Subject:
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Re: Efficacy of a small brickshop?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.brickshops
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Date:
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Tue, 6 Aug 2002 04:45:00 GMT
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Viewed:
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1074 times
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In lugnet.market.brickshops, William R. Ward writes:
>
> I've got a bunch of new parts from sets I've parted out that I'd like
> to sell, but I don't have the tens of thousands of parts that the
> larger Bricklink shops have.
>
> Is it worthwhile for me to open a Bricklink store?
>
> I actually already opened one, but it is closed and I haven't put much
> inventory into it yet.
>
> It will take a lot of effort to enter all of the parts I have, and I
> don't want to do it if it isn't going to have much of a chance.
>
> I know as a buyer, I don't usually buy from the small guys because
> it's rare for one vendor to have all the things I'm looking for. I
> usually buy only from the larger stores. If most buyers are like me,
> there'd be no point in me opening a small store.
>
> Owners of small stores, do you find it to be worth your while?
>
> --Bill.
Hi Bill,
I'm one of those owners of small stores. If you are only going to list
common items, the large sellers carry those elements in mass quantities
making it very hard for a small seller to compete. But if you sell
hard to find pieces you've found at garage sales or on eBay, or if you
specialize in certain parts like Technic or Belville, you'll get business
because some people are looking for a specific part and they will order
from you if you have it.
So if you mean to ask if it is worthwhile monetarily, probably not
because most of us (especially the smaller shops) don't make a whole
lot of profit. If you are lucky the pieces you sell from a set you
break up will pay for the pieces you keep.
But if you have the time and like to sort through LEGO elements anyway,
I'd say go for it. The way Bricklink is set up anyone can open a shop,
and I think that's part of its charm. There is at least one shop that
you have to request an invitation to patronize (like a personal shopping
service), there's one that warns that an order can take 2 1/2 to 3
months to process (!), there are a couple that state that their prices
are high and tough luck if you don't like it-- and one that has three
K'nex sets mixed in with its stock.
Plus, you can do fun things like have a sale for any frivolous reason--
your dog's birthday, your 666th feedback.... Heck, my car just turned
over 300,000 miles and I considered having a sale to celebrate-- except
that I don't have sales.
Anyway, I think you should try it. Try to stock your store with a few
things that are HTF or in demand, and use the rest of the common
pieces for people to fill out their orders. Oh, and the other great
thing about Bricklink is that if you don't get any business after
all or if you find you need to close for other reasons, you really
aren't out anything for having tried.
HTH some!
Maggie C.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Efficacy of a small brickshop?
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| (...) <snip> Yup, that would be me. :) I'm another one of those 'small sellers' and would agree with Maggie. Unless you do it as a full-time operation, or something nearly like it, don't expect to get profit back to match your time put in. Heck, I (...) (22 years ago, 6-Aug-02, to lugnet.market.brickshops)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Efficacy of a small brickshop?
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| I've got a bunch of new parts from sets I've parted out that I'd like to sell, but I don't have the tens of thousands of parts that the larger Bricklink shops have. Is it worthwhile for me to open a Bricklink store? I actually already opened one, (...) (22 years ago, 6-Aug-02, to lugnet.market.brickshops)
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