Ptolus at Amazon?

[Vocenoctum]

No one needs a discount because no one needs Ptolus in the first place. Like all RPG books, Ptolus is a luxury product quite unessential for living.

I already addressed that. "need" isn't about needing the product, but needing the pricepoint in order to get the product. To avoid more of the semantics, rephrase that one line as;
"Some people want the product but the discount is what allows them to get it."

Is that satisfactory?

You are making it sound as if there are no RPG-specific online stores out there, which is simply not true. I mean, I've preordered Ptolus from a German RPG online store, and I am sure that the USA has a bunch of them, too.

I used to do a lot with Stiffybaby's, before the change, now they have a different feel. I haven't dealt with RPGSHop in years, since they took a week to ship, back when I tried them. (No idea of currently) I've ordered from plenty of different places, including White Wolf years ago. (They took about a MONTH to ship, so no thanks.)

So, Monte Cook believes that Stiggy, or RPG, or any of the other online discounters are fine since they're "game distrubitor" based and not Book Trade based like Amazon?

No, this is about the discount, and nothing else. You are not forced into a slavish, abusive dependency on your LGS.

So all the folks that say they order from Amazon for reasons other than Discount are delusional?
Really, Buy.com's discount was better than Amazon's for quite a while, and in some cases still is. I order from plenty of places. With Amazon Prime (free trial, ending soon) I can have the book next day'd on prerelease and have it waiting for me at home on release day. That is very convenient. With the discount, oftentimes Next Day is still the same price as just getting it locally (without Amazon Prime's reduced shipping prices) and hence still a lot more convenient.

As for whether Monte Cook's decision was based strictly on Amazon's discounting, I can't read his mind, just his Statement.

In it, he neglects the non-discount book trade (Borders, Waldenbooks, B&N) that a lot of folks shop at locally, meanwhile disregarding online discounters that are "Game Stores", like Stiggy and RPG.

 

[Vocenoctum]

My point being that Dwarven Forge sells direct and thus prevents me from getting a discount on their stuff unless they offer it. I'm not mad at them about that....

I'm not sure if Game Stores order direct from DF or if "sell direct" means they also sell to Game Distributors. My point was simply that Ptolus is being selectively offered, rather than a blanket "only direct".

Now, off to TitanQuest for 10 hours...

 

[Jaws]

We just don't do pre-orders. As they are a pain and sometimes delayed very long.

James

Let's say, hypothetically, that I bring in the preorder reservation card to Game Universe. Would you honor it?

Edit: It looks like Amazon fixed the price.


Peace and smiles

j.

 

[JustaPlayer]

Let's say, hypothetically, that I bring in the preorder reservation card to Game Universe. Would you honor it?

Edit: It looks like Amazon fixed the price.


Peace and smiles

j.

Yep, which means they at least think they can get it in. Regardless of what WW says. If they do in fact get it, the people who ordered it at $75 are gonna make out big time.

 

[Reef]

Let's say, hypothetically, that I bring in the preorder reservation card to Game Universe. Would you honor it?

Edit: It looks like Amazon fixed the price.


Peace and smiles

j.

Hmmm...it seems Amazon.ca is still listing the discount though.

 

[Atavar]

Online Book-Seller in Disguise....

Did anyone else think Amazon Prime was some heretofor overlooked Autobot the first time he or she read the words "Amazon Prime?"

Later,

Atavar

-----

"Wisdom is the difference between knowledge and experience." Lt. Cmd. Data

 

[orangefruitbat]

Do you think Monte even has a choice in the matter? WW is his publisher - if they don't call the shots on how a book gets distrubted, they have a major influence. On such a high-risk product (risky as in a very expensive flop if it doesn't sell), I'm sure WW would make sure that they get their 30 sp/copy.

I think its mroe likely Monte is doing this to drive people to buy it directly from him, so he gets the full $120, rather than what he would get even from a FLGS. BTW, I'm of the opinion that keeping the FLGS's artificially afloat does no one any favors in the long run. They need to find ways to compete on their own, and if they can't, then they'll go the way of the dodo. It would be sad, but the industry would have ways of surviving now that didn't exist ten years ago.

 

[Odhanan]

Honestly, I think that we all need to stop the whole paranoid/conspiration theorist thing here. I mean, that's not like Monte Cook is an AI trying to take over the world or something...

 

[DaveMage]

Honestly, I think that we all need to stop the whole paranoid/conspiration theorist thing here. I mean, that's not like Monte Cook is an AI trying to take over the world or something...

Are you sure?

 

[JustaPlayer]

Do you think Monte even has a choice in the matter? WW is his publisher - if they don't call the shots on how a book gets distrubted, they have a major influence. On such a high-risk product (risky as in a very expensive flop if it doesn't sell), I'm sure WW would make sure that they get their 30 sp/copy.

Monte does have a choice on how his book gets distibuted. He doesn't work for WW, he is their customer. If there is a problem it will affect Monte not WW.

Honestly, I think that we all need to stop the whole paranoid/conspiration theorist thing here. I mean, that's not like Monte Cook is an AI trying to take over the world or something...

They do call him evil on his boards