Bricklinking expensive, large, rare, retired, etc.. sets

[Pseudoty]

I was bricklinking 21001 John Hancock for $12 but the one seller in Canada ran out of name plates. It was quick easy profit only 69 pieces. I tried doing Marina Bay Sands but Lego said no extra name plates available due to a contractual limit. Point being there is money to be made in smaller sets it is easier and shipping is cheaper.

[hobbycrafter]

For those of you who haven't seen this already, here's a guy who bricklinked a 10179 falcon with the cheapest parts he could find on bricklink. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1txd3g/bricklinked_myself_a_100_accurate_ucs_millennium/

Holy cajole, found this in the comments.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261356596395?redirect=mobile

 

Reminds me of the Black "Stealth" MOC version of the Republic Gunship someone did a short while back. Amazed this sold. Maybe there's a subtle market for "Stealth Black" versions of UCS sets.

[@rtisan]

Interesting point, only potential major drawback I can see is the amount of time required to order a large set`s parts. You`re looking at minimum few/several hours, unless someone here can chime in suggesting a quicker way? If building then reselling is your goal, then this is one thing, but if time/money is #1, I just suggest buying the exclusives and stashing them, though admittedly that isn`t nearly as fun as doing this 

[gregpj]

You can make money brick linking sets but its not necessarily the large uber expensive ones that work best, many have rare super expensive parts or even unavailable parts/instructions. Also to get the best deals on parts and even find all the parts you got to go through many sellers, which implies large shipping fees so you have to do this in bulk. I have done it successfully with a few sets but here is the catch 10 or more of a single set at a time. Used to do it with trains but now the cost of parts is prohibitive. It can be a good way to get a nice set for yourself but again to save on shipping I have at least 3 sets I am gathering parts for at any time to get the best deals from multiple sellers and you got to be patient, like takes a year or more sometimes for me at least. And a final note sometimes lego will make a new set with exactly the rare part part you need. This happened recently anyone know the set?

Wasn't it the winter village market with the rare dark blue arches?

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[junkrigger]

Wasn't it the winter village market with the rare dark blue arches?

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Those are great pieces and now you can get a good price on them.  It can be a fun challenge to find the rare pieces as they get reused in new sets.   Alas I think old light grey and a few others will never come back.

[Spartikis]

I wanted 10190 Market Street to complete my modular collection but at $500-600 USED! there was no way i could justify buying it. So i decided to build it on brick link instead, however after pricing everything out on a massive excel spread sheet i realized it was stilling going to cost nearly $250. So instead i built two of them, when finished i sold one of them for $500 and used the profits to cover the cost of the other building, so basically i got a MS for free + my time.

 

Time...ah yes, it took me nearly 3 months to complete them, and i ordered from 17 different stores, it was a massive under taking. While i did make $500 (the value of the MS i got to keep) i would guess i spent close to 50+ hours working on it, maybe more, at best i was making minimum wage for my effort. Also, there were certain pieces that were very difficult to find enough of on all of bricklink to build two MS, if i would have been trying to build 3 i wouldnt have been able to do it.

 

So i would say yes you could make money off of doing this but not as much as you think and it will be more difficult than you can ever possible imagine.

[Huskers1236]

Wasn't it the winter village market with the rare dark blue arches?

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Ding Ding Ding!  We have a winner.  Beat me to it.

 

Also, Pet Shop using the same roof pieces as Cafe Corner saved people money on that.  Unfortunately, you still had the expensive window frames, 1x2x3 panels, and grey door to purchase.  As well as the $100 instructions.

[Simon_GM]

For those who haven't seen this tutorial before it is an extremely helpful video on how to bricklink sets like a pro:

(skip to about 1:44 on the video, the first minute and a half is him complaining about prices)

 

I'm so glad I found this video. Literally, before I knew you could bricklink like that what I would do is bring up the parts list on brickset and then buy the pieces ONE BY ONE.

