BrickHeadz 2017

[Lordoflego]

@Bluebird55. If you're ordering them on line, by the time they come to your house, you'll be too late to flip them imo.

[Bluebird55]

I thought about that, I'm about an hour from where they ship and would probably make it by Friday if I ordered on a Monday... maybe not. I did think about though...its tough. Maybe I'll just make one order and hope for the best... Any idea how many people are really VIP members? Like how many people wouldn't want/have the early access?

[Mos_Eisley]

4 minutes ago, Bluebird55 said:

I thought about that, I'm about an hour from where they ship and would probably make it by Friday if I ordered on a Monday... maybe not. I did think about though...its tough. Maybe I'll just make one order and hope for the best... Any idea how many people are really VIP members? Like how many people wouldn't want/have the early access?

It's not a very elite club, and just about everyone on ebay does this same exact thing, so it isn't a new idea. You might want to read through some other threads. 

[ravenb99]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

 

1. How are you going to buy "a significant number of them" without getting banned by LEGO?

 

I guess this statement does not pertain to me?

[Bluebird55]

18 minutes ago, Mos_Eisley said:

It's not a very elite club, and just about everyone on ebay does this same exact thing, so it isn't a new idea. You might want to read through some other threads. 

You seem to know about it then, how much more do people normally sell them for? I was hoping to shoot for double... maybe it's not worth it if every one else's does it same at the same price point.

[Mos_Eisley]

Just now, Bluebird55 said:

You seem to know about it then, how much more do people normally sell them for? I was hoping to shoot for double... maybe it's not worth it if every one else's does it same at the same price point.

Personally, I think you should go ahead and do your plan.  I believe you'll find it isn't worth the time and efffort involved, but best to learn that firsthand. And if you're not going to be at a store to buy them to have in hand the day they are released you will have already missed any opportunity to make anything worthwhile. 

[Phil B]

20 minutes ago, ravenb99 said:

I guess this statement does not pertain to me?

You are in a league of your own ...... you're likely getting them by the palletful.

[Bluebird55]

Sounds good, but what do you mean by not being there on the day of? Will there be a market once they're released to everyone?

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, Mos_Eisley said:

5 minutes ago, Bluebird55 said:

You seem to know about it then, how much more do people normally sell them for? I was hoping to shoot for double... maybe it's not worth it if every one else's does it same at the same price point.

Personally, I think you should go ahead and do your plan.  I believe you'll find it isn't worth the time and efffort involved, but best to learn that firsthand. And if you're not going to be at a store to buy them to have in hand the day they are released you will have already missed any opportunity to make anything worthwhile. 

Plus, if you're planning to sell on EBay (and not Kijiji or Craigslist), listing them for double RRP is not going to net you much profit. You'd have to list for at least 3xRRP to make any decent money.

 

[Bluebird55]

Plus, if you're planning to sell on EBay (and not Kijiji or Craigslist), listing them for double RRP is not going to net you much profit. You'd have to list for at least 3xRRP to make any decent money.

 

 

And that's pretty far fetched isn't it...? Tough sell at 3x retail when they can wait 2 weeks...

[Phil B]

Just now, Bluebird55 said:

 

And that's pretty fair fetched isn't it...? Tough sell at 3x retail when they can wait 2 weeks...

What you're being told is:

1. If you need to wait for them to be shipped to you, you're too late.

2. If you list them for 2xRRP, you won't make much (if any) money

3. There is a market, but the window is tiny

4. You are not alone

5. Do it, don't do anything drastic (like buying 100s), and check it out for yourself. Best way to learn.

 

[Bluebird55]

Thanks for putting it all together for me! Makes it much clearer. One last question, maybe this is crazy, but would it be worth while to pay for express shipping? And would it be too dangerous to list them before they arrive, as to try to get in the window a little earlier, they shouldn't take more than 3-5 days to arrive, I'm about a hour away from where they ship.

Maybe I make an extra sale or two by listing earlier...?

[Lordoflego]

Hour away from where they ship from? You're in Canada? They are still probably shipping it via Texas or something...

listing before you have them is a risky game. IMO window to sell for most quick flippers is few hours only and later not worth it. So unless you have access to them the morning of VIP early release, pass. That's just me though. 

Edited February 2, 2017 by Lordoflego

[Legojona]

3 hours ago, zskid00 said:

 

Do yourself a favor and look up the limited edition and exclusive POP prices on eBay. Some of them go for crazy money. They have a very large and loyal fan base.

I bought some immediately when Ebay was flooded after the comic-con and already sold a couple at 2x- 2.5x!

[Alpinemaps]

I guess this statement does not pertain to me?

We are just going to ignore you.

If I were a betting man, I might scoop up the SDCC exclusive sets at the current price and out those away for awhile. When people become fanatic to complete the entire series, you may have a gold mine. If I were a betting man.

[Legojona]

43 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

 

We are just going to ignore you.

