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So with us having several threads about this so far, and more to come I did the most sensible thing I could think of and emailed GW Customer Service inquiring about it and seeing if they were aware of the potential issue. This was the reply:

Hi there,

Thanks for writing in to us. Over the last week or so, items have been removed from the website as we run out of stock; to avoid back orders. Once we our re-stock arrives, then the appropriate items should once again be available.

Sorry for the confusion, but I hope this helps.


David Monroe

Games Workshop

North America Customer Services

So it's just GW pulling models to avoid back orders. Strange, but it's GW so not to be to unexpected, as pretty much everything they do we call "strange".

Let the tin-foil hatting commence anyways though.

Huh.

I guess this is what happens when you're a company that has declining sales.

... wait...

Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

 Byte wrote:
Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

Yeah, I don't get it either, unless something isn't working there properly at the moment (like the new site rumors stuff). I'm just relaying the message so the panic can stop. Last time something like this happened and I asked them about it they outright admitted the site was busted so I really have no reason to disbelieve them here, even if it seems like a bit of an asinine way to handle it.

Byte wrote:Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

Yeah, lol.

This IS the games workshop website we're talking about, though. I don't know who they have as their webmaster, but this is certainly not the first curious decision they've made.

 Byte wrote:
Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

When you have no plans of continuing to produce the model in that particular medium or to produce that model period, why bother?

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

When you have no plans of continuing to produce the model in that particular medium or to produce that model period, why bother?

Except that's contrary to what was said in the email. Good tin-foil hatting though I suppose.

And I really don't see GW binning a plastic model like the Ravager (missing them the AU site). Maybe the Oblits (missing from the US Site), but that's a bit a stretch to assume they're going just because they're Finecast and were pulled.

 ClockworkZion wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

When you have no plans of continuing to produce the model in that particular medium or to produce that model period, why bother?

Except that's contrary to what was said in the email. Good tin-foil hatting though I suppose.

And I really don't see GW binning a plastic model like the Ravager (missing them the AU site). Maybe the Oblits (missing from the US Site), but that's a bit a stretch to assume they're going just because they're Finecast and were pulled.

Less tinfoil hatting on my part, more "general circumstances". Most of the time when models "go missing", they're old metal models or Finecast ones.

Plastics disappear from time to time--and occasionally, they get "repackaged" so the original item link gets removed.

It's not a problem with tinfoil, it's just a problem with accuracy.

Recently, the khorne berzerker box disappeared from the GW site. They weren't converting a metal or finecast box into plastic, they weren't planning on discontinuing to sell them, or changing the box in any way (adding or removing sprues, for example).

It was the same box that just disappeared for a little while and then returned as-is.

Not to say that it isn't sometimes this way (like when they removed the basilisk to change it from the old chimera chassis to the new, or when they changed the contents of the guard battleforce), but it doesn't appear to be the case now. Not that it strictly matters, but it's something that GW is, itself, confirming as what it's doing, and why.

Sure, but how many people really think that the gas mask stormies, kasrkin, or metal Ogryn are going to be returning?

 ClockworkZion wrote:
So with us having several threads about this so far, and more to come I did the most sensible thing I could think of and emailed GW Customer Service inquiring about it and seeing if they were aware of the potential issue. This was the reply:

Hi there,

Thanks for writing in to us. Over the last week or so, items have been removed from the website as we run out of stock; to avoid back orders. Once we our re-stock arrives, then the appropriate items should once again be available.

Sorry for the confusion, but I hope this helps.


David Monroe

Games Workshop

North America Customer Services

So it's just GW pulling models to avoid back orders. Strange, but it's GW so not to be to unexpected, as pretty much everything they do we call "strange".

Let the tin-foil hatting commence anyways though.

As much as I would love to believe this, I spend too much time in YMDC to know that e-mails are easily spoofed. You'll have to find a more credible source such as an FAQ.

Lol:

Hello,

Thanks for writing in to us. I regret to inform you, but Games Workshop doesn't have any real representatives on hand to answer questions posed to us by email. With no staff on hand to provide answers in this format, unfortunately anyone claiming to have had a question (about rules or otherwise) answered from the Games Workshop development team is, in fact, a fake.

Sorry for the confusion, but I hope this helps.


