What LEGO set(s) are you piecing together from bulk.

[darksarcasm]

1 hour ago, Quacs said:

I would suggest sorting your lot by brick type (not color), then cross referencing the inventory list on BL to figure out the pieces you already have.   Once you know the pieces you are missing, then go to BL to order all the missing pieces.

I personally wouldn't buy bulk lots in the hopes of getting all the bricks to complete a specific set unless the Listing specifically references 10240 parts being included.

Is there a tool somewhere that I can use to index my parts, or should I just use Excel? I was thinking more along the lines of ordering from as few of sellers as possible - ones that sell many different pieces - to keep my shipping costs down. I see that a lot of the parts are only a few cents, so providing that I can find only a few sellers, I might be able to offset the cost of the set itself.

[Quacs]

34 minutes ago, darksarcasm said:

Is there a tool somewhere that I can use to index my parts, or should I just use Excel? I was thinking more along the lines of ordering from as few of sellers as possible - ones that sell many different pieces - to keep my shipping costs down. I see that a lot of the parts are only a few cents, so providing that I can find only a few sellers, I might be able to offset the cost of the set itself.

For indexing the parts in your bulk lot, you can set up an inventory on BrickLink.  That said, it's time consuming - you physically have to enter in every element in the bulk lot, and I think there's an easier way to accomplish what you want to do.

First, separate your bricks into bags by piece type (as organized on BrickLink).  Next, go through the inventory list of the set (in your case, it sounds like 10240) on BrickLink and pick the pieces out from the separate piece type baggies and put them into the set bag (I would use 1 to 2 1-gallon ziplock bags for a set the size of 10240).  For the pieces you don't have, add them to a Wanted List on BL from the set inventory page.  Once you're done, go into your Wanted List page, under the "Manage my Wanted List", click on the "My Wanted List by Shop" link, then sort your Wanted List by "Unique Lots".  It will display the sellers by the total unique lots in your list from most bricks to least, so check the sellers with the most bricks against each other for relative cost of the bricks.  Once you complete an order from a BL seller, the page after confirming check out includes a link to move or remove the items from your Wanted List - this is a great way to manage your Wanted List.

If you want to get really technical, you can take your Wanted List and run it through a program called "Brickficiency".  The program will optimize your Wanted List brick purchase with the lowest price.  You can google "Brickficiency" to find the program.

Hope this helps-

[darksarcasm]

13 minutes ago, Quacs said:

For indexing the parts in your bulk lot, you can set up an inventory on BrickLink.  That said, it's time consuming - you physically have to enter in every element in the bulk lot, and I think there's an easier way to accomplish what you want to do.

First, separate your bricks into bags by piece type (as organized on BrickLink).  Next, go through the inventory list of the set (in your case, it sounds like 10240) on BrickLink and pick the pieces out from the separate piece type baggies and put them into the set bag (I would use 1 to 2 1-gallon ziplock bags for a set the size of 10240).  For the pieces you don't have, add them to a Wanted List on BL from the set inventory page.  Once you're done, go into your Wanted List page, under the "Manage my Wanted List", click on the "My Wanted List by Shop" link, then sort your Wanted List by "Unique Lots".  It will display the sellers by the total unique lots in your list from most bricks to least, so check the sellers with the most bricks against each other for relative cost of the bricks.  Once you complete an order from a BL seller, the page after confirming check out includes a link to move or remove the items from your Wanted List - this is a great way to manage your Wanted List.

If you want to get really technical, you can take your Wanted List and run it through a program called "Brickficiency".  The program will optimize your Wanted List brick purchase with the lowest price.  You can google "Brickficiency" to find the program.

Hope this helps-

I just started looking into this kind of stuff, actually, I'm pretty new to it (my wife got me, albeit unintentionally, turned back on to Lego after she got me an Architecture set for Christmas). I was wondering if there was a program like Brickficiency, and if it didn't, I was going to try to make one. Glad to see I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it ha!

I'll definitely start off sorting my pieces. Thanks so much for your help! I didn't even know Bricklink had such a tool.

[SpaceFan9]

13 minutes ago, darksarcasm said:

I just started looking into this kind of stuff, actually, I'm pretty new to it (my wife got me, albeit unintentionally, turned back on to Lego after she got me an Architecture set for Christmas). I was wondering if there was a program like Brickficiency, and if it didn't, I was going to try to make one. Glad to see I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it ha!

I'll definitely start off sorting my pieces. Thanks so much for your help! I didn't even know Bricklink had such a tool.

I use Brickstock/Brickstore to keep track of pieces when I'm piecing a set together from bulk lots.  It has a 'difference' view where you can store the number of pieces needed, and then add in the count for each piece that you have as you find them.  It also shows the difference between the counts, (need - have), which can be exported as an XML file which can then be uploaded to Bricklink as a "Wanted List".

