LEGO Star Wars Pricing Discussion Thread

[That Orange Thing]

On 04/04/2017 at 6:08 PM, Lobot said:

As previously mentioned we already have a Star Wars Pricing Thread (link) so I'll merge this thread with it

And, the simple answer for this is to wait for the sales...  In the UK, you can usually get non-exclusive sets at 30-40% at various times of the year which can be very useful if you're intending to buy multiples of them.  Last year I managed to buy several First Order BPs at 50% off from my local supermarket, so it's well worth looking around.

Supermarkets are always a great place to buy heavily reduced battlepacks. Managed to get 9 of the last rebel battlepacks for about £3 a set. Only problem is their sales are so random and stock flies off the shelf because it's so cheap. 

[makoy]

19 hours ago, Bolingbroke said:

americans are hilarious. they complain about lego bps costing 15 dollars, and then they tip 20% in restaurants. or maybe that's the reason why they complain so much.

But that's the reality, isn't it? People will always find ways to complain. Blame one thing due to XYZ, because ABC is this and that.  

Not to mention there is an on-going debacle about additional tax tariff on goods coming from Mexico, imported to the US of A. (Then Mexico plant supplies most LEGO sets to US)

I understand why there is such an increase in price sensitivity among the Americans.

[bobasdad]

I can handle additional tariffs on fruits, vegetables, and other essentials; but additional tariffs on Lego....

[Forresto]

You Australians need to pull a Sidney Lego Tea Party, dump all the lego products into Botany Bay and declare independence from Great Britain demand lower prices 

As for people griping about the American priced battle packs going up, I think it has less to do with them being 15 dollars and more to do with a fear they will rise to what they are in other countries (twenty dollars ) plus when you're used to twelve or thirteen, fifteen seems like a massive increase despite it being only two dollars. For example if you buy seven battle packs, the additional cost of two dollars each is nearly another battle pack, so in essence it feels like you're being shortchanged. 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Forresto

[FishW]

On 4/5/2017 at 5:51 AM, Bolingbroke said:

americans are hilarious. they complain about lego bps costing 15 dollars, and then they tip 20% in restaurants. or maybe that's the reason why they complain so much.

For the record, I don't believe we are suppose to be happy about it costing more. I'll agree it is a small price raise (around 15%), but still any raise is not exactly good. I personally don't mind as I'll just buy the ones I feel are worth the price, and wait for the other ones to go on sale. I haven't done any conversion of currencies but based on what other people have said, I'm guessing the price raise has brought us more inline with other countries. One of my concerns is that what if the other sets rise in price. An across the board price rise would sting quite a bit. Though I think it's understood that price rise for all sets is inevitable, my hope is that it just doesn't happen for a while. Again as I mentioned time and time again I think the upcoming wave is worth it. I'll Jude each set on a set by set basis. And again I'm willing to bet other countries have a far higher price than what we have, but that doesn't mean I have to welcome parting with my more of my cash  To sum this up Cheaper price for the same set = better.

[teos]

On 4/4/2017 at 8:30 PM, Brikkyy13 said:

Battle packs are RRP $23 here in Australia (We can usually find them for $19, or get them for $15 on clearance if we wait until the end of the year). Watching everyone complain about a $15 price tag instead of $12 is kind of funny.

To be fair, Australia's minimum wage is about $13.50 (USD) vs. United States which is generally around $8-9.  At $4.50 more that's nearly an extra $10k per year for full time work.  

$23 aud is about $17.50 usd.

[Nokturn]

1 hour ago, Tidy said:

the price per piece, these are right in line with what one typically sees, far from 'ridiculously overpriced'

As far as I'm concerned, Kylo's TIE is $20 too much, the Resistance Bomber is $40 too much, and the FO Walker & Star Destroyer are both at least $10 too much. This is a significant increase over the cost of the TFA and the RO Force Friday waves. I feel like we're being priced out of this hobby. I won't be able to afford most of this wave unless there are significant price drops.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Nokturn

[Tidy]

this is not the time or place to quibble over your thoughts on the pricing.

however, kylo's tie [12.7c] is right in line with the sf tie from TFA [13.5c] and the tie striker from RO [12.9c], which is NOT a significant increase [one could even call it a decrease], you may want to go back and do a little research.  i deal with data and fact, not emotion. 

