1st Edition AD&D Reprints to be available outside North America

TirionAnthion · Apr 17, 2012

Reprints

The only down side is for those stores who have existing preorders for the product. We preordered quite a few because of the limited availability. Now that amazon will have them, and likely at a discount, we will take a hit in sales. I have already had one person cancel a preorder. At this point we cannot cancel out preorders either.

I am glad for the wider availability, but I resent that it was solicited to retailers as an exclusive item initially. Knowing that the books would see a wider release would have curtailed our orders a bit.

Ultimately, I am a big fan of getting the books into as many hands as possible and I look forward to the release. I just wished that WotC would have finalized distribution before announcing the product.

Upper_Krust · Apr 17, 2012

It was the right decision to make. Well done WotC.

frankthedm · Apr 17, 2012

Upper_Krust said:
It was the right decision to make. Well done WotC.

I disagree. IMHO this is bait and switch. TirionAnthion's post demonstrates the value this removes from the product.

mudbunny · Apr 18, 2012

frankthedm said:
I disagree. IMHO this is bait and switch. TirionAnthion's post demonstrates the value this removes from the product.

How does this remove value from the product?

TirionAnthion · Apr 18, 2012

Lowered Value

The product is devalued to me as a retailer. For example, if game stores are the only way to obtain a product, and say 1000 people want that product, they all need to go through a game store to get it. With that in mind, the game store orders more product because he will likely sell more.

When the product then becomes available on Amazon, many people who would have come to the game store can now buy the product online. In the case of Amazon, the product is probably being sold just above cost. The more people that go online, the less copies the game store sells. Thus the product is not as good a buy and the game store should not order as many.

The problem here is the product was solicited to the game store as an exclusive. If the product had released and then was released in a wider release later, it would not be as bad. As it stands, retailers preordered product based on the understanding that they would be the only ones who could sell the product.

Again, I prefer to see the product get to as many people as possible, it just stinks that we are stuck with a preorder for a product that will now be much harder to sell. I am glad that overseas customers can get access to the books, that is certainly a plus.

Ultimately, I am just glad to see these great products back on the market and I look forward to playing some in store demo games!

Arnix · Apr 19, 2012

I agree that this change, while good in the short term for the consumer, is bad long term for the consumer and for the retailer. WoTC has increased their sales on this product by presenting the books as retail only to the retailers. They then changed their mind in hopes of selling to people who are not in the US or only have access online. The problem is that the retailers purchased books with the initial retailer only plan and now have ordered stock that they may not be able to move without steep discounts. This helps WoTC and gamers short term by getting a glut of the product to market far in excess of projected need. The long term problem is that retailers are going to be less likely to trust WoTC on the specials in the future and may under order legitimate retailer specials, thus hurting the gamer as well as WoTC. This feel like the release of Fallen Empires all over again.

Morrus · Apr 19, 2012

Arnix said:
I agree that this change, while good in the short term for the consumer, is bad long term for the consumer and for the retailer. WoTC has increased their sales on this product by presenting the books as retail only to the retailers. They then changed their mind in hopes of selling to people who are not in the US or only have access online. The problem is that the retailers purchased books with the initial retailer only plan and now have ordered stock that they may not be able to move without steep discounts. This helps WoTC and gamers short term by getting a glut of the product to market far in excess of projected need. The long term problem is that retailers are going to be less likely to trust WoTC on the specials in the future and may under order legitimate retailer specials, thus hurting the gamer as well as WoTC. This feel like the release of Fallen Empires all over again.

While I sympathise with the retailers a little, I don't all that much. Products limited to North America are, to use your words, "bad for the consumer" (astonishingly bad for those who don't live in North America - I can't think of anything worse for a consumer than a company denying them the products!), and are something that needs to die in a fire, and supporting these products by stocking them is a choice I'd personally prefer retailers not make. The only reason I have a little sympathy is that part of the profits of these go towards the Gygax Memorial Fund, which makes stocking them a decent thing.

In the long run, I guess the retailers are looking out for their own interests, and I'm looking out for mine (in the sense of I want to be able to buy D&D stuff). I guess I'm not charitable enough to say "Yeah, I'll sacrifice access to D&D products in order to benefit a small shop in another country".

Falstaff · Apr 19, 2012

In my case, I'm now excited again about these books being released. I was originally excited, but then realized they'd only be available at our city's sole game store (where I don't do business). However, now that I can get them via Amazon is awesome news. Thanks WotC.

Upper_Krust · Apr 20, 2012

frankthedm said:
I disagree. IMHO this is bait and switch. TirionAnthion's post demonstrates the value this removes from the product.

It seems to me that what would have happened would be that overseas customers would have been absolutely fleeced by those enterprising minds who sought to sell the books on ebay or similar.

WotC disintegrated that avenue of capitalistic "Grand Theft Tableau" for an even playing field.

frankthedm · Apr 20, 2012

Upper_Krust said:
It seems to me that what would have happened would be that overseas customers would have been absolutely fleeced by those enterprising minds who sought to sell the books on ebay or similar.

WotC disintegrated that avenue of capitalistic "Grand Theft Tableau" for an even playing field.

Even if that is "wrong", two wrongs don't make a right. Making the books available to more people does not excuse deceptive or possibly fraudulent business practices.