@@GreatBrickLab If your asking me, I have a Grandson that is more then willing to take it over. Hopefully I have a daughter that understands the value. LOL
This one seller I know buys bulk figures and resells them for a slight upcharge. I think he said every month he brings in like $35-$45 a month. In my opinion that's a lot of work for only that.
I completely agree, it takes a passion to retain any of the information required to excel at this business. It is a business, but there is a lot that goes behind it. A lot of people think oh, I will just do that to make all the money instantly, a store like yours takes SOOO much time and space to build up to. In this world I suggest finding your passions and find a way to make money off of that as you will become way more successful at something you are passionate about and having fun with. Making money alone just makes it a job like any other job people get tired of and end up hating. Good stuff Jabo
I never had more than two or three stack-one in my short-lives store, but I sure do miss it. Sorting was therapeutic, and picking what few orders I got was always fun. I had as much fun sorting and picking as I did building! Might re-open one of I have the space again in the future.
I have a BL store that's about a year old. I make enough to be able to buy whatever sets I want... but the catch is, after I buy them and build them, I take them apart and put them in inventory so I can make money to buy the next stuff. So while it's great for being able to spend pretty much whatever I want on new Lego, if your goal is to buy and DISPLAY (keep) rather than buy, build, and sell, then it's not going to work out very well. Also, I spend about 4-5 hours per day pulling and packing orders, so it's a time sink, BIGTIME.
I'm looking into starting a store eventually. Last year I bought a giant collection for stupid cheap, about 300 sets for $2 grand. I had the money to blow and figured, this will be fun!! It took a long time to put them all together but I just did in my spare time. I ended up buying a few more smaller collections for cheap as well. In the last year, I have inventoried all of it, invested about $700 in trays and bins. The completed sets I sold paid for all of that long ago. Its all sorted by color and pieces, ready to be uploaded as soon as I feel comfortable some day. BUT, so far, I dont want to sell any of it haha. I have about 40k in inventory left over AFTER putting together all the sets and been selling the sets locally. I'm at around 8k left in lego sets to sell. No ides what the extra 40k pieces are worth, but I am in a good position to start a store some day I think. Im sbout to invest a grand into some Ikea Alex drawers. They seem to be rhe best bang for the buck. Right now. Everything is stored in rubber maid containers, and I pull a bin out when i need a piece of thar color. It works, but the drawers wi help huge. I think being succesful at this only comes with certain circumstances. I just happened to find this Lego for cheap. During covid when i had free time and nothing else to do but sort lego. And have all the space in a basement I already work from home in (buying and selling vintage toys) I love building the sets. Once they are built and 100% I sell them, thats what I really enjoy. I may or may not ever start a store some day to sellcmy inventory, but I think im in a good position to.
I've just managed to get a job at an in-store BrickLink store that also sells and buys Lego and other construction brands...so happy to be able to call that place work 😃
Hallo Jabbo BrickTsar, not only planning how to start but also having an exit plan. What to do with all the storage draw containers, I count at least 30 in the corner you are in, a fraction of the amount you bought. Same with shelfs for storage, bought for the purpose of a store. Thank you Carola
C Stedtler I sometimes want to move my personal collection into these drawers and I’ve been contemplating doing a transition in which I mark off one container for personal and as those drawers empty I fill it with sorted pieces from my personal collection. The store takes up about 1/6th of the basement down I would need more drawers - lol
Hopefully I word this correctly. But when it comes to inventory...let's say you have a 100 2x4 red bricks and one person orders all of them and your in the process of filling that order and another person orders 10 a short time later before you or bricklink updates your the quantity "on hand". How do you fill the second (smaller) order?
About handling fees. I recently found a seller that had a complex formula for that. It was something like Quantity / Lots if that's less than 0.50€ add a fee of 0.19€ for every unique lot or something like that. I noped out of that store because I didn't want to pay 5€ or more extra just in handling for cheep parts. In the end got them from a seller that wanted a little bit more for the parts but I saved like 10€ in handling and shipping combined.
i was thinking if it was worth to just sell of my old parts from lego sets and random pieces ive had for years in a box to then invest into proper sets for display
And the picky pain in the rear end customers that complains about scratches, claims parts are missing, and package never arrived! I prefer used bulk lots from numerous sources and off the store shelves purchases. I’m not out to impress anyone with my creations so scratches are not a big deal. If Sasquatch steals my haul off the porch, then I’m upset!
I'm thinking that the reason they didn't include the string in the U.S. is due to a choking hazard regulation. A toddler could get tied up in that. Duplo is all about being safe for kids 3 and younger. I envy people who have bricklink stores as it is a lot of work!
It's all about how much it costs you to do it.for example, I work in a box plant so I can get almost all of my packaging for nothing.this adds to profits.you also have to know what your looking for.its not for the get rich quick thing.it takes time.I make those amazon boxes.😀
I sell Magic the Gathering Cards on Cardmarket, I can see selling Lego is a lot harder in terms of space and time. The thought of thousand brick orders makes me physically cringe imagining the work going in to collating that. How do you filter for conditions, do you have boxes of the same piece for yellowed/unyellowed, chewed/unchewed and so on? Or are they stored in different parts of the same storage box. Is it even worh selling chewed bricks? What % of bulk lego goes in the bin (if any)? When buying large Magic collections I would say about 50% of the cards are not worth listing so go in the bin, I'm talking less than a penny (maybe I am doing it wrong?). I have sold over £500k of Magic, but that was not £500k profit. I did buy a house with it tho...
