Unimog pricing - eBay and Amazon higher than shop.lego.com?

wnrsm

After a long hiatus of Lego play, I'm picking up the Unimog for my birthday. A quick search around for pricing shows that lego.com sells for $200 plus shipping and nets you about $10 in VIP points.

Amazon has it for $300 plus shipping and eBay has many priced at $275+. The four lower prices on eBay are from poorly-established sellers (one <20 feedback, the other two have zero or one feedback.)

I must be missing something. Why are these other sellers so much more expensive? Why would anybody not buy directly from Lego?

drdavewatford

Amazon doesn't actually sell the Unimog - it's ToysDirect (who are selling this item through Amazon in the U.S.), and I assume that they are just resellers who have bought a bunch of Unimogs from LEGO and are trying to make a killing.

One of my U.S. comrades can probably confirm, but I assume the Unimog is exclusive to one of the major chains, or even just to LEGO, and that's perhaps why Amazon don't sell it themselves at (or below) the RRP.

And as for eBay, well, sellers on there can (and do) just name their price !

So you might as well buy it direct from LEGO (and if you click through Brickset, the site will benefit, so everybody wins !)

rocao

The Amazon listing is by a third-party reseller and not from Amazon directly, which would normally price it at retail or just lower. It may be a matter of time before Amazon stocks it.

If any are being sold for higher than MSRP on eBay right now, the most likely explanation is that they are being shipped to overseas buyers who likely have no cheaper retail alternative, including directly from LEGO.

rocao

@drdavewatford: you're lucky I sustained a hand injury playing football last night. Otherwise I would not be typing slowly and letting you marginalize me like that :P

drdavewatford

^ So this is how I reward you for sending me goodies from the US of A ? By ninja'ing you ? I will hang my head in shame.

:-)

wnrsm

Thanks for the information! I don't see how a US buyer would buy anywhere else. I usually equate third-party sellers with a lower price and a greater risk of it being a hassle.

JP3804

It is a TRU exclusive here in the states.

dougts

@wnrsm well, LEGO almost never has sales on current stuff, so it is often more desirable to buy from TRU, Target, Wal-mart, etc. or Amazon (free shipping) when they have sales going on. But if one is paying full price, then it doesn't make sense not to buy from LEGO - certainly if you have a LEGO store nearby.