Subject:
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Re: boxes
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.au
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Date:
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Sat, 17 May 2003 01:45:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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545 times
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> Yes! I gave up keeping my boxes when I decided that the space they took up
> was more valuable to me than the likely future value of the boxes.
Me too. I used to keep all my boxes flattened, but the day came when I
needed the space for storing my ever-growing ABS collection, and most of
them went into the bin about a year ago. I have never regretted this
decision. I still have some boxes for a handful of the larger sets that have
significant resale value. But right now, I am thinking of dumping them too.
> If you can foresee needing or wanting to sell your sets, then yes. A set • is
> generally more valuable with the box.
Maybe, but how much more valuable, $1 more? $10 more? double the price?
Most sets on ebay are sold without boxes and I don't see those with boxes
making loads more money. While there may be some collectors who care about
the box and are willing to pay more accordingly, the majority of buyers do
not seem to care (they are in it for the parts and the "build" not the
collecting) and so I would speculate that the *average* additional value
that the box provides to a sale price is very low ($1). Yes, there may be
some classic sets that are seriously sought after by collectors for which
the box adds a lot more value, but not for most sets.
There is a cost to storage (ask anyone whose ever rented any!) and just
because it is space in your own home doesn't alter that (it just allows you
to pretend it doesn't cost you). Calculate what your annual housing expenses
are and what proportion of its storage space (not air space!) is used up by
your boxes, so now you have a cost of storage per annum. Now, how many years
of storage will be required on average for the boxes. Well, what proportion
of your sets did you sell last year? If it was say, 20%, then the average
lifetime of a set in your possession is 5 years (a bit simplistic but good
enough for this purpose). Muliply the average lifetime * the storage cost
per annum, and then divide by the number of boxes you currently are storing.
You now have the average cost of keeping each box. Do you expect to get that
much more money *per average set* from having the box?
Note. I bet a number of you didn't sell a single set in the last year.
Congratulations, your average set lifetime is infinity, so you probably
never will sell your sets, so you might as well dump those boxes now.
Personally I did sell 1 set in the last year, that's less than 1% of my
collection so my average set lifetime is over 100 years.
> I'm pondering the value of keeping my instructions. Out of the 300+ I've • got
> filed away, I've only ever reused three of them(1). I wonder if my estate
> will take the time to reconstruct sets to maximise sale value?
Yeah, I wonder this too as I glance over my large number of D-ring binders
holding all my instructions and flubber. Certainly you get very little for
them if you sell them (apart from some of the idea books), again judging
from ebay. But for me, the economics of instructions and boxes are
different. I personally never want the boxes again, so I only have to
consider the storage cost to me and not the replacement cost., However, I do
occasionally re-use instructions, not always for the whole model, but to
remind myself of how a particular design was done in some other set. So, I
have to factor in the replacement cost, i.e. are they available on
brickshelf, whether my need could be satisfied with an online viewing, or
whether I would need to incure the time/hassle/cost of printing them and the
cost of purchasing them on bricklink against the storage cost of keeping
them. So, currently the outrageous cost of printer cartridges is ensuring
the continued existence of my instruction collection :-)
Kerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: boxes
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| (...) Thanx for this insight guys I appreciate it . I dont think I will ever sell my lego so I guess that would mean ditch them. I just kinda wondered their value in the grand scheme of lego thanx again (21 years ago, 27-May-03, to lugnet.loc.au)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: boxes
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| (...) Yes! I gave up keeping my boxes when I decided that the space they took up was more valuable to me than the likely future value of the boxes. (...) No! The greenie in you should keep the boxes intact: Keep the carbon in the cardboard, not in (...) (21 years ago, 15-May-03, to lugnet.loc.au)
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