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| | | Author: | StickyBrickit  | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 04:38 | | Subject: | Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 387 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| Just wondering what sort of % profit margins people generally make, if they know?
I don't know the exact number but I usually try to buy parts at a price that
allows me to sell them for at least double what I paid. This allows me to make
about 30% on the parts, once fees, shipping etc is taking into account. I sell
on eBay as well so the fees there are a much bigger % of the sale than they are
on Bricklink.
I've heard of people regularly making x3, x4, x5 their money back but I have
no idea where they are sourcing parts if they are making this level of profit.
Other than the occasional "unicorn" find (rare figures in a cheap bulk lot for
instance) I struggle to make double my money. Just wondering what the general
rate of return is for other sellers?
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| | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 04:52 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 127 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | | I sell
on eBay as well so the fees there are a much bigger % of the sale than they are
on Bricklink.
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That depends on when / how you sell. If you are a private rather than a registered
business seller, they regularly do 70% off the percentage fees. If you list then,
you pay about 3.6% plus the fixed 30p and that includes the payment fees. Compare
that to the 3% charged at bricklink plus the extra ~4% and 30p for PayPal, and
eBay fees turn out somewhat lower.
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| | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 05:19 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 158 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | Just wondering what sort of % profit margins people generally make, if they know?
I don't know the exact number but I usually try to buy parts at a price that
allows me to sell them for at least double what I paid. This allows me to make
about 30% on the parts, once fees, shipping etc is taking into account. I sell
on eBay as well so the fees there are a much bigger % of the sale than they are
on Bricklink.
I've heard of people regularly making x3, x4, x5 their money back but I have
no idea where they are sourcing parts if they are making this level of profit.
Other than the occasional "unicorn" find (rare figures in a cheap bulk lot for
instance) I struggle to make double my money. Just wondering what the general
rate of return is for other sellers?
|
I think the unwritten rule many sellers have in their heads is that x2 = OK.
x3 is great, x4 is exceptional and x5 is fishermen's talk. Well, I heard
that in America there can be some crazy discounts of 50% or even more, but
I doubt there are sellers who manage to make a robust steady x5 on the majority
of their inventory. If I had that, I would need to work only a few hours a week
 And it would mean everyone would dive into the business, and bring down the
price. I think eventually things always gravitate towards something between x2
and x3, since that's the level that generates an acceptable pay per hour.
By the way what you describe is not x2 but less, since you have included postage/fees/taxes.
Sometimes smaller stores need to settle for 1.5x in order to beat the competition.
Bigger stores will draw customers anyway and can afford to be more expensive.
I started out with x2, now I'm near x3.
Money = time = space. If you want to earn more money, you need either more time
or more space. You can work long hours at a low profit rate, or you can crank
up your profit rate by growing your store which enables higher prices. My strategy
has always been to go nuts on space and save time
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| | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 11:16 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 125 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | | In Announce, Teup writes:
Money = time = space. If you want to earn more money, you need either more time
or more space. You can work long hours at a low profit rate, or you can crank
up your profit rate by growing your store which enables higher prices. My strategy
has always been to go nuts on space and save time
|
You bring up a good point about time.
I'd say the best % return on paper would be from cheap used bulk with figs
and listing every possible piece.
I recently acquired 60lbs for $330 that included approx. 125 figures.
Now, if I were to take the time to list EVERYTHING I could, the unrealized gains
would be huge. A couple thousand dollars maybe, but it would take me a super
long time to list and even longer to realize those gains + I don't have the
space to do all the parts.
I already flipped one architecture set to ebay out of that lot weighing around
2 lbs for approx $80 after fees and shipping. I'll do this with all the bulk
from this lot eventually and probably 2X to 3X on just that as an immediate realized
gain and this will leave the 125 figures as "free" that I will then add to my
BL store.
The % gains are not there, but I can process way more lots if I sell off the
bulk in 2 or 3 listings and then add 100 or so figures to my store vs taking
the time so sort, store, list, pick, pack, and ship 24,000 pieces over the long
run.
