Noble Knight Games and Pied Piper Publishing Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement

http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.c ... piper.html

Sounds like Rob is getting some much needed help with the distribution side of his business.  

This is great news - should clear up the smoke smell on new products too.

JohnGaunt wrote:Smoke adds authenticity.    That is genuine Rob Kuntz smoke impregnating each of those modules.  I only have a few PPP modules that smell like smoke.

For anyone in forensics ... is there any trace DNA in exhaled smoke (seems like there could be on some miniscule scale?  Theoretically, the smoked books could contain Kuntz DNA - although maybe a finger print leaves more of trace.

I do wonder if this move means the end of numbered editions and also if future print runs will be bigger?

smarmy1 wrote:Noble Knight Games and Pied Piper Publishing Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement

http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.c ... piper.html

Sounds like Rob is getting some much needed help with the distribution side of his business.  

Wow this is terrible news, Now it will cost upwards of $20-$25 to get his items shipped to me    I know many of you have a love on for Noble Knight but I find them arrogant, overpriced, unwilling to communicate and ridiculous shipping prices (to Canada).

Exclusive rights to handle PPP products, dumb move.

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:
I can't speak to the shipping costs, but I've never found Aaron unwilling to communicate. I'm a nobody collector who has spent a total of maybe $1,500 with him in the past three years, and, whether it's a trade proposition (all of which have been turned down politely, BTW) or a complaint about a condition grading or what-have-you (I will admit I have had two or three issues, but they have all been resolved to my satisfaction), NKG has always responded within 24 hours. And I've probably contacted them 5 or 7 times.

He charged me $20 to ship a few packs of dice a while back and the actual shipping costs were in the $2-$3 range.  When I contacted him about the overcharge all I got was a bunch of crap about E-bay fees and me getting a great deal on the dice.  He did reply to my e-mails quickly and after a week or so of back and forth he offered me a discount coupon for his store.  His stuff was so overpriced the discount was useless. So effectively he got what he wanted (my money) and I got left with the big shipping tab.

Anyway offering your products exclusively through a single source (any single source) is bad business.  It puts Aaron in the drivers seat to set prices and availability.  This is a bad business move.  Aaron will take advantage of PPP collectors (this is a guarantee).

This is however a great move for Aaron!!  He gets guaranteed sales, he can hold back the last few copies and price them sky high.  He is the only one that stands to gain anything from this deal.

Blackmoor wrote:
He charged me $20 to ship a few packs of dice a while back and the actual shipping costs were in the $2-$3 range.  When I contacted him about the overcharge all I got was a bunch of crap about E-bay fees and me getting a great deal on the dice.  He did reply to my e-mails quickly and after a week or so of back and forth he offered me a discount coupon for his store.  His stuff was so overpriced the discount was useless. So effectively he got what he wanted (my money) and I got left with the big shipping tab.

Anyway offering your products exclusively through a single source (any single source) is bad business.  It puts Aaron in the drivers seat to set prices and availability.  This is a bad business move.  Aaron will take advantage of PPP collectors (this is a guarantee).

This is however a great move for Aaron!!  He gets guaranteed sales, he can hold back the last few copies and price them sky high.  He is the only one that stands to gain anything from this deal.

I'll concede, I haven't always been thrilled with NKG's shipping either. Their automated shipping calculator goes with the most expensive possible option (e.g., I order one module and a pack of dice, as you did, and the price is at least $10 US for shipping in the US).

I can't agree with you on it being a bad move for PPP, though. It was a single source before (PPP). Plus, Rob (if I can call him that) has a very, very bad history when it comes to shipping on time. Eliminating that alone is worth something. The book prints, the book ships directly to NKG (ideally), the book ships to the customer. End of story, hopefully. No more smoke smell, no more two months waiting for a depressive cycle to end so Rob can get his ducks in a row, no need to await the generous help of friends of RJK to get things moving, etc. Shipping to Canada from the US is always going to be an expensive pain in the ass.

Mars wrote:I like the picture - nice background.

How could you miss it.. well at least we know were it is...

Brette:)

smarmy1 wrote:Noble Knight Games and Pied Piper Publishing Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement

http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.c ... piper.html

Sounds like Rob is getting some much needed help with the distribution side of his business.  

Rob is wearing a NTRPGcon Golf shirt

I can understand Blackmoor's misgivings on PPP's exclusive deal with NKG.  It doesnt make a whole lot of sense to limit your audience by selling through just one retailer.  But at the same time, Rob's business is internet sales only.  He has no presence in any FLGS.  Were not talking about Coca-Cola being sold exclusively through Wal-Mart.  I dont think it will make a whole lot of difference.

I hopefully believe that the prices for PPP's new releases will stay about the same.  I dont think Aaron stands to benefit by raising the prices of Rob's items by $5 or $10 across the board.  I for one would stop buying the product if that was done and I think a lot of other people would as well.  As for raising the prices on items when they become scarce....that unfortunately is the way a lot of stores are nowadays.  I quit going to the largest comic book store in DFW because of the owner's business tactics just to make a few extra bucks.  He would raise the price of a popular comic book that was released the same week when he was low on stock.  I basically told him that he was a jerk and that I would never come back to his store.  Five years later and I still havent been back.  And every time I see their booth at a comic convention I make it a point to let one of their employees know that their prices are twice as expensive as all of the other booths there.

As far as shipping and customer service goes, this is a huge plus for Rob.  From my perspective, NKG always ships quickly and packs the items as well as they can be.  I have never had a problem with their shipping costs but I dont live in Canada either so I cant really comment.  Rob has done a much better job since Bottle City in making sure that everything gets out to the customers in a reasonable time frame but with NKG it will be even faster.  And as MS mentioned before, it should alleviate the smoke smell.

Hopefully this means Rob will have the time to produce more quality product, which is definitely what I assume most people want.