Kid Businesses: Selling Legos

You've stumbled over Legos in the dark. You've wondered why you ever bought another set. You may have even poured over the instructions in hopes that you could somehow finish that Lego creation. Now the Legos are sitting on a shelf somewhere and you are wondering: Should I trash them? Donate them? Find an unsuspecting parent I can dump them on? (Who owes me?). Believe it or not, there is a better answer: have your kids set up a business to sell used Legos online!

• Used Legos are Hot Sellers to Collectors

You may think this is a crazy. Who would buy used Legos? I was certainly reluctant and unconvinced when my son, Brendan, approached me a year ago with the idea of selling his used Legos online. However, 13 year old boys can be very persistent. Brendan had researched how to set up a store, but he needed my assistance as a co-store owner as an adult with a PayPal account. Finally, I sat down to look at what was required and realized that if he sold some Legos, we might actually get some space in his room. He agreed to do everything to set up the store. My job was to monitor emails from customers, make PayPal arrangements and do the shipping. When he priced one of his Batman sets at $350 dollars (he’d gotten it on sale for $20), I figured there wouldn’t be much work for me to do.

• Kids (or adults) can Make Money off their old sets

I was wrong. After six months, Brendan had sold out his almost his whole store and made about $900. Not bad for a thirteen year old kid. Moreover, he continues to sell. Just last week he had another order fromIreland. Over half of our orders have come from Europe orAustralia. On top of learning how to run a business, Brendan has enjoyed getting to know people in other countries. We’ve discovered that these Lego collectors are a talkative and enthusiastic lot. One young father fromEnglandbubbled over with his excitement at buying some Lego Batman figures as collectables for his newborn!

• What Kids Learn from Selling Legos Online

My husband and I are thrilled he has learned how to run a successful business, but we are even happier that he has also learned some lessons along the way. One customer wasn’t satisfied with the minifigure he received, declaring that the “mint” condition listing proved to be incorrect when examined by a magnifying glass. As a thirteen year old boy, Brendan had never gone quite that far in his quality control efforts with his Legos, but he still didn’t really think the minifigure had the crack the customer claimed. Was the customer trying to cheat him? Or was he right in claiming that re-selling to collectors required the piece to look new under magnification? Like all small business owners, Brendan had to make a judgment call. Because customers at Bricklink can offer negative feedback which can affect whether future customers choose to buy from you, Brendan decided to go by the maxim, “the customer is always right” and refunded the money. In another instance, he dealt with a customer complaint by giving a partial refund. In both situations, the customers were fully satisfied and left great feedback. Moreover, their complaints helped Brendan to learn how carefully he needed to be in describing the condition of his merchandise. My husband and I could have spent a lot of time lecturing him on these concepts but real life business experience taught him more about honest advertising and handling customer concerns more than anything we could have said, and probably more than he would have learned by taking a class in business.

• How Selling on Bricklink Works

Bricklink requires that store owners be adults, so parents will need to set up the store and also set up a PayPal seller’s account. Although this will take a few minutes, once your account is set up, your child can put items in the store and handle preparing the Legos, pricing, sales and shipping. When a buyer decides they want something on Bricklink, they will place it in their cart and Bricklink will send you an email. You can reply to them either through Bricklink or directly through your email account. If you agree to their purchase, you will tell them how much it will cost to ship the item and then give them the total amount they need to pay you at your PayPal account. Once PayPal has verified that you have received your money, you ship them the item.

I liked the fact that I was able to keep track of what Brendan was selling and help him decide about the shipping. It helps to either have a scale to weigh the items, or take everything you want to put in your store to the post office and weigh it so you will be able to estimate shipping costs. We also stocked up on the free shipping boxes at USPS and used the online shipping services to estimate and mail items. However, for some overseas packages, you will need to go to the post office to mail the package there and fill out customs forms.

Kids can learn real-life skill of running a business with no start-up costs

It doesn't cost any money to start a store selling Legos online. So your child can start this business without it costing you any money. They can learn all the lessons of running a business without having to risk costs. If they get further into the business, they may want to invest in buying Legos with their profits (maybe from friends or garage sales) but to start with, they don't have any start-up costs.

• You can Also Buy on E-Bay and Re-sell

Frequently, E-Bay has great deals on huge lots of bricks. I'm putting some samples of deals on the side for you to see. Since all Legos tend to either retain original value or go up in price, they make a good E-bay purchase. You can either start a Bricklink Business or expand it by buying bricks in bulk on E-Bay, cleaning and sorting them, and re-packaging them for sale. Another tip: Since sets sell for a higher price than individual bricks, you can buy up a lot of mixed sets, put them together (using the instructions available for free on the Lego website) and buy any missing parts on Bricklink to have a full set.

Helping Kids Start a Business is Worth it!

Better than the money he has earned, which he is saving for a future car, Brendan has learned how to run a business.He learned how to research the competition, evaluate buyers, handle customer complaints, and create customer loyalty (by giving “freebies” with his orders).None of those skills are taught in school and all of them will serve him well in any future career. I was a reluctant participant at the start of Brendan's business venture, but now I'm eager to see what he decides to do nest. I've seen him mature in this process and learned a lot of lessons that I could never have taught him any other way. It was well worth my time!