Just different strategy, I also know a lot of sellers that do very well with
parts and having a huge variety.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | StickyBrickit | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 04:53 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 116 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, runner.caller writes:
| | | | In Announce, Teup writes:
Money = time = space. If you want to earn more money, you need either more time
or more space. You can work long hours at a low profit rate, or you can crank
up your profit rate by growing your store which enables higher prices. My strategy
has always been to go nuts on space and save time
|
You bring up a good point about time.
I'd say the best % return on paper would be from cheap used bulk with figs
and listing every possible piece.
I recently acquired 60lbs for $330 that included approx. 125 figures.
Now, if I were to take the time to list EVERYTHING I could, the unrealized gains
would be huge. A couple thousand dollars maybe, but it would take me a super
long time to list and even longer to realize those gains + I don't have the
space to do all the parts.
I already flipped one architecture set to ebay out of that lot weighing around
2 lbs for approx $80 after fees and shipping. I'll do this with all the bulk
from this lot eventually and probably 2X to 3X on just that as an immediate realized
gain and this will leave the 125 figures as "free" that I will then add to my
BL store.
The % gains are not there, but I can process way more lots if I sell off the
bulk in 2 or 3 listings and then add 100 or so figures to my store vs taking
the time so sort, store, list, pick, pack, and ship 24,000 pieces over the long
run.
Just different strategy, I also know a lot of sellers that do very well with
parts and having a huge variety.
|
Some good points about time management. I think this is key with reselling Lego...max.
gains could be seen by parting out every piece and listing individually but to
run this as a full-time business and your sole income would take an enormous
amount of time to build up the stock levels (acquiring, sorting, checking, storing
and listing) so your hourly rate would be very poor, especially to start with.
Probably best thought of as what's the best hourly rate method that can be
achieved in a reasonable amount of time? Say 1-2 years to have a working store
with a livable wage. I don't think individual parts would get you there that
quick.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 06:08 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 99 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, runner.caller writes:
| | | | In Announce, Teup writes:
Money = time = space. If you want to earn more money, you need either more time
or more space. You can work long hours at a low profit rate, or you can crank
up your profit rate by growing your store which enables higher prices. My strategy
has always been to go nuts on space and save time
|
You bring up a good point about time.
I'd say the best % return on paper would be from cheap used bulk with figs
and listing every possible piece.
I recently acquired 60lbs for $330 that included approx. 125 figures.
Now, if I were to take the time to list EVERYTHING I could, the unrealized gains
would be huge. A couple thousand dollars maybe, but it would take me a super
long time to list and even longer to realize those gains + I don't have the
space to do all the parts.
I already flipped one architecture set to ebay out of that lot weighing around
2 lbs for approx $80 after fees and shipping. I'll do this with all the bulk
from this lot eventually and probably 2X to 3X on just that as an immediate realized
gain and this will leave the 125 figures as "free" that I will then add to my
BL store.
The % gains are not there, but I can process way more lots if I sell off the
bulk in 2 or 3 listings and then add 100 or so figures to my store vs taking
the time so sort, store, list, pick, pack, and ship 24,000 pieces over the long
run.
Just different strategy, I also know a lot of sellers that do very well with
parts and having a huge variety.
|
Ah, that makes sense, I was talking strictly about parting out new sets. Those
will usually be 2x or 3x almost by definition, as I think that roughly gets
you an hourly pay of something in between €15-€25 which is an acceptable "career"
for people. If we'd have sources all over the place that give us 5x, pretty
soon the prices will just drop until we settle at the 2x-3x level again.
But as for used, yes, a whole lot more work is involved there, so it makes sense
that you can have 5x there - and probably still end up with that same hourly
pay as you would for parting out a new set at 2x (with the benefit of course
that you have much more cool and unique things to draw customers with).
I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Stuart9 | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 06:48 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| Sourcing suitable Lego at a good price here is not easy either, nearly everyone
expects a high price, can’t blame them but it makes it difficult if you want
to resell.
In Announce, Teup writes:
| | In Announce, runner.caller writes:
| | | | In Announce, Teup writes:
Money = time = space. If you want to earn more money, you need either more time
or more space. You can work long hours at a low profit rate, or you can crank
up your profit rate by growing your store which enables higher prices. My strategy
has always been to go nuts on space and save time
|
You bring up a good point about time.
