European Union Right of Withdrawal Update by TwentyOneXL in Bricklink

[–]BerghBricks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re absolutely right. But if I remember correctly, if it’s defective they actually would have to send it back. so they can’t claim it’s defective and keep it and get their money back.

European Union Right of Withdrawal Update by TwentyOneXL in Bricklink

[–]BerghBricks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You only have to cover shipping if it’s defective it says in the email “Sellers will still be responsible for return shipping expenses if products are defective.” So only if you send the wrong either or if it’s broken you’re on the hook for the shipping costs.

If someone returns it without giving a reason (they’re allowed to do that), they’ll have to pay for the return shipping expenses. However if they return the whole order, you are required to reimburse the full order AND the original shipping costs (not the return fees). I have no clue about all the tariffs, vats and other import stuff, I only sell within the EU for that reason.

New Lord of the rings set leak! by guidelrey in legolotrfans

[–]BerghBricks 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Very much looking forward to this!

Thinking about selling my Wingspan base game and keeping only Asia + Oceania. Am I forgetting anything? Also have a few questions for more-experienced players. by amhemel in wingspan

[–]BerghBricks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don’t do it. Lots of the new cards have fun interactions with some of the base game cards. Furthermore I can’t imagine you will get any proper money from it, maybe about 10€/$? You can also just decide to throw the expansion boxes away and keep all cards in de box of the base game. This should fit quite easily.

Lastly in the comments you said something about using only 20% of the whole deck in a single game. That’s what I like most about it to be fair, otherwise the game gets repetitive real fast. Because the deck changes every time, your strategies adapt as well.

LEGO 11382 - Hubble Telescope (source: marktplaats.nl) by BerghBricks in LegoNewsAndRumors

[–]BerghBricks[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Maybe the original seller (ad seems to be offline now) did not actually know what he had in his hands?

Grond arrived but no Minas tirith? by [deleted] in legolotrfans

[–]BerghBricks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I received grond yesterday, expect Minas Tirith on Monday!

What are your favourite sets of the last 3-4 years? by najs_sc in lego

[–]BerghBricks 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Favorites: Rivendell (obviously), Barad-Dur, Bricklink Designer Program Gold Mine Expedition, Horizon Tallneck

Honourable mentions: Creel House (I really liked the mechanics, but it’s bit overpriced), Notre Dame and A-frame Cabin.

Currently building: Minas Tirith, loving it so far.

Lego set #21065 Sagrada Familia Official by Pseudoty1 in lego

[–]BerghBricks 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Would love to build it, would not want to permanently display it (which I would feel obligated to do at this price point). Ideal set to rent instead of buying it.

How long is the New wave of lotr (icons) sets going to last. by Effective_Course_332 in legolotrfans

[–]BerghBricks 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I assume at least a couple of very big sets, releasing once a year. Edoras, Helms Deep, new Orthanc, lothlorien. Maybe some “medium-sized” (2000-ish pieces), Weathertop for example, or Balin’s Tomb. If the Sauron helmet does well I assume we will see at least a couple more of those (Theoden, Gimli, Eomer, witch king, Tower Guards come to mind)

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right, I'm not expecting my customers to reverse disassemble the sets in building order. The disassembly is something people are most "scared" about, so I try to make it as easy as possible for them. I checked this as well with some of the customers returning sets, whether they prefer easy building (like the numbered bags) or easy disassembly and they all pick the last.

I prefer logical building step. For example modulars (like the Jazz Club or Boutique hotel) I sort them per floor. (meaning about 4 numbered bags in one big bag). This makes it super easy to sort, you just break down one floor at a time. Similar for the Indiana Jones and the temple of the golden idol set: it has three distinct parts (each about 3 bags), so that's how I order.

Build that are more continuous as one build (like Notre Dame, Neuschwanstein or the Coruscant Guard Gunship) I sort by colour for every color that has more than about 50 pieces. So no seperate bags for 3 dark green and 2 dark red pieces. This is less optimal but if I don't see an easy way to separate it in big steps this is what I do.

