I keep the boxes I like and lie to myself that I am keeping them in case I want to re-sell the set (NEVER going to happen...except I am dying of starvation, which hopefully will not happen). The truth is: some of the boxes are just so beautiful and I just flatten them and put them in a locker. I don't keep too many boxes, so they fit in there.
I take a really large one (most recently the D&D set), then put the next large one inside that, then the next one inside that, and maybe a bunch of small ones, rinse and repeat. Now I can keep them all unfolded and undamaged, and they don't take up nearly as much space!
I keep the boxes for the bigger/more expensive sets, like modulars. Once folded down, they don't take up much space, so if there's a chance they could be valuable in the future, might as well keep them (along with the instructions). The boxes with hinged lids (Like the ones for Flintstones, Ship in a Bottle, and Seinfeld), I keep to store instructions or pieces in.
I used to do Bricklink selling quite a bit, and my store actually began selling only boxes from my childhood sets. Some caveats: 1) Most boxes are worthless. 2) Boxes are expensive to ship, and many orders get canceled once shipping is added. 3) Boxes are difficult to ship. Finding appropriately-sized outer shipping boxes is a pain. 4) You *will* get irate customers who only looked at the picture and think you're ripping them off by sending them an empty box. If you have a hoard of SW or modular building boxes, it may be worth the trouble. Otherwise, if you're short on space just recycle them. If I had it to do over again with my vintage 80s-90s boxes, I would have sold a handful of the large Star Wars boxes (like the original Tantive IV box, which was my most expensive box by a wide margin), and offered everything else for free for anyone willing to pick it up. When I transitioned to parting out new sets, all boxes and most instructions went straight to recycling. For sets I knew I was going to sell, I did indeed keep the boxes as you suggest. However, many of these I ended up throwing away anyway, because the buyer didn't want to pay extra shipping to include the box.
I wish bricklink could do a more "amazon" style checkout - I get its how it works - but im guilty of not going through with orders that I 100% wanted to purchase.
@@unwelcomemotivation Most small-scale online stores get around the variability of shipping costs by just overcharging shipping enough to be safe. In old Bricklink, the culture very much expected exact shipping costs, and time was required to calculate that. As far as I know, the culture at Bricklink has shifted a bit, and the site has better tools to allow instant checkout, so things have moved in the direction you wanted.
1. Not really true unless $1 is worthless, 2. be up front with shipping or jusyt you know make the boxes flat. 3. Not really make them flat... 4.Be obvous with your listing and even you can't handle customers get out of it.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough 1. A $1 box is worthless if is takes $1 worth of labor to process and fulfill the order. And if it takes $1.01 or more, you're essentially just operating a charity that rehomes cardboard. 2. For a small- to medium-scale reseller, being "upfront" with shipping essentially means overcharging for shipping, which was not considered an acceptable practice at Bricklink when I was selling. When buyers demanded actual shipping costs, the only way to provide that was to know all order details before quoting shipping. Large companies can play the numbers game and let it all average out over time, but someone selling their own stash of boxes is not going to operate at that scale. 3. Flattening boxes doesn't make shipping low-quantity orders (the most common type of order) any cheaper, just more fragile and prone to bending. Bulk customers expect bulk discounts. 4. You can use all of the words you want, there are still customers that will refuse to read them. You can provide all the pictures you want, there are still customers that will refuse to look at them. And every follow-up email you have to spend dealing with their incorrect assumptions will eat into the miniscule-to-nonexistent profit for the order. If you think I'm wrong and want to plow ahead selling your own collection's boxes, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I'm just sharing the advice I wish I had heard when I was in the same boat.
I collect and keep boxes because of main 3 reasons: 1. Its nostalgic to have the original box to sets you grew up with its like looking through a window in time. 2. As a bionicle collector about 60% of the packaging is plastic containers, so they don't take up alot of space and are great for storage. 3. Lastly preservation, especially with older boxes since they had the added value of alternative builds on the back of the box and those will become lost media eventually if vintage boxes are thrown out. Also for excluisives keeping the boxes are also historically significant.
I made the difficult decision and recycled a ton of my boxes. The best way I decided which ones I was keeping and which ones to get rid of where this Box art Enjoyment of the build Value of the set (if I choose to sell it is considered here aswell) I'm sure we all have different reasons and methods on how to decide
I have carefully flattened all of mine, the space saving in my loft was ridiculous. Whilst I have no intention of selling any of my Lego, I am not immortal, and at some point they will be inherited by my kids, if they want to sell at least they will have the boxes. They can have the 33% bonus at some indeterminate point in the future.
