Very sad, but I need advice on selling a large technic collection

[Dreadredbeard]

I have a fairly good sized technic collection (extremely conservatively 20,000+ pieces) that I need to sell. I was wondering what the best way to go about selling them would be.

I have thought of:

Ebay

Pro: Could probably sell quickly

Con: dealing with ebay, probably the lowest profit

Bricklink

Pro: best value

Con: would take longest to get money

Craigslist/forum ads

Pro: decent return in value

Con: hit and miss as to if I could find a sale.

I would like to attempt to sell it all at once if possible, but I have no idea on how to put a value on something like this. The other thing I've thought of is piecing out some of the larger sets I own (2x Unimog, 2x 4x4 crawler, motorized excavator) and then trying to sell what is leftover.

Here's a peek of what I have:

And many many more detailed pictures here:

http://imgur.com/a/UkzK9

Most of everything is modern (within 2 years) but I do have quite a bit from my childhood. However many of those pieces have been lost through the years so the only sets I can confirm 100% are the modern acquisitions.

I know this is not what this forum is for, but I thought everyone here would be a bit more knowledgeable on how to deal with technic blocks.

[JoeKaydear]

I would sell it on eBay, for the simple reason that it gets maximum visibility (and potentially, some wealthy buyers who would like your collection). How much do you figure your stuff is worth?

[aol000xw]

I felt sad when I read your post, and then sadder when my inner vulture started eyeing the corpse

[Tubby]

I'd spend some time rebuilding the complete sets you have first to get pictures and listing them as such individually on ebay. The rest I guess, if they're not complete, would maybe have to be sold as a job lot.

At a guess it looks like you have a couple each of the 9398 crawler and 8110 Unimogs plus an 8043 and the RC bulldozer, those are worth a fair bit on their own.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Tubby

[technic-mad]

If you have sold on eBay before its a good idea if not its not that straight faward to sell on there and to get your money straight away

[FuzzyBallz]

Do you have the 8109 tow truck?

[Dreadredbeard]

I would sell it on eBay, for the simple reason that it gets maximum visibility (and potentially, some wealthy buyers who would like your collection). How much do you figure your stuff is worth?

I wish I knew, I'm sacrificing this stuff to get a few more pieces of equipment for my business, I'm hoping it will allow me to pay everything back in a couple years and get a collection going again, but in the meantime I need the money :(

I would love to get ~$1K USD for the collection, but that is around $.05 per piece with my conservative estimate on parts, and I'm not sure that is realistic for a bulk lot... In reality there are probably much closer to 30,000 pieces, but I don't want to have to count everything to find out.

Anyway, I have no idea how realistic my estimate is which is why I added the question in my post.

I felt sad when I read your post, and then sadder when my inner vulture started eyeing the corpse

It truly is bittersweet, it would allow me to get some much needed parts for my business, which would mean in 1-2 years time I could purchase MANY MANY more lego then my current budget allows, but it would be sad in the meantime.

I'd spend some time rebuilding the complete sets you have first to get pictures and listing them as such individually on ebay. The rest I guess, if they're not complete, would maybe have to be sold as a job lot.

At a guess it looks like you have a couple each of the 9398 crawler and 8110 Unimogs plus an 8043 and the RC bulldozer, those are worth a fair bit on their own.

That is true, at first I didn't want to deal with building each model, but with my lego organized as they are it may be fairly easy to rebuild them.

Thank you all for the input so far!

If you have sold on eBay before its a good idea if not its not that straight faward to sell on there and to get your money straight away

Thank you for the input!

Do you have the 8109 tow truck?

I do no, I have an 8421 Mobile crane that is fully assembled and not featured in the sale. It's one of my favorite sets so it would take a lot to separate myself from that one. Between the pneumatic DC and the RC motor it is a fairly desirable set that I can't imagine will be easy to replace if I sold.

[1974]

BL is a bad idea for this. You'll have to sell little lots and spend a lot on postage + lotta time. Make a detailed list of what you got and post it here, on BS and put the lot on ebay with a decent reserve price

You got a good lot, it should not be hard to sell if the price is right. And that is about half of retail. Sorry if you've fallen on hard times

[Dreadredbeard]

Based off the pictures could anyone give me a rough guess of value? I'm wondering if I'm even in the right ballpark asking $1000 USD for everything or if that is not attainable.

[camaudio]

If you plan to collect again, it would be wise to keep them if at all possible! Where are you located?

[1974]

Based off the pictures could anyone give me a rough guess of value? I'm wondering if I'm even in the right ballpark asking $1000 USD for everything or if that is not attainable.

List the sets you've bought within the last couple of years and I'll give you a ballpark

[dhc6twinotter]

I'm sorry you have to get rid of your LEGO, but it sounds like you have a positive outlook for your future LEGO plans.

Not sure if you're willing to sell individual parts, but you have a PM.

[Kronos]

You don't need to build any sets to sell them on eBay. Just use the inventories and gather the pats, then use a stock photo. You should be able to get quit a lot for the complete sets. Then sell the rest in lots, ie: PF, lift arms, connectors, axles, or mix them. Should be the fastest way. Unless you get a GREAT offer for the whole collection. I believe there is a forum for sales on EB.

