Buying in Bulk Tips/Advice/Thoughts?

[RogerWilco]

Hey all,

 

I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this, and my apologies if this has been covered before. As stated before, I am recently back from the dark ages. I have 3 young kids (2-5) and I'm looking for some bulk stuff to let them (and myself ) use their imagination for builds without having to break up/mix up sets. I'm looking at some local CL type of stuff, but I really don't have much of an idea of what to look for or how to determine what is a good deal and what isn't.

 

For example, there is a listing locally here for ~12 grocery bags of Lego. Seller says it is made up of City and Town stuff (specifically stated there is no Star Wars). They are asking for $30 a bag. They have the attached picture, as a reference of the goods.

 

What is a reasonable price for this type of thing? I know there isn't a ton of info to go off of here, but any advice input would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there is just some general advice on buying in bulk, in general, that would be awesome.

 

Specifically things like:

What to look at?

What to ask?

General rules of thumb for buying in bulk?

Tip and Tricks?

etc..

 

Thanks!

 

 

[tonysbricks]

30$ a bag sounds high but looking at what might be there I would grab them all. I see train tracks and 2 sets of wings which probably means a passenger and cargo plane. Offer 300 to take them all, up to 325. If they dont still have all 12 bags I would pass...the key to lots like this is complete sets, and even 1 missing bag can completely ruin your day. If they accept ask if you can leaf through the bags, looking for which type of train it is, the quality of the minifigs, and the approx era of the lego. I see an instruction on top, ask if they have them all. If they do look through them and find out approx how much value they are representing. Since you are new you won't have a lot of data to go on but as you do more transactions you will start be the able to make snap decisions based on just a few parts. I do all of my negotiating and question asking in person so I can judge by their reaction and responses.

 

Starting out your goal should be to just break even and learn about bulk lots. If you make money it's all just gravy.

[Diabolos80]

The going rate on ebay is $10/ pound, give or take. Keep an eye out for mega bloks and other 'off-brands', many CL sellers will just call them all Lego. Also dig through a little bit and look for cracked, chewed, or discolored pieces.

[Etan]

Like tonysbricks said make sure you buy all the bags, I see 2 boats in there so there could be lots of value in those bags.

[RogerWilco]

Thanks for the swift replies! Very useful and much appreciated!

Btw, anyone care to guess what a single grocery bag like the ones pictured would weigh, give or take?

[Guest ph4tb0i]

also be careful as you're going through bulk lots. I remember reading somewhere once that somebody found glass shards in a box of lego he bought from ebay.. definitely not good to get an injury going through Lego. 

[Huskers1236]

Each of those bags is going to weigh at least 10 pounds if they are full.  $30/bag is not bad at all.  If you have someone that buys bulk, set out the good sets and sell the rest.

[JoshTX]

Buying bulk parts is a crapshoot. Some people just want to sell off their tubs because their kid outgrew them and others want to break everything down into smaller bags and attempt to make a "profit".

 

What Diabolos said is correct about 10 bucks a pound, but personally I would never pay that much, I would just wait and watch Craigslist for a bulk tub or whatever. I paid 100 bucks for a roughly 35-40 pound tub of Lego that had mostly Star Wars and a little bit of Indiana Jones and City and it had about 50 minifigures mixed in. I've been able to make about 6 sets out of the pieces and am missing only a few pieces of an AT-AT that I will have to bricklink or whatever. But it was a good deal.

 

Meanwhile there are people trying to sell ziploc sandwich baggies for 5 bucks a pop that probably don't even weigh half a pound. Just be smart.

[Guest betsy805]

I agree to buy entire collections as well.  The bags are probably about 7ish pounds each, making it a decent price, although I'm sure they'd negotiate lower if you take it all.  I've been buying and reselling lego from craigslist for a couple months and have built up my sons collections from scratch AND made money!  I'd ask if the legos are all lego branded, if there are minifigures in the collection, and what kind of condition the legos are in.  I've gone to look at some and seen minifigures quite literally sawed in half and legos crusted in mud!  I've also found random objects ranging from new i-pods to rusty nails mixed in, so be sure that you are the one sorting it....I wouldn't let your kids touch it till you've gone through the whole thing brick by brick.  Good luck!

[RogerWilco]

Thanks again everyone. Great comments here.

