Bricklink Sellers and their huge inventory

[Flyfisher]

I've asked a few people on BL where they get such a massive inventory from and no one will share their supplier (as expected). Does anyone know where these sellers are getting their 500+ minifigure inventories from? For example, one guy was selling 500 Michaelangelos, and not to leave out his 100+ inventories of other minifigures from Hobbit and Superheroes. Does anyone know?

[Ed Mack]

They part out sets.

[chess227]

Parting out sets has to take forever to make your money back, especially when it is that many... Of course I guess they can get mini figures from multiple sets but still that's a ton of sets parted out. That's gotta be a gamble.

[Grolim]

It seems like a lot of work to me, for the margins they appear to have. Much prefer to buy and hold/flip new sealed sets.

[comicblast]

I'll bet that they part out sets, but they do this hard-core. They literally do every single box, instructions manual, and piece when the part it out. Kind of nuts IMO, but its probably fairly profitable. A lot of the sellers are probably just like us, in that they buy low, the for some, they sell high, and for others, the part out. Some of the sellers do have extremely large inventories, so I imagine that they also make frequent trips to a Lego Store's Pick a Brick Wall.

[Rich B]

It seems like a lot of work to me, for the margins they appear to have. Much prefer to buy and hold/flip new sealed sets.

It is a lot of work. Selling Lego, whether you're parting out sets, flipping sets, or selling MISB sets is a hustle and grind! People that have inventories that big are typically very passionate about selling and collecting Lego and therefore don't mind putting in a lot of time, even if the margins aren't that great.

[Ed Mack]

It's a very time consuming and tedious job. There is not a lot of money to be made for the time invested, but you can make money. It all depends on what your expectations are.

[comicblast]

It's a very time consuming and tedious job.

Sounds similar to what you and Jeff do here on BrickPicker. I guess you have to have the right personality in order to be able to tolerate it. Not me!

[Rich B]

It's all about passion IMO. Ed and Jeff have lots of it and it shows!

[Ed Mack]

Sounds similar to what you and Jeff do here on BrickPicker. I guess you have to have the right personality in order to be able to tolerate it. Not me!You have to remember, at the end of the day we are talking, writing and designing a website about LEGO bricks. It could be a lot worse... ;-)

[TheOrcKing]

I've asked a few people on BL where they get such a massive inventory from and no one will share their supplier (as expected).

Does anyone know where these sellers are getting their 500+ minifigure inventories from? For example, one guy was selling 500 Michaelangelos, and not to leave out his 100+ inventories of other minifigures from Hobbit and Superheroes.

Does anyone know?

I've been trying to get an answer to that question for years and still nothing. There's only so far a person can part out a set for crying out loud. The best answer I can come up with is these sellers must know where to find certain auctions that they can buy big bulk lots of various toys. I really can't remember the correct name for this type of auction but I have been to a couple in my life. Bought a few boxes of Transformers blister packs at one and the amount I paid altogether made them about $1.20 a piece and I sold each for $5.

[dunkers97]

One guy told me that he buys them off BL right when the sets come out so they're cheaper and then sells the after EOL, so not everybody part out sets, some people just have the money.

[chihuahualawyer]

There are so many people wanting to purchase bulk legos on Craigslist. I wonder if they are paying people to purchase bulk lego for X amount per lb and reselling that way.