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Subject: 
Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
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Date: 
Fri, 4 Jan 2002 10:33:26 GMT
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After the introduction of the new European currency three days ago, I was
very curious about what would happen to S@H's prices in the euro-zone. What
now follows are my findings (which are by no means scientific - it just
illustrates how weird their current pricing policy is)

I picked five sets which were in the upper priceclass, and compared them
across the countries in the euro-zone. The sets I picked were:

10000 Guarded Inn
10001 Metroliner
100019 ebel Blockade Runner
6290 Red Beard Runner
6291 Armada Flagship

The countries that I compared were Germany, Holland, Belgium, Ireland,
Finland, Luxembourg and Austria. Since set 10001 is not available in France,
I did not include this country in my mini-survey.

After I had totalled the prices of these five sets for each country, I was
able to make a rough comparisson. Here are the total prices for each country:

BEL: EUR 534,96
LUX: EUR 534,96
GER: EUR 539,95
IRE: EUR 554,53
AUS: EUR 561,97
HOL: EUR 563,98
FIN: EUR 573,48

As you can see, you would be best of in Belgium or Luxembourg if you were to
buy these 5 sets. The difference with Finland is EUR 38,52! (you could buy
yourself a nice set for that, depending on in which country you live of
course :). I don't know what the VAT % is for each of these countries but I
don't think that this would be the only explanation for the differences in
price.

What's strange is that from these results you would expect that all five
sets would be cheapest in Belgium or Luxembourg, but that this is not the
case. Set 6291 for example is cheapest in Germany and Ireland (EUR 54,99),
while in the other countries it costs EUR 59,99. Another example: set 10001
costs EUR 150 in Belgium & Luxembourg, but in Germany it's cheaper - by one
whole eurocent!

Another weird thing: while some sets have exactly the same prices in two
countries, another set may differ as much as 10% in price between those same
two countries. For instance, 100019 costs EUR 199,90 in both Belgium and
Germany. Set 6290 however, costs EUR 99,90 in Belgium, but EUR 109,99 in
Germany!

To me this comes across as really strange. It is almost as though someone at
LD is making up these prices at random. I'd like your thoughts on this. But
above all I hope LD is reading this and start scratching behind their ears
and does something about it so that everyone gets the same amount of Lego
for their Euros!

Regards,

Wessel



Message has 5 Replies:
  Re: Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
 
(...) I think it's probably decided on a per country basis, taking into account local taxes, shipping costs and pricing habits (.99 is much more common in Germany than France, for example). Jürgen (22 years ago, 4-Jan-02, to lugnet.loc.eu, lugnet.lego.direct)
  Re: Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
 
The guys at LEGO do not only make up this prices at random, in fact they have totally lost their minds. The UCS X-Wing now costs 209 EUR. That's madness - it's even more expensive than the Rebel Blockade Runner now. And talking about the amount of (...) (22 years ago, 4-Jan-02, to lugnet.loc.eu, lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.loc.be, lugnet.loc.de, lugnet.loc.nl, lugnet.loc.lu, lugnet.loc.ie, lugnet.loc.fr, lugnet.loc.fi, lugnet.loc.at)
  Re: Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
 
(...) (snip comparison) (Your curiosity saved me the trouble of investigating myself, so I thank you for that) (...) Hmmm... I had noticed previously some differences in prices, which I attributed to different transportation costs. I never realized (...) (22 years ago, 4-Jan-02, to lugnet.loc.eu, lugnet.loc.be, lugnet.loc.de, lugnet.loc.nl, lugnet.loc.lu, lugnet.loc.ie, lugnet.loc.fr, lugnet.loc.fi, lugnet.loc.at, lugnet.loc.it, lugnet.loc.es, lugnet.loc.pt, lugnet.loc.gr)
  Re: Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
 
Wessel inspired me to do my own little survey. My pick was slightly different; not so much the high end of the range, but across the themes and prices (and more or less my own taste ;-). I found some strange stuff....... My pick: 7191 Collector's (...) (22 years ago, 5-Jan-02, to lugnet.loc.eu, lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.loc.be, lugnet.loc.de, lugnet.loc.nl, lugnet.loc.lu, lugnet.loc.ie, lugnet.loc.fr, lugnet.loc.fi, lugnet.loc.at)
  Re: Euro: one currency does not mean one price :-(
 
I just bought the following in France: 8458 Silver Champion 117.50 !!! 3739 Blacksmith Shop 39.99 6472 Gas N'Wash Express 55.50 ! 3800 Ultimate Builders Set 60.90 !! There is a difference of at least 110 Euros with the Netherlands! The 8458 costs (...) (22 years ago, 8-Jan-02, to lugnet.loc.eu, lugnet.loc.be, lugnet.loc.de, lugnet.loc.nl, lugnet.loc.lu, lugnet.loc.ie, lugnet.loc.fr, lugnet.loc.fi, lugnet.loc.at)

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