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    Brickpicker blog articles on LEGO investing, news, reviews, evaluations, discounts and more...
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    • El Guapo
      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.
    • Peteparker
      I wanted to make the pictures I took at SDCC 2013 regarding the LEGO stuff I experienced available to everyone here, but rather than individually import about 100 images, I'll just post the public Facebook album link.
      Feel free to use these pictures for anything you'd like as long as you give me credit for taking them.
      The SDCC model was made by the SANDLUG and displayed at the LEGO store in Fashion Valley Mall.
      Here's the link:
      https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151831238849467.1073741832.535494466&type=1&l=606426e44d
    • DoNotInsertIntoMouth
      If you have used Ebay at all, you know how important Ebay's feedback and rating system is to the buying and selling process. As a buyer, when you buy an item from a seller on Ebay, you have a chance to leave feedback for that seller and rate their services. You can leave positive, negative, or neutral feedback for the item, along with a 100 word phrase to describe why you left the rating you did. You can also rate them from 1-5 stars in several areas: The item description, the seller's communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.
      As a seller, you have a few more limited options. You can only leave positive feedback or report a buyer, as well as leave a short summation of your choice. This was implemented several years ago after Ebay had issues with sellers waiting until the buyer leaves feedback as a sort of leverage in the feedback process.
      So how is feedback calculated? Pretty simple. Ebay takes your feedback for the last 12 months and then calculates a feedback score, which is a number that represents how many listings you have received positive feedback minus any negative feedback, and the feedback percentage which is simply the number of positives over the total feedback. The 12 month data is helpful if you have a string of bad luck, or something of that nature, it wont be held against you forever.
      So with that short Feedback crash course, you know everything you need to know now? Unfortunately, no. There are some pretty important nuances that can mean everything in the feedback and rating system. So here are my list of things to be aware of and remember as a buyer and a seller on Ebay.
      Buyer
      As a buyer on Ebay, you really have about 90% of the leverage in the transaction. Ebay is historically very protective of its buyers because of two reasons: There is not another site with the traffic that Ebay gets for sellers to switch to, and large numbers of buyers keep Ebay as the auction powerhouse it is.
      Having this power can pretty quickly go to your head. You can rate and leave feedback for a seller and they don't have much recourse to keep you from doing it. On top of that, are there that many sellers that really check out a buyer's feedback? In general, you wont know who buys it until they do – so the seller has to make a complaint retroactively if they don't like the buyer.
      So as a buyer, you can just do anything you want, right? In some ways you can, but I would definitely advise this going to your head. Buyers should be aware of the following things:
      Think about it before you leave negative feedback: If you have ever sold anything on Ebay, you know that some things just go flat out wrong. So as a buyer, you have to understand that too. Leaving a negative for something that was most likely out of the seller's hands is not fair to the seller. Let's say shipping takes a really long time for some reason. You contact the seller and they tell you that the shipping was delayed. There are some buyers who, in anger and impatience, leave negative feedback. This is punishing a seller for something they may not have control over – and this is what the ratings are for. If they are apologetic and communicative, make sure you don't unjustly punish them. If you consistently leave negative feedback for sellers, they can put you on their blocked buyers list. This is the seller's own list of buyers they don't want to deal with. Buying a lot of one type of product, like Lego sets, makes it inevitable that you will buy from the seller twice. If you happen to give bad feedback to a seller that has quite a few Lego items up for sale normally, you may lose out on some good deals. This is another reason why it is important to only leave negative feedback if the seller really deserves it. Along with the last point, some of the bigger Ebay sellers communicate and know each other in an online business setting. You think by irritating one seller, you are ok with everyone else? Unfortunately that is not the case. Buyers that are consistently unfair to sellers may have their account ID's spread around to other large sellers, telling them to block this buyer as they are too much trouble to deal with. All of sudden, you are having trouble getting those good deals you used to find. If you are about to leave negative feedback – consider neutral. Neutral doesn't affect their feedback calculations and you still get to write something. Unless the seller was doing something really improper, neutral is a way to get your point across. They don't get a positive rating and you show them you were dissatisfied, but you don't cripple their feedback over a smaller issue. Be careful when you rate a seller– the ratings have a big effect on the seller. Ratings determine how high Ebay shows a certain seller's item in "Free-for-all" searches. One rating that can really be a problem is the “shipping time”. If it takes a long time to ship, make sure before you leave a low rating that they didn't state it might take a while in the listing. Also make sure you ask them why it took so long as well. If they used USPS, it probably wasn't their fault. If you do decide to leave negative feedback, don't leave all bad ratings as well to spite the seller. As stated, these are a big key in Ebay's search results. More so, if certain ratings get low enough, Ebay may even suspend them as a seller for a period of time. Try to always rate the seller correctly whether you left them negative feedback or not. Make sure you always leave feedback and always rate the seller. Believe, me it is very nerve-racking for sellers to wait for positive feedback and ratings, as these help their Ebay listings appear at the top of searches (or not appear a the bottom). It is only respectful that you leave them feedback for their trouble. A while back I was selling quite a bit and trying to get my feedback rating up. This was before Ebay automatically rated people 5 stars in certain cases. I had a few customers in a row that rated me low on shipping time and shipping price – even though it was free shipping! After that, I had several who never left feedback or never rated me. My ratings were much lower than they should have been. I was just as irritated at the people who didn't leave ratings as the people that left low ratings. Seller
      As a seller, feedback is much more important to your life on Ebay. Where as sellers aren't really aware of a buyer's feedback, most buyers are well aware of a seller's feedback when they look at a listing. If you have low feedback or low ratings, you can expect that you are going to have a much harder time selling items. With low ratings and feedback, Ebay starts to limit your sales, lower your items in searches, and even suspend your account. So what are some things you can do as a seller to limit your chance of receiving negative feedback?
      Make sure your item is exactly as described and take clear pictures You may think that taking pictures and having a really good description is something that is just imperative to get the best price. It affects more than that. If a buyer receives an item with an issue and it was completely spelled out in the listing, the buyer will have a harder time leaving negative feedback. For example, I bought a laptop charger for my laptop by just glancing at the listing and clicking Buy it Now. The title was a little misleading, but in the listing it stated it was just the end cord – not the power brick. I was irritated when I received it, but when I looked back at the listing I knew I had made the mistake. So I still rated the seller highly and gave them positive feedback.
      Communicate with the buyer throughout the process. Ebay only allows someone to rate your communication if you actually sent them a message. Some people think it might be better to just avoid that so you don't have a chance for a bad rating. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Being a buyer, you are always waiting – waiting for the item, wondering when it will get there, waiting to see if it was as described. If a seller just sends a short message at each part of the process, this can make the buyer feel much more informed. My process is this: Send the buyer a short message congratulating them and thanking them when they purchase it, along with details about when you will ship it. Send them a message again the day you ship it, letting them know. After they should have received the item, send them a message asking if they received it and if they are satisfied, would they mind leaving you feedback and ratings (don't be pushy though as that can really be irritating to a buyer). This always works really well for me and a lot of times they respond and are very thankful. If a buyer is satisfied, the may follow the seller's account meaning they see new items that are posted. This could get you more future sales quicker!
      Also, make sure if anything does go wrong – you have a delay in shipping, you can't ship it the day you were going to, etc. - that you tell them. They will know anyway when they receive it. Being upfront can help the buyer understand that you were doing your best and will reflect when they rate you.
      Make sure you use tracking and add a tracking number This pretty much costs you nothing ($.20 if using USPS and free with the other two big carriers) and can really make a big difference to a buyer. If a buyer just purchased a $400 Lego set from you, they want to know when it is going to be there. A lot of sellers have tracking, but they never add the tracking number! This can irritate a buyer and, if anything goes wrong, could encourage them to have ill feelings towards you as a buyer, which you don't want.
      Respond to the buyer's messages as quickly as possible If the buyer has a question and needs to send you a message, the longer you leave them waiting and in suspense, the more impatient and irritated the buyer may get. You don't want them to feel like this because it could reflect when they rate you. If they ask a question you don't know the answer to, just send them a message right back and let them know you will look into it. If you are actively selling things on Ebay, make sure you are checking your messages often. Chances are, if you have a smart phone, you can get notifications when you receive a message.
      Include a letter in your shipment This is a very easy one to do and can make a big difference. It wont be too hard as as a seller to make up a small letter and copy it 1000 times to send out with items. Simply put your ID on it and let the seller know you are very grateful for them buying your item. Also, make sure you let them know if they need anything at all, or are dissatisfied, to contact you immediately. Let them know you have more Lego sets for sale as well! The buyer will feel a lot better about the transaction and may even purchase more from you.
      Offer free shipping when possible People love free shipping – whether the price is the same or not. Also offering it automatically gives you a 5 star rating in that category. It is an easy way to boost your ratings. If you don't want to offer free shipping, always do calculated over a flat rate and then make it very clear in the listing you only charge them exactly what it costs to ship so they know you are not making money off shipping. If it costs $.20 less, refund them that $.20. It is a very easy way to get on their good side.
      If something goes wrong with the shipping, consider refunding them part or all of the shipping If you are worried there is a delay or problem with shipping – I recall during Hurricane Sandy a while back, mail was delayed for over a week – consider refunding their shipping to them. This may offset any anger they have at you, whether it is your fault or not. It is a cheap way to make sure you get good ratings.
      Make sure you pack the shipment as well as possible This is a really easy way to get negative feedback. We all know, even if you put “fragile” on a box, it still probably goes through the proverbial dryer during the shipping process. If you pack your item poorly, you are going to eventually get burned. Yes, maybe you smooth it over by refunding the order, or you have an insurance claim, but it doesn't stop the buyer from leaving you bad feedback. Don't take the chance.
      So, as a seller, these are the things to do to help prevent poor ratings and feedback. Does this mean you will never get another negative? Unfortunately, no. So what do you do when you do get one?
      Contact the seller and resolve the problem If you resolve the problem, you can lobby to Ebay and the seller for feedback revision. A lot of times, if you fix the problem with the seller, they will relent and at least change their feedback to neutral which wont hurt your rating. A lot of sellers receive negative feedback and are angry. They don't want to try and figure out what was wrong and just move on. This is a mistake, as most people are reasonable if you fix their problem.
      Always respond to negative feedback I don't understand why sellers don't do this more. Most buyers looking at an item want it. They look through feedback to be sure they wont get burned. If they see a negative feedback, that takes a toll. However, with human nature, if we really want to buy something, we will make excuses like “well maybe that was a bad buyer”. What better way to put that though in than to respond! You can respond to the negative feedback and refute what they said. Don't be mean or disrespectful, just try and say what you did to fix it and apologize. For example:
      Negative feedback: Item arrived damaged and had to be sent back
      Rebuttal: Unfortunately item was damaged during shipment. Immediately refunded customer, very sorry
      This type of thing will make a buyer feel better about the fact you got negative feedback.
      Use the block buyer list Some people are just flat out unfair with their feedback. Don't believe me? Go look at a feedback profile from an account that has 1000s of feedback a month. Every once in a while, they will get someone who leaves a negative with “item was too expensive” or “didn't like item as much as I thought”. It is pretty outrageous.
      Don't dwell on it. If you can't get it removed, just add them to your blocked list so you don't have to deal with them again. It will avoid future problems and you can get on with your selling. At one point, pretty much everyone gets a negative feedback whether it was your fault or not. Don't always take it personally or freak out about it.
      That is my set of info today. Again, I implore people: Think before you leave feedback. Never do it in haste and only leave negative when the seller really deserves it. Because if you are a seller, you know how it feels to receive it when it isn't your fault.
      Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods. Thanks for reading!
    • Ed Mack
      Hello fellow BrickPickers... The end of the Summer is approaching quickly and we are heading into the prime LEGO season...Fall. There are many great new LEGO sets getting released and many great old ones getting retired. One thing is for sure, it is an active time of year, with the Christmas buying season right around the corner.
      Our recent Review and Blog content contests were very successful and we received a large influx of quality and informative LEGO set reviews and LEGO based blog articles. Building upon that success, Jeff and I would like to offer members DOUBLE BRICKPOINTS on any LEGO set reviews and blogs that are submitted from August 21, 2013 to September 21, 2013...the last day of Summer. I might even reward more than double on certain exceptional content.
      Remember, these BrickPoints can be used to acquire LEGO sets in our BRICKPOINTS STORE. Here are a couple of quick points to remember:
      Jeff and I will be flexible with the LEGO sets available in the store. If there is not a set to your liking, we can swap it out for another LEGO set of similar MSRP cost or LEGO Gift Card. BrickPoints awarded for review and blog content are based on character count, quality, research involved, photos and charts submitted. Blogs that are submitted will be published in the order in which it will be most effective and interesting for the other members. Any quality blog will be published and will get credited in due time, just be patient. Reviews are published quickly. Blogs are spaced apart. Reviews need to be 1000 characters long to qualify and blogs need to be more than a couple of sentences. Spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation all count. I do not want to waste my time correcting basic errors. Good luck and I look forward to posting some interesting new content. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns...
    • Fcbarcelona101
      Welcome to the July 2013 Best Selling Sets on eBay blog entry. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the updating of June's numbers that did not allow me to write a list for that month, but that's in the past already. Here are the Top 10 Best Sellers in July!: (Positions in the list are determined by both Used and New listings, but I will only include information for new copies)
      July 2013 Top Ten

