The Death Star 10188 S@H price rise

[CopMike]

Here´s some information from Steve Witt from TLG:

I checked into this today (7/7 - my remark) and reality is that they just listed the prices wrong initially. it wasn't meant to be a promotion, it was just a mistake. They now have the prices where they were supposed to be from the beginning. The reasons for the differences across borders are the same as they always are in that the cost of business in every country is drastically different from one another.

They (TLG S@H - my remark) let me know that they would still honor any order made at the lower price and asked my advice on how to communicate it. I asked them to send a mail to all those who would retain the original price as they didn't deserve stress over our mistake. otherwise we're simply caught between a rock and a hard place.

I also posted this in the 10188-tread.

CopMike

[CopMike]

Here´s some more information from Steve:

"the thing is this set was originally targeted for the price that got listed, then a mess load of stuff got added to it because of things Lucasfilm wanted and the price just kept climbing."

"it all came down to minifigures if I understand correctly. which is part of what makes is so cool, but minifigures are also very expensive to produce. It should be noted that Lucasfilm's only desire was to make this an awesome set, and them being this invested in something like this is actually very cool."

CopMike

[Alldarker]

Here´s some more information from Steve:

"the thing is this set was originally targeted for the price that got listed, then a mess load of stuff got added to it because of things Lucasfilm wanted and the price just kept climbing."

"it all came down to minifigures if I understand correctly. which is part of what makes is so cool, but minifigures are also very expensive to produce. It should be noted that Lucasfilm's only desire was to make this an awesome set, and them being this invested in something like this is actually very cool."

CopMike

Wow, that's very commendable! I think its excellent that Lucasfilm does pay so much attention to detail, and of course, as intellectual owners of the SW property they have the right to demand changes. I've read that George Lucas personally has always been very enthousiastic about Lego Star Wars, and I believe he has been quoted as saying the Lego sets are his favorite SW toy merchandising franchise. And as I have said before and will again, this set still remains great value for money.

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

Okay, this answers are compatible. But why do some people from the customer service say that the price was a promotion and some say it´s a mistake? The service is more disappointing from day to day...

By the way, why do they praise the set in their E-Mails so much, despite we don´t want to buy it for this price?

Here is a german version of the letter.

Lieber LEGO Fan,

Vielen Dank f

Edited July 9, 2008 by Navy Trooper Fenson

[Elander]

Hi all,

this is my first post! ^^

I can`t belive that this with the 300 Euro was a mistake. I am very sad!

Edited January 28, 2010 by Elander

[KDog]

There's no way I could spend that much on a Lego set, as much as I do want this. It'd be one thing if I saved up for it, but I'd rather be able to buy the new Indiana Jones figures and Transformers, etc. That said, this set does have a heck of a lot of pieces, especially the plethora of minifigs, so I imagine the price is justified. Lego can't sell it at or below cost!

[legomilk]

I think 100 euros are very much money.

They certainly think that we are rich.

Many fans do not just 400 euros.

And certainly not as small set.

I think for me that I own and buy other sets should it ever be priced off than I buy them as yet

[JimBee]

hmm... well, this clears up a lot of things, maybe not for the better, but at least they took responsibility for their mistake, and let the price be the same for those who already ordered it via S@H.

[I Scream Clone]

All our whinging wont make TLC lower the price by the look of it . Well done to all that cashed in on the cheaper price! Thanks Copmike for the news from LEGO. Maybe i will hope to pick it up on sale one day $630AUS is just a bit too expensive for me (might go and buy a couch instead )

[Svelte]

Thanks for the extra info, CopMike. It is interesting to get a behind the scenes glimpse of how these sets come into production.

It is nice to know that TLC tried to go for a more moderate pricepoint for this set, even if Lucasfilm intervened and the price spiralled - so they are probably aware of what AFOLs consider reasonable value and how much they're willing to fork out. As Steve says, it is also good to know Lucasfilm cares enough about the licence to maximise its coolness where possible.

I do still find it odd that in the long development process (how long does a set like this take from initial idea to production? surely a year?) that noone got the memo in the pricing department about the price change, or that it took 9 or 10 days to fix on S@H. Surely somebody responsible for the set must have noticed it was there at a wrong price. They certainly noticed fast enough when the initial images went up here However, this is just speculation on my part and thanks again to our Ambassador for this info.

[brickzone]

I am skeptical that this was an error, because even across the Eurozone the lower prices were not uniform, but as with a number of recent sets, slightly cheaper here in Ireland (Just as well with the high shipping costs - you would think we were in the mid-Atlantic or something!). It was listed as €269.99 here in Ireland rather than €299.99.

