Does anyone here invest in Lego for a living or make great money per year?

[Sgruschkus]

Yeah I realize it would be a pain in the butt and I'm not about to give up a reliable paycheck, health insurance, etc. because of a stack of Lego boxes I've got stashed in my son's closet. just wondering if people have been able to do this (other than those Brickpicker bros from the USA Today article). While we're on that topic, what the hell were those guys thinking when they agreed to be a part of that article? Gotta learn how to keep a secret sometimes.

By the way, Jeff and I have day jobs and we don't sell LEGO sets to eat. We did the article because it tripled site volume and enables collectors like yourself to use the data FREE.

Fair enough. No offense intended - my comment about the USA Today article was a semi-joke. I've just been really interested in how far Lego investing has extended into the realm of traditional investing. BTW I love the site - thanks to you and the other moderators for all the hard work.

[Sgruschkus]

I'm a senior in high school and my Lego investments will pay for nearly all of my college tuition at Boston university. I've been in this game since 2008 and have invested more then 50gs from my company. Being I started so early in life I feel this could be something I do full time temporary as I do not believe the market will stay alive for ever. Sets from now on to the next 5 years I Believe will be the last of profits and it'll be time to move onto something new

WOW!! That is impressive.

[emazers]

This is Emazers here and alot of people ask me do I Make a living Selling Lego's on E-bay. Well the Answer is no. I am 64 Years old and a retired mailman. Its just about Impossible for any regular guy to just say I am going to quit my job and just sell lego's. If you read my posting on what you have to do to open an account with lego these days just about kills the idea. You have to buy 75 percent of there themes and that includes all the cheap sets. But say I still could buy what I only wanted, and What you can only buy is only the Lego's that you see in Toys R Us, target, Walmart. Except for there exclusives, and the Hard To Find Sets you cannot buy, Like the Haunted House, B-wing, Cinema, etc. So say I have $25,000 to buy right now, so I order 50 Cases of the new Jabba's Sail barge, jabba's Palace, New Gunship, about 10 cases of the $100 lone Ranger set, 10 cases of the new $119.00 Chima set coming out, cases of the Friends new Dolphin Cruiser, High School etc. So the Profit margain for the $100.00 to $139.00 is between $20-$30 the $30 being on the Falcon 7965. So you put them on ebay with along 500 other people, and so you put the Sail Barge up Buy it now for $119.99 it sells, so time all the ebay and paypal fees are taken and you better no what you are doing on shipping. So you might make $5.00 or loose money if you don't no how exactly to do shipping. And with target, Walmart, Amazon and whoever is selling it you are about ready to crack thinking this was a good idea. Do you think Target or walmart or even Toys R Us would survive if they just sold Lego in there store. Now with target, walmart they are making that $20-30 Profit on the big sets. Now if Somebody had say $50 Grand to spend and you could buy the hard to find sets to, well that would be great for a great investment for a few years down the line. But the bottom line is try and stick with the big sets, there has only been a very few Star Wars $100 sets or more Duds, Load up on as many Haunted Houses as you can. Helm's Deep, Tower Bridge, Batman asylum, vampire's castle not the $10-20 Clearance items unless they are for your collection. There could be a few excemptions. I would rather buy a haunted House that 5 A-wings on clearance. "And Remember it takes a few years for these to be a great investment, Now take the Imperial Shuttle, Potter 10217, and the Potter Castle 4842 and the POTC Black Pearl and Queen Revenge its only been a few months and see how fast these went up. So Don't ever quit your regular job to sell lego for a living. Ed

