Introduction and Parting Out question

[Phil B]

Hi everyone, I'm Philip, 41, living in Ohio (but originally European, Dutch to be precise )

I recently joined BrickPicker - absolutely loved LEGO as a child in the late 70s - early 80s, but entered my Dark Ages at the age of 15 and only came out into the light again 3-4 years ago when my kids got old enough to get LEGO sets. Have been feeding my LEGO collection needs through my kids, who have a sizable amount of bricks - sorted into bins by me :). My wife didn't see the appeal of LEGO for adults for a while, but started swinging the right direction after seeing a few LEGO displays at local shows (she now wants us to build a small town for the train to run through, and is absolutely supportive of getting a Christmas Village around the tree - so I bricklinked a 10173 - Holiday Train (still cost me >$200 with all the shipping fees) and managed to pick up a Winter Village Fair after retirement for MSRP, plus Toy Store and Santa's Workshop via LEGO LEGO Shop at Home. She also heard my stories about LEGO sets appreciating in value and is definitely supportive of me joining that game.

Last year was my real "coming out" - got the LEGO Trains bug, participated in the RailBricks contest and en-passant discovered BrickLink and the secondary LEGO market. Managed to get a few 10233s for personal use, and collected a number of My Own Train cars (10016 etc.) as a personal stash of trains. Got a good deal on a just-retired Maersk train as well.

Anyways, I have recently started an after school technology program for kids as my full-time occupation (let's see how long that lasts ) and use LEGO in that program (Technic and Mindstorms for now), but want to generate a second source of income. As such, I decided to get into LEGO reselling, but given my love for organizing LEGO, I decided to focus on the parting-out business. This holiday period really got me going and I now have ~$1k in sets stored, with the intent to part them all out and sell for parts (BL says total part value of the sets I have is ~$4k minifigs included). Hope to make 100-200% ROI in the coming 12 months. I consider this first investment as a test.

My investment has all been done using the (75% * Part-out-value) > ( 2 * Purchase cost) calculation. I obtained a few 10697 towers, 40158 Pirates Chess Sets, 75053 SW Ghost, 60036 Arctic Base Camp and 75046 SW Coruscant Police Gunship sets, all at 20-50% discount from MRSP. I also have 6 GHs across various LEGO.com/LEGO Store purchases.

My questions to you all, knowing my "parts store on BrickLink intention":

1. Should I part out all sets at once, or keep some (the nicest boxes) stored for a little while to see if I might have a hit in the post-retirement market? Or perhaps to keep my store stocked? I'm leaning towards parting it all out (22k pieces, 250 minifigs).

2. With regards to the Gingerbread Houses, assuming LEGO didn't mass-produce them and has them in stock until late-Dec, would it be worth parting out? Bricklink doesn't have an inventory yet and I have not cracked one open either (my kids will open one on Dec 6th (Dutch Sinterklaas)) after which I will be able to manually add the inventory. There are some nice and relatively rare bricks in those boxes (e.g. 1x4 brick-pattern bricks), but getting a quick $25-$35 for the sealed box is quite tempting and I don't want to miss the QFLL boat. If I were to sell these as sets I would list them on eBay, not BL. Or what about a split strategy? Part out 3, sell 3, any good?

Of course, your opinion on my set selection is really very much appreciated as well - did I pick right?

 

[Vinetu]

Hello Phil,

Well, I'm pretty much thinking along your lines (also recently got into part-outing) and I believe there is decent profit to be made especially in sets with limited appeal design wise but stunning parts selection (Arctic Base Camp for instance). The important thing with parting out sets, as a beginner at least, is having variety of parts. So, diversify, you'll build quantities later. That being said, ofc buy as many 10697 towers as you can, these are no-brainer. Bear in mind that what sells most on BL are plates, LBG, DBG, black, white then others. And try to buy your sets accordingly.

As for your strategy question, I would part all of the sets you mentioned except 3 or 4 Coruscant Gunships, that I would keep sealed. This is the last CW set released, has a stunning Ahsoka figure (the other one with the same figure is the highly unnoticed 75013 Umbaran MHC) and 2 exclusive shock troopers! Not to mention it is a TRU exclusive, so not widely available. I personally believe it might have a high resell potential, but am also looking forward to opinion of other more experienced members.

And of course DO-NOT-PART-OUT Gingerbread House! These will be (already are) selling like hotcakes.

Well, my 0.02$ at least, hopefully others will chime in

[Phil B]

Vinetu - thanks for the advice! I got in small on the Gunship, but just found another 5 at a TRU a little further out - waiting for the pickup confirmation shortly :). Will get ebay going on the GH's soon.

[remy1492]

Gingerbread House and other Christmas themes are normal parts, nothing crazy.  What makes it worth its value, even to me, is all of the parts in one box with a theme.  A lot of my coworkers dont do much Lego but will always buy a holiday setup to display.  Much the same way Lemax has their very overpriced (for the low quality IMO) village collections that only get displayed once a year in most homes.  the GHB is a small box, easy to stash and hang on to for a year or more.

Personally I stay away from the oddball sets for investment and hit the ones in the movies that even non hardcore fans will want.  AT-AT, Tie Fighter, Ships and guys.  The things that were in one episode of the clone wars cartoon like the Umbaran walker seem cool but never sell as well as one might hope.  As you've noticed its the figures that sell those oddball sets.  Figures are easy to ship with the right packages and cheap.  Theyre a great way to start fast cash and parting out.

[Phil B]

Remy - that's great feedback. I was thinking along the same line after Vinetu's email - he just confirmed that there is value in the minifigs, and the parts are extra. And, at $35 a piece those gunships are not very expensive, so even if I got a few more, they will at least get me my investment back if I have to split them into parts.

Now, regarding minifigs: better to sell them on BL or on eBay? A true LEGO fan will appreciate them on BL, but the eBay crowd contains many people who don't know BL ... so perhaps the higher fees are worth it? Any thoughts on this?

[Vinetu]

Well, I'll give you first-hand report. I have had some Ultra Agents and The Lego Movie figures listed on BL for a while, then I listed them on ebay 5 days ago (3-days bidding) and by yesterday I sold around 20+ of them for or above the asked price on BL

[Phil B]

8 minutes ago, Vinetu said:

Well, I'll give you first-hand report. I have had some Ultra Agents and The Lego Movie figures listed on BL for a while, then I listed them on ebay 5 days ago (3-days bidding) and by yesterday I sold around 20+ of them for or above the asked price on BL

Nice! Did you set a minimum price and if so, what was the logic you used (e.g "half of what BL lists")?

[exciter1]

I shot Phil the link to the Bricklink thread, so you guys can take the conversation there and he can read all the topics covered.