Selling guide Peter Pilling, BuyMyBricks · 26 September 2026 · 4 minute read
Short answer
For a sealed collection of any size, how near a buyer is matters far less than people expect, because a serious buyer travels to you and pays for the journey. Distance only becomes your problem if you are expected to deliver it. What local genuinely helps with is a very small lot, or wanting to hand it over face to face.
Key takeaways
- A buyer who collects makes their distance their problem, not yours.
- Searching locally can narrow you to whoever happens to be nearby rather than whoever prices best.
- Get a price from a list first. Then distance is just logistics.
- For a handful of boxes, a courier is usually simpler than anybody travelling.
- Ask who pays for the journey. That answer tells you what kind of buyer it is.
It is a natural thing to search for and it is usually the wrong filter. Here is why, and the cases where it genuinely is not.
Why distance is mostly not your problem
A buyer who deals in whole sealed collections expects to travel. The journey is a cost of buying, the same as the price of the sets, and it is priced in. So a buyer three hours away who prices your collection properly is worth more to you than one twenty minutes away who prices it defensively.
Searching by proximity narrows you to whoever happens to be nearby. That is a small pool, and it has nothing to do with who values sealed retired sets accurately.
When local genuinely does matter
- A very small lot, where a courier or a short trip is simply easier than anybody planning a day around it.
- You want to hand it over in person and see it go. That is a completely reasonable thing to want.
- Access is difficult and it is easier for somebody to look first.
- You are working to a tight deadline and a nearby buyer can come sooner.
How it works when nobody is nearby
You are paid by one bank transfer on the day, before the boxes leave. That does not change with distance.
| Collection size |
What happens |
Who pays |
| A full home collection |
We come to you, wherever that is, and load it |
We do |
| A small collection or a few boxes |
We send a courier to you |
We do |
| Stored at two addresses |
Tell us on the list and we plan the day around it |
We do |
The question that sorts buyers out
Ask who pays for the journey. A buyer who says they do is treating the transport as their cost. A buyer who wants you to post a collection at your own cost and risk has moved both onto you, and has also put themselves in a position to reconsider the price once your boxes are in their building and you have no practical way to argue.
Access details worth mentioning early
None of these are problems if they are known in advance. All of them are problems as a surprise on the day.
- A flat with no lift, or several flights of stairs.
- A narrow lane, restricted parking or a permit zone.
- A garage or outbuilding at the far end of a garden.
- A loft where the boxes still need bringing down.
- Times of day that do not work for you.
A note on local shops
A nearby shop that buys LEGO is a genuinely useful option, particularly for a small lot you can carry in. Bear in mind that a general second-hand shop is pricing a category it does not specialise in, so it will usually price defensively across the whole pile. That is rational of them. It is just worth knowing before you accept the first figure.
What we buy
Sealed, unopened sets only, anywhere in the UK. Not opened sets, built models, loose bricks by weight or boxes with pieces missing.
Northern Ireland, the islands and further out
Worth raising early rather than assuming it is a problem. A collection outside mainland Great Britain is not automatically a no. The logistics are genuinely different and they are better talked through than guessed at.
- Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands involve a sea crossing, which changes timing rather than willingness.
- The Scottish islands and the far north are the same picture: a planning question, not a refusal.
- For a smaller lot a courier is usually simpler than anybody travelling, and we still pay for it.
- Tell us where you are when you send the list and we will be straight about what is practical.
Start with a list, not a postcode
Send set numbers and rough quantities and you get one price for the whole lot, usually the same day. We sort the travel and we pay for it, wherever you are.
Get a price for your collection
Written by Peter Pilling, BuyMyBricks, 26 September 2026. LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this site. Collection arrangements are agreed case by case depending on size and location.
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