dotmike

First, in partial defence of the pricing structure (which I'm going to demolish below), many manufacturers get accused of price gouging when, over time, the exchange rate moves away from where they set the RRP. For example, an iPod introduced in September when the AUD dollar vs USD was around 0.88, looks overpriced when in January the Aussie dollar hits parity or above at 1.01. It's difficult for the manufacturer to continually adjust pricing based on fluctuating exchange rates, as it would mean setting a new RRP almost every week, which is difficult in the face of retailers' ordering schedules, catalogue print times, etc. For iPods, the price is generally adjusted when the model itself is revamped. If a new iPod appeared in January, it would most likely be priced at the current exchange rate. Now, for LEGO, a similar thing applies, they can't alter RRP every week. However, in setting the RRP for the next year or so for a set, they either use grossly outdated and unadjusted exchange rates, say 0.60 from June 2008, or are pure and simply price gouging based on what they perceive the local market will bear. I believe it is the latter. The materials and freight cost to get shipments of LEGO to Australia are not different from the US, where it can be sold for half the price and still presumably supply LEGO with a healthy profit margin. We are a much smaller market, but in per capita terms LEGO occupies a larger proportion of toy shelves here. LEGO observes they can sell at a higher price in the local market and therefore does. The only thing that can be done is to not let the perception that Australians are happy to pay inflated prices persist. That could include doing things like: 1. Only buy LEGO on sale. If retailers get the idea that people only buy LEGO when the price is reduced, they may put pressure on the supplier to lower the wholesale price so they can drop the price for out of sale periods. I can imagine if Big W / Kmart / Target / Myer reduced its orders substantially, LEGO Australia might rethink its pricing structure. Tell your families, friends, neighbours. Alert them to the sales, and use the mantra "never buy LEGO at retail". 2. Take advantage of grey market importing where possible. There is no real need for a warranty on LEGO, so importing carries little of the (slight) risk of importing consumer electronics. Use Bricklink to find sellers in favourably priced countries (especially the US), or order from the online arms of retailers such as Barnes & Noble. 3. Hope that the Australian economy goes down the gurgler. Okay, don't really hope that, but relatively speaking, toys are finding it tough in the current US economic climate, and manufacturers have adjusted pricing to suit. Having weathered the global financial crisis much better, there is more discretionary cash in Australian toy buyers' hands. Unfortunately, LEGO knows this. 4. If you see someone in a black shirt stocking department store shelves, give him or her a tongue lashing, and/or a good beating. Again, don't do the last bit. But you could stand near the shelves, shaking your head sadly, saying things like, "if only LEGO wasn't so expensive, I could afford to get little Billy some Harry Potter LEGO. Oh well, Mega Blocks looks more reasonably priced." Perhaps word would get back to their masters? Perhaps not. There may be other ways to get the message to the company, anyone? 5. Be prepared for LEGO to pack up and go home rather than sacrifice their price gouging, after all, "we're only 1-2% of the world LEGO market, we barely deserve to be sold to". But only if they were very silly, and ignoring smaller markets is not how commerce works. People weren't buying Blu-rays either. They didn't stop selling them, they reduced the price.

I think TRU gets away with its ripoff behaviour simply by being the one-stop shop for toys for people too lazy to shop around. Apart from the occasional good clearance price (eg, half price on the 7642 Garage) they don't seem to care about being competitive. The interesting stocktake will be what Myer and DJs department stores do with their 10197 Fire Stations... Having checked out many parts of Sydney city and eastern suburbs over the last few days, the shelves are bursting with these things. David Jones in the city had about half a dozen Grand Emporiums, but at least 5 times as many of the previous modular set, and I doubt they'll be selling many. Myer too had tons of them not moving at their $249 catalogue price (down from $299). At some point they're going have to do something to move this stock. Hopefully something drastic!

Easy mistake to make, I was certainly open to misinterpreting it too! Almost as if TRU somehow intended it that way... Their little "deception" did get me in the store, but got me out of the store pretty soon after I realised I'd been conned. Didn't matter, as I was been doing the rounds after arriving in Sydney for Christmas anyway, and only had to walk into Target to find a 20% off LEGO sale. (Or was it 25% off all toys in Target? Don't know, couldn't find anything in the dregs of 2010 LEGO worth scanning!)

