Hello from Toronto

[jeff_14]

 

 

There are no stupid questions on here, especially from someone new. I think there are guides on various topics available on here including parting out, as well as good articles as well.

 

I've never parted out a set myself. I am typically confident in the sets I choose having great overall value and can't be bothered to part out. You can sell them brick by brick. I've seen ebay sales for certain pieces. A lot of people here also use a site called Bricklink where they maintain lists of pieces for sale and sell them as people come looking. For most people, parting out means selling the main completed parts of a set separately, like minifigures and vehicles and buildings, etc. The Wolverine example I mentioned is a good one as you can sell 3 different figures and a vehicle, possibly in 4 auctions as opposed to 1 auction for the whole set.

 

My preference is to buy and sell whole sets. Being in Canada our retail prices are always higher than in the US, but if you're patient you can be rewarded with sales that are just as good as down there. I usually only buy from themes I am familiar with and believe will do well (Star Wars, Super-heroes, Lord of the Rings, etc) but if I see a good enough sale on something I am open to opportunities as they arise. I have almost all of the Lone Ranger theme even though it was a dud because I got the sets for 50% off at Target last summer. Same with Monster Fighters. I also justified these purchases as potential personal enjoyment as I like having historical sets. If I'm truly wrong about a set, then the worst case scenario is that my son and I have some cheap lego to add to our playroom.

 

Another useful thing to figure out is which sets are exclusive to the Lego store/website (ie not for sale at Toys R Us, Walmart, etc.). These sets (like the city modular buildings such as Town Hall, Paris Cafe, etc) will rarely if ever be on sale since Lego itself seems to be philosophically against the idea. However they do have a VIP membership program where you accumulate points at the rate of 5% of your purchases. A couple of times a year they will have 2x or 3x VIP points events where you get effectively 10-15% in points accumulation so this is often when people buy their exclusive sets. My suggestion if you really like Lego and/or want to invest is to get a membership to the Legoland indoor park in Vaughan. It costs like $70 for the year and you get 10% off everything in their Lego store. Every day. They also seem to be better stocked than regular Lego stores on premium and rare sets. Take the Mars rover set that came out for $40 a few months ago and has already disappeared. Lego itself restricted sales to 2 per customer at its stores and online. However Legoland is operated independently under license and had no restriction. So rather than facing limits and only 5% back in points at normal Lego stores, you could walk into the Legoland store and buy as many as you wanted and at 10% off immediately. I'm still kicking myself for walking by the stacks of these in February and only buying one.

 

So I have to correct some info from the above post. Having been to Legoland the past weekend I can say that they are now following Lego dictates and not offering the 10% discount on exclusives (ie Ghostbusters) or very expensive sets (Death Star, etc.). In which case I would only recommend going there for rare sets that they have in stock, like the Ghostbusters set that seems to be sold out at GTA lego stores but was very available (about 50) at Legoland.

 

This also negatively changes the value of getting a membership. The $60 annual cost could be made back just by buying one Super Star Destroyer or Death Star, for example, but no longer. If you're getting a pass for personal enjoyment then carry on, but the buyer's value of the pass just took a major hit. Better to buy at the Lego store and get the 5% discount (or greater) in VIP points.

[TWO2SEVEN]

Welcome!

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