How should I arrange LEGO to sell per pound?

Question

I've dug up my LEGO collection, and I'm looking to sell it on Ebay or BrinkLink. All of my sets are mixed in containers. I still have the instructions but no original boxes.

I considered sorting the LEGO into sets however I realized that the extra profit I would get would be negligible for the effort it would take, especially since a lot of the LEGO is LEGO City and lesser valued sets like LEGO Agents, LEGO Exoforce etc.

Due to this, I have found that it would be best to sell the LEGO per pound. I could just sell it in bulk but I would get less profit according to this answer to another question.

If I was to sell it per pound, how should I divide the bricks? Per color, brick type (and if so what brick type) etc, or does it not matter?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Good question, and welcome to LEGO Answers! Assuming you are going to break up your collection but not sort it into sets, you will likely get more money for your collection if you sell it in smaller lots sorted by color. You can get a sense for what different colors are worth per pound by searching completed listings on eBay.

However, I don't believe that the answer you cited is correct in most cases (including yours). The first item listed on the most popular answer is:

1. Sell the collection as-is (with as much honest description as you can muster and great photos if you're selling on-line).

You don't just have random bricks. Since it sounds like you have many complete or nearly complete sets, you'd be losing that value if you break everything up an sell it in 2 pound lots.

Assuming that your collection is well kept, and you don't want to do the work to sort it, I'd recommend selling it as one large lot. List the sets that you have instructions for and indicate that you believe that they are 99% complete (e.g. you aren't aware of any missing pieces or minifigs, but some have probably wandered off over the years). There are definitely people out there that buy large lots like this and separate out and sell sets for a profit.

You'll want to take plenty of pictures. I'd spread things out and take as many detailed shots of the parts as you can. Experienced buyers will be able to tell pretty quickly how complete your collection is. Given that minifigs have much more value than regular parts, I'd also recommend taking photos of them in a way that allows them to all be identified.

Answer 2

Excerpt from Brickpicker:

With bulk, in general terms, the more time you spend on it the more money you make. At a bare minimum any bulk lot needs at least a simple hose down and a quick sort to remove as many non LEGO as possible. A bulk lot treated in that manner would bring, on average, $5.00 per pound on eBay. To make any real money you need to spend the time to sort. Bricks sorted by color usually bring around $10.00 per pound. This assumes that you removed all minifigs and minifig parts. The real money in bulk is made by bringing sets back from the dead. The last loose 3181 I sold went for $46.00, had I sold it by weight I could have expected about $7.50. It took about 3 hours of work to sort/find all the pieces, but the extra return made up for it..