3rd Horseman of the Apocalypse: 4E Hits the Bargain Bin

[OpsKT]

Sadly, I have all the books I wanted. Well, I could use MM2 maybe, and maybe the two FR books...

 

[Mark CMG]

4E @ 40% Off @ my FLGS since the announcement approx.

 

[KesselZero]

Wow, I have to start looking at the chain bookstores. There's a lot I could pick up to fill out my 4e collection. I love my FLGS, but he ain't one for discounting, so I really hope I can find somewhere that's liquidating...

EDIT: If anybody sees this happening at an American chain store (Borders, B&N, etc. etc.) please sing out!

 

[Daztur]

Which leaves the FLGS holding the bag. They paid to get the product at roll out and then the distributors hemorrhage the leftovers to discount outlets.

I wonder which of the recent edition swaps hurt FLGSs the worst.

• 3.0 to 3.5 {d20 glut included]
• Old World of Darkness to N-WoD
• 3.5 to 4.0
• 4.Essentials to 5.0

I'm guessing 3.0 to 3.5 since it blindsided people the most and it had so much d20 glut as well, for 3.5 to 4.0 most of the third party publishers had (smartly) moved on to their own versions of d20 so that WotC couldn't make their products obsolete at will.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Wow, I have to start looking at the chain bookstores. There's a lot I could pick up to fill out my 4e collection. I love my FLGS, but he ain't one for discounting, so I really hope I can find somewhere that's liquidating...

EDIT: If anybody sees this happening at an American chain store (Borders, B&N, etc. etc.) please sing out!

Well, to be clear, this is a small local chain of USED books and they also frequently deal in new close-out material that has been liquidated. They are not like B&N, Borders (or Indigo/Chapters in Canada). Look for local used bookstores where the premises are cheap and the tables/shelves filled with liquidation stock. That's where this stuff is most likely to show up in the short term.

 

[Sunsword]

I think the difference between Canada & the U.S. is bigger than the story estimates. Factoring in importing/exporting & monetary conversion, its a good bet WotC is more likely to allow its distributors to liquidate as opposed to return the product.

In my experience, B&N (locally), doesn't jump on this bargain band wagon for gaming. I can say that no sales have come through the hobby distribution chain and I don't see 5E releasing any sooner than Gen Con 2013, mostly because D&D XP will not be early next year. Who knows though? We'll know for sure since if it would somehow release this year, it has to be solicited.

 

[soulcatcher78]

During the 3.5 to 4 change over I was able to score a number of books through Amazon at a steep discount (paid more for shipping than the books). Keep an eye out there as well.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

[MENTION=20741]Steel_Wind[/MENTION] - I tried to give you XP for the BSG reference but apparently I must spread my XP around more first.

I haven't got in to 4E, so this discounting has no impact on me. The release of 4E did allow me to get a number of 3.5E books that I had my eye on at super cheap prices though.

From memory I got 3-4 Complete books, Cityscape, Dungeonscape, as well as Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft for $5-$10 AUD each. That was around a 75%+ discount for most of those books, so I was very happy with the prices I paid.

I also found that if you want the books, don't wait too long for them. After the initial glut of stock is cleared out and the books aren't as freely available the prices tend to go back up a little bit.

Olaf the Stout

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I remember when "Essentials" was announced, and the next month, there was a huge amount of 4e stock for 50%-off at a comic book convention.

 

[Argyle King]

4E has been in the bargain bin around here for a little while now. I picked up a few mini packs from the local 5 and Below for $4.99. I think I paid somewhere around 12 bucks for the MM3 I bought (which is the only book I've bought since Manual of The Planes - the price was too good to pass up.)