Modular Building 10211 Grand Emporium

[escortmad79]

My weekly ebay searched pulled up '9 available' on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=320487655743

Not by me...

Almost £100 over the already expensive price!

[Svelte]

My weekly ebay searched pulled up '9 available' on ebay

I don't think the seller has them in hand, since it says 'shipping beginning of March' And wasn't that grogall's pic, anyway? Sneaky!

[Edmond Dantes]

The date in the US for S@H is still March 17th, but today is the first time I've seen an official price on the website. It looks like fears of a price increase are unfounded (at least in the US), as it's listed at $150.

http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?...n=245&d=100

[The Player Nº1]

"Sorry, item is not available in this country: Portugal."

Regards

[GRogall]

I don't think the seller has them in hand, since it says 'shipping beginning of March' And wasn't that grogall's pic, anyway? Sneaky!

Yes, well goes to show that people will steal everything to make a buck! I had him remove it!

[wooootles]

The date in the US for S@H is still March 17th, but today is the first time I've seen an official price on the website. It looks like fears of a price increase are unfounded (at least in the US), as it's listed at $150.

http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?...n=245&d=100

Nice. I get a new job by that time as well. Incoming 5 GE's! (j/k) ....but at least one for a start $150 confirmed is sweet.

[Fugazi]

Nice. I get a new job by that time as well. Incoming 5 GE's! (j/k) ....but at least one for a start $150 confirmed is sweet.

Well if it's $150 in the US then they can't really keep selling it for GBP 140 here in UK can they?

(crossing my fingers very hard)

Edited February 16, 2010 by space6901

[GRogall]

Well if it's $150 in the US then they can't really keep selling it for GBP 140 here in UK can they?

(crossing my fingers very hard)

Well The German and UK price are now at S@H €149 and £139 perspectively,

Sad for the UK but the £ has fallen in the last couple of years!

[revpaul]

Well The German and UK price are now at S@H €149 and £139 perspectively,

Sad for the UK but the £ has fallen in the last couple of years!

Wow - that is 40% more expensive than Green Grocer and Fire Station for fewer pieces...

[paul_delahaye]

Sad for the UK but the £ has fallen in the last couple of years!

Only in the world of Lego pricing!

Dollar to pound, it should be priced around £99 GBP

Hopefully they will reconsider the price after poor sales!

[escortmad79]

Wow, we're being ripped off!!

$150 is currently £95 (using XE), so how can they justify us having to pay an extra £44?

Stupidly it'll cost cheaper to buy it from a store in America & import one than buy it from Lego UK!!

[Fede78]

Wow, we're being ripped off!!

$150 is currently £95 (using XE), so how can they justify us having to pay an extra £44?

Stupidly it'll cost cheaper to buy it from a store in America & import one than buy it from Lego UK!!

I think like you but.

95£ + Tax (16 or 17% for Uk) + Shipping cost = ???

[Mr Hobbles]

I don't understand:

Fire Brigade - $149.99 US,

Edited February 16, 2010 by Mr Hobbles

[Svelte]

The UK has had a price advantage over most non-US markets for the last few years. That's not news to anybody. It looks like LEGO is finally addressing the imbalance, albeit in a somewhat drastic way.

In Australia, we've also had 2 price jumps in the last 6 months alone for the Fire Brigade. It jumped from the Green Grocer price of $AUD250 to $AUD280 and in January to $AUD300. The Australian dollar has remained consistently strong so there seems no justification for this increase considering the price has remained static in other markets.

That means the equivalent price for Australians to buy either the Green Grocer has been about GBP140 for the last 2 years or GBP 166 for the Fire Brigade, so you won't win any sympathy from us

[Mr Hobbles]

The UK has had a price advantage over most non-US markets for the last few years. That's not news to anybody. It looks like LEGO is finally addressing the imbalance, albeit in a somewhat drastic way.

In Australia, we've also had 2 price jumps in the last 6 months alone for the Fire Brigade. It jumped from the Green Grocer price of $AUD250 to $AUD280 and in January to $AUD300. The Australian dollar has remained consistently strong so there seems no justification for this increase considering the price has remained static in other markets.

