Newbie seller looking for tips and help

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Toronadian
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Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Toronadian » Sat May 04, 2013 2:42 pm

Alright, so I'm basically running out of room to either to buy or build & display sets so I'm going to be selling some of my brand new (unopened) sets on eBay (would also help to make some money back). It's been a LONG time since I last tried selling something on eBay so I need tips. I'm selling stuff ranging from exclusives to small little sets (that originally retailed at like $7-$10). I did a quick estimation on Canada Post, and shipping even something as small as like the 7638 Tow Truck will cost like $10. Is shipping at such a high cost just the reality or is there anyone I can lower the shipping a bit so that I don't scare off potential buyers?

At the moment I'm thinking of selling within Canada and also the US, but I feel like that shipping fee is gonna scare off many. I'm most likely going to be using eBay as the site for me to sell on.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by LowestFormOfWit » Sat May 04, 2013 3:47 pm

In my experience, the shipping is just the reality and most people who are going to be browsing ebay are prepared for that part. I haven't found much difference offering free shipping as an option on ebay with a slightly higher price vs. a more normal price with calculated or flat shipping.

The thing I think that really matters most is how well you document, describe and provide photos for your listing. Your seller history also matters, and selling harder to come by sets will also obviously help. If you're looking to dump a lot of common sets fairly quickly, perhaps consider selling them in bulk lots. If worse comes to worse, you could part them out and sell on BrickLink, though if quick money is your goal that might not be ideal.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by boomers » Sun May 26, 2013 6:59 am

I'm having the same problem. I think shipping in the US is much cheaper than in Canada although Canada post does offer small rebates for Ebay customers but imo not enough vs the price of the item itself.
As the other poster mentioned you can always try to bulk sell them, this is what i'll try to do. I have 64 of the same set, i've boxed them 20/20/24 and the shipping is maybe triple (per box) of the cost of just shipping 1 set (although you need to find the right buyer).

But i do feel your pain, not easy to sell a $10 set when the shipping is almost the same.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by emazers » Mon May 27, 2013 11:59 am

Selling lego sets that are worth $10-20 and you are making $10-20 Profit, and if you don't no what you are doing on shipping is a waste of time and money, You should be buying Vampire Castle's, Helms Deep, Tower Bridge, haunted Houses etc this is where the big money making is, not running around to 10 Walmarts looking for 30 captain America Cycles. If you no what to buy and can wait a year or two after they retire you can make big money. "take the $200 B-wing that was $100 some are going for $135, These guys thought would make big money right after the sale, some people just can't hold on to the sets.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by boomers » Mon May 27, 2013 7:57 pm

emazers wrote:Selling lego sets that are worth $10-20 and you are making $10-20 Profit, and if you don't no what you are doing on shipping is a waste of time and money, You should be buying Vampire Castle's, Helms Deep, Tower Bridge, haunted Houses etc this is where the big money making is, not running around to 10 Walmarts looking for 30 captain America Cycles. If you no what to buy and can wait a year or two after they retire you can make big money. "take the $200 B-wing that was $100 some are going for $135, These guys thought would make big money right after the sale, some people just can't hold on to the sets.
Doesn't seem like the op is selling to make money, just selling off some sets he's not using. This is my case as well, I bought a bunch of sets for a great deal to do a particular moc but decided to no longer proceed.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Nepenthe7 » Tue May 28, 2013 11:39 am

You can try listing them on the boards here in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum. I've done some trades, but if you are looking for fast money, you might prefer ebay.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Edmond Dantes » Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:13 pm

emazers wrote:Selling lego sets that are worth $10-20 and you are making $10-20 Profit, and if you don't no what you are doing on shipping is a waste of time and money, You should be buying Vampire Castle's, Helms Deep, Tower Bridge, haunted Houses etc this is where the big money making is, not running around to 10 Walmarts looking for 30 captain America Cycles. If you no what to buy and can wait a year or two after they retire you can make big money. "take the $200 B-wing that was $100 some are going for $135, These guys thought would make big money right after the sale, some people just can't hold on to the sets.

This is actually a very common mathematical mistake.

If one can make a 35% profit in the course of a week, this is far superior to a 100% profit in the course of a year. I buy and sell all the time, at small mark-ups (30-35%) and while the high turnover results in slightly more work, the cash flow is far superior to buying in bulk, waiting for a year (while capital is tied up) and then selling.

