We're moving... again!

If you've kept up with the blog, you'll remember these posts from 2016 (#1 and #2).  My "other job" moved me from New Mexico to Florida.  Well, that "other job" decided it's time to move again.  Bricks for Bricks is now going to Alabama.  What does that mean?  The last BrickLink and Brick Classifieds  orders will be accepted on 30 April 2017.  Then on 1 May 2017 the store will be closed.  At this point, we'll have to move it all again and re-establish.  I am hoping to be back up and running in a month or two, but we'll see how things are going.

Thank you for your patience while this all happens!  Happy building!

Bricks for Bricks Campaign and Store Update - April 2017

In case you haven't seen, we've been running a campaign to raise funds for iCouldBe.org.  This is a website that runs a mentoring program for teenagers.  Adults apply to become mentors, build profiles, and then students select them to become mentors while they go through a program geared towards motivating them to be better students and to have successful futures.  As of the writing of this post, I mentor two students and I enjoy the program and sharing what I know with the two teens I mentor.  The program costs money as they have to maintain a staff, run the website, and conduct background checks on potential mentors.  To help fund that program, Bricks for Bricks is giving 15% of profits to iCouldBe.org.  The campaign started on 1 January 2017 and will end on 30 April 2017.

So where are we at?  We've had 26 sales and a profit of just over $147.  15% of that is just over $22.  Not that exciting and kind of disappointing on my part.  There's a reason for it though and it's something I need to look into changing as I continue to give back while selling LEGO products.  On BrickLink, many of the items that I have sold have been parted out.  Most often, minifigures are broken apart from sets and sold individually.  When either the parts or the minifigures are sold, but the whole set isn't sold, I typically don't show a profit until they are all sold.  So my revenue is higher, but doesn't show a profit that I can take 15% from to give to great organizations like iCouldBe.org.  

Any thoughts on how to change this up?  Please email me: store@bricksforbricks.com if you have suggestions.

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On a separate note, the store will be closing again... If you've followed me, you'll know that I had to pack everything up and move from New Mexico to Florida last summer.  This is due to what I refer to as my "real" job relocating me to Florida.  Well guess what?  My job is moving me again after less than a year!  The store will be shut down on 30 April 2017 and then re-opened in Alabama.  I'd like to be open again in June 2017, but I don't know how long the paperwork process is going to take to open up yet another business in a different state.  So I apologize for the inconvenience and will work to get up and running again as fast as possible.  Thanks again for all the support!  

Bricks for Bricks August 2016 Update

Just a quick update to let everyone know where I'm yet.  As I've posted previously, the store closed in order for me to move from NM to FL.  Have I moved?  Yes.  Unfortunately I had to shut down my NM business and I need to start a new business in FL.  Part one of the process is that my main employer has to agree to my business venture.  They want to make sure there is no conflict of interest between what I'm doing and my main job (there isn't, but the approval process is taking a while).  After that is done, I need to work with FL to start the business up again.  If anyone has ever done this, you'll know that it's not easy.  The government doesn't make it easy to set up a business.  There are multiple agencies you need to contact to get various approvals.  There are tax documents, approvals to use your doing business as name, registering with your county, etc.  I apologize to anyone who has an interest in purchasing something from the store, but has to wait.  A few items have been favorited on my Brick Classifieds store... don't worry it will open up again.  Thanks for your patience!  If there is something you are interested in, please contact me and I can take it down and hold it until the store is open again.  

There are a few items I'd like to buy personally that haven't been easy.  The Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (#42056) is on my list, but it seems to always be out of stock.  Over the weekend I saw it available briefly, but I failed to make the purchase right away.  I have a number of VIP points that will help to cut down on the price so that will be a bonus.  Now I just need to actually place the order.  Also, Series 16 Collectible Minifigures are out.  They are sold out as well.  

Is there anything else I should post on the blog or that I should add to the store when it opens up?  Post in the comments or send me an email with your thoughts.  

UPDATE: 15 hours after I wrote this post, I checked LEGO® Shop at Home and the Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (#42056) was listed as in stock.  I dumped all of the VIP points that I have been saving for quite some time on it to get a sweet discount.  The order has been placed and I'm looking forward to the shipment arriving and writing up a set review for it.  SWEET!!!!  My NLS gets questions from friends about her tolerance for the excessive amount of LEGO® in the house.  The usual response is that it could be wrose and I coudl be into sport cars or something more expensive.  What happens when I buy a sport car made of LEGO®?

10 Tips for Moving your LEGO® Collection/Business

As I mentioned on my post back on 25 May, Bricks for Bricks is moving.  I'm not at the point where this business is my full time employment so the other job that I have decided to move me.  Thankfully, the move came with movers that packed and shipped for me.  That makes life a lot easier, but still creates some challenges.  Today I'll be sharing what I learned through the process.  Oh and by the way, yes I did make it in one piece.  I have not opened up my stash yet, but it all appears to be there.

Okay, so maybe 5 or so of these boxes do not have LEGO® in them.  

1.  Make sure you have a good inventory
Part of having a moving company haul your stuff from one place to another is that if anything goes missing, you have to prove it's missing.  Having an inventory of what you have is important for tracking.  For the business side, I already had a list of the items I had to include minifigures and unopened sets so that was easy.  For the personal collection side, not so much.  I decided to take the risk on loose bricks (business or personal) and no inventory them so that make it a bit easier.  If you are a Bricklink seller, then you might already have an inventory of your bricks and this won't be an issue.

