Speaking for Spain, most shops apply Lego RRP, which is usually 10% higher here than for Germany. Some bigger shops have a  permanent 10% markdown and others , like TRU and posh department stores usually mark items up another 10-20 euros. Value added tax at 21% is included in RRP. Amazon Spain typically sell for slightly below RRP - unless they are price matching another shop´s promo.

There doesn´t seem to be any difference between themes - that usually happens when special offers are applied to discount unpopular themes or items.

With the current state of the market, the only real discounts come when shops make blanket offers across their whole toy range.

8 hours ago, Breeder said:

I was just wondering what the markup was on Lego? Does it vary geographically and how does the UK / Europe compare to the US and the rest of the world? Does the markup vary between themes?

In The Netherlands the toy shops basically follow the Dutch LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices, which are often significantly higher than the German LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices. And because there is no official Lego Store in The Netherlands, it's not easy to get exclusives through any other way than through the LEGO Shop at Home website. 

But when I compare UK LEGO Shop at Home prices to Dutch LEGO Shop at Home prices, and convert GBP to EUR, I think it's even worse in the UK. This example is telling:

These are LEGO Shop at Home prices for 10246 Detective's Office. The Netherlands has the same price as Belgium, which is €10 above the German RRP. But the UK is even more expensive!

 

Edited April 5, 20169 yr by Haay

2 minutes ago, Haay said:

In The Netherlands the toy shops basically follow the Dutch LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices, which are often significantly higher than the German LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices. And because there is no official Lego Store in The Netherlands, it's not easy to get exclusives through any other way than through the LEGO Shop at Home website. 

But when I compare UK LEGO Shop at Home prices to Dutch LEGO Shop at Home prices, and convert GBP to EUR, I think it's even worse in the UK.

 

Reading this, I think I could be happy with my situation - although there is no lego store / LEGO Shop at Home here in Slovakia, I live a hour from Vienna, Austria, where are 2 lego stores with German prices + some Slovak people are living in Austria, so can use their address for delivery. Still good situation comparing with other European countries with higher lego RRP-prices (Netherlands, UK, Spain), not to mention horrible situation in whole Asia without lego stores, LEGO Shop at Home and horrible high prices...

TLG has very strange selling policy - it extremly supports the US market (better prices, longer production times, more discounts), although Lego is an European company, then moderate prices in Europe, but again with different prices between countries, and the last area is Asia with horrible prices (some are double than in USA) and horrible market cover (no stores, LEGO Shop at Home, etc), although it is very big market. Another story is an impotence to spread LEGO Shop at Home to more countries, although it cannot take big costs (for example, all countries around Slovakia are involved, and they could just copy the Austrian page with its prices + arrange a contract with postal courier service). Just cannot understand...

8 hours ago, Breeder said:

I was just wondering what the markup was on Lego? Does it vary geographically and how does the UK / Europe compare to the US and the rest of the world? Does the markup vary between themes?

I'd guess there is at least a 35-40% margin on most sets in the UK given that shops seem happy to discount up to 33% but only really drop below that when they really need to absolutely clear inventory. 

Edited April 5, 20169 yr by Fenix_2k1

38 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

I'd guess there is at least a 35-40% margin on most sets in the UK given that shops seem happy to discount up to 33% but only really drop below that when they really need to absolutely clear inventory. 

I guessed it was around that range as well. I was wondering if its higher for different themes or the same across the board.

I think 37% discount on RRP before VAT, or so is the standard for wholesalers but there are occasional cases where it can be more (amazon, supermarkets), or less. Probaly why TRU mark up more is they want to get at least 50% on everything to cover their costs (free shipping, returns policy, cashback points). Later, VAT paid to Lego and received from the final customer have to be balanced out.

 

3 hours ago, Haay said:

In The Netherlands the toy shops basically follow the Dutch LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices, which are often significantly higher than the German LEGO Shop at Home RRP-prices.

