Discounts on LEGO Exclusives

jack_bricks

FenrisAkashi said:

Truth is most of these sets are flagship sets.
The more eyes on them the more Lego sells sets of all sizes. Its in their best interest to have these as visible as possible. Unlikely they will ever pull these back to "Lego store only" by choice.

But exactly this is happening at the moment with the HE. I can't find it anywhere in a store online nor offline. Therefor it is also not on discount, because if it were in a store it would be very likely to find it on sale somewhare.

iso3200

Noticed that there's a couple of these BNISB on ebay UK for £99.99 which doesn't seem a bad deal.

cheshirecat

^ Yet no where near as good as LEGO.com, when they're only £79 at [email protected] with free delivery and £4 back in VIP points? Am i missing the point?

iso3200

cheshirecat said:

Am i missing the point?

No I am. I didn't realise there is a motorized and non motorized version of this. I thought £170 was a bit on the expensive side for a push along train.

I'll get my coat...

cheshirecat

^Ahh i see. To be honest it seems expensive for a motorised one! (although I know its the rechargeable battery wot dun it).

richo

Does the motorized Horizon Express come in a special box, or is it just the standard model and the loose boxed motor parts?

richo

and, just getting back to this set quickly, I just took the view that spending over £100 and getting 10% off and a free small set last weekend was a decent offer for such a nice set.

cheshirecat

^ as did I. 10%, holiday set and pab box seemed good to me. Will be sat under the tree come xmas.

Farmer_John

Yep...I grabbed a Horizon Express and the Modular Cinema during the triple VIP point along with a couple of the free Christmas sets and a PAB box. I figure it's about as good as it's gonna get for awhile. Still need to pick up another HE set to complete both haves of the TGV...

Farmer_John

Is it just me or is anyone else lost a bit of the thrill going to the Lego store?

I really enjoy my Lego hobby, but part of the fun for me when I shop sets is getting a good deal (or at least what I perceive as a good deal). With TLG taking away discounts on the exclusive/larger sets that I (as an AFOL) enjoy building, the thrill of the hunt is gone. Over the past few years I really anticipated BF and the after Christmas sale; this year I've lost a lot of the passion. I have to believe that most of the regular big spenders on Lego sets are of the same mind...if only to have more money to spend on other sets. I wonder what TLG is thinking here?

LegoFanTexas

I stopped into my local LEGO store 2 weeks before BF, haven't been back since. So far in the past 6 months, I've been in 3 times. I might drop in after Christmas, otherwise I don't care.

Their loss, Amazon and Targets gain. I suppose TLG still gets the sales, but a smaller percentage of it...

Oh well...

nkx1

^^I have no idea what Lego is thinking. Like you (and pretty much everyone else on the planet), I like getting what I perceive as a good deal. Even though I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy whatever sets I feel like buying, with very few exceptions, I typically wont buy a set unless it's discounted. Sets I haven't purchased (and probably wont purchase unless discounted) are: Tower of Orthanc, Horizon Express, Palace Cinema, and I'm sure a few others I can't think of at the moment. Unfortunately, I missed a few opportunities to buy these sets at a discount recently, including the free Highway Pickup set deal at TRU, etc. Up until the recent prohibition on exclusive sets, I had purchased many exclusives including Tower Bridge, etc. all at a discount. I still buy a bunch of the other sets at a discount from Amazon, Walmart, Target et al., but I just can't seem to make myself pay full price for the exclusives.

I think it's pretty arrogant of Lego to assume customers will buy their premium products at full price, especially considering people like me simply wont buy them at all. Maybe I'm frugal (ok, cheap lol), but I can't be the only one not buying product due to this new pricing policy. I just don't see how that's good for business long term. But, as has been discussed, maybe they're not interested in the long term and their new pricing policy is part of a strategy to sell the company for maximum value. Who knows.

cheshirecat

What wasn't this the deal either side of BF, 10$ gift card + 5% VIP (or 15% VIP) + Christmas set + free PAB + chance to win free sets? Not sure about all of those but seem to think that was the case. I know Amazon etc had good deals on other stuff but all that still strikes me as good deals on exclusives.

