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

[Parmandur]

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.

Replacement books are easy to get from WotC, so probably more new players, or folks who had been cribbing somebody else's book.

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[intently]

Replacement books are easy to get from WotC, so probably more new players, or folks who had been cribbing somebody else's book.

Tangent, but what? WOTC will replace worn out books?

 

[happyhermit]

Tangent, but what? WOTC will replace worn out books?

Not "worn out" but "defective" ones, such as binding issues from early print runs. I have seen this endlessly online if you search, even heard it on the official podcast. They may replace books that have worn out, but that is not the intent.

I "break in the spine" on hardcovers just out of habit, because I don't like cracked spines in general. I haven't had any real issues with my books after years of use (and abuse in some cases).

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Really? My local FLGS not only had the special edition in stock, but proudly had a stack of them on the counter ready for purchase, and the guy at the counter immediately volunteered the information, unprompted by me, that the store would be carrying all special editions in the future. I guess it all comes down to the people at the store...

Yep, it's definitely hit or miss. I just moved across country and had the opportunity to visit a game shop in Portland on my travels. It was wonderful to be in the presence of shelves full of various and sundry RPGs, both familiar and ones I'd never heard of, once again. Everything from Storm King's Thunder, to some OD&D booklets for sale. I'm expecting to be able to find similar options where I'm at now too, so it's rather exciting.

 

[happyhermit]

The following data is taken from Amazon.com on Oct 28, 2008. It probably doesn't mean that much. I was having fun collecting it.

#1,085: Adventurer's Vault
#1,449: D&D 4E Gift Set
#2,734: 4E Player's Handbook
#2,863: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
#4,949: 4E DM's Screen
#5,507: 3.5E Player's Handbook
#6,954: Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide
#9,337: 3.5E Dungeon Master's Guide
#12,849: 4E Dungeon Master's Guide
#15,558: H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth
#17,234: H3 Pyramid of Shadows
#19,494: 4E Monster Manual
#23,004: Scepter Tower of Spellgard
#24,656: 3.5E Monster Manual
#25,771: H1 Keep on the Shadowfell
#30,914: 4E D&D Starter Set
#445,483: The Sunless Citadel (3e adventure)
#448,647: Pathfinder #1: Burnt Offerings
#561,780: Pathfinder #14: Children of the Void
#747,380: Pathfinder #13: Shadow in the Sky
#948,303: DL1 Dragons of Despair (1e adventure from 1984)
#1,025,107: WG7 Castle Greyhawk (terrible 1e adventure from 1988)
#1,652,435: Pathfinder #15: The Armageddon Echo

Cheers!

Interesting.

 

[happyhermit]

Just to update;

PHB is at #10 in Canada, #67 in US
TftYP is already down to #1190
Volo's is still up at #747

 

[darjr]

Thanks for that update. #67 Wow. I wish I could DM full time. I think I'd have enough unique players at this point.

 

[Aaron L]

Not "worn out" but "defective" ones, such as binding issues from early print runs. I have seen this endlessly online if you search, even heard it on the official podcast. They may replace books that have worn out, but that is not the intent.

Would that include books with smeared ink? With all of my core books, PH, DMG, and MM (from the very first printing batch, I assume, since I had them all pre-ordered them from Amazon and got them as soon as they were available) the first time I opened them the ink would smear whenever I touched the page. Once I noticed what was happening I was very careful to try not to touch the pages until the ink had a chance to dry in the air, but I still ended up with quite a few pages in all three books having several words smeared into illegibility, or black smears across the entire page from my hand/arm brushing against it. And even now years later, even with trying to be careful to allow the ink to dry and avoid touching the pages, it still happens. It's quite annoying, as I consider the books to be quite aesthetically pleasing, and having smeared ink on half the pages of all three of them just detracts from their appearance. I was planning on replacing them before long anyway as they've all gotten pretty ragged from heavy use.

Oh well, I doubt WotC would offer replacements for a reason like that, but I was just curious; is this something they have corrected, or is it an artifact of the printing method used and therefore won't make a difference no matter what print run I get?

 

[happyhermit]

Would that include books with smeared ink? ...

Dunno, all my books are fine but I've heard they have been very good about replacing defective products. The amount of time that has passed for your might be an issue but I really can't say. IIRC returns directly through Amazon are on a timeline. As for the ongoing issues, I have bought the core 3 Volo's and several adventures from amazon and in-store and they have been fine, so it isn't across the board for sure, some of those include first printing run as well.

ETA; I did have some "wavy" pages in my MM (first print run) but I typically store my hardcovers on their side most of the time (better for them) so it corrected itself.

 

[Hussar]

I remember reading that the "wavy pages" thing was more an artifact of how the books are stored - extremely dry, cool places where they are shrink wrapped and then shipped. When they hit natural air and humidity, that's where you get the wavy pages. Leave them on their side a couple of days to "relax" and they should be fine.

For S&G's, I looked it up on my local Amazon (Amazon Japan) and got the following:

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,546 in Foreign Language Books (See Top 100 in Foreign Language Books)

Sigh. Now you know why I play online.