Delmar

10211 Grand Emporium price gone mad

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We finally have a pricing for the new Grand Emporium here in Sweden. I was expecting it to have pretty much the same price as the Fire Brigade at 1850 SEK. But oh no.

The Emporium is listed at 1999 SEK here, it goes for 149 dollars in the US (thats 1069 SEK!!!)

I know prices have been somewhat unfair for a long time when comparing EU and US but this is getting out of hand. I havent minded the price diffrence much before when difference was between 10-20%, but now we pay almost twice as much. And i know Swedes are not the only ones.

As far as i can figure:

United Kingdom, France and Germany(and several other EU countrys) pays about 50% more than US

Sweden and Finland gets to pay almost 100% more

I´m only talking about Grand Emporium for the record.

What do the rest of you think? whats it like in the rest of the world?

I can pay more because of inflation etc and i don´t like to whine, but this is getting hard to swallow.

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Is this in the shop or Shop@home?

Here in norway, at least in Shop@home, it's NOK 1699.. + shipping.. Almost 2000 NOK..

Nasty price difference tho.

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yes this is all based on S@H prices

I dont even dare to think how much that Norwegian price is in Swedish money :tongue:

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Funny in the US all we ever hear about is how our health care system is busted and we should be more like Sweden. But if that means more expensive LEGO than I say LET ME DIE WITH MY CHEAP LEGO!!!

:tongue:

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Our Canadian dollar is .96 compared to the U.S. dollar, but we have to pay $200 for the GE. :sad: With that our dollar should be at .75 to the U.S. :wacko:

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It sure is expensive. Norway got the highest price of the S@H countries but Finland and Sweden doesn't come far behind. It's no doubt that it has become much more cheaper to buy the sets from US and get them shipped here. I guess that is the way to go if you want to get sets at an affordable price these days. I wonder how long it will take before TLG realise how crazy their pricing is.

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I just wanna throw this out there, I'm moving to Germany in 7 months because of my job, and since I'll be on an Air Force base, I'll still get standard state side shipping rates, plus if there's any U.S. exclusive sets, I'll be able to get those into Europe fairly easily.

I'll pay the standard rates listed on the Lego Shop website

Additionally, I'll be able to do the opposite for 3 years, send European exclusive sets to the States.

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Our Canadian dollar is .96 compared to the U.S. dollar, but we have to pay $200 for the GE. :sad: With that our dollar should be at .75 to the U.S. :wacko:

It is what it is :yoda: .

These pricing discussions have been done to death. At the end of the day, pricing isn't going to change. Just be thankful that we don't pay what some of our friends in the Sweden or Finland are being asked to pay. On most items we are fortunate to pay the approximate equivalent of what most of Europe pays so it's not like we've been singled out or anything. The US is the exception when it comes to pricing; not the other way around. If you think about it that way you'll probably feel a bit better about the whole thing.

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Yeah It's pretty Ironic that it's sometimes cheaper to order a set from the US than it is to buy it locally. And that is even after adding customs fees and VAT.

It seems to me like that, at least here in Sweden, LEGO prefer to not change prices on sets already released. Instead they adapt to raising oil prices and declining currency value through prices on new sets instead.

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I must say, I empathise with those for whom prices are high - Ireland has often had higher S@H prices. I'm rather happy to report though that Grand Emporium (and indeed Imperial Flagship) is a more reasonable €150 for Ireland, the same as Germany, rather than the €180 that the Fire Station is (also Tantive IV at a whopping €175).

I am reconciled to the cheap dollar prices - the US situation is different from elsewhere. For one thing wages are lower in the US and net income taxes are effectively higher than Ireland too. So people here in Ireland probably do have more disposable income.

The latest price seems a bit steep for the UK, although I did think it was long overdue for some acknowledgement of the weaker sterling towards euro for the last year or two. It's possible the current price includes a currency hedge as there is a prospect of sterling going into a tailspin if currency speculators decide against it.

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This is really surprising to hear, being in the US. I had no idea the 149.99 US price wasn't converted over equally to other currencies - doesn't seem fair.

Not being in the know, I'll take a guess that there are more production plants/factories in the US, so it is cheaper? Then again, I thought all Legos were made in Denmark (this is my 10 year-old self's knowledge, anyway) :)

Is it easy for you guys to order from S@H in the US and get it shipped to Europe?

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Why is Fire Brigade and Grand Emporium the same price in the US, while in the UK there's a £40 difference?

