best guess. However, the buyer will not know, and will not be willing to pay as much money if all they see is a pile of bricks.
  
  Simply put, a picture is worth a thousand words, but in the case of LEGO, unless it's built and looks to be all there, than the person will usually not pay as much taking into consideration that the set(s) are most likely not 100%.
  
  I think once you get us the list, like you said you are planning on, than we will be able to advise you much better. It definitely depends upon which sets you have, and the amount they are worth.
  
  If they are a combined worth of $100, than I say, throw them on the Bay in a tub. If they are a combined worth of $1,000, it definitely makes more sense to go over them with a fine toothed comb and make sure of what you have.
  
  What it will ultimately come down too, is if you can make more money by doing something else, in the time that it would take for you to sort all the LEGO, than don't do it. If the opposite is true, sort.
  
  You might also find a lot of collectors on these forums that are interested in your items, and will also be curious about the item's completion state/condition.
  
  

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• Shpadoinkle Member Posts: 420

  January 2013

  I think no matter what you will make considerably less by selling them as a lot. From the buyer's perspective, though you claim everything is complete it would be nearly impossible for me to sort and assemble everything in the time allotted by eBay to make a "not as described" claim. As such I would be FAR less inclined to pay anywhere near the value of a "complete" set to you.
  
  It will be far more worthwhile for you to sort and assemble the sets yourself and sell them individually, (though of course there is the danger that you may enjoy yourself so much that you'll not want to let them go!) But time is money. If you have the time to do this you'll earn more money, if you want a quick sale with a single box to ship you'll need to be ready to accept far less money.
  
  Good luck!

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• Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454

  January 2013

  ^I find looking at a completed set is much better than a pile of bricks.
  
  I sell a ton of used sets. The risk you you run into assembling and disassembling sets is that some bricks may get lost or damaged. For me, it takes more time to do that then it does to just look at inventory on Peeron or Bricklink. There was one time I put together a set and forgot a piece or two. I had to send the buyer the missing pieces. I was embarrassed plus I had to take more time and money to mail out the missing pieces. I also add the extra pieces that came with the set if I have them, but I add a disclaimer saying that the complete set may or may not contain extra pieces.
  
  It's work, but working with Lego to me is fun, even if it is time consuming. Afterall, that is really why we are here correct? To enjoy Lego.

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• hoyatables Member Posts: 873

  January 2013

  As a semi-regular buyer of used sets and someone also sorting through his childhood collection to separate into sets, I'll say this:
  
  - I'm much less likely to buy a mixed lot that claims it is 100% complete.
  - I think using Peeron or Bricklink to check inventory is fine for newer sets, but for an older set it really is best to reassemble yourself, especially when parts are mixed together with many other sets. It is just too easy to miss a number or part looking at the Peeron list.
  - A picture is worth a thousand words, especially at conveying condition.
  
  Two other considerations you should keep in mind, however, in deciding whether to sell in bulk or as individual sets:
  - There's possibly added cost in boxing and shipping multiple sets versus one big set.
  - The sets are worth more sold individually only if you sell them all (or enough to clear what you would have collected in bulk). There's always a risk that some sets might not sell, in which case you are worse off.
  But those who sell often should comment on this and share their thoughts based on experience. My comments regarding selling are purely theoretical.
  

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• Pacific493 Member Posts: 379

  January 2013

  Depending on the total number of sets and the actual mix of sets that you have, you stand to lose somewhere around 50% of the overall value of the sets if sold individually. It could be a bit more or a bit less, but the fact that you have the original boxes should offset the chance of the % falling much below that point. I buy a lot of used lots and rarely, if ever, pay more than 50% of what I think I could sell the sets for (and only then when the original boxes are included).
  
  That's the downside of selling everything as a single lot. However, by doing so, you avoid (1) the time it would take to sort all of the sets out and make sure that all of the pieces are present, and (2) the risk of ending up selling the most desirable sets you own and getting stuck with the least desirable ones. I don't have as much experience in selling castle sets from the eras that you're talking about, but, in general, I have rarely had trouble selling every castle set that I put up for sale.
  
  One other consideration is the number of individual sets that you would have to sort before selling. If you haven't sorted out all of your sets before and don't have a sorting system in place, don't underestimate the time that it will take you to sort everything out and don't assume that sorting out 30 sets is just as easy as sorting out 5 or 10. In my experience, if you don't have an established sorting system, the time it would take you to sort 30 sets would be orders of magnitude greater than 5 or 10. When I look back at my first few sorting endeavors, I shudder at how inefficient and slow I was back then.
  