      1- One of the favorite sets for investors has finally made the best selling lists and in what a way. The Funhouse Escape has secured the top position of this month's list with 261 New units sold, up from 116 last month. This set is a TRU exclusive in the same price range as the Orc Forge from the LOTR, and is constantly recommended by several members in the forums as well. One has to wonder what exactly produced such a large jump in sold values, maybe investors are ramping up summer purchases?
      261 Sold (New)

      2- Once again Minecraft proves to be a sales powerhouse, staying in the top position of this list for several months already. It has been such a successful set that LEGO recently announced the production of even more models based on the online game, with even its own "theme" section in the S@H page. It seems Minecraft is here for the long run.
      223 Sold (New)

      3- Somewhat of a surprise, this Creator Construction Hauler set sits in the Top 3 of July's list. However, this is not necessarily a rare occurrence, as the set was just released and probably experienced that "new release" effect that gets a lot of people buying it as soon as it comes out. Pretty cool set, we will have to see how it positions itself next month.
      232 Sold (New)

      4- Another long standing member of the Top 10 list, the Millennium Falcon 7965 continues to prove itself as the single most popular ship in the Star Wars universe. The set saw a pretty decent increase in sales from June to July, and this trend will only get more prominent with the holiday season in the horizon. Will this be the last year for 7965? I seriously doubt it.
      204 Sold (New)

      5- This really nice looking Creator polybag really does not come as a surprise. The polybag was given as a promotional item during a pretty long period of time on purchases over $75, which generated a large supply of this in the market by sellers wanting to recover some of the cost of their LEGO purchase. Of course, this kind of sale activity does not happen with every single promo item, but the appeal of this particular one and its compatibility with LEGO City and modular layouts turned it into a popular item.
      207 Sold (New)

      6- On my last entry I wanted to check where this set would place once the "early retirement" situation was completely forgotten. Well, it seems that the set continues to be very popular, probably as a consequence of it being one of the most iconic locations of the original trilogy and a great collection of high quality minifigures.
      168 Sold (New)

      7- Interesting to keep seeing this set in the top positions. As I have said before, this is a really underrated set, in my opinion, that has proven to be an excellent investment in a relatively short period of time (Current Market Value: $ 383.93). Even at the higher price tag it continues to sell extremely well on eBay.
      95 Sold (New)

      8- This small set contains what I think is the most popular character of the entire X-Men franchise for a very affordable price. It is my belief that this is probably the reason it sells so well, but we have to note that even though it has performed (sales wise) very good in July, the previous months were nothing worth mentioning. I have no concrete proof, but I would assume that the set got clearanced in several stores and quick flippers are unloading them.
      71 Sold (New)

      9- First Ninjago set I see on the list, and one that I really did not expect. Most of my knowledge of these sets is limited to the largest sets, so I can't really give an informed opinion about why this set experienced such a high jump in sales. I would think summer clearance had something to do with it, as with the previous and next set, but that is only speculation.
      137 Sold (New)

