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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/22/2020 in all areas
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6 points
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A part-out store is labor intensive on the part out. I started mine 4 years ago with 17k parts from the WM Black Friday brick boxes, and have been slowly adding more as time went by. I'm close to 100k parts now, and still have around 100k in parts waiting in unopened sets. Not a big seller because I have priced my inventory deliberately well above the 6 month average, but stuff does sell. This way it is not a big drain on my time. Observations: 1. Use BrickSync (pls consider a donation even though it's free now, this is excellent software) to sell on both BL and BO. I sell more on BO than on BL. 2. How well your parts sell depends largely on your selling price. If you sell on or below the average, you should sell way more than when you sell above the average (but you need better buy-ins to compensate) 3. When parting out used sets, make sure you get the part numbers/variations right (or make very clear statements in your store terms and ideally also in the individual part listing's comment field about how you mix variations, e.g. the various styles of 1x2 jumper plates). Nothing more frustrating for a customer than to need a specific variation and getting the wrong part. 4. A good organization system is key. I have bins by brick type, and then individual parts in plastic baggies labeled with key info (color, part number, description, item count) in each bin. 5. 7k parts is tiny. You won't get many sales, unless you have some really desirable and hard to find parts, or price your wares at rock-bottom prices. I'd say you need to get 50-100k parts at a minimum for your store to be attractive to the generic buyer. 6. Many colors don't sell. Especially all those purples and magentas in the Classic brick boxes and Friends sets. You need to price those really low to appeal to people who just use the bricks for hidden support structures. 7. Get your shipping schedule set up right. This is the hardest thing to do, but once you have it set up so you can enable automatic checkout, you'll see more sales.5 points
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2 points
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Do yourself a favor and make your BIN listing immediate payment required. Gets rid of the deadbeats.2 points
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3065 Olivia's Tree House There's a story behind this one - for about 9 months, when this one was still available (2011-2013), it would randomly go on sale. And every single time, I'd miss out on it. It became an obsession mine to pick this one up. Finally grabbed one off of eBay in 2015. Finally decided to put it together yesterday. Cute little build. Makes me want the Ideas Treehouse even more.2 points
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Yes, it is. It can be rewarding but also can tedious. Even with an efficient storage system (labeled Akro Mills or similar brand containers for me), spending 20 minutes to find the parts, print the label, and pack it up all up for a small $3 order of a bunch of cheap, little parts is annoying. You can solve this with an order minimum, but I don't have one. The flip side is I do have an above mentioned s/h fee - I don't try to hide it, but not all buyers read terms. If your order consists of 1 .03 part from me you will pay a $1 fee, otherwise I'm losing money on fees and shipping materials, not to mention time. As a LEGO fan I like being able to ship buyers that 1 part they need, so I don't mind an order that nets me a total of 60 cents in the end after fees, shipping costs, etc. My parts store is pretty small. I did buy some new sets when I first opened my BL to part out, but in hindsight I could eventually sell almost all of them on Amazon for more than I've made off of the parts with a lot less effort. Now I weigh the costs of completing a partial used set in a lot I pick up, and if its not worth the time / money to complete it, I part that out into the store - its the main source of additional parts for me. I think it depends on how large you want your store to be. If I wanted to grow significantly in parts, then I would seek out cost effective new sets for sure, but for now, its not worth it. The exception is the occasional damaged box set. Parts are just a plus factor for sets and Minifigures I make the most money off of in my store. I know that there are some full time BL folks out there, I hope they are hear I would love to hear from them. I love LEGO but I can't imagine sorting it as my full time job!2 points
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Email them. It should be removed under their revised Covid-19 policies: https://export.ebay.com/en/seller-updates/covid19/covid19/. I'd also send them this link.2 points
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Check my posts on the first page. There are three other lists. Short story. These are recent sold prices on Ebay an quantity available in the US. As for the sets, I'm just picking at random from sets I own.2 points
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Try this link https://www.paypal.com/shiplabel/create/ I've used it for one-off USPS shipping labels for years.... and there's apparently an option for UPS shipping that I've never tried.2 points
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If you are going to ship them back without an outside box, be sure to put tape all around the Lego box side flaps to ensure that the contents remain inside during transit. You don't want to give Target any excuse for not giving you a full refund.1 point
