Are retailers insane? • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Are retailers insane?
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clangador
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:59 pm

I went by Gary's Hobbies in Seattle on Thursday and they had a poor condition DMG (the whole spine was missing) for 10.00. I wouldn't have paid two cents for it.

Same day went by Half-Price Books and they had a fine condition PHB for 25.00. I might have paid 10.00 for it.

What the hell is up with retailers overpricing stuff these days?

~Clangador
---------------

Black Blade Publishing imprint of OSRIC is not only the most definitive printing of OSRIC to date, but also the single greatest resource for old school gamers since the three original hardbacks written by E. Gary Gygax.

Traveller
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:28 pm

My comments about Troll and Toad's pricing apply here as well.

tl;dr version: don't like the price, don't buy.

The Gray Book: My homage to E.G.G.

Star Trek: Alpha Quadrant: The game Mongoose failed to make.

Last edited by Traveller on Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

JohnGaunt
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:29 pm

clangador wrote:I went by Gary's Hobbies in Seattle on Thursday and they had a poor condition DMG (the whole spine was missing) for 10.00. I wouldn't have paid two cents for it.

Same day went by Half-Price Books and they had a fine condition PHB for 25.00. I might have paid 10.00 for it.

What the hell is up with retailers overpricing stuff these days?

$10 is still cheaper than the original retail. Add some duct tape, and the book is still usable if ugly.

The Seattle area has numerous HPBs; different stores have different employees with their own pricing policies. I assume that the employee looks at the DMG, knows that it is long-OOP but in decent condition, and prices it accordingly. $25 is not an obscene price, though I would not buy one at that price in the year 2011.

A customer doesn't own a DMG but is out shopping. There it is on the shelf. He doesn't buy a lot of RPGs and does not research prices. Maybe he has store credit to burn, or maybe he has some extra cash or a discount coupon. The sale is made, and everyone is happy.

Magelin
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:14 pm

I stop by the three Half-Price Books stores in Cleveland at least every other day, looking for good deals in the game section.

When 3.5 was going strong, their prices were excellent; if I had the money, I could easily have dropped $100+ two or three times a week. 3.5 books were $7.98 to 12.98 each. Now, they're truly "half" the cover price and often more. The 1E and 2E books they had then were never more than $3 or $4.

Now, they seem to think they've stumbled across a gold mine in "old" gaming books and their prices are completely whacked; just last week I found a complete I3-5 for $4.98.....and at the same time, they had a completely beat-down and incomplete Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in their "collectibles" case for $25.

One of their managers said they use www.abebooks.com for their pricing. An example at AbeBooks...

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDet ... D0%26y%3D0

Original 28mm fantasy gaming miniatures at http://www.centerstageminis.com

Munafik
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:04 am

I too have noticed that prices for vintage gaming materials has gone through the roof lately at hobby stores/used bookstores. To wit, about eight years ago I started frequenting my local hobby store and never paid more than $7 for a used 1st Edition AD&D/D&D module, even the occasional monochrome one, most of which were in mint condition. In addition, all of their used rulebooks never went for more than about $9, also in mint condition. For the past couple of years, however, their prices have shot up so much so that their 1st Edition AD&D/D&D modules now sell for no less than $20-$25 apiece, regardless of condition. Their rulebooks also never seem to go for less than $15. I have reached the point where I have stopped purchasing gaming material at the store, instead focusing on the music section attached thereto, which has a great selection of new and used CDs and vinyl, and still at great prices. To wit, the other day I scored mint condition vinyl LPs of three vintage Blue Oyster Cult albums, each costing me a mere $2.50. Now excuse me while I perform a little "Buck's Boogie" like its still 1972.

Thanks for reading,
Alphonso Warden

"Curses to those responsible for wrapping blackness in everlasting chains."

--WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

Deogolf
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:37 am

I guess the old adage "It pays to shop around" holds true. The 1/2Price Books around us have been pretty good with most things. Most of the 1st Ed books are around $8-10. Once in a while they go a little crazy and the prices will jump up (for whatever reason), but they're usually priced decently. I think it usually depends on who they have pricing them at the time. I remember finding a DCC #3.5 sometime back for $5. Ya just never know!

