Great look into the process without drawing it out, much appreciated. I would speculate that over time you will see used sales grow to 50% or higher as you add more lots. I say this based on the number of parts in these lots that are out of production but still maintain high demand on the secondary market. Also related to colors like grey and brown that have changed over the years. I'll be checking in over the next couple months to see what happens.
Always really enjoy watching your videos where you explain what you're doing and how you're doing it because it is always well thought out & efficient. Keep up the great work!
Great video! Very similar to my process. I'm always looking for ways to improve the USED process as it is much more time consuming, but a much better payoff. Keep us the great work!
Nice to see the process! Much the same as what I have been doing, though, I am washing between first and second sort, so I can weed out electronics, metal axels, and pieces with springs. (Shooters and pull back motors etc) I know I will re-watch this for the software part at some point!
I would love to work for y'all! I wonder if there are any small Lego parts stores near me that I could do contract sorting or cataloging work for... I have a question though; when you soak the dirty used Lego, do you remove the pieces with stickers, or do they stay adhered during the process?
sorry if I missed it in the video but what do you pay per pound to the contractors? is there less of a focus on 1x1 and other small pieces? I feel like a pound of small pieces would take wayyyy longer to sort than a pound of medium-large ones. Love the channel!
We tried a similar system for used parts but found it very time inefficient compared to new pieces (in terms of effort vs. reward). Be interesting to know if you’re making enough of a return to make this worthwhile!
In Europe alternatives to Lego are starting to gain more and more attraction(Cobi, Qman,Wange etc.). While this is fantastic as a fan of building bricks, from a seller point of view it's a nightmare. So I personally don't see a long-term future selling used lego (unless of course you can verify that 99% of the pieces in a used lot are Lego). What's your take on this?
I disagree. I sell for a living, I buy in 40-100 lbs bulk mixed set lots.. first thing I always have to do is go through the boxes and clear out all the trash dirty stuff and mega blocks then I rebuild sets and sell them. Lego only.. it’s just the process of sorting that takes the time.
@@silverzales1980 im looking at doing this... I recently acquired a nice bulk lot, some of it VERY old - has a nice cargo train from the 80s that is only missing a dozen pieces if that. A lot of the retro space stuff as well - is it worth the effort in completing them and selling them on?
It baffles me that the sales result are enough to set up such industry with many workers. But I am glad it is worth it , because that means the world has more LEGO to re-use instead of it being kept in parents storage lockers for decades,waiting for future grandkids that might never come, like much lego would end up in the 20th century. The contractors remind me of work that some village women did in my youth (1970s-80s) , a truck would bring bins with some stuff and the women would process it in some way, I forgot which industry it was. And then the truck would collect the results the next cycle.
Question: So do the stickers not come off when you wash the lego? I noticed that some of the lego in the “clean” bin had stickers but seemed to look like intact or not effected. I recently bought used for our personal collection and have been painfully trying to sort first through the dirty lego because of the stickers. So have you found that they stand up to the washing? Do none fall off, some fall off, or not at all? Thanks!!!!
This video is a bit outdated. Our current process is now to split the bulk pieces into categories before it is washed. We call this A-level sorting. We use 22 categories that include stuff like "technic", "large plates", etc. Most of these categories are washed. Decorated parts, however, is not. Each of these categories is then split into element and then finally catalogued.
That is a great question... We are usually ok with minor scratches, like on the sides of bricks that just look like they've been in a bin of parts for years shaken around, but big scratches or anything like bite marks that catch your eye we try and not sell. We do not sell anything we wouldn't personally want to purchase or use in a build. Obviously that is subjective, but overall we try and be very picky when it comes to what should or should not be sold.
@@JustABrickInTheBucket fantastic answer ;) , I kinda hoped along those lines, sorting a large bulk load and I was kinda worried I was over scrutinising but sounds like I’m kinda spot on . Thx
We started with friends and family, and then put a job posting on Indeed to find people who wanted to sort. And no... none of them have a sorting machine. It's all done by hand. There are some people developing sorting machines in the industry, but for most the cost is too high and the speed at which the machines sort is significantly slower than a human. I'm pretty sure we'll be there in the next few years though.
