Sorry, but hooked already! I’ve got a plan for the first one, hopefully 2, 3 and 4 will coincide with sets I want as the year progresses.

As long as they don't make Technic GWPs, I won't part with more money :D

"LEGO seems to be going all out on GWPs this year in an attempt to encourage us to part with more money, and it will almost certainly be successful!"

I can only speak for myself, but I feel like too many GWPs, especially boring ones like this one, don't make me want to throw money at LEGO in any way. The last GWP that really interested me, was the Forest Hideout one.
Quality over quantity is my motto when it comes to GWPs.

@Brickchap said:
"Sydney House and San Francisco House will feature a tent in a dump because both Australian and American governments are useless and causing a housing crisis.

I really like this Central American house though."

Hahaha couldn’t agree more

At first glance I love the colors. But its strange scale ruins it for me. Had it been closer to minifig scale, I would have been hooked. Just as well, I need to prioritize my purchases.

@Huw said:
"LEGO seems to be going all out on GWPs this year in an attempt to encourage us to part with more money, and it will almost certainly be successful!"

...you forgot the /s at the end.

The tree is simple and clever. I don't mind the house style/colors, but I don't particularly need this GWP, so I'll have to pass. Maybe if one of the other houses look decent I may bite, but if no unique pieces, seems silly to get these since I'm not a collector and these would just get parted out anyway.

@Huw said:
" @Morgan19 said:
" @Huw said:
"LEGO seems to be going all out on GWPs this year in an attempt to encourage us to part with more money, and it will almost certainly be successful!"

...you forgot the /s at the end."

?"

/s means sarcasm in internet chats. It's hard to believe 250$ threshold for gwp without anything unique could be such a success as you're saying. Unless it was sarcasm @huw

There is another side to this. When the threshold for the GWP is set too high some people, not wanting to spend 200+ dollars on sets they don't really want to get a GWP they want, will choose to buy the GWP on the secondary market. Not only does that defeat the purpose of the GWP for TLC, it also takes purchasing power out of the hands of those buyers, possibly away from future purchases.

I speak for myself. I bought the two Xmas GWPs on the secondary market and have no regrets.

I wonder how many did the same.

I am guessing the High spend price for the GWP is to cut down on Shipping costs.

just some guesswork here but ....
£5 "free" shipping for a £50 order is about 30% of your profit.
£10 "free" shipping for a £250 order is only about 5% of your profit.

I can just about wait to buy some sets, for the right deal, to get these GWP.

@Brickchap said:
"Sydney House and San Francisco House will feature a tent in a dump because both Australian and American governments are useless and causing a housing crisis.

I really like this Central American house though."
That's one take. Maybe submit a MOC to Ideas.

I find it odd (but welcome) that the Blacktron GWP had a price threshold of $100 USD and coincided with new releases making it easier to get, while the Houses of the World is $150 higher price threshold, coincides with very few new releases, has no minifigs and doesn't seem to have that "wow" factor something like the Blacktron cruiser does.

Why would I want to spend $250 to get this small house with a wierdly proportioned animal that I have a few of already?

@dedmonds87 said:
"

Why would I want to spend $250 to get this small house with a wierdly proportioned animal that I have a few of already?

"

In this case, very much agree, the scale is very weird on this house, and I'm normally a big fan of 3-in-1 buildings, but this is a strange scale, it's trying to be something like a 70s LEGO set : 349 : Swiss Chalet or 350 : Spanish Villa , but then a lot more modern part usage.

Although I like the design, I probably won’t try to collect these. I have enough themes and GWP’s to collect as it is.

I would have gotten Blacktron and Bionicle under some circumstances but 190€ thresholds are plain madness for these specialty products. I mean, what are you even supposed to buy? This one here is over 200 bucks and you could just get all the parts from PaB or Bricklink for cheaper at this point.

There is only one Classic Space set for the Blacktron to couple with and it has been out for half a year now. I already got two for it and the alt-builds like every collector of the theme and even considering other themes there haven't been any noteable releases. Bionicle is even more absurd because it is limited to all the in-house themes like Creator, Dots, Technic, City and some others, none of which I even look at due to the terrible value of pretty much everything across the board when you are forced to pay MSRP even though every sensible store marks all of the products at least 20% off.
Hoping the aftermarket won't be too high or that the special parts will be made available for reasonable prices (not 5€ for a lone corn on a cob).

