Investing in Lego

[cpu77]

Brickmythic,

Thanks so much for your input. Do you think the price of the 19" Darth minifig displays will rise in value? I actually have a couple of those:) I am trying to decide if I should sell one or keep them both. Thanks so much for your input!

[Edmond Dantes]

I do most of my selling on Bricklink, but I do it slightly differently than most in this thread. While I have sold complete sets (especially older Pirates sets now that I'm no longer interested in the theme), I concentrate mostly on buying Licensed sets at great discounts (like the Disney deal a couple weeks ago), then selling the figs off, but keeping the pieces. This results in extremely cheap, if not free sets missing only the minifigs. My hoard is growing rapidly and at a very cheap price.

I also hang on to most of the most expensive figs (currently Anubis warriors, chrome stormtroopers, shadow ARF, etc), until the sets are discontinued. Then I wait a little longer, then sell! The prices can be ridiculous.

I do have to say I keep at least two MISB copies of the sets I believe will grow in value (Emerald Night, Fire Brigade, MMV, Imperial Shuttle, Tower Bridge, Brickbeard's Bounty, Imperial Flagship, Black Pearl, QAR, etc, etc) - at least one to sell to recoup my expenses and perhaps one to break open for my collection (or sell if the price is amazing or I lose interest in the theme). I never thought of the Maersk Train, but I do have a MISB copy of that as well...

I still have my MISB UCS Falcon that I bought for $375 during the May the 4rth clearance a couple years ago. The prices are astounding, but I just can't get rid of it - I love it too much!

[sadowsk1]

I still have my MISB UCS Falcon that I bought for $375 during the May the 4rth clearance a couple years ago. The prices are astounding, but I just can't get rid of it - I love it too much!

I hear that. I call it my retirement falcon. Either I will sell it for a fistful of money or build it when I retire. I like it just the way it is, even if it is contained within a box right now.

[eliminator]

well, today I made my first every "Lego investment." I picked up two Maersk trains from TRU USA for $180 They have BYGO 50% + $15 holiday promo and free shipping. So, $90 each. (MSRP is $120 USA, $155 Canada)

I plan to keep one and sell the other once it's discontinued.

[SpaceViking]

well, today I made my first every "Lego investment." I picked up two Maersk trains from TRU USA for $180 They have BYGO 50% + $15 holiday promo and free shipping. So, $90 each. (MSRP is $120 USA, $155 Canada)

I plan to keep one and sell the other once it's discontinued.

welcome to the dark side.

[eliminator]

well, today I made my first every "Lego investment." I picked up two Maersk trains from TRU USA for $180 They have BYGO 50% + $15 holiday promo and free shipping. So, $90 each. (MSRP is $120 USA, $155 Canada)

I plan to keep one and sell the other once it's discontinued.

welcome to the dark side.

thanx, I actually had the thought "why not get 2 more while the deal is still on?"

gotta draw the line somewhere. I am keeping a eye out for a deal on the Fire Brigade (I actually just finished mine this morning.) Although not the best modular in the series, it's a sure bet for a few easy bucks.

[Brickmythic]

Brickmythic,

Thanks so much for your input. Do you think the price of the 19" Darth minifig displays will rise in value? I actually have a couple of those:) I am trying to decide if I should sell one or keep them both. Thanks so much for your input!

NIce! those 19" Darth Vader minifigures are awesome! Value on them is quite subjective right now since there were only a few thousand made, and some thrown away or trashed. I suggest doing an ebay search. I recall one selling for $200-300 usd not long ago. It will depend greatly on condition, the Vader one lit up or did something. It is my opinion they won't make them again.

Since second hand Lego/games toy shops are popping up everywhere, there will always be an ongoing rising demand for the 19" Darth Vader minifigures (and others).

For instance I've seen a few Minifigure Kiosks pop up in some of the higher end malls, that 19" Vader figure would be the perfect display to attract folks attention.

Second hand Lego Brick and Mortar shops will grow in popularity as long as there is demand for minifigs and retired sets.

Happy holidays everyone and good luck bargain hunting!!!

Imperial Flagship is sold out!
There is still time to snag them at Amazon or Lego B&M stores.

its an AMAZING BRILLIANT set.

When you profit big on lego, always remember to give something back to charity. Espeically around the holidays, the most profitable season.

Its not our faults parents waited until 2 weeks before christmas to buy Hogwarts express!!!!

But always give to Toys for Tots when you can, or whatever charity you see fit with your good fortune!

[L3GOCOLL3CTOR]

Hi...

