Canadian Tire Clearance MADNESS!

[Zelgazra]

2 hours ago, gregpj said:

This type of purchasing is not ethical... Why are you encouraging people to do this? That's how all the good promotions and policies that stores have disappear .. when people abuse the process.

Any more posts about this on Brickpicker will be deleted and I'm only leaving this one here because I want people to read my response.

If you'd like to discuss further, please PM me or another mod about it. Thanks.

I have to question this in public (and hopefully gain a public response)... How is this any different at all from the recent pages of Price Matching shenanigans on the TRU thread, about people getting hundreds of dollars back from purchasing Tumblers last week pre-boxing day? No mods called anyone out over there about it and there was quite a large discussion, how is this different (besides the fact we're talking about a fraction of the value in savings....). Furthermore, I quoted the sales rep word for word.... by the sounds of it CT doesn't care or think it's unethical, so how is it unethical in your books??? They're still getting their full value of money.

Edit: Just to be clear, we're talking about clearance items. I work in retail. CLEARANCE [not SALE] effectively means 'get this stock out of the store fast, we need it gone to make room for future Product Orders pronto'. They just want it gone. I can't imagine how this could possibly affect the 'promotions and policies' you speak of. Yes, if I was purchasing it at full MSRP, or during a time-sensitive SALE period, and then taking advantage of the GC deal, I could see that being on the line of unethical. But it's clearance stock. I'm doing them a favour and myself a favour in one fell swoop. 

 

Confused to say the least mate. 

Edited December 30, 2015 by Zelgazra
more info

[gregpj]

42 minutes ago, Zelgazra said:

I have to question this in public (and hopefully gain a public response)... How is this any different at all from the recent pages of Price Matching shenanigans on the TRU thread, about people getting hundreds of dollars back from purchasing Tumblers last week pre-boxing day? No mods called anyone out over there about it and there was quite a large discussion, how is this different (besides the fact we're talking about a fraction of the value in savings....). Furthermore, I quoted the sales rep word for word.... by the sounds of it CT doesn't care or think it's unethical, so how is it unethical in your books??? They're still getting their full value of money.

Edit: Just to be clear, we're talking about clearance items. I work in retail. CLEARANCE [not SALE] effectively means 'get this stock out of the store fast, we need it gone to make room for future Product Orders pronto'. They just want it gone. I can't imagine how this could possibly affect the 'promotions and policies' you speak of. Yes, if I was purchasing it at full MSRP, or during a time-sensitive SALE period, and then taking advantage of the GC deal, I could see that being on the line of unethical. But it's clearance stock. I'm doing them a favour and myself a favour in one fell swoop. 

 

Confused to say the least mate. 

I have no problem addressing this further, though I think many long time members might already be aware of the answer... Much of this has been discussed in this thread:

But to summarize my thoughts, what you're doing is buying a product to ensure it's no longer available to other customers while you wait for further discount. Then you're going to return that product, but before it goes back onto the shelves, re-buy it using the gift card. I just don't think that it is ethical .. It does not matter if it was clearance or not... you bought it for the advertised price. If it went on sale or clearance after the fact, then retailers have a policy for that - usually called a price guarantee and it is time sensitive.

We have had this kind of discussion in many other threads ... it's obviously not illegal, but many view it as shady (unethical) and we try to avoid promoting such topics on BP. It only makes resellers look greedy in my opinion (and many others).

So many members here do that... buy, return, buy, return that it has caused retailers to lock down their return policies. Some members even openly advertise to buy exclusives for in-store pickup, and return them knowing that the typical behaviour (in the US at least) is to put them on the shelves for sale the next day at a discount. Price manipulation, stock manipulation, unethical return practices, it has all been discussed several times over since I joined almost 3 years ago...

Regardless of what some employee at CT says, why don't you email CT corporate and ask them what they think? I would imagine most wouldn't want to do that.

** Full disclosure - I'm also apologizing to Zelgazra here because I originally read that as using a gift card received from CT from the original purchase, not from eBay. My position on the buy-return-re-buy stands though. This isn't a price match or price guarantee. **

I'm also going to go back an re-read the TRU topic and address it if there are any "shenanigans" but I honestly just remember reading members providing each other tips on how to get TRU to honour their price match policy which is a 14 day window. http://www.toysrus.ca/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=11770205

[Zelgazra]

Respect.

