If you are looking into buying LEGO products then you may have noticed that the same products are not always available. You may even have been unfortunate enough to have noticed that a product you wanted to buy is now “retired”? But what does this mean? LEGO, unfortunately, has to retire products due to limited production capacity.
Because LEGO is such a big company that produces not only its own range of products based on the user’s creativity but also has collaborations with major brands and franchises, such as Harry Potter and Starwars, it is constantly bringing out new and exciting products. This means that the company is constantly needing to reconfigure their production lines.
So, in this article we will be telling you everything that you need to know about why LEGO retires certain products, how to get your hands on a retired product and whether or not it is worth stocking up on a product before it is retired in order to make a profit.
What Does It Mean When a Lego Set Is Retired?
The term “retired” is used by the company LEGO when it has officially retired a product. Retiring a product means that the company is no longer going to produce those pieces or that set. So, whatever stock they already have on the shelves is all that is left and no further sets will be produced.
This puts a limit on the number of a certain product in circulation and in some cases this can increase the value of a particular piece or set.
So, if you are a collector of a certain type of LEGO product and you see that a product is soon to be retired you may want to get your hands on it quick as it will be difficult to get your hands on it again.
The reason why LEGO retires certain sets is to increase production for other sets. For example, if the company notices that a certain type of product is not selling very well, or selling significantly fewer items than other sets, they may choose to retire this product in order to put their production efforts toward better-selling products.
There may also be new products that the company wants to produce and they will need to retire older products in order to be able to create these. After all, the company only has so much production power.
Are Retired Legos Worth More?
One of the good things to come out of LEGO retiring certain products is that collectors can make a lot of money. Because retiring products puts a limit on the number of a certain product in existence if there is a product that is in high demand, or one that someone is missing in their collection, there can also be an increase in value.
For example, if someone is a collector of Harry Potter LEGO sets, but they unfortunately could not get their hands on one particular set, and this set has now been discontinued, this collector may be willing to pay over the market price to acquire this particular set of LEGO.
So, if you have any old sets that you have not used you may be lucky and sitting on a very valuable set of LEGO.
However, retired LEGO sets are considered to be significantly more valuable if they are still in their original packaging, with the box and are untouched.
In some rare cases, you may find that a particular set is still above the original selling price even once it has been removed from the box.
Did you know Amazon has a wide array of Lego sets? Click here to check the current price and availability of all their Lego products.
Do Retired Lego Sets Increase in Value?
The answer to this question depends entirely on the LEGO set in question. In some cases, yes, the retired LEGO set will significantly increase in value but in other cases it may not. LEGO sets that are part of a franchise series, such as Harry Potter, are much more likely to increase in value if they are retired rather than random sets.
Pop culture can also have an impact on the increase in value of a particular set. For example, if the Harry Potter franchise were to bring out another movie then this could signal an increase in the value of older, retired Harry Potter LEGO sets as it brings new collectors.
Typically, LEGO sets that have been retired will increase in value for the first two years after they have been pulled from production. The reason for this is that collectors scramble to get their hands on them whilst they are still widely available.
Obviously, as the years go on the sets becomes harder and harder to find and the chances are that they are in a worse condition the older they are.
Final Thoughts
When LEGO retires a certain product it can either be a good or a bad thing depending on your relationship to the brand. If you are a collector then it could be a bad thing as it means that it may be harder to get your hands on a set that you need but it could also mean that your collection becomes more valuable if it is complete and contains retired products.
If you want to make money with LEGO then retired products can be a great way to get your hands on some extra cash. However, this may require more in-depth knowledge of the brand and its products as you will need to have an idea of which products will be retired before they are announced so that you can snap them up. You will also need to know when to sell and how much to charge so that you do not end up stuck with the products.
So, overall LEGO retiring products is both a good and a bad thing depending on how you relate to the LEGO products. If you are collector try to collect the products as they come out and if you keep an eye on the trends then you will be able to notice which products are more likely to stay in production than others.