Price-Sensitive Gamers

[MThibault]

Oh and to answer the question:

I am price conscious to a point. I have to really want a product that is really expensive (which usually means it has to be well reviewed/received) but I'll eventually buy it. The only difference is that I don't have to wait as long for a cheaper product. I've never bought a product because it is cheap.

Have you looked on RPGNow? I could blow my whole budget on things that are cheap that I don't want. That is not to say that I don't want anything from there, just that if price were the only issue, then I would have almost everything they sell. But I don't.

Cheers.

 

[ced1106]

The hobby shop I do my shopping at is independently owned and operated. They are unable to offer many sales, so just about everything I buy there I buy at the MSRP. However, because they ARE independently owned and operated, and have become relatively good acquaintences over the last few years, I'd far rather give my money to them, for full price books, rather than taking advantage of 30% discounts from monsters like amazon or ordering through B&N.

The independent I frequent offers many sales, but what's interesting is that it's often different things, at different amounts. I figure the idea is to get the customer into the store more frequently, and not have the customer take the discounts for granted.

Either that, or she's smart enough to know that you have to move product, not let it sit on the racks.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[kreynolds]

So, are you a price-sensitive gamer?

Not so much. Well, only when my checkbook can't take the hit.

I'll generally pick up any product that I find terribly useful, and to be honest, that doesn't happen very often, not when you consider how many RPG products are out there. The main reason is because I tend to write a lot of my own material, such as monsters, templates, magic items, prestige classes, and feats.

I'm not as prolific when it comes to spells though, so I'm more prone to buy a product that contains interesting material that pertains to them. I'm also pretty keen on campaign setting material, such as the FRCS and Silver Marches. I rarely ever purchase adventure modules though, as I'd rather make up my own adventures. Modules tend to be way to restrictive for me and end up being more work to adapt them to my games than its worth. City of the Spider Queen and The Demon God's Fane are the two most noteable exceptions.

When it comes to monster products, I gotta tell ya', it's a very rare occasion indeed that I find even a few of them useful at all. The creature collection books from S&S are pretty interesting, but as a whole, I didn't find them gripping, so I never purchased them. The other problem with monster books is that it seems that many of them could have used a little more playtesting, such as CRs being off by a few digits, which could end up in a TPK if you're not careful.

All that said, I'm a pretty big sucker for products put out by WotC, Monte Cook (not necessarily Malhovic Press in general), Mongoose, and Green Ronin. I think those are my favorite publishers.

 

[Kichwas]

A store near where I live has a sale on selected d20 items.

Every friday at the gaming table I'm asked if this or that book is on sale... I only go to the store once every few months as it's a few cities south of me, but I'm the only person in the d20 group who goes there with any sense of regularity.

The rest of my group was priced out of the hobby around the time the core books came out. They've each picked up a few items here and there, but not much overall.

At both the store with the sales and my local store, there sits a large supply of unsold d20 inventory. Much of it is the same stuff that's been there month after month.


I see three things going on right now:

1: price on some items is too high. Such that the only buying it are those with a vested interest in getting it. Casual gamers don't bother.

2: there's a significant amount of glut in certain product lines. Mostly modules.

3: there is a problem of duplicates. Three or more shaman books, three or more Sea books, three or more super RPGs, two or more modern games (d20 modern and Spycraft at least).



Apparantly d20 is selling, because the crash for these companies hasn't happened yet. But I can't tell who's buying. The stores I visit are full of unsold product and the people I game with aren't buying any of it.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Every friday at the gaming table I'm asked if this or that book is on sale... I only go to the store once every few months as it's a

Tell them that it's always on sale at Amazon.com, at 30% off and free shipping. (Or buy.com, at 37% off and free shipping)

At both the store with the sales and my local store, there sits a large supply of unsold d20 inventory. Much of it is the same stuff that's been there month after month.

You're jumping to conclusions. Just because there's always a copy sitting there doesn't mean it didn't sell. It could easily sell a copy a week but the store keeps restocking it so it looks like there's always copy there sitting unsold.

2: there's a significant amount of glut in certain product lines. Mostly modules.

I don't see that at all. There aren't any modules above 15th level that aren't published by WoTC, for instance. Since I plan campaigns around modules, I see a big hole there.