We do send our lego to get sorted. Email is usually the slowest method of contact for non-customer service related questions. The best method would be to join our discord server and reach out to us there. You can hop in with this link. @t
Do you check the condition of USED bricks? When some brick has some teeth marks or some scratches on tile, Do you put it in store? If yes, how different is the price between Used like new or bad condition? Thank you.
my instinct says that the sorter has to put aside all pieces with such bad condition, it's not worth the hassle to list them in your store. Then you can throw all the bad pieces in a big bin and just check occasionally if there is a really rare piece in there that might be worth saving.
Go with Both. But when it comes to the USED save yourself some time. Mention under DISCLAIMER that your store doesn't differentiate between same looking old style and new style. Thank you for video.
I love when you said that the process of selling USED is NEW to you. Hahaha
Great look into the process without drawing it out, much appreciated. I would speculate that over time you will see used sales grow to 50% or higher as you add more lots. I say this based on the number of parts in these lots that are out of production but still maintain high demand on the secondary market. Also related to colors like grey and brown that have changed over the years. I'll be checking in over the next couple months to see what happens.
Always really enjoy watching your videos where you explain what you're doing and how you're doing it because it is always well thought out & efficient. Keep up the great work!
Can you briefly summarize how you find a contractor for sorting
Great question, I am interested as well!
probably some neighbor's teenager he pays 5 dollars an hour
Have kids. Legal child labor!
My autistic son would love doing a job like that.
Great video! Very similar to my process. I'm always looking for ways to improve the USED process as it is much more time consuming, but a much better payoff. Keep us the great work!
Nice to see the process! Much the same as what I have been doing, though, I am washing between first and second sort, so I can weed out electronics, metal axels, and pieces with springs. (Shooters and pull back motors etc) I know I will re-watch this for the software part at some point!
The sort-clean-sort is my approach as well, has saved some motors and lights that would have been ruined.
Great video, interesting to see your current process for used parts!
Nice video Evan
Used lego is always a great option to the store , 👌👌👌👌
could we get some info about the sorting contractor that you use?
I would love to work for y'all! I wonder if there are any small Lego parts stores near me that I could do contract sorting or cataloging work for... I have a question though; when you soak the dirty used Lego, do you remove the pieces with stickers, or do they stay adhered during the process?
For drying, have you considered putting the wet pieces in a small box with a dehumidifier? I have been wondering if that is feasible.
sorry if I missed it in the video but what do you pay per pound to the contractors?
is there less of a focus on 1x1 and other small pieces? I feel like a pound of small pieces would take wayyyy longer to sort than a pound of medium-large ones.
Love the channel!
Woo! Can’t wait to watch this later!
Thanks for sharing!
Our pleasure! Thank you for watching!
Anyone have an idea as to what they pay per pound for the sorting? What categories they use and how they find the sorter?
We tried a similar system for used parts but found it very time inefficient compared to new pieces (in terms of effort vs. reward). Be interesting to know if you’re making enough of a return to make this worthwhile!
How you know place to sell large amount of loose lego pieces from my friends old sets back from 90s.
How much is an average or good price for legos per pound if they are already sorted by color
In Europe alternatives to Lego are starting to gain more and more attraction(Cobi, Qman,Wange etc.). While this is fantastic as a fan of building bricks, from a seller point of view it's a nightmare. So I personally don't see a long-term future selling used lego (unless of course you can verify that 99% of the pieces in a used lot are Lego). What's your take on this?
I disagree. I sell for a living, I buy in 40-100 lbs bulk mixed set lots.. first thing I always have to do is go through the boxes and clear out all the trash dirty stuff and mega blocks then I rebuild sets and sell them. Lego only.. it’s just the process of sorting that takes the time.
@@silverzales1980 im looking at doing this... I recently acquired a nice bulk lot, some of it VERY old - has a nice cargo train from the 80s that is only missing a dozen pieces if that.
A lot of the retro space stuff as well - is it worth the effort in completing them and selling them on?
