Toy Stores Angry at LEGO for Amazon Dumps 

LEGO is actually a bigger market than mtg. That's it. That's the comment.

As someone who buys to own (and to have the set and use the parts in my own creations) I like the fact that I can get LEGO cheap from various retailers (the secret is knowing who has the best price right now and whether its likely to get any cheaper as well as whether you can get a price match from somewhere that makes life easier). What I don't like is just how many products LEGO is releasing each year. I also don't like how some products disappear from shelves far too quickly while other products hang around far longer than they should.

From my understanding-everyone pays the same price.Doesn't matter if you're Target, Amazon, Walmart, Toys Toys Toys or any small mom and pop shop, anyone buying from LEGO pays the same price. I think what people forget is that Costco and Amazon are membership based retailers, meaning they make a large portion of their money off memberships and reallocate that money to fund sales/markdowns to give their customers value and the best possible price (even if that means they only make 10%-15%). It's a retailer strategy.

Can’t wait for the “I never said to invest in Lego” video.

Damn Rudy is looking sexy as hell in his adult clothing

The real "toy stores" in my area only buy second hand and do incredibly well selling CIB sets. I have also noticed Lego stuff on clearance and discount a lot more.

Its not just toys… its art

My son and I collect Lego not to make money or as an investment but just to enjoy the pleasure of building and showing it in our customised shed. It;s fun and when a father and son who are in their 40's (son) old man (70) spend time together its a treasure believe me.

Ever since LEGO opened it's Mexico factory I've noticed them keeping sets available a lot longer on their own site.

I love that Starry Night Lego set behind you, I have it hanging on my wall right now with custom Amy and 11th Doctor minfigs standing behind Vincent

Florida Man Frustrated about Frustration

People also have to remember Amashit is undercutting everyone so they become the ONLY game in town. Once they get what they want, they will swing prices up and be able to price things to whatever they want. This is the big box store effect. What's screwed is that we keep falling for it. Go shop there because it's x amount cheaper, then before you know it, local stores close, then they jack their prices up because the competition got driven out of business. Buyer beware.

You can tell Rudy has never put a set of legos together

MTGLion currently making unhinged video about Legos

its all rainbows and unicorns until you have to move weight.

"it depends if you want to use raw dollar or percentage, a 80% uptick on a small set is only $20 but if the castle moves 10% that's a $50 swing, " ...or you could buy multiple boxes of the small set to outperform the castle on both scales

Everything Rudy likes dumps on Amazon, it's weird.

Too big to store. Doesn't look like a smart investment.

Thanks for your video, I appreciate it, because I'm glad to have video that goes kinda into details of what is happening at the behind the scenes of toy stores and Lego in general, even if it wasn't about stores in my country

Did crunch the numbers for Germany last week. Small/medium sets have maximum discount of 40-60%, exclusives/the 20-25% maximum discount. And small/medium sets have an average current discount of 20% and exclusive 14%. Long story short: Lego does pretty active discriminate pricing. Great for adults/informed buyers. An idiot tax for everyone paying MSRP. And horrible for stores. And the last info: Toys get sold at 70% online in the EU and 80%+ in the US. Yeah, stores have every right to complain. But does it matter?

Lol Rudy holding Lego Bags too now😂

Yeeessss! I love the Lego world drama. Thank you for covering

I work at Walmart. Our margins for Lego is 25-30% or so. I wait until sets reach second clearance (typically 50-75% off). The store ends up with -60 to -70% margin when I buy it at that price. I have little control over the condition and sets I buy, but I have very comfortable margins. I've spent about $500 and have about $1100 retail value. It will take time to sell the sets, but with such a wide moat, I can afford to wait 5-10 years I guess. Sites like BrickEconomy are nice too, I can see what has a higher market price

It's crazy just got 2 Galaxy Explorer Lego at a Walmart for a buddy $33. Also video games have been strange too Rudy. Several games at gamestop that were under $7 are now above $15. Just within a few months. Easy to find titles too. Strange times

thanks for covering toys, that's awesome you've made a LEGO video. Appreciated.

