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After being on the web for a relativly short time,I've
came to this belief.
There is no such thing as cheap miniatures!!!!
The way these "great savings" works is this:you find
the figs you want on some website at what looks a
fabulous price but you don't realise how much postage
you are going to get fleeced for!In all probability
you'll save a couple of pounds or dollars,is that
worth it?
If you have a local miniatures shop think about this.
Travel costs.Yup, just that one thing.If you are
buying on the web you are just paying your bus fare
but not going anywhere.So wouldn't it be better to
help keep a local shop open instead of saving a couple
of pounds or dollars?

Pretty much.

If you game in store, buy in store. If your discount is that precious to you, don't dare whinge, complain, bitch or blame the closure of your local FLGS on anything but yourself, and others like you!

I usually buy in store, but I've bought off the web when the price (including postage) is right. Found a guy on e-bay who sells boxes of Orks £1 cheaper with free P&P, so why not?

Whilst I like the in-store atmosphere, I'm afraid the internet will one day make high street shops superfluous. GW can evolve (and therefore survive), by going down the hobby centre route.

GW needs to offer something more to persuade me to spend ALL of my money in the shop

I spend most of it online on big orders every couple months when I work more and have the money to spare, GW is alright for the odd box or whatever

Yes your not going to get massive savings, and i have given up on mini trading/ebay- something nice about getting it brand new. But 10% of 200 pounds is an extra box...

So offering you somewhere free to game isn't enough then?

Or the free painting lessons? And indeed, somewhere to paint as well?

Lots of incentives to buy instore if you make use of the store. If you play mainly, or even better, exclusively at home or in a non-GW Store based club, then go for it!

I havent made use of such things in 8 years, so unless I do it out of some sense of retroactive duty :S

GW Belfast supported a local tournament- I didnt go but I saw pictures. If I joined a club and they supported said club with old terrain etc I would definitely switch all my purchasing to GW. I know they supported QCon (local geek convention) but not sure if that translates to supporting the club that they have.

I wouldn't call getting a pound off even
with free postage a bargain.
I used to do a lot of miniature buying
via mail order but eventually gave up
as more and more companies were telling
me that I could only order via the web!
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite
your face! I still haven't seen much sign
that figure companies are passing on the
vat drop either.

You can choose not to support your local game shop, but when you really need that model or hobby supply today (or even playing area), and the shop is gone because all you did was shop online, you've screwed yourself and the people working at the shop.

This is an expensive hobby; you should be willing to spend a bit more for the local businesses.

I regularly buy from an online store that gives me 20% off rrp. They also give an extra 5% discount on orderes over £100. In the long run this saves me a huge amount of money. Postage rarely exceeds £5 and when my friends and i buy in bulk it goes down to even less. I only every buy paint from GW stores now, everything else i can get cheaper elsewhere.

I buy things in such small amounts I can't really benefit too much from buying online.

Regardless, I go to my local store enough to require that I buy most of my stuff from there.

Oh god paragraph formatting.

ShumaGorath wrote:Oh god paragraph formatting.

I know, right?

you think you're so good.

Slipstream wrote:There is no such thing as cheap miniatures!!!!
The way these "great savings" works is this:you find
the figs you want on some website at what looks a
fabulous price but you don't realise how much postage
you are going to get fleeced for!

I'd like to answer this comment with this:

Maelstrom Games UK

Discounts all year round, periodic sales, and free worldwide shipping.

BYE

Well, the orks that I got online cost $64 less then were I to go down to GW and get them, if you include shipping. If you exclude shipping, that's $114 saved. And considering the size of the order (11 boxes of plastic, one box of metal, one metal blister, and one codex), shipping wasn't so bad anyway.

Slipstream wrote:High street versus the web

Boo. I thought I was going to hear some great anecdotes about downtown Columbus...



Ghidorah

online can still yield very good savings (ebay depends on the seller)

but general rule of thumb , buying stuff in bulk saves s&h fees. it costs $8 to ship a blister of goblin, and it cost $10
to ship 2 boxes of skull pass., you get the point.

