Author Topic: A new year, Playmo-prices in Belgium´s official webstore up to with 40% and more  (Read 3184 times)

Offline playmofire

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No changes in the UK, although some price rises are ti be expected as the £ has fallen against the euro.
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Offline The_Mad_Hadder

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Western stagecoach 70013

Belgian store: 49,95 euro -  momentarily at "40% discount"price of 29,95 euro (price was 34,99 euro on december 15th 2018 !!)

German store: 31,99 euro - momentarily at discount(?) price of 19,99 euro

In Canada, the stagecoach is selling for 38.99CAD which works out to 25.55EUR and thats without a sell which is better then both the German and Belgian prices and the shipping to get it here is a lot more so I guess it comes down to what they believe they can get from buyers.
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Offline StJohn

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 :woohoo: The Mad Hatter is back! :cheerlead: Hope you're well. Sorry for going off-topic. :-\

Best wishes
StJohn

Offline Oliver

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Is it strictly legal under EU law for a company to sell an identical product in two different member states at such widely divergent prices? Or is this one of those "All's fair in Commerce" situations?

British supermarkets charge different prices for the same product in different parts of the UK (and iI'm sure this happens in other parts of the world) so there can't be any law to stop it.

As we've established, they can refuse to ship to different countries, so while they can't refuse to sell you something through the German website, they can refuse to ship it outside of Germany.

Offline Bolingbroke

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Lego does the same thing in Europe, really. Prices for the Benelux are always higher compared to other countries for some reason. A lot of factors seem to come into play, including VAT rate in a particular country, and currency exchange ie the current ‘weight’ of that currency in the international context. Which I can understand from an economical point of view. What I can’t understand is geoblocking - ie not letting a customer from one country buy something from another. For eg, someone in Belgium can’t buy things from the UK shop. But the EU is working on it I think.

Meanwhile brick and mortar shops keep closing down in Brussels. Another two big ones shut their doors for the last time recently ... and with the prices they used to charge, I am not surprised.
"Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me."

Offline playmofire

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This problem of different prices in different countries doesn't just apply to Playmobil and Lego.

In the UK at one time (and I think things have changed now), it was cheaper to buy a car in Europe, collect it at the factory and drive it to the UK and pay the duties here, than buy it from a dealer, even after making allowances for currency effects and the dealer's profit on the UK price in the showroom.  (And you often got a higher spec car into the bargain.)

One reason given by the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) for the higher UK price was the cost of altering cars to right hand drive for the UK.  Unfortunately, in their example they cited Japanese cars and in Japan, they drive on the left as we do in the UK and so Japanese cars are built as standard with right hand drive!
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Offline Hadoque

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I don´t think VAT has anything to do with it what Belgium is concerned; the rate is 19% in Germany and 21% in Belgium so that small difference is completely negligable (it would make 0,80 euro more in BE for a set of 40,00 euro in DE).


"It" started again;

9371 Money Transporter

Belgian store: 39,99 euro - "as long as stock lasts" but at the same time "available starting next december" ... and it had been for sale in the shop the past year  8} 8}
https://www.playmobil.be/nl/geldtransport/9371.html


German store: 31,49 euro discount-price 19,99 euro  - available today & no limited stock (at half the price of the belgian store)
https://www.playmobil.de/geldtransporter/9371.html

Resistance is futile, you will be boarded!

Offline Hadoque

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As I wanted that 9371 transporter (yes, I do have and sometimes buy a little "modern" city-action stuff  :-[  ), I ordered it from an online store in Germany for 23 euro including shipping to Belgium (shippingcost was 6 euro, so the set itself was only 17 euro!)

One reason given by the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) for the higher UK price was the cost of altering cars to right hand drive for the UK.  Unfortunately, in their example they cited Japanese cars and in Japan, they drive on the left as we do in the UK and so Japanese cars are built as standard with right hand drive!

I wonder if in a not so far futere there will still be a stearing-wheel at all...

Resistance is futile, you will be boarded!

Offline tahra

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 >:(  >:(  >:(

Offline Bolingbroke

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I don´t think VAT has anything to do with it what Belgium is concerned; the rate is 19% in Germany and 21% in Belgium so that small difference is completely negligable (it would make 0,80 euro more in BE for a set of 40,00 euro in DE).


"It" started again;

9371 Money Transporter

Belgian store: 39,99 euro - "as long as stock lasts" but at the same time "available starting next december" ... and it had been for sale in the shop the past year  8} 8}
https://www.playmobil.be/nl/geldtransport/9371.html


German store: 31,49 euro discount-price 19,99 euro  - available today & no limited stock (at half the price of the belgian store)
https://www.playmobil.de/geldtransporter/9371.html

I didn’t say it was the only factor, but it is undoubtedly one of them. Problem is there is no transparancy to the pricing, so we can only speculate.
"Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me."