[jaisonline]

good post. i agree with pretty much everything you typed. (btw, my father worked at USPS for 35 years). Buying from lego is a not an option for the majority even for people like me w/ small biz paperwork. for 10 years, i had a side business selling sporting event tickets using mainly eBay and StubHub. I'm glad my day job wasn't given up as profits gradually declined from 30% in the mid 2000s to 10% last yr (even with my ND-'bama BCS title game tix). Buying those dud Lego themes are like buying NFL preseason tix. Those will eat away quickly and heavily at your profits before you even factor in competitors for the big stuff. I think if people could throw $25K into selected sets and be somewhat lucky, that is a very nice side-business (but extremely time and space consuming). One area that scares me to death is shipping to buyers. The big boys have ample in-store sales and the non-investors who buy online really won't care if boxes get damaged during shipping (but stay sealed). Our buyers on eBay and Bricklink will really care about box condition. Hence, I foresee problems (partial and full refunds) when selling my sets during the next 6 to 18 months. Thus, I'll mail my sets in sturdy shipping boxes w/ decent inner packing material which will increase my costs but I hope will offset possible refunds. I also record the packing process for each of my auction for some added protection but eBay (like Amazon) sure does like siding with buyers.

[spener90]

I haven't sold many sets yet, but when I start to push a significant portion of my sets out, I will be very specific about my descriptions. I will also try to include an insurance option, or something along those lines. I think the biggest mistake that can be made is to sell without being very clear. I don't think as many people care about box condition as you think, many just missed out on a set and are looking for a way to build something they missed out on. (The set I missed out on was the Imperial Flagship! Someday... someday)

[Ed Mack]

Yeah I realize it would be a pain in the butt and I'm not about to give up a reliable paycheck, health insurance, etc. because of a stack of Lego boxes I've got stashed in my son's closet. just wondering if people have been able to do this (other than those Brickpicker bros from the USA Today article). While we're on that topic, what the hell were those guys thinking when they agreed to be a part of that article? Gotta learn how to keep a secret sometimes.

By the way, Jeff and I have day jobs and we don't sell LEGO sets to eat. We did the article because it tripled site volume and enables collectors like yourself to use the data FREE.

Fair enough. No offense intended - my comment about the USA Today article was a semi-joke. I've just been really interested in how far Lego investing has extended into the realm of traditional investing. BTW I love the site - thanks to you and the other moderators for all the hard work.

While LEGO investing has a lot of similarities to stock investing, it also has similarities to brick and mortar stores as well. It's sort of a hybrid. Inventory and storage play a huge role and limits many investors.

[Sgruschkus]

So what I'm hearing is that Lego investors really probably have very little impact on the market given the logistical hurdles associated with storing and selling large numbers of sets along with a general reluctance of collectors to sell. Seems to me that as long as Lego continues to gain in popularity that there isn't much chance for a Lego investment bubble burst. Is this a reasonable conclusion?

[cflannagan]

So what I'm hearing is that Lego investors really probably have very little impact on the market given the logistical hurdles associated with storing and selling large numbers of sets along with a general reluctance of collectors to sell. Seems to me that as long as Lego continues to gain in popularity that there isn't much chance for a Lego investment bubble burst.

Is this a reasonable conclusion?

One of the ways I could see bubble bursting is if a bunch of collectors decides to sell their holdings, oversupplying the markets with extra LEGO sets thus bringing the prices crashing down, causing more collectors to panic and sell their holdings too. You say so yourself, "general reluctance of collectors to sell" - what if one day they collectively suddenly aren't so reluctance anymore?

Still, a scenario like this would be a huge victory for parents everywhere, who can finally score sets for their kids that used to be expensive in the past. I wouldn't mind that so much. I don't have any sort of "dependency" on my LEGO set collection to make me money.

And furthermore, if the bubble do burst and prices do come crashing down, you can guarantee I'll be keeping my eyes out to score some sets I always wanted for cheap.

[Rich B]

I feel that it would be really hard for those just now getting into the Lego investing/selling game to make a full time living selling Lego. There are people that have been doing this for 5-10 years and many of them still have full time jobs. Those that got into the game early (years ago) have a much better chance of selling full time as they would've been able to acquire what are now some of the most valuable Lego sets in existance. I think the days of seeing Lego sets triple and quadruple in value in just a few years are not going to be as common as it once was. I'm not saying newer sets can't triple in value, just saying it's going to take a lot longer and a lot more patience than sets of the past. Because of this it is going to make selling full time a lot harder for someone who is starting with the sets of 2013 versus someone who already has sets from 2005-2013 stockpiled away. Anything is possible though, I just think it's much more risky for those just now starting versus those that already have a large inventory of sets from the past 5+ years.