      10- The last entry of this month is a small set that appears to be retired at this point. With 134 new units sold, I would assume that a lot of last minute investors and collectors hurried up to get this one before prices started to go up.
      134 Sold (New)
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      And with this, our July entry about Top Selling sets is officially closed. One thing to look for in the next update will for sure be the position of the Limited Edition Crawler, that with the short release and apparent success on eBay will probably find a place in the Top 20. Thanks for reading
    • Scissorino
      So, by my reckoning (and let’s face it, who else would know?) I’ve officially been an AFOL for around 8 or 9 months now (with increasing intensity of course, as these things go). I think I’d measure it from the point at which I entered Brighton’s Lego Store and made my own Steampunk-inspired minifigures (one of which has now gone to a new home as a present to my colleague).
      In these last few months it has become increasingly known to those around me that I am indeed an adult fan of Lego. This news has been met with many a reaction, but none entirely negative. And now the dividends are rolling in:
      · Birthday present from colleagues: eVoucher for online Lego store which is going towards the purchase of a set I’ve wanted for ages (I think even before I emerged from my dark ages): The VW T1 Campervan. Alongside my love of Lego I have a love of VWs and it only makes sense for me to wait until September to order this as then I’ll get a free mini Lego Campervan too!
      · Birthday presents from family: Lego (along with Lego cards, cakes, marshmallow lollies, chocolate brownies, brick-shaped erasers... and The Settlers of Catan (but that’s another obsession))
      · Donations. I know a lot of people. I know many people whose children, like me, have grown up. People who have Lego stashed away somewhere. My first donated set came this week. A Lego Mindstorms Inventor System 2.0 from way back when Mindstorms were new. Now, as it happens the batteries have been leaking acid into the robot unit for a good few years now and it looks like it’s ruined (unless anyone can help me here?) but the fact that I got free Lego still stands (the rest of the set is still usable – and possibly there are re-sellable parts i.e. sensors etc?
      I’ve also begun to affect those around me... or maybe that should be infect? My auntie text me yesterday to say they were in the Lego shop in Manchester and that they were thinking of me and that my teenage cousins were building minifigures! I’ve got a friend who has become an avid CMF collector, having only been a casual collector before we found we shared an interest. My teenage brother now builds Lego regularly (his latest a Glastonbury Pyramid Stage complete with band).
      I’ve discovered that it definitely pays to be open and honest about your Lego obsession – don’t be ashamed!
    • comicblast
      The Volkswagen Type 1, or more commonly the Volkswagen Beetle, was one of the offspring of Adolf Hitler’s plan for a car that was cheap to manufacture. The car was manufactured for 62 years (1941-2003), and approximately 21.5 million were made worldwide, a world record.^
      The word “Volkswagen” derives from the German phrase “people’s car”. It was designed under the requirements that it carry 5 people and be able to travel 22 mpg, a stunning number, at the time. Eventually, the car was further developed to drive more efficiently as well as have higher speeds.^
      Despite the changes within the frame of the Beetle, the initial shape stayed the same throughout the decades of production. See below for comparisons:
      1949 Volkswagen Beetle
      1972 Volkswagen Beetle
      2003 Volkswagen Beetle (Last model produced)
      5 years after the final Volkswagen Beetle was produced in 2008, The LEGO Company released a model of the iconic vehicle, featuring 1,626 pieces, and retailing for $119.99 USD.
      The Volkswagen Beetle LEGO model uses primarily bricks with studs rather than curved smooth pieces that could have otherwise been used to recreate the smooth flowing surface and shape of the Volkswagen. Instead, studs are used, which gives the build a more chunky shape, which I think could have been done differently, as it can be difficult to make the iconic curves of the Beetle with bricks.
      This particular LEGO Volkswagen Beetle was based off the 1960 Beetle. After all, the license plate does read WOB-VW 1960. WOB an abbreviation for “Wolfsburg, the ‘home town’ of Volkswagen”*.
      Now, let’s compare the LEGO Volkswagen Beetle to the real 1960 Volkswagen Beetle!!
      1960 Volkswagen Beetle Cutaway Picture
      LEGO Volkswagen Beetle Open Picture
      1960 Volkswagen Beetle Picture
      LEGO Volkswagen Beetle Picture
      I personally think that LEGO didn’t do a great job with this particular set because they could have used sloped pieces, and pieces with curves in order to better recreate the actual Beetle. The LEGO version seems overall much more stout than the actual, and has too much texture to it. The interior of the car, on the other hand, was done well, especially the chairs and dashboard.
      LEGO did manage to include the iconic headlights of the Volkswagen Beetle, but since the LEGO version is so wide, the headlights almost seem out of place. LEGO also could have added chrome “umbrella” pieces as hubcaps instead of the duller silver-gray color that was chosen. The rear-view mirrors of the car were done well, and very creative, which is a nice bonus. Overall, this set visually earns itself 7/10.
      ^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle
      *http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14180&#entry242123
      The Volkswagen Beetle has been on a very respectable increase over the past year, and with nearly a 40% increase from $336 last June. Now, let’s look at a few tables that I put together for the Volkswagen Beetle, and the sales in the last 90 days…      
       
       
       
      Based on these numbers, and the average total sale price of sets in the last 90 days, we can guess that the Volkswagen Beetle is worth about $572.20. Now this number does include international sales, which is different from BrickPicker data, so the number you see is an approximate value.
      This means that the Volkswagen Beetle has increased in value approximately 16% over the last 2 months (June-July), or an average of 8% per month, which is a very constant growth, as it grew 7.21% in May 2013, and does show potential as a set to grab for investment, even 5 years after retirement!
      Though the Volkswagen Beetle was not the strongest build, the investment potential and value of the set is high, and definitely a strong contestant in the investment game!!
      I hope you enjoyed this article!
       
    • Grolim
      Over the last few weeks I've been looking into understanding how the time you decide to purchase a set for investment factors into your real investment returns. After one of my earlier blogs on how discount amounts affect your returns I began to examine how in some circumstances buying at a higher price but later in a sets retail shelf life may be beneficial.
      It’s all about the Time Value of Money and the Opportunity Cost of purchasing an item when your investment capital may be better utilised in another asset. Typically sets last 18-24 months on retail shelves before retiring. If you buy a set right after it is released there is a longer time you have to hold before any potential price growth is realised.
      So is it worth buying something early on if you see it at a discount, or are you better holding off to by later on at perhaps even full retail just before EOL?
      Well the answer is a “fence sitting” it depends. The level of the discount offered, length of time to EOL, expected growth rate, and the length of time you are likely to hold the set all factor into the answer.
      Lets take a look at a recently retired set that we have good information for and try and use that as a bit of a case study:
      10212 Imperial Shuttle UCS
      This well known recently retired set was released for retail sale in Sep-2010 for a retail price of $259.99. It stayed in the majority of retail outlets up until the end of Dec-2012. That’s a retail shelf life of 27 months. Over that time we can get a good picture of any retail discounts available using the camelcamelcamel.com data that is captured from Amazon.com prices and is available here on Brickpicker via the set’s individual information page.
      The pricing graph above shows all the discounts available at Amazon.com over the retail life of the set. There could well have been other discounts available at other retailers, but this is the best data we have available and often retailers match discounts with each other so for the purposes of this exercise it should provide us with a good set of data to see what impacts buying at different points will have.
      The largest discount was in Dec-2011 where a 30% off deal was available for a very short time, maybe a day or only a matter of hours. Earlier discounts of 10% can be seen back in Feb-2011 with the latest very good discount to around $217 of 16.5% in June-2012. After that there was only the $259.99 retail price available right up until EOL, no clearance sales here!
      The current market price for the set is $354.69 based on Brickpicker data to the end of May-2013. We can use this as the benchmark to see what purchasing the set at different periods gives us as a return on that investment to date.
      To compare purchase points we can use the CMGR – Compound Monthly Growth Rate that shows us the month on month increase in price. If you bought the set on day 1 at release then you would have seen a growth rate of 0.98% per month for the 32 months right through to the May-2013 price. If you waited for a bit and pulled the trigger on that first 10% sale in Feb-2011 then you have a growth rate of 1.55% per month over 27 months. If you were lucky enough to catch the big 30% sale and get one for $181.99 in Dec-2011 then you’d have enjoyed a nice 4.00% growth per month for 17 months. However if you waited until the June-2012 sale and got one for 16.5% discount at $217 then 4.57% growth per month over 11 months would be your result. Even more surprising is if you waited until the very last month and got one at full $259.99 retail in Dec-2012 then you’d currently have a monthly growth rate of 6.41% over 5 months.
      Very interesting results and we can graph the monthly growth rates at each purchase point using the line graph below.
      The set has grown 36.42% above retail after retirement in 5 months. This means almost all of the growth is “squashed” into those later months. Therefore the later purchase points show higher percentage monthly returns as they enjoy most of the growth in their short time span. If your intentions were to wait for initial high growth after EOL and sell now then obviously waiting later looks to have proven most beneficial. However, the longer you intend to hold the set the difference between the monthly growth rates start to even up.
      For example if your plan is to hold the set for another 2 years lets see what the results after that time are. You need to make an estimate of the expected growth over those 2 years. The following table shows the monthly growth rates for each of the 3 interesting purchase points given a few different annual growth rated for the next 2 years.

