Strategy for collecting pieces for large MOCs

[scatttcat]

Hey everyone,

Sort of new to MOC world and my question is really for the collectors who target large MOCs and need to gather a lot of pieces. Simply put, what is the most budget friendly way to go about this?

I am targeting a few large Star Wars ships, so a lot of grays and blacks. Do you all primarily use Bricklink? Target sets on heavy discount with the pieces you need? Find used lots on eBay / craigslist?

Honestly I put together a wanted list on Bricklink and its pretty expensive, haha almost seems cheaper to buy an existing UCS Star Wars set and just use the pieces from that.

 

Anyways, just curious how other people go about it. 😁

 

[Pseudoty]

I haven’t done this in a couple of years so I am sure others will have more up to date tips with bricklink but I know trying to minimize total number of vendors helped because of shipping. I was fortunate that at that time one of the largest Bricklink stores in America was 10 minutes from my home so I could just do free local pickup. Also try using Rebrickable for exactly what you said using existing sets in your inventory. It was always cheaper to open up 3 sets that I already had and sell the minifigures then use the parts for my build. 

[marcandre]

The cheapest is used pieces on bl or a cl lot if your lucky. When buying used grey pieces make sure you get consistent colors. Lego changed the grey color in 2004. 

[Phil B]

My strategy is:

- Make a wishlist of all the parts you need (in BL, BO or BrickStock) and their correct quantities

- Transfer the wishlist to Excel, and give it 3 columns: Price on BL, Price on Pick-a-Brick, Price on Bricks & Pieces

- Go to BL and use the wishlist to look up a vendor who has all (or most) of the pieces in the quantity you need for a non-absurd price. Make note of their shipping cost

- Go item by item, and using the part number, look the item up in B&P and PaB

- Put all prices in the spreadsheet

- Repeat if necessary for other vendors and/or combinations of vendors

- once done, compare prices line by line. You will find that some pieces are cheaper on B&P than at BL (when bought in quantity), and in some (rarer) cases on Pick-a-Brick (e.g. Plant leaves are about 1/2 the price on B&P last time I checked)

- now go through line by line and mark where you can buy each piece the cheapest. If prices are equal or close (e.g. $0.01-0.02 difference) mark multiple columns in a different color.

- Mark shipping costs at PaB and B&P as well ($2.95 for B&P, PaB is counted like a set purchase so free shipping for orders over $35).

- Start filling your carts with the cheapest options and order.

 

Notes:

- Pick a Brick orders (used to?) count towards promos, and collect VIP points (including 2x VIP promos). You can order up to 999 of a single part here, but part selection is poor.

- Bricks & Pieces orders do not count towards promos, but do collect VIP points. You can order any part here that is in a current or very recent set, but quantity is limited to 200.

 

FINAL NOTE: With COVID-19, the B&P route has been suspended, so if you need pieces badly you most likely end up buying solely from BL. In that case, make sure you also upload your wishlist to BrickOwl - their multi-vendor buy tool is more powerful than BLs, as it includes shipping costs. Downside is that there are less sellers on BrickOwl compared to BL (people don’t seem to know about BrickSync).

 

I have used the above strategy recently for a large Harry Potter related MOC I am working on. Got 700 Leaf (LEGO calls them Limb) elements in various sizes and colors from Pick-a-Brick for I believe $0.18/pieces - going rate on BL is $0.35-$0.40, plus qualified for the Train promo (had to throw in a small item to make the Train promo ship before it ran out).

[scatttcat]

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

My strategy is:

- Make a wishlist of all the parts you need (in BL, BO or BrickStock) and their correct quantities

- Transfer the wishlist to Excel, and give it 3 columns: Price on BL, Price on Pick-a-Brick, Price on Bricks & Pieces

- Go to BL and use the wishlist to look up a vendor who has all (or most) of the pieces in the quantity you need for a non-absurd price. Make note of their shipping cost

- Go item by item, and using the part number, look the item up in B&P and PaB

- Put all prices in the spreadsheet

- Repeat if necessary for other vendors and/or combinations of vendors

- once done, compare prices line by line. You will find that some pieces are cheaper on B&P than at BL (when bought in quantity), and in some (rarer) cases on Pick-a-Brick (e.g. Plant leaves are about 1/2 the price on B&P last time I checked)

- now go through line by line and mark where you can buy each piece the cheapest. If prices are equal or close (e.g. $0.01-0.02 difference) mark multiple columns in a different color.

- Mark shipping costs at PaB and B&P as well ($2.95 for B&P, PaB is counted like a set purchase so free shipping for orders over $35).

- Start filling your carts with the cheapest options and order.

 

Notes:

- Pick a Brick orders (used to?) count towards promos, and collect VIP points (including 2x VIP promos). You can order up to 999 of a single part here, but part selection is poor.

- Bricks & Pieces orders do not count towards promos, but do collect VIP points. You can order any part here that is in a current or very recent set, but quantity is limited to 200.

 

FINAL NOTE: With COVID-19, the B&P route has been suspended, so if you need pieces badly you most likely end up buying solely from BL. In that case, make sure you also upload your wishlist to BrickOwl - their multi-vendor buy tool is more powerful than BLs, as it includes shipping costs. Downside is that there are less sellers on BrickOwl compared to BL (people don’t seem to know about BrickSync).

 

I have used the above strategy recently for a large Harry Potter related MOC I am working on. Got 700 Leaf (LEGO calls them Limb) elements in various sizes and colors from Pick-a-Brick for I believe $0.18/pieces - going rate on BL is $0.35-$0.40, plus qualified for the Train promo (had to throw in a small item to make the Train promo ship before it ran out).

That is extremely thorough, and I love it!

Thank you!! 

5 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

I haven’t done this in a couple of years so I am sure others will have more up to date tips with bricklink but I know trying to minimize total number of vendors helped because of shipping. I was fortunate that at that time one of the largest Bricklink stores in America was 10 minutes from my home so I could just do free local pickup. Also try using Rebrickable for exactly what you said using existing sets in your inventory. It was always cheaper to open up 3 sets that I already had and sell the minifigures then use the parts for my build. 

Oooooo yes forgot about Rebrickable, good call!