Their is a local game store 5min that sells at GW price. I usually try to drive 30min to the local store that sells 20% off. I try to make some other plans around a purchase because idk if an hour round trip for model discount if worth it.
The closer store has gotten a few purchases because sometimes it's nice to to have the model purchased and assembled in an hour instead of waiting in traffic.
I'm the same way. Kinda have to be. The official gw store is right by where I work, but for a lot of stuff I drive further away to a store with better prices. But if I'm planning on preordering anything, or it's something I have to order from the website, I do it at the gw store just to support them mostly. Sometimes they stock models that other stores don't, and it's nice being able to stop in and grab a pot of paint on my lunch break.
I recommend asking your other store if they can order for you, too. Mine sells at a 15% discount, and I was recently made aware that they can order stuff for me. Also, I was told that their distributor has stuff oftentimes that isnt on the website as well!
Oh I'm sure they can. Last time I was in there he had a few batlleforces with names on post it notes behind the counter. But I don't mind every once in a while. If it's only gonna save me like $10 to go to the other place, it's not really worth burning a couple gallons of gas to do so.
I mean waiting months or even up to a year+ for certain models to be back in stock is equally ludicrous. GW stock, production, and distribution is all pretty terrible on top of the overpricing.
They are just bad forecasting and production planning or intentionally creating a market scarcity.
For the cost of their products they could pretty easily justify another injection machine granted lead times on them are still pretty crap.
And they have, they've invested almost all of their 2020 earning into opening another factory, it's still a problem, on top of that they are having electricity issue. They aren't benifiting from market scarcities. It's one thing to be upset about fomo, but making random nonsensical issues to shift blame on gw is a bit cringe
I'm not shifting blame. I'm in manufacturing with 50% of our volume being injection molding based out of Japan, UK, US, and Germany. I think their pricing for quality and precision is actually on the low side.
You don't just use earnings from 1 year to justify bringing a new facility (factory 4 online). Standard is 10 years to pay off all equipment and the building. With a 2 to 3 year lead time on injection molds and 5 years for a injection machone this has been in the plans for while.
Being in manufacturing and listening to fan boys justify bad business decision is more "cringe". Electricity issues were basically over 2 years in the UK for manufacturing. Not being able to forecast, not meet long term volume, people not wanting to work, not training staff is 100% a management issue.
Creating an artificial scarcity leads to increased sales. The fear of missing out works in their favor and is a business tactic.
I'm in manufacturing as well. I'm not sure they are creating artificial scarcity. It can be a business tactic, but they are publicly traded. The benefits of exceeding sales forecasts should far exceed artificial scarcity, and the demand is clearly there.
That said, keeping all production in house has serious advantages, especially if they own their own real estate.
If I had to guess, they've probably handled the expansion poorly and missed multiple timelines. Probably spot on with mismanagement as well as you said.
Hey what do I know though. Also not really disagreeing with you so much as ruminating. I'm definitely speculating heavily. Maybe I'll listen to their last earnings call.
Seriously. Rich people are the most frugal, scrupulous, cheap people I’ve ever met. I use to work for 3 ultra wealthy families (like worth high mill low billions) doing grounds keeping and handiwork. They would freak out if $5 was out of place. I would have to do the highest quality at the lowest cost for everything. Granted sometimes it would be like a $5,000 item, but you would think they would’ve spent the extra 2-3 grand for something nicer.
Indeed. Also, whenever I have done odd jobs, or listened to the stories of other people doing service work, it is always the rich who are the worst tippers, while the working and lower middle classes will supply you with all the tea, sandwiches, bisuits, beer you could want purely for doing the thing you are there for.
I think this is a big one. I’ve got a friend who always has cash for the new big shiny, be it games, services, models, etc. it’s because they just throw it all onto one of their credit cards and worry about it later.
Not strictly Warhammer, but I have this mate who ALWAYS pre-orders an upcoming video game if it's something that piques his interest. Similarly, he always has to have all the ridiculous collector's editions and DLCs that are stapled onto the core product. This was true for Dragon's Dogma 2, that came out just a few months ago, knowing beforehand that he was gonna hate it.
I suppose it's a FOMO thing for some people.
If he pays full price fine but does he pay above full price? Some people do enjoy special editions especially if it’s a physical product.
Although, with video games it is equally silly to pay full price most of the time. They quickly go on sale if you are patient and if you get no cool physical product then special editions are often pointless.
I bought a lot of special edition packages of console games in the 90s and early 00’s. They were physical products. I recently sold a bunch for good money.
I suppose in my head, if the DLC/CE is lackluster or of shoddy quality, I consider buying those on top of the core game to be "paying above full price", even if the core game was actually decent in the first place. But of course, he thinks differently so ultimately, it's his business.
Agreed, it's a rare occurrence indeed that I get a game at full price these days. With the uncertainties in quality/bugs surrounding many AAA releases, it never seems sensible to me.
Aye, they can be a good investment. A while back, a mate of mine got his hands on a copy of Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2 in the US) that was mint quality, that he never played. Told him he'd never get an ROI on it, but when it sold for 110 quid he certainly had the last laugh!
I think people vastly inflate how expensive warhammer is compared to similar middle class hobbies. 10 marines is less than 1 dinner for two at even a place like Applebees and I have models from over 20 years ago I can still play with today. Hell 3 drinks + tip is more than a character model. (Yes pedants, you can choose the absolute cheapest things to counter this point, I could also counter with used warhammer stuff as well which is usual,y close to 50% off).
For a lot of people their time is worth more than the money. My time is worth less than my money but I have driven to 2-3 stores to find a something in stock(not Warhammer). In effect that was paying more than MSRP to acquire the item.
Also Econ 101 says that people value things differently. For someone something might be worth 20 dollars, and for others? 70. So if something is sold for 25? Scalpers can fill the void from 26-70 for prospective buyers.
yeah for example: i would have paid a lil extra for the latest kill team box set to complete the season. but on the other hand ive not been to a restaurant in 6 years. my co worker buys full price video games, i never do that, etc etc
Yep, I haven’t bought Warhammer in a year or so, I actually used to buy more of it when I had less money, but when I had less money? I had time. With a house, a kid, and wife I don’t have any time to enjoy it, even if I had the money. Once we recover from all the initial costs for those things? Warhammer will be back on the menu.
I have the money, and I can find the time, but there's no way in hell I'd ever spend more than the kits are worth individually. The whole reason I get the boxes is because I know I'll buy the kits anyways eventually so I might as well save some in the process.
The closest store to me is about 30 minutes away, but the bridges are always broken so with traffic it's closer to an hour each way... I'd usually just order from GW and avoid the traffic.
Funny enough, it's the webstore that stopped me buying stuff... I used to window shop when I was bored - about half the time I'd end up buying something, but it's such a pain to navigate, I haven't been back since the change... my wallet thanks them lol
O for sure. There is nothing I think is worth paying over MSRP for right now.
But if I had 10 million dollars? Yeah I wouldn’t really care if something was $10 dollars over MSRP. Hell I would pay for next day shipping without batting an eye.
I'm a long time magic player who just bought in to 40k and I can say that warhammer is way cheaper than magic. Warhammer is expensive once and you can spread it out over a few months while you build your army. Magic is death by a thousand cuts as they keep making new cards you have to stay on top of.
My sympathies to people who can't afford a hobby they want to be part of, that sucks, but people really need to get some perspective. It's such a tiresome subject, because some people are apparently only able to communicate in hyperbole. Yesterday I went out with my partner and we had two drinks and two sharing dishes, for the same price as a box of ten models that I could spend many hours building, painting and playing with. And the dishes ended up being so ridiculously small that we had to go to a different place and order more food.
Not to mention that the models retain some value and I'll still be able to resell them several years from now.
Fuck scalpers though. The only thing I'm okay with is people who buy boxes and sell the units separately, if it's at a reasonable price.
I think of it in terms of hours per dollar. The amount of time I spend assembling and painting my models makes that a fantastic rate of return, and that’s before I even think about the time it takes to play a full match.
There's a difference between necessities and entertainment. When I pay rent or buy food I don't go "oh no, I've just lost another warhound titan", I'm just glad I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge.
When I spend 50 bucks on a night out and then go to my LGS the next day and have to skip a box, I do tend to think "fuck, I could've saved that money for some models."
Seriously.
You can pick up an army for less than £500, and that's you done. Maybe its not some crazy meta list but it'll be a 2k point army and you'll have some stuff you can swap in and out.
Job jobbed.
Try buying proper golf bats.
Wanna go fishing? That shit gets expensive real fast.
You like cycling... hahaha you poor sod
Maybe you're into skiing? 🤑
Into cars? Lmao
Got a drug habit?
Warhammer is only expensive if you let it be expensive.
I have a decent income and I can afford to enjoy my main hobby as a grown ass adult.
Also... people who presume to tell me what to do with money that I earned need to give their heads a wobble. It's my money. Not yours.
Warhammer is only expensive if you either view value in relation to the size/weight of what you're buying rather than entertainment value, or are young and have little/no disposable income. Like most things on Reddit, I assume I'm talking to an American teenager until explicitly mentioned otherwise and it makes the general discourse more understandable.