@elangab said:
"Three other options are to purchase a set and return it, you will get a refund/gift card minus the GWP's value (sometime they will refund all)"
Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…

@SageOlson said:
" @elangab said:
"Three other options are to purchase a set and return it, you will get a refund/gift card minus the GWP's value (sometime they will refund all)"
Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…"

Yes. Every GWP has a listed "price". You can check that out at the site, for example the Blacktron is $29.99 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/blacktron-cruiser-40580 if you return the item without the GWP, they will deduct that price from the refund.

It makes sense if you think about it, because sometimes you just order few sets and want to return one but it lowers the order for below the threshold, or maybe you opened the GWP before deciding to return the other set. By the end of the day the GWP it's just another Lego set, only collectors see the extra value in it.

@elangab said:
" @SageOlson said:
" @elangab said:
"Three other options are to purchase a set and return it, you will get a refund/gift card minus the GWP's value (sometime they will refund all)"
Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…"

Yes. Every GWP has a listed "price". You can check that out at the site, for example the Blacktron is $29.99 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/blacktron-cruiser-40580 if you return the item without the GWP, they will deduct that price from the refund.

It makes sense if you think about it, because sometimes you just order few sets and want to return one but it lowers the order for below the threshold, or maybe you opened the GWP before deciding to return the other set. By the end of the day the GWP it's just another Lego set, only collectors see the extra value in it."

Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with.

As with many other comments her, I find my self spending less and less on reaching those high thresholds in favour of buying the GWPs via 3rd party sellers. The Blacktron being a case in point. Would rather buy that for £30 then spend the requirement on sets I'm slightly interested in.

If its really a 250USD threshold to get one of these, then LEGO's eyes are getting bigger than its stomach.

My pseudo-code:

If GWP.theme is in ('Pirates', 'Castle', 'Classic Space', 'Trains', 'Avdenturers'):
buyitemfunction(item(GWP))
else
break;

I got the Blacktron (only one, sadly, but I can't justify (money wise) getting more) but I will certainly let that one go. Depending on the threshold, I might try to get the 'year of the rabbit' GWP.

(maybe I should alter my 'if' block to include a clause that if the box is the old style yellow, buy as well)

@bananaworld said:
"
I wonder if they will all feature terrifyingly large pets..."

No, you see, that is not actually a Chihuahua, it is meant to represent a to-scale Great Dane.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @elangab said:
" @SageOlson said:
" @elangab said:
"Three other options are to purchase a set and return it, you will get a refund/gift card minus the GWP's value (sometime they will refund all)"
Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…"

Yes. Every GWP has a listed "price". You can check that out at the site, for example the Blacktron is $29.99 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/blacktron-cruiser-40580 if you return the item without the GWP, they will deduct that price from the refund.

It makes sense if you think about it, because sometimes you just order few sets and want to return one but it lowers the order for below the threshold, or maybe you opened the GWP before deciding to return the other set. By the end of the day the GWP it's just another Lego set, only collectors see the extra value in it."

Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with. "

Send them chat, and see. Do you think you will not be able to return a $200 set you got as a gift because your son opened a $5 polybag that came with it, or a sticker sheet? Having said that, I have no experience with the UK site so maybe there are different local regulations over there that prevents that.

@elangab said:
" @DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @elangab said:
" @SageOlson said:
" @elangab said:
"Three other options are to purchase a set and return it, you will get a refund/gift card minus the GWP's value (sometime they will refund all)"
Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…"

Yes. Every GWP has a listed "price". You can check that out at the site, for example the Blacktron is $29.99 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/blacktron-cruiser-40580 if you return the item without the GWP, they will deduct that price from the refund.

It makes sense if you think about it, because sometimes you just order few sets and want to return one but it lowers the order for below the threshold, or maybe you opened the GWP before deciding to return the other set. By the end of the day the GWP it's just another Lego set, only collectors see the extra value in it."

Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with. "

Send them chat, and see. Do you think you will not be able to return a $200 set you got as a gift because your son opened a $5 polybag that came with it, or a sticker sheet? Having said that, I have no experience with the UK site so maybe there are different local regulations over there that prevents that."

I suspect that in the ordinary course of things, the staff will quietly ignore the terms and conditions unless they see you repeatedly pulling this trick. It's usually better to bend the rules rather than sacrifice goodwill, and most retailers know this these days

EDIT - this is what I usually do in situations like this

I wonder what other houses we will get. Likely a traditional Japanese house. Maybe a Spanish/Mexican one? An Italian house would be cool, or a traditional English cottage. I'd be really happy if they did a 'Queenslander' homestead.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with. "

I just went over the T&C of the UK site and found nothing about it, unless I missed it (it is a long read). Where did you see it? (Another thing to keep in mind is that these T&C are valid for the use of the site/phone order and not for the retail shop).