[jaisonline]

For those of you who haven't seen this already, here's a guy who bricklinked a 10179 falcon with the cheapest parts he could find on bricklink. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1txd3g/bricklinked_myself_a_100_accurate_ucs_millennium/

 

jeez, this really should have been in Lego : The Movie

[jaisonline]

from a collector / builder standpoint, bricklinked sets is a no-brainer in most cases. 

 

regarding investing, i'm not sure how much profit could be made on the majority of bricklinked sets w/o the correct elements, instructions, stickers, etc.... unless you get the majority of elements needed in cheap lots.  plus, there is the time factory to consider.  finally, is there demand for bricklinked sets w/o all the correct items that originally came with sets. 

 

i think it's a very risky venture and would love to hear from fellow investors about selling non-10179 bricklinked sets..

[Huskers1236]

Funny, the guy fails to tell you he's only buying 853 of the parts for that set of the 1382 parts.  Very nice how-to, but he is surely spending upwards of $300 still on used parts, and comparing it to sealed set prices, when you can buy the set itself for under $300 and save yourself the time. 

[sroster]

I see that black millennium falcon on Chicago craigs list all the time. 

[jaisonline]

Funny, the guy fails to tell you he's only buying 853 of the parts for that set of the 1382 parts.  Very nice how-to, but he is surely spending upwards of $300 still on used parts, and comparing it to sealed set prices, when you can buy the set itself for under $300 and save yourself the time. 

 

yeah, i was thinking the same so I posted a comment under the video. 

[Huskers1236]

from a collector / builder standpoint, bricklinked sets is a no-brainer in most cases. 

 

regarding investing, i'm not sure how much profit could be made on the majority of bricklinked sets w/o the correct elements, instructions, stickers, etc.... unless you get the majority of elements needed in cheap lots.  plus, there is the time factory to consider.  finally, is there demand for bricklinked sets w/o all the correct items that originally came with sets. 

 

i think it's a very risky venture and would love to hear from fellow investors about selling non-10179 bricklinked sets..

I have BL'd 3 major sets.  I always did this with new pieces just in case I wanted to re-sell, and didn't want junk.

 

 

10179 - All new parts/stickers/instructions, cost me ~$900.  Ended up selling for $1300

 

10182 - All new parts, cost me $400, bought instructions later for another $100, so $500 in the end.

 

10189 - All new parts, cost me $800, still don't have instructions, so it'll end up around $900. 

 

You can surely do this much cheaper for re-sale purposes, but I wanted these for myself and I wanted top shelf parts, so it cost me much more than it can be done for.  I would love to BL as set like UCS Snowspeeder, but as has been talked about already, there are several parts and stickers that are impossible to find now.  I did the MF about 3 years ago, so it was easier then to get parts and instructions, where they are impossible to find at un-astronomical prices now.

[Simon_GM]

I have BL'd 3 major sets.  I always did this with new pieces just in case I wanted to re-sell, and didn't want junk.

 

 

10179 - All new parts/stickers/instructions, cost me ~$900.  Ended up selling for $1300

 

10182 - All new parts, cost me $400, bought instructions later for another $100, so $500 in the end.

 

10189 - All new parts, cost me $800, still don't have instructions, so it'll end up around $900. 

 

Wow, that's actually pretty good prices, especially considering you bought all of the pieces new. Did you replace any of the red pieces on the Cafe Corner, because I know those can be hard to come by.

[mightycaseyatbat]

I was bricklinking 21001 John Hancock for $12 but the one seller in Canada ran out of name plates. It was quick easy profit only 69 pieces. I tried doing Marina Bay Sands but Lego said no extra name plates available due to a contractual limit. Point being there is money to be made in smaller sets it is easier and shipping is cheaper.

 

That being said... Is it possible to create fake name plates? I picked up a few MBS name plates. I asked the guy if he had instructions/box, but he hasn't replied to my emails since I made the purchase. My fraud alarm is going off. I received the plates, and they look ok, but I wouldn't know how to tell if it was fake or not.

