How can you tell when someone's opinion about a set is right? You can't. Opinions on set performance are often wrong. Brook Johnson will give you examples of blunders to help you devise your own investing strategy. www.brickpicke...
I think a video discussing "how much you really have to buy" would be great. What I mean is, making $5 off a set that you set on for two years isn't smart at all, but making $50 off a set, that you only paid say $10 for in two years is a great ROI. But also, what is $50 really worth after having to store, protect and pay attention of pricing over a two year period really worth? Or would it be better to have 20 of those sets? Enjoyed the video keep them coming ;)
You are right, there is a huge time commitment trade off for a $5 profit vs. a $50 profit on a set. The key is being able to ship the very small sets efficiently and in high volume. If you can't do that it isn't worth it. The sweet spot is often the $60-$100 set if you can choose the right one, but I am always a sucker for the $20 superhero sets. Super easy to ship and often with good margins. Too much to talk about but I will get try to get to it all.
Interesting videos. I've recently been buying some Force Awakens and Rogue One Star Wars sets at 40-50% off. I'm currently trying to stay away from anything at retail price, though I did make an exception for the NASA Apollo Saturn V. I figure if my son won't like building them with me in 3-4 years or so, when he's a little older, then my chances of being able to resell them at a profit should be reasonably good. Or is even buying at 50% off no "guarantee" they should not lose me money a couple of years from now? If not then I'll probably build and enjoy them myself.
It is a great philosophy to buy sets you would like to build. That is how I started. I only bought original trilogy Star Wars sets that I knew I would like to build with my kids. I bought a few extras to test the time commitment and success that I could expect. Once I spent a few years learning, I realized what it would take to become an investor. There is no guarantee a 50% off set will make a profit, but it helps a lot. I had a 7065 Alien Mothership I bought 60% off for 4 years before I finally sold it for 0 profit. I have never lost money on a Lego set, except on paper for some of my large sets I bought after retirement.
BrickPicker I'm actually buying them with money I made on whisky investment. Never lost money with that. And there I've done the same thing: buy what I like, so even if it doesn't appreciate in value, I'll still be able to appreciate it for myself.
where to cash out may be a worth while discussion. % to sell as opposed to cash figure. in any other market >10% profit is amazing but I am struggling to set a 100% benchmark to sell. this allows for good return on retail and sale items. I have a handful of millennium falcons (TFA) that I got for $85. I should be happy to sell at $170( I get good return and others get less than current retail. Thoughts?
I would be happy to sell my 75105s for $170 (pretty close to what 7965s get) I figure about 20-25% in fees and shipping, so that would subtract about $40 for $130 net and $45 profit for a return of about 50%. That isn't too bad if you can get that price. I am hoping for $140 locally for mine around Christmas. The trick with this one is it may hang around awhile if Lego doesn't release a Last Jedi version, or can get rereleased quickly with if they do. Timing may be everything.
