D&D 5E D&D product sales numbers on Amazon, etc.

[TerraDave]

...
I just skipped the limited edition and ordered the standard version on Amazon.

I remember back when there actually were stores that carried RPG books in my area, but technology has basically killed that off. You can usually find some place to buy Magic cards; but forget about D&D. I miss those days of wonder with shelves full of all sorts of RPG books and no ubiquitous internet shopping to distract and over-inform.

The mostly RPG hobby stores disappeared sometime ago, followed by chain bookstores that carried D&D.

Everyplace I know now that you could get books is a board game store that has an RPG section, with about 5% of the stores total shelf-space.

I have noticed wide variability in the frequency of such stores. A big city might have one, a smaller city with a university might have 2 or 3. (I think rent has something to do with it).

But the days when a game store was a role-playing game store are long gone.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I am wondering why you think Amazon is a bad place to pre-order. I do it all the time. Sure some LGS get it sooner but I rarely how to my LGS so Amazon is very convenient.

Wizard's play stores get the book two weeks early. Amazon doesn't. If you're wanting the book as soon as possible - which is, after all, the entire function of pre-ordering - then Amazon is a poor choice.

 

[Imaro]

Wizard's play stores get the book two weeks early. Amazon doesn't. If you're wanting the book as soon as possible - which is, after all, the entire function of pre-ordering - then Amazon is a poor choice.

I'm not sure that's the point of pre-ordering... I think the point of pre-ordering, at least from Amazon, is that you are assured to get a copy and you get it at the lowest price between the date you pre-order and when it's released... not necessarily that you want it asap...

 

[dagger]

Austin area has around 5 game stores right now, its crazy.

 

[Jester David]

In case anyone is wondering, there are over 1600 WPN stores in North America that run Adventurer's League.
If you expand that to stores that just sell D&D and are WPN stores for MtG, the number goes up. So there is a fair number of FLGS depending on where you live.

 

[fjw70]

I'm not sure that's the point of pre-ordering... I think the point of pre-ordering, at least from Amazon, is that you are assured to get a copy and you get it at the lowest price between the date you pre-order and when it's released... not necessarily that you want it asap...

And I preorder from Amazon for the convenience. I just place the orde when it's announced and I don't have you think about it anymore. It just shows up at my door when it is released. The low price guarantee is nice too.

 

[Mercule]

And I preorder from Amazon for the convenience. I just place the orde when it's announced and I don't have you think about it anymore. It just shows up at my door when it is released. The low price guarantee is nice too.

This, most of the time.

I'm actually fairly pragmatic about it. If I want it, but don't really want it right away, I pre-order at Amazon. If I want it ASAP, I'll go to my FLGS. For example, I wanted PotA right away, because we were just finishing up LMoP. We were still playing that, when CoS was announced, so it got an Amazon pre-order -- fire and forget. When the big-book-o-crunch comes out, I'll probably go to my FLGS, again.

I don't really mind paying a bit more to keep a FLGS around -- I get benefit from them and do a lot of business in other lines. There just hasn't been a lot of D&D stuff, period, and even less of it has been interesting to me, due to the high FR focus.

 

[CydKnight]

Every WOTC D&D 5E item I have currently (Starter Set, PHB. DMG, MM, Volo's, Abyss) I have purchased through Amazon. I get it at my door in two days with Prime and I get it at a low price. My locally-owned and operated hobby store isn't exclusively a hobby store. They have things like lazer tag and video games so table top and RPG hobby items often take a back seat.

Their prices on such items are often much higher at the local gaming/hobby store as well and it is often difficult to find a regular game even on their so-called designated nights for such games. For this reason I have to find and develop my own players to play privately and usually in my home. I would love to support my locally run store but they make it very difficult for me to do so.

 

[DM Howard]

I would love to support my locally run store but they make it very difficult for me to do so.

It has gone this way for me as well. I also understand that by not buying from my FLGS that I am contributing towards the problem (the store doesn't get much RPG interest so why stock RPG books?) but there just comes a point where I don't want to walk into that glorified card shop to most likely not find what I'm looking for.

 

[aco175]

Just checked, PHB is #41 on their list right now. That puts it in the 300-1000 per day range. I wonder if a good portion is from people buying a 2nd book or replacing one that is broken rather than new players.

My LFGS offers 15% off new books. It is not the 30% I can get from Amazon, but it says something about them wanting my business. I wish it wasn't 3 towns away to make the trip worth it more. This is even more true with 5e since the limited number of books to buy is less than before and the 3pp are not being shown.