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5 Ways to Save Money on LEGO
Our family is a wee bit obsessed with LEGO. In fact, I am confident that we have LEGO than anyone we know. Today I am going to share my best tips on ways to save money on LEGO. Buying LEGO for a fraction of the price has also enabled me to share LEGO with friends and bless them, as well as stock my birthday gift stash for those last-minute birthday invitations (yes, I’ve done this more than once).
1. Know Your Prices and Use Your Phone
The most important part of saving money on anything is to know your prices. Otherwise, how do you know if you got a deal? I keep up on the current prices of bulk LEGO by the pound (eBay is a great resources for this). Any time I see what I think is a great deal, I pull up Amazon and check out the current retail price.
2. How to save Money on LEGO: Shop Consignment
Earlier this year I stopped my our local consignment store to drop off a few items of clothing. By the time I left I had spent $215 on LEGO. Yes, I realize that spending $215 on LEGO doesn’t sound like saving money. Let me explain.
Even though I walked in simply intending to consign some clothes, as soon as I spotted the bags of LEGO I knew I would be purchasing some. Enoch was with me that day, and I had him help me select a few sets his siblings would enjoy. Then I pulled out my iPhone and started typing in the numbers of the LEGO sets. I soon found these were selling for 60 to 75% off of retail price. These LEGO were in near perfect condition. The sets were put together and even had dust settled on them. Obviously, some child had put these together and displayed them on a shelf rather than play with them. In the end, I bought them all. Once I decided to take the plunge, I walked up to the store clerk and asked if I could get a discount for buying them all. She agreed to give me 20% off on the spot.
Here is what I scored:
Cole’s Tread Assault $119
Kai’s Fire Mech $17.99
Ninjago Warrior Bike $39.95
Kai Fighter $49.95
Gorzon’s Kai Fighter $55.49
Ultra Sonic Raider $153.99
Chima Crawly Claw Ripper $20.49
Kai’s Blade Cycle $59.95
Vardy’s Ice Vulture Glider $18.56
Fire Temple $120
Ninjago Hover Hunter $21.49
Retail: $676.86
What I paid: $215
Savings: $461
3. For Saving Money on LEGO: Check Facebook Market Place and Craigslist
Last month in a Buy/Sell group there was a posting from a lady selling her daughter’s LEGO. The sets were in perfect condition. They had been put together once and rarely played with. The sets included were:
Stephanie’s Pet Patrol $34.75
Adventure Camper $94.95
Olivia’s Tree House $51.90
Stephanie’s Cool Convertable $29.95
City Park Cafe $60.49
Heartlake Vet $189.99
Olivia’s House $139.98
Dolphin Cruiser $89.95
LEGO Organizer Drawers $19.99
and a bunch of regular bricks.
Retail value: $806.95
What I paid: $175.00
Savings: $631.95
4. Always Check the Store Aisles for Sales
Every time I got into Walmart, Fred Meyer or a similar store I go down the LEGO aisle to check for sales. LEGO bricks don’t go on sale often, but I have scored big time using this method. In March of this year, I found the LEGO friends Heartlake Shopping Mall on sale for $54! I whipped out my iPhone and checked the Amazon price. This set retails for $109. I saved $55 on this set!
Retail: $109
What I paid: $54
Savings: $55
5. How to Know if You Are Getting a Good Deal
There is always a ton of LEGO for sale on eBay. Sometimes there are awesome deals and sometimes there are not so awesome deals. You might remember I purchased the long-coveted Chima Lion Temple for eBay for cheaper than Amazon. It was missing a piece which I had to order from the LEGO website, but I was happy with the purchase.
Years ago I bought a huge box (I think it was six pounds) of LEGO for about $30. Just be careful when you buy. I prefer by the pound over by the number of pieces. I mean, a hundred pieces could potentially be a teeny tiny pile of LEGO.
5. Let friends know you love LEGO
A couple of years ago I had a friend who’s son was selling all of his LEGO. He had a black outdoor garbage bag 3/4 full of LEGO. He sold them to us for $100! It was an amazing deal. And even if your friends’ kids aren’t selling their LEGO, they will likely keep a lookout for you keep you posted about any deals they see.
Bonus Tip for Saving Money on LEGO
When I buy used LEGO in bulk, I always look for people selling a large box or bin of LEGO as opposed someone who is selling them by the set. Usually the people selling by the set (or pre-sorted) understand the true resell value of LEGO bricks. The best deals I have found over the years are people getting rid of their children’s childhood LEGO sets. They are done with thm, not looking to turn a profit.
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Did I miss any? Do you have any great tips on how to save money on LEGO? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas.
Be sure and check out my other great LEGO posts!
Apparently Norfolk Island, off the coast of Australia, has the cheapest Lego in the world. Except… you have to buy it in person – they can’t ship it. So that might bump the price up a bit.
That sounds awesome…but yeah, probably not a great option for me.
Norfolk Island is an hour and a half (reasonably cheap flight) from NZ. Tilly or Adalia could visit, stock up and either ship it to you or Tilly could fill a suitcase to bring back Sorted!
lego.com always has sales too and you can gain “points” towards other purchases!
Good point! I’m surprised I forgot about this, except we usually find better deals on Amazon. Thanks for the reminder.
I totally agree with these. Once we bought some legos off of of craigslist, but then later found out that the kid had glued many of his pieces together! That was frustrating, but we still got an ok deal with what we had left.
Oh, that’s a bummer! I am glad you still got a decent idea, though.
If you have a 2nd and Charles store near you, they sell Lego by the ounce for cheap. This way the kids can pick out the special pieces that they really want. One daughter went through a time when all she wanted to build was houses so she amassed a huge number of windows and doors. Now she has moved on to designing buildings on an architecture computer program.
I’ve never heard of 2nd and Charles . What kind of store is that?
this is a website called bricklink where you can buy used sets and individual parts, they usually sell for a little bit cheaper than ebay https://www.bricklink.com/v2/main.page
Thank you! I’ll be checking this site out.