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Stephane Simard wrote:
>
> In lugnet.storage, Dan Hennings writes:
> > Greetings! I have saved most of the boxes from sets I have purchased new, but
> > now I am running out of room. I'm not exactly sure why I saved them in the
> > first place. I don't want to get rid of them if there is a logical reason to
> > save them. What do you do with boxes and why do you do it? Thank You. Dan.
>
> Trust me on that, any used set you're trying to sell will see its value
> increased by a good 40% solely because of the box, even in bad shape.
I would tend to disagree. My perception from when I was heavily bidding
on eBay was that a box has only a small effect on set value (discounting
MISB sets here). The way I saw it, the primary reasons a box increased
value was: 1. the set may be more identifiable, 2. it suggests better
care taken of the pieces. Instructions on the other hand are more
significant (though still probably not to the tune of 40% of the set
value).
As a flip side to this, my perception is that only a very small number
of sets are worth more as sets than as pieces. As an extreme example, I
have seen the red 2x2x5 lattice columns from 1682 go for more than I
have seen the set go for! Another very good example is 6079 Dark Forest
Fortress that I decided I was paying nearly what it went for just for
the tree parts (brown castle wall corners, half arches, and 5x7 leaf
clusters). Oh, another good example is 6075 yellow castle minifigs, they
seem to go for outrageous prices. Of course a counter example is that I
think every time I have seen the walls from the Guarded Inn on eBay
(prior to the Legends release), they went for a fraction of what the set
went for (and they are the majority of the unique parts to this set). Of
course early sets that are just bricks are also a counter example,
clearly most of the value in those sets is just the box.
I think the reality is that the bulk of people spending money on used
LEGO are not set collectors but parts collectors. Another factor is that
smart labeling of your auction lot is incredibly important. A well
organized and labeled parts lot does best because people searching for
the specific parts can easily find them, and get exactly what they want.
Similarly, a well labeled set will do much better than a vague
description. One skill I learned was to be able to read through vague
descriptions - that's how I got my first set of Guarded Inn walls (there
was no picture, but the description did say red), I also got my first
Forest Lady through a vague and pictureless lot (I almost want to say
from the same seller). I would often open a lot described as "huge lot
of parts" and find a treasure lode of parts I was interested in.
Of course my perception is now a couple years out of date since I have
stopped buying sets and only occasionally buy parts from a small handful
of sellers (hmm, actually, like really only one seller in the past
year). Of course my desire to get sets may have also inflated prices in
certain areas (especially Pirates), and since I wasn't that concerned
about boxes, may have confused the data. Of course one would think I
should be buying sets not parts, but I'm looking for pretty specific
things these days (of course there are some parts like 12v train motors
that I am convinced the best way to buy is with a set of other parts I
can use).
For what it's worth, I tried offering boxes I was about to trash. It
turned out to not be worth the hassle. Of course they were all for sets
only a couple years old at the time (I haven't trashed any pre-1999 set
boxes).
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Hoard them like gold!
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| (...) Trust me on that, any used set you're trying to sell will see its value increased by a good 40% solely because of the box, even in bad shape. If you have the boxes of sets 6335, 1496 and 1497, I will buy them from you immediately! Boxes are (...) (22 years ago, 16-Mar-03, to lugnet.storage, lugnet.general)
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