Question for experienced Parter-outers

[comicblast]

How about add something along the lines of "only what you see in the pictures above are included in this listing". Of course, then you have people asking for your tiled floor, the desk, table, tiny piece of dust in the picture, etc. Them trolls.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

How about add something along the lines of "only what you see in the pictures above are included in this listing". Of course, then you have people asking for your tiled floor, the desk, table, tiny piece of dust in the picture, etc. Them trols.

 

Yeah I am just waiting for the people to ask for the baseplate in a few of my minifigure pictures.

[abri123]

Thanks both, interesting two opposite schools of thought. I had been thinking of shortening it, as some of it seemed to be telling people how to suck eggs. Although it did end up like that because of a couple of emails I got from buyers about the condition of the lego when I was first starting out. But I disagree with the negative or threatening language comment. If you don't pay you get a non-payment strike. QED. I would like to put if you don't intend to pay, then DON'T BID but ebay does not let sellers put that wording in, they force you to change it.

I'll keep the postage details in as it covers 90% of the buyers. Occasionally I get a query from Asia. As a buyer looking on Ebay.com it was sometimes difficult to work out what the postage to the UK was.

 

Shortened version.....

 

 

 

STARTING PRICE:

[Guest TabbyBoy]

It seems to me like it's now a buyer's economy and they know it.  More and more customers demonstrate unethical practices, lack of patience and expect the World to fall at their feet.  I'm also a landlord and I find that a good tenant is much harder to find than a good landlord.  Yes, the customer is right (some of the time) and they do provide us with income.  However, sellers should have a way of warning other sellers about dishonest buyers.  Who on here has suffered a PayPal chargeback of over

[StarCityBrickCompany]

.

[M4x18]

I have been giving a lot of thought about buy sets and parting them out for a week now. Is there a blog article or something that can give me a few tips on doing this?

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I have been giving a lot of thought about buy sets and parting them out for a week now. Is there a blog article or something that can give me a few tips on doing this?

 

I am going to write one eventually.

 

Its rough though. You have to really really be ready for the time commitment it is. Thats the one thing I really underestimated.

 

For example, last two nights I was up until 4:30AM (I work at 8AM-6PM) packing stuff up. Today, I need to leave town at 6PM, but I have to spend 2-3 hours getting stuff ready before I go.

 

profit margins on parting stuff out are pretty small unless you get really good discounts as well. Its not as easy as pick up a set and part it out. You have to have ceilings from where you buy. I can only think of two sets you can get for 10% off or less and make money parting them out (excluding exclusives).

 

You also have to be prepared for stuff to sit. it doesn't fly out once you list it.

 

Can you make money? Absolutely. is it worth it? Depends. I probably make 5$ an hour for the stuff I part out. Most people wouldn't do it for that. i think its fun and I like owning a business, so that fufills me.

[M4x18]

I am going to write one eventually.

 

Its rough though. You have to really really be ready for the time commitment it is. Thats the one thing I really underestimated.

 

For example, last two nights I was up until 4:30AM (I work at 8AM-6PM) packing stuff up. Today, I need to leave town at 6PM, but I have to spend 2-3 hours getting stuff ready before I go.

 

profit margins on parting stuff out are pretty small unless you get really good discounts as well. Its not as easy as pick up a set and part it out. You have to have ceilings from where you buy. I can only think of two sets you can get for 10% off or less and make money parting them out (excluding exclusives).

 

You also have to be prepared for stuff to sit. it doesn't fly out once you list it.

 

Can you make money? Absolutely. is it worth it? Depends. I probably make 5$ an hour for the stuff I part out. Most people wouldn't do it for that. i think its fun and I like owning a business, so that fufills me.

 

I already visited your eBay store and knew you'd be the one to reply and the one who'd be most likely to write or have written an article about this.

 

I know that this will only net you profits if you can find the set under MSRP. And that the time spent will be more than selling a whole set. But over here, by watching movement over the weekend, I've figured it's a good option. The sets that are available right now command a good profit after parting them out, but only if you can find them with a nice discount. Besides, I'm looking to build a Star Wars minifigure collection that I can sell later on, and this is a way that I can get there without going all out there.

 

I'd part it minifigures/everything else in order to get back or in some cases, earn some profits.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I already visited your eBay store and knew you'd be the one to reply and the one who'd be most likely to write or have written an article about this.

 

I know that this will only net you profits if you can find the set under MSRP. And that the time spent will be more than selling a whole set. But over here, by watching movement over the weekend, I've figured it's a good option. The sets that are available right now command a good profit after parting them out, but only if you can find them with a nice discount. Besides, I'm looking to build a Star Wars minifigure collection that I can sell later on, and this is a way that I can get there without going all out there.

