What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink ?
Have you ever wondered what is the best selling LEGO on secondary marketplaces such as Bricklink ? I prepared for you an analysis of sold sets/polybags within 10 different LEGO themes based on statistics provided by Bricklink for last 6 months sales.
It is important to explain what I mean behind "best selling" LEGO. First, I looked at the absolute quantity of units sold and made a ranking of sets/polybags with highest number of units sold in last 6 months. However, demand for sets measured by units sold is only one part of the game. It is important to assess also the amount of sets/polybags available for sale, the market offer. When you compare the supply with demand you can identify how fast would the market absorb all the units currently available for sale which is a very useful information.
You can for instance have a set which ranks very badly in terms of quantity sold (only a few pieces sold in last 6m) but when you list it on Bricklink for sale it disappears immediately. Such a set benefits from the low turnover which I calculated in years for you in graphs bellow such as Total market offer / (last 6m sales * 2).
LEGO Architecture, LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO Ideas wins by number of sold sets in last 6m.
LEGO Harry Potter is the fastest selling theme, followed by LEGO Architecture and LEGO Jurassic Park theme.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Considering all 10 LEGO Themes chosen for this analysis and all their champions - What are the top 12 sets/polybags in terms of units sold in last 6m across these themes ? ... It is The White House Architecture set which leads the statistics with 535 units sold in last 6m, followed by The Lord of the Rings polybag Frodo with cooking corner and another LOTR polybag on the third place The Dol Guldur.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
When we consider also the market offer, Harry Potter sets are utmost champions in terms of fastest turnover.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Let's look closer at chosen 10 LEGO themes one by one.
1. LEGO Modular Buildings
12 sets released so far (if we count also the Market Street) in Modular Buildings theme, which is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, LEGO theme among collectors. It isn't easy to point at the best set out of those 12 amazing buildings as each of them is somehow interesting or unique.
Pet Shop (2011) was the best selling set in terms of number of units sold in last 6m, followed by Grand Emporium (2010) and Parisian Restaurant (2014).
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| What is the best selling LEGO on secondary market? |
However, these top 3 in terms of number of sold units are the ones with the slowest turnovers in years within Modular Buildings theme because the number of such sets available for sale is also high. Considering also the market offer we can see that the fastest selling sets are the rarest ones - such as the Cafe Corner (2007), Market Street (2007) or Green Grocer (2008). Those sets usually disappear very fast from the listings for sale because their market offer is limited and the demand for them high. Assembly Square is a brand new Modulars addition that's why it ranks so high in terms of turnover.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on secondary market? |
2. LEGO Ideas
Six years have already passed since introduction of the LEGO Ideas theme originally known as CUUSOO. 15 sets have been introduced so far and each of them has something what makes it wanted. As the name of the theme suggests, these sets are not about the number of pieces or complexity, but about the IDEA behind the set.
WALLE (2015) was the best selling set in terms of number of units sold in last 6m, followed by Grand Ghostbusters Ecto (2014) and Yellow Submarine (2016).
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| What is the best selling LEGO on secondary market? |
Considering 142 units sold in last 6m, the Maze ranks as the fastest selling set within LEGO Ideas theme. It would take only approx. 5 months (0.42 years) to absorb the current market offer of these sets given the last 6m sales. I have the Maze in my collection and overall I think that it is an above average set with very high level of playability.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on secondary market? |
3. LEGO Harry Potter
64 sets (excl. polybags) released between 2001-2011. Harry Potter has thousands of fans all around the world so also the LEGO Harry Potter is very popular and desired theme among LEGO fans. We saw many Harry Potters, Dumbledores or Voldemorts minifigures so far. This is one of my utmost favourite LEGO theme as I am a big fan of Harry Potter, even though I do not own any of the sets/polybags in graphs bellow.
Here the polybags win in terms of quantity sold. Trolley polybag (2011) is first, followed by The Lab polybag (2011) and The Hogwart's Express polybab (2011).
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Overall, LEGO Harry Potter is the fastest selling theme out of those 10 mentioned in this post. Top 3 in terms of fastest turnover are almost the same as in terms of units sold.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
4. LEGO Lord of the Rings
If we talk about Harry Potter, we shouldn't forget LEGO Lord of the Rings. :-) 11 sets (excl. polybags) released between 2012-2013. Again polybags win the top 3 with highest quantity of units sold in last 6m. Frodo with cooking corner polybag (2012) is first, followed by Gandalf at Dol Guldur polybag (2012) and Uruk Hai Ballista polybab (2012).
