A Guide to the BrickPicker Price Guide

One of the biggest draws of BrickPicker.com is the online Price Guide that is free to all registered members. In this tutorial/article, we will figure out how to search for a set, and interpret the data that is provided.

Looking Up Sets
On nearly ever page on BrickPicker is a search bar in the upper left corner. In this search bar reads “Enter LEGO Set Number...”. You do not have to enter the set number, and you can enter in a key word such as “truck” or “plane”. After you have typed more than 2 characters, a list of sets automatically shows up with all the sets including your keyword(s). You can select the set of your choice to be led directly to the page specific to your set. If you do not select a set, you will be led to a list that includes all sets including the keyword, whether it be a series of numbers or letters, or a combination of both.

This list includes basic information of the set. The title follows the following format: set number - varient number: set name. Usually, there will be a picture of the set directly below the name. If not, a yellow brick is shown that reads “Image Not Available”. Along with this is a small data collection including the number of pieces, number of minifigures, retail price, and the year the set was released [see picture below]. Finally, on the right side of this information box is a small graph that shows the rough changes in the set over the last 6 months.

Set Information Page
Once you have clicked on the set name that you wish to see, a page similar to the one below appears. On this page is data from 4 different eBay Marketplaces: eBay USA, eBay UK, eBay Australia, and eBay EU. Each that is shown is converted into the currency of your choice which can be changed in the upper right corner.

The first 5 columns of the table are fairly self-explanatory with the values of the set in new and used form, along with the change in the last month. If there is no change, a “-” is shown. Finally CAGR comes up. CAGR stands for Compound Annual Growth Rate, and is “a formula that is applied to an investment(in our case, a LEGO set) to help determine the investment’s annual smoothed return. The final percentage that you get...shows the positive or negative growth of your investment over a specified period of time”*.

Finally, we come to the Price Per Brick category. In this section, you will see the average price for a set at it’s current used and new price (from eBay), as well as it’s retail price. This information is helpful for resellers who “part out” sets, or use the set to create MOC’s.

Next comes the photo gallery that has a variety of pictures of the set, though the number of pictures varies from set to set. Right below this is a datachart that we saw in the list of sets right before coming to this page. It also includes the retail prices for the set for the US, UK, Australia, and EU. Next to this chart that looks similar to the one below:

Rebrickable is a website includes a database of sets similar to Brickset or BrickPicker, but also includes a very helpful tool. “Rebrickable will show you which LEGO sets you can build, by reusing the sets and loose parts you already own...Unless you have a LOT of sets, you will usually be missing a few pieces. In these cases, Rebrickable will show you exactly what you are missing and even provide suggested sets that you could buy which will get you those pieces.”^ Rebrickable has the list of parts included in the set, as well as a list of vendors that are selling the pieces needed to complete the set, and how much of the set they have in stock.

Bricker is the second website listed. Similar to BrickPicker, Brickset, and Rebrickable, it includes a large database filled with most, if not all, LEGO sets. In addition to this, they have a large quantity of reviews of different sets, taken from other LEGO websites, as well as articles, and quicklinks to other LEGO forums. Bricker can be converted into a database for Mega Bloks, making its brick database one of the largest around.

A link to Instructions is the third link. The instructions are found on the BrickPicker website, and are in a PDF version. Instructions aren’t always available, but for most sets, they are there.

The final section is called Brickfolio Inventory. In this section, if you are signed in, and have the set in your Brickfolio, then the number of copies of the set new and used is shown rather than N/A. N/A is only shown when the set is not in your Brickfolio.

In the Current Offers section is a list of all the stores, that BrickPicker has authorized , that is selling your set. Often, recently retired sets will still be shown to be sold at the LEGO Shop, even when this isn’t the case.

Next are two graphs. One is titled “Monthly Listings (Sold Items - your country of choice)”. For me, I have chosen the US eBay marketplace, so it says “Monthly Listings (Sold Items - USA)”. In yellow is the quantity of used sets sold, and in red new. You can hover your mouse over each white dot to see the month that the value is from, and the quantity sold. The graph next to it is very similar. It has the average “Monthly Listings Value (Sold Items - your country of choice)”. In the same way, the data tracks the average price the set was sold at. This data is updated every month, but it takes significantly longer now, because 4x the amount of data must be uploaded to the database.

The next few sections are self-explanatory, with the change over time, as well as the change above or below retail price. Recent Sold Listings shows the region the set was sold, the date, the price, and the condition of the set. The Averages tab shows the median, mean, minimum price, maximum price, and mode of the sold listings. Finally, the Live Completed Listings section shows the what the specific set has sold for most recently.

In the Reviews section, all the reviews for that particular set are listed, as well as the overall score. You can browse through reviews by different members, as well as review the set yourself, by clicking on the “Review this Set” link below the overall score.

Lastly come the list of Active Listings, sorted by price. You can change this to 20 different eBay Marketplaces.

Tips and Tricks You can view a whole theme by finding one set from a theme, then go to “Select a Theme” and click the theme, in this case Star Wars.

You arrive at a seemingly similar page. The only difference is at the top, right below the “Search Price Guide” heading.

Now it reads “Star Wars” next to “Price Guide”. Finally, click on “Star Wars” and you will be led directly to a page listing all the sets, sorted by date. You can also do this for other themes, as well as sub-themes [see below.]

Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps you figure out the BrickPicker Price Guide!

*Quote from Ed Mack’s article called CAGR: Compound Annual Growith Rate and LEGO.
http://www.brickpicker.com/forum/index.php/blog/4/entry-15-cagr-compound-annual-growth-rate-and-lego/

^Quote from Rebrickable’s About page. http://rebrickable.com/about

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