TheDarkness Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 Just a little example of what $200 gets you at shop.lego.com 10228 Haunted House is $180, cool. But switch regions to my country, and that same set will cost $240, plus $64 shipping. That's why a set is so much better and even for all players. Even if I had a $300 voucher I'd feel sour about spending that at shop.lego.com when the price is so inflated for non US customers. How'd you come up with that for NZ? Australian RRP is $269.99 for it. I'd happily take the set as opposed to a voucher :D Quote
Grolim Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 How'd you come up with that for NZ? Australian RRP is $269.99 for it. I'd happily take the set as opposed to a voucher NZ price is $299.99, so x 0.8 for exchange rate to US. Quote
TheDarkness Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 Ah I thought you meant what LEGO Shop at Home is charging. The other reason I advocate for a set is because competition runners may be able to pick the set up cheap somewhere. Quote
TheOrcKing Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 Crap, I'm between a tossup of Haunted House, Town Hall, or Palace Cinema.... Hmm....eeny, meeny, miney, ah screw it! Haunted House all the way! It may not be a modular, but it's the closest thing to a Halloween themed one! Plus, it's got that whole Addams Family/Munsters vibe to it, and I friggin' love that! I'm sorry people but the Gift Certificate has way too many strings attached to really make it worthwhile and/or hassle free to all members. Yes it sounds good on paper, but Gift Certificates are lousy and a pain in the ass. Take it from me, I've had a number of different ones given to me before in my life and I remember all the different hoops I had to jump through. Not fun. And what about members outside of the US? How much will it help you really? Quote
Grolim Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 Ah I thought you meant what S@H is charging. Yeah, that is what S@H charges. That's my point, they have shocking regional price gouging. Quote
Ed Mack Posted March 24, 2013 Author Posted March 24, 2013 I modified the poll answer if that helps people. I want people to buy a LEGO set with the winnings and to keep it fair to all members. I want people in Australia, for instance, to get the same value as an American member. Please educate me on what would be fair for the various countries and currencies. Quote
TheDarkness Posted March 24, 2013 Posted March 24, 2013 It'd be nearly impossible to work out that way Ed. For example, the Australia dollar is worthmore in comparison to $1AU = $1.04435US, yet if you look at the retail prices on the Haunted House, it is $269.99AU to $179.99US. For you to buy it here would cost you $281US. Crazy. Other examples Technic Unimog - $199US to $320AU Fire Brigade - $150US to $300AU Grand Emporium - $150US to $250AU Dynamic Duo Funhouse - $39US to $89AU Super Star Destroyer - $399US to $699AU Now all of that is before you factor in freight. You have your big chains that do free shipping, we have a couple but the sets are still ridiculously expensive. I know the US has a far larger economy and spends more than us. I don't mean for this to be a price whinge or rant, it is what it is and that is why I import nearly everything or wait until I find stuff heavilly clearanced. But our clearance stuff at 50% generally puts it around your RRP. I know not all economies are the same, and we are also lucky in this country. Of course there are sets coming out that are closer in the price bracket, but only because Lego seem to be increasing the US prices a bit more. The US has an absolute awesome deal with Lego, one they truly don't appreciate enough IMO. As Grolim pointed out, we have shocking regional price gouging, hence we import. If we can strike a bargain and get it freighted here for a bit over US Retail price we have done very well. Anyway, this is why I think that a set has the better and equal value. Whoever wins gets a physical set. If it were cash or a voucher to spend, well then Lego's overpriced international markets means the winner gets less. Of course, playing devil's advocate, anyone flipping it would also be making more money from it that in the States. So either way, it would be impossible to truly make it the same value. Quote
TheOrcKing Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 I have to agree completely with both Grolim and TheDarkness, a gift certificate will not work for every member. And that has nothing to do with my own personal preferance. The fact is $200 in the US does not equal or convert well into other currencies. I know it will still be considered prize money, but I believe a set for the winner will work regardless of what part of the world they are from. At best when the time comes, there could be a choice given to the winner to let them decide on what will work for them. Quote
