[USA] S@H Series 2 Collectible Minifigures

[popnfresh]

. . .have had an empty spot on the shelf with the label for a week or more now, so they have either decided that the wal-mart style of stocking and organization is a good thing . . .

I'm a bit curious, what walmart style of stocking are you referring to?

all the walmarts around here have aisles full of disorganized shelves or plain empty shelves

one of them hasnt had a fully stocked lego aisle at all this year

[etcknight]

I'm convinced all the Targets around me have told them to keep the stock in back until every store gets the price markup memo. Four of them around me have had an empty spot on the shelf with the label for a week or more now, so they have either decided that the wal-mart style of stocking and organization is a good thing , or they are leaving them off the floor on purpose.

Same here, last week they checked the item # and said they were in the back, part of the Halloween staging, might be out in a week or 2 (she didn't really want to go look for them for me). So I've been checking every day for 2 weeks.....nothing yet. At least TRU got another box out Friday that someone had already picked through by the time I got there, still manage to get the Disco, Skier, Vampire, Witch, Pharoah, Karate, & Surfer.

I'd have to agree with popnfresh. I too have been visiting the local Targets. I even had them look up the DCPI. At least 3 Targets have them "in stock", but have not yet put them out into the Halloween aisle, even though the rest of the aisle is completely set up. There are a few Targets which still haven't set up their Halloween aisles. In the Targets I've been able to find the minifigs, they are still being sold for $1.99. Don't know if the $2.99 price hike is regional or if it's eventually going to hit all the stores. Lego Co Stores are still $1.99.

[J30spiff]

. . .have had an empty spot on the shelf with the label for a week or more now, so they have either decided that the wal-mart style of stocking and organization is a good thing . . .

I'm a bit curious, what walmart style of stocking are you referring to?

all the walmarts around here have aisles full of disorganized shelves or plain empty shelves

one of them hasnt had a fully stocked lego aisle at all this year

Got it, is there such thing as an "organized" wal-mart? The superwalmart near me has Lego in 3 different sections. There's a main "building/construction" aisle but Lego Star Wars is in a separate end cap in another aisle and there are small sets in another end cap. I'm not sure where the minifigures will end up when they do put them out.

I too have been visiting the local Targets. I even had them look up the DCPI. At least 3 Targets have them "in stock", but have not yet put them out into the Halloween aisle, even though the rest of the aisle is completely set up. There are a few Targets which still haven't set up their Halloween aisles. In the Targets I've been able to find the minifigs, they are still being sold for $1.99. Don't know if the $2.99 price hike is regional or if it's eventually going to hit all the stores. Lego Co Stores are still $1.99.

In my area, the Targets that setup their Halloween aisles early (at least 2 weeks ago), still have their minifigures at $1.99. The ones that just setup their Halloween aisles up in the past week have the $2.99 price.

[SonOfSolo]

I would advise anyone buying at Target to do this.........Look behind the $2.99 tag and more times that not the $1.99 tag is still there. Just bring it up with you to the register and tell them that this is the tag that was in the spot where you bought them. By law they have to sell it to you "as advertised".

[Mofo Jones]

I would advise anyone buying at Target to do this.........Look behind the $2.99 tag and more times that not the $1.99 tag is still there. Just bring it up with you to the register and tell them that this is the tag that was in the spot where you bought them. By law they have to sell it to you "as advertised".

If they put the product in the wrong spot or have the wrong price, it's on them to sell it to you at the lower price. If you tamper with the shelf tags and get caught, it's price-switching and is categorized as theft. Your advice is risky.

[silverspyder]

Your advice is risky.

His advice is to commit a crime to save $1.00 on a toy. Some people just dont belong in a civilized country.

[Mandalorian Candidat]

I hit four local Targets this past week. This is what I found:

All put up their Halloween stuff the beginning of last week (9/12).
All were selling the minifigs at $1.99. When they were first put out
One was out when I visited a second time later in the week (most only had a few left).
That one had a gray round sticker on the shelf tag and the tag was listed at $2.99. It also looked slightly different than the others, like it was newer.

I'm thinking that once they run out of local stock they are updating to the new price.

I went to one regular WM and they had no idea what I was talking about with the minifigs. I stopped at the Super WM in the city and they had a pack that looked to be untouched. It was in a hanging style box on one of the hanging racks used for batteries and other promo stuff near the endcaps. I found that most of the minifigs were grouped together. And like someone else mentioned in this thread, there were 6 Trojans (maybe more if I wasn't the first to get there). I only found 2 explorers though. Their price was $1.97.

[Mofo Jones]

Your advice is risky.