      You can see that as the growth rate gets higher the later purchase points have a better monthly increase. The 30% mark is about where they break even. I feel that the 25% level is realistic and slightly on the side of conservatism. After those 2 years of 25% growth per year the set should be worth $554.20. Buying the set back in Dec-11 at it’s biggest discount looks to have the slight advantage there.
      The other thing you can do to compare two different purchase points is to look at the growth rates between just those two points and see how impressive that might be. Lets take the difference between Dec-11 and Jun-12. Buying for $181.99 in Dec-11 saves $35 compared to buying for $217 in Jun-12. That savings represents a 19.24% return in those 6 months, or 2.98% CMGR for comparison. The question we need to answers is could you have invested your capital into something else in that time period that would give you more than 3% growth per month?
      There would have been a few sets that could have bettered that during those 6 months. For example Taj Mahal was growing an average of 8% per month during that time. Still, 3% per month is very impressive and you should be pretty pleased with it, suggesting that the Dec-11 low point was a very good purchase point.
      Likewise, comparing to the opportunity of purchasing at the end of retail in Dec-12 the $78% savings back in Dec-11 represents a 12 month growth of 42.86% or 3.02% CMGR. That is also very good and you won’t find too many set options giving that sort of performance. There will be a few for sure, but picking them would have been hard at the time.
      Conclusions
      It’s far harder to optimise your purchase decision at the time you are presented with a discount opportunity. You don’t have a crystal ball so are unlikely to be able to know whether a discount will be available in the future. It’s also hard to predict EOL times, you can estimate, or make an educated guess based on the cumulative shared wisdom of members here on Brickpicker, but often it’s not an exact science. It’s far easier to try and look at the optimal purchase point looking backwards with the full benefit of hindsight and complete information.
      I’m not sure this article will have helped you a great deal, but I feel like I’ve at least got my thoughts down on paper. I think this is a topic I’d like to return to in the future as I feel I haven’t quite captured a way to determine when the best point to buy was. It’s going to require a bit more research. At the very least we’ve been able to see that buying time does have a big impact on percentage returns on investment in the shorter term. And that the opportunity cost of buying early is the potential profits that capital could have been used to generate on a different set.
    • TheOrcKing
      Back in the year of 1999, Lego introduced the world to their latest and incredibly epic license acquisition to date of Star Wars. In the first year alone, they released a mix of thirteen sets based around the original trilogy and beginning of the prequel trilogy. To further the themes’ collectability by the following year, they issued four of the short lived Minifigure Collection (or Minifig Pack) sets each containing three characters plus special stands and introduced the most highly detailed designs to date with the Ultimate Collector Series. Besides being considerably expensive, UCS sets featured the largest number of parts over many.
      Jumping ahead thirteen years to 2012, Lego decides on raising the collectible ante for their most popular theme by launching the Planets line. Taking inspiration from the Collectible Minifigures and simple mini-builds within polybags, with a container tossed in for good measure, we end up with a one-of-a-kind and profoundly well blended collectable rolled into one neat little package. Each year (thus far) yields the release of two three-set series’ featuring various builds, characters, and planetoids which make great decorations. With a standard price point affordable by most and different facets appealing to anyone one way or another, they were an immediate success and continue to be.
      Below you shall find informative tables and charts for every separate Planet from both Series 1 and 2 released just last year listing a compilation of various values for comparison. Beneath those is my general opinion taking into consideration the current values of worth, highs and lows from sales, and contributing features of design. The sold listings data are from the last five months for the two main staples of resale, eBay and BrickLink. Prior to this article, I have already written and submitted complete set reviews for each and intend on mainly focusing towards investment purposes instead of simply repeating myself. I also took the liberty of adding links under each chart to BrickPicker’s and BrickLink’s price guides. Now let’s get started.
      Series 1
      9674 - Naboo Starfighter/Naboo
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      The smallest of all the Planets in both piece count and design had a steady value of worth since the beginning of last year as it was released alongside its Series 1 brethren and already reached sales of more than $30 brand new through eBay. Unfortunately, the currently going value has been wounded since a few months ago by numerous discounts found among various retailers such as Target selling many remaining leftovers from 50% to nearly 75% off. Despite varying difference in opinion surrounding the prequel trilogy, a number of people seem to like the sleek N-1 Starfighter from Naboo. While I honestly did not think this one would perform so remarkably well and fast, I also should not find it surprising for this to fall so far after being on top for so long. With that being said, I can see this making a comeback in due time. As the phrase goes, “It happened before, it can happen again”.
      9675 - Sebulba’s Podracer/Tatooine
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      Besides being the cheapest way to get a hold of the latest version of Sebulba, this has the honor of containing the largest piece count and flimsiest design of any Planet released so far. Before now, I was not quite sure where to place this one truthfully. It has had an oddball rollercoaster ride in value with a couple of high peaks and mostly mid to low valleys and still is scarcely worth more than retail at the moment. There is potential here as I am now seeing this slowly gain momentum thankfully; however, trying to capture that bolt of lightning will take a little patience and boils down to good timing. This continues to be what I would consider a mid to long-term investment assuming it does go anywhere.
       