Eulaliaaa!!!

astenon
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:15 pm

What does "tl;dr" mean?

Icar
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:30 pm

astenon wrote:What does "tl;dr" mean?

too long, didn't read.

Icar
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:03 pm

We have a few good used book stores in Calgary as puterdragon and Blackmoor must know.

Most use ABE books for pricing but can be persuaded to lower their price, especially if you buy more than one item. I can't think of a Calgary D&D book seller that actually sells on ABE books. One store had a torn, pen and pencil marked standard printing of Tsojcanth for $18. :roll:

ABE books pricing bugs me because you have no idea how long the lowest price book has been sitting in the online store. Price the stuff so that it makes you money and rolls out the door. Collectors are very patient people.

My best finds recently were The Arkham Evil, and Pursuit to Kadath, in great shape for $7 each.

FormCritic
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:56 am

clangador wrote:I went by Gary's Hobbies in Seattle on Thursday and they had a poor condition DMG (the whole spine was missing) for 10.00. I wouldn't have paid two cents for it.

Same day went by Half-Price Books and they had a fine condition PHB for 25.00. I might have paid 10.00 for it.

What the hell is up with retailers overpricing stuff these days?

In the case of the two stores you mentioned, clangador, Gary's Hobbies probably considers anything old to be valuable. As for Half Price Books...the Tacoma store does not seem to be able to price RPG books at all. They have a ton of unsold material that has been sitting on their shelves now for years...priced 2x to 3x too high. This is especially true for their non-D&D (translation: "stuff nobody ever played") RPG section.

However the Tacoma HPB store, usually has AD&D hardbacks for $8 to $10.

The University District Half Price Books store is the only one in the area where I have seen realistic pricing on hardback RPG books. They recently priced some D20 books at 1/4 or less of the cover price...which put them within a reasonable purchase range.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Alexander
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:47 am

I don't want to seem harsh or such, but too many people are convinced that the 'right' price for anything of interest to them is 'rock bottom/firesale price', virtually free better still. Retailers have to make a living, you know

, they are not in the field just for fun. Again: do you think is overpriced? Fine, just don't buy or shop someplace else :wink:

TheHistorian
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:12 pm

Alexander wrote:Retailers have to make a living, you know

Absolutely true.

But what is the cost of having stock sit unsold for a long time? Is it better to make a smaller profit and have constant cash flow and stock rotation, or to wait for a large profit? I'm sure it varies, but the former seems to make more sense to me... but then again, I'm not a retailer.

Areas of interest/knowledge: Harn, WFRP, Ars Magica, anything BRP based such as CoC, Runequest, Pendragon and all their related games

puterdragon
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:11 pm

TheHistorian wrote:
Absolutely true.

But what is the cost of having stock sit unsold for a long time? Is it better to make a smaller profit and have constant cash flow and stock rotation, or to wait for a large profit? I'm sure it varies, but the former seems to make more sense to me... but then again, I'm not a retailer.

If enough dust accumulates on unmoving, unsold (and uncared-for) stock, the cost is mildew or mold. Then everybody loses.

Gildor speaks to Frodo: 'Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.'--Tolkien

Icar
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:31 pm

Alexander wrote:I don't want to seem harsh or such, but too many people are convinced that the 'right' price for anything of interest to them is 'rock bottom/firesale price', virtually free better still. Retailers have to make a living, you know , they are not in the field just for fun. Again: do you think is overpriced? Fine, just don't buy or shop someplace else

Used book prices typically run about half of the new price or less, even in mint condition. If the book is collectable, like a DMG, the price can go up. A mint 1st printing DMG is very collectable so it's worth much more than the original cover price. A 5th printing is still somewhat collectable but unless it is in Mint shape it shouldn't command much more than half the cover price.
A hardcover D&D 3.0 book by a small press publisher is barely a collectable and is worth a 1/4 of the retail price.
Ebay is rife with 3.0 game books for $3-4 dollars. It's what the market dictates. If a seller wants to price things stupidly they are welcome to it, but when the TORG supplement sits on the shelf for eight years maybe they need to be called on it. I'm one of a handful of people that might take the book home and read it if the price was right.