This. The situation is similar in Belgium. I'm always amazed at the incredible discounts in other countries. Although toysrus.nl had 20% of not long ago, most major toy stores always sell at RRP (or higher!) and have very little discounts. Good example is UCS tie fighter currently selling for 229,99€ at Fun. I don't know of any toy store that has a payback/loyalty system either.

I don't want to complain too much but it's just a fact. Then again it's easy enough buying Lego online from amazon or toysrus

Poe's X-Wing is down to £48.49 on Amazon. 31% off. I'm still new to this game. Worth getting for investment? Doesn't feel like a set that will go crazy to me as it could be a long way off retirement and could be rapidly replaced in time for the next film too?

 

55 minutes ago, c_rpg said:

This. The situation is similar in Belgium. I'm always amazed at the incredible discounts in other countries. Although toysrus.nl had 20% of not long ago, most major toy stores always sell at RRP (or higher!) and have very little discounts. Good example is UCS tie fighter currently selling for 229,99€ at Fun. I don't know of any toy store that has a payback/loyalty system either.

I don't want to complain too much but it's just a fact. Then again it's easy enough buying Lego online from amazon or toysrus

Exactly. Dutch toy stores don't do loyalty or payback systems either. At least toysrus.nl, which is basically a Dutch localisation website of the German based TRU, often follows the German Lego prices, though without offering the exact same selection. For example the UCS Tie Fighter costs €229,99 in The Netherlands and €199,99 in Germany. When TRU-NL offered it for the German €199,99 price and then offered a 20% discount on it, it was basically a 30% discount compared to Dutch RRP.  

Edited April 5, 20169 yr by Haay

7 minutes ago, Haay said:

Exactly. Dutch toy stores don't do loyalty or payback systems either. At least toysrus.nl, which is basically a Dutch localisation website of the German based TRU, often follows the German Lego prices, though without offering the exact same selection. For example the UCS Tie Fighter costs €229,99 in The Netherlands and €199,99 in Germany. When TRU-NL offered it for the German €199,99 price and then offered a 20% discount on it, it was basically a 30% discount compared to Dutch RRP.  

Then again, Germany is but a 1-2hr drive away from most locations in .nl and .be, so getting to a German toy store or LEGO Shop@Home location is not impossible if you really want a specific set. Plus you can often combine it with a sight-seeing trip for the family. There seems to be a LEGO Store in Belgium too (Wijnegem, just across the border from .nl). Closest German LEGO Store is in Oberhausen, just a 30min drive past the border.

Do have to say that I always considered driving for more than 1hr to get anywhere a long drive when I lived in Holland, but now that I'm in the roomier USA (and Canada before that) I have no issues with driving 3hrs to get somewhere (and back the same day).

An hour drive in Europe means petrol costs will eat into savings unless you are buying in bulk.

20 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Then again, Germany is but a 1-2hr drive away from most locations in .nl and .be, so getting to a German toy store or LEGO Shop@Home location is not impossible if you really want a specific set. Plus you can often combine it with a sight-seeing trip for the family. There seems to be a LEGO Store in Belgium too (Wijnegem, just across the border from .nl). Closest German LEGO Store is in Oberhausen, just a 30min drive past the border.

Do have to say that I always considered driving for more than 1hr to get anywhere a long drive when I lived in Holland, but now that I'm in the roomier USA (and Canada before that) I have no issues with driving 3hrs to get somewhere (and back the same day).

That's exactly what I'm planning to do early May. Take my wife and kids for a day of shopping in Oberhausen, and buy some Lego sets which cost a lot more in The Netherlands while we're there anyway.   It's slightly less than 2 hours drive from my place. Not something I'd want to do regularly, but once a year might be doable.  

Belgium is great, you just need to know where to look

Going to Amsterdam in June -- what's a good place to get a good deal on Lego. Things i can't find in the states.

 

1 minute ago, Derricku said:

Going to Amsterdam in June -- what's a good place to get a good deal on Lego. Things i can't find in the states.