@elangab said:
" @DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with. "

I just went over the T&C of the UK site and found nothing about it, unless I missed it (it is a long read). Where did you see it? (Another thing to keep in mind is that these T&C are valid for the use of the site/phone order and not for the retail shop)."

Feom the "Offers & Sales" page:
"If the qualifying LEGO purchase(s) is returned to us for a refund, the gift must also be returned to us together with the qualifying LEGO purchase(s). It cannot be purchased, exchanged or substituted for any other item or cash value."

@CCC said:
" @unslipped said:
"I remember when I was first coming back into the hobby and managed to snag the Mudtrooper Han Solo GWP for something like a $35 spend threshold. That was perfect - great gift, reasonable threshold, and I didn’t have to re-budget my month to get it.
These recent GWPs are just ridiculous…"

£35 and £50 thresholds used to be common for single licensed figure polybag GWPs, Xmas promos, etc. But it is a different world now. LEGO don't need GWP to persuade people to place £50 orders any more. "

Yeah, now they have things like "Free shipping" that starts at €55, and recently at least those VIP parts bags.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @elangab said:
" @DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"Not on the UK site & the T&Cs clearly state that any freebies should be returned with the purchases they were received with. "

I just went over the T&C of the UK site and found nothing about it, unless I missed it (it is a long read). Where did you see it? (Another thing to keep in mind is that these T&C are valid for the use of the site/phone order and not for the retail shop)."

Feom the "Offers & Sales" page:
"If the qualifying LEGO purchase(s) is returned to us for a refund, the gift must also be returned to us together with the qualifying LEGO purchase(s). It cannot be purchased, exchanged or substituted for any other item or cash value." "

Oh, OK. This is the T&C specific for the offers page, I was looking at the site-wide ones. Well, one way to go around it is not asking for a refund but a store credit (this is if you know you'll get another set later on, but want a specific GWP), but in real life it's just a formality, they won't ask for it back. We don't need to abuse it, but if there's a specific GWP that you really want now and then it's good to know. Personally, what I prefer to do is just sell the set I don't want on FB, as that way I keep the GWP and the VIP points.

I'll confess confusion to Lego's strategy with this. I know some people who would like this set, but wouldn't be even slightly tempted to spend $250 so as to get it. Much less $1000 all tolled, for four little houses. If they were available quarterly on normal purchase for a limited time, then maybe that would work, but this is just perplexing.

Blacktron works as a promo because it's starting off the year before other retailers get the new stock and reduce the price by 20%, and it designed to appeal to the dedicated Lego fans, and has a high but reachable threshold with all the new stuff. The Bionicle promo will probably be somewhat similar, given that it's only $100, albeit of limited themes. But this is outright confounding - it's the same pricepoint as the Lego House promo without the other promos it could be stacked with and the Christmas timing.

@Shadowcloner said:
"I'll confess confusion to Lego's strategy with this. I know some people who would like this set, but wouldn't be even slightly tempted to spend $250 so as to get it. Much less $1000 all tolled, for four little houses. If they were available quarterly on normal purchase for a limited time, then maybe that would work, but this is just perplexing"

I think that the strategy was to create a "collectible theme". If it was just one house, most collectors wouldn't care much, but once it's 4 - it's a theme you "need" to collect and "must own". And if you have 2 or 3, wouldn't you walk the extra mile to complete the collection? (Not you specifically)

2023 will be a year most people will spend less and TLG, just like any other brand, will try every trick in the book to make you spend your limited spending money on their products. It's a loyalty GWP yearly program if you want to call it that way.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @gylman said:
"There is another side to this. When the threshold for the GWP is set too high some people, not wanting to spend 200+ dollars on sets they don't really want to get a GWP they want, will choose to buy the GWP on the secondary market. Not only does that defeat the purpose of the GWP for TLC, it also takes purchasing power out of the hands of those buyers, possibly away from future purchases.

I speak for myself. I bought the two Xmas GWPs on the secondary market and have no regrets.

I wonder how many did the same. "

Except that someone has had to make an appropriate purchase to get it onto the secondary market anyway. That might well be a purchase that would not otherwise have been made. Lego achieves its objective anyway."

