Just went to a local Toys R Us thinking about buying a Vamp Castle for Clearance. Saw that they had the new 2014 Hobbit sets out.

 

And to my surprise, the 217 peice one costed $20!

The 700+ piece on costed $69.99

 

Is this an anomaly or is it that they going forward will price like everyone else?

I wouldn`t count on it. This is an exception to the TRU rule. It`s a great thing, yes, but I wish that I could say firmly that it will last. We`ll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, if you have coupons that work on these, use them now! 

Tried to pick one of the sets up just now...I had it at the register but there was a block in the system saying they can't sell the set until Dec 1st.  Manager said she couldn't override it.   Looks like they have a couple weeks to reflect on how ridiculous they will make the price.

TRU changes retail prices all the time so I am sure they will go up. their only reasonable prices are during the christmas season.

For some reason, almost every time they put out new sets before the street date they sell them for actual retail price. Once the release date arrives they bump the price. It seems backwards to me as people are more likely to pay a premium when they can only get them at one place, but what do I know.

For some reason, almost every time they put out new sets before the street date they sell them for actual retail price. Once the release date arrives they bump the price. It seems backwards to me as people are more likely to pay a premium when they can only get them at one place, but what do I know.

 

Yeah for a shady company they aren't exactly savvy about when to mark stuff up.

 

I mean, look at the Vampyre Castle and Ghost train - they are selling for $20 or more over TRUs current price on Ebay.

By the time the set is availabe to be sold, I think the price would have increased by at least 10%. TRU will probably increase the prices sooner or later.

I was able to purchase 1 of each of the new Hobbit sets at TRU.com for store pick up at the same store that prevented me from purchasing earlier.  Went through to completion with 15% off code working off the normal retail price.  Now all 4 sets show out of stock for store pick up.   Any predictions on if they will fill the order???

 Any predictions on if they will fill the order???

 

I think the more important and urgent question is - if they're already out of stock, when are they going to EOL??????

I was able to purchase 1 of each of the new Hobbit sets at TRU.com for store pick up at the same store that prevented me from purchasing earlier.  Went through to completion with 15% off code working off the normal retail price.  Now all 4 sets show out of stock for store pick up.   Any predictions on if they will fill the order???

With TRU, you never know what can happen. One day they can restrict you from buying them and the next day, they can let you buy all of them. I am leaning towards that they will not fill the order.

Toys R Us? Retail price? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ah.... good one!

Just yesterday, very briefly, they had the new City Camper Van and Wrecker available on the website for $19.99 and you could use the 15% off coupon.  Today, they are out of stock and bumped up to $24.99.  It just depends on who's entering them into the system that day.

Good question.  They are unpredictable year round.  I'm sure they will keep everyone guessing on a regular basis.  In the past they have listed all their new sets are msrp but change them shortly after release.

I ordered my Hobbit Lake whatevers online and they are slated to be delivered to my house in 2 days after I checked my tracking information. They are also available at Kmart.com so you can order there and use any SYWR points to lessen the cost.

Surprised they only marked up the 41999 crawlers 30 bucks when I grabbed 5 last month. Don't they check ebay?

Also---from Dailey deals thread---I guess we can't post pics there. Here is my tru snafu.

Surprised they only marked up the 41999 crawlers 30 bucks when I grabbed 5 last month.   Don't they check ebay?

 

I think they started at 200 and went to 220 and then to 240. But yeah, they still didn't do it right. Although most people buying were for investment or flipping anyway.

Surprised they only marked up the 41999 crawlers 30 bucks when I grabbed 5 last month. Don't they check ebay?

Also---from Dailey deals thread---I guess we can't post pics there. Here is my tru snafu.

 

I think you can get that fixed to get your $10 back.  Looks like they charged you for an E-Card or something.

Yeah, they charged you for a gift card. Does your gc have $20 on it?

Nope. Already used it...10. Sent an email to customer "service". We will see what they say.

For some reason, almost every time they put out new sets before the street date they sell them for actual retail price. Once the release date arrives they bump the price. It seems backwards to me as people are more likely to pay a premium when they can only get them at one place, but what do I know.

 

 

I was thinking that as well.  Plus it makes more sense to have higher prices on release due to the earlier adopters that simply must have one on day one for their collection.

With TRU, you never know what can happen. One day they can restrict you from buying them and the next day, they can let you buy all of them. I am leaning towards that they will not fill the order.

Just got back from TRU-they filled everything I ordered except the elf army.  Was able to get 2 of all the other sets at actual retail minus the 15%. 

I've been surprised what good deals they have been running lately. 50% off Lego retail prices on the tanker truck and a few technic sets. Before this week. I only bought 1 set from TRU

Don't count on it!  I for one have written to LEGO's head office (wish I hadn't) to complain about above RRP prices (eg. Amazon, WH Smith, TRU, Hamleys, Harrods, any shop at an airport, etc.).  I have had a response saying that sale prices are up to the retailer's judgement in local markets as RRP is "recommended" not mandatory.  WH Smith being the worst as they are selling the

If LEGO do enforce fixed prices, that's the end of investing for us as they won't allow eBay sellers to charge through the nose for current (near EOL) sets.

I can see Lego having control over the primary market but how could they legally do the same thing with secondary sellers on eBay, Bricklink, Amazon, etc?

I can see Lego having control over the primary market but how could they legally do the same thing with secondary sellers on eBay, Bricklink, Amazon, etc?

 

As long as it's a current product, Lego may be able to force eBay to control pricing.  At the other end of the scale... Claber (gardening bits) did this when I was selling micro-drip kits a few years back and I had to increase the price to RRP resulting in no sales!  I then set up multiple eBay accounts and got rid of it all anyway before they noticed. Even auctions resulting in less than RRP were stopped! ;-)

 

I can't really see LEGO doing this and it's a worst-case scenario but, it would upset flippers a bit who already had current stock.

 

Who wants to sell their 41999 to me for