maybe i don't have the stomach for this

[LegoMan1212]

Return if you feel any remorse.  Swallow your shame and pride when doing so.  A good amount of that stuff though I have let stay in the stores and I will buy just about anything.  Doesn't mean there is no profit in it, but to me, my storage is valuable space and some of those items I don't expect to go back up for a while or simply not have that great of returns/overproduced/not popular.  The market is also flooded or going to be flooded for a awhile.  Best of luck.  You have to make mistakes to learn though, which we have all done.

[LegoMan1212]

9 hours ago, calmdahn said:

i mean, yes and no. i'm brand new at this and i didn't pay cash (big mistake, i know) and i don't have an FBA account or much eBay feedback. tried listing on facebook marketplace but few biters and scared to HODL lol

This is what would scare me the most.  I charge everything too, however, also pay off my credit cards each month.  I would never do this if I had to hold a balance, pay additional fees or interest.  That is just profit going down the drain, or losses building up.  Start small, grow a cash flow and use that to continue doing this would be my suggestion.

[KShine]

10 hours ago, calmdahn said:

went crazy at Target after xmas clearance and bought like $2k worth of inventory. now having buyer's remorse and afraid to hold on to everything long term. can anybody reassure me and/or buy everything from me lol? (not everything is pictured, some stuff i want to keep for personal use)

Where are you located?

[redcell]

15 minutes ago, LegoMan1212 said:

This is what would scare me the most.  I charge everything too, however, also pay off my credit cards each month.  I would never do this if I had to hold a balance, pay additional fees or interest.  That is just profit going down the drain, or losses building up. 

That entirely depends on your business model.  As long as your inventory is appreciating at a rate higher than the interest rate you are paying on the debt used to finance that inventory, you are ahead.   

[Sfcommando14]

4 minutes ago, KShine said:

Where are you located?

2 hours ago, calmdahn said:

 I’m in New York City if anybody needs some help and somebody to mentor.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Sfcommando14

[KShine]

3 minutes ago, Sfcommando14 said:

 

Thanks - Missed that.

[Emvisawthatswho]

Controlled spending . Easy to get caught up with 50%+ off. In that case buy 2-3 only. Until you start to get a feel for what should sell well EOL. Depending on what your interest rate on the CC is, you may want to return some of the excess and keep some of the sets with the most potential.

Chalk it up to learning. Don’t let your ego get in the way . Just be careful returning too much at a time, Target may ban you from returns in the future.

[TANV]

All right, @calmdahn.  I recommend reading the following:

@Phil B does an excellent intro and foray into LEGO Reselling. It's lengthy but worthy of wisdom.  For a follow up, I recommend my own recent posting:

I'm in a similar boat in terms of market, being in the Northeast as well as not having an Amazon FBA account and relying on other online means.

Just breathe and read!

[brickvoyeur]

20 minutes ago, LegoMan1212 said:

 Start small, grow a cash flow and use that to continue doing this would be my suggestion.

I second this. A great strategy to get started is to go with used retired sets. Listings appear daily where someone is just quickly unloading their collection, or someone's kid is done with Lego and the parent just dumps it. I haven't bought too many used lots this year since the baby was born (no time to sort and build), but I would pick something like this up 3-5 times a week in the years before. It was by far my highest profit and lowest risk. Plus you got to enjoy the building experience.

The few examples from this year:

Contained a complete (remainder of parts in the basket) 75054 (AT-AT), 75050 (B-Wing), 75092 (Naboo SF), 75105 (MF), and 75094 (IST)