An extra €130 seems exorbitant - the initial price was not exactly cheap!

As for the US price difference, economics and capitalism really suck. Mind you, I was recently able to purchase the Indy Jungle Cutter new from the US for less than the Irish RRP (€44.99) even including shipping from the US (the item itself, included Jungle Duel set too, was cheap enough at $33 to be below the customs limit, so I didn't even have to worry about duty).

[Hewman]

So what they're saying is that although there were these lateish changes to the set they managed to get the North American prices updated to reflect this but forgot about the rest of the world. I guess we should be happy they remembered to update the pics. Are we supposed to believe that Lego has the prices listed on their computer system before sets are even finalised, I find this a very strange way to do business.

Given the falling US $ the original prices weren't that surprising but perhaps there was just a little too strong a demand and Lego noticed this. it wouldn't surprise me at all if there was some downward price adjustment before too long on this set although I think the chances of seeing this at the originally listed prices is nil.

[Svelte]

but perhaps there was just a little too strong a demand and Lego noticed this.

That was *exactly* my initial thought as well when the price went up. You'll notice since the price increase it's dropped from No 1 seller on the Aus sales chart and is slowly descending...

In non-licensed exclusive sets I think prices have been generally reasonable for Australians this year (10191, 10192, 10186) and even the retail prices seem down a bit (Volcano Base as a $AUD99.99 set; CG platform at $79.99). That's why I was surprised by the initial Death Star price but didn't think it was *obviously* wrong (unlike Green Grocer in March at $AUD149.99). People are reluctant to part with their hard-earned cash and can smell when something is too expensive (hello, 10179 at $AUD979.99!) but Lego rarely admits they've made a pricing mistake in the downward direction, so I doubt this price will change again unless it goes on sale.

Ultimately, consumers lead the way - hence all those unsold 10178s at K-Mart for $AUD179 even at close to 30% off the (overpriced) original sale price. The same will be true of 10188 - it all comes down to what people will pay. It will be sad if this means less exclusives; on the other hand Lego might argue with Lucasfilm more strongly to stick to their intended pricepoint in future to keep customers happy. The longer term damage comes from goodwill - people don't generally praise good service, but they will mouth off about bad customer service til the cows come home, which is basically what's happened here.

[I Scream Clone]

That was *exactly* my initial thought as well when the price went up. You'll notice since the price increase it's dropped from No 1 seller on the Aus sales chart and is slowly descending...

In non-licensed exclusive sets I think prices have been generally reasonable for Australians this year (10191, 10192, 10186) and even the retail prices seem down a bit (Volcano Base as a $AUD99.99 set; CG platform at $79.99). That's why I was surprised by the initial Death Star price but didn't think it was *obviously* wrong (unlike Green Grocer in March at $AUD149.99). People are reluctant to part with their hard-earned cash and can smell when something is too expensive (hello, 10179 at $AUD979.99!) but Lego rarely admits they've made a pricing mistake in the downward direction, so I doubt this price will change again unless it goes on sale.

Ultimately, consumers lead the way - hence all those unsold 10178s at K-Mart for $AUD179 even at close to 30% off the (overpriced) original sale price. The same will be true of 10188 - it all comes down to what people will pay. It will be sad if this means less exclusives; on the other hand Lego might argue with Lucasfilm more strongly to stick to their intended pricepoint in future to keep customers happy. The longer term damage comes from goodwill - people don't generally praise good service, but they will mouth off about bad customer service til the cows come home, which is basically what's happened here.

There has def been a few bargains in Aus like the Crystal Reaper price as well, and Big W is selling retail Castle prices about $5-10 cheaper than S@H after the current sale ends.

As you said svelte 10188 will continue to slide down the list of selling Aus sets and probably spark some form of reduction in price in future, however you are right in assuming it wont get back to $400.

As far as customer service the lady at Aus Lego never rang me back, and im still waiting for a reply from my email complaint about 10188 price increase, so yes bad customer service will cause longer term damage to my attitude towards TLC.

[James Markham]

Clearly there's some communication breakdown at TLC on prices, as the Giant Castle Set was prcied wrong initially in the UK too. I pre-ordered it at £149.99 and then when the next catalogue dropped through the door it was listed at £139.99. I phoned up and they kindly cancelled the initial order and let me have it for the lower price, and within a couple of days the price had been changed on the website too. Does anybody know if they contacted people who had ordered it at the higher price to tell them it was wrong? (Doubt it!)

