Prices of New Sets are Nuts

[Sprocket77]

Just been in Smyths and they have all the June releases out a few days early and across the board I was looking at these sets going, God they're overpriced. A few examples and by no mean the only ones:

Volcano Heavy Lifter Helicopter €130

Vader's Tie Advanced vs A-Wing  €110

Resistance X- Wing  €95 - €10 more than Poe's X-Wing for whatever reason

Batman: Scarecrow Harvest of Fear  €75

Spiderman Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle €120

Fun in the Park  €45

Smyths generally have the same RRP as Lego, so no TRU gouging to start with.

I couldn't believe the prices on most of these having only seen the dollar prices in advance, which of course are lower. They're decent sets and the super hero ones in particular are a definite improvement on previous sets in the theme, but they are way overpriced. 

One of the sets I've been looking forward to seeing and which there's a huge amount of positivity on here for is the Fun in the Park, but boy is it underwhelming. I know it's a minifigure set so the piece count is going to be low for the price and there's some nice new additions, but this set is tiny, the box itself being not much bigger than a battle pack set. I just can't see this being picked up as a present when you can get a lot more bang for buck elsewhere.

[makr]

New releases are often priced rather close to MSRP. Both X-Wings have an MSRP of 99€, likely prices will drop within a few months.

[Fenix_2k1]

I thought the same when i walked into Smyths over here.  The prices will soon fall though.

On the upside, a lot of the sets do look good. 

[feed]

Those are all standard sets with standard marketing practice.  A high initial price with the expectation of ~25% discounts.  If Lego can’t stop retailers discounting, then price them higher and let them discount more.  It’s the same as the automotive industry; no-one pays sticker price.  

[Sprocket77]

4 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

I thought the same when i walked into Smyths over here.  The prices will soon fall though.

On the upside, a lot of the sets do look good. 

They'll always reduce prices after a while, but that still doesn't explain why say the Resistance X-Wing is €10 dearer than Poe's X-Wing, is the Lor San Tekka figure worth that much more than the equivalent minifigure on Poe's X-Wing.

These prices all feel like they're trending higher RRP wise than what I would have expected from a similar sized/themed set being released last year.

[ironbrick]

But Lego knows it can charge more due to all the speculation and hoarding of its most popular products. This is why you see very few extraordinary sales and discounts at the Lego Store anymore. There will always be promos (how many free May 4th Stormtroopers does the average reseller have?), but aside from big box stores that don't care about secondary market prices you can expect fewer and fewer discounts from here on out.

When we talk about the proverbial 'speculative bubble' in regards to Lego, I don't think that too many folks really consider what this means. Lego will always be popular as a children's toy; have a lot of AFOL's, and even generally sell well on the secondary market. There will however, be much fewer sets generating high returns after retirement though. Part prices will drop as well which will effect Bricklink sellers the most (this is already occurring). Lego has already made one disadvantage to any speculator by cannibalizing and over saturating their respective markets. In conclusion, comic books survived their speculative bubble as did a lot of collectibles. It just would be nuts to go to the store and buy up every issue of say Batman or Amazing Spider-Man and keep them for future gains. Same thing will happen with Lego; hence why you are starting to see higher retail prices and an overall lack of discounts aside from big box clearances. 

[Sprocket77]

Ah, it only took 6 posts before this thread got turned into an extension of the bubble thread, that's impressive 

[exciter1]

19 minutes ago, Sprocket77 said:

Ah, it only took 6 posts before this thread got turned into an extension of the bubble thread, that's impressive 

Should we merge?

[Sprocket77]

3 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Should we merge?

Well there are solid reasons for a merger, move the headquarters to Ireland, tax inversion deals are all the rage, big tax savings, increase our buying power etc. I think the politicians are going to target it post election though, so it would have to be done soon.

[exciter1]

3 minutes ago, Sprocket77 said:

Well there are solid reasons for a merger, move the headquarters to Ireland, tax inversion deals are all the rage, big tax savings, increase our buying power etc. I think the politicians are going to target it post election though, so it would have to be done soon.

...and the matching shirts.

