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LGB 2012 New Items Brochure

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#21 ·
Posted By krs on 19 Jan 2012 04:44 PM
Posted By vsmith on 19 Jan 2012 03:37 PM
Price list:

http://gscalenews.com/neuheiten-2012-lgb

LGBs currency converter is either very generous or out of date, running €299,95 thru an online converter at yesterdays exchange rate yeilds $383 US, even $300 is way the **** too much for essentially the same engine I paid $65 for just last year. I dont run DCC or sound so I dont need any decoders, like the "stuper-socket" it becomes extra priced feldercarb I dont want, but I still have to pay for.

Whoa - hold on a minute.

To start with one shouldn't use the Euro pricing on the marklin web site for the US or Canada.
Last year, neither US or Canada was even a country shipping option since Walthers is the official North American distributor and that has not changed.
They set their own prices.

But even if you take the Euro list price for the Porter and convert that to US dollars, you end up with about $248.- at today's exchange rate, not $383 or even $300
And that is at full list - which US dealer sels at full list?
Well, there are some but that is not where people buy if they shop around.

Knut



Well Knut we must be using diffeent exchange rates, I did it again using the €229,95 list on the LGB page (not the €299,95 listed in Gscalenews) and I still got a $297 price, thats still quite a shock when the last Porter offered was a relative bargain at only $150, now its almost doubled in price again, hard to swallow when you could pick them up for about $50 at one time. Thats at 1.29 Dollar to Euro exchange rate. And with Walthers as exclusive US distributor ALL LGB DEALERS list at MSRP, they have no choice with Walthers, the days of LGBoA discounts are long gone.

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html
 
#23 ·
True enough, avg price for the Porter NIB when it was storebought would average $75-$100, this was back when it was part of the Toytrain lineup, so no special electronics or anything (the way I like it
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) but its still a far cry from todays price, even if like you say, with the VAT taken out, if the price is around $250, thats still pretty steep, 3 to 5 times what one could get one for online only a few short years ago, yes I know, different world today...

BTW I got most of my Porters back when the TT line was blown out thru Marshalls discount stores, I got 3 Porters and 2 Cowtrain locos and a bunch of cars for some seriously dirt cheap prices. Would have gotten more but my wife cut off the funding and by the time I sneaked out to get more, the feeding frenzy that ensued once word got out they had all dissappeared pretty quickly. Pooh!
 
#24 ·
Knut;

After waiting a couple more days, I took your advice and called Trainworld regarding my backorder for the LGB 23881. Good thing I did. My order had gotten lost in the shuffle.

The ladies found my order, however, and the locomotive will ship this Monday. Yeah!!
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Thanks for your help regarding this locomotive's availability.

Best,
David Meashey
 
#25 ·
The price of the Porter on Gscalenews has been corrected.

Great price for the E10. A Dutch shop has it listed for €279 now. Piko won't be happy I guess :)
 
#26 ·
I see that Walthers now has many of the new items priced on their website. It looks like they've done the usual of taking the LGB list price (incl their VAT!), then added about another 15%. I have found that the street prices usually are 15-20% less than the Walthers prices, so if you take the LGB list price x 1.30 (or whatever the currenct Euro conv is) it gets you pretty close to the actual selling price. In effect the VAT credit becomes their markup.
Here's a link to the locomotive page:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=426&category=Locomotive&split=30

Keith
 
#27 ·
Well well well thru Walthers my Porter is a measly $349 bucks...

Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME! !!!!! Sheesh I'm sorry but geeziz if thats the way the overall hobby is heading then expect a major downsizing as there wont be many who can afford it anymore. For freaks sakes those prices are ludicrious. Even if there are ways to get at discount the overall price trajectory in general is not a good omen.
 
#28 ·
Vic the porters are advertised at dealers for $250 or less, so I'm not sure why you keep referring to list price. No one ever whines about Aristo pricing using their list prices. As I've said many times, the LGB prices are reasonable and in fact many items are less now than they were 10 years ago.

Keith
 
#29 ·
Last EPL Porters were going for between $110 to $150, Marklins Porter even at $250 still marks a very significant increase. The last Porters I bought were around $65 and the very last was $95. I KNOW these engines I KNOW what they are capable of and I KNOW how they are put together and they are Absolutely NOT worth $250 no matter how much electronic junk they stuff them with, that is my gripe and its a general observation across large scale. Re: Aristo, I haven't bought anything aside from parts in years, they're more focused on the Wider Is Better crowd these days.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Lets not forget that the US dollar took a hosing compared to the Euro over the last several years.

In 2004 the LGB Porter (22771) had a suggested list price of 199 Euros, in 2012 the suggested Euro list price of the equivalent 24771 loco is 229.95 Euros, a 15% price increase over 8 years. That Euro list price includes the German VAT, it was 16% in 2004 and 19% after 2007, so the actual price increase by the factory was only 12.65%

By comparison, the US list price of the 22771 in 2004 was $208 compared to $349 today, a 68% increase - a big chunk of that increase is the lower value of the dollar.
 
#31 ·
I tend to agree with Vsmith about prices.

But, with a new motor from Walthers listed at $180 US, it kinda makes everything cost more. Yes, I know these can be bought elsewhere for $60.

You can get engines on E-bay for almost the price of several parts. Manuals that can be downloaded and printed are getting bids of over $20.

Looks like that Toytrain set I got a month ago for $50 (and was new) was a great buy as it was complete with the porter, 2 cars, track and power pack.
 
#32 ·
Dan great buy! I have seen BIN sellers that listed sets like that but were extorting $350 to $400+ .

My basic grumble is one from watching a hobby I really enjoy rapidly becoming one in which very soon I won't be able to afford anything new anymore. Saving isnt always an option as other more "necessary" thing tends to eat hobby savings, so for guys like me alot of buying is opportunistic, but with less and less shows, between the large price increases the last couple years and Ebay becoming mostly a "Buy It Now" extortion site, it getting tough to stay optomistic about future offerings, so I will just move along with what I already have and live on the fringes of the second hand market.
 
#33 ·
Second hand market can provide bargains, esp if you can get duplicate items and swap parts around.
I find some of the best deals at an all scale show.

One local show had a Stainz for years at $250 which never sells, but the complete seldom used set at another table was $50 which had circle of track, 3 cars, Stainz engine, power pack and cable.
Guess which one I bought!!!!
 
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Dan Pierce
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