Remember when people loved things without knowing EVERYTHING the company does?

The LGS are saying the same things about Rudy. Why carry Fab when LSS are giving Rudy unique promos when Rudy is not promoting organised play at all.

I have a LGS/collectible toy/figure store in SF. When I contacted Lego direct to open an account about 8 years ago the standard discount was 25% and 15 percent on specialty releases. This is delivered which was a plus. They would have end of year or special sales randomly at 35% off. I would have to raise my retail price 10-20% above standard retail price to even make a profit?. The math does not work base on my profit margins. Lego rep told me that they only discount 25% to the big boys. I doubt that. Big box retailers got 90-180 day credit terms and credit kickbacks. I decided not to open a Lego direct account. Toys R Us use to sell items on sale at 25% often. I would go to TRU to buy the speculative pcs. I did well flipping but you would halve to buy vaulted pcs or specialty pcs to make money. Toys in general are logistics storage nightmare this is why I currently have a 5K+ sqft warehouse today.

lego is so huge i dont thing collecting new things makes any profit even in 10 or 20 years. Its all about old 90 stuff

LEGO are cool but expensive. So, good on Amazon for dumping and lowering prices on toys.

Social media made people weird.

Why do you have 4 castles there when it’s not set to retire before end 2025? It’s just taking up space,

Minifigure uniqueness is key

2:22 damn, I remember picking that box up in a K-MART as a kid

Another excellent video and spot on.

Finally, another Lego video!

Smaller toy stores have to mark up Legos because if they don't place a large enough order they have to pay msrp with free shipping the only discount.

You have to be careful if you sell them on ebay because people steal the mini figs and say you resealed it

Interesting to get a look into Lego economics. I still have a few sets from my childhood (Robin Hood and some Pirate boats). Priceless to me and I'll probably never part with them.

Those leggo boxes in another bathroom?

I built so many legos as a kid, and I've gotten a few sets over the years for xmas that have gotten me a little more interested in some of the bigger sets. What is the rule of thumb for trying to get some of the larger sets at a decent price?

You can’t even use plastic blocks to keep warm in the coming ice age.

The real issue in lego currently is theft. Boosters take entire carts of lego out of walmarts/targets and flip them to fencers. They eventually end up all over facebook marketplace for 50% off retail undercutting both amazon and walmart. Lego is going behind glass in many stores now similar to video games.

We have a retailer in the UK called Argos that is great for household/games/Lego etc. I always choose them before Amazon (who often price match) because we need the brick and mortar stores to survive. Yes Amazon is easier (home delivery) but it’s worth the effort! A world with only Amazon would be grim.

Well in Germany there is Held der Steine. He started as a small toy store owner and is now analyzing price points etc.

4 Lion Knights castles just casually in the background

Like any investment you need to investigate the market in order to understand which sets to buy which could go up in the future. Also, it’s a pain to store legos and if you have too much space storing legos you may as well insvest in something more convenient.

Got the Sanctum at 1:25 for the Holidays. Really sweet building.

As a consumer , why wouldnt i wait on the clearance. They're selling these "toys" at such an extreme high rate to start with until they finally get sick of the product sitting there not selling. I just dont buy, im not going to get price gouged by any retailer if I can help it. Also people buying toys as investments seems to be the new meta. Toys are not for playing anymore, theyre for making the all mighty buck.

What toy stores are angry at Lego. Walmart and Target? Right, sounds like toy stores = Rudy.

bro...I was scrolling through RU-vid and saw the thumbnail for this video and thought it was Jack Torrance cosplay lol

Discovered you with this video! +1 sub I'd love your insight on Monkie Kid sets. I see those City of Lantern sets in the back. Very low supply and demand in NA

GIGGITY GIGGITY, this is my area, Lego

Shipping on one of those larger Lego sets can be upwards of 60.00-80.00 just bc of size

Thanks Rudy!

