As someone who buys to own (and to have the set and use the parts in my own creations) I like the fact that I can get LEGO cheap from various retailers (the secret is knowing who has the best price right now and whether its likely to get any cheaper as well as whether you can get a price match from somewhere that makes life easier). What I don't like is just how many products LEGO is releasing each year. I also don't like how some products disappear from shelves far too quickly while other products hang around far longer than they should.
Same here. If I want to buy a set, I usually can find a retailer where it is on sale by searching for it on Google, and if not, then I can usually find someone selling it for less than retail on Ebay.
From my understanding-everyone pays the same price.Doesn't matter if you're Target, Amazon, Walmart, Toys Toys Toys or any small mom and pop shop, anyone buying from LEGO pays the same price. I think what people forget is that Costco and Amazon are membership based retailers, meaning they make a large portion of their money off memberships and reallocate that money to fund sales/markdowns to give their customers value and the best possible price (even if that means they only make 10%-15%). It's a retailer strategy.
People also have to remember Amashit is undercutting everyone so they become the ONLY game in town. Once they get what they want, they will swing prices up and be able to price things to whatever they want. This is the big box store effect. What's screwed is that we keep falling for it. Go shop there because it's x amount cheaper, then before you know it, local stores close, then they jack their prices up because the competition got driven out of business. Buyer beware.
Still, prices probably won't jump up above the level of where they have been in local stores. Plus, online shopping is nothing that amazon does exclusively, and Jeff Bezos himself has prophecied that this part of amazon is going to go under pretty soon due to competition, and also because of the flood of garbage products distributed over the marketplace. Which is probably why they are increasingly positioning themselves as a logistics and payment service provider. In general, the whole debate is wrong. Online shopping is a thing, it's not going away, and for a lot of products it makes sense that they are taking over from local businesses. People have to adapt or move on. My LGS for instance is thriving, because the owner is running products which distribute exclusively through local stores, and he takes care to monetize the playing space by holding lots of Limited events for several TCGs and offering snacks, drinks, and "deceptive" value packs. If Lego is becoming an online exclusive brand, why not? People rarely need a Lego set in a hurry, and with all the content creators showing the stuff off in front of cameras, why would the company care about being visible on shelfs? The markets will figure out the pricing.
@@Volkbrecht You are so incredibly naive if you believe this. Business is business, and the type of people who run amazon are cut throat business men. They don't give a shit.
The real "toy stores" in my area only buy second hand and do incredibly well selling CIB sets. I have also noticed Lego stuff on clearance and discount a lot more.
I work at Walmart. Our margins for Lego is 25-30% or so. I wait until sets reach second clearance (typically 50-75% off). The store ends up with -60 to -70% margin when I buy it at that price. I have little control over the condition and sets I buy, but I have very comfortable margins. I've spent about $500 and have about $1100 retail value. It will take time to sell the sets, but with such a wide moat, I can afford to wait 5-10 years I guess. Sites like BrickEconomy are nice too, I can see what has a higher market price
kinda bs there are never any sales in a lot of countries that high, most sales are no more than 20-30% which is still not enough to justify buying it usually
@@fsmoura I thought it was 2-3% per year on average, is that not the case? Either way, having cash that you can put into assets that appreciate is going to put anyone ahead of the average person long term. Even something like gold won't appreciate, but it won't lose value.
My son and I collect Lego not to make money or as an investment but just to enjoy the pleasure of building and showing it in our customised shed. It;s fun and when a father and son who are in their 40's (son) old man (70) spend time together its a treasure believe me.
"it depends if you want to use raw dollar or percentage, a 80% uptick on a small set is only $20 but if the castle moves 10% that's a $50 swing, " ...or you could buy multiple boxes of the small set to outperform the castle on both scales
Did crunch the numbers for Germany last week. Small/medium sets have maximum discount of 40-60%, exclusives/the 20-25% maximum discount. And small/medium sets have an average current discount of 20% and exclusive 14%. Long story short: Lego does pretty active discriminate pricing. Great for adults/informed buyers. An idiot tax for everyone paying MSRP. And horrible for stores. And the last info: Toys get sold at 70% online in the EU and 80%+ in the US. Yeah, stores have every right to complain. But does it matter?
Lego and pokemon are taking the world by storm period; any lego or pokemon sells. BUT we have to remember the toy industry is gonna take a hit when everyone wants to push an abnormal level of technology and give kids phones instead of toys. As per metazoo; it must feel bad to basically work with the owner and have your own card line, to have the company do shady things then just disappear. Im sure rudy lost money from metazoo just like others who bought it. I didnt, buy obviously some ppl did.
It's crazy just got 2 Galaxy Explorer Lego at a Walmart for a buddy $33. Also video games have been strange too Rudy. Several games at gamestop that were under $7 are now above $15. Just within a few months. Easy to find titles too. Strange times
I have a LGS/collectible toy/figure store in SF. When I contacted Lego direct to open an account about 8 years ago the standard discount was 25% and 15 percent on specialty releases. This is delivered which was a plus. They would have end of year or special sales randomly at 35% off. I would have to raise my retail price 10-20% above standard retail price to even make a profit?. The math does not work base on my profit margins. Lego rep told me that they only discount 25% to the big boys. I doubt that. Big box retailers got 90-180 day credit terms and credit kickbacks. I decided not to open a Lego direct account. Toys R Us use to sell items on sale at 25% often. I would go to TRU to buy the speculative pcs. I did well flipping but you would halve to buy vaulted pcs or specialty pcs to make money. Toys in general are logistics storage nightmare this is why I currently have a 5K+ sqft warehouse today.