I do not understand the card market. Why people pay so much for them. I got out of it 30+ years ago when I realized 90% of my collection was worthless. But it helps if you got a good eye for the stuff. It’s easy with Lego - I don’t sell used other than a few items. One lot per drawer for the vast majority of my inventory. Over over 10000 lots and all but a few are in their own space. Makes picking super easy. Plus selling pieces vs sets I don’t have to worry protecting the box. Just got back to selling sets recently and I’m always nervous until the people receive their item.
Wrapping up my second full month of sales today. I've been doing 6+ hours daily sorting/ logging/ packing. It's a lot of work and investment (both time and money), but the payoff is there after a LOT of work.
As with everything you get out of it what you put in. I started my store probably around 15 months ago. Was a steep learning curve that’s for sure. If only I knew then what I know now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing
I am at the very, very start of my new Bricklink store, "Green Bay Bricks." Right now, I'll focus on the sale of a select few sets, parts (including new sets parted out) and booklets, including underused parts from my collection, including various Technic and Bionicle parts which I barely even use...
I'm new to Lego and I've just been mulling over selling the Minifigs and Promos from the sets I purchase. Feels like I won't "make a living" but I can certainly offset my building experience costs. Most videos I'm finding are referring to parting out vs. finding clearance sets and selling at a later date (for profit). As a newbie maybe I'm just dreaming? It won't replace my 9-5 job but might help pay for new sets I'd like to build?
Hello Forgive me for my translation done by google I went back to legos in 2005 when I saw an exhibition in France I registered on bricklink in 2005 and in 2009 I opened a shop for the sale of new sets by buying direct from LEGO France in 2011 I closed my shop for financial loss I had an invoice to pay of 65000 euros to lego I learned afterwards with the closure that to open a lego shop to sell new sets and pay for a warehouse you need at least 100,000 euros in France to finance the first year (long live the French tax). and since 2011 I started selling lego parts again. and for now the sale of parts allows me to buy lego for me for my passion
Very usefull Videos, i plan to make my own Bricklinkstore soon and decided to put 100% effort in, this includes quitting my job. Im aware this is a high risk thing, but i have a nice amount of money saved and i rly want this. I decided that IF im gonna try this, im restricting myself in everydays spending and do it as a 150% job with full effort and seriousness and... a BIG bunch of burning passion for Lego. Your videos are really helpfull and also grounding at the same time. Which is important. I need my expectation to be grounded a bit. But i rather takes this risk than being trapped in something i hate for eternity. Thanks alot.
That's what we do, work really hard and continually reinvest back into the store to build selection and quantity. The 20th century called and wants it's handling fee back. :) One thing to mention to all buyers is that PayPal made it policy that no seller is allowed to charge a fee to cover PayPal fee worldwide, regardless of the law of the land.
That begs the question. - should LEGO prevent European sellers from adding the PayPal fee or should PayPal? Most charge far more than what the actual fee is
@@BrickTsar I would think legally, LEGO (TLG/BL) would be responsible for this since PP wouldn't know what each individual charge is composed of but sadly they will not do anything, it is solely up to the buyer to inform the seller.
I mainly buy sets that I'd like to have they retire or I just know would do very well. I store them in boxes but they're there in case I want to build them or if I suddenly am out of money I can sell them. I am only beginning but I've been into Lego for years with a large Lego collection already including a city. I think it's reasonable for someone like me to sell sets for profit. I think it's more of a hobby for me, and I think running a business does have its risks involved. I'm not sure how taxation goes when you are selling collectible items. I am assuming they don't really care unless you make thousands of dollars per year, but yeah that is another thing that I need to figure out if I ever plan on selling more of this stuff. As far as I understand though, you can buy things and sell those things second hand with 0 tax. I guess this is because usually it's assumed that goods don't rise in value in the second hand market. But same could be said for some designer items or art. I guess the line is really blurred there would love to know what is the right way to go about this if you have any input.
@@BrickTsar ya i thought about it then wuz like 1 dollar charge per 10 dollar ? it be nice to have a whole record written and you could manipulate it for a seazonal monthly yearly answers
hey bricktsar i know you're a bricklink youtuber so i have a question i dont really know how to work bricklink and i'm looking for 2 minifigures and i thought you might have them they are from lego 75139 1 of them is fin and the other 1 is the first order trooper with that weird looking gun so plz if you have tho's figs plz respond back
Technic is a niche group but the parts can also be used for Great Ball Contraptions. I would say the best reason to focus on that for you is the very reason it’s something you like - that way if it doesn’t work out or you don’t like selling you aren’t stuck with parts you don’t really want
ok, ok, I'm out of the bricklink, but I'm sooo interested in your lego storage shelves now! tell me where I can purchase them and put my lego pieces in the right place
i want to start to sell lego on bricklink but cant get positive feedback to start to sell it wont let me sell till i get on poitive feedback can anyone help
Was a great video about how first year business growth is small then can get higher as you’ll already have full storage and then you can start to bulk buy more packaging at higher rates getting better deals per package reducing the money your spending(fees) and helping your growth for the future if your actually doing well with Lego investing
It's a hard question for anyone to want to answer but would you say for 40 hours of work in a week, do you pay yourself more than $20 an hour doing this?
Hi, Really like your videos and setup around you. One question, can you tell me, how much do you pay for shipping domestic and international for a package around 1-2kg with tracking number? Here in EU, at our State postal service that I use, prices are quite high. For International shipping in a box up to 2kg $45(USD) and 2-5kg $55(USD).
I know that a couple times I have left messages like “what kind of money does this make?” I believe it makes money. My question is. “What would you guess your hourly rate is when you account for time breaking down new boxes, filling orders, updating bricink, ext.” I am grateful for bricklink people. I just hope they are reasonably compensated. Thanks for what you do.
That's the stressful part of being an entrepreneur in whatever domain: You need to get the money you invested back by making sales and that's what people don't understand: All these drawers aren't free neither is that camera. Profits comes after all the stuff you had to buy to get your first few dollars. Then you get a profit once the money you get is higher than the money you've invested.
