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 Ravenous D wrote:
9 times out of 10 GW is the distributor because you get less of a discount through an indirect source. Lion Rampart used to do that for retailers that hated working with GW. Sure you could go through them, but then you make a webstore with bits, GW finds out how you get them and the distributor gets cut off.

You give them entirely too much credit as they are not the all seeing Oz.

Who's been to Memphis, and chuckled when they read this part?

• GAMES W ORKSHOP products should never be sold in a location physically unsafe
for Consumers to visit or shop. GAMES W ORKSHOP accepts no liability in
association with Retailer store locations.

 Empchild wrote:

 Ravenous D wrote:
9 times out of 10 GW is the distributor because you get less of a discount through an indirect source. Lion Rampart used to do that for retailers that hated working with GW. Sure you could go through them, but then you make a webstore with bits, GW finds out how you get them and the distributor gets cut off.

You give them entirely too much credit as they are not the all seeing Oz.

They went after a nobody author because it had "space marine" in the title and a little company that was making add on parts. Dont put anything past the all seeing eye.

Wasn't something said about not putting the minis in packaging, so people will not misunderstand where they came from?

So how come I saw at a LGS and a GW store, some of those white boxes with nothing on them except a small sticker to say what they are? This is GW white box packaging so is this illegal now? lol

Caught this on BoLS:

Section III, para. A;

"North American Retailers are not permitted to sell GAMES WORKSHOP products on any website, web-portal, third-party web-portal or other Internet-based platform of any kind."

So apparently it bans all online sales in North America as well?

 Laughing Man wrote:
Caught this on BoLS:

Section III, para. A;

"North American Retailers are not permitted to sell GAMES WORKSHOP products on any website, web-portal, third-party web-portal or other Internet-based platform of any kind."

So apparently it bans all online sales in North America as well?

Its been like that since 2003.

@ravenous and they lost that suit.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:

 Ravenous D wrote:
9 times out of 10 GW is the distributor because you get less of a discount through an indirect source. Lion Rampart used to do that for retailers that hated working with GW.

A lot actually used distributors. You could skirt stock levels and other issues...

Reading the document again though, page 3 is the kicker. If you use a distributor and do not meet therms, GW can cancel the account for the distributor...so, thermyou go. Even people who use distributors are covered.

Was wondering about that. But will they be able to policy it? A distributor might end selling at Mr John Doe at 20% discount that sells GW bits online as TakethisGW on ebay, that might be hard and expensive to track down. On the other hand even if they get everybody to comply at worst we will see an increase on bit prices as sellers adjust the prices to full retail and customer migrate to more expensive higher quality 3rd party bits because bits are not going away no matter how hard GW wishes it.

M.

Well, it's now confirmed.

MWG put this up: Click me

Drop Box link with all the GW trade term pdfs


This doesn't matter much, wont affect the big bits selling sites nor the ebayers. EU seems to have always had this restriction but that doesn't stop anything.

If anything this will just lead to more money for the conversion bits making companies...

Poor 'ol GW, they have a real case of skitzophrenia because they can't decide whether they are a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer. These highly unreasonable policies only help their retail chain.

So does this mean that a brick and mortar store can't sell online anymore?

Well I can't feel sorry for them. I mean I come to the store, want to buy and they charge me full GW price. I say where is the discount, they say I have to buy online.

I don't like to buy online. So they lost my in store purchase. I could never understand why a store while having an online store, not sell for less when buying in person.

 Ravenous D wrote:

 Empchild wrote:

 Ravenous D wrote:
9 times out of 10 GW is the distributor because you get less of a discount through an indirect source. Lion Rampart used to do that for retailers that hated working with GW. Sure you could go through them, but then you make a webstore with bits, GW finds out how you get them and the distributor gets cut off.

You give them entirely too much credit as they are not the all seeing Oz.

They went after a nobody author because it had "space marine" in the title and a little company that was making add on parts. Dont put anything past the all seeing eye.

To be fair, they probably picked these smaller parties on purpose so they would have a higher chance of winning. If you want to sue an author so you can win the rights to be the only one who can use the words "space marine", who would you sue? The noname small time guy who nobody would probably care about, or a very accomplished author who will summon a legion of fans to stand by him?

And besides, it's not exactly hard to find 3rd party companies making "not 40k" bits. They probably have a running list of companies like victoria lamb, max mini, kromlech, chapterhouse, etc. and are just waiting for when they think they can shut them down.

