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In the US they both take donations and buy blood what they don't tell you is they will charge the recipient hundreds of dollars for it either way.

What happens with expensive pricing (I live in the UK and I feel that they've raised the pricing too much and our numbers for stuff isn't nearly as high as the Aus seems to be)

What happens



Only one model in that picture was bought from GW, the forgeworld in the middle that's actually cheaper then a landraider. The rest bought from external stockists at a 30% discount or ebay'd. So rather then buying it full price I go around them and get it for 30% off, which when you take out the cut the stockists take from selling it in the first place makes the actual amount of money GW receives from me minuscule by comparison, and its there own doing.

just unfortunate that there response will only be to raise prices.

Of course they will respond by raising prices. GW makes no money from those who buy used models from ebay. As a company, they still have to make an annual bottom line that demonstrates an increase in profits.

I personally would be less inclined to use ebay and 3rd party retailers to get my GW merchandise if GW actually sold more things at a reasonable price, which is the principle of my argument. I wouldn't go on ebay pay postage ontop of all these things, same for the other online stores if I could walk down to GW and get stuff at an equal value I can only see that ever losing them money they way they force the prices up on all this stuff.

I mean, for UK buyers. I get alot of my stuff from an online store called Gifts for Geeks, and they sell warhammer at a 30% less then retail price. I don't understand why GW have to sell that 30% more while this site manages to stay afloat giving back only a scraping of a commission to GW on sales.

Ugavine wrote:GW expensive? Nah, try the Early Learning Centre. THAT's expensive!

I have enough money to buy out an entire GW store, and no i dont mean the products, I mean the store AND the products.
I still find it expensive.


Expensive is not in the sense of not able to afford.

Expensive in the sense would you buy my empty plastic sprue for $20 each?

Hi Luna Hound.
I think you mean 'expencive' is relative to your percieved value for money.

Compared to other manufactures products , GW plc are more expencive.(Factual comparison of prices.)
GW plcs products are twice as expencive as they used to be .(Takeing inflation into account.)
So actual comparison of prices GW plc is more expencive.

However, the more important thing is they are poor value for money , in many peoples perception.
Even when other manufacturers prices are similar to GW plc for minatures for example , the cost of collecting a 'full army' is still a fraction of the price.

chromedog wrote:
In other countries, they need to bribe people to give up their blood - like you bribe children to behave properly. Pretty apt, actually.
They work off the voluntary contribution model here for blood. All you get out of it is the good feelings for helping out.

A lot of places here take blood donations as well. Red Cross brings a bus by where I work quarterly as part of a blood drive. I meant the original comment largely as a joke, though I think there are places that still buy blood plasma.

My kidney comment was intended as a joke as well. Obviously, allowing the sale of organs would encourage some rather unscrupulous business models.

Just saying this so that you don't think we're actually such "unbrotherly" cut-throat people over here. I mean, don't get me wrong, we are, but not to THAT extent.

Lanrak wrote:

Compared to other manufactures products , GW plc are more expencive.(Factual comparison of prices.)
GW plcs products are twice as expencive as they used to be .(Takeing inflation into account.)
So actual comparison of prices GW plc is more expencive.

However, the more important thing is they are poor value for money , in many peoples perception.
Even when other manufacturers prices are similar to GW plc for minatures for example , the cost of collecting a 'full army' is still a fraction of the price.

Yeppers, I make $30/h and I still find GW stuff way over priced and don't think it's good value for my money. Elhiem on the other hand, for about £98 I got two armies ( USMC and Iraqi Fedyadeen) including shipping. 45 models for the USMC and 30+ish for the Iraqi's. It worked out to about £1.25 per figgie.

I'm thinking about West Germans next, I really want to get started on my Cold War Gone Hot army. I also want to get my Vietnam VC/PAVN finally painted. I got 200 of them for $60ish Canadian.

As far as I am concerned GW can rot and die. I hope the door doesn't hit it's ass on the way out.

When you look at other hobbies this isnt too bad. Other then things like paint or such what we buy lasts forever(to an extent)
Not to be expended the next game we got.

The “perceived value of money” is an important point IMO, although I usually approach it from the angle of GW underestimated the price elasticity of their product.

Price elasticity is the idea that there is so much a person will pay for a single product (e.g. no one will pay $100 for a single plastic goblin/gretchin). As it stands now, GW’s prices are already starting to breach price elasticity, particularly with the GWOz (e.g. $80AUD for finecast Master of Ravenwing or $75AUD for plastic berserkers). I say the reason why the gak has yet to hit the fan is because the basic troop boxes are still within price elasticity (e.g. $55 for 12 Necrons and 3 scarabs)

At the moment, GW increases the base price of their entire range to cope with business costs (without price re-evaluation on silly things like BloodKnights). They also try to disguise the issue via reducing the amount of models per box (e.g. LOTR). This is an unsustainable business practice IMO because as soon as they start charging $80AUD for a box of 10 Tac marines (or $55 for 5 ala LOTR), they will evaporate as a company.

