Three Years Ago, We Started Buying Lego “Star Wars” Sets…
We bought my son the Lego’s Star Wars “Republic Attack Gunship” (model 7676) for almost $100.
Lego Star Wars Ship
At the time, both my wife and I cringe at the purchase price, thinking that it was money down the drain. At the time that was all my son wanted, that has since changed! Oh I tried to push the XBox 360 or other cool things that I want… erh, that I thought that he would enjoy! But he insisted that the Lego Star War “Republic Attack Gunship” set was the primary gift that he wanted for Christmas. I was very surprised when he even knew the model number was 7676 (he got it on ebay somehow)!
So even though we didn’t want to pay close to a hundred buck, we bought it because that was one of the few things that he asked for. I admit, once it came to the house, the packaging looked cool, and after he opened it for Christmas, it was pretty awesome putting it together, especially since the entire family helped. This particular model has over 1,000 pieces and is actually very challenging and fun to put together.
A Room Overrun with Lego Star Wars Kits
Now my son is 11 years old, and has grown beyond the Star Wars Lego kits! He still has an interest in Lego, and have a few Lego city models, but the Star Wars models have gone the way of Woody from the movie Toy Story where they just sit on a shelf in his room collecting dust… or did. He has decided to take it upon him self to sell some of the Lego Star Wars models on eBay so he can get enough money to buy a decent laptop. He told me that he wants to watch TV and play online computer games at the same time. He studies this way too, and is still able to get straight As… go figure!
So after asking him if he was sure three for four times, I got online and decided to see what they were going for on eBay!
Legos Hold Their Value, and Then Some!!!
I expected to see prices from the range of $40 to a high of $75, but much to my surprised, they were going for $180 to about $200! And for new ones over $200 and I even seen a few priced at $256! I was amazed! In three short years, the used models practically doubled in value! Who would have guessed?
I suggested that if he wait, it might appreciate more by next year, but he thought that $200 was plenty for him! Now we are going thru and checking to make sure all the pieces are there, and then we are going to list it on eBay (October and November are the best months to see toys on eBay).
Anyway, I thought it was impressive that a Lego Star Wars kit could appreciated so much in such a short time!
If you have kids that have Lego Star Wars sets, you might want to check the value of them just for fun.
Cheers,
MR
Very interesting indeed, but I think he is wise to sell now since there is no telling when the demand might fade away. Consider yourself very lucky rather than consider Legos an investment.
Yeah, my son has a keen sense on money matters, even at the age of 11. Him math is incredible, I hope he keeps it up!
Oh my gosh, then my house contains more value than Fort Knox. We have every Harry Potter Lego, many Star Wars ships (including the one shown). I will have to talk to my son about this. The trickiest part would be making sure all the pieces exist and that some little antennae or something didn’t fall off.
Great info MR!
lol, so far we’ve only luck up this one particular lego. He has about 12 of them (of various sizes).
I agree about doing the inventory of parts, we have a check list and we are accounting for all 1,000 pieces. It sucks.
Pretty cool – and the effect is even more if you picked a ship like the Millennium Falcon (they have like 6 versions).
What’s the premium if the 7676 is new in box?
I would have kept a Millennium Falcon for myself 🙂
I found a new 7676 on eBay for $256. I’m not sure if that’s the best price or not.
Great lesson here MR! Good products retain their value. I love legos!
Here’s my profit making endeavor with Legos. I bought the Mindstorm set since it was on sale. With Jr, I realized I didn’t have much time to play with it and ended up selling it for a price more than the purchase price!
Lol, I think we have a Mindstorm set too. We played with it for a week or two, and now it’s collecting dust. Bummer. Perhaps I’ll try to sell that too, but I think it’s going for 30 to 40 dollars.
Great post. Brings me down memory lane. My brother and I played with Lego for hours and hours growing up. It is awesome stuff.
As far as your investment, I too would look at selling soon since you don’t know if this fad will fade. I think Lego will be around for years and years so it will never truly be a collector item. At least IMO.
Yeah, we loved legos too. I didn’t have any, but the neighbor kids did, and we would play with them for hours.
I’m trying to develop my son’s confidence in finances, so we went with his decision to sell them. I’m just the helper 🙂
“I suggested that if he wait, it might appreciate more by next year, but he thought that $200 was plenty for him!”
The son teaching the dad! Bulls and Bears make money pigs get slaughtered lol
What little I know about legos, it sounds like they have series, then after a certain point, start a new series number with a similar product. So it might well appreciate even more so, but I’m encouraging my son to make decisions, and a 100% return is great for him.
Yep, Bulls make money, Bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered 🙂 So true!!! 🙂
Wow, that’s crazy. I didn’t know lego sets appreciate like that.
Neither did I! I hated spending $100 on the kit, you can imagine how surprised I was when it show that it was selling from around $200!!!
Chaching!
I couldn’t bring myself to sell the kids’ Lego sets. Value or not, I hope they hold on to them and pass them on to their children.
I told him to hold onto a few for nostalgic reasons. I won’t let him sell all of them, that’s for sure (unless he’s very adamant). If he is adamant about selling them, I’ll buy them from him at eBay comparable prices.
Ha, if this is true, we’re getting wealthier everyday. My 5 yr old is getting Potter, Star Wars and Pirates of the Carribean for Xmas this year.
What I really need to do is get all of my Transformers from my childhood up on Ebay before he breaks them all.
They are pretty cool toys. I was in the camp of just a bucket of legos and let kid’s imaginations go while (and I still am in that camp), but I see how these lego models are great too.
Wow. that is interesting. This is amazing it appreciated in value after 3 years. I should have bought it for my kids. I thought it was too expensive back then. Should this mean we should start buying some of the newer star war legos?
lol, you never know with fads… I wouldn’t have bought the legos back then if it were my choice only, and I still wouldn’t buy them today. Although, it is amazing how much the model has appreciated… but only at Xmas…
What an interesting turn of events! I certainly would have answered categorically no before reading your post. I’m so happy the toy sell looks like it will be very profitabble!
I normally do no think of toys as an investment. Years later, I realize I missed out on some opportunities!
Unfortunately, I do not believe the lego’s are an investment. They are toys that may have a small market for resale in the future but that is shakey at best.
Interesting take.
I have an old tin toy that cost maybe $10 originally, that’s worth about $1000 today. And I would could it an investment.
Valuation is a funny thing. Stock in a company isn’t even paper anymore, it’s just a belief…
Investments and investing is an interesting phenomena where people believe it has value, but to other groups of people it might be totally worthless…
I never would have guessed. I think this is a great lesson for your son! Congrats! If only my beanie babies took off like that – haha. Well, they did, but not for too long.
Great point, it’s better to get while the getting is good!
Legos do seem to hold their value, but I wouldn’t consider them an investment.
I’m sure there are people that invest in such toys hoping for a big payout. I do have 1 toy that’s worth around $1,000, but it was luck not my foresight for me having it still. It was just cool… I don’ t know if I’ll even sell it, perhaps that’s why it’s worth so much 🙂
Most lego sets seem to appreciate in value, especially after they are discontinued. Star Wars sets in particular seem to be highly collectible and sought after. I usually check out the listings for Lego Star Wars sets at BrickBounty.com. It’ll show you where to find each set online.
Great article and something I have been paying attention to lately. I am almost 40 and have been collecting Legos for a long time. You should visit the site http://www.brickpicker.com. The whole site is dedicated to investing and collecting with Legos. You can enter the set number to check current and historical values. It’s been very handy for me and my collection.