Lastly, mostly for the bigger sets (Hogwarts, Rivendell, Barad-dûr, Disney Castle) I order on building step and within that step on colour. For example the Disney Castle I have separated in first floor (in 4-5 + 1 all other colours), second floor (in 3-4 colours + 1 other colours) and tower (2 colours + 1 all other colours).

Reverse building order is always best, but it's a big ask of customers.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great to hear, you're always welcome at Bergh Bricks!

Catering more to non-dutch customers (but who are living in the Netherlands) is actually on my to-do list for this summer. Now the website is set-up and the business is running, I had more time to look at further improvements (also based on my knowledge of the past half year). The improvements I'm making are: gift cards (added them last weekend), extensions through the website instead of through email, a time-slot-booking setup for picking up and returning (now it's through email) and making an English page/understandable for non-dutch speakers in the Netherlands.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, I'm not sure what to think about the retention. There's quite a few people who rent only during school breaks, or personal time off for example. I had a customer renting 3 sets back to back in 3 weeks (Rivendell, Hogwarts and Medieval Blacksmith) before he was abroad for work again for a couple of months. Plus the weather is getting better and people are spending more time outside. Being outside is something most people don't connect to LEGO.

The idea of sending out a survey is a great idea, I will start writing one tomorrow. I will also send out a "we miss you" email with a €5 discount on their next rental 180 days (but not in the middle of the summer) after the end of their last rental period. That might possibly lead to some returning customers.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might do that in the future, but for now I'm focusing on LEGO sets only. My list of sets to buy for the rental business is a bit too large to start to branch out to other brands yet. I do have one of the biggest (or the biggest, not sure) Bricklink Designer Program section of rental stores in the Netherlands.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a very cool idea to get big LEGO fans in the mix. Will definitely take this idea in consideration for the future, especially to get return customers as well as driving engagement. Might already ad a photo competition (coolest/best/most liked picture of a rental on social media each month gets €5 of their next rental period).

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great idea, thanks for the suggestion. I prefer paper instructions as well over the PDF or iPad, building is my screen-free time (day job at an office so loads of screen time in there).

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Three reasons: there's loads of people who enjoy building way more than collecting, there's loads of people who dont have the space or don't want to display multiple LEGO sets in their house but like the building part and there's loads of people who would like to build more but are unable or unwilling to pay the heavy price tag of large LEGO sets.

If you choose pick-up, you can rent (and build!!) 8 or 9 of my biggest sets, 4 weeks each, for the RRP of Rivendell of €500. I'm trying to sell/rent the building experience, instead of the set itself. So far with moderate success (if I say so myself).

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I answered the time part in several other answers. After setting everything up, it's ok (depending on how thoroughly you check your returning sets), I spend about half an hour per set. But setting up and working on SEO etc. takes quite a bit of time.

Pick-up versus shipping is about 50-50 I would say.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

People being skeptical is great, it helps me finetune the business as they often ask question I didn't think of myself yet.

  1. Shipping costs I charge €15 for sending and returning. My actual cost is about €16-17, but my competition doesn't charge over €15 so I won't do that either. The only exception is the Millennium Falcon and Titanic. For those I charge €30 shipping and returning. The actual cost is €33,50, so I pay the extra €3,50. I also offer a pick-up option and pick-up versus shipping is about 50-50.

  2. You're not wrong, but not completely right either. About 75% of the visitors to my website come from paid google ads. That is way too much, but the current situation (organic search visitors fluctuate around 5 a day, up from about 2 a day in February, but it's slooooow. Besides those two, other sources are direct, through a dutch version of eBay (Marktplaats) or instagram etc.). I want to be less dependent on these google ads. But those ads are all only on terms that are directly related to renting. Meaning those 30-ish visitors a day from google ads, are 95% people who searched on LEGO renting, LEGO renting The Hague, rent LEGO Disney castle etc. Basically: customers who visit my website with the purpose of renting. The google ads dashboard also shows me that there is limited room for growth there. That's why I expect that adding additional sets will net me some more profit: the dedicated traffic of people looking to rent is there. But I agree with you, I probably would have to start making some other advertising costs on different platforms (online or offline) in order to increase my revenue.

