Ultimate Challenge: Is this 215+ lb lot worth it?

[donbee]

I hope you like challenges.
Someone posted this on my local Craigs list.
A 215+ lb lot of legos. Unsorted (supposedly only a little meg-blocks mixed in) with a few "well used" instruction books.
I think he's asking too much $3,700 but I could be wrong. And I'd like an idea of what a good offer would be.
He took many pictures, but only one shot of the instruction books, and I can't really identify anything from them, I"m too new at this.
Can I get some help?

https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/col/tag/5355400514.html

[staggs9696]

It's an illusion. Clearly as others have mentioned, there has been some sorting by someone who kinda knew what they were doing, and that person probably intentionally left 2 interesting sets in there (the Penguin/freeze attack on the batcave, and a Harry Potter one) however there is no evidence that these sets are actually still there and that he didn't just take out the pieces for the set and left the instructions because they were in terrible condition so he just bought some off the net to complete the sets.
From the actual pieces we can see, it's going to be an extremely enduring job sorting through all these, even my 55kg are a hard time to do that with (121lbs) and I gave up several times while doing it and just tossed them back together and gave up. 
Something I did notice too is how many times he uses pictures of the same mess from different angles to give the illusion that we're actually looking at a different pile of lego.
I feel like this is someone who gambled buying a container or a storage room as they do on those TV shows (container wars/storage wars), saw the contents, felt like they were going to hit the jackpot because they heard that lego increased in value with time (I'm sure someone who is in that line of investment listens to the news and can be fooled by illinformed articles), then he called in someone who knew a bit about this, that person took at what had value and told him to put the rest on Craigslist and he could probably get 3k out of it by showing some of the instructions and lots of pieces (the guy in question was probably not as much of an expert as the owner thinks he is to be honest...). Now they're having you gamble on their gamble and decide whether you want to take the chance of their not being what you hope their is in this pile of crap, same way he was hoping to find some things in the storage he couldn't see from the entrance. 
If I had a lot of free time and no need to rush on getting some money out of the investment, I'd buy it for 1.2k max simply because that's pretty much 80% of the total value I estimate this at. Also take into account the amount of hours you'll spend sorting through this instead of earning money an other way and ask yourself whether it's worth it or not.
Since I don't have that free time, the only other situation in which I'd buy this would be, again for no more than 1.2k, if I had a lot of money, and wanted to do some MOCs but couldn't be bothered to buy exactly the pieces I wanted and preferred to just build with what I got as I used to as a kid. To be honest though, that would be utopic as I really can't be bothered these days and when I do a MOC, even if I have the pieces and I know I do, sometimes I'll just buy the same pieces knew to save myself the box searching...
If none of the above apply, just don't buy it unless you can really get it for dirt cheap, and sell it in smaller portions for more than what you paid.

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

start smaller or jump in deep your choice

Edited January 9, 2016 by brickcrazyhouse

[ChrisJ67]

Well I am new to the Lego for profit side of things having only just returned to Lego, but I think since you really don't know if all of the pieces are there that your really looking at this from a bulk per pound Lego purchase.  Typically I have seen bulk Lego selling for an average of $10 per pound.  I may be off base here but his price of $3,700 seems high based on this.

[thoroakenfelder]

He's asking about $17 a pound. For that much work, you'd probably want to be in somewhere in the neighborhood of $4-$6. If he had sets that were mostly built, could show the minifigures, and the amount of work that you would have to do was a lot lower, it would be closer to his asking price, but $17 a pound is just way too high.

You'd still have to sort through 215 lbs of LEGO to make sure there were no megablocks or other stuff. You'd have to spend the time to clean them and filter through to put together sets. Your profit per hour, if this is your first time doing bulk, and you don't have a system, would be piss poor. It's als disheartening to try to sort through all of this without a quick way to recoup your costs.

[dinner41]

I wouldn't even do it for $1000, maybe not even for $0. Time is the issue here.

A lot of blue instructions: city. These can have value, but not as much as a few other 'gems' would have where only a few could be worth that much. It is not likely that you gain _a lot_ more than you pay. Without experience (and then you wouldn't ask) I would *really* stay away. Sorting this lot will be a major pain, and imho not worth the effort. The only exception: you have OCD and like a *huge* challenge. Or someone does spot that $3k set that alone might already make it worthwhile.