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• Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454

  January 2013

  ^It's pretty bad when we need to put disclaimers at the end of our comments ;)
  
  I guess the full proof way to make sure your sets are complete is to check the inventory and then assemble.
  
  I'm not quite sure if there is a thread dedicated to this or not, but in my experience, you can't simply just order bricks from Lego or take bricks from other sets to complete a set. The way Lego has made bricks has changed over the years. A new black or white brick made today is a lot different than a white or black brick made in the late 70's, 80's, and possibly 90's. Colors have changed and the molding processes have changed. I would be furious if I ordered a Classic Space or Castle set and every other gray brick was replaced with a newer brick. I even pay attention to little things like the walkie talkies. The molding process changed on those over the years as well as the 1x1 clips.
  
  I am so anal, I have tubs of bricks labeled by decade. If Ineed to complete a set from that era, I grab bricks from the corresponding tub. I don't have new dark and light gray mixed together.
  
  I'm sure there are buyers just as anal as I am and a pile of bricks would just turn them off. That is why you don't just simply build the sets, you look at the inventory as well.

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• wagnerml2 Member Posts: 1,376

  January 2013

  I agree with @pacific493. This is exactly the sort of lot that I go for because I'll take the chance that most of the pieces are there and I will use my own stock (or bricklink) anything I need. When buying a bulk lot like this, I normally would get a set list and then offer half of the average bricklink value of the lot. I make my money by reassembling and selling individually and I'l keep what I don't already have.

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• Megablok Member Posts: 3

  January 2013 edited January 2013

  Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm leaning towards rebuilding given what I've heard here, and it shouldn't take that long if I keep my pieces organized via size and other factors. And it'll be a nice last hurrah for me and my sets.
  
  And what does taking "inventory" entail? Isn't that what I would be doing by rebuilding?
  
  Ok, time for pics.
  
  Bad news first: With four or five of the bigger castle sets, I forgot that 17 years ago I wasn't interested in the whole box, just the back part where they show alternate ways to assemble the set. So I cut that off and taped it to the the inner part of the box, throwing away the front and sides. If you want to ask me what I was thinking, you're going to need a time machine, because I have no idea.
  
  Here is an example of one such box:
  
  
  
  and here are all the boxes. On the left are the ones with just the back piece. Two or three in the middle are somewhat mangled, and on the right half are boxes that are in pretty good shape.
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29651_zpsa1fd5da8.jpg[/IMG]
  
  Now for the good news, all the instructions and pieces are in tip top-shape:
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29751_zps8f793f05.jpg[/IMG]
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29841_zps46943a51.jpg[/IMG]
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29851_zps73e85bf7.jpg[/IMG]
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29871_zps8310ebee.jpg[/IMG]
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29911_zpsbfbb8467.jpg[/IMG]
  
  (Sorry about the blurriness, need to work on my camera skills before I sell these)
  
  Here are some random sets from some underwater series, not sure if these are valuable
  
  [IMG]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag109/Ben_of_Appalachia/IMG_29901_zpsd9ee23b6.jpg[/IMG]
  
  List of my castle sets:
  6097
  6078
  6076
  6082
  6090
  6036
  6044
  6043
  6048
  1906
  1843
  6037
  6056
  1746
  1804
  6028/6029
  6020
  6027
  
  Underwater stuff:
  2160
  6145/1728
  6599
  6140/6109
  6135
  6110
  6107
  6125
  6115
  1806
  
  So yeah, I'm leaning towards rebuilding and

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• Megablok Member Posts: 3

  January 2013

  What's up with the 10 minute editing time limit?... Whack
  
  Here are the pictures I tried to post above
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Pacific493 Member Posts: 379

  January 2013

  Your lot is worth about $620 if sold individually, but around 2/3 of that value is in 6 sets (1906, 6076, 6078, 6082, 6097, 6090). If I were you, I'd get those 6 sets together and sell them individually, and then sell the remaining sets as a lot. Some of the smaller sets that you have will be harder to sell and are only worth a few dollars each (ex. 6115, 6125, 1806, etc.). In my experience, those are a real pain to move since they're not particularly rare and not particularly desirable. If you're trying to clear everything out, that's how I'd do it.
  
  On the issue of the inventory, if you go to Bricklink and pull up the catalog listing for each of these sets, there is a link that you can use to access an inventory list of the parts that are (according to BL) in this set. These inventories are generally accurate and provide an easy way to gather the parts for individual sets together without having to sit down with the instructions and dig through your bins to find the parts you need while constructing the set at the same time.

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