The Lego Men in their heyday. Just think how lovely they'd look on your patio Most of us will have know the problem of how to get rid of an unwanted possession, and lots of people are using online auction sites as the solution. A 'Lego Man' with dimensions to help your home improvement planning In Newcastle City Council's case, the unwanted possession is a series of 44 six foot high stylised human figures made of re-enforced concrete and pebbledash weighing half a ton each, and they've decided to flog them off on ebay. The figures, dubbed locally the "Lego Men", were part of an artwork by Ray Smith that stood next to Newcastle's Haymarket metro station between 1999 and 2008. Erected at a cost of £270,000, the works, officially called "Shoulder to Shoulder", stand near to the hexagonal Boer War memorial obelisk with its bronze statue of Nike as Winged Victory (although in 1978 her wings were replaced with fibreglass after being damaged by lightening). They acted as an effective barrier between the pedestrianised area round the metro station and a very busy road junction.
Unfortunately the water feature of the work did not react well to squally weather, occasionally giving unsuspecting passers-by an unwelcome soaking. In 2008 they were removed (at a cost of a further £70,000) and stored on a piece of wasteland near the city centre. The Newcastle Evening Chronicle, not a fan of the sculpture, was recently given one of the figures and, after a competition, handed it over to Laura Taylor, who plans to paint it in Newcastle United's black and white and Alan Shearer's number 9 and stick it in her garden in Chester-le-Street. They also work nicely in pairs. Under the pear tree, perhaps..? Putting Newcastle United football colours on artworks is not new in these parts – some time ago the people behind Viz magazine somehow managed to winch a giant black & white shirt onto the torso of the Angel of the North. Meanwhile, the first figure made £1254 on ebay when all the bids finished last week, up from its original start of 99p, and substantially more than the council was expecting.
There are now four more figures up for sale – two pairs and two singles – with the auctions ending at midday on September 23rd. The proceeds from the sale will go to the Newcastle Fund, which gives money to local voluntary groups. Newcastle City Council leader Coun Nick Forbes comments: Whilst it is unrealistic to expect us to recoup our original investment, all previous options involved a cost to the council so it's good to see as much money as possible being raised for good causes across our city. Any public sculpture you'd like to see on eBay btw? Or to bid for? Please let us know...You look like a robot. If you think you are not, contact us: support@ebay-kleinanzeigen.de"Efficient" is pretty vague, because it depends on how much your time is worth to you.The least effort method is probably to put it all in a big lot and let people bid. Take lots of pictures, and weigh everything. Be sure to include pictures of any set instructions or boxes that you know are included, because they could generate interest (also, mention them specifically by name and number in the auction).
On average you'll probably get about $5-$6 per pound this way.Putting them all in a single auction will also reduce your listing fees, and the overhead of sending things to multiple buyers. It'll reduce your fees, and the time you need to spend. So, that's a plus.However, it won't get you a great return on what you paid for the LEGO. LEGO is roughly 350 pieces per pound (depending on the types of elements you have), and is typically about $0.10 per piece. So you're selling for about 16% of what you paid (and that's not including shipping fees, PayPal fees, and eBay costs). The more work you're willing to put in, and the longer you wait, the more you can get.My recommendation would probably be to sell things as individual sets. See which sets you've got, and try to build them according to the instructions. Make a note of the missing pieces (assuming you can get 95% or more of the pieces needed), and sell each set individually. You probably won't do too badly, although it depends on what you've got.
Some stuff sells really well, some stuff not so much. Whatever DOESN'T sell, put it into a big lot of "X pounds of random LEGO".If you're really looking to spend LOTS of time and effort, sort your collection by element type, and sell groups of elements together, being sure to first research what you've got to see roughly what it's worth. Check out Bricklink or Brick Owl or Brick Picker to get a feel for what's valuable, and don't put too many REALLY valuable things into a single lot (try to divide the real gems between multiple lots). Pile the junk into a single lot (or a few larger lots), because it's less likely to get sold.For the record, the thing to focus on will probably be minifigs. Especially licensed characters like superheroes, Star Wars, or even LOTR figures (generic soldiers are also often very valuable).If you try that, a lot of things might not sell-- you'll be left with a bunch of unsold items. Which is sad, because eBay charges you for listing items that don't sell.
Fortunately, you might make a nice chunk with the more valuable elements (especially rarer minifigs!). It's up to you how many times you want to re-list before calling it quits and dumping it all into a large "X pounds of LEGO" auction-- but that's the catch all for getting rid of it.Another option is to avoid eBay, and use BrickLink instead. They do NOT charge you for listing-- they just don't have auctions, so you can't get people into bidding wars. You can list it there for as long as you want, too! Some stores have been listed on BrickLink for years.The downside of BrickLink is that you need to know your stuff. You should know something about LEGO before doing it, because your customers will expect you to be knowledgeable. If you listed something as "light gray" but it was actually "light bluish gray" (for example), that's a big problem. You also may need to list EVERY piece individually (unless you sell individual sets).I don't recommend BrickLink unless you're willing to put in a LOT of time and energy-- and willing to wait a long time before your stuff sells.