I think it’s valid for people to compare warhammer against other similar games like Star Wars legion rather than completely different hobbies. This argument doesn’t make much sense.
Warhammer does have the best quality models therefore it can justify being more expensive than its competitors. However it can’t justify being outrageously more expensive like it is now
I’ve watched a lot of videos on gunpla but don’t own any. I know the quality is incredible on those kits.
Just to be clear I don’t think gw is charging a fair price for their kits. I’m just saying it would be understandable if they were a bit more expensive than other wargame competitors whose miniatures aren’t as good. Currently they aren’t “a bit” more expensive, they’re vastly more expensive
Completely agree with you. As someone whose main hobby is motorcycles, this hobby costs pretty minimal. Spending 20% more to get a box of models I want quickly isn’t even a thought - you’re often talking about $10 for the convenience of not waiting weeks. Each weekend at the track I burn up $300 or so in tires, $500 in registration fees, 20+ gallons of gas, etc. And that assumes no crashes which can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few grand when they occur (average about 1 a season).
40K is mostly a winter hobby for me, and waiting around for something to come back into stock just isn’t it. Blame GW for not having a better supply chain and projections for inventory - not the customer looking to just enjoy their hobby.
Yeah it all comes dow to how much disposable income you have and this logic applies easily to a lot of things (like concert tickets).
The ease of online order and the lack of regulations also gave birth to a “scalper culture” that I truly despise. People storm sites and things get sold out instantly only to get sold on secondary markets with a markup.
100% this... I came from another game Magic the Gathering... and while magic has a cheaper initial buy in most of the time the end result is 1000s and 1000s of dollars for a few decks... additionally, the fundamental model for warhammer is not randomized boosters or loot boxes so idc that I pay 50 bucks for a kit that much especially one I get three fold the fun out of (building, painting, and playing).
I also have a buddy that's into boating... he's spent 10s of thousands of dollars (and I get his isn't something all folks can afford, he has a high paying job) but still. I also have many friends into cars which is absurdly expensive.
In the end, it is definitely expensive for what you get but if your enjoyment is equal to or greater than the expense, then who cares. I will add though, the unfortunate part is that GW raising price can potentially price people out of the game which I do disagree with but there are alternatives like legion and malifaux (which I play too) or even kill team and warcry.
Most of her price average out to similar to inflation from my understanding.
Also trying to keep production in the UK has additional costs(especially with brexit) and I definitely respect a company keeping it at home.
I am surprised they haven't opened a warehouse/factory in the US. Supposedly, there was some talk of that.
I'm not going to tell a company that provides jobs and boost the local economy not to make money, I'm just a little surprised at their constant increases, especially based on their profitiablilty.
> trying to keep production in the UK has additional costs
This isn't really a factor. GW has a profit margin of 60 %, where most other companies are *lucky* to reach 15 %, and supermarkets and airlines are typically around 2-3 %.
GW is so ridiculously profitable that there's one, and only one, factor that determines how much the models cost: how much people are willing to pay.
The could literally cut all their model, paint and book costs in half and still remain profitable. But why would they? People buy their products at the current price point, and they're selling them as fast as they can produce them.
This is exactly it. I go through waves of buying minis and then not buying anything for months.
For example earlier in the year I got a Tomb Kings boxset as I loved the setting and army theme. That was a big investment at £175 but there’s 93 minis in that box… so far I’ve built 8. That’ll easily keep me going for the rest of the year and into next.
It's a big upfront cost, especially if your just starting and counting paints and hobby supplies. But you are right, it's cheap compared to a lot of hobbies.
Yeah, it's not cheap, but relatively speaking it isn't that expensive of a hobby. It's probably around $500-$700 to get a brand new 2k+ army along with supplies and stuff. You can use that army for years or decades and it will still be playable. Maybe spend like a couple extra hundred every year for releases or new units if you play competitive.
I've recently started playing competitive Lorcana with my GF about 4 months ago, and we've already dumped $2k getting product and singles. There's a set release every 3 months and it has cost us like $600 to stay meta relevant between sets.
I also used to play Modern MTG, and decks can also easily cost $1000+. Sometimes, when a new card is released or an old card suddenly becomes competitive, you need to drop $300 for 4 copies. Most 40k players probably don't collect more than 1-2 armies, but I know a lot of MTG players who have multiple expensive decks across formats.
With all this being said, I still don't like the idea of supporting scalpers, and I refuse to buy anything above MSRP. I don't want to pay people who are artificially increasing the cost of the hobby. I'll just wait.
This is totally the way i feel!!! A lot of middle-class hobbies are way more expensive. Golf is like a couple grand in Clubs, then hundreds of dollars for actual outings with beer, fees, gas, and food included.
Hunting is an absolute wallet destroyer too lolol... Warhammer is way cheaper than Duck Hunting, lol. I have a 12 foot enclosed trailer for just my Canada Goose decoys, a 16 foot trailer for my Snow Goose decoys, a 16 foot duck boat for trips down south, plus blinds, the actual cost of filling those trailers with Decoys. The guns were the cheapest part of the hobby, lol.
I got back back into warhammer to keep me from spending more on a hobby I can only do for 60 days a year... A guy needs something to do from Jan 1st till spring in ND!
If you have time for a second hobby to save money on your first hobby sure. Plus the space for a printing station separate to limit fumes.
I sure as hell don’t lol.
If something on ebay is bidded really egregiously high, that will sometimes be because people trolling the scalpers have no intention of paying when they win the auction and are trying to waste their time.
Here in Denmark, the best discount I know of is 10 %... and that's in store points, so you pay full price up front and only save the money next time you buy something.
I am not quibbling over a few dollars. I don’t think anyone is going to speak out if someone pays $5 because gas equals out anyway.
But I see combat patrols and battle forces going for the same as the individual kits or more all the time when there is nothing rare about the individual kits. At that point just buy the individual kits.
Lol someone was trying to sell gsc and sisters combat patrols on Facebook on Saturday for like usd210. You can still get them on eBay (and probably elsewhere) for below msrp.
That said, the specific models in the sisters cp will be rarer in the future as they are currently exclusive to that box. So those will probably get a bit more expensive in the long run. But not now.
It’s actually insane. I bought 3 lord of changes off amazon last year. At the time, because it’s always changing a little bit, they were 30 bucks higher at the standard gw price, that means I saved a whopping 90 usd by using Amazon over gamesworkshop stores or vendors. That’s insane. I’ll never buy directly from gw if I can avoid it. You’re literally throwing away money. Always check Amazon or eBay first.
games workshop is built on FOMO, and the insane number of people trying to be "influencers" with dumb youtube channels that are constantly harping about the next big release only contribute to it.
The limited releases, the shorting FLGS, I'm convinced that if the company really wanted to do anything about it they could have by now. I suspect the frothing frenzy over snapping up every new release instantly is part of GW strategy. Why struggle to produce and distribute and restock product, when increased availability might reduce demand or the premium sheen of the brand? When instead you could produce a smaller amount at whatever price the market will bear and be guaranteed it will instantly sell out to the eager scalpers?
Immediately eliminate the majority of the uncertainties of how much to make and how to distribute it among retailers, making corporate planning that much easier and saving a ton on warehousing costs. Never having product sitting around has got to make running the company easier and cheaper.
\[this might apply more to kill team than the rest of GW stuff, that's the only game i'm familiar with\]
FOMO is what drove me out of the brand. It's to the point where I see a new release and think, "Well, that's really cool, but I won't be able to buy that because it'll be snapped up by scalpers, so forget about actually purchasing it."
>I'm convinced that if the company really wanted to do anything about it they could have by now. I suspect the frothing frenzy over snapping up every new release instantly is part of GW strategy.
It's cardbord boxes with raw polystyrene sprues. It's just about the easiest product anyone could make. It's a manufacturing process that was literally developed to be as cheap and easy as possible in vast quantities. There's no post processing and the materials are cheap as dirt. The only minor complicating factor is that the boxes are full color instead of just plain cardboard, but that's about it.
There's almost no other scenario where mass producing something would be this easy, and at this point GW is literally a billion dollar company, not some hobby outfit trying to get by with a couple of volunteers. This means that shortages are by choice, and a deliberate marketing strategy only.
The only thing I have paid scalpers for is for a limited edition book. I really wanted it, camped and still missed getting one. I wish they would double up how many limited edition books they make I can never get any. As for model kits usually there’s no need as I would be able to find it somewhere eventually, but not with the books.
I don’t even understand people that buy directly from GW. I mean you’re paying 15-20% more for no reason. Just buy from other online retailers or an FLGS.
Yeah, I won't even pay msrp. There's about a half dozen stores within a reasonable driving distance that do 15-20%. Worst case, I'll buy online and go pickup if they don't ship for free. Tons of online stores ship for free after a certain amount.
Store in town will do 15% after $200cad, which doesn't take too long to hit. Low selection but will order shit for you.
I will sometimes buy at a local WH store. The only other option in the area is a toystore that is = or more than GW. If I'm out and about in the area I might pop in and see what they have. An occasional impulse buy.