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Are you going to ship them back the same way Target shipped them to you (no shipping box)?1 point
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Well I just sold a First Generation Death Star. At a profit. Never thought that would happen. Sales are on fire.1 point
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if you want be be scared away read about 5 pages of the "Fruitcake thread" There's a ton of do's and don'ts and can get overwhelming fast. My best advise is to give it a go...slowly on low price items (something you are OK w/ in terms of risk/loss) because the best teacher is experience. Always keep in mind the fees which add up quick...my rule of thumb is 15% goes to someone else goodluck1 point
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I agree. I had one of those and that was after I read his terms page (all 5 pages of it) and I still couldn't figure out where the additional $10 charge came from. When I pm'd him, he was pretty condescending with "It's in my terms..." *facepalm* I needed a logic flowchart just to figure it out where all the charges came from. If I didn't need the specific pieces he had in the qty he had them in I probably would have cancelled my order. So I guess the lesson is; the larger your store, the more you can get away with.1 point
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Avoid having kids. They are the chaos bringers to all things orderly and neat...especially inventoried LEGO pieces A child looking to MOC is both a thing of beauty and awe...much like a Cat-5 Hurricane1 point
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This article is a bit dated, but is a good place to start for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a large bricklink store: https://www.brothers-brick.com/2011/01/30/qa-with-bricklink-sellers/ There are a few folks here that sell lego full-time. ClintonJoseph and DadsAFOL, for example, both have physical stores which started out as online hobby selling. Other good advice I've heard about starting any business is: decide who it is that you want to serve. what talents do you bring to the table? build your business by setting up the infrastructure so that your talents can meet the needs of those you want to serve. Best of luck on your new adventure.1 point
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I currently have 6 new sets and 2 used sets. I just started this but am leaning towards only purchasing new sets going forward. Sorting and organizing goes as follows Break down set into polybags Put on sort tray Put all matching pieces into cups Use BrickStock part out set Record location in remarks Place in appropriately labeled storage container It's not a full time job but I am treating it like a business not a hobby. I'll probably be working 30hrs a week on this. That being said I'm not a resale vulture. I loved legos as a kid. Especially the lego star wars video games and the Bionicle sets. I still remember getting my first lego city airport box. Good stuff. But my priority at this point is creating a great store. None of this will be for personal use. Unless I get my hands on something Christmas themed because i love decorating for Christmas 🎅1 point
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For those parts sellers..... It seems it's a very tedious process. I could have fun with this in the future (when retired) A few questions: Do you buy new sets for your inventory? How do you sort, keep track of the parts? Is this a full-time job?1 point
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Brick Bank was Jan 16 to ~ Nov `18. Corner Garage was released Jan '19, which would be a year less than BB (unprecedented w/ post 2010 modulars). If Diner retires that would match BB.1 point
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Also, the larger your inventory the more likely your parts are to sell. I don't have a pieces store on Bricklink, but I do purchase parts a lot to complete the used sets I sell and I will pay more for a part if one store has all the parts I need. That way I save on shipping costs, because lord knows a lot of Bricklink stores love to throw in hidden "handling" fees. If I only need three pieces and store "A" has one for $0.05 and store "B" has the other 2 for $0.10 each, but store "C" has all 3 pieces for $0.75 each... I buy from store "C" because it is still cheaper to just pay shipping from 1 store instead of 2. That is one of the main reasons I never opened a piece store actually. I don't think that I have enough bulk loose pieces that I would ever get any sales.1 point
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^ This is true. Parting out is a very time-intensive process, so I'd be expecting high potential returns. Your returns look about right. I'd recommend holding back some of the rarer minifigures that are still set to appreciate. That can increase your returns dramatically. Best of luck!1 point
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Yes, you can use the part out price for gauging but bear in mind not all the parts in your inventory will sell, you will more than likely end up with bunch of parts nobody wants1 point
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I use the multi-order shipping option through Paypal for non-Ebay / Bricklink shipments. It's especially useful during the holidays when we're shipping gifts to family. Enter in their address, package type/weight and print. I don't know if there is the discount this way though, but not having to wait in line at the post office is worth it to me.1 point
