Reason's I Box all My Lego Sets up a head of time & Investors getting ready to Crack Read

[emazers]

Alot of people have been asking me why I box my Lego sets up way a head of time. "Well the main reason is its a mental thing, 10 years ago when I had 100's of lego sets laying around, 20 cases or more coming from lego now and then, at first it did not bother me as I was selling be boxed uplots of other toys to, but as I got more and more lego sets and as time went by, I started to crack, so many lego sets I was selling some stuff to early, i wasn't loosing money but on some sets instead of making $300 and up on some Potter older castles, The SW Snow Speeder

 

Then in about 2006 thats when i started boxing all the sets up as I was getting them, see for me seeing all those unboxed sets laying around was getting to me, I just had the urge to sell even for small profits, I was Cracking. But Boxing everything up is great, only seeing brown boxes is way better for me. Plus the sets stay in perfect mint condition forever, plus sooner or later you have to box them up anyway.

 

Take the picture with the 58 Helm's Deep and 68 Vampire castle's, well thats my TV room and I do sleep on the Sofa there, So see plain boxes everyday does not bother me, but years ago when I had 150 SW 6210 Original Jabba sail barge, 50 SW 6211 Star Destroyer allin the TV Room it was getting to me, I always the urge to sell these now, it was hard, so thats when I started boxing all sets up. See back then I had 20-30 cases of all the big star war sets,The batman sets, Indiana Jones, The harry potter castles etc. back then I wasn't buying many Exclusives as gettin all the other sets wholesale was great.

 

I didn't really start buying the Exclusives until about 2007, I still have about 30 or so older exclusives. But since I can't buy Wholesale anymore, I am just buying 95% Exclusives and hard to find only.So I am sure alot of you new and even regular investors are starting to get the itch and can't wait to sell stuff during Christmas even for a minor or even break even profit. " Now take the Imperial Shuttle, well I have 50, its only been retired 9-10 months and its selling pretty good for that short of time, and since I paid an average of $200-210 I will sell about 10 on ebay for Christmas, same as the Potter Diagon Alley, and since I have 48 Black Pearls and 43 Queen Revenge I will do about 10 sets each on these to. As I will use the money to Buy More HH, Death Stars and a few other sets.

 

How many of you guys look at all your stuff and say why did I buy half of that cheap stuff, that will take forever to make a buck or so, I have had about 10-15 emails from people saying they are sorry they got all the cheap crap, instead of getting the big Exclusive sets. Now you guys that just flip most of the time and do great, well thats good, but the big money is the big and Exclusive sets. Another thing for you new and even other investors I am sure the one's that are married alot of wife's are always yelling and complaining about all those Lego you are buying, if they were all boxed up they might not say that much. So all total I have about 1100 Boxed up lego sets, and about 400 unboxed, which I will be boxing 47 Jabba's Palace this weekend etc. So One Of my son's moved out so I just piled all these sets in the room last week. " So the key to long term Investing is don't crack" Now the Crawler is a one in a million deal that most of us has made thousands on.

[ViciousBrick]

Nice post, nice pics, but.....Holy run on sentence Batman!!! 

[comicblast]

Emazers, you ever think of making a blog? I'd love to read all of your opinions, so a blog would be a great way to make your post last a while longer. Thanks for the post and the pictures!

[Mos_Eisley]

That looks tough to read. I'm going to have to wait until I can sit and focus only on reading this.

[MartinP]

That looks tough to read. I'm going to have to wait until I can sit and focus only on reading this.

Same here. I got about halfway through the reading and then I got distracted so lost my place. Nice pics.

[justafrog]

emazers is always worth reading.

 

A tip for those faced with "a wall of text" - use the highlighter on your mouse. You can highlight a couple of lines at a time, it makes easy do-it-yourself paragraph breaks.

 

Thanks, emazers. I'm out of the investing game for a couple of years (gotta churn that money a little faster so I'm willing to work and scamper for it) but I do plan on getting back in and I think your advice of the big exclusives is exactly how I'm going to do it when I start back up, especially since it will be only part of my overall Lego business at least at first.

[kerrmando]

I'm not jealous of many people, but your collection kills me. 

[comicblast]

emazers is always worth reading.

 

A tip for those faced with "a wall of text" - use the highlighter on your mouse. You can highlight a couple of lines at a time, it makes easy do-it-yourself paragraph breaks.

 

Thanks, emazers. I'm out of the investing game for a couple of years (gotta churn that money a little faster so I'm willing to work and scamper for it) but I do plan on getting back in and I think your advice of the big exclusives is exactly how I'm going to do it when I start back up, especially since it will be only part of my overall Lego business at least at first.

