CDN vs USD - Is Toys r Us overpriced in the US?

[Jasper Parnebrick]

I have seen a few posts here and there regarding TRU pricing being marked up like 20% over other retailers. Is this just something that you find in the US? From what I have seen, TRU in Canada is pretty much dollar for dollar to the Lego store, Chapters, Zellers, Sears, WalMart (which I try not to shop) or any other places that I find Lego (not on sale of course). So when people say that they ignore the 20% off lego at TRU, because that's pretty much the same as the regular price they should be charging, I assume that these members are in the US. Am I right? Am I crazy?

That said, who generally has the best prices in Canada? In the US?
We don't have B&N or Target (yet...)
From what I have seen, Mastermind is a bit overpriced.

I just came out of my Dark Ages a couple of months ago. I own 5 sets, but purchased them all on sale. When I see a deal, I generally look at the price per brick. Sometimes even something 20% off in Canada is still way overpriced IMHO.

[unclephn]

TRU in Canada sometimes marks up LEGO, however, it is no where near as much as in the US. So you are correct in that TRU Canada prices are generally dollar for dollar.

When people say they ignore TRU Canada's general 20% off sales, it's because of the difference in MSRP. US MSRP is roughly 20% less than Canadian MSRP (depending on the set, of course). And because a lot of us Canadians here in the forums are able to make it over to the US for LEGO, or are able to purchase sets on B&N.com, those 20% off sales that TRU Canada has don't really amount to very much savings. It's why the Canadian Sales & Deals Forum is pretty quiet lol :P

It's tough to really say who has the best prices in Canada. The only real way to get a decent sale is when any of the retailers (ie. Chapters, Zellers) have special coupons that amount to at least 30% off. If you're unable to make it across the border, than B&N.com is the way to go, as well as Amazon France, as they're pretty much the only ones who ship to Canada.

Hope that answers some of your questions. I'm sure some others here can give more input.

p.s. I must say, the 'Jasper Parnebrick' handle is pretty awesome haha

[Jasper Parnebrick]

Yeah, it's actually my son's name. He's only 3, but I am grooming him to be a LEGO fan now.. he's already liking the smaller LEGO over Duplo. I'm also a Gold fan, so the name just came to me one day!

Thanks for the input.. So Amazon France doesn't have huge shipping charges? I didn't know B&N shipped to Canada. What about their shipping - wouldn't those costs negate the money you save on the actual LEGO? I've bought other stuff from the US before online, only to be slammed with like a $40 customs fee...

[legohunter]

According to my 3 yrs of LEGO shopping in Canada, Black Friday and Boxing day week were the best season to shop from Canada retailers while they offered very decent deal to LEGO fans. Other than these periods, shopping from U.S. could save us some bucks.

For example, the best deal I could find for 9492 Tie Fighter in Canada was 20% off CDN MSRP. However, I could get it from BN.com for $46.59 including tax and shipping. Some forum members could even get this set at lower price when they found a better coupon for BN.com

[autobrick]

Thanks for the input.. So Amazon France doesn't have huge shipping charges? I didn't know B&N shipped to Canada. What about their shipping - wouldn't those costs negate the money you save on the actual LEGO? I've bought other stuff from the US before online, only to be slammed with like a $40 customs fee...

B&N is great for Canadians, especially if you have a coupon. If you make a purchase with a 30% off coupon from there, you will end up saving roughly 40-45% off what you would have to pay in store (inclusive). Shipping is quite reasonable at $6.48 for the first item and $2.49 for every item after that. You only have to pay 5% tax (instead of 13% in-store for Ontario residents) so if you make a big enough purchase, the tax savings negate the shipping cost. You don't get charged with any customs fee at all.

The downsides are that B&N coupons that actually apply to Lego are rare (about twice a year when new Lego comes out), the good stuff go quickly out of stock (especially when posted to mainstream deal forums) and shipping takes a while (2-3 weeks). I've read some complaints about damaged Lego from B&N, but I've placed over 10 orders with no problems. As long as you are going to open it up when you get it, are you going to turn down nearly half-priced Lego?

I've ordered once from Amazon.fr and did not have to deal with customs fees, but that was only a $70 purchase. I don't remember what the cost for shipping was, but it wasn't that high.

[legitimatealex]

Toys R Us is terribly overpriced in the United States and the sales almost never justify purchasing LEGO from them. It's quite sad because they have the best selection, but I have seen ridiculously marked up sets ($11 sets going for $18, etc.) I would not suggest buying from them for any reason unless you can find a set on clearance.

[Deathleech]

Well, to give you an idea how bad Toys R Us is here in the US, here are the current LotR set prices at TRU:

9469 Gandalf Arrives: $16.99 (MSRP: $12.99)
9470 Shelob Attacks: $24.99 (MSRP: $19.99)
9471 Urak-Hai Army: $34.99 (MSRP: $29.99)
9473 The Mines of Moria: $99.99 (MSRP: $79.99)

As you can see, everything is marked up by at least a few bucks. The Gandalf Arrives is "only" four dollars more, but on a 13 dollar set that is pretty significant. Meanwhile you have almost a 25% mark up on the Mines of Moria set with it being 20 dollars above MSRP at TRU.

So, to answer you question, yes, TRU in the Us is WAY over priced.

[nick91884]

I dont know how they get away with it in the long run but they do normally have the new sets available sooner than any other retailer, those of us who are impatient might not mind paying a little extra to have the sets early.

[nick91884]

Thanks for the input.. So Amazon France doesn't have huge shipping charges? I didn't know B&N shipped to Canada. What about their shipping - wouldn't those costs negate the money you save on the actual LEGO? I've bought other stuff from the US before online, only to be slammed with like a $40 customs fee...

B&N is great for Canadians, especially if you have a coupon. If you make a purchase with a 30% off coupon from there, you will end up saving roughly 40-45% off what you would have to pay in store (inclusive). Shipping is quite reasonable at $6.48 for the first item and $2.49 for every item after that. You only have to pay 5% tax (instead of 13% in-store for Ontario residents) so if you make a big enough purchase, the tax savings negate the shipping cost. You don't get charged with any customs fee at all.

The downsides are that B&N coupons that actually apply to Lego are rare (about twice a year when new Lego comes out), the good stuff go quickly out of stock (especially when posted to mainstream deal forums) and shipping takes a while (2-3 weeks). I've read some complaints about damaged Lego from B&N, but I've placed over 10 orders with no problems. As long as you are going to open it up when you get it, are you going to turn down nearly half-priced Lego?

I've ordered once from Amazon.fr and did not have to deal with customs fees, but that was only a $70 purchase. I don't remember what the cost for shipping was, but it wasn't that high.

If you are a barnes and noble member ($25 a year) coupons that apply to lego come out at least twice a month, sometimes more. The coupon doesn't have to be specifically for lego, most of the coupons that say "xx% off a single item" apply to lego as well as anything else in the store (usually the only exclusions are nook e-readers and giftcards).