10251 - Brick Bank

[HandyHand]

Eurozone prices now up. If you aree Dutch, look away now:

Hidden Content

 

That really sucks. But for me it just means I'll have to watch for better offers elsewhere. A sale by another store, or eBay...

[Val-E]

It also debunks the theory that Lego is getting rid of the cheaper modules (PS and PC) if they introduce a new 150 euros (in main markets) one.

[GhostDad]

It also debunks the theory that Lego is getting rid of the cheaper modules (PS and PC) if they introduce a new 150 euros (in main markets) one.

Well... From a US perspective, if I own no modulars and see a PC in a giant box for $150 versus a BB in a smaller box for $170...  That won't be a tough call.

Lego's pushing prices on everything these days, in an era of dirt cheap oil (hence cheap plastic) and zippo inflation throughout the developed world.  I think they will come to regret many of their recent pricing decisions.  They are not the only toy option available, and are completely outclassed when it comes to usage of technology.  I wonder how long kids especially will continue to prefer Lego bricks at twice the cost of competing toys that are halfway to being sentient...

[Val-E]

I would venture to say that the US has had it good for a while now and that TLG are slowly trying to balance worldwide prices. 170 USD at an exchange rate of 1.12 USD/EUR brings you in line with the cheapest Eurozone prices whereas before many sets were at 1 USD / 1 EUR hence our endless moaning about preferential treatment as discounts also tend to be better over there.

I think that apart from the RRP increase,it is the gradual trimmig of the latter that is making the product more expensive. However, it is supply and demand and if we benefit from it on the secondary market, TLG surely feels their product is underpriced on the new market. Perhaps when  demand falls off and Lego becomes less fashionable, things will change but that would also be bad news for us.

Higher new prices also make our inflated ones easier to swallow.

 

[Locutus001]

Well... From a US perspective, if I own no modulars and see a PC in a giant box for $150 versus a BB in a smaller box for $170...  That won't be a tough call.

Lego's pushing prices on everything these days, in an era of dirt cheap oil (hence cheap plastic) and zippo inflation throughout the developed world.  I think they will come to regret many of their recent pricing decisions.  They are not the only toy option available, and are completely outclassed when it comes to usage of technology.  I wonder how long kids especially will continue to prefer Lego bricks at twice the cost of competing toys that are halfway to being sentient...

It's a business, what to you expect? Also over the last 30 years!!! The price per brick didn't change as much as people might think and the molds, designs, prints have been improved over the years as well as the sets details.

Also you don't have to decide for either a "halfway to being sentient" toy OR LEGO toys but you can have both. If children still feel the same about LEGO as I did then I absolutely can understand what they see in it. Also LEGO is doing a great job in marketing their products.

While you can create your own world with LEGO, even using it as a means of art (a lot of MOCs are compareable to paintings or sculptures), and use it again after years of catching dust, your "halfway to being sentient" toys mostly are cheap plastic crap where you get what you buy and cannot create anything of your own.

The digital world is making progress though, but a hands on toy still seems to be a good choice if you ask me.

I would venture to say that the US has had it good for a while now and that TLG are slowly trying to balance worldwide prices. 170 USD at an exchange rate of 1.12 USD/EUR brings you in line with the cheapest Eurozone prices whereas before many sets were at 1 USD / 1 EUR hence our endless moaning about preferential treatment as discounts also tend to be better over there.

I think that apart from the RRP increase,it is the gradual trimmig of the latter that is making the product more expensive. However, it is supply and demand and if we benefit from it on the secondary market, TLG surely feels their product is underpriced on the new market. Perhaps when  demand falls off and Lego becomes less fashionable, things will change but that would also be bad news for us.

Higher new prices also make our inflated ones easier to swallow.

 

I feel exactly the same. LEGO is a european product that is sold cheaper tot he U.S. than to most european countries. Also you have a different discount system than we have which gives you insane opportunities (but for exclusive sets?). You have to have this system as your economy is made up differently and probably most people don't take into considerationt that you pay the store price + TAXES instead of taxes being included. (As far as I know this is not true for ordering directly from shop at home).

Right now at 1,00€=0.88$ the price being 149,99€ to 170.00€ is exactly matched one to one (170.00$ = 149,79€).

(We use "," instead of "." Just so nobody gets confused about what I'm doing here ^.^ ).

[GhostDad]

Understand this is not a moral argument.  Lego can charge whatever it wants.  I'm only questioning whether that's actually wise in the long term.  Price per piece was relatively stable until the last few years, but has definitely risen since 2012 or so.  Meanwhile essentially every other manufactured product has remained stable in price or declined (even without adjusting for inflation).