 

I'd part it minifigures/everything else in order to get back or in some cases, earn some profits.

 

And this is really where it is awesome. Take Battle of Hoth:

 

I part it out and I have saved for myself:

 

1 full set

extra sowspeeder

2 extra probe droids

extra snow troopers.

 

In the end, I paid miniscule prices for those. So its awesome if you only want parts of certain sets.

 

Sell internationally too. Its SO worth it. I probably fufill 10 international orders a week and because I build my shipping price in, I get that as pure profit - especially on the bigger sets. I have shipped about 120 international packages without any problems so far as well.

 

I don't use GSP.

[Soadfan4ever]

I would strong advise anyone thinking of parting out to heed DNIM's comments about underestimating the time commitment.  You have to make sure that you can implement some sort of sorting and storing system that will keep the items in good condition as well as make them easily and quickly accessible once they start selling.  And even then it will take longer than you expect.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I would strong advise anyone thinking of parting out to heed DNIM's comments about underestimating the time commitment.  You have to make sure that you can implement some sort of sorting and storing system that will keep the items in good condition as well as make them easily and quickly accessible once they start selling.  And even then it will take longer than you expect.

 

Yes. I didn't do this and I have paid for it (with time).

 

I have had probably 20 cases opened against me where i just forgot a piece, or something of that nature. Obviously I resolved them all, but this is because I was so behind on stuff and underestimated how much it would be to do this.

[Soadfan4ever]

I didn't either.  It's one of those problems that keeps compounding over time as well.   

[justafrog]

I've hesitated to weigh in on the most recent discussion, since I am parting out differently from most folks participating (and differently from the question asked about parting out to keep the minifigs and defray some of the costs by selling the rest of the kit in one lump listing on eBay), BUT...

 

... I will just say, for anyone who might be lurking and wondering about parting out items, that if you are interested in building a slower-growth long-term business, our own model of parting out kits to sell the minifigs on eBay (and occasionally a vehicle or other desirable piece) and then building our parts store on Bricklink for "free" (with sweat equity) continues to work well for us.

 

It's a larger time commitment than selling figs and large segments of kits, and it requires a more detailed filing system, but I'm finding it very rewarding and our Bricklink store continues to grow pretty much with free parts, slowly but surely.

 

Just another option and another way to build a Lego business.

 

With most aspects of Lego, we're all looking at being the tortoise rather than the hare - whether it's buying and holding sets for 1 to 3 (or more) years after EOL, or building an eBay or Bricklink store "piece by piece" (ha ha).

 

Folks who can flip sets for fast cash are the exception, but it's not a business model I've ever been terribly good at (on a large scale, anyway), so I do my plodder thing and still make it work.

[CNH1974]

I suppose I am a Puta Togethera rather than a parter outa. I look for cheap bulk listings that contain sets (hopefully near complete) put them together and sell on.

 

All of what DNIIM applies though. This method is also very time consuming, I feel like I am working 2 jobs at the moment.

[Fcbarcelona101]

I suppose I am a Puta Togethera rather than a parter outa.

I literally could not stop laughing at this comment. Focus on the bold sentence, I will translate the one word that caught my attention: (from Spanish to Eng.)

"I am a Wh**e Togethera"

:p

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I literally could not stop laughing at this comment. Focus on the bold sentence, I will translate the one word that caught my attention:

"I am a Wh**e Togethera"

 

I understand Tagalog too. Sandali lang, pupunta ako sa kubeta.

[legoman12323123]

And this is really where it is awesome. Take Battle of Hoth:

 

I part it out and I have saved for myself:

 

1 full set

extra sowspeeder

2 extra probe droids

extra snow troopers.

 

In the end, I paid miniscule prices for those. So its awesome if you only want parts of certain sets.

 

Sell internationally too. Its SO worth it. I probably fufill 10 international orders a week and because I build my shipping price in, I get that as pure profit - especially on the bigger sets. I have shipped about 120 international packages without any problems so far as well.

 

I don't use GSP.

I prefer GSP .. sometimes you get shady international buyers .. they say things like I didnt get it .. as long as I can show tracking on my end to the US ship center .. the scammer international buyers have to deal with ebay and guess who always wins ... yes ebay haha

[justafrog]

I prefer GSP .. sometimes you get shady international buyers .. they say things like I didnt get it .. as long as I can show tracking on my end to the US ship center .. the scammer international buyers have to deal with ebay and guess who always wins ... yes ebay haha

 

Preach it, brother. 

 

We'd been doing our own international shipping for years - most of the time it's fine, but the Scammy McScammersons do get you down, especially back in the day with no tracking on FCMI packages. Now, there's hit or miss tracking for FCMI a few places, but I still prefer GSP.