Toys to Retirement Weekly Wrap-Up

We makin' money tonight, friends?

Hi Friends,

Another crazy week in the books. We are exactly one week from official Black Friday, but many sales have already come and gone.

I was served a painful reminder (for a second time this Q4) not to be late to brand new sales. Kohl’s had some absolutely massive discounts on some LEGO in very limited quantities. I made the mistake of being twenty minutes late to the sale and only got some scraps.

I can confirm that many of the ridiculously cheap sets did in fact exist — it wasn’t a bait by Kohl’s.

I had a bunch in my cart ready to check-out but they sold out. My second mistake was I got too greedy. Instead of just tossing the good stuff in my cart and checking out, I tried to be thorough and made sure I saw the entire sale before completing my purchase. Oh well, my wallet can’t take much more of a beating anyway.

Speaking of LEGO:

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I updated my Final LEGO 2024 Overview article…

I tossed two more sets onto the list that I think were flying under the radar. I have started acquiring them slowly but steadily and plan to get a lot more over the coming weeks (as long as they remain in stock).

If you scroll to the end of the “Sets I’m “medium-excited” about…” section, you will see **NEW ADDITIONS**. Check them out here:

Final LEGO 2024 Overview

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Amazon isn’t raising FBA fees in 2025…

I’m sure you’ve all heard the news, but in case you haven’t — early Merry Christmas!

To read the full article, you can view the ‘News’ section in Seller Central. I think it’s pretty obvious why this is happening — Walmart. It’s no secret that Amazon is now losing millions of dollars to their newest competitor. I’m eager to see how these two titans continue to compete for our business.

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Non-LEGO Toys in Q4

I did a 44 minute video lesson on a highly requested topic — how I approach NON-LEGO toys in Q4. I talk about some sourcing strategies and unveil how I tend to dive deeper into product research. For those of you who made it to the end of the video, you may have caught wind of a potential discontinued BOLO that I was considering purchasing.

Well I am happy to update you that since the video posted, it has in fact sold out on Amazon, and I have confirmation that it is indeed discontinued.

I picked some up from a distributor and am hoping it jumps up in value soon. You may still be able to find some out there…

Check it out here:

[VIDEO LESSON] Non-LEGO Toys in Q4

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The ‘Toys & Games’ category is strongly positioned for 2025 and beyond…

I did an article yesterday about The State of Toy Investing. I dive into some trends I’ve noticed in the market and talk about why I think we are in one of the best places to be going into the new year. If you are one of the people affected by the recent wave of restrictions, I encourage you to start learning the toy game. We aren’t immune to Amazon’s craziness, but we sure do have a lot of options to minimize the damage they can do. Peep it here:

The State of Toy Investing

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Tip of the Week #4

Tonight is the start of a big weekend. LEGO will be having their ‘Insiders Weekend’ promotion. Not only will we be receiving double VIP points (10% back), but we will be eligible for these gift with purchases:

While I don’t see myself going after the Holiday Crafting Set GWP, I’ll be spamming orders for the other two. Here are some tips for tonight:

• Rakuten is offering 15% cash back for regular sets and 3% cash back for exclusives and hard to find sets. You must have an empty cart before activating Rakuten, and you must activate Rakuten before each purchase. I recommend having a second tab open on the Rakuten website so you can quickly keep opening new tabs in between purchases.

• Since we are receiving double points, this is not the time to use your VIP points for a monetary discount. Instead, use your VIP points to add some of the awesome sets in the rewards section of the site to your orders. All four of the NINJAGO Micro Builds are still available for 1800 points each. You can sell all four in a bundle on eBay for over $100! Also remember, only one VIP reward per checkout.

• There is no right or wrong way to approach how you sell off your GWP. A lot of people opt to sell right away on eBay for optimal cash flow. Nothing wrong with that. A lot of people like to hold onto them for 6-12 months just in case they happen to explode in value like some of the Harry Potter ones. I will say that these Black Friday ones tend to be produced a ton, so I don’t expect too much of an increase, but they are also really good looking sets so demand could out-weigh supply. Either way, it’s free money.

• Formerly LEGO store exclusive 40613 Mini Disney Palace of Agrabah is now appearing at Ross for $21.99. I wouldn’t recommend adding it to your order to meet GWP thresholds anymore.

• I do recommend checking the site early and having tabs open for all the sets you want to buy. Strategize which combination of sets gets you closest to the GWP thresholds so that you maximize your ‘discount’. Stuff will sell out. It’s the end of the year.

• I cannot recommend purchasing non-retired sets to flip. It is up to your personal risk tolerance, but LEGO does not like it. I prefer not to poke the bear and to stay off their radar. They do have VORYS sending letters out to people who sell stuff that isn’t discontinued. Up to you if you think that is scary or not.

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Send me your questions!

I’ve been getting a lot of DMs with great questions. Many of them are worth answering, but not quite detailed enough that they warrant an entire article on their own. Next week, I’d like to do an article filled with questions from you guys.

Don’t respond to this email with questions, it can’t receive replies. Instead, message me on Substack, Instagram, or Twitter and I will confirm that I have received your question and can answer it next week. Or you can comment on this article. Questions like:

“What is your process for prepping and storage?”

“How do you reverse engineer your annual goal?”

“How do you determine how much of something to buy?”

Send them all and I will try to get through as many as I can for next weeks article.

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Alright guys, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and is ready for a wild ride this weekend and next week. Keep your eyes and ears to the streets — our peak buying week is here.

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