One fee, and a calculator to see what it means for you.
One fee, paid once
25%
of the amount you invest, plus VAT
Covers finding, buying and packaging your sets, and your first 3 years of storage and insurance.
From year 4, storage and insurance are 1.5% a year of your collection's value, plus VAT, billed in advance.
We buy as your agent with no mark-up, and by watching the shops constantly and using our contacts we often pay 10% to 30% below market. That saving stays in your collection.
Day one, worked example
On day one you hold sets worth 82% of what you paid in, not 70%.
Savings depend on what the market offers at the time and are not guaranteed. The calculator below shows the effect at market price, 15% and 30%.
The fee comes off on day one, so the real question is what you are left with years later. Tap the options below to set how much you put in, how long you hold, and how far below market we buy. The figure updates as you go, and you can switch the growth rate under it.
Starting amount
Holding period
We buy your sets at
Plan for at least five to ten years. Shorter periods are for illustration.
Growth assumption
Independent academic research covering 2,300+ sets from 1987 to 2015 found average annual appreciation of 11%, ahead of gold, art and equities over the period.
£10,000 could grow to, after 10 years at 11% a year:
£23,383
2.3× what you put in
Our fee and VAT come off first, the rest buys sets at the chosen discount, and the collection grows at the chosen rate. Not a forecast: values can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you pay in.
The sourcing fee of 25% plus VAT is deducted from the amount invested and the balance is spent on sets, which are valued at the chosen discount to market. The collection then grows at the scenario rate. Figures show the illustrative market value of the sets. Ongoing care from year 4 and any sale fee are set out above, are paid separately, and are not deducted from these figures. Growth rates are averages over the full hold and growth is rarely linear. Past performance is no guide to future results. Collectable LEGO is not a regulated investment. In total, 30% of what you invest is paid to us on day one, including VAT.
Anyone can buy a set. Here is what building a collection that grows in value involves. Tap any line for the detail.
Not every set appreciates the same way. The strongest performers share patterns in theme, scale, licensing and retirement timing that are hard to spot without studying the data closely. We are constantly studying the data and the market so we know which sets to back.
LEGO and the major retailers enforce strict quotas on how many of each set one customer can buy. Building a collection of any size means working across many sellers, checking in store and online every day, and moving fast when the right set is discounted. It is slow, painstaking work, and it is a large part of what our sourcing fee pays for.
All that watching shows in the price. We often pay anywhere from 10% to 30% below market price, which is hard to match buying on your own, and as your agent we pass every pound of the saving to you.
A sealed set is worth what its box looks like. Crushed corners, seal damage and sun fade all cost real money. Every set we buy is inspected on arrival, and anything short of collector grade is rejected. Sets are then packed for long-term storage so they stay in the condition they arrived in.
A serious collection is big. Fifty thousand pounds of sealed sets fills a room, and it has to stay sealed, dry and out of the light for a decade. Our storage is secure and access-controlled, and every set is packed properly so it cannot be crushed, scuffed or faded. You get the collection without giving up the space.
Insuring a large collection yourself is harder than it sounds. Home policies have limits a serious collection exceeds, and the cover that comes with a rented storage unit is usually capped well below what a collection is worth and excludes many of the ways it could be lost. While your sets are in our care they are insured under our own policy, at market value, against fire, flood, theft and similar risks, and that cover rises as the collection appreciates.
You can take delivery at any time. Every set is owned by you from the day it is bought.
For UK individuals, often nothing. Each LEGO set is a chattel, and a chattel sold for £6,000 or less is generally exempt from capital gains tax. Almost every individual set sells below that figure.
The £6,000 Rule in Full