I will be checking it out in person tomorrow.

[RogerWilco]

Well, I think it is safe to say that my first experience buying used Lego went pretty well. I haven't been able to go through it at all, since I had to head back to work, but I did start going through the manuals and so far I've seen:

City Plan

Cafe Corner

Green Grocer

Airport

Harbor

Grand Emporium

Garage

There is a bunch more stuff too...

My kids are going to flip!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[hepcatpunk]

If you scored all that, then you did quite well, and I'm understating that tremendously. 

[akohns]

Buying bulk parts is a crapshoot. Some people just want to sell off their tubs because their kid outgrew them and others want to break everything down into smaller bags and attempt to make a "profit".

 

What Diabolos said is correct about 10 bucks a pound, but personally I would never pay that much, I would just wait and watch Craigslist for a bulk tub or whatever. I paid 100 bucks for a roughly 35-40 pound tub of Lego that had mostly Star Wars and a little bit of Indiana Jones and City and it had about 50 minifigures mixed in. I've been able to make about 6 sets out of the pieces and am missing only a few pieces of an AT-AT that I will have to bricklink or whatever. But it was a good deal.

 

Meanwhile there are people trying to sell ziploc sandwich baggies for 5 bucks a pop that probably don't even weigh half a pound. Just be smart.

 

This is exactly what I do.

 

Personally I would probably try to talk these people down on all the bags at once. Make it worth their while. If you're willing to do them all they should be willing to give you a deal. 

[akohns]

Well, I think it is safe to say that my first experience buying used Lego went pretty well. I haven't been able to go through it at all, since I had to head back to work, but I did start going through the manuals and so far I've seen:

City Plan

Cafe Corner

Green Grocer

Airport

Harbor

Grand Emporium

Garage

There is a bunch more stuff too...

My kids are going to flip!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

Build and sell what you can, especial the Modulars. Keep the rest for yourself and make lots of money!

[Celes]

I read somewhere that a good price to pay is between $5 and $7 per pound, but im sure you can do better somewhere. In the flea market a guy offers me bulk lots for $80 for 21 pounds (approx) which means he can find bulk more cheap.

Oh and if you found Cafe Corner and Green Grocer you're such a lucky...  

[CNH1974]

How much did you pay for that lot? I never see bulk lots in the UK going for cheap prices

[RogerWilco]

I ended up paying $360 total for ~14 bags (there were a couple more that were not pictured). It's an overwhelming amount of Lego for me, but I am excited at the possibilities contained in there. My kids went bananas when they saw me carting it all in last night.

[CNH1974]

If there is whole sets in here oh could be in the money. If you can get it off the kids. :)

[RogerWilco]

I think things are mostly complete, although it will take a good amount of time to verify. One bag had two half-way assembled green grocer floors and I can see various other modular bits distributed throughout a couple other bags. I think those were assembled and displayed for a while because the pieces have more dust on them than the others

 

There is so much stuff in here that I should be able to target what the kids get and they will still be ecstatic. Another good thing is that my wife is starting to view my recent lego addiction in a positive light now.  

[CNH1974]

Buy the wife something nice to get on her good side. I recommend Lego. :D

[willy431]

Pretty exciting stuff. 140 on Craigslist. Saw the pieces to the tower in hogwarts castle...and took the chance. Tons of figures missing but I looked up 10 pieces from burrow and 10 from castle and found all...so hopefully both sets are there and close to complete.

Is there an award (upside down) that can be awarded to member who can't figure out his iPhone but still posts pictures of everything even if they are sometimes flipped?

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Nice. I have thought about jumping at a few of these on Craigslist. I am eventually going to get my first one as well. I am just so lazy about sorting.

[Guest eightbrick]

Is there an award (upside down) that can be awarded to member who can't figure out his iPhone but still posts pictures of everything even if they are sometimes flipped?

LOL

 

Nice haul. Haha, seems a lot better than that promotional stuff that guy tried to sell to you as "old sets".

[Fcbarcelona101]

Great! I usually prefer to get used sets and lots in order to build some long term investment capital. Congrats on your find!'

 

The only two pieces that would be somewhat hard to find for Hogwarts Castle would be the 2x10 Brick in reddish brown I believe.

[MartinP]

Great find. Have fun with it.