The catalogue is a bit ambiguous as it has both the LEGO and the Duplo logos side by side, which could imply "LEGO Duplo" or "LEGO and Duplo". However, inside an actual TRU store, where I am now, all the LEGO scans at full RRP, and the returns desk counter staff confirmed it was 20% off Duplo only. Just clarifying in case someone else wasted their time.

Some decent prices coming up at Big W from Thursday if any of these sets grab your fancy: #8089 Hoth Wampa Cave $54.74 (RRP $79.99) discount = 32% #8092 Luke's Landspeeder $42.87 (RRP $49.99) discount = 14% #8093 Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter $28.72 (RRP $49.99) discount = 43% #5866 Creator Rotor Rescue $14.66 (RRP $19.99) discount = 27% #5867 Creator Speedster $38.74 (RRP $39.99) discount = 3% #5893 Creator Off Road $98.00 (RRP $139.99) discount = 30% #8896 Racers Snake Canyon $16.62 (RRP $17.99) discount = 8% #8897 Racers Jagged Jaws $24.74 (RRP $34.99) discount = 29% #8898 Racers Wreckage Road $38.73 (RRP $54.99) discount = 30% #8077 Atlantis Headquarters $49.72 (RRP $79.99) discount = 38% #8076 Atlantis Deep Sea Striker $28.74 (RRP $34.99) discount = 18% #8078 Atlantis Portal of Atlantis $98.00 (RRP $159.99) discount = 39% #7632 Crane $49.00 (RRP $99.99) discount = 51% #8964 Power Miners Titanium Command Rig $49.00 (RRP $139.99) discount = 65% #8087 Star Wars Tie Defender $49.00 (RRP $89.99) discount = 46% http://www.lasoo.com.au/catalogue/big-w-catalogue-what-s-on-your-wishlist-0212/4kmrtmc7o.html Edit: from Thursday, 2 December.

I was also surprised no one here mentioned the one day only 25% off all LEGO sale David Jones had at the beginning of the week. Missing notice of it didn't affect me too much as I live a long way out of David Jones land (and had already bought my Grand Emporium while in the city six weeks ago), but it would be nice to think this thread had all the sales! Also, it looks like the good catalogue price on Cargo Trains has driven them out of stock.

I can't say it is the same every year but I have a memory that in the lead up to Christmas 2008, David Jones had a 25% sale. That was helpful for me as (for a MOC) I bought around six or seven of the 4954 town house (RRP 99.99) and three or four of the 4996 beach house (~ $50), and finding them at DJs was the ultimate goal. (I felt a bit sorry for cleaning some stores out, but only a bit!) I think sales were common that year as it was leading into the GFC and toy buying was suffering. The difficulty with "relying" on a sale for an exclusive is that it can disappear before (or just as) a sale begins - chances are you're not the only one waiting for it. I missed out on the carousel through waiting for a "realistic price". On the other hand, I bought the modular Fire Station as soon as it appeared, but in hindsight I perhaps should have waited, as Myer seems overstocked with them, and they're regularly on sale at 20% + extra 10% MyerOne discount (and some people seem able to get 20% off an already discounted catalogue price, eg, passenger trains for $121, but they are better con men than me: the staff always tell me "not to be combined with any other offer" and I sadly put the box back on the shelf.) Who can say if the Grand Emporium will be in the same position in 2-3 months time...? If it is genuinely exclusive to only DJs, it could be rarer. All that can be said is that most retailers will have sales at some point, and if you can bear the risk of it going out of stock, it would be financially beneficial to wait for a sale and then pounce.

Not just Perth and not on sale (sadly) but as of yesterday David Jones Miranda (Sydney) have Grand Emporiums on the shelf, $249.99. I can sympathise with the "I really HAVE to buy one now as I'm leaving Sydney today for my home, and don't want to risk waiting for a pre-Christmas sale and having them disappear on me, like the Grand Carousel did. And a s@h order would bump up the RRP with freight anyway. If I lived in a capital city, though, and not a LEGO desertville, I'd wait for the "get ready for Christmas" DJs sale.