I wasn’t stress because I took 35 years of collecting to get here. People do want instant return. Great thing though about start up costs - they are tax deductible
Hey! I really want to sell on Bricklink but I do not have enough Lego, where or how can I afford lots of Lego with the minimum price? Or how do you started?
I thought about starting a Bricklink store with some discounted Friends sets..., then that that little blue elephant was looking at me and I said, nope, not now. Then, I got into LEGO trains and I suddenly had a different perspective on my LEGO parts that I thought I was never going to use for anything!
I think the part-out-value ratio is a very tricky thing. A new set may give you a ratio of 3 or 4 but it most likely will go down pretty soon to 2 or 1,8 or even lower. When you buy a EOL set that sells at 50% than you will certainly have a short lived high part-out-value but usually you are not the only one who gets the deal and soon the value will come down pretty quickly. Other sets like LEGO Star Wats Battle Packs will have a pretty low value on parts and everyone who wants the minifigures can buy them just as cheap as you can. The price will only pick up in years to come. Holding on to sets and minifigures also costs money because as long as the deployed capital does not give you returns on your investment you will be pretty much loosing money while waiting. Thats said, I try to get sets for part-out purpose that have lot's of parts that always sell (ratio of 2+ is okay with me) and I don't adjust my minifigures too much on the lower end of pricing so that they sell for good money even if it takes them a few years to do so. So I get quick returns with the parts and I make the money with the minifigures that can be considered collectibles when they actually sell. Of course there are many exceptions but in general I try to stick to that strategy.
thinking that too - most of a high part-out-value comes from pieces that are new or rare and will soon loose their mojo because everybody buys the sets and from stuff you already have for the rest of your life. I my opinion only two kinds of new parts are worth the hassle if you aren't doing stuff in giant scales: Pick a Brick wall (where you can get huge numbers dead cheap, which then can attract moc builders needing like 5000 masonry bricks) and stuff you get for free (like extras or GWPs). Everything else is having stuff that's sitting around losing value over the next few years and only pick up, when the children of today's kids are trying to reassemble those old sets.
I used to BL full time many years ago. I estimated I made $12 an hour. This was back when LEGO didn't have limits on how many sets you could buy. 1. The smartest people buy off of BL and sell on other marketplaces. 2. The next smartest buy off of bulk BL overseas and resell in the US. 3. Parting out new sets and listing used is the absolute worst way to make money. You will make more flipping burgers.
Bricklink is not a shipping service. It’s like everything else - depends on how fast seller can process the order then how long it takes the delivery service. Some sellers make take severally days before they ship (look at terms) and the postal services everywhere have been slow because of pandemic. But shipping time has zero to do with Bricklink
Thank you for this video. It just shows how hard it is to earn even a most modest profit, even though a lot of capital, work and a vast knowledge have gone into the enterprise. The only point that makes me go on with a similar business, is that my customers are happy with the service I provide. You won't get rich, nor even paid adequately, but there will be people out there who will remember you and your service - and be happy.
@@lifetest1000 living rate you need to be making at least £10 a hour in the uk and thats if you just want to be housed and eat.. So Work it out from there..
Well thanks for this. Not committing yet, trying to work out logistics & research first. Market advantages for me are having some capital to splash, a huge ability to retain information, eye for detail & patience for repetition thanks to autism LMAO & being a coder & data nerd already, some business experience, plus enthusiastic kids & potential helpers. Anything I want to get reallllly nerdy about I can, don't expect to make a living off it if I do jump in, would have to think about how to streamline processes including market analysis, information flow & acquiring/sorting/dispatching & if it's all worth it on an hourly basis, because from experience, the devil really is in the detail.
My country doesn't tax hobby businesses either (Australia - don't know what it's like elsewhere), not sure what if any info Bricklink shares, would be annoying to try to argue the difference if I was in hobby land.
Hey, great video. Got a question: is there a lot of action going on, on bricklink ebay and amazon, selling lego? What is your experienced feel on supply/demand ratio, on this platforms, right now? Cheers)))
Been at Bricklink since 2014 just hit 30000 parts and items. But I enjoy the store as much as collecting and building. Definitely not for the get rich quick type
All good points. I am getting closer all the time to be able to open up my store. I am hoping by March. And I would like to know your thoughts on shipping and handling pricing schemes. It is something I will have to make a decision on at some point.
Have been gathering bits and bobs to open a store (to help with my spending) but just haven't got round it uploading the elements. Don't think I'm gonna make loads but if it helps to buy new sets then I'm up for it. Great video and thanks for passing on your knowledge
The thing that always makes me nervous about Bricklink and selling one brand on a secondary market is your reliance on that brand. LEGO could change its pricing model, DTC part sales, go out of business, have some big scandal that hurts the brand value, etc. LEGO is an anomaly to have lasted so many generations- I hope their run continues!
That is the nicest way to tell someone new bricklink sellers 'stay off my turf'. I'm not serious of course, but it was too hard to not reply with this comment. But it is true that you need to guess and know what parts can become rare and what sells, and even if you sell that single piece for a lot of money you still may end up with a lot of common parts that don't sell at all. For the rest you also need a lot of time to sort and register every single piece, and you should ask yourself if you could earn more just doing any other job. So if LEGO is not your hobby to begin with it's just best to do something else.
Why not? What advantage do I have over “regular people”? Why am I not “regular people”? I’ve been doing this for 21 years. The advantage I have is time. Put the time into it. Problem with this generation is they want instant gratification and too lazy to put in the work. I did not build things to this point just hoping things would work out
@@BrickTsar I meant that as a compliment. My business is an RV Park. As much as I want to sell Lego on the side, I dont have the extra time to reach a threshold to make it worth it. I found a ton of truth in your video. But in the summers I work 85 hours a week and I have three kids. Im not going to lie to myself that I could do it right.