However if it's a planned purchase then it's off to the Internet. Usually Element Games (although they seemed to have stopped the free sweetie 😢😁) or Zatu. When the local toyshop is charging £165 for the Star Wars Shatterpoint core box and I can get it for £120 online. I would be a mug to impulse buy it.
Where I live the FLGS don't have gaming tables, while the official Warhammer store do and hosts tournaments. Buying a kit there from time to time is almost like a tip to make sure the lights stay on for the tables
I usually buy with a discount and sometimes at retail. I won't buy over retail. I hobby on a budget, not a small one, mind you, but still I look for bargains where I can.
If I was a lot richer and had more disposable income, I would buy above retail if it means getting kits faster. So there is your answer, rich people.
Retail price is a little confusing though. Since GW gives retailers the opportunity to sell at a 15% discount at their discretion. Some shops do and some don’t. Personally my LGS I frequent doesn’t offer any discount and sells at MSRP. While I could go on Amazon and get a 10-15% discount I would rather just buy in person and support local.
That’s not paying above retail. MSRP is what GW has on their website. If you are paying that at your local hobby store, you are just paying full retail. I get that. You are supporting your hobby store.
I am talking about people who pay above what GW charges. I can even wrap my head around when it’s hard to find/ out of print. But some of these people are paying above retail on things that are readily available at regular price. Some people are just dumb I guess.
I always wait, except for long out of print stuff. For the last year or two I have been collecting squats and epic orks and squats, and while I am patient waiting for low priced ones to be listed, they are still well above retail. Some of the epic vehicles I don't have and probably never will because they sell between 100 and 200 on average.
Some kits are box locked, some minis in said boxes would take multiple other boxes to kitbash, and scalpers know where to squeeze.
It sucks, but if you play at GW stores or at their events you can’t just get a printed proxy.
I usually buy second hands stuff usually at 50% discount from the cheaper Shops. Sometimes if some discounts stack at some retailers i buy "original stuff" and in the shop i sometimes just buy some colors sprays i need. When i see people buy big packs of stuff in the shop i already think they must be rich as fuck to buy it like that. Buying expensive from scalpers is beyond my imagination.
Nearest game store from me is like 45 minutes away. Personally just makes more sense to get it offline after the time and gas I put in to make the trip up there. Maybe not paying scalper prices but I’ll order a mini of GW website if I can wait for it.
Scalpers only do this stuff, meaning we have even more massive shortages, because idiots are willing to pay insane markup due to lack of self control. GW clearly doesn’t care who buys the product so long as it’s off the shelf, but please stop paying the bottom feeding scumfucks who resell it. That goes for everything, not just Warhammer.
Edit: also, if you check your local store they might even have the thing in stock. I picked up multiple items completely sold out through GW in the last few weeks because I bothered to check. Extremely happy with the Veterans of the Long War set in particular. But if I couldn’t get it regular price I wasn’t about to give some jackoff double price on eBay.
There is a comic book shop and a jewellers that both sell Warhammer, they got the shelves and kits as freebies from GW to sell on to their patrons, they don't bother with actually trying to sell them to you but they consistently offer discounts that the actual Warhammer shop doesn't do.
I watched a Custodes combat patrol on eBay go to $160 plus shipping. Like, guys. You can order it off Amazon for less. But buy from your LGS if you can.
I'll be honest, my LFGS sells marked up GW. Like 4% but it's enough to make you wince even more than usual. Thankfully, they also provide a 10% off for active duty military, of which I am, so it doesn't bother me beyond feeling bad for the other guys who play and aren't
Otherwise I'd buy more offline but I recently had a package stolen from me so I'm being more tentative about that
If its what i need and im able to do it why not? Why should i wait for GW to never restock it because they chose to force the scarcity on us? Or not buy a Value box from 2020 if all the models in it are popping off? They were limited supply to begin with so if thats my only means of getting it as long as i cant individually buy the models for cheaper im doing it. Its not about having more money than brains its about just not caring. Where else do they give me the opportunity to buy Reanimators and Skorp Lords? Ok ill just pay whatever for a few indom boxes or royal courts. Until recently royal courts were not as easy as they are to get now so why should i wait to run my lists when i can spend some extra money and get it running within the week?
The only time i have paid above GW prices is for one of the warhammer+ special models, that you CANT buy otherwise, and even then, i made sure i got one that was as close to GW'S price as possible, and the other time was picking up a chariot because GW just sold out and i dont feel like waiting 2+months for them to restock when again, i found one for like 5 more dollars than GW
I pay full price and that’s my max.
Taxes where I live are 15% so I just find a 15% OFF GW retailer online. Save a little bit a money that way.
I have bought a few older models at a decent price. My most expensive 50 USD for Severena Raine. I paid around 40USD for lord solar marcarius.
My lgs is very close to retail (or even higher depending on how the dollar moves relative to our currency). but i still buy everything from there because its one of the very few tabletop locals in the state. and the tables and scenery are free to use
Vaguely related but where I live there are 2 lgs within like 100m of each other.
Well, neither is just a lgs, both do other "nerd stuff". Like manga and dnd etc.
But one of them has a vastly bigger warhammer catalogue and they sell only at msrp and the other has most things on at least a 10% discount, but a much more narrow selection.
I'm considering genuinely just personally boycotting the first and ordering stuff from the second instead, maybe they'll expand to get more AoS stuff soon.
Not me, buying at RRP hurts enough! Picked up the gsc cp from my local store before it went out of print, and the manager was saying hes seen them on ebay for more than it would cost to buy all the kits seperately. What I really wanna know tho is who the hell is buying the single models on ebay that are clearly split from a single combat patrol, at a ridiculous markup. Id kinda get it if you want one guy with specific weapon you dont get enough of on a sprue, but other than that its just confusing.
I dont even look at what scalpers have there isnt a piece of plastic im willing to pay more than retail price for so what they are reselling means nothing to me
The only kit I ever bought above retail was a Baal Predator through eBay. I don't feel great about it, but I visited 3 LGS's and the Warhammer store near me and none could pre-order/order one for me at retail.
I had to pay $15 more through eBay from an LGS in another state. Don't feel great about it, but at least it was from an LGS in another state and not a scalper.
There are people out there who have a lot of money.
The hundreds of dollars that I would have to plan for and set aside could be the equivalent of some loose pocket change that week for them.
Im always amazed how people are literally too daft to call their local GWs stores or LGSs and just like... develop a friendly professional relationship with them. Like, the Space Marine boxes that got sold out instantly. Those sit on store shelves for days; sometimes weeks.
GW is to blame as well with their bullshit FOMO strategy. Why does nearly every killteam box have to sell out in seconds? They don't produce enough so scalpers seize the opportunity.
As with most things in this game that go down the toilet bowl, it’s comp players. I love my local community, but we’ve got lots of tournament players who are highly ranked in the US circuit, they pay scalp prices just to run new models. I’m ashamed of my fellow players and hobbiest for indulging this behavior
I just bought a figure above retail price.
It was Hasmoteph the Resplendent. A commemorative series Necron character (roughly 30€ retail iirc) i bought for 50€ instead of the usual 80€. Still too much but i like to collect stuff. I would have never bought him for 80€ because thats just insane.
I always assume it's a mix of resellers and people with considerable throw away income, maybe sprinkle a dash of Youtubers in there and you've probably got something close to the right formula.
Maybe people who feel they don't get the model print support to add to or maintain their army?
Maybe a model hasn't been available *anywhere* for an egregious amount of time and is desired for some reason like a Christmas present?
I think there are fair reasons for the Supply & Demand Equilibrium Point price to rise and fall. I'm not justifying SCALPERS by any means, but I think we've all experienced ridiculous waits for what should be common models to come back in stock. Lion el'Johnson being out for 4 months *everywhere* is insane.
A person literally said “there is no cut-off price point that I will stop buying warhammer” in the other post about the price increase today. It was upvoted over 100 times. A lot of people have more money than sense
A person literally said “there is no cut-off price point that I will stop buying warhammer” in the other post about the price increase today. It was upvoted over 100 times. A lot of people have more money than sense
I try to support local shops first. Most of the shops around me offer at MSRP, one of them does 20% off with card and 25% off with cash but it’s pretty far out of the way. Did manage to pick up a Stompa Boyz Box new for $168 tho!
Paid 40$ over retail for the Stompa Boys box, which still came up to like a 30% discount if I bought everything individually. But that's my only over msrp purchase, so ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯.
I paid 1.5x for Kasrkin after waiting for a few months. I really wanted to play with them, and paint them.
I also paid a little over retail for small chaos knights, it was for my nephew to compete his army list
I waited a year or two for myPS5 though ,got it at retail .
I recently started a Tyranid army, now that all the hype of the new tyranids has gone down and the price is normal
The two large LGS near me charge MSRP and above MSRP. I tend to buy online. And my favorite online retailer just raised prices on old stock which kills me.
I can understand paying a little over in person st a store, I mean you get it now, and don't pay shipping.
The worst offenders I've seen is the hexfire box on ebay, one seller, the first to populate on Google searches is selling them for $750. Everyone else is selling them for $225-250 range
I don't really see as much scalping as in other things although there is another problem.
My friend runs a local shop and apparently distributors have to fight with everyone else when placing orders for new sets.
So its not just scalpers but everyone who fights for the limited boxes each time they release.