I can understand pricing errors normally, but what makes Grand Emporium with £40 more in the UK, and the same price against Fire Brigade in the US?

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I must say, I empathise with those for whom prices are high - Ireland has often had higher S@H prices. I'm rather happy to report though that Grand Emporium (and indeed Imperial Flagship) is a more reasonable €150 for Ireland, the same as Germany, rather than the €180 that the Fire Station is (also Tantive IV at a whopping €175).

I noticed that too! I'm happy for you guys. But as the amount of the "expensive countries" is getting smaller, it's even more frustrating to live in one.

I sent an email to SAH customer service, basically asking WTF, but politely. To my surprise they answered quite quickly. (This is my translation from Finnish:)

"The prices of LEGO products vary in different coutries, because of differences in economical situation, taxation, and other aspects. (???) Unfortunately we cannot sell LEGO products with the same price in each country. If you have friends or relatives in a country where the set is cheaper, maybe they can buy one and post it to you."

So basically that's LEGO Direct telling us we shouldn't buy directly from them, but try to cheat. That's just lovely. I'm so angry for the fact that it's cheaper to ship the set from the US. For the environmental impact alone.

Edited by paksu

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I noticed that too! I'm happy for you guys. But as the amount of the "expensive countries" is getting smaller, it's even more frustrating to live in one.

I sent an email to SAH customer service, basically asking WTF, but politely. To my surprise they answered quite quickly. (This is my translation from Finnish:)

"The prices of LEGO products vary in different coutries, because of differences in economical situation, taxation, and other aspects. (???) Unfortunately we cannot sell LEGO products with the same price in each country. If you have friends or relatives in a country where the set is cheaper, maybe they can buy one and post it to you."

So basically that's LEGO Direct telling us we shouldn't buy directly from them, but try to cheat. That's just lovely. I'm so angry for the fact that it's cheaper to ship the set from the US. For the environmental impact alone.

I don't think that LEGO is telling you to cheat per se; I think they are simply being very blunt when it comes to their pricing policies. If you want to get a set at a lower marked price you are going to have to purchase it in a different region. It's that simple. Moreover, it's not as if LEGO is the only product that is priced differently between regions. As far as I can discern, the lion's share of goods and services tend to be cheaper in the US. I'm actually quite surprised that LEGO was so forward about having a friend or family member ship you the product from a cheaper region as most companies would refrain from even making such a suggestion. As you mentioned, the environmental impact of such a purchase is inherently negative.

All I can add is that I hope that pricing comes down in your region in the near future. The price gap between most of Europe and the United States isn't nearly as bad as it was a few years ago so perhaps things will change for Finland in the future as well. Heck, prior to this the UK was paying roughly the same as the United States for sets like the Fire Brigade. Perhaps if enough people speak up LEGO will reconsider their pricing in Finland too.

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At $250, the Australian price for Grand Emporium actually seems more fair than usual, compared to sets like the UCS Millenium Falcon, where we paid well over twice the American price. Could it be that Lego are finally updating their currency conversion rates from those awful days when the AUD was half that of the USD? Referring back to the UCS Millenium Falcon example, when that was released, the AUD was hovering around the 90 cents mark. Even taking into consideration taxes etc, we shouldn't have been charged twice the American price. We were so enraged about it to the point of sending a similar "WTF" email to Shop@home, and got a very similar reply. The real reason behind the disparity is that TLG really want to suck up to the US market, and are prepared to do this at the expense of everyone else. As much as I want Lego to live long and prosper, can't they share the pricing love a little more evenly? Sometimes I think that's why Shop@Home anomalies, like the AUD$400 price on the Death Star, mysteriously occur, as an attempt to "kiss and make up" to non US customers.

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Deal with it people.

Things are cheaper in the United States - there are low taxes, low import duties, insanely cheap distribution channels and a huge economics of scale advantage.

Do you really think that it is only LEGO? Compare prices for, say, a Mercedes-Benz between the U.S. and Europe. In the United States, a Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe starts at $48,050 (€35,312). In Germany, the same, which is built in Germany, cost €51,408 ($69,950).

Face the reality of economics and move on.

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I agree that the economy in US makes a big difference, but the thing i´m mostly disturbed about is that a price can differ so much inside EU, even between Sweden and Denmark the price differ by about 20€ on Grand Emporium (rough count), how is this possible when sales tax etc is almost identical to Sweden.

And we all pay unique shipping rates so that wont affect pricing.

