What's Your Price Limit?

[MGibster]

$60 in 2018 is worth like $30-$40 today depending on the numbers you trust.

$70 today is like $35-$48 in 2018, again depending on the numbers you trust. I'm surprised they can sell it so low given what's happened in the last 7 years.

Generally speaking, the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics is considered a fairly reliable source for inflation. According to the BLS, $60 in 2018 is the equivalent of $78 in 2025. Generally speaking, the BLS is considered a fairly reliable source for inflation. So the 2025 price tag of $70 isn't even keeping up with inflation.

TTRPG books are massively undervalued. The profit margins are non-existent, and creators get paid less than minimum wage for a book which took many people months or years to make, and which you can get months or years of use out of.

The topic of RPG prices come up frequently, and at the risk of repeating myself, I find most of the modern books to be of good value. Adjusted for inflation, they're not significantly more expensive than they were 30+ years ago while being of much higher quality in terms of physical attributes and even the writing and editing. In the last 25 years, I've had exactly one book fall apart, Shadowrun 5th edition, and I'm still upset the publisher never replied to my email.

As to how much I'd pay, I don't rightly know. My main considerations when purchasing a new game are as follows:

1. How likely am I to play this game?
2. Do I want it taking up space in my house?
3. Price?

I've yet to balk at the price of a book, but I've certainly done so at the price of a PDF. A few years back there was a RPG PDF for $40 and I refused to pay. Would I pay $70-80 for an RPG core book? I wouldn't rule it out. An extra $10 isn't going to matter to me one way or the other.

 

[Elvish Lore]

To answer the question at the top of the channel... Nowadays I only buy stuff that I'm going to use.

My limit is $60 for a hardcover.

$25 for a pdf.

Anything over, and I'm out.

So I see Draw Steel at $140-150 (honestly not sure which price, I've seen both) for two core books at retail, $70-80 for pdfs, and, it sucks for me, but that's not a game I will be getting into.

And, yes, I think part of Daggerheart's popularity is an excellent price point for what is being offered.

 

[GrimCo]

As someone who has never done that, but has thousands of RPGs, what methods do you use? Certainly FLGSes in London aren't going to "trade" you a used copy of an RPG lol, so presumably you're talking Ebay etc.?

Not Ebay. Once a month, we have flea market where people sell books, comics, vinyl records. It's mostly alternative crowd (punks, metalheads, goths) and younger crowd, which intersects with gaming crowd fair bit. Also, that venue is 5 minutes walking distance from Faculty of electrical engineering and Faculty of mechanical engineering, so fair bit of students come, and there are fair bit of gamers among them. Also, we have wargaming&modeling association and gaming (ttrpg,boardgames) association, so just posting "for sale" add in their groups.

 

[TheSword]

Comparing the dollar amount of RPG books to entertainment per hour isn't a fair comparison to say - a video game or movie.
If I were running Starfinder, a big portion of that investment is my prep, the campaign design, the adventure creation. It's not just the "$4 per hour of fun" for the players.

There’s the other reason it’s bad value to you (other than not running the games) you see game prep as a chore. As work.

The game prep is part of the hobby for a DM. If you don’t enjoy reading rpg DM material - monsters, adventures, rulebooks - then stop doing it.

I’ll say this, for someone who doesn’t enjoy running the games and doesn’t enjoy playing in the games, and doesn’t enjoy reading the games, you still seem to do all three. It bemuses me.

 

[TheSword]

As someone who has never done that, but has thousands of RPGs, what methods do you use? Certainly FLGSes in London aren't going to "trade" you a used copy of an RPG lol, so presumably you're talking Ebay etc.?

eBay is really easy to do, particularly when you use the buy it now option. Add fair postage on top of the price you want for the item. Buy a bulk pack of book sleeves online for £15 and a roll of bubble wrap for similar and make sure you specify UK or Europe only on your listings (shipping further can get very pricy)

For photos I used the rear white side of a white poster laid flat on the living room floor and took photos of front, rear and spine on my phone camera. Then did all the listings straight from my phone.

You can decide your pricing by looking what the product is going for already on eBay. If you want a quick sale then undercut the lowest by 50p. If you have time then go with the median price for that item. If the product isn’t listed then go high particularly if the book is out of print. You can always reduce your price if it doesn’t sell. You can also add a make an offer button so see what people are willing to pay.
I sold 80% of my collection before I moved and made about £2k just on the RPG books.

Make sure the communication is really good, respond quickly to buyers, don’t misrepresent the product and make sure any damage is really clearly specified - with an extra photo if there is any damage so people can make a conscious buying decision. The 5 star reviews will roll in. That’s probably the most important bit.

i appreciate that is quite a bit of unsolicited advice but it might be useful for someone on here.