[USA] ToysRUs LEGO Sale: January 22-28

[Ice]

This week's sale: Get a FREE LEGO Friends Mini Play Set ($9.99 value) with your total LEGO Friends Construction purchase of $50 or more!

Update: Total Purchase needs to be $75 now. (not even a deal anymore with their markups!)

[pumbaugh]

Thanks for the heads up...Guess I may as well go today and blow the last of the rewards dollars as friends does not interest me....was holding out for a sale next week I could combo with...

[Ice]

They also told me this but it could be just referring to the Friends promotion. Anyways, here's the link for this week's deals.

Great Deals ALL Week Long on Toys You'll Only Find Here including Playmobil, LEGO & More!

[atmail35]

hmmm, I wonder which Friends set they claim is a $9.99 value! It must be a promo item since they don't have any Friends sets at $9.99. I'm curious to see it.

[Zeya]

Everyone be warned that TRU had the Friends sets' prices jacked up the last time I went (a week or so ago). Just make sure to jot down MSRP prices for what you want before you go. I was able to find nearly all the Friends sets at Target at MSRP.

[pumbaugh]

Looks like the free set is any of the 5 9.99 sets....even TRU forgets they mark everything up or simply doesn;t tell the marketing dept ;) I am pretty sure all the prices on the FRIENDS line is over MSRP at TRU now...

[atmail35]

Looks like the free set is any of the 5 9.99 sets....even TRU forgets they mark everything up or simply doesn;t tell the marketing dept ;) I am pretty sure all the prices on the FRIENDS line is over MSRP at TRU now...

Interesting since the $9.99 sets are $11.99 here and online. I wonder if that is regional or just a mistake in the advertising.

[pumbaugh]

look at the ad online...its already on the tru site....says 11.99 set....should have been clear where I got my info ;) I said 9.99 since that is msrp...of course tru is 11.99 ;)

[toyz4me]

$11.99?! Ha, Dream on! It's $13.49 or $13.99 here in our TRUs (NY)

[pattymerry]

All my ad says is "mini set" which would be the sets that are $5.99 at most stores, but at TRS were $6.99. They have the big Friends dollhouse marked up to $80, which is $10 more than anyone else. I shopped there last weekend, but only because I had $10 in Rewards dollars to spend. My daughter ended up picking out some Ninjago figures instead of Friends.

[SpaceViking]

Yikes! This is a *classic* TRU non-sale sale. [edited: removed repeat of info above]

The free sets are indeed (3932 - 3936) ($11.99 ea @ TRU). But to reach $75 to qualify, you must buy items that will be at least $10 above MSRP. So the sale just brings it back down to regular price. Ridiculous.

Guess I'll be looking to spend my Rewards Bucks on non-LEGO this week. Pffffftt.

[Ice]

Originally, the threshold was $50, but guess they bumped it up to $75. With all their markups and the $75 threshold, this isn't even a deal anymore. If you do plan on buying from them, keep these markups in mind.

• Stephanie's Cool Convertible $14.99 vs $20.99 (40% markup)
• City Park Cafe $29.99 vs $40.99 (36.6% markup)
• Heartlake Vet $39.99 vs $51.99 (30% markup)
• Sets that are $9.99 vs $11.99 (20% markup)
• Emma's Splash Pool/Stephanie's Bakery $5.99 vs $6.99 (16.6% off markup)
• Butterfly Beauty Shop $24.99 vs $28.99 (16% off markup)
• Olivia's House $69.99 vs $80.99 (15.7% markup)
• Heartlake Dog Show $19.99 vs $22.99 (15% markup)
• Olivia's Tree House $19.99 vs $20.99 (5% markup)

The only deal (really isn't even one) I see is getting Olivia's Tree House. You get a free $10 value set when you spend $75 (it means a max discount of 11.8% off if no markups). If you buy 4 Olivia's Tree House at the $1 markup price, it works out to be $83.96 (value = $79.96). You get the free set which brings the value to $89.95.

In total, you save 6.7% off and thats the least markup set. Don't get fooled by their marketing everyone. I shouldn't even have posted about this as I didn't realize how heavily marked up these sets are!

[meyerc13]

This has to be the worst 'deal' I've ever seen. What is TRU thinking? I think I'll get my 'free' '$12 set' by going to Target and buying the Cafe at MSRP and the '$12 set' at MSRP for $10. I'll even come out $1 ahead of TRU since TRU doesn't even give member rewards during January.