His advice is to commit a crime to save $1.00 on a toy. Some people just dont belong in a civilized country.

I wasn't in the mood to give a diatribe. I doubt that many people would follow the price-switching advice. I'll just head to WM around the corner and buy them there.

[that guy]

I just talked to a buddy of mine who lives in Portland and they have Fred Meyer stores there. He said all the stores there got the S2 figs (apparently their one and only shipment he said) in and not only that but they were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale on all Lego plus 10% off so he was able to buy a full case at 1 store for $71.64 plus no tax. That's only $1.19 each!!! I need to move.........

[DarkEntity]

For anyone in the UK you can just buy the actual figures you want from Amazon.co.uk, as they are selling the figures seperately for season 1 and season 2

[SonOfSolo]

Your advice is risky.

His advice is to commit a crime to save $1.00 on a toy. Some people just dont belong in a civilized country.

Wow. Commit a crime?? Really??? If they leave the $1.99 tag out that's their mistake. If they change the price then they should pull the old tag. I'm not talking about a sticker on an item, I'm refering to the shelf tag.
That's funny though......... a crime. Isn't price hiking a crime? Or just immoral??

[that guy]

Oh my gosh people, let the "I can't believe some places charge more than Lego" argument go. It's called capitalism and as long as it's not a rationed item like food or water during a crisis, they can charge whatever they want and the public is then left to decide when and where to spend their money. You don't like $2.99 then send the message to TRU or Target by NOT buying the product there. You may find them cheaper than $1.99 in which case HOORAY, you may find them for more in which case MAKE A DECISION and live with it. They are available in other places for less money, but let's not forget it's probably the hoarders and resellers who are largely complaining about this price issue anyway since most people just looking to make a 16pc collection would gladly pay the $3 each (heaven knows people pay a lot more on-line) if it meant they could complete the series. What's ironic about this whole argument is that you're essentially asking for the price to be regulated just because they can be found at $1.99 from Lego or Walmart. Well Lego is NOT allowed to dictate the price, they can only create a 'suggested retail' or else that's called "price fixing" and that my friends IS illegal and violates trade laws.

-THE LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO ABOUT PRICE FIXING
Most state statutes provide that fixing the price of a product or service in agreement with another individual or business is illegal. The general rule provides that a vendor may not in combination with another vendor agree to set a certain price thereby creating a fixed price within a certain market. A business acting on its own and not in concert with another may use legitimate efforts to obtain the best price they can, including their ability to raise prices to the detriment of the general public. Also, conformity of prices within a given product is not illegal unless such conformity was created by a combination of vendors agreeing on a set price. For example, where competitors agree to sell their goods or services at a specified price, minimum price or maximum price and they receive profits from such an agreement, they are in violation of price fixing. Additionally, setting a price to be charged only within a certain area in order to get rid of competition or to create a monopoly is generally illegal under most state laws. A majority of states have also enacted a "Below-Sales-Cost" law wherein businesses may not sell goods below cost if they do so with anti-competitive intent or effect.

[Draykov]

I would advise anyone buying at Target to do this.........Look behind the $2.99 tag and more times that not the $1.99 tag is still there. Just bring it up with you to the register and tell them that this is the tag that was in the spot where you bought them. By law they have to sell it to you "as advertised".

Wow. Commit a crime?? Really??? If they leave the $1.99 tag out that's their mistake. If they change the price then they should pull the old tag. I'm not talking about a sticker on an item, I'm refering to the shelf tag.
That's funny though......... a crime. Isn't price hiking a crime? Or just immoral??

Actually, I think you're talking about manipulating price tags (shelf or otherwise) to benefit you and that is a crime. Just because it happens to be for the same item that's been marked up doesn't make it okay. If you really want to be honest and forthright about things, then talk to a sales manager and let them clarify the matter and give you the accurate price.

1. No inappropriate language or content.
FBTB is a family friendly site. There are a lot of young members and despite your personal opinions on the subject profanity is not allowed. We have word filters in the forum to help address this, and circumventing these will result in severe punishment. Likewise, sexually explicit or offensive images are prohibited, as are posts advocating illegal activities. If it's NSFW, it doesn't belong here.

[Mister Ed]

Oh my gosh people, let the "I can't believe some places charge more than Lego" argument go. It's called capitalism and as long as it's not a rationed item like food or water during a crisis, they can charge whatever they want and the public is then left to decide when and where to spend their money. You don't like $2.99 then send the message to TRU or Target by NOT buying the product there.