 

[JohnNephew]

Atlas games's damaged book sales probably doesn't do that well, because most of their stuff can be had on ebay for less , and just used, not damaged.

It's true that a lot of those books were available for less on eBay. However, it's worth noting that our "damaged" books were often in much better shape than the books you find on a store's shelves, if they've been handled by a few customers. For example, if the tips of a hardcover were dented slightly in the warehouse, we don't send it out to distributors -- there's a certain inevitable amount of wear that occurs in transit, but we don't want to magnify it by sending out something that is scuffed or dinged in the first place.

When we sell our damaged books, the usual puzzled response is, "uh...where's the damage? this little scuff on the corner?" or the like.

Nonetheless, if there was a huge demand for savings of 30%+ (we now have some of those fire sale items available at 30% off through Warehouse 23), you'd think there would be a stampede to such savings. The people who want things cheaply, though, are looking in general for prices that are not viable for a publisher to charge.

I'm working on an article for d20weekly, btw, that presents a spreadsheet for the budget of a D20 product. It would let folks plug in different retail prices and see what the effect is on a publisher's profitability. (Cutting the retail price by 30% in the spreadsheet, without cutting any expenses as well, cuts the potential profit to just about zero, even if a print run of 2000 copies sells out entirely. And a lot of D20 books these days don't sell more than 1000 copies.)

 

[mearls]

When we sell our damaged books, the usual puzzled response is, "uh...where's the damage? this little scuff on the corner?" or the like.

This is true. I purchased a "damaged" copy of Ars Magica 4th edition from Warehouse 23 and found the book to be in good condition. There's a small scuff on the spine, which puts it in better condition than many books at the FLGS.

 

[Bagpuss]

Re: Re: Price-Sensitive Gamers

I further believe that there is a large, untapped market for even more expensive products which cater to people who have the disposable income to spend provided that the higher priced "premium" items live up to their price points. Taking existing content and just raising the price can work under certain circumstances (limited, leatherbound RPG core books, for example). But nobody has yet attempted to make a very expensive RPG product targeting mainstream RPG players that just happens to be $50 to $100. I believe that when those kinds of products are attempted, they will reveal the existence of a very interested market.

I'ld like to see some adventures at the quality of the old Call of Cthuhlu boxed adventures. The quality of handouts in Orient Express and the original Mask of Naylathotep (sp?). I doubt I'd pay extra just to have a leatherbound book, but for something out of the ordinary I'd be willing to spend more for a quality product.

Haven't leatherbound books been done for other RPG's already? I think CoC and Vampire have done limited editions like this, does anyone know how well they did?

 

[Bagpuss]

And a lot of D20 books these days don't sell more than 1000 copies.)

I'm not surprised. Of our gaming group I easily spend the most money on RPG, spending roughly £20 to £30 pounds a month, (Although some months its nothing and others its £60).

The rest of my group, since 3E has come out...

My wife (Player) - buys nothing, shares my stuff
Mark (Player/DM) - Has bought the PHB and DMG for 3E, Star Wars D20.
Germaine (Player) - bought nothing
Richie (Player/DM) - Bought PHB, bought some Flashing Blades stuff.
Sue (Player) - Bought nothing

Now Mark and Richie have a 'collection' of stuff from earlier days when they didn't have as many bills to play manily 2E and other game systems.

I imagine a lot of groups are similiar so maybe 1 in 6 people that regularly play RPG's actually "regularly" buy RPG products. Its probably worse than that. With so many products on the market after the same money, its amazing you can make any money selling and RPG product.

 

[Kichwas]

At both the store with the sales and my local store, there sits a large supply of unsold d20 inventory. Much of it is the same stuff that's been there month after month.
You're jumping to conclusions. Just because there's always a copy sitting there doesn't mean it didn't sell. It could easily sell a copy a week but the store keeps restocking it so it looks like there's always copy there sitting unsold.[/b]

No I'm not, you're making an assumption on my statement that presumes I am not informed.

It is the same product, and growing steadily, something I know from conversing with the staff.

A similar condition has been developing in a steadily growing used section. Though it's not limited to d20 there.