D&D 5E Amazon US book sales rank.

darjr · Aug 21, 2023

Monster manual dropped out of the top 100 to 150 at $18, players hadbook at $26 is at 94 and the DMG at 156 at $24

Marvel Multiverse RPG dropped to almost 2000 a bit ago but is back up at 1800 or so now at $35.99. Ironically between Monsters of the Multiverse and Eberron: Rising from the Last War, both at #13 and #15 in D&D books respectively.

FitzTheRuke · Aug 21, 2023

darjr said:
So the MM is $16.49 right now on Amazon. If you want one. wild.

That kind of discounting always drives me nuts, when the cheapest I can get a core 5e book for from any of my distributors (and I have SIX accounts) is $27.30 USD. Then, when you add anything that would make it remotely worthwhile for me as a markup, I'd need to sell them for AT LEAST $40 or I'm not feeding my family.

And Bezos gets himself another yacht selling them for $16.50 (though, to be fair, I expect that that's GOT to be getting close to Amazon's cost. I think it might be, in the very least, a loss-leader, if not an actual loss.) Still, you can't help but feel that the system is rigged for the rich.

darjr · Aug 21, 2023

FitzTheRuke said:
That kind of discounting always drives me nuts, when the cheapest I can get a core 5e book for from any of my distributors (and I have SIX accounts) is $27.30 USD. Then, when you add anything that would make it remotely worthwhile for me as a markup, I'd need to sell them for AT LEAST $40 or I'm not feeding my family.

And Bezos gets himself another yacht selling them for $16.50 (though, to be fair, I expect that that's GOT to be getting close to Amazon's cost. I think it might be, in the very least, a loss-leader, if not an actual loss.) Still, you can't help but feel that the system is rigged for the rich.

It is frustrating.

I can't believe WotC makes any money off this or at least this isn't good for them or the industry in the long term.

FitzTheRuke · Aug 21, 2023

darjr said:
It is frustrating.

I can't believe WotC makes any money off this or at least this isn't good for them or the industry in the long term.

Well, I believe that WotC justifies increasing the MSRP on their books knowing full well that MOST OF THEM will make it to the market at a vast discount. Frankly, only us old-school "mom-and-pop" stores get stuck with MSRP (most of which we get 40% off on from our distributors, which really isn't great!)

Meanwhile, big box stores get deeper volume discounts from WotC, and only mark them up a little from cost - because they're planning to sell 100,000 of them, or whatever.

Personally, I'd prefer a market that simply has lower prices and STICKS TO THEM. (Barring seasonal sales, I suppose). But that's not how modern marketing schemes work.

It's one thing when they mark them down below what I can discount them. They're bigger, that's fine. It's another thing entirely when they mark them down below my cost. Then what's my choice? Buy the books from Amazon myself? (I've done it, but man... that hurts).