LegoFanTexas

Maybe, but when we used to get 30+% off, those deals are rather lacking...

It is even worse when all the 45+% off deals were happening online right around Black Friday and beyond. Jabba's Sail barge was 47% off on Cyber Monday on Amazon.

Kinda hard to get excited about 15% VIP points (that have to be spent later) and a free Christmas set, vs. those kinds of deals.

Considering that I still have my pair of SSDs purchased for about $250 from Target last year, the deals today on exclusives suck.

Just my opinion. :)

cheshirecat

Which is fair enough, but it makes comments like this "I think it's pretty arrogant of Lego to assume customers will buy their premium products at full price" seem kind of redundant. Sure the deals at LEGO aren't as good as Amazon, Walmart, Target but looking objectively you wouldn't expect them to be and it would be madness for LEGO to take part in a race to the bottom with those companies. Lets be honest they seem to be doing well enough as it is - and the delays in order completion from [email protected] at the moment would suggest they did all right (and if they did any better they might have just imploded).

Paperballpark

LegoFanTexas said:

Considering that I still have my pair of SSDs purchased for about $250 from Target last year,

Have you not sold them yet? Or are you just waiting for them to go EoL? ;)

LegoFanTexas

cheshirecat said:

Which is fair enough, but it makes comments like this "I think it's pretty arrogant of Lego to assume customers will buy their premium products at full price" seem kind of redundant. Sure the deals at LEGO aren't as good as Amazon, Walmart, Target but looking objectively you wouldn't expect them to be and it would be madness for LEGO to take part in a race to the bottom with those companies.

You misunderstand... LEGO Retail Stores don't have to do 30+% off, it is the prevention of Amazon/Walmart/Target from doing it that is so nuts.

And lets all remember that it was only 8 months ago that we had B-Wing for 50% off at the LEGO Retail Stores, so this is a recent policy.

Is 50% off required? No, but imagine how many SSDs the retail stores could move at 25% off plus a free Christmas set.

LegoFanTexas

Paperballpark said:

Have you not sold them yet? Or are you just waiting for them to go EoL? ;)

A little of both...

Frankly, those two are actually gone, replaced by others, but I like to look at the last 2 on the shelf and imagine that they are those two specific sets.

I still haven't built one, so I may just open one and build it, when I get the time...

Paperballpark

LegoFanTexas said:

Is 50% off required? No, but imagine how many SSDs the retail stores could move at 25% off plus a free Christmas set.

Why do I get the feeling that if they did offer 25% off the SSD, you and others would be saying the discount wasn't good enough, and you'd got the SSD for 37% off ($250) from Target last year...

At least be consistent.

LegoFanTexas

^ Not at all, at 25% off I'd go a few more (and by a few, I mean a few, perhaps 4 more).

16 months ago when the $250 price was around, it was way too early to be stocking up, so I only bought two.

I have since bought and sold (and traded) many more, today I'm back to two, because frankly I don't think it is going to do very well.

At RRP, it is a very slow seller, DS continues to outsell it 5 to 1. Given how long DS has been out, that is a rather sad statement on SSD.

I said when it launched that it wasn't big enough, it should have been 1,000 more parts for $100 more and a foot longer, with a proper underside. As it stands, it is too big and expensive for the average fan and not "ultimate" enough for the hard core fan.

Basta

Well I for one hope that sales on Exclusives are down in the USA, as if not the policy will be here to stay and it may well move further afield.

cheshirecat

LegoFanTexas said:

I have since bought and sold (and traded) many more, today I'm back to two, because frankly I don't think it is going to do very well.