[Dreadredbeard]

BL is a bad idea for this. You'll have to sell little lots and spend a lot on postage + lotta time. Make a detailed list of what you got and post it here, on BS and put the lot on ebay with a decent reserve price

You got a good lot, it should not be hard to sell if the price is right. And that is about half of retail. Sorry if you've fallen on hard times

I hadn't thought of postage... that would be obnoxious hahaha, thank you, I'll probably cross off selling on bricklink!

If you plan to collect again, it would be wise to keep them if at all possible! Where are you located?

USA, but I have shipped worldwide in the past.

List the sets you've bought within the last couple of years and I'll give you a ballpark

2 X 8110

2 X 9398

1 X 8043

1 X 42006

2 X 9391

2 X 9390

That's just what I've bought of the most recent series.

I'm sorry you have to get rid of your LEGO, but it sounds like you have a positive outlook for your future LEGO plans.

Not sure if you're willing to sell individual parts, but you have a PM.

I would not really want to, but I will happily check the PM regardless :)

[1974]

Okay, those sets listed (in that amount) will probaly net you 900USd on BL, but only if you list them seperatly with instructions/stickers. And again, you have to spend a lot of time selling/posting individual sets. Quite time consuming ..

You say got got plenty more old stuff?

I'd say 1000USD for the lot on ebay/EB/BS isn't unreasonable

All that, imho that is

Good luck!

[skriblez]

Sad to have to sell but i see that it's planed so i wish you good luck :)

Hurry to sell?

I would be interested in some of your sets/items as would a lot of people on here i bet.

[Blakbird]

Sad to hear you are selling. I've had to do this at important times in my life as well. Here are my thoughts.

Forget about Craigslist. You won't find a buyer who knows what this stuff is worth.

Bricklink is really only an option for you if you are selling complete sets. Incomplete sets are only worth a fraction of the price. Selling the parts individually is an option but it would involve a huge investment of time on your part and it sounds like you don't have that kind of time.

If you go with eBay you would be selling this as a bulk lot of parts. There are a LOT of bulk lots on eBay so it is difficult to stand out. You might only get $0.01 per part or less. To get more you really need an inventory of which parts you are selling.

I think your best option is to try to sell the whole lot to someone with a Bricklink store that specializes in Technic. That seller can then list the parts individually since that is their business. I can recommend a few sellers if you need advice.

Last option would be to sell them to me! I'm constantly buying Technic parts on Bricklink so getting a pile of them at once is not a bad idea. Shipping would be a problem though. In what part of the country are you?

[nychase]

Last option would be to sell them to me! I'm constantly buying Technic parts on Bricklink so getting a pile of them at once is not a bad idea. Shipping would be a problem though. In what part of the country are you?

Don't listen to him! Sell them to me.

No but seriously, you wouldn't be bad off selling them to Eric. Your stuff is probably worth 900 or so after looking through the pictures. Nothing you have is rare since its all so new (except for those custom tires).

Having someone from here buy it up for some amount less than that (within reason) lets say 700-750 would be a very fair price for both parties. You get the chance to sell everything in one lot without much effort and the buyer gets a pretty good return on bulk parts. You would probably get around 600 on ebay and then lose another 75 in fees so it wouldn't be the route to go. Based on everything I saw in pictures it will cost around 50 bucks to ship anywhere in the states.

Best of luck, and if you can't find any buyers shoot me a PM. I didn't get the largest parts collection on here by shying away from bulk purchases!

[Foggy]

Sell them to Blackbird and when you'll be back in good financial situation ask him to sell them back to you :laugh: :grin:

[BobSmithHello55]

You could use the Price Guide on BrickPicker to determine the present value of your complete Lego Technic sets: http://www.brickpicker.com/bpms/sets.cfm?theme=91 .

[skriblez]

If you have some incomplete sets that you want to sell for a reasonable price i need some sets for parts :)

Selling them to BlackBird seems to be a very good option though :)

[Erik Leppen]

My advice on selling is, don't. If there's any other way to get by without selling, it's always better than giving up a passion. Even if it means getting a loan. Of course I don't know the situation or the circumstances, but my uninformed guess is that the financial benefit of selling is less than the emotional loss of selling.

[nychase]

My advice on selling is, don't. If there's any other way to get by without selling, it's always better than giving up a passion. Even if it means getting a loan. Of course I don't know the situation or the circumstances, but my uninformed guess is that the financial benefit of selling is less than the emotional loss of selling.

I really don't mean to tear into you like its about to seem...

Is that really good advice?

You basically in one message summed up why the entire world is in the credit situation it was/still is in. To paraphrase you said, "its better to hold onto something you can't afford so that you can be happy rather than do the financially prudent thing and sell when you don't have excess income"

OP, please do the RESPONSIBLE thing and sell if you think you need to. I would hate to see someone take a loan just to keep some toys when there are endless better reasons you may need the money.

I know that when I was a kid my parents choose to buy me legos first and if the budget allowed they would get food and clothes.

[Erik Leppen]

You are certainly correct nychase, in a way. We cannot make the choice. I just want to make sure the original poster does nothing he might regret (which, of course, works both ways).

Edited August 18, 2013 by Erik Leppen

[afol1969]

Hi Dreadredbeard,

It's sad to see that you'll sell all you Technic collection, but you surely have your reasons. As I've seen the detailed photos from your collection, there are a lot of parts wich would be interesting for me, because I've some future big building projects. I do not end on buying on bricklink, so it would be helpful if I can get a bigger lot in one time.

If you're willing to sell in partial lots, just send a PM.

Best greetings and good luck

Alex