Best sources of Lego

[cloudsail]

My kids are graduating from Duplo, they and I all prefer random pieces over the expensive sets. I was thinking of buying in bulk on eBay. Is this the cheapest way of purchasing Lego? Or are there other's I've overlooked?

[dycker1978]

My kids are graduating from Duplo, they and I all prefer random pieces over the expensive sets. I was thinking of buying in bulk on eBay. Is this the cheapest way of purchasing Lego? Or are there other's I've overlooked?

Any thrift store may have as well.  Craigslist.... we have bought off of all of them.

[emdeex]

Lego is very rarely cheap second-hand, its a prized possession... but if you want cheap, just tell everyone that for Birthdays and Christmas, Lego is best!  Then its free!

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

You might get lucky and find big lots of Legos at garage sales.  People selling on craigslist often know the value of their Legos so good deals are not as common.

Black Friday, Walmart usually sells a big box of 1500 random blocks for about $30, which people resell for $80 on eBay.

[justajane]

My husband had a Slickdeals alert for Lego set up, and that's how we bought them. I think what we ended up paying new was cheaper than used. Sometimes he would get $80 sets for $15! But you have to be willing to pounce and stockpile for future birthdays and Christmases.

[dycker1978]

Wow, I had no idea lego had increased so much.  My kids are 16 and 14 and have not played with it for a long time... but used was the way to go then.  I may have to keep my eyes open at garage sales this spring... for ebay resale.

[justajane]

Wow, I had no idea lego had increased so much.  My kids are 16 and 14 and have not played with it for a long time... but used was the way to go then.  I may have to keep my eyes open at garage sales this spring... for ebay resale.

I know someone who makes 30K or more in yearly profits from selling Lego used on ebay. It takes a lot of time and organization, but you can do extremely well.

[MayDay]

DS bought a huge lot from the neighborhood list serv.

It ended up being a lot of star wars stuff, and particular parts from kits.  He picked out some parts to keep (just generic building blocks) and sold the rest on CL for more than he paid (he is 8, so really I did most of it).

Lots of middle aged dudes were interested- I assume for re-sale. 

[Gone Fishing]

May not meet your objectives, but the cheapest strategy would be to wait until the Lego bubble pops.

There  are bedrooms like this all over America:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lego+collections&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjri_vYrsrKAhXKTCYKHTlGA20Q_AUICCgC&biw=1024&bih=710

[justajane]

May not meet your objectives, but the cheapest strategy would be to wait until the Lego bubble pops.

There  are bedrooms like this all over America:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lego+collections&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjri_vYrsrKAhXKTCYKHTlGA20Q_AUICCgC&biw=1024&bih=710

Haha. I feel like you broke in my home and posted a bunch of pictures!

[cloudsail]

Oh God, why is buying Lego starting to feel like buying shares of index funds? :P

[calimom]

Make nice with an older kid.  Not long ago, my son passed along most of his Lego collection to a six year old, whose eyes just about popped out of his cute little head when we unloaded the haul.  And much of THAT stash had been passed along to my son.  What goes around comes around.

Oh, and if you're one to wander around your darkened house at night barefoot.....it's advisable to learn the Lego Shuffle unless you enjoy 6-dotted imprints on  your painful foot.  :p

[Dicey]

All of this, plus asking on freecycle, nextdoor, fb and the like. They're kind of like the baseball cards of old. Basically, you want to find the mom whose kid is done with the stuff and she just wants to be rid of it.  Timing and persistence pay off.

[mm1970]

May not meet your objectives, but the cheapest strategy would be to wait until the Lego bubble pops.

There  are bedrooms like this all over America:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lego+collections&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjri_vYrsrKAhXKTCYKHTlGA20Q_AUICCgC&biw=1024&bih=710

Haha. I feel like you broke in my home and posted a bunch of pictures!

mine too. 

We have all of my husband's from when he was a kid.  And new ones that the 9 year old got (dozens of sets), and now the 3 year old is into it.

[kwh03001]

I have bought Legos dozens of times second hand.  The best places to buy are at garage sales and at flea markets.  I have one vendor at the flea market who knows me by name, and to scoop up any Legos he sees while he is sourcing junk items to sell.

[Dicey]

I have one vendor at the flea market who knows me by name, and to scoop up any Legos he sees while he is sourcing junk items to sell.

Isn't that the best? I love my friends in fruqality. DH and I bought a house together right after we got married and very little of our furniture fit in the new house (FWIW, I like open floorplans just slightly less than SS appliances, ugh. But I digress...) Almost all of the "new" furniture came from a local consignment store and I now know the crew on a first-name basis. (Yes, we consigned and CL'd the old stuff, so not much oop.)
Recently, one of them loaned me some of her personal jewelry to go with a dress I'd scored for $35 to wear to a big, formal benefit. Another year, a librarian I know from my volunteer work loaned me one of hers for the same event. Score!

[IllusionNW]

If there is a Buy Nothing group in your area (search Facebook) I see people giving Legos away every once in a while.

[GuitarStv]

Walk with bare feet in any home with children.  I guarantee you'll find some lego.

[aperture]

If you buy Lego models for kids:
(1) Keep the instructions and box in pristine shape by putting away after the model is built.
(2) Keep all pieces - don't vacuum them up or toss out the odd shape.
(3) When your kid is 13 - 15 pull out the instructions and have them build the model again - photo it and the box and the instructions and sell on eBay for 75% - 150% of what you paid. 

Just sold Mindstorm 2.0 for $225. 

[Melissa]

I'm one of those people who buys and resells. My husband used to call me the Lego commodities trader. So bummed that I didn't buy the Taj Mahal when it came out.mits more than triple the original amount.

I haven't sold any Legos in the last couple of years but still have somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds in the basement. I think I'll have to pull them out and start selling again.

Garage sales are a great place to find Legos....especially in upscale neighborhoods.

[iwannaretire]

Check the forums daily on www.brickpicker.com.  They do a great job of identifying the best deals on new legos. 

[seattleite]

My boy recently graduated from Duplo to regular Lego. I've been supplementing my childhood Lego with bricks from bricklink.com. I've been figuring out the bricks I want and buying tens or hundreds at a time for somewhere between a penny and ten cents per brick. My wife says that I now have a little bit of a problem. My only issue is that I'm teaching my kids that we can get as much Lego as we want. Which maybe isn't a good lesson, but I really want more Lego, so it's a difficult problem.

[serpentstooth]

Do you have a LEGO store nearby? The usually offer a free activity one day a month to "club members" (signing up for their mailing list, basically). It comes with a little kit that the children get to take home. If you can keep your kids from melting down because they want all the other stuff in the store, it's an easy way to build up a collection.

You might also look at what LEGO offers in their education line. We found that to be the cheapest way to buy Duplo on a per-brick basis, and it was a good way to get lots and basic bricks rather than odd special ones.

[ABC123]

We have a Lego store near here, but the monthly "club" days where you make a project aren't free. I looked into it a couple months ago, and I want to say it was like $6 or $7 for the little set they put together.