Confirmed sighting at Target Miranda. Shelves full of all 6 sets of Harry Potter LEGO at front of store, 20% off. Plus they have fresh boxes of minifigs (minus a few pharaohs I bought) at the registers, $3.00 each. No HP at Miranda Myer or Big W, though the latter has the Jester, Wizard, and Pig Farmer impulses, $4.88 each.

Thanks for the advice! I'm happy to report a Sydney sighting myself now: Target Miranda (Sydney) does not have them as of this afternoon, but... Toys 'r' Us Miranda has them! Now about to scan them to see if TRU does their annoying thing of marking up RRP... Will edit this post if they do. Edit: scanned at RRP. Phew. I'm sure me buying LEGO at RRP will guarantee there's a 20% off sale somewhere next week though!

Can anyone in Sydney post if they have seen the Harry Potter LEGO? I have a little girl with a birthday over the long weekend who has been eagerly awaiting these. Boxes of exciting rattling bricks would make a much better present than a raincheck! Even worth paying RRP for, although that is anathema to this thread!

If nothing else, we could carry extremely accurate scientific grade scales! The minifig pieces are bound to weigh a few micrograms in difference. Perhaps even the better stores could offer it as a service: weigh your LEGO like you can your fruit!

I second this. I've previously built sets using PDFs on a computer (even a laptop with a high-res 1680x1050 screen) and the iPad is a far superior tool for the job. As an experiment I built my last two sets (Emerald Night and a Prince of Persia one) entirely using the corresponding PDFs on an iPad. It worked very well, and being able to treat the iPad just like a book by being able to put it down next to the LEGO blocks and literally swipe the pages back and forth is a huge benefit. Using a hinged screen with a keyboard and/ trackpad just doesn't come close. The software I'd recommend is "GoodReader" for iPad as it's a very good PDF reader and allows them to be stored in folders. PDFs can even be downloaded directly over the web (copy the URL from lego.com and use it in GoodReader, eg, http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildinginstructions/4611661.pdf ) or copied over WiFi as a shared volume, or side-loaded through iTunes. Apple's own "iBooks" now also supports PDFs (before it was only for reading ePub format books), however its bookshelf approach doesn't lend itself as well to organisation, and you can only drop the PDFs in via iTunes. It comes down to personal preference. (The only downside I'd mention, and this applies to LEGO PDF viewing regardless of the device, is that TLG colour grades their PDFs too dark, so that sometimes it's hard to make out the bumps on the black pieces. Turning up the brightness usually suffices.) The biggest catch now is what to do with the kids' LEGO: they've torn or lost or otherwise rendered unusable the instructions for their vast stash of pieces. I've downloaded PDFs for the sets I can identify, but printing them out is a huge waste of paper/ink/toner. Viewing on the iPad is ideal, but I frankly don't want them to have it outside of my supervision! In a way it boggles the mind: an entry grade 16GB iPad, that is no heavier or thicker than the books from one LEGO set, can store the instructions for almost every LEGO set in existence!

Apologies if this has been mentioned but I'm posting on the run and could only quickly scan last pages. Myer Miranda has an additional 10% off the already reduced (20%) sale price of toys in the catalogue, for Saturday and Sunday. I don't know for certain but assume this applies to all Myer stores. This includes the Cargo Train (2 left at Miranda), Emerald Night (1 left), Train Station (~6), and a whole shelf of Imperial Flagships. 20% + further 10% off for Saturday and Sunday. I paid: Emerald Night $107.10 Cargo Train $206.10 Train Station $57.55

Good stuff! I also picked up one: from TRU Miranda (Sydney), they had four when I was there during the week. I also had to pay $250. The funny thing is, I actually saw the excellent tip above where you could get 20% off on Easter Saturday or Sunday to bring it to only $200. I read the post on Saturday at about 4:30 pm, while on the highway (I was browsing while my SO was driving). After looking at the TRU site to confirm (as suspected) all the Toys 'r' Us stores in Sydney were closed on Sunday, I pulled up Google Maps to find the nearest to where we were, which was Wollongong, about 25 mins away. I was *this* close to suggesting we make a detour via the Wollongong CBD to make the purchase, with 5 mins to park and find the store! But didn't... Oh well, at least $250 is still lower than the $299.99 it's listed at on S@H.