[Sprocket77]

Just now, exciter1 said:

...and the matching shirts.

Of course the matching shirts, that's a given.

[fossilrock]

This thread definitely has merit, however, if you buy later in the sets life, you pay much much less for it.  Some recent examples for me were the First Order Transporter which I found at walmart for 45, and the Resistance Transporter which is now hovering around 55.00 on amazon.  To me these prices are more in line to what i'd expect the retail price on the set to go for. 

[makr]

2 hours ago, Sprocket77 said:

They'll always reduce prices after a while, but that still doesn't explain why say the Resistance X-Wing is €10 dearer than Poe's X-Wing, is the Lor San Tekka figure worth that much more than the equivalent minifigure on Poe's X-Wing.

These prices all feel like they're trending higher RRP wise than what I would have expected from a similar sized/themed set being released last year.

You are right, the new X-Wing actualy costs €10 more. There will always be some inflation which comes in such increments, I don't know if I would read too much into it. Could very well be that Disney tweaked the licenses a little. Besides, this seems to be one of those sets where US MSRP at $80 is significantly lower.

By the way, the MSRP of Fun in the Park is actually lower than what they are selling it for. But even at €40, it's still quite pricey for a rather small set. I guess the minifig aspect that you mentioned does play a role here.

[Sprocket77]

15 minutes ago, makromizer said:

By the way, the MSRP of Fun in the Park is actually lower than what they are selling it for. But even at €40, it's still quite pricey for a rather small set. I guess the minifig aspect that you mentioned does play a role here.

SAH price is €44.99 here.

 

[HandyHand]

On 27/05/2016 at 2:39 PM, makromizer said:

You are right, the new X-Wing actualy costs €10 more. There will always be some inflation which comes in such increments, I don't know if I would read too much into it. Could very well be that Disney tweaked the licenses a little. Besides, this seems to be one of those sets where US MSRP at $80 is significantly lower.

By the way, the MSRP of Fun in the Park is actually lower than what they are selling it for. But even at €40, it's still quite pricey for a rather small set. I guess the minifig aspect that you mentioned does play a role here.

The mere fact that the new Resistance X-Wing has an RRP of €99,99 while the RRP of Poe's X-Wing is €89,99 could suggest that Poe's X-Wing is going to retire soon. What toy-store would want to keep both X-Wing sets on the shelf while the new X-Wing has a €10 higher price tag? How to explain that to their customers? Odd though that in the US both X-Wing sets are equally priced at $79.99...

The Fun in the Park set is priced the same €44,99 here in The Netherlands by the way.

[Sprocket77]

6 minutes ago, Haay said:

The mere fact that the new Resistance X-Wing has an RRP of €99,99 while the RRP of Poe's X-Wing is €89,99 could suggest that Poe's X-Wing is going to retire soon. What toy-store would want to keep both X-Wing sets on the shelf while the new X-Wing has a €10 higher price tag? How to explain that to their customers? Odd though that in the US both X-Wing sets are equally priced at $79.99...

The Fun in the Park set is priced the same €44,99 here in The Netherlands by the way.

I was thinking the same about it potentially heralding the end of Poe's X-Wing. Still don't have any yet though, haven't found them any cheaper than €70 anywhere.

Did you think the Fun in the Park set looked pretty unsubstantial for a €45 set, even allowing for it being minifigures?

[HandyHand]

2 minutes ago, Sprocket77 said:

I was thinking the same about it potentially heralding the end of Poe's X-Wing. Still don't have any yet though, haven't found them any cheaper than €70 anywhere.

Did you think the Fun in the Park set looked pretty unsubstantial for a €45 set, even allowing for it being minifigures?

I do not expect both X-Wing sets to be on sale at the same time for long, and so expecting Poe's X-Wing being on its last legs, I decided to take Poe's at €70 (including shipping from Amazon UK) because I just can't get it cheaper than that here in The Netherlands. Built one for my own collection, and keeping the other for speculation.

