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Lego CUUSOO #005 Mars Rover Availability and Second Hand Pricing

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  • XefanXefan Member Posts: 1,148
    I ordered two on the 1st, one for me, one for a friend, both arrived yesterday. This was in the UK.
  • margotmargot Member Posts: 2,308
    Legogeek said:

    I got lucky on my Hayabusa.

    I got my Hayabusa at a Lego Kidsfest. I was really surprised to see it there. They sell some interesting things at kidsfests.

  • bricktuarybricktuary Member Posts: 987
    Worried about missing out, I've just ordered mine from [email protected] Here's hoping they get some more.
  • murphquakemurphquake Member Posts: 651
    @margot were you at kidsfest last month in CT? I found mr gold there at the saturday afternoon session... I think i got my hayabusa at the rockefeller store, they usually have it, though they're marked up to $55 there =-(
  • MorkManMorkMan Member Posts: 916
    margot said:

    I got my Hayabusa at a Lego Kidsfest. I was really surprised to see it there.

    So did I. They had only 1 on the shelf. I was congratulated by several employees for snapping it up.
    margot
  • margotmargot Member Posts: 2,308
    @murphquake, no, I was at the Kentucky one several months ago. I wish I was at the CT one, that's my hometown state.
  • tomahawkertomahawker Member Posts: 204
    Anyone else notice that this set is now listed as "Sold Out" on the US [email protected] site?

    Set was basically available for 1 month!

    Anyone know if they will make more?
  • ColoradoBricksColoradoBricks Member Posts: 1,659
    We had a discussion about it in this thread. A few weeks ago, it was going from Sold Out, to backordered, several times a day. As @Perijove stated in that thread, it was a run of 10K with no guarantee for more.
  • mathewmathew Member Posts: 2,099
    The same thing happened to Minecraft. The sky isn't falling. Demand is exceeding supply. There will be more.
  • GIR3691GIR3691 Member Posts: 674
    LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester's store had a good stock of them when I was there the other day. Worth a shot to check if you have a LDC nearby.
  • KivetonKiveton Member Posts: 1
    I got mine from Lego [email protected] in the UK no problem last week. I was told both Leeds and Sheffield branches will not be stocking it. A real shame because I think its a fab set for the money. I think the fact people have to pay for delivery is putting a lot off ordering it.
  • margotmargot Member Posts: 2,308
    Back to "temporarily out of stock" in the US.
  • InsomniacEveInsomniacEve Member Posts: 9
    I asked the Lego store people in NYC and they told me it should be temporarily out of stock, should be back before summer. =]
  • DanzukeDanzuke Member Posts: 1
    Super new here, but am kind of wondering about the wording on the Lego site since I'm so new to all this.

    Right now on Lego's store the rover is listed as "sold out" as opposed to temporarily out of stock or something of that nature. Does this mean that the item is sold out on their end for good?
  • cloaked7cloaked7 Member Posts: 1,448
    edited April 2014
    From what I've read on this forum I don't think anyone outside of LEGO truly knows for sure.

    Some sets have had really short runs (zombies, recent architecture special set) so it is definitely possible there will be no more Curiosity Rover. And even Minecraft was on a low quantity production run for a long time. But, there are more examples of a set being listed as OOS and returning later. I know none of that helps, except to affirm that your guess is as good as mine. Personally I'm not guessing. I'll just wait and see.

    The set was available for such a short time initially I didn't have time to get one. Also, it's just me, but I hedged my bet and bought a set for $60, mainly because I have all the other CUUSOO sets. It may come back in stock such that I could snag one, but there's no guarantee. The flip side is that it doesn't come back in stock and the price goes to $100, which is what will happen if LEGO is finished producing them.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    Remember also that Ghostbusters and the exo-suit are cuusoo sets queued ready to come out. With more cuusoo sets in the pipeline, we may see them on shorter availability if the sell out.

    But nobody really knows.
  • PerijovePerijove Member Posts: 116
    I designed the set and even I don't know anything about the availability, distribution, life cycle, etc. LEGO works in mysterious and sometimes frustrating ways.
  • tamamahmtamamahm Member Posts: 1,987
    I find it very interesting that even the designer does not get to know. I am just happy we ordered one early! It looks like a fun set!
  • BastaBasta Member Posts: 1,259
    The rover and BTTF Delorean should be hitting the shelves of at least two (TRU & Toyworld) local Australian stores this week. I have heard that TRU stores will be only getting one small shipment and then no more.
  • PerijovePerijove Member Posts: 116
    There is a listing for the rover on the TRU website. http://www.toysrus.com/buy/lego-hard-to-find/lego-cuusoo-minecraft-mars-curiosity-rover-21104-6076795-31225306 It says it is only available in stores, but as was revealed by a quick drive, not my store.
  • cloaked7cloaked7 Member Posts: 1,448
    Not in my store either.
  • Ma1234Ma1234 Member Posts: 693
    edited April 2014
    My local toy shop (a larger than average local store with excellent selection) has started stocking the Mars Rover. They had about a two dozen or so on the shelf today.
  • 12651265 Member Posts: 1,156
    edited April 2014
    I have a bad feeling that this set will be short-lived. I'm guessing that TLC is making up for flooding the market with Minecraft set #21102.
  • CalvCalv Member Posts: 904
    I ordered one from Lego last weekend and received it yesterday. So it is still available in Europe at present.

