Huh.... I was just at the Rockefeller Plaza store this past weekend and I did not notice any prices higher than retail, but I did not look at any of the licensed sets. With that said, New York City and state sales tax are nearly 9% so 2 pick-a-brick cups were almost $35.00.

I highly recommend buying Lego in the US because up here in Canada our prices are greater and we have a 13% sales tax (in Ontario, the sales tax differs by province). However, our dollar is worth less than the US dollar so the prices can be similar depending on what you are buying.

Edited September 30, 201410 yr by iamwhoiam

Agree that TRU has improved their pricing, to an extent. My local TRU charges only slightly above MSRP on current sets, but also has a huge stock of sets that are out of production which they routinely mark up about 15-20% of the original MSRP.

I'm lucky to live in a state where tax is only 6% on non-food purchases with no other local city or county taxes tacked on.

The insane thing is when TRU takes older out of production sets and puts them on clearence at yet another 10-20% above the already inflated TRU prices. No joke my local TRU has a bunch of Sith Furies on blowout clearence of $120

There's a Lego store in Queens, a subway ride away from Manhattan. They charge rrp there.

Has anyone been to the new 5th Avenue store? Do they charge rrp or do they have a mark up?

There's a Lego store in Queens, a subway ride away from Manhattan. They charge rrp there.

Has anyone been to the new 5th Avenue store? Do they charge rrp or do they have a mark up?

I will ask around tomorrow at our LUG meeting if any of the PA Lego builders have gone to the 5th Ave Store. I did not go to the 5th Avenue store last weekend because I had a 40 minute window to get from the Hilton at 53rd Street and Ave. of the Americas to Rockefeller Plaza and back before the next session at a conference I was attending. My wife and I had another short window later in the evening that we used to walk up to Central Park and then stare at the lines of people still waiting to get the iPhone6 at the Apple store.

I've found one good deal at Toys R Us - The Technic RC Rock Crawler 9398... $199 MSRP but only $160 at Toys R Us, and has been priced that way for months- not a sale.

If your bother is still in the NYC area there are other Lego stores nearby, anything not on the island of Manhattan will be cheaper.

Even with US prices, US taxes, and US currency exchange rate, new LEGO sets still come out a better deal in the USA than in most other countries.

That might be true in most cases, but recently I found out Amazon Japan had the advent calendar sets (both the regular one and the Star Wars themed one) cheaper. One of my best friends happened to be visiting us for Christmas with her family, so I shamelessly asked her to bring me two advent calendar sets. At that time the best deal I could find in U.S. using my own price comparison web site bestbrickprice.com was still way more expensive than the price listed at Amazon Japan. I don't know whether it is because Advent Calendar is not a big thing in Japan? The sets were sold out at all major retailers, online and in-store right before Christmas here in U.S.. However, the regular set is back in stock now at ToysRUs at the listed price of $29.99. The lowest price for in stock Star Wars Advent Calendar is currently $57.99, still more expensive than the $39.99 listed price. The price on Amazon Japan for the same item is $46 (give or take the fluctuation in foreign currency exchange), cheaper quite a bit. The sales tax there in Japan is 8% right now, and soon to be 10% in October, comparable to what I have to pay here. I already told my friend I'll be asking them to buy and bring me certain LEGO sets next time they visit in Fall, especially those sets that are sold out here on LEGO.com and the prices are jacked up everywhere else online.

In Los Angeles County, California, where I live we have a 9% sales tax rate. Ninety minutes to the south in Carlsbad where LEGOLAND is, the sales tax rate is 8%. In addition, as a LEGOLAND pass holder I get a 10% off all purchases. However, my preferred way of shopping is still via online. I am able to shop from the comfort of my home, and often do not have to pay the listed price because I always do my price comparison homework first.

Wow that's a lot of different tax numbers to take note of.. Can I ask as a tourist to the states, how can I know how much tax I will need to pay in the states that I am in? And if I purchase from Lego.com what tax numbers do I follow then?

Purchasing online is even harder to figure out. If the seller doesn't do business in the state the product is being delivered to then there is no sales tax charged at all.

Worse- some states charge sales tax on the shipping cost as well, some don't.

As a result your price you check out with is an estimate and subject to minor changes.

This is the "fine print" of the US Online Shop-

Sales taxes will be added to merchandise total only for all orders shipping to the states of: Oklahoma, and Massachusetts.

Sales tax will be added to total of merchandise and shipping & handling charges for all orders shipping to the states of: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, , Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The sales tax listed on the checkout page is an estimate. The exact amount of sales tax charged will be calculated when your order is submitted and will reflect applicable state and local taxes. Final tax charged will be listed in your order confirmation.

I just figure 10% extra over any price shown and I know that is more than enough, it turns out for me to be closer to 9%.

Basically when ordering online you pay the sales tax applicable to the city and state you are ordering from- or no tax at all if you are ordering from a state that doesn't have a LEGO store or office.

Edited January 16, 201510 yr by BirdOPrey5

Basically when ordering online you pay the sales tax applicable to the city and state you are ordering from- or no tax at all if you are ordering from a state that doesn't have a LEGO store or office.

This used to be the case, but LEGO does not have any physical presence in many states where they still collect sales tax online. This may be because of state laws that now require it even for companies that do not have a physical presence in the state. I live in Iowa, for example, where there is no LEGO store or other physical presence, yet I pay sales tax at shop.lego.com

Wow that's a lot of different tax numbers to take note of.. Can I ask as a tourist to the states, how can I know how much tax I will need to pay in the states that I am in? And if I purchase from Lego.com what tax numbers do I follow then?

Sales tax actually can vary by county/city, so it's hard to know for sure if you're traveling even just locally. I normally just mentally add 10%, because it's almost always actually less and 10% is an easy number to work with. One more thing to note is that because sales tax is not the same as a VAT (which we don't have here), it can't be refunded at all when you leave the country like VAT often can be.

Thanks guys! I guess taking 10% as a guide would be good since that would be the "worse case scenario" anything less would be a sales "discount" :)