I agree about the Fun in the Park set. It's basically a City-based minifig collection set. 14 regular minifigs (+baby minifig) and a few accessories make it basically €3 per minifig. A similar price to collectable minifigs. I definitely won't buy it for RRP, but if it gets a good discount some time it could be worth it.

[Val-E]

Didn´t Emazer say it was still in the wholesale catalogue?

[HandyHand]

2 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Didn´t Emazer say it was still in the wholesale catalogue?

Maybe there's a difference in the wholesale catalogue between the USA and Europe? After all, sets do retire at different times between Europa and the US, so that's entirely possible.

[gregpj]

55 minutes ago, Haay said:

Maybe there's a difference in the wholesale catalogue between the USA and Europe? After all, sets do retire at different times between Europa and the US, so that's entirely possible.

Even if it doesn't retire, the fact that it's €10 cheaper means it will likely be the first choice if both are on the shelves... meaning it'll be harder to find at retail and presents an opportunity for resellers who are savvy enough to find them.

[Brian Briggs]

On 27.5.2016 at 11:20 AM, Sprocket77 said:

Just been in Smyths and they have all the June releases out a few days early and across the board I was looking at these sets going, God they're overpriced. A few examples and by no mean the only ones:

Volcano Heavy Lifter Helicopter €130 129.99€

Vader's Tie Advanced vs A-Wing  €110 99.99€

Resistance X- Wing  €95 - €10 more than Poe's X-Wing for whatever reason 89.99€ (the same price as 75102)

Batman: Scarecrow Harvest of Fear  €75 69.99€

Spiderman Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle €120 99.99€

Fun in the Park  €45 39.99€

Smyths generally have the same RRP as Lego, so no TRU gouging to start with.

I couldn't believe the prices on most of these having only seen the dollar prices in advance, which of course are lower. They're decent sets and the super hero ones in particular are a definite improvement on previous sets in the theme, but they are way overpriced. 

One of the sets I've been looking forward to seeing and which there's a huge amount of positivity on here for is the Fun in the Park, but boy is it underwhelming. I know it's a minifigure set so the piece count is going to be low for the price and there's some nice new additions, but this set is tiny, the box itself being not much bigger than a battle pack set. I just can't see this being picked up as a present when you can get a lot more bang for buck elsewhere.

For comparison I added LEGO's German prices (according to LEGO Shop at Home) to your list (pink colour).

For Germany, the prices don't look as bad as yours. Especially the Spiderman set 76057 looks like good value for money at 20€ less (9 cents/piece and includes 7 minifigs). The price for Fun in the Park is decent as well when compared to the CMF series.

[jaisonline]

@Sprocket77 I totally agree about the high prices of sets.  Ever since 2014, it seems that Lego either decreased the avg licensed set size or increased the price.  

Take that new $89.99  Vader 75150 set which has 4 minifigs.

The older 8097 Tie Advanced version is slightly larger and was a $29.99 (or $33.50 adjusted for inflation).  1 minifigure included.

The last A-Wing from 2013 (75003) was a $24.99 set and included 3 minifigures.  Granted this newer one seems slightly larger.

Basically, Lego is now charging nearly 40% more if we compare all 3 sets.  

[Sprocket77]

5 hours ago, Brian Briggs said:

For comparison I added LEGO's German prices (according to LEGO Shop at Home) to your list (pink colour).

For Germany, the prices don't look as bad as yours. Especially the Spiderman set 76057 looks like good value for money at 20€ less (9 cents/piece and includes 7 minifigs). The price for Fun in the Park is decent as well when compared to the CMF series.

Ah crap, don't tell me we've been lumbered with the Dutch Lego tax now, we used to have pretty similar RRP's to Germany. 

[Val-E]

1 hour ago, Sprocket77 said:

Ah crap, don't tell me we've been lumbered with the Dutch Lego tax now, we used to have pretty similar RRP's to Germany. 

Expensive shipping, small potential market and status as a tax haven - Lego have clearly done their research

[Sprocket77]

2 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Expensive shipping, small potential market and status as a tax FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT FOR COMPANIES - Lego have clearly done their research

Fixed that for you.

Sadly it ain't low tax for joe soaps like me