The LEGO sets I bought as an investment.

[emazers]

First, you don't have to post or file no taxes if you keep it under 200 paypal transactions and not over $20,000 sales. "About shipping lego's, I been selling on E-bay since 1998 EMAZER and what I learned is to sell anything and not get screwed on shipping you need a good Scale $50 Up, and practice filling in the info, size of box, Weight, as if everything is filled in correct on the auction you will be OK, a good 40 percent of sellers have no idea what they are doing when it comes to shipping, some way way overcharge, and most loose plenty of money on shipping." AND here is the best tip I can give, not for just selling lego's but anything, The way I do it is if the item is over $100 the Box has to be Mailed Express Mail Only, No Exceptions. This way its trackable, it will get there for sure and pretty quick, plus alot more countries have a 5-8 Guarreetee, and if it does not get there on time you get your money back. And since its going express I do put a low value and check gift this way they should not get a Tax. Ed

[SpaceViking]

Contrary to what emazers claims, any gain is liable for taxation. The limits he states (200 tx, $20k sales) are the limits at which point ebay/amazon are required to report the sales activity to the IRS.

The IRS carries (roughly) three classifications for ebay sellers: casual, hobby, and professional. A google search can bring up decent articles on how to handle it.

The burden of proof regarding the 'gain' is completely on the seller, so it helps to keep good records.

[zskid00]

And since its going express I do put a low value and check gift this way they should not get a Tax. Ed

This may be beneficial to your buyers, but you cannot make an insurance claim for the full value of the item if you are declaring it at a lower value. This is a risk you are taking if a package gets lost or damaged in transit because the buyer would probably get their full payment refunded and you would only get the insured/declared value in any settlement with the USPS.

[emazers]

I no if you only put $50 Value for an Overseas item that sold for $300 you will get screwed. But like I said I been doing e-bay since 1998, and have mailed thousands of stuff outside the US, and all the Lego sets and everything has always gotten there Express mail. one guy from Canada years ago said he never got his Toy Story Doll that cost $10, so I just sent him another one, and thats the only person who said he never got an item from me, Its all most impossible for an item not to get the Lego set that was sent Express Mail. With just Priority Mail the person can say he never got the item, and you get screwed, but with Express it gets there and everybody is happy.

[Luciant]

Guys remember this thread is to share ideas on how we invest... Some people are more risk adverse than others, so not every idea will work for everyone.

I for one, really appreciate the information emazers has shared from his long tenure selling. He's doing something right if he's still in the game this long, and has accumulated the stock he has. His strategy might not work for you, and that's ok. You can always modify something to your own liking and maker it work for you.

[zak001]

Some people are more risk adverse than others, so not every idea will work for everyone.

When considering advice, international shippers probably SHOULD keep in mind that improper export declarations are a violation of, you know, the law. 13 USC § 305.

[SpaceViking]

Diagon Alley has been on the amazon 'lego top 10 best sellers' list for most of the week, at MSRP. Today it looks like amazon's stock is now gone. It is also now listed as 'call for availablility' on LS@H.

Looks like EOL is quickly approaching for DA.

[skeet318]

I don't think I'm capable of Lego investing or hoarding. I can't buy a set and not open it. More power to you!

[skeet318]

What about sets with Ultra rare, one and done minifigures? Are they good bets? The Sith Fury Class Interceptor is marked down at my local Wal-Mart. I just don't think Darth Malgus is gonna be in anymore sets. I missed out on Rogue Shadow. Force Unleashed is a dead video game series, so I doubt Lego will ever put out another Starkiller or Juno again. What was that ship's retail price?

[emazers]

Looks Like The 10212 Imperial Shuttle is about sold out at the $259.99 price or lower about everywhere, give e-bay a month or two and you see sellers trying to get big bucks, if you look on e-bay now there are some people panicing and buying the high price ones, but remember what people are asking and what they get ain't the same, just check sold items and you will see which ones actually sold. So if anybody has a few of these to sell wait about a year and you should make yourself a good profit, lik I said I have 61, and paid $180-$229.00 for each one. Same Goes for the Potter 10217 they are done and in a year these will be $250-$350 Each. "I'm telling everybody who resell's The 7965 Falcon will be out for one more year, so if you can get them for about $100 get as many as you can afford, everybody loves a Lego Falcon, so after its discontinued you have about 2-3 years to sell them and it will be a $300 and up set, then about the 5th year I'm sure a new Falcon will be coming out. So get as Many haunted Houses and the New batman Asylum in the next 2 years as these 2 will be big big buck items. Ed

[ricefields]

I don't think I'm capable of Lego investing or hoarding. I can't buy a set and not open it. More power to you!

the plan is to buy multiple copies of the same set, so you can still open your one - you don't have to be compelled to open the others! unless you planning a huge battle (which I have tried but never wanted to open more than one copy)

[Edmond Dantes]

I agree with emazers on everything except the 7965 Falcons. There have been so many iterations of this ship that the older ones have been consistently dropping in price over the past two years. MAYBE in two years (when 7965 has been retired for a bit) prices will start rising again.

My investing strategy is much different than the big sellers (emazers, Lego Fan Texas, many others). They buy multiple copies of sets they view as uber-collectible, hold them for 3-4 years and re-sell them for 200-300% profit.

I operate (mostly) by buying all the clearance I can get and flipping for 40-50% (sometimes as high as 80-90%) profit in a week or two. Do this enough times and your profits soar to thousands of percent over the course of 2-3 years. It's more work, but since I have a much smaller budget, it actually ends up making me much more money over the same time frame. It's a very simple concept.

