PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: Hadoque on January 05, 2019, 17:10:54
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Just had a look in Playmobil´s belgian and german official webshops.
The recent years prices have always been a little higher (1 euro to a few euros) in the belgian store then in the german one, but now they are exaggerating a lot, and rather way too much imo.
Today, 5 January 2019, when comparing the belgian store to the german one, there are price-differences up to 66% for the same product. For example the Playmo-Friends figures which cost 2,99 euro each in the german store and 5,95 euro each in the belgian store.
Price in 2018 for a Playmo-Friends figure was almost 3,5 euro in the belgian store, now it is almost 5 euro. So that is a price-increase of about 43% when compared to last year, and a difference of 65,5% when compared with the pricing at this time in our neighbouring German store.
Also, they are using false discounts, at least in the belgian store.
I bought the latest Western stagecoach 70013 for 34,99 euro in the official belgian store (I still have the invoice, which is dated 15th December 2018). They are now showing the stagecoach 70013 at a "40% discount-price" of 29,95 euro, down from a "standard-price" of 49,95 euro that never existed. So they are cheating customers and are violating belgian law which interdicts the use of false discounts, and/or they plan to sell the westerncoach 70013 later this year at 50 euro instead of 35 euro half a month ago and then that would mean a price-increase of nearly 43 % for this set also.
In the next posts you find screenshots I took of several huge differences today between the belgian and german stores, as said above a set costs sometimes double the price in the belgian store when compared with the German store.
And Belgium is not situated in a different (world)market then Germany, we are neighbouring countries and every time the Germans want to invade France we get smashed between them.
Edit:
Corrections;
1.
I first wrote there are price-differences between the German & Belgian official webstores of up to 100% for a specific set/product, but that is when looking at the difference between standard-pricing in the belgian store and discount-pricing in the German store. Selling-prices at the same date & time differ to "only" about 66,5%, as far as I know & looked.
2.
I first wrote in title & post there are price-increases in the belgian official webstore of up to 50% and more when compared to last year, but it is up to 40% and more.
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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
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Christmas Crib 9494
Belgian store: 49,95 euro, thank you & goodbye
German store: 29,99 euro (only), thank you & till next time
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It's a disgrace...
There are first class customers, and then second, and so on (not sure where we are, but we're the lowest in Europe, surely)
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9476 Lucky´s bedroom
Belgian shop: 37,95 euro
German shop: 26,99 euro
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It's a disgrace...
A big one, imho.
The Christmas Crib for 30 euro in the German store, for 50 euro in the Belgian one, so 66,6 % more!!
:(o): :loco: :wall: :hissyfit: :evilplan:
(Btw ... "666" and a Christmas set? :eh?: )
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9220 Ghostbusters Ecto-1
Belgian store: 69,95 euro, thank you & see you later when you come buy Ecto-2 with the last money we didn´t take from you yet :hmm:
German store: 49,95 euro (standard-price) but now at a discount-price of 42,99 euro !!
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9493 Christmas Bakery
Belgian store: 54,95 euro
German store: 42,99 euro - now at discount-price of 36,99 euro
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(all) Special Plus sets
Belgian store: 5,95 euro
German store: 3,99 euro
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Last Post
(all) Playmo-friends figures
Belgian store: 4,95 euro (= double of a few years ago, about 5 euro for 1 figure now)
German Store: 2,99 euro (= a little more then a few years ago)
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It's insulting, really..
And I guess someone screwed up with the missing pics..
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It's insulting, really..
I don´t think I´ll buy from the official shop again soon, unless it´s from the parts service and/or if there is no other option.
Also, at price increases of 40% and more a year (and my monthly check certainly doesn´t go up so steeply), I may have to go find another hobby.
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I've had a look on the UK website and I notice that the airport fire engine is now just short of £60 and before it was just short of £45, so up 50%.
An oddity is that nearly all the DS catalogue sets (even parts such as the underwater motor which have been i the catalogue for ages)are marked as "Exclusive". The floodlight has gone up by over 10%.
Against that, the new sets of three firefighters are £7 a set, £2.33 each figure which is a good price.
The stage coach is £30.
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I've had a look on the UK website and I notice that the airport fire engine is now just short of £60 and before it was just short of £45, so up 50%.
So in the UK as well ... And Brexit still has to come.
Edit: Do you mean 33% up instead of 50%? Or was it only 40 GBP in 2018, not 45 ?
Against that, the new sets of three firefighters are £7 a set, £2.33 each figure which is a good price.
I assume those are the DS-figures?
The prices of the new & existing DS-figures sets (these of just 1 figure and those of 3 figures) have remained at the same level overhere as well. But we probably shouldn´t shout that too loud :shhhh:
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Last Post
Sorry, another one.
70012 Take-Along Western City (released less then a month ago)
Belgian store: 79,95 euro - now at a "discount"-price of 49,95 euro, hoooraah.
German Store: 47,99 euro ( :P to the Belgians and maybe other non-Germans) - now at an Überdiscount-price of 29,99 euro.
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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?
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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?
I too have doubts about the legality of it but I´m not really sure, I should check with the Ministry of Silly Walks Economics.