Thanks for the detailed reply and insightful links to the past. I also admit I didn't really know where the ebay GCs were coming from (didn't bother to look), I sort of thought CT was selling them, in which case it should be kosher, just a sales method. I hear you about the unethical side of effectively putting stock on extended hold until my extra discount arrives by mail though. Noted. 

Cheers, and hopefully Greg's reply* is insightful to some other nübs too

Edited December 30, 2015 by Zelgazra

[sqlplus]

Canadian tire saint-bruno, 3 left

[Dustler]

5 hours ago, sqlplus said:

Canadian tire saint-bruno, 3 left

Would these have mid/high resale value for $96 ?I've seen it around but never thought too much about it. 

Edited January 4, 2016 by Dustler

[tacsniper]

1 hour ago, Dustler said:

Would these have mid/high resale value for $96 ?I've seen it around but never thought too much about it. 

I was buying these for $86 in CT in Alberta. I think this pirate theme will do well. It was only out for 9 months before everything started to slowly went to sold out in LEGO Shop at Home. WM clearanced these in the Summer 2015. ToysRUS just clearance these as well. I think it these will be gone from retail very shortly.

Disney just announced a new indiana jones theme. Maybe we will hear something about Pirates of the Caribbean later on?

Edited January 4, 2016 by tacsniper

[Zender]

Checked in at my local CT yesterday and prices were still all the same but stock was a lot lower so not sure if they will lower them more or not.  Even if they did another 20% off I would clear them out

[rshackleford]

2 hours ago, Zender said:

Checked in at my local CT yesterday and prices were still all the same but stock was a lot lower so not sure if they will lower them more or not.  Even if they did another 20% off I would clear them out

I've been watching the pirate ship as well at my local store.  I'm pretty bummed I missed out on the Sea Cow for my kid at TRU, the Brick bounty for another 10-20% off would be a nice consolation.  Here's hoping.

[Sandwraith]

Very stocked location i visited on my way home today! Only a couple Rey's though in terms of TFA.

[TargetZero]

i can have 15 brick bountys right now for 96$ each... buying some when I can already hve a few... for some reason, it is 119$, but I ask a guy to do price match with other CT. They aint selling

 

Edited January 6, 2016 by TargetZero

[tacsniper]

Very stocked location i visited on my way home today! Only a couple Rey's though in terms of TFA.

CT is slowly becoming my favourite place. I hope they keep carrying the latest Lego sets.

[redghostx]

1 hour ago, TargetZero said:

i can have 15 brick bountys right now for 96$ each... buying some when I can already hve a few... for some reason, it is 119$, but I ask a guy to do price match with other CT. They aint selling

 

As I noted before, each CT is independent and it is up to the manager whether they price match other stores or not.  One manager would only price match when they found another local store with it in stock at the same discount.

[TargetZero]

Yeah... but when asked kindly, they will price match, did that 100 time with many thing. never was a no

12 hours ago, redghostx said:

As I noted before, each CT is independent and it is up to the manager whether they price match other stores or not.  One manager would only price match when they found another local store with it in stock at the same discount.

 

[jeff_14]

18 hours ago, tacsniper said:

CT is slowly becoming my favourite place. I hope they keep carrying the latest Lego sets.

I wouldn't count on it. I used to work at Canadian Tire some time ago and my more recent years' visits confirm that they only stock toys during the holiday season. They should be emptying the shelves shortly as the Boxing Day "season" winds down. Typically they put whatever's left into warehouse bins and wait until the next Christmas season to unload them. That's when you will likely see new sets as well. Now, many stores are owner operated so there may be exceptions to this, but I think the above is the best rule of thumb to go by in terms of Crappy Tire.

[Veegs]

18 minutes ago, jeff_14 said:

I wouldn't count on it. I used to work at Canadian Tire some time ago and my more recent years' visits confirm that they only stock toys during the holiday season. They should be emptying the shelves shortly as the Boxing Day "season" winds down. Typically they put whatever's left into warehouse bins and wait until the next Christmas season to unload them. That's when you will likely see new sets as well. Now, many stores are owner operated so there may be exceptions to this, but I think the above is the best rule of thumb to go by in terms of Crappy Tire.

In my area, they brought out a few CITY sets that didn't get purchased in 2014 and put them out in 2015. Got a few from the Great Vehicles line 50% off. I expect (based on what is still in stock around me) that some of the Swamp Police stuff will be back on the shelves next Oct-Dec. 