  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    tamamahm said:

    I find it very interesting that even the designer does not get to know. I am just happy we ordered one early! It looks like a fun set!

    I'm not surprised at all. It is lego that sell it, and they will want to keep stock levels and amounts produced a secret. If they tell the designer, and he tells us, then we tell someone else ... well, everyone will know when to stock up or whether to hold off for a sale, etc.
    FollowsClosely
  • cheshirecatcheshirecat Member Posts: 5,331
    ^^ Just in time, its been showing as sold out across Europe since early in the week.
  • PoMoPinkPoMoPink Member Posts: 275
    edited April 2014
    Please tell me it was sold out in the UK before double points started :(

    I was waiting until then and forgot until last night ... grrrrrr .....

    (I do have one already so it's not tragic, but I was keeping it sealed...)
  • XefanXefan Member Posts: 1,148
    CCC said:

    tamamahm said:

    I find it very interesting that even the designer does not get to know. I am just happy we ordered one early! It looks like a fun set!

    I'm not surprised at all. It is lego that sell it, and they will want to keep stock levels and amounts produced a secret. If they tell the designer, and he tells us, then we tell someone else ... well, everyone will know when to stock up or whether to hold off for a sale, etc.
    Yeah but given that designers on CUUSOO get a share of the profit it's got to be a bit frustrating if they're not even being given a rough idea of how many units they expect to sell, or will produce. Seems unfair if one person get 1% of a million sales, and the other gets 1% of only 10,000 sales without any justification to either as to why such a drastic disparity.

    Of course I understand profit isn't the motive for most submissions to CUUSOO, but really, if Lego is scared of the designer sharing that information then well, that's what NDAs are for.

    pharmjod
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    Calv said:

    I ordered one from Lego last weekend and received it yesterday. So it is still available in Europe at present.

    I think it's fair to say it was in stock when you ordered it and so you got one via your order, but all of the European [email protected] sites and the US one are listing it as "sold out". Might strike lucky in your Lego shops locally though.

  • CalvCalv Member Posts: 904
    I didn't realise it was so close to being sold out. Talk about skin of teeth and all that!

  • BrickDancerBrickDancer Member Posts: 3,639
    ^^That's part of the problem, they are not available in any regular B&M Lego shops. They were only available online and at the Discovery Center type of B&M, which are scarce.
  • TheLoneTensorTheLoneTensor Member Posts: 3,937
    edited April 2014
    As Cuusoo does give a % of the profits (of the first run), one could infer that all distinct sales figures for that run would be available to the winning designer for audit purposes. Likely this disclosure would come well after the time any such information could affect the market (or aftermarket). Someone like @Perijove‌ would have to comment on the logistics here, but I'm betting he's legally barred from doing so, ever, because of an NDA.
  • PeteMPeteM Member Posts: 447
    PoMoPink said:

    Please tell me it was sold out in the UK before double points started :(

    I was waiting until then and forgot until last night ... grrrrrr .....

    (I do have one already so it's not tragic, but I was keeping it sealed...)

    I don't know, but was planning to do exactly the same - and I don't even have one! :(
  • Ma1234Ma1234 Member Posts: 693
    TheLoneTensor said:

    As Cuusoo does give a % of the profits (of the first run), one could infer that all distinct sales figures for that run would be available to the winning designer for audit purposes. Likely this disclosure would come well after the time any such information could affect the market (or aftermarket). Someone like @Perijove‌ would have to comment on the logistics here, but I'm betting he's legally barred from doing so, ever, because of an NDA.

    I'd be shocked if the deal is auditable. It is almost definitely non-auditable.
    monkeyhanger said:

    Calv said:

    I ordered one from Lego last weekend and received it yesterday. So it is still available in Europe at present.

    I think it's fair to say it was in stock when you ordered it and so you got one via your order, but all of the European [email protected] sites and the US one are listing it as "sold out". Might strike lucky in your Lego shops locally though.