When I saw the Death Star on S@H for £199.99 I was quite shocked because the prices in the UK are usually closer to Pounds=Dollars (which means we pay nearly twice as much as the USA) so I was expecting it to be closer to £400. I just thought "Hurrah - maybe we are finally getting price parity" because £199.99 is much closer to the actual exchange rate of the US price. So I thought no need to rush into pre-ordering it - DOH!

Once I got over my initial pique at realising I'd missed out when the price changed, I thought about it more rationally. £275 is still cheaper than I was expecting, and if I buy it from the Lego shop in Milton Keynes they offer a loyalty points scheme that S@H do not, which works out at about 8% off if you are spending larger amounts. So I guess I'll still be buying it anyway.

Maybe somebody could suggest to S@H that they start a loyalty scheme to help placate all the upset Eurobunnies?

[RoscoPC]

Okay, this answers are compatible. But why do some people from the customer service say that the price was a promotion and some say it´s a mistake? The service is more disappointing from day to day...

By the way, why do they praise the set in their E-Mails so much, despite we don´t want to buy it for this price?

Here is a german version of the letter.

Are you disappointed?

And what about the italian version of the STANDARD answer?

I don't speak german, but seems to be identical!

"Grazie per averci contattato in merito all´aumento di prezzo del set 10188 Death Star.

Questo aumento e´ la conseguenza di una decisione presa dalla divisione Shop@Home con l´aiuto dei nostri distributori.

Siamo consapevoli che questo aumento di prezzo e´ significativo e comprendiamo la frustrazione e la delusione che possono provare i nostri fan di Star Wars.

La Death Star resta un fantastico LEGO set che permette ai nostri fan di ricreare l´azione e le avventure dei film Star Wars. Con i 24 personaggi e le ricostruzioni della sala di controllo del raggio laser, la sala imperiale per le conferenze, l´hangar dell´astronave TIE Advanced, la Death Star e´ veramente un set magnifico.

Ci teniamo a ringraziarla per aver trovato il tempo di condividere la sua opinione con noi. Abbiamo passato il suo commento al dipartimento che ha preso questa decisione."

C'mon: let post also french and dutch version!

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

It seems very identical.

And I AM very disappointed! It´s like they give a **** to our situation. Though, a few people in the customer service are very friendly. Sadly, this are just two or three...

But well, I ordered the DS at the first of July. But it looked really mean from LEGO to change the price from one to the other day.

[Zzz]

C'mon: let post also french and dutch version!

german and italian is the same.... I should write them in japanese, let's see what they do then..

[M'Kyuun]

I'm an American, so I lament what we pay for some of these large collector sets, yet I still shell it out b/c it's my favorite hobby and I make enough to afford it. Still, the value of the American dollar is rather dismal, esp when compared to the Euro or the British Pound, so I'm always surprised when European nations are paying nearly the same price point in their respective currencies. I always thought, perhaps, out of fairness across markets, or that North America, specifically the US, buy more sets relative to European countries, thus the similarity in pricing( i.e. possibly making up for lesser sales in Europe by placing the price equivalent to the US). However, that in no way explains the terribly high prices our mates Down Under have to pay for practically everything toy related, not just LEGO. I'm not a student of economics; I find the subject woefully complex and dull, and so my statements are purely conjecture. Perhaps Europeans buy more LEGO than the US, which makes one wonder why the prices the US pay aren't higher. I'm glad they're not; LEGO is an expensive hobby as it is. I remember as a kid seeing a lot of small sets priced around $15 and less...TLG made a lot of small sets back in the 80's. Those days are gone. However, I have to say, compared to the 90's, which saw some really crappy sets from LEGO, the new sets over the last few years have really given us much better models, better, more innovative builds, and lots of extra pieces as well as high piece counts for the dollar compared with sets just 10-15 years ago.

As for the Death Star, going by the standard approx $.10 per piece ratio, I think it's fairly priced due to the many minifigs, and it definitely exceeds my expectations; I honestly thought we'd get something like the Bespin playset, which was mediocre at best. I'm pleased that Lucasfilms are so involved in the creative/approval process for these sets. I've always laboured under the assumption that they received a cursory glance from Lucasfilms, received the "go ahead", and thus ended up on shelves. I'm also pleased to hear that GL counts the LEGO SW toyline his favorite, which probably galls the good folks at Hasbro who've been churning out SW stuff for many years, after absorbing Kenner.

[blueandwhite]

I can only say that as a Canadian I'm happy that our pricing didn't jump up along side the pricing in Europe and Oceania. Don't get me wrong; I'm not very that interested in this set but I really cringe at the thought of comprable offerings being priced so high. I must say that I genuinely feel for you Star Wars fans who were hit with this unexpected price hike.

