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It has always been priced at the market clearing price; enough people value it as currently priced that they don't care that you happen to disagree.
You'd have to explain to me what exactly you mean by that, as I don't know much about economics. I don't understand the above based on the definition of 'market clearing price' on Wikipedia, but that may of course not be very good.
I certainly don't peg 'overpriced' to 'what can LEGO get away with'. LEGO has always been a middle-class toy. Sure, there are plenty of people who can and will afford it at RRP, but that doesn't mean that they think it's not overpriced. As with Giffen goods, people are often proud to show off that they can afford something expensive/as a status symbol.
Also, if you're aware of the absolute circus of discounting LEGO--always some 20% discounts on the go somewhere, double that at other times, prices going up and down all the time with some retailers, it's quite clear that there are numerous issues with prices, including the fact that LEGO often tries out how much higher it can push the price by placing quite small sets at double what you'd expect to be the RRP, particularly with City and Star Wars sets.
While I'm sure the quality is often not as good or nearly as good, it is striking, now that LEGO's patent-assisted monopoly has expired, how much cheaper the imitators are. I've lost count of how many brands I've seen, but it must be close to 30 by now, and some get pretty good reviews (some also get terrible ones). I mean, I'd be the first to admit that they benefit from decades of development work by LEGO and that imitation obviously requires far less investment in innovation, but the price differences are just so big in some cases.
Lastly, there are numerous issues with how LEGO sets are put together today to reduce the value people get from them (long story) so that they have to buy more. Quite a few commentators that I've listened to are very critical of that, although you obviously also get completely uncritical people.
Hey ho, it's apparently the biggest toymaker in the world now, so I guess you have to expect that kind of behaviour. I'd still prefer it if they did things differently.
Oliver Schick-
I don't understand the above based on the definition of 'market clearing price' on Wikipedia
Yeah, that doesn't allow for the real world fact that the market clearing price is actually a set of different prices varying by time and location because individual market participants have imperfect knowledge and also different motives. Nonetheless, the principle stands; there are no warehouses full of unsold Lego, so the market is obviously being cleared, and ipso facto it is not over-priced.
You might wish that they did something different, but they are not a charity, they are a business. The choice of how much to supply is set at the profit maximising level.
There are, as you say, cheap knock-offs for paupers. All the ones I've had my hands on are shit, but even shit faux-Lego is better than a lot of the absolute shit on the toy market 🙂
gbj_tester
It has always been priced at the market clearing price; enough people value it as currently priced that they don't care that you happen to disagree.