@@silverzales1980make sure you sell the mega Bloks
Is your sorting contractor local, or do you pay to mail it back and forth?
That’s great!
Great vid!
Thank you!
It baffles me that the sales result are enough to set up such industry with many workers. But I am glad it is worth it , because that means the world has more LEGO to re-use instead of it being kept in parents storage lockers for decades,waiting for future grandkids that might never come, like much lego would end up in the 20th century.
The contractors remind me of work that some village women did in my youth (1970s-80s) , a truck would bring bins with some stuff and the women would process it in some way, I forgot which industry it was. And then the truck would collect the results the next cycle.
Question: So do the stickers not come off when you wash the lego? I noticed that some of the lego in the “clean” bin had stickers but seemed to look like intact or not effected. I recently bought used for our personal collection and have been painfully trying to sort first through the dirty lego because of the stickers. So have you found that they stand up to the washing? Do none fall off, some fall off, or not at all? Thanks!!!!
This video is a bit outdated. Our current process is now to split the bulk pieces into categories before it is washed. We call this A-level sorting. We use 22 categories that include stuff like "technic", "large plates", etc. Most of these categories are washed. Decorated parts, however, is not. Each of these categories is then split into element and then finally catalogued.
I have a tote twice the size of the one you showed at the beginning of the video packed full of Lego how do I go about selling it
Still have it?
How do you grade what’s acceptable for quality on used? Are minor scratches ok? What’s the cut off line for binning a part?
That is a great question... We are usually ok with minor scratches, like on the sides of bricks that just look like they've been in a bin of parts for years shaken around, but big scratches or anything like bite marks that catch your eye we try and not sell. We do not sell anything we wouldn't personally want to purchase or use in a build. Obviously that is subjective, but overall we try and be very picky when it comes to what should or should not be sold.
@@JustABrickInTheBucket fantastic answer ;) , I kinda hoped along those lines, sorting a large bulk load and I was kinda worried I was over scrutinising but sounds like I’m kinda spot on . Thx
How much does the contractor charge for sorting?
how do you become a contractor? are theses people owner of a lego sorting machine or they sort it by hand ?
We started with friends and family, and then put a job posting on Indeed to find people who wanted to sort. And no... none of them have a sorting machine. It's all done by hand. There are some people developing sorting machines in the industry, but for most the cost is too high and the speed at which the machines sort is significantly slower than a human. I'm pretty sure we'll be there in the next few years though.
Hey brother I have some lot questions for you can you help me out please. And thanks for the videos.
You're not worried about ruining stickered pieces when washing them before sorting?
Did you say that you send your Lego to get sorted? Is there an email that I can contact you with questions?
We do send our lego to get sorted. Email is usually the slowest method of contact for non-customer service related questions. The best method would be to join our discord server and reach out to us there. You can hop in with this link. @t
It appears that UA-cam blocks links even for the video poster. The link is in the description of every video.
@@JustABrickInTheBucket awesome will do. Thanks
Do you check the condition of USED bricks? When some brick has some teeth marks or some scratches on tile, Do you put it in store? If yes, how different is the price between Used like new or bad condition? Thank you.
my instinct says that the sorter has to put aside all pieces with such bad condition, it's not worth the hassle to list them in your store. Then you can throw all the bad pieces in a big bin and just check occasionally if there is a really rare piece in there that might be worth saving.
Me, someone with ADHD, would love to sort these thibgs
Bagus
Can I sell brand new legos
Go with Both. But when it comes to the USED save yourself some time. Mention under DISCLAIMER that your store doesn't differentiate between same looking old style and new style. Thank you for video.
Can be profitable to invest the extra time to differentiate molds for the buyers that care, seems like not many store do it.
is anyone interested in buying around 80 pounds of used lego? I have already cleaned it
We are!! Send us an email here please if you’d like to potentially sell to us:
JustABrickInTheBucket@gmail.com
wow I just bought 20k pieces this weekend and no this crap is never going to happen!!!!!!!!!
It definitely takes some time and dedication... and the right kind of person to enjoy this! lol. thanks for watching!