Surprising that the box has a much larger effect on resale value than the instruction set. I tend to keep the manuals but loose the boxes, as you can't rebuild a set without the manual. Yes, you can find them online, but personally I strongly prefer the original paper instruction set over looking at a screen. I have started to keep the boxes of newer sets, as - like others have explained - they don't take up much space when folded down.
Don't forget: It's possible that your collection will outlast you. Maybe whover inherits it isn't into the hobby is better off by selling it can get some extra money off the boxes. Also: If everybody throws away the "trivial" boxes, then few of them will remain and rise in value.
I finally got the mindset to get rid of them all. I don't need them and not caring about any value they may or may not have. Like you said space is a premium and if I do sell the set I part them out on bricklink. Now some of the older ones I've taken to hanging up in frames on the walls throughout my house. I honestly feel much better about getting rid of them finally and have much more display space. What did you finally decide to do with your's? Still holding on to hope?? 😂😂
I decided to just dump them :) Someone else pointed out that selling boxes online is actually a pain cus you need to buy like a BIGGER box to ship them in and once I read that I just decided it wasn't worth it lmao As of right now tho they're flattened and packed into two large boxes taking up space in my bathroom lmao. Hoepfully not for long tho :D
Currently I've kept almost all my Lego set boxes (most of them flattened to reduce space), as well as the instruction booklets. Your suggested way of handling the boxes does make a lot of sense, but I think I will still keep the instruction booklets, as it doesn't take up nearly as much space. As you may know, it is now also possible to scan the QR code on most of those booklets to get some "insider points" on your Lego account. I still haven't scanned most of my instruction booklets, so I'll keep the booklets at least until then. (Granted, it is not that much extra value.)
2:53 Or you can keep the box and manuels and sell them when you need extra cash away from the set as once opened Lego does not need to be complet to be worth money unlike other stuff.
TBH if I am buying a second hand set for building then I am looking for the best price! I prefer a manual but would be ok without it for smaller sets. Does not matter if box is included. However if price is the same I would take box. I have been saving simply as I might be selling some sets and generally people do like box included and especially Manuals. Some sets I simply would never throw away box. It is when a move happens that these decisions need to be made 😂
I save every single box I get. I am fortunate enough to do so. When you buy a Lego set, the box is part of the product. I like to tape up all my boxes and keep them exactly how I got them. I honestly just like looking at them. I have my Lego collection on shelves. And I use my boxes as a backdrop. It looks really cool with tons of sets in the background of your display.
1:40 Unopened and unplayed LEGO sets are quite pointless. On the other hand, I don't want to sell my LEGO sets, but I might have to if times get hard, that's why I keep the boxes. Also, I keep Models I don't have on display currently in their respective box, so I can find them quickly, if wanted.
I keep most of my boxes, except for the ocassional Friends sets I buy, I simply like keeping them, especially those of my favourite sets, so I regret dumping some of my childhood set boxes because I felt pressured to (though perhaps the pressure wasn't there in the first place, I really can't tell)
I used to keep all my boxes but now I only keep GWP boxes and boxes from sets over $100. Definitely no battle pack boxes as that would take up all the space I need for the army that I'm building
Just recycle them. That's what I do. I recycle ALL my boxes and instructions. I have instructions on the app and a USB drive and the boxes are useless. I'm NOT going through the hassle of selling them and I never resell any set I buy. Period. I buy a set to keep it for life. I want to be buried like a Pharaoh with all my belongings with me.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough by that logic everything is cash. Some things worth more than others. For me the instructions and boxes are trash. One man's trash may be another man's treasure but if it's trash to me there's one bin it goes in and that's the one meant for recycling.
okay but imagine this: you pass on your lifetime collection to your grandchildren, they sell it when they're adults but the set is 100% complete with box and instructions.. 🤑 also its just sad whenever I see a bionicle set with no canister 😢
I held onto mine for 2 years and tried to sell them on to collectors but people either wanted to offer just £2/$3 or next to nothing, or there was just ZERO interest. The displayable thing is the set itself. Throw boxes away, recycle.
I only keep the boxes for the important ones, 1/8 cars, Star Wars UCS, basically the expensive ones. The others get tossed. Because I build them, not store them for investment purposes.
I’ll never buy a used set without the box. I don’t care if it’s opened and been built, but you need the box or I don’t want it. Please don’t send me an expensive Lego set on a ZipLock Freezer bag. As a seller you should place emphasis on the buyer’s experience. Furthermore, I don’t want an entire lego collection mixed together where it’s just bricks so when I pass away nobody knows what all the bricks are for. A non-Lego collector would have no clue what sets are in a huge bin of bricks, especially if the bricks are organized because then they’re not together with the sets.
