The Tralee Business Built From Lego

By Gavin O’Connor

TUCKED INTO  an innocuous corner of a Tralee estate is a house you wouldn’t give a second glance to, but behind its walls you’ll find it rammed full of an eclectic mix of expensive collectibles. Stuffed into every corner there are such items as 19th century watercolours, 60’s West German pottery, Pennyblack stamps, World War 1 and 2 medals and a mountain of Lego.

Its owner, Ross O’Hara, has been dealing in antiques and collectibles since he was 10 years of age. Along with being a collector, Ross is also a buy and sell merchant and runs his business “Ross’s Hidden Treasures” on the Internet from his home.

On average he says he works 16 hours a day trading across the globe to far flung places such as South America and South East Asia. In a given week he says his outgoing post bill can be anything up to €400. (continued below)

Ross O’Hara with a tiny part of his private Lego collection behind him. Photo Gavin O’Connor

“There’s a market there for everything. Everybody should be taking advantage of the internet,” he said. For Ross, buying and selling is in the blood with both his father and grandfather at one time being auctioneers. His grandfather James Andy O’Hara traded on Kildare Street in Dublin after World War 2. He had served as a pilot during the war for the RAF.

A novel and profitable way Ross has made money was by noticing a gap in the Lego market which he has a keen interest in, almost an obsession. “I saw that people in the US were getting their Lego much cheaper, so I checked the official US Lego website and found it was being sold for 50% less,” he said.

“I did my research and found out the reason why was in order to fluctuate the market, to make sure Lego is competitive with other toys on the US.” “I got on to Americans I knew on a Lego website and I cut them a deal which allowed them to keep all of the sets and I took the figures.”

Ross would then go on to sell the figures at a huge profit as they are highly collectible. His contacts in the US are spread across such states as North Carolina, Idaho and New York. “I’d give them a list and they would ship them over,” said Ross. “Then I would sell them to Europeans at a profit. This has been going on for thousands of years, spices, herbs, lego, whatever, its just trading.”

Just a snippet of what is hidden away in the attack. To the left of the shot you can see French World War One medals of valor complete with certificate and under it a 1960’s Batmobile.

The way Ross sees people’s fascination with collecting things  “When people become successful they buy back their childhood, be it toys or whatever” He spoke about the advantages of selling on the Internet.

“I can guarantee you if every shop downtown put all their stock on the internet and found the right places for them to sell their sales would boost by 20% easily!”

“If I could only sell to Ireland my business wouldn’t work, you need to sell to the world, Canada and the US are 50% of my sales.” “We’ve always been told if you crack it in America, you’ll make it!”