Bought online, return at shop

[kvasir]

Has anyone bought online at LEGO Shop at Home and then return it at the shop?

 

[sadowsk1]

Yes, they are cool about it.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I've done it too, no problem at all.

[kerrmando]

They don't appreciate it but they let it happen, at least around me

[kvasir]

They don't appreciate it but they let it happen, at least around me

What kinda grief did they give you? I have enough run-ins with them recently already.

It used to be joy for me to go into the LEGO store, now I try to avoid eye-contact as much as possible. I feel like a criminal.

[kerrmando]

What kinda of grief did they give you? I have enough run-ins with them recently already.

It used to be joy for me to go into the LEGO store, now I try to avoid eye-contact as much as possible. I feel like a criminal.

same here man! They've made it so much less fun! It's sad because their profits each month are negative and really the only thing keeping them afloat are resellers.

[MartinP]

same here man! They've made it so much less fun! It's sad because their profits each month are negative and really the only thing keeping them afloat are resellers.

You should see my local Lego store. Everytime I go there to buy something, there is barely any customers in the store. Maybe one or two at times. The most I have seen in the store at one point is ten.

[Jackson]

same here man! They've made it so much less fun! It's sad because their profits each month are negative and really the only thing keeping them afloat are resellers.

 

How do you know the store's profits are negative?

[Guest TabbyBoy]

That the biggest fear I have.... Lego dropping prices drastically across the board to expand their customer base.

[MartinP]

That the biggest fear I have.... Lego dropping prices drastically across the board to expand their customer base.

That would mean a lot of Lego investors would be buying up all those sets at low prices.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

That would mean a lot of Lego investors would be buying up all those sets at low prices.

 

But, what about selling the thousands of

[Quacs]

Tabby, I don't see Lego lowering their price to combat resellers.  TLC produces around 82 million Lego sets every year.  To lower prices across the board would not only hurt their brand, it could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.  This drop in revenue would likely also come out of their profit as the Cost of Goods Sold wouldn't have changed meaningfully. 

 

I don't see Lego cutting their profit to combat a few thousand (hundred?) resellers.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Tabby, I don't see Lego lowering their price to combat resellers.  TLC produces around 82 million Lego sets every year.  To lower prices across the board would not only hurt their brand, it could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.  This drop in revenue would likely also come out of their profit as the Cost of Goods Sold wouldn't have changed meaningfully. 

 

I don't see Lego cutting their profit to combat a few thousand (hundred?) resellers.

 

 

I think there may be a lot more than that as BrickPicker had 326 new members joining this week without counting other sites and many other investors that decide to either go it alone or don't know about the investing community.  It's been in the national papers in the UK so, reselling is a very big business hence, Lego now see it as a problem.  Once the Chinese factories are in full swing, they will enhance economies of scale and prices may well drop.  Also with Lego being Danish, they may also have struck a deal with another Danish company, Maersk for cheap global distribution.  Just my 2p worth as there's a storm brewing I think and the cat is well out of the bag.  I now see people in town clearing shelves with me when there are good offers, this didn't happen 6 months ago.

 

Bubble bubble toll and trouble?

 

I really do HOPE I'm wrong.

 

Sorry, should be one for "Bubble" thread. ;-)

[TheOrcKing]

Even if Lego does things to cut costs on their end, we as the consumer are not going to see any lowering of prices on our end. If anything I have noticed different sets available from last year having their original retails changed by a couple to a few dollars on Lego's own webstore when this one started. If they can save themselves more cash and still charge the same amount (if not more) then they will continue to do so. It's just business.

[Ed Mack]

You will NOT see LEGO drastically drop prices.  LEGO sets have always been expensive and always will be.  LEGO seems a bit cocky and confident right now with their recent success.  Their set buying restrictions and sales reductions that are meant to battle resellers might backfire.  We will see in the upcoming months if their profits are still on a strong upward trajectory.  In my opinion, they should just embrace all customers and consider themselves lucky that they are so popular, but sometimes companies think they can do no wrong.  Time will tell.  

[Mos_Eisley]

They don't appreciate it but they let it happen, at least around me

 

The reason the stores aren't really excited about taking online returns is because it counts against that store's sales, even though they didn't sell the item originally.  Same goes for returns that were originally purchased from any other brick and mortar LEGO store.  It's a little screwy if you ask me, but that store takes a hit every time this happens.  "What's the big deal, I'm just returning 2 sets I don't want anymore?"  The stores get returns all the time and they've made adjustments to combat this but there are people who regularly return large amounts of product that were purchased from other retailers or other LEGO stores.  Either way it hurts the individual LEGO store because they now need to sell the returned items just to get back to even for that transaction.

[citymorgue]

You will NOT see LEGO drastically drop prices.  LEGO sets have always been expensive and always will be.  LEGO seems a bit cocky and confident right now with their recent success.  Their set buying restrictions and sales reductions that are meant to battle resellers might backfire.  We will see in the upcoming months if their profits are still on a strong upward trajectory.  In my opinion, they should just embrace all customers and consider themselves lucky that they are so popular, but sometimes companies think they can do no wrong.  Time will tell.  