Later.

[CopMike]

UPDATE:

This mail has been sent out to the buyers that placed the order at $299.99:

"Dear Valued LEGO Customer:

We’d like to thank you for preordering the NEW 10188 Death Star™ – sure to be

one of the most exciting LEGO® Star Wars™ sets this year!

Recently, we discovered that this product was featured on our website at an

incorrect price in several countries. We have since corrected this error, but

felt it was important to get a message out to all affected customers,

immediately letting them know of our mistake. The correct retail price on this

item is ˆ399.99. However, since this product was listed at ˆ299.99 at the time

of your preorder, you will be charged at the ˆ299.99 price point.

We apologize, in advance for any confusion this may have caused and should you

have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

www.legoshop.com or 00-800-5346-1111.

Thank you for your order!

Best Regards,

LEGO Direct"

CopMike

[batman71]

ENGLISH REPLY VERSION

Got my official reply back from lego yesterday. I posted my original letter in the SW forum under death star set. If anyone has already posted this I apologise. Looks to me that Lego Customer Sevices do a neat line in Cut/Paste and translate!!

"Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the price increase of the Death Star, set 10188.

This price increase reflects a decision made by the Shop@Home Team and is in line with other retailers.

We appreciate that this is a significant increase and understand the frustration and disappointment that will be felt by all Star Wars fans.

The Death Star is still a fantastic LEGO set which will enable fans to recreate the action and adventure from the Star Wars movies. Along with 24 mini figures and movie replicas of the Superlaser Control Room, Imperial Conference Chamber and the Tie Advance Hanger Bay, this is a truly magnificent set!

Thank you for taking the time to let us know how you feel and we will pass on your comments to the team that have made this decision.

Please rest assured that we take all our customer's comments very seriously and we never send automated replies.*

We do hope that you continue to enjoy LEGO products and if we can be of any further help, please get in touch again."

* (My Bold not lego) REALLY! The sentence in bold I find mildy amusing seeing as all the replies look fairly uniform.( English /Italian/ German/Huttese.) I notice that they never even bothered to answer any questions. Shame really I would have had more respect if they admitted they either priced it wrong or someone Donald Ducked it up!

Anyway won't be spending £200 on this now..certainly won't be spending £275.

Customer Services is a bit Oxymoronic...

[Dragonator]

Gah! The price has gone up to $799.99 in New Zealand! That's an increase from $439.99. That's got to be the largest mark-up/rip-off I have ever seen!

I knew I should have pre-ordered it already. Stupid of me not too, really.

I am hugely disappointed in how this has turned out. I was looking forward to ordering this when I had a little more cash available, it was at a fairly good price before. Now, it is just a blatant rip-off. They almost doubled the price! I cannot express in words how angry I am (well I can actually, but you certainly don't want to hear it...). I certainly have some very blunt questions now.

Really, very disappointing for me, I probably won't be able to get this set at all now. Do they think we're made of money? Grrr, I'm going to be in a bad mood for he rest of the day...

[trooperdavinfelth]

UPDATE:

This mail has been sent out to the buyers that placed the order at $299.99:

"Dear Valued LEGO Customer:

We’d like to thank you for preordering the NEW 10188 Death Star™ – sure to be

one of the most exciting LEGO® Star Wars™ sets this year!

Recently, we discovered that this product was featured on our website at an

incorrect price in several countries. We have since corrected this error, but

felt it was important to get a message out to all affected customers,

immediately letting them know of our mistake. The correct retail price on this

item is ˆ399.99. However, since this product was listed at ˆ299.99 at the time

of your preorder, you will be charged at the ˆ299.99 price point.

We apologize, in advance for any confusion this may have caused and should you

have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

www.legoshop.com or 00-800-5346-1111.

Thank you for your order!

Best Regards,

LEGO Direct"

CopMike

They're apologizing alright; apologizing to their bosses for the many hundreds of dollars which slipped through their fingers...

[Tanotrooper]

so I'm always surprised when European nations are paying nearly the same price point in their respective currencies.

try more than US price point and to think that the hq are in Europe...

So, people who preordered it at 299 will get it at 299. People who ordered it before at 399 will also get it at 299? good

How about the rest of the people who will have to pay the full price?

And why do they keep talking about how great the set is instead of replying in those mails?

LEGO's products are great, but at such a fast rate of new sets and high prices most of us won't be able to keep affording all of these sets, let aside getting multiples...

TT