Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top I bought an advent calendar, with a minifig or part of a scene behind each door. Each piece is sealed in a plastic bag and needs to be assembled. Almost every bag has an extra piece in it. Is this a mistake when the pieces are being wrapped, a little bonus (yay, 2 crowbars!) or sloppy counting? (It's extremely Christmassy - a police station, burglars with a crowbar and axe, police officers with handcuffs - oh, and a tree with presents.) It isn't a mistake. Lego weighs the bricks in each bag to ensure that the right components are present. However, it is difficult to weigh the smallest pieces accurately. (This is also why small bits tend to share one bag). If Lego tried to get the component count spot-on there is the danger that they would miss the very rare occasions when one of these small pieces was left out of a box.
It would be bad for Lego if there were pieces missing - it would both damage their reputation and lead to expensive support calls. So rather than risk that they intentionally include more of the smallest pieces. That way, if the extra one is missing, nobody minds too much. At the same time, Lego knows that a couple of extra bits will make customers happy, especially as the small pieces are prone to getting lost. So, you're right to consider the extra pieces as a little bonus. LEGO sets usually have a number of extra pieces. In most cases they are small bricks, that are easier to lose like 1x1 plates/tiles/studs, cheese slopes, levers/antennas and flower petals. I know some people would throw the extra bricks away, never do this! Like loose change they will add up over time and can be used to add extra details to your models. As part of this answer to the question: Does Toy 'R Us (or more expensive-than-average) retailers have more extra parts than average?, user Ambo100 posted a reply from LEGO Customer Services which also has relevance to this question.
When it comes to spare parts, it is random what pieces are included inWe always want to make sure our fans have a little extra to go with their awesome imaginations. LEGO Direct Consumer Services The answers here from Lego are nice, but the most likely explanation is it's harder to dispense the smaller pieces accurately and so occasionally an extra one falls out. It's better to suffer the loss of one cheap bit of lego than to slow the process down to make it more accurate. And as others have said, Lego knows people will be happy with extra bits but angry with missing ones. So things are left as they are. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged sets or ask your own question.Some rare Lego sets are now selling for literally thousands of pounds online, as enthusiasts snap up the popular toys.
But it's not just rare pieces that are selling well, with standard sets now frequently worth more than when they were new and even old bags of unsorted bricks in demand. “With the soar in popularity of Lego with both adults and children, the effect on the values of both rare, hard to find sets and new releases has been incredible," said Bev Channell, event director for Lego event BRICK 2015, running at Birmingham's NEC this week. “It’s well worth searching through your old sets to see what treasures are hiding there.” The bigger, rarer sets tend to be worth the most - but with Lego frequently refreshing its range that means any old set that's large enough could be worth upwards of £1,000. Currently, these are the most valuable sets: Sadly, to get the best prices for your Lego, it needs to be “mint in box” - which means not opened since it was bought and still factory sealed. The good news for people who want to play with their toys is that you can still get good returns for assembled models – as long as there are no pieces missing.
The easiest Lego sets to sell are Star Wars themed, with Millennium Falcons, Death Stars and X-Wings all selling well – and some prices in the thousands. But there's much more than just Star Wars selling. A look at the best-selling kits on BrickPicker shows trains, play houses, dinosaurs, Harry Potter sets, Back to the Future Deloreans and Pirate sets all featuring. Most of the sales take place on eBay, with BrickPicker providing lists of the top selling and biggest rising prices – as well as a tool letting you compare the price of sets. You can also search on eBay for sold prices of similar sets. If you've got a box of Lego, rather than a specific set, you can bulk-sell as well – although prices for these are a lot lower. That said, if you have the time and can split the box out by category (be it Star Wars, pirates, Medieval, Technic or whatever) these smaller – more specific - bundles will frequently sell for more than a job-lot of unsorted bricks. To get the most value, you need to be selling pristine-condition Lego toys.
“As with any sort of collectible, the safe storage of the collectible is very important,” Ed Mack explains in a piece on How to make money from Lego . “Although the actual Lego brick is pretty much indestructible under normal conditions, the Lego boxes and instructions need special care.” That means quite a lot of space to store them all if you're trying to make money from them, and possibly adding the cost to your insurance. Then there are the seller fees on eBay. And the shipping costs – remember, Lego is bulky and could cost quite a bit to ship. And if you're selling to a collector, they'll expect it to arrive in good condition, so packing costs go up again. Oh, and don't count your profits before you sell – the price of a set can drop fast if Lego re-introduces it while prices can rise as well as fall in line with demand too. Is Lego better than gold? 500+ VOTES SO FAR The market for old toys on eBay is much bigger than just Lego. If you've got some old childhood clutter just gathering dust, here are 8 ways to tell if your old toys could be worth more then just memories while our guide to getting the most cash when selling old toys on eBay can be found here.