Standard discount direct across the board with toy manufacturers is 25-35% max base on standard SRP. Often this is not including shipping. I have been in the industry for 35+ years. Margins are crapy. I would often have to mark items up 10-25% above SRP to survive. This is stander in the mom an pop retailer business. The main issue is that majority of all toy manufacturers have decided to facilitate their products through Amazon. This is one of the major reason why Mom and Pop retail stores are a dying breed. Often when product is slow; these toy manufacturers /distributors would mark down items 10-25% within 2 months of release if sales numbers are low. Remember Amazon sellers offer shipping included which regular retailers cannot compete with. Amazon takes a 15-20 cut on all sales. It is impossible to survive selling product unless you are a extremely high volume seller. Others buyer buy direct out of country which is the only other way to sell at SRP. Don't forget all of the stolen items sold on Ebay and Amazon. 10-15% of all mainstream toys are stolen and being sold on Ebay, Amazon, misc selling platforms. If the retailer is selling many new products at 20%+ below retail on a non-clearanced items; it is highly likely stolen inventory. I can spot sellers of stolen property miles away. Then there is the counterfeit market which is a total different story.

Still a market for investing. Smaller stores still have to compete with larger ones like target that has exclusive sets and where a Lego rep will come in and stock/organize shelves.

Rudy seems like you're falling apart try to pull it together bud

The large manufacturers dump online with every type of product.. clothing, home goods etc....not a Lego problem per se

Rudy is ASMR, I continue to go back to the Eternal Masters vids and just let them play again and again to listen to the Voice of Magic the Gathering.

The Americans have completely destroyed the prices of Lego. Lego has always been an expensive product, but now the prices are simply utopian. Especially for the big sets like a Star Destroyer, absurd prices are being charged, and these are mainly bought in America. For the small retailer, these sets are not worth it at all. Small dealers have the biggest mage with sets between 20 - 100€. But Lego is not interested in small retailers, only the big ones, and makes it really difficult for them to survive. Because they sell many exclusive sets on their homepage or only give them to large retailers.

Lego and pokemon are taking the world by storm period; any lego or pokemon sells. BUT we have to remember the toy industry is gonna take a hit when everyone wants to push an abnormal level of technology and give kids phones instead of toys. As per metazoo; it must feel bad to basically work with the owner and have your own card line, to have the company do shady things then just disappear. Im sure rudy lost money from metazoo just like others who bought it. I didnt, buy obviously some ppl did.

What… did you just say what I think you said? A $500 castle selling for 10% profit that’s $50 But if I spent $500 on smaller sets I could potentially make 80% profit which is $400. How in fucks name is the castle EVER a good choice in this scenario? Diversity aside we’re talking about “raw money” so the castle is dumb bulky and expensive for item

I talk with a small toy store owner and she told me that, since a few years, she had to pre-command lego product a year ahead in kit package. What i mean is if they want ninjago set, they must get friends set also, that kind of gimmick. So place like big A who could but their hands on most lego product get to side buy a load off less interesting set. Add to that storage space that need to be adress on daily bassis. Big A get the leverage to do what ever they want with price and screw whoever they want.

What an epic backdrop of sets

Rudy hasn't changes his shirt since the Prophecy collection video 4 days ago! Got those 3 for $1 crispy taco pits.

New subscriber here, great discussion.

I'd love nickle tour of Rudy's warehouse and an unlimited credit card

I see Somebody else grabbed some blackfriday lion knights castles at 25% off. You going to find a way around the 2 limit on the upcoming designer program sets? That Mountain Fortress is pretty nice, I mean I like them all but I really love the Mountain Fortress and Old Engine Shed. I think The black Falcon 3 in 1 Castle is getting discontinued this year. That is a nice set for 100$ msrp

I love the Lego videos. And I love the sweater. Suits you

Imagine the storage space tis crap will take while you wait for it make you rich... Those boxes behind him are like 3ftx2ft each!