2.  Take pictures
Another step to proving you own it is taking pictures.  This is what I did with a lot of the sets in my personal collection.  For some of the smaller sets, I just took a picture of the large box they were all in, but for some of the larger sets I took pictures of the set separately or in the case of modular buildings, pictures of each floor.  For the business side, I took pictures of the conditions of the unopened sets that I am selling.  The last thing I want is a damaged modular building or Star Wars set.  If the packers or movers destroyed an unopened box and I have a picture showing that it was good before it was packed, I should be able to claim it with the moving company.

3.  Use boxes from LEGO® where you can
Some sets are oddly sized and movers come with specific sized boxes that may not line up.  I placed some of the larger boxed sets that I had in some boxes that I had saved from the LEGO® company.  This made packing easy.  For those that have never had movers come in and pack their stuff, you are supposed to let them pack everything.  That means you can't use your own packing material and tape boxes shut and then claim damages after they are shipped.  I placed sets in the boxes I had and then let the movers tape them shut.

4.  Bag up loose and sorted bricks ahead of time
When the packers showed up at my house they just start opening drawers and putting stuff in boxes.  I can't imagine what would have happened if they had to sort through my loose bricks that are separated by type and color.  I took the time ahead of the packers arriving to dump my sorted bricks into plastic bags.  The bad part is that I need to replace them in all of the drawers that I had, but the good news is that I don't have to re-sort all of my bricks.

5.  Transport anything yourself that you just can't bare to lose
If you have a set, piece, minifigure, MOC, or whatever the case may be and you don't want to lose it, transport it yourself.  During this move I decided to let the movers take everything.  In a past move, I had an unopened Emerald Night set that I decided to transport on my own.  During this move I decided to let the movers take everything.  What would you want to transport yourself?  Do you have an unopened Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon (#10179)?

6.  2 Gallon plastic sealable bags are your friend
If you want to keep your built sets partially assembled or at least keep the parts together the 2 gallon bags are great.  I was able to put floors of the modular buildings that I have in them and also some of the other larger sets that I have.  I highly recommend getting a bunch to help you pack.

Some bagged up modulars...

7.  Be prepared for ridicule
Why do you have all of these LEGOs®?  Another box marked LEGO®, huh?  YOU play with LEGO® still?  I think they are just jealous.  People knew I had a big collection, but when it was all put together and in boxes it looks much bigger.  

8.  Know where to get rid of cardboard boxes
Please recycle if it is an option in your area.  With that being said, you need to either put some out for your weekly collection and space it out for pick ups or you need to find a place to bring them all.  I was lucky to have a place in my new area that had bins for cardboard collection.  It has worked out great to dump all of my boxes and get them out of my house (to make room for LEGO® sets of course).

9.  Have a plan before you unpack
I have a large stash of LEGO® sets, bricks, and pieces.  While it's exciting to open everything up, it's not a good idea to just open them up and stash them wherever.  Put some time in planning ahead of time as to where you will put everything.  If you have a NLS (non-LEGO® spouse), make sure he/she is on board with your plan ahead of time.  Hopefully you moved to a bigger place that allows you to have your own brick cave.  I sadly do not have a cave in my new place, but I was allotted some space.  I hope to have my own cave someday.

10. Get ready to build
If you were like me and had to take lots of things apart, you can enjoy putting them all back together again.  And if you're like me and enjoy building, you're actually looking forward to it.  

Good luck!

How to Move Your LEGO Business and Collection

Here's the part where I'm supposed to write a great blog post on the best ways to pack your LEGO collection and business up to move.  Sadly, I don't have that post in me, but perhaps I will soon.  As it's time for Bricks for Bricks to depart New Mexico.  While I wish I did this full time, I do not.  I have another job and they are moving me to Florida.  I'm excited for the move to Florida, but it does bring challenges for an AFOL.  I will lose Amazon's tax free sales to New Mexico and Albuquerque's Bricks and Minifigs store.  There is a LEGO brand store in Florida, but it will be around 7 hours away from me so that's not fun.

As for moving my collection and the store, that's another story.  These are just some of the boxes.  I have a few other staging areas in my home and it drives my NLS (Non-Lego Spouse) nuts to see the pile getting bigger.  If anyone has advice on how to do this, let me know.  My current plan is to have a good inventory of what is in each box and to take pictures of the more expensive and harder to replace items.  Beyond that, I'm just hoping for the best.

The site will remain up during the move, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post to the blog.  The store on this site and the Brick Classifieds store will close on 26 June 2016.  For minifig purchases from my store, I'm offering free shipping on orders over $30 of minifigs.  Just enter "MIFGSHIP" at your time of purchase.  For the Brick Classifieds store I went through and lowered some of the prices.  I'm also willing to come up with deals for purchasing more than one set.  Take a look and contact me via email with what you have in mind.  Thanks for helping me to have less stuff to move.  I hope to have the store back up and operating in Florida by the end of the summer.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions on how to move my collection or tips on what not to do, please let me know in the comments or email me at store@bricksforbricks.com.