That means the equivalent price for Australians to buy either the Green Grocer has been about GBP140 for the last 2 years or GBP 166 for the Fire Brigade, so you won't win any sympathy from us

The point of the post wasn't to address the difference in pricing between different markets, it was to demonstrate a difference between pricing in similar products in the same line. It is illogical, inconsistent pricing. Either raise the price of Fire Brigade or lower the price of Grand Emporium.

And even if so, £140 to $150 is a very drastic exchange rate, considering that Lego products are made in Europe and therefore shipping and taxes are low...

[Svelte]

The 10210 Imperial Flagship was released in Jan at GBP140 and EUR150, and now so is the Grand Emporium, so it looks to me as if LEGO has set that amount as the new pricing benchmark for large Exclusives in the UK market.

It's possible if sales drop dramatically they will reduce the price, but I find that rarely happens They are willing to admit they've made a mistake when they set things too low, but not when they set them too high (Like the oddness with the Town Plan repricing in Jan last year)

[Fede78]

The 10210 Imperial Flagship was released in Jan at GBP140 and EUR150, and now so is the Grand Emporium, so it looks to me as if LEGO has set that amount as the new pricing benchmark for large Exclusives in the UK market.

It's possible if sales drop dramatically they will reduce the price, but I find that rarely happens They are willing to admit they've made a mistake when they set things too low, but not when they set them too high (Like the oddness with the Town Plan repricing in Jan last year)

I can't say my opinion.

I can just say that in Italy I never saw an official price.

Ex: Fire brigade price: from 125€ to 169€

or: 7637 Farm price: from 49€ to 75€... in the same city.

So I'll not surprise to find the GE with a very high price

[d00dz]

The UK has had a price advantage over most non-US markets for the last few years. That's not news to anybody. It looks like LEGO is finally addressing the imbalance, albeit in a somewhat drastic way.

In Australia, we've also had 2 price jumps in the last 6 months alone for the Fire Brigade. It jumped from the Green Grocer price of $AUD250 to $AUD280 and in January to $AUD300. The Australian dollar has remained consistently strong so there seems no justification for this increase considering the price has remained static in other markets.

That means the equivalent price for Australians to buy either the Green Grocer has been about GBP140 for the last 2 years or GBP 166 for the Fire Brigade, so you won't win any sympathy from us

Yea we get rorted at Shop@Home, you have to remmeber that the stock comes from europe and denmark as well as having to pay cross border fees since Shop@Home charge you for DNK's and not AUD.

[peterab]

Yea we get rorted at Shop@Home, you have to remmeber that the stock comes from europe and denmark as well as having to pay cross border fees since Shop@Home charge you for DNK's and not AUD.

Part of the shipping cost as I understand it is there is a third party who repacks and resends everything in Sydney, after TLG sends a bulk shipments to them. I wish they would just replace that very expensive and inefficient system with a Lego store somewhere in Australia, and then we could order direct from them without having to pay the huge shipping. I doubt it will happen because the Australian market clearly isn't very important to them.

In the mean time since the US price is so low, I'll be ordering from there.

[roamingstop]

Switzerland might have a reputation for hidden gold, but actually the pricing of Lego is really quite high here when compared to costs of living.

The price here is 219.90 CHF, exactly the same as the Imperial Flagship 219.90 CHF (1664 pieces), Less than Firebrigade 249 CHF (2231 pieces) and Green Grocer 259 CHF (2352 pieces). And a lot less than Grand Carousel 449 CHF (3263) and Taj Mahal 549 CHF (5922 pieces).

Currently 1 CHF = 1 USD... in USA it is $149.... (and similar massive price drops for other items) and 1 CHF = 1.75 GBP (approx). However above posters are correct; by the time you add US Sales Tax (if applicable), put into postage (even without box, just weight) and get stung with import taxes (20 CHF fee + 8% total price including shipping) then the price is about right. Similarly with the UK purchases (via parents)... I would save around 10 to 20 CHF at best for most items (except for Carousel and Taj Mahal).