^^ Contained: (3x) 7595-1 Army Men on Patrol, 7667-1 Imperial Dropship, 7668-1 Rebel Scout Speeder, 7676-1 Republic Attack Gunship, 7751-1 Ahsoka's Starfighter and Droids, 7914-1 Mandalorian Battle Pack, (2x) 8014-1 Clone Walker Battle Pack, 8018-1 Armored Assault Tank (AAT), 8083-1 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack, 8084-1 Snowtrooper Battle Pack, 9488-1 Elite Clone Trooper & Commando Droid Battle Pack, (10x) 30071 Army Jeep
_________________
Another highlight for $125 shipped: 6212    X-Wing Starfighter, 8128    Cad Bane Speeder, 75084    Wookie Gunship, 7930    Bounty Hunter Gunship, 75145    Eclipse Fighter, 75024    HH-87, 75091    Flash Speeder, 75167    Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack, 7914    Mandalorian Battle Pack, 75131    Resistance Trooper Battle Pack, 75133    Rebel Alliance Battle Pack, 75164    Rebel Trooper battle Pack, 7957    Sith Nightspeeder, 75022   Mandalorian Speeder, 7965    Millennium Falcon, 8016    Hyena Droid Bomber, 9498    Saesee Tiin Starfighter, 8085    Freeco Speeder, 75180    Rathtar Escape, 75148    Encounter on Jakku    

 

If I had more time I would go back to doing most of my business with buying bulk retired used sets, separating, and flipping them. You can make a good surplus this way to save up to start clearing shelves off without going into debt.

 

[redcell]

2 minutes ago, brickvoyeur said:

I second this. A great strategy to get started is to go with used retired sets. Listings appear daily where someone is just quickly unloading their collection, or someone's kid is done with Lego and the parent just dumps it. I haven't bought too many used lots this year since the baby was born (no time to sort and build), but I would pick something like this up 3-5 times a week in the years before. It was by far my highest profit and lowest risk. Plus you got to enjoy the building experience.

If I had more time I would go back to doing most of my business with buying bulk retired used sets, separating, and flipping them. You can make a good surplus this way to save up to start clearing shelves off without going into debt.

 

That is good advice and is exactly how I started 12 years ago.  If you have free time, that is one of the easiest ways to make money selling Lego.  It is also one of the most time intensive given how much time you have to dedicate to sorting, but is a fairly easy way to make pretty high margins.       

[KShine]

5 minutes ago, redcell said:

That is good advice and is exactly how I started 12 years ago.  If you have free time, that is one of the easiest ways to make money selling Lego.  It is also one of the most time intensive given how much time you have to dedicate to sorting, but is a fairly easy way to make pretty high margins.       

High profits? Yes - But, if someone is quickly overwhelmed by having new & sealed sets, accumulating bulk lots would likely not end well. 

[Deanfjr]

 

[redcell]

High profits? Yes - But, if someone is quickly overwhelmed by having new & sealed sets, accumulating bulk lots would likely not end well. 

Sure. Anyone who gets in over their head is going to have difficulty realizing high profits. That seems like it would go without saying.

Sent from my VS995 using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

[calmdahn]

18 minutes ago, KShine said:

High profits? Yes - But, if someone is quickly overwhelmed by having new & sealed sets, accumulating bulk lots would likely not end well. 

Well, I actually think I like the strategy in the short term. In fact I’ve been thinking of trying to sell some of my old Classic Space sets that are all in good shape. Don’t have any boxes and none of them are worth a whole lot but they’re all complete and rebuilt recently and 100% profit. What I’m averse to is having a huge pile of unopened boxes in my living room and debt on a CC. I’m not averse to sorting and building and reselling. Now if I could just get BrickLink to open my store...

[Deanfjr]

yea charge it and pay later... great plan.... god bless America

[calmdahn]

yea charge it and pay later... great plan.... god bless America

It’s pretty asinine!!


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[Sfcommando14]

6 minutes ago, calmdahn said:

Now if I could just get BrickLink to open my store...

Let me know if you have any luck.  I submitted the info in late October and checked in a month later and haven't seen a thing from them...

[calmdahn]

Let me know if you have any luck.  I submitted the info in late October and checked in a month later and haven't seen a thing from them...

Surely somebody on here must have a contact there...???


