Michigan Bricks LLC runs a LEGO reselling operation across three platforms: Whatnot, eBay, and BrickLink. Today he moves over 5,000 minifigures per month and pulls in more than $25k/mo in revenue. His Whatnot following is over 4,000 and growing. Here's how he got there and what role brick'em plays in his workflow.
The Problem: Intake Was the Bottleneck
When you're buying bulk lots at the volume Michigan Bricks LLC does, the bottleneck is never finding inventory. There are plenty of lots on Facebook Marketplace, estate sales, flea markets, and local pickups. The bottleneck is processing what you buy.
Before brick'em, the intake process looked like this: buy a lot, dump the figures on a table, and start looking them up one by one on BrickLink. Copy the ID, check the price, type it into a spreadsheet or listing tool. For a 200-figure lot, that's 2-3 hours of pure data entry before a single figure gets listed.
That's 2-3 hours you're not sourcing. Not listing. Not selling. Just typing.
The Shift: From Hours to Minutes
With brick'em, Michigan Bricks LLC photographs a batch of figures on a table, and the scanner identifies and prices every figure in the photo. No manual lookups. No typing IDs into BrickLink. No spreadsheet.
The figures go straight into inventory with BrickLink pricing attached. From there, he exports directly to Whatnot, eBay, or BrickLink XML. What used to take 2-3 hours for 200 figures now takes under an hour, and most of that time is just laying figures out and taking photos.
Selling on Three Platforms
Michigan Bricks LLC sells across Whatnot, eBay, and BrickLink simultaneously. Each platform has different strengths:
- Whatnot: Live auction shows. He pre-lists everything before each show to get bids rolling early. This is where volume moves fastest. $1 start auctions with pre-listing consistently outperform shows without pre-lists.
- eBay: Fixed-price listings for higher-value figures that deserve patient pricing. Rare figures and complete sets go here.
- BrickLink: The specialist marketplace. Buyers on BrickLink know exactly what they want and pay fair market value. Great for variant-specific figures that casual buyers wouldn't recognize.
brick'em's export feature handles all three. One inventory, exported to each platform's format. No re-entering data.
5,000+ Figures Per Month
The math is simple. When your intake process takes 15 minutes instead of 3 hours, you can process more lots. Michigan Bricks LLC sources aggressively because he knows the processing side won't slow him down.
A typical week: 3-4 bulk lot pickups, each with 100-300 figures. Every lot gets photographed and scanned the same day it's picked up. Figures are in inventory and getting listed within hours of acquisition, not days.
That speed compounds. More lots sourced means more inventory means more listings means more sales. At 5,000+ figures per month, the volume pays for itself many times over.
The Numbers
- $25k+/mo in revenue across three platforms
- 5,000+ figures moved per month
- 3 platforms: Whatnot, eBay, BrickLink
- Under 1 hour to process a 200-figure lot (was 2-3 hours)
What Made the Difference
Michigan Bricks LLC didn't grow to $25k/mo because of one tool. He grew because he sources well, runs good shows, and stays consistent. But the tool removed the biggest bottleneck in his workflow: the time between buying a lot and listing it.
When intake takes minutes instead of hours, you spend more time doing the things that make money: sourcing, listing, and selling. That's the leverage.
Want the same workflow? brick'em is free to start. Scan your first lot, see the speed difference, and decide if it fits your operation. Create a free account.
FAQ
How many figures can brick'em scan at once?
You can scan 20+ figures in a single photo. Lay them out with some space between each one, take the photo, and brick'em detects and identifies each figure individually.
What platforms can you export to?
brick'em exports to Whatnot CSV, eBay CSV, BrickLink XML, Shopify CSV, and generic CSV. One inventory, multiple platforms, no re-entering data.
How much does brick'em cost?
brick'em is free to start with unlimited single scans and bulk scans every month. Paid plans unlock more bulk scans, additional inventory collections, and extra features. Visit brickem.io/pricing for current plan details.