Also: Isn't mixed random LEGO by pound in the ball-park of $5 per pound? That would make this lot about $1000.

[Phil B]

15 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

He's asking about $17 a pound. For that much work, you'd probably want to be in somewhere in the neighborhood of $4-$6. If he had sets that were mostly built, could show the minifigures, and the amount of work that you would have to do was a lot lower, it would be closer to his asking price, but $17 a pound is just way too high.

You'd still have to sort through 215 lbs of LEGO to make sure there were no megablocks or other stuff. You'd have to spend the time to clean them and filter through to put together sets. Your profit per hour, if this is your first time doing bulk, and you don't have a system, would be piss poor. It's als disheartening to try to sort through all of this without a quick way to recoup your costs.

Only set of any value that I spotted in the instructions is the 50yr anniversary Town Plan set 10184, which sells used with instructions for $400-450 on BL. $17 per pound is waaay too much. And a lot of bulky pieces, such as all those boat hulls. Now it might be that one of them is from a high-price-fetching pirate ship, but I'm no expert in that field.

[MarleyMoose]

Being new, stay away from something this size. He's asking way too much money as well.

[Migration]

10 hours ago, Phil B said:

Only set of any value that I spotted in the instructions is the 50yr anniversary Town Plan set 10184, which sells used with instructions for $400-450 on BL. $17 per pound is waaay too much. And a lot of bulky pieces, such as all those boat hulls. Now it might be that one of them is from a high-price-fetching pirate ship, but I'm no expert in that field.

You missed 7783 in there. But yes to high priced. 

[Huskers1236]

No, no, and more no.  Bad pictures that hide what is(or isn't) there is a bad sign.  If this was loaded with great sets, it would be one thing, but as others have pointed out, this is mostly City stuff and the asking price is probably 3x too much.  As much as I like bulk lots, this one doesn't interest me at all.  I would be in for $1000 just because I know I could sell it as bulk and get my money back if it really sucked, but that would probably be my cap.

[jbacunn]

This is going to be an unbelievable amount of work. You will be sorting from now till doomsday.  Also, if they are dirty you will also be cleaning from now to doomsday too. 

Edited January 9, 2016 by jbacunn

[Ciglione]

My hunch is the best (complete) sets are already taken out and sold. It is suspicious all the parts are mostly single and loose. Only a few are attached/build. So he already did the sorting work. The rubbish and incomplete sets are sold in this bulk. He is asking that high of a price cause he wants the best price.

Leave it alone.   

[iahawks550]

You would regret this as soon as the thrill of the purchase wore off.

[terrymc4677]

First, as others have mentioned, his price is way too high. I think it's high intentionally though. The first picture appears as if it was taken at a storage unit. I'm guessing that this person buys storage units, and he probably just recently acquired this collection and knows very little about it. His thought process was probably to take as many pictures on the spot as he could so he could hopefully move it and be done with it as fast and with as little work as possible. He put a high price on it intentionally because he figures that someone will talk him down and he plans on accepting a lower offer. If he starts it too low then the eventual sale price will be lower. 

I do see a few nice sets in there. There is some potter, a cargo ship, and trains. Loose track always sells well to those looking to expand their train layouts, especially 9v. I've had some good sales from selling loose track from bulk lots. It wouldn't hurt to politely ask a few questions and submit a potential offer, just to get a feel for where his head is at and how determined he is to move this. As others have mentioned, I wouldn't go more than $1k on this. Keep us posted if you pursue it. Good luck.

Edited January 9, 2016 by terrymc4677

[justapilgrim]

His price is probably right.....after all the work. He is basing it on what is there, not the work to put it together. Honestly if you paid $1000, sorted, built everything separated etc, you might (and I mean might) get $3700.....after a TON of work

[donbee]

12 hours ago, Migration said:

Thank you everyone for the advice!

Thank you everyone for the advice!

[jkris53406]

Hasn't anyone send this same lot on ebay? The pics there show a lot of megablocks. I would stay far far away from this one.