See this is where any talk of LEGO making bad business decisions really falls down. You want LEGO to reduce the price enough that it becomes worthwhile you buying a number of them that you can sell at or close to RRP (I assume thats the case as you say you've shifted 'many more' already) and still make a profit.

A) If you can sell them for more than the discounted price, then presumably LEGO can too - and I mean, they are selling/shifting as opposed to some moral right to sell.

B) This is exactly why LEGO don't want to discount them 30% (or allow others to). A BF 30% sale means they get bought up all at once by resellers and then sold on (or traded) over the next 6-12 months. Those are lost sales later on. So instead of selling the set at RRP to Johnny X in March, they sell to Reseller Y in November at 30% off, who then makes almost 50% profit (before costs) selling at RRP to Johnny X. That's not good business for LEGO.

If anyone here should be at all upset at LEGO's new discount policy they should know exactly where to look when wanting someone to blame. Its not the managers at LEGO it is, with respect, you and your reselling ilk. That it seems 80% or more of those most vocally complaining are open resellers is startlingly ironic.

LegoFanTexas

cheshirecat said:

See this is where any talk of LEGO making bad business decisions really falls down. You want LEGO to reduce the price enough that it becomes worthwhile you buying a number of them that you can sell at or close to RRP (I assume thats the case as you say you've shifted 'many more' already) and still make a profit.

I was getting all ready to shoot your crazy logic down...

Then I stopped to think about it...

Ehh, you might actually have a point...

Grr... I hate it when that happens! :)

Bumblepants

It would be interesting to see how (if at all) the lack of discounts on Exclusives in the US has cut into the eBay sales of current sets to Asia and Australia.

Basta

^ it may have had an impact but the bigger thing, at least for the newer exclusives would be the more competitive pricing, availability & lower Australian dollar.

For instance the SOH has been avaliable locally for as low as $285 AUD ($258 USD) which means the discount that set would need in the US to make it worth selling here once you include shipping would be a lot more then 30%.

Farmer_John

cheshirecat said:

Lets be honest they seem to be doing well enough as it is - and the delays in order completion from [email protected] at the moment would suggest they did all right (and if they did any better they might have just imploded).

Delays don't always mean that everything is rosy. Could also be that TLG Management is off their meds...I haven't seen any TLG earnings numbers since their policy change to convince me otherwise.

CCC

I also don't think they have a problem getting people into the stores and buying items. I know I have always had to queue to pay for my items whether at the weekend or mid-week. The length of the queue may vary, but I always seem to have to wait.

Farmer_John

^That's the scary thing about our local store: it isn't like that except during the holiday season. The reason I view it as scary is that I don't want TLG to close the store on the off chance that more reasonable purchasing opportunities come back on exclusives (e.g., the sets that can't be had more reasonably at Amazon, Target, etc.). I guess I am just one of those oddballs that isn't interested in paying more money just for the privilege of shopping in the store.

Quite frankly, these days Lego B&M stores are a great place to peruse the aisles to see what sets I want to purchase more reasonably somewhere else.

BTHodgeman

Between the overall lack of discounts, a particularly horrible PAB wall, and the loss of the grab bags (those things were my achilles heel!), I pretty much go to the store only to get the seasonal polybags, and just a quick walk-through of the store to see if there's anything on sale or or particular interest.

I used to go on average once a month. Now, I'm down to maybe a couple times a year...

But as others are saying, they definitely don't have an issue getting people into the stores, and a random person, buying something at full price, accumulating VIP points that will likely never be used is their current target.

Brent

Farmer_John said:

Is it just me or is anyone else lost a bit of the thrill going to the Lego store?

