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The only place I have seen that will still ship to Australia is the Bitzbarn and their shipping time can run into months, so..

Miniature Market, a large brick and mortar as well as a large online store, here in the US stopped carrying GW products last year due to being fed-up with their shenanigans.

The thing is that GW wants to be the only source of sales for GW products and they see LGSs as a necessary evil in that, especially in the US, their storefronts don't and can't possibly reach everywhere.

The biggest problem I see with GW's antagonistic approach to outside sales (outside the company) is that it severely curtails market exposure and retards growth potential. Apple can get away with it because they're Apple but even they sell their products in every store that will carry it. I make this comparison because Kirby often likes to compare himself to Steve Jobs and GW to Apple (the whole premium-priced boutique image thing). This, I believe, has been one of the major contributing factors to the gradual decline in sales volume that GW has experienced and will likely continue to experience as management seems unwilling to change current marketing practices but instead double-down on the same losing strategy.

 Kanluwen wrote:

ToxicBox wrote:
Nope, No overseas site is allowed to sell to us, or risk being cut off by gamesworkshop themselves. I can also see this encouraging major recasting.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the case for all out of region sales?

What do you mean? For companies other than GW? I've bought plenty of stuff from Firestorm in the UK from other manufacturers, so GW seems to be the only one doing it.

That's why I wondered if you could actually buy from Firestorm, because I could add GW items to my cart, but I just checked and if you try and go through the checkout it says "restricted delivery" which I guess means it won't go through.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

ToxicBox wrote:
The only place I have seen that will still ship to Australia is the Bitzbarn and their shipping time can run into months, so..

There used to be that "discount games store" which used to do it as well, but I've never dealt with them.

You're right, Sorry. Only GW products can't be imported. Any other game can be (So far, hopefully it won't become a trend.)

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

ToxicBox wrote:
Nope, No overseas site is allowed to sell to us, or risk being cut off by gamesworkshop themselves. I can also see this encouraging major recasting.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the case for all out of region sales?

What do you mean? For companies other than GW? I've bought plenty of stuff from Firestorm in the UK from other manufacturers, so GW seems to be the only one doing it.

That's why I wondered if you could actually buy from Firestorm, because I could add GW items to my cart, but I just checked and if you try and go through the checkout it says "restricted delivery" which I guess means it won't go through.

Yeah, I meant for third party retailers.

I know that GW region locks everything, but that's not any big news. I don't buy anything GW from third party retailers(I have a good GW shop, so I buy there if there's something that tickles my fancy) so I'm not sure how the web scene has been since the big shift to GW products being unable to be sold via a web catalog.

The web scene has been getting worse here and it will only get worse if this continues. The onager is not much cheaper then a battleforce when bought from a discount store. (Onager is $112, Tau battleforce is 120 from a discount store)

ToxicBox wrote:
You're right, Sorry. Only GW products can't be imported. Any other game can be (So far, hopefully it won't become a trend.)

Hopefully not.

For the most part, GW is the worst with regional pricing anyway. There's not huge savings to be had buying most other games internationally because most other manufacturer's keep their international pricing tighter than GW. The main reason I've bought stuff from Firestorm was availability, stuff that I couldn't find from local retailers.

Are there still a substantial enough number of GW stores in AU/NZ to even channel the sales too?


Edit: or I supposes it is meant to channel sales to their own website. Sorry forgot we were talking about online.


Either way I just don't get it.

I would be surprised if there was more then 20 GW stores country wide.

It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

 agnosto wrote:

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

Yeah, GW seems to think they're Apple. They want you go only go to GW stores for purchase of their goods and for these goods to be virtually non-purchasable outside of their direct channels. Only problem is GW products have little to no ubiquity the same way a phone or computer does, they're just plastic miniatures. There is only so much shoe-horning that people will put up with before they just quit. It's really the same thing in my mind to GW's attempts to squander bits sales. There are no companies (well, many less now) selling bits. So do you just shrug and buy the whole kit so you can get the bits you want, or do you just not make a purchase?

I think it's going to be a whole lot of people just not making purchases.

ToxicBox wrote:
I would be surprised if there was more then 20 GW stores country wide.

I count 6 in/around Melbourne, 8 for Sydney, 3 Brisbane, 3 Adelaide, 4 Perth, 2 Tasmania, 1 Darwin. There might be more in smaller cities, but that's 27. The GW annual report says 40 stores for "Australia" but I wonder if that includes NZ.

But per head of population we actually have considerably more stores than the USA and Europe, and surprisingly not that far behind the UK (UK has 2.2 stores per million people, we have 1.7, North America is down below 0.2 stores per million).

GW was actually pretty popular in Melbourne at least going back 10-20 years. Very strong communities for both WHFB and 40k. It really seems (to me at least) to have died out over the past 5-10 or so years. Of the 5 stores in Melbourne itself, at least 3 of them go back to the late 90's.

 agnosto wrote:

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

I only know how it is in the UK, but it'd surprise me if its different.

Have you read the terms GW puts on it's discount rates to resellers?

 notprop wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Whilst this doesn't surprise me in the slightest, and it completely sucks, I do have to ask: How does this impact stores that sell online but that also have a physical presence (like, say The Combat Company)?

