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Seems to be sold out everywhere and is going for $50 on eBay.

What's up with that?

This seems to be Fantasy Flight's modus operandi. They produce a certain amount of stock for something and then when it sells out, you have to wait for them to reprint it, and that can take a while.

During those periods where the stock dries up, then yeah, you're going to see some over-inflated prices on eBay.

This makes me happy and sad all at the same time, as I just got a Falcon from a trade.

However a buddy of mine wants a Falcon really bad right now, and I here his frustration at the lack of stock every week.

When in doubt, try local Barnes and Noble stores. It's the only place I've seen a Falcon on the shelf in the last few months.

Glad I bought two when they were on sale on amazon then.

Maybe its wave 7, with new scum and villainy cards

Why the hell can't they just make enough stock...

Hard to gauge demand when GW keeps shedding customers and driving them away, also doesn't help that they actually preview their new models months ahead of time, and manufacturing happens months ahead of distribution so there is a lag n seeing how well the models do.

They could just 'fix' the rules and make the game unplayable, hate their fan base, and keep everything secret until after it sells out, but then they'd have to hire Tom Kirby, and he's just doesn't think FFG has the right attitude

 Phobos wrote:
Seems to be sold out everywhere and is going for $50 on eBay.

What's up with that?

Wave 4 happened, or more specifically the TIE Phantom happened. The Phantom excels by using its superior maneuverability to keep out of enemy fire-arcs.
People needed a ship that didn't fall over in a stiff breeze, armed with a turret. Enter the YT-1300.

A huge number of the squadrons at the X-Wing tournament at GenCon had one or two YT-1300s. It's just part of the current meta-game.

I've got a feeling it will see a reprint with a Scum & villainy set of cardboard components as well as rebel.

 Theophony wrote:
Hard to gauge demand when GW keeps shedding customers and driving them away,

Blaming GW for FF being unable to make enough product... Impressive.

also doesn't help that they actually preview their new models months ahead of time, and manufacturing happens months ahead of distribution so there is a lag n seeing how well the models do.

Surely previewing models gives them plenty of chance to gauge popularity and order stock, and by now they must have SOME idea of how many they need. There is no excuse for almost everything to be difficult to get hold of from the first print, and often the second and third. It's just poor planing.

Pre painting takes more time per unit than pretty much anything else.

They have expanded the factory, and opened another one according to the reports I read from Gencon, but they still have a hard ceiling WRT production, and demand currently outstrips that.

It will take time to expand the plants or open new ones, assuming they think the investment is worth it (there may come a point when the demand will fall, and they may not want to increase their overhead too far in anticipation of that time.)

I doubt it is poor planing, as the stock seems to arrive by boat, and I doubt it's poor planning either.

Phobos, check out your local Barnes & Noble.

 Steve steveson wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
Hard to gauge demand when GW keeps shedding customers and driving them away,

Blaming GW for FF being unable to make enough product... Impressive.

also doesn't help that they actually preview their new models months ahead of time, and manufacturing happens months ahead of distribution so there is a lag n seeing how well the models do.

Surely previewing models gives them plenty of chance to gauge popularity and order stock, and by now they must have SOME idea of how many they need. There is no excuse for almost everything to be difficult to get hold of from the first print, and often the second and third. It's just poor planing.

Just look through the GW threads, newer more expensive codex, rules that are terrible, and no tournament support are driving people away. If you read the threads, most are headed to either X-wing or to Infinity. So yes, easy to blame GW, especially after playing it for 20+ years.

The second part you quoted was another jab at GW, how they sell out of new releases that they keep under wraps. Take the generatorium for example, sold out in minutes , before even publicly announced, a leak had people online to buy them within minutes. FFG shows their products and it is continuing to bring in even more new customers, and the tournament scene is getting the competitive players hooked. As stated earlier by another poster the meta changes and since the cost is low enough everyone goes and buys the new "In" list.

This is how it was explained to me....

Board game companies, which FFG fits under, run their products in batches. For instance they'll make 1000 of product X. After that is run, because of the number of different products they make they wont run that product again for whatever time frame they set up internally, a common frame being six months.

This was from a part owner of one of the local shops I go to, so I'm not claiming this is from FFG or I'm an insider, take it for what you will....but I guess it makes sense. /shrug

I personally work in distribution and we're out of products for months at a time due to forecasting being wrong or suppliers being unable to meet demand more frequently than you'd think, so I can see it happening.

O.k. thanks all for the info.

I'm going to get one next time I see it.

Just needed to know if I should be frantically searching for one asap. Lol.

I saw a MIllenium Falcon at the Barnes and Noble I went to a couple of days ago.

Still haven't bought one myself, someday though...

I just bought one from Gamestop online. I was very surprised but it shipped two days ago. So if you are looking, you might be able to find one there.

 Phobos wrote:
Just needed to know if I should be frantically searching for one asap.

Only if for some reason you absolutely MUST play with one in the next month or so and just use a buddy's.

 Manchu wrote:
Phobos, check out your local Barnes & Noble.

^^ This x100, just saw one 2 days ago at a B&N store.

