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Posted

Why is it that people but new, unopened sets, sometimes more than one and never open them? (I couldn't find an answer on Google)

Posted

I have lots of unopened sets for two reason:

1) I havent gotten around to opening/building them because of time or location contraints.

2) I bought certain sets with the plan to sell them later on for a profit once they become rare and unopened sets are worth WAY more than opened ones.

Posted
1) I havent gotten around to opening/building them because of time or location contraints.

This is the main thing for me. I posted some thoughts on it here.

How would I start investing in sets for profit?

Pretty much what BearHeart said. But if you're only in it for the money, I think there are better investments out there than Lego sets.

Posted (edited)
Which sets do you usually invest in?

Well I don't invest in lego sets, but if your looking to do that then most exclusives should do well and out of them the modular buildings are a good bet.

Edited by Lord Arjay
Posted
Which sets do you usually invest in?

Mostly big Star Wars sets.

But I only have a few unopened sets that I'm planning on sellng someday. I decided to make LEGO a hobby instead of a money-making thing.

Posted
Which sets do you usually invest in?

I don't buy them as investments at all. :tongue: But for short term profit, I think the best choices would be the big S@H exclusives, such as the modular buildings, and anything from the licensed themes that are popular with adult collectors (Star Wars, Batman, etc.).

Over a longer time period, small sets tend to appreciate in value more than large sets do. If you look at small MISB sets from the 80s, they routinely sell for 10-20 times their original price, while for big sets it's typically more like 3-5 times the price. In this case though, you also have to take inflation into account to find out how much they have really gained in value.

Posted

Thanks for the help.

I find it hard to beleive that you don't have the time too build sets, It's the first thing I do when I buy one.

Posted
Thanks for the help.

I find it hard to beleive that you don't have the time too build sets, It's the first thing I do when I buy one.

I'm 27 with a full time job and a wife, kid! :tongue:

Posted (edited)

Ambo, some people have jobs which take up a lot of time. :tongue:

In other news... hai Ambo and welcome to EB. :D You okay? Hope you enjoy your stay here. (I couldn't PM you)

(EDIT) Sorry for the slight off topicness but I haven't seen you in ages)

Edited by Calanon
Posted

Also, Im in a situation where I'm living with my in-laws because my wife and I are waiting for our new house to be built and all my LEGO is sitting in my parents basement about 200km away.

Posted

I must admit, I have a couple of sets I've put to one side, mainly as I don't have the space to build them, i normally always build at least 1 copy. however I'm always amazed when on fleabay I see 12 volt trains MISB turn up or a 6399 airport shuttle, back in the 80's money was tight, many people could hardly afford to buy one copy of the top end sets, I am amazed they then took them home and did not open them for 30 years, then one day they chuck them on ebay

Beats me.

Paul

Posted

I suppose that makes sense

Ambo, some people have jobs which take up a lot of time. :tongue:

In other news... hai Ambo and welcome to EB. :D You okay? Hope you enjoy your stay here. (I couldn't PM you)

(EDIT) Sorry for the slight off topicness but I haven't seen you in ages)

Hey Calanon (Whiskas) :hmpf_bad:

Posted

I have a job and I still find time to build all my sets. :tongue:

Jokes aside, I only work part-time and my paycheck (plus the fact that we're saving for a trip to the States in the summer) doesn't really allow me to buy many sets anymore.

But this fall I'll be able to get a full-time job and then have loads of money to spend on LEGO. :laugh: That's the joy of not having kids. :wink:

I don't think I could ever start investing on MISB sets, though, I'm just not that calculative a person. I just want to collect and build. :grin:

Posted

Generally, I find that people don't build sets because:

1) No time, and/or "I'll build it later". Some people want to savor the experience of building a really cool set, or they simply don't have the time right then and there to build whatever they bought. Other times, people buy so many sets that they just don't open them all right away. I recall buying about 20 copies of 4731 for about $1.50 each-- I didn't build them right away because I didn't need the pieces, although when I was buying them I knew I might want those parts "someday". I probably opened a few, and left the rest for later. My wife would buy old sets MISB, with the intent of opening them "someday" when she could fully enjoy the moment-- but that day hasn't rolled around for a lot of those sets.

2) Forgot about it! I know a lot of people buy for the future, but then forget about them. Our club ran into someone that purchased about $2000 worth of LEGO train sets for his nephew, thinking that he'd be into trains someday. But alas, the nephew never was, so the sets just sat there until the uncle decided to sell them. Similarly, I've known some mom-and-pop sized retailers that have had LEGO that they ordered a long time ago, but that was moved into a warehouse rather than their shelves because it was so old. Hence, a lot just sits there-- not really intended to be sitting around, but forgotten in the back of a warehouse for a long time!

