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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3106254" data-attributes="member: 19675">Well, given my position, I'm pretty sure that when they tell me their wholesale price, they're not lying."Y" seldom takes overhead into account, but explaining overhead is pretty simple.The main problem with this is that in some areas, a single distributor has a monopoly on distribution of the product in question- either due to market forces (the monopoly they have is across the board for the product type- not WotC's fault) or contractual reasons (they have negotiated a monopoly in a particular product for a given region- WotC's fault).This does raise the possibility of "arbitrage"- here, it would mean buying the product from the online retailers who have a retail price lower than the B&M wholesale price- effectively using the online retailer as your "shadow" wholesale distributor.Of course, the B&M store will still always have a higher price than the online retailer...assuming that they'll even sell to the B&M store in volumes large enough to keep that store supplied.In all likelyhood, only the largest distributors are buying in the volume Amazon is.I reiterate- I have no problem with the online retailer if that low price is solely the result of advantageous volume discounts.  Its the other stuff I worry about.Here's one example of what I mean:General Motors is a major purchaser of auto parts- they manufacture very few of their own...most of that is outsourced to specialty companies.  Of course, they get HUGE volume discounts.However, they also have a nasty reputation for not paying their contracts in the agreed-upon time frame, often paying months late.  The reason/result is 2-fold: they get the advantage of keeping their money for more time, gaining the extra interest in their accounts (it sounds trivial, but it adds up to millions of dollars a year); and it keeps their suppliers on the edge of failure...often resulting in ADDITIONAL discounts just to get the suppliers' accounts recievable translated into cold hard cash.The suppliers can't do squat: if they sue or withold parts, GM experiences a slowdown while they dust off their own production facilities and stop outsourcing...leaving the supplier without a buyer at all.What does this mean to us?If RPG companies give such advantageous wholesale prices to online retailers that most FLGSs go under, they'll lose bargaining leverage.  Those online retailers will become (virtually) the sole outlets for the product, resulting in monopsony/oligopsony- a single or small pool of large wholesale purchasers who then can dictate the price to the product suppliers.And monopsony/oligopsony is just a step away from monopoly/oligopoly...and dictating prices to consumers.</blockquote>

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