Whether you're an AFOL, a teen, FLL Coach, or the parents of a LEGO Fan, you know when buying LEGO, it gets expensive fast. This guide is meant to help you get the Most LEGO product for your money.
Discussion about value
While we're at this point, we should talk about value. Most AFOL's measure the relative value of a LEGO set by its piece count. That is the number of elements in the set. Clearly posted on the front of the package, a good rule of thumb is the set should cost about .10 cents per piece. Licensed Themes like Star Wars and Toy Story will command a premium price, presumably to help pay the licensing fees. So you can expect to pay more for those sets. But even that does not cover the whole story. The LEGO Group, which sells the sets does not value them based on pieces but rather by the amount of plastic used, most easily determined by weight. On the other hand, AFOL's are more interested in pieces because well larger pieces (SPUDS) are not as useful, so a focus on piece count serves them well, but for your little youngster, this is not the best measure. With that out of the way, let's move on.
In Store Purchases
The most common purchase point for LEGO product is in the store isles. We've all been there walking the store with our kids (or ourselves) and spied that neatly decorated and styled box of LEGO sets. You want it, you must have it. But hold on that may not be the best way to get your LEGO fix. Physical store retailers may or may not have the best prices, and some of them are known to charge prices above the MSRP. But sometimes it might be. it all depends, Do you have to have it now? Is it on sale? Is there a limed edition promotion? If so, go ahead buy that LEGO set.
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Online Purchases
By far, the largest array of lego sets can be bought from online retailers such as the Shop.Lego.com website, or Amazon
You have to wait for them to be shipped and arrive. As a bonus, most online-only retailers, such as Amazon, usually have free shipping. Many rarer and uncommon sets are offered only through the LEGO Store, so if you're looking for the exclusives, check them first and be wary of eBay. It's a great store to buy bulk used LEGO parts, but most of the sets sold online through eBay are current sets being sold at sometimes crazy markups. That is not a rip on eBay itself, but rather some of its individual sellers, so be careful.
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BrickLink
So far, we have talked about standard online and brick-and-mortar stores; there is, however, 1 more. BrickLink.com is an online website that hosts many stores from the LEGO community, each of them run by their individual store owners. BrickLink is shinning if you are looking for specific LEGO elements or out of production sets or Mini Figs. There are no fees to sign up with BrickLink, only when you buy, and those fees are determined by the store you buy from.
Note: Since this article was published, Bricklink.com is now owned by The LEGO Group.
If anyone knows of anyone selling Lego dino set the one with the T-Rex and the big helicopter for a reasonable price please contact me. Thanks
Try bricklink.com while the prices are still higher than they were when the sets we’re instock, they are usually less than sellers on eBay charge.