[Huskers1236]

Wow, that's actually pretty good prices, especially considering you bought all of the pieces new. Did you replace any of the red pieces on the Cafe Corner, because I know those can be hard to come by.

The hardest parts for the Cafe Corner at the time were the 1x2x3 white panels.  The red roof pieces were also used in Pet Shop so they were available at the time, not sure how abundant they are right now.  I was lucky enough to do this when the white window frames were available as well, they are about $10 each now I think.  I did this even before I did my MF.

[Pseudoty]

That being said... Is it possible to create fake name plates? I picked up a few MBS name plates. I asked the guy if he had instructions/box, but he hasn't replied to my emails since I made the purchase. My fraud alarm is going off. I received the plates, and they look ok, but I wouldn't know how to tell if it was fake or not.

I am sure if there is a will (Profit) there is a way with these. I doubt someone is going to buy a few limited edition 10,000 total sets and part them out when the starting price Retail was $100 if the seller was in the USA and I think the next most valuable piece after the name plate is the 98 1X2 translucent blue tiles. They could have ordered replacement parts from Lego if they had an original but probably would only get one not multiples

Perhaps compare it to the name plate for the UN both 1X8 check the color, feel, and font also try looking at them under a black light.

Post pics if you can

[mightycaseyatbat]

Hi Pseudoty.

 

Yeah, the same seller (from France mind you) just posted 4 more name plates. He said he only had that and the 1x1 olive round plates. He said he "could" get the instructions, but no box. I'd planned on bricklink/eBaying this thing, but now I'm starting to have second guesses. I already have the translucent tiles and white grilles purchased, so this may backfire.

 

I do not have the UN name plate. I only have the Empire State Building name plate. 

 

I'll post a top/bottom pic later tonight.

 

I wouldn't know how to tell if it was fake. I don't have a black light either :/

[mightycaseyatbat]

OK, here's some pics. I don't really have any inconclusive evidence either way. 

 

Lined up against the Empire State Building:

 

 

I tried to align the A's in State and Bay:

 

I guess a good thing, they both seem to have a hairline running horizontally on the piece from the edge to where the letters begin, and both prints feel raised to the touch.

 

 

Feel free to chime in, and sorry to high-jack this thread!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I think they look fine. Hard to imagine anyone would go to the trouble for that when minifigures are where the fakes are at.

[Spartikis]

I have BL'd 3 major sets.  I always did this with new pieces just in case I wanted to re-sell, and didn't want junk.

 

 

10179 - All new parts/stickers/instructions, cost me ~$900.  Ended up selling for $1300

 

10182 - All new parts, cost me $400, bought instructions later for another $100, so $500 in the end.

 

10189 - All new parts, cost me $800, still don't have instructions, so it'll end up around $900. 

 

You can surely do this much cheaper for re-sale purposes, but I wanted these for myself and I wanted top shelf parts, so it cost me much more than it can be done for.  I would love to BL as set like UCS Snowspeeder, but as has been talked about already, there are several parts and stickers that are impossible to find now.  I did the MF about 3 years ago, so it was easier then to get parts and instructions, where they are impossible to find at un-astronomical prices now.

 

i bought Cafe Corner for like $300 in like 75% condition, took me another $100 to finish it off along with some pieces from my own collection. It was originally a brick link project they started but got frustrated and just bought one MISB. It does take a lot of patience and free time to build sets this way, not for people who want instant gratification. I actually just now, almost 2 years later finished my Market street having replace the 5x 1x8 arches with the correct dark blue color instead of Black.

[Fcbarcelona101]

I did a little experiment with this by bricklinking some of the Ninjago dragons (3 Fire Dragons, 2 Ice and 1 Earth).

Since they were relatively small, it wasn't as time consuming and was able to make a decent profit. They do take a while to sell though.

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[Simon_GM]

It would be fun to bricklink an all clear 10179 falcon. Just cuz. 

[Stevenplays]

It would be fun to bricklink an all clear 10179 falcon. Just cuz.

That would be much more expensive than a room full of 41999s.