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The secret economics of Lego

Phil Edwards | May 16, 2026



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I noticed in a few of the comments people mentioned the idea of scalping, which I only had briefly in the video. Here’s a rough transcript of what some people said about it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G9I5xri2cj8rbAXyx3ddrxA4fAHyKCmvbtPUceXvY3Q/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks to @DGBricksYT @kdxbricksanalytics @studstache @FritzBricks

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Written by Phil Edwards

Comments

This post currently has 31 comments.

  1. @dittokyu

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    as someone who recently got back into lego as a hobby, yknow where i actually build sets i buy…the investment market really irks me. i DO buy lego on the secondary market, mostly on my local buy-sell apps (think facebook marketplace, kijiji) buy i'm almost always hunting for below msrp (so things that have been opened, no box, etc). i mostly am into star wars, but i am lucky to live in a country where star wars isnt that popular so people reselling can't ask for tons more than retail for sets…as other comments pointed out, this kind of 'investing' in hobbies really takes away the fun from these hobbies and isn't just limited to lego…

  2. @HaonProductions

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    One day I should go through my old Bionicle collection. It's just taking up space in my parents' basement right now, I ought to see if any are worth anything and keep the rest to put on a shelf.

  3. @JRBCubed

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    Here I am sitting on a fully complete Lego Rock Raiders collection with custom builds from the PC game along with not one but TWO Cheif mini figs. One sealed and one opened. Got the rest of the boxed mini figs that way too. Glad I bought them decades ago, never thought they'd be worth what they are today. Kind of bummed because I'm more interested in buying more than selling ๐Ÿ˜‚

  4. @keithblackborg8310

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    Iโ€™m a AFOL. Iโ€™m an investor. But Iโ€™m not a Lego investor.

    This discussion of Lego investment ignores the cost of capital (the opportunity cost of tying up your dollars) and the high friction in selling (time and dollars required to complete a sale).

    My time is best spent analyzing investments that provide a higher Return on Investment in less time, for more dollars, and low friction in selling.

    I leave my Lego hobby as a hobby. I will likely sell all my Lego for 50 cents of its value in 20-30 years from now, unless I truly enjoy the process of selling my Lego collection on something like Bricklink.

  5. @TheNickelGhost

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    I'm sorry brother, I love your vids but I don't think I can finish this one. I appreciate that your interviewees are notionally reselling out-of-print sets (not necessarily scalping), but overlap between scalpers and investors is too massive these days for me to really trust any of them at face value. Also, the "investor mindset" promoted by these people empower the worst actors in the space, who in turn perpetuate the worst aspects of the current Lego scene. Maybe you talk about the potential for harm later in the video, but halfway through the runtime, all I've seen is a wider platform being given to predatory thinking about a children's toy…can't wait for the next vid though, see you then โœŒ

  6. @Jedi_Bobs_Brick_Shop

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    What this analysis completely skips is the absolute ton of labor it takes to get used Lego into sellable condition. Washing, inventorying every piece if it's a used set, completing figures with the correct parts and knowing what parts are the correct ones. You don't just buy Lego and instantly flip it for big profits. That's completely the wrong message. If you're doing new sets and sitting on them for investment value – that market isn't what it used to be. You've got a ton of competition. Everyone and their brother has new Lego sets sitting around for investment purposes. If you have a passion for Lego and you do it to support your hobby I think you're good. You won't mind the hours of labor it takes because it's kind of fun for some of us. If you're going to do it strictly as a business I'd say there are better things to do with your time that probably would make you more money. There are very few Fritz's in the world making hundreds of thousands per year with Lego. Visit jedibob.com for your Lego needs with better prices than places like bricks and minifigs.

  7. @ChrisHilgenberg

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    I haven't checked bricklink in years (before their buyout from Lego), but it was fairly reasonable then to pick up minifigs, sets etc and I hate to see the prices now as these people are buying for 'retirement' or whatever shit they're trying to flip for.

  8. @Tazer_Silverscar

    May 16, 2026 at 9:02 am

    These 'Alternative Investors' are the ruin of hobbies (also hah, typical that their initials are AI, all the more reason to keep the protests against these frauds going). There's a reason they are known to hobbyists as SCALPERS. We don't buy stuff to invest, we buy because we want to use the item for its intended use – that is, in the case of Lego, to BUILD. To PLAY. Not for crypto-bros to screw people out of their money. Rich people using these sorts of things as exploits to get even richer is one of the reasons why society is a mess.

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