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Considering also the market offer, the best selling sets are Uruk Hai Army (2012), Mirk Wood Elf Army (2013) and Gandalf at Dol Gundur polybag (2012). The first set in row of the LOTR sets ranks fourth, the Gandalf Arrives (2012) - the only LOTR set I own. :-)
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
5. LEGO Architecture
LEGO Architecture sets bring alive iconic buildings from around the world. This theme is a great example of how various and sophisticated the offer of LEGO sets is. I was wondering in my post Where does LEGO find inspiration for their architecture sets in my recent post. And the answer is ... mainly in the United States, but also on other continents.
Not surprising that top 2 with highest quantity sold are American architectural jewels - The White House (2010) and the Lincoln Memorial (2015). Followed by British Big Ben (2012).
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| What is the best selling LEGO o Bricklink? |
The White House is not only the most selling but also the fastest selling LEGO Architecture set.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
6. LEGO Jurassic Park
Indominus Rex, Raptore, Pteranodor and others ... It can't be anything else than LEGO Jurassic Park theme. Only 8 sets released during 2015.
Indominus Rex Breakout (2015) with 154 units sold in last 6m wins the first place in terms of quantity sold.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Raptore Escape (2015) is the fastest selling set with turnover of only 3.82 months (0.32 years).
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
7. LEGO Toy Story
A big icon of animation movies, the Toy Story with 15 sets released during 2010.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Construct a Buzz (2010) is the fastest selling set in this theme. I think it deserves it.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
8. LEGO Monster Fighters
13 sets released in 2013. Another very successful LEGO theme.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Ghost polybag ranks first in terms of the fastest turnover. I've got this polybag as a gift and I like it a lot, especially the Ghost minifigure which glows in the dark.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
9. LEGO Pirates of Caribbean
14 sets released during 2014. Legendary Johnny Depp as a Captain Sparrow in his boat polybag wins in terms of units sold in last 6m.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
When we talk about Pirates of Caribbean it is a Black Pearl which comes to my mind immediately. Mini Black Pearl polybag has the fastest turnover and also the big set The Black Pearl is doing pretty well in terms of pace of sale.
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10. LEGO Indiana Jones
This is a legend ! 18 sets within LEGO Indiana Jones theme released during 2008-2009. Motorcycle Chase as the first set in row wins in terms of units sold in last 6m.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
And also in terms of the turnover. I guess that I am pretty lucky to have it in my display. :-) It's a perfect set with minifigures that look like a real movie characters.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Not talk only about high flyers. :-) There is a graph of 10 sets/polybags with slowest turnover. Such sets have very slow sales compared to amount of units available for sale.
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| What is the best selling LEGO on Bricklink? |
Do you buy/sell sets or polybags on Bricklink ? Have you found some of the results of this analysis surprising or interesting ?
I will be very happy if you let me know in comments bellow.
2 komentářů
Write komentářůI really enjoy your performance and sales analysis posts. The fact that Frodo with Cooking Corner sold so well over the past six months is what's most surprising to me. I can understand a high sales figure due to it being a low-cost item, but I wouldn't expect it to be so popular that it was #2 in terms of quantity sold.
ReplyIt's also interesting that two Cuusoo/Ideas sets, Minecraft Micro World and The Exo Suit, seemed to sell so quickly early on (and for a premium), only to now have two of the slowest turnovers in terms of years. It would be interesting to see how many total units LEGO produced of these two sets compared to other sets in this theme. It seemed like LEGO produced a large quantity of each due to initial high demand.
As you say, it's quite surprising that the Frodo with Cooking Corner is doing so well in terms of units sold in context of other themes. I looked a bit closer to that and it might be partly caused by a fact that there are a few sellers with quite a huge stock of those polybags (100+ units) willing to sell and at the same time there are buyers willing to buy much more than one unit. The average seller offers 10 units for sale which is one of the highest numbers in my dataset for this analysis. And also, the average buyer buys 3.3 units which is also one of the highest numbers.
ReplyAs for the Exo Suit LEGO Ideas set, you are right that it was very shortly in sale. That's a shame that it cannot be found how many units of particular set LEGO produced so far ... It would be very useful information. The Exo Suit is number five in my analysis in terms of market offer of such sets for sale right now - 1,187 units. (1. Pet Shop - 1,493 units, 2. Frodo with cooking corner - 1,434 units, 3. Ghostbusters Ecto - 1,263 units, 4. Palace Cinema - 1,187 units, 5. Exo Suit - 1,187 units).
I'm very glad that you enjoy posts like this one and I will definitely keep writing more ! :-)