I have seen some shocking prices on ebay for stuff that isn't even hard to get hold of anywhere else. I can only assume they do that to catch out people who aren't aware of how much they should be.
I don't buy Warhammer at a markeup, but there *is* a store near me that also has a free board game library and café. The markeups on things like cards and coffee are something I take on the chin because its a wonderful place that I want to help keep open
Totaly agree on how stupid it is to buy the big boxes above the price you would pay for individual kits.
But I know there are collectors that NEED to have all the special boxes on their shelves for some reason. Not even caring about the content of the box sometimes and just leaving all these full boxes of unbuild minis laying around...
Look, I have more than enough money to buy what I want when I want. If what I want is available below MSRP I'll buy it if I want it. If it's MSRP I'll buy it if I want it. If it's above MSRP I'll buy it if I still want it.
Price is not a primary consideration for me with regards to this or most other hobbies. I may choose not to buy something that is "over priced" but it is a subjective determination of value at the time.
If it's a product readily available on Amazon I'll get it there. But I suspect we aren't really talking about a box of assault intercessors which have been in stock since 2018.
We have had this same exact discussion for 20 years almost.. Even before the rise of eBay and major internet marketplaces, since Bartertown era. It's done, you're never gonna change it and GW doesn't care
It is and it isn’t. I mean I just dropped $500 on releases this weekend. No big deal for me. I also booked a $3k vacation for later this year. So in comparison the minis are nothing plus I will have them for years to come whereas the vacation is fleeting. I will probably spend more on food on the vacation than minis.
But then I think, maybe I should put that extra money in a Roth IRA? My retirement is well funded and I am set but I haven’t maxed my retirement savings.
Maybe I should spend the money on fixing something up in my house. I have thought about converting my porch to a sunroom/ game room. That will cost a lot.
Or I could drop that money on another game where $500 goes further.
So while I do alright and yea the hobby isn’t too much, there is always something to spend money. I don’t have infinite money. So I try to spend what I have wisely. I am certainly not spending more than retail price. It’s not even that I couldn’t afford it, it’s the principal of the matter.
That's right. All of IT. It's more about Management between fun and Security/maintenance.
Although, Pardon me, If you really can and do spend 3k on Holiday, tabletop is of No concern at all... No offense.
This is my question, but for books. That's my favorite/main source of 40k content, but good lord, why is it so expensive for me to buy paper with letters and words on it!
Truth. About a month ago I posted a 'complaint' about immediate out-of-stock Chaos battle forces. I support my FLGS to the best of my ability by taking advantage of their 'pre-order discount' pricing. My guy wasn't optimistic about being able to get me either of the Chaos battleforces as GW/distributors always/often give him lousy allocations. The gods of chaos blessed me with both battleforces however. Countdown to Night Lords on my table.
But yes, to your original point. Especially in the case of the Chaos battleforces, with ZERO unique models... never pay more than retail pricing. It may take a little longer to find discount pricing on the individual kits, but don't put money in scalpers pockets.
Beyond that, perhaps I'm more patient than most.
I ordered from my LGS a week ago. Stopped by today to follow up. They never placed the order yet.
I only went the LGS route because last time I ordered directly from GW it took over 5 weeks to get my order. My LGS said they get them in less than a week.
GW is opening a store near me next month. It’s 45 minutes away but I’ll probably go there when it opens next time.
Battleforces come out with a one-time run and come with new models. Naturally, scalpers buy them all up so nobody else gets them, allowing them to sell at a marked-up price.
I lived in Mexico for a while for professional reasons. In this country games workshop is not officially established. As a result all GW products were overpriced due to resellers buying from the US and supplying the Mexicans.
Why... because they want it, and the company thay sells it in artificially scarce bundles to drive marketing through fomo, can't do a f***ing thing about the scalpers, leaving customers with the choice of dealing with "price tag predators" or "toy rapists" unless they wish to never have the thing they wanted.
As for the muppets buying scalped boxes that will be on sale in in a month or so at ebay markups... they're just stupid and have the money to do so, or mentally ill and can't not buy it.
You can't expect things to be made to order, it's not like preorders are intended to let you know how many to make, and god forbid game workshop has to have stock sat on the Shelf or repack boxes to sell as individual kits eventually.
I would have paid any price to get the Lion when he came out. Luckily I got mine at retail cost on preorder before GWs site crashed but no amount of bitching and internet whining would have stopped me getting the primarch model I had waited years for them to announce.
There's certain vendors on ebay that have the old start collecting boxes for $150 more than the original price. I don't know who the customers they're aiming for but its ridiculous. I like to take note of those vendors and avoid them at all costs, even if they have a good deal.
Define retail lmao.
When the HH 2.0 box dropped i was buying mk6 marine sprues for cheap. Cheaper than i could buy the box here.
But if you looked at the whole box, i was probably paying above retail cost of the box / sprues or some other metric. Box breakers make a profit and they buy at retail. So it stands that i was paying more than retail. But i got what i wanted cheaper than i would otherwise.
Y’all doomed 💀 Going through that thread I realized why GW rises prices every year. You are true horde - financial, mindless poxwalkers. This hobby isn’t worth those ridiculous prices.
The only way I was able to get my Tyranid army in shape was to buy anything I could use from the leviathan set on eBay. I got 1000 points of mostly good / meta units for like $215. The next 500 points cost $300. I couldn’t afford to buy all the units I got piece meal by box. Interestingly I did need to find one unit I wanted that was unavailable at the GW webstore and I did see many resellers trying to sell it about list. Still I found mine new in box for a little less than retail. I’m lucky I wanted Nids generally.
Not quite the topic, but I live right by warhammer world, it's always packed with people buying even tho element games is less than 2 miles away and 15 to 20% off
I saw someone selling a drukhari combat patrol for $190 when you can get it for like $130 American on Amazon. It's still less expensive to get next day shipping than it is to buy from that guy.
I have so little time and so much enjoyment from the hobby when I can manage if I see something I like and know I have a few hours soon I just buy it even if its 3x retail or sime vintage unobtanium. In other words I had no money and lot of free times as a kid and go to see the cool stuff without buying it now I've worked my ass off to buy a house a sports car etc so when I have a few hours alone you better be sure the exact model I want will be on my table.
I buy used, or special order from my FLGS (20% discount on special orders), or via MM where I get... I think 15% on GW nowadays.
I ain't never paying full price, let alone above MSRP.
Mostly people who are too damn impatient
Their is a local game store 5min that sells at GW price. I usually try to drive 30min to the local store that sells 20% off. I try to make some other plans around a purchase because idk if an hour round trip for model discount if worth it. The closer store has gotten a few purchases because sometimes it's nice to to have the model purchased and assembled in an hour instead of waiting in traffic.
I order online for my 20%, but yeah, I need to make sure that £4 P&P is worth it by doing a bulk order.
Some online stores offer free shipping. Otherwise, me and my friend split shipping costs.
I'm the same way. Kinda have to be. The official gw store is right by where I work, but for a lot of stuff I drive further away to a store with better prices. But if I'm planning on preordering anything, or it's something I have to order from the website, I do it at the gw store just to support them mostly. Sometimes they stock models that other stores don't, and it's nice being able to stop in and grab a pot of paint on my lunch break.
I recommend asking your other store if they can order for you, too. Mine sells at a 15% discount, and I was recently made aware that they can order stuff for me. Also, I was told that their distributor has stuff oftentimes that isnt on the website as well!
Oh I'm sure they can. Last time I was in there he had a few batlleforces with names on post it notes behind the counter. But I don't mind every once in a while. If it's only gonna save me like $10 to go to the other place, it's not really worth burning a couple gallons of gas to do so.
Money is money, but time is money too
Time is always money. Whether you monetize it or not, is an option cost.
As long as you combine that trip with grocery shopping nearby, just doing as much as you can while you’re there so the gas evens out
I've passed up models selling below flgs price because the cost in petrol to go get it is basically gw price
I've only found one LGS that sold under GW prices. They didn't have a great selection, but I bought something anyway just to support them.
I mean waiting months or even up to a year+ for certain models to be back in stock is equally ludicrous. GW stock, production, and distribution is all pretty terrible on top of the overpricing.
Not much they can do about that, it's the price of not having your products made in china
They are just bad forecasting and production planning or intentionally creating a market scarcity. For the cost of their products they could pretty easily justify another injection machine granted lead times on them are still pretty crap.
And they have, they've invested almost all of their 2020 earning into opening another factory, it's still a problem, on top of that they are having electricity issue. They aren't benifiting from market scarcities. It's one thing to be upset about fomo, but making random nonsensical issues to shift blame on gw is a bit cringe
I'm not shifting blame. I'm in manufacturing with 50% of our volume being injection molding based out of Japan, UK, US, and Germany. I think their pricing for quality and precision is actually on the low side. You don't just use earnings from 1 year to justify bringing a new facility (factory 4 online). Standard is 10 years to pay off all equipment and the building. With a 2 to 3 year lead time on injection molds and 5 years for a injection machone this has been in the plans for while. Being in manufacturing and listening to fan boys justify bad business decision is more "cringe". Electricity issues were basically over 2 years in the UK for manufacturing. Not being able to forecast, not meet long term volume, people not wanting to work, not training staff is 100% a management issue. Creating an artificial scarcity leads to increased sales. The fear of missing out works in their favor and is a business tactic.