You need a basic small business lesson.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by skeet318 » Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:35 pm

Edmond Dantes wrote:
emazers wrote:Selling lego sets that are worth $10-20 and you are making $10-20 Profit, and if you don't no what you are doing on shipping is a waste of time and money, You should be buying Vampire Castle's, Helms Deep, Tower Bridge, haunted Houses etc this is where the big money making is, not running around to 10 Walmarts looking for 30 captain America Cycles. If you no what to buy and can wait a year or two after they retire you can make big money. "take the $200 B-wing that was $100 some are going for $135, These guys thought would make big money right after the sale, some people just can't hold on to the sets.

This is actually a very common mathematical mistake.

If one can make a 35% profit in the course of a week, this is far superior to a 100% profit in the course of a year. I buy and sell all the time, at small mark-ups (30-35%) and while the high turnover results in slightly more work, the cash flow is far superior to buying in bulk, waiting for a year (while capital is tied up) and then selling.

You need a basic small business lesson.
And I need some popcorn because business is about to pick up.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by SpaceViking » Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:26 pm

Edmond Dantes wrote:
emazers wrote:Selling lego sets that are worth $10-20 and you are making $10-20 Profit, and if you don't no what you are doing on shipping is a waste of time and money, You should be buying Vampire Castle's, Helms Deep, Tower Bridge, haunted Houses etc this is where the big money making is, not running around to 10 Walmarts looking for 30 captain America Cycles. If you no what to buy and can wait a year or two after they retire you can make big money. "take the $200 B-wing that was $100 some are going for $135, These guys thought would make big money right after the sale, some people just can't hold on to the sets.

This is actually a very common mathematical mistake.

If one can make a 35% profit in the course of a week, this is far superior to a 100% profit in the course of a year. I buy and sell all the time, at small mark-ups (30-35%) and while the high turnover results in slightly more work, the cash flow is far superior to buying in bulk, waiting for a year (while capital is tied up) and then selling.

You need a basic small business lesson.
In emazers defense, the sellers he is talking about are not clearing a 35% profit. At best, they are clearing 27% (guesstimating 3% fees for both paypal and the selling venue). Since he mentions that they often aren't handling shipping correctly, they are more likely in a range between 7% ROI and barely breaking even.

The leverage emazer gets from 'locking up capital' is that the $100 he spent on a B-Wing this week was gained by selling a 2-year-old set last week, likely at a gain of 150% or more. The product flow is the same---buy a set one week, sell a set the next week---but his ROI is much higher. The big risk is that something (bad) may happen to the capital. As long as the insurance costs are under 115% of the set cost, emazer will still come out ahead. The other risk is that the market softens or collapses---which occasionally happens with sets like the Home One Calimari.

The bottom line is: do what you're comfortable with. Churn works for some people, buy and hold works for others.

and skeet, do you prefer plain, salted, or kettle corn? ;-) I'll put some on now.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Luciant » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:26 pm

I'Emazers was talking about profits in amount of profit, not % of profit. This is a huge difference. Especially in small vs large set sales comparisons. A $5 set going to a $10 set is much different than $100 going to $200, although you are still talking about a 100% increase. If I plan to hold both til 100% MSRP gain, I can still 'give in early' with the $100 set and sell for say 50% MSRP gain, and net a profit. I cannot do the same with the $5 set. I also have to sell a LOT more of the smaller sets (which means finding buyers for them which often are not plentiful) in order to make as much as the $100 set sold at a 'discount to your target sale price'. A lot more work is required as well.

Yes, Emazers is obviously not what I would consider a 'small business' based on the value of his inventory, although he seems to be a 1 man operation. He's also stated he's been doin this for 10 years, so after 10 years worth of profits, it's understandable he's snowballed this into a hefty Inventory. I think the lesson he's trying to give is how to take you from a small business to a 'larger' one without going through the mistakes...
Last edited by Luciant on Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
I have mixed feelings about new releases: I can't wait to see and get the new sets... but I can't figure out where I'm gonna put them or store them.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Luciant » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:48 pm

I'm a Collector... but I've also become a small time seller/business. I've bought 'extra' sets to sell since coming out of my Dark Age 2-3 years ago. Started as a "let it pay for a portion of my collection" to where I can see possibilities of an actual small fledgling business.