[ I use an older version of Brickstore, so some of what I describe above is achieved by hacking the raw XML file.  Not sure if new versions make it easier to do or not.  But if you considered writing a program like Brickficiency, then you can likely manage it.]

Just keep in mind that for a large set like 10240 you might be better off just buying it at aftermarket prices right now.  It will take hours to part together from bulk lots and bricklink orders.  You just need to ask: is your time worth the ~$70 above RRP that its selling for right now?

[darksarcasm]

10 minutes ago, SpaceFan9 said:

I use Brickstock/Brickstore to keep track of pieces when I'm piecing a set together from bulk lots.  It has a 'difference' view where you can store the number of pieces needed, and then add in the count for each piece that you have as you find them.  It also shows the difference between the counts, (need - have), which can be exported as an XML file which can then be uploaded to Bricklink as a "Wanted List".

[ I use an older version of Brickstore, so some of what I describe above is achieved by hacking the raw XML file.  Not sure if new versions make it easier to do or not.  But if you considered writing a program like Brickficiency, then you can likely manage it.]

Just keep in mind that for a large set like 10240 you might be better off just buying it at aftermarket prices right now.  It will take hours to part together from bulk lots and bricklink orders.  You just need to ask: is your time worth the ~$70 above RRP that its selling for right now?

I'm on a budget

$270 is a lot for a Lego set! Granted, if after my analysis it turns out that I wouldn't be saving that much, I might not even bother.

[SpaceFan9]

5 hours ago, darksarcasm said:

I'm on a budget

$270 is a lot for a Lego set! Granted, if after my analysis it turns out that I wouldn't be saving that much, I might not even bother.

Ah, budgets.  This is what gets a lot of hobby sellers started into the resell biz: buy 2, build 1, sell one.   Rinse, repeat.

 

[Phil B]

6 hours ago, darksarcasm said:

I'm on a budget

$270 is a lot for a Lego set! Granted, if after my analysis it turns out that I wouldn't be saving that much, I might not even bother.

Don't forget the cost of shipping on BL. As an example (though I wasn't the most efficient on this order as I changed strategies halfway through my build), my BrickLinked 10173 Holiday Train cost me $165 in parts, but $78 in fees and shipping due to many exclusive pieces only available from specific vendors. So ~$250 in total. (and then I went on to go for all in on original pieces and manuals and ended up in the neighborhood of $375 total).

Brickficiency hopefully helps with this, but I doubt it will include the shipping & handling fees for each of the vendors (you only get a final confirmation of those once you order although the store terms are often very clear). As an alternative I would also like to suggest BrickOwl (http://brickowl.com) - They have a shop function which automatically balances your purchases over the available vendors - you start by picking the vendor with the most matches, and then pick the next one etc until you have all your pieces covered, while in the meanwhile BrickOwl optimizes your purchase across those vendors to minimize fees including shipping (an advantage BrickOwl has over BL is that shipping/handling fees are known upfront).

 

[Moppy]

Does anyone know how to remove items you've purchased from your wanted list AFTER you've gone past the screen right after you place an order (where the remove button was)?  I didn't want to delete the parts just in case the store didn't ship or have the parts and now my wanted list isn't updated as the order, and all its parts shipped...

[Alpinemaps]

4 hours ago, SpaceFan9 said:

Ah, budgets.  This is what gets a lot of hobby sellers started into the resell biz: buy 2, build 1, sell one.   Rinse, repeat.

I find it's buy 3, build one, sell two usually nets it for me free, and maybe puts a few pennies back in my pocket, too.

1 hour ago, Moppy said:

Does anyone know how to remove items you've purchased from your wanted list AFTER you've gone past the screen right after you place an order (where the remove button was)?  I didn't want to delete the parts just in case the store didn't ship or have the parts and now my wanted list isn't updated as the order, and all its parts shipped...

After you place your order, you should get a selection of buttons including something along the lines of "Remove Ordered Items from Want List".  But in case you don't, there's also a button on your Orders Placed screen that allows you to see the items you've ordered against your Want List.

Some people just delete from their Want List at this point.  Me, I like to move the items to a newly created Want List, with the Store's name.  Then I know what I ordered (and I make sure there's a note in the Comments field to tell me what set the part belongs to).  I only delete it from my Want List when it's in my hand, verified that I possess it.

[darksarcasm]

16 hours ago, SpaceFan9 said:

Ah, budgets.  This is what gets a lot of hobby sellers started into the resell biz: buy 2, build 1, sell one.   Rinse, repeat.

 

I used this to take some money off of some lucrative toy collecting I did last year too. Really helped out.

[feed]

Just picked up this little lot (£100), should keep me busy through the cold winter nights. 
Figs look untouched.
 

[MarleyMoose]

Starting to piece together a Ninjago lot to sell that I should never have bought last summer. I found a couple more instructions digging too. So far I've completed a 2505, 70500 and 75002.

[Alpinemaps]

Processed my latest Bricklink order last night, and discovered I've now got all the pieces for 5526 Skyline.  Should be interesting to build.  I love "little" sets like this.