[kerrmando]

Hey since ya'll asked if there were college students investing on here.... I'm a Homeland Security Major here at VCU, minors in Arabic and Chinese, I've been buying and selling Legos since I was twelve. I make most of my money buying and selling Gold and Silver bullion but the Legos are a great additional investment. I get to use the receipts for my taxes and as long as I'm selling some of them it's pretty much just writing off money for me. I plan to sell about 1000 sets around when I graduate and use that money to kickstart me in the "real world" Plus it beats sticking the money in the bank and making a couple bucks a year on it! I mean I'm making easy 30% on most investments across the board! You can't beat that while in college.

[Sgruschkus]

Still, a scenario like this would be a huge victory for parents everywhere, who can finally score sets for their kids that used to be expensive in the past. I wouldn't mind that so much. I don't have any sort of "dependency" on my LEGO set collection to make me money.

And furthermore, if the bubble do burst and prices do come crashing down, you can guarantee I'll be keeping my eyes out to score some sets I always wanted for cheap.

I agree wholeheartedly. Can't forget that unlike most investments, Legos are fun to play with. It doesn't take much for my son to convince me to grab a set out of my stash for a Lego weekend. A lot also seem to end up as b-day gifts for nephews/nieces/etc...

[TheDarkness]

I agree wholeheartedly. Can't forget that unlike most investments, Legos are fun to play with. It doesn't take much for my son to convince me to grab a set out of my stash for a Lego weekend. A lot also seem to end up as b-day gifts for nephews/nieces/etc...

This is the difference with Lego. Having 5 nephews and 2 nieces (as well as 3 kids of my own) I regularly will give them Lego. If a set seems like it is a bit of a dog after I have bought it, then I simply will give it to one of the kids as a gift. If the market dropped out tomorrow sure it would be disappointing. But it also wouldn't leave me in a situation where I couldn't eat either. The whole idea of investing/selling Lego is to fund my own personal hobby and possibly give us a bit of play money.

[Pnatsirt]

I'm a senior in high school and my Lego investments will pay for nearly all of my college tuition at Boston university. I've been in this game since 2008 and have invested more then 50gs from my company. Being I started so early in life I feel this could be something I do full time temporary as I do not believe the market will stay alive for ever. Sets from now on to the next 5 years I Believe will be the last of profits and it'll be time to move onto something new

Im in high school now, and have just started investing in lego. I hope to be able to pay for as much of my college tuition as I can. Since I'm new to the game, It will be a while. Thanks for the post about yourself, good to know that someone else here is using it for college

If the market where to drop out, I doubt that the sets would go for less that their retail. And also, if there was really just nothing to gain in Investing in lego hobby (or job ), then whats the worst that could happen? We are left with some sweet retro sets for children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces.

[Snowcrash]

emazers, I find your posts incredibly insightful and helpful to new investors such as myself. Thank you for all you bring to this forum. One thing I continually take away from your posts is that there's money to be made from investing in Lego, but anyone expecting to drop a few thousand dollars on some sets, tuck them away for a year, toss them up on ebay and walk away with 10k in profits is dreaming. This is an investment/business hybrid, and should be viewed as supplemental income in the same way you'd view an actively traded stock market account.

[Rich B]

emazers, I find your posts incredibly insightful and helpful to new investors such as myself. Thank you for all you bring to this forum. One thing I continually take away from your posts is that there's money to be made from investing in Lego, but anyone expecting to drop a few thousand dollars on some sets, tuck them away for a year, toss them up on ebay and walk away with 10k in profits is dreaming. This is an investment/business hybrid, and should be viewed as supplemental income in the same way you'd view an actively traded stock market account.

