Does it bother you when....

[rcdb1984]

When people take out the minifigs and then sell the sets without minifigs on ebay?

[TheOrcKing]

I think everyone can unanimously agree on this one with a resounding, YES!

[stephen_rockefeller]

I don't loose any sleep over it.......

[chess227]

I hate it because I wonder if their lower priced sets listed on eBay bring down values that are reported here. Since the values are based on averages it would seem those sets would lower the average we see if there are enough of them. And for the record I don't mind it as much when I see it on eBay as it does when I see it on amazon...

[Grolim]

Not really. Does it bother you when people part out sets and sell individual pieces on Bricklink? It's just another form of making money and creating a market for Lego.

[Darth Lego]

It only bothers me if they still list the set as new. People need to understand a set is only new when it is complete with all the pieces and is sealed. I agree that listings like that can throw the Brickpicker data off. Not much we can do about that.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

I think everyone can unanimously agree on this one with a resounding, YES!

People have always collected & sold minifigs alone (without the sets). There are lots of people who buy the set, keep the minifigs for their collection & sell the set. Would you suggest that anyone who removes the minifigs (to sell or collect) be forced to throw away the sets??? As long as there is no intention of deceiving the buyer, there is nothing wrong with it at all.

[sadowsk1]

It doesn't bother me. I like to be able to buy a set and know I can subsidize it by selling off minifigures I'm not interested in. For me it's a very practical way to save money and make the buyer and seller happy.

[spener90]

It only bothers me if they still list the set as new. People need to understand a set is only new when it is complete with all the pieces and is sealed. I agree that listings like that can throw the Brickpicker data off. Not much we can do about that.

Agreed. I have bought some small sets for selling minifigures, and I keep the rest of the pieces. I sell the minifigures as new but specify that they are opened and placed in a different sealed bag (which I really do). So far it has helped boost my eBay rating, which has been the goal.

[redeemed763]

I have a hard time getting away from the new/used problem on ebay, litereally ALL of the other sellers list their open box sets as NEW without minifigs and people gravitate towards that. I tried listing mine as USED but no one bought from me, period. Then I tried listing it as NEW/OTHER and specified what was going in the description, and all of a sudden they started selling.

[Blackjack]

Being a minifig collector, it only bothers me when they list sets as new when the figs are removed.

[dakotahorn]

Not at all. I'm a minifig collector and I have zero problem with this. Also its not a horrible way to grab a cheap set if you just think its cool or you want the unique pieces.

[tonysbricks]

At our lego con one of the displayers said he purchased 100s of sets on clearance in the area, sold the minifigs, and built this HUGE tower for $40 out of pocket expense. It makes sense depending on your motivation. And it's good for collectors of new and used full sets. Each broken set is 1 less on the market to compete with :)

[kerrmando]

I do think that they might distort the brickpicker value some? Ed and Jeff do they?

[tonysbricks]

I do think that they might distort the brickpicker value some? Ed and Jeff do they?

There has to be some magical math going on behind the scenes. Look at SSD:

http://www.brickpicker.com/bpms/set.cfm?set=10221-1

Not a single used price under 300 but the used value is 270. Last I looked on ebay the cheapest used was 345 + 30 for shipping.

[Dunamis]

It meets a need in the market. Some buyers just want the minifigs without the sets and some buyers are looking for cheaper sets and pieces without the added costs of the minifigs. As long as there is no deception involved and buyers know what they are bidding on it is a fine practice. Few minifig collectors want to buy every Hobbit set to get the entire company of dwarves or three TMNT sets to get all 4 turtles. Others may be wanting to build a huge Helm's Deep MOC and would buy the pieces without minifigures to save money and avoid getting overwhelmed with Theoden, Aragorn, Gimli, and Haldir. Sets with no minifigures sell best on eBay and people who sell them this way on Amazon are inviting negative feedback because more Amazon than eBay buyers do not carefully read the item descriptions.

[Mos_Eisley]

It's surprising to me the amount pf people who say that just because you take the minifigures out of a set, the remaining elements are no longer new. By this logic, there should be no loose licensed minifigures that can be considered new because every one of them has been removed from a set. The remaining parts definitely aren't a complete set, but the parts are still unused and are therefore new. Such a listing would most logically be a new but incomplete set. How else would you differentiate a set that has been built and played with from one that has not? When talking about new vs. used when it comes to LEGO elements, the pieces having ever been used to play with is generally what changes a part from new to used. Some even argue that elements from PAB that have been put together to maximize space for packing should be considered used at that point.

