Investing in Asia

[MartinP]

I was just wondering what investing in Legos in Asia is like. Do the sets cost more or less? Is it worth to invest in Legos in Asia in the first place? Just curious.

 

P.S. If you do not want to share, you do not have to.

[comicblast]

The USA is home to cheap LEGO's, so to answer your first question, LEGO's are definitely more expensive there. I just read a thread for the introduction of a member named Mrlimtat, who is located in Malaysia, and another named Elvenhto. 

 

 

i bought at RM700 ( so around 200 USD) from local reseller which i think they bought it in US and bring it back home.....  thank to the our lego distributor, Malaysia lego price is damm crazy .. even in legoland malaysia the price is RM899. i hope one day lego.com can ship to Malaysia, since we have Legoland here !   

 

 

Also, a member named Redplanet is located in Singapore. It seems like investors in Asia have a hard time competing with other international sellers, but they can sell to locals, which allows some investing to go on over there.

 

Hi guys, I'm from Singapore.
Over here, retailers mark up the prices of Lego so much so that even a 20% discount off the RRP would not mean much to serious investors. Bulk purchase imported from Europe/US, preferably from wholesale sources is the best deal.

Here is an example of a local retailer's online store. Take a look at the prices.
https://www.bricksworld.com/store/pc/home.asp

Mods, if this is not allowed, please remove the web link.

 

 

I shall do a similar comparison using the three sets u mentioned. Singapore retail price(SGD) vs Singapore retail price(USD) vs US RRP(USD). Conversion is via latest exchange rate at the local money changer. 1 USD=1.25 SGD

Battle of Helm's Deep: 279.90 - 223.90 - 129.99

Attack on Weathertop: 119.90 - 95.90 - 59.99

Mines of Moria: 159.90 - 127.90 - 79.99

Contrary to what u said, I think it IS bad. But of course, there are still shoppers buying away happily, those that dont't bother looking for alternative better deals. I'm sure the retailers need to account for overhead costs in their business, but I think we're looking at a deep profit margin here. Maybe too deep.

 

 

Yes they do. There's still some money to be made. Just the margin. So flipping is not ideal locally unless u have other sources which I mentioned in my earlier posts. We can totally forget about doing international sale. Well, almost...

For the 10212 Imperial Shuttle, one of my fav sets, the eBay asking rate for a MISB set is between 525 and 1000(??!!!) depending on box condition. The local RRP before it went EOL was $499.90.

 

[@rtisan]

What this thread tells me is there is money in selling from here to the Asian market  We can beat their MSRP and still make a lot on returns. Win-win!

[kerrmando]

Selling from here to Asia is great... We love doing it!

[Guest eightbrick]

I am currently in Asia, here are some of my observations:

 

 Set prices in the majority of countries is higher than US MSRP equivalent.

 The majority of people buying sets appears to be parents for children and young to middle aged men.

 Despite the stereotype of Asia, specifically China, being a home for many cheap knockoffs, the precense of total copycats (such as BELA, which goes as far as copying   actual sets) is largely restricted to tourist markets and mom and pop stores. No sign of megablocks but Nanoblocks, IMO a high quality micro copycat, are  decently popular, especially in Japan.

 Independant retailers typically offer better prices than chain stores such as TRU, however the MSRP markup at TRU doesn:t seem as prominent.

In Hong Kong (an special area of China), all Lego is imported through Lego Hong Kong. Perhaps more interestingly, there is a place in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong where a collection of small shops (called Ins Point) offer Lego, new, old, and customs. The new sets are typically below MSRP but the old are sold for above market prices with minimal bargaining.

Hong Kong is probably one of the cheaper areas in Asia for Lego, Redplanet in Singapore has to put up with far higher prices the Hong Kong buyers unfortunately.

Asia is seeing huge amounts of growth and it is no wonder that Asia is shifting focus to the emerging markets of the east.

 

That is enough for one post I think I will post a blog article later since there seems to be some interest in the region.

[MartinP]

That is a very interesting observation. I thought that the Lego prices would be really high in Asia.

[colm9999]

wow

[Guest eightbrick]

That is a very interesting observation. I thought that the Lego prices would be really high in Asia.

It varies among countries. As I said earlier, MSRPs in HK are at times US competitive, but most countries such as singapore see high prices. Japan has MSRPs higher than the US but the Japanese department store Bic Camera offers great deals for Lego, often lowering  the price to slightly below American MSRP.

[MartinP]

It varies among countries. As I said earlier, MSRPs in HK are at times US competitive, but most countries such as singapore see high prices. Japan has MSRPs higher than the US but the Japanese department store Bic Camera offers great deals for Lego, often lowering  the price to slightly below American MSRP.

Maybe you should write a blog article about the various price differences in Asia. Just a thought.

[Ambroise]

Maybe you should write a blog article about the various price differences in Asia. Just a thought.

 

I second that. I'm curious.