Snowcrash you are exactly right! Those that think they're going to make big bucks fast are in for a surprise, or like you said "dreaming." It's all about patience, "time is money" in this game ;)

[TheDarkness]

Snowcrash you are exactly right! Those that think they're going to make big bucks fast are in for a surprise, or like you said "dreaming." It's all about patience, "time is money" in this game

It certainly is. I was lucky in the fact that I had to learn that way when I first started out. It started as simply buying up 5 Jabba's Sail Barges from LEGO Shop at Home when they had them discounted, and then waiting for them to be discontinued. Then it was the 6211 Star Destroyer, and then gradually have increased. Even with the case of those two, I sold too early in spite of making over 100% profit on them. But it was a learning curve as well. I cringe at the though of selling my original Death Star 11 and SSD sets and how much they are worth now, but at the time it was still 100% profit which I used to buy more Lego. I had had a heap of Magnaguard Starfighters, Republic Tanks and V-19 Torrents for awhile. I learnt with those smaller sets that there just isn't the interest in them as others. The bigger sets though continue to be loved and would move easilly.

My cupboards now are filled with a mixture of sets, that I am either selling now, or holding on for the future. I am expecting to make a profit from them, but not looking at over $1000 a set. The time for that I believe has passed, and Lego will ensure that any sets that are in demand that much will continue to be available. If not, it wouldn't suprise me if they just released them as a new version. Look at the Mobile Crank MK 2 coming out this year. With certain licensed sets constantly being reissued (Sail Barge, Republic Gunship, etc) I believe it is only a matter of time before we see some reissues of the big ones. The Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium and Deathe Star playset continue to be available despite the rumours of EOL being about for over a year. And as long as they keep moving off the shelves, Lego will keep producing them.

The Lego which I have bought, I have no debt for. So if the market bottoms out tomorrow, other than having a tonne of Lego to play with, it won't impact my family financially. It will mean I have alot of Lego to build and create MOCs with, which won't bother me either. Lego is a small part of my personal investments.

These people buying a heap now hoping to make thousands and thousands of dollars though? Good luck.

[emes]

Great post emazers. I think many people here see this as an answer to all of their prayers, without really thinking about everything that goes into making wise purchasing decisions and earning significant money this way. I'll add that you can make a living at retail picking, however, as I've said in other posts, your scope has to go way beyond LEGO or any other single product. I own a consulting company so picking is not mine nor my family's main source of money, but my wife picks and sells full-time. She makes way more doing that than most people make at any full-time job. She has a very broad scope in terms of what she purchases and sells. LEGO represents at the most only about 10% of her monthly sales and profits. In fact, LEGO can be tough because the items are generally bigger and take up more space and are more difficult to ship than many other items that can be sold for significant profit. Retail picking is very seldom a sexy business. It would be nice if we could buy exclusively things we like but it simply doesn't work that way. For example, I just got an email from my wife telling me that she bought 100 Denorex 12 oz. shampoos for $.89 each. Neither of us use Denorex, but we know that can be flipped for significant profits. This is in addition to the 200 units of Botanical Berry ChapStick she just picked up this weekend and the box full of random retired eye shadows she just picked up. My wife buys a ton of things online as well. I'm in Chicago tonight and tomorrow on business (and will probably get stuck here). You know those shampoos and lotions they give you in the hotel??? Yep, people buy those. Especially when they're nice ones like in the hotel I'm in tonight! I travel almost every week, so in the evenings when I'm in a new city I'll often spend my time hitting retail stores and picking things my wife has pointed out to me. The key here is that I have no expenses for fuel or wear and tear because I'm in a rental car that a customer is paying for. I also have no shipping costs to get the things home because the airline I use lets me check two bags free because I fly so much. Watching your expenses in picking is key...wear and tear on your car and fuel can quickly eat into your profits. There's definitely money to be made out there, and significant amounts of it, but I know no one that does it by just focusing on one type of product. You have to do your research, mind your sums, and get out there and dig around.

