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Comments
It was asking about what kind, where and how often you buy toys.
I asssumed it was because I used to by hundreds of sets a year from them and last year I only bought about ten.
I told them in the comment section it was because of their inflated prices.
I doubt it will do much good.
You may of heard of the london riots, brickfans I give you the toys r us riots.
I think they wont budge until people stop buying lego off them
So good luck getting Toys r Us to change their ways. Its working for them so why should they change?
Actually, I'll go see it regardless, I was there at 12:01am for Episode 1, and 7 can't suck as much as 1 did, can it?
Wait, forget I said that! :)
Back to the original topic, TRU's prices suck a** until they don't. Right after I went off about their prices earlier in this thread, I ended up buying a bunch of sets from them when they were doing the holiday BOGO and the $10 off $100 promo...it was one of the rare moments when they actually had decent prices.
How many families had to get gouged? Worse yet, how many families abandoned LEGO based on those inflated prices? At Christmas as well?
What's Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
You can think their sales policies are stupid all you like, I'd agree with that, but on a moral level why treat TRU any different from half the members of this forum?
If you can buy cheaper elsewhere, then buy cheaper elsewhere. That is one end covered. What is the other end?
The point is, TRU has a great selection, including many exclusives (Technic) & hard to find, so, it's irritating that such a reachable source of Lego doesn't want to play by the same rules as other retailers, and instead, soak ignorant families because they can.
So we can't really go and sell it for RRP, now can we?
After paying fees, selling Minecraft for 2x RRP nets us about as much as TRU would make at retail price.
One last point. I get it. Some of you hate many if not all of the aftermarket resellers and/or their practices. Is there any chance that we can keep those opinions from spilling into any/every thread here?
They will mark up what they mark up. Maybe they get washed for it sooner or later, but business is business.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=120622&p=irol-sec
I just took a quick look at their most recent 10-Q filing, what a mess of a balance sheet!
The company is already bankrupt, it is just a question if they can slowly earn their way back out of it, but as it stands now, they could make several hundred million dollars by going through a Chapter 11, if they could get exit financing, which would be hard at this point, given the overweight of debt.
I somehow doubt lego care what TRU sell items for. RRP / MRSP are just recommended prices, not trade agreements. I thought normally (manufacturing) companies wanted to ensure retailers don't sell their items too cheap, not too expensive. I imagine TRU sells them for what they want or they give lego the heave-ho if they try and impose maximum prices. (Again, I imagine) losing TRU as a retailer would be a big blow for lego. Lots of families use TRU, and it is a shop window for lego.
If you want to complain about companies not "playing by the rules" - complain to lego about them charging above RRP if you order online. For example, in the UK, amazon, play, ... sell lego at or below RRP and do not charge for postage. Whereas lego charge for postage, thus charge above RRP. So why don't they play by the same rules?
Online orders should be cheaper since they don't have the retail store costs, yet they still charge full RRP plus postage.
@LegoFanTexas true, but they can still charge what they like and if its too expensive people won't buy it. I agree its stupid but its their stupid decision to make. They don't have a monopoly, its not an essential product or service blar blar blar. (These arguments don't half sound familiar!) You know what else, its generally what 20=30% above RRP not 100-200% above RRP. Also, whilst they may get it 30% off they also have far bigger overheads to cover than at most 10% ebay fees and 3% paypal. I would love to see a reseller open a shop or even better a chain of b&m shops across the world, stock it with lego bought through the correct channels, pay staff salaries and tax and still manage to sell at or below RRP.
They've stopped that practice after a while, haven't seen many cases in the past lately fortunately.
and taxand still manage to sell at or below RRP and include delivery costs too. :-)TRU is in the same predicament as Best Buy and Office Depot. Their main selling point is their ability provide wide selections in their niche markets. The overhead associated with running B&M stores make it very hard to compete with online retailers.
I'm not writing anything more than my opinion of TRU, and I'm certainly not trying to incite anyone to do anything except make intelligent, well-informed decisions regarding what retailers they wish to do business with.
You can chose to buy from TRU, from lego.com or amazon, or a multitude of other stores. There is free choice. From what I can tell it is very rare for an item to be only available from one company, and not also direct from lego. In that case, the store would have paid a premium or had some other deal to secure that item. In that case, what lego say it is worth is meaningless - they can issue a guide price, but you also need to factor in the retailers costs, including what they think it has cost them to sell it. If lego wanted it sold at the exact price they set and no higher, then they either have to make that agreement with the store, or they should not do a truly exclusive deal and also sell it themselves. If they sell for RRP and someone else wants to sell it for RRP+10% or 50%, then customers have choice. Travel to a lego store and pick it off the shelf at RRP, buy from a lego.com and pay their postage costs, or use the convenience of buying locally from a TRU and pay their price.
And if someone contradicts me or tells me I am wrong, yes I will say why I think they are wrong. That is what a debate is about.
And again, you're saying that I or anyone else has the ability to choose to buy or not buy from any retailer. Got it.
When I am in the store, and encounter parents/grandparents acting shocked at the prices, I try to educate them. Most prices are higher, but taking advantage of promotions"may" get you less than MSRP. Most of the people I talk to, I believe, don't frequent a forum like this, or really understand how TRU operates regarding their pricing policies (which are not just on Lego). And most, after I explain that BOGO only really benefits you if your buying two sets of comparable price, will buy a big set and a polybag.
TRU prices are inflated above MSRP, we all know that. Shop there or not, the price you're willing to pay is determined by you, as is the value of your purchases.
If Amazon has a set on sale for 25% off, that is a better deal than $20 off $100. It doesn't seem reasonable to expect $20 off $100 plus the price match of 25% off.
Toys r us - Capitalism at its finest. A free market is just that.
I wish there were more local stores that could do volume so I could walk in and find sales but I believe those days are over. I shop online (50% of the time) and research everything I buy. Those who wish to throw money away may do so of they are so inclined to do so.
I rarely ever buy LEGO from TRU but my kids sure love going in there and showing me what they want and that is easily worth the $500 I spend there yearly.
Really...I agree. I think the likelihood of paying those prices is what keeps them well stocked with items no one else can keep, however. That has to hurt them at some point.