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[Deanfjr]

best advice, return it all. leave this website, never come back, and forget about Lego investing...

move on to more secure investments.... 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Deanfjr

[KShine]

13 minutes ago, calmdahn said:

What I’m averse to is having a huge pile of unopened boxes in my living room and debt on a CC. I’m not averse to sorting and building and reselling.

But you felt differently just a few weeks ago (and went all in) - I am only saying to take it slow.

Sort, build, & sell what you have (your classic space) before adding cartons of used bulk - you might find out that you don't like that either.

[calmdahn]

best advice, return it all. leave this website, never come back, and forget about Lego investing...
move on to more secure investments.... 

LOL you just want less competition.


Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

But you felt differently just a few weeks ago (and went all in) - I am only saying to take it slow.
Sort, build, & sell what you have (your classic space) before adding cartons of used bulk - you might find out that you don't like that either.

That sort and build (80s era sets) work is already done. Next up is photographing and listing


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[redcell]

What I’m averse to is having a huge pile of unopened boxes in my living room and debt on a CC.

Get a storage unit and a bank line of credit...problem solved

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[meganr]

Lots of good advice so far. I understand that buyer's remorse. I used to get caught up in the "deal" and just buy things because they were 50% or 70% off. I am much more choosy now because I have a smaller house (part of our strategy to retire before 50) and it makes me very anxious to have too much stuff that represents work to be done. But everyone has different tolerance levels. My advice is just return the sets you are not sure about.

However, here are some things I do with Lego sets I get for a great price:

1. I have found that I can trade some of those sets for sets I actually want and at least break even or sometimes do better. I have a few independent used/new Lego stores in my area so I take my sets to them and trade for something I want like modulars or minifigures and pieces I am missing from other sets I have.

2. I try to stick to buying sets I actually like because I figure if I can't sell it for a profit, I might just keep it.

3. If you have kids, nieces or nephews, or kids of friends etc, the Lego sets you get for a great price make awesome gifts.

4. If you have local charities in your area that provide an opportunity for low income parents to "shop" for birthday and Christmas gifts, you may want to donate some of those sets (and may be able to use that donation to reduce your taxes).

5. If you bought sets for personal use, then open them and build them. However, I find that if I wait just a month or two before doing that, sometimes I don't really want to build it anymore and I'll just hold on to it until I am ready to sell. If after waiting, I still want to build it, then I do.

6. If you are buying sets to build, try to buy them used when you can. Why pay the premium for a new set when you are just going to open it anyway?

7. I have done the bulk buy, sort, assemble sets, and sell thing. I enjoy the sorting and sometimes the selling is good, but sometimes it's a pain. Just make sure you are buying quality bulk that doesn't have a bunch of mega bloks and crappy sets in it. And know what sets are worth the time to reassemble and what sets are not.

Hope that helps!

 

[calmdahn]

On 1/9/2018 at 11:48 AM, meganr said:

Lots of good advice so far. I understand that buyer's remorse. I used to get caught up in the "deal" and just buy things because they were 50% or 70% off. I am much more choosy now because I have a smaller house (part of our strategy to retire before 50) and it makes me very anxious to have too much stuff that represents work to be done. But everyone has different tolerance levels. My advice is just return the sets you are not sure about.

However, here are some things I do with Lego sets I get for a great price:

1. I have found that I can trade some of those sets for sets I actually want and at least break even or sometimes do better. I have a few independent used/new Lego stores in my area so I take my sets to them and trade for something I want like modulars or minifigures and pieces I am missing from other sets I have.

what is an independent used/new lego store? 

[SlickP]

I’ve been doing this for a little over 10yrs as a hobby, basically since my son got old enough to play with legos.  I like many were spoiled with the amount of clearance and stores they used to be but now it’s much harder.   Personally, I rarely buy anything to sell unless it’s at least half off and I don’t mess with anything small anymore.  It’s just too much hassle to ship out tons of small stuff making minimum profits on each.   Also, I don’t buy oddball series anymore unless it’s was something like scooby doo or monster fighters.  Just too risky.   Good luck and don’t underestimate how much it will cost to ship something unless you have a huge business discount.