Valuing My First Bulk Lego Purchase

[skinsfan0521]

Hi,

I've been buying and selling toys (including Lego) for several years, but always sealed sets. Well, I bought my first bulk lot from Craigslist this week and I'm not sure if I have something that I could make money on or something that was a waste of money. Hopefully you can help! I'll take pictures tonight, but wanted to get this post up now to see what the initial thoughts are.

Total lot was about 40lbs and no minifigures. It was being sold by a mom who's kid(s) wanted to keep the minifigures. She included a bunch of the instruction booklets, but none are mint at all. Many have lots of missing pages, torn pages, etc. It was clearly a collection that kids played with and their mother is now getting rid of it. It's made up of I'd say 85% Star Wars sets, some Toy Story sets, some Ninjago sets, and some Minecraft sets. In very quickly sifting through the boxes, I did find maybe 1/2 dozen minifigs plus parts (legs, torso) of several others. Some sets are still partially put together, but mostly not. Also came with a handful of plates including a couple with streets.

I obviously have no idea if all parts from the sets are there (I'm sure they're not!), but I'd bet that the vast majority are.

So, my question is if there is any more value to this bulk lot coming with a lot of the instruction booklets and knowing that it's Star Wars, Minecraft, Ninjago, Toy Story, etc. since you know what's in them? Or, is it still just bulk pricing? From what I understand, if it's just bulk pricing, I'd be better off separating by color and selling that way?

 

Thanks!

[Ed Mack]

4 hours ago, skinsfan0521 said:

Hi,

I've been buying and selling toys (including Lego) for several years, but always sealed sets. Well, I bought my first bulk lot from Craigslist this week and I'm not sure if I have something that I could make money on or something that was a waste of money. Hopefully you can help! I'll take pictures tonight, but wanted to get this post up now to see what the initial thoughts are.

Total lot was about 40lbs and no minifigures. It was being sold by a mom who's kid(s) wanted to keep the minifigures. She included a bunch of the instruction booklets, but none are mint at all. Many have lots of missing pages, torn pages, etc. It was clearly a collection that kids played with and their mother is now getting rid of it. It's made up of I'd say 85% Star Wars sets, some Toy Story sets, some Ninjago sets, and some Minecraft sets. In very quickly sifting through the boxes, I did find maybe 1/2 dozen minifigs plus parts (legs, torso) of several others. Some sets are still partially put together, but mostly not. Also came with a handful of plates including a couple with streets.

I obviously have no idea if all parts from the sets are there (I'm sure they're not!), but I'd bet that the vast majority are.

So, my question is if there is any more value to this bulk lot coming with a lot of the instruction booklets and knowing that it's Star Wars, Minecraft, Ninjago, Toy Story, etc. since you know what's in them? Or, is it still just bulk pricing? From what I understand, if it's just bulk pricing, I'd be better off separating by color and selling that way?

 

Thanks!

Sorting by color does bring you back more money.  It also enables you to clear out the lot of non-LEGO items.  Regardless, this is a lot of work for little return.  But I don't think you will "lose" money, just not make much.

[Mark Twain]

Sorting by color does bring you back more money.  It also enables you to clear out the lot of non-LEGO items.  Regardless, this is a lot of work for little return.  But I don't think you will "lose" money, just not make much.

Yeah. Used bricks with heavy play wear are only really good sold in bulk. Sorting by color will increase your selling potential, so will cleaning them. I buy laundry mesh bags at the Dollar Tree and put them in the wash on gentle and throw a few towels in. Never do it with new bricks, as the process will scratch them.


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[skinsfan0521]

Thanks for the replies. That's kind of what I figured... I'm thinking that buying bulk loose lego may be a one and done for me. haha  But, I'm discussing buying all of the minfigures from this woman next. Well, all of them besides what her kids want to keep. I'm not sure how to go about valuing buying bulk minifigures? Never done that before either, so I'm not sure how I make an offer on them. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

I've also attached some pictures I took tonight of the instructions for the sets. There are also a bunch of others that don't have the covers attached, so I have no idea what sets those are from. Does this change anybody's opinion of the value of the bulk if these are the sets included? I'm guessing not, just figured I'd check.