James Harman

Games Workshop

North America Customer Services

 Happyjew wrote:
As much as I would love to believe this, I spend too much time in YMDC to know that e-mails are easily spoofed. You'll have to find a more credible source such as an FAQ.

This work for you instead?

Sheesh. Obama's released "birth certificate" was a more convincing fake...



Give us a LITTLE credit.

 Ailaros wrote:
Sheesh. Obama's released "birth certificate" was a more convincing fake...



Give us a LITTLE credit.

Right, so call my integrity into question with no real basis of proof that I'm making stuff up when I try and help.

He's making a joke, Zion.

 Kanluwen wrote:
He's making a joke, Zion.

At my expense and by calling me a liar. It's not that funny to start with and less so when it's aimed at you.

Zion, one of the tenets of YMDC is

 Lorek wrote:
2. The only official sources of information are the current rulebooks and the Games Workshop FAQs. Emails from Games Workshop are easily spoofed and are notorious for being inconsistent and so should not be relied on.

Now, as this is not YMDC and this is definitely not a rules question there is no reason to doubt the e-mail. However, this is the internet and people do tend to be jerks. Even in jest.

So please, understand, when we call you out on relying on an e-mail it is all in good fun and nothing was meant by it.

Hence the the Orkmoticons.

ClockworkZion wrote:Right, so call my integrity into question with no real basis of proof that I'm making stuff up when I try and help.

Hey, you're the one who said:

ClockworkZion wrote:Let the tin-foil hatting commence

Just doing my best to comply

 Ailaros wrote:

Hey, you're the one who said:

ClockworkZion wrote:Let the tin-foil hatting commence

Just doing my best to comply

That would be sarcasm.

And I apologize, I've just been a bit touchy about being called a liar because I've taken great pride in being honest as possible, even when it means I'm admitting I'm wrong, or I don't know things, or it gets to into trouble. Even in jest I just can't find it funny.

ClockworkZion wrote:That would be sarcasm.

As was:

Ailaros wrote:

 Byte wrote:
Because an out of stock tag and grey out is too difficult.

and doing this would generate the same wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Some stuff disappears and doesn't come back, like all the specialist games stuff. Would have been nice if GW were clear about the fact that it was being cleared out, but hey, that would require communication.

We know from GW's half year financial statement that they were spending a lot less on manufacturing products than the same period the year before. In other words, they have fewer in the supply chain to fulfil customer orders.

Although sales have declined, if their supply chain management isn't working 100% efficiently, they might keep running out of model kits.

They remove the missing kits from their eCommerce site to avoid the problem of back orders.

 Ailaros wrote:
Huh.

I guess this is what happens when you're a company that has declining sales.

... wait...

Lol.

On the other hand, DE is not the most popular army out there and therefore Ravagers are not bestsellers.

 wuestenfux wrote:

Lol.

On the other hand, DE is not the most popular army out there and therefore Ravagers are not bestsellers.

Which is why they only produce enough to meet demand and don't tool for another run until the previous run is depleted. In the current rules, Khorne Berserkers are the same way.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
We know from GW's half year financial statement that they were spending a lot less on manufacturing products than the same period the year before. In other words, they have fewer in the supply chain to fulfil customer orders.

Although sales have declined, if their supply chain management isn't working 100% efficiently, they might keep running out of model kits.

They remove the missing kits from their eCommerce site to avoid the problem of back orders.

Yeah, it appears GW has shrunk it's standing inventory and moved to a smaller, "Just-In-Time" style inventory, but that makes it easy to run out of stuff very quickly when demand surges (which is typically does with this game).

Here's hoping the new website will have an actual out of stock/grey out indicator instead of removing items altogether. I don't GW bash much, but that's just bad web design.

 Brother SRM wrote:
Here's hoping the new website will have an actual out of stock/grey out indicator instead of removing items altogether. I don't GW bash much, but that's just bad web design.

What they used to do was just cancel that item and refund you the cost of the item in question while sending you a big ass list of all the stuff that was out of stock at the time.

This is a little better because you're not wasting time ordering something they don't have to ship you and they were going to cancel anyways.

The grey-out of out of stock seems the better solution.

The removing the selection all-together gives the impression of "never to be seen again".

Some companies are more than happy with the "problem" of back-orders so the not making them again seem the likely answer.

I seem to remember a huge amount of models being taken off the site just before a major release each time so this just creates all kinds of speculation.