I am new to this forum, but I am quite experienced with "Lego Investment." I've been investing in Legos for years and have had great returns on most, if not all, of my Lego investments. LEGO does a great job in discontinuing their sets after a year or two, thus creating a nice vehicle for investment purposes. New/mint in box sets almost always appreciate in value after 2-3 years, some drastically. Set #10179(Millennium Falcon) has reached values of over $1500+ on EBAY, from a MSRP of $499, only a couple of years ago. This is an extreme case, but similar % increases can be seen with smaller sets(especially Star Wars).

As for the Target Darth Vader display, it is an item that has brought back as much as $4200 on EBAY. I have noticed a definite decrease in prices on those large Darths, but a complete working display still brings in $1500+. Even the displays that have the cover removed and just has the figure still bring in $500+. These displays are supposed to be destroyed by Target/Toys R Us, but a lot of them are 'saved' by employees or the companies that are supposed to destroy them, thus making it to EBAY for sale. Just from my recent observations of the EBAY listings though, it appears that there is a lack of interest in Lego store displays(to my dismay because I have about 40 of them...LOL), but the new/MIB Lego sets are still bringing back solid returns.

Here is a good article about Lego store displays...

http://www.brickpicker.com/index.php/bl ... _for_fools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope this helps you out...

[wintersun]

Wow that's really interesting, I'm new to this forum and I'm surprised by all the informations.

I'm curious, where you all come from? It's possible to make money from Lego in Canada? All the Lego are like 25-40% higher than in the US.

I would really like to invest in Lego (only to buy more Lego for myself and my son). But I'm not sure if it's a good idea in Canada

[bulwark]

I'm in Canada. I focus mostly on larger sets. Most of my "investment" sets don't come from Canadian sales, they're usually from places that ship to Canada from the US or Europe.

[slacker]

I want to see how you guys store all your sets.

[cbaker1974]

I'll have to take a picture of my setup when I get home...I have a small house where space is a premium, so I bought plastic garage-style shelving from Home Depot that has 5-6 shelves, 3 feet across and 18" deep, then line those along the walls. The space between the shelves is big enough to slide a large set box (think Scorpion Pyramid, Queen Anne's Revenge, new Millenium Falcon) in without scraping the top. The large modulars don't fit, but I just put those on the topmost shelf. I have all of these shelving units lining a room and a couple in the middle so that it looks like a library (I call it my Legorium!). Shipping boxes are a different story though, haven't figured a good place for those...right now the best ones are getting saved (usually Target and S@H) and the ones that arrive all beaten up (TRU and Amazon are the worst offenders) get sent to recycling.

[L3GOCOLL3CTOR]

I want to see how you guys store all your sets.

Storage is the hardest thing with Lego 'investment.' The boxes take up quite a bit of space and damage easily. I have plastic shelves from Home Depot that I store my regular sets in. My more valuable sets like #10179 and #10030(Millennium Falcon and Star Destroyer), I try to keep in a larger box on the shelves. You could also wrap them in a plastic bag to protect from moisture. Try not to stack too many on top of one another.

My wife gets upset with me because my whole finished basement is filled with Lego boxes. I try to tell her that one day, the sets will be worth triple the amount I paid and then she shuts up...

[ricefields]

Good advice everyone.

Solid big set investments:

Imperial Flagship

Maersk Train

Emerald Night

Death Star

London Tower Bridge

Mideval Market Village

Most of the above are close to retiring, the bigger the set the more you can make but sometimes it takes longer to sell big sets.

Also

Queen Anne's Revenge

Black Pearl

will be solid sets to invest in when they are close to retiring or if you can snag them now for 50% off.

Both Pirate ships are fantastic and will fetch super high premiums a few years from now.


Investing in smaller sets used to be much easier when the market wasn't as saturated with investors/sellers.

There was also a golden age in magnet packs where the figures contained in them were unattached, not magnets themselves and actual figures.

I would add minstorm nxt 2.0 and fallingwater, especially for canadians looking to invest. nxt in canada is $100 more than US avg always sought after for gifts and holidays. Same with fallingwater - is sold out at lego.com so hopefully everyone got theirs from other sources that are much cheaper. Their investment value in US is not that high but for canada and other countries like australia, these make excellent sets to invest.