What I am sure of, is that it is illegal in Belgium to sell (offline and online) with falsified discount-offerings, meaning one falsifies the standard or pre-discount price to make it look like the sales-price is a big discount.
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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?
After a quick search;
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/unfair-treatment/unfair-pricing/index_nl.htm
"Prijsdiscriminatie is niet toegestaan
Een verkoper mag u als EU-burger geen hogere prijs voor goederen of diensten vragen op grond van uw nationaliteit of het land waar u woont. Sommige prijsverschillen zijn echter gerechtvaardigd, voor zover ze gebaseerd zijn op objectieve criteria, niet alleen op nationaliteit. Als de verzendkosten in uw land hoger zijn, kan het zijn dat u daarom meer moet betalen. De verkoper mag ook verschillende prijzen hanteren voor verschillende verkoopkanalen, bijvoorbeeld verkoop in de winkel of via de website. Hij mag een bepaalde aanbieding ook alleen in een bepaalde regio van een EU-land doen. Maar volgens de EU-regels moeten zulke aanbiedingen daar ook voor consumenten uit andere EU-landen beschikbaar zijn.
Goederen en diensten moeten altijd tegen dezelfde prijs ook aan klanten uit andere EU-landen worden aangeboden in de volgende situaties:
bij verkoop van goederen die niet bezorgd hoeven te worden, bijvoorbeeld omdat u deze zelf ophaalt in een winkel
bij verkoop van elektronische diensten (met uitzondering van auteursrechtelijk beschermde inhoud), zoals cloud services of website hosting
bij verkoop van diensten die op een specifieke plaats geleverd worden, zoals hotelboekingen, autoverhuur of kaartjes voor een pretpark
Wanneer een verkoper verschillende versies van dezelfde website heeft, zoals een webshop die in verschillende EU-landen levert, moet u de mogelijkheid hebben te kiezen welke versie u bezoekt. U moet toestemming geven voordat u mag worden doorgeleid naar een specifieke landversie van een website. U moet uw keuze ook op elk gewenst moment kunnen veranderen."
I´ll translate from Dutch to English in the next post.
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"Price-discrimination is not allowed
A seller may not charge you as a EU-citizen a higher price for goods or services on ground of your nationality or the country where you live. Some price-differences are justified, as long as they are based on objective criteria, not only on nationality.
If shipping-costs in your country are higher, it can therefore be that you will have to pay more. The seller is also allowed to use different prices through different sales-channels, for example in the real shop and in the webshop. The seller is also allowed to do an offer in a specific region of a EU-country. But according to EU-rules such offers there must also be available for consumers from other EU-countries.
Goods and services must always be offered to consumers from other EU-countries at the same pricing in following circumstances:
The selling of goods which don´t have to be delivered, for example because you collect them yourself in a store.
The selling of electronic services (with the exception of copyright-protected content), like cloud services or website hosting.
The selling of services which are executed on a specific location, like hotel-reservations, car-renting or tickets for an amusement park.
When a seller has different versions of the same website, like a webshop that delivers in different EU-countries, you must have the possibility to choose which version you visit. You must give permission before you can be guided to a specific country-version of a website. You must be able to change that choice on any moment you want."
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I think Geobra Brandstätter may be trying to circumvent EU-legislation by having several so-called "(semi-)independent subsidairies", like;
Playmobil Deutschland
Playmobil Northern Europe
Playmobil Iberia (Spain and Portugal)
Playmobil France
etc
When ordering from Belgium, orders are "officially" processed in Belgium but get passed on to the mother-company in Germany and deliveries also take place directly from Germany.
When checking for "company info" on the belgian Playmobil website", everything you read is about the German company called Geobra Brandstätter Stiftung & Co. with headquarterds in Zirndorf, Germany.
So I think they are breaking EU-legislation, but to be sure I think a lawyer specialised in economics should have a look at it.
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Here is the EU-legislation (in English);
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32018R0302
I´m not a lawyer, but as far as I understood after a first read, once a EU-citizen has given his/her explicit consent - by creating an account and/or agreeing to general terms & conditions - to use a country-specific version of a seller´s webshop, the seller has the right to redirect you to that version for any future visits. But a EU-citizen also has the right to retreat from that given consent and should have the option to access other versions of the webshop.
Products being sold in one EU-member state should also be available to citizens from other EU-member states. That would mean that sets which are sold exclusively in Playmobil-Germany´s webshop, should also be available to citizens from other EU-countries. Geo-blocking based on EU-nationality and/or EU-country of residence is illegal.
I think I´ll contact the belgian Ministry of Economics to be really sure.
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So I think they are breaking EU-legislation (...)
I agree. Thank you for the research.
The German webshop is lousy (they stubbornly refuse to sell figures, which its British equivalent does without a moment's pause :hissyfit:) but at least they don't shamelessly overcharge like is being practised with you.
