Nah... No taxes as such. But it does cost money to convert currencies which gets expensive if you don't have a credit card (like me) because a US money order costs $8.65 (last time I was aware, anyway). But still, using something like PayPal list costs money. So that just adds to the overall cost.

There is absolutely no incentive for me to buy anything from S@H as local eBay and BrickLink sellers can provide me with everything S@H has to offer, plus alot of the older stuff too. And the postage is much cheaper too. $30 to get that ship here is a joke!

yeah... i normally by stuff at uk bricklink shops. very often, i pay no extra fees for paypal, nor do i have to pay other fees and i normally have what i want three-four days after having placed the order. i really don't see how tlc can compete with that.

Yeah... BrickLink sellers can exist anywhere so the only way LEGO could compete is to have S@H to have vendors where ever there are BrickLink sellers.

another problem for tlc is that they have to pay people full time to deal with these orders. bricklink people very often do this after having worked all day, in their own free time... they're more flexible on when to do their orders...

much also depends on the parts tlc is offering. many buyers try to get a complete list of wanted parts in just one shop. many of these parts are probably older than 5 years... tlc has to have a huge catalogue if they want to attract a lot of customers.

i think tlc was better off setting up a shop at brickliink.com. all potential customers are already there, no need to come up with extra software or anything...

Of course LEGO could have devised something we haven't thought of... But I'm assuming that's not the case.

There is absolutely no incentive for me to buy anything from S@H as local eBay and BrickLink sellers can provide me with everything S@H has to offer, plus alot of the older stuff too.  And the postage is much cheaper too. $30 to get that ship here is a joke!

The Australian S@H really isn't all that attractive. Austrian isn't, either, but still cheaper than the Australian. The only time I bought from the Austrian S@H was the BNSF cos I didn't want to wait and for one article the price difference to the USD isn't that bad. But if I order more than one piece I order in the States, have it shipped to my girl-friend's sister, and pick it up myself on my next vacation there, or have the parents bring it with them when they visit, or have the sister bring it when she visits here. Saved me a lot of money so far.

OT:

[...] if you don't have a credit card (like me) because a US money order costs $8.65 (last time I was aware, anyway). [...]

You mentioned that you still surf on modem, now you reveal that you don't have a credit card, your monitor seems to be an old one - and still you "survive" in this high-tech world. Refreshing to see and proofs my point that it's possible ;)

OT:

[...] if you don't have a credit card (like me) because a US money order costs $8.65 (last time I was aware, anyway). [...]

You mentioned that you still surf on modem, now you reveal that you don't have a credit card, your monitor seems to be an old one - and still you "survive" in this high-tech world. Refreshing to see and proofs my point that it's possible ;)

I don't have a credit care because I don't earn enough money for a bank to give me one. Its a financial reason rather than a technological one. Besides, I prefer Direct Deposit because if someone did break into my account they couldn't draw more than I actually have in there. Wheras credit cards they can go to the credit limit.

I do have a DSL connection on the other phone line, but due to incompetence at the phone company who forget to inform me that the had the DSL connected. Otherwise I would have got a technican in to convert the modem socket over to the DSL line weeks ago. So now I'm waiting on the technican...

And my monitor is 4 and a half years old.

But what has this got to do with anything?

Here's the exact calculations which I'm including on my answers for the LEGO survey:

On S@H 7075 Captain Redbeard's Pirate Ship for Americans is US$39.99 (or A$50.00) but for Australians its A$99.95 (or US$76). Almost twice the price and that's NOT including postage (which is A$30-A$70)! Completely ridiculous! The exchange rate doesn't fluctuate that much!!!

I feel really lucky right now :-D (not that I can buy the ship but that I pay less!)

it is a bit to high down there though...

Yes down there... In the underground caverns... Far from the surface...

Really it doesn't matter ya know? S@H is insignificant to the power of eBay and BrickLink... I can get that ship for around half price if I really want. But I don't think I really want it.

I'm pretty sure that this will not be the revolution I expected ;)

Anyway its going to be interesting to see what parts are available and at what price !!!!!

Even being the more suspicious about it, there will always be parts you need in there ;)

Mr. Phes, how much would it cost to have someone in the US ship something to you? I was just thinking that for you it would be much cheaper for someone here to buy things for you, and then ship them over to you, and then you'd pay the price of the item, and shipping. It would probably end up being a LOT cheaper for you.

It depends on the size of the parcel. I have bought from the US before but there really isn't any need because just about everything I want appears on local eBay at some time or another. And local postage is much cheaper .

This is only a rumor... and Dont belive everything you read :)

Im sure someone have misunderstood someone some where ;)

Double T and everybody else: Did anyone actually call LEGO Direct to confirm whether it is a rumor or not?

Well one thing thats for sure is that TLC is not doing an excellent job in marketing and informing !!!!!!

The always publish press releases on their products once they are already on sale !!!!!!

So I guess we'll have to wait till August first !!!! If its a prank, well...

Yoda, trust me, dont get your hope's up....

A huge online PAB would make sense !!!! However TLC does not make the best decisions...

We'll see, I have lowered my hopes TT, now I hope to be surprised in the near future ;)

Yes...I was suspicious from the beginning.

As they say, talk is cheap. We need physical evidence.

i hope its true i need pieces |-/

This is only a rumor... and Dont belive everything you read :)

Im sure someone have misunderstood someone some where ;)

I believe everything I read! Which is problematic when I read something I've written and its inaccurate. For example: Elephants grow on trees. Now I'll re-read it. Wait a moment...

Dudes! Did anyone else know that elephants really grow on trees?

By now many will be hoping that Mister Phes will stop writing. But it is not so...

Ok... So I sceptical from my very first response to thread by asking for a reference source. Would it not be best to include a warning in the initial post indicating this could be a rumour, unless a direct link to official information cannot be provided?

Its been almost a week now and nobody else has reported anymore on it, nor has anybody else contacted LEGO Direct to confirm this rumour.

This rumor is officially false.

To prevent us a disappointment after all these speculations, I checked with TLG (Jake Mckee).

Currently there are no plans to make avaliable the wide variety of brick ordering that was suggested.

As of 1 august, the LEGO Factory ordering program will launch, as the next step after the LEGO Factory design contest last year.

We will be able to design a model in LEGO Digital designer and then order the parts as a 'set', similar to the Mosaic. The most cool part about it, is that we can make our own creations available to other customers.

But this program is not intended for bulk brick ordering. You're bound by a varied but limited pallette of available bricks, and those bricks come in certain amounts from assorted bags (like the Mosaic).

The rumor must be the result of a misunderstanding when calling to shop@home, confusing the Factory offer with some dreamlike bulk offer.

TLG very much understands our demand for bulk ordering of any LEGO element. In that respect TLG likes to view the Factory program as an important step in that direction. But to what extend this will ultimately lead to a dreamlike wide bulk variety will depend on what proves practically and economically feasible. So no promises there.

So, while it will not be a bulk brick program, I think the Factory project is very innovative has much potential as a versatile platform for our creations and community.

Technically its not false, just misinterperated.

Good work Mr Brok! I find that explaination more believable.

I suppose the answer now is, try to design something containing the parts that you want (subject to availability of course).

The main problem now is, what parts will be available ?

The parts available might not leave room for very exciting designs....

That sounds great. I can still get all the parts I want and have them arranged in a way that I know they will be useful. I hope they have the same parts that the original contest had. That would be nice. There were some very nice pieces I would like to get from that.