Cheapest Source of Legos?

[morganm]

I did some searching on here, The Google, eBay, Craigslist, BrickLink, and FindMyBrick. Hard to find a real deal. Any spot I haven't looked yet? Where have you scored your best deals on Legos?

[MicVash]

There's been some discussion about this earlier along with the idea of clone brands.

http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4969

Bottom line: while they may be cheaper, it's generally frowned upon to use them. Really when you buy LEGO and you're on a budget you really have to know what pieces you're looking for. For instance, are you trying to collect an army of minifigures? Are you looking for a certain colorscheme? Are you interested in specific sets?

If you are simply trying to generally expand your collection, yard sales are the absolute best deals. Also, a lot of official sets, especially Star Wars, understand that some people just want to play with some minifig armies and so offer some pretty good deals. Here are some examples:

8083 Rebel Trooper™ Battle Pack


8084 Snowtrooper™ Battle Pack


7595 Army Men on Patrol


Essentially when you spend money on this hobby it's about what you want to build and how big you want to build. You can really build some cool stuff on a tiny collection and when you want specific pieces, I'd say the best bet is Bricklink.

Take for example this new guy on Flickr called Ingraman.
Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30995509@N02/

He's built some great stuff such as this:


On just this:

That's his ENTIRE collection!

[Jbgarrison]

With the packs that McVash listed above going for about 11.00 (rounded off) a piece, your getting 4 minifigs plus enough legos to build some kind of vehicle or weapon emplacement.

On eBay, I'm finding minifigs often auction off for $2-3 per fig (if not more) with shipping costs often bringing it up to $4-5 per minifig. I've been REALLY lucky to win a couple of auctions for minifigs (including shipping) coming to about $1.50 a fig. This takes effort, and long wait times.

Going down to Wallmart and grabbing those packs McVash recommended has been a very reasonable solution in my opinion.

My challenge now, is to mix and match what I have to come up with some original creations. eBay bids on lots of hats and weapons has been my solution so far, and I've gotten reasonable wins with a lot of effort.

I have yet to seriously try Bricklink, but I do intend to when I have more idea of what it is I even want to do.

[Hoboman]

I have to say the cost of the minifigs also matters what you are willing to work with. Want a special SW minifig, then $11 each.

But if you look:
Example #1 $7.50 gets you three figs and some nice bits and parts to make a fighter.

or

Example #2 $7.50 gets you five figures and some parts including tank treads.....

And these are free shiping.

This seller has six or so auctions like this that end today. Now of course that does nto mean someone will not snipe you, but if you really want some minifigs cheep and some good blocks as well auctions like this are your friend.

[MicVash]

I'd say there are better deals out there. I'll pay a dollar more a fig if he looks cooler, seems more military-like, and if I can get a bunch of them uniform. Like I said, it's about knowing what you want.

For Ex: Cool, I just got a bunch of minifigs, but my army doesn't seem impressive at all cause they are just random civilians from city sets that I got for dirt cheap. Or you can really hunt for that ideal combination.

If you browse through Bricklink a lot, however, you'll notice a trend among many stores, especially the larger ones. These guys understand that if people are going to buy specific parts, they want new ones, and more specifically from the latest sets. People want the interesting parts and colors from power miners, space police, and clone wars. People also really want the cool minifigs from these latest sets.

Look at this store, House of Logos:

http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Ho ... D=17821041

This guy has a hefty collection of Space Police III parts and minifigs for sale. Lucky for us! The new Space Police look awesome!

And guess what? It's a $1.61 and he has 10 of them for sale!

@Jbgarrison, I'd really like to see what your getting for you money. You could save a lot more just buying from Bricklink instead of ebay. It's great cause you buy on your own time, not by the other bidders, every piece is available to you for sale, and you can get a lot of LEGO in one buy, saving you on all the extra shipping. One more thing...IT'S MICVASH!!!

[Hoboman]

Oh I agree that Bricklinks is the best way to go for being able to buy what you want and only what you want.

But I have had luck on ebay, craigs list, and Bricklinks. All have added to my hord.

[piltogg]

I'm pretty much a yardsale only person, and good thing, as I have a collection that would have costed around 3,000$, but I have spent around 1,200 so far. over the course of 8 years.

[morganm]

Sounds like good deals are strictly a case by case thing.... you just have to find them.

Those two Star Wars packs are actually a pretty smoke'n deal for retail priced Star Wars Legos.

About the cheaper knock offs; I agree... I'll pass. I don't mind spending money on quality stuff and Lego really is a quality product. Just prefer to get a deal if I can find one!

[Jbgarrison]

MicVash, my apologies. Yeah, I knew the spelling as it was noteworthy, just that thinking it and typing it are two entirely different parts of my brain, meh. I'll try harder to not typo that though.

The shipping considerations for Bricklink definitely make it more enticing.

[morganm]

I found another pretty good value: Clone Walker™ Battle Pack. Comes with 4 troopers (including a commander with extra armor stuff), 3 blasters, 2 pistols, and a neat little walker. For the same price as the other two battle packs you get a few more neat bits.

http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.as ... =520&d=322

Think I'll pick up this and the rebel battle pack.

Finding some pretty good deals on craigslist as well. Missed a few great opportunities on there =( Just gotta stay on it I guess if I want the good deals.

[morganm]

Went to the Lego store and picked up the rebel battle pack and I just couldn't resist the space police Raid VPR; for $9 you get a space cop with the badass helmet/pack, a wicked alien minifig, and a neat little ship... not a bad value in my book.

Had to special order the clone walker battle pack but ordering from the Lego store you get free shipping right to your house. Plus the prices themselves were cheaper than Wal-Mart,Target, or anyting I could find online (for these specific sets).

They had a 'build your own mini' station; which I thought was a neat idea but it was 3 minis for $10. Seemed a little pricy for just a minifig and a couple of small accessories. Plus there weren't any really good parts to speak of. You could get a better value through other means.

[RoC77]

If I was a soulless monster, I’d say check the local obituaries then go to their homes and offer to buy their Lego if they had any....

If I was a soulless monster....

In other news, I got a bucket of Legos really really cheap.... Almost like they didn't want it anymore, as if it was some sort of grim reminder....

[Warhead]

Of course you could avoid the randomness of the last suggestion by making sure people who own Lego meet with... unfortunate yet terminal accidents. Just saying. Pays to be organised.