subject: Selective Purchasing: Affordable Ways To Enhance Your Child's Lego Collection 5 [print this page] Lego is a great toy for teaching kids about hand-eye coordination, working together, building and design and a whole heap of other skills. But when it comes to buying toys, it is often easier to buy cheaper toys that won't last as long because personal finances may not stretch to the latest and greatest Lego sets.
There are ways however, that you can enhance your child's collection without breaking the bank, and you might even be able to score a few of the newest sets!
As a rule there is one thing that is generally true about Lego sets, particularly those based around licensed themes such as Harry Potter or Star Wars-the minifigs are worth more than the rest of the set. Yes you read that right. Some people can pay about a quarter of the cost of the whole set for just one minifgure.
Because of this, a number of people (including collectors) buy the set, take all the figures out (or at least the popular ones) and then sell the rest for a significant discount on ebay or Bricklink. When a set is released you can often find a number of sets without figures on ebay, often at a quarter or more less than the RRP. Buying the set without figures is a cost-saving way to expand a collection.
The flipside of this is that some sellers on ebay and Bricklink also buy sets, separate the pieces and then sell the figures separately. If your child is interested in a set because of a figure or simply likes that character then it is relatively easy to purchase the figure by itself on one of these sites.
The rest of the set can often be replicated using existing pieces in a child's Lego collection (perhaps with the addition of specialist pieces form Bricklink and instructions from Lego-see our other articles) but adding a brand new character to the mix can really enhance play. You can find sellers that specialise in splitting sets and buy more than one minifigure to save on postage and packaging.
Selective purchasing is another great way to add value to your child's Lego without buying new sets
Selective Purchasing: Affordable Ways To Enhance Your Child's Lego Collection 5