I did as many here have: Bought up sets on clearance / heavy discount mainly, mainly buying $50 and under to maximize total # of sets per money I had to spend. I also love polybags and CMFs, so I typically bought extra mainly for trade material, but have also included them in my 'store'. While I have a great variety in my store, most sets are no older than 4-5 years. Even though I got most of them at 40% off or better, there is not much of a market for them, even when listed at only 30-35% above my purchase price, which is significantly lower than original MSRP. And these sets are discontinued. So even though I bought sets cheaper and lower in total MSRP price, I couldn't flip them fast and make back my money much less a profit, so ultimately I have sat on Inventory that still doesn't have much of a market.

Due to these problems, I no longer buy everything up on clearance, but now make much more targeted purchases/selections. I'm in the process of trying to get rid of my smaller set inventory and use it to make fewer larger set purchases. While I have sold a good amount in the past few months, I have plenty of inventory of the smaller stuff left. I've actually sold more 'large' sets and CMF than anything else.
I have mixed feelings about new releases: I can't wait to see and get the new sets... but I can't figure out where I'm gonna put them or store them.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Luciant » Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:24 pm

Summary of Lessons (some of which Emazers pretty much has laid out already):
1) Parting out sets is not as easy at it sounds/looks. If you're gonna do it: Organization is key. Honestly it's not worth the time investment unless you can sell massive amounts of desired parts at decent prices. You end up sitting on way to many random bricks from sets when the 'good pieces' get bought.

2) Smaller to Medium sets are great for getting started, building reputation/feedback, building variety of inventory, and for the risk-averse. After fees, you really spend a lot of time and energy to make $5 here, and $5 there. There are also gas, packing materials, and shipping costs that add up faster.

3) The majority of your Inventory will come from 'sales' rather than Clearance. There is really only a few reasons sets go on clearance: Value to Price is way off, Overproduced number of sets, and Lack of Desirability are the main culprits. Sure, every now and again you'll see some greatness: PotC ships, LotR now, etc. How many Lloyds or Zombies made it to clearance?

Ex: I could buy 5 Epic Dragon Battles, 25% off ($90x5 = $450), or (all at 25% too) 5 Wrecking Balls $37.50 ($187.5), 10 Fangpyre Mechs $18.75 (187.50), 5 Mountain Shrines $15($75). All desired sets.

4) Ultimately your budget and storage space are your constraints. Bigger sets individually take up more space, but as more sets overall take up less efficient space. It is also harder to 'sift' through and organize sets of different sizes and quickly get to them.

5) Shipping is also much easier in predicting and actually packing when most of your boxes are the same size. I take losses here and there from not calculating certain fees into my costs which take away my profits. It's also harder to find boxes to ship 2 mediums sets, 1 large, and 3 small sets. You can buy bulk boxes for much better costs if your typically sending the same size box each shipment. Shipping costs also become more consistent and predictable.

6) Figure out what kind of store you want to be, and then you must figure out a way to maximize your profitability. Some will choose lowest price / high volume. Some will choose quick flip, small profit, lots of churn. Some will choose buy/hold. Only certain themes, only polybags, only minifgures, only parts? You can't be everything to everyone and be awesome at it. Not without a huge time investment. Efficiency is key.

7) Figure out how risk averse you are. This will help you decide how much to invest, how to purchase, what to purchase, etc. Some see Emazers as risky, but I think he has a good system/eye, and are ultimately 'safe bets' to at least net you some profit if not break even. I wish I could say that for my 'investment' in the 5 Galactic Enforcers sitting in my closet.
I have mixed feelings about new releases: I can't wait to see and get the new sets... but I can't figure out where I'm gonna put them or store them.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Jasper Parnebrick » Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:08 pm

Great thread. It would be great to see some more general advice from some 'seasoned' investors.

I too have found that grabbing a few low-mid ranged 'clearance' items has only resulted in sitting on them, and maybe I will eventually just get my money back.

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by StClair » Wed Jul 24, 2013 5:05 pm

Toronadian wrote:... and shipping even something as small as like the 7638 Tow Truck will cost like $10. Is shipping at such a high cost just the reality or is there anyone I can lower the shipping a bit so that I don't scare off potential buyers?

