Hi Guys. London Lockdown NEWB here.

[TrigBricks]

Hello everyone.

I thought I should introduce myself, so here I am.  Like many new AFOLs, the Lockdown has led me to a current state of Lego obsession.  Having just caught up with logging my sets on Brickset I see that in just over 2 months I have bought 71 sets at a rate of exactly 1 set a day.  Perhaps I have an obsessive personality?

Star Wars was my gateway drug (75256 Kylo Ren's Shuttle) but I have now included various sets from Ideas, Creater Expert (RIP), Architecture, TLM1 and 2, and Monkie Kid.  I have Modulars backordered (I kind of hope I don't like them so I don't feel the need to collect them all).  Sets now range from 30340 Emmet's 'Piece' Offering (don't laugh) to 75192 UCS MF (worth every penny).

In an attempt to justify/pay for this new found addiction (show my wife that I am not throwing away our retirement fund on toys) I have now started to buy for investment - hence joining you wonderful people.  I will only ever be small time (holding 30-50 sets at any one time I reckon) and I will be buying medium to large sets and probably not for QF.  I have been working my way through various threads and I have to say that the helpfulness displayed by people who are essesntially competitors is restoring my faith in human nature.  By the way, I know that current selling prices are exceptional and will not be the norm.

I have one question to begin with - what is the best way to store investment sets?  I have a big loft (attic, for our North American friends) so space isn't the issue.  I mean boxes flat or on their side?  Which way have you found reduces/prevents bowing and pressure on the seals?

Please be gentle...

Cheers

[CLMF]

I organize all my sets in the shipping boxes they come in and just stack same size boxes on top of each other. No shelving required, although you have to keep track of what sets are in which box.

[Donut]

For your question here is a  thread that might help.

https://www.brickpicker.com/forums/topic/6803-collection-stockroom-pics/page/70/#comments

And before you get in any deeper.

https://www.brickpicker.com/forums/topic/12763-what-are-your-lego-investing-mistakes-and-regrets-lessons-learned/

Good luck and have fun 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Donut

[Belac]

I also store for sale items in the boxes ready to ship. some of which are in the attic(loft) its gets cool in evenings and can get darn hot in the day. I cover my boxes with a down comforter blanket and they seem to stay rather cool inside. So far so good. I don't keep my high priced stuff up there.

[benjamin4172]

Just now, Belac said:

I also store for sale items in the boxes ready to ship. some of which are in the attic(loft) its gets cool in evenings and can get darn hot in the day. I cover my boxes with a down comforter blanket and they seem to stay rather cool inside. So far so good. I don't keep my high priced stuff up there.

Same Here. Have you ever noticed any damage to the Sets or the Bricks? I now have "Testsets" up there. I grab on of those after every summer and check if the Parts have any damage...of course only small and cheap Sets.

[Belac]

10 minutes ago, benjamin4172 said:

Same Here. Have you ever noticed any damage to the Sets or the Bricks? I now have "Testsets" up there. I grab on of those after every summer and check if the Parts have any damage...of course only small and cheap Sets.

Year 2 as a spot, and in the shipping box, under down blanket has worked for me so far with zero seal stressing. Temp of sets is usually cool to touch even when quite hot in attic so i haven't doubted the bricks.  Still, I don't want to risk by expensive sets up there.

[exracer327]

I started as you, rediscovered a new passion for LEGO and in order to justify my new found hobby decided to start dealing in used and new sets alike.  It's taken about three years but after developing some discipline, it is paying for itself.  At first I also limited myself to using gifts, gift cards, etc. so that I didn't hurt our family's budget.

The biggest mistake I made at first was not being disciplined enough to wait for sales.  If there is no sale, then don't buy it for resell.  Rarely will there be a barn burner where MSRP doesn't matter (current pandemic aside).  Many sets can take 3-4 years (or more) to mature.  Others are remade every 3-4 years (note: most recent Star Wars UCS models, minus the A-Wing).  And many others never mature.  Research is your friend.