I really enjoy my Lego hobby, but part of the fun for me when I shop sets is getting a good deal (or at least what I perceive as a good deal). With TLG taking away discounts on the exclusive/larger sets that I (as an AFOL) enjoy building, the thrill of the hunt is gone. Over the past few years I really anticipated BF and the after Christmas sale; this year I've lost a lot of the passion. I have to believe that most of the regular big spenders on Lego sets are of the same mind...if only to have more money to spend on other sets. I wonder what TLG is thinking here?

cheshirecat

^^ For the what 90% of buyers who don't buy the exclusives thats always been the case, at least in the UK. In the UK (until very recently) you could almost always find the non-exclusives cheaper else where. They were, with very few exceptions never on sale in LEGO stores and almost always on sale at one of Amazon, Tesco, Argos, Smyths, Boots etc. Yet, I'm guessing 90% of the sets being bought in store were exactly those CITY, Star Wars etc sets. All bought at RRP, almost always available about 20m away significantly cheaper. Seriously I often wanted to have a quiet word as I saw someone carrying a large CITY set to the tills. Never did though. Most of the time the buyers had no idea of free polys etc either.

The exclusives were slightly different as until this summer (i think) they weren't available anywhere other than LEGO stores and [email protected] and so were rarely/never available on sale. Yet despite this, and with the higher RRPs and that we've been used to regular 30-50% sales LEGO retail are doing well enough to have opened about 6 stores in the last 15 months.

tamamahm

I do not resell. I buy for my kids. Several items to note.

- I hit the Lego store for Black Friday in 2012 and 2011. I did not this year because of the lack of discounts on sets I wanted.

- The lack of discounts on exclusives I find frustrating, but for a very different reason. Outside of Friends, Some of the only sets that have a reasonable number of female minifigs ARE the exclusives. Whenever I 'whined' about the lack of female minifgs in standard lines, and how my girls at 9+ are phasing out of Friends, which is targeted towards younger girls or girls not previously exposed to Lego, I was pointed to the exclusives.
My choices for sets my girls actually want are so minimal, and now one of their main choices they are stuck paying full price for.


No, a free little truck set does not defray cost. A PAB box is nice, but it does not defray cost. A chance to win free sets does nothing, because we never win, and a wimpy key chain again does not defray cost. That leaves the 5% VIP, which helps me over time If I buy exclusively through them, but does next to nothing for them if they re buying with their allowance. That leaves a $10 off card, which I though one was not able to use on that purchase.

Of course, when it can find many sets for my son at the crazy prices that were out there, and yet the Exclusive line for my girls really has no discount, I find the entire ordeal very frustrating. I am sure Lego did this to target resellers, and Lego can do what they want, but they did not consider that the Exclusive line is one of the main options for older girls.

TheLoneTensor

I got excited for a moment with all the activity in this thread. I was hoping it was all about discussing Lego's reversal of their discount embargo. Alas.

I don't think it's a secret that this whole thing was primarliy designed to shoot down resellers, because to Lego, it's all about them getting "today's money" as opposed to that same money going to a reseller selling a set from 3 years ago. That said, I'm in the same boat with the others as started by @Farmer_John. I have such little interest to either go to a B&M store or [email protected] My spending is so so so down from years past to Lego direct. Yes, some of that spending would be reseller spending, but many of that was complimented by personal spending too.

As for the "deals" on pre-BF (which were better than actual BF, boggle that), 3x points plus a little set equates to about $35, but that's is:

a) locking up money to only be spent at Lego later, something that doesn't appeal to me because what once was assured (buying things at Lego), no longer is

and b) assuming you sell the little truck set or actually would have spent $15-20 for it yourself. The former is a waste of time and I won't spend money for the latter (but I will trade for the truck :)

Anyway, bottom line is what others have said. I don't spend at Lego direct anymore, and haven't bought any item over $100 since BF 2012. In fact, the only reason I did buy from Lego recently was to get the LOTR Barrel Escape exclusive, and that's only because I had a little VIP to burn. The real joke is that I would have been better off letting the VIP points sit idle and taking advantage of TRU's recent sales. I would have had more money left in my pocket as a result.

TheLoneTensor

tamamahm said:

Lego can do what they want, but they did not consider that the Exclusive line is one of the main options for older girls.

