Battle Packs

[Blueandwhite]

It is because they link it to how the canadian currency is against theirs in Denmark. Right now .20 Canadian cents equals one Dansih Kroner and 19 Us cents equals on kroner so the US dollar still is more value per cent to the kroner. It has no direct relation to the US dollar how the C Dollar is to the kroner. As it has no relation to our pound here in GB. Look up on xe.com to see how your currency is going verse the danish currency, they have a chart setting that allows you to see the trends for the last months, perhaps years even. It does seem high to me but if it has remained the same against their money you can see the root of the problem. I have never seen the canadain dollar so high, I have not had family living up there for some years though. I wonder what prices are like in Mexico right now in the past they were pretty good. When I lived in Chile legos were priced pretty well I though though I never bought any.

http://www.xe.com/

I am just glad to hear that Wal-Mart Canada is going to be selling legos again!

RPM

That's utter nonsense!

Look at your numbers. It has NOTHING to do with the dollar/pound/Euro against the kroner. The difference between the US dollar and the kroner and the Canadian dollar and the kroner is less than 5%, yet there is almost a 50% difference in price. And don't forget that Europeans have taxes included in their pricing. We in North American don't have VAT so that $17.99 is pure profit!

Heck, the Canadian price in kroners is DKK89.99 compared to the DKK79.99 paid in Denmark. And that doesn't include tax! The fact is, we are paying a huge markup compared to folks in Europe, Australia and the United States. I've never had a major problem with paying prices that are comparable to the rest of the world, but this is ridiculous.

The Canadian dollar has been fairly stable against the fall of the US dollar yet in this situation, our price is the one that is adversely affected. If you were told that this set was 7 pounds and that there was also going to be an added tax of 13% on top of that, how would you react knowing that prices were considerably cheaper in the rest of Europe (and much of the world)?

[Heir of Black Falcon]

B and W,

Calm down man. Maybe you should switch to decalf.

I only stated that the northerners keep relating it to the US dollar which is not how Lego fixes prices. I also stated there is still more value to the US dollar, albeit only 5%, to the Kroner than the canadain dollar to the kroner. If you do not like that I am sorry but that is how it is. I agreed it seemed still a high price, never disagreed with that, but that it was silly to keep comparing it to the US dollar.


R

[Jojo]

Hello!

I've never had a major problem with paying prices that are comparable to the rest of the world, but this is ridiculous.

I understand your anger. Usually we Europeans pay (before taxes, which, as I learned, are not always due in the US) the higher prices. With smaller sets it isn’t that noticible. With bigger sets, however, it is. For example, the UCS Millennium Falcon costs USD 499.99. That equals EUR 559.99 in Germany. Granted the current exchange rate this EU-price would be USD 831.28, while the US-price would only be EUR 336,82!

It seems, though, that Lego has changed its price policy somewhat to the disadvantage of the US. The Castle 7094 costs the same abolute figures with USD 99.99/EUR 99.99. The Knight 5615 even costs USD 3.49 while it is EUR 2.99 in Germany.

All that doesn't help the Canadians much, I guess. :-)


Bye
Jojo

[Xui]

All that doesn't help the Canadians much, I guess.

Now, as a history student, I buy a whole lot of books, and some from the States. Amazon.com allows me to purchase in American dollars and buy things for American prices, and only the exchange shows up on the Mastercard. Does anyone know if there's a way to purchase from Lego.com and get delivered to Canada?

[The_Vanquished]

These look great, but at $17.99, I will be Bricklinking my figs. The Chess Set, although a great source of figs, is CAD is regular 69.99, or they are on sale, with the wonderful price of 54.99. No thanks.

[RichardAM]

Does anyone know if there's a way to purchase from Lego.com and get delivered to Canada?

Good luck- you'll have to use the Canada store, it's impossible otherwise.

If I could buy sets from the US store instead of my more localised one i'd be rich by now.

[Xui]

Well, as I believe someone noted before me, they don't have the "Hard to Find" sticker on them and they do seem to have a hole to hang on a shelf, so I can wait to try and find these in stores.

[Blueandwhite]

B and W,

Calm down man. Maybe you should switch to decalf.

No decalf for me .

I only stated that the northerners keep relating it to the US dollar which is not how Lego fixes prices. I also stated there is still more value to the US dollar, albeit only 5%, to the Kroner than the canadain dollar to the kroner. If you do not like that I am sorry but that is how it is. I agreed it seemed still a high price, never disagreed with that, but that it was silly to keep comparing it to the US dollar.