You may have meant it as a compliment but in two sentences you implied that I had advantages most do not. I use to have a job that was seasonal and I worked every day in summer with no off days too. So I understand the dilemma. I didn’t have kids at that time. Teach them how to help. It’s good training. Don’t work them to death but teach them things they can do and pay them when they are old enough
... you really want to buy parts that you can make 4x or more since you never have 100% turnover - you may sell something like 30% of the parts. Of course most aren't doing it for the money and after you've got parts you've invested in for a year or several years I'm sure you treat it as a sunk cost anyway and any sales is treated as money in... to buy more LEGO ;)
I really like bricklink. Im spending 500 eqch month on used bulk lego from private sellers who wsmt to get rid of the childrens collecrion. My average return per month from that 500 is around 900 , so i make 400. And thats just what i sell. I buy 1kg for a max of 12$ and so i have no risk. I can sell it for the same or a bit more. I make the money with sets, rare parts and figures. The rest i keep and the parts i font need like tires, windows etc i sell on ebay as bulk lego and i get around 30-50% of my investment back from that. Im a student in germany and for me that is good money. I have now over 100kg of lego, some sets and figures at home. And im a t 3k profit after 5 months. And in the end i can knvest that profit again and sell it next year, so i can write it off taxes and i dont have to pqy tax at all for that.
Whatever money you make you definately earn it running a bricklink store. Finding deals, parting out, organizing, picking orders and packing. It's a lot of time. It's not a get rich quick scheme for sure.
We are building a business that should employ 5 people and run at 2mil parts. Just hit 15k lots, found 1000lbs of lego from a single supplier, running 30-45 orders a week and employs 2 people everyday.
The used Lego shops are the best. There are around 6 just in Schleswig-Holstein. I have visited them all and bought all lego Ufo i could find. Where is your shop?
It seems the Lego is the only company that making any real money not the consumer. Unless you sell the valuable Lego sets at a convention or have a garage sale.
I didn't enjoy this video much, you are much better talking about the building side of lego stuff than talking about the business side. sorry, I think it was very incoherent. on a more positive note: your storage system is amazing!
I did a video on that. Fail to see how that is a problem for sellers. Actually it’s a huge convenience for sellers as now we don’t have to charge it and file it to the states ourselves. It’s a tremendous burden off of sellers.
Wait, What, are you saying to make money on Bricklink you have to invest money and put in hard work. Nope, I'm out!
TAXES!!!!!! LOL
As a collector what do want to happen to your collection when you can’t do it anymore?
He’s actually setting up a Bricklink store now 😀
@@GreatBrickLab If your asking me, I have a Grandson that is more then willing to take it over. Hopefully I have a daughter that understands the value. LOL
I would be great to see some of you space collection! Do you have mTron too?
This one seller I know buys bulk figures and resells them for a slight upcharge. I think he said every month he brings in like $35-$45 a month. In my opinion that's a lot of work for only that.
Depends on where you live
@@mickey.b8377 He usually does an extra $0.75-$1.00 up charge on shipping to help too.
@The Batman Ya I've considered doing that too.
35k? that's good money every where.
@@bbs32 uh, I believe they are saying $35.00, not $35,000.00
Bricklink selling would be perfect for me but I’m greedy and I wanna keep my lego
Same
Same Too, But I Would Just Buy Cheap Second Hand Lego From Charity Shops Or Carboot Sales, And Then Sell It!
I completely agree, it takes a passion to retain any of the information required to excel at this business. It is a business, but there is a lot that goes behind it. A lot of people think oh, I will just do that to make all the money instantly, a store like yours takes SOOO much time and space to build up to. In this world I suggest finding your passions and find a way to make money off of that as you will become way more successful at something you are passionate about and having fun with. Making money alone just makes it a job like any other job people get tired of and end up hating. Good stuff Jabo
LEGbrOs I buy from you😝
I only watched the first minute or so and then closed my BrickLink Store forever, so thank you... :D :D :D Wise words as always ;)
Carl G lol
I knew it was all a sham!
Woah mand r sup
Wow, I love your vids btw mand r
Yes it was a *sham*
i fw ur vids mandr
Ryan, LOL.
I never had more than two or three stack-one in my short-lives store, but I sure do miss it. Sorting was therapeutic, and picking what few orders I got was always fun. I had as much fun sorting and picking as I did building! Might re-open one of I have the space again in the future.
New brick link sellers have to have extreme patience or they’ll never make it
Edit: brick link sellers have to have extreme patience or they’ll never make it :D
Big B Bricks yes sir. You are correct
I have a BL store that's about a year old. I make enough to be able to buy whatever sets I want... but the catch is, after I buy them and build them, I take them apart and put them in inventory so I can make money to buy the next stuff. So while it's great for being able to spend pretty much whatever I want on new Lego, if your goal is to buy and DISPLAY (keep) rather than buy, build, and sell, then it's not going to work out very well. Also, I spend about 4-5 hours per day pulling and packing orders, so it's a time sink, BIGTIME.
I think you standing there is actually really good framing! Nice job...
13:47 - "This is the cowboy who just farted." - BrickTsar
LOL! That cracked me up! Hahahaha!!!!!
I'm looking into starting a store eventually. Last year I bought a giant collection for stupid cheap, about 300 sets for $2 grand. I had the money to blow and figured, this will be fun!! It took a long time to put them all together but I just did in my spare time. I ended up buying a few more smaller collections for cheap as well. In the last year, I have inventoried all of it, invested about $700 in trays and bins. The completed sets I sold paid for all of that long ago. Its all sorted by color and pieces, ready to be uploaded as soon as I feel comfortable some day.
