[3.5] TALON: What are you guys going to do?

[Drew]

Okay then please educate me. How much money have you lost from Amazon, Wal-mart and others selling the product early??

Why does it matter? The point here is that

A. Breaking street date is unethical

B. Breaking street date hurts local gaming shops

C. If no on complains, nothing will get done, and local gaming shops will continue to suffer which, in the long run, hurts the hobby.

If Derek seems a little overzealous, its because he's defending his living and his favorite hobby. What's wrong with that?

 

[Datt]

If you are really wondering check this thread out. It is the Amazon order thread. There were at least 2 people wanting the books to be shipped over night as well as countless others saying they were sick of Amazon not updating them that were going to switch over to Talon. But since Wal-mart and Amazon broke the street date and shipped early all of those people have since gone with one of them. So let's see we are talking about at least 5 sets in that thread alone. Not to mention other people who probably cancelled online and didn't say anything about it. Then add in all the local people who want it NOW and don't want to wait so they ordered it online. You are talking massive losses.

 

[dsfriii]

But what about those people that thought Amazon and Wal-Mart was not going to ship on time and placed orders at Talon Comics. Did they switch back to ordering from Amazon/Wal-mart? I am not being glib, by asking for evidence for the loss. Heck if there is a massive loss then I will support the LGS. But have we seen the proof.

There is nothing wrong with Derek being zealous. I understand him protecting his living. (He does promote buying from his store every chance he gets) But to go as far a saying he is protecting his hobby I think is going a bit far. Breaking the street date is not going to kill the Hobby; heck even ordering the core books from non-LGS is not going to break the hobby. This I disagree with.

 

[KDLadage]

One person ordering from Amazon or WalMart.com or whereever will not break the hobby.

Many, many people not ordering from FLGSs because the big retail chains are cheaper, and faster -- this can break the concept of the FLGS... which, in my estimation, will break the hobby.

YMMV.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Actually, most people having problems with Amazon(at the moment at least) are having trouble with the international sections...and not the American .com section. And about Amazon, from what I've been reading, it seems like they were told the street date was the 16th...which furthur complicates things.

I did order from Amazon, but only because I'm so low on cash. I definatly think Talon should do something about this, and so should all the other FLGS owners and distributers that definatly ARE getting screwed because of the many mistakes that have gone on.

 

[dsfriii]

Hasn’t Amazon been selling WotC books and other big large company d20 products at a discount since at least 3ed? Has this destroyed the Hobby???

But I agree with you if Wal-mart/Amazon started discounting at the 30%-40% on all products all of the time, it will destroy the hobby. But I really think this is a one-time thing that is being blown way out of scale.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Many, many people not ordering from FLGSs because the big retail chains are cheaper, and faster -- this can break the concept of the FLGS... which, in my estimation, will break the hobby.

YMMV.

But this is true regardless of the ship date of 3.5. I order a lot of expensive books from Amazon or Books a Million because while I don't mind not getting 30% off every purchase, I can't afford to just buy everything I want and that discount accounts for whole additional books.

An arguement that has merit but one that's been beaten int othe death about a billion times.

 

[TalonComics]

But what about those people that thought Amazon and Wal-Mart was not going to ship on time and placed orders at Talon Comics. Did they switch back to ordering from Amazon/Wal-mart? I am not being glib, by asking for evidence for the loss. Heck if there is a massive loss then I will support the LGS. But have we seen the proof.

There is nothing wrong with Derek being zealous. I understand him protecting his living. (He does promote buying from his store every chance he gets) But to go as far a saying he is protecting his hobby I think is going a bit far. Breaking the street date is not going to kill the Hobby; heck even ordering the core books from non-LGS is not going to break the hobby. This I disagree with.

Actually, yeah, I did have some people switch to me and then switch back because Wal-Mart didn't cancel their order. However, I can't give any kind of loss numbers because I haven't received the books yet! I do know for a fact retailers across the country are lowering their orders with their distributors because I've talked to the distributors.

Like I said before, because this is my number one priority right now, I've been on this situation and been given privilege information regarding distribution, sales numbers and how other retailers and distributors are reacting.

I do have a problem with massive discounters who have no interest in promoting gaming (ie. Wal-Mart) and from my 10 plus years of experience in gaming retail I know massive discounting is effecting game stores world wide. Regardless of that, ignoring the street date while the majority of game stores have to comply to it has, without a doubt, lost sales for the stores that are under a street date release. All it takes is someone to be able to read the other threads on EN World to realize that.

~D

 

[drothgery]

One person ordering from Amazon or WalMart.com or whereever will not break the hobby.

Many, many people not ordering from FLGSs because the big retail chains are cheaper, and faster -- this can break the concept of the FLGS... which, in my estimation, will break the hobby.

YMMV.

Eh. I've bought all of three gaming books in my life from a LGS (friendly or not). I bought one book from a non-local GS (I ordered the WoT RPG from Talon, because Amazon sometimes has issues with pre-orders; usually a few weeks is meaningless, but I'm a WoT junkie). I've picked up three or four books from non-gaming stores (chain bookstores or multimedia stores). And I've ordered several dozen books from major online retailers, mostly Amazon. It's not a stretch to say that without online retailers, I'd've bought less than $150 worth of gaming materials, instead of over $500 worth. I'm not sure how many others this is true for, but LGS had pretty much nothing to do with the hobby for me.

 

[WizarDru]

It's not a stretch to say that without online retailers, I'd've bought less than $150 worth of gaming materials, instead of over $500 worth. I'm not sure how many others this is true for, but LGS had pretty much nothing to do with the hobby for me.

Maybe I'm dense, but I'm not sure I follow what you're saying here. It would be more logical if you said, if not for online retailers, I certainly wouldn't have ordered 30 books of gaming materials, instead of 10. But you're saying that because you saved a few dollars with an online discounted retailer, you ended up spending $350 more? I'm not arguing, I'm just confused what you're saying.

Are you saying that the discount retailer convinced you to buy material you might not otherwise have bought, and that in turn created an avalanche effect on your purchasing?