Buying from Barnes and Noble

burnside

My daughter loves the Dino series and wanted the Dino HQ set. I wasn't willing to shell out $100 for it, but for $63, why not! Barnes & Noble sells it online for $89.95, even cheaper than the LEGO store, and I had a 30% coupon lying around that brought it down to a few cents below $63. Just a heads up for anyone thinking of buying this set

Moved to Shopping US by YC 2/25/12
Moved to Buying:YC 5-11-12

avoiceoreason

^ usually you can't use coupons online for Lego. Did you buy it online or instore? If online, do you have the coupon code?

sidersdd

Looks like these sets are available in stores now. I just checked stock on-line for stores in my area. I need to visit the B&N to see what else is new in stock. Thanks for the headsup.

The rate on-line appears to be $99. I know members get the 10% discount in-store, so I'm assuming that's where you bought it for that price? Or did the price change on-line?

hleonffu

Went to B&N to use up a 20% coupon. Best deal was the 5882 - Ambush Attack for $9.95 before to members discount. RRP is $11.99. Bought a few. Used coupon on a larger Dino set.

burnside

WOW, the price literally went up this week. On Monday when I bought it was $89.95! I used a Kids Club 30% coupon to get the rest of the deal. Glad I bought before the price jump. Honestly, when I saw the $89.95 I was surprised.

sidersdd

Just stopped by my B&N. They had the Batwing for $29.95. That's the price before any member discounts or coupons. MSRP is $34.99.

Shelves and tables were filled with Alien Conquest, City, PotC, Star Wars, Kingdoms... all sorts of stuff. The Dino stuff wasn't out yet because they don't have room. The nice lady did go to the back and bring some up for me to look at. What this place needs is a nice 40% or 50% off coupon circulating around.

burnside

^ Last April I had a 50% coupon that was good on any kid's book or toy so of course I sacked a ninjago dojo. They come around once in a while, just got to keep a lookout for em!

sidersdd

^ Yeah, we were a bit spoiled in the fall last year. Seemed like a 40% off came about once a month. The 50% off seems to come twice a year - Black Friday being one of them.

gmpirate

Does one have to be a member to get these coupons? Or can we just sign up for them?

burnside

You can just sign up for the kids club.

legos4ever

A little while back I went on barnsandnoble.com and they had kingdoms sets. I thought you might find that interesting...

Bandit

Has anyone ever got their kids club coupon to work? Every time I've tried to use it, it says it's invalid, whether it's for lego (that expressly states it's valid for kids club) or kids books, or anything else...

lulwut

Has anyone ever got their kids club coupon to work? Every time I've tried to use it, it says it's invalid, whether it's for lego (that expressly states it's valid for kids club) or kids books, or anything else...

Doesn't work online for Lego, they fixed it.

BrickDancer

I really dislike how B&N does not allow any Lego discount through online, only in-store. They've been giving me 50% off a couple times and today a 70% off coupon to use online-only, on top of my usual 10% off member discount. To have an 80% coupon in your hand and not working is painful.

dsdg88

I've been able to use coupons for Lego sets at BN.com as long as the sets aren't marked "Note: This item does not qualify for coupons or promotional discounts unless expressly stated."
The new sets have been qualifying for coupons.
I search for "Lego" and sort by date to find the eligible sets: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lego?keyword=lego&size=90&sort=DD

starfire2

@brickdancer: How are you getting BIG coupons like that? B&N only send me cheesy coupons of 15% off.

burnside

I had to call customer service to get my coupon to work online. Hopefully that's all fixed now.

BrickDancer

@starfire2 since signing up beginning of December, I ignored their coupons for "My first online purchase at B&N.com" because it didn't work on Lego. It went from 20% to 30% to 50% and then today "You've Given Us No Choice - 70% Off One Item!" titled email.

@dsdg88 thanks so much for that tip! You made me take another look and it was definitely worth it. This was an example of why Brickset members are the best (and most thorough).

I went back and found the Dino HQ ($100) to be the highest price set that coupons work with. With my member discount (10%) and the coupon (70%) was applied in that order by the computer to bring the price down to $26.98 (73% off). Tax brought it to $29.34 with free shipping. Wow!