Buy Lego, throw box away, build your own designs enjoy the plastic bricks and don’t worry about the resell value. Enjoy the building. Not heaping cardboard in a limited amount of space that you have in your oh r house.
Yeah this was abad viudeo as you epicly missed the forest though the trees... Like if you got a $1 in change from buying a thing would you recycle it because it took up room? Which all boxes ande manuels are worth atleast some cents if not a few dollars and some are worth at least $1... So just recycling them is just burning cash.
Nice video! I've been collecting the LEGO I have at the moment for about 8 years (I've been obsessed with LEGO since early childhood, But due to a few reasons I didn't really retain any sets or boxes from my childhood) And I personally choose to keep my boxes simply because I think they are cool. I store them all under my bed and recently flat packed them to make more space, but ultimately they don't take up enough space yet for me to consider them an issue.
I just throw them away. I cannot bother keeping the boxes in pristine condition, which is expected if you are selling them for good money. Another consideration: pick your battles with your partner! The potential fights about keeping the boxes, isn't worth the potential financial gain to me.
Hasn't anyone heard of flatpacking. Like literally all my Boxes for about 6 grand worth of lego fit in 1 large box.. if that gets me $600 in value and it's the size of a large set that costs that much anyway. I still throw many of the smaller set boxes away.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
I keep the boxes I like and lie to myself that I am keeping them in case I want to re-sell the set (NEVER going to happen...except I am dying of starvation, which hopefully will not happen).
The truth is: some of the boxes are just so beautiful and I just flatten them and put them in a locker. I don't keep too many boxes, so they fit in there.
I take a really large one (most recently the D&D set), then put the next large one inside that, then the next one inside that, and maybe a bunch of small ones, rinse and repeat. Now I can keep them all unfolded and undamaged, and they don't take up nearly as much space!
Good idea!
I store my boxes in the local cardboard recycling bin
I keep the boxes for the bigger/more expensive sets, like modulars. Once folded down, they don't take up much space, so if there's a chance they could be valuable in the future, might as well keep them (along with the instructions).
The boxes with hinged lids (Like the ones for Flintstones, Ship in a Bottle, and Seinfeld), I keep to store instructions or pieces in.
I used to do Bricklink selling quite a bit, and my store actually began selling only boxes from my childhood sets. Some caveats:
1) Most boxes are worthless.
2) Boxes are expensive to ship, and many orders get canceled once shipping is added.
3) Boxes are difficult to ship. Finding appropriately-sized outer shipping boxes is a pain.
4) You *will* get irate customers who only looked at the picture and think you're ripping them off by sending them an empty box.
If you have a hoard of SW or modular building boxes, it may be worth the trouble. Otherwise, if you're short on space just recycle them. If I had it to do over again with my vintage 80s-90s boxes, I would have sold a handful of the large Star Wars boxes (like the original Tantive IV box, which was my most expensive box by a wide margin), and offered everything else for free for anyone willing to pick it up. When I transitioned to parting out new sets, all boxes and most instructions went straight to recycling.
For sets I knew I was going to sell, I did indeed keep the boxes as you suggest. However, many of these I ended up throwing away anyway, because the buyer didn't want to pay extra shipping to include the box.
I wish bricklink could do a more "amazon" style checkout - I get its how it works - but im guilty of not going through with orders that I 100% wanted to purchase.
@@unwelcomemotivation Most small-scale online stores get around the variability of shipping costs by just overcharging shipping enough to be safe. In old Bricklink, the culture very much expected exact shipping costs, and time was required to calculate that. As far as I know, the culture at Bricklink has shifted a bit, and the site has better tools to allow instant checkout, so things have moved in the direction you wanted.
1. Not really true unless $1 is worthless, 2. be up front with shipping or jusyt you know make the boxes flat. 3. Not really make them flat... 4.Be obvous with your listing and even you can't handle customers get out of it.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough 1. A $1 box is worthless if is takes $1 worth of labor to process and fulfill the order. And if it takes $1.01 or more, you're essentially just operating a charity that rehomes cardboard.
2. For a small- to medium-scale reseller, being "upfront" with shipping essentially means overcharging for shipping, which was not considered an acceptable practice at Bricklink when I was selling. When buyers demanded actual shipping costs, the only way to provide that was to know all order details before quoting shipping. Large companies can play the numbers game and let it all average out over time, but someone selling their own stash of boxes is not going to operate at that scale.
3. Flattening boxes doesn't make shipping low-quantity orders (the most common type of order) any cheaper, just more fragile and prone to bending. Bulk customers expect bulk discounts.