[chenwaa123]

Originally, the threshold was $50, but guess they bumped it up to $75. With all their markups and the $75 threshold, this isn't even a deal anymore. If you do plan on buying from them, keep these markups in mind.

• Stephanie's Cool Convertible $14.99 vs $20.99 (40% markup)
• City Park Cafe $29.99 vs $40.99 (36.6% markup)
• Heartlake Vet $39.99 vs $51.99 (30% markup)
• Sets that are $9.99 vs $11.99 (20% markup)
• Emma's Splash Pool/Stephanie's Bakery $5.99 vs $6.99 (16.6% off markup)
• Butterfly Beauty Shop $24.99 vs $28.99 (16% off markup)
• Olivia's House $69.99 vs $80.99 (15.7% markup)
• Heartlake Dog Show $19.99 vs $22.99 (15% markup)
• Olivia's Tree House $19.99 vs $20.99 (5% markup)

The only deal (really isn't even one) I see is getting Olivia's Tree House. You get a free $10 value set when you spend $75 (it means a max discount of 11.8% off if no markups). If you buy 4 Olivia's Tree House at the $1 markup price, it works out to be $83.96 (value = $79.96). You get the free set which brings the value to $89.95.

In total, you save 6.7% off and thats the least markup set. Don't get fooled by their marketing everyone. I shouldn't even have posted about this as I didn't realize how heavily marked up these sets are!

yoyo.com has a few of the new Friends sets for 20% OFF. Prices look to be at msrp.

[atmail35]

This has to be the worst 'deal' I've ever seen. What is TRU thinking? I think I'll get my 'free' '$12 set' by going to Target and buying the Cafe at MSRP and the '$12 set' at MSRP for $10. I'll even come out $1 ahead of TRU since TRU doesn't even give member rewards during January.

I totally agree with you, TRU is really pushing the limits of the term "sale".

I had no idea how badly some of the markups were, 40% that is nuts. I feel badly for those unsuspecting/non-saavy shoppers who frequent TRU and believe they are getting a fair deal! We need to find a way to reach those people and let them know they are getting ripped off!

I guess I'm glad I used my remaining two rewards certificates just to pick up a few CMF6, even though they were overpriced by 50 cents at least I'm done with that round of rewards. And at this rate, I don't bet I'll earn many more this year!

[Ice]

I had no idea how badly some of the markups were, 40% that is nuts. I feel badly for those unsuspecting/non-saavy shoppers who frequent TRU and believe they are getting a fair deal! We need to find a way to reach those people and let them know they are getting ripped off!

At least its not as bad as Harry Potter Quidditch Match. They're still selling it at $37.99 (90% markup). I feel really bad for anyone that falls for it. You'll need like a 50% off sale to get it back to MSRP.

[natelite]

I mentioned this before but I'll say it here again. During the bf and Christmas sales I spread my purchases over 3 accounts to accumulate the points. Plus because you get 10% rewards points, it all adds up very quickly. I'm not sure how TRU calculates the points but I got $61 total to 1/13 and $73 to 1/28. I just use those points to get free sets. Despite the markups free is still free. You can combine the coupons on a single purchase. The coupon is not tied to the account. I just go for sets which are new and below 10% markup. Like the new SW sets, the bariss offee is a good deal and I also got the cmf s6. If you get them early enough, the markup is no more than 10% usually.

[slisa51]

$11.99?! Ha, Dream on! It's $13.49 or $13.99 here in our TRUs (NY)

I was at a tru today in ny and saw and at-at 8129 for 158.99 plus 8.75% sales tax and hogwarts express for 137.99 if they had an actual buy one get one free I still wouldn't have bought them. Plus the boxes were so beat up and had those security wires wrapped around them that the cashiers can never seem to get off.

[vman100]

At our store the Olivia's House was $76 - still a markup but with the free set it was still a bit below MSRP overall (especially with our rewards bucks and promo gift cards we had). Ironically they were pulling down the "spend $50 and get a free set" signs to replace them with the $75 signs - the woman said she ad just gotten an email from corporate. Didn't matter to us since the house was $76 - worked out great for us!

[gunoz]

Looks like the TRU website dropped the price of Olivia's House back to MSRP $69.99. Wonder how long that'll last.