[ricefields]

forgot to also mention other current run sets with decent investment opportunities...
red cargo train - for obvious reasons that it is limited edition
cargo train - probably not as high an investment as the original cargo train deluxe but should still be decent return
technic unimog - I am not into technic but this is the first one I am buying/investing in - very limited market due to theme and price but should still bring decent return
camper van - even buying this at regular price is a good investment though 10% off was the best anyone can do
maersk ship - even rereleased several times, this was sold out in nov before being around for sales but even at regular price, the aftermarket was already showing decent return - fortunately bought the last one at sherway gardens lego store in toronto

this is not rocket science, the trend has been pretty clear over the last several years that almost all exclusives, train sets, modular building sets are good investments plus whatever the hot theme/sets of the year come nov/dec were due to high demand and short supply. This year were ninjago sets, last year was harry potter hogwarts castle, two years ago were winter toyshop/city advent calendar/lego architecture (fallingwater, guggenheim, empire), three years ago were batman sets, four years ago were the gold chrome c3po minifigs, five - sailbarge /star destroyer, six - cloud city; I was in the dark ages before 2005). This list is just based on my selling experience and observations on ebay/bricklink; I am sure there were other hot themes/sets to invest in.

[Legobrandon]

Better go out and get myself all three trains during a TRU City sale. The Camper Van is a wonderful looking set at a very decent price point. Even though the Maersk Ship was released a few time, I never got the chance to buy it. The Unimog is great too, might also be my first 'large' Technic set. Very disappointed that I didn't not pick up the Imperial Flagship while it was still in production. I don't have a single Modular Building, I better start before LEGO decides to stop producing them.

[cupishalfempty]

I don't have interest in storing unopened boxes of lego. At least for the moment. What's your opinion on used sets? Pretty much all my sets are complete, assembled, in mint condition, complete with original box, bags and instructions. It pains me to break up a complete set so I keep everything original as lego designed it. I want to get into the Modulars, and am wondering if I start collecting now, Build and display them. Then in a couple years disassemble and repackage them in the original box and sell as a used set if I can make my money back? I'm just out of my dark years and can't read the trends right now.

Thanks

[Legobrandon]

I don't have interest in storing unopened boxes of lego. At least for the moment. What's your opinion on used sets? Pretty much all my sets are complete, assembled, in mint condition, complete with original box, bags and instructions. It pains me to break up a complete set so I keep everything original as lego designed it. I want to get into the Modulars, and am wondering if I start collecting now, Build and display them. Then in a couple years disassemble and repackage them in the original box and sell as a used set if I can make my money back? I'm just out of my dark years and can't read the trends right now.

Thanks

The modulars will sell at very high prices, no doubt about it. The Cafe Corner for example, both new and used ones go for about the same price ($100 difference). The trends are usually the LEGO exclusives (more expensive ones) such as the modulars, SW Death Star, Super Star Destoryer, VW Camper Van... etc.

[cupishalfempty]

I don't have interest in storing unopened boxes of lego. At least for the moment. What's your opinion on used sets? Pretty much all my sets are complete, assembled, in mint condition, complete with original box, bags and instructions. It pains me to break up a complete set so I keep everything original as lego designed it. I want to get into the Modulars, and am wondering if I start collecting now, Build and display them. Then in a couple years disassemble and repackage them in the original box and sell as a used set if I can make my money back? I'm just out of my dark years and can't read the trends right now.

Thanks

The modulars will sell at very high prices, no doubt about it. The Cafe Corner for example, both new and used ones go for about the same price ($100 difference). The trends are usually the LEGO exclusives (more expensive ones) such as the modulars, SW Death Star, Super Star Destoryer, VW Camper Van... etc.

Thanks for the quick response. I figured used sets were worth a percentage less than MISB, but were still valuable after being discontinued. I will thoroughly enjoy my VW camper van for the next little while, then package it up and sell it after it loses it's luster but gains in value. Same plan for the modulars.

[Legobrandon]

I don't have interest in storing unopened boxes of lego. At least for the moment. What's your opinion on used sets? Pretty much all my sets are complete, assembled, in mint condition, complete with original box, bags and instructions. It pains me to break up a complete set so I keep everything original as lego designed it. I want to get into the Modulars, and am wondering if I start collecting now, Build and display them. Then in a couple years disassemble and repackage them in the original box and sell as a used set if I can make my money back? I'm just out of my dark years and can't read the trends right now.

Thanks

The modulars will sell at very high prices, no doubt about it. The Cafe Corner for example, both new and used ones go for about the same price ($100 difference). The trends are usually the LEGO exclusives (more expensive ones) such as the modulars, SW Death Star, Super Star Destoryer, VW Camper Van... etc.

Thanks for the quick response. I figured used sets were worth a percentage less than MISB, but were still valuable after being discontinued. I will thoroughly enjoy my VW camper van for the next little while, then package it up and sell it after it loses it's luster but gains in value. Same plan for the modulars.

But why not keep them and have have a bit of LEGO history in your home?