Do set prices go up after the fact?

[Lego Mike]

I live in South Korea now, and I noticed the other day that previous Speed Champion sets, which were priced at 29,900 KRW ($22 USD) on release, are now being sold for 34,900 ($26 USD).

I don't think I've ever seen that before. This season's Speed Champions wave is priced at 34,900 per set, so Lego has retroactively bumped up the price for previous waves to match.

I'll spare everyone the rant. But has anyone else seen this kind of price adjustment?

Edited August 19, 2022 by Lego Mike
Sets from earlier this year, not last year.

[Murdoch17]

The answer is sadly yes, @Lego Mike. Most of the world just experienced increases on a bunch of sets in the last few months, with most of the ones that were bumped up were nearing the end of their production lives - but not all. Brickset has had a series of articles / lists on North American and the UK prices increases... Europe also has had them but I can't find an article, but Asia (for the most part) has not. You seem to have found some of the few sets that have gone up.

[Lego Mike]

@Murdoch17 Ah-ha, thanks for the information. Given the prices set here in South Korea, which are already ridiculously marked up, it starts to feel like the walls are closing in around AFOLs. Ha ha. It's gotten to the point that fans need to either buy something right away, to avoid the price jumping up later, or pass on appealing sets altogether. Either way, again, with the prices, it's getting to the point where it seems that Lego just doesn't deserve my money.

But again, I'll spare everyone the rant. ;)

[Mylenium]

18 hours ago, Lego Mike said:

Given the prices set here in South Korea, which are already ridiculously marked up

Based on your info it doesn't sound too bad, though. Perhaps it's more a case of lack of wider distribution and no retail discounts at other vendors.

Mylenium

[Lego Mike]

6 hours ago, Mylenium said:

[And] no retail discounts at other vendors.

There are definitely few discounts; Lego isn't "priced to move," as they say, like in American and European markets. If something goes on the shelf at 49,990 KRW, it stays there no matter what. Just the other day I saw a Galaxy Squad set (dusty, discolored, battered box and all) at a toy shop, and it still had its original price. (Though I guess now that original price would look like a discount!)

Sometimes major retailers will have a quick sale to make room for new sets, but it's 20-30% off for a week or so, then the prices go right back up and the unwanted sets sit there for months longer. Eventually they get shunted to smaller local retailers -- who keep the original prices, leave the sets on the shelf for years, and... Well, so on and so on.

Anyway, just interesting (and frustrating) to notice how various regions approach the sale of Lego. Drives me nuts when friends in the US stop by Target and randomly find $45 sets reduced to $5 just to get rid of them. Yikes!

[Mylenium]

6 hours ago, Lego Mike said:

Drives me nuts when friends in the US stop by Target and randomly find $45 sets reduced to $5 just to get rid of them. Yikes!

Yeah, I feel the same when I hear about such mythical clearance sales in the UK or US. LEGO is discounted here in Germany for a good part and getting 20% off is not too hard, but I've never heard of such crazy "Let's just get rid of it!" sales here, not even when everyone miscalculated the failure/ success of VIDIYO. :-)

Mylenium

[MAB]

On 8/21/2022 at 8:59 AM, Mylenium said:

Yeah, I feel the same when I hear about such mythical clearance sales in the UK or US. LEGO is discounted here in Germany for a good part and getting 20% off is not too hard, but I've never heard of such crazy "Let's just get rid of it!" sales here, not even when everyone miscalculated the failure/ success of VIDIYO. :-)

Mylenium

The "let's get rid of it" sales are not very common in the UK now either. Anything decent tends to sell out at full RRP or when first given a small discount.

[Lego Mike]

On 8/21/2022 at 4:59 PM, Mylenium said:

Yeah, I feel the same when I hear about such mythical clearance sales in the UK or US.

Those sales are real, and I can recall seeing them, albeit not among Lego. I had no interest in Lego back then. But it's totally true, stopping by a retailer and seeing in the clearance aisle something that is priced to just go. It's a cheap thrill! I can remember, though, seeing small sets and polybags in check-out lines or at discount retailers, especially in the early 2000s when everything Lego touched was just a little...poop. Ha ha.

[mvLego]

On 8/19/2022 at 12:13 PM, Murdoch17 said:

Most of the world just experienced increases on a bunch of sets in the last few months, with most of the ones that were bumped up were nearing the end of their production lives - but not all.

I'm curious if there's any other discussion on this and if you can point me towards it. My thought process has been that they increased the prices for sets that are not retiring soon. If this has been discussed elsewhere, I'd like to read other people's opinions on it.

[Johnny1360]

21 hours ago, mvLego said:

I'm curious if there's any other discussion on this and if you can point me towards it. My thought process has been that they increased the prices for sets that are not retiring soon. If this has been discussed elsewhere, I'd like to read other people's opinions on it.

That's the way it looks to me as well, set that will likely retire soon, end of year maybe, did not get a price increase, the ones that will likely still be available, after the first of the year, get treated with a healthy price increase.

As far as further discussion, I am not sure there is a specific thread, more like random observations in various topics.

[Maple]

LEGO came out and said that sets that retire this year would generally not go up in price. So I don't know where this idea that sets nearing the end of the life cycle got an increase. Outside the USA the Speed Champ sets that were just released went up 5Euro. So those brand new sets or not yet released sets are at the end of their lifespan?