Runner ups were Forest Police HQ ($80) and Technic Pickup Tow Truck ($70).

starfire2

That's great Brickdancer!

burnside

Nice pickup BrickDancer!

dsdg88

@BrickDancer: glad you were successful.
How did you get the member discount to apply to an on-line order?
I thought it was just for in-store purchases.
BTW I always go through shopdiscover to use BN.com to get 10% cash back.

BrickDancer

@dsdg88 as starfire2 suggested, the new sets have the coupon restriction lifted. But the choices are limited to those released in December 2011 and after.

Jenni

@BrickDancer so exactly how long ago did you sign up? And when do we think LotR will hit B&N? If I wait to sign up for B&N membership until 2 months before will I have a 70% coupon in hand when Helms Deep appears?

Things to ponder :).

dsdg88

@sidersdd: The HQ is back down to $90 (10% off) at BN.com.
I think that explains the extra 10% off that @BrickDancer got.

BrickDancer

@Jenni I signed up a week or two after Black Friday, to get the Queen Anne in-store for 40%+10% off. So that instantly recouped the $25 annual fee plus more savings. They have decent selection in-store at some locations, so getting coupons for 20%/30%+10% are quite common. So don't fret about the timing because you'll be able to get some great savings throughout the year.

Jenni

@brickdancer I'm not too worried, it's fun to plan. We used that 40% off coupon too. Now that they're the only large bookstore around we're spending more money there anyhow. 10% + 30% kids club coupon might be nice now for the HQ, little one has just discovered that there's a girl in that set :).

sturner26

@Jenni: Helm's Deep at 70% off, my thoughts exactly. I just signed up to find out the timing of their emails and will then sign my wife up closer to the date to ensure the discount.

intromission

@BrickDancer, I just signed my son up. Are you saying if I wait long enough without spending the 30% off they will eventually send me increased discounts?

BrickDancer

@intromission yes for "your first online purchase" coupon specifically. That's the one that went up to 70% off.

There will be other coupons that are good for both online and in-store. Only use those for in-store and wait for the online one to keep bumping up. Not sure if it would have kept going up to 80% or 90%. But didn't want to gamble anymore and pulled the trigger after finding it finally works on the new Lego sets.

intromission

Thanks for the info.

Odindusk

So in another thread last year sometime (that I cannot find), it was mentioned how if you become a BN member, they will start to send you coupons via email to use on their website. Someone took that a bit further and also revealed that until you make your first purchase on their website, they will begin to send you discount coupons at regular intervals of increasing discounts (10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90% off) in an attempt to lure you to make your first buy.

Sure enough, that's come true for me. I plopped down the money for a membership in late February, and after ignoring the first couple of coupons they've sent to me, today I received my 70% off deal. I decided to browse the site for LEGO and every set that I pull up all say this:

"Note: This item does not qualify for coupons or promotional discounts unless expressly stated."

I tried to apply the coupon to a particular set and it indeed said that it's not eligible. This is a disappointment. I guess I wrongly assumed that because of all the coupon talk in the other thread that I mentioned above, that people were using their coupons on LEGO.

It's not a huge deal, since 70% off another, non-LEGO thing is still pretty nice. But I was just bummed.

dsdg88

@Odindusk:
See: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/55307/#Comment_55307
For example the x-wing is still eligible. The forest police station may be the highest price item still eligible. If you can, try your local stores where I believe all items are eligible.

starfire2

Try 'newest listed' to see if they work on the newest sets added to BN.com. Someone on Toysnbricks.com said it works on Batman and newer Star Wars and I think Dino. Also, can the coupon be printed out and taken to the store? If so, that may be your best bet. Find a set you want and do store lookup and if they have it in stock in a store near you, you can have them hold it for you.

Odindusk

Well now I feel silly that I couldn't find that thread. Thank you for the tips. Mods, I won't be offended if you kill this. =)

Odindusk

PS: I indeed went with the City Forest Station. $25.42 after discounts and tax. I don't collect City, but it should make good trade fodder. Thanks again!