[Guest eightbrick]

I will, as I said two posts ago Perhaps a big fat excel chart is in order? LOL

[BrickPick3r]

Fly there with empty luggage, come back full-loaded -  Still profit!!! LOL

 

 

Then resell it to the local 

[senet]

From what i can notice, Asia price used to be 2x USD retail price but now price is much better, most obvious is Summer 2013 sets. It is very obvious Lego is trying to reduce the price difference which makes a lot of US/ Europe reselling business difficult (low profit margin)

[senet]

So beware US Lego resellers..demand from Asia searching for cheaper price from US will drop..this year possibly is still ok, I anticipate people will experience a huge change next year. Just my thoughts..

[BrickPick3r]

I'm from Thailand. In our country we don't usually buy the big set at the retail price which is double of US. We have a group of people who play lego. There are numbers of people who takes order and charge only 10% above the US retail price. I don't know how the price is so different. But it would be a great opportunity to do something to lower the price difference.

 

I don't understand why they don't expand more lego store. Is it there business move to just charge other countries more? 

[MartinP]

I'm from Thailand. In our country we don't usually buy the big set at the retail price which is double of US. We have a group of people who play lego. There are numbers of people who takes order and charge only 10% above the US retail price. I don't know how the price is so different. But it would be a great opportunity to do something to lower the price difference.

 

I don't understand why they don't expand more lego store. Is it there business move to just charge other countries more?

IMO, I think it is a businesses move because TLG has been selling Lego sets for some time now. I think that they would know which countries are great ones to sell set in, but other countires it is harder to sell the sets and sometimes it is not profitable for them. Also, the prices are different because of all the different currencies in the world. So the price will very from country to country due to the currencies.

[Guest eightbrick]

I'm from Thailand. In our country we don't usually buy the big set at the retail price which is double of US. We have a group of people who play lego. There are numbers of people who takes order and charge only 10% above the US retail price. I don't know how the price is so different. But it would be a great opportunity to do something to lower the price difference.

 

I don't understand why they don't expand more lego store. Is it there business move to just charge other countries more? 

It's all about how competitive and popular the toy is in the market. The American market has the potential to provide millions of dollars in revenue, but is so competitive that they need to make the sets a bit more attractively priced. Everywhere else the price of Lego seems to be closer to that of some sort of novelty toy, which it sort of is. But, don't worry, the emerging Asian market has caught Lego's eye. They are moving factories east and starting to shift attention towards Asia. Just look at Legoland Malasyia, which just opened around this time last year. I'd expect prices in the region to fall more in line with US retail in the next decade. Good luck!

[MartinP]

It's all about how competitive and popular the toy is in the market. The American market has the potential to provide millions of dollars in revenue, but is so competitive that they need to make the sets a bit more attractively priced. Everywhere else the price of Lego seems to be closer to that of some sort of novelty toy, which it sort of is. But, don't worry, the emerging Asian market has caught Lego's eye. They are moving factories east and starting to shift attention towards Asia. Just look at Legoland Malasyia, which just opened around this time last year. I'd expect prices in the region to fall more in line with US retail in the next decade. Good luck!

I completely forgot about Legoland Malaysia and that TLG group is shifting more attention to the Asian market. That will definitely help with the market over there. I think that the prices in the region to fall a little bit faster, so I think that the prices will be in link with the US retail in the next 5-7 years.

[CelesAurivern]

From what i can notice, Asia price used to be 2x USD retail price but now price is much better, most obvious is Summer 2013 sets. It is very obvious Lego is trying to reduce the price difference which makes a lot of US/ Europe reselling business difficult (low profit margin)

Lego has calculated such that if you shipped a set over from the US, after adding shipping, it would cost just as much if you got it locally.

So basically, it's zero sum.

[sunic]

in Indonesia, The lego is twice of us price

[ppsagehen]

I just moved to Malaysia, have been here three weeks. The prices are much higher and the sales are negligible

[minicoopers11]

The three most important things I have learned about Investing in Asia:

 

#10250 Year of the Snake

#21021 Marina Bay Sands

#40073 Panda

[seanelliotpng]

in Indonesia, The lego is twice of us price

Sunic, its the same deal here in Singapore, collecting LEGO is never cheap

[Azrielsc]

I just started collecting Lego Star Wars sets here in Singapore and my goodness, the prices are really sky high, as compared to collecting them over in the USA.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, as I have JUST started (2 weeks to be exact), we do not get the luxury of having coupons/Lego points/discounts that can make the sets somewhat less expensive!

[ChristopherJB]

As someone noted earlier here, Inspoint is the place to get lego in Hong Kong. The other place is also in Mong Kok, Argyle street. I forgot the name. The prices for new items are close to US MSRP. The demand for Star Wars isn't as high as for modulars. Certain creator sets command a nice 20% premium. New sets like the fairground mixer is about $210USD. I saw the architecture studio there last Xmas for about 1600 HKD, about $210USD. So it really depends on which product. My cousin is selling the fairground mixer in Hong Kong for about $200USD. I just go on eBay and hit the buy button once in awhile when I see people list it at $170USD shipped to hong kong. We split the $30. Obviously we do it in bulk order. At least ten per round. Not sure how the seller makes money. So far, we have managed to sell about 60 fairgrounds. Not bad considering all I do is scan eBay whenever I have time.