Wait, there are plenty of female characters in the superhero line... oh wait. Ok, well, there's a bunch of females in the LOTR line... er crap. Yeah, back to modulars.

At least City has a female trash woman and thief. Girl power!

Sorry, sarcastic tangent, back to discounts.

wagnerml2

Let's see if this persists after Christmas is over. I am thinking that we may see a sale on exclusives after Christmas. Just judging by the stock in my local Walmarts, Targets and TRU, sales for lego are down. By this time in the past, shelves were really picked over. Not the case this year. If the major retailers are feeling this, my guess is that it is multiplied for [email protected] and TLG BAM stores due to the lack of discounts. I'm thinking there will be a sale.......and we will all come back, at least for a time.

doriansdad

As a reseller I am very grateful for the the no discount policy. Less competition for me and it ensures aftermarket prices will be alot higher when it comes time for me to sell. It also ensures alot more folks will miss out on the sets which in turn will bring me more customers down the road. I think this policy was put into place to weed out those resellers abusing their services and to reward those that play within their limits. Works for me. I believe 10197 has already received a big hand from the new policy.

Farmer_John

^Isn't this a short-term perspective? Eventually, you'll have to purchase your larger sets at RRP like everyone else (unless you have a special Lego source nobody else knows about). Eventually, your prices have to go up substantially to be profitable. And based on other threads, the economy is forcing people (on average) to move to lower priced (smaller sets).

So...short-term = good; long-term = bad, right?

TheLoneTensor

Well, sure it's beneficial for those who got in on the $109 FBs, $260 SSDs and such because those were bought before the line was drawn. Conversely, any reseller who is now forced to buy at RRP will likely be screwed if/when the discounts are restored and they are trying to sell their bought-for-$160 Parisian Restaurants that will be going for $135.

Xefan

cheshirecat said:

Yet, I'm guessing 90% of the sets being bought in store were exactly those CITY, Star Wars etc sets. All bought at RRP, almost always available about 20m away significantly cheaper. Seriously I often wanted to have a quiet word as I saw someone carrying a large CITY set to the tills. Never did though. Most of the time the buyers had no idea of free polys etc either.

As usual though I think it's a question of optimisation (and if Lego don't try different things they'll never know!). If a kid is nagging for a £50 city set and a £30 set then sure the mother may pick up the £50 set and say no about the £30 one because £80 is too much, but if they were discounted by 20% each then the mother may buy the other set as well netting Lego £64 instead of just £50. Whether that's in their interest depends on their margins of course, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility that whilst Lego is making sales with their current pricing regime, that they're not making an optimal amount of sales compared to what they could be making.

It's something a lot of companies get wrong, but it's possible Lego is already getting it right. Without seeing their figures though we can't really know though I wouldn't dismiss the possibility either way.

cheshirecat

^ Thats an interesting point. Whilst I can't imagine the decision being changed any time soon, nothing is for ever and that becomes a significant risk to the future value.

Bandit

TheLoneTensor said:

As for the "deals" on pre-BF (which were better than actual BF, boggle that), 3x points plus a little set equates to about $35, but that's is:

The triple VIP + Xmas set #1 deal worked out great for me this year. I bought bunches of stuff those 2 weeks and ended up with huge discounts after everything was said and done.

I sold each and every Xmas set #1 over the last week for $45 each. That plus the triple VIP put me at price points (after net of $36 for Xmas sets), for example, of $66 for the VW Camper (45% off), $92 for Palace Cinema (40% off), and $166 for Ewok Village (34% off - with xtra clone trooper).

The discounts have still been there this year, you just have to work harder manufacturing them for yourself.

doriansdad

Farmer_John said:

^Isn't this a short-term perspective? Eventually, you'll have to purchase your larger sets at RRP like everyone else (unless you have a special Lego source nobody else knows about). Eventually, your prices have to go up substantially to be profitable. And based on other threads, the economy is forcing people (on average) to move to lower priced (smaller sets).