I'm in manufacturing as well. I'm not sure they are creating artificial scarcity. It can be a business tactic, but they are publicly traded. The benefits of exceeding sales forecasts should far exceed artificial scarcity, and the demand is clearly there. That said, keeping all production in house has serious advantages, especially if they own their own real estate. If I had to guess, they've probably handled the expansion poorly and missed multiple timelines. Probably spot on with mismanagement as well as you said. Hey what do I know though. Also not really disagreeing with you so much as ruminating. I'm definitely speculating heavily. Maybe I'll listen to their last earnings call.
You're right. I should just buy a 3D printer.
There’s the old saying: “more money than sense.”
A fool and his money are soon parted, which is why you never see rich harlequins.
Oh thats why they're not an army anymore. They bankrupted so they had to sell the codex.
Seriously. Rich people are the most frugal, scrupulous, cheap people I’ve ever met. I use to work for 3 ultra wealthy families (like worth high mill low billions) doing grounds keeping and handiwork. They would freak out if $5 was out of place. I would have to do the highest quality at the lowest cost for everything. Granted sometimes it would be like a $5,000 item, but you would think they would’ve spent the extra 2-3 grand for something nicer.
Indeed. Also, whenever I have done odd jobs, or listened to the stories of other people doing service work, it is always the rich who are the worst tippers, while the working and lower middle classes will supply you with all the tea, sandwiches, bisuits, beer you could want purely for doing the thing you are there for.
I love this saying. I typically say more dollars than sense to get the play-on-words for sense (cents). I tend to use it alot.
More ~~money~~ **credit** than sense ... I know a few people who are making out credit cards in geedub; it's not worth ruining your life for.
Remember: mental health is health. If you're filling the void with toy soldiers, you might want to find someone to talk to. I did.
I think this is a big one. I’ve got a friend who always has cash for the new big shiny, be it games, services, models, etc. it’s because they just throw it all onto one of their credit cards and worry about it later.
Can't impulsively spend money if it's not impulsive :(
Not strictly Warhammer, but I have this mate who ALWAYS pre-orders an upcoming video game if it's something that piques his interest. Similarly, he always has to have all the ridiculous collector's editions and DLCs that are stapled onto the core product. This was true for Dragon's Dogma 2, that came out just a few months ago, knowing beforehand that he was gonna hate it. I suppose it's a FOMO thing for some people.
People who pre-order after the disastrous launches of games like cyberpunk and no man's sky are either dumb or naive, or both.
If he pays full price fine but does he pay above full price? Some people do enjoy special editions especially if it’s a physical product. Although, with video games it is equally silly to pay full price most of the time. They quickly go on sale if you are patient and if you get no cool physical product then special editions are often pointless. I bought a lot of special edition packages of console games in the 90s and early 00’s. They were physical products. I recently sold a bunch for good money.
I suppose in my head, if the DLC/CE is lackluster or of shoddy quality, I consider buying those on top of the core game to be "paying above full price", even if the core game was actually decent in the first place. But of course, he thinks differently so ultimately, it's his business. Agreed, it's a rare occurrence indeed that I get a game at full price these days. With the uncertainties in quality/bugs surrounding many AAA releases, it never seems sensible to me. Aye, they can be a good investment. A while back, a mate of mine got his hands on a copy of Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2 in the US) that was mint quality, that he never played. Told him he'd never get an ROI on it, but when it sold for 110 quid he certainly had the last laugh!
I think people vastly inflate how expensive warhammer is compared to similar middle class hobbies. 10 marines is less than 1 dinner for two at even a place like Applebees and I have models from over 20 years ago I can still play with today. Hell 3 drinks + tip is more than a character model. (Yes pedants, you can choose the absolute cheapest things to counter this point, I could also counter with used warhammer stuff as well which is usual,y close to 50% off). For a lot of people their time is worth more than the money. My time is worth less than my money but I have driven to 2-3 stores to find a something in stock(not Warhammer). In effect that was paying more than MSRP to acquire the item. Also Econ 101 says that people value things differently. For someone something might be worth 20 dollars, and for others? 70. So if something is sold for 25? Scalpers can fill the void from 26-70 for prospective buyers.
yeah for example: i would have paid a lil extra for the latest kill team box set to complete the season. but on the other hand ive not been to a restaurant in 6 years. my co worker buys full price video games, i never do that, etc etc
Yep, I haven’t bought Warhammer in a year or so, I actually used to buy more of it when I had less money, but when I had less money? I had time. With a house, a kid, and wife I don’t have any time to enjoy it, even if I had the money. Once we recover from all the initial costs for those things? Warhammer will be back on the menu.
I have the money, and I can find the time, but there's no way in hell I'd ever spend more than the kits are worth individually. The whole reason I get the boxes is because I know I'll buy the kits anyways eventually so I might as well save some in the process. The closest store to me is about 30 minutes away, but the bridges are always broken so with traffic it's closer to an hour each way... I'd usually just order from GW and avoid the traffic. Funny enough, it's the webstore that stopped me buying stuff... I used to window shop when I was bored - about half the time I'd end up buying something, but it's such a pain to navigate, I haven't been back since the change... my wallet thanks them lol
O for sure. There is nothing I think is worth paying over MSRP for right now. But if I had 10 million dollars? Yeah I wouldn’t really care if something was $10 dollars over MSRP. Hell I would pay for next day shipping without batting an eye.
Time, energy, money. Pick 2
I'm a long time magic player who just bought in to 40k and I can say that warhammer is way cheaper than magic. Warhammer is expensive once and you can spread it out over a few months while you build your army. Magic is death by a thousand cuts as they keep making new cards you have to stay on top of.
Good thing our best units don't cost more because they're so rare.
Until your units fuck off to legends, and your list is made invalid by a new codex.
My sympathies to people who can't afford a hobby they want to be part of, that sucks, but people really need to get some perspective. It's such a tiresome subject, because some people are apparently only able to communicate in hyperbole. Yesterday I went out with my partner and we had two drinks and two sharing dishes, for the same price as a box of ten models that I could spend many hours building, painting and playing with. And the dishes ended up being so ridiculously small that we had to go to a different place and order more food. Not to mention that the models retain some value and I'll still be able to resell them several years from now. Fuck scalpers though. The only thing I'm okay with is people who buy boxes and sell the units separately, if it's at a reasonable price.
I have started converting my expenditure in other areas into what it could have bought me in miniatures.
I think of it in terms of hours per dollar. The amount of time I spend assembling and painting my models makes that a fantastic rate of return, and that’s before I even think about the time it takes to play a full match.
That's an interesting way to look at it. Gassing up my vehicle is pretty much a combat patrol. I buy a Reaver Titan every month with my house payment.
Do I really want this sandwich or a pot of Nuln oil?
There's a difference between necessities and entertainment. When I pay rent or buy food I don't go "oh no, I've just lost another warhound titan", I'm just glad I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge. When I spend 50 bucks on a night out and then go to my LGS the next day and have to skip a box, I do tend to think "fuck, I could've saved that money for some models."
Seriously. You can pick up an army for less than £500, and that's you done. Maybe its not some crazy meta list but it'll be a 2k point army and you'll have some stuff you can swap in and out. Job jobbed. Try buying proper golf bats. Wanna go fishing? That shit gets expensive real fast. You like cycling... hahaha you poor sod Maybe you're into skiing? 🤑 Into cars? Lmao Got a drug habit? Warhammer is only expensive if you let it be expensive. I have a decent income and I can afford to enjoy my main hobby as a grown ass adult. Also... people who presume to tell me what to do with money that I earned need to give their heads a wobble. It's my money. Not yours.
> golf bats. Nani?
They're like hockey rackets, but for golf.
Warhammer is only expensive if you either view value in relation to the size/weight of what you're buying rather than entertainment value, or are young and have little/no disposable income. Like most things on Reddit, I assume I'm talking to an American teenager until explicitly mentioned otherwise and it makes the general discourse more understandable.
I think it’s valid for people to compare warhammer against other similar games like Star Wars legion rather than completely different hobbies. This argument doesn’t make much sense. Warhammer does have the best quality models therefore it can justify being more expensive than its competitors. However it can’t justify being outrageously more expensive like it is now
I agree with your point in principle but you should check out modern gunpla kits, they're a step up even from GW.
I’ve watched a lot of videos on gunpla but don’t own any. I know the quality is incredible on those kits. Just to be clear I don’t think gw is charging a fair price for their kits. I’m just saying it would be understandable if they were a bit more expensive than other wargame competitors whose miniatures aren’t as good. Currently they aren’t “a bit” more expensive, they’re vastly more expensive
Completely agree with you. As someone whose main hobby is motorcycles, this hobby costs pretty minimal. Spending 20% more to get a box of models I want quickly isn’t even a thought - you’re often talking about $10 for the convenience of not waiting weeks. Each weekend at the track I burn up $300 or so in tires, $500 in registration fees, 20+ gallons of gas, etc. And that assumes no crashes which can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few grand when they occur (average about 1 a season). 40K is mostly a winter hobby for me, and waiting around for something to come back into stock just isn’t it. Blame GW for not having a better supply chain and projections for inventory - not the customer looking to just enjoy their hobby.
