Author Topic: A new year, Playmo-prices in Belgium´s official webstore up to with 40% and more  (Read 3168 times)

Offline tahra

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It's insulting, really..

And I guess someone screwed up with the missing pics..

Offline Hadoque

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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.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2019, 21:07:02 by Hadoque »

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Offline playmofire

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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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Offline Hadoque

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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:
« Last Edit: January 05, 2019, 21:13:39 by Hadoque »

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Offline Hadoque

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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.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2019, 21:04:13 by Hadoque »

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Offline GrahamB

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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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Offline Hadoque

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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.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2019, 00:24:45 by Hadoque »

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Offline Hadoque

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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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Offline Hadoque

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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.
"

« Last Edit: January 06, 2019, 00:41:54 by Hadoque »

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Offline Hadoque

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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.

« Last Edit: January 06, 2019, 00:28:58 by Hadoque »

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