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I don't know if this is still an option, but I used to use the bulk shipping function in Paypal to print labels for non ebay items. Although, it's called bulk shipping you can print one label, plus get a discount.1 point
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I'm usually tele-snacking...had to put on mute so my slurping and crunching isn't heard...also the given tele-internet surfing1 point
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Like a lot of problems, it starts out small and you think to yourself, I can stop anytime. Next thing you know your in a room surrounded by family and friends who are worried about you.1 point
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1 point
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1 point
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Not in my experience. If you input weight into PayPal there is a price difference between 4 lb 15 oz and 5 lbs. Agree, and the size of the box definitely affects shipping price as well. We've sold some large lots in the past few months, and have found that it's not the weight as much as the overall box dimensions that really adds to the price.1 point
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We knew it was coming, but sigh, another "airport". It will undoubtedly do well once retired as all airports do, but for the love of all things holy when are we going to get an updated Farm theme??!?! Edit...that plane does look pretty sweet though. I'll stockpile those like I did the last two versions when they hit 30-40% off.1 point
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1 point
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You'd have to pry away my UCS Slave 1 out of my COLD DEAD HANDS ...and replace it with $600😄 (everythings got a price)1 point
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My family is in the middle of this build and it's amazeballz the combination of rooms and details...can't take your eyes away..even half complete my 8 year old is filming a mini movie and story telling on it. I know it's actually a rehash of past sets and in that case, many may view it as a copycat frenkenstein...but this being our first modular, it was a great intro. They packed so much into one set...the only thing that rivals it is obviously Ninjago City...which btw way has almost doubled in price since retiring 4 months ago.1 point
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1 point
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Do this long enough and you can guess package weights down to the ounce... that's reseller-loser-druid, level 6. God mode is wrapping all your ToyCentric packages with the free eBay shipping tape.1 point
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Mickey Mouse BH purchased for $2 BN online clearance sold on eBay for $49. Still have 2 left. I have been selling a lot of brickheadz and Nexo that I got from my TRU going out of business sale (which was around a year before the entire company went under) for 70-90% off.1 point
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Actually just got off the phone with LEGO customer service. Explained about the VIP points snafu, and that I was really hoping to grab one of these for my son since we missed out on the last one. Very nice rep named Eric is shipping us one for free...just because. How cool is that?1 point
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We had a big shipping day as well. The stimulus appears to be working!1 point
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Yesterday I built the 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium set I originally bought to resell but decided to keep it instead because it is an excellent set and is my favorite ship from the original Star Wars trilogy. Exciter1 gave me a $10 Kmart coupon shortly after I joined this site to help me save a little bit more on it, I will never forget his kindness and him doing that The minifigures lined up for a class picture of sorts and the white bricks really glimmer. I am definitely displaying this one in a room out of natural light to keep the bricks nice and white. My only minor complaint is the use of the rather flat Trans-Black Windscreen 1 x 6 x 3 instead of more a curved one. My ultimate goal is finding a deal on the 10212 UCS Imperial Shuttle and I can hopefully find a score like Brickvoyeur did a year or two ago!1 point
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finally oos from amazon.com... price is now blasting off with lowest in stock free shipping FBM: $225 FBA: $229. should be $300 by the end of the year maybe even sooner the way things are trending.1 point
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1 point
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I went ahead and grabbed mine now....not taking the chance that they run out. That is a pure gold poly bag!1 point
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1 point
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I've had the same experience this week. Numerous sets ordered all at once only to be shipped, weeks later, individually in padded envelopes. I now consider all other retailers before Amazon...1 point
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Not concerned at all, quite the opposite! That was my initial reaction looking at the outside of the box, but when I opened it and saw that the one bubble was luckily placed in the bad corner, I immediately grabbed a random TLM2 clearance set, lit it on fire, and tossed it out to the wolves as a sacrifice to the LEGO gods.1 point