Superheroes Pricing AUD & NZD

Lambringo

No dates as yet, but the prices for the new superheroes sets as follows (rounded to the dollar) taken from the [email protected] The only way I could check the prices was to look at the product on the US site then change region since they can not be located on the Aus/NZ site.

(AUD/NZD/USD)
$90/$90/$40 6857 The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape
$23/$30/$15 4527, 4528, 4526 construct a heroes
$25/$25/$13 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase
$40/$50/$20 6862 Superman™ vs. Power Armor Lex
$130/$160/$70 6860 The Batcave
$100/$120/$50 6864 The Batmobile and the Two-Face Chase

As you can see most of the sets are on a heavy mark up from the US price with most at around 100%. Set 6857 which retails at USD$40, is effectively a 120% markup at AUD$90!! Guess the best idea is to wait it out till they are available from amazon or B&N.

I do find the mark ups from the US prices, and the difference between Aus/NZ prices very strange. For example the construct a hero is more expensive than the catwoman set in the US, but in Aus the catwoman set is more expensive. These sets are very similar in size (with catwoman probably being a smaller box) and can not see why the higher price point switches which removes shipping costs as the answer. Maybe they just figure they can squeeze a few more dollars out of us.

Eric

Those markups are huge! Most sets, are around the 80-90% markup point, but 100-120%? Amazon.fr has changed their shipping policy, so we must now pay $45-50 to ship with them. Damn, I'm going to have to find a new hobby. :(

Lambringo

Don't forget amazon spain and italy which have 20 euro capped priority shipping.

StuBoy

Does anyone know how often B&N update their stock? I've been very tempted to get something from them but find most of their stock is quite old.

In terms of the markups - I've resigned myself to the fact that there is a 100% markup in NZ, and will only buy over here when there is a decent discount. If we can get sets shipped over from the US for cheaper than our retail prices, surely Lego can do it. I realise there's a lot more to the pricing structure than just shipping costs, but that's all been discussed before.

Coolsplash

@StuBoy, I personally think its mainly the logistics issue, especially in my region. We know and see how TLG works, releasing items, sales, discounts, and TLG needs stores like TRU, Walmart, Kmart, B&N, and many in the UK and some in Canada.

With collectors point of view, the sets being released right now i.e. end of 2011 and early 2012, they will be easily available in my country by mid of or end of 2013. Then the local toy stores which do carry Lego, their prices are very high, so sale gets more slow. I remember buying all the Fantasy Era sets from here at such amazing prices, as I visited the stores here, enquired about the prices and offered them my price which was the price I was getting on Ebay.

I like B&N as it ships to me. Amazon does not. Ebay does (depends on the Sellers). If Amazon would start shipping to me, things would begin to move more positively.

Lambringo

@Coolsplash have you tried all of the different amazons? I found that different local sites will ship different products. For example, lukes landspeeder will ship from amazon.fr, but not Spain, Italy or Germany.

Coolsplash

@Lambringo, I did not knew that :( Going to work on this and report my findings here :) Thanks for the heads up!

drdavewatford

^ Might be worth checking out amazon.fr - they seem to ship everywhere....

Lambringo

^^ amazon.com doed not ship much outside the us but I get dome maersk trains put of them. As drdavewatford said amazon france ships nearly all products overseas and the tax of about 18% is not taken off the listed price at checkout

Coolsplash

Amazon.fr does not ship to me. So my guess is Amazon is out for me.

Jasen

I dunno about Amazon.fr. I've seen a few forums discussing how badly the boxes are damaged when they arrive here (Australia).
i'm just going to wait until they flood retail and either Kmart, Big W, Target or Myer have a sale....

Eric

^ Uh, I got a couple of sets shipped to me, from Amazon.fr, and the boxes were a little squished, granted ruining plans for a MISB collector, but fine for me.
Anyway, A.fr is now very expensive to ship now, they wanted to charge me 33 Euro to ship a 30 Euro set... So, that's out for me,