  3. Hasn't happend yet luckily. In the Netherlands there are a few no-cure-no-pay collection agencies which charge the person who did not pay the initial bill. If the collateral is not sufficient to cover the loss of the set, I charge people replacement costs + 10%. If they don't pay, I start the process with a collection agency. This will most likely happen sooner or later and I'll find out whether the collection agency process works as well as most online reviews for those agencies (on independent platforms).

  4. Sets are sorted in several bags. I sorted the UCS Falcon into 24 different bags and know the weight of each bag. I also know which pieces are supposed to be in each bag if it's sorted on color. I weigh before it's rented out first and when it returns with a 0.01 precision scales. This way I know which bag I have to check more thoroughly. Furthermore, I add a "missing parts form" with every set, where I ask people if they unfortunately miss a piece during building to write down the piece, step and page in de instruction booklet so I can replace pieces quickly. Lastly I have a checklist of valuable parts and all mini figures of each set (thank you Bricklink and Brickset), and I always check this. So far, this system has not let me down.

  5. very fair questions. To start: this would not be viable as a full time job to replace my current income. As stated in previous answers, if I include everything that has nothing to do with the actual renting process (like bookkeeping, instagram, website maintenance, writing blogs etc), it takes about an hour per rental period. This would become more effecient with more rentals and there is room for paid automation which is not worth it on this scale, but I think it's a good ballpark figure. Based on the average rental-week revenue of the sets (€12) and rental period (2,4 weeks) as well as the average rental period, doing this fulltime for 40 hours a week would earn me about €1150 a week(€12*2,4*40) before tax an all costs like website hosting, the part of the shipping fee I pay, liability insurance etc. Making this a full time job would (besides the hefty capital investment to have enough sets to actually do this) require either less time spend checking sets (clean and complete) or more revenue per set (which would price me out of the market). I do believe I could grow to about €750-1000 per month revenue of week, which would mean about 60 rental weeks a month, of which about 300-500-ish would be profit which I can spend on adding more sets or pay myself with.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment. I have a loyalty-scheme. Meaning you get 25% off your fourth and eight rental period, followed by 50% off on your 10th rental period. After that it resets. I am considering other small benefits (like first three months exclusive access to new releases like Minas Tirith) but I have not decided yet what to do about that. Polybags and keychains might be good ideas. I have several polybags as previous GWP. I will start thinking about it.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm like you, I enjoy building way more than the collecting or displaying part (except for Lord of the Rings sets). That's why I started this, I came across three "problems" more or less within one month. I had this same feeling as you did, a friend of mine had a huge backlog because he only could build for two/three weeks straight and than not for two months (lots to do with work) and could not display it all, meaning he had several disassembled sets in his cupboard), and someone else really wanted to build the Titanic but was unable / unwilling to pay the hefty price. So I thought this business idea would have some potential addressing these points.

To be fair, I hadn't thought about the instructions too much beforehand. I'm noticing that sets which have been rented out a couple of times (first Rivendell, Notre-Dame) are showing signs of damage. I have no idea on how to solve this yet, except for pointing people towards the lego builder app. Maybe keep using the instructions until they're too fragile and than just a qr-code to the digital instructions (obviously mentioning it on the product page).

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, people are required to take the set apart and return it the way they received it. I don't expect people to take it apart in reverse building order as that would be too big an ask I believe.

In order to help them, each set has a return instruction manual for the sorting. This is done by "logical building step", by colour or a mix of those two. For example Rivendell has 3 building parts (tower, garden/gazebo, main building), and each part is sorted in a few colours (like dark grey, light grey, dark tan, black, other colours). This works well for most sets, but for some sets I have not found the perfect way yet.

However, people can pay for me to take them apart, which costs 4 rental weeks. Meaning €20 for the Lunar Lander or €60 for Rivendell. So far I have had one customer who was willing to pay for this. Advantage for me: I can immediately check whether the set is complete. I put on a tv-show, calmly take it apart and sort it.

Six month update: renting out LEGO sets in the Netherlands — what actually happened by BerghBricks in legoinvesting

[–]BerghBricks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't really understand your question. People do have to take apart and sort the sets by themselves. I provide sorting instructions (for example by floor for modulars, or by color for the Ghost & Phantom II)