Ed Mack Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 6 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said: I started to write something here, but it became dark pretty quickly. Just remember this mantra: Buying is easy but selling for PROFIT is hard. Consistently making the profit is even harder There is no such thing as free time Pretty much the truth...and it's getting harder. Buying is fun and addictive. Selling, packaging and shipping sucks up time and profit. If one cannot count on large UCS and Creator sets to skyrocket in price and smaller sets take a few years to maximize profit. Competition is fierce as well. Basically, for most, reselling LEGO sets is a nice second job that is interesting and fun at times, but will never get you rich. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landphieran Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Go big or go home. There are much better things to do with your time if you aren't slinging volume. There are a lot of large corporations doing this on a huge scale. The margins are going to continue to decrease and the small timers will eventually be pushed out. May as well avoid the headache if you aren't committed. I recently scaled back such that I only spend a month or two in the fall working it as a side job. When the holidays are over I detach and move on. Often I donate or auction off my damaged returns. My total profit isn't as good but its a middle class salary for 2 months of part time work. You can easily do six figures if you dedicate the time and resources to it. Do what makes sense to you in your life. If you have more consistent long term ways to make good money i'd choose that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
$20 on joe vs dan Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) Small Timer here...how I see it after about 2 years on this board: I think many small timers fall into "Subsidized AFoL" category where our interest/Hobby in LEGO keeps us on top of deals that come along which we take advantage; meaning we buy 3 or 30: if we like it: one for our personal collection, one for a quick flip to recover costs, and one to stash as a lottery ticket. If we don't like it then flip all to buy something we like. Few hobbies allow for this kind of sustainability...but it can ofcourse get out of hand really fast. The side benefit is that the structure is in place to resell...and I find that I often resell random stuff I come across...the negative side is I'm ALWAYS looking for random stuff to resell so maybe my psyche has been F'd w/ all this and i can no longer be an ignorant consumer...which I kinda miss. Edited January 28, 2020 by $20 on joe vs dan 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keymomachine Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 2 hours ago, MusiKyle said: I'm too susceptible to the dopamine from the reward-motivated behavior in the hunt and I frequently find myself anxious. Building Lego is relaxing, it reduces anxiety. Wait a second... so part of the thing making me anxious is the same thing I use to calm down the anxiety! It me! I'm that! I get real jittery during clearance season, especially. I got into this because I was already apt to shop Target and Meijer clearance aisles and picked up a set here and there for friends and family. Then I was rolling SYWR points at Sears/Kmart and that's how I found this place. As a stay-at-home dad it's nice to have something to do, something to collect and tend to that isn't just dishes and laundry. Basically I see this as a way to get any Lego set my kid could ever want, plus finally buy the major sets that I've always wanted (nevermind the $$ and time invested :D). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmpirate Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 28 minutes ago, keymomachine said: It me! I'm that! I get real jittery during clearance season, especially. I got into this because I was already apt to shop Target and Meijer clearance aisles and picked up a set here and there for friends and family. Then I was rolling SYWR points at Sears/Kmart and that's how I found this place. As a stay-at-home dad it's nice to have something to do, something to collect and tend to that isn't just dishes and laundry. Basically I see this as a way to get any Lego set my kid could ever want, plus finally buy the major sets that I've always wanted (nevermind the $$ and time invested :D). Perfect job for a stay-at-home. Great addition to someone who's business includes a warehouse. Nice additional income for a 9-5er. Questionable thing to do for anyone else. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceFan9 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Can't recall where, but I heard/read a comment recently similar to this : "I'm either making money, or spending it." Reselling lets me convince myself that I'm doing both at the same time. :-) I agree that one wont get 'rich' doing this, but I've found it's a good side-hustle. But I agree that one does need time and space to make it worthwhile. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrToes16 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I came in to this thinking it was about investing. Still playing the game but I've long left that notion behind. These days it's more like... ebay: "50% off final value fees for this weekend only!" me: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad W Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 LegoChris, my advice is to make sure you calculate all the fees, taxes, and extras you will have to pay before, during and after the sale. A Lego set on sale for 20% off, may seem like a good deal, but after all fees, it may only end up being less than 5% off. If eBay is going to be your main way to sell, become very familiar with both sold prices and what others are asking prices. There is a huge difference between the 2. These things were what I had problems with when I started out a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brystheguy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 33 minutes ago, Brad W said: