Where are you buying Mordenkainen's Magnificient Emporium?

[Incenjucar]

Online sellers tend to undercut brick and mortar sellers due to not having to pay people to spend eight hours a day behind the counter and so forth. A major American book seller, Borders, went bankrupt and closed forever just a few weeks ago due to how heavily Amazon can undercut them.

 

[Sutekh]

To be honest, I wouldnt buy from Amazon. They are actually one of the more expensive online booksellers. places like book depository have free shipping to where I live (not simply to America via Amazon being free) and I find they have a far better range than Amazon. They are one of many many online booksellers, Id try before hitting Amazon.

 

[TirionAnthion]

As an owner of a FLGS I deal with this issue often. We sell products for the MSRP. We do sales occasionally and we also offer 20% off on core books for all RPGs. Customers often ask me to price match with amazon, which is something I cannot do. I pay around $11 for the 4e Rules Compendium from Wizards. I have had customers say that they can get in online for $13.50. I just cannot match that price on a regular basis.

We do what we can to provide a large play space and a great environment to play in. A great customer experience is the key to keeping people in our store. I understand that people need to save money when they can and I don't hold it against them. That said, it does bother me when I spend 30 to 40 minutes walking someone through what they need to play 4e just to discover that they planned on buying online from the start and just wanted someone to help them figure out what to buy from amazon.

I also get a little angry when people accuse me of price gouging. Selling something for the MSRP is not price gouging. I am not ripping people off by selling at the MSRP, yet I still get the occasional comment about my inflated prices compared to Amazon.

As to the comment about the DC comics being sold out, this confuses me. All of the local shops in my area are selling out. When I talk to them they all have commented about ordering about the same levels of books that they were ordering before the relaunch. At my store we ordered a ton of books. DC has a program that lets return the extras for the first several months after the relaunch so we ordered dozens of each book. It perplexes me when other stores talk about not upping their order quantities.

Ultimately, everyone should do what they need to do. As long as you are playing and having a good time, the rest will sort itself out.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I also get a little angry when people accuse me of price gouging. Selling something for the MSRP is not price gouging. I am not ripping people off by selling at the MSRP, yet I still get the occasional comment about my inflated prices compared to Amazon.

Selling at MSRP is only gouging if it happens to be outdated material that got picked up from remaindered stuff, as is the case with one of the shops in my town. They also regularly sell product for MSRP +10-20% - which is a complete ripoff no matter who you are.

I have no issues paying full sticker MSRP (no more) for current product from an honest FLGS though.

 

[SoulsFury]

I voted if its not on Amazon I'm not buying it. I try to buy as many products as I can. I don't have an FLGS. I'm all for exclusives, but for the "Votes" sake, there is a reason I won't even consider buying it. Most of my purchases come from the points I earn via my Amazon card. If I can't use them, there are different products I can buy.

 

[DNH]

I got mine on day of release from my FLGS which is just around the corner from where I work (Black Lion Games in Edinburgh, UK). I paid £20 which is more or less RRP.

For the record, I don't always use this store. Having two small boys means I have a limited budget for this kind of thing so I often use the likes of Amazon or other online retailers, especially if I have the luxury of time and can save further on delivery costs. I pre-ordered 'Madness at Gardmore Abbey' from Amazon back when it was first announced (March?) and got it delivered for just £18, a big saving on the RRP of £38 and even on Amazon's own current (non-pre-order) price of £32.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I am iffy about buying it for the content, but being here in Japan, it is cost-prohibitiv to get my hands on it via reseller or ebay or whatnot, so looke like I will pass on this.

If it comes to Amazon japan, I will reconsider.

Or when I get home

 

[TirionAnthion]

Selling at MSRP is only gouging if it happens to be outdated material that got picked up from remaindered stuff, as is the case with one of the shops in my town. They also regularly sell product for MSRP +10-20% - which is a complete ripoff no matter who you are.

At my store we sell books from the older editions. We buy them used from customers and then resell them. Based on the rarity of the item, some of them sell for more than their original MSRP. The Complete Book of Necromancers from 2nd edition or the Deities and Demigods with the Cthulhu mythos are good examples of this. The 3.5 core books also are a little on the high end as we generally have to pay more to get them from customers in the first place.
The prices for our older edition books are generally a little under the average online price at Ebay and other resellers.

 

[thewok]

I am of the opinion that entertainment products can never be subject to price gouging. I reserve that term for essential commodities, like milk, bread and so on.

 

[Herschel]

I just placed an order from CCG Armory. My reason is that the closest FLGS is about half an hour away,

A half hour? Oh, the horrors! Do you have plumbing out there yet? How do you get the internet?

It's not on sale at Amazon.ca, so that means I won't be buying it. I'm certainly interested in the product as I own AV1 and AV2 which are both great.

My local store that sells D&D products does so at the MSRP and never puts any of the books on sale regardless of edition. It's just to expensive for me to justify compared to the books I've purchased via Amazon.

LoL, so you like the products before it a lot but if you actually have to pay full price for a standard game book you won't?

I wanted it, and I bought it from an FLGS. If you don't want it, don't buy it but claiming that you want it but won't pay MSRP for a book is, well .... I'll leave it at that.