I think this just dovetails with the rest of the world?

i.e. GW want you to have a physical store to promote the HHHobby not just a bloke selling out of his garage.

What they want is vertical integration, or an oligopoly. They spout that rubbish to NZ all the time, and yet they have just three stores in the entire country, and none on the South Island at all.

Honestly GW's business practices here make me sick
The hobby already struggles enough imo without GW trying to kill it off, I have a sweet D-99 Army I just finished that I can't play as no one I know plays 40k anymore. I honestly don't know why I bother anymore when games like Dropzone Commander are amazing, cheaper and almost as easy to get now.

In the last year the only GW product's I've bought have been from Forge World due to all the reason people have mentioned, hella forge world is actually cheaper for me to buy somehow.
The game in Australia is dying

I have been under the impression GW wants to get things to a stage where ALL internet sales are done from their site.
No other competition in this regard would be tolerated.
FLGS's are only accepted since GW stores cannot be in every city.

I am unsure how prevalent recasting would be in that end of the world but I suspect most people would go the path of least resistance and play something else.
I think the OP's choice is logical and hopefully will have little impact on his bottom line.
I strongly suspect the customer base will catch up to him in the next year or so anyway.

I understand the frustration (to some degree) of being charged more for no real reason other than "because they can".
It is rather funny I could order GW stuff from the USA, pay shipping and duty and still pay less than buying in Canada at a GW store (depending on what I bought of course!).
There are different levels of inflation from country to country so manufacturers vary the cost of their product proportionately which they cannot be faulted for.
In this case, that is not at play here.

I had researched costing for quite a few things in Australia and can only account for the same excuse they use for Canada: it is a small market.

2013 populations: (Source: google, data from world bank)
Sweden/Norway/Finland: 20.1 million
Australia: 23.1 million
Canada population: 35.1 million
UK: 64.1 million
USA: 316.5 million

Inflation: Consumer Rate: (source: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=71)
Canada: 2.9%
Sweden/Norway/Finland: 3.0 / 1.3 / 3.3%
USA: 3.1%
Australia: 3.4%
UK: 4.5%

Imperial Knight cost on GW site: (In brackets: US funds http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/currencies/) (5/1/2015 for both)
<edit> Canada: $170 ($139.63) (somehow messed up "170" to be "120"... need eyes checked...)
Australia: $155 ($121.19)
Sweden/Norway/Finland: SEK1,020 ($121.52) / NOK940 ($123.56) / EUR110 ($123.18)
UK: £85 ($128.67)
USA: $140

<edit: deleted prior summary> OK! all is right in the world after the 120 dollar fiasco... in the world economy we still pay more than the Aussies for an IK at least... (thanks Warboss).
If interested in the exchange rates, that can be figured out with the information provided.

Let's hope this does not happen to the USA.

How are you calculating that? I just peeked at the GW site and the canadian cost of a Knight is $170 CAD and $140 US when you switch the flags in the upper left corner to "switch" the country prices. I'm not sure where you're getting the $120 above.

OP, do you guys get Privateer Press games? Infinity, X-Wing, Maliafaux, and Warmachine are the four biggest non 40k games in the two states I've lived in in the past year.

 Orock wrote:
Why does steam charge australians more for their games? Is the only reason greed, because the higher capita? It makes no sense, it costs the same amount to ship as anywhere else, nothing. They cant tariff online data.

Don't quote me on this, but I remember reading somewhere a while back that it was due to fair competition rules. Basically they have to charge a price that's in line with the other retailers. Local retailers would be completely crushed without anything they could do since it's the publishers who set the price.

tl;dr publishers price gouging is the reason. It's not Valve's fault.

 MWHistorian wrote:
OP, do you guys get Privateer Press games? Infinity, X-Wing, Maliafaux, and Warmachine are the four biggest non 40k games in the two states I've lived in in the past year.

We did sell PP games, but have recently stopped due to a few issues but we stock the other three.

Well, I can understand regional portection to protect local stores, but this ist just local scorching and really bad for their own business, though not in the short term, but in the long run.

On the other hand, did not GW try in the past to floor as many LGS as possible with simliar practices.

@PP
Would like to hear what issues, cause some decissions by PP in the past few years were not that bright.

 Accolade wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

Yeah, GW seems to think they're Apple. They want you go only go to GW stores for purchase of their goods and for these goods to be virtually non-purchasable outside of their direct channels. Only problem is GW products have little to no ubiquity the same way a phone or computer does, they're just plastic miniatures. There is only so much shoe-horning that people will put up with before they just quit. It's really the same thing in my mind to GW's attempts to squander bits sales. There are no companies (well, many less now) selling bits. So do you just shrug and buy the whole kit so you can get the bits you want, or do you just not make a purchase?

I think it's going to be a whole lot of people just not making purchases.

I already went to an Apple Store and told them to feth themselves for gakky business practices. Haven't gone to GW to do that yet (just venting on forums).