Also one in Myer at Miranda, Sydney. Priced at $499. To get it discounted, there was a coupon set emailed to Myer One members in the past day or so which included a "20% off toys" one. Showing this coupon and the Myer One card would reduce the retail prices of their Lego sets by 20%.

New sets slowly trickling into Kmart, just saw Toy Story Construct-a-Buzz (and only this set so far) in Kmart Sylvania (Sydney). Priced at $47. Cheaper than retail, but at this percentage, Big W has them beat until the sales.

Thanks for the tip - well worth going! Big W Rockdale (Sydney) also has them in. Just filling in the blanks for the Big W prices for the Toy Story series: 7595 Army Men $22.95 RRP, Big W = $19.76 7590 Woody & Buzz to the Rescue racing car $34.95 RRP, Big W = $29.67 7592 Construct-a-Buzz $49.95 RRP, Big W = $44.67 7593 Buzz's Star Command Spaceship $59.95 RRP, Big W = $54.66 7594 Woody's Roundup $99.95 RRP, Big W = $88.76 Didn't see Construct-a-Zurg at Rockdale.

Heh, heh! Seriously?! In a forum talking about getting the best prices for little bits of molded plastic, you're calling people who overpay, idiots?! Anyway, have you even seen an iPhone? Does your budget phone have a browser capable of looking up Brickset while standing in a Kmart aisle to see what the reviews of sets are like? Or a photo album useful for quickly checking pics you've snapped from catalogues? Or a PDF reader that lets you leaf through instructions books while building? Features that are just a drop in the ocean. Most iPhone owners think they're worth every cent. I've found mine an invaluable shopping tool along with everything else it does. I don't mind the "fanboy" tag, but being insulted for paying too much for my gadgetry is going too far! I suffer enough as an AFOL when it comes to being thought of someone who pays too much for things! Sorry for the distraction, just a bit rankled by the insults being freely dished out. Won't bring it up again, carry on.

Just that the metadata of the photo shows it was taken with an iPhone. I thought it funny because I also often snap pics of Lego sets on shelves and their prices to decide later what to buy! The iPhone is a good companion for Lego: the relatively large screen running a PDF reader app makes a great way to view the instructions books downloadable from lego.com. So if you've lost one, or are re-building one of the kids' sets (who WILL have destroyed the booklet), you can sit it at the table and flick from page to page. So when not bargain hunting, it's handy too.

Good to see a Lego fan is also an iPhone fan! The autofocus camera in the new 3GS is handy for things like this, if it helps give you an excuse to upgrade!

How much would that make the 10189 Taj Mahal? I think it is a Myer exclusive. I saw it at the Sydney CBD Myer. It is $499 RRP, and was $399 at Myer during their recent toy sale. If I understand the discount correctly (which I don't think I do, entirely), that would make it: 499 / 75 ~= 6 chunks of discount. 6 * 20 = 120 dollars off. 499 - 120 = $379 final price. Not too bad if you really wanted that set. Add another $26 of something and you'd get $525 worth of Lego for $385.

Indeed. I was in Target today to buy a MMV, and was strongly tempted to get a Indiana Jones Fight on the Flying Wing, discounted from $79.99 RRP down 20% to $63.99. I'd seen the same set in TRU over the weekend at $89.99, which is $10 or 12.5% above RRP. How do they get away with this? I know the "R" in RRP stands for recommended, but to me it's blatant price gouging. I won't shop at TRU out of principle. Anyway, this weekend's TRU 30% sale will put the Flying Wing at $1 under Target's 20%. I'd rather give that to Target and encourage a retailer who plays fair.