    The set is now being shipped out to retailers in the States, including Toys R Us, independent toy shops, etc. It is nowhere near sold out, discontinued, etc. My local toy shop today had around 20 in LA. I was just in Japan, where they were sold through traditional outlets from day one, and the set is literally everywhere.
    Xefan said:

    CCC said:



    Yeah but given that designers on CUUSOO get a share of the profit it's got to be a bit frustrating if they're not even being given a rough idea of how many units they expect to sell, or will produce. Seems unfair if one person get 1% of a million sales, and the other gets 1% of only 10,000 sales without any justification to either as to why such a drastic disparity.

    How is that unfair? It's the free market.
  • HardradaHardrada Member Posts: 439
    PoMoPink said:

    Please tell me it was sold out in the UK before double points started :(

    I was waiting until then and forgot until last night ... grrrrrr .....

    (I do have one already so it's not tragic, but I was keeping it sealed...)

    Sorry to disappoint but it wasn't sold out in Europe then. I at least ordered two at 23:59 pm on March 31st as I think the Martian Manhunter is more valuable than double VIP. So it was still available on April 1st at least unless I bought the last two.

  • PoMoPinkPoMoPink Member Posts: 275
    :'(
  • XefanXefan Member Posts: 1,148
    edited April 2014
    Ma1234 said:

    How is that unfair? It's the free market.

    No it's not. Supply hasn't stopped because it has met demand. There is still strong unmet demand, as evidenced by increasing second hand and resale prices.
  • TheLoneTensorTheLoneTensor Member Posts: 3,937
    Ma1234 said:

    TheLoneTensor said:

    As Cuusoo does give a % of the profits (of the first run), one could infer that all distinct sales figures for that run would be available to the winning designer for audit purposes. Likely this disclosure would come well after the time any such information could affect the market (or aftermarket). Someone like @Perijove‌ would have to comment on the logistics here, but I'm betting he's legally barred from doing so, ever, because of an NDA.

    I'd be shocked if the deal is auditable. It is almost definitely non-auditable.
    A financial deal being made between a large corporation and a 3rd party, and you think it's non-auditable? I think not.
    FollowsClosely
  • BastaBasta Member Posts: 1,259
    The Rover has hit the shelves of Australian stores this week, Myer currently has a B2G1 Free running, so I only paid $33.30AUD each which I was happy with.

    Will be interesting to see if and when it comes back in stock.
  • Ma1234Ma1234 Member Posts: 693
    edited April 2014
    TheLoneTensor said:

    Ma1234 said:

    TheLoneTensor said:

    As Cuusoo does give a % of the profits (of the first run), one could infer that all distinct sales figures for that run would be available to the winning designer for audit purposes. Likely this disclosure would come well after the time any such information could affect the market (or aftermarket). Someone like @Perijove‌ would have to comment on the logistics here, but I'm betting he's legally barred from doing so, ever, because of an NDA.

    I'd be shocked if the deal is auditable. It is almost definitely non-auditable.
    A financial deal being made between a large corporation and a 3rd party, and you think it's non-auditable? I think not.
    I think absolutely yes. I make deals for a living between what are often large film studios and high-end individuals, and they often have no audit rights (or the audit rights require high-end triggers), even with back-end participation. Somebody winning what is essentially an internet contest almost certainly does not have any audit rights and has no power to negotiate them.


    cheshirecat
  • TheLoneTensorTheLoneTensor Member Posts: 3,937
    edited April 2014
    ^ You can continue to think in absolutes, but I wouldn't recommend it. You really need to brush up on your sweepstakes or other contest governances. I have no idea where you are, but in the US, things are pretty strict. You can't just boil this down into a contest with a static prize, it's directly tied to revenue and sales of a set, which is variable, and that...wait. Hmm. Ok, yes, it's official, I have just completely lost interest in this argument.

    FollowsCloselyteal93mr2
  • Ma1234Ma1234 Member Posts: 693
    edited April 2014
    TheLoneTensor said:

    ^ You can continue to think in absolutes, but I wouldn't recommend it. You really need to brush up on your sweepstakes or other contest governances. I have no idea where you are, but in the US, things are pretty strict. You can't just boil this down into a contest with a static prize, it's directly tied to revenue and sales of a set, which is variable, and that...wait. Hmm. Ok, yes, it's official, I have just completely lost interest in this argument.

    I'm in the U.S. There is no governance, LEGO absolutely can (and almost definitely does) say the deal is non-auditable. That's how deals between big corporations and "small people" work. I'm not boiling this down to a prize - I'm boiling this down to the simple fact that auditing rights are not inherent and the more powerful party often will exclude them and make a deal non-auditable.
  • Brick_ObsessionBrick_Obsession Member Posts: 656
    If Lego is paying out a percentage of the proceeds then they are 100% cutting a check. They are not going into some slush fund and doing a "cash" deal. I am sure there are even waivers and right exclusives documents that have to be signed.

