Motherfucker!

[yendi]

This, folks, is why the "support your friendly neighborhood gaming store" argument against buying games online sometimes falls flat:

We were in Davis Square today, and stopped in at Your Move Games. Elayna had fallen in love with Set at Pi-Con, and I grabbed it. I knew, of course, that I'd be paying MSRP with no discount. No big deal -- I consider that the price of supporting a local brick-and-mortar gaming business. There was no price on the box, and the $14.99 (plus tax) seemed a bit high, but gaming's an expensive hobby.

Then I got home, and found that the MRSP (see link above) is $12 (online stores have it for around $9). I paid fucking $15. Yes, they actually added 25% to the MSRP.

For that extra $3 they grabbed, they just ensured that I won't ever spend another fucking cent there. Really hope it was worth it for them.

ETA: Attempting to send a (nicer and much less profanity-filled) note via their webform leads to a 404 error.

Comments

[litch.livejournal.com]

don't tell us, tell them

[yendi]

Already working on that.

[norda.livejournal.com]

Not trying to condone what they did, but these days, it does come down to volume.

As a retailer, I've never marked something higher than MSRP, but that's come at the cost of tighter margins and lesser profit.

It also means if I cannot get something from my wholesale supplier at less than a particular price point, I won't carry it, because I cannot justify markup higher than retail in my own business dealings.

It limits what I do carry. For example, I'd love to regularly stock DVD sets like HEROES or SPACED or PUSHING DAISIES, but I can't, because I cannot order the quantities that a Wal-Mart or an Amazon does, and thus I won't get the volume discounts that they do.

I've been approached by vendors to carry new RPG stock, but the way our business runs, I'd only be able to order one or two copies of any game out there, and thus would only be offered a minimum discount, which would make it not cost-effective to my customer and probably would force me into such a markup as you experienced to cover the overhead of stocking such an item.

[My overhead is different than other retailers, because I'm an online rather than a brick-and-mortar. So I probably am weakening my own case here.]

My decision is thus to not carry the item, and to direct people to folks who do. I stick with the items I *can* order in bulk that I can pass along discounts to my customers, like the Doctor Who action figures, the Big Finish audio productions, the new BLAKE'S 7 audio series, etc.

Sorry you got hurt by this.

[yendi]

*nod* See, what you describe (and comic and gaming stores are in similar situations in many ways, both in terms of the market and how I approach them) would keep me as a customer. I do understand that the market is tight, but if an item is in stock and not a collectible (as opposed to being special-ordered), I do have an expectation that the item will be priced at MSRP. If I'm special-ordering something, that's another matter, of course.

Honestly, if they couldn't afford to sell Set without adding $3 to the MSRP, it didn't belong on the shelves.

[norda.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if they couldn't afford to sell Set without adding $3 to the MSRP, it didn't belong on the shelves.

Agreed in full. Which is why Michael and I wouldn't be entering our thirty-third year in business if we had to depend on that markup.

[masque12.livejournal.com]

Luckily for me, my FLGS offers a flat 5% discount off MSRP for damn near everything in the store, and since I'm a demo guy for SJG, I get my own 15% discount on everything. He's also really good about ordering stuff for me, which is why if it's still in print, I still go there for my stuff, and only use the internets for that which he simply can't acquire.

[yendi]

I've yet to find a store (in Atlanta or here) that offered all of that (with the caveat that I also look for stores that require little or no driving, and that I try to only buy a handful of games a year, since I have to do things like put food on the table).

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Have you been to the Outer Limits in Waltham?

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Outer Limits is more a comic store than a game store, really, and doesn't have that wide a selection. On the other hand there is a game store in Waltham on Spring Street 'Danger Planet' (but which is not a comic store) that is walking distance from Outer Limits.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Steve always took care of whatever games I needed, so the Outer Limits worked fine for me. =)

I'm pretty sure Danger Planet didn't exist at the time, so I can't say one way or another.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

I know Steve Well.... since the day he opened, since I used to work for one of his competitors back in the 80s on the same street his shop is on. (We did Comics and Games, with a bit more emphasis on games).

These days he's where our housemate gets her comics every week, and has been for about 15 years, but his game selection has always been small... yes he can order games (and has more than one distributor) but it wasn't his main focus last I looked.

Danger Planet's been around since 2001, so it must have been some time since you've been out to Waltham.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I've visited since then - although not since my mom moved away from Watertown about 3 or 4 years ago.

I left there about 1995-6 and moved far away from good Greek pizza, the T, and other things I took for granted. =)

[creepingcrud.livejournal.com]

Strictly speaking, it's just an argument against supporting that particular store. The one I frequent (Phantom of the Attic, in Pittsburgh) is a place whose existence pleases me greatly, and I while I can't say that I never buy online, I make sure to give them business because I like having them around.

[yendi]

*nod* Edited to note that that the "support your local FLGS" argument only sometime falls flat. In fairness, I haven't been to the store in Waltham (Danger Planet) which is about the same distance away (and could thus also be the "L" in FLGS), but I've heard good things about them.

[ckd]

I've been out to Danger Planet a few times. I don't get out there too much because they're not particularly local for me, but I was pretty happy with what I saw in terms of selection and such.

For me, pandemonium_bks is my FL[1]GS, and they kinda sorta give a 9% discount off of MSRP. (The $25 credit after spending $250; not really a discount, but with a similar effect.) Plus, books!

[1] Like "within walking distance" local.