3) Investment. This has been pretty common starting in the late 90's, ever since online second-hand sales have been more prominent. Back in 1982, you'd be stupid to buy a set and save it in order to sell later-- it would be ludicrously hard to fathom that you'd ever meet anyone who'd be willing to buy it from you! But when eBay started gaining popularity in the late 1990's, and BrickLink started in 2000 (I think it was 2000?), there's now a forum for hobbyists to buy things, so it's more common for people to buy sets and save them for investment later.

4) Collecting. A lot of people are collectors through-and-through. They don't want to open sets, because they want to preserve them exactly as they were. There are these kinds of people in many hobbies, and LEGO is no exception. Some people just want to collect MISB sets.

Whatever the reason for keeping them MISB, some people wind up selling them anyway. They might decide one day that the $1200 that their MISB Airport Shuttle is worth on the market is actually worth selling, or that they need the money. Or that it's taking up too much space in their house, so they'll sell a portion of it.

As for what makes a valuable future set? That's tough to predict.

A) Licensed things! Things like Star Wars have HUGE fanbases, with many non-LEGO buyers. They're itching to get something not because it was a LEGO set, or because it had great parts, but because it's branded with a license that they love. Anything Star Wars is a good bet, especially the original trilogy. Other licenses haven't seemed to be as lucrative on the LEGO front, but they might be someday.

B) Limited edition items. Obviously, if something's only around for a short time, that adds to the value. Red Sox minifigs? Limited edition Santa Fe's? Those will be worth more.

C) Cool stuff. This is very hard to predict. Why is the UCS X-Wing worth so much more today than the UCS-TIE Interceptor? It's just awesomer, that's why. Some sets are just so well constructed and have such broad appeal that they're very memorable and worth lots more.

D) Rare parts. Again, hard to predict, especially at the time of release. Who could have predicted back in the early 1990's that the pitchfork would go out of production after only a few short years? Who would have thought that the euro-style armor would return with Harry Potter in the early 2000's? But sure enough, rare parts make for expensive sets.

Another thing to think about is how long it takes before something's valuable. Bionicle may not be overly valuable now, but it might be highly profitable when the kids who were raised on it grow up and have money to burn! In that capacity, waiting 5 years is a pretty paltry length of time to wait-- you might want to save something for a good 10 years or more before it starts to get really coveted!

DaveE

Posted

I wouldn't say I'll never open any of the sets I buy, but I do have some still sealed in boxes.

The main reason is because I only recently started getting into collecting and building Lego, and I'm still trying to sort how and where I'm going to display sets, and how I should to store them. There have been some good sales recently, and I've picked up some sets that are getting phased out soon, so I've actually gotten a little ahead of myself here.

It's easier for me to store by just leaving them unassembled in boxes for now.

Eventually, my kids and I will assemble and play with them all.

As for investing...I wouldn't bother! These are toys, plain and simple, and meant to be built and enjoyed. I admit, I've bought a few things because I was afraid of waiting until the grey market, but that was only because I didn't want to be the one being profited on! :tongue:

Yes, you might be able to make short term profits on popular Star Wars sets or rare/exclusive sets, but you can make a lot more money in other things which I won't get into here. Just buy what you like, take care of them, and perhaps one day if you don't want to pass them on to someone you love, you might be able to sell them to a collector who will enjoy them as much as you did. :classic:

Posted

Some excellent comments, particularly from davee123 who covered most of it for me.

Another factor is how LEGO discontinues its sets, sometimes quite quickly and without any warning. I got burned a few times - I'd see a great set at retail, plan to buy it at some point (e.g. Eiffel Tower), and then it'd be discontinued and I'd be 'forced' to buy from eBay at a premium. Now I've learned my lesson, and rather than pay top dollar down the line for a set on eBay, I'll buy the sets at retail even if I know I won't have the opportunity to build them for a while, so I don't miss out.

Dr. D.

Posted

SO many great answers in this thread. I used to want to keep sets sealed but then I broke down and opened them all up one day. I'm happy I did, otherwise I probably never would have joined here. I have lots unopened right now but that's just because I havent had the time.

Posted

My reasons:

- No time at the moment and I keep getting sets before they get "discontinued" because I don't want to pay massive prices for them later - e.g. there is no way I would ever be able to afford the hike up for Cafe Corner now because I only started collecting late last year......so I will make extra effort to get the Grand Emporium :classic::classic:

- Trying to work out where to put all the sets so in the meantime, better to keep them in the boxes. I only start building one residential street so far.

Posted

I'm on the "Buy it now, no time to build now/forgot I had it" side.

I now probably have as much brick MISB as I do opened and used. :grin:

I usually buy 1 or 2 or 3 or more sets because I either need the parts, the set goes on sale or clearance, or because it is just awesome.

Being a full time college student I do not have the time to just sit down and build every single set I buy right then and there.

I recently bought a bunch of Star Wars sets, all the Prince of Persia sets, and it all just went into my pile of "to be opened later" sets.

I still have sets from like three or more years ago that I never really got to.

I also forget about sets sometimes, once I found a city firefighter impulse set crushed under the seat of my car... I was like "oh, look at this, must have been here for a year or so". :laugh:

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