 

In Amsterdam, nothing much. You've got a nice little shop in Delft, called A-tembo (www.a-tembo.nl). In Amsterdam the only thing remotely worth writing home about is Intertoys flagship store on Damrak, 3 minutes from Central Station, all else is pretty much bland...

I received 3 orders from Toys R Us which I purchased on eBay with the 20% flash discount. 2 of the 3 boxes arrived in very poor condition. The worst I've received - both had creases and each had a hole in them. They were delivered in separate boxes by DPD. I do not believe that this happened in transit as they were well packaged and the shipping boxes were perfect. I believe they left the warehouse in this condition.

I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences of deliveries from TRU in the UK?

They're not great. I ordered a SOH recently and one side was squashed. However can't fault customer service. They offered to do a swap and gave me £15 coupon as compensation on top of the £20 coupons offer that is currently running. This on top of £50 off the MRRP that they were running at the time alongside PC, FM and TB (which I also bought) meant a buy in was £170 for hopefully a minty set when it arrives. This was bought direct from them. One would assume eBay channel would be no different.

I received 3 orders from Toys R Us which I purchased on eBay with the 20% flash discount. 2 of the 3 boxes arrived in very poor condition. The worst I've received - both had creases and each had a hole in them. They were delivered in separate boxes by DPD. I do not believe that this happened in transit as they were well packaged and the shipping boxes were perfect. I believe they left the warehouse in this condition.

I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences of deliveries from TRU in the UK?

I've found that a lot of TRU stock is in very poor condition, even in store!! I purchased a TB the other week during their sale, they had 2 left, one box had a huge hole in it, the other dented on the side. I also got a PC with a creased box. If it wasn't for the sale and promo cards I would have left them both there!!

Mine were The Simpsons House and Tower Bridge as well. I called my local store and they were excellent - went to check and found one that was pristine and put it aside for me. Swapped it no problem. Waiting for Customer Services to get back to me as my local stores are OOS of TB. Hope I get a voucher or something as I had a wasted journey.

I recently complained after a reservation of 2 Ectos somehow translated into 1 Ecto at the store. Got a £10 gift card for my trouble. Coupled with the £10 voucher offer on orders £40+ at the minute I'm quite happy with that.

11 hours ago, Derricku said:

Going to Amsterdam in June -- what's a good place to get a good deal on Lego. Things i can't find in the states.

Sorry, but you won't find good deals on Lego in Amsterdam, or even in the entire Netherlands, compared to what you're used to in the States. There are no sets still available here that are already sold out in the US. 

Enjoy Amsterdam. Enjoy The Netherlands. But don't hope to find any good Lego deals. *grin*

Sorry, but you won't find good deals on Lego in Amsterdam, or even in the entire Netherlands, compared to what you're used to in the States. There are no sets still available here that are already sold out in the US. 

Enjoy Amsterdam. Enjoy The Netherlands. But don't hope to find any good Lego deals. *grin*

He needs to look for those Lego cookies in Amsterdam...[emoji854]

Bizarrely my large exclusive orders from TRU have turned up well packed and in pristine condition.  Although I have experienced the poor quality of boxes when doing click and collect.  My pc's were perfect but the Discounted SOH was a choice of either 2 boxes with holes in or one with light creasing and one popped seal. Given the £207 plus 20 quid of gift cards I chose the popped seal one but at full price I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy one of those in store SOH's. I don't understand how they can get so badly damaged in store. Surely they realise people expect a £250 product to be in vgc when they buy it. 

I'm going to completely blow all your minds and actually post a daily deal on the daily deal thread, I know crazy right 

Mytoys.de have the Technic Mercedes Benz Arocs for €160, with a 10% discount code this brings it down to €144 plus shipping.

 

 

Good deal, I was tempted with it at 159e on amazon.de but that's even better.will be interesting to see if amazon.de price matches that offer.