BUT, so far, I dont want to sell any of it haha. I have about 40k in inventory left over AFTER putting together all the sets and been selling the sets locally. I'm at around 8k left in lego sets to sell. No ides what the extra 40k pieces are worth, but I am in a good position to start a store some day I think. Im sbout to invest a grand into some Ikea Alex drawers. They seem to be rhe best bang for the buck.
Right now. Everything is stored in rubber maid containers, and I pull a bin out when i need a piece of thar color. It works, but the drawers wi help huge.
I think being succesful at this only comes with certain circumstances. I just happened to find this Lego for cheap. During covid when i had free time and nothing else to do but sort lego. And have all the space in a basement I already work from home in (buying and selling vintage toys)
I love building the sets. Once they are built and 100% I sell them, thats what I really enjoy. I may or may not ever start a store some day to sellcmy inventory, but I think im in a good position to.
I've just managed to get a job at an in-store BrickLink store that also sells and buys Lego and other construction brands...so happy to be able to call that place work 😃
Hallo Jabbo BrickTsar, not only planning how to start but also having an exit plan. What to do with all the storage draw containers, I count at least 30 in the corner you are in, a fraction of the amount you bought. Same with shelfs for storage, bought for the purpose of a store. Thank you Carola
C Stedtler I sometimes want to move my personal collection into these drawers and I’ve been contemplating doing a transition in which I mark off one container for personal and as those drawers empty I fill it with sorted pieces from my personal collection. The store takes up about 1/6th of the basement down I would need more drawers - lol
4:56 struggled to find a place where to rest his hands lol
Good information from an experienced person, makes sense to have knowledge and understanding of any collectible market, even antiques or hotwheels.
I think something’s gone wrong with the bricklink server today, Ican’t search anything or look in any of my carts. Has this happened for anyone else?
Hopefully I word this correctly. But when it comes to inventory...let's say you have a 100 2x4 red bricks and one person orders all of them and your in the process of filling that order and another person orders 10 a short time later before you or bricklink updates your the quantity "on hand". How do you fill the second (smaller) order?
its updated instantly by bricklink after an order is placed
About handling fees.
I recently found a seller that had a complex formula for that. It was something like Quantity / Lots if that's less than 0.50€ add a fee of 0.19€ for every unique lot or something like that.
I noped out of that store because I didn't want to pay 5€ or more extra just in handling for cheep parts. In the end got them from a seller that wanted a little bit more for the parts but I saved like 10€ in handling and shipping combined.
i was thinking if it was worth to just sell of my old parts from lego sets and random pieces ive had for years in a box to then invest into proper sets for display
And the picky pain in the rear end customers that complains about scratches, claims parts are missing, and package never arrived! I prefer used bulk lots from numerous sources and off the store shelves purchases. I’m not out to impress anyone with my creations so scratches are not a big deal. If Sasquatch steals my haul off the porch, then I’m upset!
I'm thinking that the reason they didn't include the string in the U.S. is due to a choking hazard regulation. A toddler could get tied up in that. Duplo is all about being safe for kids 3 and younger. I envy people who have bricklink stores as it is a lot of work!
It's all about how much it costs you to do it.for example, I work in a box plant so I can get almost all of my packaging for nothing.this adds to profits.you also have to know what your looking for.its not for the get rich quick thing.it takes time.I make those amazon boxes.😀
I sell Magic the Gathering Cards on Cardmarket, I can see selling Lego is a lot harder in terms of space and time. The thought of thousand brick orders makes me physically cringe imagining the work going in to collating that.
How do you filter for conditions, do you have boxes of the same piece for yellowed/unyellowed, chewed/unchewed and so on? Or are they stored in different parts of the same storage box.
Is it even worh selling chewed bricks? What % of bulk lego goes in the bin (if any)? When buying large Magic collections I would say about 50% of the cards are not worth listing so go in the bin, I'm talking less than a penny (maybe I am doing it wrong?).
I have sold over £500k of Magic, but that was not £500k profit. I did buy a house with it tho...
I do not understand the card market. Why people pay so much for them. I got out of it 30+ years ago when I realized 90% of my collection was worthless. But it helps if you got a good eye for the stuff.
It’s easy with Lego - I don’t sell used other than a few items. One lot per drawer for the vast majority of my inventory. Over over 10000 lots and all but a few are in their own space. Makes picking super easy. Plus selling pieces vs sets I don’t have to worry protecting the box. Just got back to selling sets recently and I’m always nervous until the people receive their item.
Wrapping up my second full month of sales today. I've been doing 6+ hours daily sorting/ logging/ packing. It's a lot of work and investment (both time and money), but the payoff is there after a LOT of work.
I don't know how you do it. I sorted one large bulk find and it turned me off Lego for months.
As with everything you get out of it what you put in. I started my store probably around 15 months ago. Was a steep learning curve that’s for sure. If only I knew then what I know now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing
So, how are you doing now? Do you feel like it’s worth the effort to start a store?
Just make a spreadsheet, and start selling set by set local via meet-ups. In a few years, you will know if you got the eye for this business.
I am at the very, very start of my new Bricklink store, "Green Bay Bricks."
Right now, I'll focus on the sale of a select few sets, parts (including new sets parted out) and booklets, including underused parts from my collection, including various Technic and Bionicle parts which I barely even use...
I'm new to Lego and I've just been mulling over selling the Minifigs and Promos from the sets I purchase. Feels like I won't "make a living" but I can certainly offset my building experience costs. Most videos I'm finding are referring to parting out vs. finding clearance sets and selling at a later date (for profit). As a newbie maybe I'm just dreaming? It won't replace my 9-5 job but might help pay for new sets I'd like to build?