LegoChris, my advice is to make sure you calculate all the fees, taxes, and extras you will have to pay before, during and after the sale. A Lego set on sale for 20% off, may seem like a good deal, but after all fees, it may only end up being less than 5% off. If eBay is going to be your main way to sell, become very familiar with both sold prices and what others are asking prices. There is a huge difference between the 2. These things were what I had problems with when I started out a few years ago. Totally this! Fees take up way more than you realize when you finally piece them altogether from the different places such as tax on the purchase, Paypal, Ebay Final Value Fees, Postage (people hate paying extra charges for shipping - they want to see it built into the price) and cost of shipping supplies. I've had things that I raised the price by three times what I bought it for but then got screwed over because the box size was too big and I listed Priority Mail and had to eat it. It's dumb things like that that get you. To me, I enjoy the hunt and use the extra money to buy things like a car lift for the garage or parts for my cars. It's fun hobby that supports another hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLL Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 You shall succeed, just like legosteve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redcell Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 The best advice I can give is to go slow and make sure that you have outlets where you can realistically move everything that you buy before you buy it. It's very easy to buy way more inventory than you can easily sell and get overwhelmed. If you're operating on a smaller scale, the price you pay for each set you buy is critical...you want to get the largest discount you can to maximize the absolute value of the profit you make on each sale. This matters less as you scale up and start moving volume, but is pretty important when you're starting out. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KShine Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 The best advice that I ever had Now there's a time to laugh, a time to cry A time to live and a time to die A time to break and a time to chill To act civilized or act real ill But whatever you do in your lifetime You never let an MC steal your rhyme 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeon82 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I only got into reselling on a very small scale (around 100 sets of varying size) and the time and effort is just not worth it. There are many other ways you can make more money with a lot less 'stress' in terms of packaging, returns and storage space. If anyone is interested in 18 X 75884's let me know 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sauromosis Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) It all starts innocently enough...flash forward a year and you're driving across the country with a rented trailer full of 2015 Bionicle sets wondering, "What am I doing right now?" Edited January 29, 2020 by sauromosis 5 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHawkeye Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 hour ago, sauromosis said: It all starts innocently enough...flash forward a year and you're driving across the country with a rented trailer full of 2015 Bionicle sets wondering, "What am I doing right now?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimking23 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Like most Brickpickers, I’m not right in the head. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. Everyone loves the chase or finding the great deal, the trick is learning to love selling. I only sell on EBay, which has different considerations verse Amazon sellers. Don’t buy every set just because it’s 50% off. Buy shipping boxes to fit your sets, most boxes are under $2 and are worth every penny. I stay away from mid-size sets [$50 ish] unless I have a good feeling about them cause fees and shipping take a big bite. Little sets under a pound are easy, cheap 1st class mail. Larger sets give you more margin and shipping seems more reasonable given their size and weight. A lot has changed over these 7 years but, still having fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KShine Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 I used to have fun - The excitement of the hunt, the find, the deal. It's hard to believe that there was once a time when every day felt like christmas morning. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOrcKing Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/25/2020 at 3:54 PM, terrymc4677 said: I'm just here for the memes and bad puns. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphoid Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/29/2020 at 7:02 PM, Jimking23 said: Like most Brickpickers, I’m not right in the head. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. Everyone loves the chase or finding the great deal, the trick is learning to love selling. I only sell on EBay, which has different considerations verse Amazon sellers. Don’t buy every set just because it’s 50% off. Buy shipping boxes to fit your sets, most boxes are under $2 and are worth every penny. I stay away from mid-size sets [$50 ish] unless I have a good feeling about them cause fees and shipping take a big bite. Little sets under a pound are easy, cheap 1st class mail. Larger sets give you more margin and shipping seems more reasonable given their size and weight. A lot has changed over these 7 years but, still having fun. there is nothing worse than a set you just sold for $20 with free shipping weighing in at 17oz. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damnsanders Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 there is nothing worse than a set you just sold for $20 with free shipping weighing in at 17oz.Trim the flaps! Lol Shipping truly is the worst part of this whole deal. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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