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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DSC-EricPrice" data-source="post: 1938430" data-attributes="member: 2110">IMHO we have something strange going on in the RPG industry and I wonder if it was done on purpose, or was in fact an accident.In this industry we (the publishers) are setting the prices, not the retailer (be it DTRPG or RPGNow). That is completely backward to traditional methods, which allowed retailers some flexibility in setting prices in the hopes of attracting customers. That type of system TYPICALLY leads to retailers continuing to lower prices until the profit margins are so thin that no one can really compete (from a retailer perspective). I THINK thats why DTRPG initially thought they needed exclusivity agreements, and why theyve backed off of them now. With our current method, we need not worry that retailers will face economic hardship because of competitive pricing wars.  If you consider it RPGNow is A LOT less like a retailer and more like an outsourced store (with a place in the "mall" so that traffic is MUCH higher than it might be otherwise).Why would an RPG company have its own store then? Simple. We want the other 30%, and the barriers to entry for making a store (particularly with Paypal) are virtually nil. Even a professional store made with that OpenCart software that Dragon Scale Counters used to use is relatively inexpensive. We paid just $15 a month to host the MySQL backend and run the store.With this model then if there is a market for another RPG material "retailer" its business plan lies in cuts in the charges a retailer is willing to make to the publisher. Cuts alone are not enough though given the HUGE start RPGNow has on any late comers. A would-be retailer might become popular based on the removal of the minimum order, which lets face it has bit all of us at one time or another, and I think Im reading that that is exactly what the other guy is trying. Another idea might be to get tied in more tightly with another RPG new site with a lot of traffic. Only time will tell if the late comers will be successful. One thing is for sure. Unless publishers are forced into exclusivity agreements or receive a discount for being "exclusive" then they have no real reason to NOT advertise and sell in every store on the web that will take their product.</blockquote>

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