[yendi]

*nod* Alas, I still haven't hit my first $250 there, but the discount is nice (and, as you note, books! And signings by folks like yuki_onna).

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Sorry you got burned...although YMG is pretty much the master of failing the "friendly neighborhood store" test.

[yendi]

Seriously? The in-store experience was actually pretty good. Employees were friendly, and I never felt the "you're in our space" experience that some gaming and comic stores give off.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

That is opposite of how I have felt.

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Really? Wow, I've had almost always the opposite experience. (except when I go on weekday afternoons when the store is empty, then the employees are polite and attentive)

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

YMG is pretty much a MTG outlet that happens to sell other things, at least from my experience (though I haven't been in the store in over a year so that may be a wrong opinion).

Pandy is a better gaming store, but only for SF/Fantasy and RPG related stuff. (I don't remember seeing Set on the shelves). If you're looking for more 'mainstream' board and card games like that I would have tried Games People Play on Mass Ave in Cambridge for it.

[yendi]

See, for us it was an impulse purchase, so we weren't thinking, "where should we go for games," but, "here's a game store; let's go in."

That said, they've ensured that they won't be on my list when I'm actively looking for games.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I think you might find those sections have improved somewhat in the past year's tenure. Your judgment, of course.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

I did qualify my statement on this, because of the time since last I was there. I'll need to make a trip over and see how things are since last I'd been by.

I have never had the problems that folks are making about staff responsiveness at YMG. I think everyone has good days and bad days in retail and can get frazzled, so I never judge staff based on a single visit to a store.

[norda.livejournal.com]

On a completely different note, that game looks utterly intriguing, and now I may have to look into it! Should I thank you or damn you?

Our household of three has started back into boardgames and card games now that Crystal has finished school.

[yendi]

Should I thank you or damn you?

Either one works. :-)

It is a fun game, though.

[norda.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you've assured us of something to do on cold winter nights.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I do not equate them with places like Pandemonium and Danger Planet in Waltham.

They are hgiher end, usually, and their prices are high. He's paying for a storefront on Mass Ave., and he gets a lot of parents who don't have to worry what they pay.

It is also one of the most unfriendly game stores I have ever been in.

[yendi]

Hunh. You're the second person to mention the bad customer experience; if that had hit me while I was in there either time I've visited, I'd never have spent the money. I almost wish I'd had the rude service, to save me the dough.

[hdaemon.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, every time I've been in there, they've had a ton of shelf space devoted to Games Workshop stuff, and yet sell it all at 20% off of MSRP. Makes you wonder if they're raising prices on the other stuff to compensate.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that you can't sell GW product unless you have a minimum amount of shelf space devoted to GW, and it's not a small amount. Also they set it up so you can game the system, but the basic rule is more shelf space=more discount.

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

If you like, I can pass this on to the store manager of YMG... I'd be willing to bet that this was not intentional and can be addressed.

[yendi]

Meh, not really. It's not a service issue (something I would hold the manager accountable for), but an pricing/markup issue (which I lay at the feet of ownership). Honestly, saying, "hey, I want my three dollars" seems almost as petty as, well, marking up those $3 in the first place.

Hi. I'm here to get yelled at.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

jmspencer pointed me at this post, and I figure it's the honest thing to do.

I'm not going to say that our price isn't higher than what you'll see at that site -- it is. The reason for that is that SET doesn't have an MSRP -- if it did, you'd find it somewhere on the packaging, and we'd match it, as that's our policy. SET is net priced -- the manufacturer sets the price that the distributor can sell it to us for, and we can exercise our judgment in our markup. We mark up SET about as much as we mark up our other card games -- we pay about 49% of retail.

What you're seeing is a manufacturer taking advantage of selling direct to customers, without going to distribution. Without the middleman taking a chunk, they can price lower than we can and still make about the same money. It's an advantage they have.

All I'd like to stress is that I know which products have high markups, and SET isn't one of them. We charge what the market will bear there, but it's not in an attempt to eke out that last three dollars. If there is a way to keep your business, or at least get you to not call me and my employees motherfuckers, I'd be eager to know what it is.

Re: Hi. I'm here to get yelled at.

[yendi]

First, I did not call you or anyone "motherfucker." I used that term as an exclamatory curse word.

As far as the markup goes, I'm not doubting that you're correct about the percentages. But at the very least, you could put a price tag on an item like that (which would have, admittedly, probably kept me from buying it then, but it also wouldn't have left me with the same bitter taste in my mouth).

There's also a choice, frankly, in what items to carry. If an item like Set can't be stocked without charging that kind of price, it's probably not worth stocking (and special order folks, presumably, are willing to pay extra at a store they like), as noted above in the thread with norda.

As far as the big improvements you could make, price tags and having a web form that works would be huge steps.

[ogre42.livejournal.com]

Or if you head north at all, Myriad Games at exit 2 in NH off of I-93 is very good for board games. No GW stuff at all. Some RPGs and CCGs, but mostly board games of all varieties. I think that they are in Salem, but not sure. No particular discounts, but great folks and I have never noticed any extra mark-up.

Just a thought...

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

It's cool that Elayna decided to get Set. She didn't seem that impressed by it when I was playing it near her at Pi-Con. Of course, that was at the same time that she was actually playing Flux, so she was probably a little distracted.

[yendi]

I'm pretty sure that watching you was what made it stick in her mind, actually!

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Cool. I shall have to challenge her the next time we are both at the same con. (Most likely Arisia, unless you guys are coming to Albacon.)