Thanks for your video, I appreciate it, because I'm glad to have video that goes kinda into details of what is happening at the behind the scenes of toy stores and Lego in general, even if it wasn't about stores in my country
Interesting to get a look into Lego economics. I still have a few sets from my childhood (Robin Hood and some Pirate boats). Priceless to me and I'll probably never part with them.
We have a retailer in the UK called Argos that is great for household/games/Lego etc. I always choose them before Amazon (who often price match) because we need the brick and mortar stores to survive. Yes Amazon is easier (home delivery) but it’s worth the effort! A world with only Amazon would be grim.
As a consumer , why wouldnt i wait on the clearance. They're selling these "toys" at such an extreme high rate to start with until they finally get sick of the product sitting there not selling. I just dont buy, im not going to get price gouged by any retailer if I can help it. Also people buying toys as investments seems to be the new meta. Toys are not for playing anymore, theyre for making the all mighty buck.
totally agree....about 20 years ago and started buying star wars sets as an investment ( i also enjoy looking at the boxes stashed in my basement, garage, attic...). until i had kids. It's great if you love Legos and have the time and space to hunt for those great deals for future sales. It's NOT a good investment after you factor in opportunity cost/time value of initial Lego cost and the very real risk of your wife divorcing you....
Forgot to mention that i just started giving the sets away to friends and relatives who actually love to build the sets. And I'm actually having fun building these old sets with my 10 and 12 year olds regardless of the current bid/offer rate.
@@trev3971 Yeah there's a guy near me who does well off it but it just feels like the money would be better elsewhere. Cool idea for people who love Lego though.
As long as you buy at the right price, Lego is basically a no-lose proposition. If you can get stuff at 40-50% end of season clearance, hold time to double your money is often less than six months. Sometimes it's even better; a Wal-mart near me ended up with a large number of brand new $110 sets that they sold for 70% off less than a week after release. 250% ROI in less than a day.
I see a bunch of Lion Knight's Castle that's not retiring for years so.... I'm guessing he brought it during the black friday deal at Lego for $100 off with 2 GWPs, not bad if he's going to build them but it's dead money until it retires@@trev3971
@@trev3971 Yeah yeah, people like you just love to ignore the listing fees. Sell fees. Shipping fees. Just do the internet number / the buy number right. Its that easy ...right!? Good luck unloading 10's or 100's of the same set.
Like any investment you need to investigate the market in order to understand which sets to buy which could go up in the future. Also, it’s a pain to store legos and if you have too much space storing legos you may as well insvest in something more convenient.
I talk with a small toy store owner and she told me that, since a few years, she had to pre-command lego product a year ahead in kit package. What i mean is if they want ninjago set, they must get friends set also, that kind of gimmick. So place like big A who could but their hands on most lego product get to side buy a load off less interesting set. Add to that storage space that need to be adress on daily bassis. Big A get the leverage to do what ever they want with price and screw whoever they want.
Probably got it on black Friday when it was 25% off. This set won't return for at least 1 ore 1 more years and that is a good discount on such a large set.
@@rickster_88 still not a smart move from an investment standpoint. Now it's stuck taking up storage space for years. You would have gotten that same 25 % ROI by investing that same money in sets retiring end of 2023. And by the time the castle retires, the 2023 sets would likely be 50-100% ROI by then. Only makes sense if you wanted one for personal use. Investing? Not so much.
I do the same thing by two and three sets I keep the boxes and then use the rest of them for inventory. I make a lot of my own ideas and they come in very handy.
@@TehBananaBread that's not how it works at all. There's zero benefit to investing in a lego set the year it's released, at the highest buy-in price it will ever have. You're holding it at 0% ROI for years. You can literally wait until its retirement year and buy it at the same price (or most likely much less, on sale), and see immediate returns.
What… did you just say what I think you said? A $500 castle selling for 10% profit that’s $50 But if I spent $500 on smaller sets I could potentially make 80% profit which is $400. How in fucks name is the castle EVER a good choice in this scenario? Diversity aside we’re talking about “raw money” so the castle is dumb bulky and expensive for item
The main issue with the castle is that it's not retiring for at least 2 more years. So he's sitting at 0% profit for 2 years... So many better sets to get in that time.
Wow, don't invest in lego? You my bro have 4 lion knight castles behind you and when holding a sanctum sanatorium set can't identify it immediately? You're worse than me lol
Standard discount direct across the board with toy manufacturers is 25-35% max base on standard SRP. Often this is not including shipping. I have been in the industry for 35+ years. Margins are crapy. I would often have to mark items up 10-25% above SRP to survive. This is stander in the mom an pop retailer business. The main issue is that majority of all toy manufacturers have decided to facilitate their products through Amazon. This is one of the major reason why Mom and Pop retail stores are a dying breed. Often when product is slow; these toy manufacturers /distributors would mark down items 10-25% within 2 months of release if sales numbers are low. Remember Amazon sellers offer shipping included which regular retailers cannot compete with. Amazon takes a 15-20 cut on all sales. It is impossible to survive selling product unless you are a extremely high volume seller. Others buyer buy direct out of country which is the only other way to sell at SRP. Don't forget all of the stolen items sold on Ebay and Amazon. 10-15% of all mainstream toys are stolen and being sold on Ebay, Amazon, misc selling platforms. If the retailer is selling many new products at 20%+ below retail on a non-clearanced items; it is highly likely stolen inventory. I can spot sellers of stolen property miles away. Then there is the counterfeit market which is a total different story.
Idk if anyone is familiar but there’s this guy with a channel called Umu and it’s him absolutely malding over Rudy. Seriously posting multiple videos a day about how Rudy’s scamming people and I just couldn’t believe how sad this dude is.
