brickwizard Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Agree that the fees ebay and paypal charge are scandalous - and the rule changes really favour buyers (even to the point where they get their money back on a perfect boxed set). I always accept cheques/postal orders or uk bank transfers - but most people want to pay by paypal. Hoping to try selling via facebook/gumtree/preloved to mitigate some of this, but only time will tell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0by76 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 The EU markets are running behind US markets. You will undoubtly also have seen on the local second hand sites the explosion of people dealing with Lego. I think we just need to be even more patient then our trans-oceanic neighbours.... but it will come As for the crazy deals. You're right that it also stuns me at what cheap price people from US can sometimes buy a set, but then again, I can not complain about certain prices I paid for some of my investments. It doesn't hurt looking at other countries like Germany. I order alot from sites like TRU and have also started with buying from Amazon.de and the price is cheaper than if I would buy it in Belgium. I think you state correctly not to buy too much. I have a 'rule' of buying 5 of the large sets (SSD,HH, DS, etc) and about 10 of the smaller sets and I'm confident I'll be able to sell them all. Basically.... I said it in the beginning and i'll say it again, you'll need to be patient. Try to sell via other channels instead of moneywolf Ebay. I'm sure there are some national selling sites you can use that are free. Granted ,you won't get the top price, but at least you won't have to pay x% of it to ebay and your customers will see a lower price then what they find on ebay. Thanks for the feedback. The growth of "Lego Kg Lot" auctions is growing dramatically in Italy, as well as "I buy used Lego" on second had local websites or magazines. I think that many of this people is hoping to resell the lot at higher prices, but I am sure there are parents who can't afford to buy expensive sets for the kids. The problem is that prices of bulk Legos are going over 20/25 euro per kg, which is ridicolous considering the quality sometimes is very poor! For what concerns my "activity" I feel very serene and I am not worried. For the moment I am just collecting some sets I like and that I think could be winners in the future, and I am very patient If I won't sell them, my baby will be very happy in a few years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0by76 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 A lot of what you wrote is probably true, but don't get fooled by so many "discount reports". Don't forget that the US is also so much bigger than Italy. You could maybe compare discounts in all of Europe to all of the US, and not even that would probably be a fair comparison. "Crazy" discounts don't happen all over the US all the time. You might see one here or there, sometimes, if you are lucky. But this "here or there" spans a quite large country. If I would limit this comparison to "Italy vs. the state I live in" Italy might actually win (or not, but it would be a fairer comparison). I definitely see your point, but having a competition between 3 or 4 large retailers is always better than having just one (or two) like we have here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogelbaby Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Why don't you just send the entire collection into FBA? I sell exclusively on FBA and find it very easy and profitable. Given what they do for you and the market they expose you to it's way way way way better than ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondorian Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 Why don't you just send the entire collection into FBA? I sell exclusively on FBA and find it very easy and profitable. Given what they do for you and the market they expose you to it's way way way way better than ebay. FBA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickLegacy Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 FBA? Fulfilled by Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenbart Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Bricked it.... Pardon the punn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doon73 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Those in the UK have to declare ALL income that's above the tax-free threshold for a single/married person. Even if you sold one set at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abri123 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) Capital gains tax ?http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cgt/intro/basics.htm edit: that one may not apply actually, but officially there's a tax for everything, though if you're smalltime/casual it doesn't mean everyone will pay. Edited October 10, 2014 by abri123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenbart Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 If you received it as a gift.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doon73 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I see (I think). Anything above the limit of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feed Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Intent, basically. No tax liability on selling your old junk. However, if something is purchased with the intent of being sold. Then it needs to go on your tax return. But realistically turnover is going the big decider and as well as your net eBay/paypal income. If you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I strongly advise spending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feed Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 If you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondorian Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hi. I'm back. Interesting tax discussion, but I feel that my thread got derailed as a result, so please post tax advice elsewhere. Thanks! How am I doing with the selling? Well, I avoided selling for a few months, but put about 40 sets on eBay the other day. 5 have sold so far (3 Batman sets, 1 Ninjago and a Chima CHI Temple). The profit is not huge ( 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddamon Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 If I lived in the UK or EU I am not sure I would be doing this. In some weird way Americans have been trained to be insatiable consumers. AT some point that will come to an end. I expect to liquidate most of my small friends stock, and smaller superheroes stock. All of which are currently retired. It will clear up space and realize some profit and return of basis. My wife who does not work will be handling almost all of this. As a distribution of labor it makes sense. The large exclusive stuff is great and as an investor requires time. Never invest money you will need, nor go into debt painting a perfect picture. The debt scenario rarely works out. Best of luck to the OP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33Lego Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 try not to get stuck regretting what happened never regret but you need to "look back" so as not to make similar mistakes great post and great story, Gondorian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdroid Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 what kids like are good flips, not necessary good investments...most of the time I would say that are the bad investments for the long term... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banshee3 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Very Interesting read. Thank you for sharing, and for the regular updates Gondorian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dkc Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Hi. I'm back. Interesting tax discussion, but I feel that my thread got derailed as a result, so please post tax advice elsewhere. Thanks! How am I doing with the selling? Well, I avoided selling for a few months, but put about 40 sets on eBay the other day. 5 have sold so far (3 Batman sets, 1 Ninjago and a Chima CHI Temple). The profit is not huge ( Edited November 5, 2014 by Dkc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) I'd now say that I've transitioned from an investor in most sets to an investor in large exclusives only especially as they are now harder to obtain in quantity. Even though these large sets cost more and take up more space, the profit per sale is much higher and there is a lot less packing/posting. Not to mention being more under the radar from the nosey tax man! I've had a very tough time offloading most of my CITY sets but, I now have a much better strategy going forward. Edited November 5, 2014 by TabbyBoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biking_tiger Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 have a set budget to invest. Not a dime more than that. invest only in large sets in order to minimize the number of sets I have to sell don't chase after any sets that I think will be winners. Only invest in sets that I don't mind keep for myself. have a set amount of space to store the Legos. Once my space is filled, I won't buy any more sets until I sell to clear the space Great "rules"--it's very easy to be swept away in the dream of big money without realizing the reality of time, space, and cash restrictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abri123 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I'd now say that I've transitioned from an investor in most sets to an investor in large exclusives only especially as they are now harder to obtain in quantity. Even though these large sets cost more and take up more space, the profit per sale is much higher and there is a lot less packing/posting. Not to mention being more under the radar from the nosey tax man! I've had a very tough time offloading most of my CITY sets but, I now have a much better strategy going forward. Ditto to this though I'm still on the path of offloading. Got rid of most city stuff but still need to sell all my non-helms deep LOTR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gondorian Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 For anyone interested in my ongoing one-way transition story, I'm afraid I have some bad news: I've been buying again, but this time with backing of my wife who is impressed with the selling and profit I've been generating. I've sold and shipped 81 sets now (got another to send tomorrow). Total profit is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exciter1 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 For anyone interested in my ongoing one-way transition story, I'm afraid I have some bad news: I've been buying again, but this time with backing of my wife who is impressed with the selling and profit I've been generating. I've sold and shipped 81 sets now (got another to send tomorrow). Total profit is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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