Hello Australian brickpicker fans

 

Just wondering if everyone is up to date on what the toy sales have to offer this year. 

 

Kmart - a joke with no real toy sale to speak of. 

Toy World - do not waste your time

BigW - Not a bad selection with a few select items on sale below RRP (LOTR and Iron man)

Target - A nice selection of some exclusive sets namely R2D2, police station and 20% off all lego 

Toys R Us - Good selection but most sets are retail prices of just below.

Myer - Some fantastic sets and hard to find ones at that below RRP, ie Horizon Express, Sopwith Camel, Volkswagen T1 Camper van and Mini modular sets to name a few plus 20% off retail prices.

 

So I will be going to Myer bright and early and Toys R Us. 

 

Plus the other thing i need to mention is Toys R Us (TRU) will price match and then beat the price by 10%. The conditions that has to be meet are that the other store has to have that item in stock and obviously TRU must have the item in stock. I know this works as I did it last year. 

 

Considering the rapidly dropping Aussie dollar I am very happy with some of these prices that are below RRP as I think the happy days of cheap lego from overseas is a thing of the past. I could and DO hope I am wrong and the dollar rebounds.

 

Any thoughts on what set(s) grabs your attention?

Hey guys 

 

I can see some people have read this thread but not replied. I would like to get the aussie section up and running. 

To follow up on the toy sales, I just bought 2 x horizon express trains for $124 each, BELOW US price @129. After reading the blog today about planes, trains, cars and ships I really do not have to say any more about this set except, BUY!! 

I plan to source some cheapish power functions sets and when I do I shall inform people. 

 

TRU have 2 LOTR items I am going to get them to price match today, 79007 and 79006 (Battle at black gate and council of elrond). 79 and 45 then minus another 10%. After they do that thats when I say I will take 3 of each

 

Myer also has:

9398 - 4x4 Crawler for $219 (yes you can source cheaper from overseas)

42000 - Grand Prix Racer for $119 (cheaper than US and I can not source this cheaper)

10226 - Sopwith Camel for $99 best current price. I plan to get a couple.

 

These are the only current toys sales, Target &  BigW start on thursday. 

 

Target has :

10937 - Arkham Asylum Breakout for $200

10225 - R2D2 - $200 (if you missed out last year)

I said this in the other thread but make sure you sign up for a MyerOne Card for the extra 10% off. Sometimes it is only valid for a day or two, but still worth it

Appreciate your initiative, stinger!

We have mid year toy sales across the ditch here starting soon as well.

 

Might have to look into possibly importing from Aus if there are some good ones over there.  Shipping tends to be quite pricey though, even more than US in most cases.

We have mid year toy sales across the ditch here starting soon as well.

 

Might have to look into possibly importing from Aus if there are some good ones over there.  Shipping tends to be quite pricey though, even more than US in most cases.

 

Australia Post have ridiculously expensive shipping costs, and they have only gotten worse. I went to mail off a Pet Shop interstate the other week, in a standard lego carton, and it was going to cost $90!!! For that price I can get 5 of them shipped here from Europe.

 

stinger-311 how do you keep shipping costs down?

You guys might have higher RRPs in Australia, but you must get better sales, too. There's no way I could find an R2-D2 @ 20% off here in the u.s., especially not in June. And Target doesn't stock it here, anyway.

That's nuts!  Something that big costs me about $15 to send anywhere within NZ.

 

My Mum lives in Aus and she recently sent my wife a cookbook for her birthday and the shipping cost was more than the price of the book!

You guys might have higher RRPs in Australia, but you must get better sales, too. There's no way I could find an R2-D2 @ 20% off here in the u.s., especially not in June. And Target doesn't stock it here, anyway.

 

For us, a good sale is getting it to the US RRP, which is generally 40-50% off. It has improved lately but before hand we always paid double the US price.

We can only dream of those 50% sales you get over there. Example being the B-Wing. $99 there, $350 here.

There are many, many more. We need serious price reductions before we even start look at buying locally. The 20% off R2 sets are still $199, more than the US RRP

That's nuts!  Something that big costs me about $15 to send anywhere within NZ.

 

My Mum lives in Aus and she recently sent my wife a cookbook for her birthday and the shipping cost was more than the price of the book!

 

That's the stupid thing, there is no reason why it should cost so much other than sheer greed. They go by cubic weight of the box, which blows it out to 15kg.

I found a way around it eventually, considering I would spend thousands of dollars a year posting items, they eventually gave me some tips. But still, it is ludicrous. I had 3 B-Wings shipped here from the States for $120. If I tried to ship the same box within my own country, it would cost like $150. Can only shake my head.

LOL I think we need to start a separate thread just for shipping within AUS and then overseas. 

 

Surely some of the other courier services must be cheaper than Australia Post. I myself have never used one, but if anyone has please share the information. 

 

For that reason alone I try to only sell lego locally (new) but if used or out of box then I will ship interstate as you can get the satchel bags and if you use ebay then you can import information across. 

 

Diabolos80 - The sales here are a joke. Thedarkness is correct our markups are 40 to 50% above your RRP. 

 

Something to note though the new range of star wars are the closest to US RRP I have seen (possibly due to high dollar at the time).

 

Thedarkness have you ever checked out shopforme for buying lego locally? They are based in Queensland and have free shipping over $150 and some of their current sales beat the toy sales. Namely Kingdom carriage and Lone Ranger train. 