It's kinda weird really because that dude used to do the same kind of content about seven years ago similar to this channel (that he may have started to copy 🤔?) like investing big amounts of money into card games whilst giving advice about products to his viewers even though some fell to the bottom in price but in the end he got hosed leading him to start whining & complaining on videos about it all but now he just creates what you mentioned to lure people in who hate this channel but now they're are his suckers/ peasants for clicks & advertisement revenue.
Yes it takes up a crapton of space! But the cost of space isn't equal everywhere and in some places it's not just the Lego in the room that's gaining value, it's also the room itself that's gaining value as house prices continue to rise. Is hoarding Lego a good idea in a New York appartment, not really. But somewhere cheaper in the suburbs, it might be an interesting investment...
I thought that Lego cut the middle man years ago. Yes, there is a distribution, but there are 3 types of Lego products: gas station lego, big store lego, and… lego store lego. At lego store, you can get this hot, smoking, dripping sets for adults; and there is variety - the rest is mass production. So… how to win on smaller sets from gas station? Unique pieces, like animal molds; but this is speculation… and easier is just go and buy a big bag of goats… or orange-red 2x1… or just bought this small sets from 90’… they are in demand, every AFOL want to have at least one… or, just buy what you like, save instruction and box, and… historically it was always the best strategy ;)
All the store owners I've ever talked to have said the margins are even worse than what you're saying, I've heard it's closer to 25% off MSRP at wholesale. Seems like an impossible market.
Of course it is. Once you include all the costs necessary to run the business, profits drop dramatically. You have to pay your employees, the bills, shipping costs (if you provide free shipping with big orders), etc. It's also necessary to sell at a price that is attractive to the local retailer, otherwise they don't have a reason to buy, for example, a 100$ product if all they make out of it, after costs and taxes, is 5$.
Speaking of toys, I bought a tabletop game called Snapship Tactics the other day. It's based on a modular toy line, the game legitimately seems compelling, and it called to the 10 year old in me.
The Americans have completely destroyed the prices of Lego. Lego has always been an expensive product, but now the prices are simply utopian. Especially for the big sets like a Star Destroyer, absurd prices are being charged, and these are mainly bought in America. For the small retailer, these sets are not worth it at all. Small dealers have the biggest mage with sets between 20 - 100€. But Lego is not interested in small retailers, only the big ones, and makes it really difficult for them to survive. Because they sell many exclusive sets on their homepage or only give them to large retailers.
Finally back with lego content. I have been selling more and more legos since last year. They need to drop the MSRP price its way too high on so many sets.
Basically, Amazon sucks... That's it... Rudy proved he's rotten when he didn't shed more light on the Amazon resealing "returns" issue... And i can still go on Amazon and buy a collector box then return it...??? As someone who's been listening carefully for years, you are truly losing us...
I live rural hard to gauge this stuff but our local Wal-Mart does seem to a bit of a test site. I wouldn't be surprised if the toy section starts to become this pretty much nonexistant thing until after Halloween and removed early January like when I was a kid. Adults for the most part the real buyers of toys when you get beyond the infant/preschool toys. Tablets and phones are so much cheaper and keeps the kid on good behavior rather than, 'If you're good we'll pick out something from the toy section'. It's like comic books the price has become something to much for what to most is read/played with some and thrown away. With Amazon we are becoming a catalog culture, again, but now you don't stand in a real line cue to turn in paperwork and get your stuff in days rather than months.
It's because too many were buying all the sets to invest and then when it expired, jacking up the price. Stores were doing this too. It's their own fault for trying to cash in. So they are pumping and dumping to push those 'scam' investors out.
I built so many legos as a kid, and I've gotten a few sets over the years for xmas that have gotten me a little more interested in some of the bigger sets. What is the rule of thumb for trying to get some of the larger sets at a decent price?
I see Somebody else grabbed some blackfriday lion knights castles at 25% off. You going to find a way around the 2 limit on the upcoming designer program sets? That Mountain Fortress is pretty nice, I mean I like them all but I really love the Mountain Fortress and Old Engine Shed. I think The black Falcon 3 in 1 Castle is getting discontinued this year. That is a nice set for 100$ msrp
Discovered you with this video! +1 sub I'd love your insight on Monkie Kid sets. I see those City of Lantern sets in the back. Very low supply and demand in NA
Lego is not an "investment" . . . an investment is a money maker. You would need to buy an enormous amount of material, fill a room or two of your house, and spend time individually sending each box to a buyer . . . if u can find a buyer. After all that, you might be able to pay a month or two of rent with all the . . . profit.
Issue with making more of the same thing and fewer variants or even multiple other projects is pleasing your targeted audiences. True; me and my brother and I both enjoy legos, but for some similar but also different reasons. I have sets and assorted colored bulks, but i like collecting minifigures. Ny brother buys similar but he like the big race car sets.
It's a premium product. Yes, they're just plastic bricks, but the tolerances in the pieces and design standards of the sets are very high. Full color instruction books, etc. Not saying I wouldn't love it if they were a bit cheaper, but it's like asking why AirPods are more expensive than Raycon.
Even before the pandemic The Lego Group made about 30% of the revenue as profit, so it's premium prices, TLG is making a TON of profit. The development, product quality, etc. isn't bad either and they have some pricey IPs (licensing costs). Lego was also for a long time patented, thus no legitimate alternatives. These days it's a LOT of nostalgia from folks that grew up with Lego in a period when no (legitimate) alternatives were made.
So now you’re in the toy business? Didn’t you mess up mtg with the stupidity of causing prices on cards to be too expensive for most people, and now you’re doing it to toys?
