What are you big mistakes in Lego investment?

[wintersun]

Hello, I rediscover Lego last year and I bought a lot of set too fast. Now I learned bit a more how the sales work, where and when to buy. (it's really hard for a canadian!) My rules for now: 1 - If possible, never buy full price 2 - If I can't sell it in the future, I've no problem to keep it 3 - Only 1 of each set max But now I have a some money to invest and a lot of storage space, so I'll probably skip rule 2 and 3. And I'm not sure yet what I'll do. For now, I'm curious to learn what investment mistakes happen to other people ex: Do you buy 100 set #XXX and you just can't sell them now?

[Ed Mack]

Hello, I rediscover Lego last year and I bought a lot of set too fast. Now I learned bit a more how the sales work, where and when to buy. (it's really hard for a canadian!)

My rules for now:

1 - If possible, never buy full price

2 - If I can't sell it in the future, I've no problem to keep it

3 - Only 1 of each set max

But now I have a some money to invest and a lot of storage space, so I'll probably skip rule 2 and 3. And I'm not sure yet what I'll do.

For now, I'm curious to learn what investment mistakes happen to other people

ex: Do you buy 100 set #XXX and you just can't sell them now?

I bought a used Super Star Destroyer for $331 months agao, while a new on costs $309 right now. I also paid $100 for a Darth Maul minifigure awhile back, which sells for $5 now. I'm a dummy!

[TheOrcKing]

ex: Do you buy 100 set #XXX and you just can't sell them now?

I don't think I would ever buy a hundred of any set, even if I had that kind of money. Less than ten seems reasonable on any set. I mean, you never know exactly how well any one particular set will do in the future. You can always hope for hitting that big jackpot by having twenty or more of a set that gains exceptional worth, but try to be realistic and not get greedy. There's logic behind "not putting all your eggs in one basket" as it were.

In the end, all you or anyone can really do is go with your gut and hope for the best.

I also paid $100 for a Darth Maul minifigure awhile back, which sells for $5 now. I'm a dummy!

Ouch!

[Talon]

I worked for 20 years in the Securities industry and there are no traders or investors who win on every trade. The best you can hope for is to have more wins than losses. The longer you do it, the more information you have, the better you will get at it, but you must be prepared to make mistakes. Luckily it seems that Legos have such a wide fan base that you can find people interested in about any Lego set. But, you will obviously make more money on the most popular themes and set. Something like the recent Lego 9465 Millenium Falcon from Star Wars. This is an ICONIC set that has come out in multiple versions where all versions will do well. Decide on your goals - investing or collecting or both, monthly budget, timeline before selling, etc. I wouldn't count on making enough to live on unless you have a great deal of money (I would estimate at least $200,000) and time to get a Lego business started along with a very low cost of living. But, a lot of people end up paying for their Lego collection out of their Lego profits. I would suggest you kind of focus on the themes or sets you like. Now to finally answer your question - my biggest mistake in Lego investing so far is to not purchase some Lego sets at good prices when I had the chance. lol

[h311m4n]

Now to finally answer your question - my biggest mistake in Lego investing so far is to not purchase some Lego sets at good prices when I had the chance. lol

Dude...1 months ago I though "I'll pick up some black pearl + QAR on shop@home next time I shop@home". I go back there 3 weeks ago and it's no longer available

Same for the friggin UCS empire shuttle, TRU had 20% off last week-end on SW sets online and for once, they had some stock of the shuttle. Thing is, I was using my phone to browse their site so I thought I'd just order one when I get home. Sadly, by the time I got home, no stock left...:(

[Wizkid23]

I just wish I would have bought the UCS Falcon when I had the chance to pick it up in the Lego Store that day for 399.99, oh my that was long ago though.....

[Rich B]

My 2 top mistakes that I've made while investing in and selling Lego are: 1.) Purchasing sets at retail price or at slighty discounted price. It is best to be patient and wait for what you believe to be the best deal on whatever set/sets you are investing in. I have purchased large sets many times at $10-15 off and then later seen them for $30-40 off. While any discount is still a good deal on most Lego, an even bigger discount is better and will help increase profit margins. Guessing which discounts are best and knowing when to purchase, and which discount to take advantage of can be extremely hard though. It is also important not to wait too long because once a set EOLs it will be hard to find it at a discounted price. 2.) Not factoring in online selling fees. Depending which method of selling you are using to sell your EOLed sets, it is important to remember that sites like eBay and Amazon take 15-20% of whatever you sell your Lego set for. It is therefore best to factor this in when selling, because even though the set you're selling has increased 20% from what you purchased it for does not mean that you will make a 20% profit, it more less means you will break even or possibly lose a couple bucks.

