Jamie Bell, an 18-year-old college student from Wandsworth, South London, says his eBay business JTB Collectables brought in £300,000 across the last tax year. After buying and accounting costs, he was left with around £50,000 profit.
He began selling toys he had "grown out of" at age 13 and quickly realised he could earn money from Lego pieces in particular. Now 18, he buys kilos of the plastic toys online and from his contacts to sell to collectors and resellers.
The £22,000 Lego Star Wars lot
On May 2, Jamie sold a 95kg pile of Lego Star Wars figurines, which he claimed to be the "largest mini-figure lot ever listed on eBay worldwide". The listing, with images of the bundle stacked on his parents' bedroom floor, began at £1 and was bought for £22,428 after 65 bids.
He says the buyer was a UK eBay user he believes to be a reseller aiming to profit from selling the items individually. Other large lots on his account have sold for £4,458, and two Lego Batman figures went for £751.
A side hustle that grew quickly
Jamie says he earned a few hundred pounds from selling his own toys, then at 14 bought a bundle to sell on individually for double the money. By 15, his huge bundles were selling well because nobody else was doing it. He and his dad decided they needed to hire an accountant when he was 16 because his earnings were skyrocketing.
He now sells about 100kg of Lego per month using bulk sales and individual figure auctions. Revenue was £100,000 in the 24/25 tax year before tripling to £300,000 in 25/26.
"It's exciting watching the auctions because sometimes someone will pop in right at the end and increase the price by a few thousand pounds," he said. "I'd say 40% of people are huge collectors with a lot of disposable income and 60% would be resellers who could take months selling them individually."
"I keep them [the figures] on the floor in big cardboard boxes at my parents' house. I had to get an accountant at 16 but I probably needed one at 15."
"By age 15 my huge bundles were selling well because nobody else was doing it and I realised people would buy them to sell each one individually and I could be their supplier. The profit margins are never certain and the cost was quite high so it's not the listing I've made the most profit on but I think the benchmark of the size was more important than the profit."
University plans ahead
Despite the success, Jamie doesn't want to make his side hustle a full-time job and plans to study History at university next year. His dad helps with packing and admin, and his mum was shocked to learn how big the business had become.
"My dad helps with the packing and admin and [my parents will be supportive] but it's up to me because they'll only do so much. It's my side-hustle or business. My mum was shocked because she thought it was a little resale thing and didn't know it had grown into a proper business."
"I could make it my full-time job but for career stability I'd like to have a profession as well. These big sales have become normal now and I save most of the money for my first home and put it in an ISA."
He says he is still a collector himself but buys some high-value figures instead of picking any from the bundles he plans to sell.