[jeff_14]

25 minutes ago, Veegs said:

In my area, they brought out a few CITY sets that didn't get purchased in 2014 and put them out in 2015. Got a few from the Great Vehicles line 50% off. I expect (based on what is still in stock around me) that some of the Swamp Police stuff will be back on the shelves next Oct-Dec. 

That's consistent with my experience. Who knows, we may have another crack at Brick Bountys in 10 months.

[Lego Collector 777]

20 hours ago, jeff_14 said:

I wouldn't count on it. I used to work at Canadian Tire some time ago and my more recent years' visits confirm that they only stock toys during the holiday season. They should be emptying the shelves shortly as the Boxing Day "season" winds down. Typically they put whatever's left into warehouse bins and wait until the next Christmas season to unload them. That's when you will likely see new sets as well. Now, many stores are owner operated so there may be exceptions to this, but I think the above is the best rule of thumb to go by in terms of Crappy Tire.

With this idea in mind (this quote above) 

I am waiting for a few select Lego sets at a Canadian Tire store near me to go on sale (any percentage off would be great) hopefully.

Does anyone think that any amount of Lego sets that a Canadian tire has left at full prices on the shelves will eventually go on sale before they might possibly be put back into their warehouse bins for next season??

Only have seen a few select Lego sets go on sale at a certain Canadian Tire and the rest of them are still full price?

 

Also does anyone know what week or days of this month  is considered "the end of boxing day season?"

[massakassa]

27 minutes ago, Lego Collector 777 said:

With this idea in mind (this quote above) 

I am waiting for a few select Lego sets at a Canadian Tire store near me to go on sale (any percentage off would be great) hopefully.

Does anyone think that any amount of Lego sets that a Canadian tire has left at full prices on the shelves will eventually go on sale before they might possibly be put back into their warehouse bins for next season??

Only have seen a few select Lego sets go on sale at a certain Canadian Tire and the rest of them are still full price?

 

Also does anyone know what week or days of this month  is considered "the end of boxing day season?"

Last year they discounted them 20% before taking them out of my local store.

[Sandwraith]

32 minutes ago, Lego Collector 777 said:

With this idea in mind (this quote above) 

I am waiting for a few select Lego sets at a Canadian Tire store near me to go on sale (any percentage off would be great) hopefully.

Does anyone think that any amount of Lego sets that a Canadian tire has left at full prices on the shelves will eventually go on sale before they might possibly be put back into their warehouse bins for next season??

Only have seen a few select Lego sets go on sale at a certain Canadian Tire and the rest of them are still full price?

Also does anyone know what week or days of this month  is considered "the end of boxing day season?"

I think it varies by store. I remember a couple years ago a local CT had some Olivia's Treehouse in stock that i was waiting to get discounted in January. They never did and the next day the whole Toys section was gone and packed up in the back.

This year that same store has still not discounted anything but TFA by %30, which is very strange, but since sales are determined by the owner's; maybe this owner just wants to keep LEGO around for as long as possible and not discount it.

[Gray2010]

2 of the CT close to me have packed up all of their toys in containers and they're getting ready to display all of their summer stuff, ie: Gazebo's, BBQ's, etc...

 

John

[Veegs]

21 minutes ago, Gray2010 said:

2 of the CT close to me have packed up all of their toys in containers and they're getting ready to display all of their summer stuff, ie: Gazebo's, BBQ's, etc...

 

John

Same here, not a Lego set in sight around me. Wasn't much left, but I expect to see it again in about 10 months. Probably still won't jump on all the Swamp Police stuff unless it magically takes off between now and then  

[dah_hunter]

A couple CT's near me have packed up there stuff.. but there are still a few with lots of lego. 

I have picked up everything of value that i wanted from them now.. lol. 

 

I check back to see if they will lower the prices more.. but i think they will just pack it up and thats it soon. 

 

 

[sqlplus]

1 brick bounty left at ct saint-bruno, 95.98$, box in good condition

[sqlplus]

For those interested. Ct cote-des-neiges

Like returning back in time 1 year ago

[Sandwraith]

Was in a local CT the other day looking for some car washing stuff (it's getting to be that season :)!) and this location has not put their toys section away yet (or maybe they never do).

They had a ton of Phantoms, AAT's, and Skyhoppers of note. I picked up a couple more Phantoms, but if anyone is interested in any of the mentioned just let me know. Sadly all at full price as i guess X-mas clearances have been removed by now at this location.