The only place I could "find" them (i.e. the only place which would ship to Switzerland) was amazon.com (not the co.uk or .de entities). I really want to buy these for my daughter, but the $50 shipping and handling fee charged by amazon.com is a bit too much for me. Alternatively, I could order them from the UK site and ask relatives to bring them over, but they will already be heavily burdened with other Christmas presents.
Geo-mag is an alternative to those and as well as geodesic structures, you can build some quite interesting structures that spin with minimal friction.
Not suitable if you children under two in the house as if a couple of the rod magnets are swallowed then they can try and come together in the intestines and wear a hole in the intestinal wall.
Come on folks. The real fun is had with all the cardboard boxes those toys come in. They become all sorts of things with just a touch of imagination. Keep the contents for the adults to play with (you know you want to) and let the little ones have the boxes.
I ordered from eBay US with a vendor that participates in the Global Shipping Program. Even with the shipping charges and customs duties, it was significantly cheaper than any European source and quite a bit cheaper than Amazon in the US.
Many thanks to all on here for the recommendations of the Magnatiles. I must admit that I was skeptical about whether they'd get played with much, but they've been in use every day since Christmas. We've moved from simple 2D experimentation to quite sophisticated 3D design in a few days of learning...
Phew, that's a relief. I'd have been mortified if you'd spent all that money on my recommendation and your child was one of the rare ones who didn't like them.
This is what happened to a girl in the U.S. in the papers today when she swallowed nine spherical fridge magnets which ended up making holes in her intestines.