I'm after one of these for my Birthday next month, hope a reprint is on the way soon. Anyone know where they might still be available in the UK?

I THINK my local gamestore still has one in stock. If someone wanted it, I could get it, but it would be full retail, tax, and shipping. Meaning probably $40-ish, after all is said and done.

Just scooped one from Barnes & Noble. They had 3 of em left. I'd try there for sure.

 Steve steveson wrote:
Why the hell can't they just make enough stock...

Because they only have a certain budget of time, room and money. It's the same reason that you don't buy a lifetime supply of toilet paper, although you know you're going to need it. Even if you could afford it, where would store it all?

I think the thing that is easy to forget here, is the expenses involved in large scale industrial production, as well as the timelines. FF can't call China up, and say 'hey bros, need 1,000 new falcons next week, thx'. Having that kind of control over your supply chain is incredibly pricey. So they have to make a best guess and put their estimate of demand in months ahead of time.

This isn't the kind of company that can afford to just print more, especially since I doubt they own their manufacturing facilities.

These things seem to happen from time to time. This time last year Tie-Interceptors where as rare as hens teeth and now they are freely available. I'm sure the Falcon will be back in stock soon.

 DagobahDave wrote:

 Steve steveson wrote:
Why the hell can't they just make enough stock...

Because they only have a certain budget of time, room and money. It's the same reason that you don't buy a lifetime supply of toilet paper, although you know you're going to need it. Even if you could afford it, where would store it all?

More like me refusing to buy more than one roll at a time then refusing to buy more until I have run out. I had plenty of sympathy when the game first came out. They had no idea how popular it would be and were shocked. I was sympathetic when they were in the first few waves. I think we are on the 4th reprint of the YT now, and the 6th wave, and they still can't make even vaguely enough, seem to be completely incapable of getting anywhere close to actually ordering enough production. At the moment FF have in stock the HWK, the Shuttle and the Headhunter and thats it. After two years they have had plenty of time to rent more warehouse space and hire more people to fulfill a market that is still going strong. Plenty of time to have a vague idea of how much will be sold on release. On top of that they never give anything but the vaguest of dates for releases and never give anything for re-prints. After this time there is no excuse for having so much out of stock.

 Steve steveson wrote:

 DagobahDave wrote:

 Steve steveson wrote:
Why the hell can't they just make enough stock...

Because they only have a certain budget of time, room and money. It's the same reason that you don't buy a lifetime supply of toilet paper, although you know you're going to need it. Even if you could afford it, where would store it all?

More like me refusing to buy more than one roll at a time then refusing to buy more until I have run out. I had plenty of sympathy when the game first came out. They had no idea how popular it would be and were shocked. I was sympathetic when they were in the first few waves. I think we are on the 4th reprint of the YT now, and the 6th wave, and they still can't make even vaguely enough, seem to be completely incapable of getting anywhere close to actually ordering enough production. At the moment FF have in stock the HWK, the Shuttle and the Headhunter and thats it. After two years they have had plenty of time to rent more warehouse space and hire more people to fulfill a market that is still going strong. Plenty of time to have a vague idea of how much will be sold on release. On top of that they never give anything but the vaguest of dates for releases and never give anything for re-prints. After this time there is no excuse for having so much out of stock.

But in business you never know when the bottom will fall out of the market. Plus the same factories have limited production capabilities, meaning them bringing out the Armada game, and imperial assault means you have to keep certain runs low so you have time to manufacture other games. There's also the need to remember that they don't own the manufacturing facilities afaik, so when they call and say "were running low, warp speed guys!", the factory says "sorry bub, were booked for 4 months solid on more profitable for us stuff." Again theres also a thought process in creating shortages that get people into a buying frenzy, look at the "hot toy for christmas" each year, you get more people talking about it just like this thread and create more demand. theres people out here right now buying falcons at full retail from barnes and noble because they think the sky is falling. people are even buying multiples to resell online at a profit . There is so much behind manufacturing, marketing and managing a product that it is not hat simple. Plus the growth of the game is awesome.

If it were as simple as some people are making it out to be then we'd all be millionaires with our own toy lines.

Like I said, those excuses were fine, two years ago, or even when a new wave is released, but they still can't keep wave one in stock, or even stuff sometimes going out of stock, but it is almost every ship. I know it's not simple to estimate demand, and there are many other factors, but seriously, there is no excuse for not having the wave one ships available after this long. Perhaps they should not be making new games if they still can't manage to even get close to satisfying the demand for what they currently make.

It doesn't help that they won't talk to customers either, or at least their UK distributer won't. I was talking to my LFGS the other day who tells me they have no idea when stuff is going to be in or what X-Wing stock they are being sent. I didn't ask who this was down to or if it covered just X-Wing, all FFG or all games, but I suspect it is not everything.

I started playing last fall. I have obtained 3 of all the little ships and 2 of the big ships and 1 each of the epic ships. could I just pop down to my FLGS and buy them all in one go. nope. but in less then a year i have been able to obtain every ship that i wanted.
people need to relax and your ships will come. put a preorder out for the ships you want and just wait.
you will have them in no time.