Pre-order D&D 3.5 books for $17.61

[RigaMortus]

Because Amazon.com is the WalMart of the internet...

That being said, I have no opinion about this topic either way

 

[S'mon]

I later discovered I could have got Lost City of Gaxmoor from them for a little over half what it cost to have amazon.com ship it from the USA.

Ha! Serves you right for not going there in person. I can get there and back in two hours!

Hi Andrew - this was before I knew they existed.

My point was that FLGS's need to compete on all fronts - value for money, range of goods, & quality of service. The good ones do this. No gamer has a moral obligation to buy from them if they don't.

Edit: Re small press publishers. It seems like a nice hobby but I don't see why you would want to give up the day job... (evil smilie) >
I don't really buy the argument that third-party commercial publishers of D&D material are a necessary part of the D&D game. I have bought a bunch of Mongoose and other 3rd party stuff, it's nice but it's very peripheral - I'd still be running a D&D game without it (although WotC's nice attitude exemplified in the OGL was certainly something that attracted me to 3e). The Internet is a free distribution mechanism for non-commercial materials, there's as much free material out there (of all sorts of quality) as anyone could ever use, and then some. Arguments that the hobby would die without 3rd party commercial publishers make little sense to me. WoTC is necessarily the driver for D&D, not Troll Lord or Necromancer.

 

[DaveMage]

Be careful with Walmart.com, as they do charge shipping and (according to a recent news article) sales tax. That will offset some of the deep discount.

Amazon, of course, does not charge sales tax, nor shipping on orders over $25 (unless you request speedy delivery).

 

[frankthedm]

Up here in my sector of IL there is a 7.5% direct mark up known as sales tax when i go to a Funky Loco Gamey Store.

I will patronize them, but i am not honor bound to them. They are essentialy ok people and have given me good deals at times but on the other hand they have lied to me about released dates when they simply didn't have the item [Manual of the Planes 3E and Reapers Deathsleat miniatureare JUST 2 exaples] and They GOUGED me $50 for a $30 Call of Cthulhu book several years ago.

BTW TALON you gonna Have Talisman tommarow?

 

[Numion]

Believe me, if Wal Mart could be the only store that existed they would.

Every company wants that. Companies seek profit, and we all know from economy classes that any company gains maximum profit when operating as a monopoly. Not a special feature of Wal Mart, but rather the whole capitalistic system.

 

[KenM]

I live on Cape Cod Mass. we have one local game store, it sells card games and game workshop stuff. At least I can get my painting supplies there. The guy refuses to carry any RPG stuff because he thinks there is not a market for them. They also sell wiz kids stuff. At least there is a Borders books with RPG stuff.

 

[CrusaderX]

I have no local gaming store. So I'm very thankful for amazon.com and walmart.com and such.

 

[Mirth]

As someone who just closed a book & music retail business after 5 1/4 years, I sympathize with you Derek. As is evidenced by a large portion of the posts in this thread, the majority of customers out there are concerned with the bottom line. That is a sad fact of reality that I have learned the hard way and now that the internet has allowed the average joe to buy merchandise at your cost (and often cheaper) I hope you can see the handwriting on the wall.

I'm not saying that your business is going under (and I honestly hope it is not, because what I have read about you says to me that you are a stand-up guy as well as a Mac user ). What I am saying is that trying to change the minds of the nickel-pinching, compunctionless, compassionless, hard-nosed CONSUMERS out there is a complete and utter waste of time. Instead you should focus those energies on your already loyal customers and hope that word of mouth will do what it is supposed to do.

If I sound bitter, I am. But that bitterness not directed towards you or towards anyone specifically on this board/thread. One thing that may help you (or not) is knowing that those faceless, money-grubbing corporate chains care as much for their "customers" as their customers care about you. They deserve each other. Do yourself a favor and move on.

Jay

 

[mistergone]

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to save money. I am very poor, so if I could get the 3.5E books at neary 50% of the cover price each, I sure as heck would. That's just a good deal. I can't ignore it, because otherwise, I won't be able to afford the 3.5E books for a long long time. And honestly, there are some rpg books out now that I want more than those three books anyways. If I look into it, and it turns out that sales tax, shipping & handling, or any other charge adds up so that despite the nearly 50% lower price the books will still cost nearly as much as if I got them at a local store, then I will be back to not getting them for a while.

Edit: Okay, I've checked the WalMart site... they won't let you see how much the sales tax will be unless you sign up with them or something... but it's $58.71 for all three books plus shipping (not including tax). Compare that to $89.85+tax for buying them at the local game store. Has anyone compared the WalMart deal with Amazon? Which is ulitimately cheaper? Does anyone know? Will anyone respond?

 

[techno]

nickel-pinching, compunctionless, compassionless, hard-nosed CONSUMERS

Wow. I am sorry that you had a difficult time with your business, but taking your frustrations out on people who are just trying to find a good deal seems a bit extreme...especially in this economy.