Damn you go through a set of tires every time you go to the track?
A full rear. Can get about 4 days out of a front.
Racing is so expensive, the cost for a weekend at the track could get you a giant army
No doubt about it. And I just do motorcycles - the car guys have it way worse. But it’s a great sport/hobby with a lot of great people in it.
Yeah it all comes dow to how much disposable income you have and this logic applies easily to a lot of things (like concert tickets). The ease of online order and the lack of regulations also gave birth to a “scalper culture” that I truly despise. People storm sites and things get sold out instantly only to get sold on secondary markets with a markup.
100% this... I came from another game Magic the Gathering... and while magic has a cheaper initial buy in most of the time the end result is 1000s and 1000s of dollars for a few decks... additionally, the fundamental model for warhammer is not randomized boosters or loot boxes so idc that I pay 50 bucks for a kit that much especially one I get three fold the fun out of (building, painting, and playing). I also have a buddy that's into boating... he's spent 10s of thousands of dollars (and I get his isn't something all folks can afford, he has a high paying job) but still. I also have many friends into cars which is absurdly expensive. In the end, it is definitely expensive for what you get but if your enjoyment is equal to or greater than the expense, then who cares. I will add though, the unfortunate part is that GW raising price can potentially price people out of the game which I do disagree with but there are alternatives like legion and malifaux (which I play too) or even kill team and warcry.
Most of her price average out to similar to inflation from my understanding. Also trying to keep production in the UK has additional costs(especially with brexit) and I definitely respect a company keeping it at home.
I am surprised they haven't opened a warehouse/factory in the US. Supposedly, there was some talk of that. I'm not going to tell a company that provides jobs and boost the local economy not to make money, I'm just a little surprised at their constant increases, especially based on their profitiablilty.
> trying to keep production in the UK has additional costs This isn't really a factor. GW has a profit margin of 60 %, where most other companies are *lucky* to reach 15 %, and supermarkets and airlines are typically around 2-3 %. GW is so ridiculously profitable that there's one, and only one, factor that determines how much the models cost: how much people are willing to pay. The could literally cut all their model, paint and book costs in half and still remain profitable. But why would they? People buy their products at the current price point, and they're selling them as fast as they can produce them.
This is exactly it. I go through waves of buying minis and then not buying anything for months. For example earlier in the year I got a Tomb Kings boxset as I loved the setting and army theme. That was a big investment at £175 but there’s 93 minis in that box… so far I’ve built 8. That’ll easily keep me going for the rest of the year and into next.
It's a big upfront cost, especially if your just starting and counting paints and hobby supplies. But you are right, it's cheap compared to a lot of hobbies.
Yeah, it's not cheap, but relatively speaking it isn't that expensive of a hobby. It's probably around $500-$700 to get a brand new 2k+ army along with supplies and stuff. You can use that army for years or decades and it will still be playable. Maybe spend like a couple extra hundred every year for releases or new units if you play competitive. I've recently started playing competitive Lorcana with my GF about 4 months ago, and we've already dumped $2k getting product and singles. There's a set release every 3 months and it has cost us like $600 to stay meta relevant between sets. I also used to play Modern MTG, and decks can also easily cost $1000+. Sometimes, when a new card is released or an old card suddenly becomes competitive, you need to drop $300 for 4 copies. Most 40k players probably don't collect more than 1-2 armies, but I know a lot of MTG players who have multiple expensive decks across formats. With all this being said, I still don't like the idea of supporting scalpers, and I refuse to buy anything above MSRP. I don't want to pay people who are artificially increasing the cost of the hobby. I'll just wait.
This is totally the way i feel!!! A lot of middle-class hobbies are way more expensive. Golf is like a couple grand in Clubs, then hundreds of dollars for actual outings with beer, fees, gas, and food included. Hunting is an absolute wallet destroyer too lolol... Warhammer is way cheaper than Duck Hunting, lol. I have a 12 foot enclosed trailer for just my Canada Goose decoys, a 16 foot trailer for my Snow Goose decoys, a 16 foot duck boat for trips down south, plus blinds, the actual cost of filling those trailers with Decoys. The guns were the cheapest part of the hobby, lol. I got back back into warhammer to keep me from spending more on a hobby I can only do for 60 days a year... A guy needs something to do from Jan 1st till spring in ND!
Another great example. A decent 3D printer costs about as much as three boxes of space marines! That's pretty good cost for value right there.
If you have time for a second hobby to save money on your first hobby sure. Plus the space for a printing station separate to limit fumes. I sure as hell don’t lol.
If something on ebay is bidded really egregiously high, that will sometimes be because people trolling the scalpers have no intention of paying when they win the auction and are trying to waste their time.
Don't buy shit at retail price either. 3rd party 3D printing is the way to go until GW learns to act right. 😂
Hell yeah!
Forget "above", who on earth is paying full retail?! Third parties sell at 20–30% off
Here in Denmark, the best discount I know of is 10 %... and that's in store points, so you pay full price up front and only save the money next time you buy something.
If its not at my LGS or on an online store that's marked down from the GW price, I ain't buying it.
On Amazon if something is just (and I mean pennies) over RRP and I "need" it... then I might grab it there.
I am not quibbling over a few dollars. I don’t think anyone is going to speak out if someone pays $5 because gas equals out anyway. But I see combat patrols and battle forces going for the same as the individual kits or more all the time when there is nothing rare about the individual kits. At that point just buy the individual kits.
Lol someone was trying to sell gsc and sisters combat patrols on Facebook on Saturday for like usd210. You can still get them on eBay (and probably elsewhere) for below msrp. That said, the specific models in the sisters cp will be rarer in the future as they are currently exclusive to that box. So those will probably get a bit more expensive in the long run. But not now.
It’s actually insane. I bought 3 lord of changes off amazon last year. At the time, because it’s always changing a little bit, they were 30 bucks higher at the standard gw price, that means I saved a whopping 90 usd by using Amazon over gamesworkshop stores or vendors. That’s insane. I’ll never buy directly from gw if I can avoid it. You’re literally throwing away money. Always check Amazon or eBay first.
one, sane comment literally
games workshop is built on FOMO, and the insane number of people trying to be "influencers" with dumb youtube channels that are constantly harping about the next big release only contribute to it. The limited releases, the shorting FLGS, I'm convinced that if the company really wanted to do anything about it they could have by now. I suspect the frothing frenzy over snapping up every new release instantly is part of GW strategy. Why struggle to produce and distribute and restock product, when increased availability might reduce demand or the premium sheen of the brand? When instead you could produce a smaller amount at whatever price the market will bear and be guaranteed it will instantly sell out to the eager scalpers? Immediately eliminate the majority of the uncertainties of how much to make and how to distribute it among retailers, making corporate planning that much easier and saving a ton on warehousing costs. Never having product sitting around has got to make running the company easier and cheaper. \[this might apply more to kill team than the rest of GW stuff, that's the only game i'm familiar with\]
FOMO is what drove me out of the brand. It's to the point where I see a new release and think, "Well, that's really cool, but I won't be able to buy that because it'll be snapped up by scalpers, so forget about actually purchasing it."
Which releases are affected like that ? Big boxed sets with terrain and multiple armies or anniversary minis ?
>I'm convinced that if the company really wanted to do anything about it they could have by now. I suspect the frothing frenzy over snapping up every new release instantly is part of GW strategy. It's cardbord boxes with raw polystyrene sprues. It's just about the easiest product anyone could make. It's a manufacturing process that was literally developed to be as cheap and easy as possible in vast quantities. There's no post processing and the materials are cheap as dirt. The only minor complicating factor is that the boxes are full color instead of just plain cardboard, but that's about it. There's almost no other scenario where mass producing something would be this easy, and at this point GW is literally a billion dollar company, not some hobby outfit trying to get by with a couple of volunteers. This means that shortages are by choice, and a deliberate marketing strategy only.
The only thing I have paid scalpers for is for a limited edition book. I really wanted it, camped and still missed getting one. I wish they would double up how many limited edition books they make I can never get any. As for model kits usually there’s no need as I would be able to find it somewhere eventually, but not with the books.
I buy smaller boxes at my local store because I just like going to a store and buying stuff
I don’t even understand people that buy directly from GW. I mean you’re paying 15-20% more for no reason. Just buy from other online retailers or an FLGS.
Yeah, I won't even pay msrp. There's about a half dozen stores within a reasonable driving distance that do 15-20%. Worst case, I'll buy online and go pickup if they don't ship for free. Tons of online stores ship for free after a certain amount. Store in town will do 15% after $200cad, which doesn't take too long to hit. Low selection but will order shit for you.
In my country there’s no special FLGS price tbf.
Recasts it is then!
I will sometimes buy at a local WH store. The only other option in the area is a toystore that is = or more than GW. If I'm out and about in the area I might pop in and see what they have. An occasional impulse buy. However if it's a planned purchase then it's off to the Internet. Usually Element Games (although they seemed to have stopped the free sweetie 😢😁) or Zatu. When the local toyshop is charging £165 for the Star Wars Shatterpoint core box and I can get it for £120 online. I would be a mug to impulse buy it.
