Polybags - general discussion

[weakside]

I used to wonder why people buy anything online at all. Then I sold a bottle of hair gel for 400% markup online and i told myself "whatever. they wanna pay. let them pay" lol...

haha, what the heck?! hair gel?  Anything sells on ebay I guess.  Geez. 

 

Reminds me of 'The Liquidator' show we have in CAN...the guy just buys ANYTHING if the price is cheap enough and re-sells it for his margin.  I know it's only tv but the guy sometimes doesn't even have to move or take inventory in, just calls around to buyers he knows and unloads stuff.  Man, I watch too much tv    

[Guest eightbrick]

haha, what the heck?! hair gel?  Anything sells on ebay I guess.  Geez. 

 

Reminds me of 'The Liquidator' show we have in CAN...the guy just buys ANYTHING if the price is cheap enough and re-sells it for his margin.  I know it's only tv but the guy sometimes doesn't even have to move or take inventory in, just calls around to buyers he knows and unloads stuff.  Man, I watch too much tv    

Oh, I think I've seen that show once. Is he the guy in the big warehouse shop thing with random stuff everywhere?  He's a tough negotiator.

[Guest ph4tb0i]

haha, what the heck?! hair gel?  Anything sells on ebay I guess.  Geez. 

 

Reminds me of 'The Liquidator' show we have in CAN...the guy just buys ANYTHING if the price is cheap enough and re-sells it for his margin.  I know it's only tv but the guy sometimes doesn't even have to move or take inventory in, just calls around to buyers he knows and unloads stuff.  Man, I watch too much tv    

hahaa sounds like what I do now.. and yeah you'd be surprised how many connections you make once you start selling a lot (and cheap enough). 

 

I met a guy online on eBay in NY who specializes on IBM server hardware. Anytime I find any (e.***. enterprise SAS drives, rack mounts etc.) I just give him a call and work out a deal.  It's great too because most people don't really look to that stuff to flip hahaha. 

[weakside]

yeah, unless you have a store or have contacts...sometimes buying stuff for cheap doesn't pay off unless you have buyers.  Your inventory will just sit there.  I sign of a good flipper is to sell it as fast as possible - minimum before the credit card bill rolls in haha.  It's great to know niche buyers who will pay X for this so you can buy whatever item for Y and know you'll profit Z.   

 

I guess that's why people browse ebay/glist/kjijij/local ads for deals.  Can be hard work but works for non 9-5 people and secondary income. 

 

Oh, I think I've seen that show once. Is he the guy in the big warehouse shop thing with random stuff everywhere?  He's a tough negotiator.

 

Yup, that's the show.  Everybody has their own specific talent    

[jeff_14]

I sold one for $60 on ebay last month too. More than paid for the $35 in lego sets I had to spend to get it. I like those economics. If I'd realized it was a Canadian exclusive at the time I'd have loaded up.

[weakside]

I sold one for $60 on ebay last month too. More than paid for the $35 in lego sets I had to spend to get it. I like those economics. If I'd realized it was a Canadian exclusive at the time I'd have loaded up.

Definitely.  ph4tb0i, myself and other CAN investors/flippers would have loaded up more and went on a crazy road trip around the GTA to pick up as many as possible haha.  It's like getting free lego sets and than some.

 

Opportunities like these come and go.  Timing is everything I guess.  I only have 2 left so will hold one for long term and see what happens.   

[Polar_Beast]

I, unfortunately, am a huge collector of Polybags. Can't explain exactly why, but I love em! I have over 150 unique Polybags from all themes. I typically don't even open and build them either, unless I get multiple copies of for cheap. I do sell the bulk though, and typically do pretty well (i.e. Zombie Car, Ghost & Clock, Thor, Bat-Ski, Christmas Train etc).

 

Now, I have every Super Heroes Polybag EXCEPT for the RedBird Cycle. I almost bit on the first few I saw appear on eBay a while ago for $10-15, but figured they'd be flooding the market and I'd be able to get them at the usual $5ish range. Dumb mistake. 

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly won't pay $60, or even $30 to get this polybag, even though I definitely "need" it for my collection. So, all that being said, I have no idea why or what type of person is paying so much for them??? The collector in me is obviously a bit bummed, but the investor thinks that's just dandy (even though I don't have any, but for the sake of the market in general, nah mean?)