[Zelgazra]

Hey guys, so I didn't want to start a whole new thread for it, this thread falls closest to the question, but if the discussion derails too much please feel free to move it mods! 

 

 

In short: How do you guys keep track of 'buy in' cost for bulk-lot purchases intended for resale, that you end up bricklinking parts for?

 

Using the lot calculator, or your own value ratios, it's easy enough to conclude buy-in cost if your bulk lot contains 100% complete sets... but how often does that happen right?

I've got 3 separate bulk lots I'm working on completing sets for, with around 30 wanted lists (one list per set) between them. I try to maximize my shipping costs obviously, so I'm buying a couple hundred parts at a time for many multiple sets, between the 3 lots. Keeping track on a per-brick basis, then calculating in shipping costs on a per brick basis.... the whole thing gets crazy messy really fast. Not to mention factoring in different currencies of payment along the way! 

Looking for any advice on ways to more accurately track my costs for these bulk lots without sinking many hours into cross referencing and data entry. As it sits now, I'm just kind of guessing at best, which falsifies my profit numbers, for good or bad. 

I open the floor the veterans....

[feed]

22 minutes ago, Zelgazra said:

Hey guys, so I didn't want to start a whole new thread for it, this thread falls closest to the question, but if the discussion derails too much please feel free to move it mods! 

 

 

In short: How do you guys keep track of 'buy in' cost for bulk-lot purchases intended for resale, that you end up bricklinking parts for?

 

Using the lot calculator, or your own value ratios, it's easy enough to conclude buy-in cost if your bulk lot contains 100% complete sets... but how often does that happen right?

I've got 3 separate bulk lots I'm working on completing sets for, with around 30 wanted lists (one list per set) between them. I try to maximize my shipping costs obviously, so I'm buying a couple hundred parts at a time for many multiple sets, between the 3 lots. Keeping track on a per-brick basis, then calculating in shipping costs on a per brick basis.... the whole thing gets crazy messy really fast. Not to mention factoring in different currencies of payment along the way! 

Looking for any advice on ways to more accurately track my costs for these bulk lots without sinking many hours into cross referencing and data entry. As it sits now, I'm just kind of guessing at best, which falsifies my profit numbers, for good or bad. 

I open the floor the veterans....

I do it with weight. 

Weight cost on bulk and split per parts in a rebuilt.  
Weight cost on BL order and the weight of the BL parts added to the rebuild.

Shipping costs are a cost incurred overall. 

It may mean that some of the rebuilds are more or less profitable based on the weight value. But if you are selling everything anyway it’ll even out and it can be useful for tax liabilities.  

I have run through this approach with my accountant and he’s fine with it, so long as it’s applied to everything.  
 

[MarleyMoose]

Sorting parts for 10123 Cloud City. I'm going to have to BL a few of them. I'll post pics when it's complete.

[thoroakenfelder]

I found enough matching rare parts of 6209 while sorting that I am going to see how much of it that I have when I am done. Also some parts of 7752 and 7661. 

[MarleyMoose]

On 3/20/2016 at 2:33 AM, MarleyMoose said:

Sorting parts for 10123 Cloud City. I'm going to have to BL a few of them. I'll post pics when it's complete.

Well, Cloud City was missing 20 pieces. I've already ordered replacements. I actually bought 3 unopened bags from the Cloud City set. Bag #2, #4 and #5. I'll look into getting the rest of the figures too. Why not splurge and get new pieces. I can sell off the ones I'm replacing or just keep them. Starting on the 7261 Turbo Tank which looks mostly complete. I'll post more later.

[labfreak7]

In the process of sorting/ building from my $280 bulk purchases over the past two weeks.  There are two diagon alleys, two burrows, a Hogwarts castle and express, rancor pit , and some ninjago sets.

I can't believe how tedious and time consuming this is. 

Building a diagon alley now. 

[MarleyMoose]

I hate it and love it depending on the day.

[labfreak7]

I hate it and love it depending on the day.

Right now I'm mostly hating it. Not much of a builder, and sorting through pounds of pieces for one brick is painful. I did do a preliminary sort, and was able to build the two burrows in a couple of days. The Diagon alley is kicking my butt. I can see why it is sought after though. Aesthetically it is a very nice set. Pretty intricate for its size.

[MarleyMoose]

I have a big box of HP I need to go through as well.

 

[labfreak7]

Those look just about done. Hopefully my final pics look like yours.

[Migration]

30 minutes ago, MarleyMoose said:

I hate it and love it depending on the day.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[MarleyMoose]

Not piecing anything together but I spent the last 2 nights sorting a bulk buy into this. Took out minifig parts plus non Lego junk. Figures were mostly pulled apart and most SW ones had Sharpie

About 30+ lbs will be listed on Ebay.

 

Now to get to the other lot I bought Monday which is much nicer with complete figures with no Sharpie.