How does Lego figure out sets prices?

[metalgeekzy]

Comparing 3 sets. 

Holiday Camper Van $19.99 190 pieces

Obi Wans Hut $29.99 200 pieces

Fire Rescue Helicopter $39.99 212 pieces

 

How do you go from 200 to 212 pieces with a 20 dollar bump? I dont get the pricing for some of this stuff. 

Is it based on availability? The different pieces? 

[Alexandrina]

I suspect there's a lot of factors that go into it, but remember that not all pieces are created equal. 200 white 1x2 bricks are gonna cost less than 200 uncommon parts in a smorgasbord of colour 

[ks6349]

sneaky way of doing business with the purpose of confusing customers, quite some people are very sensitive to prices and they try to make comparison on everything, confusing the price makes them give up on considering price per piece and so sales will not tilt on cheaper sets

[MAB]

You have to look at the set and its contents, not just the price per part. 

[MaximillianRebo]

Comparing the two models from the City line, the Fire Rescue Helicopter has a number of large and/or uncommon parts e.g. parts of the helicopter body, the yellow pylons, the larger sized spring loaded shooters, the various trans-orange and blue pieces. All of those will increase the production cost and therefore the retail price compared to the generally smaller and more common parts of the Camper Van.

[timemail]

Looking at weight of the set (going by bricklink):

$33 - 370g Camper

$36 - 342g Hut

$50 - 543g Helicopter

Similar to what MaximillianRebo mentioned this can illustrate that not all pieces are created equal some may have larger or smaller pieces leading to increased or decreased costs. Licensing factors would likely be in place for the hut as well.

Note that I have used Aussie prices above which has the camper and the hut much closer in terms of price. I imagine having sets at specific price points may have something to do with it also. Looking at City sets on the US site (ignoring under $9.99) all the price points end in $9.99 e.g. $9.99, $19.99, $29.99, $39.99 and so on. I note on the Aussie site that this does not happen until $49.99 so there seems to be more room to fit a set to a price point.

E.g. a set may be worth $22 however Lego have to decide whether it goes in the $19.99 or $29.99 price point. This could create disparity if one was put in the smaller price point and the other was put in the larger.

Edited September 25, 2021 by timemail

[koalayummies]

Yea @MaximillianRebo has it right. The significant number of larger and more complicated mold shape pieces in the helicopter set that are more expensive to produce. The other two sets shown use smaller and less complicated mold pieces by comparison.

[MAB]

The larger "single use" parts are also in fewer sets, so those costs are typically spread over fewer purchases and hence even more expensive. 

[Faefrost]

9 hours ago, metalgeekzy said:

Comparing 3 sets. 

Holiday Camper Van $19.99 190 pieces

Obi Wans Hut $29.99 200 pieces

Fire Rescue Helicopter $39.99 212 pieces

 

How do you go from 200 to 212 pieces with a 20 dollar bump? I dont get the pricing for some of this stuff. 

Is it based on availability? The different pieces? 

We AFOLs somehow manage to get the pricing all wrong. Our beloved Price per Piece is a really lousy metric and has almost nothing to do with actual set pricing or value. In fact the only thing it is a decent metric of is set complexity. A better ppp ratio = a more complex set.

We also get it backwards. They don't look at a set and decide how much. They decide the price point first and then design the set too that. 

The designer is given a design budget. A sort of point system. Every element or part has a specific cost assigned to it. The biggest determinant is weight of plastic or costs of production. Does a part need extra steps such as hand assemply or handling?  Every extra production step has a cost. Such as a color change for an element. Prints have a cost. Minifigs have a cost. Parts that need a factory run have a higher cost than parts already in inventory. Etc. 

Really the better judge of value is to look at the sets weight vs cost. 

And even with that some high production cost parts will drive up the budget. For example the floating boat hulls. Which are 2 pieces of different plastic, which need the largest mold machines that then need human handling to bond. Or Bigfigs and large animals. 2-3 pieces that need gluing than hand insertion for printing. 