[Anakinisvader]

I can sum up my biggest mistake in three words: Prince of Persia.

[Doofy McGee]

Lol...Prince of Persia. Sorry my friend, that one hurts. I know this has probably been mentioned above somewhere, but my biggest mistake has been buying too quickly as a result of excitement. When the first LOTR sets came out in May, I thought, "Holy crap! These are gonna be awesome!" So I jumped all over them and bought everything. All the same sets are still available today, but my money has been tied up for going on 8 months. The key is to buy older sets and themes, but not too old. At a quick glance of this thread, I saw people who waited too long to buy and missed their chance. So to sum it up...don't buy too soon, and don't buy too late. Sounds simple enough...right? :)

[speedpro50]

Lol...Prince of Persia. Sorry my friend, that one hurts.

I know this has probably been mentioned above somewhere, but my biggest mistake has been buying too

quickly as a result of excitement. When the first LOTR sets came out in May, I thought, "Holy crap! These are

gonna be awesome!" So I jumped all over them and bought everything. All the same sets are still available

today, but my money has been tied up for going on 8 months. The key is to buy older sets and themes, but

not too old. At a quick glance of this thread, I saw people who waited too long to buy and missed their chance.

So to sum it up...don't buy too soon, and don't buy too late. Sounds simple enough...right?

Simple! :-)

[cstojano]

I worked for 20 years in the Securities industry and there are no traders or investors who win on every trade. The best you can hope for is to have more wins than losses. The longer you do it, the more information you have, the better you will get at it, but you must be prepared to make mistakes.

This is my #1 fear as a Lego hoarder, I basically have won on every trade and those that are net losses are not EOL as of yet so that doesn't count. The money is too good and too easy for my comfort yet time and again the same thing happens, sets go EOL and 6 months later you are net positive. Hopefully there aren't any more mainstream news article on Lego collecting. Once the big money comes in we are all cooked.

[cstojano]

Lol...Prince of Persia. Sorry my friend, that one hurts.

I know this has probably been mentioned above somewhere, but my biggest mistake has been buying too

quickly as a result of excitement. When the first LOTR sets came out in May, I thought, "Holy crap! These are

gonna be awesome!" So I jumped all over them and bought everything. All the same sets are still available

today, but my money has been tied up for going on 8 months. The key is to buy older sets and themes, but

not too old. At a quick glance of this thread, I saw people who waited too long to buy and missed their chance.

So to sum it up...don't buy too soon, and don't buy too late. Sounds simple enough...right?

Yes for anything new the key is to wait for the best sales possible. I usually don't budge until 25-30% off for the newer smaller sets. I also won't buy the larger more expensive sets right away unless they are about 33% off (like around 100 bucks for a town modular). I don't like tying up that much money for a very long time to wait.

[Eschdaddy]

I still wouldn't lose your rule number 1, remember Benjamin Franklin? I'm still really new myself, so thanks for asking the question.

[Eschdaddy]

I still wouldn't lose your rule number 1, remember Benjamin Franklin? I'm still really new myself, so thanks for asking the question. One other thing I just recently learned is patience. I just purchased some sets on Wednesday, then saw the set on Friday, and then read Ed's post on the sales on the 25th/26th. Isn't that also what the Jedi say?

[dpwagner]

I'm planing to get 50 of 70503. I really like this set to go up.

[dpwagner]

I also bought some Prince of Persia, but for half off. What I do with duds is sell them for what I bought them for at garage sales and stuff. You would be surprised at how happy people are to see Legos at a garage sale, and most of the time I sell out of them.

[CreatorCrazed]

I'm planing to get 50 of 70503. I really like this set to go up.

I really like the Ninjago Dragons. I just might go nuts on them if not controlled by the husband.

My biggest mistake? Not buying more when on sale. I always say I should have bought more, I should have bought more....

[Ed Mack]

I really like the Ninjago Dragons. I just might go nuts on them if not controlled by the husband.

My biggest mistake? Not buying more when on sale. I always say I should have bought more, I should have bought more....

I keep waiting for the Epic Dragon Battle to "really" go on sale, but it hasn't. My mistake will be to wait too long.