I'd say the best % return on paper would be from cheap used bulk with figs
and listing every possible piece.
I recently acquired 60lbs for $330 that included approx. 125 figures.
Now, if I were to take the time to list EVERYTHING I could, the unrealized gains
would be huge. A couple thousand dollars maybe, but it would take me a super
long time to list and even longer to realize those gains + I don't have the
space to do all the parts.
I already flipped one architecture set to ebay out of that lot weighing around
2 lbs for approx $80 after fees and shipping. I'll do this with all the bulk
from this lot eventually and probably 2X to 3X on just that as an immediate realized
gain and this will leave the 125 figures as "free" that I will then add to my
BL store.
The % gains are not there, but I can process way more lots if I sell off the
bulk in 2 or 3 listings and then add 100 or so figures to my store vs taking
the time so sort, store, list, pick, pack, and ship 24,000 pieces over the long
run.
Just different strategy, I also know a lot of sellers that do very well with
parts and having a huge variety.
|
Ah, that makes sense, I was talking strictly about parting out new sets. Those
will usually be 2x or 3x almost by definition, as I think that roughly gets
you an hourly pay of something in between €15-€25 which is an acceptable "career"
for people. If we'd have sources all over the place that give us 5x, pretty
soon the prices will just drop until we settle at the 2x-3x level again.
But as for used, yes, a whole lot more work is involved there, so it makes sense
that you can have 5x there - and probably still end up with that same hourly
pay as you would for parting out a new set at 2x (with the benefit of course
that you have much more cool and unique things to draw customers with).
I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 06:56 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Stuart9 writes:
| | Sourcing suitable Lego at a good price here is not easy either, nearly everyone
expects a high price, can’t blame them but it makes it difficult if you want
to resell.
|
It’s a known fact that LEGO has a better return than gold!
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 06:55 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 65 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Teup writes:
| | […]
as I think that roughly gets
you an hourly pay of something in between €15-€25 which is an acceptable "career"
for people.
|
For the business or for the employee/worker? (Employer costs?)
With or without social security / unemployement / retirement?
Before or after taxes?
Just to say that what Teup says is about Nederlands and in some neighbouring
EU countries (but not all EU countries) and it’s difficultly comparable to other
countries, like the USA (different systems).
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | StickyBrickit | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 07:09 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 57 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Announce, Teup writes:
| | […]
as I think that roughly gets
you an hourly pay of something in between €15-€25 which is an acceptable "career"
for people.
|
For the business or for the employee/worker? (Employer costs?)
With or without social security / unemployement / retirement?
Before or after taxes?
Just to say that what Teup says is about Nederlands and in some neighbouring
EU countries (but not all EU countries) and it’s difficultly comparable to other
countries, like the USA (different systems).
|
True....in the UK £15 an hour is actually considered a good wage but we have
socialised health care, *some* level of state pension etc. $15 an hour in the
US would be considered pretty bad though from what I understand...
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 08:08 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Announce, Teup writes:
| | […]
as I think that roughly gets
you an hourly pay of something in between €15-€25 which is an acceptable "career"
for people.
|
For the business or for the employee/worker? (Employer costs?)
With or without social security / unemployement / retirement?
Before or after taxes?
Just to say that what Teup says is about Nederlands and in some neighbouring
EU countries (but not all EU countries) and it’s difficultly comparable to other
countries, like the USA (different systems).
|
Yeah, true... it's a very rough estimate But let's just say at least
it's unlikely to find 'gold mines' in your own area that give you
new sets at such great prices that you can sit down and relax, because probably
your fellow countrymen will have brought down the prices of those parts until
their value is just enough to make it worthwhile.