If I were a betting man, I might scoop up the SDCC exclusive sets at the current price and out those away for awhile. When people become fanatic to complete the entire series, you may have a gold mine. If I were a betting man.

 

Especially in Europe, these sets are very hard to get. It has no current Ebay listings in Europe and the prices in the USA have risen from about 70 to about 130 dollars in just 8 months. In Europe they easily go for close to 200 and that is before people even knew about the series coming out.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Legojona

[Furious_george]

3 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

 

We are just going to ignore you.

If I were a betting man, I might scoop up the SDCC exclusive sets at the current price and out those away for awhile. When people become fanatic to complete the entire series, you may have a gold mine. If I were a betting man.

 

Or if you were selling them.

[Bluebird55]

Hour away from where they ship from? You're in Canada? They are still probably shipping it via Texas or something...

listing before you have them is a risky game. IMO window to sell for most quick flippers is few hours only and later not worth it. So unless you have access to them the morning of VIP early release, pass. That's just me though. 

 

Yeah Canada, I think I might just make one order... of three or something, we'll see... you're right, I'm playing it close already...

[gregpj]

45 minutes ago, Bluebird55 said:

 

Yeah Canada, I think I might just make one order... of three or something, we'll see... you're right, I'm playing it close already...

If you're in Canada, you are not an hour from where they ship (I don't know where you think they ship from?). ALL of the orders I have ever placed with LEGO S@H have shipped from the states and my most recent boxes say Southaven MS. That said, ordering on a Monday should get the parcels to you by Friday .. maybe Thursday, maybe Monday of the next week. You don't want to take that chance by listing something early, having it sell and then missing your shipping window.

Generally speaking, if you have to rely on ordering online (unless it's next day delivery) you won't beat the people who have a store 10 mins from their house. And then you have to contend with the people who buy _hoping_ to flip for a profit, and when that doesn't materialize in 2 hours after they've listed start dropping their prices.

Shipping in Canada isn't cheap so flipping these low cost items is also hard .. let's do some math:

$12.99 for a single.
+ 13% tax (I am assuming your in Ontario given your profile picture) = $14.67.

This little thing is going to be somewhere between $11 and $13 to ship in Canada if you print your label on eBay (that is still the biggest discount available, get yourself a free small business account so you can ship expedited at the counter). Do you have boxes already? Or are you paying for them? I buy boxes for bigger sets, try to recycle for little sets... boxes are from $1-$3 depending on where you buy (uline.ca has all kinds of shapes and sizes but there is no free shipping).

Let's say you list for 2x RRP and remember, online shoppers aren't going to consider your tax paid as part of 2x RRP.

$26 + $11 = $37. Whoa, that's almost 3x RRP now!

Let's assume it sells, and we subtract some fees...

$26 - ebay's 10% [$2.60] and paypal's 3% [$0.78] + their per tx [$0.30]... nets you $22.32. (you did list in Canadian dollars right? if you list in US, PayPal's exchange rate back to Canadian dollars isn't commission free .. they lie).

So now you've made a little money... $22.32 - 14.67 = $7.65 + $0.65 in VIP points. $8 is 54.5% profit for a fair bit of work... to double your money, you need to list at about 2.5x RRP.

NOW don't get me wrong, I am not saying don't try .. in fact, selling the poster could net you a few dollars more and that could be shipped in a padded envelope much cheaper (though they'll run you about $0.50 each if you buy enough). If you've never sold, it's good practice, might get you a feedback or two if you package them up really well. 

But it's a risk .. what will you do if you don't sell them? Build them? Birthday presents? What a hassle to return them.. or hold them for 2 years while they appreciate and everyone else bought them for 30%+ off or during 2x VIP or during the mini beetle promotion which brought their original cost waaaay down and selling for 1.5x RRP nets them that 50% profit.

I know this is a little more general than just Brickheadz, but I think it illustrates why we sometimes chuckle and discourage people from trying to flip these things .. a few folks around here seem to have the magic touch to get these things from the stores early and most certainly they've made some cash, but unless you're expecting a shortage of Brickheadz availability (pretty unlikely with the smaller sets it seems) then it's high risk, low reward and most of us can't be bothered.

 

[Bluebird55]

Your right, about it all. Very informative. Thank you. I don't know how any one every started investing in lego without forums like these!

[Alpinemaps]

13 hours ago, Furious_george said:

Or if you were selling them.

Good point.  If I were a seller who had amassed a few (or even if I hadn't), may be an easy way to cash out and move on.

[redghostx]

If you're in Canada,

I appreciated all of the help that you offered Greg but I was really interested to see how this was going to turn out.

[ravenb99]

guess the mystery is no more of 41593 / 41594

[Lordoflego]

Sweet

[Lego Templar]

Hmmm to stay disciplined and only buy Marvel/SW brickheadZ or to buy them all.

Glad I bought the SDCC ones the prices like tripled in a week. I think once people didn't see DR. S/BP and difference versions of IM and CA they bought them.