New or Used? What Should I Sell? Ideas to Consider

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At Pretty_Pieces, we focus mostly on both new and used parts and minifigures, but that isn’t your only option.

Reselling New Complete Sets

This is likely the easiest option but also the most cash intensive. Watch for exceptional clearance and deals at your local and online retail (Look for a future blog post on Where to Buy), buy complete sets and list them for sale. Know that you are not the only seller finding these deals so there will be competition.

A sideline to this is when LEGO® stores have a great GWP (Gift With Purchase) offer. Several times a year, you can pick up fabulous items when spending a given amount in store or online, and these items when resold can nicely offset your original purchase.

An example is set 40291, the Hans Christian Andersen storybook. It was GWP with a $75 purchase. If you sold it for $25, that nicely offset the cost of your initial purchases. An even better example is the Bricktober Minifigure packs, all of which had a resale value of between $25 and $50 or more. Not bad for an item that came “free” with the LEGO® sets you were going to buy anyway.

Rebuilding Used Sets and “Parting In”

There is a market for buyers who are looking for a specific set from the past. “Parting in” is the re-constructing and selling of exiting sets. NOTE: Parting in can also refer to the gathering of parts to recreate a recently released set without buying the actual set.

You can download part inventories from any given set from bricklink, brickowl, or brickset. Go page by page, and check that you have each part in the correct color and variant. Then when you list it include, “Complete to brickset inventory.” or whichever list you used. A different option is to actually build the set meticulously following the instructions and list it as “Complete to build instructions.” You can download .pdf instructions for most sets from lego.com. Then place orders on bricklink or brickowl for any parts that you are missing, original instruction books, and even the original boxes. You don’t NEED to have a set 100% complete in order to sell it, as long as you are very specific and truthful in the description about what it is missing.

When “parting in” a used set makes sense:

When you have most of the high value, rare and decorated parts from an existing set, including the minifigures .
When it is cost effective to order any pieces you are missing.
When you enjoy the process of restoring an old set.
When you want the set for yourself.

Selling Parts by the Piece: New and Used

At Pretty_Pieces, we sell both new and used parts. There are stores that sell only one or the other but most of the orders we receive pull from both categories.

Used parts take time to sort, clean and upload, but have great profit margin. New parts are relatively quick to get listed in your store, but you will make a lot less money on each piece sold.

Selling Used Parts

Selling used parts is a great way to try out having a bricklink store. Maybe you scored a 20 pound box at a garage sale, or your cousin just handed their jumbled collection of vintage play brick to you before they went to college.

You will need to sort, clean, sort again, identify, and upload. Each step takes time. Look for future blog posts on specifics.

Selling Used Parts: Pros

Low investment in actual cash and
Great return on cash invested
Really good way to learn the catalog
You will have things in your store that are less common. Many stores are adding the same new parts because they are what is in this year’s sets. Your bulk lot is likely things that haven’t been produced in a while. This will bring customers to your store for the unique items.
You may occasionally find a treasure

Selling Used Parts: Cons

Very labor intensive. It will take significant time to get parts ready for sale, even with shortcuts.
Ick factor. To be blunt, sometimes a bulk batch of LEGO® arrives that is GROSS. I’ve seen melted candies, gum, hair, and black tarry mystery substance. If you are buying in person, you can just pass on these. Unless. Unless it is a REALLY good deal, and you, like me, just can’t walk away from an exceptional deal on LEGO®. Then you suck it up, put on some gloves, and dig in.
Steep learning curve and possibility of inaccurate inventory. Even if you really know your stuff, you will make mistakes. “Is this pearl light gray or flat silver?”
Quality control is critical. Sending out damaged or cracked parts can be a costly mistake.

Selling New Parts

You buy a bunch of new sets. You open them up, divide, double-check and store the parts and upload the inventory. The big difference is that there are already lists of what you have in each box, so your complete stock can be listed online in just a few keystrokes.

NOTE: When reselling, the universally accepted definition of “New” is never attached to another part. Taken out of the original packaging and handled only for sorting. So if your enthusiastic helper has stacked them together for easier counting, sorry, they are now officially “Used”. The only exception to this rule is minifigures, which were sometimes shipped assembled, and which some collectors believe receive less wear if stored assembled.

Selling New Parts: Pros

Less labor intensive. You can have the parts listed for sale even before being put away.
It takes a certain amount of time and effort to part out 1 set. It will take only slightly more to part out 5-10 sets, giving you better lot depth.
Accurate. Because you are using an inventory list that is already created, the color and quantity is almost always right. Unless you’ve lost a part on the floor somewhere. Or your kid “borrowed” it, because it was pretty.
Clean, pristine parts
If you are buying sets at the beginning of their production run, a quick resale of high demand minifigs can sometimes cover the entire cost of the set.

Selling New Parts: Cons

Significantly higher initial cost and lower profit margin per part.
Greater selling competition for the parts you list. The set you buy on sale is being bought on sale by lots of other resellers.

Pretty Pieces by The Part Tart

Building a Better Brick Store