Slipstream wrote:After being on the web for a relativly short time,I've
came to this belief.
There is no such thing as cheap miniatures!!!!
The way these "great savings" works is this:you find
the figs you want on some website at what looks a
fabulous price but you don't realise how much postage
you are going to get fleeced for!In all probability
you'll save a couple of pounds or dollars,is that
worth it?
If you have a local miniatures shop think about this.
Travel costs.Yup, just that one thing.If you are
buying on the web you are just paying your bus fare
but not going anywhere.So wouldn't it be better to
help keep a local shop open instead of saving a couple
of pounds or dollars?

Unless of course, you get free shipping over a certain amount. And then on top of that there is no tax if you order out of state.....You can save quite a bit if you shop around. No tax, free shipping....

Your not just paying travel costs. You forget sales tax too. You gotta pay that.

Sorry no, its not worth it, for me, to "keep a local shop open" then save money. The local ones here? Suck monkey scrotum. There is nothing they offer thats worth the savings I can get online.

If you got a good FLAGS good for you. support them. For me I havent run into one yet in my travels worth the time and enegry to support them.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:So offering you somewhere free to game isn't enough then?

Or the free painting lessons? And indeed, somewhere to paint as well?

Lots of incentives to buy instore if you make use of the store. If you play mainly, or even better, exclusively at home or in a non-GW Store based club, then go for it!

Only if the store has those insentives. Many do not, or offer very poor ones. PLaying hours of 6pm -9pm on a weekday night isnt going to get me into the store.....

Iorek wrote:You can choose not to support your local game shop, but when you really need that model or hobby supply today (or even playing area), and the shop is gone because all you did was shop online, you've screwed yourself and the people working at the shop.

This is an expensive hobby; you should be willing to spend a bit more for the local businesses.

Why? Why should I be willing to support a local FLAGS? Whats the reason?

Online retailers won't be sufficient reason to keep hobby games alive.

carmachu wrote:

Iorek wrote:You can choose not to support your local game shop, but when you really need that model or hobby supply today (or even playing area), and the shop is gone because all you did was shop online, you've screwed yourself and the people working at the shop.

This is an expensive hobby; you should be willing to spend a bit more for the local businesses.

Why? Why should I be willing to support a local FLAGS? Whats the reason?

With GW putting out a very high-quality (albeit very pricey) gaming table, there is no reason to if you are not so inclined.

I know the manager of my local GW, I have gamed with him long before his GW career. When I got back into the hobby just under a year ago, I bought all my Necrons online (from chaosorc.com, shameless plug), and ended up getting 25% off the US retail price (which is almost 1/3 off the Canadian retail price before the discount), and shipping was nominal. This is back when the Canadian dollar was at par with the US dollar

All told I saved about 40%, and I think that's being conservative. When he asked where I got it, I told him. When he asked how much I paid, I told him. His response? "Wow."

Was he upset I didn't buy from his store? I'm sure he was. But now he has someone else who has gotten more than knee deep in the game (I can field 120 warriors, 15 destroyers, 2 lords and 3 monoliths, the maximum from every FOC choice), and who will keep playing for a long, long time.

My second army will be bought from GW, as I can afford the time to slowly build an army. As was stated above, if you're making a mass purchase (like starting a new army all in one go) then online is probably the way to go.

Bunker wrote:With GW putting out a very high-quality (albeit very pricey) gaming table, there is no reason to if you are not so inclined.

I know the manager of my local GW, I have gamed with him long before his GW career. When I got back into the hobby just under a year ago, I bought all my Necrons online (from chaosorc.com, shameless plug), and ended up getting 25% off the US retail price (which is almost 1/3 off the Canadian retail price before the discount), and shipping was nominal. This is back when the Canadian dollar was at par with the US dollar

All told I saved about 40%, and I think that's being conservative. When he asked where I got it, I told him. When he asked how much I paid, I told him. His response? "Wow."

Was he upset I didn't buy from his store? I'm sure he was. But now he has someone else who has gotten more than knee deep in the game (I can field 120 warriors, 15 destroyers, 2 lords and 3 monoliths, the maximum from every FOC choice), and who will keep playing for a long, long time.