So if I read this correctly...You're leaving us?! 

[Fcbarcelona101]

Just did a little cleanup on the OP, basically breaking it into easier to read paragraphs. Hope you don't mind Ed.

 

Great stuff. I personally don't sell that much sealed sets, but boxing them as you get them is a very efficient way of keeping it organized and saving time.

[njseale]

Wow

[Quacs]

This actually makes a lot of sense, Ed.  There's something psychological when you're looking at inventory that urges you to sell it.  I just realized I do something similar on a MUCH smaller scale - I put all of my used sets that have been completed are ready for sale in cardboard boxes with tops on them that can be "closed".  That way, the pieces don't yellow and they are "out of site/out of mind" until they sell.

 

Good insight, Ed.  Thanks-

[justafrog]

So if I read this correctly...You're leaving us?! 

 

Hah, in your dreams! 

 

This site is way too valuable for anyone in business in Lego (and I intend my parting out business to become a juggernaut that strikes fear into the hearts of all who behold it) to stay away from.

 

Besides, I like you weirdos. You're darned near as strange as I am.

[fendiixx]

Very impressive. How much space do you dedicate towards Lego storage and what point do you draw the line and say you have too much? I've filled my parents entire loft and feel like any more and it will feel more like an obsession. 

[asharerin]

Nice write up thanks Ed!

 

With the volume of your collection have you ever considered utilizing a storage unit?

 

Secondly does the cardboard smell bother you? I know with the recent flipping of 41999 I always have cardboard packing boxes in one room and the smell is super strong.

 

Lastly can you comment on how the game has changed since 2006? TLG has made it quite difficult to order alot of hard to find exclusives all at once so do you stagger your purchases nowdays?

 

Cheers.

[comicblast]

Hah, in your dreams! 

 

This site is way too valuable for anyone in business in Lego (and I intend my parting out business to become a juggernaut that strikes fear into the hearts of all who behold it) to stay away from.

 

Besides, I like you weirdos. You're darned near as strange as I am.

Thanks...I think.

[Dallas20]

Great insight emazers! Do you have a list if box sizes you use for different sets? I keep all of my sets shipped from lego in their original packing as they obviously have it figured out.

A blog with shipping box sizes for sets or an ongoing list from the seasoned sellers would be a helpful reference tool. Just a thought!

[exciter1]

Very nice and great idea.  I may box some stuff up sometime too.  There are many small sets I can't resist deep discounts on, especially anywhere from 40% - 70% off.  I like these, because after 1-year or less of EOL, you can usually get MSRP plus 10% - 20% on top of that.  That's a quick and easy 50% return that's hard to beat and you can dump that into whatever investment you want.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I like the bigger sets better for sure - just so much easier to ship and count and everything else. I do buy some smaller sets, but I would rather do 1 transaction and make 100 than 5 transactions about make 120. 

 

I don't box up all my sets, but they are in my closet and I don't go in there a ton.. 

[TheOrcKing]

I'm out of the investing game for a couple of years (gotta churn that money a little faster so I'm willing to work and scamper for it) but I do plan on getting back in and I think your advice of the big exclusives is exactly how I'm going to do it when I start back up, especially since it will be only part of my overall Lego business at least at first.

So if I read this correctly...You're leaving us?! 

Hah, in your dreams! 

 

This site is way too valuable for anyone in business in Lego (and I intend my parting out business to become a juggernaut that strikes fear into the hearts of all who behold it) to stay away from.

 

Besides, I like you weirdos. You're darned near as strange as I am.

Don't ever leave us, justafrog! We love you! You're amazing! You're awesome!

......Did I mention how amazing you are? :giveheart:

[Anakinisvader]

Just to be clear.  I'm an investor but not on crack. 

[donliu]

Wow that's amazing you got a whole lot of Lego's. I think you might have more sets in your house than an actual Lego store =)  

[comicblast]

Wow that's amazing you got a whole lot of Lego's. I think you might have more sets in your house than an actual Lego store =)  

Hmph! Doubter. Of course he has more than at least my LEGO Store. LOL

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Hmph! Doubter. Of course he has more than at least my LEGO Store. LOL

I would think - 1500 is a lot. 

[TheOrcKing]

How many of you guys look at all your stuff and say why did I buy half of that cheap stuff

Not me. Frankly, I look at all my stuff and think to myself, "How the hell did I manage on fitting all that into my closet?" :lol:

[nolanfan34]

Ed, why on earth do you not have a storage unit? With your inventory seems like it would be worth the cost, and justified pretty easily. Also, how do you think about something like insurance?