4. You can use all of the words you want, there are still customers that will refuse to read them. You can provide all the pictures you want, there are still customers that will refuse to look at them. And every follow-up email you have to spend dealing with their incorrect assumptions will eat into the miniscule-to-nonexistent profit for the order.
If you think I'm wrong and want to plow ahead selling your own collection's boxes, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I'm just sharing the advice I wish I had heard when I was in the same boat.
Just flatten them. If you have the space. One side is already cut what's the difference if it's the other one?
Why would it bother you to keep boxes in the attic? What else would you do with that space? Break them down, flatten and stack em.
I collect and keep boxes because of main 3 reasons:
1. Its nostalgic to have the original box to sets you grew up with its like looking through a window in time.
2. As a bionicle collector about 60% of the packaging is plastic containers, so they don't take up alot of space and are great for storage.
3. Lastly preservation, especially with older boxes since they had the added value of alternative builds on the back of the box and those will become lost media eventually if vintage boxes are thrown out. Also for excluisives keeping the boxes are also historically significant.
I made the difficult decision and recycled a ton of my boxes. The best way I decided which ones I was keeping and which ones to get rid of where this
Box art
Enjoyment of the build
Value of the set (if I choose to sell it is considered here aswell)
I'm sure we all have different reasons and methods on how to decide
I have carefully flattened all of mine, the space saving in my loft was ridiculous. Whilst I have no intention of selling any of my Lego, I am not immortal, and at some point they will be inherited by my kids, if they want to sell at least they will have the boxes. They can have the 33% bonus at some indeterminate point in the future.
I just flaten them down at the moment, but I do get rid of the inner packets, lol
Surprising that the box has a much larger effect on resale value than the instruction set. I tend to keep the manuals but loose the boxes, as you can't rebuild a set without the manual. Yes, you can find them online, but personally I strongly prefer the original paper instruction set over looking at a screen. I have started to keep the boxes of newer sets, as - like others have explained - they don't take up much space when folded down.
Don't forget: It's possible that your collection will outlast you. Maybe whover inherits it isn't into the hobby is better off by selling it can get some extra money off the boxes. Also: If everybody throws away the "trivial" boxes, then few of them will remain and rise in value.
I finally got the mindset to get rid of them all. I don't need them and not caring about any value they may or may not have. Like you said space is a premium and if I do sell the set I part them out on bricklink. Now some of the older ones I've taken to hanging up in frames on the walls throughout my house. I honestly feel much better about getting rid of them finally and have much more display space. What did you finally decide to do with your's? Still holding on to hope?? 😂😂
I decided to just dump them :) Someone else pointed out that selling boxes online is actually a pain cus you need to buy like a BIGGER box to ship them in and once I read that I just decided it wasn't worth it lmao
As of right now tho they're flattened and packed into two large boxes taking up space in my bathroom lmao. Hoepfully not for long tho :D
Make a cardboard sword out of the boxes and steal someone's Lego using it as my main weapon
Currently I've kept almost all my Lego set boxes (most of them flattened to reduce space), as well as the instruction booklets. Your suggested way of handling the boxes does make a lot of sense, but I think I will still keep the instruction booklets, as it doesn't take up nearly as much space. As you may know, it is now also possible to scan the QR code on most of those booklets to get some "insider points" on your Lego account. I still haven't scanned most of my instruction booklets, so I'll keep the booklets at least until then. (Granted, it is not that much extra value.)
2:53 Or you can keep the box and manuels and sell them when you need extra cash away from the set as once opened Lego does not need to be complet to be worth money unlike other stuff.
TBH if I am buying a second hand set for building then I am looking for the best price! I prefer a manual but would be ok without it for smaller sets. Does not matter if box is included. However if price is the same I would take box. I have been saving simply as I might be selling some sets and generally people do like box included and especially
Manuals. Some sets I simply would never throw away box.
It is when a move happens that these decisions need to be made 😂
Just break the tape on both ends, flatten them. you'll save tons of space.
I save every single box I get. I am fortunate enough to do so. When you buy a Lego set, the box is part of the product. I like to tape up all my boxes and keep them exactly how I got them. I honestly just like looking at them. I have my Lego collection on shelves. And I use my boxes as a backdrop. It looks really cool with tons of sets in the background of your display.
1:40 Unopened and unplayed LEGO sets are quite pointless. On the other hand, I don't want to sell my LEGO sets, but I might have to if times get hard, that's why I keep the boxes. Also, I keep Models I don't have on display currently in their respective box, so I can find them quickly, if wanted.