[emazers]

Something else about people who Spend Thousands on Lego's or Toys or just about anything and they see that stuff just sitting in the corner or in there house alot of people start saying to there self I must be crazy buying all that stuff, and then the wife gets on you, we need a new roof or a new car etc, and you are out spending thousands on Lego's and whats bad about it we have to wait 2-5 years and hope to make money, and then thats when the guy cracks and then he starts selling stuff hoping to at least break even, and then there are the guys that can't stand to just let that stuff sit there without selling something. I feel the same way once in a while, its killing me to look at my 61 Imperial Shuttles just stack high and I am not selling at least one. On Lego Sellers alone, the drop out rate in the first year is about 50 percent, 2 years 75 percent. On Ebay Discussion board there all 100's of horror stories on people who crack when the key is wait 2-5 years to make money. Ed

[stephen_rockefeller]

I think there are still sets out there and sets that have yet to be made that have the potential to be $1000 sets.

[Rich B]

Something else about people who Spend Thousands on Lego's or Toys or just about anything and they see that stuff just sitting in the corner or in there house alot of people start saying to there self I must be crazy buying all that stuff, and then the wife gets on you, we need a new roof or a new car etc, and you are out spending thousands on Lego's and whats bad about it we have to wait 2-5 years and hope to make money, and then thats when the guy cracks and then he starts selling stuff hoping to at least break even, and then there are the guys that can't stand to just let that stuff sit there without selling something. I feel the same way once in a while, its killing me to look at my 61 Imperial Shuttles just stack high and I am not selling at least one. On Lego Sellers alone, the drop out rate in the first year is about 50 percent, 2 years 75 percent. On Ebay Discussion board there all 100's of horror stories on people who crack when the key is wait 2-5 years to make money. Ed

I wouldn't mind having 61 imperial shuttles right about now haha. Emazers, what's the magic number or value you would like to see the 10212's hit in order to start selling some of the 61 you have? Are you waiting for $350? $400? or higher?

[Rich B]

I think there are still sets out there and sets that have yet to be made that have the potential to be $1000 sets.

Agreed! Come on Maersk Train!!!! Just kidding ;)

[Jackson]

Retail picking is very seldom a sexy business. It would be nice if we could buy exclusively things we like but it simply doesn't work that way. For example, I just got an email from my wife telling me that she bought 100 Denorex 12 oz. shampoos for $.89 each. Neither of us use Denorex, but we know that can be flipped for significant profits. This is in addition to the 200 units of Botanical Berry ChapStick she just picked up this weekend and the box full of random retired eye shadows she just picked up. My wife buys a ton of things online as well.

Where does she find scores like that? Walmart? Walgreens? Are they usually clearance-type deals? What online sites does she usually buy from for reselling purposes?

[stephen_rockefeller]

Could be the first train to hit that mark......I don't think there are any. What is the most expensive train in the secondary market? I'm gonna make you earn the title of resident train expert that in gave you ;)

[Rich B]

"61 imperial shuttles" everytime I read that I chuckle, not because it's a bad set to have 61 of, but rather at the sheer fact that a person (emazers) really has that many. I hated and didn't believe at first, but the pictures proved me wrong. I can't say I know anyone else with that many !0212's. Emazers you will make a nice little profit off those my friend ;)

[TheDarkness]

Something else about people who Spend Thousands on Lego's or Toys or just about anything and they see that stuff just sitting in the corner or in there house alot of people start saying to there self I must be crazy buying all that stuff, and then the wife gets on you, we need a new roof or a new car etc, and you are out spending thousands on Lego's and whats bad about it we have to wait 2-5 years and hope to make money, and then thats when the guy cracks and then he starts selling stuff hoping to at least break even, and then there are the guys that can't stand to just let that stuff sit there without selling something. I feel the same way once in a while, its killing me to look at my 61 Imperial Shuttles just stack high and I am not selling at least one. On Lego Sellers alone, the drop out rate in the first year is about 50 percent, 2 years 75 percent. On Ebay Discussion board there all 100's of horror stories on people who crack when the key is wait 2-5 years to make money. Ed

Exactly, if you aren't patient you won't be making money unless you turn yourself into a store.

My wife is seriously harrassing me about building this new garage. I said that is fine, but I won't be selling my Lego to fund it. 61 Imperial shuttles is amazing though.

The question for yourself and other high volume investors really is, when do you decide to sell? It is always a personal choice I know, and one you have to be happy with, whether it is a 20%, 100% or 1000% profit. Do you wait until you see them reach a plateau in prices after a couple of years?