I did actually find some great 4x-5x part out value set that I bought 25 of...
that was like 5 years ago... and the parts are all still around in my shop, to
remind me what a "great" deal I had  It seems to have been a worldwide overproduced/underdemanded
set. So even when you get a great profit rate, economics will pull you back towards
the 2x region
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 07:20 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 80 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Teup writes:
| | I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
|
You can get good deals on occasion but it means watching sales like a hawk, and
many people don't have time for that.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | StickyBrickit | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 09:15 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 83 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | In Announce, Teup writes:
| | I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
|
You can get good deals on occasion but it means watching sales like a hawk, and
many people don't have time for that.
|
A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 11:47 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
|
I've gotten maybe 1 really good deal per year since actively looking:
- 26+ Classic Space minifigures for $50
- 50 lbs bulk mostly Friends Lego for $100 - including over 100 mini-dolls and
a few minifigures
With the latter I took out the minifigures and sold them on BrickLink, sold the
rest as bulk and made a handsome profit. I guess I could have made even more
if I had listed all of the parts here on BL - I just didn't have the storage
for them at the time.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 12:06 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
|
I've gotten maybe 1 really good deal per year since actively looking:
- 26+ Classic Space minifigures for $50
- 50 lbs bulk mostly Friends Lego for $100 - including over 100 mini-dolls and
a few minifigures
With the latter I took out the minifigures and sold them on BrickLink, sold the
rest as bulk and made a handsome profit. I guess I could have made even more
if I had listed all of the parts here on BL - I just didn't have the storage
for them at the time.
|
Honestly, I quit buying "just minifig" lots unless I spent a bunch of money.
There's so few deals.
The real profit to be made is in the $800-2k buys on figs, in lbs, etc, IMO.
Far FAR fewer buyers, and I also find that many of the sellers are also flippers,
reselling from estates, or collectors who have credit card debt to pay, I've
even gotten many that were "my kid isn't into this anymore". The lots have
sat for longer and the seller is more willing to negotiate. Etc etc.
.02
Crystal
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 12:35 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | | In Announce, Adjour writes:
The real profit to be made is in the $800-2k buys on figs, in lbs, etc, IMO.
|
+1
There are a lot of people willing to pay $80 for 40 figures, but far fewer willing
to pay $500 for 700 figures.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | StickyBrickit | | Posted: | Jan 20, 2022 06:02 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Adjour writes:
| | In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
|
I've gotten maybe 1 really good deal per year since actively looking:
- 26+ Classic Space minifigures for $50
- 50 lbs bulk mostly Friends Lego for $100 - including over 100 mini-dolls and
a few minifigures
With the latter I took out the minifigures and sold them on BrickLink, sold the
rest as bulk and made a handsome profit. I guess I could have made even more
if I had listed all of the parts here on BL - I just didn't have the storage
for them at the time.
|
Honestly, I quit buying "just minifig" lots unless I spent a bunch of money.
There's so few deals.
The real profit to be made is in the $800-2k buys on figs, in lbs, etc, IMO.
Far FAR fewer buyers, and I also find that many of the sellers are also flippers,
reselling from estates, or collectors who have credit card debt to pay, I've
even gotten many that were "my kid isn't into this anymore". The lots have
sat for longer and the seller is more willing to negotiate. Etc etc.
.02
Crystal
|
My and a friend went in together on £3k worth of Marvel / DC figures that we
resold for about £8k individually. That was an epic deal but was a bit of a one-off!
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 20, 2022 10:56 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | | My and a friend went in together on £3k worth of Marvel / DC figures that we
resold for about £8k individually. That was an epic deal but was a bit of a one-off!
|
Sounds fun!!!! I shy away from those because of the fakes but I'd love to
have a lot of superhero figs on day 
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | StickyBrickit | | Posted: | Jan 20, 2022 11:35 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Adjour writes:
| | | | My and a friend went in together on £3k worth of Marvel / DC figures that we
resold for about £8k individually. That was an epic deal but was a bit of a one-off!
|
Sounds fun!!!! I shy away from those because of the fakes but I'd love to
have a lot of superhero figs on day
|
They were all genuine and in great condition! We actually arranged to meet up
with the guy in a car park about halfway between where we all lived. He brought
them all along so we could check them and paid in cash. Was a great find and
not one I've so far been able to repeat.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 12:04 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
|
| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | In Announce, Teup writes:
| | I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
|
You can get good deals on occasion but it means watching sales like a hawk, and
many people don't have time for that.