At the moment I'm thinking of selling within Canada and also the US, but I feel like that shipping fee is gonna scare off many. I'm most likely going to be using eBay as the site for me to sell on.
Shipping will scare away some BUT those that are serious about finding LEGO items accept that it is just a reality. I try to offer good shipping discounts to my customer (EBAY and I'm in the US). Granted mostly I sell minifigures I do combine shipping. For 1 minifigure I charge 1.99 (1st class mail... and really it cost 2.07 plus packing supplies). 2 minifigures 1.99 (2nd is free shipping). 3 or more I ship all figures for free. I have customers that buy multiple purchases to get free shipping. It saves me time because its much quicker to package 3 figures in one mailer than do 3 individual AND it saves me money bc its less packing supplies (1 mailer instead of 3).
I think that customers buy more bc of shipping discounts that I offer
Also I think many bid on lots of items trying to get that 2nd and 3rd item which helps to drive up my auction prices.

I don't sell a lot of full sets (in boxes) but I usually make my own boxes to ship purchases in. I often re-use other LEGO boxes. I turn them inside out and make them only slightly larger than the package that I'm shipping. I wrap bubblewrap around the box of the item being shipped. I think that having a small box helps to reduce shipping costs and if packaged well increases chances of it arriving safely. I've noticed that some LEGO purchases that I've made (from retailers) arrive in battered condition because they are in boxes that are too large... I'm guessing that other boxes are stacked on them and they aren't strong enough to handle the weight because of the empty space inside the package... leads to collapse and box being crushed to different degrees. Making my own boxes does time but I don't sell that many this way and I hope it helps to get purchases to customers safely.

I shipped 7195 Ambush in Cairo to a customer this way and I was surprised that the post office was able to ship it 1st class mail and it only cost me 4-5 dollars. I think it was because I was shipping in a small box.

If I'm making a mistake in packaging please feel free to tell me. I don't want unhappy customers.

My advice..
1) either make small boxes or search for them (boxes that are way bigger than needed)
2) inquire about shipping fees at your post office (I've taken a box in before and asked for an estimate before listing it on Ebay)
3) make it obvious to customers that you will combine shipping or offer discounts whenever possible (most of my personal purchases on ebay have been from people that offer discounts... I find vendors that have several things that I want so that I can save on shipping.

Good luck

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by StClair » Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:13 pm

I'm still learning about packaging and selling boxed sets (full sets). I haven't have much experience with those. I recently bought a Jabba's Palace (Decent Ebay auction win). When it arrived in the mail I was upset to see that the seller had wrapped it in brown paper and not a box. It was still in its original box but they had wrapped it in bubble wrap and then wrapped it in brown paper. I opened it expecting to see a damaged box but I was surprised to see that it was it great condition. Anyone else have advice in regards to packaging for shipping? Wrapping it in bubble wrap and then paper a bad idea? I've always shipped in boxes (see my other post).

Torondian.. be careful when choosing "auction" or "buy now". Items that might not be as in high demand might be wiser to offer as buy now. Also this might be of interest... Usually with "buy now" I list items for 7 days. I assumed that to list items for 30 days would increase my fees. I listed several today for 30 days the first time and the insertion fee was the same as a 7 day listing. Might want to research that but it might be of use.

Would it be a bad idea for Torondian to offer in item description that he can ship at a reduced rate if they allow the purchase to be open and shipped without its original box?

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Re: Newbie seller looking for tips and help

Post by Luciant » Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:29 pm

StClair wrote:Anyone else have advice in regards to packaging for shipping? Wrapping it in bubble wrap and then paper a bad idea? I've always shipped in boxes (see my other post).
I've shipped 1 box wrapped in Brown Paper (no bubble wrap) with buyer's ok. Didn't like it, and wouldn't recommend it. Just opens the door for problems. Boxes don't add too much weight so long as it's not crazy big or thick.

USPS charges mainly by the weight rather than size. I use USPS.com and the calculate shipping feature, and it has been accurate 99% of the time. I used to use fedex for 'big' shipments, but the calculations were always off... then i found out they charges $2 if destination is Residential, plus potential other in-store fees for drop off... so I primarily stick with USPS for ease of use and reliability.
I have mixed feelings about new releases: I can't wait to see and get the new sets... but I can't figure out where I'm gonna put them or store them.

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