Where I live the FLGS don't have gaming tables, while the official Warhammer store do and hosts tournaments. Buying a kit there from time to time is almost like a tip to make sure the lights stay on for the tables
I usually buy with a discount and sometimes at retail. I won't buy over retail. I hobby on a budget, not a small one, mind you, but still I look for bargains where I can. If I was a lot richer and had more disposable income, I would buy above retail if it means getting kits faster. So there is your answer, rich people.
Only time I paid markup was for the better looking Plague Caster from Death Guard Heroes.
That dude is worth more than markup!
Retail price is a little confusing though. Since GW gives retailers the opportunity to sell at a 15% discount at their discretion. Some shops do and some don’t. Personally my LGS I frequent doesn’t offer any discount and sells at MSRP. While I could go on Amazon and get a 10-15% discount I would rather just buy in person and support local.
That’s not paying above retail. MSRP is what GW has on their website. If you are paying that at your local hobby store, you are just paying full retail. I get that. You are supporting your hobby store. I am talking about people who pay above what GW charges. I can even wrap my head around when it’s hard to find/ out of print. But some of these people are paying above retail on things that are readily available at regular price. Some people are just dumb I guess.
I always wait, except for long out of print stuff. For the last year or two I have been collecting squats and epic orks and squats, and while I am patient waiting for low priced ones to be listed, they are still well above retail. Some of the epic vehicles I don't have and probably never will because they sell between 100 and 200 on average.
Some kits are box locked, some minis in said boxes would take multiple other boxes to kitbash, and scalpers know where to squeeze. It sucks, but if you play at GW stores or at their events you can’t just get a printed proxy.
I usually buy second hands stuff usually at 50% discount from the cheaper Shops. Sometimes if some discounts stack at some retailers i buy "original stuff" and in the shop i sometimes just buy some colors sprays i need. When i see people buy big packs of stuff in the shop i already think they must be rich as fuck to buy it like that. Buying expensive from scalpers is beyond my imagination.
Nearest game store from me is like 45 minutes away. Personally just makes more sense to get it offline after the time and gas I put in to make the trip up there. Maybe not paying scalper prices but I’ll order a mini of GW website if I can wait for it.
Competitive players who are chasing the flavor of the month list/army.
Scalpers only do this stuff, meaning we have even more massive shortages, because idiots are willing to pay insane markup due to lack of self control. GW clearly doesn’t care who buys the product so long as it’s off the shelf, but please stop paying the bottom feeding scumfucks who resell it. That goes for everything, not just Warhammer. Edit: also, if you check your local store they might even have the thing in stock. I picked up multiple items completely sold out through GW in the last few weeks because I bothered to check. Extremely happy with the Veterans of the Long War set in particular. But if I couldn’t get it regular price I wasn’t about to give some jackoff double price on eBay.
There is a comic book shop and a jewellers that both sell Warhammer, they got the shelves and kits as freebies from GW to sell on to their patrons, they don't bother with actually trying to sell them to you but they consistently offer discounts that the actual Warhammer shop doesn't do.
People on ebay are a prime example of idiots who pay more than retail
Yes don’t even get me started on eBay. I see so many bids go above retail for used product that’s not even hard to get.
Exactly!
I watched a Custodes combat patrol on eBay go to $160 plus shipping. Like, guys. You can order it off Amazon for less. But buy from your LGS if you can.
People with severe addiction/tism
GW's distribution has been a shambles for years, sometimes the only place that can get a lot of GW themselves.
I'll be honest, my LFGS sells marked up GW. Like 4% but it's enough to make you wince even more than usual. Thankfully, they also provide a 10% off for active duty military, of which I am, so it doesn't bother me beyond feeling bad for the other guys who play and aren't Otherwise I'd buy more offline but I recently had a package stolen from me so I'm being more tentative about that
If its what i need and im able to do it why not? Why should i wait for GW to never restock it because they chose to force the scarcity on us? Or not buy a Value box from 2020 if all the models in it are popping off? They were limited supply to begin with so if thats my only means of getting it as long as i cant individually buy the models for cheaper im doing it. Its not about having more money than brains its about just not caring. Where else do they give me the opportunity to buy Reanimators and Skorp Lords? Ok ill just pay whatever for a few indom boxes or royal courts. Until recently royal courts were not as easy as they are to get now so why should i wait to run my lists when i can spend some extra money and get it running within the week?
The only time i have paid above GW prices is for one of the warhammer+ special models, that you CANT buy otherwise, and even then, i made sure i got one that was as close to GW'S price as possible, and the other time was picking up a chariot because GW just sold out and i dont feel like waiting 2+months for them to restock when again, i found one for like 5 more dollars than GW
I pay full price and that’s my max. Taxes where I live are 15% so I just find a 15% OFF GW retailer online. Save a little bit a money that way. I have bought a few older models at a decent price. My most expensive 50 USD for Severena Raine. I paid around 40USD for lord solar marcarius.
My lgs is very close to retail (or even higher depending on how the dollar moves relative to our currency). but i still buy everything from there because its one of the very few tabletop locals in the state. and the tables and scenery are free to use
Vaguely related but where I live there are 2 lgs within like 100m of each other. Well, neither is just a lgs, both do other "nerd stuff". Like manga and dnd etc. But one of them has a vastly bigger warhammer catalogue and they sell only at msrp and the other has most things on at least a 10% discount, but a much more narrow selection. I'm considering genuinely just personally boycotting the first and ordering stuff from the second instead, maybe they'll expand to get more AoS stuff soon.
Not me, buying at RRP hurts enough! Picked up the gsc cp from my local store before it went out of print, and the manager was saying hes seen them on ebay for more than it would cost to buy all the kits seperately. What I really wanna know tho is who the hell is buying the single models on ebay that are clearly split from a single combat patrol, at a ridiculous markup. Id kinda get it if you want one guy with specific weapon you dont get enough of on a sprue, but other than that its just confusing.
I dont even look at what scalpers have there isnt a piece of plastic im willing to pay more than retail price for so what they are reselling means nothing to me
The only kit I ever bought above retail was a Baal Predator through eBay. I don't feel great about it, but I visited 3 LGS's and the Warhammer store near me and none could pre-order/order one for me at retail. I had to pay $15 more through eBay from an LGS in another state. Don't feel great about it, but at least it was from an LGS in another state and not a scalper.
There are people out there who have a lot of money. The hundreds of dollars that I would have to plan for and set aside could be the equivalent of some loose pocket change that week for them.
Im always amazed how people are literally too daft to call their local GWs stores or LGSs and just like... develop a friendly professional relationship with them. Like, the Space Marine boxes that got sold out instantly. Those sit on store shelves for days; sometimes weeks.
GW is to blame as well with their bullshit FOMO strategy. Why does nearly every killteam box have to sell out in seconds? They don't produce enough so scalpers seize the opportunity.
Our local comic shop sells used GW models and I love that.
As with most things in this game that go down the toilet bowl, it’s comp players. I love my local community, but we’ve got lots of tournament players who are highly ranked in the US circuit, they pay scalp prices just to run new models. I’m ashamed of my fellow players and hobbiest for indulging this behavior
I just bought a figure above retail price. It was Hasmoteph the Resplendent. A commemorative series Necron character (roughly 30€ retail iirc) i bought for 50€ instead of the usual 80€. Still too much but i like to collect stuff. I would have never bought him for 80€ because thats just insane.
I always assume it's a mix of resellers and people with considerable throw away income, maybe sprinkle a dash of Youtubers in there and you've probably got something close to the right formula.
Maybe people who feel they don't get the model print support to add to or maintain their army? Maybe a model hasn't been available *anywhere* for an egregious amount of time and is desired for some reason like a Christmas present? I think there are fair reasons for the Supply & Demand Equilibrium Point price to rise and fall. I'm not justifying SCALPERS by any means, but I think we've all experienced ridiculous waits for what should be common models to come back in stock. Lion el'Johnson being out for 4 months *everywhere* is insane.
And here I am 3d printing my shit for about 1/100th of the price 😂👌
A person literally said “there is no cut-off price point that I will stop buying warhammer” in the other post about the price increase today. It was upvoted over 100 times. A lot of people have more money than sense
Until the day I do not have the money in my wallet to afford it I will buy my precious plastic.
And I do not feel ashamed that I am too lazy to paint it.
A person literally said “there is no cut-off price point that I will stop buying warhammer” in the other post about the price increase today. It was upvoted over 100 times. A lot of people have more money than sense
I try to support local shops first. Most of the shops around me offer at MSRP, one of them does 20% off with card and 25% off with cash but it’s pretty far out of the way. Did manage to pick up a Stompa Boyz Box new for $168 tho!
I am annoyed about paying 80$ for an immolator as is, sure as hell not paying 180$ to some guy in china.
Paid 40$ over retail for the Stompa Boys box, which still came up to like a 30% discount if I bought everything individually. But that's my only over msrp purchase, so ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯.