[gregpj]

It's surprising to me the amount pf people who say that just because you take the minifigures out of a set, the remaining elements are no longer new. By this logic, there should be no loose licensed minifigures that can be considered new because every one of them has been removed from a set. The remaining parts definitely aren't a complete set, but the parts are still unused and are therefore new. Such a listing would most logically be a new but incomplete set. How else would you differentiate a set that has been built and played with from one that has not? When talking about new vs. used when it comes to LEGO elements, the pieces having ever been used to play with is generally what changes a part from new to used. Some even argue that elements from PAB that have been put together to maximize space for packing should be considered used at that point.

I think it's the deception that often goes along with it. I have no problem if someone lists the parts as new, but then they should at least be using the NEW/OTHER option in eBay and not the NEW option. I've seen plenty of auctions where the seller uses stock pictures and highlights as little as possible that it has no minifigures (but if you read everything, it's in there). I've even seen sets on Bricklink marked "New/Complete" but in the description is states the mini figures were removed though that is much rarer.

I always think of the trains people "part out" where they usually take a picture of the instructions and parts bags. You can immediately see what they are selling... But the mini figures aren't the valuable part of those sets.

What eBay really needs is a NEW/MISB option.

[Anakinisvader]

It's surprising to me the amount pf people who say that just because you take the minifigures out of a set, the remaining elements are no longer new. By this logic, there should be no loose licensed minifigures that can be considered new because every one of them has been removed from a set. The remaining parts definitely aren't a complete set, but the parts are still unused and are therefore new. Such a listing would most logically be a new but incomplete set. How else would you differentiate a set that has been built and played with from one that has not? When talking about new vs. used when it comes to LEGO elements, the pieces having ever been used to play with is generally what changes a part from new to used. Some even argue that elements from PAB that have been put together to maximize space for packing should be considered used at that point.

This is so true. What if a LEGO brick accidentally connects to another one while they are in a sealed bag in a sealed box? Is this now a used LEGO piece? Ebay's descriptions are wacked. I wish they would change them because they don't apply to everything.

Anyways, to answer the question. I have recently started selling minifigs and sets separately and people seem to love it. Some only want the minifigs. Some only want the bricks. Its a win, win for all. I also sell sealed sets. So now its a win, win, win. To each their own.

[gregpj]

What if a LEGO brick accidentally connects to another one while they are in a sealed bag in a sealed box?

We've opened dozens and dozens of sets of all different sizes to build and play with and I've never seen this. I wonder if it's even possible? It does take quite a bit of pressure to connect two pieces.

[sadowsk1]

At our lego con one of the displayers said he purchased 100s of sets on clearance in the area, sold the minifigs, and built this HUGE tower for $40 out of pocket expense. It makes sense depending on your motivation. And it's good for collectors of new and used full sets. Each broken set is 1 less on the market to compete with

Now that is an interesting point of view and perspective!

[gefmayhem]

I don't particularly like the Ninjago series or the figures that go with it, but I do like the dragons. I've been able to buy all of the dragons, new, in sets that had had the figs removed. I reckon I saved over 50% of the price of the complete sets. I don't have a problem with sets being sold without figs as long as it is clearly stated.

[sadowsk1]

It's kind of crazy how much value is assigned to the minifigure especially in consideration of how little material it takes to produce them. Given some of the molds may be unique at the time, but that doesn't mean that Lego doesn't have plans to reuse them either.

[TheOrcKing]

O-kay, I guess I should have elaborated on my response. Much like what Darth Lego said, I hate it when people list a set as New and/or Complete when the fact is they have taken out what they want and selling off the rest of it as though it were the complete set. Parting out a set is one thing but listing it as a 'set' is not really true and annoying. Once something is taken out, it's not the whole thing now, is it? I guess I'm only annoyed because I'm looking for a complete set, not leftovers the seller doesn't want to keep. It'd be like coming across the Death Star and the minifigs aren't in there. You've gotta be kidding me....

[tigereyes5811]

What annoys me is when someone sells a set on Ebay, and is deliberately trying to hide the fact that the set has MINIFIGS taken out. But they list the item as 100% complete. That's why it's so important as a buyer/bidder to read the description and fine print before we buy or put in a bid. Also ask for pics instead of looking at the only pic they have up. Especially pics they get of the Internet. And also as investors, we sometimes make bad investments and we know its a bad investment that's not going to appreciate nicely anytime soon so a smart thing to do is break the set up and sell the set and MINIFIGS separate and with the money you get back make better wiser investments. Also it's cheaper to ship items when you break down a set because you don't have to ship it out in its original box. Most of the time I can ship it in a packaged bag in bubble wrap envelope a lot cheaper. Lets say you have a 200-400 piece set, to ship it in an original box will cost a lot more then just in a bubble wrapped mailer envelope. Brick For Thought.