How long do you hold a set for

[Stevepixels]

First time posting on here after picking up a few star wars sets and of course the tumbler.

Maybe this has been asked countless times already. But just wondering how long you hold a set for or what triggers you to sell or what ever the lingo is. flip is it? 

[GiliusThunderhead]

On 4/25/2016 at 2:51 PM, Stevepixels said:

First time posting on here after picking up a few star wars sets and of course the tumbler.

Maybe this has been asked countless times already. But just wondering how long you hold a set for or what triggers you to sell or what ever the lingo is. flip is it? 

Hey - this is almost as difficult a question as "what should i buy to make money".  Basically there's no right or wrong answer here.  Many people have many different strategies/hold times and it depends on so much.

But as you've mentioned the tumbler.  When you bought it what were you after (or was it just an "I've seen sets going for crazy dollars - i'm going to buy this with no research or plan of what i expect to get out" - that might sound a bit toolish and I'm not saying its you but you'll find a number of people come into this with attitude)?  
My opinion on this one is that anyone who bought one is going to want to see something decent. It's a set that a lot of people seem to have bought into. Now you can make a profit if you sell now but on this one i think you'll be better waiting until at least x-mas 2017.  (Need to wait for impatient to clear out their stock and you'll get a good idea of the real supply/demand balance).

I'd suggest before buying any sets think about what return you want on it and how long you'll be comfortable holding it.  If you're just after 10% then anything from a day to a few months or in some cases you'll make a bad decision that you'll be lucky to get out of at flat after a couple of years.  If you want to see more sizable returns then you're going to have to take the risk and hold longer; even if everyone else starts dumping there stuff because the 100% return 2 days after retirement didn't happen so its called a dud.

best of luck with it all - Tumbler and SW are a great place to start out

[dcdfan]

First time posting on here after picking up a few star wars sets and of course the tumbler.

Maybe this has been asked countless times already. But just wondering how long you hold a set for or what triggers you to sell or what ever the lingo is. flip is it? 

I try to not be holding the hot potato when the music stops...

[Brenner]

Welcome,

When buying sets you need to figure out what your strategy is. There are great threads with advice for newbie's. Some BP-ers have a long hold strategy, some are quickflippers and your can have a mix. The quickflipping requires very good buy-in to make profit. In general the margins are less than a long term hold but there are many many different variables which determine the walk of life of a set. One advice what I can give, when aiming for the long term patience is the key. Don't expect massive profits, sell when the set reaches your predefined limit and continue to invest the profit. And don't forget to have some fun!

 

[Stevepixels]

Cheers gentlemen. I think overall Ive not got the time to be buying in mass bulk to flip sets quickly. Having a business to run and a family to look after too.

Im happy with the long term ride it out strategy really. Fits in with my lifestyle etc.

One of my first investments ages ago was a box of olympic Team GB 2012 minifigures for £100. Now as the Olympics roll round again, these new and sealed are going for about £1000. Not t a bad return, if I decide to sell. I don't think many investments get that kinda of return.

[Fenix_2k1]

My basic strategy is to have a %age per year margin on all my sets. When they hit that I'll sell and buy fresh stock.

If i see any sets that don't seem to be growing much in value I'll usually try to flip quicker.

I think one of the mistakes people make is looking for the huge long term wins. You may get them occasionally(as you have with Olympics minifigures) but its not easy.

Any other investment a 20% year on year return would be phenomenal but for lots of newer lego investors those numbers are apparently disappointing. 

[Val-E]

1 hour ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

My basic strategy is to have a %age per year margin on all my sets. When they hit that I'll sell and buy fresh stock.

If i see any sets that don't seem to be growing much in value I'll usually try to flip quicker.

I think one of the mistakes people make is looking for the huge long term wins. You may get them occasionally(as you have with Olympics minifigures) but its not easy.

Any other investment a 20% year on year return would be phenomenal but for lots of newer lego investors those numbers are apparently disappointing. 

Similar to me. I set out to double my money but if something gets there really soon I hold (greed) and if it seems it won´t, I try to cut losses. This means occasionally selling too late but rarely too soon as few sets these days are sleepers. It also depends on what you do with the profits. if reinvesting is the aim then the time of year you sell and reinvest also has an influence in order not to get stuck with sets that never retire, but that´s when to buy, which  is a whole different thread!

