[US/CA] LEGO Retiring Medieval Market Village + More

[Toys N Bricks]

November 12 Update from LEGO

This is a trial for NA to begin with to see what impact it has on Customer Service issues regarding retiring / retired products. We’re hoping these will decrease because regular shoppers are aware these items are getting low now, but we’re also cognizant that it may cause an increase in ebay resellers buying mass quantities and only exacerbate the previous issue.
 Yes the items on this list really are going to retire soon as in once the quantities we have are gone, they’re gone.  They won’t be going on back order and we will not be producing anymore. This is not a sales trick, we’re legitimately trying to inform people that this is their last chance. J

Forum member Marcus70 informs us that LEGO Shop at Home North America (USA | Canada) is now showing 8 LEGO sets that will be retiring soon (this is a new page). Some of the highly sought after sets include Medieval Market Village, Red Cargo Train and Motorized Excavator. If you don't have these sets and was planning to get them, you shouldn't wait for too long now. Remember that they are also still offering Free Shipping on orders above $99.

LEGOShop Retiring Soon Sets Page: USA | Canada



If your looking for Medieval Market Village, Amazon America still has it instock for 10% off. They also got LEGO Games Ninjago for 25% off as well. Free shipping on orders above $25 and no tax for most states.

25% off - LEGO Games Ninjago $22.49 (reg.$29.99)
10% off - Castle Medieval Market Village $89.86 (reg.$99.99)



Article Link: http://toysnbricks.com/usca-lego-retiri ... lage-more/

[SpaceViking]

Wow. They have a "retiring soon" tag? That's great. Way to go TLG.

[Legobrandon]

I have a feeling all of the sets on the list is going to be discounted on Brick Friday, 25% off or so.

[tensor]

I find it odd that the FB or even the GE are not on the retiring soon list. I wonder if resellers have been artificially inflating the demand for these sets making TLG keep pumping them out. Of course, it's artificial to the resellers and their intent for ROI, but not artificial to TLG - sales are sales.

Anyway, as for this new "retiring soon" tag, I smell only marketing and nothing more right now. Why else would they state such a thing?

[akunthita]

I find it odd that the FB or even the GE are not on the retiring soon list. I wonder if resellers have been artificially inflating the demand for these sets making TLG keep pumping them out. Of course, it's artificial to the resellers and their intent for ROI, but not artificial to TLG - sales are sales.

Anyway, as for this new "retiring soon" tag, I smell only marketing and nothing more right now. Why else would they state such a thing?

Gotta agree with that. I'm also pretty sure it is a marketing gimmick. BTW, LEGO said last year too that the MMW will be retired. If I remember correctly it was noted in the sales catalog. Same with the Death Star. So even though this page may be new, the idea isn't. Great way to drum up business. Also, interesting that the Maersk Train is not on the list. I was reading on the Brickset Forum that it was on its way out.

[harry99]

I believe it's wait and see for Black Friday. MMV should have been retired a long time ago. Everyone and their Grandmother has a dozen in the closet by now.

[tensor]

MMV...Everyone and their Grandmother has a dozen in the closet by now.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[JJpach]

Retiring soon, hard to find, exclusive.....TLG is really overdoing the tag stuff

[sadowsk1]

I believe it's wait and see for Black Friday. MMV should have been retired a long time ago. Everyone and their Grandmother has a dozen in the closet by now.

I agree to this. It will be interesting to watch in the aftermarket.

[wegj]

That's really nice they added the "retiring soon" page, I wonder how much longer the Diagon Alley is going to hold on, I really would like to grab another one of those before it's gone for parts.

[cstojano]

I'll go out on a limb and declare the aftermarket for Lego is drying up quickly. Death Star, MMV, Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium - these sets must be hoarded to death at this point. The sweet spot was the Cafe Corner/Green Grocer/ Taj Mahal/ Carousel/ UCS Millennium Falcon period.

Sadly if Lego was trying to get some of this profit back in their column it may work against them in the long run.

I haven't even looked at the series 8 MFs in the store really (and more importantly neither has my 9 year old).

And clearly they got bit on the hand with the pricing of the new SW calendar.

[SpaceNinjaDino]

I'll go out on a limb and declare the aftermarket for Lego is drying up quickly. Death Star, MMV, Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium - these sets must be hoarded to death at this point. The sweet spot was the Cafe Corner/Green Grocer/ Taj Mahal/ Carousel/ UCS Millennium Falcon period.

What about Eiffel Tower (10x resell), Market Street (12x resell), Holiday Train (5x resell), Jabba's Sail Barge (5x resell), Town Plan (4x resell), earlier Spiderman/Batman and others? I consider anything that doubles or does better is a successful investment. Even recent items like Emerald Night and Imperial Flagship with their 2x value is all I hoped for.

There will be duds like Tantive IV only doing 1.3x performance and things like Prince of Persia/Toy Story/Cars that are below 1x. But that is why selecting sets and having diversity for investment is important.

When it comes to Death Star, MMV, Fire Brigade, and Grand Emporium, I think 2x or better value is still not unreasonable to see 1 year after retirement for 75% of these sets. They would have had a better shot doing 4x+ if retired earlier, but not all is lost.

I think LTG tagging items for retirement is a brilliant idea. Collectors have wanted that transparency for 20 years now. Even if you don't invest, it is good to know what you need to nab now or forget about it forever.