 

 

I don't know if this has been addressed, but what happens if Lego does do this and undercuts themselves and let's say actually do go out of buisness...  This seems like an obvious answer, but what about the tens of thousands some people have invested?

 

I doubt they would purposely run themselves into the ground like this, but it's not out of the question.

 

Honestly I'm somewhat failing to see how them setting restrictions will backfire.  Outside of the normal reseller, who seriously goes out and buys more than 2 or 3 sets total for any particular set?

 

If they can manage to bring production costs down far enough to still make a healthy profit and undercut themselves to hurt resellers, I don't see that as a bad thing either IMO.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

You will NOT see LEGO drastically drop prices.  LEGO sets have always been expensive and always will be.  LEGO seems a bit cocky and confident right now with their recent success.  Their set buying restrictions and sales reductions that are meant to battle resellers might backfire.  We will see in the upcoming months if their profits are still on a strong upward trajectory.  In my opinion, they should just embrace all customers and consider themselves lucky that they are so popular, but sometimes companies think they can do no wrong.  Time will tell.  

 

I hope you're right, Ed.  Model railways, now THAT'S expensive.

What I'd like to see are global prices aligned where they are all the same accounting for exchange rates.

[Mos_Eisley]

I don't know if this has been addressed, but what happens if Lego does do this and undercuts themselves and let's say actually do go out of buisness...  This seems like an obvious answer, but what about the tens of thousands some people have invested?

 

 

 

Nobody needs to worry about TLG undercutting themselves and/or going out of business anytime soon.  However, if they did go out of business there would still be a huge fan base and I would expect sets to be even more valuable as you would never be able to get a brand new set again anywhere else than from the secondary market.  

[kvasir]

The reason the stores aren't really excited about taking online returns is because it counts against that store's sales, even though they didn't sell the item originally.  Same goes for returns that were originally purchased from any other brick and mortar LEGO store.  It's a little screwy if you ask me, but that store takes a hit every time this happens.  "What's the big deal, I'm just returning 2 sets I don't want anymore?"  The stores get returns all the time and they've made adjustments to combat this but there are people who regularly return large amounts of product that were purchased from other retailers or other LEGO stores.  Either way it hurts the individual LEGO store because they now need to sell the returned items just to get back to even for that transaction.

Thanks for this explanation.

 

I think last time (which was probably last year) I had to make a return (of something I bought at the store) the cashier called the manager over to approve it. So yeah I would imagine it would be the same level of hassle for bringing in online order.

[stoltzjl77]

I think there may be a lot more than that as BrickPicker had 326 new members joining this week without counting other sites and many other investors that decide to either go it alone or don't know about the investing community.  It's been in the national papers in the UK so, reselling is a very big business hence, Lego now see it as a problem.  Once the Chinese factories are in full swing, they will enhance economies of scale and prices may well drop.  Also with Lego being Danish, they may also have struck a deal with another Danish company, Maersk for cheap global distribution.  Just my 2p worth as there's a storm brewing I think and the cat is well out of the bag.  I now see people in town clearing shelves with me when there are good offers, this didn't happen 6 months ago.

 

Bubble bubble toll and trouble?

 

I really do HOPE I'm wrong.

 

Sorry, should be one for "Bubble" thread. ;-)

 

 

Well,not all of us on BrickPicker are necessarily hardcore investors/resellers. I joined because I wanted a useful tool for inventorying my Lego collection and I was curious to see what it might be worth. Now I've started dabbling in investing, but I think a lot of members are like me - more doing this for fun and to learn rather than as serious investor. I wouldn't take the popularity of Brickpicker to be a bellwether for a bubble.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Nobody needs to worry about TLG undercutting themselves and/or going out of business anytime soon.  However, if they did go out of business there would still be a huge fan base and I would expect sets to be even more valuable as you would never be able to get a brand new set again anywhere else than from the secondary market.  

 

Yeah I was gonna say - everything you had would skyrocket in price.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Well,not all of us on BrickPicker are necessarily hardcore investors/resellers. I joined because I wanted a useful tool for inventorying my Lego collection and I was curious to see what it might be worth. Now I've started dabbling in investing, but I think a lot of members are like me - more doing this for fun and to learn rather than as serious investor. I wouldn't take the popularity of Brickpicker to be a bellwether for a bubble.

 

I'd call 350 sets a bit more than a dabble. ;-)

[citymorgue]

Yeah I was gonna say - everything you had would skyrocket in price.

 

Of course in the immediate future the prices would skyrocket, but it couldn't be sustainable to the already growing reseller population.

 

My point being though is that although they would be highly sought after, they would slowly but surely disappear as sets are opened, stashed away, etc.

 

What I believe you guys are missing (possibly) is that if Lego closes shop, so would the majority of resellers.  In a sense resellers need to find a symbiotic relationship to continue for decades making money.

 

That was mainly my point, and obviously TLG sees a threat with resellers, and some of the big players need to tread a little more lightly because they could be shooting their golden goose in the head.

[Quacs]

I'd call 350 sets a bit more than a dabble. ;-)

 

I would guess that's stoltz's collection, not investment portfolio.  Per Ed and Jeff, there are thousands of members just like him that use the Brickfolio to estimate the value of their collection and have no intention of ever reselling a Lego set.