Barnes and Noble - LOTR with 15% off

[Hodgeman]

That was fast. I ordered Mines of Moria, Helms Deep and 2 Weathertops on June 11, and just received Moria and Helms Deep. To Canada. Both shipments arrived in perfect condition. Only 1 week compared to the 5 weeks the last time I ordered from B&N.

Yeah, same here, I was surprised when my 3 orders arrived yesterday. Oddly enough, I'm still waiting on the Batcave I ordered at the end of May though. Regardless, happy to see they've found a faster way to ship to Canada!

[pepe]

Hello there, long time collector and new to this site - I love it! It's great to know when new sets will be available and save a bit of money on them at the same time.

I am not able to get any of the 15% coupons to work on the 10% discounted sets at B&N. I am not a B&N member but would consider joining for the $25 fee if the 20% off codes are still working. Are the codes still working for anyone?

[Edmond Dantes]

Hello there, long time collector and new to this site - I love it! It's great to know when new sets will be available and save a bit of money on them at the same time.

I am not able to get any of the 15% coupons to work on the 10% discounted sets at B&N. I am not a B&N member but would consider joining for the $25 fee if the 20% off codes are still working. Are the codes still working for anyone?

The codes are not working for some. The 4 largest sets have been inoculated against our codes.

Yep, looks like B&N wised up quickly on the LoTR sets. The smallest two still qualify though.

This is exactly why I wanted to keep it quiet for a while. Oh well.

[ricefields]

That was fast. I ordered Mines of Moria, Helms Deep and 2 Weathertops on June 11, and just received Moria and Helms Deep. To Canada. Both shipments arrived in perfect condition. Only 1 week compared to the 5 weeks the last time I ordered from B&N.

Yeah, same here, I was surprised when my 3 orders arrived yesterday. Oddly enough, I'm still waiting on the Batcave I ordered at the end of May though. Regardless, happy to see they've found a faster way to ship to Canada!

I am in the same boat, got all the LOTR sets yesterday but no batcave yet

I noticed that bn started to use m bag mail which means it could take a month to arrive. And the ones that come through that method, the box is usually in bad shape.

[tommy20]

I ordered Helm's Deep, Moria & Weathertop, each separately, with 20% off coupons. Moria & Weathertop arrived in perfect shape, but Helm's Deep is still in transit.

So far, so good!

[MagnusReign]

Man I can't wait for these deals to come back. I figure with all the coupons, discounts, adding everything together it would be possible to get 50% off or more. If they keep the 10% discount on new sets + 20% member discount or even better 30% kids club discount + kids club rewards $5off cert+ ebates 2% + ultimaterewards members for chase card holders 10% cash back or if you purchase discount egiftcards 10-14%off face value, there are some serious discounts here. Let me know if I'm missing any?

[Edmond Dantes]

Oh, the coupon exclusions are there to stay now - sorry. Once they are applied, they aren't removed.

[natelite]

unfortunately once B&N remove a set from being coupon eligible, the set will never be coupon eligible again. the point being that once huge resellers pick BN dry, then the deal closes for everyone else. best to stalk kmart for deals instead. wait for a bogo 50% and stack the visa 25 off 125 offer and whatever rebate you can find. comes close to 40-45% off if you did the coupons correctly. the only issue here too is that you have to be lightning fast before resellers pick them dry too.

[brickz]

Even batcave and x-wing is not working anymore. Guess we're back to all coupons excluded for lego.

[MagnusReign]

But it should work for new sets like if B&N came out with Monster Fighters right?

[Edmond Dantes]

But it should work for new sets like if B&N came out with Monster Fighters right?

Yes, theoretically. Sometimes the exclusions are present right away. It's just been since Christmas that B&N hasn't bothered applying the coupon exclusions. Looks like LoTR was too popular for them to continue to do so.

[harry99]

BN does get a phone call from the TLG legal department asking what's going on with the coupons as they are undercutting other vendors (incl. S@H) - all LEGO sales need to be pre-authorized by TLG.

