Briclink Inventory - Buying Outright

[Guest davewager78]

Looking for estimates on how much you wise people would pay for the full inventory of a Bricklink store, where the seller is keen to get rid of it all due to leaving the country (how dodgy does that sound?!)

 

I'm in the UK, the parts are in the UK. Total parts count is 110000 approx. A full range of parts, not just rubbish. Comes with all storage that the seller has been using to run the store. Volume takes up one wall about 2m x 3m x 0.3m deep

 

Looking for just a quick estimate. I normally work at 5p a part, so we're looking at about 5500GBP. Anyone got any thoughts?

 

Buying the stuff to sell on BL and/or ebay

[Jojoyojimbi]

I usually can get people to sell me their used stuff for $3-5 per pound, I'd make him an offer based on weight, not parts, it'll work out in your favor much better

[Guest davewager78]

PS: It's all new VGC parts

 

 $3-5 a pound gives me a really low number, which i can't see the seller going for, but thanks for the info

[Migration]

As a buyer you want a really low number. While you don't want to rip the seller off, how many people have the ability to handle a parts business on bricklink of that scale?His pool of perspective buyers is quite small. What is his timeframe to sell? How motivated is he? Look at what he has, estimate what you would sell it for and offer 1/4 to 1/3 of that. He can't expect to get retail while selling wholesale. My $0.02.

[Alcarin]

Exactly.... technically looking I would not pay more than 5$ per pound ..... you likely have atleast 20k useless parts (no offense) in terms of sale potential ....

[Alpinemaps]

As a buyer you want a really low number. While you don't want to rip the seller off, how many people have the ability to handle a parts business on bricklink of that scale?His pool of perspective buyers is quite small. What is his timeframe to sell? How motivated is he? Look at what he has, estimate what you would sell it for and offer 1/4 to 1/3 of that. He can't expect to get retail while selling wholesale. My $0.02.

 

Good advice.  Remember, OP, you're in control here a bit.  You don't have to buy his inventory.  But if he needs to get out of the country, he's motivated to sale. He may not have many options.  If he doesn't sale to you, then he's depending upon someone else to buy, which he may not have lined up right now.

[Guest davewager78]

Thanks for the wise words. As he already has an offer above what I think I'd like to pay, I think I'm going to pass

[Spartikis]

This is easy, have the seller send you the retail value of all of his items and sets, bricklink adds it up and displays it in "my inventory" take that value and do 1/3. Another way which is time consume but you could likerally add everyitem in his inventory to your cart and see what the value is, again take this and offer 1/3, he will certainly counter offer but i would say thats a fair range, remember you are looking to make money so you need to aquire it all at low prices to make a profit, plus the seller needs to be realistic, hes cant expect major profits off a liquidation sale, he should be just looking to recoup what he invested into his inventory.

[Guest davewager78]

The plots thickens.

 

Total valuation of stock by seller ~11000GBP

 

Already has an offer of 45% of this

 

I don't want to pay that much, so i'll give up. Interesting though - thanks all

[Jojoyojimbi]

The plots thickens.

 

Total valuation of stock by seller ~11000GBP

 

Already has an offer of 45% of this

 

I don't want to pay that much, so i'll give up. Interesting though - thanks all

 

make your offer anyway, you'd be amazed at how many people think that saying "I've already got an offer of XYZ so you need to beat it" works

 

90% of the time they come back and say "oh well that guy fell through, i'll take your offer"

 

generally at that point I say "well i'm sorry i commited some of my funds, i only have "75%" of my initial offer"

 

I've been buying and selling stuff pretty much my whole life and one thing I know is that if they crawl back, they can't afford to crawl away

[@rtisan]

If the current value of the parts is 11,000GBP, then you need to take into account the "useless parts" that aren`t going to sell. If he`s got 110,000 parts, I`d say take 10% of them and factor that in. Let`s got 15% just to be safe. That comes to 9350GBP. Think about what you get. You get all the parts. All the storage units, there is value in these as well as any Lego seller or collector will tell you. Might not be a ton, but at least you don`t have to go out and buy it. If the inventory is all in Bricklink, you don`t even need to take the hours required to list. One more thing to consider is the selling fees. Bricklink is 8-9% and Paypal is 4-5%. Just use 15% to be safe, and you get 7947.5GBP. Who knows you may be able to sell that other 1000GBP worth of stuff and make even more money. I`d probably offer him somewhere around the 4500GBP mark for the lot, because assuming everything is done, all you`de have to do is fill the orders. If everything sells, you`re looking at a 75% ROI or so. That`s a healthy margin to sell on, at least IMHO. 

[Jojoyojimbi]

just because he's got an "inventory" value or 11,000 GBP doesn't mean his prices are priced to move, he could be valuing a 2x2 blue used brick at a quarter instead of a penny, keep that in mind and still, make your offer, then send me all the 2x4 bricks in his inventory

[Alcarin]

If the current value of the parts is 11,000GBP, then you need to take into account the "useless parts" that aren`t going to sell. If he`s got 110,000 parts, I`d say take 10% of them and factor that in. Let`s got 15% just to be safe. That comes to 9350GBP. Think about what you get. You get all the parts. All the storage units, there is value in these as well as any Lego seller or collector will tell you. Might not be a ton, but at least you don`t have to go out and buy it. If the inventory is all in Bricklink, you don`t even need to take the hours required to list. One more thing to consider is the selling fees. Bricklink is 8-9% and Paypal is 4-5%. Just use 15% to be safe, and you get 7947.5GBP. Who knows you may be able to sell that other 1000GBP worth of stuff and make even more money. I`d probably offer him somewhere around the 4500GBP mark for the lot, because assuming everything is done, all you`de have to do is fill the orders. If everything sells, you`re looking at a 75% ROI or so. That`s a healthy margin to sell on, at least IMHO. 

 

Since when are Bricklink fees 8-9% ???? Last time i checked my BL it was 3%...

[@rtisan]

Since when are Bricklink fees 8-9% ???? Last time i checked my BL it was 3%...

Ya...looks like my circuits were crossed. No, ebay fees are 8-9%. You`re right, BL is 3%. Sorry, my bad, too much on the brain this morning 

 

#pleasedisregardallpathetic/mistakenerrorsonmypartintryingtoofferassistence