Shipping supplies is your next issue.  Don't rely on used boxes.  The size of the box matters a lot, especially the height.  24x20x8" vs 24x20x4" can be 60% difference in cost.  If you're shipping air, you're losing money.

Read the links posted above, they were extremely helpful for me.

[TheOrcKing]

Welcome to the site, TrigBricks.

 

15 hours ago, TrigBricks said:

I have one question to begin with - what is the best way to store investment sets?  I have a big loft (attic, for our North American friends) so space isn't the issue.  I mean boxes flat or on their side?  Which way have you found reduces/prevents bowing and pressure on the seals?

Stand sets up on their side. Even if same size were you to stack them flat, the bottom box will give in eventually.

[joneyyy1981]

10 hours ago, exracer327 said:

The biggest mistake I made at first was not being disciplined enough to wait for sales.  If there is no sale, then don't buy it for resell.

i don't agree with this at all, buy in is important, especially if its been on sale at 50% multiple times then EOL arrives, then yea leave it.,

but if a set has only had 10-15% off in its life then buying at RRP isn't a big deal, for me anyway.

[exracer327]

2 minutes ago, joneyyy1981 said:

i don't agree with this at all, buy in is important, especially if its been on sale at 50% multiple times then EOL arrives, then yea leave it.,

but if a set has only had 10-15% off in its life then buying at RRP isn't a big deal, for me anyway.

Yes, you are correct.  I should have qualified my statement to say, "If" a set has gone on sale don't buy it at RRP expecting to make money.  I know because I made that mistake with several sets.   While other people see 50%+ sales, I will rarely see a sale at all.

You also have to admit, (pandemics aside as some sets might only be found at RRP right now, but this is not normal) it is rare to buy a set at RRP and still make money within the next 3-4 years, if ever.  The quick flip may work, if the product goes OOS immediately and you were one of the lucky ones to get in on it.

I'm not necessarily looking for winners as much as I'm trying to avoid losers.  And to that end, I have been more successful.

A couple of additional thoughts:

As a small-fry, because storage space is not infinite, I have to be strategic.  Buying lots of small sets is not the answer as that is a high-volume plan.  As a small-fry, I don't have the time required to resell each set to make that work.  I have to balance buy-in, storage, and how much work is required to resell.  For me it is the $15+ sets and some larger sets (only the most popular or those that have a very short production run) that seem to work best.  But I limit what I buy because I can't afford to buy everything or store it all.

[joneyyy1981]

19 minutes ago, exracer327 said:

Yes, you are correct.  I should have qualified my statement to say, "If" a set has gone on sale don't buy it at RRP expecting to make money.  I know because I made that mistake with several sets.   While other people see 50%+ sales, I will rarely see a sale at all.

You also have to admit, (pandemics aside as some sets might only be found at RRP right now, but this is not normal) it is rare to buy a set at RRP and still make money within the next 3-4 years, if ever.  The quick flip may work, if the product goes OOS immediately and you were one of the lucky ones to get in on it.

I'm not necessarily looking for winners as much as I'm trying to avoid losers.  And to that end, I have been more successful.

A couple of additional thoughts:

As a small-fry, because storage space is not infinite, I have to be strategic.  Buying lots of small sets is not the answer as that is a high-volume plan.  As a small-fry, I don't have the time required to resell each set to make that work.  I have to balance buy-in, storage, and how much work is required to resell.  For me it is the $15+ sets and some larger sets (only the most popular or those that have a very short production run) that seem to work best.  But I limit what I buy because I can't afford to buy everything or store it all.

talking of buying at RRP, i think this season is tough as it gets, situation is buy now at RRP or gamble on a small sale and miss out, especially for some certain sets. some sets retiring end of 2020 may become very hard to get hold of down the line, or we could all have a loft full of assembly squares.

[TrigBricks]

Thanks for all the advice Guys, and especially the reference to those two threads.  The Investing Mistakes thread has been educational, entertaining, inspiring and, at times, sobering.  I can't help thinking that I have already made some of those mistakes.  I have certainly been guilty of diving in head first driven by a combination of enthusiasm and FOMO.