I'm wondering how much damage the consumer base is actually doing to the Lego franchise. As much as you can blame these mega companies for their practices it is the Lego fan that enables it. Buying multiple sets just to sell them later when it is actually a kids toy. And Lego is aware of this. Look at the Goat sticker in the new upcoming Medieval Village center set. The goat goes for astronomical prices and is not worth 100 bucks. Sorry. It is a piece of plastic. It is tulip mania that will eventually crash when Lego becomes less important. And people are left with huge amounts of sets they can't turn over.
Do you think Lego will not see what these sets are selling for, and reprint them? If Lego doesn't have a reserved list, it's not an item that can be invested in.
Pokémon doesn't have a reserved list and that's done pretty well. Not that I think Lego is a good investment but I don't think the lack of a reserved list is why.
It's been 75 years and they've only reprinted a handful of sets ever. They also own the biggest aftermarket sales site and get a cut of sales. Why would they mess with that?
they did do a 1 to 1 reprint of the tajma Hal which was really funny because investors were pissed but lego currently at best does remake sets which generally doesn't lower the value of the original as they have different parts and designs
How about, don't buy any of this shit. When all this got to be popular to "buy and hold" it wrecked the market. As usual, if you aren't ahead of the curve, your behind. Just like stocks. Simple, just stop people, your behind the market.
I buy Legos for the kids in my family bc they love it but clearance/sale only. They've become entirely overpriced many years ago & rising. The value in toys collectibles mtg cards is the joy embraced when having them, enjoying them. It's about what cost is someone willing to pay for that enjoyment. I lve spec bought wisely though out the years on items I ain't mad being "stuck with" items. hmu I like sealed dead card games 😆
As someone who buys to own (and to have the set and use the parts in my own creations) I like the fact that I can get LEGO cheap from various retailers (the secret is knowing who has the best price right now and whether its likely to get any cheaper as well as whether you can get a price match from somewhere that makes life easier). What I don't like is just how many products LEGO is releasing each year. I also don't like how some products disappear from shelves far too quickly while other products hang around far longer than they should.
Same here. If I want to buy a set, I usually can find a retailer where it is on sale by searching for it on Google, and if not, then I can usually find someone selling it for less than retail on Ebay.
LEGO is actually a bigger market than mtg. That's it. That's the comment.
In 2021 the Lego Group generated over $4 billion, yeah that's more then Magic, a LOT more.
Makes sense, 8 hours to learn how to play MTG ... learning how to play LEGO is like 2 minutes in how to unplug a brick 👍
You don't need to know how to read to play with lego.
If you need 8 hours to learn how to play MTG you need Duplo… not Lego.
@@folkenphoenix it’s more about demographics. Even if you’re not into Lego they might release a set about something you are interested in
From my understanding-everyone pays the same price.Doesn't matter if you're Target, Amazon, Walmart, Toys Toys Toys or any small mom and pop shop, anyone buying from LEGO pays the same price. I think what people forget is that Costco and Amazon are membership based retailers, meaning they make a large portion of their money off memberships and reallocate that money to fund sales/markdowns to give their customers value and the best possible price (even if that means they only make 10%-15%). It's a retailer strategy.
Certainly Amazon Legos are not cheap.
@@1972Ray LEGO isn't cheap anywhere LOL
People also have to remember Amashit is undercutting everyone so they become the ONLY game in town. Once they get what they want, they will swing prices up and be able to price things to whatever they want. This is the big box store effect. What's screwed is that we keep falling for it. Go shop there because it's x amount cheaper, then before you know it, local stores close, then they jack their prices up because the competition got driven out of business. Buyer beware.
Amazon has already done this with several industries; textbooks is the first that jumps to mind.
Still, prices probably won't jump up above the level of where they have been in local stores. Plus, online shopping is nothing that amazon does exclusively, and Jeff Bezos himself has prophecied that this part of amazon is going to go under pretty soon due to competition, and also because of the flood of garbage products distributed over the marketplace. Which is probably why they are increasingly positioning themselves as a logistics and payment service provider.
In general, the whole debate is wrong. Online shopping is a thing, it's not going away, and for a lot of products it makes sense that they are taking over from local businesses. People have to adapt or move on. My LGS for instance is thriving, because the owner is running products which distribute exclusively through local stores, and he takes care to monetize the playing space by holding lots of Limited events for several TCGs and offering snacks, drinks, and "deceptive" value packs. If Lego is becoming an online exclusive brand, why not? People rarely need a Lego set in a hurry, and with all the content creators showing the stuff off in front of cameras, why would the company care about being visible on shelfs? The markets will figure out the pricing.
Buyer beware lol. No one is gonna listen. They will want cheaper prices. And they will get it there.
Oldest trick in the book. Amazon sure didn't invent this.
@@Volkbrecht You are so incredibly naive if you believe this. Business is business, and the type of people who run amazon are cut throat business men. They don't give a shit.
Why do you have 4 castles there when it’s not set to retire before end 2025? It’s just taking up space,
Commenters here defending his decision too, "because he knows what he's doing".
No, the castle is a poor buy at this stage in its lifecycle.
The real "toy stores" in my area only buy second hand and do incredibly well selling CIB sets. I have also noticed Lego stuff on clearance and discount a lot more.
I work at Walmart. Our margins for Lego is 25-30% or so. I wait until sets reach second clearance (typically 50-75% off). The store ends up with -60 to -70% margin when I buy it at that price. I have little control over the condition and sets I buy, but I have very comfortable margins. I've spent about $500 and have about $1100 retail value. It will take time to sell the sets, but with such a wide moat, I can afford to wait 5-10 years I guess.
