Huge brick set price increases?

[Miseryguts]

Apologies if this is an obvious one or has already been answered.

Is there a brick shortage or some other reason ..I'm wondering why the price of the brick sets I've looked at from all the major retailers has increased dramatically in a very short time?

I bought the 6177 Basic Bricks Deluxe from Amazon UK late last year for £20.. the cheapest it can now be picked up for is almost double that price & most other retailers are selling it for much more than that.. anyone know what is going on?

Edited May 3, 2015 by Miseryguts

[Naijel]

That's a set released in 2008! Wasn't it replaced by other sets more recently? Is it expensive because the people still stocking them know that they are retired and are ramping up the value for set collectors? I know that would be weird for a basic brick box.

In Australia the price of basic brick boxes, including the current Classic sets, has remained largely the same for the last 5 years as far as I can tell while actually increasing in the variety of parts.

[notaromantic]

I would also reiterate, as a 2008 set, no longer produced, as any other LEGO set, when its demand exceeds its availability, up goes the price. There are only ten sellers of the set, in NEW and Sealed condition on BrickLink - and of those ten sellers, only three have more than three available for sale, and many, only one or two sets. Of those three, one is a Hong Kong store, and many people are just naturally weary of ordering from Asia for whatever reason, and another is Canadian, which always means a high shipping charge because of Customs.

There just doesn't seem to be a lot out there up for grabs. Add to that an awesome selection of colors and parts, and there you go.

Another factor, I believe, is the popularity of Modular building right now. Basic bricks, in certain tones, are just harder to come by, period.

[Deathleech]

As others have said, that set is long out of production so it's scarcity is the only reason it's price is going up so dramatically. That happens with most retired Lego sets. If you look at Lego's newest brick boxes though, the price is relatively close. That set I linked comes out to about 6 cents a brick, the 2008 set was a little under 5 cents a brick. The 1 cent per piece is just inflation since it's been 5-6 years between the two sets releases.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Deathleech

[Miseryguts]

Thanks to all for the answers.. can people suggest the best (cheapest) place of sourcing the bricks in the 6177 set? I need a LOT as it's for a DIY project I'm working on.

[Phoxtane]

If they're just basic bricks, you should be able to get large quantities of those on Bricklink for cheap, unless you also want the box they come in.

[Naijel]

Bricklink is probably best but there is also LEGO Shop @ Home's Pick A Brick section. That's the US site but you can change the region at the top right if needed. And there are the Pick A Brick walls at LEGO stores. That link has some recent news and photos of what they look like. The contents change from time to time. Some stores have a bigger wall with more bins than others so have a greater variety of parts available. As far as I'm aware if you need a lot of one part you can also ask for a whole box of them but I can't remember if the analysis was that buying them by the cup was actually still cheaper...

Edited May 5, 2015 by Naijel

[Nacho]

Have a look here, lots of options for you: http://direct.asda.com/george/kids/lego-toys/D25M8G1C8,default,sc.html#http://direct.asda.com/george/kids/lego-toys/D25M8G1C8,default,sc.html?prefn1=juiceExtractors&prefv1=LEGO%20Classic