So...short-term = good; long-term = bad, right?

It is easy enough to acquire them at a good discount if you do your homework. I believe an important factor in what people are willing to pay on the aftermarket is a multiple of what a set was readily available for on retail shelves. TLG did a huge favor for most resellers. Long term =very good.

TheLoneTensor

^^ #40082 is going for about $20 on Ebay, with #40083 going for less, so good job @Bandit on blowing the absolute heck out of that average, however you did it, selling them for $45 each. That's simply amazing.

To sell those little sets, there's the marketing (photo, cropping, listing), administration, packing and shipping of the sale, which all takes time and some money. And again, the VIP points are locked into Lego and Lego alone. Given that I don't shop there much anymore, the actual value of those points is far less than cash remaining in my pocket.

I'm not saying the discounts are insignificant, I'm just saying that there's a lot of work to do and red tape to traverse to realize them. It's something I'm not willing to do because a) time is a very valuable commodity to me and b) I don't hold nearly the stock/faith in VIP points like I once did. It seems to have worked out for you though, so more power to you.

cheshirecat

doriansdad said:

I believe an important factor in what people are willing to pay on the aftermarket is a multiple of what a set was readily available for on retail shelves. TLG did a huge favor for most resellers.

I would have thought the RRP is almost exclusively the old price that matters. I know when I buy old sets I look at the RRP but can't think I've ever thought about the discount I could have got it for. I guess looking at sets soon after they're EOL might be different.

Othrerwise I agree for resellers who stick with it and work the deals they'll be in a stronger place with much less competition. For reselling for the masses it will be a bad thing, which for both of us is a good thing!

BTHodgeman

Bandit said:

TheLoneTensor said:

As for the "deals" on pre-BF (which were better than actual BF, boggle that), 3x points plus a little set equates to about $35, but that's is:

I sold each and every Xmas set #1 over the last week for $45 each. That plus the triple VIP put me at price points (after net of $36 for Xmas sets), for example, of $66 for the VW Camper (45% off), $92 for Palace Cinema (40% off), and $166 for Ewok Village (34% off - with xtra clone trooper).

$45??? They're available at the Lego stores for $9.99 apiece right now. There's some value to be had ;)

Brent

LegoFanTexas

tamamahm said:

- The lack of discounts on exclusives I find frustrating, but for a very different reason. Outside of Friends, Some of the only sets that have a reasonable number of female minifigs ARE the exclusives. Whenever I 'whined' about the lack of female minifgs in standard lines, and how my girls at 9+ are phasing out of Friends, which is targeted towards younger girls or girls not previously exposed to Lego, I was pointed to the exclusives.

A Friends set the size and scale of Haunted House is BADLY needed...

That would be a day one purchase for me, my daughter would be over the moon with a clam-shell opening Friend's house.

I might as well tell her she won the lotto. Same effect.

tamamahm said:

No, a free little truck set does not defray cost. A PAB box is nice, but it does not defray cost.

Yea, if you're not a reseller, those are less interesting. I always looked at the "free" Christmas sets as about a $20 discount, because I always sell them.

If you don't sell, they probably lose a lot of their appeal. PAB is the same way, great for large amounts of cheap parts, and I've sold dozens of them, so again, money in my pocket, but otherwise, meh...

tamamahm said:

A chance to win free sets does nothing, because we never win, and a wimpy key chain again does not defray cost. That leaves the 5% VIP, which helps me over time If I buy exclusively through them, but does next to nothing for them if they re buying with their allowance. That leaves a $10 off card, which I though one was not able to use on that purchase.

Translation, the offers were crap this year. :)

tamamahm said:

Of course, when it can find many sets for my son at the crazy prices that were out there, and yet the Exclusive line for my girls really has no discount, I find the entire ordeal very frustrating. I am sure Lego did this to target resellers, and Lego can do what they want, but they did not consider that the Exclusive line is one of the main options for older girls.

