Run of Lego Sets: Turbo Tank

[Ebak]

Hey guys, I'm not sure how long LEGO sets are manufactured for until they are discontinued. There is a store in my home city that is selling the Turbo Tank...which is a set I really want cause of the minifigs and the set itself of course.

LEGO.com lists the set as 'Call to check avalibility'. I assume this means its no longer being made brand new. Should I buy the set now for £100..which would put me in tight place financially...or should I risk it and wait a few months when I can easily afford it?

[AbstractedIdeal]

Going by Brickset, it looks like the set was retired on January 20th.

If correct, it's only going to become more difficult to find or more expensive to buy.

[Ebak]

Most sets have that date as an until date...I think it means that it is avalible up until now..so every week someone updates the avalibility dates.

[AbstractedIdeal]

I think it's updated daily, but also just noticed this in my news feeds...

LEGO product feed problem
Posted by Huw, 21 Jan 2012 05:06

The data feed from LEGO that provides us with prices and availability of sets at shop.LEGO.com seems to be broken today, and as you can see there are just a handful of old products being shown in the 'New at shop.LEGO.com' list above.

I hope it's sorted soon, but I don't suppose it'll get fixed over the weekend, so I apologise for the inconvenience.

Update, still not fixed but I've adjusted the database so it uses yesterday's data.

The timing would seem to fit with a January 20 "retirement", so you probably do still have time to wait.

[Bellicose]

That seems to have been an early retirement! Also saw it still full-price on the shelves in a B&M store today...so I doubt it's actually been retired.

Kinda shocked to see the CITY Power Boat Transporter truck already gone...it's been 6 months?

[emmtwosix]

I was just at my local Walmart last night and witnessed a disturbing phenomenon. They had one set of 8098 Turbo Tank back in the regular LEGO aisle (there had been two in the clearance section a few months ago priced at $100, but they'd disappeared for a few months, I had assumed they had been sold) next to an 8096 Emperor's Shuttle (which had also been in the clearance aisle, but at regular price.) That's not the disturbing part, unfortunately. What was disturbing was that they had the 8096 set now priced at $79.99!

Is this a new pricing tactic? Have they figured out that they can gouge customers at the end of a product's life cycle by artificially reducing supply (by taking them off shelves) and charging a higher price? Even if that part is just a coincidence, at the very least they've figured out they can charge more for sets when they're out of production - that's bad enough. Has anyone else seen something like this at one of the major chains?

--sorry if this should be a new topic, it seemed to fit well in here since this thread is what made me think to make mention of it in the first place

[Sharpie Clone]

There's one in on BrickLink in the UK for 85 pounds with a creased box and some others for 100 pounds. If the figures and the bricks are what is important to you, you could save some money and get that former.
I recently bought one in HK for 73 pounds (USD $113.50), which I was the lowest price I had seen here. Unusual because HK is usually much more expensive. The new battle packs are out and they are 12.15 pounds (USD $19) which is quite a bit more than LEGO.com (USD $13).

BTW, I liked the set and am please with it overall.

[Blacknight]

Still waiting for this one to drop under $100. I have the first version and the only unique thing about this one is whats-her-name blue tentacle hair girl (yeah I know, Aalya). She'll probably appear in some other cheaper set, eventually, hopefully.

[mrfootball]

Picked one up the other day at Walmart in Houston for $89

[cas]

I've seen them at Walmart as recently as today. They were marked at full price, maybe I should have someone scan it.

[Draykov]

What was disturbing was that they had the 8096 set now priced at $79.99!

Is this a new pricing tactic? Have they figured out that they can gouge customers at the end of a product's life cycle by artificially reducing supply (by taking them off shelves) and charging a higher price? Even if that part is just a coincidence, at the very least they've figured out they can charge more for sets when they're out of production - that's bad enough. Has anyone else seen something like this at one of the major chains?

--sorry if this should be a new topic, it seemed to fit well in here since this thread is what made me think to make mention of it in the first place

I've not seen what you've described. I have seen LEGO sets that have increased in price because a subsequent production run was made to meet a high demand, but in those instances it's the actual MSRP that goes up, not a retailer price-hike. If that were the case here, though, 8096 would presumably still be available at Shop@Home with a "will ship by..." sort of statement.