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[Nannan Z]

I hope some of you may find this bit of information useful. It outlines tips and strategies for builders to open their own Bricklink stores to fund the hobby.

link

Please let me know of any comments, questions, or suggestions.

-Nannan
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Brickshelf | Bricklink

[salty tbone]

I just read that and thought it was great advice. I usually buy sale/clearance sets to sell down the road to fund my hobby, but the minifigs seam to be simpler, easier to ship (plus you get to keep the bricks!).

Your good intentions might've just quadrupled your competition, though.

[ZombieAndi]

Well, I guess SW Minifigs will stay ways overpriced for a long time...
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~Andi

Flickr•Brickshelf

[Dazombie]

Very interesting article. But like salty tbone wrote, aren't you worried that this information will only bring more people into the Bricklink game, hence lowering the prices of the minifigs online while making the stocks in stores even lower than they already are?

[Swoosh Zombie]

A well written piece indeed, but I think there's a few major flaws with the overall plan:

1) Biting the hand that feeds - While I wouldn't be too concerned about increased competition as the demand for minifigs is certainly there, the consequences of people selling more figs for less might not be too palatable. If as you suggest, more and more builders turn to selling figs to offset their own purchases, it doesn't take long to drive down the price of the figs. So some of the "big sellers" bring their prices down to meet you, but need to offset these losses. How? By increasing the cost of their other parts for sale. Builders still buy a lot of parts from these sellers, but wind up paying more for them in the long run.

2) Target audience - You wind up dealing with a lot of one time buyers, either minifig collectors or non-FOLs looking to replace a lost minifig. They're about as fickle as you can get; purchasing decision is based mostly on price, so if yours isn't the lowest, you're probably not going to make the sale.

3) Devaluation of your collection in the long run - So you sell off all your extra figs and instructions and are left with this big pile of "free" LEGO. What happens five or ten years down the road if you need to raise some cash in a hurry? That minifig-less, instruction-less Star Wars set is probably worth less than the original MSRP whereas a complete set in the same condition would probably fetch two and a half to three times it original value. Even if you recover your original investment quickly by selling the figs, you loose out in the long run.
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My BrickLink store

[Zombiekid24]

[copyrrrrr]

It is a great essay Nannan. Thanks for sharing. I do have a thought to share, however.

Some people, myself included, partially or completely live off the income they generate from the brick.** My only criticism of the essay is the "sell as cheaply as possible" notion. People who sell parts/minifigs without regard for the price by dumping them at the lowest price, and using the income as a psuedo-rebate program for their hobby can drastically harm a market where people work hard to earn a profit. Suggesting the idea that the lowest price should be your goal could easily lead to a crash in the values of figs if enough people do this... leading to parts sellers that lose value in the most valuable part of the sets they part out... leading to parts dealers to be less profitable... leading to our communities' loss of the large, well stocked parts seller. I would prefer that such an idea not even be suggested. It is a bending of the rules in the supply-demand concept, and could hurt the brick marketplace more than it could help you individually.

**I sell sets bought through LEGO, so minifig sellers can't hurt me.
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[ZombieSolo]

Quiet Jeremy, I'm hoping this will trick everyone into buying a bunch of new Star Wars sets and dumping the figures on there, competing for the lowest price!

[ZombieGIR]

Well stinks for me. I like to keep the figs too. Interesting piece though.
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[djmangunz]

Very helpful man. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I'd be happy to buy your clone wars figs from you on the cheap.
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[mshiels]

nuked