Pieces for Pennies: Where Cheap LEGO May Lurk
/Best of BrickNerd: Weekend Highlight — Article originally published November 12, 2021.
It’s a question I’m often asked by people who are beginning to really get into LEGO: “Where can I find the best deals?” This is, of course, code for: “Where can I find cheap LEGO?” I usually answer with a string of tried-but-true methods, ala: “Watch for sales at Target/Walmart/Kroger/Costco,” and: “The bulk bins at Bricks & Minifigs can be fun....”
But over the past few years, I’ve made some incredible LEGO finds in some unexpected places: Estate sales, auctions, antique malls, garage sales, and (my favorite) the legendary Goodwill bins. I’m talking rare pieces – alone and forgotten. Vintage sets – overlooked by everyone else. And pounds of bricks – all for mere pennies.
So if you’re ready to begin on a LEGO-for-Less quest of your own, here are a few places you might want to start looking.
Estate Sales
Okay, first off, full disclosure – I’ve only ever found LEGO at three or four estate sales, so if orange shag carpeting and vintage Avon bottle collections aren’t typically your thing, you may want to hunt elsewhere. But personally, I enjoy getting a glimpse inside people’s houses and seeing their former possessions. And over the years I have found some great LEGO deals.
To find an estate sale, start by looking on Craigslist (or similar) under “garage sales,” but search for the keyword “estate.” If an ad includes pictures from the sale, look closely – if you see a lot of high-end furniture and marble horse statues, you’re probably not going to find LEGO at that locale. But if it looks like the house may have been the abode of a kindly grandparent who never threw anything away, your chances of finding the beloved bricks will probably be higher.
But once you’re at the sale, where to look? Usually, at well-organized estate sales, similar items get grouped together – books over here, shoes over there – so if you see any toys, head to that area and take a look. However, keep in mind that the people who run estate sales also tend to place things in one of the rooms where they might have originally been used – Tupperware in the kitchen, tools in the garage, and so on. So feel free to skip the tour of the bathrooms and kitchen, but do be sure to scope out the bedrooms, basement, and rec rooms. If there are bricks to be found, that’s probably where they’ll be hanging out.
Get ready to dig. That LEGO isn’t going to just be on full display! Look inside boxes that, upon first glance, appear to hold only other toys. I once found a bunch of rare LEGO at the bottom of a box of toy trains. Another time, I found a box that contained a mixture of Samsonite LEGO Bricks and American Plastic Bricks (a mid-century LEGO competitor.) The box was priced $20 for all, but I only had $10 on me, so I asked the people running the sale if I could just sort out and buy the LEGO, for $10. They said "No, please take it all..." and let me pay $10. I ended up selling the American Plastic Bricks on eBay.
Garage Sales
Okay, this might not be an unusual place to look for LEGO, but there are a million sales out there and the LEGO can be scarce. How can you improve your chances of finding treasure? When looking on Craigslist (or other garage sale-listing sites), read the sale’s description. If the ad says “toys,” but also says, “tons of baby clothes, 3-18 months!” beware – that’s probably a DUPLO zone. Clues that might indicate the kids in the family are a little older (and therefore more likely to be parting with LEGO proper) might include words like “bikes, video games, board games, and Barbies.”
Just like at estate sales, sometimes at garage sales you’ll have to dig around in seemingly-unrelated toy boxes to find LEGO. If you do find something, don’t be dismayed if its sticker price seems a little unreasonable. Make an offer. I recently came home with a huge tub of toys from one sale – marked $25; I paid $20. About half of it was LEGO and the rest was junk, but the LEGO alone was worth at least $80.
Antique Malls
If you’re merely looking for LEGO (and not, say, creepy Victorian dolls), you’ll want to avoid the boutique-y, higher-end antique malls. Instead, go for the ones that look as if a garage sale and that warehouse from the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark got together, had ten children, and then exploded. Sure, some vendors at these places overprice their LEGO, but others just want you to have it. I recently visited an antique mall where one dealer was selling perfectly clean and intact baseplates for $3 apiece. While that isn’t a major steal, it’s still a good enough deal that I ended up buying a couple. (Just kidding… I bought them all.)
Auctions
Not all auctions are created equal, but if you can find an auction house in your area that specializes in household goods, estate liquidations, etc., you might be well on your way to finding some decently-priced LEGO. At one auction a few years ago, I scored a box that had several pounds of LEGO pieces, as well as 3 nearly-complete vintage Technic sets with their original boxes. I had little competition for the lot, and brought it all home for around $25. Plus, whether you find LEGO or not, going to auctions is just plain fun!
Goodwill Outlets
If you’ve only ever been to a normal Goodwill, and not The Outlets (aka THE BINS), you are in for a mind-blowing experience. The basics: you show up (I recommend you bring rubber gloves, tough shoes, and an I-don’t-care-if-I-get-pushed attitude). Grab a mesh bag. Then, as the workers swap out the big blue bins with new merchandise, go forth and start digging. I’ve found numerous LEGO pieces at the bottom of those bins. If you see anything even resembling a LEGO, don’t stop to study it – just scoop it up and throw it in your bag... you can always sort out the Fake-Os before you pay.
And don’t be dismayed if you see other shoppers making a beeline for the LEGO, too. Often, rare or unusual pieces get left behind because non-AFOLs don’t recognize them. It also doesn’t hurt to go through bins that have been sitting out a while, because not all shoppers care about obtaining LEGO (strange, I know.)
Some of my favorite finds in The Bins over the years have included a 3D baseplate ($25 value) and a lonely pterodactyl. I’ve also found piles of what amount to full sets, just loosely thrown into the bins. And I find at least some DUPLO on nearly every visit. (Why are people always ditching their DUPLO?) In the end, you’ll pay around $2.29 a pound for the pieces you find here. That’s some darn cheap – but perfectly fine once it’s been washed – LEGO.
I hope this has given you a few ideas of places you might start to look for cheap LEGO. Though this guidance is particularly US-centric, there are similar options for bargain hunting all over the globe. You won’t hit the jackpot every time, but when you do, it’ll totally be worth it. Good luck and happy building!
Where do you find extremely cheap LEGO? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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