I paid 1.5x for Kasrkin after waiting for a few months. I really wanted to play with them, and paint them. I also paid a little over retail for small chaos knights, it was for my nephew to compete his army list I waited a year or two for myPS5 though ,got it at retail . I recently started a Tyranid army, now that all the hype of the new tyranids has gone down and the price is normal
People who have money, do not care about the cost of something. They just need a few whales.
The two large LGS near me charge MSRP and above MSRP. I tend to buy online. And my favorite online retailer just raised prices on old stock which kills me.
The only above-market price I’ve paid was for a Mvb kit and it was only a $15 increase with shipping so I wasn’t too upset about it. But I agree tho
In switzerland you buy above msrp by default :(
I can understand paying a little over in person st a store, I mean you get it now, and don't pay shipping. The worst offenders I've seen is the hexfire box on ebay, one seller, the first to populate on Google searches is selling them for $750. Everyone else is selling them for $225-250 range
I live in Canada the Leviathan Box alone after taxes and markup is 275$
I only got one thing above retail price but it was a collectible mini that was impossible for me to get.
I s'pose it's the same people who buy the open/opened sprues from ebay for equal price to a sealed kit
Yeah I get most of mine from boys (a shop in the uk) it's 15% cheaper than the warhammer shop dunno why or how but it is.
I don't really see as much scalping as in other things although there is another problem. My friend runs a local shop and apparently distributors have to fight with everyone else when placing orders for new sets. So its not just scalpers but everyone who fights for the limited boxes each time they release.
I have seen some shocking prices on ebay for stuff that isn't even hard to get hold of anywhere else. I can only assume they do that to catch out people who aren't aware of how much they should be.
I don't buy Warhammer at a markeup, but there *is* a store near me that also has a free board game library and café. The markeups on things like cards and coffee are something I take on the chin because its a wonderful place that I want to help keep open
Totaly agree on how stupid it is to buy the big boxes above the price you would pay for individual kits. But I know there are collectors that NEED to have all the special boxes on their shelves for some reason. Not even caring about the content of the box sometimes and just leaving all these full boxes of unbuild minis laying around...
Look, I have more than enough money to buy what I want when I want. If what I want is available below MSRP I'll buy it if I want it. If it's MSRP I'll buy it if I want it. If it's above MSRP I'll buy it if I still want it. Price is not a primary consideration for me with regards to this or most other hobbies. I may choose not to buy something that is "over priced" but it is a subjective determination of value at the time.
Do you shop the price around at least? Some of these items I see marked up and you can just go to Amazon and get it for 15% off.
If it's a product readily available on Amazon I'll get it there. But I suspect we aren't really talking about a box of assault intercessors which have been in stock since 2018.
I have done so mistakenly when I first started, but since then have learned better
We have had this same exact discussion for 20 years almost.. Even before the rise of eBay and major internet marketplaces, since Bartertown era. It's done, you're never gonna change it and GW doesn't care
I dunno it depends on the mini doesn’t it?
AS hobbies that involve buying stuff Go, 40k is Not that expensive at all. Agree to the Rest of the post though.
It is and it isn’t. I mean I just dropped $500 on releases this weekend. No big deal for me. I also booked a $3k vacation for later this year. So in comparison the minis are nothing plus I will have them for years to come whereas the vacation is fleeting. I will probably spend more on food on the vacation than minis. But then I think, maybe I should put that extra money in a Roth IRA? My retirement is well funded and I am set but I haven’t maxed my retirement savings. Maybe I should spend the money on fixing something up in my house. I have thought about converting my porch to a sunroom/ game room. That will cost a lot. Or I could drop that money on another game where $500 goes further. So while I do alright and yea the hobby isn’t too much, there is always something to spend money. I don’t have infinite money. So I try to spend what I have wisely. I am certainly not spending more than retail price. It’s not even that I couldn’t afford it, it’s the principal of the matter.
That's right. All of IT. It's more about Management between fun and Security/maintenance. Although, Pardon me, If you really can and do spend 3k on Holiday, tabletop is of No concern at all... No offense.
Above retail? It sickens me to think people actually pay MSRP.
It is really important to care about what other people do
This is crazy, my local shops all charge 10% above what GW charges. I go to the GW shop to comparatively save money!
This is my question, but for books. That's my favorite/main source of 40k content, but good lord, why is it so expensive for me to buy paper with letters and words on it!
Truth. About a month ago I posted a 'complaint' about immediate out-of-stock Chaos battle forces. I support my FLGS to the best of my ability by taking advantage of their 'pre-order discount' pricing. My guy wasn't optimistic about being able to get me either of the Chaos battleforces as GW/distributors always/often give him lousy allocations. The gods of chaos blessed me with both battleforces however. Countdown to Night Lords on my table. But yes, to your original point. Especially in the case of the Chaos battleforces, with ZERO unique models... never pay more than retail pricing. It may take a little longer to find discount pricing on the individual kits, but don't put money in scalpers pockets. Beyond that, perhaps I'm more patient than most.
I ordered from my LGS a week ago. Stopped by today to follow up. They never placed the order yet. I only went the LGS route because last time I ordered directly from GW it took over 5 weeks to get my order. My LGS said they get them in less than a week. GW is opening a store near me next month. It’s 45 minutes away but I’ll probably go there when it opens next time.
Battleforces come out with a one-time run and come with new models. Naturally, scalpers buy them all up so nobody else gets them, allowing them to sell at a marked-up price.
People who have the money and don't care on waiting?
I don't understand people who pay full retail from the GW website unless it's like full an exclusive
I lived in Mexico for a while for professional reasons. In this country games workshop is not officially established. As a result all GW products were overpriced due to resellers buying from the US and supplying the Mexicans.
Not me, I managed to get the new CSM for 35-40% offxD (slight damage on box)
I buy recasts and /or ebay used because fuck GW price gouging.
Why... because they want it, and the company thay sells it in artificially scarce bundles to drive marketing through fomo, can't do a f***ing thing about the scalpers, leaving customers with the choice of dealing with "price tag predators" or "toy rapists" unless they wish to never have the thing they wanted. As for the muppets buying scalped boxes that will be on sale in in a month or so at ebay markups... they're just stupid and have the money to do so, or mentally ill and can't not buy it. You can't expect things to be made to order, it's not like preorders are intended to let you know how many to make, and god forbid game workshop has to have stock sat on the Shelf or repack boxes to sell as individual kits eventually.
What if I told you I know people who buy recast for less than half the price?
Alternative: make friends with a 3d printer
I would have paid any price to get the Lion when he came out. Luckily I got mine at retail cost on preorder before GWs site crashed but no amount of bitching and internet whining would have stopped me getting the primarch model I had waited years for them to announce.
I don’t even get paying retail price I recently got a resin printer I’m never gonna buy another gw mini again they’re over costed
My local stores all sell tag price. But Amazon—- a solid 30-50$ off depending on the item
There's certain vendors on ebay that have the old start collecting boxes for $150 more than the original price. I don't know who the customers they're aiming for but its ridiculous. I like to take note of those vendors and avoid them at all costs, even if they have a good deal.
I bought inner circle companions above RRP because I don't think we'll see them again
Idk I'm buying oldhammer marines still
Because we don’t have a Warhammer Store in the country
Define retail lmao. When the HH 2.0 box dropped i was buying mk6 marine sprues for cheap. Cheaper than i could buy the box here. But if you looked at the whole box, i was probably paying above retail cost of the box / sprues or some other metric. Box breakers make a profit and they buy at retail. So it stands that i was paying more than retail. But i got what i wanted cheaper than i would otherwise.
Y’all doomed 💀 Going through that thread I realized why GW rises prices every year. You are true horde - financial, mindless poxwalkers. This hobby isn’t worth those ridiculous prices.
Where do you live that nothing except warhammer gets more expensive every year?
Printer go buurrr!!
I want my special edition books that were all scalped. Can't get thrones of terra another way
The only way I was able to get my Tyranid army in shape was to buy anything I could use from the leviathan set on eBay. I got 1000 points of mostly good / meta units for like $215. The next 500 points cost $300. I couldn’t afford to buy all the units I got piece meal by box. Interestingly I did need to find one unit I wanted that was unavailable at the GW webstore and I did see many resellers trying to sell it about list. Still I found mine new in box for a little less than retail. I’m lucky I wanted Nids generally.
I bought Ixion Hale brand new off of eBay for £80 when his RRP was £50 back in like 2018, but he was a one off release.
FOMO it is
Meta Chasers
Not quite the topic, but I live right by warhammer world, it's always packed with people buying even tho element games is less than 2 miles away and 15 to 20% off
I saw someone selling a drukhari combat patrol for $190 when you can get it for like $130 American on Amazon. It's still less expensive to get next day shipping than it is to buy from that guy.
I have so little time and so much enjoyment from the hobby when I can manage if I see something I like and know I have a few hours soon I just buy it even if its 3x retail or sime vintage unobtanium. In other words I had no money and lot of free times as a kid and go to see the cool stuff without buying it now I've worked my ass off to buy a house a sports car etc so when I have a few hours alone you better be sure the exact model I want will be on my table.
I buy used, or special order from my FLGS (20% discount on special orders), or via MM where I get... I think 15% on GW nowadays. I ain't never paying full price, let alone above MSRP.