      9676 - TIE Interceptor/Death Star
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      Finally, a personal favorite (and many others it would seem) spacecraft and Planet of Series 1! In spite of the insanely high number of listings, this has performed slightly better than Sebulba’s Podracer, had a more uniformed ride altogether and reached some decent heights. It could possibly do better if the number of people trying to sell at the same time wasn’t so high, but even then its track record shows a consistently somewhat reliable level of value and point towards a potential long-term investment despite a current dip. It’s the iconic Death Star (DS-1 Orbital Battle Station specifically) we all know and loved watching get blown up (twice no less) or firing up its laser, and both the TIE Interceptor and pilot (though not as rare as he used to be) are awesome! While listing one at this point in time will yield minimal profit, this particular Planet is just too good to not appreciate well even though that may take a while (and I do mean a while) to gradually do so.
      It will be tricky gauging future values for Series 2, thanks to all of those recent discounts and the fact that some can still be found at local retailers across the country, but here goes nothing.
      Series 2
      9677 - X-Wing Starfighter/Yavin 4
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      Here we start off the next series with a bang featuring the ever classic, T-65 X-Wing Starfighter! One can go on about everything done right with this set. The design at this scale absolutely cannot get any better period, and who doesn’t want another Rebel pilot? If there were any possible negatives to be found, it would be the fact this exact build was released a couple years prior in a polybag available from various Target and Five Below retailers. Aside from that, I see little to no problems for this one appreciating well if only for the simple fact of how iconic both the starfighter and pilot are. In a similarly odd way, this could almost as easily end up going down the same path as the Naboo Starfighter from the first Series.
      9678 - Twin-Pod Cloud Car/Bespin
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      A favorite secondary character and vehicle from the original trilogy of mine, now in their correct colors! Despite the small size, it is a greatly accurate representation of the Storm IV Twin-Pod Cloud Car and the completely exclusive minifigure features a nicely balanced mix between Lobot from the film and a Lego character. While I am surprised in a way with its currently low value at the same time I am not. Majority of reviews and opinions from across the web have been positive up to the point of even stating this is the best Planet. In any case, this took those countless discounts the hardest as its value on eBay has gone down to almost half retail yet the number of units sold keeps rising. Amusingly enough, this has performed better overall on BrickLink. Although this will definitely be another to add upon the list of long-term investments, I have faith in the uniqueness eventually pulling it through and even outshine the Twin-Pod Cloud Car set from 2002.
      9679 - AT-ST Walker/Endor
      BrickPicker Price Guide/BrickLink Price Guide
      This is by far the best mini-build of the AT-ST ever and includes a one-of-a-kind version of its Imperial Pilot. Sales for this particular set have performed a little more than the X-Wing altogether, and both are selling better than the Cloud Car at the moment from either eBay or BrickLink. Opinions have been favorable and although I have found a rather similar design in a previous polybag from 2011, I can imagine this one doing very well with some ease in the long run.
      On a side note, the Planet itself is technically the forest moon of Endor and not to be confused with the cyan gas planet it orbits around that the Ewoks named Tana, which will be featured in the upcoming B-Wing Starfighter/Planet Endor from Series 4.
      Although I can’t say how things will fare with Series 3 and 4 at this point (leaving me room for a future evaluation), I can say however those appear to be yet another nice collection of winners! My picks for quick gainers are the Republic Attack Cruiser/Coruscant from Series 3 and Tantive IV/Alderaan from Series 4. Nothing wrong about the rest of them; all will be good performers in due time. In my opinion, Series 4 offers the best selection of spaceships and Planets altogether.
      In conclusion, I have found scant few negatives in my evaluation for the 1st and 2nd series of the Stars Wars Planets line. Surprisingly enough, the Naboo Starfighter had performed exceedingly well right out the gate than every other one and could once again later on. While I can’t say I’m surprised with Sebulba’s progress, I must admit the alien has done better than I would have thought initially. The Death Star has managed to keep a steady value (though close to retail) regardless of the absolutely ludicrous amount of listings. If given the chance to grow, it should produce some nice returns. I find it amusing how the AT-ST is performing nicer than even the symbolic X-Wing and at the same time disappointed with the current standing of Bespin’s Cloud Car though I have a feeling it will perk up eventually.
      After much research across the net by reading and skimming through numerous reviews and opinions, emotions towards the Planet sets have been very reassuring from a number of age groups. Seldom have I found anything negative or the opposite.
      Despite all of these good points, the real question that matters remains.
      Are they worth investing?
      To which I can reply with great certainty.
      Yes.
      Their broad appeal, included features, and affordable price point offers something for everyone. First off, they are based on the most popular theme of Star Wars. Second, the included mini-builds are display ready designs able to fit in any size location and easy enough for a child to put together and play in a matter of moments, and don’t forget the exclusively printed plague that comes within every set. Third, each one features a minifigure with unique printing and/or army building qualities and practically everybody loves collecting them. Fourth, there is nothing else on the shelves quite like the Planets themselves. These truly are one of kind conversation pieces molded purely for decoration or a make shift storage container if need be.
      While I wouldn’t go too off the handle by saying they will gain ridiculously large amounts in value, I will say each Planet could go as high as three times retail at some point in time. A select few may possibly go even higher than that much like how the Naboo Starfighter/Naboo once had strangely enough.
      Since the entire line is still relatively in its stage of infancy, now would be the best time to invest in the starting Series’ if you have not done so already before things get too far down the road and we are looking forward to the release of Series 9 and 10 in 2016 or Series 17 and 18 in 2020 (assuming the line manages to continue for that long of course). The returns may not be the same from a typically larger set but if you factor in the inevitable discounts on an item which was already low cost to begin with, collective gains earned could stack up quite nicely.
      If you did manage to stay awake long enough to reach the end of my article, I thank you.
      Oh, and “May the force be with you”.
    • Quacs
      "ED"itor's Note: This informative and well written article was a collaboration of Quacs and Fcbarcelona101...
      In 2006, a television show debuted in the US called Man vs. Wild. Originally a British show called Born Survivor, Man vs. Wild was a reality TV series hosted by the noted outdoorsman and stuntman Bear Grylls that chronicled his efforts to thrive in remote locations by demonstrating and using various survival skills. Throughout each episode, Grylls used every piece of information and natural resource the local landscape offered him, and provided the audience with some audacious survival techniques. Needless to say, it made for some compelling television.
      Gryll’s locales provided him incredible opportunities to showcase his atypical survival techniques, and every landscape he visited was full of tools to survive. In our "reality game" of Lego investing, new Brickpicker members are faced with a similar challenge. Tools to learn and conquer Lego investing (or more colloquially, Brickpicking) abound, yet they too can be hidden in plain sight. Members' unfamiliarity with Lego investing may obscure the powerful tools that are readily available, or their inexperience may contribute to a lack of awareness of these tools. With this article, we intend to provide both new and veteran Brickpickers with a road map to our favorite site. So, strap on your waterskin and get ready to make your way through Brickpicker and all of its functions. With a little bit of guidance, its vast information can provide all of us with immense opportunity.
      The first rule of Brickpicking is to make money, and in order to make money in Lego investing, you must learn how to build a portfolio. Portfolio construction is the vehicle that Lego investors use to make money. Broadly, portfolio construction includes the following steps:
      Building Your Portfolio Tracking Your Portfolio Refining Your Portfolio Selling Your Portfolio While this sounds simple, learning to master this cycle will make you money in the Brickpicking game. Naturally, Brickpicker has evolved to include several modules that provide information to help conquer each of these steps. The site also includes a few additional modules that provide a break from the work of Lego investing. To unlock Brickpicker’s potential, let’s go step by step to discover the tools at our disposal to become a dominant Brickpicker.
      Build your portfolio
      So, you have made the decision to begin your journey as a LEGO investor. The most important question you will ask yourself is, "where do I start?". Thankfully, Brickpicker has several different features that can make that always difficult first step a little easier, but before we review them there are a few points that any investor should keep in mind:
      As with any investment, diversification is key. When investing in LEGO, a good way to diversify your portfolio includes purchasing sets from multiple themes and different sizes/price points. Don't discount the small sets due to their small returns - a good mix of well selected smaller sets can reduce the overall risk of your investment. Consider all the costs of LEGO investing. Take into account all of the hidden costs associated with Brickpicking such as wear and tear on your vehicle, insurance and storage. These will be important when determining the actual ROI of your portfolio. Craft your investment strategy before hand. It is extremely important that investors establish a clear set of rules to govern your LEGO investment selections. It is very easy to buy every set that sees a discount, but this is not the most efficient way to achieve good returns in the long run. Do your research. This goes along with choosing an investment strategy. It is extremely iportfolio.mportant that investors analyze prospective investments as much as possible before actually putting hard earned money into them. You would not invest in a company you have never heard about just because it is 10% cheaper than yesterday; Lego sets are no different. Invest within your means. Don't exceed your budget just because some other investors are purchasing several copies of a set and telling you how well they will perform. Follow your strategy and don't get caught up in the hype. These points mentioned above are not the only ones you should pay attention to while starting investing in LEGO sets, but they are the most basic ones everyone should consider before jumping into Lego investing. With these in mind, let's take a look at the most important features Brickpicker offers its members when starting a LEGO portfolio.
      Sales and Discounts
      One of the oft-repeated mantras you will see in the forum is, "Never to pay retail for your LEGO sets". This is pretty basic advice and while an investor must consider several variables when deciding whether to purchase a set at MSRP, getting a set at a discount is your best bet to maximize future investment returns. A nice article that goes a little more into detail about the effect of discounts on your ROI can be read at Grolim's Blog.
      The premise is pretty straightforward: by getting a set at a discounted price you will stand a better chance at making money even if the set ends up being an investment loser. It is pretty rare when a LEGO goes for a lot more under retail even when its investment performance is below average, so getting a discounted set will make a huge difference when it comes time to sell. Because of this, Brickpicker's Sales & Discounts module gives investors a lot of good information about currently discounted sets in the market. Once you click on the Module, several different features will drop down. Let's evaluate each one a little closer:
      Amazon / Walmart / Target Discounts: These three individual modules consist of information related to the current discounts offered by each retailer. In some instances, especially with Amazon, you will be able to select the country you are interested in checking, and the list will include valuable information like the current price of the set, the current percentage discount, the MSRP, and the date and time of the last update. Please note the page will also warn you if the list price from the retailer is higher than LEGO's MSRP, a handy tool that could keep you from purchasing a set you believe has a great discount, but in actuality, doesn't.
      The discount page also presents you with a Buy it Now button that will take you to the retailer's website and give the site some credit at the time of purchase. That is a free and good way to help Brickpicker!
      Amazon Price Grid: This page is very similar to the discounts section we examined above, yet it does provide a more convenient place to compare Amazon discounts across different regions and a tool to sort the results in several ways. For example, if you are interested in checking only those discounts related to sets in the Architecture theme, clicking on the Quick Link will bring you to a page that shows you only those sets.
      Furthermore, you can choose the lowest level of discount you want to be shown with the sorting tool in the upper right corner. If you only want to check the sets with a discount equal or greater than 20%, you can select that option and the page will show you a complete list of sets that meet that criteria. This can be very useful if you have a particular discount level that usually makes you "pull the trigger' with some LEGO sets.