Hi candy.man.
Simply increasing retail prices to make up for falling sales volumes is NOT a sustanable buisness practice.(it is not a matter of opinin but fact.)

The point is every ones percived value for money is different.

If we simply base it on income , there are different cut off points.

Using standard distribution of weath.If the average wage is 50k.($Aus)

30% are on less than 25k.
35% are on 25k to 50k
20% are on 50k to 75K
10% are on 75k to 100k
5% are on over 100k.

So items priced for everyone to buy , get 100% of the market .
Items prices for over half average wages to buy get 75% of the market.
Items priced for over average wages get 40% of the market.
Items priced for 11/2 average wages get 20% of the market.
Items priced for 2x average wage only get 5% of the market.

As GW plc increase thier retail prices to make up for lost sales volumes thay have to increase them to a greater extent ,due to shrinking affordability markets.

I dont think we can put an actual value on product that will 'cause the company to collapse.'
Just that it is enevitable without GW plc changing thier buisnessplan.

EG offering better value for money , to grow thier customer base.
As opposed to offering less value for money that shrinks its customer base.

GW's pricing is purposefully designed to spend the greater part of your disposable income with them.

They want you to say "I've already spent $500, but need to spend $200 more" to get my money's worth" or complete the set/army/etc, when in all other situations you wouldn't spend that $200 with them. They're trying to trick you into being a die-hard.

With a more casual pricing scheme where its easier to afford, you can buy without thinking about it and you don't have to weigh the value against other things you might buy. The problem with this is that this GW pricing scheme forces a person to make a choice. That is to say GW wants their hobbyists to be purely GW hobbyists without other interests.

Hi aka_mythos.
I totaly undserstand what you are saying, but GW plc are simply taking the easy way to short term cash.

Its not retail price of individual minatures that 'keeps people locked in'.
But the PERCIVED VALUE FOR MONEY.

If I invest £100 and 2 weeks hobby time, and get a great gaming experiance.I get a good value for money vibe.I WILL invest more in the GAME system.(Buy more units armies etc.)

All the gamers I know of have multiple armies for thier favorite game systems.

GW plc make aquiring a 'full army ' army unessisarily expencive.(76% gross margins !)Simply means most give up before they even get to play a game.
(So GW plc dont realy have to bother with actual game development, just short term marketing of new releases.)
And these ex GW customers may feel 'ripped off' by GW.And they spread negative word of mouth.

This leads to falling sales volumes.GW plc can either increse the percived value for money of its products , OR simply raise the retail price.(Guess what they do? )

There are a few dedicated gamers that WILL spend £1000s on gaming product.But most of them want a great gaming experince at the end of it.GW plc dont provide this.

GW plc core games are '..good enough for the majority of the people that buy our minatures..'
'...the games are just the icing on the cake...' .(Jervis Johnson.)

And in the age of the internet and slightly more savvy parents /gamers .Paying over double for products for GW plc may seem a 'bit of a deterant to new starters'?

If a minature costs £20 and It is an awsome display piece, I want to paint with all my heart and it looks stunning in my display case I get MASSIVE value for money from it.I will buy what ever I like from what ever manufacturer I want.

If a minature costs £15 and its is one of 6minatures in 'my gang' for the skirmish game I love playing. I get MASSIVE value for money.I will recomend the brilliant game and buy more minatures...

If a minature costs £5 and it makes up ONE member of a squad of 5(£25). That make up one unit out of 20 (£500) I need to play a game ....I dont get the same amount of value for money vibe. (Kin how much for a full army, you must be dilusional pal!)

GW plc are still trying to use thier chain of B&M stores to promote insular marketing,a decade after everyone else moved to internet sales for specialised goods.

They have the problem now of not being able to compete in the opens market.So they need the insulation of the B&M stores to keep new customers 'GW only'.
Unfortunatly the amount of people able to afford GW plc inflated prices,(to pay for the B&M stores,) is shrinking rapidly.

I've always had the notion that it was something of an "initial" investment. Of course as new models come out and rules and other things to keep the hobby fresh I would be spending more money. BUT, like my xbox 360 spending 65$+ for ONE game isn't all that expensive when I can play as long as I wish once I've made my army. I can also customize paint and do WHATEVER I wish with the army after I've made my 400 dollar investment. (barring illegal actions of course) So I guess my overall thought is, if I spend the basic (IMHO) 400 dollars to get YEARS of fun out of an army rather than having to buy a new video game every month to month and a half then so be it =) I'll take "expensive" all day everyday =D

daedalus wrote:
My kidney comment was intended as a joke as well. Obviously, allowing the sale of organs would encourage some rather unscrupulous business models.

Just saying this so that you don't think we're actually such "unbrotherly" cut-throat people over here. I mean, don't get me wrong, we are, but not to THAT extent.