I think we’ll see a shift in that. Less on the secondary market, I mean. And with any luck if more of us keep speaking with our wallets, this egregiously greedy practice will get scaled back to something less insulting.

@drewtstew said:
" @dedmonds87 said:
"I find it odd (but welcome) that the Blacktron GWP had a price threshold of $100 USD and coincided with new releases making it easier to get, while the Houses of the World is $150 higher price threshold, coincides with very few new releases, has no minifigs and doesn't seem to have that "wow" factor something like the Blacktron cruiser does.

Why would I want to spend $250 to get this small house with a wierdly proportioned animal that I have a few of already?

"

I think it was $190, not $100"

O you're right! Thanks for the correction!

@Brickchap said:
"Sydney House and San Francisco House will feature a tent in a dump because both Australian and American governments are useless and causing a housing crisis.

I really like this Central American house though."

To be fair, it’s California’s government that is useless and causing the housing crisis in that State. Gavin Newsom is just the worst. Too bad they didn’t recall him and elect Larry Elder.

Only four, huh? Central America, and I’m guessing China will get one of the other three. No way they do one each from Europe and North America unless at least is from an indigenous people, and I wouldn’t be surprised if neither gets one, given how they started this. Maybe Africa, South America, or somewhere in the Pacific islands?

It’s an interesting concept, and I’m really curious to see what the next three look like, but it’s not something that tugs at my heartstrings. I couldn’t pass on the Blacktron set, and I already know I’ll be gunning for the Bionicle one pretty soon. I can’t begin to plan what I’d need to buy to complete this quartet. Maybe one of the others will really grab me, but for now I won’t plan to chase any of them.

@Brickchap:
I don’t know what happened in Australia, but it’s not a problem with government in the US. It’s a problem with government in California. They have a few really bad laws on the books that created this problem. One is that it’s too easy to challenge new construction, which was done to allow the little guy to stand up to corporate interests, but wealthy communities have weaponized in the spirit of NIMBY to keep affordable housing from dragging down real estate value.

The other is that the state passed a law to help keep properties in the family, by allowing assessed property value to be inherited for at least two generations, so you didn’t immediately lose your parents’ or grandparents’ houses because selling them was the only way to manage the ballooning property taxes. They didn’t stipulate that you had to reside in the property, so these tend to get turned into rentals, and short-term rentals at that. It’s very profitable to put a beach house on AirBNB when you cover your expenses with only one week of rent, as Jeff and Beau Bridges reportedly do with one they inherited in Malibu. People who aren’t even CA residents have inherited CA properties and taken them off the housing market to put on the hotel market. Between the two, they’re losing homes, and they’re not being allowed to build replacements.

@SageOlson:
If you bought it online, or over the phone, returning anything can be tricky. If you buy it in-store, yes, you can return stuff. They may hit you for the MSRP of any GWPs you no longer qualify for, or they may tell you that you do have to return the GWP at the same time. They may also refuse your return if they feel you’re abusing this option, or they may restrict you to store credit by way of a gift card. Do it once, and you probably won’t have a problem. Make a habit of it, and you’ll draw their attention.

@elangab:
Store credit is issued via gift card. Purchases of gift cards do not qualify for GWPs, but purchases made with gift cards do. I don’t think that fixes anything.

@Librarian1976:
While Newsom is definitely a problem, the causes of this particular crisis sound like they predate his first term by many years. I think there’s been an attempt to repeal the inherited tax rate, but it’s too beneficial to too many people, so it got shot down. Even excluding the ones that got put on AirBNB, if your parents or grandparents live nearby, you inherit their home, and the property taxes on that property are a fraction of what you pay on yours, maybe you sell your current home and move into the one you inherited. Repealing the property tax law would suddenly slam people like you with massive tax hikes, even beyond what you’re already getting (my brother sold his condo near LA and moved to Utah because his property taxes were due to double the following year). What would help is if they passed a residency restriction, so rental properties were no longer exempt from being reassessed, but primary residences were. That would retain the spirit of the original law, while curbing abuse.

@PurpleDave said:
[ @elangab:
Store credit is issued via gift card. Purchases of gift cards do not qualify for GWPs, but purchases made with gift cards do. I don’t think that fixes anything.]]

Nobody was talking about purchasing gift cards, we were talking about purchasing sets with either cash/credit card/gift card

@Brickchap said:
"Sydney House and San Francisco House will feature a tent in a dump because both Australian and American governments are useless and causing a housing crisis.

I really like this Central American house though."

Stop.