      Amazon Best Sellers and Top Selling Sets: These two individual modules are similar, but include information based on two different retail outlets: Amazon and eBay.
      The Amazon Best Sellers page will give you the Top 100 best selling LEGO sets and products on the online retailer's site along with the current discount of each listed set, if applicable. This particular list is updated fairly frequently and you may notice that a set that used to be in position 80 in the morning might not be there by the time the night comes around. Those movements are just regular fluctuations of Amazon's sales, and most of the time the list is pretty consistent with whatever is popular at the moment.
      As with the Amazon Discounts page, you will be able to select different regions to see what is popular in different locales. This is very useful not for those that do not live in the US, and for US sellers trying to determine unpopular domestic products that may flipped based on their popularity abroad.
      This module also has a Top Selling Sets tab that is basically the same as the previous list, yet based on data taken from eBay. Unlike the Amazon page, this one is updated once a month with the same data that feeds the Brickpicker Price Guide (more on that later) and includes some other interesting data for you to make the best decision portfolio selections possible. For example, you will notice the page lets you know where a particular set placed on the Best Seller list during the previous 5 months. This information is critical to determining prevailing trends in the LEGO market.
      As an example, say you are considering purchasing a somewhat expensive LEGO set for investment purposes and check the list to see what has been selling on eBay. If you check the list now, you will notice that the 10227 UCS B-Wing is currently in the top position. If the information from the previous months were not present, an investor may think that the ship is a great and popular choice. Yet, a quick look at previous month data would show the set placed in the high hundreds over the preceding months. A savvy investor would easily deduce there was an anomaly in the market that boosted the popularity of the set. In this instance, it was the controversial May the 4th Sale.
      You can also filter the results by theme and see which set is the most popular on any given line, as well as its overall place in the Top Selling list.
      Top Retired Sets: The last feature of the Sales & Discounts module is the one with the highest potential to be incorrectly overlooked. Even if most investors follow a strategy of investing in current sets, there is significant upside in finding retired sets that are still experiencing periods of high growth or what Grolim called a "Second Wind". Quite often, we see long retired sets growing rapidly in value after a period of somewhat stable pricing. Some sets never slow down and continue to grow rapidly for years (think 10179 and Taj Mahal). For those interested in diversifying their strategies and portfolio finding these sets can be a very rewarding decision.
      One of the main advantages of using this strategy is that already retired sets grow from the moment you decide to purchase them if you pick the right sets - there's no wait ing for a future EOL date. For this strategy, the Top Retired Sets feature is very useful. This page shows you the top performing retired sets (released 2008 or before) over the past 6 months, and gives you their ROI. Additionally, it presents you with some eBay listings that are priced within a 20% range of the current market value. Looking for well performing retired sets is easy with using this list and the BrickIndex, a module we will discuss later.
      Some other cool statistics shown on this page include the traditional set information, like PPP and MSRP, as well as some investment numbers used a lot in this site such as CAGR and monthly price movements.
      These are the features of the Sales & Discounts module in a nutshell. As you can see, there are several features that will help you build your portfolio, and will prove invaluable once you get more experience and have a more polished investment strategy.
      Tools and Data
      Even though discounts are a very important part of the portfolio building process, they are certainly not the only thing to consider. The Tools & Data module presents the LEGO investor with several other features that will allow the decision making process to be based on data analysis rather than personal intuition or conventional wisdom. While it is very important to pay attention to the impressions of the community, a well-informed decision will always be supported with hard, quantifiable data. Let's look at a module that allows this: The Tools & Data Module. Compare Sets: Financiers compare prospective investment opportunities and historical performance of past investments routinely. When it comes to LEGO, comparing sets is equally important and will help the investor in several different ways:
      Evaluate the similarities and difference among a number of individual sets when it comes to metrics like PPP, MSRP, piece count, release date. This very basic information allows an investor to determine whether the value for the money of a particular set is consistent with several others. Compare the performance of already retired sets. It is this case where most of the information displayed in the pages comes into play. Input the set number or name and a list will drop down with those that match what you are looking for. Click your preferred sets and you will see a screen similar to the one below that will include each set's CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate), last six months performance graphs, current market value and percentage changes relative to several different periods of time both for New and Used sets. All of this information can help an investor determine which sets have performed better than average or at least better than the sample of sets selected, as well as help in the search for retired sets experiencing high growth. Compare a prospective investment to what you think have been comparable sets that LEGO has already retired. By doing this, you will be able to make an educated guess about a set's potential investment ROI based on the similarities of the comparables. Characteristics like theme, piece count, minifigures and other factors will determine which sets you will choose to compare. The Brickpicker Compare Sets function will allow you to select up to 6 sets, and the process is very simple and fast. Just input the set number or name and a list will drop down with those that match what you are looking for, select your desired sets to compare, and you will see a screen similar to the one below.
      The BrickIndex
      The BrickIndex is easily one of the best features offered by the site. This chart is updated once a month in the regular data update and displays the top performing sets over the last 6 month period. Unlike the Top Retired sets list, the BrickIndex can include sets that are not necessarily retired but have showcased high growth over the past half year, as evidenced by the current presence of sets like Tower Bridge and the VW Camper Van.
      This features plays a major role when trying to determine which sets are the best to select for your portfolio as they will likely be recent, and probably future, high growth sets. For example, you will see that the UCS AT-ST set is currently in the 5th position of the BrickIndex, with an increase of around 68% over the last six months. From this information an investor could make a reasonable prediction that, even if the set has been retired for a while now, there is further growth to take advantage of given the recent trends. That said, the BrickIndex is almost always comprised of already retired sets, as by default these are the ones that usually present higher growth.
      Like several other features in the site, you are able to sort the results by theme to view only those sets that are part of a line you are interested in analyzing.
      Bulk LEGO Data
      Sealed and used sets get most of the attention in LEGO investing due to their proven investment performance, and because of their visual appeal. However, there is another branch of investing that can't be overlooked as it is also a good source of returns for many: buying and selling LEGO in bulk.
      I would strongly suggest a beginner LEGO investor to look into this alternative as a way to diversify their investment portfolio because bulk lots are relatively easy to find locally through sites like Craigslist, garage and estate sales and through the more traditional eBay listing. The appeal of buying LEGO in bulk is twofold: LEGO pieces are always in demand from MOCers and LEGO enthusiasts, and bulk lots are fairly easy to market, sell and ship; and there is always the chance that a bulk lot contains rare pieces or minifigures that can earn the investor a great return in the short term.
      Since bulk lots are more for quick flipping than a traditional buy and hold, it is critical that investors knows exactly how much can a lot be sold for on sites like eBay before going ahead and paying a bunch of money for 2 lbs of common pieces that may net you a loss. The Bulk Data center of Brickpicker provides investors with the tools to find out what bulk sets are selling for on eBay based on weight.
      The information on this page is shown differently to what is found the set Price Guide since sellers list bulk lots with completely different titles. The most efficient way to present this data is to have the exact listing title along with the sold price, so that is how Brickpicker's Bulk Lot tool is structured. In the listing title, the weight of the lot is listed almost all the time, so by checking the list the investor will be able to make a fairly accurate estimate of the value per pound of a particular lot.
      Some other interesting features in this section include selecting the minimum weight of the lots you want to see, themes included in the lot, and colors. Keep in mind that these features rely on how well the seller listed the lot and what specific keywords were used.
      CAGR by theme
      CAGR by theme is the last feature available from the Tools and Data module, and it can be extremely helpful to any new or veteran Lego investor. The data from this list includes the simple average of the CAGR of all of the sets included in a particular theme, giving you an average CAGR by theme that can work as both a popularity proxy and a performance measure at the same time.
      For example, the top performing theme according to the CAGR by theme list is Ninjago (44.78%), something that an investor could take as evidence that the theme's popularity is rather high and that at least several sets have presented great performance upon retirement. These high measures are especially significant when one considers this average includes the CAGR of sets that are still in production, typically much lower due to currently available discounting.
      As you can see, you can use this feature to find themes that have performed well in order to reduce some of your portfolio risk. That said, it is still very important to analyze the numbers more in depth by reviewing the individual sets of the theme before making a decision. The simple average provided includes the CAGR of small sets and polybags that can double or triple in value fairly easily, and they are all weighted the same as larger sets. For those of you that prefer investing in larger sets, a weighted CAGR is a nice alternative.
      Track your portfolio
      So, you've done your homework, selected and purchased a cadre of diverse sets based on your own investment strategy. Now, you must follow them closely and track their performance like a stock or bond trader. Fortunately for members, Brickpicker provides investors with an incredible tool to accomplish this: the Brickfolio.
      Brickfolio
      The Brickfolio is the place where all the information about your investment sets can be compiled and tracked. Because it's critical for every investor to know how efficiently they are investing, the Brickfolio puts the most valuable information all in one place to minimize the time it takes to research and evaluate your current portfolio.
      The Brickfolio module has many interesting features, so let's evaluate the most important ones:
      My Brickfolio: This section is where the bulk of the information is shown, and where you will be spending most of your time analyzing your portfolio's performance. The first thing you will probably notice are the overall numbers that relate to your investment such as total current market value, the monthly dollar and percentage change, and more generic information like the total amount of sets and total number of pieces. Futher, the market value of your Brickfolio over the past 12 months is presented in graph form to allow for easier and faster performance tracking and evaluation.
      Further down the same page you will notice three different graphs. The first pie chart provides a breakdown of the value of your portfolio by theme, something that can quickly help you determine the makeup of the portfolio. For example, if half of your portfolio holdings are sets from the Friends theme, it would be rational for you to pay a closer look at the market demand for those sets, new releases and pretty much every other type of news relating to that theme to forecast any changes in value. This does not mean you should not pay attention to those themes that comprise a small part of your portfolio, but at least you get an idea of where you should be focusing most of your time.
      Also, this graph will give you a pretty nice view of how diversified you are , and how closely you are following your capital allocation strategy. If your strategy includes holding 50% of your portfolio in Star Wars sets, this graph will be a great tool to assess whether there is any need to re-balance the portfolio.
      The middle graph shows you how many sets you have in each theme without taking into account the current market value: think of it as counting the number of "shares" you have on a particular theme. Finally, the last graph will give you a breakdown of how well the overall themes you own have performed relative to the prior month. This is a great way to determine underperforming sets and allows you to evaluate your portfolio a little more deeper. For example, if you use this graph to find the sets you own in the Star Wars theme have cratered, you will have to determine why exactly this happened. It's possible you are either not picking the right sets OR not having a lot of currently available sets.