Hello
Forgive me for my translation done by google
I went back to legos in 2005 when I saw an exhibition in France I registered on bricklink in 2005 and in 2009 I opened a shop for the sale of new sets by buying direct from LEGO France
in 2011 I closed my shop for financial loss I had an invoice to pay of 65000 euros to lego
I learned afterwards with the closure that to open a lego shop to sell new sets and pay for a warehouse you need at least 100,000 euros in France to finance the first year (long live the French tax).
and since 2011 I started selling lego parts again. and for now the sale of parts allows me to buy lego for me for my passion
10:27 probably couldve bought a house from the bricklink profits or if you hadnt tried to ever start a store?
Very usefull Videos, i plan to make my own Bricklinkstore soon and decided to put 100% effort in, this includes quitting my job. Im aware this is a high risk thing, but i have a nice amount of money saved and i rly want this. I decided that IF im gonna try this, im restricting myself in everydays spending and do it as a 150% job with full effort and seriousness and... a BIG bunch of burning passion for Lego. Your videos are really helpfull and also grounding at the same time. Which is important. I need my expectation to be grounded a bit. But i rather takes this risk than being trapped in something i hate for eternity. Thanks alot.
If you have not already checked him out - look Pop’s Block Shop - he does it still as a one man operation and has a good system
That's what we do, work really hard and continually reinvest back into the store to build selection and quantity.
The 20th century called and wants it's handling fee back. :) One thing to mention to all buyers is that PayPal made it policy that no seller is allowed to charge a fee to cover PayPal fee worldwide, regardless of the law of the land.
That begs the question. - should LEGO prevent European sellers from adding the PayPal fee or should PayPal? Most charge far more than what the actual fee is
@@BrickTsar I would think legally, LEGO (TLG/BL) would be responsible for this since PP wouldn't know what each individual charge is composed of but sadly they will not do anything, it is solely up to the buyer to inform the seller.
Thats nice. I will continue charging it.
I mainly buy sets that I'd like to have they retire or I just know would do very well. I store them in boxes but they're there in case I want to build them or if I suddenly am out of money I can sell them. I am only beginning but I've been into Lego for years with a large Lego collection already including a city. I think it's reasonable for someone like me to sell sets for profit. I think it's more of a hobby for me, and I think running a business does have its risks involved. I'm not sure how taxation goes when you are selling collectible items. I am assuming they don't really care unless you make thousands of dollars per year, but yeah that is another thing that I need to figure out if I ever plan on selling more of this stuff. As far as I understand though, you can buy things and sell those things second hand with 0 tax. I guess this is because usually it's assumed that goods don't rise in value in the second hand market. But same could be said for some designer items or art. I guess the line is really blurred there would love to know what is the right way to go about this if you have any input.
what if you sell every thing at base price with shipping then you add 2 dollar per order you might make money not including sets
That’s too low a margin to make it worth the time
@@BrickTsar ya i thought about it then wuz like 1 dollar charge per 10 dollar ? it be nice to have a whole record written and you could manipulate it for a seazonal monthly yearly answers
hey bricktsar i know you're a bricklink youtuber so i have a question i dont really know how to work bricklink and i'm looking for 2 minifigures and i thought you might have them they are from lego 75139 1 of them is fin and the other 1 is the first order trooper with that weird looking gun so plz if you have tho's figs plz respond back
AWOKEN :D look at inventory on Bricklink for that set and click the minifigures. It’s so easy
AWOKEN :D Also I’ve said this in videos but I don’t do personal search requests - no time
@@BrickTsar ok
Your sorting cabinets look super, can you put a link to them please.
I cannot. They don’t make them anymore.
Check The Container Store online
could you tell us the best times to find lego clearance and where?
The best sell is the one you really don´t depend on. It also works the other way (buying). It gives you more negotiating power.
I have the big MTT from 2009(?) That sells used for $300. Any tips?
Build and enjoy. That’s the best tip I can give
When you started out, did you get a business license first thing?
I have no employees so Tim as sole proprietor and no requirement at this time to have a business license
I’m thinking about getting into bricklink selling. Would it be smart to just get into selling Lego technic? That’s mostly the legos I build.
Technic is a niche group but the parts can also be used for Great Ball Contraptions. I would say the best reason to focus on that for you is the very reason it’s something you like - that way if it doesn’t work out or you don’t like selling you aren’t stuck with parts you don’t really want
ok, ok, I'm out of the bricklink, but I'm sooo interested in your lego storage shelves now! tell me where I can purchase them and put my lego pieces in the right place
Unfortunately - most of what I use isn’t even sold anymore ua-cam.com/video/SLFpgymnAOA/v-deo.html
i want to start to sell lego on bricklink but cant get positive feedback to start to sell it wont let me sell till i get on poitive feedback can anyone help
Maybe not by selling individual pieces, but when you sell rare sealed sets, you can make bank
Maxx Kroes you get them, then wait and resell them
How many mindstorm cables do you need? I have a bunch in reserve.
Was a great video about how first year business growth is small then can get higher as you’ll already have full storage and then you can start to bulk buy more packaging at higher rates getting better deals per package reducing the money your spending(fees) and helping your growth for the future if your actually doing well with Lego investing
It's a hard question for anyone to want to answer but would you say for 40 hours of work in a week, do you pay yourself more than $20 an hour doing this?
Hi, Really like your videos and setup around you.
One question, can you tell me, how much do you pay for shipping domestic and international for a package around 1-2kg with tracking number?
Here in EU, at our State postal service that I use, prices are quite high. For International shipping in a box up to 2kg $45(USD) and 2-5kg $55(USD).