That's exactly what I would do. I refuse to pay more than suggested retail for these (and I'm not a reseller, just a collector). But you are, IMHO, out of line to imply that, just because stores are within their rights to jack prices, people should just shut up about it. I refuse to buy anything from TRU because they jack prices on almost everything, but how does that make it wrong for me to ALSO complain about their practices? Do I think they should be legally obligated to charge MSRP? No. But I still think they are jerks to jack all the prices, and I will happily tell anybody that. And Target jacking the prices is particularly galling as they are a store that TRIES to project an image of offering low prices, and exceeds MSRP on practically nothing that I have ever noticed before. And here they are raising prices on this item 50% over MSRP? Makes them look pretty bad, IMHO, regardless of how legal it is, and I'm certainly going to criticize it, both in store and on a site where we discuss these products, and my doing so in no way means I dispute their right to do it.

On the topic of price fixing, I'm kind of curious, doesn't the fact that publishers routinely PRINT the prices on books kind of skirt the edges of legality? I mean, sure, stores CAN charge more, but having the price printed right on the item makes it a lot harder to pull that off. Printing the price on an item doesn't LEGALLY force a store to sell it for that, but in most cases it PRACTICALLY forces them to, because I suspect people are FAR less likely to buy something for more than MSRP if it is printed right on there.

[HoosierZephyr]

Not sure if any one has posted this but Five Below, which is like a dollar store, has Series 2 Minifigures as well. I went to a newly opened one yesterday and they had a bucket of them at 1.99. No limits. Just wanted to share. http://www.fivebelow.com/storelocator

[that guy]

Oh my gosh people, let the "I can't believe some places charge more than Lego" argument go. It's called capitalism and as long as it's not a rationed item like food or water during a crisis, they can charge whatever they want and the public is then left to decide when and where to spend their money. You don't like $2.99 then send the message to TRU or Target by NOT buying the product there.

That's exactly what I would do. I refuse to pay more than suggested retail for these (and I'm not a reseller, just a collector). But you are, IMHO, out of line to imply that, just because stores are within their rights to jack prices, people should just shut up about it. I refuse to buy anything from TRU because they jack prices on almost everything, but how does that make it wrong for me to ALSO complain about their practices?

Fair enough, and I certainly agree that without complaining nothing would be resolved, however it's talking to the stores or store management, or writing to the customer service emails that resolves stuff like this (and of course just plain not shopping in their stores) and it just seemed that it was getting out of control and with the introduction of 'price skirting' methods and petty whining it was time to draw a line. I think most people agree that TRU is the king of jacking, and most of us avoid them unless it's a sale (and even then it's debatable), but it was clearly Target's jump on the $3 bandwagon that was shocking especially after they started out at $2 that got so many people riled up. That being said, the collectible minifigs are hard to find for most people and I guess I just see it a little different since I can't understand how so many people are upset at a $1 difference between stores when there's a $3-5 difference on-line and people pay for them all day long there. IMHO it's a sense of entitlement that some people have that every store should be about the same either for the sake of people's convenience or greed and when that doesn't happen all heck breaks loose. Pricing happens, I just think that now that the topic has been more than copiously covered we should move on.............so how about those Yankees?

[etcknight]

Confirmed - $2.99 price tag has hit the OC and IE Target stores.

Will have to check Walmart later on. Anyone know where in the stores to check for the Minifigs?

[J30spiff]

...Pricing happens, I just think that now that the topic has been more than copiously covered we should move on.............so how about those Yankees?

I have to agree, this topic has gotten a little heated. It all boils down to your own choice. I'd pay the extra dollar at TRU over paying the scalpers over on Ebay anyday. And I'm sure there are those that would be happy just finding these at a retail store.

[SonOfSolo]

IMHO it's a sense of entitlement that some people have that every store should be about the same either for the sake of people's convenience or greed and when that doesn't happen all heck breaks loose.

Funny you mentioned the word greed from a consumers point of view when the greed factor is clearly shown here by Target. You say "it's only a dollar". But how many dollars on how many figures. I understand that pricing happens. Like for oil or products that cost more to make etc. But these have already been paid for by Target, pricing was established, items were sold, and due to popularity, prices were raised. Not because Lego raised Targets price point but because of GREED!

[The Brain]

Not sure if any one has posted this but Five Below, which is like a dollar store, has Series 2 Minifigures as well. I went to a newly opened one yesterday and they had a bucket of them at 1.99. No limits. Just wanted to share. http://www.fivebelow.com/storelocator

Thanks for the info, but apparently there isn't a store even within 100 miles of where I live...I'm not taking a plane to pick these babies up. I'll probably check out my local TRU next time I'm there.