My second army will be bought from GW, as I can afford the time to slowly build an army. As was stated above, if you're making a mass purchase (like starting a new army all in one go) then online is probably the way to go.

There is no reason to ever pay full retail for anything with the internet at your fingertips. The local FLGS should offer some incentive to get you to spend money there, whether it be a discount, or a good clean place to game. For some people, the value of certain incentives is different. For me personally, if you hold two identical items in front of me, and tell me that one of them is 50 dollars and the other is 40 dollars, you can bet your ass I'm buying the one for 40 dollars. This goes for anything, miniatures, car parts, you name it. My loyalty is very fickle when it comes to my hard earned money. It's gotta be worth my while to spend extra money at the FLGS.

Mikhaila may have some further insight on what he does in his store.

whitedragon wrote:
Smart words

Yeah, unfortunately the only other FLGS that isn't a GW in my area has the sketchiest owner you could imagine (I ordered a Sabol Armytransport from them in April, I am still waiting for them to call because my order has come in. He tried to make me pay for it up front but I refused, yay me), and I refuse to support them.

The GW in my area is great. The staff aren't pushy (although that may be because I know the store manager) and the store is nice and big. My only gripe is that its in a mall and stuff might possibly grow legs if you aren't careful.

Oh, and tournaments. WTB tournaments. You Yanks are lucky that you have a tournament scene, even as poorly as it is run

I think a certain point has been forgotten completely:

I like to have what I pay for right away. Also, there's always a chance that anything you pay for online can get "lost in translation" (which has happened to me on more than one occasion).

I guess I'm lucky enough to have an incredible FLGS that often give you deals on a whim (Nothing preset, but if the manager sees you buying upwards of a hundred dollars or so, he'll just throw you something for free), and have plenty of events and a whole separate building dedicated to gaming. Not to mention having literally anything you could possibly want.

I'll buy wherever I can get a discount so I can afford extras like resin bases, silfor flock etc.

Where depends on how the exchange rate is, and if I could be bothered to drive to the other side of town to save a few bucks, or just go to my local GW.

carmachu wrote:

Iorek wrote:You can choose not to support your local game shop, but when you really need that model or hobby supply today (or even playing area), and the shop is gone because all you did was shop online, you've screwed yourself and the people working at the shop.

This is an expensive hobby; you should be willing to spend a bit more for the local businesses.

Why? Why should I be willing to support a local FLAGS? Whats the reason?

IF that is where you game, then you should be supporting it.

However, if you game at home or in a club (at least a club that is not linked to a store) then buy where you want.

But if you don't buy from FLGS, please don't join the hypocrites blaming their closures entirely on GW!

I honestly think this is more of a US issue than a UK one. In the UK FLGS are few and far between, the vast majority of stores being GW's. My local store is certainly a GW and as a result I feel no strong obligation to spend there as I know that GW is getting their share of the cash either way. I haven't game in my local store since the abolition of veteran nights with 10pm finishes.

These days I'm actually a big believer in supporting the Internet based competition. Not ones that just sell GW's stuff at a discount, but ones that sell alternative products for gamers. Companies like Warlord Games, blackhat.co.uk, Vallejo and the multitude of others. Not because I hate GW, quite the opposite. I just believe that the presence of competition is win/win for all concerned.

If there was a LFGS which gave me a place to game. I'd be quite happy to give them a share of my cash.

carmachu wrote:

Iorek wrote:You can choose not to support your local game shop, but when you really need that model or hobby supply today (or even playing area), and the shop is gone because all you did was shop online, you've screwed yourself and the people working at the shop.

This is an expensive hobby; you should be willing to spend a bit more for the local businesses.

Why? Why should I be willing to support a local FLAGS? Whats the reason?

Well, I was brief, so the caveat here is that you should be willing to support Good FLGSes. Ones that do provide you with a decent selection, especially of hobby supplies, and a place to play even if you have your own space. Granted, this is all based on the idea of a social gamer who wants to be able to expand his base of opponents; if you have a gaming group that you are quite happy with and have your own place to play, I can see why you'd not care about your FLGS.

I'm also pro-entrepreneur, so that's part of my reasoning as well. Again, for good FLGSes.