3.5? Bah. 3.0

[Taloras]

Hmm....im guessing stores aint stocking 3E PHBs and DMGs anymore. Since im about to start running a game, and my DMG was stolen a few months back, I thought id run down to my FLGS and buy a new one. However, they didnt have one. Neither did the other local gaming store. I had to go to Barnes & Noble to find one, and they only had 2 copies. Now, I dont think im gonna be using 3.5 until i have the money to buy the books, but dont you think they could at least keep 3E books on the shelves till 3.5 came out? For those of us that dont WANT 3.5?

 

[Skaros]

If you have internet access, there is no need. I am willing to bet that many, many 3E books will be showing up on ebay for very cheap prices.

Happy shopping.

Skaros

 

[Zaruthustran]

dont you think they could at least keep 3E books on the shelves till 3.5 came out? For those of us that dont WANT 3.5?

No. Dirt stores live and die by monetizing limited shelf space and moving inventory. Carrying obsolete product is a recipe for disaster.

Example:
You have $10 to spend on inventory, 10 units of shelf space, and your rent costs $10 per month. Each unit of inventory costs $1 and you sell it for $2 (making a $1 profit). You have to sell 10 units every month in order to be able to pay your rent.

Any item that you buy but don't sell to customers represents "frozen" money: the money you spent on the item can't be used to pay your rent, but the rent is still due.

So, say you bought 1 unit of 3E on the chance that someone might want obsolete product, and 9 units of other gaming product. That means that the unit of 3E is taking one of your 10 retail shelf spaces, a space that could have been used for something with a higher chance of selling. And if that one unit of 3E doesn't sell, you won't be able to make your rent payment and your store goes out of business. The penalty isn't worth the reward; it's much safer to just stock 3.5--you know that it *will* sell, and it'll sell relatively quickly.

A wise dirt store strategy is to stock items that many customers want, items with high margins, or items that sell quickly (like 3.5 or collectable games).

An unwise strategy is to stock items that are obsolete or slow moving (like 3E or any but the most popular individually-packaged unpainted lead miniatures).

An online store, of course, has unlimited "shelf space", and can virtually stock inventory by ordering or drop-shipping from a distributor *after* an order is placed.

For example, Amazon.com has stock (virtual or otherwise) on all three 3E core rulebooks. You can order any of the three core rulebooks and have it shipped to your very door in 24 hours. Or you can order a used book from one of the many Used sellers. Or, heck, you can even order the 2nd Edition player's handbook and have it shipped to your door in 1-2 days.

Dirt stores know that online stores exist. The wise ones let online stores handle the back catalog/obscure products, and instead try to get sales on new/high demand/high velocity items.

-z

PS: for those of you that *are* converting to 3.5, you can try to sell your old books on Amazon.

 

[Nine Hands]

Call the Wizard's Tower in Nashua, NH 603-594-0521. They may have a copy either new or used. I'm pretty sure that they will ship you stuff for a minor fee (the cost of postage and nothing more).

Good Luck,

 

[Umbran]

Re: Re: 3.5? Bah. 3.0

No. Dirt stores live and die by monetizing limited shelf space and moving inventory. Carrying obsolete product is a recipe for disaster.

Probably an oversimplification. I'm not sure this is entirely true for the FLGS. I frequently find out of print books in my FLGSs, and often see them sitting on the shelf for a long time. I happened to come by my Alternity books this way - they'd been sitting on the shelf, literally for years.

I thanked the proprietor for keeping such stuff around, and asked why he kept stuff that didn't move on the shelves. His answer was simple - having the older material drew in customers. People who were looking for an odd game would come to his place to find it. Also, having arcane stuff on the shelves led people to browse more, and the more time they spent looking at products, the more likely they were to buy something.

So, it isn't universally true that all product must move off the shelves quickly for a store to make money. Sometimes, having obsolete products on your shelves can be an asset.

 

[Drew Baker]

Hmm....im guessing stores aint stocking 3E PHBs and DMGs anymore.

Months ago the owner of my FLGS started griping that he couldn't get the core books from WotC anymore. I know he hasn't had a DMG in stock for at least two months. So, really, the onus for 3.0's unavailability does not rest with the game store alone.


--Drew

 

[Staffan]

Well, I doubt that WOTC conspired to remove 3.0 material from the market. It's more likely that they just ran out of stock and, with 3.5 on the horizon, decided not to reprint.

 

[Hygric]

But then sometimes the local store makes silly decissions about what to stock. Such as ordering more monster manual II's than what they had ever sold of PHB's.

Then they decide that the entire line must be poor sellers because they have this backlog of over-ordered stock.

Then they stop getting anything new for any RPG whatsoever and concentrate on model cars and stuff.

Soon I will have to go for a 160 km trip to browse roleplaying material.

 

[Taloras]

Grr.....whats bad is that the group im about to start playing with....has only one set of 3E books.....besides mine. However, we cant buy anymore. and i have no plans on converting to 3.5.

 

[The It's Man]

Hmm, I've seen 3.0 books in the gamestores in The Netherlands, so there are still books available. I don't know what they'll do with them (keep them in stock, offer discount or send them back or ...).

(and no 3.5 books BTW as WotC asked to stop selling them before my lunchbreak, luckily a friend didn't had time to read them this weekend)