DaddyDeuce

I wonder if B&N is ever going to sell out of Mill Village Raid.

thornie

I wonder if B&N is ever going to sell out of Mill Village Raid.

Thanks for the tip! I was just about to over pay for this set on BrickLink.

LegoFanTexas

Target still has (or had, haven't looked today) some copies of 8095, which is sold out at S@H.

But you're right, Mill Village Raid just won't die at B@N, will it? :)

graphite

^ pretty sure all of the WMs near me still have 8095 as well.

hoyatables

Just woke up to a 20% off one item coupon in my inbox. Unfortunately Jabba's Palace (and the Desert Skiff) are now out of stock. Seems about right. Coupon is good through 8/6. Members only.

Any thoughts/insights into whether I can expect better coupons in the future are appreciated. Just joined BN last week and eager to reap the benefits of the membership.

staffmark

Was just going to pull the trigger on the Fury Class set as well as a discounted Whitecap Bay earlier this week, but now am finding that those sets, as well as oretty much every other set on the site, is now coupon ineligible. Wish I would have moved sooner. So I guess my answer is: use whatever coupon you have currently and don't sit on it if you can make it work for a given set.
building on that, though, does anyone know if B&N changes the eligibility status for various Lego sets (on, then off, then on) repeatedly, or is it once ineligible, always ineligible? Do new sets tend to be eligible upon release for only a short window, and then never again? This whole B&N coupon thing has me really confused.

thornie

Every LEGO set on BN is excluded from coupons. Sorry you paid for the membership thinking they were. Those days are gone. :( Some LoTR sets were eligible a few months ago, but it was most likely a flub on BN's part. A lot of people including myself had their orders cancelled after placing them, but some others got lucky.

meyerc13

While the LEGO coupons can't be used online for LEGO, they can be used in stores. 20% coupon plus 10% member discount beats just about any other non-clearance LEGO sale you'll find.

crosseyedpirate

Up until about a month ago I could always find a set to buy online and use a coupon. It usually had to be one that was discounted, but now even the discounted sets are exempt. They also started limiting coupon to in store OR online use, previously you could do both also. So now you're limited to finding a set in store. I'm frustrated as well, as there are no Whitecap Bays anywhere near me.

BrickDancer

I think the 'Brickset' effect took hold and they noticed the amount of Lego sets flying out the door at the same time. Because looking at sets that used to be eligible for coupons, they are no longer. And I haven't seen any set with the restriction that gets it removed later, so may be permanent. For now the best option is as @meyerc13 stated, for in-store with 10% bonus.

hoyatables

No problem there -- a few BN near me, so I am happy to check them out. Hopefully they are well-stocked.

CupIsHalfEmpty

You can view the stock in-store from the website. Unfortunately the set I want isn't in stock anywhere within 100 miles of where I'm visiting. Hmmm. Maybe I can order it in store with the coupon and then get it shipped? anybody ever try that?

RainingBoroSi02

I also got the kids program 30% hoping to use it on the Fury Interceptor, but by the time I got it, everything was ineligible. Got to make a few B&N and Target trips I guess this weekend.

thornie

The in-store LEGO stock of B&Ns in NYC is to put bluntly... Well, pathetic. I use all of the coupons I get on stuff like board games or books. I've given up on scoring deals on LEGO at BN.

hoyatables

Just visited the B&N in Alexandria VA (Potomac Yard). Pretty decent selection, including all LOTR sets except Helm's Deep, a bunch of SW stuff (including the Wampa Cave, which I thought was EOL?) - some of which was at 30% off, last year's city stuff, and some random Dino, Atlantis, and POTC stuff. Even had some Kingdoms sets - the Carriage Ambush and another small set. Ended up using the coupon on the Uruk Hai extender (it's what I needed) but will have to check back in the future. Quite a decent selection.

thornie

^BN stocks a ton of EOL'd sets in store. They are very slow to move stock and I don't believe they do in store clearance on LEGO. I just went to the store on 5th avenue in Manhattan and I'd say 30% of their stock was EOL'd sets.