Can you make money with LEGO?

For me personally LEGO was always on the top of my wish list when I was a child! Actually it still is, maybe not number one though. So how can you gain some profits with a toy that’s meant for children? First you need to know the fascination for those colorful polymer bricks isn’t exclusively for 10 year olds. There is a huge adult community all over the world with entire rooms dedicated to their childhood dream. So as you might already have guessed - that is where the money is. So how can you actually make some profits with LEGO?

There are two common ways to do so. One would be to sell complete sets, the other to part them out and sell each part individually. Since this method takes up huge amounts of time and there are already too many people doing this professionally I will only cover the first one in this.

So how does it work?

Buy sets and sell when they are no longer produced. Sounds simple. Well, it is. You just have to be patient. And I am not talking about waiting for a bitcoin transaction to complete kind of patience. No, I am talking about years... But before I lose your attention, let me show you some examples and their rise in value over the years.

Taj Mahal 10189

The LEGO Taj Mahal is the largest ever commercially available set to this day. This is sure one aspect for its insane increase in value.

Parts: 5922
release:  2008
original price: 300$
value sealed: 3000-6000$
value used: ca.1500$
 

Café Corner 10189

This would be one of my personal favorite. Unfortunately, I missed out the opportunity to get one of these. So if anyone can offer a good price for a fellow steemian I would very appreciate it! :D

Parts: 2056
release:  2007
original price: 150$
ask sealed: 2000-3000$
ask  used: ca.1500$             

Death Star (Star Wars) 10143

Doubtless the licensed Star Wars theme gives this set an extra boost in value. Basically all Star Wars sets, especially the “rare” ones are heavily requested. You might also want to check: 10179 Millennium Falcon, 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer, 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter

Parts: 3449
release:  2005
original price: 300$
ask sealed: 3000-6000$
ask used: ca.1500$

What sets to invest in?

So what sets might have similar market trends in the future? A good hint would be to always go for those “rare” sets that are only available at official LEGO stores or their online shop. Currently there are 5 sets of the Creator modular building series (such as the café corner above) available. Those are to be expected to gain well over 100% in the first 1-2 years after retirement. The Tower Bridge 10214 is also a hot candidate in my opinion.

When to buy?

The official Lego store website tags sets that will be no longer produced soon. So this is definitely the right time to buy if you made up your decision to extend your Portfolio with LEGO.

What to keep in mind?

As you already know, most profit you can expect from original sealed sets! Moreover, you should make sure the box gets as less damage as possible. Also you might want to consider that unlike Cryptocurrencies you won´t be able to sell 10 sets within a short amount of time if you need to cash out in a case of emergency.

Risks?

The worst that can happen is that you can´t get rid of your sets. But if you enjoy LEGO as much as I do that would be almost a welcome excuse to open, build and enjoy them for myself!
Anyway, it is very unlikely you won´t be able to sell for at least the price you payed. Even normal, opened and used sets usually are sold for around 70% of their original price.

How much did I made so far?

Over the last two years I sold 10 sets with a total profit of around 1.500€. My best flip was the Town Hall 10224 that I bought for 170€ and sold for 450€ within a few months. That would be 280€ profit with hardly any amount of effort.

Some last words...

I doubt that anyone took this post too serious and you were right to do so. There is no way you can make live changing profit without doing this for a fulltime job. To me personally it is a nice hobby to trade LEGO sets now and then for some extra bucks and I will keep doing it for the joy it gives me.
 

So please feel free to ask, comment or share some of your experience with LEGO. I am looking forward to read from you!