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Subject: 
Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade
Date: 
Tue, 15 Jan 2002 21:01:41 GMT
Viewed: 
916 times
  
I've seen a few -- but very few -- LEGO builders offering their own original
creations on eBay and elsewhere, and I wonder whether there is a decent
market for such things?  What do you think?

By decent market, I mean, the ability to actually make a profit based on the
price of acquiring the bricks (purchase/shipping) compared to the final
sales price of your creation.  (I imagine it wouldn't be worth it without
marking it up 100% or more.  If I did it, I would set a high reserve price.)

Probably the items that would sell the best would contain a modest amount of
pieces, a relatively low number of special (i.e., expensive) pieces and high
number of cheap pieces, and ones that use a lot of colors and are
well-photographed.  Also ones that reflect the most popular themes (Town,
Vehicles, Robots, etc.).

(I did notice someone at the Brick Guild selling some very beautiful fire
trucks, but not at eBay.  I really admired them -- they looked as good or
better than any set I've seen LEGO market.)

It occurs to me that there are also some potential challenges and issues to
be resolved, such as:

1. Would you ship them assembled or not?  If not, would you supply
instructions?  Or at least some high-quality photographs are various angles
and building stages?

2. Would you include a list of parts?  (I imagine it might help you get
parts customers in the future.)

3. Would you disclose that your set was never issued by LEGO, and that it is
in fact your own creation?  What would be the best way of doing that?

4. Would you ever include used pieces, or only new bricks?  Might this pose
problems if you needed very unusual parts (how would you find them)?  Would
you disclose to the customer whether the bricks were new or used, or just
not say anything?  Perhaps one should disclose, "Set comprises 103 pieces,
not more than 5 of which are used -- all else are new."

DISCUSS.

Second question:

Would you find value in swapping stories about successful (or unsuccessful)
sales of MOCs?  For instance, if someone built and sold a house over eBay,
might it not be valuable to everyone to see the final auction details, see
how the item was photographed and presented, and see the final price?

YOUR THOUGHTS.



Message has 7 Replies:
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
(...) original (...) Well, the Guild of Bricksmiths (URL) demonstrates that there is a niche market for these things, but until I hear of GoB members giving up their day jobs, I'd assume that there isn't a "decent market". MOCs have to sell for a (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
Ohhh...I get to talk about myself :-) More on that later! BTW, I speak ONLY for myself, not the entire Guild of Bricksmiths. (...) original (...) the (...) price.) That depends. If decent means you can quit your day job doing custom sets then the (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  selling MOCs
 
well, Sun Yun apparently does well selling his mecha from (URL) Eric Harshbarger HAS quit his day job and does lego full time (he says it pays the bills) and I, too, am going to venture into the lego-as-job arena... -paul (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
Paul Klenk wrote in message ... (...) original (...) the (...) price.) (...) of (...) high (...) Like Will, I'm speaking for myself, not the Guild of Bricksmiths as a whole. I sold several of my Town building kits on eBay just before Xmas - some (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
(...) I'll speak on this as one of those who isn't affiliated with the Guild of Bricksmiths. I've sold custom kits both through the retail channel and via ebay. The retail channel worked better for my purposes as I could set the price rather than (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
In lugnet.market.theory, Paul Klenk writes: <snip> Posters have made a number of good points but I would like to point out that this topic has come up before and those interested may want to do some searching in market.theory where it tends to get (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
  Re: Do you think there is a market for your MOCs on eBay? Please discuss...
 
I personally am not so interested in completed MOC kits for sale, not because they aren't good, but because they tend to be too expensive for my budget. I understand the need to charge these prices, but they are out of my price range. What I *would* (...) (22 years ago, 19-Jan-02, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

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