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Is anyone experiencing a lackluster sales season?


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Let me first say I think perhaps what I am experiencing is ramp up itis.

I used to have about 100 items in my store. Now I have about 325.

I really expanded on Lego as well as selling in general this year.

Plus I've sold a lot of Santa's Workshop, SW Advent Calendars, Target Gift Cubes, Minecraft, Max Tow Truck, Transformers Movies special edition, freebies left & right, Vintage Computer games and a partridge in a pear tree.

Anyways some things I have great margin on, some things I unloaded on purpose, and most things I had a good % margin on it but not great.

Jais business is not that well.

I guess I can say it is all relative. To a person who sells 2500 items in Christmas season and it is i off 500 it is a bad year. To someone like me who sold a few dozen last year and this year I have been dropping 40 packages every couple of days at the post office, it is quite an upswing.

I am genuine in wishing everyone the best.

Matt

basically my sales exactly this year

They now know me at the post office

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Brickpicker mobile app

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I can't really agree with this. While certainly anyone can do as they choose to do (buy, hold, sell, sell at a loss) - dumping can lead to an unhealthy investing environment.

 

Since there is no shorting of the LEGO market (we are all long), the "right" thing would be making decisions, and having selling practices that help to keep the market healthy.

 

This has always been my concern (keeping a healthy market). By the way, I feel the same way about skyrocketing set prices as I do about dumping. Obviously, its great when set prices jump up, but I would prefer to have a reliable healthy market.

 

A "healthy" market is a functioning market and one aspect of any well-functioning market is the pricing dynamics that flow from the competition between individual sellers.  Although dumping may force the price of a set down over some given period of time, there is nothing about that scenario that reflects an "unhealthy" market.  You seem to be equating the "health" of a market for an item with the price of that item at any given time.  There is no doubt that everyone selling Lego on the secondary market (or any other product on any other market) could make a lot more money if everyone on the sell side of the equation acted in concert to maintain prices at a given level.  That is why the antitrust laws forbid price fixing.

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A "healthy" market is a functioning market and one aspect of any well-functioning market is the pricing dynamics that flow from the competition between individual sellers.  Although dumping may force the price of a set down over some given period of time, there is nothing about that scenario that reflects an "unhealthy" market.  You seem to be equating the "health" of a market for an item with the price of that item at any given time.  There is no doubt that everyone selling Lego on the secondary market (or any other product on any other market) could make a lot more money if everyone on the sell side of the equation acted in concert to maintain prices at a given level.  That is why the antitrust laws forbid price fixing.

 

By your supposed logic, there can be no unhealthy market (and all markets that have crashed were just going through their natural process).

 

As far as checks and balances, there are plenty in place in every market (their intent of which is to try to maintain a healthy market).

Edited by KShine
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By your supposed logic, there can be no unhealthy market (and all markets that have crashed were just going through their natural process).

 

As far as checks and balances, there are plenty in place in every market (their intent of which is to try to maintain a healthy market).

 

I suppose you could reach that conclusion if you ignored what I actually wrote.  I said that a healthy market is a functioning market.  Market crashes typically happen when markets become unhealthy and cease functioning as a result of an imbalance of one sort of another.  

 

I agree that there are checks and balances in place in every market...the primary one is basic competition.  In your original post, you said that dumping was a practice that was unhealthy for a market.  In reality, dumping is a practice that helps promote the health of a market by providing a good window into the demand for the commodity at issue at any given point in time.  If the commodity is highly desired by buyers at the price at which it is being dumped, all of the inventory being dumped will be snapped up at that price and prices will rise in response to that demand as other sellers recognize and respond to such demand.  However, if the commodity is being dumped into a market that is lacking demand, prices will decrease as the dumped products go unsold and other sellers decrease their prices to compete with the dumper.  While this scenario may not be "healthy" for the balance sheet of an investor who bought the commodity at a higher price, it is perfectly healthy for the market for that commodity.  Of course, dumping is something very different when the dumper has monopoly level market share, but that's not really an issue here.

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Guest TabbyBoy

It's all in the pricing as I'm getting plenty of low-ball offers and only accepthing those on my last CITY vehicle sets that may even depreciate further.  Anything that covers all expenses on a set I want to get rid of gets accepted.  I find BIN with offer better (free!) than auction with reserve.  There is a lot more competition this year which only means that you now have to be more careful of what sets to invest in a be prepared to compete.  Profit is profit so drop the price a bit if you need that sale. We're all competitors on here, right?  Let's say... Friendly Rivals?"

 

I think the US fares better than the EU as they have lower purchase prices and a bigger, higher-paying aftermaket then us.  Hopefully we'll catch up soon.

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Please, anyone expecting the same old returns as last year are kidding themselves.  LEGO secondary market is a QFLL land now.  Just check the "what you sold today" thread and see the postings.  If these postings are supposed to be the highlights of the businesses, how many more sets were sold for $1 or less profits ?

 

Adapt or perish, there is nothing else to it.

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Please, anyone expecting the same old returns as last year are kidding themselves.  LEGO secondary market is a QFLL land now.  Just check the "what you sold today" thread and see the postings.  If these postings are supposed to be the highlights of the businesses, how many more sets were sold for $1 or less profits ?

 

Adapt or perish, there is nothing else to it.

 

The "what you sold today" thread is not a representative sample of LEGO resellers, only those who want/like/need to share. There's still plenty to be made in this game--especially that part of the game which goes to the patient.

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Please, anyone expecting the same old returns as last year are kidding themselves.  LEGO secondary market is a QFLL land now.  Just check the "what you sold today" thread and see the postings.  If these postings are supposed to be the highlights of the businesses, how many more sets were sold for $1 or less profits ?

 

Adapt or perish, there is nothing else to it.

I think you forgot the age old QFLL quote, "never asume to know what your competition paid for their merchandise."
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Please, anyone expecting the same old returns as last year are kidding themselves.  LEGO secondary market is a QFLL land now.  Just check the "what you sold today" thread and see the postings.  If these postings are supposed to be the highlights of the businesses, how many more sets were sold for $1 or less profits ?

 

Adapt or perish, there is nothing else to it.

 

Three years from now we might be wondering what QFLL's are thinking when they see 3x - 5x return on R2, AA, TH, & SSDs.

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I think you forgot the age old QFLL quote, "never asume to know what your competition paid for their merchandise."

Oh I do know to some extend, your statement just enforced my "QFLL land" argument ;)

 

 

Three years from now we might be wondering what QFLL's are thinking when they see 3x - 5x return on R2, AA, TH, & SSDs.

QFLL: "Bah, only 5x in 3 years ? We sold 500 Friends sets for $5 returns = $2500.. and that was just 1 Christmas season" :P

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Guest TabbyBoy

I'm actually doing quite well also but, keep my best hand close to my chest like any shrewd investor.  Anyone who spills all their beans on here are either wealthy already or have less marbles now than what they started the day with.

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