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My opinion, unless you can get a better deal than 20% on the City Trains, I wouldn't invest too much into them. Again, that is just my opinion.
Regarding the 15% markup, #7938 was priced in 2010. CPI inflation calculator says it equates to $141 today, so it's really only a 6% markup
Now, if you want to stay on target with the original discussion and take the stance that buying the white passenger train today at 20% off is a better investment choice than the PS/PC/DO, I'd love to see that argument play out.
I know RRP is not really a solid indicator either BUT it is the RRP, so that means that if no discounts are had that is likely the price you paid (especially if is is an exclusive set bought after the US Exclusive ban).
I will add that if you want a better chance of a good ROI then yes you want to find a set on sale, and I think the general feeling is at least 20% off of RRP, whereas 30-40% is optimal (but hard to find at those discounts lately). That way if it only is around retail, or slightly over it, after EOL you will still be better off. Mods and other exclusives are an exception in the US due to the sales ban on them (though apparently Target had #10235 listed in their BOGO 40 items).
IMO A mod will give you a far better ROI than a 'standard' city train, unless LEGO decides to stop making trains as a standard set. If you get a train on sale? Sure it will do OK, but will it really be better than a mod? It seems that the latest EOL cargo trains have been stalling out at about 200 USD, or slightly over it. The #7938 is about 160 USD I think on eBay. I'm fairly certain a mod is not going to stall at 200 USD. Heck GE is generally regarded as a 'bad' mod, but still is now around 290 USD on eBay I believe.
But look at the passenger train behind the last: #7897. A New one in box is 225 USD on eBay. Which means that even the mod that was released about 4 years later than it (GE)is doing better than it. Now the sister train that year, the #7898, is doing pretty well at 370 USD I believe for a new in box example. But that is now 9 years ago, the Mod out at that time? only the 'little known ' #10182 Cafe Corner, then #10185 Green Grocer
My response was that I, on the other hand, wouldn't. And I explained why selling 100 copies of the same thing presents challenges. I'd rather have an additional unique listing for a passenger train to sell from day 1, than wait until day N when I finally list the 100th copy of the modular.
This obviously requires that the passenger train can be sold for profit, because I wouldn't make the same statement with just any set. And that's why I demonstrated with historical data that a set belonging to the same category that you call nondescript can be sold for a worthwhile profit.
Of course, rather than doing the reasonable thing to counter my points, you just backtracked and said your statement was hyperbole and dismissed my undertaking to provide data as "<a lot of time spent>" as if that's a bad thing to do.
I'll be honest with you, you really disappointed me here. This little dust up quieted down and we started getting back on track, then you decided to reel it back in for what? To continue to prove a point to me that a) I don't care about and b) is wrong?
When all is said and done, who really gives a squat? Pitfall said it best, that this is all opinion anyway, and people will believe what they choose to believe, be it a loudmouth like me, a bullying admin like yourself or somewhere in between.
My post was not a critique of that position. I didn't say you were wrong (because as pitfall69 said, there is no right or wrong, only differences of opinion). If you care to re-read, you'll see that I said that I wouldn't do the same. I was offering the counterpoint of investing heavily in a particular set vs. diversifying. Am I not entitled to this opinion?
Your response accused me of being overliteral. I wasn't being overliteral; I simply wasn't assuming that you were exaggerating.
Of course there are infinite possibilities, but that is exactly what happens with City sets too. They are rarely repeated exactly, but sometimes (quite often) very similar models to ones from the past come out.
Lego could easily change the game on modulars if they wanted to. What happens if they decide to do two a year and keep them at [email protected] for up to five years? That would be up to ten available at retail at any time. That would probably be more than enough to satisfy newcomers, and far fewer people would need to dip back into retired products at inflated costs. Sure, there would always be the odd one that people wanted but if they start doing more general stores, for example, would people really want a pet shop at inflated prices when they can get five different stores at current prices? Would people really want the other fire station if they can get an newer one with possibly better features / updated parts at retail? This is essentially what happens with City now. It only takes a decision at Lego that the adult / expert market should be better catered for and expanded and it could happen.