Thanks for keeping the public up to date Rudy. Glad you are feeling better

I thought that Lego cut the middle man years ago. Yes, there is a distribution, but there are 3 types of Lego products: gas station lego, big store lego, and… lego store lego. At lego store, you can get this hot, smoking, dripping sets for adults; and there is variety - the rest is mass production. So… how to win on smaller sets from gas station? Unique pieces, like animal molds; but this is speculation… and easier is just go and buy a big bag of goats… or orange-red 2x1… or just bought this small sets from 90’… they are in demand, every AFOL want to have at least one… or, just buy what you like, save instruction and box, and… historically it was always the best strategy ;)

Lego is alwais so good and cool! Love learning about the Lego market also! Thanks Taco King!

As someone who just likes to build Lego, this is hilarious to me.

Preach my man!

I came for talks of timmies heavy bags and gaaamme pieces

Idk if anyone is familiar but there’s this guy with a channel called Umu and it’s him absolutely malding over Rudy. Seriously posting multiple videos a day about how Rudy’s scamming people and I just couldn’t believe how sad this dude is.

I live rural hard to gauge this stuff but our local Wal-Mart does seem to a bit of a test site. I wouldn't be surprised if the toy section starts to become this pretty much nonexistant thing until after Halloween and removed early January like when I was a kid. Adults for the most part the real buyers of toys when you get beyond the infant/preschool toys. Tablets and phones are so much cheaper and keeps the kid on good behavior rather than, 'If you're good we'll pick out something from the toy section'. It's like comic books the price has become something to much for what to most is read/played with some and thrown away. With Amazon we are becoming a catalog culture, again, but now you don't stand in a real line cue to turn in paperwork and get your stuff in days rather than months.

Basically, Amazon sucks... That's it... Rudy proved he's rotten when he didn't shed more light on the Amazon resealing "returns" issue... And i can still go on Amazon and buy a collector box then return it...??? As someone who's been listening carefully for years, you are truly losing us...

We need MTG/LEGO crossover

To compliment you will own nothing and be happy, I both advocate for and practice, I will buy nothing and still be happy.

I like the outfit, very cosy and homely. My neighbor mr Rudy.

My bricks are supposed to be building pieces, not investments. Who is this guy? He is ruining my man-childhood.

How about, don't buy any of this shit. When all this got to be popular to "buy and hold" it wrecked the market. As usual, if you aren't ahead of the curve, your behind. Just like stocks. Simple, just stop people, your behind the market.

Why do you have so many Lion Knight castles if they're not retiring for years from now? Same with Van Gogh, still not retiring yet.

so how is amazon getting better prices?

Toy stores still exist?

YOU CANT PLAY LEGOS AT AMAZON!

Its the rare parts, printed parts, and minifigs :

no one wants to spend MRSP anymore

Lego is not an "investment" . . . an investment is a money maker. You would need to buy an enormous amount of material, fill a room or two of your house, and spend time individually sending each box to a buyer . . . if u can find a buyer. After all that, you might be able to pay a month or two of rent with all the . . . profit.

rudy has gone from weird taco man with bad $8 hair cut to Robin williams in Dead Poet's Society...lookin good

I feel like I have heard this before. 🧐

Plz restock 2xl shirts 😢

Speaking of toys, I bought a tabletop game called Snapship Tactics the other day. It's based on a modular toy line, the game legitimately seems compelling, and it called to the 10 year old in me.

You would think companies like Lego would want to do Minimum Advertised Pricing agreements with the Amazons and Costcos of the world to protect their own brands if nothing else. Why destroy all the little guys for volume?

I think I will build a massive position in Lego in the future. Easy money tbh.

So glad I didn't sell you my nos castle set. Remember when you low balled the forum guys? We still have a laugh

If they just brought back Bionicle everything would be fixed tbh