PHB prices on Amazon

[N0Man]

Yes, the market has spoken, and it said: "4E is still in print."

These greedy retailers jack up the prices on lots of out of print items, and most of the time you can still find them elsewhere at a reasonable price. I hope you are aware of this already, but this holiday season of good will towards all men is frequently expressed by jacking up the prices on certain items that someone might want to buy as a gift, if the supply is limited at all.

I'll also refer you to these 2 items:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dire-Tombs-Dungeon-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786948191/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261021266&sr=8-5"]Dire Tombs: Dungeon Tiles (Dungeons & Dragons)[/ame]
2 new from $227.79, 5 used from $38.44

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Tiles-Dungeons-Dragons-Accessory/dp/0786943483/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261021266&sr=8-6"]Dungeon Tiles (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory)[/ame]
7 used from $92.98

I doubt one can say that the market has spoken and these are the best 2 tilesets ever.

And a few quick ones (without links)...

D&D Basic Game (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Core Rules)
2 new from $109.99, 7 used from $58.22

Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Starter Set
Price: $129.99 (only 1 left)

And video games too!

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (PSP)
Price: $119.98, 9 new from $38.95, 3 used from $23.64

Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes (XBox)
Price: $151.99, 2 new from $69.99 8 used from $17.77

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I recently sold a german copy of the 3.5 Player's Handbook through ebay and got 81 Euros (about 120 American Dollars). That was unexpected.

It seems they are fiendishly difficult to find these days. I am not sure, but I think 3.x might been a little longer out of circulation in Germany.

Or it just has never been that long in circulation. The translations came very slowly, and there has been a change of publishers in Germany at some point.

 

[prosfilaes]

For another price point, my FLGS is asking 120 for the boxed set of the 3.5 PHB, DMG and MM, normal bindings.

The market has spoken; it says the demand for 3.5 material, with the given supply, is enough to keep prices moderately high. More purchasers than one might expect, and fewer people getting rid of their books. But without better numbers, it's hard to say how that compares to 4e or Pathfinder, which are still in print. It's generally safe to say, however, that there is far more demand for 3.5 than 3.0, 2, or 1.

 

[vagabundo]

Damn I need to dig out my 3.x stuff and start selling.

 

[delericho]

Here in the UK, it seems to becoming quite hard to find copies of the 3.5e core rulebooks (though supplements are easier to find). Scarcity drives up the price.

This has nothing to do with quality, of course. (And please note: I say that despite holding 3.5e as my "D&D of choice".)

Also, it does appear that there is a schism in the gamer community between groups who play 3.5e and those who play 4e (some play both, of course). This means that there is an ongoing demand for the 3.5e books. Whether this interest will be sustained, whether it will transition to Pathfinder, or whether it will simply fade away over time.

(Actually, given that there does appear to be ongoing demand, and there does appear to be a schism, I find myself wondering if it wouldn't be worth someone doing a direct "PHB replacement" product - simply take the rules from the SRD, add some artwork, "fill in" the missing details for character creation, and print that. No rules changes, no additions - just a fairly low-cost book to provide the rules for those who want to continue with 3.5e unchanged.)

 

[Thanee]

I recently sold a german copy of the 3.5 Player's Handbook through ebay and got 81 Euros (about 120 American Dollars). That was unexpected.

Not really that unexpected... the german PHB 3.5 is a lot harder to get than the english PHB 3.5, and since many groups stay with those rules and many are not that fluent in the english language...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanlis]

For another price point, my FLGS is asking 120 for the boxed set of the 3.5 PHB, DMG and MM, normal bindings.

The market has spoken; it says the demand for 3.5 material, with the given supply, is enough to keep prices moderately high. More purchasers than one might expect, and fewer people getting rid of their books. But without better numbers, it's hard to say how that compares to 4e or Pathfinder, which are still in print. It's generally safe to say, however, that there is far more demand for 3.5 than 3.0, 2, or 1.

That's only half the market speaking. It'll be the full market when your FLGS sells 'em at that price.

However, I think your conclusion is right. First edition PHBs are going for well under ten bucks.

 

[rjdafoe]

Yes, the market has spoken, and it said: "4E is still in print."

These greedy retailers jack up the prices on lots of out of print items, and most of the time you can still find them elsewhere at a reasonable price. I hope you are aware of this already, but this holiday season of good will towards all men is frequently expressed by jacking up the prices on certain items that someone might want to buy as a gift, if the supply is limited at all.

I'll also refer you to these 2 items:
Dire Tombs: Dungeon Tiles (Dungeons & Dragons)
2 new from $227.79, 5 used from $38.44

Dungeon Tiles (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory)
7 used from $92.98

I doubt one can say that the market has spoken and these are the best 2 tilesets ever.

And a few quick ones (without links)...

D&D Basic Game (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Core Rules)
2 new from $109.99, 7 used from $58.22

Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Starter Set
Price: $129.99 (only 1 left)

And video games too!

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (PSP)
Price: $119.98, 9 new from $38.95, 3 used from $23.64

Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes (XBox)
Price: $151.99, 2 new from $69.99 8 used from $17.77

Just an Amazon thing I think, not much of a marketplace thing. I am starting to HATE Amazon at this point. Daily price changing, high prices on some things.

For instance, alot of Nerf N-Strike stuff has gone up in price by 5 or more dollars overnight, and then there is the Crossfire game that I came across for $399.99

 

[Pyoor]

The prices seem very inflated to me. I visited FLGS's in San Diego, Honolulu and NJ over this summer and most of them are selling their 3.X books for 20-50% off.

Amazon is listing the Spell Compendium at $135 new and $70 used. I picked it up for $10 or $15 at the Game Empire in San Diego in August.

I doubt retailers are selling books 20-50% off the cover price if they could really get $135 for it.

 

[rogueattorney]

However, I think your conclusion is right. First edition PHBs are going for well under ten bucks.

There are both supply and demand sides to that equation.

The 1e PHB went through 17 printings from 1978 to 1991 and had a notoriously high quality binding. Millions of PHBs were printed and millions of them continue to float around the secondary market. The 3.5e PHB was in print from about 2003 to 2008. Even if you assume a million printed per year, there still may actually be more 1e PHBs out there than 3.5e PHBs.

Obviously, the demand for the 3.5e books are higher. But the main reason 1e core books can be had for so cheap is more due to vast supply than low demand. If you take a look at some of the OOP products that weren't produced in as high volume, then you'll see some eye-popping prices.

The (conspicuously absent from the OP) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rules-Cyclopedia-Allston/dp/1560760850/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261073314&sr=8-1"]D&D Rules Cyclopedia[/ame], for example starts at $42.16.