Originally Posted by MapleMegatron (Post 142887)

There is something off here and no one knows why. It's telling that this discussion is happening under the Hasbro Toy Discussion because this price is increase is mainly with Hasbro products.

Right now, TRU charges the exact same amount as other retailers for:

-Mattel
-Lego
-McFarlane
-Nintendo (toys and games)

to name the few I checked. But of course, since we are collectors and look more at Marvel Legends, Transformers and Star Wars black series, it looks like everything is increasing in price at TRU. But it's just Hasbro.
It being just for one company eliminates the idea that it's simply greed from TRU (because then why not increase everything else) and we know that TRU deals directly with hasbro due to their exclusive contracts. So it's not a third party fee.

Maybe there is another element to a renegotiated contract now that TRU has changed ownership and Hasbro is demanding a premium or to pay upfront since they arent sure in the business surviving. And then TRU is passing that extra cost to the consumer.

It's the only thing I could think of.

Originally Posted by canprime (Post 142891)

There are some shenanigans going on here with TRU and Hasbro product. I think philtastic's post is as good an explanation as any.

Originally Posted by 4lott (Post 142893)

They?re prices for Mattel product have risen too. I?m not a hot wheels collector but I do pick up character cars and DC and Marvel pop culture cars with character illustrations on them. Walmart sells them for $5.97 while TRU has them for $8.97. In addition basic cars are still $1.49 every including Dollarama while TRU has them for $1.99. Not into wrestling figs or Barbie so I don?t know the increases for them but I believe all MOTU lines are also more expensive

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron (Post 142895)

The problem is that explanation assumed Everest Distribution is the company distributing Hasbro products in Canada, but I haven't seen any info on that. Instead, I found business to business agreements with Hasbro Canada directly.

Originally Posted by philtastic (Post 142889)

I wrote about my theory on this very question over at the Cybertron.ca board:

http://www.cybertron.ca/boards/showp...postcount=2782

Originally Posted by 4lott (Post 142897)

I thought Everest only distributes to smaller stores that can?t make the minimum cost requirements to order from companies like Hasbro

Originally Posted by sixshot1981 (Post 142907)

Let's also note TRU is charging $1-$2 more for LEGO. So pricing isn't at par there either.

Originally Posted by 4lott (Post 142899)

Toys R Us has 81 stores in Canada. Walmart had 408. Greater buying power allows for better volume discounts on pricing

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron (Post 142918)

This isn't a rule, all the sets I checked were the exact same price between them and the lego store. We shouldn't confuse some companies like Walmart and Anazon selling at slightly under MSRP if the discussion is that TRU sells over MSRP.

Originally Posted by Hoffman (Post 143147)

I doubt there is a single reason why Hasbro prices specifically are so high at TRU.

Hasbro definitely has raised their wholesale prices, that's not up for question. But at the same time, TRU maybe made some decisions about what kind of profit margin they expect. Based on what I see on the shelf at Walmart, they actually have very little competition on Hasbro product. This means they don't have to cut into their expected margin to remain competitive. Contrasted with something like LEGO, where there are other options that stock a lot of LEGO, be it Walmart, Indigo, or Mastermind Toys.