Edited by Delmar

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Deal with it people.

Things are cheaper in the United States - there are low taxes, low import duties, insanely cheap distribution channels and a huge economics of scale advantage.

My complaint has nothing to do with price differences across countries.

If you read my post, you'd see that my issue is with price inconsistencies. Two items, Fire Brigade and Grand Emporium, which both cost $149.99 in the US, cost £99 and £140 respectively in the UK. Can you explain that?

I wont mention the fact that $149.99 to £139.99 is a near 1:1 price ratio, which is absurd, regardless of taxes, duties, distribution, etc.

Edited by Mr Hobbles

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Can you explain that?

Yes, I'll give it a go.

Prices are set at the time for a variety of factors. When a new set comes out the factors have often changed so price comparisons between similar sets from different times are hard. Sure TLG could go and re-factor in everything for the new sets, but for one they probably don't want to complicate things, and also I suspect last years prices are part of the factoring and thus can't be changed.

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I think the issue is not so much an issue of exchange rate, as everyone has already said a million times over in every pricing related thread the USA get things a little cheaper.

I think what the real issue is here is that when you compare the modular building prices in the UK, both green grocer and fire station were an acceptable £99 where as the emporium is £140. A 40% increase, much more than my annual cost of living wage rise I got last year! When you compare piece count, both the fire station and the green grocer have the higher count. I'm sure I saw another topic where someone had weighed all the modulars, again, in terms of grams vs £ the grand emporium was the lightest set for your money.

I think there is only one reason why the UK is getting screwed so hard, Lego have announced record profits in the UK market, they have gained market share and they have thought if the brits are stupid enough to pay these prices! Lets push our luck as much as we can and increase them.

Check this link from a national paper, I think it says it all.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbys...-UK-market.html

The only way our prices will go down is if we all stop buying, and I know that is never going to happen, so if you want the sets, live with it!

Paul

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Last year there was a huge price increase in Pick-A-Brick, and Lego then realised they made an error in judgment - perhaps they can be persuaded to review the pricing also on Grand Emporium (and other sets as indicated in this thread)?

Also, the fact that Grand Emporiom is so expensive in certain counties (Sweden etc) actually creates a private import from other countries (like Germany or US). This in turn further reduces the sale to Sweden, thus creating a shift in sales statistics that could possibly give Lego executives an incorrect picture of where sets are sold. Could that be a contributing factor to the higher price in Sweden (...we don't sell so well to Sweden, so we don't have to be as carefull in our pricing to them)?

Edited by superkalle

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I think there is only one reason why the UK is getting screwed so hard, Lego have announced record profits in the UK market, they have gained market share and they have thought if the brits are stupid enough to pay these prices! Lets push our luck as much as we can and increase them.

I think you should not be so quick not to accept the exchange rate issue. Sterling has dropped a lot in the last two years and yet many countries having to import stock into the UK have not greatly raised their prices. It now looks like at best, Sterling will hold about the 87-90 pence mark against the euro (only a couple years since it was only 66 pence you could buy with a euro) and at worst, as I said, Sterling will go into a tailspin. The latter may actually be allowed by your politicians as it means that Sterling debts are then not as big a deal. The problem is that ordinary people will still have the same wages (or there will be hyperinflation due to wage pressure) and prices of even things like food will rocket up as the cost of imports goes up.

It isn't just Lego, you will see a lot of prices of imported items have risen in the UK recently for these reasons - as I said in many case the companies doing it have held off as long as possible as of course UK consumers don't have more money to spend.

You're probably just lucky Lego don't solve the pricing anomaly by raising all the prices of already-released sets.

Of course here in the Eurozone we have problems (weak peripheral countries, separate governments), and in the US the dollar is not secure either (he US situation is inherently unsustainable), so there is some uncertainty how things will go. Nevertheless I think the UK has not experienced yet the effects of up to the last two years or more of weak sterling, so even if sterling stays as it is, there will be some pain.

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USA! USA! USA! :tongue:

No, but seriously, you European guys have it way better in terms of Bricklink. All the big, cheap sellers seem to be in Europe. I ordered close to $4000 on Bricklink last month and only $60 was to an American shop.

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Funny in the US all we ever hear about is how our health care system is busted and we should be more like Sweden. But if that means more expensive LEGO than I say LET ME DIE WITH MY CHEAP LEGO!!!

:tongue:

Brother, you're my hero :laugh:

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