    If they are cutting a check, then you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be showing up on the books for any and all audits in the future.
  • Ma1234Ma1234 Member Posts: 693
    Brick_Obsession said:



    If they are cutting a check, then you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be showing up on the books for any and all audits in the future.

    That doesn't change the fact that the person the check is being cut to doesn't have audit rights.
    pharmjodcheshirecatdougts
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    Huge difference between an internal Lego audit and opening the books to an outside party
  • PerijovePerijove Member Posts: 116
    TheLoneTensor said:

    As Cuusoo does give a % of the profits (of the first run), one could infer that all distinct sales figures for that run would be available to the winning designer for audit purposes. Likely this disclosure would come well after the time any such information could affect the market (or aftermarket). Someone like @Perijove‌ would have to comment on the logistics here, but I'm betting he's legally barred from doing so, ever, because of an NDA.

    According to the LEGO CUUSOO Guidelines, I will get 1% of net sales for my set. I'm not sure what percent of the sale price that works out to be, so I doubt I'd be able to use that to figure out total sales figures with any certainty. Besides, I'm just the project creator. I don't work for LEGO and don't know much about business, in general. So, I don't see how there would be any real reason for the LEGO Group to include me in the business/financial side of their operations. I can certainly understand why LEGO would want to be quiet about this stuff. While it's fun for us FOLs to think about, it probably wouln't be too great for LEGO if competitors and possibly resellers got ahold of that kind of information.

    JeffHlego007
  • Farmer_JohnFarmer_John Member Posts: 2,405
    ^ Yep...TLG wouldn't be doing CUUSOO if it resulted in anyone outside the company having access to their books (including the winners). As Dana Carvey would say..."It wouldn't be prudent."
  • XefanXefan Member Posts: 1,148
    edited April 2014
    Ma1234 said:

    I think absolutely yes. I make deals for a living between what are often large film studios and high-end individuals, and they often have no audit rights (or the audit rights require high-end triggers), even with back-end participation. Somebody winning what is essentially an internet contest almost certainly does not have any audit rights and has no power to negotiate them.

    To be fair, you probably have a rather distorted view of the world on this particular issue then, as the movie industry is particularly exceptional in obfuscation and manipulation of it's books and accounts to avoid paying royalties and taxes otherwise owed. You're no doubt aware that there's even a well known term for this particular problem - Hollywood Accounting. Wikipedia as usual has a decent summary for anyone wishing to know more, and some pretty pertinent examples such as Stan Lee getting no royalties owed because the studios fiddled their books to make it look like they made no profit on an $800 million revenue film:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

    Assuming every business is as corrupt as the movie studios you're no doubt familiar with probably isn't fair. If you're not securing audit rights for your clients you're doing them a disservice, because you're letting them get screwed by an industry that has a history of avoiding exactly that precisely so they can screw clients like yours. What's normal to you is abnormal in most industries.

    Normally there's no risk in audit rights, because again, you simply get them to sign an NDA. It's wrong to believe that giving an outsider access to books means they'll be leaked left and right to competitors, that's precisely the nonsense Hollywood peddles to justify it's actions. It's normally just a case of letting them send an accountant to the offices of the company in question to check the books, it's nothing like sending the entire company accounts via unsecured e-mail to a private individual's GMail inbox or whatever. Such accountants will have a contractually obligated professional and legal responsibility to divulge nothing beyond the validity of the paid net income in these sorts of cases, and would never risk being sued into bankruptcy and losing their job and chartered accountant status for a client outside of that.

    Besides, if someone had reasonable belief that the deal was being fiddled they could trivially get a court to order just that kind of auditing anyway, which by the way is precisely why the studios pretty much always settle at any hint of it going to court - because they know full well they're wrong. I doubt for TLG it's worth the effort as I suspect they're not corrupt like Hollywood and just pay what's owed in the first place. I suspect if a CUUSOO winner really wanted to send an accountant over to confirm validity of payment values paid then they'd oblige, but for most winners it wouldn't be worth the effort, especially if they're not even in it for the money in the first place.
    TheLoneTensordougtspharmjod
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    edited April 2014
    common sense tells me that the Cuusoo standard contract is setup in such a way that no audit rights are provided. it's a behemoth company contracting with a fan/individual who has no leverage. If the designer signing the contract wants to haggle over the contract, LEGO would probably just say "ah, nevermind, we'll pick a different set then".
  • RonyarRonyar Member Posts: 373
    Just a quick heads up that a neighbor of mine bought a #21104 for me at Legoland Florida last week at MSRP. If anyone is heading there soon, keep an eye open for them.
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