Posted June 2, 200915 yr Just been browsing the UK Shop at Home site to see if the latest sets are available yet. ( Castle are but others aren't). Shockingly LEGO appear to have increased the set prices across the board. It ranges from a few pence to smaller sets , to somewhere between £2 to £4 on the larger sets, i.e. King's Castle Siege is now £73.39 instead of the previous £69.99, Trolls Mountain Fortress. is the same. I assume that LEGO have taken a similar stance across the world, it'd be interesting to know if other countries prices have increased in a similar fashion. Obviously this sort of thing happens from time to time, but seeing as LEGO reported profits in the difficult current climate it just seems a bit harsh to markup the prices now. For those still saving to collect existing sets they may need that bit more than they anticipated. The other thing to watch of course is whether retailers will follow suit and bump up existing stock???
June 2, 200915 yr It's all about Capitalist economics. It's a competitive market out there, and with a lot of other toy sales dwindling due to less play value and overall bang for your buck, Lego has become a major player. With the increase in demand comes the increase in price. While I am not happy about the price increase, it comes with inflation and a capitalist economy.
June 2, 200915 yr So how low is the current rate of £UK? A lot has been lost when the £UK and $US took a dive.
June 2, 200915 yr Still the same price in the USA...for now LEGO had already increased the price of some sets in the USA months ago, most were really old sets. The one that comes to mind is the fire truck was $20 for years is now $23.
June 2, 200915 yr It's all about Capitalist economics. It's a competitive market out there, and with a lot of other toy sales dwindling due to less play value and overall bang for your buck, Lego has become a major player. With the increase in demand comes the increase in price. While I am not happy about the price increase, it comes with inflation and a capitalist economy. Increased demand doesn't always equal increased price. Increased demand can actually lead to LOWER prices if the company can make up the revenue difference in increased sales volume. I would argue that raising prices during an economic recession is a good way to go out of business. When people are more worried about their jobs and their mortgages, splurging for an increasingly expensive Lego set just seems silly. I haven't lost my job (yet), but my company has laid off hundreds of people, cancelled salary increases and bonuses, and removed their 401K matching. I haven't bought a new Lego set in 6 months.
June 2, 200915 yr A price increase is just icing on the cake for me. Pricing has already gone beyond what I am willing to spend on most sets so that I never buy LEGO unless it is on sale. My Bricklink buying has bottomed out and I don't even check ebay anymore. I thankfully have more than enough LEGO to keep the imagination flowing but I do feel sorry for the children and families who can't afford to get great toys like LEGO.
June 2, 200915 yr A price increase is just icing on the cake for me. Pricing has already gone beyond what I am willing to spend on most sets so that I never buy LEGO unless it is on sale. My Bricklink buying has bottomed out and I don't even check ebay anymore.I thankfully have more than enough LEGO to keep the imagination flowing but I do feel sorry for the children and families who can't afford to get great toys like LEGO. Well said Suvie, but I feel I just can't help myself from still getting some great sets (just less of them).
June 2, 200915 yr Hmmm. Misters Ambassador? Assistance is needed. Let's get some of our valuable community members with TLG contacts to get us the skinny on the logic that justifies a markup. I'm fine with rounding the pennies to a better decimalised price ,(with the change in VAT prices went a bit squiffy), but adding a good few pounds to the price without an increase in content seems a bit odd to say the least. The rubbish £/$ exchange has prevented me on quite a few bricklink purchases (scuppered an entire project) plus the factory PaB and LDD prices going through the roof... I too have a lot of Lego to work with (I yearn for more) but the addition of new parts is a wonderful thing.