I guess Lego will continue to push the spend threshold until consumers say when. I find myself spending less and less on lego.com and just grabbing the gwp that interest me on Ebay or Mercari.

@elangab:
If you are issued store credit via gift card, it is functionally the same as if you had originally purchased one. The money tied up in the gift card would no longer count towards qualification for a GWP on the original purchase, but would instead count towards a future GWP whenever you spend it.

@PurpleDave said:
" @elangab:
If you are issued store credit via gift card, it is functionally the same as if you had originally purchased one. The money tied up in the gift card would no longer count towards qualification for a GWP on the original purchase, but would instead count towards a future GWP whenever you spend it."

This has nothing to do with what we talked about.

@elangab said:
"Well, one way to go around it is not asking for a refund but a store credit…."

It’s absolutely what you were talking about. Returning a qualifying purchase for store credit is effectively the same as doing so for cash or chargeback. Store credit goes on a gift card. Money placed on a gift card does not count towards the spend threshold of a GWP. Only when you use the gift card does it count. They can’t tell if you purchased a gift card, received it as a gift, or got issued store credit, so there’s no way to exclude you from using store credit to qualify for a second GWP at a later date.

@PurpleDave said:
" @elangab said:
"Well, one way to go around it is not asking for a refund but a store credit…."

It’s absolutely what you were talking about. Returning a qualifying purchase for store credit is effectively the same as doing so for cash or chargeback. Store credit goes on a gift card. Money placed on a gift card does not count towards the spend threshold of a GWP. Only when you use the gift card does it count. They can’t tell if you purchased a gift card, received it as a gift, or got issued store credit, so there’s no way to exclude you from using store credit to qualify for a second GWP at a later date."

I disagree, and it's not just with Lego. There a HUGE difference between getting my money back or getting a store credit. With a store credit the money stays at the store, with a refund I can take my money and buy elsewhere. By returning a product for a store credit you're not buying a gift card, you are exchanging a product for a future one. That they put the value of it on a gift card is technicality and nothing more. According to the T&C they ask you (they won't, but let's play along) to return the GWP only if you want your money back, not for when you agree getting a store credit.

You initially wrote "Purchases of gift cards do not qualify for GWP", and no one here ever mentioned buying gift cards, that's why I replied with that it has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

@elangab:
You’re “buying” a gift card with product. It still counts as having your money returned. Unless they have special Store Credit gift cards that they can identify as not being eligible for GWP spend thresholds, you have to give up GWP qualification on one end of the transaction or the other to balance things out, and the only logical way to do that is when you return your purchase for store credit.

Store credit is used as a way to discourage abuse of refund policies, but allowing you to keep the first GWP because you’ve already spent the money, as well as allowing you to qualify for a second round of GWP because you’re making a new purchase, is just enabling abuse of the return policy. There are only two ways to avoid that. Either they issue a special Store Credit form of gift card that is ineligible for future GWP qualifications, or they void the initial GWP qualification of deducting the return takes that purchase below the threshold.

@PurpleDave said:
" @elangab:
You’re “buying” a gift card with product. It still counts as having your money returned. Unless they have special Store Credit gift cards that they can identify as not being eligible for GWP spend thresholds, you have to give up GWP qualification on one end of the transaction or the other to balance things out, and the only logical way to do that is when you return your purchase for store credit.

Store credit is used as a way to discourage abuse of refund policies, but allowing you to keep the first GWP because you’ve already spent the money, as well as allowing you to qualify for a second round of GWP because you’re making a new purchase, is just enabling abuse of the return policy. There are only two ways to avoid that. Either they issue a special Store Credit form of gift card that is ineligible for future GWP qualifications, or they void the initial GWP qualification of deducting the return takes that purchase below the threshold."

It's not "abusing it", if they allow it. They don't care about the GWP, they care about you going to the store in order to buy other sets. It's not a trick or a cheat, you can return a product without the GWP. You're over thinking it, more than they do.

"Store credit is used as a way to discourage abuse of refund policies" What? No. Store credits are used to keep both the money and the product in the store. You're giving your money, but not taking any product. You're also locked to purchase at that store. It's a win-win for any store. I honestly don't care if there are 100 ways to avoid that, as it's not my problem to solve. I can assure you no one here can tell you story about how they were refused a return because of a missing/used GWP, and no one ever will.

@thor96 said:
"The threshold for this little house is 250 usd from what I have seen online. That's very very high for a set without branding and minifigs. I am not interested at all."

INSANE!