So price vs weight = value

Price vs piece count = complexity/age range

 

[metalgeekzy]

I guess i never thought of it that way. I always thought X pieces = X price.

I thought the camper was a great deal at 16 bucks. Also got me a lot of food/kitchen parts to actually make a kitchen for my space station.
I also just bought the space rover for 40 dollars off of amazon. Both have a lot of parts that i will find very useful, but such a huge price jump. 
I do base set prices off of what i will find useful. 

[TeriXeri]

41935: Lots of DOTS - 

1040 pieces £17.99 / $19.99 / 19.99€

With spares included thats almost 1100 pieces.

 

Just shows that set price per piece should not be used to measure "value" just based on number of pieces.

 

Or for a very "Big" set in a similar category of mosaic.

31203: World Map - 

11695 pieces £229.99 / $249.99 / 249.99€

"Slightly" higher ppp (2.1c vs 1.9c), but it also has 40 of those 16x16 "bricks" , which of course are much bigger/heavier compared to a simple 1x1 tile.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by TeriXeri

[LegoDW]

TLG does do some odd pricing.  Know licensed themes cost a bit more.  Sometimes feel anything I am interested in TLG add 50% to to the cost.....lol

[Vindicare]

17 hours ago, LegoDW said:

TLG does do some odd pricing.  Know licensed themes cost a bit more.  Sometimes feel anything I am interested in TLG add 50% to to the cost.....lol

Haha, right? When I first saw Boun’s Boat(from a theme I have zero buying interest in) I was very excited to add it to my Ninjago district. I was like, “that’s a great $30 set!” Then I see the price...

I’m so over the Modulars. I don’t care what it is...who wants to buy a big square building anyways? (Let’s see if that works )

[BrickG]

I wonder if Disney will ever hit the limit of what cut they can take. Seems like they up their cut (therefore upping the price) every now and then which is why Star Wars sets are so expensive and getting more expensive. When will people STOP paying those prices? What price will people stop paying for Obiwan's Hut? 50? 100?

 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, BrickG said:

I wonder if Disney will ever hit the limit of what cut they can take. Seems like they up their cut (therefore upping the price) every now and then which is why Star Wars sets are so expensive and getting more expensive.

They aren't necessarily getting more expensive.  Some of the recent SW models have been stripped back down to smaller designs but much more friendly prices. The gradual creep in price and part count may have been affecting sales, since they have cut back size and hence price point, while leaving perfectly good renditions aimed presumably at kids / families. It might be that the 18+ sets help here. Now adults get their own sets, kids sets can go back to being for kids at more sensible price points.

[Pato Sentado]

Raw part count or weight is very rough method,  little round 1x1 bricks count as an Speed Champions base?

Are 3x2 bricks the same as a Technic gear?

I understand also licenses get their money, but also makes sets more attractive.

The final decision if a set is too expensive or not is made when buying it (or not)

Edited October 15, 2021 by Pato Sentado

[Faefrost]

On 10/15/2021 at 5:57 PM, Pato Sentado said:

Raw part count or weight is very rough method,  little round 1x1 bricks count as an Speed Champions base?

Are 3x2 bricks the same as a Technic gear?

I understand also licenses get their money, but also makes sets more attractive.

The final decision if a set is too expensive or not is made when buying it (or not)

Licences get very complex. And each is different. But here's a safe up front assumption. There is a substantial up fron cost for the license. This is typically an annual cost for the lifespan of the license. There is also typically a %of sales price goes to the licensor per unit sold. This can be anywhere from 3-15% on average depending on value of the license and other underlying considerations. The higher priced ones are also licences with greater complexities. For example actors are owed royalties for toys based on their image, so that is factored into the license.costs. (they get paid by the licensor from the money paid by the licensee). So stuff like Marvel Movies and Harry Potter cost more than Mario. 

While we will never ever know any terms of any licences (the first rule of IP licensing is nobody talks about IP licensing) we can make a few informed guesses based on the sets we see. Either Marvel Avengers or Disney Princeses are likely the highest unit cost license Lego has right now. Star Wars and Harry Potter actually seem quite reasonable.