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Accolade wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

Yeah, GW seems to think they're Apple. They want you go only go to GW stores for purchase of their goods and for these goods to be virtually non-purchasable outside of their direct channels. Only problem is GW products have little to no ubiquity the same way a phone or computer does, they're just plastic miniatures. There is only so much shoe-horning that people will put up with before they just quit. It's really the same thing in my mind to GW's attempts to squander bits sales. There are no companies (well, many less now) selling bits. So do you just shrug and buy the whole kit so you can get the bits you want, or do you just not make a purchase?

I think it's going to be a whole lot of people just not making purchases.

I already went to an Apple Store and told them to feth themselves for gakky business practices. Haven't gone to GW to do that yet (just venting on forums).

Your post makes absolutely no sense when read a possible response to the discussion; are you drunk posting or just trying to be contrary and pick a fight?

 ManSandwich wrote:

 Orock wrote:
Why does steam charge australians more for their games? Is the only reason greed, because the higher capita? It makes no sense, it costs the same amount to ship as anywhere else, nothing. They cant tariff online data.

Don't quote me on this, but I remember reading somewhere a while back that it was due to fair competition rules. Basically they have to charge a price that's in line with the other retailers. Local retailers would be completely crushed without anything they could do since it's the publishers who set the price.

tl;dr publishers price gouging is the reason. It's not Valve's fault.

It's not Valve's fault. It's not "fair competition rules", though, either. It's EBGames along with the local distributors and local arms of the major publishers. EBGames wants to keep the status quo of high local prices (basically, the top end of Price Elasticity based on historical prices which in turn were based on things like SNES cart prices - along with the historical exchange rates from those days). Basically, EB holds a ton of influence, and in turn publishers set their localised prices for digital platforms like Valve and GMG. You'll note that after awhile, many (not all, but many) games have the "Australia Tax" drop off completely after awhile.

 agnosto wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Accolade wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

 obsidianaura wrote:
It seems pretty clear what GW is up to in my opinion .

They don't want to run their own stores, they'd much rather close all their own shops. They see them as an expense they don't want to pay for.

We've seen them cut the shops down to one man stores to save money but they still have to pay rent on shops.

They've set up their reseller discounts in such a way that it favours the Bricks and Mortar store, they want LGS to replace their own shops and foot the bill.

An online only store is not what GW wants and would rather see out of business.

They themselves look like they want to be suppliers only.

I disagree with that sentiment. I believe that GW still strongly believes in their storefronts as being the preferred sales vehicle (next to their online store) for their product, at least here in the US. The web is replete with FLGSs complaining about unfavorable trade agreements with brick and mortar stores up to and including the complaints that the OP has voiced here. If nothing else, the number of "direct only" types of products is a strong indicator that GW prefers to be the only method of sale for GW-branded products.

Yeah, GW seems to think they're Apple. They want you go only go to GW stores for purchase of their goods and for these goods to be virtually non-purchasable outside of their direct channels. Only problem is GW products have little to no ubiquity the same way a phone or computer does, they're just plastic miniatures. There is only so much shoe-horning that people will put up with before they just quit. It's really the same thing in my mind to GW's attempts to squander bits sales. There are no companies (well, many less now) selling bits. So do you just shrug and buy the whole kit so you can get the bits you want, or do you just not make a purchase?

I think it's going to be a whole lot of people just not making purchases.

I already went to an Apple Store and told them to feth themselves for gakky business practices. Haven't gone to GW to do that yet (just venting on forums).

Your post makes absolutely no sense when read a possible response to the discussion; are you drunk posting or just trying to be contrary and pick a fight?

I responded to the post about GW thinking their Apple. Would it have helped if I cut out the full quote except for the one line I was responding to? I've actually gone in to an Apple Store and told them how awful they are for customer service. I haven't done that with GW. My response was about how I don't see GW as being quite as bad as Apple yet. Not a drunk text, nor picking a fight. Why do you think I was looking for a fight, unless of course you work for Apple: in which case I'll tell you your company is a piece of crap, and even GW isn't as bad as yours yet. The "geniuses" lie to customers and have actually told me, to my face, "Our product is perfect. The fault is yours." This being said after I researched the problem I faced and discussed with providers who sell Apple product.

On topic though, I do feel for the Aussies, this is an even worse move for GW than the previous embargos. Does not create good will.

It never ceases to amaze me. It seems like GW is trying to kill the hobby in Australia. At a time when their sales have declined in Australia to kill what remains of your more significant market places just seems self destructive.

This shouldn't effect Australian stores too badly as most stores have already had dwindling sales of GWs crap for quite some time now.

Hopefully this is the final nail, leaving GW to suffocate in its own airtight one-man stores coffins.

Yes, there is no issue at all with selling over the internet as long as you don't display prices or list items for sale. It is a contractual obligation, because GW doesn't want to have brick and mortar stores that are FLGS where people play at and see product have their sales cannibalized and commoditized by online sellers who pay less overhead.

Although I love the convenience and low prices of the Internet, I get it. Computer stores and bookstores have been driven out of business because people go there to look at product, and then go to Amazon to buy it cheaper. I'm just as guilty as the next guy who checks the price on Amazon while I'm in Costco or Chapters.

So, in short: I have no problem (and I support) GW keeping my local, gaming stores in business.