I said 6 months ago that there would be unintended side effects to the targeting of resellers, and this is one of them.

Frankly, they haven't really put much of a dent in resellers. Maybe a bit on the exclusives, but for standard sets? Nothing, not a bit, zero effect.

If anything, they cause Amazon/Target/Walmart to go all out discounting EVERYTHING ELSE this year... I still am amazed at Jabba's Sail Barge for 47% off on Cyber Monday at Amazon, that is just insane for a 6 month old Star Wars set that is not fringe, but main line popular.

Dougout

Basta said:

^ it may have had an impact but the bigger thing, at least for the newer exclusives would be the more competitive pricing, availability & lower Australian dollar.

For instance the SOH has been avaliable locally for as low as $285 AUD ($258 USD) which means the discount that set would need in the US to make it worth selling here once you include shipping would be a lot more then 30%.

This makes sense, I don't know why TLG wasn't selling much to Australia. I understand they don't want to venture into China, but what is the problem with selling in Australia?

madforLEGO

cheshirecat said:

doriansdad said:

I believe an important factor in what people are willing to pay on the aftermarket is a multiple of what a set was readily available for on retail shelves. TLG did a huge favor for most resellers.

I would have thought the RRP is almost exclusively the old price that matters. I know when I buy old sets I look at the RRP but can't think I've ever thought about the discount I could have got it for. I guess looking at sets soon after they're EOL might be different.

Othrerwise I agree for resellers who stick with it and work the deals they'll be in a stronger place with much less competition. For reselling for the masses it will be a bad thing, which for both of us is a good thing!

This is why I scoff at people saying this is great and those evil resellers got it good becasue of it. These will be the same people wondering why they have to pay a fortune for a PC after it EOLs, even at a 5 year run. How many people are REALLY going to try to hold on to multiple copies of a set? Not many, not at retail I'm guessing. Like it or not, Resellers are going to be the reason why you will find FBs for 250 instead of 350 in a year.

BTHodgeman said:

Bandit said:

TheLoneTensor said:

As for the "deals" on pre-BF (which were better than actual BF, boggle that), 3x points plus a little set equates to about $35, but that's is:

I sold each and every Xmas set #1 over the last week for $45 each. That plus the triple VIP put me at price points (after net of $36 for Xmas sets), for example, of $66 for the VW Camper (45% off), $92 for Palace Cinema (40% off), and $166 for Ewok Village (34% off - with xtra clone trooper).

$45??? They're available at the Lego stores for $9.99 apiece right now. There's some value to be had ;)

Brent

Not all LEGO stores have them sitting on a shelf for 10 bucks and not all people have LEGO stores around their homes, er go 45 for a set is not completely crazy. What is interesting is that the 2011 sets 1 and 2 go for about the same amount.

BTHodgeman

^ I suppose that's true. I guess I'll have to stock up if I get to the store again this year.

Also, they do go on clearance after Christmas. In 2011, I got about a dozen of each for $4.98.

Bandit

BTHodgeman said:

Bandit said:

TheLoneTensor said:

As for the "deals" on pre-BF (which were better than actual BF, boggle that), 3x points plus a little set equates to about $35, but that's is:

I sold each and every Xmas set #1 over the last week for $45 each. That plus the triple VIP put me at price points (after net of $36 for Xmas sets), for example, of $66 for the VW Camper (45% off), $92 for Palace Cinema (40% off), and $166 for Ewok Village (34% off - with xtra clone trooper).

$45??? They're available at the Lego stores for $9.99 apiece right now. There's some value to be had ;)

Brent

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FXD29P8

It's come down a few dollars from a couple days ago...

Farmer_John

doriansdad said:

It is easy enough to acquire them at a good discount if you do your homework.

^This is the linchpin in the logic that "long-term=very good," but it begs the question: How does homework generate good discounts on Lego sets when nobody is offering discounts?