Book Description

This essay sheds light on how to build a LEGO set collection, demystifies the best way to build a LEGO set collection, reveals the best type of LEGO sets for LEGO set collectors to collect for building a LEGO set collection, and delineates the benefits of building a LEGO set collection. The advent of the internet has rendered it a seamless process for a LEGO set collector to be able to expeditiously build a LEGO set collection. Prior to the advent of the internet, a LEGO set collector was pigeonholed into buying LEGO sets via brick-and-mortar retail stores. It can be eminently cumbersome to find LEGO sets to purchase at the locales of garage sales, the locales of flea markets, and the locales of estate sales since they are uncommon items at most garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales. Even though the locales of garage sales, the locales of flea markets, and the locales of estate sales are often devoid of LEGO sets, LEGO set collectors still nonetheless often visit these locales for the prospect of stumbling upon LEGO sets for sale at these locales. Buying LEGO sets at the venues of LEGO conventions from vendors at LEGO conventions is also not a viable way to build a LEGO set collection since it is expensive to attend LEGO conventions. Furthermore, the vendors at LEGO conventions sell their LEGO sets at steep premium prices that often exceed their secondhand market values. If you purchase LEGO sets via LEGO conventions, then you can expect to concede to paying the highest possible secondhand market prices for LEGO sets since the vendors at LEGO conventions are resellers who buy LEGO sets solely with the intention of reselling them at top dollar. Vendors at LEGO conventions sell their LEGO sets at enormous markups that are often significantly above their retail prices and secondhand market values. If you are keen on building a LEGO set collection, then buying LEGO sets at retail stores is often an inefficacious way to build a LEGO set collection, especially if you are highly selective about the LEGO sets that you purchase. Retail stores are typically sold out of highly desirable LEGO sets. Retailers often never restock most of the highly desirable LEGO sets that they are sold out of. When retailers receive shipments of highly desirable LEGO sets, then they not only arrive at retail stores in egregiously low quantities, but also immediately get sold out by scalpers post being stocked onto store shelves. Once the scalpers have purchased all of the highly desirable LEGO sets from the retail stores, they will then often subsequently proceed to resell them at lofty markups that are at least 50%-1000% above their retail prices. It can be ineffably cumbersome to find any highly desirable LEGO sets at retail stores since they are purchased by scalpers immediately after they are stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities. Retailers will often never restock most of the highly desirable LEGO sets that get immediately sold out by scalpers shortly after they are stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities even though there is tremendous pent-up customer demand for these highly desirable LEGO sets that remains eminently unsatisfied. It can be a highly time-consuming and expensive pursuit to drive to ample distant brick-and-mortar retail stores just to not be able to find a single desirable LEGO set that you have been eager to purchase. Frequenting distant brick-and-mortar retail stores is often deemed to be a sheer and utter depletion of precious time for most LEGO sets collectors since they are often sold out of all of the desirable LEGO sets that they have been eager to purchase. Being able to buy highly desirable LEGO sets from the retail stores at the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” is not an option for most LEGO set collectors since the highly desirable LEGO sets immediately get sold out by scalpers post being stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities. Scalpers are able to immensely benefit from supply shortages of highly desirable LEGO sets since it allows them to be able to have full purview over the pricing of highly desirable LEGO sets on the secondhand market. Scalpers have full purview over the pricing of highly desirable LEGO sets on the secondhand market that customers have been unable to purchase in the retail stores due to them becoming sold out shortly after being stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities.