Lego Glossary
Last week we discussed Lego retirement dates in great length, if you did not catch it, click here to read it now. If you want to read up on all the sets retiring this year (3 months from now), click here.
In the coming weeks we will discuss other important aspects of Lego investing. Before we get into that, I thought it would be a good idea to bring you all up to speed on some of the terminology commonly seen in the Lego world. My intention with this post is to update it over time with new terminology or as the industry changes. I will repost each time I make an update.
Lego Glossary
AFOL - AFOL is an acronym for Adult Fan Of Lego.
Dark Age - Refers to a time when a collector got away from the hobby. To have a dark age, you would have collected Lego as a child, take time away for various reasons, (getting older, getting into video games, sports, or other hobbies, college, or career), then come back to the hobby years later. The time away is your dark age. To read more about this topic, click here.
“Normie appeal” - A set or theme that draws the attention of non-Lego fans into the hobby. A good example is the Speed Champions theme.
Collectibility - Lego falls in the toy collectible category meaning it has appeal, rarity, potential to increase in value, and historical significance. This is a topic that could be a blog post on its own…maybe one day soon it will be…
IP = Intellectual Property (Star Wars, Marvel, etc.) This has become a major focus for Lego as they are taking an already established entity and turning it into Lego.
Child Product Certificate (a.k.a CPC document) - is a document required by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission that certifies a children's product meets all applicable U.S. safety rules and regulations for children under 12. This is significant for Lego investors as major marketplaces are now requiring them to be supplied by third party sellers in order to sell with them.
Arbitrage - Taking advantage of shifts in market prices by buying low and selling high.
Retail Arbitrage (RA) - Finding items in a physical store and selling them for a profit
Online Arbitrage (OA) - Finding items online and selling them for a profit
Cash Back - Using a cash back portal or extension on your browser can be a great way to get some money back on your Lego.com purchases. Click here for Rakuten to get a $50 bonus cash back for signing up.
Discounted Gift Cards - Another easy way to say a few % when buying Lego. Go to cardbear.com to check out discounted gift cards.
Exclusives - There are several types of exclusives: Lego Store exclusive, retail store exclusive, and Limited exclusives. A Lego Store exclusive is only available for sale at a physical Lego Store or on Lego.com. A retail store exclusive is only available at a specific retailer like Target, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, or Amazon. Retail store exclusives are also available for purchase at Lego Stores and Lego.com. Exclusive sets are a common target of Lego investors as there is a limited supply available and there are obstacles obtaining large quantities of these sets. The third type is a Limited exclusive. This is when a set is only exclusive to Lego or a retailer for a short amount of time at release and then it becomes available for sale from everyone.
Keepa - A software that tells us Amazon sales data in great detail. For online sellers of all types, this is one of the most important tools to help determine price, volume, and history of any item sold on Amazon.
MOC - My Own Creation - MOC building exists in many forms from modifying an existing Lego set to creating a unique set. MOC builders can create new builds and only use the pieces included in a set (this makes it easier to source the pieces needed as they are all contained within one set) or their creation uses many pieces that you will need to source individually. Many MOC builders can create and upload their MOC building instructions and sell them on rebrickable.com.
Bricklink.com - Is a website owned by the Lego Group where vendors can sell sets and individual pieces. Sets and pieces can be purchased in new or used condition. Many MOC builders use this site to buy the pieces they need for their creations or for the MOC’s they bought instructions for from Rebrickable.com.
Part-Out Value - The value of a set if you were to sell it piece by piece. Lego piece value is usually determined by supply and demand. Common pieces would have a lower value while rare pieces and minifigures would have a higher value.
Lego Shop at Home (aka S@H) - another term for Lego.com.
Themes - Lego themes are a collection or group of sets that are related in some way. Some are IP based (Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, etc.) and some are created by Lego themselves (Icons, City, Technic, etc.)
Lego Insiders rewards program - Lego’s rewards program that gives its customers perks, exclusive deals, and early access to new sets. You can earn insider’s points by making purchases from Lego.com or from a Lego store. For a more detailed breakdown of the Lego Insiders’s program click here.
Lego supply - UNKNOWN - Lego is not a publicly traded company so they do not disclose this information.
Zombie Stock - This occurs when Lego does a large print of a set right at the time of retirement and large retailers continue to sell it at MSRP beyond the retirement date (could be a few months to a couple years). Zombie stock affects Lego investors negatively as it holds the price down until the retailer sells out.
Shelf Life - This is the time period starting at the set’s release date until retirement. This can be a skewed metric because of the aforementioned “zombie stock.” The official retirement date remains the same but shelf life can be longer
While not a ground breaking topic, any good investor needs to become familiar with the product they are investing in so knowing the language may help you understand the mind of a collector willing to pay top dollar for retired Lego sets.
Next week we will get into another topic of Lego investing, budgets.
Until next time AFOL’s….