6:33 Just sell them right? In bulk if convence is a issue right?
I keep most of my boxes, except for the ocassional Friends sets I buy, I simply like keeping them, especially those of my favourite sets, so I regret dumping some of my childhood set boxes because I felt pressured to (though perhaps the pressure wasn't there in the first place, I really can't tell)
i only keep the front of the boxes because it takes way less room and i just like to keep a part of the box at the very least
its trash do you save pizza boxes after eating it?
I used to keep all my boxes but now I only keep GWP boxes and boxes from sets over $100. Definitely no battle pack boxes as that would take up all the space I need for the army that I'm building
3:46 What like the Box?
Just recycle them. That's what I do. I recycle ALL my boxes and instructions. I have instructions on the app and a USB drive and the boxes are useless. I'm NOT going through the hassle of selling them and I never resell any set I buy. Period. I buy a set to keep it for life. I want to be buried like a Pharaoh with all my belongings with me.
You can be buried in a coffin made of Lego! 🤯
@@shroomzzz good point lol
Burn cash to keep warm too?
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough by that logic everything is cash. Some things worth more than others. For me the instructions and boxes are trash. One man's trash may be another man's treasure but if it's trash to me there's one bin it goes in and that's the one meant for recycling.
okay but imagine this: you pass on your lifetime collection to your grandchildren, they sell it when they're adults but the set is 100% complete with box and instructions.. 🤑
also its just sad whenever I see a bionicle set with no canister 😢
I would keep the box if they where like the old box with with flap to view contents.
I held onto mine for 2 years and tried to sell them on to collectors but people either wanted to offer just £2/$3 or next to nothing, or there was just ZERO interest. The displayable thing is the set itself. Throw boxes away, recycle.
If you are thinking of reselling, keep them. Otherwise a less cluttered house is a lot healthier
I only keep the boxes for the important ones, 1/8 cars, Star Wars UCS, basically the expensive ones. The others get tossed. Because I build them, not store them for investment purposes.
Flatten them and store them in a large UCS set box like the tumbler
This is what I do
I found boxes are a waste of space time money ect.
I would only keep the box maybe if it was a special set otherwise wouldn't even think about it.
What about physical currence credits cards?
I’ll never buy a used set without the box. I don’t care if it’s opened and been built, but you need the box or I don’t want it. Please don’t send me an expensive Lego set on a ZipLock Freezer bag. As a seller you should place emphasis on the buyer’s experience.
Furthermore, I don’t want an entire lego collection mixed together where it’s just bricks so when I pass away nobody knows what all the bricks are for. A non-Lego collector would have no clue what sets are in a huge bin of bricks, especially if the bricks are organized because then they’re not together with the sets.
SELL THEM
I would not buy used without the original instruction booklet, but I dont care about the box.
i just put each smaller box into a bigger box set, so it minimises the amount of space it takes up
It's just to keep track of what I've bought. Jeez.
Take a big box, flatten the others, put them in the big one.
Buy Lego, throw box away, build your own designs enjoy the plastic bricks and don’t worry about the resell value. Enjoy the building. Not heaping cardboard in a limited amount of space that you have in your oh r house.
Yeah this was abad viudeo as you epicly missed the forest though the trees... Like if you got a $1 in change from buying a thing would you recycle it because it took up room? Which all boxes ande manuels are worth atleast some cents if not a few dollars and some are worth at least $1... So just recycling them is just burning cash.
YES
Nice video! I've been collecting the LEGO I have at the moment for about 8 years (I've been obsessed with LEGO since early childhood, But due to a few reasons I didn't really retain any sets or boxes from my childhood) And I personally choose to keep my boxes simply because I think they are cool. I store them all under my bed and recently flat packed them to make more space, but ultimately they don't take up enough space yet for me to consider them an issue.
I keep mine and store some lego boxes in larger lego boxes, saves space. So many boxes
❤️
See keeping cs skins is easier fr fr
I just throw them away. I cannot bother keeping the boxes in pristine condition, which is expected if you are selling them for good money.
Another consideration: pick your battles with your partner! The potential fights about keeping the boxes, isn't worth the potential financial gain to me.
Lots of logic used there... Who says keeping my boxes is logical. I love to have anxiety about how much boxes will somehow be needed later on
i only keep the boxes of the 2014 sets because they look cool (Av7 Canon, Coruscant guard police Gunship)
Hasn't anyone heard of flatpacking. Like literally all my Boxes for about 6 grand worth of lego fit in 1 large box.. if that gets me $600 in value and it's the size of a large set that costs that much anyway. I still throw many of the smaller set boxes away.