R[/quote]

I don't think LEGO sets prices to any currency. Sometimes we Canadians get sets for prices that are a bit better than Europe, and other times its reversed. In this situation it's just that it is alot worse. I mean, the Skeleton Tower which is $69.99 (before tax) in Canada is 449.99 DKK If you convert the Canadian price into kroners, then it ends up being a bargain at 347.36. Even if you were to factor in additional sales tax into the Canadian price (or conversely remove the VAT from the Danish price), the overall price is still likely to favour Canadian buyers. The same is true of the King's Castle Seige which lists in Canada for $139.99, or 694.77 DKK, which when you factor in sales tax still turns out a bit cheaper than the Danish price of 799.99 DKK.

On the other hand, if you compare the new minifig sets the situation is dramatically reversed with Canadians paying significantly more even before tax. This Northerner (I prefer the term Canadian) isn't unhappy because I pay more than my neighbours to the south. I'm unhappy because a once in a blue moon army building opportunity has basically become a non-viable option simply because this set is priced so disproportionately with the rest of LEGO's product line.

Later.

[Jacob C.]

Well, I noticed that the battle packs on shop@home were $12.99
That sucks, considering they are being sold at Legoland California for only $9.99! Plus, we have to pay for shipping on shop@home.
I won't buy any unless they go on sale or if shop@home offers free shipping or something.
Money is tight these days!

S@H lists them as $17.99 for Canadians. We really get shafted with our good dollar these days.

Ouch! You guys got a raw deal.
Maybe LEGO thinks all the Canadians are rich or something?

[Sir Kohran]

Maybe LEGO thinks all the Canadians are rich or something?

Well, with the size of the land they have...

Anyway all this financial talk is a bit over my head, but I reckon this is good advice:

they do seem to have a hole to hang on a shelf, so I can wait to try and find these in stores.

[Jibbajaba]

$12.99US, which isn't too bad. Less than $3 per fig. The minifig packs may have been $6, but that was back in 1990. $6 in 1990 is equal to almost $10 now (according to an online inflation calculator), and when you factor in the weaker dollar we have now compared to the Euro, you probably get up to the $13 mark.

Really not a bad price, but not a price that makes me say "oh man I have to pick that up". I would rather spend the money on bricklink buying some more crusaders or black falcons or something.

Chris

[DaleDVM]

Well the lego stores are not carrying these as of yet... I live in chicago so I have 3 lego shops to choose from. I am calling S@H right now to see if this item will be hitting the lego shops and stores in the future. S@H says these are going to be an exclusive online however if I order them at a lego store they will be shipped there for free. Bonus! Now S@H did also tell me that the Dwarf Mine was sold out and never going to be available again and look how truthful that turned out to be.

The 13.00 tag is a little steep especially as I will likely get atleast 10 of each. The price actually confuses me a bit as I can get the chess sets at 40.00. It comes with 24 figures and the chessboard, some useful pieces, and a nice storage box. Even at the original price of 50.00 it works out to $2.08 USD a figure and the battle pack is 2.60 but the battle packs have no extras at all and plastic packaging. The thing is this has a variety of figures and weapons and how many King figures can a guy use. (I actually have 5 of the chess sets.) but I want more variety in my armies. So I will reluctantly buy them anyway

[Xui]

Don't think I'll be getting any, as almost $4/fig is awfully steep, especially when I can pick up unarmoured ones for less than $2 on Bricklink.

[DaleDVM]

I feel bad for the Canadians. I'm not sure why they cost so darn much in Canada? The Canadian dollar does not exchange that badly. Maybe (because) Mega Blocks is based there?

[Rayhawk]

I think one mistake a lot of Lego fans make is to think about set prices only in terms of the manufacturing cost of the parts inside. Molding that plastic is a big factor in how much a set costs to produce, but it's not the only factor, and in some cases I think it's not even the major factor, depending on a country's buying patterns, tariff structures, and distribution networks, and the set's production run and level of initial development investment.

If I had to trace the cost trail of the chess set as opposed to the battle packs, I bet the price-per-part difference is almost entirely the result of the smaller number of units produced, so there are fewer individual sales in which to make back the initial investment in manufacturing tooling and design. If these show good sales figures in 2008 despite the relatively high price point, then I'd lay odds we see battle packs again next year in a larger manufacturing run, with the lower cost-per-unit that comes with it.