Concerning buying D&D 4th Edition

[Aristotle]

The system is failing the 'little guy,' not the customers. Bulk discounts drive prices down and make it easier for distributors who can reach wider audiences to sell for less. 45% discount? That's a lot of money. That's like a whole 'nother book. I just can't justify not taking advantage of that deal.

I don't know the best answer here. I have to wonder if services (fee based rather than complimentary) need to be a bigger focus. Stop selling me product and offering me services to get me in the door, and start selling me services and chances to win big prizes for entry fees.. and then offer me the ability to buy product on the side if I want to. Would that work? No clue. I don't own a game store, despite it being a childhood dream of mine, and it's probably best as I don't have a head for business.

 

[Ktulu]

There are two local Gaming Stores in town:

One is ran by a guy who knows comics, but knows nothing about gaming beyond what's being released by his distributor. They give no discounts, only stock one or two of any product ordered, and are usually 1-2 weeks later than the release date given by WotC. They won't be doing anything for D&D game day.

The other is owned/operated by a guy who professes his general distaste for 3.x, primarily plays other games, and hasn't really stocked much in the way of RPG's, focusing more on wargames & boardgames. He is, however, excited about 4e and will be hosting D&D game day. I often have to special order anything I would want.

Now, I can go through either of those, or I can order from Amazon.com, get a decent discount (which gets the nod of approval from my wife), and have it delivered to my desk at work.

We live in a country founded on the ideals of captialism. In this case, Amazon is beating the flgs because it stocks what I want, provides discounts on pre-orders, and ships them with reasonable speed and accuracy. I'm going with the one that suits all my needs & wants.

 

[Dragonbait]

My FLGS is about 15 minutes away. They are a composite model/hobby/gaming store. There is not much in the way of product knowledge of RPGs in the store. Most people that work there are model builders or wargamers. The employees are generally helpful, and they used to have a game room, but they closed it. They are often late on recieving products. I pre-ordererd KoTS from them, paid (with a discount), and they asked for my phone number to call me when it came in. I have yet to recieve a call even though the product has been out for some time. I purchased KoTS from B&N and am just too busy as of late to go to the FLGS to get my other copy that I'm sure is sitting on their store shelf that they owe me. There are two B&Ns that are much closer than my FLGS and they are well-stocked in teh TTRPG department (heck they even have minis) in regard to recent books (they have many 3ed, Warhammer RP, GURPS, WW, and some other books). I get a discount from ALL purchases there, AND recieve the same support (read: No suupport).

There WAS a game store that took about 25 minutes to drive to. They provided more products, new and old products, all products were discounted (not as much as B&N), and while the workers were not usually D&D gamers in particular they had gaming tables and were gamers of different sorts themselves. They also had a better organized store.
They are out of buisness now. ;_;

 

[daddystabz]

I put an order through Buy.com last night at around 10pm eastern and it changed in status last night to "sent to warehouse" but it has been saying that all day today too and has not been sent to shipping yet. I even ordered 2 business day express shipping. I am worried and wondering if maybe they caught the mistake and are holding new orders now till the release date. Their site also says that they do not charge your card until the item ships but my card has already been charged in full.

 

[silentounce]

I put an order through Buy.com last night at around 10pm eastern and it changed in status last night to "sent to warehouse" but it has been saying that all day today too and has not been sent to shipping yet. I even ordered 2 business day express shipping. I am worried and wondering if maybe they caught the mistake and are holding new orders now till the release date. Their site also says that they do not charge your card until the item ships but my card has already been charged in full.

Why don't you just make that your signature so that way you won't have to copy and paste so many times? This is at least the fourth thread you've posted this in. U

 

[Henry]

Sure, they are cheaper, but those big online sellers specialize in, well, online selling. They DO NOT specialize in game knowledge, nor do they specialize in customer service.

Neither does any game store local to me.

However, I do believe the basic principles in what you're saying, and if anybody wants to see their local store, be it game, hardware, or even independent coffee shop survive these days, it's worth frequenting it as much as you can afford to do so.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Everyone, this is not the place to discuss the relative merits of an economic or political system. There are plenty of wonderful messageboards where you can do that. Please take that aspect of this discussion to one of those places.

Thanks,
Dinkeldog/Moderator

 

[Jasperak]

Edit- Started Post before we were warned. Sorry

 

[JetstreamGW]

I've had two FLGS's in my life that I would go out of my way, and out of my pocket to support.

Book Villa in Huntsville, AL has always had top notch service (ever since the current owners took over at least) or rather, that was the case as of 2 years ago when I moved away from Huntsville to Austin, TX.

Here in Austin, Dragon's Lair is the best RPG store I know of. I know there are others, but DL is close to my work, so its where I buy from. Also, my D&D group PLAYS THERE every other Saturday night, and they have gone OUT of their way to accomodate us even when there are GW tournies running, etc. So I have preordered my books at DL, knowing I will pay tax and full price (and have to wait till release date! Argh!). If they charged to use their table space, then I would not feel the need to buy there. They even let us use their copy of KotS since they had a preview copy prior to release. For doing that, and letting us play there, I encourage my players to buy their books there. Some did, some kept their Amazon pre-order, and I'm okay with that.

For me its not about guilt, its about paying for a service (table space).

Agreed, Dragon's Lair is awesome, probably the best gaming store I've ever been to... But I can't pass up a 45% discount. I just can't. I buy my splatbooks from DL, and I"m there for comic books every week on the dot (even though they got rid of their subscriber discount ;_; so long ago.) but the two boxed sets I'm getting (birthday gift for roommate)... I just can't justify spending 80 dollars more. I could get a third boxed set off the savings from that...


Gotta budget, man. Got bills to pay.

 

[VannATLC]

I don't know the best answer here. I have to wonder if services (fee based rather than complimentary) need to be a bigger focus. Stop selling me product and offering me services to get me in the door, and start selling me services and chances to win big prizes for entry fees.. and then offer me the ability to buy product on the side if I want to. Would that work? No clue. I don't own a game store, despite it being a childhood dream of mine, and it's probably best as I don't have a head for business.

Actually, that's exactly was is required. Even GW Stores here have started doing it.

Stay alive by offering a venue, and organization. Hire out DM's. Run campaign's for customers. Offer discounts that are balanced against monthly fees, then offer content as well.

RPG's are troublesome for FGLS's, because they can be easily pirated, they can be shipped easier than models, etc.

Organization and Game, Membership and Content provision, etc, are the new Value-add components for a gaming store. And knowledge. Always knowledge.
And of course, the Friendly bit.

I'll pay 10/month for access to discount coffee/snacks, a venue, tools, content and a minor discount. And I would then shop there more.

Even then, however.. I'm not sure it can be competitive with bulk online sales.

Until Print-on-demand is a more viable technology, I think FLGS's, with respect to RPG systems, are going to be working hard to stay afloat.