Edited May 16, 2016 by Val-E

[Salimr]

For me each set is different. I have spreadsheets with what I paid on each and I update prices worth around every month so I can track trends. For some I am holding until a newer movie comes out. I had many Jurassic world sets and was fairly confident by reading news on Lego they were coming back in stock for Christmas, so I sold them at profit before Christmas then bought some back on discount recently. Others I actually buy just because I like them and those are the hardest to figure out when to sell because I had no real plan, we just really liked them and bought a few extra. 

i occasionally find old sets from around 2008 at my Walmart and I usually just list those right away as many of the city sets are getting remade and doubling my money in a day seems great!

[Crustybeaver]

19 minutes ago, Salimr said:

i occasionally find old sets from around 2008 at my Walmart 

You find eight year old sets in retail stores? Am I reading this right...

[Salimr]

Yes. For some reason my Walmart puts out older sets in clearence. Not sure why but I am guessing their back room is a disaster. I check when I am shopping and every few months some interesting stuff pops up. Most times there are just 1 or 2 sets but I got 20 city sets ambulance and fire stuff from 2010 a few weeks ago and they were all sold on eBay within 1 week.

 

Edited May 16, 2016 by Salimr

[Val-E]

13 minutes ago, Salimr said:

Yes. For some reason my Walmart puts out older sets in clearence. Not sure why but I am guessing their back room is a disaster. I check when I am shopping and every few months some interesting stuff pops up. Most times there are just 1 or 2 sets but I got 20 city sets ambulance and fire stuff from 2010 a few weeks ago and they were all sold on eBay within 1 week.

 

I´d delete all posts referring to this, if I were you - the horde is already trying to track the zip code!

[Phil B]

17 minutes ago, Val-E said:

I´d delete all posts referring to this, if I were you - the horde is already trying to track the zip code!

If that were true, Exciter would have had campers set up shop in his backyard many moons ago.

[Salimr]

50 minutes ago, Val-E said:

I´d delete all posts referring to this, if I were you - the horde is already trying to track the zip code!

I'm moving 16 hours away anyway and I am in an area that no one will waste their time to go to as there is no through traffic where I am located unless one has a boat or plane or likes to drive around one of the largest lakes in the world

[LegoEdison]

1 minute ago, Salimr said:

I'm moving 16 hours away anyway and I am in an area that no one will waste their time to go to as there is no through traffic where I am located unless one has a boat or plane or likes to drive around one of the largest lakes in the world

i am telling my wife we are going to have a lake side vacation next, thx 

[Stevepixels]

I can't believe shops still have stock thats been lying around for that long. I suppose there is no expiry - but still.

I wish our Asda (part of the WalMart Chain) did the same with there LEGO

[Vader888]

Probably terrible strategy on my end, but I have only known the accumulation stage.  I have never sold a set yet!  Mind you, I have only started getting back into LEGO about a year ago.  Since then, I have only been buying.  Things started out with buy one, build one......it is only after frequenting this site, I started to get greedy and buy multiple extra sets.

I'm a collector first, since I build every single set I buy.  The tough part of this hobby is when to start selling, for that I have no strategy whatsoever.  This may be partly due how recent the sets are.  Perhaps I will start selling some after they retire.  I think I'm in over my head with this hobby, like most are LOL.

[Val-E]

1 hour ago, Salimr said:

I'm moving 16 hours away anyway and I am in an area that no one will waste their time to go to as there is no through traffic where I am located unless one has a boat or plane or likes to drive around one of the largest lakes in the world

Way too specific now! Release the Arctic Icebreakers!

[Val-E]

31 minutes ago, Stevepixels said:

I can't believe shops still have stock thats been lying around for that long. I suppose there is no expiry - but still.

I wish our Asda (part of the WalMart Chain) did the same with there LEGO

Here, the sets that are still on shelves after more than 3 years are the ones to be avoided. A lot of Lego Movie stuff will be joining Lone Ranger and friends for the long haul.

[ZULU]

On 25-4-2016 at 3:51 PM, Stevepixels said:

First time posting on here after picking up a few star wars sets and of course the tumbler.

Maybe this has been asked countless times already. But just wondering how long you hold a set for or what triggers you to sell or what ever the lingo is. flip is it? 

I hold exclusive sets 3 years minimum.

Then I sell based on the current listed price box my box. This takes a while, and with each sale, I lift up the price 20%. 

The sets I made "mistakes" on (Ranger/ Friends / Movie / Galactic / Mindstorms/ Cars) will go asap at relatively low (even no) margin. I don't believe in boxes gathering dust for nothing

[GiliusThunderhead]

And maybe preaching to the choir but also keep an eye out for any promos that your selling platforms run.  

Recently ebay had a max final value fee of £1 - opportunities like these also present themselves for offloading stock.