 

-PB

[Guest ph4tb0i]

I sold one for $60 on ebay last month too. More than paid for the $35 in lego sets I had to spend to get it. I like those economics. If I'd realized it was a Canadian exclusive at the time I'd have loaded up.

 

I wonder if me putting it up for $149.99 had anything to do with the value going up.

[Spartikis]

bought a few LOTR polybags for myself and ive invested heavily in the TC-14 but other than that im not much for polybags

[Gondorian]

I'm into polybags and would like to do some trading, if anyone is interested.  Where's the right place to post about that and set something up?

[Guest eightbrick]

I'm into polybags and would like to do some trading, if anyone is interested. Where's the right place to post about that and set something up?

I would be interested. The classifieds will support trading so that,s your best bet. Other Lego trading sites seem pretty dead for the most part.

[jeff_14]

I got into them accidentally. I started buying a few of the ones I wanted personally (Thor, LOTR, etc) and ones I thought my son would like as stocking stuffers. Then I got 2 Robin and motorcycle polybags from TRU for free that I didn't realize at the time were exclusive to Canada and sold one 2 months later for $60. Now I have multiples of ones that are already showing as worth twice what I paid for them and they aren't even EOL yet. This has led me to getting a number of those 3 figure sets that I think are in demand. In the last 2 days I've picked up 9 of the 3 figure Halloween figure sets (ghost, witch and ZOMBIE) on sale from the lego store for $12 and they're already showing as worth twice that. I'll likely hold these until Halloween next year when they're well EOL and see what I can get. I also have 3 VW campers and 2 clone lieutenants that technically cost me nothing but should make me good money down the road. Hard to turn down money for nothing.

[TheOrcKing]

I also have 3 VW campers and 2 clone lieutenants that technically cost me nothing but should make me good money down the road. Hard to turn down money for nothing.

It sure is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

[Scissorino]

I don't think I could ever collect them - I'd be too tempted to open them and make them in a spare 5 minutes.

[Headhunter]

I didn't intend on collecting them then before I knew I have about forty different types of SW polybags and growing.

[Msudawgs56]

I love polybags! Always hard for me to get them in my area.

[kerrmando]

I have hundreds of polybags including some pretty old rare ones. I love them all! One of my favorite things to collect!

[Bsusanka]

I haven't gotten into polybags yet. Seems like there is a steep learning curve on those.

[Bsusanka]

Are polybags good to hold on to for extended periods of time or are they more quick flippers?

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I haven't done a ton with them, but I know that:

 

1. Easy to Ship

2. Easy To Store

3. Lego monthly exclusives are good for flipping

4. Rare Exclusive handouts like Comiccon stuff are awesome for investing in

 

Otherwise, I think it just depends on the theme and what it is. Harry potter ones are good, others probably aren't.

[MartinP]

I haven't done a ton with them, but I know that:

 

1. Easy to Ship

2. Easy To Store

3. Lego monthly exclusives are good for flipping

4. Rare Exclusive handouts like Comiccon stuff are awesome for investing in

 

Otherwise, I think it just depends on the theme and what it is. Harry potter ones are good, others probably aren't.

There are also some of the Star Wars polybags that are worth some money. And I completely agree with what is stated above. Plus it is really hard for polybags to get damaged in storage.

[Quacs]

Otherwise, I think it just depends on the theme and what it is. Harry potter ones are good, others probably aren't.

 

To build on DNIIM's post, most of the HP PBs are good, but some not so much.  I'm holding on to a couple of HP The Labs, and this thing just will not appreciate.  It's a neat HP PB with a minfig and a bunch of neatly colored bottles, but it has Harry (not exclusive) and must have been widely distributed, i.e. a high supply.  Unless you get this for $1-2, I would stay away.

[Darth_Raichu]

Warning ! Some polybags tend to linger forever and ever at stores near you.  **** Looking at you mini Tie Fighter ****

[Bsusanka]

I looked at some of the comic com stuff. Has lego ever put some of the comic com figures in sets? So in essence turning a very rare figure into a 2.00 figure.

[Bsusanka]

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