Panning For Lego Gold on Ebay

During the three years in which I have been watching the internet for classic Lego sets, I have amassed a rather impressive haul for the amount of effort put in. I have managed to acquire over a dozen classic sets from seven themes, including Blacktron II, Aquazone, UFO, Arctic, Fright Knights, Rock Raiders and Ice Planet 2002. Altogether, I have only suffered two disappointments and had a few pleasant surprises.

The entirety of my Ebay collection

I now own over half of Blacktron II, including the Aerial Intruder (6981), Super Nova II (6832),
Galactic Scout (1694), Two-Pilot Craft (1479), Allied Avenger (6887), Alpha Centauri Outpost (6988),
and Space Landing Pads (6710). The Alpha Centauri Outpost was missing 36 pieces when I got it, but I
have cut that number down to 20 through yard sale visits and scrounging in my own collection. I plan to
round out the rest through Bricklink.

I picked up the Alien Avenger (6975) and Interstellar Starfighter (6979)
during the summer of 2013. Both are often pricey, the Avenger because of
its high ratings and the Starfighter because of its coveted Micromotor.
Though I have seen both go for over a hundred dollars, I paid less than that for
the two of them together. If you wait patiently, the good deals will come.  The
Starfighter even came with the original packaging, which is much sturdier than
what is used today.

The Crystal Explorer (6175) from Aquazone was missing nine pieces,
which I plan to round up on Bricklink with the Alpha Centauri Outpost pieces.

The Witch's Windship (6037) was my biggest surprise; It was listed as "complete",
but when it arrived I found it was still factory sealed, after more than fifteen years!

All in all, I have found many of the sets I once thought I would never own, with few casualties. Still high on my list are the Arachnoid Starbase from Insectoids, the Ice Sat V from Ice Planet 2002, the Neptune Discovery Lab from Aquazone, the Night Lord's Castle from Fright Knights, and most importantly the Mega Core Magnetizer from M:Tron. In the meantime, I wait patiently and enjoy the ones I do have.

Be sure to watch out for my upcoming post on tips for buying Lego on Ebay. Happy Building!