Look at what's happened with giant flat screen televisions!  People say, 'Lego has all these new molds and they're really expensive to produce', but seriously, compared to the incredibly complex electronics in a 60" flat screen, a new Lego animal mold or something just doesn't seem that impressive.

If I were Lego, I would price my product so that kids would keep buying it.  Raise prices too much, or too fast, and they'll look elsewhere.  Once they switch over to video games (far cheaper per hour of entertainment provided, and you can play with or against dozens of other people at the same time), it could be very hard to get them back to depending on their own imagination and a box of plastic.

[Locutus001]

Understand this is not a moral argument.  Lego can charge whatever it wants.  I'm only questioning whether that's actually wise in the long term.  Price per piece was relatively stable until the last few years, but has definitely risen since 2012 or so.  Meanwhile essentially every other manufactured product has remained stable in price or declined (even without adjusting for inflation).

Look at what's happened with giant flat screen televisions!  People say, 'Lego has all these new molds and they're really expensive to produce', but seriously, compared to the incredibly complex electronics in a 60" flat screen, a new Lego animal mold or something just doesn't seem that impressive.

If I were Lego, I would price my product so that kids would keep buying it.  Raise prices too much, or too fast, and they'll look elsewhere.  Once they switch over to video games (far cheaper per hour of entertainment provided, and you can play with or against dozens of other people at the same time), it could be very hard to get them back to depending on their own imagination and a box of plastic.

Kids don't buy, parents do.

I think LEGO still moves inside of a safety zone. Also you have to take into consideration that most sets are priced in a normal price range from 10-120. That's how it's always been. More expensive sets are out there too, but PR or BB or DS is not an everyday toy for everyone but either collectors treat OR the ultimate present for kids. (Or maybe just another present if the parents have enough money ;-)).

 

 

[McLovin]

On 10/18/2015, 3:19:10, valenciaeric said:

I would venture to say that the US has had it good for a while now and that TLG are slowly trying to balance worldwide prices. 170 USD at an exchange rate of 1.12 USD/EUR brings you in line with the cheapest Eurozone prices whereas before many sets were at 1 USD / 1 EUR hence our endless moaning about preferential treatment as discounts also tend to be better over there.

 

Unlike the U.S., European prices include VAT, which averages over 20%. If you take out the VAT and make an apples to apples comparison, the German price is about 126 Euro, which is substantially cheaper than the U.S. price of 170 USD.

[10230]

55 minutes ago, McLovin said:

Unlike the U.S., European prices include VAT, which averages over 20%. If you take out the VAT and make an apples to apples comparison, the German price is about 126 Euro, which is substantially cheaper than the U.S. price of 170 USD.

Maybe. But this compares no tax in Europe with no tax in the US. You rarely have either. In both cases you do have to pay tax (in most cases), so comparisons should be made including tax. And then it is 150€ = $170, against $170*(1+ tax rate), in the example case of 9% tax against $185 - maybe $180 on average. That's not that much of a difference.

[Neosphinx]

Belgium. 169.99€. That's the second one with 10€ price difference from France. I also  paid 10€ more for Dr. Who than 150km south.

And this modular is 10€ more than DO while it has less printed parts and almost equal amount.

Nice, thank you LEGO!

[Follows Closely]

The new snot piece confirmed.

[HandyHand]

On 12/12/2015 at 6:27 PM, Neosphinx said:

Belgium. 169.99€. That's the second one with 10€ price difference from France. I also  paid 10€ more for Dr. Who than 150km south.

And this modular is 10€ more than DO while it has less printed parts and almost equal amount.

Nice, thank you LEGO!

Yes, we in Belgium and The Netherlands are getting royally s-c-r-e-w-e-d over by TLG with these premium prices for the newer sets! It can't be just the VAT (BTW) difference between countries. Germany has a VAT of 19% and France of 19.6% if my numbers are correct. Belgium and The Netherlands are both at 21%. But that difference can't explain the much bigger MSRP of these new Lego sets between the countries. In the case of The Netherlands the lack of a physical Lego store could be an explanation, but Belgium does have a physical Lego store which doesn't change anything about this discrepancy.

So I'm really baffled why there's such a big difference! A few examples show how crazy this is:

Set	Price in Germany	Price in The Netherlands
10251 BB	€149.99	€169.99
70751 Temple	€199.99	€229.99
76023 Tumbler	€199.99	€219.99
75827 FHHQ	€349.99	€399.99

A smaller difference due to VAT differences could be acceptable but this becomes ridiculous!

[Brian Briggs]

1 hour ago, Haay said:

Yes, we in Belgium and The Netherlands are getting royally s-c-r-e-w-e-d over by TLG with these premium prices for the newer sets! It can't be just the VAT (BTW) difference between countries. Germany has a VAT of 19% and France of 19.6% if my numbers are correct. Belgium and The Netherlands are both at 21%. But that difference can't explain the much bigger MSRP of these new Lego sets between the countries.