Excuse, please. Perhaps you missed the Aussie flag.
Rule 1: When dealing with an Aussie, ALWAYS assume we are taking the piss first (mocking or being sarcastic). It is part of our character. DO NOT take it at face value. This will just have you mocked even more.

If we WERE allowed to sell organs to get stuff, GW would amend their prices to reflect this. Price band A would be a blood donation, price band E would be a kidney. The big kits (stompa, baneblade, battleforce or starter box) would be a brain - but since you are willing to pay these prices, it can be safely assumed you aren't using it anyway.

chromedog wrote:

daedalus wrote:
My kidney comment was intended as a joke as well. Obviously, allowing the sale of organs would encourage some rather unscrupulous business models.

Just saying this so that you don't think we're actually such "unbrotherly" cut-throat people over here. I mean, don't get me wrong, we are, but not to THAT extent.

Excuse, please. Perhaps you missed the Aussie flag.
Rule 1: When dealing with an Aussie, ALWAYS assume we are taking the piss first (mocking or being sarcastic). It is part of our character. DO NOT take it at face value. This will just have you mocked even more.

If we WERE allowed to sell organs to get stuff, GW would amend their prices to reflect this. Price band A would be a blood donation, price band E would be a kidney. The big kits (stompa, baneblade, battleforce or starter box) would be a brain - but since you are willing to pay these prices, it can be safely assumed you aren't using it anyway.

Lol, well played sir. We also do take the piss a lot, a lot of the foreign comedians that come over take the piss out of their countries and how relaxed in Australia everything is.

Sasa0mg wrote:I live in the UK and I feel that they've raised the pricing too much and our numbers for stuff isn't nearly as high as the Aus seems to be
.

Understatement of the century.

UK GW price is less than 50% Australia's price. The cheapest we can get from an aussie distributor is 20% off of our price, the cheapest overseas (barring used models, something I have no issue with if I can get it for a tenth the Aussie price) typically ranges from $25-30 per $55 box set, which isn't so bad.

Also to note that the NZD prices are even cheaper than ours even with the $10 or so increase over ours (due to exchange rates)

Oh it's this thread again. I'm not going to bother to argue.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

hotsauceman1 wrote:When you look at other hobbies this isnt too bad. Other then things like paint or such what we buy lasts forever(to an extent)
Not to be expended the next game we got.

/Clap Thanks for saying this.

There is no way to argue with this. In Australia, GW Product is way overpriced. the AUD is about the same as the USD currently, and yet their prices are still jacked up. The OP is from Australia, and that's why he's observing GW's extremely overpriced models.

Sekai has hit the nail on the head.

The only thing I have to add (and only because this is a very common argument that frequently crops up), the whole “it’s not the most expensive hobby out there” is moot point due to the fact that one expensive hobby doesn’t justify another. Considering the topic is focused on “value for money” within the wargaming hobby and GW has been proven to price gouge versus other companies (e.g. PP does not use regionalist pricing), it’s almost impossible to say otherwise.

My younger brother lives in brisbane and i do feel for you with respect to the prices, He is lucky to have me though as i buy the stuff here in the UK for him after he paypals me and mail it to him, even with international postage he still saves a hell of alot.

Listen.... if your willing to part with one testicle, i believe the university of Pittsburgh will pay close to $10,000 for one of the boys

It almost kept me from getting back into the hobby

Chute82 wrote:Listen.... if your willing to part with one testicle, i believe the university of Pittsburgh will pay close to $10,000 for one of the boys

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I think it broke Luna...

n0t_u wrote:I think it broke Luna...

It just made me think human experimenting project is real, if they openly make those offers >.<

Probably is somewhere in the shadows in some form.

I Live In America. When I first got into the hobby I thought it was extremely expensive but after playing for a while I got used to it. I enjoy Warhammer Fantasy and 40K a lot so I don't mind spending a little money every time I go to GW. I think they increase their price 100% (or at least that is what I heard) which is about average for any sold good. But I do understand if you find them expensive. The solution to not paying the expensive price is...Don't buy it.

Ebay is the only way to buy GW.... Some item you can get for next to nothing if your willing to wait

That's the thing though, there aren't the deals on ebay these days that you used to get. I've been away from ebay for getting on for 2 years, and having just looked the other week, I was shocked by how much more expensive GW stuff was on there than it used to be. Unless something is an appalling botch job (badly made, painted in dulux, or both), based on the stuff I was tracking a lot of it was going for getting on for 75% of shop price. And, 75% of a lot is still a lot!

I guess it's a sign of both GW's popularity, and people being unwilling to pay the current shop prices on stuff that it has definitely become more of a sellers market.

Chute82 wrote:Listen.... if your willing to part with one testicle, i believe the university of Pittsburgh will pay close to $10,000 for one of the boys

I wonder how much you could get for the set, and how much taxes are on that...