Thanks!

[Batman720]

Thanks for the replies. That's kind of what I figured... I'm thinking that buying bulk loose lego may be a one and done for me. haha  But, I'm discussing buying all of the minfigures from this woman next. Well, all of them besides what her kids want to keep. I'm not sure how to go about valuing buying bulk minifigures? Never done that before either, so I'm not sure how I make an offer on them. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

I've also attached some pictures I took tonight of the instructions for the sets. There are also a bunch of others that don't have the covers attached, so I have no idea what sets those are from. Does this change anybody's opinion of the value of the bulk if these are the sets included? I'm guessing not, just figured I'd check.

Thanks!

 

Based on how much time/work you want to put into this endeavor, you have a couple options.

1. Re-list the lot somewhere and walk away carefully. Depending on what you paid, you should be able to make money on the sale. Someone like you will have the same idea or won’t want to pay for new sets for their children.

2. List on eBay in lots of a couple pounds each and explain in the description that they have not been washed recently. (Strongly discourage this option)

3. The most time consuming is to sort them by color or type and list them. (Strongly discourage this option)

4. If you are familiar with Lego, cherry pick the most valuable pieces(train, castle, airplane, and etc) and and list them in a lot on eBay. Sell the rest on FB Marketplace or something like that. (This is what I would do and recommend you doing since you are inexperienced)

5. Check eBay to see which sets are worth your time to try to build them from the 40lbs bulk and then list them. Next, cherry pick valuable pieces and create a lot on eBay and listed them. With the remaining bulk I would list on FB marketplace and let them be someone else headache. (This is what I would do ONLY if there’s a set that’s worth it.)

 

***I also take one more extra step, I would cherry pick all of the pieces that are white, any sand colored bricks (green/blue/etc), and a couple others for my personal collection.

 

FYI - You made one MAJOR mistake, you NEVER BUY BULK WITHOUT MINIFIGURES. Those are where you make you money from. Unless, you know some valuable is mixed in like a certain grocery store?.

In my opinion, most experienced resellers will choose option #4. The money from the minifigs and specialty pieces would be your profit and you would make your initial cost back you resell the remainder bulk. It’s quick & easy and most importantly you don’t end up with a garage full of bulk that drives your wife crazy, because she can pull her car all the way in!

 

Good Luck!!!

[skinsfan0521]

13 minutes ago, Batman720 said:

 

Based on how much time/work you want to put into this endeavor, you have a couple options.
1. Re-list the lot somewhere and walk away carefully. Depending on what you paid, you should be able to make money on the sale. Someone like you will have the same idea or won’t want to pay for new sets for their children.
2. List on eBay in lots of a couple pounds each and explain in the description that they have not been washed recently. (Strongly discourage this option)
3. The most time consuming is to sort them by color or type and list them. (Strongly discourage this option)
4. If you are familiar with Lego, cherry pick the most valuable pieces(train, castle, airplane, and etc) and and list them in a lot on eBay. Sell the rest on FB Marketplace or something like that. (This is what I would do and recommend you doing since you are inexperienced)
5. Check eBay to see which sets are worth your time to try to build them from the 40lbs bulk and then list them. Next, cherry pick valuable pieces and create a lot on eBay and listed them. With the remaining bulk I would list on FB marketplace and let them be someone else headache. (This is what I would do ONLY if there’s a set that’s worth it.)

***I also take one more extra step, I would cherry pick all of the pieces that are white, any sand colored bricks (green/blue/etc), and a couple others for my personal collection.