I also wonder how many it will take people to reach saturation point. There will always be die hard collectors that will want everything, probably sealed too. But for the general collector / displayer, once there are lets say 15 out, will they still want more if they do not have room to display them? Of course they could sell the older ones and buy newer ones, which works under today's resale prices. But if the above happens, and older ones become out of favour with respect to newer ones, modulars could become the new City.
I just do not see LEGO doing another Mod Fire Station any time soon, they still have not built a police station, and one would think that would be released before a another fire station.
I bring this up because of the recent talk about whether Star Wars sets have not appreciated as much due to the glut of remakes/remodels. As a consumer who purchases sets to build rather than to resell, I think the major reason Star Wars sets are not appreciating as much is that I see so many more of these for sale, whether new in box or used but mostly used. For a builder like me, if I want a particular set, I don't care if it's new in box or used as long as it is in good shape, which a lot of the used sets are due to many Star Wars collectors being adults and keeping their sets in good shape.
I buy all my used sets off of Kijiji. At least 50% of the sets for sale at any one time are Star Wars. The supply is way higher than the demand and I think as young adults who purchased Star Wars sets to build and display start to age, get married, have kids, etc. this is causing so many of these collections to be put up for sale. This obviously cuts into the reseller market for the same sets. Meanwhile, if I wanted a particular set from another theme, it is very difficult to find without going through a reseller (on Bricklink or otherwise), which keeps prices higher.
Just my thoughts.
I enjoy reading this thread, but I'm not a reseller. I have often wondered who the heck is out there paying 2x MSRP or more for a retired set. I'm sure there really isn't a typical purchaser, but it does seem like they would all have to be people with "money to burn".
Like many others I played with Lego as a kid and just got back into it recently now that I have my own kids. Right now there are so many new sets that they will keep me busy for a while, but maybe once I have all the new ones I want I'll start drooling over the older sets and become one of those overpaying customers . . .
To add, I am curious what sort of impact the upcoming SW 7 movie will have on resale of SW-themed sets. TLG will certainly come up with additional sets to go with the SW 7 movie, and I'm sure they'll sell like hot cakes. In the process, TLG will likely discontinue several of the existing SW 1-6 sets to make room for the new sets. Doing this may help put a floor under the SW 1-6 sets IF the new movie drives an overall renewed interest in Star Wars. So I guess the ultimate question is how many new customers will the new SW movie drive to the old sets? Only time will tell...
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If EP VII does massively well, but doesn't effect the EP I-VI stuff, I can imagine some SW resellers would be a bit ticked, likewise if EP VII bombs & seriously damages the resale of EP I-VI stuff. For all of you guys that are stocking up on SW, I hope the movie does well, or if it does bomb, that it doesn't really touch the values of the EP I-VI sets.
Just wondering if the reason why there is all these UCS sets coming, bar the Falcon, is because TLG are planning for a new UCS MF that is based on the EP VII version?
New MF with some sort of light & sound gizmo? Are we talking something like an updated version of the gizmo in #6780 #6750???
The smartest thing Disney ever did when they purchased Lucas Films was to dump any scripts that Lucas had in the queue and bring in another director and writer. That by itself is enough to draw me and my family to the theaters (a place we very seldom ever venture to).
i think that the biggest advantage to the secondary market for Star Wars Lego will be that there will be even more source material for TLG to pull from when designing sets so there could in theory be less remaking of OT vehicles, which will definitely help keeping the aftermarket price up. The average Lego fan is generally conntent with whats on the shelf/whats likely to come up soon - I'm not a massive Star Wars fan, the only aftermarket sets I've bought were still arround RRP and were for specific figures more than builds - only the die hard Star Wars Lego collectors feel the need to have earlier versions of the same set.
Yeah I agree with you. Its always a question I have been asking myself. I would love to see some stats about who are you selling it to. Personally I kept track of the sets I sold to who just for my own personal information and that I like to do stats on spare time (I am a PhD student in neuroscience hence the reason I like to do stats!) As for me, I will say about 90% of people who bought my sets are not resellers and typical customers. But I only started recently to do that and I do not buy big amounts of lego. Usually only two sets of the same models just enough to make a little money to the sets I'm getting for my collection are cheaper!