[Nokturn]

1 hour ago, Tidy said:

this is not the time or place to quibble over your thoughts on the pricing.

however, kylo's tie [12.7c] is right in line with the sf tie from TFA [13.5c] and the tie striker from RO [12.9c], which is NOT a significant increase [one could even call it a decrease], you may want to go back and do a little research.  i deal with data and fact, not emotion. 

You're completely ignoring the data that doesn't serve your argument. The Resistance Bomber, Heavy Assault Walker, and Star Destroyer are all overpriced. This entire wave costs $680 USD, which is a $110 increase over the Force Awakens wave. Is that not ridiculous to you? Also, this is not just a US-based problem. Prices are increasing everywhere, and have been for quite some time. I'm extremely worried that the prices will not stop increasing.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Nokturn

[Tidy]

i really don't care about your opinion as to whether it is overpriced or not.  i've made my decisions on what i am buying and you're not going to change that.

if you insist on continuing this, the TLJ sets also represent a ~1200 increase in pieces. what is ridiculous, is expecting more for less. if you really think this is ridiculous pricing, then DON'T BUY THEM!

i'm done.

[i'll patiently wait for your last word]

[Nokturn]

17 minutes ago, Tidy said:

i really don't care about your opinion as to whether it is overpriced or not.  i've made my decisions on what i am buying and you're not going to change that.

if you insist on continuing this, the TLJ sets also represent a ~1200 increase in pieces. what is ridiculous, is expecting more for less. if you really think this is ridiculous pricing, then DON'T BUY THEM!

i'm done.

[i'll patiently wait for your last word]

For someone who claims to only deal with facts and not emotion, you seem rather upset. I must've struck a nerve. It doesn't matter whether or not you care about my opinion; this is a public forum and I have every right to post here and express my thoughts. I have the right to be critical of TLG even if you don't think I have a reason to.

We're done here.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Nokturn

[PicnicBasketSam]

The 3 biggest sets do indeed have pretty absurd pricing, I agree. 70618 Destiny's Bounty, and all of the modular buildings, have nearly twice as many parts as the Star Destroyer or Heavy Assault Walker and cost about the same. Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter is very high, but it's also in line with the other TIE Fighters of recent years as well as the U-Wing. All of these would need to be pretty heavily discounted for me to consider purchasing them, except the Resistance Transport Pod and the Scout Walker... actually, speaking of which, does anyone know how that thing works?

It's also absolutely ridiculous that it costs $270 to get Rey, Finn, BB-8, and Kylo Ren from this wave of sets. That might be even worse than the high prices of all these.

[Cyberfounder]

3 hours ago, Nokturn said:

You're completely ignoring the data that doesn't serve your argument. The Resistance Bomber, Heavy Assault Walker, and Star Destroyer are all overpriced. This entire wave costs $680 USD, which is a $110 increase over the Force Awakens wave. Is that not ridiculous to you? Also, this is not just a US-based problem. Prices are increasing everywhere, and have been for quite some time. I'm extremely worried that the prices will not stop increasing.

Yeah thats one of the reasons I only buy 2 or 3 sets of each wave anymore, i used to buy almost the entire wave, but I just can't justify spending that much money on it anymore. Sometimes I even just get a few mini-figures instead of the entire set. 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Cyberfounder

[therealharbinger]

Value is all in the eye of the beholder. 

I am surprised some people are annoyed over the cost of the whole batch going up in price. I honestly don't think lego consider that people want to buy the entire wave. And then the next and the next.