FYI - You made one MAJOR mistake, you NEVER BUY BULK WITHOUT MINIFIGURES. Those are where you make you money from. Unless, you know some valuable is mixed in like a certain grocery store?.
In my opinion, most experienced resellers will choose option #4. The money from the minifigs and specialty pieces would be your profit and you would make your initial cost back you resell the remainder bulk. It’s quick & easy and most importantly you don’t end up with a garage full of bulk that drives your wife crazy, because she can pull her car all the way in!

Good Luck!!!

 

Thanks for your detailed reply, I really appreciate it!

Yes, definitely lesson learned about buying in bulk including minifigs. I'll be sure that's the case going forward (if I do this again).

I'm thinking of taking option 1 and moving on. This would make my wife the happiest since it would (hopefully) be the quickest way to get these out of our house. haha Since I also sell a lot of other toys and collectibles, I'm already stocking up for the holiday season in every spare corner of our house, so me coming home with 40lbs of loose legos wasn't exactly something that she was excited about.

But, wanting to be sure I get all the profit I can out of this, option 4 is intriguing. I'm just a little confused since I'm not too experienced with legos. A little, but not a lot. Again, I mostly sell new in box legos. When you say to pick out the most valuable pieces (i.e. train, plane), you mean to pick out the pieces and build those things and then sell them as a built piece? Or pick out the key pieces of those items (windows or cockpit roof or something like that)? I really have no interest in sorting through 40lbs of random legos to build a piece if I'm going to spend 2hrs doing that and will make an extra $10. But, sifting through and pulling out the more expensive individual pieces, I'm all for. In my initial sifting, I did pull out the minifig pieces as well as some pieces that I thought were unique. A few magnetic pieces, one with a laser or led bulb in it, etc. But, since I'm not familiar with individual piece rarity/price, it was just a random guess. Anywhere you could suggest for me to read up on what pieces would be more valuable? I'm happy to spend time on research that will help me later on. I'm just not too interested in spending tons of time building to gain a few extra $$. Sort of a long term value vs short term gain situation.

Thanks again!!!

[Zelgazra]

Bricklink.com is your source for part value info! You should be able to filter for all sorts of things, including average selling price. Any single part worth $1 or more is worth digging for in my opinion, especially if there's likely to be multiples of them. 

[scatttcat]

 
Based on how much time/work you want to put into this endeavor, you have a couple options.
1. Re-list the lot somewhere and walk away carefully. Depending on what you paid, you should be able to make money on the sale. Someone like you will have the same idea or won’t want to pay for new sets for their children.
2. List on eBay in lots of a couple pounds each and explain in the description that they have not been washed recently. (Strongly discourage this option)
3. The most time consuming is to sort them by color or type and list them. (Strongly discourage this option)
4. If you are familiar with Lego, cherry pick the most valuable pieces(train, castle, airplane, and etc) and and list them in a lot on eBay. Sell the rest on FB Marketplace or something like that. (This is what I would do and recommend you doing since you are inexperienced)
5. Check eBay to see which sets are worth your time to try to build them from the 40lbs bulk and then list them. Next, cherry pick valuable pieces and create a lot on eBay and listed them. With the remaining bulk I would list on FB marketplace and let them be someone else headache. (This is what I would do ONLY if there’s a set that’s worth it.)
 
***I also take one more extra step, I would cherry pick all of the pieces that are white, any sand colored bricks (green/blue/etc), and a couple others for my personal collection.
 
FYI - You made one MAJOR mistake, you NEVER BUY BULK WITHOUT MINIFIGURES. Those are where you make you money from. Unless, you know some valuable is mixed in like a certain grocery store?.
In my opinion, most experienced resellers will choose option #4. The money from the minifigs and specialty pieces would be your profit and you would make your initial cost back you resell the remainder bulk. It’s quick & easy and most importantly you don’t end up with a garage full of bulk that drives your wife crazy, because she can pull her car all the way in!

 
Good Luck!!!

This is on point, perfect advice for bulk buying and selling. Friends gif was just the cherry on top! Haha


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