Sites like BrickEconomy are nice too, I can see what has a higher market price
Looking at my total basket of 22 sets (and ignoring what I paid), the market price is 3.8% above MSRP, so in theory I guess that's the ROI
kinda bs there are never any sales in a lot of countries that high, most sales are no more than 20-30% which is still not enough to justify buying it usually
5% inflation will halve money's purchasing power every 14 years.
@@fsmoura I thought it was 2-3% per year on average, is that not the case? Either way, having cash that you can put into assets that appreciate is going to put anyone ahead of the average person long term. Even something like gold won't appreciate, but it won't lose value.
How do you lego investors see yourselves performing against the newest chinese brands that do knockoffs of the sets you've invested in?
Ever since LEGO opened it's Mexico factory I've noticed them keeping sets available a lot longer on their own site.
So you mean since 2008?
@@acb238 there about, but in more recent years thay've been steadily ramping up inventory too.
My son and I collect Lego not to make money or as an investment but just to enjoy the pleasure of building and showing it in our customised shed. It;s fun and when a father and son who are in their 40's (son) old man (70) spend time together its a treasure believe me.
Damn Rudy is looking sexy as hell in his adult clothing
"it depends if you want to use raw dollar or percentage, a 80% uptick on a small set is only $20 but if the castle moves 10% that's a $50 swing, "
...or you could buy multiple boxes of the small set to outperform the castle on both scales
Did crunch the numbers for Germany last week.
Small/medium sets have maximum discount of 40-60%, exclusives/the 20-25% maximum discount. And small/medium sets have an average current discount of 20% and exclusive 14%.
Long story short: Lego does pretty active discriminate pricing. Great for adults/informed buyers. An idiot tax for everyone paying MSRP. And horrible for stores.
And the last info: Toys get sold at 70% online in the EU and 80%+ in the US.
Yeah, stores have every right to complain. But does it matter?
Lego and pokemon are taking the world by storm period; any lego or pokemon sells. BUT we have to remember the toy industry is gonna take a hit when everyone wants to push an abnormal level of technology and give kids phones instead of toys.
As per metazoo; it must feel bad to basically work with the owner and have your own card line, to have the company do shady things then just disappear. Im sure rudy lost money from metazoo just like others who bought it. I didnt, buy obviously some ppl did.
I love that Starry Night Lego set behind you, I have it hanging on my wall right now with custom Amy and 11th Doctor minfigs standing behind Vincent
It's crazy just got 2 Galaxy Explorer Lego at a Walmart for a buddy $33.
Also video games have been strange too Rudy. Several games at gamestop that were under $7 are now above $15. Just within a few months. Easy to find titles too. Strange times
What toy stores are angry at Lego. Walmart and Target? Right, sounds like toy stores = Rudy.
100% this 🤣🤣
MTGLion currently making unhinged video about Legos
In today's episode, MTGCrab continues to grab at Rudy-chan's legs in a feeble attempt to escape his bucket shaped tomb.
"Timmy's get screwed by Rudy-chan's heavy Lego bricks"
-MTGCrab, probably
MTGLion is a self-made millionaire and never sold out his fanbase
@@Jano693
That dude is sooooooo
Whiney...
@@Jano693he’s a simp giving all his money to his “girlfriend”
I have a LGS/collectible toy/figure store in SF. When I contacted Lego direct to open an account about 8 years ago the standard discount was 25% and 15 percent on specialty releases. This is delivered which was a plus. They would have end of year or special sales randomly at 35% off. I would have to raise my retail price 10-20% above standard retail price to even make a profit?. The math does not work base on my profit margins. Lego rep told me that they only discount 25% to the big boys. I doubt that. Big box retailers got 90-180 day credit terms and credit kickbacks. I decided not to open a Lego direct account. Toys R Us use to sell items on sale at 25% often. I would go to TRU to buy the speculative pcs. I did well flipping but you would halve to buy vaulted pcs or specialty pcs to make money. Toys in general are logistics storage nightmare this is why I currently have a 5K+ sqft warehouse today.
Thanks for your video, I appreciate it, because I'm glad to have video that goes kinda into details of what is happening at the behind the scenes of toy stores and Lego in general, even if it wasn't about stores in my country
Interesting to get a look into Lego economics. I still have a few sets from my childhood (Robin Hood and some Pirate boats). Priceless to me and I'll probably never part with them.
The LGS are saying the same things about Rudy. Why carry Fab when LSS are giving Rudy unique promos when Rudy is not promoting organised play at all.
We have a retailer in the UK called Argos that is great for household/games/Lego etc. I always choose them before Amazon (who often price match) because we need the brick and mortar stores to survive.
Yes Amazon is easier (home delivery) but it’s worth the effort! A world with only Amazon would be grim.
Well in Germany there is Held der Steine. He started as a small toy store owner and is now analyzing price points etc.
Its not just toys… its art
As a consumer , why wouldnt i wait on the clearance. They're selling these "toys" at such an extreme high rate to start with until they finally get sick of the product sitting there not selling. I just dont buy, im not going to get price gouged by any retailer if I can help it. Also people buying toys as investments seems to be the new meta. Toys are not for playing anymore, theyre for making the all mighty buck.
totally agree....about 20 years ago and started buying star wars sets as an investment ( i also enjoy looking at the boxes stashed in my basement, garage, attic...). until i had kids. It's great if you love Legos and have the time and space to hunt for those great deals for future sales. It's NOT a good investment after you factor in opportunity cost/time value of initial Lego cost and the very real risk of your wife divorcing you....