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A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
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There are so many good minfig deals on ebay. Sometimes you gotta fight through
the site's algos though cause they reward their high volume sellers by making
their listings first when sorting by "best match" and those are usually NOT the
best deals.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 13:00 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 75 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, runner.caller writes:
| | In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | In Announce, peregrinator writes:
| | In Announce, Teup writes:
| | I think it depends on where you live whether you can source used stock at an
acceptable price, though. Here it's pretty hard. I get the impression that
in America it's common for people to not really be aware of what they have
and just dump it for cheap, while in the Netherlands everyone thinks they're
suddenly an expert or somehow have hidden gems in their attic that the world
was waiting for, even though they don't know anything about Lego. The same
way all Americans know "don't eat yellow snow", all Dutch people know "don't
sell your Lego cheap"
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You can get good deals on occasion but it means watching sales like a hawk, and
many people don't have time for that.
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A friend of mine buys and resells minifigures and is something of an expert in
them. He told me he spends 5-6 hours a day looking for bargains though, constantly
on eBay, FB Marketplace, local sites etc, always looking and having to get the
bargain within 5mins of it going live or else someone else sneaks in there first.
|
There are so many good minfig deals on ebay. Sometimes you gotta fight through
the site's algos though cause they reward their high volume sellers by making
their listings first when sorting by "best match" and those are usually NOT the
best deals.
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AGREED
I source almost exclusively from ebay (occasionally I get lucky at a thifting
day, but its usually duplo) and you have to know how and what to search, also,
not to give too much away, time of day/week matters.
When I'm in buy mode I spend 20 mins to an hour a day on ebay, tops.
I also know when my ebay sales are slow, that's a buy time. This usually
happens during the summer or around the xmas holidays (ironically). Most people
aren't buying bulk for xmas presents (but they are buying sealed sets)
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| | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 13:30 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 145 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | Just wondering what sort of % profit margins people generally make, if they know?
I don't know the exact number but I usually try to buy parts at a price that
allows me to sell them for at least double what I paid. This allows me to make
about 30% on the parts, once fees, shipping etc is taking into account. I sell
on eBay as well so the fees there are a much bigger % of the sale than they are
on Bricklink.
I've heard of people regularly making x3, x4, x5 their money back but I have
no idea where they are sourcing parts if they are making this level of profit.
Other than the occasional "unicorn" find (rare figures in a cheap bulk lot for
instance) I struggle to make double my money. Just wondering what the general
rate of return is for other sellers?
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if you are topping out making 2x markup doing this IMO you are doing something
wrong. .02
I frequently make 10-20x my investment sometimes more. I'd say 4-5x is probably
more the norm. HOWEVER, that does not account for time.
Time is what kills your margins.
Also keep in mind the capital tied up. I spent years buying any inventory that
had the right price. I'm currently coasting on stuff already bought. I'm
just listing now. If you don't have the operating capital to buy stuff at
the right time, and the ability wait for those items to sell, then you make less
money.
I'm probably making about what I did at my old day job before I quit to do
this full time (on this site, if I want quick capital for something I use local
and ebay). but, just like time is your enemy, its also now my friend. I get to
work when I want now.
The flexibility alone make it worth it.
Crystal
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 14:04 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 111 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| | |
if you are topping out making 2x markup doing this IMO you are doing something
wrong. .02
I frequently make 10-20x my investment sometimes more. I'd say 4-5x is probably
more the norm. HOWEVER, that does not account for time.
Time is what kills your margins.
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A big difference here is new vs used. New sets, whether sold as part outs or
sets, don't have the profit margins that used ones do but then they do not
require the time used sets or parts do either.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 14:17 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 100 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, yorbrick writes:
| | | |
if you are topping out making 2x markup doing this IMO you are doing something
wrong. .02
I frequently make 10-20x my investment sometimes more. I'd say 4-5x is probably
more the norm. HOWEVER, that does not account for time.
Time is what kills your margins.
|
A big difference here is new vs used. New sets, whether sold as part outs or
sets, don't have the profit margins that used ones do but then they do not
require the time used sets or parts do either.
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Agreed.
After I posted I realized I should specify. Used is def a different ballgame.
That said, I still do better than 2x on new stuff.
I don't find new sets vs used sets to have too too much difference in part
out time though.