I know that a couple times I have left messages like “what kind of money does this make?” I believe it makes money. My question is. “What would you guess your hourly rate is when you account for time breaking down new boxes, filling orders, updating bricink, ext.” I am grateful for bricklink people. I just hope they are reasonably compensated.
Thanks for what you do.
That's the stressful part of being an entrepreneur in whatever domain: You need to get the money you invested back by making sales and that's what people don't understand: All these drawers aren't free neither is that camera. Profits comes after all the stuff you had to buy to get your first few dollars. Then you get a profit once the money you get is higher than the money you've invested.
I wasn’t stress because I took 35 years of collecting to get here. People do want instant return. Great thing though about start up costs - they are tax deductible
I’m trying to find is Bricklink trusted because I want to buy some pieces to finish my old Bionicle
20 years.
Hey! I really want to sell on Bricklink but I do not have enough Lego, where or how can I afford lots of Lego with the minimum price? Or how do you started?
I thought about starting a Bricklink store with some discounted Friends sets..., then that that little blue elephant was looking at me and I said, nope, not now. Then, I got into LEGO trains and I suddenly had a different perspective on my LEGO parts that I thought I was never going to use for anything!
I think the part-out-value ratio is a very tricky thing. A new set may give you a ratio of 3 or 4 but it most likely will go down pretty soon to 2 or 1,8 or even lower. When you buy a EOL set that sells at 50% than you will certainly have a short lived high part-out-value but usually you are not the only one who gets the deal and soon the value will come down pretty quickly. Other sets like LEGO Star Wats Battle Packs will have a pretty low value on parts and everyone who wants the minifigures can buy them just as cheap as you can. The price will only pick up in years to come. Holding on to sets and minifigures also costs money because as long as the deployed capital does not give you returns on your investment you will be pretty much loosing money while waiting. Thats said, I try to get sets for part-out purpose that have lot's of parts that always sell (ratio of 2+ is okay with me) and I don't adjust my minifigures too much on the lower end of pricing so that they sell for good money even if it takes them a few years to do so. So I get quick returns with the parts and I make the money with the minifigures that can be considered collectibles when they actually sell. Of course there are many exceptions but in general I try to stick to that strategy.
thinking that too - most of a high part-out-value comes from pieces that are new or rare and will soon loose their mojo because everybody buys the sets and from stuff you already have for the rest of your life. I my opinion only two kinds of new parts are worth the hassle if you aren't doing stuff in giant scales: Pick a Brick wall (where you can get huge numbers dead cheap, which then can attract moc builders needing like 5000 masonry bricks) and stuff you get for free (like extras or GWPs). Everything else is having stuff that's sitting around losing value over the next few years and only pick up, when the children of today's kids are trying to reassemble those old sets.
I used to BL full time many years ago. I estimated I made $12 an hour. This was back when LEGO didn't have limits on how many sets you could buy.
1. The smartest people buy off of BL and sell on other marketplaces. 2. The next smartest buy off of bulk BL overseas and resell in the US. 3. Parting out new sets and listing used is the absolute worst way to make money. You will make more flipping burgers.
You failed because of your own issues
How long is shipping on bricklink
Bricklink is not a shipping service. It’s like everything else - depends on how fast seller can process the order then how long it takes the delivery service. Some sellers make take severally days before they ship (look at terms) and the postal services everywhere have been slow because of pandemic. But shipping time has zero to do with Bricklink
@@BrickTsar thank you so much 😊
I didn’t get it what the point of this video?!?
Cliff note - you can’t make money at anything if you are lazy or looking for shortcuts
Thank you for this video. It just shows how hard it is to earn even a most modest profit, even though a lot of capital, work and a vast knowledge have gone into the enterprise. The only point that makes me go on with a similar business, is that my customers are happy with the service I provide. You won't get rich, nor even paid adequately, but there will be people out there who will remember you and your service - and be happy.
Not paid adequately? how much money per hour would be adequate?
@@lifetest1000 living rate you need to be making at least £10 a hour in the uk and thats if you just want to be housed and eat.. So Work it out from there..
Well thanks for this. Not committing yet, trying to work out logistics & research first. Market advantages for me are having some capital to splash, a huge ability to retain information, eye for detail & patience for repetition thanks to autism LMAO & being a coder & data nerd already, some business experience, plus enthusiastic kids & potential helpers. Anything I want to get reallllly nerdy about I can, don't expect to make a living off it if I do jump in, would have to think about how to streamline processes including market analysis, information flow & acquiring/sorting/dispatching & if it's all worth it on an hourly basis, because from experience, the devil really is in the detail.
My country doesn't tax hobby businesses either (Australia - don't know what it's like elsewhere), not sure what if any info Bricklink shares, would be annoying to try to argue the difference if I was in hobby land.
What is the name of your website ? I’m an interested buyer . Somethings are not easy to find on BrickLink .
Hey Jabo, How old are you? Just curious. Thanks. Great video!
Hey, great video.
Got a question: is there a lot of action going on, on bricklink ebay and amazon, selling lego?
What is your experienced feel on supply/demand ratio, on this platforms, right now?
Cheers)))
Been at Bricklink since 2014 just hit 30000 parts and items. But I enjoy the store as much as collecting and building. Definitely not for the get rich quick type
Best reason to do something - enjoyment
Start out as a hobby then see how it goes and grow slowly.
All good points. I am getting closer all the time to be able to open up my store. I am hoping by March.
And I would like to know your thoughts on shipping and handling pricing schemes. It is something I will have to make a decision on at some point.
I use actually shipping price + $1 a lot of sellers do it like this to help pay for shipping and then some to pay for the shipping supplies.