June 2, 200915 yr The UK price increases are miniscule in comparison to the price increases earlier this year for some LS@H Europe products, in particular the Cafe Corner, Greengrocer and 1950s Town set, some of which went up by €40/€50 in Ireland (Largest Star Wars sets were even more!). And that's not a typo ... This was referred to in another thread a few months back. I contacted Lego at the time and while I'm grateful that they bothered to reply to me, the following reply is somewhat laughable given the nature of the sets in question, i.e. LS@H exclusives not available in any retail shops in Ireland. If any reasons for price increases are to be sought, I think these outrageous hikes should be top of the list. First reply, following my initial complaint at the tax hikes. Dear [Dfenz] Thank you for your email from 04/04/09 regarding the prices of LEGO® products. There has been a general price adjustment for Shop at Home in Europe which means that some prices have gone up slightly whereas others have stayed the same. We understand that some of the changes have increased prices of certain models significantly such as the one you mention in your email but this measure has been taken to ensure that prices are aligned with the market prices in all the EU countries SAH ships to. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance. Thank you again for contacting us. We wish your family many happy hours of creative building with LEGO brand toys in the years to come. I reverted pointing out that there were huge price differentials between products, even before shipping differentials were considered (for example its €14 to ship a €100 set to Dublin yet only Stg£5 to ship it to Derry in Northern Ireland which is further away from continental Europe distribution centres). The scale of the increases were anything but 'slight'. Dear [Dfenz] Thank you for your email from 09/04/09 regarding the prices of LEGO® products. Please accept my apologies for taking longer than usual to reply to your email but I had to forward it to the relevant department and I only received a reply today. We always suggest a price for every toy in each country and this depends on the local market.This means there are sometimes differences in the price of LEGO sets from country to country. In America all toys cost less and the price won't include tax (this gets added on when you pay), so if we want to sell LEGO sets to LEGO fans in America we need to price them competitively. The price alignment I was referring to in my previous email was done for the retailers so there isn't a big difference between a toy shop and Shop at Home. If you would like to benefit from the prices in the UK I can suggest to have your order delivered to a friend or relative in the UK and then forward it to Ireland privately. LEGO Shop at Home has different special offers every fortnight so go to www.LEGOshop.com and click on "Sales & Deals" to find out what's on offer! I hope to have answered your question; please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have further comments or queries. UK price increases are inevitable as it costs more to import the sets into the UK because of a weak sterling and UK prices are out of line with the rest of Europe anyway. Fortunately I have access to a Northern Ireland delivery address but I must use it sparingly meaning less purchases for Lego. I suspect LS@H Irish sales of these more expensive items have taken a dive. The UK prices are still competitive and will attract customers from other countries where available to those customers.
June 2, 200915 yr I don't think an extra couple of pounds on a £70 set is really anything to worry about. The prices of the smaller sets do seem to have gone up a little (under a quid), but these are not serious price rises, and none are as serious as this: some of which went up by €40/€50 in Ireland If you are spending £70 on a set, does it really make that much difference to pay £75?
June 2, 200915 yr Not surprising given the way Sterling dived last year. And still not recovered despite being a bit better - not so long ago I was using the "easy" exchange rate of £1=€1.50 and this was accurate. It went close to parity and now is close to £1=€1.15, a *huge* difference from the earlier rate that it had been stable at for some time. Needless to say many major UK retailers have been "nice" to Irish customers and continued to use £1=€1.50. Bunch of gangsters. Anyway, getting back on topic, I was about to order Agents 2.0 sets as these are good value for Ireland (€45 for Robo-Attack, €60 for Aerial Defence) but then I saw that UK is even cheaper still - so I will hopefully get them from an Amazon retailer or other UK toy retailer. Indeed Smyth's Toys will probably at the least have the same price as S@H, but more likely cheaper (I suspect they use some of their UK-ordered stock for ROI - Irish in-store Pirates set prices were similar to UK prices). I don't think UK people can complain much, except to their govt. for not having joined the Eurozone and latterly pursuing a "lets see how close we can go to bankrupcy and avoid it" gamble strategy. Edited June 2, 200915 yr by brickzone
June 3, 200915 yr in canada, $14.99 sets went up to $17.99, or $19.99 went down to $17.99 i don't know which
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