To each their own. I just know, for me, personally, if I was doing only new,
for only 2x, it would not be worth it.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 15:39 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 114 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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I don't find new sets vs used sets to have too too much difference in part
out time though.
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It depends if the used set is already checked for completeness and everything
is genuine. If that is already done, then part out times are similar. Unless
there are stickered parts that you want to sell as decorated, that's a bit
more work.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Brickitty | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 14:30 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 119 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Adjour writes:
| | if you are topping out making 2x markup doing this IMO you are doing something
wrong. .02
I frequently make 10-20x my investment sometimes more. I'd say 4-5x is probably
more the norm. HOWEVER, that does not account for time.
Time is what kills your margins.
Also keep in mind the capital tied up. I spent years buying any inventory that
had the right price. I'm currently coasting on stuff already bought. I'm
just listing now. If you don't have the operating capital to buy stuff at
the right time, and the ability wait for those items to sell, then you make less
money.
I'm probably making about what I did at my old day job before I quit to do
this full time (on this site, if I want quick capital for something I use local
and ebay). but, just like time is your enemy, its also now my friend. I get to
work when I want now.
The flexibility alone make it worth it.
Crystal
|
+1 to just about everything. If I had gone into the field I majored in over a
decade ago, I still wouldn't be making as much as I do with Lego, even after
the high self-employed tax rate in the U.S. (I was not pre-med nor engineering).
Know your worth. Don't sell yourself short (in this case, the idiom is literal).
My biggest strength is that I make virtually zero mistakes on orders, ever, and
that's worth a lot in this business. It took me years to realize that, though.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Adjour | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 14:42 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 112 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| as a side note, I've always liked your store. It's the size I hope to
reach. I think we have similar strategies on many things based on other posts.
It is so interesting to me that so many different strategies can work here for
the same product...and how the level of service can then change that as well!
Crystal
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Brickitty | | Posted: | Jan 18, 2022 14:56 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 111 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
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| In Announce, Adjour writes:
| | as a side note, I've always liked your store. It's the size I hope to
reach. I think we have similar strategies on many things based on other posts.
It is so interesting to me that so many different strategies can work here for
the same product...and how the level of service can then change that as well!
Crystal
|
Thank you so much, Crystal! I like your store too, and since I see you have a
handful of things on my wanted list, expect an order from me later today! (Not
because you complimented me... but not NOT because you complimented me.)
As another side note, collecting every Lego animal is a big job. I'm still
mad about those random-animal-color Friends cubes they've been releasing
for a few years now.
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| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Jan 19, 2022 14:51 | | Subject: | Re: Typical profit margins | | Viewed: | 113 times | | Topic: | Announce | |
|
| In Announce, StickyBrickit writes:
| | Just wondering what sort of % profit margins people generally make, if they know?
I don't know the exact number but I usually try to buy parts at a price that
allows me to sell them for at least double what I paid. This allows me to make
about 30% on the parts, once fees, shipping etc is taking into account. I sell
on eBay as well so the fees there are a much bigger % of the sale than they are
on Bricklink.
I've heard of people regularly making x3, x4, x5 their money back but I have
no idea where they are sourcing parts if they are making this level of profit.
Other than the occasional "unicorn" find (rare figures in a cheap bulk lot for
instance) I struggle to make double my money. Just wondering what the general
rate of return is for other sellers?
|
Always fun posts...
Decent topic and good questions: What margins do others operate at, think they
operate at, would like to operate at given time expenditure? Can profit margins
be increased? If so, how and by how much? But it’s also a roundabout way of asking
investment tips, something I’m sure many here would like to know more about:
How do others on the site, invest in Lego for maximum returns over time?
In other words, it’s hard to answer one without touching on the other.
Also, it just might be more complex a question than can (or even should) be addressed
here in the forum, imho. To be honest, any truly helpful advise is gonna have
real value/worth and be proprietary in nature. Complex, in that more specifics
are needed to give proper reply. i.e. what are the investment parameters, etc.
Proprietary, in that divulging often hard-earned, successful methods, is frankly
antithetical to one’s own business interest. Unless there’s a shared interest
and I don’t mean hobby
Thanks for the good read.
-popsicle
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United Kingdom, England
Netherlands, Utrecht
USA, South Dakota
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