      To the right of the graphs shown above you will find some other bits of interesting information about your current holdings as well as some options to customize your Brickfolio according to your region. There is also a button where you can click to see your entire collection of sets currently entered in your Brickfolio, the option to change your base currency, and an option to share your Brickfolio with other users. There is also some detailed information about your most valuable sets (new and used), and some minor supplemental statistics. Finally, the Brickfolio provides a breakdown of sets by Used or New including the market value by condition.
      View Brickfolio Items: This option takes you to the same page as the View Collection button in the screen above. Basically, Brickpicker shows your collection by theme with the quantity of sets in each one, and some options like adding sets to the Brickfolio (even custom sets), searching a specific set in your collection (very useful if you have a large inventory), and viewing your entire portfolio to provide a more detailed display of every single set you currently own. This last one is the most interesting of all, so here's a screenshot to demonstrate its featues and look:
      After clicking the View Entire Collection button, you wil be sent to a page with all of the individual sets in your Brickfolio, along with some very useful data. Most importantly, you will be able to see your purchase price, the current market value and the performance measures for each set (including ROI), and actual dollar profit. This is the best place to analyze your individual holdings and routinely track their performance (I would recommend monthly, if not more). You will also see the total price paid for all of the items in your Brickfolio and the total current market value of your holdings at the end of the table.
      Add Brickfolio Item: So far, we have discussed how to track your investments in detail, yet we have not mentioned how to enter your sets in your Brickfolio. Accomplishing this is straightforward: just click on the Add Brickfolio Item link to enter a vast amount of information about your sets such as purchase price, date, place of purchase and set condition. This information will make tracking your inventory a lot easier and less time consuming. Even if this seems unnecessary at the beginning, once your inventory continues to grow you will need to add as much detail as possible. There is also a text field where you can add any other notes you may want to keep in mind when selling or just as reminders.
      Data Services: This section really consists of two very important features: the "Clear your Brickfolio" and "Export your Brickfolio". The first of the two does exactly what it advertises, it clears your complete collection without the possibility to recover any of the data, so you should only do this only if you are certain you have no need for this data.
      The export feature will automatically generate an Excel spreadsheet that will contain all of the information shown in the online Brickfolio. Exporting this information to Excel will allow you to manipulate data in the Brickfolio. This will allow you to perform several different tasks, including tracking inventory and recording current Brickfolio values for insurance purposes. I would recommend updating your spreadsheet at least once a week if you are very active both buying and selling, since keeping accurate and up to date records is crucial to tracking your performance.
      As of the date of this article, there is currently no option to track actual sales, so you need to delete those sets you sell in order for them to be removed. To maintain a record of sold sets while eliminating its purchase information, edit the quantity and price of your sold items to "0". Future Brickfolio updates may include a feature to record your sales, yet nothing has been confirmed.
      Here is a screenshot of an Excel spreadsheet generated automatically from your Brickfolio page: Promote Brickpicker:
      The last feature of the Brickfolio module allows you to create a personalized signature with preselected data from your personal Brickfolio. I would wager that members have already noticed some posts with these around badges in forum posts, but in case you missed them, I included a picture a little further down. The goal of this is not only to share some of your holdings with other members, but also promote the site on other websites, forums and blogs. When creating your own signature, there is a check box that will allow you to maintain the actual value of your Brickfolio private while still showing some of the more generic information.
      Refining Your Portfolio
      Now that you’ve built a portfolio, and are intently track its inventory and value, effectively refining your portfolio will move your portfolio's ROI from good to great and allow you to meet or exceed your projected ROIs. What does “refining your portfolio” mean? It means constantly reviewing the selections and purchases you’ve made in the context of their value in the market. As we all know, information changes by the minute in today’s day and age, so to ensure you’re capturing the most value for your portfolio, it’s critical for BP members to be up to date on the most current market trends and information. Brickpicker provides five modules to aid in keeping you on information’s leading edge:
      The Lego News module The Evaluation Corner articles The Brickvesting Blog articles Lego Set Reviews The Discussion Forum As an example of how important and quickly Lego news can affect the market, most BP members remember the 9516 Jabba’s Palace controversy in April. A news story about how JP would be discontinued hit the Lego News module, Brickpickers reacted to it in the forum, and many profited by quickly buying and selling Jabba’s Palace at a profit to speculators that were whipped into a frenzy about an erroneous EOL report. Throughout the controversy, most of the chatter in the forum thread dedicated to JP was calm and rational. Many BP members speculated that 9516 wouldn’t be retired and even if it was, directed others to current discounts on the set to ensure all members were prepared for an EOL in case it did come. When all was said, Brickpickers were more prepared than the general market to profit from this market fluctuation, and many did in spades. With that as a backdrop, let’s review each of the modules available to refine our portfolio:
      The Lego News Module
      Located near the bottom of the front page, The Lego News Module is a wealth of Lego-specific information from outlets across the internet. While it appears to be a typically updating news feed, it has helped me on more than one occasion stay well versed on planned Lego releases, and industry information from a number of great Lego fan sites, as well as some national outlets with Lego-related news articles. It updates quite frequently, so chances are you will not see the same stories twice. The Lego News Module is an underrated feature, and since it only takes a quick glance to get the latest Lego information, this News Feed should be added to your daily reading rotation.
      Evaluation Corner
      Smack dab in the middle of the Brickpicker’s home page is the first of two user blogs that provide a vast amount of information and analysis: Evaluation Corner. In Evaluation Corner, members post in-depth analyses of Lego themes that include discussion of individual sets of a particular theme and their investment potential. The Evaluation Corner grew out of the original Set Review Module, and has become a fantastic repository of investment analysis and advice of each theme. The following recent themes are represented with analysis in the Evaluation Corner area:
      Star Wars (Fall Lineup)
      City Airport
      Winter Village
      Technic
      Playable UCS Equivalents
      SpongeBob SquarePants
      The Hobbit
      Galaxy Squad
      Maersk
      Lord of the Rings
      Architecture
      The Lone Ranger
      Western
      Modulars
      City Fire and Police
      Transportation
      Super Heroes
      Legends of Chima
      This list is only a fraction of the Evaluation Articles that have been written, and as you can see, it encompasses some of the most popular recent themes. Rest assured, the founders read each Evaluation Corner entry and respond to the author’s analysis to provide a second opinion, while members are given the opportunity to scrutinize the article in the entries below. Everyone has a chance to weigh in on the applicability of the advice, so be sure to read these response comments carefully, too. The Evaluation Corner, above all else, helps with assessing the sets with the most investment potential in a particular theme.
      Brickvesting Blog Brickpicker’s Brickvesting Blog Module has provided the site with the most cutting edge and relevant Lego investing market analysis, beginner’s guides, and investing advice on the market today in one convenient location. While the topics for these articles are as varied as they are informative, they are all well written and packed full of information, advice and in some cases, contradictory opinions. If you need some information on a particular investing strategy, would like help with eBay, or wonder how to pick the right sets for your portfolio, there are many articles from veteran BP scribes with information to help both new and old Brickpickers alike. Similar to the Evaluation Corner, the Brickvesting Blog has a response comment section for every member to assess the content of the article and challenge their notions and analyses. The site content has really exploded over the last three months, and the Brickvesting Blog has greatly benefited. Be sure to read and scrutinize all applicable articles to build your own portfolio.
      Set Reviews
      With over 1,000 reviews on file, the Lego Set Review Module is yet another source of information and advice for a Brickpicker looking to refine their portfolio. The majority of these reviews are in a structured format to give BP members the opportunity to understand the details, value and playability of the set in addition to its potential return. The format structure really makes the Review Module a strong tool since it forces the reviewer to provide insight beyond the useless “this set is awesome” meme. Additionally, while the Review Module has its own navigation tab at the top of each screen, the set reviews are also embedded in their respective entries in the Lego Price Guide for easy access. The reviews give very specific information by set, so they go a little deeper than the Evaluation Corner articles. Use this module to learn as much as you can about the set, but beware that many of the reviews are written by fans of the set or theme, so investment potential may be slightly biased.
      Discussion Forum
      Easily the most dynamic module of the Brickpicker site is the Discussion Forum, the place where all Brickpickers go to discuss Lego investing, collecting, news and stuff in general. The forum is typically a collegial place, so you will find most members quite accommodating to new members.
      There are some important rules about the forum to understand and follow:
      Solicitation of any kind is not allowed. Don’t post advertisements or sales you are trying to unload, and don’t solicit members for deals, business ventures or partnerships on the forum. Political discussions are not allowed. The site is not a forum for members to discuss politics. Crude language is not allowed Name calling is against the forum rules Spamming is not allowed. In addition to these written rules, there are some unwritten rules that members generally follow that make the forum a great place to cyber-chillax:
      Be respectful. Members of all ages, nationalities and creeds enjoy Lego, and they all have different perspectives. Sharing your thoughts and opinions respectfully makes for a better forum. Because the forum is a dynamic place, there is an entire archive of topics that have been discussed. Before posting a new thread, check the old threads for a similar topic. There’s even a function to help with this if you’ve clicked the “New Thread” button. After typing your preferred title, the site will bring up a number of similar threads that may be a good place to post your thought. Review these, and if any are close, click on that topic and a new post will be started in this thread. Brickpicker is an international website that welcomes Lego fans from everywhere around the globe, and English is a second language to many who post on the forum. Please don’t pick apart someone’s grammar mistakes - everyone makes them! To help with quick access, the Discussion Forum is organized into five main areas:
      The General Board – This board has the broadest group of threads, and is the “catch-all” for most non-investing threads. The four sub-forums in the General Board are New Member Introductions and FAQs (a great resource for newbies), Site Information and Updates (a great resource for veterans to suggest and check on changes to the site), Odds & Ends, and Building Lego. The last two include many topics that are not related to Lego investing. Members Only Forum – This board is not available to non-member lurkers, so Brickpickers that share good deal, pre-release information, and every-so-often an insider nugget will post their information here. Investing and Collecting – This board has the most topics of all, and they are generally grouped by theme. If you have a question or need some insight on Technic, there’s a theme dedicated to discussing it. There’s also a sub-forum discussing the always controversial retirement (EOL) topic, but keep in mind no one REALLY knows whether something is retired until TLC confirms it! Buying and Selling – Another with many topics, the Buying and Selling board has sub forums and threads that are centered around specific Lego distribution channels, i.e. eBay, Amazon, Toys R Us, etc. Buying and selling practices and information regarding clearances specific to these retailers can be found among these threads. Local Area Lego Deals – The most recent board to be created, The Local Area Lego Deals includes topics centered around specific locations around the world. Live in Chicago and want to discuss your thoughts about the marketplace? This is the place to share. There are other neat little features of the Discussion Forum that are used frequently that make it a vibrant platform to discuss Lego:
