I wouldn't say these are 50% of normal price, just MSRP. Nevertheless, these are good prices on these toys. Compared to Target, I'd say these are about 1/3 off their prices. Also, I was at Costco yesterday, and they are selling some fairly large plush toys for pretty reasonable prices. Good quality toys (we have other M&D sets) for fairly good prices --> I bought some from Amazon.

I have to agree with what the previous person said.
While some things are marked down a lot, I have had the giant giraffe in my wishlist for a long time, and it is only down a little from its price yesterday. I think it is almost false advertising sometimes when they do this. The same with most black friday week deals. I sent in a complaint, because a lot of the "deals" were the same price as the day before, or only different by one or two. I planned, and looked for what I would want, and what sections I would want, weeks in advance. I made lists for people, etc. Then I got on, and went to each page, directly from the black friday week page, and the prices had not changed, or changed very little. :( The lightning deals have been good so far, price wise, as long as you like what they are selling. I have only seen a couple I wanted myself, but many sell out 100%

Anyone who shops Amazon regularly already knows that prices fluctuate greatly! some by only cents, other by dollars and can happen multiple times per day on the same product. I always search who has the best deal on the item and regardless of the %off price, decide if it's the best deal you can find and if so--then buy it. Amazon is also about practicality. Online shopping vs. wasting time and gas going to the store. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Wisconsin winters, what you say is true of course, but you aren't really responding to the real point being made by the earlier commenters --- they are saying that Amazon is being somewhat misleading when they proclaim a sale is really really good and then the price turns out to have hardly moved from what it was before. That's all they are saying --- perhaps you can sympathise with people who get their hopes up by a misleading ad, and are sad when they click on it and learn they can't yet afford to buy it after all.

I wasn't impressed at all with this markdown. Last year, when the Melissa and Doug sale was on, I bought quite a bit-- they had the wooden and plush food sets on sale-- and they really were 50% off. This year, not so much. Like everyone else has said, the prices are just a dollar or so down from what they were before, and what you can get them for elsewhere. Definitely not a "lightning deal" deal, or worth stocking up on. Disappointed.

AC MOORE runs a b1g1F on M&D toys and you can use one of their 40/50% off weekly coupons on the full price item, making it cheaper than this deal, but they do not carry the full line of the larger items.

This morning the White Tiger was 34.99 sold by Amazon. Now it is 57.99. Got the tiger because I thought my wife would say the white would get too dirty.

Certainly any item you are interested in check the web to confirm if it is a good price. I have seen the tiger in person and it is pretty neat. I have many Melissa and Doug wooden toys and they are exceptional quality in general. Also do not estimate the power and teaching qualities of wooden toys. Our daughter likes them more than most anything electronically. And we feel great about her using her imagination.

The big tiger is a decent deal...though no where near the 50% off that amazon is claiming.
I ordered one of them here last year for my mom (I also got a giant stocking for her and me and Santa had fun stuffing it and using the giant tiger as a guard lol) in December for $46.66 with free shipping.
So like I said, it's a good price at $40...just not as good of a price as amazon wants to lead you to believe.
(It's a VERY lovely stuffed animal btw. My mom just loves it!)

List prices have been around for decades. You'd think that Amazon shoppers would have heard of them by now.

Where does Amazon say anything is: 50% of [sic] normal price?

Here's some big news: AMAZON DOES NOT SET LIST PRICES!