Fcbarcelona101 Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 I voted for the gift card, but after reading some of the posts by international members I am tempted to agree that it would be easier and more just to have a determined set as a prize. I really don't think anyone will be disappointed by receiving any of the nice sets included in the poll. Quote
TheOrcKing Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 I really don't think anyone will be disappointed by receiving any of the nice sets included in the poll. I don't think so either, it is a free set afterall and a great one at that. I hope my points didn't come off as argumentative, I'm just trying to look at it from everyones perspective. Quote
Jeff Mack Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Hypotheticaly, what is the contest... Hypothetically, the contest may be, who can create the best life size replica (out of LEGO of course), of Mr. T!!! Quote
Ed Mack Posted March 25, 2013 Author Posted March 25, 2013 I think it is important to keep the contest on a level playing field. Depending on who the winner(s) is, we might adjust the prize accordingly. Basically, making sure an Australian BrickPicker member, for instance, will get the same prize as an American member. Jeff and I will talk about it. The LEGO gift cards might be the best way to send the prize to various locations around the world. Quote
Anakinisvader Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Hypothetically, the contest may be, who can create the best life size replica (out of LEGO of course), of Mr. T!!! I pitty the fool who cant make a Mr T life size replica. Except that crazy fool Murdock. Quote
joelfinch Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 How about a free lifetime membership to any upcoming premium features on the hypothetical website where this competition is run? You'd have to be able to access the website to enter to contest in the first place, so everyone who can enter should be able to get the same value out of it. I have a ton of LEGO, and while there's really no such thing as too much LEGO, the reason I'm visiting the hypothetical site isn't to get more LEGO directly, it's to get more *information* about LEGO. I'd rather win something uniquely valuable from the hypothetical website itself :) Quote
Alcarin Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Assuming such a great site existed, I believe the gift certificate would be the best choice, giving people the ability to decide anything they want. Having said that any of the sets would be an AMAZING price anyway, especially for those of us who have a hard time deciding which set to build next. gift in money value would actually be bad, considering some of us CAN NOT order from LEGO LEGO Shop at Home Quote
Fcbarcelona101 Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 gift in money value would actually be bad, considering some of us CAN NOT order from LEGO S@H Yes, I understand. At the start of the poll it said a $200 gift card for LEGO S@H, Amazon, etc. but they just changed that to S@H only. Anyway, as I said a couple of posts above this one I now think that it would be better to just give out a set considering all the issues international members would have with a GC (exchange rates, lack of stores, etc.) Quote
Alcarin Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 gift in money value would actually be bad, considering some of us CAN NOT order from LEGO LEGO Shop at Home Yes, I understand. At the start of the poll it said a $200 gift card for LEGO LEGO Shop at Home, Amazon, etc. but they just changed that to LEGO Shop at Home only. Anyway, as I said a couple of posts above this one I now think that it would be better to just give out a set considering all the issues international members would have with a GC (exchange rates, lack of stores, etc.) I can do ok with Amazon gift card, since then I can order from Amazon.uk or any other... And so can whole Europe... So ye. If it must be gift card then it has to be something whole world can use, otherwise I would rather see a set Quote
TheDarkness Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 I don't think you can go wrong with any of the sets..........if you don't want one or mutiples of the above sets in your brickfolio I would be hard pressed to call you an investor. Exactly. I'd happily take any of them if they are free :D Quote
M4x18 Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Why I selected the LEGO Shop at Home gift card option over the actual sets: import taxes. I am in Spain and if I get an item that's valued over some stupid amount around 44 Quote
Alcarin Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Why I selected the LEGO Shop at Home gift card option over the actual sets: import taxes. I am in Spain and if I get an item that's valued over some stupid amount around 44 Quote
comicblast Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 What exactly is the contest?It's a "Hypothetical Contest" but I assume we will see it in the near future... Quote
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