[Svelte]

Yea we get rorted at Shop@Home, you have to remmeber that the stock comes from europe and denmark as well as having to pay cross border fees since Shop@Home charge you for DNK's and not AUD.

You might get charged that way, but I never have There's no such thing as 'cross border fees'. Every set sold via S@H to Australia includes GST which LEGO pays directly to the government.

Part of the shipping cost as I understand it is there is a third party who repacks and resends everything in Sydney, after TLG sends a bulk shipments to them.

I find that highly unlikely, from the way every order I've received has been packed and labelled. The only thing that happens here for regular orders is that they get shipped to a courier company who then delivers the package. Express orders go direct via DHL rather than using the intermediary courier company.

Shipping is calculated separately and as a flat rate no matter what you order; I don't think it has any bearing at all on S@H Exclusive prices.

[Younge]

I think there will be a lot of international orders from the US with this little set!!!

[Fugazi]

I think AFOLs may be victims of TLC's rising awareness of their existence and importance. If the prices of kiddie sets go up, then parents will cease to buy them and turn to Megablocks or some other toy. If prices of AFOL sets go up, we will complain a bit, but still cough up the money eventually because we have deeper pockets, stronger brand loyalty, quite a bit of obsessive passion, and certainly the fear that missing on one good set now could mean having to get it later on eBay at a much higher price. This does not bode well for the future.

[Follows Closely]

I think AFOLs may be victims of TLC's rising awareness of their existence and importance. If the prices of kiddie sets go up, then parents will cease to buy them and turn to Megablocks or some other toy. If prices of AFOL sets go up, we will complain a bit, but still cough up the money eventually because we have deeper pockets, stronger brand loyalty, quite a bit of obsessive passion, and certainly the fear that missing on one good set now could mean having to get it later on eBay at a much higher price. This does not bode well for the future.

Good post. Until LEGO has competition (I don't ever see that happening with this generation), they can set the price.

[peterab]

I find that highly unlikely, from the way every order I've received has been packed and labelled. The only thing that happens here for regular orders is that they get shipped to a courier company who then delivers the package.

Shipping is calculated separately and as a flat rate no matter what you order; I don't think it has any bearing at all on S@H Exclusive prices.

I'm pretty sure you're correct about express orders, but for regular orders, the courier company is located in Sydney. They get bulk shipments from Denmark, and repack individual orders here using Lego materials. That's my understanding after disscusions with Sue Ann the MUGS Ambasadore.

The S@H shipping rate is not flat, it changes depending on the dollar amount of the order. It starts at $25, but peaks at $45 after $500 purchases.

Compare TLG's shipping with Bricks To The World, which has almost the same retail prices, and a flat $4.99 shipping rate. Unfortunately BTTW doesn't often have easy access to the exclusive sets.

You're correct that shipping doesn't influence prices, but it does add to the eventual total cost of purchase for me. As an Australian I'm already getting gouged with the full retail cost compared to the US, the least they could do is try to avoid me having to pay to have the sets shipped from Europe as well. Any other product I pay a full retail price for, which is different to the rest of the world, is different because it _includes_ shipping to my local area.

I understand that S@H is a seperate business group to Lego Australia, and that they need to cover shipping seperately to the price of the set to preserve their profit margins, but frankly that's not my problem. When I can order the same thing from the US, pay for shipping myself, and get it here for less than the AUD retail price without shipping somethings rotten in Denmark. Either the profit margin in Oz is too high, or the profit margin in the US is too low, and I'm the sucker who is subsidising them.

Given there is an imbalance in the pricing, the real questions are; Will I go through the hassle of ordering from the US via a remailer? Is it worth it to me? Do I care if it hurts TLG? Finacially it only makes a small difference to me, but due to my circumstances, that small difference is significant. Given that I have a nagging feeling that I'm getting screwed to subsidise the US market, and that if TLG cared about my market they could consider opening a Lego store here, yeah I'd like to push back even if it means it hurts TLG.