How to resell LOTR / The Hobbit Sets?

[Spartikis]

Ive bought 2 of every set so far in the LOTR/The Hobbit Themes, 1 for myself 1 to sell later. Would it be better to sell them individually or group them all together and sell them as a collection. I feel like having literally every set, including polybags, keychains, etc... could add quite a premium, but just now at retail prices the who lot is well over $1k, add in a few more sets and 2-3x in value after retirement the collection could be worth 5k+, quite a bit for the average AFOL thoughts? thanks, ~S

[stephen_rockefeller]

Selling them together could be difficult. It would definitely be less leg work but you would have to find someone who wants but doesn't have any of the sets. There is probably a very small % of people who would go for a lot like that. That being said, I am not into LOTR or the Hobbit so this could be totally off base.

[Snowcrash]

I doubt you'd make as much selling as a lot, best bet is to list them all individually and offer discounted shipping for multiple purchases.

[stephen_rockefeller]

Yeah people looking into buying lots are usually expecting some sort of bulk discount.

[Damnation666]

Lots only make the seller money if the buyers are lazy or uninformed. Lots of certain collectible LEGO sets, displays or minifigures can be worth more than your standard set lot, but in general, lots sell for less. I expect to pay less when looking at lots...substantially less.

[CNH1974]

I buy lots on Ebay and split them to sell individually. OK, they are mainly 30+ year old sets but the principal still applies. More people will be willing to spend $100 than $1000 in one go.

[Alcarin]

You can pair them up sometimes (Helm's Deep + uruk-hai Army or Bag end + Gandalf arrives even) but overall yeh sell them individually and offer discounted shipping for more than 2 purchases :P

[redeemed763]

^ To the OP, I have wanted to take a similar approach myself with several Lego Themes, for some reason, it just doesn't work out like that. Even though everything here is collectible and collectibles tend to sell best when sold in a complete collection, I have found that Legos just don't work like that. I believe part of this is due to the fact that most of the potential customers will already own at least one of the sets, probably several and they will not want to re-purchase them and either sell them or keep the duplicates. The other reason why it doesn't work is that it isn't hard to piece together a complete Lego collection from ebay, I can find just about every set made in the past decade on their sealed in a new box. If it were very hard to source all of the sets, then that would be a different story, but enough people are stashing these away that it really isn't hard to find them when you want them.

[kerrmando]

I would sell individually. Other ways discourage the average buyer.

[stephen_rockefeller]

^ To the OP, I have wanted to take a similar approach myself with several Lego Themes, for some reason, it just doesn't work out like that. Even though everything here is collectible and collectibles tend to sell best when sold in a complete collection, I have found that Legos just don't work like that.

I believe part of this is due to the fact that most of the potential customers will already own at least one of the sets, probably several and they will not want to re-purchase them and either sell them or keep the duplicates.

The other reason why it doesn't work is that it isn't hard to piece together a complete Lego collection from ebay, I can find just about every set made in the past decade on their sealed in a new box. If it were very hard to source all of the sets, then that would be a different story, but enough people are stashing these away that it really isn't hard to find them when you want them.

Perfectly stated.

[emes]

I'm going to be a bit contrarian here, but I do lots all the time of various things and I have no issue moving them. Keep in mind though, my target ROI is 30% profit, so that's not too hard to get. The other thing to consider is that there are many ways to sell things, and I'm not willing to limit myself to only 1 approach. I sell things individually and in lots in order to reach as many customers as possible. The one thing I don't do is break down sets and sell the components. While there's money there that seems like a lot of work.

[CNH1974]

I'm going to be a bit contrarian here, but I do lots all the time of various things and I have no issue moving them.

Keep in mind though, my target ROI is 30% profit, so that's not too hard to get.

The other thing to consider is that there are many ways to sell things, and I'm not willing to limit myself to only 1 approach. I sell things individually and in lots in order to reach as many customers as possible. The one thing I don't do is break down sets and sell the components. While there's money there that seems like a lot of work.

I do both, although sometimes I have no choice. I bought a lot with 30 instructions but they don't match all the bits in the lot. Doh. Can't blame they seller because they did state this. But I did get a 95% 10178 walker out of it. ;)

[emes]

I do both, although sometimes I have no choice. I bought a lot with 30 instructions but they don't match all the bits in the lot. Doh. Can't blame they seller because they did state this. But I did get a 95% 10178 walker out of it.

Yeah, I don't do lots of bricks or used sets. When I do a lot it's a lot of NISB sets that are from one theme.

Nothing against used bricks or lots of opened sets, it's just not an area that I've delved into.

That's the good thing about this stuff...there's so many different ways to approach it and be successful.

[CNH1974]

Yes I had the "bright" idea of breaking down lots January last year. I didn't discover this site until 10 months later. And I didn't get into selling vintage sets until November time which was very lucrative. But some themes are better than others. 1980s space is very good, I suspect Castle would be to, but cannot find anyone selling lots of these at reasonable prices. Old town is not very good.

[Grolim]

Agree with most comments already posted on this one. It is usually better to sell separately and maximise the potential price. Pairing some sets may make sense like Uruk-Hai army and Helm's deep, but the majority I'd just list on their own.

[CNH1974]

I sell separately but I do group themes together if I can. For example I listed 8 fire vehicles of various ages a while back and one person bought 7 of them. He saved a bundle on postage and I only have to send one package. ;)

[TheOrcKing]

I wonder if you could sell an entire collection of sets (like the first wave of The Hobbit) in a lot before they are available in stores for a majority of the population and make a pretty good profit?

For example, say you managed to buy every single set in the second upcoming wave of Lord of the Rings sets before they hit retailers in the same way how a couple of eBay sellers had access to this years minifigures around the end of last year. I'm sure selling them separate will yield a great sum of cash but, since you have the golden opportunity to hold a set let alone a complete collection before any store has them for common purchase, maybe then could be a good time to sell altogether as a whole? Since nobody but you has even one and chances are they will want the whole thing anyway, so perhaps then?

Or maybe even trying to sell a complete collection right in the beginning just as soon as they came out?

[Snowcrash]

I wonder if you could sell an entire collection of sets (like the first wave of The Hobbit) in a lot before they are available in stores for a majority of the population and make a pretty good profit?

For example, say you managed to buy every single set in the second upcoming wave of Lord of the Rings sets before they hit retailers in the same way how a couple of eBay sellers had access to this years minifigures around the end of last year. I'm sure selling them separate will yield a great sum of cash but, since you have the golden opportunity to hold a set let alone a complete collection before any store has them for common purchase, maybe then could be a good time to sell altogether as a whole? Since nobody but you has even one and chances are they will want the whole thing anyway, so perhaps then?

Or maybe even trying to sell a complete collection right in the beginning just as soon as they came out?

If you somehow maneuvered yourself into such a position you just might pull it off if you found a willing buyer. Didn't someone take a shot at this earlier in the year with a Palace Cinema? In rare circumstances you may get more by selling in a bulk lot, but I think most savvy collectors will recognize it would be cheaper to buy the items individually and pass on your collection. You'd have to be offering something rare and valuable already I suspect, like a very early release of Lego sets, to make extra money on a bulk lot.

[Spartikis]

Hmm, well thats a bummer i was kind of hoping to save some time and add a little premium for having the complete collection but what people are saying makes sense especially that most collectors already have most of the sets and would just be looking for the few they missed to compete their collection. But hey no loss, i still think the LOTR will be a great series and will see a nice ROI, and even if it doesnt i would enjoy opening all of them and create a massive orc army to battle my castle knights :)