Obviously many were doing this with Minecraft, but I rarely see others doing it except following the Christmas sales at Target and Walmart. I do it year round.

[anakinisvader]

I agree with emazers on everything except the 7965 Falcons. There have been so many iterations of this ship that the older ones have been consistently dropping in price over the past two years. MAYBE in two years (when 7965 has been retired for a bit) prices will start rising again.

My investing strategy is much different than the big sellers (emazers, Lego Fan Texas, many others). They buy multiple copies of sets they view as uber-collectible, hold them for 3-4 years and re-sell them for 200-300% profit.

I operate (mostly) by buying all the clearance I can get and flipping for 40-50% (sometimes as high as 80-90%) profit in a week or two. Do this enough times and your profits soar to thousands of percent over the course of 2-3 years. It's more work, but since I have a much smaller budget, it actually ends up making me much more money over the same time frame. It's a very simple concept.

Obviously many were doing this with Minecraft, but I rarely see others doing it except following the Christmas sales at Target and Walmart. I do it year round.

I do just as you do Edmond. I like to get the little stuff on clearance and sell for retail or just above. I have turned many items doing this. I still have some big sets but only a couple of each. I cant afford to sit on stuff too long. Its the thrill of the hunt trying to find heavily discounted and clearance stuff that gets me going. Unfortunately I have been burned a few times on items such as Cloud City which I bought for $75 and sold for $150. I should have held them a few years. Oh well, live and learn.

[Edmond Dantes]

Yes, you always run the risk of flipping too early, but even so, profit is profit! I also try to consistently have the lowest prices on Bricklink. I don't have to deal with eBay's crap, and the product moves more quickly that way. I don't try to make a living doing this - mostly I do it to put the proceeds back into clearance purchases and actual sets for building.

That being said, I still have a MISB UCS Falcon sitting in my closet. I can't bring myself to build it because it's worth so much money, but I can't bring myself to sell it, because I want to eventually build it!

[ricefields]

Yes, you always run the risk of flipping too early, but even so, profit is profit! I also try to consistently have the lowest prices on Bricklink. I don't have to deal with eBay's crap, and the product moves more quickly that way. I don't try to make a living doing this - mostly I do it to put the proceeds back into clearance purchases and actual sets for building.

That being said, I still have a MISB UCS Falcon sitting in my closet. I can't bring myself to build it because it's worth so much money, but I can't bring myself to sell it, because I want to eventually build it!

I was in the same situation re the ucs falcon but I listed it on bricklink anyways to reduce my collection and when someone bought it I regretted it, so I bought someone else's ucs falcon which was cheaper than the one I sold it for and still made money through this transaction and still had my ucs in the end. after this situation I don't hesitate buying very high price lego sets (ie $500-2500) even for flipping; however, its riskier and you have to be willing to have alot of money tied up on one expensive item instead of 10-20 sets.

[Edmond Dantes]

Did you end up building the Falcon?

[ricefields]

Did you end up building the Falcon?

No, still in sealed box and I cannot get myself to open and build it knowing the value.

[cstojano]

Funny you mention that. I often have the same problem. If I dont build a set and it goes EOL I cant bring myself to open the box.

[Edmond Dantes]

Funny you mention that. I often have the same problem. If I dont build a set and it goes EOL I cant bring myself to open the box.

Well, often having the problem with any EOL set is just a little different than a MISB Falcon.

[Luciant]

I agree with emazers on everything except the 7965 Falcons. There have been so many iterations of this ship that the older ones have been consistently dropping in price over the past two years. MAYBE in two years (when 7965 has been retired for a bit) prices will start rising again.

My investing strategy is much different than the big sellers (emazers, Lego Fan Texas, many others). They buy multiple copies of sets they view as uber-collectible, hold them for 3-4 years and re-sell them for 200-300% profit.

I operate (mostly) by buying all the clearance I can get and flipping for 40-50% (sometimes as high as 80-90%) profit in a week or two. Do this enough times and your profits soar to thousands of percent over the course of 2-3 years. It's more work, but since I have a much smaller budget, it actually ends up making me much more money over the same time frame. It's a very simple concept.

Obviously many were doing this with Minecraft, but I rarely see others doing it except following the Christmas sales at Target and Walmart. I do it year round.

My previous experience thus far has been a "buy on clearance, try to hold for a while so prices/demand increase." That being said, most of my inventory is Atlantis, Star Wars, a few odds and ends in non-popular themes (hence how they hit clearance to begin with). My problem is that I haven't seen the sets really sell for even MSRP much less over it. When I paid 50%, and it's selling for maybe 70%, 1) it's still not moving fast, 2) after 6% fees and time/gas spent taking to ship it, I net very little. I bought like 20 Blacksmith attacks for $5, have them listed at I think $10-15, and they haven't moved at all. If I sell at $8, is it really worth all the wait/trouble/storage/etc. for $1-2 profit? That's what I've been asking myself. Any advice on how I can get things moving faster and actually make it worth my while would be appreciated.

Once I'm able to get rid of some of the inventory I have now, I plan on shifting to a strategy more like Emazers, as I think the risk / reward / energy invested is better in the long run. It just takes a little more thought rather than grab everything on clearance. I thought those $25-$50 Galactic Enforcers were a good investment... not so much. Even trying to part things out makes things difficult as I don't have a "piece storage strategy" in place yet, but am not sure if this is the route to go, as even having to sift/sort/pick through pieces for $5 might not be worth the hassle.