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<blockquote data-quote="RyanD" data-source="post: 168310" data-attributes="member: 3312">Traditionally, hobby game publishers have believed that having the infrastructure of the channel was worth the increased price consumers paid for product.&nbsp; Whether you believe that theory or not has a lot to do with how much value you get from your local game store, book store, or other retail outlet.The thing I would ask you to consider is that at minimum, you should expect to pay between $5 and $7 an order for products you get from a publisher via the internet.&nbsp; You will never get product as cheaply as someone who buys in bulk (like a distributor), because there is a minimum cost associated with processing an order which cannot be gotten rid of.&nbsp; So, even if a publisher abandoned the channel and went direct to the consumer, you would still be paying a price including that overhead cost for fulfilment.Furthermore, I would argue, that if a publisher were to abandon the channel and go direct, they would not be likely to reduce the price of their books down to the existing discount offerered to the channel - instead, they would more likely keep the price right where it is (since people have demonstrated a willingness to pay them), and just make more profit per book.&nbsp; So the net effect would be that you would not have a local game store (and therefore would have a harder time perhaps in finding new products from new publishers, or getting feedback in person from other customers and staffers about various products, or being able to get something on the spur of the moment as an impulse or emergency purchase, etc.), and you would still be paying the same price for the books you buy, plus you'll probably be paying a shipping &amp; handling fee.The only reason that &quot;discount&quot; retailers exist is that they are offered a substantial discount themselves from distributors and direct from publishers that is supposed to be used to create margin to offset costs and generate profits.&nbsp; Publishers cannot charge a discounter more than they charge a non-discounting retailer because doing so is illegal.&nbsp; Therefore, the only reason that discounters exist is that most of their competition does not discount.&nbsp; If that competition goes away, so does the &quot;discount&quot; advantage.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RyanD, post: 168310, member: 3312"] Traditionally, hobby game publishers have believed that having the infrastructure of the channel was worth the increased price consumers paid for product. Whether you believe that theory or not has a lot to do with how much value you get from your local game store, book store, or other retail outlet. The thing I would ask you to consider is that at minimum, you should expect to pay between $5 and $7 an order for products you get from a publisher via the internet. You will never get product as cheaply as someone who buys in bulk (like a distributor), because there is a minimum cost associated with processing an order which cannot be gotten rid of. So, even if a publisher abandoned the channel and went direct to the consumer, you would still be paying a price including that overhead cost for fulfilment. Furthermore, I would argue, that if a publisher were to abandon the channel and go direct, they would not be likely to reduce the price of their books down to the existing discount offerered to the channel - instead, they would more likely keep the price right where it is (since people have demonstrated a willingness to pay them), and just make more profit per book. So the net effect would be that you would not have a local game store (and therefore would have a harder time perhaps in finding new products from new publishers, or getting feedback in person from other customers and staffers about various products, or being able to get something on the spur of the moment as an impulse or emergency purchase, etc.), and you would still be paying the same price for the books you buy, [i]plus[/i] you'll probably be paying a shipping & handling fee. The only reason that "discount" retailers exist is that they are offered a substantial discount themselves from distributors and direct from publishers that is supposed to be used to create margin to offset costs and generate profits. Publishers [i]cannot[/i] charge a discounter more than they charge a non-discounting retailer because doing so is illegal. Therefore, the only reason that discounters exist is that most of their competition does not discount. If that competition goes away, so does the "discount" advantage. [/QUOTE]

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