Subject:
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Re: Guess who paid for those eToy Lego bargains?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Wed, 7 Feb 2001 03:53:34 GMT
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Reply-To:
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johnneal@uswest&saynotospam&.net
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Viewed:
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2145 times
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Todd Lehman wrote:
> In lugnet.lego.direct, John Neal writes:
> > richard marchetti wrote:
> > > Which leads me to a general comment on Lego Direct bulk items -- if we are
> > > buying directly from TLC why should we be paying more, rather than less,
> > > than retail per brick? I sure don't want to be charged the overhead for
> > > their silly and WAY overblown website. Just sell me bulk and cheaply too...
> >
> > Let's *really* define bulk here. True bulk bricks would be bricks by the
> > thousands, and it is in those numbers where I would expect discounts.
> > Calling their services "bulk" is just TLC using a convenient term. TLC
> > bulk is a service. They are making it easier to acquire bricks which you
> > would have had to purchase X amount of sets to get that element.
>
> Hmm, not necessarily -- the secondary market changes the whole equation.
> True, someone has to go and buy X amount of sets and sort through and
> organize the elements,
Exactly. *Somebody* has to do it.
> but I've seen people get very close to true bulk
> from many sources, for much less than retail and much less than what LD
> sells the elements for.
But remember, for most parts suppliers to make it worth their while, they are
buying sets in bulk at deep discounts-- 50%-70% off, which has got to be
approaching TLC's profit margin. Think of what prices on the secondary market
would look like if bursters had to purchase at the retail level only.
> I don't mean that to sound I'm bashing LD for how it set its prices, I'm
> just pointing out that the perception that it's overpriced is rooted in
> reality, relative to other options. (Everything is relative, right? :-)
>
> > For example, I would have gladly paid $.25 per brick for 400 black 4x3 low
> > slopes which I used in one of my MOCs. Instead, I purchased 40 3225s,
> > which contained 10 of them, for $66 each. Then I had to sell off a bunch
> > of stuff to get my money back. It's a big hassle, even *if* you have
> > $2640 to blow on 1 MOC....
>
> That's a great example, and I totally know what you mean. I think Richard
> was talking about less-specialized pieces, though. You can go out and buy
> 1200-pc tubs on clearance and it isn't very much work to go through them.
Tubs are loss-leaders for TLC, and so they aren't analogous.
> I personally wouldn't buy 1xN's and 2xN's from LD in traditional colors, but
> maybe some people would. Or maybe LD doesn't expect them to sell -- just the
> "hard-to-find" colors like Gray and Brown and Green. (Do they sell Brown yet?
> Oh well, you get the idea.)
>
> > Just compare 2x2 tile prices on Brickbay to the available colors from LD.
> > Or window prices. For most people, the bulk service *is* a good deal.
>
> It's funny you should mention 2x2 tiles. I've seen them go for as much as
> $1 each in auctions -- but that was a long time ago. I know that I'd like
> to see them as low as $.01 each before I could really buy them from LD. I
> do think LD's price of $.069 per 2x2 tile is perfectly fair -- compared to
> alternatives -- but at that price I just can't afford them in bulk for the
> sort of thing I'd like to do...
Tile your house's floor? ;-)
> http://news.lugnet.com/build/?n=4447 (see the price calculations)
>
> So, as far as I'm concerned, for my project(s), it's no better than if LD
> didn't sell 2x2 tiles at all. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not knocking LD for
> the price -- just saying that it's above my personal purchasing threshold.
> Mega kudos to LD for selling them at all. Bummer that they don't cost less,
> but that's life, I guess. Maybe after LD takes off and really gets rolling,
> maybe the prices will begin to fall someday.
To be honest, I don't think LD prices will *ever* be low enough for the types of
projects you and I have in mind (see below). Sometimes, you just gotta pay the
piper!
> > > And the eToys model suggests to me that we don't have to pay more, that
> > > there is a way to get you, TLC, to sell this stuff to us AFOL at a smaller
> > > cost...
>
> Well, somebody probably lost a lot of money there.
lol, exactly.
> > > The closer we get to $0.25 a brick, the more likely I am to just spend most
> > > of my money on eBay where paying a premium for older and better sets makes
> > > more sense than paying the same for new and less well designed sets. And
> > > if bulk nears this price, well -- then I just don't see the point of it.
> >
> > See above.
>
> I can see both viewpoints...depends on the element and color, eh?
That's the beauty of LD bulk-- it is color blind. LD would charge the same price
for a red 1x2x2 classic window as for a gray one. Compare the prices on *those*
two elements on the secondary market;-)
> Depends on
> personal experiences with buying in semi-bulk or hearing about deals.
>
> > [...]
> > > And "bulk" should always have meant a deep discount.
> >
> > Fine. If you want to order 50,000 elements of one color and element type,
> > I'm sure you could get a deep discounted price.
>
> Yeah, give it time, I think. Remember that LD is *juuuust* getting started
> still. When Brad first posted in December of 1999, there wasn't even an NYC
> office -- he was working out of his home. There weren't even other LD
> employees yet.
>
> I'm willing to bet (as in predict and wait) that after it all gets rolling and
> production runs are good and solid, the price point that ends up being the
> most profitable for LEGO will be lower than the prices they currently have
> for the more common types of elements.
>
> $.25 for a 1x4x3 window panel is an incredibly great price, IMHO!
lol, I built a skyscraper that has about 1000 of them in it.... well, *you* do the
math;-)
-John
>
>
> --Todd
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Guess who paid for those eToy Lego bargains?
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| (...) Hmm, not necessarily -- the secondary market changes the whole equation. True, someone has to go and buy X amount of sets and sort through and organize the elements, but I've seen people get very close to true bulk from many sources, for much (...) (26 years ago, 6-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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