Best wishes
StJohn
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Some additional price-comparisons of sets I bought last year (between early-June and mid-December 2018) from the belgian official webstore and what they cost there today (6 January 2019);
DS sets (small price-increases, but higher then inflation)
6535 Three Traditional Cows: from 14,99 euro in 2018 to 15,49 euro today, an increase of 3,3 %
7785 Red Framework-house: from 34,99 euro in 2018 to 36,49 euro today, an increase of 4,3 %
General range sets (rather big price-increases)
70005 Team S.H.A.R.K. submarine: from 38,99 euro in 2018 to 44,95 euro today, an increase of 15,3 %
9467 Fire Water Canon (Water-Robot): from 13,99 euro in 2018 to 17,95 euro today, an increase of 28,3 %
9218 Duopack-blister Police-officer & Thief: from 4,99 euro in 2018 to 6,95 euro today, an increase of 39,3 %
9334 Playmo-Friends Sheriff: from 3,49 euro in 2018 to 4,95 euro today, an increase of 41,8 %
Btw;
Super-4 Theme is completely gone.
Pirates Theme is almost gone.
From the general range the 6678 "big" pirates´ship is still there, and some leftover-stock of the discontinued 6679 island has (most probably temporarily) been put online again. The new DS-Ghostpirates 6591 & 6592 have appeared and are replacing all other DS-Pirates Sets with the excepetion of the cannons´add-on and a shark. They´ve also (probably temporarily) added some leftover-stock from old USA-releases to fill the page a bit; the 5810 schooner (one of the multiple colour-variations of the original white schooner) and a 5855 Pirate Raft Mini-Carry-Case.
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There seems to be nothing to stop one from buying from a webshop in a different country (I quite often buy from playmobil.de webshop), but they may be within their rights to refuse to ship the items outside that country even if you are willing to pay an extra shipment fee (so I have to get my orders shipped to a German friend, for later onward shipment to me in the UK). This then allows a company to charge different prices in two different states, even if they are both EU member states (at least, for now!).
It's a load of Humbug, really! Globalisation without benefits!
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Damn! I didn’t realise about the high prices! But, the best thing you can do is make a trip to Aken by train (during the weekend you can use a weekend-ticket until Hergenrath and an extra ticket to Aken for 8 euros (for both ways)) or to Düsseldorf by FlixBus (there’s a Funstore over there). I don’t buy sets anymore via the Belgian website, only parts. Everything of Playmobil is cheaper in Galeria Kaufhof. Or sometimes they have the same promotion via the Belgian Inno website. You can collect it afterwards in the Veldstraat ;-) .
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Damn! I didn’t realise about the high prices! But, the best thing you can do is make a trip to Aken by train (during the weekend you can use a weekend-ticket until Hergenrath and an extra ticket to Aken for 8 euros (for both ways)) or to Düsseldorf by FlixBus (there’s a Funstore over there).
When you are in the center of Europe you can do these things... I had never realized how freaking isolated we are. There are advantages to it, but in this...
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When you are in the center of Europe you can do these things... I had never realized how freaking isolated we are. There are advantages to it, but in this...
Well, you can always count on your friends :D
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Well, you can always count on your friends :D
Most definetely! :wow:
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Another workweek started and ...
... most probably they are reading along here and felt (some) shame and/or they got lots of complaints since this morning and/or their lawyers acted a bit anxious, because I just had another look in the Belgian shop this evening and it turns out that for every set I had mentioned here over the weekend, they have today lowered again those insane prices to normal levels like the ones in the German shop!! And the fake "discounts" are also gone!
:yippee: :yippee:
Maybe I should take a look at other expensive sets from their range and and share the comparisons here? :P >:D
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Another workweek started and ...
... most probably they are reading along here and felt (some) shame and/or they got lots of complaints since this morning and/or their lawyers acted a bit anxious, because I just had another look in the Belgian shop this evening and it turns out that for every set I had mentioned here over the weekend, they have today lowered again those insane prices to normal levels like the ones in the German shop!! And the fake "discounts" are also gone!
:yippee: :yippee:
Maybe I should take a look at other expensive sets from their range and and share the comparisons here? :P >:D
That's great!! :) Thanks for the update!
Now if only we could get the same sort of insane discounts, service and gifts the germans get....
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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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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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:woohoo: The Mad Hatter is back! :cheerlead: Hope you're well. Sorry for going off-topic. :-\
Best wishes
StJohn
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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.
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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.
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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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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
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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...
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>:( >:( >:(
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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.
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Hadoque, Carrefour offers many sets -50% now! 8}
https://webshop.carrefour.eu/nl/speelgoed/figuurtjes-voertuigen/figuren-omgevingen?q=%3Arelevance%3Abrand%3APlaymobil%3AdiscountPercentage%3A50+%25
And for the first time ever, a proper stock sale on the Belgian site :(o):
https://www.playmobil.be/on/demandware.store/Sites-BE-Site/nl_BE/Search-Show?q=1901_stocksale&srule=New
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Hadoque, Carrefour offers many sets -50% now! 8}
:o
I wish!
Though I must admit it worries me some too..
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Hadoque, Carrefour offers many sets -50% now! 8}
And for the first time ever, a proper stock sale on the Belgian site :(o):
Thanks for the head-ups, I´ll check both :)