Where do you buy your gaming stuff?

[was]

..I have been a long-time advocate of buying my gaming stuff at my FLGS. I know the owners and most of the folks that work there pretty well. However, money has been tight recently and I have been watching the prices from online dealers as well. Now, I am torn. I am looking forward to the new 5E book coming out next month, but I am balking at the $50 price tag when I can get it online for $35 including shipping.

..I guess my question is, how much more should you be willing to spend to buy local vs. buying online?

 

[biotech66]

It really comes down to how much you value your local place. You pay more because you're paying for space. If you don't get the space, then that place is just screwing you over. If the local people give you a solid place to play and are awesome then $15 isn't the worst. If they are just a store, then screw them and go online.

 

[Stormonu]

Sadly, all my local FLGS have crashed and burned, with the exception of one hobby store that has a collection of Games Workshop and board game stuff (they primarily sell trains, models & RC stuff). I bought a decent amount of GW stuff (6 various armies worth), but now that I've got all that, I'm not buying any more - not playing that "keep up" game with their rising prices any more.

I get most of my stuff off Amazon, Books-a-Million, occassionally Miniature Market or E-Bay (for Out-of-print stuff). Since I've watched over five FLGS slowly turn into un-FLGS and then die, I don't have any local loyalty. It's wherever I can get it cheapest.

 

[Crothian]

I buy on line or the used book store. I don't play at the local gaming store or use it for anything. I don't even go to them anymore as I got tired of high prices, rude employees, and other negative behavior by them.

 

[steenan]

I haven't bought a physical RPG book in nearly 10 years. There are several reasons for that:

1. I don't have space for keeping all the books. On the other hand, I can keep hundreds of PDFs on my laptop or reader and have them on hand when I travel. I also don't have to worry about them being eaten by a baby.

2. PDFs are significantly cheaper, especially with international shipment taken into account. Also, I got many games from kickstarter rewards (with no shipping to Poland or awfully high shipping costs), bundles of holding etc.

3. A significant part of my collection are various little indie games that are just not available in physical form.

 

[Zhaleskra]

Because game and hobby stores are somewhat difficult to get to (high traffic area, high parking meter charges except on Sundays, some lots you can't park in without permits again except at certain times or Sundays), I've been buying through RPGNow.com when I want something. While I know they've changed their name a few times, I'm going to keep saying RPGNow, because that's what I originally knew them as.

For dice, I like to order from Crystal Caste.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I buy from a wide range of sources. I am blessed to have several nice FLGS, two of which I game at. I try to buy something everytime I go in. Often this is just a food item, but I also pick up books and board games that I'm excited about.

I also buy a fair number of things in .pdf usually through RPGNow.

Around the holidays I always puts some RPG on my Amazon wish list, so people frequently get some from Amazon for me on my behalf, though I rarely shop their on my own.

Kickstarter is also starting to take up an ever larger portion of my gaming budget.

 

[gamerprinter]

I don't really use my FLGS much, I used to go there often, but though I get along with the owner, his employees, not so much. They are kind of more interested in MtG, than RPGs, so that's part of the reason as well. Mostly I'll buy some dice every now and again. Otherwise I get my hard books from Amazon, and PDFs from DTRPG. Because I'm a freelancer for Rite Publishing, anything that Rite produces, I get a free download, even if I had nothing to do with a given product (of all my products, I do the page layout, so I already have the publication before it goes on the market). I have purchased from the Paizo Store, and a few other specific, private marketing pages from some unique products that aren't available on DTRPG. I have contributed to a Kickstarter or two, so some RPG material is straight from the publisher behind a KS. That's about it.

 

[darjr]

I try and buy what I can at my flgs, sometimes it doesn't work out. He's OK with that, not happy, just he knows the world we live in.

 

[Nathal]

This site seems good for all kinds of dice. I just ordered from there.

http://thedicestoreonline.com/