What will you build next with Stud.io? Available for Mac and WindowsPrevious post: LEGOLAND Florida bus sighting… Next post: Add some bling to your LEGO! Come Play With Us! Bricks & Minifigs® is your one-stop LEGO® shop! We are the largest toy store of our kind, specializing in only new and used LEGO® items. We buy and trade all things LEGO®, from tubs of bulk to storage unit sized collections. If it’s LEGO®, we’ll take it!!Enjoy our selection of individual minifigs, bulk bricks, components and accessories. With the largest assortment of new, used and retired sets we keep your collection growing! Bricks & Minifigs is built on the principle of the 3 R'sREBUILD with thousands of pieces to choose from ensuring you'll have those childhood sets rebuilt in no time.REUSE is our way or saying that we buy, sell and trade anything Lego brand and pay top dollar for it.REIMAGINE those sets you get from us by creating your own masterpiece straight from your imagination.
Lego has said it is reversing its policy on bulk purchases and will no longer ask customers what they want to use the bricks for.The U-turn follows a recent controversy involving Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.In October last year, Ai accused Lego of censorship when it refused to sell its bricks directly to him.The company said its policy was to reject requests if it believed the bricks would be used to make a political statement.Ai is known for his criticism of the Chinese government as well as for being one of the world's leading contemporary artists. He wanted the bricks for an artwork on political dissidents. The artist ended up using "fake" bricks donated to him by the public for an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia.Ai appeared to react to Lego's decision on Wednesday by posting a picture on Instagram of a young boy sticking bricks onto his face, accompanied by a grinning emoji caption. When Lego first refused to sell a bulk order of plastic bricks to Ai Weiwei in September, he's thought to have kept the news to himself.
But a few weeks later, the announcement that a new Legoland theme park would open in Shanghai led the artist to reveal Lego's decision to stay away from projects that had a "political agenda". It was a surprising decision by Lego. After all, Ai Weiwei had used Lego before. He created a series of portraits of political dissidents that appeared at an exhibition in Alcatraz prison in 2014. Back in October, the artist tied Lego's financial interests in China with its decision to refuse his order. His accusation has some merit: KIRKBI, the private Danish company that owns the Lego brand also owns a significant amount of shares in Merlin Entertainment, the British company that operates Legolands around the world.China is Lego's fastest growing market and the company wouldn't want to irritate Beijing. However, as Lego might attest, few would want to battle the feisty Ai Weiwei. In a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, Lego said it used to ask customers ordering bulk purchases for the "thematic purpose" of their project, as it did not want to "actively support or endorse specific agendas"."
However, those guidelines could result in misunderstandings or be perceived as inconsistent, and the Lego Group has therefore adjusted the guidelines for sales of Lego bricks in very large quantities," it said.As of 1 January the company will instead ask that customers make clear the group does not support or endorse their projects, if exhibited in public.Lego's earlier decision to refuse Ai's request angered the artist, who accused the company of censorship and discrimination, and of attempting to define political art.The artist told the BBC he welcomed Lego's change of heart."I think Lego made a good move, I think this would be a small victory for freedom of speech." The artist also linked Lego's stance with business interests in China.The controversy sparked a public backlash resulting in supporters around the world offering to donate toy bricks.Ai set up "Lego collection points" in different cities, and ended up making a new series of artworks based on the incident as a commentary on freedom of speech and political art.
Correction: This article was changed to make it clear that Ai Weiwei's Melbourne exhibition used non-Lego bricks.2x4 Ridge Roof Tiles Steep Sloped Black Our community, 75 want it 2x4 Ridge Roof Tiles Steep Sloped Red Our community, 64 want it Our community, 78 want it 1x3x4 Wall Element Transparent Blue Our community, 86 want it 1x4x5 Black Window Frames with Clear Panes Our community, 87 want it 1x4x6 Black Door and Frames with Transparent Blue Panes Our community, 90 want it Our community, 69 want it 2x2 Light Grey Bricks Our community, 65 want it 2x2 Dark Green Bricks Our community, 60 want it Our community, 73 want it 2x4 Light Grey Bricks 2x4 Dark Green Bricks Our community, 66 want it 2x8 Light Grey Bricks Our community, 64 want itItems 1 to 60 of 3000 Items 1 to 60 of 3000This series of articles explores the practical economics of buying, sorting and selling bulk Lego.