Have been gathering bits and bobs to open a store (to help with my spending) but just haven't got round it uploading the elements. Don't think I'm gonna make loads but if it helps to buy new sets then I'm up for it.
Great video and thanks for passing on your knowledge
The thing that always makes me nervous about Bricklink and selling one brand on a secondary market is your reliance on that brand. LEGO could change its pricing model, DTC part sales, go out of business, have some big scandal that hurts the brand value, etc. LEGO is an anomaly to have lasted so many generations- I hope their run continues!
Bricklink was bough by Lego some time back ... so why should Lego shoot themselves in foot ? ;)
If that happens existing product will just go up in price but no new supply
13:22 that's the attitude i love 😂
Hehe
Sometimes I stand 10 seconds before my Apple Safari computer to see the page appear in the web browser.
That is the nicest way to tell someone new bricklink sellers 'stay off my turf'. I'm not serious of course, but it was too hard to not reply with this comment.
But it is true that you need to guess and know what parts can become rare and what sells, and even if you sell that single piece for a lot of money you still may end up with a lot of common parts that don't sell at all. For the rest you also need a lot of time to sort and register every single piece, and you should ask yourself if you could earn more just doing any other job. So if LEGO is not your hobby to begin with it's just best to do something else.
Tsar has reached economy of scale. Us regular people cannot.
Why not? What advantage do I have over “regular people”? Why am I not “regular people”? I’ve been doing this for 21 years. The advantage I have is time. Put the time into it. Problem with this generation is they want instant gratification and too lazy to put in the work. I did not build things to this point just hoping things would work out
@@BrickTsar I meant that as a compliment. My business is an RV Park. As much as I want to sell Lego on the side, I dont have the extra time to reach a threshold to make it worth it. I found a ton of truth in your video. But in the summers I work 85 hours a week and I have three kids. Im not going to lie to myself that I could do it right.
You may have meant it as a compliment but in two sentences you implied that I had advantages most do not. I use to have a job that was seasonal and I worked every day in summer with no off days too. So I understand the dilemma. I didn’t have kids at that time. Teach them how to help. It’s good training. Don’t work them to death but teach them things they can do and pay them when they are old enough
Love you man 😍
... you really want to buy parts that you can make 4x or more since you never have 100% turnover - you may sell something like 30% of the parts. Of course most aren't doing it for the money and after you've got parts you've invested in for a year or several years I'm sure you treat it as a sunk cost anyway and any sales is treated as money in... to buy more LEGO ;)
I sell LEGO on my eBay site. Mostly just to move extra pieces and to justify buying LEGO from other sellers 😛👍
🤣🤣 the cowboy who just farted.. hilarious!
I really like bricklink.
Im spending 500 eqch month on used bulk lego from private sellers who wsmt to get rid of the childrens collecrion.
My average return per month from that 500 is around 900 , so i make 400. And thats just what i sell.
I buy 1kg for a max of 12$ and so i have no risk.
I can sell it for the same or a bit more. I make the money with sets, rare parts and figures.
The rest i keep and the parts i font need like tires, windows etc i sell on ebay as bulk lego and i get around 30-50% of my investment back from that.
Im a student in germany and for me that is good money.
I have now over 100kg of lego, some sets and figures at home. And im a t 3k profit after 5 months.
And in the end i can knvest that profit again and sell it next year, so i can write it off taxes and i dont have to pqy tax at all for that.
Whatever money you make you definately earn it running a bricklink store. Finding deals, parting out, organizing, picking orders and packing. It's a lot of time. It's not a get rich quick scheme for sure.
We are building a business that should employ 5 people and run at 2mil parts. Just hit 15k lots, found 1000lbs of lego from a single supplier, running 30-45 orders a week and employs 2 people everyday.
The used Lego shops are the best. There are around 6 just in Schleswig-Holstein. I have visited them all and bought all lego Ufo i could find. Where is your shop?
I don't think I'll open a Bricklink store... I'll leave it to the pros :)
Lol! It’s like if I thought I could do well making art but I had no passion or skill for it
It seems the Lego is the only company that making any real money not the consumer. Unless you sell the valuable Lego sets at a convention or have a garage sale.
It's a shame we get taxed for trying to make ends meet.
I only buy and its amazing i get so many retired sets
And endless hours of sorting Lego!
Good vid!
Really valuable reasoning but could you maybe change the title something like " why it's almost impossible to make money on Bricklink"
I want to do I follow on Why you can make money selling on Bricklink
@@BrickTsar ah, good idea
As a bricklink seller I see the truth in this video. When I get board of lego I tend to lose interest in the store and lose money.
Long story short: you should do it if you want to make your hobby a bit cheaper, right?
It's not rly that big, just 400bajillion bricks and 60gazillion boxes
0:00 thanks for ruining my hears
Love ur shirt!
you can indeed make money on bricklink...unless you're like me and bricktsar and spend all your profit on personal lego hauls :P
#BAT have you ever claimed tax returns on your stack ons as business expenses. Bricklink is not a get rich quick scheme
Oh man do we need you on BUTI.
It's an investment and you have to be passionate about it. Patients also. I'm a maniac
I didn't enjoy this video much, you are much better talking about the building side of lego stuff than talking about the business side. sorry, I think it was very incoherent. on a more positive note: your storage system is amazing!
Thanks for your input.
Short answer - Most of the money goes to postage.
I pay more fees to PayPal than to shipping
one more bad news for Bricklink owner. Bricklink start to charge sale tax for US customers from today 10/1.
I did a video on that. Fail to see how that is a problem for sellers. Actually it’s a huge convenience for sellers as now we don’t have to charge it and file it to the states ourselves. It’s a tremendous burden off of sellers.
wait a minute... if you're BrickTsar, then who is this BlockCzar guy?
5000 drawers!