Maybe your math is off?

Or TLG remembers the extraordinarily high sums the Dutch were willing to pay for a single tulip bulb during the days of tulip mania and assumes that the Dutch can be easily overcharged for their Lego.

[Neosphinx]

4 hours ago, Brian Briggs said:

Maybe your math is off?

Or TLG remembers the extraordinarily high sums the Dutch were willing to pay for a single tulip bulb during the days of tulip mania and assumes that the Dutch can be easily overcharged for their Lego.

He's absolutely right. We do get screwed over. And the tulip  sage doesn't explain why we Belgians need to pay more. Belgians only care for friet, bier and sjoklat.

[Brian Briggs]

13 minutes ago, Neosphinx said:

He's absolutely right. We do get screwed over. And the tulip  sage doesn't explain why we Belgians need to pay more. Belgians only care for friet, bier and sjoklat.

Well, there used to be a time when both Belgium and the Netherlands belonged to the same political entity. So it kind of makes sense.

Now it's only two and a half weeks to go until release. I'm really curious if there'll be a promo for buying this set early. At least there was a rumor alluding to it some time ago.

[HandyHand]

11 hours ago, Brian Briggs said:

Now it's only two and a half weeks to go until release. I'm really curious if there'll be a promo for buying this set early. At least there was a rumor alluding to it some time ago.

At this site http://nl.lego.wikia.com/wiki/40221_(Polybag_10251) they mention the rumour about the free promo to go with the Brick Bank set. Picture looks pretty!  

[Val-E]

18 hours ago, Haay said:

Yes, we in Belgium and The Netherlands are getting royally s-c-r-e-w-e-d over by TLG with these premium prices for the newer sets! It can't be just the VAT (BTW) difference between countries. Germany has a VAT of 19% and France of 19.6% if my numbers are correct. Belgium and The Netherlands are both at 21%. But that difference can't explain the much bigger MSRP of these new Lego sets between the countries. In the case of The Netherlands the lack of a physical Lego store could be an explanation, but Belgium does have a physical Lego store which doesn't change anything about this discrepancy.

So I'm really baffled why there's such a big difference! A few examples show how crazy this is:

Set	Price in Germany	Price in The Netherlands
10251 BB	€149.99	€169.99
70751 Temple	€199.99	€229.99
76023 Tumbler	€199.99	€219.99
75827 FHHQ	€349.99	€399.99

A smaller difference due to VAT differences could be acceptable but this becomes ridiculous!

I guess people can afford to pay though as sets like red 5 were in the best seller list despite being way more expensive than in other countries.

[HandyHand]

6 minutes ago, valenciaeric said:

I guess people can afford to pay though as sets like red 5 were in the best seller list despite being way more expensive than in other countries.

Buying the Red Five directly from Lego LEGO Shop at Home is the only way to still get it here in The Netherlands. So I guess the Christmas promos of October (train) and November/December (GBH), plus the imminent retiring of this UCS set, were reasons to buy it, despite the Red Five being more expensive than in other countries (with the exception of the UK where the Lego LEGO Shop at Home is even more expensive).

[dcdfan]

19 hours ago, Haay said:

At this site http://nl.lego.wikia.com/wiki/40221_(Polybag_10251) they mention the rumour about the free promo to go with the Brick Bank set. Picture looks pretty!

This is a rumor? I mentioned that I thought that this would be the promo like DO had a promo when I saw the image...interesting...

[Ciglione]

19 hours ago, Haay said:

At this site http://nl.lego.wikia.com/wiki/40221_(Polybag_10251) they mention the rumour about the free promo to go with the Brick Bank set. Picture looks pretty!

Dunno why... but when seeing this picture my brain told me "Doctor Who" right away.

[BearCrash]

4 minutes ago, Ciglione said:

Dunno why... but when seeing this picture my brain told me "Doctor Who" right away.

Same here

[dcdfan]

'Cause the image was originally under "creator 2016"...

To me this looks like a fountain & benches. Kinda like outside a bank...

[Ciglione]

44 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

 

'Cause the image was originally under "creator 2016"...

To me this looks like a fountain & benches. Kinda like outside a bank...

Well... According to the Rorschach test... 

What does it say about you and what does it say about Bearcrash and myself? 

[BearCrash]

8 minutes ago, Ciglione said:

Well... According to the Rorschach test... 

What does it say about you and what does it say about Bearcrash and myself? 

Whatever the answer might be, it probably goes way back to the relationship we have with our moms.

[TheOrcKing]

I wonder if anyone has ever taken the Rorschach test for the heck of it or otherwise.