I will help assess what it takes to make real money by describing my own experience buying a large used Lego collection on Craigslist for a discounted price, figuring out what sets I had, sorting the bricks back into the original sets, acquiring the missing pieces and reselling for a profit. Along the way, I’ll call out some of the hidden costs and benefits for Lego enthusiasts. LEGO as an investment? Before I go deeper into the details of my project, I should point out that investing in Lego can be a big business for some folks. which helps people invest in Lego, although they focus on investing in unopened/new sets. On that site, you can see the current value of any Lego set (based on Ebay and other sources). It also allows you to record and track the value of your portfolio of Lego sets as if it were a stock market. I have purchased a couple Lego sets as a small-scale investment to support my hobby, but I don’t want to build up a large enough inventory to make it profitable.
A couple ways to make money selling Lego: Most people invest in unopened Lego sets, hoping to sell them in a couple years when they are no longer available for a healthy profit. (Some of the most sought-after sets have doubled in cost in just two years, and that isn’t accounting for the possibility that you may have initially purchased the set at a discount.) Some folks try to find sets at a discount and resell them immediately for a profit. Others buy used Lego bricks and sets and try to sell for a profit. (This is the focus of this article.) What is Lego worth? Before you buy anything, you need a basic knowledge about how much used Lego is worth. The following is a rough guide based on my experience: New Lego sets have a MSRP of between 8 and 12 cents per brick. That said, most sets can be purchased for between 10 and 40% off if you are patient, take advantage of rewards programs and sales. (Many of the large “Exclusive” sets which adult fans want are much harder to buy at a discount.)
Used Lego sets in good condition are worth between 50% and 75% of retail prices while they are still available in stores. 6 – 12 months after they are no longer available, used sets usually catch up with MSRP, and can slowly increase in value if they are in high demand. The rule of thumb for unsorted Lego is between 6$ and 12$ per pound. If the bricks are sorted by color or include lots of desirable pieces, they are worth more. The value of Lego Minifigures varies greatly. Rare minifigures from a popular theme like Star Wars can sell for 5-10$ a piece. More common minifigures sell for about 1$. can yield much higher prices, but it requires a small warehouse to store your bricks and seems like an unbelievable time commitment. Based on these factors, I decided that buying a used collection containing older sets which I can sort into complete sets would be the best approach for me, especially if I could get it for a really low price. Deciding what to buy If you are looking to buy used Lego, you have a couple options: Ebay, Craigslist and Garage Sales to name a few…
I prefer Craigslist as you don’t have to worry about shipping, and you can see what you are getting before making a payment. My goal was to buy a collection containing many sets which I could sort out and sell for a profit. I also hoped that the collection would include some themes which interest me. (In my case: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Architecture.) Buying a profitable collection: I looked at dozens of used Lego collections on Craigslist listings before I made my first big purchase. I live in Seattle which has a lot of Adult Lego enthusiasts, so it’s harder to find a great deal here. Since I was traveling to the east coast for the holidays, I checked Craigslist in areas we were visiting and found some better collections for sale than anything I’d seen in Seattle. The collection which I bought on Craigslist wasn’t very detailed and included only two blurry photos. The listing said that it included the “6211 – Imperial Star Destroyer” set which was released in 2006, plus “some other sets”.
The original craigslist post is gone, so I can’t show you exactly what was listed, but I can say that the listing under-represented the size of the collection. As the listing was a bit unclear, I sent the seller the following clarifying email: “Are there any minifigures in the box? I am trying to determine if there are some nearly complete sets that are just missing instructions or not.” As they say, it never hurts to ask! In response, I got a lot more info than they put in their original Craigslist post: “There are mini figures in the collection as most of it came from sets. The sets were broken down and the boxes / instructions were thrown out. Here are just a few that are in the container: LEGO Star Wars Clone Turbo Tank (8098) LEGO Star Wars General Grievous Starfighter (8095) LEGO Power Miners Fire Blaster (8188) LEGO® Power Miners Claw Catcher 8190 LEGO Power Miners Titanium Command Rig (8964) That last one was $200 alone..
Obviously everything is broken down into 1 pile. Ie, they are not separated by set into ziplocks etc.” Getting this much new information was great for me, since I had more information to help make a buying decision than other potential buyers. At this point I was confident that this would be a profitable purchase given the 150$ asking price. At the very least, I could resell the Imperial Star Destroyer to recoup my costs. I made arrangements to buy the collection, and was blown away by the two massive Rubbermaid bins which they game me. (This created two problems outside of the scope of this article: Figuring out how to get 60+ pounds of Lego back to my home in Seattle, and figuring out how to keep my wife from killing me for buying so much Lego on vacation!) Tips and Tricks to buy the right collection: I’m hardly an expert, but the following are some helpful tips to help make sure you get a good deal.People sell used Lego collections every day. You need to find a great deal if you want to make any money.