That's the stupid thing, there is no reason why it should cost so much other than sheer greed. They go by cubic weight of the box, which blows it out to 15kg.

I found a way around it eventually, considering I would spend thousands of dollars a year posting items, they eventually gave me some tips. But still, it is ludicrous. I had 3 B-Wings shipped here from the States for $120. If I tried to ship the same box within my own country, it would cost like $150. Can only shake my head.

 

 

That is such a telling example.  The international shipping surely includes a component for local delivery to you once off the plane, so you'd logically think that the same type of local delivery would cost quite a bit less than that.  Crazy stuff 

I've priced some of the other courier services and they were more expensive. It meant for awhile I really wasn't posting larger sets as the freight costs would just kill it.

Where possible, I sell locally. I do have people who specifically buy Lego from me.

 

I have been noticing the closing gap between the US and our prices with great interest. It means I will buy more here if I can.

 

I do get all the shopforme updates. It came out just after I started selling more online and trying to do more updates on my facebook page. I did think they were stealing some of my ideas at one stage. They had the MMV for like $100 not long ago, and free shipping. Would have been a great deal. I do follow them and keep an eye on their sales.

I would not put it past some online sellers pinching ideas from the little guys like us who try to undercut most retailers. 

 

I pre ordered all the new star wars sets from them for 25% off and also the new UCS X wing for same discount with free shipping, no idea when they arrive but I got them all at US prices. 

 

I have not set up a facebook page as I have regular friends who buy off me, does the facebook thing work?

 

Have to wonder if that with the falling dollar the gap will increase though, time will tell.

 

Another AUS retailer you would recommend?

I use FB more for local stuff, but do have a few people interstate who follow it. http://www.facebook.com/RedCentreBricks
Put it this way, it is free and if it helps with some sales it isn't a bad thing.

I keep an eye on things like catchoftheday and fishpond.com.au for bargains, but they have mainly dried up. Both can be dodgy though, but I have scored decent Lego deals from them in the past.

I retract my observation. I thought you guys were dealing with like 10 or 15% markups. You guys should convince the whole continent to boycott local Lego for 3 months.

I retract my observation. I thought you guys were dealing with like 10 or 15% markups. You guys should convince the whole continent to boycott local Lego for 3 months.

 

Yup. $979 for a UCS Millenium Falcon (I'd pay that in a heartbeat now)

$499 US

Well just got back from TRU and got Council of Elrod for $40 and Battle at the Black Gate for $70 not bad if I do say so myself.  Thats a 33% discount and 30% discount. 

 

Thedarkness do  not know if it helps you out but they also pricematch any item for lego on sale in another catalogue as long as they have it in stock. 

The price matched Grand Prix Racer #42000 for $120 25% off. 

 

Funnily enough the myer I went too had already sold out of Volkswagen T1 camper vans, 4x4 crawler and Grand Prix racer.

Yeah no TRU near me
 

Bugger sorry about that. Now i see why you buy overseas and can probably sell the lego easier than I do. Assuming no on else in your area is doing a similar thing as I know your not in the largest populated area in AUS. 

 

Whats your thoughts on the new Opera house ?? iconic enough to go crazy EOL and with that what about London Bridge, I have 3 put away, you think it will do as well as Eiffel tower and Taj? 

I will be getting the Opera House, but not for a year or so. I will wait for discounts, I have learnt to be patient.

I have 3 Tower Bridges also, but want more. It will do very well EOL, it is one of the biggest Lego sets ever.

I believe it will be pushing a very high price.

Ok they were my thoughts also. Esp when able to get below our RRP. Instant profit. 

 

Oh I just had a thought how do your boxes hold up with the heat in storage. Mine are in the garage on shelves, but maybe yours are inside and a mute point. I had to move mine from spare bedroom as have new bub on way hence why I ask.

I have mine inside. Lego in every room and closet, Lego at my parents, in laws and a mate's place lol

Tower Bridge and Super Star Destroyers =

Lol ok. I have a huge trust issue with it not being where I can see it, but in laws yes I could see that working, nice advice.

 

Do you collect for yourself also? My main theme for myself is star wars. In process of building a huge display case (case built just not populated) the first of 6. It is 1.8m long, 90cm deep and 60cm high. All black mdf, mirrored back with glass sides and glass doors. I do alot of woodwork hence not an issue for me. I can send you pics if you are interested.

 

I am also building wall mounded display cabinets for UCS sets. My games room has a pool table and lego galore. 

 

I only have 1 SSD at the moment for myself unbuilt plan to get more. Going EOL soon i think.

 

I did manage to get a Death Star when was 300 Euro about 2 months ago.

I do build for myself, but severe lack of space. In a 3 bedroom house with 3 kids.

I will be getting extensions put onto the house soon though which will seriously alleviate that issue

I started building Lego for myself, got quite a few UCS sets.

I do love the big modular as well as sets like Sopwith Camel, VW, etc.

Yep I am also looking to expanding the house and the driving force is lego, although I have spun it another way to the wife Mine is only 3 years old and is huge, but the lego collection just gets bigger and bigger and if you can not display what you love, whats the point.

 

Main main complaint with displaying is dust, I hate hate hate it. Which is why I have them behind glass. I can remember when I was 12 and had half of my bedroom floor taken over with a complete lego city and having to dust / wash sets every month to keep the dust down. God help you if you have OCD ( I may have a slight case)