This isn't a new trend. Everytime a new phone comes out guess what it's more expensive. The next model of your car rolls out the factory have they ever been the same even?

Extra demand for more product = will always result in higher end prices. The two examples are a result of soaring R&D costs. The days of letting products run for long periods of time are long over. It's all about cramming as much down your throats as possible.

[Nokturn]

2 hours ago, therealharbinger said:

Value is all in the eye of the beholder. 

I am surprised some people are annoyed over the cost of the whole batch going up in price. I honestly don't think lego consider that people want to buy the entire wave. And then the next and the next.

This isn't a new trend. Everytime a new phone comes out guess what it's more expensive. The next model of your car rolls out the factory have they ever been the same even?

Extra demand for more product = will always result in higher end prices. The two examples are a result of soaring R&D costs. The days of letting products run for long periods of time are long over. It's all about cramming as much down your throats as possible.

My counterargument is that the Rogue One wave was FAR less expensive. I honestly believed that it was an indication of an attempt to lower prices overall. There may have been less sets, but they were priced much more reasonably. The most expensive set was $90 USD! That was such a nice reprieve from the ridiculousness of having three sets that cost more than $100 USD each. If TLG doesn't stop this trend, it could lead to decreased sales for them overall. I believe that they're overestimating their market. How is anyone expected to be able to afford a wave that costs $680 USD plus an $800 UCS Falcon? They really should start targeting lower price points. I very much miss when waves had a reasonable selection of sets starting at $5 USD.

[therealharbinger]

49 minutes ago, Nokturn said:

My counterargument is that the Rogue One wave was FAR less expensive. I honestly believed that it was an indication of an attempt to lower prices overall. There may have been less sets, but they were priced much more reasonably. The most expensive set was $90 USD! That was such a nice reprieve from the ridiculousness of having three sets that cost more than $100 USD each. If TLG doesn't stop this trend, it could lead to decreased sales for them overall. I believe that they're overestimating their market. How is anyone expected to be able to afford a wave that costs $680 USD plus an $800 UCS Falcon? They really should start targeting lower price points. I very much miss when waves had a reasonable selection of sets starting at $5 USD.

I'm sure the logic behind it is associated to the movie hype. Rouge one had nowhere near the hype compared to Force Awakens, thus indicating a need to sell stock at a lower cost to prevent surplus and it not selling in time for the next batches. Possibly anyway. There is a logic to it that only marketing types will understand but it will all be supply and demand at the root of it. Huge demand = Higher prices as you can get away with it, less demand = Dump stock quick.

I still do not think it's reasonable to expect lego to account costs for someone buying the entire set AND the falcon, if someone is doing this they are a die hard fan and collector and I would assume the big wigs at the top are more than safe in the knowledge they'll put up and shut up regardless. People still queue for the latest Iphone when it rolls in @£989 (yes this is how much this weighed in at) and there is no discernible difference between them right. Apples Model shows everyone how to price things up.

Edited August 15, 2017 by therealharbinger

[RetroInferno]

Rogue One sets were reasonably priced, absolutly; except for the TIE Striker.

Now I'm looking at the 2018 releases and absolutly eveything I see in there has a 5-10$ mark up from what we usually get. 

I will wait for the inevitable 20% mark down on amazon or wait for that DJ polybag on shop at home to buy some of them.

30$ for a small speeder and 2 figs? C'mon....

I think the best value we have here is the 40$ cantina...

Edit: I nearly choked, no pun intended when I saw that vader is at 40$, at that pricing you can almost buy yourself a japanese import action figure of the thing. 

Edited December 29, 2017 by RetroInferno

[Spongebob456]

I think the Cantina is overpriced. It's £45 in the UK. I can get the 2014 version for £90, which includes double the pieces, a dewback and 3 of the band members. Think it's worth saving up more for the £90 one unless you're desperate for the bartender minifig and Han's new hairpiece.