Forgot to mention that i just started giving the sets away to friends and relatives who actually love to build the sets. And I'm actually having fun building these old sets with my 10 and 12 year olds regardless of the current bid/offer rate.
@@bettyyu-h5q Sounds like somebody could use a new friend, lol. I don't get any sets for investing just for my own fun.
Everything Rudy likes dumps on Amazon, it's weird.
🤔🤔🤔
At this rate Rudy is going to collect toilet paper, Amazon sells it and it's good for taking dumps... ;)
lego is so huge i dont thing collecting new things makes any profit even in 10 or 20 years. Its all about old 90 stuff
You can tell Rudy has never put a set of legos together
I wonder... It's either been a long time ago or he buys way more then he builds (which is way more likely).
Smaller toy stores have to mark up Legos because if they don't place a large enough order they have to pay msrp with free shipping the only discount.
Too big to store. Doesn't look like a smart investment.
If you're judicious (and a bit lucky) with your set selection, hold time is pretty short for a decent ROI.
@@trev3971 Yeah there's a guy near me who does well off it but it just feels like the money would be better elsewhere. Cool idea for people who love Lego though.
2:22 damn, I remember picking that box up in a K-MART as a kid
Lol Rudy holding Lego Bags too now😂
Only gives his kids Cubi for xmas
As long as you buy at the right price, Lego is basically a no-lose proposition. If you can get stuff at 40-50% end of season clearance, hold time to double your money is often less than six months. Sometimes it's even better; a Wal-mart near me ended up with a large number of brand new $110 sets that they sold for 70% off less than a week after release. 250% ROI in less than a day.
I see a bunch of Lion Knight's Castle that's not retiring for years so.... I'm guessing he brought it during the black friday deal at Lego for $100 off with 2 GWPs, not bad if he's going to build them but it's dead money until it retires@@trev3971
@@trev3971 Yeah yeah, people like you just love to ignore the listing fees. Sell fees. Shipping fees. Just do the internet number / the buy number right. Its that easy ...right!? Good luck unloading 10's or 100's of the same set.
You have to be careful if you sell them on ebay because people steal the mini figs and say you resealed it
Like any investment you need to investigate the market in order to understand which sets to buy which could go up in the future.
Also, it’s a pain to store legos and if you have too much space storing legos you may as well insvest in something more convenient.
its all rainbows and unicorns until you have to move weight.
Yeeessss! I love the Lego world drama. Thank you for covering
4 Lion Knights castles just casually in the background
Those leggo boxes in another bathroom?
I talk with a small toy store owner and she told me that, since a few years, she had to pre-command lego product a year ahead in kit package. What i mean is if they want ninjago set, they must get friends set also, that kind of gimmick. So place like big A who could but their hands on most lego product get to side buy a load off less interesting set. Add to that storage space that need to be adress on daily bassis. Big A get the leverage to do what ever they want with price and screw whoever they want.
Minifigure uniqueness is key
thanks for covering toys, that's awesome you've made a LEGO video. Appreciated.
Florida Man Frustrated about Frustration
Why do you have so many Lion Knight castles if they're not retiring for years from now?
Same with Van Gogh, still not retiring yet.
Probably got it on black Friday when it was 25% off. This set won't return for at least 1 ore 1 more years and that is a good discount on such a large set.
@@rickster_88 still not a smart move from an investment standpoint. Now it's stuck taking up storage space for years. You would have gotten that same 25 % ROI by investing that same money in sets retiring end of 2023. And by the time the castle retires, the 2023 sets would likely be 50-100% ROI by then.
Only makes sense if you wanted one for personal use. Investing? Not so much.
I do the same thing by two and three sets I keep the boxes and then use the rest of them for inventory. I make a lot of my own ideas and they come in very handy.
@@redwing634 Cause this allocation is pennies for Rudy. He doesn't care about it. He knows how opportunity cost works. Dude came from Wallstreet.
@@TehBananaBread that's not how it works at all. There's zero benefit to investing in a lego set the year it's released, at the highest buy-in price it will ever have. You're holding it at 0% ROI for years. You can literally wait until its retirement year and buy it at the same price (or most likely much less, on sale), and see immediate returns.
What… did you just say what I think you said?
A $500 castle selling for 10% profit that’s $50
But if I spent $500 on smaller sets I could potentially make 80% profit which is $400.
How in fucks name is the castle EVER a good choice in this scenario? Diversity aside we’re talking about “raw money” so the castle is dumb bulky and expensive for item
The main issue with the castle is that it's not retiring for at least 2 more years. So he's sitting at 0% profit for 2 years... So many better sets to get in that time.
You can’t even use plastic blocks to keep warm in the coming ice age.
If you have enough of it, you can build a house with it... ;)
bro...I was scrolling through UA-cam and saw the thumbnail for this video and thought it was Jack Torrance cosplay lol
Wow, don't invest in lego? You my bro have 4 lion knight castles behind you and when holding a sanctum sanatorium set can't identify it immediately? You're worse than me lol
Shipping on one of those larger Lego sets can be upwards of 60.00-80.00 just bc of size
Standard discount direct across the board with toy manufacturers is 25-35% max base on standard SRP. Often this is not including shipping. I have been in the industry for 35+ years. Margins are crapy. I would often have to mark items up 10-25% above SRP to survive. This is stander in the mom an pop retailer business. The main issue is that majority of all toy manufacturers have decided to facilitate their products through Amazon. This is one of the major reason why Mom and Pop retail stores are a dying breed. Often when product is slow; these toy manufacturers /distributors would mark down items 10-25% within 2 months of release if sales numbers are low. Remember Amazon sellers offer shipping included which regular retailers cannot compete with. Amazon takes a 15-20 cut on all sales. It is impossible to survive selling product unless you are a extremely high volume seller. Others buyer buy direct out of country which is the only other way to sell at SRP. Don't forget all of the stolen items sold on Ebay and Amazon. 10-15% of all mainstream toys are stolen and being sold on Ebay, Amazon, misc selling platforms. If the retailer is selling many new products at 20%+ below retail on a non-clearanced items; it is highly likely stolen inventory. I can spot sellers of stolen property miles away. Then there is the counterfeit market which is a total different story.