Badmike
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:53 pm

TheHistorian wrote:
Absolutely true.

But what is the cost of having stock sit unsold for a long time? Is it better to make a smaller profit and have constant cash flow and stock rotation, or to wait for a large profit? I'm sure it varies, but the former seems to make more sense to me... but then again, I'm not a retailer.

The issue for some retailers is greed, and very little business sense. Particularly brick and mortar stores, they buy for pennies on the dollar. For example, HPB will pay 3 to 5 cents a comic, no matter the age or worth (yep, 3 cents for Amazing spiderman #1 if it was part of a stack). So, for 400 comics they are paying $12, and they sell them for half cover (from $2 to $3 each, more if it's collectible). How long before they get their money back? A week? A day? An hour? Ditto on games, rarely will they pay more than $1 a box set, game book or module. Their profit margin is incredible. Yet they will let a beat up old module sit on a shelf for years overpriced by 1000 percent.

Then again, HPB can afford it, I'm always surprised when a mom and pop does the same thing. Makes more sense to move product like that than stare at it and inventory it year after year.

Mike B.

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FormCritic
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:00 pm

Certainly...we want book sellers and game stores to make money and stay in business.

Absolutely!

In the case of Half Price Books, these are printed products they paid pennies for. Literally pennies.

They could move their stock and make money if they would pay more attention to price point and the actual market.

Instead, what is happening is they have products getting shelf wear over a period of years. The stock is taking up store space and causing them more trouble than it's worth.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Alexander
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:40 am

TheHistorian wrote:
Absolutely true.

But what is the cost of having stock sit unsold for a long time? Is it better to make a smaller profit and have constant cash flow and stock rotation, or to wait for a large profit? I'm sure it varies, but the former seems to make more sense to me... but then again, I'm not a retailer.

I agree of course, a retailer should reason about the best price for its stuff. Not everything is worth a million bucks. A lot of stuff is worth very little and it makes no sense charging high prices for it. But there are many fans thinking that any price beyond what they are willing to pay is obscene/outrageous/offebsive/etc (and such position changes quickly and completely when they have something to sell... :roll:

). A couple of examples: I had for sale a great copy of Dune with BOTH expansion sets in great shape and a Civilization/Advanced Civlization combo game. You woiuld not believe about the numbr of lectures (via email) I( got about how much wrong I was in charging so much and that the right price was far lower (one Italian guy offered me 80 euros and told me 'I was doing you a favour in offering so much

')... Some of them even took offense in me replying 'look, I'm in this business since 1997, I know how to price stuff, if you think it's too costly just be an intelligent consumer and shop elsewhere please'

(which is what I do regularly...

)

benjoshua
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 7:06 pm

TheHistorian wrote:
Absolutely true.

But what is the cost of having stock sit unsold for a long time? Is it better to make a smaller profit and have constant cash flow and stock rotation, or to wait for a large profit? I'm sure it varies, but the former seems to make more sense to me... but then again, I'm not a retailer.

This is a great question. Personally, I have offered weekly sales of items all starting at 99 cents. I give good service, send out short monthly reminder e-mails, and have built up a loyal buyer following. These loyal buyers usually bid up my offerings to a fair price. My usual philosophy is to get it out the door and keep the business flowing.

However, if I had a brick and mortar place, I think most of my items would be what I believed people would and should pay with a weekly selection of bargain or sale items. In consumer psychology, I think what some people call "breaking the ice" is important. Once somebody finds at least one thing they know they want to buy, they'll keep looking and usually buy more.

Grocery stores and big chain retail stores do this all the time. They have teaser/promotional items to get people in the door, and then have everything else at retail/typical prices. Some customers abuse the system (like me

), but with gas the way it is, plenty of people just shop at one location.

I believe this philosophy can work on eBay as well if you have a store with a huge inventory with lots of average and/or lower priced items. Of course, most people don't have a huge inventory like Badmike, so this helpful hint is large irrelevant here. :wink:

Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.

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