Alcarin Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Ok lets make a European discussion thread about all important stuff for Europe LEGO investing. I am sure there are many similarities to US investing, and entering is the same, but how do Europe investors/AFOLs get their sets. Do you mostly use Amazon.uk.com? Do you use Ebay... How do you prepare to ''fight'' US competition with such discounted prices... I have a good idea for Jeff and Ed, when/if they look this thread. It would be neat, if we could get option for Brickfolio to be set in Europe, and our price points and retail numbers would be 25% higher than US. Would not skew graphs that badly. Because now it seems even with Discount of 20% I end up seeing above retail purchase on Brickpicker. So maybe when we would have option to click we are Outside US/or inside Europe we would get instantly recalculated prices like US retail x 1,25... Would help Europeans alot in my opinion. Also do European sellers get some contract for cheaper shipping or something, because shipping 2-5kg LEGOs to US costs over 60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glucapg Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I'm from Italy I use amazon.it and amazon.co.uk because have free shipping sometimes IU'v bought from amazon.es amazon.de and amazon.fr in case of great deal It seems amazon.de to have the best prices Of course, when I order drom .i and .co.uk I order only at time Good idea to increase the US prices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunamis Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Thanks for getting this thread started; hopefully it will get some traction. I have nothing to contribute at this point but I will be moving to the Netherlands for work in June and will probably stay there for 5-10 years. I have sold Lego on Ebay and Amazon here in the U.S. for a while now with good success and am debating how much I would/could do this from Europe and still make a profit. Any suggestions or tips other users have would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abri123 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Hi, Would be a useful tool to have European based prices if they have the time (I know they've got a lot on at moment, from reading other posts). I've not been using the site for long but have noticed that because of cheaper US prices that some of the new sets I log onto my brickfolio that have been purchased on sale, and easily the cheapest in the country (UK) at that moment in time still say that they are worth less than what I just paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Hi, Would be a useful tool to have European based prices if they have the time (I know they've got a lot on at moment, from reading other posts). I've not been using the site for long but have noticed that because of cheaper US prices that some of the new sets I log onto my brickfolio that have been purchased on sale, and easily the cheapest in the country (UK) at that moment in time still say that they are worth less than what I just paid. Exactly. Why everyone can say this is just ''guide'' it would be nice ifEd and Jeff once they get their hands off more important updates add option to auto re-calculate all price guide for 1.25x US retail for more accurate prices. Would do a big favor to European base or most others actually. But even if they do this we in the end still have to compete with US prices because most aftermarket is happening in US i guess... so if i get return on US prices I know I am doing great with my set lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seifer Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Hmmm I'm from Croatia, but I don't think brickfolio changes would do us any good. Why change the values? Just so that the brickfolio shows you're doing ok? Don't get me wrong, I understand the problem that European investors have with US prices, but if we think a bit out of the box the market today is a global one. For instance I tend to value my investments based on how much they are selling on ebay, amazon or BL. And I only check the actual sold items and not the listed ones. We are at a disadvantage, I agree, but changes done here won't effect your final sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Hmmm I'm from Croatia, but I don't think brickfolio changes would do us any good. Why change the values? Just so that the brickfolio shows you're doing ok? Don't get me wrong, I understand the problem that European investors have with US prices, but if we think a bit out of the box the market today is a global one. For instance I tend to value my investments based on how much they are selling on ebay, amazon or BL. And I only check the actual sold items and not the listed ones. We are at a disadvantage, I agree, but changes done here won't effect your final sale. It would actually show me doing LESS good. I am not asking for CURRENT price x1.25 calculation but RETAIL price x1.25 calculation. If we increase retail prices for our graphs we LOWER our gains which would be more accurate. I am not sure if you understood me Retail for Medieval market Village is like 76 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seifer Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I understand. Still I think this isn't as simple as it sounds. It would mean having 2 completely different databases (just retail prices) for each LEGO set which is a huge amount of work. I don't think the Macks have the time and the energy right now to do a big overhaul of the site considering their current work on the upcoming features and improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I understand. Still I think this isn't as simple as it sounds. It would mean having 2 completely different databases (just retail prices) for each LEGO set which is a huge amount of work. I don't think the Macks have the time and the energy right now to do a big overhaul of the site considering their current work on the upcoming features and improvements. I am more thinking in a code similar to ''IF country ''list everything apart from US or anything else with US retail'' then ''retailx1.25'' granted I only attended 1 year of computer programming i think something in line of this code would be needed, but I have 0 knowledge of how do they run the webpage price guide anyway. Maybe Jeff could reply here and give some light to my idea, or maybe I will simply PM him :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 As this is a US site you would expect to see US pricing. But there must be something in a the programming that determines where you are because I only see European price comparisons (and Canada for some reason -- haven't worked that one out ). So for example, lets take 10226 I can see the Retail price of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 As this is a US site you would expect to see US pricing. But there must be something in a the programming that determines where you are because I only see European price comparisons (and Canada for some reason -- haven't worked that one out ). So for example, lets take 10226 I can see the Retail price of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I am not wholly convinced that a fixed multiplier would be the answer. The $/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I am not wholly convinced that a fixed multiplier would be the answer. The $/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 But if the local LEGO Shop at Home price is given on the Current Offers section, is that not the RRP? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickmilk Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Decide to stop lurking and post. To get back at your original question. I buy mostly from local Lego dealers. however I also think we have strong position buying from the united states with such a strong Euro. Even though shipping mostly is insane you can still make a profit flipping sets in the local/European market. As there are still a lot of people who are not willing to risk getting shipments from overseas or willing to pay the high shipping costs. Latest purchase is from Bricklink 10186 for 138,- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 But if the local LEGO Shop at Home price is given on the Current Offers section, is that not the RRP? Example of European RRP differences: Gold leaders Y-Wing Starfighter I paid full retail for this one foolish as I was... it has current price of 45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I do not think the word "lie" is not fair because it suggests that BP is trying to mislead you on purpose. However I see what you mean. I bought 10193 for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I do not think the word "lie" is not fair because it suggests that BP is trying to mislead you on purpose. However I see what you mean. I bought 10193 for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4x18 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I'm from Spain, I usually get my sets at local toy shops or by lurking at ebay.es and all the european Amazon sites. Buying from the US does not make sense for me as the taxes that I could end up paying could take the set even higher than what it could cost me buying it on this side of the pond. As for Spain, if the value of the goods plus shipping exceeds some ridiculous figure that is around 50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 off topic, Alcarin, I see you live in Ptuj. Nice town been there 2 summers ago on my way to Sarajevo, nice atmosphere and great waterpark! had myself a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickmilk Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 Where is the cheapest you can obtain MISB Super Star Destroyer in Europe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Cheapest amazon is Spain at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.