Idk if anyone is familiar but there’s this guy with a channel called Umu and it’s him absolutely malding over Rudy. Seriously posting multiple videos a day about how Rudy’s scamming people and I just couldn’t believe how sad this dude is.
It's kinda weird really because that dude used to do the same kind of content about seven years ago similar to this channel (that he may have started to copy 🤔?) like investing big amounts of money into card games whilst giving advice about products to his viewers even though some fell to the bottom in price but in the end he got hosed leading him to start whining & complaining on videos about it all but now he just creates what you mentioned to lure people in who hate this channel but now they're are his suckers/ peasants for clicks & advertisement revenue.
Social media made people weird.
Nope. Social media just showed you how weird people already are.
Imagine the storage space tis crap will take while you wait for it make you rich... Those boxes behind him are like 3ftx2ft each!
It's a shite investment. He just likes hoarding.
Yes it takes up a crapton of space! But the cost of space isn't equal everywhere and in some places it's not just the Lego in the room that's gaining value, it's also the room itself that's gaining value as house prices continue to rise. Is hoarding Lego a good idea in a New York appartment, not really. But somewhere cheaper in the suburbs, it might be an interesting investment...
Also the shipping costs are much higher than that of a single magic card
@@Cergorach Yeah fair enough. Definitely depends on your circumstances.
Got the Sanctum at 1:25 for the Holidays. Really sweet building.
I thought that Lego cut the middle man years ago. Yes, there is a distribution, but there are 3 types of Lego products: gas station lego, big store lego, and… lego store lego. At lego store, you can get this hot, smoking, dripping sets for adults; and there is variety - the rest is mass production. So… how to win on smaller sets from gas station? Unique pieces, like animal molds; but this is speculation… and easier is just go and buy a big bag of goats… or orange-red 2x1… or just bought this small sets from 90’… they are in demand, every AFOL want to have at least one… or, just buy what you like, save instruction and box, and… historically it was always the best strategy ;)
All the store owners I've ever talked to have said the margins are even worse than what you're saying, I've heard it's closer to 25% off MSRP at wholesale. Seems like an impossible market.
Of course it is. Once you include all the costs necessary to run the business, profits drop dramatically. You have to pay your employees, the bills, shipping costs (if you provide free shipping with big orders), etc. It's also necessary to sell at a price that is attractive to the local retailer, otherwise they don't have a reason to buy, for example, a 100$ product if all they make out of it, after costs and taxes, is 5$.
Speaking of toys, I bought a tabletop game called Snapship Tactics the other day. It's based on a modular toy line, the game legitimately seems compelling, and it called to the 10 year old in me.
Can we invest in it to get rich? You think it has a good chance of going to the moon? Should I buy some just in case??
@@fsmoura🤣🤣🤣
The Americans have completely destroyed the prices of Lego. Lego has always been an expensive product, but now the prices are simply utopian. Especially for the big sets like a Star Destroyer, absurd prices are being charged, and these are mainly bought in America. For the small retailer, these sets are not worth it at all. Small dealers have the biggest mage with sets between 20 - 100€. But Lego is not interested in small retailers, only the big ones, and makes it really difficult for them to survive. Because they sell many exclusive sets on their homepage or only give them to large retailers.
The large manufacturers dump online with every type of product.. clothing, home goods etc....not a Lego problem per se
Finally back with lego content. I have been selling more and more legos since last year. They need to drop the MSRP price its way too high on so many sets.
Tell me you use discord without telling me you use discord 😂😂😂
im on twitter thats all you need to find good lego info
Another excellent video and spot on.
My bricks are supposed to be building pieces, not investments. Who is this guy? He is ruining my man-childhood.
Ikr, dude is insufferable.
Finally, another Lego video!
Basically, Amazon sucks... That's it... Rudy proved he's rotten when he didn't shed more light on the Amazon resealing "returns" issue... And i can still go on Amazon and buy a collector box then return it...??? As someone who's been listening carefully for years, you are truly losing us...
rudy has gone from weird taco man with bad $8 hair cut to Robin williams in Dead Poet's Society...lookin good
I live rural hard to gauge this stuff but our local Wal-Mart does seem to a bit of a test site.
I wouldn't be surprised if the toy section starts to become this pretty much nonexistant thing until after Halloween and removed early January like when I was a kid. Adults for the most part the real buyers of toys when you get beyond the infant/preschool toys. Tablets and phones are so much cheaper and keeps the kid on good behavior rather than, 'If you're good we'll pick out something from the toy section'. It's like comic books the price has become something to much for what to most is read/played with some and thrown away.
With Amazon we are becoming a catalog culture, again, but now you don't stand in a real line cue to turn in paperwork and get your stuff in days rather than months.
Our local costco already does this. No toys until about October/November and then they are gone by mid-January
It's because too many were buying all the sets to invest and then when it expired, jacking up the price. Stores were doing this too. It's their own fault for trying to cash in. So they are pumping and dumping to push those 'scam' investors out.