[dilbert12]

I'll go out on a limb and declare the aftermarket for Lego is drying up quickly. Death Star, MMV, Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium - these sets must be hoarded to death at this point. The sweet spot was the Cafe Corner/Green Grocer/ Taj Mahal/ Carousel/ UCS Millennium Falcon period.

Sadly if Lego was trying to get some of this profit back in their column it may work against them in the long run.

I haven't even looked at the series 8 MFs in the store really (and more importantly neither has my 9 year old).

And clearly they got bit on the hand with the pricing of the new SW calendar.

I agree with the plastic bubble is near popping or deflating point. I don't believe LEGO is interested in aftermarket. I just started collecting again as an AFOL almost 1 year ago. We're in a "golden" era with demand very high especially with Ninjago and new Super Heroes. My problem is LEGO is pumping out way too much stuff that my wallet can't keep up. Way too many $150+ sets lately. They need to pace themselves.

[tensor]

I'll go out on a limb and declare the aftermarket for Lego is drying up quickly. Death Star, MMV, Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium - these sets must be hoarded to death at this point. The sweet spot was the Cafe Corner/Green Grocer/ Taj Mahal/ Carousel/ UCS Millennium Falcon period.

What about Eiffel Tower (10x resell), Market Street (12x resell), Holiday Train (5x resell), Jabba's Sail Barge (5x resell), Town Plan (4x resell), earlier Spiderman/Batman and others? I consider anything that doubles or does better is a successful investment. Even recent items like Emerald Night and Imperial Flagship with their 2x value is all I hoped for.

I think there's always a risk of a bubble, but all those sets you mention were before people took "lego investing" seriously, so their value is indicative of a) people not hoarding them and b) Lego not continuing to produce them as a result of a) so there are simply less to go around (supply/demand). I honestly think sets way past their expiration date like the MMV & FB are still around because people keep buying them for resell purposes and to Lego, they are still selling great, so why retire them?

Again, I think this whole retiring soon tag is a bunch of marketing hooey.

[Edmond Dantes]

I've said this at Brickset already, but it bears repeating. People are severely overestimating the number of Lego resellers out there and their impact on the discontinuation of sets. I don't know another reseller personally - who here does? I also don't even know (personally) anyone who has even HEARD of reselling Lego, let alone followed through on it.

The bubble doesn't exist - this world is just so insular it feels like everyone is doing the same thing.

AFOL impact on Lego sales are between 5-10%, and the vast majority of those sales are for personal use. If I had to guess, I would estimate fewer that 0.5% of Lego sales are for resale purposes.

[Marcus70]

Here is an update from Brickset.com:

"We've received the following clarification from LEGO about the list:
•This is a trial for the USA and Canada to begin with to see what impact it has on Customer Service issues regarding retiring / retired products.
•Yes the items on this list really are going to retire soon as in once the quantities we have are gone, they’re gone. They won’t be going on back order and we will not be producing anymore. This is not a sales trick, we’re legitimately trying to inform people that this is their last chance!"

Personally, I think it's fine to list sets that they are stopping on producing. The more information we have as consumers, the better.

[Ice]

Here is an update from Brickset.com:

"We've received the following clarification from LEGO about the list:
•This is a trial for the USA and Canada to begin with to see what impact it has on Customer Service issues regarding retiring / retired products.
•Yes the items on this list really are going to retire soon as in once the quantities we have are gone, they’re gone. They won’t be going on back order and we will not be producing anymore. This is not a sales trick, we’re legitimately trying to inform people that this is their last chance!"

Personally, I think it's fine to list sets that they are stopping on producing. The more information we have as consumers, the better.

You've beat me to it! Yes, LEGO informed us about that as well. So if you don't have your MMV, you should definitely get it. Its a great set. :)

[pbb99]

Sweet, will be great if the guessing game over what is being discontinued is gone forever. As soon as I saw the Retired Soon category, I figured it must be related to getting CS costs down. I used to work on the software dev side for a company that did all their business online and I think the average cost of handling a CS call was $6. So part of our focus on any website update was what can we do to reduce CS calls!

I'm relatively new to the whole AFOL community so I could be way off, but I also don't think the reseller influence is too large. Between it being unpredictable regarding which sets really take off in value, the amount of space it takes to store the sets and how long you have to sit on them, it just doesn't seem like a very efficient way to make money. But if you're already into Lego, I could see buying some extra sets when on sale, then selling them later to help fund the addiction. :)

[ricefields]

I've said this at Brickset already, but it bears repeating. People are severely overestimating the number of Lego resellers out there and their impact on the discontinuation of sets. I don't know another reseller personally - who here does? I also don't even know (personally) anyone who has even HEARD of reselling Lego, let alone followed through on it.

The bubble doesn't exist - this world is just so insular it feels like everyone is doing the same thing.

AFOL impact on Lego sales are between 5-10%, and the vast majority of those sales are for personal use. If I had to guess, I would estimate fewer that 0.5% of Lego sales are for resale purposes.

must be from where you are or the online connections you made, that your exposure to reselling/resellers is not that high but if you live in any large urban area in US or Canada, you run into many resellers locally based on sites like: kijiji, craigslist, and bricklink. I buy stuff from resellers, other resellers buy stuff from me, and it goes round and round or expands.

[plasticaddict]

lego says items listed not available once sold out

why is 9441 backordered to dec 2?

hmmmmmmm