If BN does not oblige, TLG will terminate their contract with them... so not much choice!

We do have TLG to thank for this one - BN doesn't bother much as even at these prices they are still making a profit - even if these specific sets are a loss leader for them (which I doubt).

[pumbaugh]

I think you grossly overestimate TLG's ability to intervene with the sale of their toys after they have been shipped to retailers. If they had so much pull they would keep TRU from releasing almost every single item early. LEGO markups are not the same as other toys. There is no unilateral pricing agreement, nor minimum pricing agreement. Last store owner I knew who did LEGO only got a 70-80% markup vs 100% markup for almost every other toy line if listed at MSRP. Subtract the 10% off, and the 20% coupon and the cost of shipping/packaging and you are not making much if any money at all selling those sets. Even for BN shipping a Helm's Deep is not cheap.

[Edmond Dantes]

Besides, once the retailer pays Lego for the items, they can sell the sets at whatever price they wish. Lego does not sign off on all sales - you really think retailers would agree to that harry?

See Kmart and Target 50% + off clearance as examples.

[sadowsk1]

Besides, once the retailer pays Lego for the items, they can sell the sets at whatever price they wish. Lego does not sign off on all sales - you really think retailers would agree to that harry?

See Kmart and Target 50% + off clearance as examples.

I think this thread has taken an interesting turn. I bought weathertop and it's some sweet action.

What Edmond says makes sense to me. Once a company like Barnes and Nobles buys it from Lego at the price Lego wanted to sell it to them at, Lego probably don't care what happens to it. It doesn't seem to make sense why they would have a vested interested in it since they made the money they were looking for through Barnes and Nobles. It's not as though Lego is sold on commission.

[harry99]

They are less restrictive with clearance items - as they obviously are slated to go. Best example that comes to my mind is the one with Wal Mart - they are not allowed to offer discounts on the items (as they wanted to). That's why they disappeared from Wal Marts shelves for a while in the past.

They obviously can't stop them from selling them at a lower price (unless it states in the contract) - but they can easily stop from delivering to them.

The vested interest comes into play when the item depreciates in value and their own sales over S@H comes into play.

[starfailure]

unfortunately once B&N remove a set from being coupon eligible, the set will never be coupon eligible again. the point being that once huge resellers pick BN dry, then the deal closes for everyone else. best to stalk kmart for deals instead. wait for a bogo 50% and stack the visa 25 off 125 offer and whatever rebate you can find. comes close to 40-45% off if you did the coupons correctly. the only issue here too is that you have to be lightning fast before resellers pick them dry too.

Speaking of this, when should we expect Kmart to get LotR sets? Are they always this slow to receive newly released LEGO?

[Hodgeman]

They are less restrictive with clearance items - as they obviously are slated to go. Best example that comes to my mind is the one with Wal Mart - they are not allowed to offer discounts on the items (as they wanted to). That's why they disappeared from Wal Marts shelves for a while in the past.

They obviously can't stop them from selling them at a lower price (unless it states in the contract) - but they can easily stop from delivering to them.

The vested interest comes into play when the item depreciates in value and their own sales over S@H comes into play.

It still doesn't explain why they allow TRU (at least in the States) to release new stuff sometimes long before S@H has the same set(s) on sale. Surely that must bite into sales, as I'm sure there are people who may pick up a set or two at TRU rather than wait for S@H. That's gotta have a measurable impact on sales.

[vpdcus]

my understanding from a lego employee is that TRU pays a penalty to LEGO for selling stuff early but continues to do so because they still make more than the penalty plus they get all the publicity of carrying the new LEGO first

[harry99]

my understanding from a lego employee is that TRU pays a penalty to LEGO for selling stuff early but continues to do so because they still make more than the penalty plus they get all the publicity of carrying the new LEGO first

Yup, that's pretty much aligned with what I am hearing.

TLG has a lot of control (!) over their products - however, it works in some folk's favor as it stabilizes prices for their products.