GIGGITY GIGGITY, this is my area, Lego
I built so many legos as a kid, and I've gotten a few sets over the years for xmas that have gotten me a little more interested in some of the bigger sets. What is the rule of thumb for trying to get some of the larger sets at a decent price?
Be VIP, I ended up getting the avengers set for free all those points add up. Then again I’m a heavy spender.
Rudy is ASMR, I continue to go back to the Eternal Masters vids and just let them play again and again to listen to the Voice of Magic the Gathering.
lol
I see Somebody else grabbed some blackfriday lion knights castles at 25% off. You going to find a way around the 2 limit on the upcoming designer program sets? That Mountain Fortress is pretty nice, I mean I like them all but I really love the Mountain Fortress and Old Engine Shed. I think The black Falcon 3 in 1 Castle is getting discontinued this year. That is a nice set for 100$ msrp
Reeeeeeee lol
Create multiple accounts, one for each family member? Suddenly I see Rudy's kids as another investment... ;)
Discovered you with this video! +1 sub
I'd love your insight on Monkie Kid sets. I see those City of Lantern sets in the back.
Very low supply and demand in NA
Rudy hasn't changes his shirt since the Prophecy collection video 4 days ago! Got those 3 for $1 crispy taco pits.
Lego is not an "investment" . . . an investment is a money maker. You would need to buy an enormous amount of material, fill a room or two of your house, and spend time individually sending each box to a buyer . . . if u can find a buyer. After all that, you might be able to pay a month or two of rent with all the . . . profit.
Its the rare parts, printed parts, and minifigs :
To compliment you will own nothing and be happy, I both advocate for and practice, I will buy nothing and still be happy.
Issue with making more of the same thing and fewer variants or even multiple other projects is pleasing your targeted audiences.
True; me and my brother and I both enjoy legos, but for some similar but also different reasons.
I have sets and assorted colored bulks, but i like collecting minifigures.
Ny brother buys similar but he like the big race car sets.
Thanks for keeping the public up to date Rudy.
Glad you are feeling better
I just don't get why they're so expensive. It's really weird.
Because people pay for them at those prices.
It's a premium product. Yes, they're just plastic bricks, but the tolerances in the pieces and design standards of the sets are very high. Full color instruction books, etc. Not saying I wouldn't love it if they were a bit cheaper, but it's like asking why AirPods are more expensive than Raycon.
adults desperately clinging to when the everything wasn't awful.
"tolerances" cries in all my broken bionicle pieces@@trev3971
Even before the pandemic The Lego Group made about 30% of the revenue as profit, so it's premium prices, TLG is making a TON of profit. The development, product quality, etc. isn't bad either and they have some pricey IPs (licensing costs). Lego was also for a long time patented, thus no legitimate alternatives. These days it's a LOT of nostalgia from folks that grew up with Lego in a period when no (legitimate) alternatives were made.
So now you’re in the toy business? Didn’t you mess up mtg with the stupidity of causing prices on cards to be too expensive for most people, and now you’re doing it to toys?
I'm wondering how much damage the consumer base is actually doing to the Lego franchise. As much as you can blame these mega companies for their practices it is the Lego fan that enables it. Buying multiple sets just to sell them later when it is actually a kids toy. And Lego is aware of this. Look at the Goat sticker in the new upcoming Medieval Village center set. The goat goes for astronomical prices and is not worth 100 bucks. Sorry. It is a piece of plastic.
It is tulip mania that will eventually crash when Lego becomes less important. And people are left with huge amounts of sets they can't turn over.
Thanks Rudy!
so how is amazon getting better prices?
As someone who just likes to build Lego, this is hilarious to me.
Lego is alwais so good and cool! Love learning about the Lego market also! Thanks Taco King!
I'd love nickle tour of Rudy's warehouse and an unlimited credit card
If they just brought back Bionicle everything would be fixed tbh
What an epic backdrop of sets
New subscriber here, great discussion.
Plz restock 2xl shirts 😢
5XL lets be real
So glad I didn't sell you my nos castle set. Remember when you low balled the forum guys? We still have a laugh
Do you think Lego will not see what these sets are selling for, and reprint them? If Lego doesn't have a reserved list, it's not an item that can be invested in.
Pokémon doesn't have a reserved list and that's done pretty well. Not that I think Lego is a good investment but I don't think the lack of a reserved list is why.
It's been 75 years and they've only reprinted a handful of sets ever. They also own the biggest aftermarket sales site and get a cut of sales. Why would they mess with that?
they did do a 1 to 1 reprint of the tajma Hal which was really funny because investors were pissed but lego currently at best does remake sets which generally doesn't lower the value of the original as they have different parts and designs
How about, don't buy any of this shit. When all this got to be popular to "buy and hold" it wrecked the market. As usual, if you aren't ahead of the curve, your behind. Just like stocks.
Simple, just stop people, your behind the market.
We need MTG/LEGO crossover
People don't care about community ne more...u go to lgs,toy stores and comic shops for the community these stores provide for your area..
YOU CANT PLAY LEGOS AT AMAZON!
I like the outfit, very cosy and homely. My neighbor mr Rudy.
also i can sell on bricklink and is cheaper and i can buy any part i want.. i partout the sets and sell each part
I’m wondering if he has a complete collection of the bricklink designer sets yet. Or if he knows about them Lmao
I buy Legos for the kids in my family bc they love it but clearance/sale only. They've become entirely overpriced many years ago & rising.
The value in toys collectibles mtg cards is the joy embraced when having them, enjoying them. It's about what cost is someone willing to pay for that enjoyment. I lve spec bought wisely though out the years on items I ain't mad being "stuck with" items.
hmu I like sealed dead card games 😆
Toy stores still exist?