      Reputation Points – Brickpickers have the option to give a poster some credit for a particularly useful or cogent post. In the bottom right corner of each post, there is a small green arrow – clicking on this will give the poster a “reputation point”. These reputation points give newer members an idea of which posters contribute strong and relevant content. Anyone can see the reputation points of any member by clicking on that poster’s avatar. Following a thread or forum – Members have the option to check a box in the upper left hand corner that allows them to “follow” a specific thread or forum. When following a thread or forum, the website will automatically send out e-mails with new posts from the followed thread or forum. Brickpoints – The Site Founders, Ed and Jeff Mack, have instituted a promotional system where participating in the site can earn you Brickpoints that can later be redeemed for Lego sets. To the left of each post, the poster’s information is displayed including their avatar, country, post count, Brickpicker classification (Brickpicker, Brick Troller, etc.), and their Brickpoint total. The Discussion Forum is the best place to get immediate feedback and reaction to any Lego-related thoughts or questions you may have. We look forward to both your questions and answers!
      Selling Your Portfolio
      So, you’ve built your portfolio, tracked it, refined it and now you’re ready to start raking in the big money! Is it time to sell that 10214 Tower Bridge, or should we wait another year? How about that Jor-El polybag you got last month for free from Lego S@H? While you have the option to ask for opinions in the forum, this is your money on the line and any serious investor wants to sell for their target ROI. How can an investor make an informed decision on when and how much to sell for?
      Fortunately for members, the core module of Brickpicker is the Lego Price Guide. The price guide includes individual information on over 9,000 Lego sets. Because there is so much information in each set’s price guide entry, we must separate these entries into their component parts to understand and absorb all of it. Here is the list of the parts of each set’s Lego Price Guide entry:
      Pricing information by region Photo Gallery/Set information Current Offers Monthly Listings – Quantity Sold Monthly Listings – Price Sold Price and Performance Information Set Ratings and Member Reviews EBay Listings That’s a lot of information to digest, so let’s review the features included one-by-one:
      Pricing Information by Region Pricing
      Information by Region includes data that’s truly valuable and sets Brickpicker apart from other Lego sites. It utilizes an eBay data capture program called TerraPeak that tracks sales of all Lego sets, bulk lots and minifigures on eBay. Brickpicker utilizes this data to produce an average value for every set that sells on eBay. To produce the pricing, the last 30 sales are used to produce an average selling price by region. In the past, Brickpicker’s Lego Price Guide only tracked sales made on eBay US, but recently eBay sales from three new regions were added to the Price Guide: Great Britain, Germany and Australia. These sales are aggregated by Brickpicker into four, region-specific sales averages to give members are clear, concise average value of any Lego set among all four regions. Not only is this incredible information, it can present an enterprising Brickipicker with opportunities to sell across country lines.
      As you can see in the picture above, the Pricing Information by Region table is split into various columns of information. The Market Value (New) and Market Value (Used) are estimated prices for new and used sets respectively, the Last Month (New and Last Month (Used) are the price increase or decrease for each from the previous month, the CAGR prices measures the Compounded Annual Growth rate from a set’s release year (not its retirement year), and the Price Per Brick columns divides the average new and used prices, and the retail price by the number of bricks that come in the set to give an estimated value to compare sets across time and other themes. All of this information paints a great picture of what the relative price is for an individual set.
      Photo Gallery/Set Information
      This module may appear diminutive, but it packs a punch. Here, you can look up the primary statistics of every set, including piece count, minifigure count, release year, retail price in all four regions, and links to this set’s page on Rebrickable.com, Bricker.com and even online instructions for the model! It even has a separate section to show how many of these sets are in your own Brickfolio, another great little feature that goes largely unnoticed. The links to Rebrickable.com and Bricker.com are also useful in their own right as they provide further specifics into the inventory and parts list for each set, as well as other set features. Finally, this module includes another underrated feature – a photo gallery that shows images of the set. While it doesn’t sound like much, having a visual image of the set or box allows the viewer to quickly check this is the set they want to review.
      Current Offers
      While not glamorous, this bit of information tells Brickpickers what price point online retailers have set for this model. It easily and quickly provides a snapshot of your competition’s price when determining your own price. It also provides a pass-through link to the online retailer that sends Brickpicker a small commission on that sale that helps pay for the information the Site Owners provide for free.
      Monthly Listings – Quantity/Monthly Listings – Price
      The two Monthly Listings sections are also powerful tools. Essentially, they are graphs that track the quantity sold and the average price sold of new sets and used sets over the last twelve months. Remember the 9516 Jabba’s Palace controversy, or the B-Wing discounting? Graphs for both of these sets show the relative spikes in sales quantity and price during their respective market disruptions, and provide an investor with a picture of how the sets sold before and after their respective fluctuations.
      Pricing and Performance Information
      This is another module with incredible detailed information aggregated into useful statistics. There are four tabs across the top of the table that contain different information:
      Performance Over Time – This shows the set’s current appreciation/depreciation over the past month, 6 months, 1 year and 2 year time periods. It also includes how much the set has appreciated over retail, providing a de facto measure of ROI. Recent Sold Listings – This gives Brickpickers the specific sales that TerraPeak uses to calculate its average sales price for the set. This is a great table that provides individual sales quickly. The date and “New” or “Used” designation are also provided. For new members, I highly recommend scrutinizing this list, along with eBay’s and/or Bricklink’s current sold data, to determine a sales price for your listing. Averages – More data that provides statistical measures of the TerraPeak data by region. Mean, Median, Mode, Max and Min Price statistics are all included, as well as the quantity of sales that goes into determining each average price. Live Completed Listings – This section provides a link to eBay’s live completed listings for the set. This is also invaluable to determining a fair sales price for your sets. All of this data will provide a pattern of sold prices that should help to determine what your sets’ sales price should be. Keep in mind that these are not absolute, so if you want quicker sales, you can price your sets lower than market value. If you want a higher price for your sets over this rough estimate of market value, you can see the upper limits of other sales prices.
      Set Ratings and Member Reviews
      This module shows reviews of the set that have been completed by Brickpicker members, and the average overall score for the set. There are links to specific reviews here, as well as arrow keys that toggle between other older reviews. This information is good to gauge a “general consensus” of the quality and potential EOL value for the set. These opinions should help with timing decisions and pricing decisions for your sets’ sales.
      EBay Listings
      This module is nothing more than its title: a list of active eBay listings for the set. Yet, it still provides members with loads of information. First, if your set has already been listed, you can view your competition to see whether you have a good chance at a sale. Second, if your set hasn’t been listed, you can see where your actual competition has set their prices. Finally, you can see how many listings you will be competing against for a sale to determine whether this will likely sell quickly or slowly.
      There are a couple limitations of the Price Guide to note. First, the prices are generally updated on the 15th of every month for the previous month’s sales, so this average value is not a real-time price. Second, eBay sales prices are only as good as the sales’ corresponding listings, so if an eBay seller lists a set as “New” but titles the listing “without Minifigures”, this listing is still captured by the Lego Price Guide data as a “New” set. This can sometimes under report the actual value of a new set. A quick review of the sold listings will net individual sold listings of the average value, and it’s usually easy to tell the average listing and an outlier that may not be an actual NISB sale.
      Ultimately, all of the information in the Lego Price Guide exists to help you determine market value for a set. Once you know market value, you can determine whether your set will garner your targeted return parameters. If you believe you can meet your sales targets, it’s time to sell! Proper research and use of the Lego Price Guide will make you an informed and intelligent seller, and allow you to see your portfolio’s expected returns converted to actual returns. What you do with all that profit is up to you!
      Have Fun and Share!
      So far, all we have discussed has dealt with how to use Brickpicker effectively for LEGO investing, but that's not to say Brickpicker members are about all work and no play. In fact, there are several features that are designed to provide members with a break from the "stress" and "work" of deal hunting and selling LEGO sets (even though most investors don't consider this an actual job). Let's take a look at some of the most important ways you can relax a little and share things with some of the other members.
      Personal Blogs
      We have already talked about this great feature earlier in this article, but it is important to point out that personal blogs are not limited to investment related articles. Of course, Brickpicker caters to investors, but the personal blog section gives any member the freedom and a space to share pretty much anything LEGO related. Do you have a fun story about how you got started into LEGO or about your MOC creations? These are completely valid topics to discuss in your personal blog!
      Gallery
      Brickpicker members have access to a gallery feature they can use to upload images and charts for articles or reviews, or to post pictures of MOCs and personal displays. There is really no limit to what you can share with other members in pictorial form, and we can all agree that sometimes a picture tells more than you could ever describe in a forum post. You can even comment about other member's images and share your impressions!
      Image Hosting
      Brickpicker's image hosting module is a very useful feature that was just recently added. For those of you that have used sites like Photobucket already know what I am talking about, but for those that don't, image hosting sites allow you to upload images from your personal computer or device and store them in the cloud while providing you a link that will make your images visible and easy to share. By copying the link, you will be able to insert the picture pretty much everywhere, from posts to blogs for all to see.
      Awards
      When posting in the forums, there are several "actions" or milestones that will earn you one of the many awards available to members of the site. Things as simple as posting a certain amount of posts or focusing on some particular feature of the forums can net you a badge that will show under your avatar. The following are just some of the awards currently available to members, but the list may include some extra in the future.
      Brickpoints and Brickpoints Store
      As mentioned previoulsy, the Brickpoints system is sort of a rewards program for those members who decide to become active participants on the site. There are several ways to earn BPs, going from regular posting to submitting Evaluation Corner or Brickvesting Blog articles that get published. For a list of detailed ways to earn points please visit the following link to the Brickpoints Program.
      Once you have earned your BPs, there are many ways to use them right here on the site. Think of them as some sort of e-currency that allows you to "purchase" sets at the Brickpoints Store, getting them in exchange for your regular participation. They will also be used to reduce listing costs once the Brick Classifieds platform goes live (TBD). Let me emphasize this again: BRICKPOINTS ARE FREE, so make sure you participate in the site and get rewarded in the process!
      Just to give you a taste of what you can earn with your Brickpoints, I included a screenshot of the BP Store below.
      As you can see, there are several different ways to enjoy the site even when you feel overwhelmed by all the investment talk. It is therapeutic to take a break and enjoy talking about LEGO with other fans from around the world, and special forums like Odds & Ends, Building LEGO and the features described below are there precisely designed to help with that. We really hope you try them all and pick those that are the most interesting and fun.
      If you've lasted this far, you have officially survived Brickpicker's version of Man vs. Wild. As you can see, the size and scope of the website is enormous and tackling it can be daunting. Hopefully this guide has both provided you with the road map to navigate the site, and placed you solidly on the road to making money investing in Lego! Enjoy your time discovering and exploring the site, and don't hesitate to use this as a reference. By and large, Brickpicker exists to help its members make money, and we hope you are successful with your Lego Investing adventure.
      - FCBarcelona101
      - Quacs
      Ed and I would like to give a special Thank You to both Quacs and Fbarcelona101 for putting together this extraordinary user guide to the Brickpicker site. It is something that is long overdue and these guys did a fantastic job. Much better than I personally could ever do. We can't thankyou enough! Bravo!!  
       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
       
       


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