The Perfect Storm: The Greatest LEGO Giveaways in the History of the Universe

Back in 2000 a movie came out starring George Clooney and Marky Mark called The Perfect Storm. This movie told of a confluence of weather patterns that led to a "perfect storm". Unfortunately for our heroes, they were aboard the Andrea Gail in the middle of the Atlantic when the storm hit. So what does this have to do with Lego and Lego Investing? Well, nothing really...except that on September 1st a confluence of polybags has made a "perfect storm" scenario at the Lego Store.

To further explain, Lego Stores and Lego S@H are running a free promotional giveaway. Free with a $75 order is a Mini-VW polybag (40079). Also, if you spend $50 in Star Wars merchandise you receive a free Clone Trooper Lieutenant (5001709). By all accounts you could spend $50 on Star Wars and add $25 on anything else and receive both of the polybags. The Clone Trooper by itself sells for between $25 and $35 on Ebay. I am assuming that those buyers are aware that this polybag will be $50 in a few days...and you get $50 worth of free Star Wars Lego!

So if you have ever come accross any of my posts on the message boards you will have learned a few things: 1) I have an odd sense of humor 2) I really like the Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape 3) I do a mixture of selling off sets as well as holding sets and 4) I preach just buying the minimum amount to take advantage of Lego giveaways. With these things in mind, I am going to do a little experiment in September, and let everyone see how it goes step by step.

The Proposal

On Sunday, September 1st I will walk into the Lego Store in Downtown Disney with $102. With this $102 I will get 1 x Funhouse Escape (6857), 5 x Star Wars Battlepack (probably 75000...but might change my mind depending on qty available), 1 x VW polybag and 1 x Clone Lieutenant polybag.

I get a 10% discount at the Lego Store in DD due to my Disney annual pass. So 64.99 + 39.99 x 10% off x 8% tax rate comes out to $102.

I will sell the minifigs and Funhouse separately on Ebay, with short listings at first, maybe 1 day to take advantage of Labor Day. I will reconfigure my battlepacks to cater to the army builders (ie 10 Droidekas in a lot) and sell them all off as well. I will be one of the first VW polybags listed on Ebay as I will have both of those listed on Sunday morning, ending on Monday and shipped (hopefully) on Tuesday.

When I sell enough to earn another $102 in Paypal I will repeat the process as many times as I can during the month of September. Hopefully earning enough to where I have multiple Funhouses for sale at the same time.

Limitations

I will not be able to add any of my own money after the $102. I will also make sure that there is enough money to pay my Ebay fees at the end of the month. Also, all shipping will be paid with my Paypal account too, so what is left is my profits (less the $102 of course). On September 30th I will revisit the Lego Store and buy the single most expensive set I can with my money. So will I be able to buy a UCS R2-D2? Or will I only be able to buy a Chima Speedorz? Just a side note - I WILL use my VIP points earned throughout the month to increase my earnings.

I will try to keep my fellow Brickpickers updated as to my progress throughout the month, as well as keep a loose schedule of the time I spend doing this...as I am sure people would be interested to know for example, if I spent 13 hours to make $24.

I am open to suggestions of course...so feel free to add your opinions of how you think I will do or if you are even interested to find out how it ends. I will try to keep you updated through the forums or the comments section of this blog.

Conclusions

After I purchase my set on September 30th I will show everyone how much work it takes and how much money can be earned by parting out sets. This is by no means the be all end all for the debate on if you should part sets out or sell MISB or even if you should flip quickly or buy and hold. But it is probably the optimal time to part sets out, even if I am not the optimal person to do it.

To finish up our movie analogy: good old GC and Marky Mark were swallowed up by some ginormous wave and never seen again. Not sure how that applies to me, but I hope I do better than that.