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Parting out into pieces is not the only way to resell new LEGO® sets.
Break it into Chunks
Sometimes a set comes along with component parts greater than the whole. For example CUUSOO Dr. Who set 21304. I bought some from LEGO.com, a few from ebay, for a total of 5 sets. I divided the sets into figures, the pieces needed to build a Tardis phone booth, pieces needed to build the Daleks, and then all the rest of the parts (for the control room) went into the store stock. The Tardis sold on ebay for about 60% of set cost, with the notation that the instructions were available as a download. I included a printed note with link to the LEGO set instruction PDF, and the page number where the Tardis build could be found.
The figures with accessories and Daleks sold on ebay and bricklink. In hindsight, I could also have listed just the control room parts as a lot, as it seemed other sellers had some success with that.
Some people never fiddle with the individual parts. They buy sets, list the minifigures, then sell the set as “New, incomplete”. Your profit margin is lower, but you save on labor. Alternative 2 is to sell the remaining parts on ebay, facebook, craigslist or similar as bulk new brick. I have bought a few new bulk lots sorted by color for projects or inventory. Look at the existing listings, particularly already sold listings, to get an idea of what other people are doing.
Group Your Minifigures:
Sometimes it makes more sense to list all minifigures as a single lot when selling on ebay. For example, the cast of the Big Bang Theory set 21302 sold well listed as group of all figs & accessories in one lot. Most of the buyers were from overseas or had an obvious re-shipment service address. I actually had a control group of figures listed on bricklink individually since I had one incomplete set. Some of the individual figures lingered long after the ebay group ones had sold.
A note on pricing:
If you are the cheapest listing, you will sell first. Until someone else adjusts their listing one cent below you. If you then list below them, you can join the race to zero profits. Usually I prefer to list at a higher price and then sit on the inventory until everyone lower sells out.
Have you had any success with unconventional selling ideas? Comment below!
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