 MadCowCrazy wrote:
This doesn't matter much, wont affect the big bits selling sites nor the ebayers. EU seems to have always had this restriction but that doesn't stop anything.

If anything this will just lead to more money for the conversion bits making companies...

Technically, selling to people who break down the kits is prohibited. They are only allowed to sell to consumers, not to re-sellers.

Now, how this will be enforced is beyond me...But hey...

I sort of doubt they would go after Victoria, she's one of their own. She used to feature regularly in WD and IIRC she was on staff for awhile.

Besides, she may make similar figures, but it is all in what you call them, and she doesn't use GW name on her descriptors.


This will really hurt Battlewagon Bits, I hope they can find a way to stick it to GW.

Does this mean fewer sales for GW in the long run? My money says yes.

Some of them do. My FLGS has a points card that, if your smart about it, saves you 20% in total. But they only offer 10% on the price tag, so any mystery shopper or regional sales people would only see minimal price adjustments.

Guys they will only hurt bits sites that buy direct from GW. Most of us don't buy.from gw as they haven't allowed stuff like this since 2003. Theirs no sticking it to GW as theirs no need. My philosophy is this they can't touch me as i don't buy from them and their is nothing they can do about it. Hence why i threw a sale to show how concerned about it i am as a bits seller.

It is more than that. As the document says, they can yank the account of anyone who sells to you (or someone like you). No doubt, they will have a hard time proving who is the supplier for a given bits company...but there is no shortage of white knights who will be willing to rat out a distributor or retailer who is supplying a bits seller.

If they get one or two of those and follow through with cancelling their trade accounts, then it will have a chilling effect on the remaining distributors as they pull back out of fear of loosing their own accounts.

Even if you are buying at full retail from a company, it is verbotten for them to sell to you if they know youbare in fact a bitz dealer, and it puts their trade account at risk. In theory, it would even if your supply wasnt fully aware that you were a bitz dealer.

They dont need to be all seeing in order to force the change. They just need one or two people who find out either directly or indirectly and report it back to them (see the CHS case for a few names of known white knights).

I can't even muster the strength to get angry about this gak any more. It just boggles my mind - leaving my absolutely dumbstruck - as to why a company would intentionally go out of the way to continuously put up barrier after barrier to selling their products.

I mean... who benefits from this, really?

They're just so clueless...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I
I mean... who benefits from this, really?

Every other gaming company

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I can't even muster the strength to get angry about this gak any more. It just boggles my mind - leaving my absolutely dumbstruck - as to why a company would intentionally go out of the way to continuously put up barrier after barrier to selling their products.

I mean... who benefits from this, really?

They're just so clueless...

We both know what happened. Someone from finance got it in their heads on how much money they lose from selling full kits instead of a reseller profiting from single pieces. They made a model, added some graphs, pushed it up to Kirby and bamm, out comes the memo. What they didn't take into account was that they have to sell those kits to begin with. Ork legs don't make themselves.

this part of page 8 gave me a chuckle as an aussie

"POLICY REGARDING DOMESTIC SALES ONLY"

apparently its disruptive of their price gouging of aussies if americans sell to us....

 Empchild wrote:
Guys they will only hurt bits sites that buy direct from GW. Most of us don't buy.from gw as they haven't allowed stuff like this since 2003. Theirs no sticking it to GW as theirs no need. My philosophy is this they can't touch me as i don't buy from them and their is nothing they can do about it. Hence why i threw a sale to show how concerned about it i am as a bits seller.

here's what the issue is:

If I owned a B&M store and operated a website I could take phone or text orders for GW products from a remote customer. Now if I were to get product from GW at their distribution price (as I would for my shop) and decide to open the package and sell the kits or bits online in a shopping cart then under the 2003 agreement I would be safe as it was "used" product. Furthermore if I were to start a separate bits service subsidized by my main store then that would have been legal under the 2003 agreement as well. This changes all of that.

Now successful bits sellers that are attached to a store, or are a subsidiary thereof are banned by this new agreement. No longer can they buy the kit at cost, sell it to the other side of the business for a dollar and provide a useful service while profiting. This is crazy and why GW does not know what it wants to be. If it were soley a manufacturer with direct distribution then this would not be that much of an issue, but they have a retail (failing) arm that is a millstone around their neck and will do anything to maintain it. All while raising prices, alienating customers, and losing sales.

They will be selling fewer kits as many bits that are popular are only one or two per set, this will impact them as fewer sellers (see above for 'sellers') will be buying the kits to replenish their supply because of being banned from providing this service.. Remember GW makes most of it's money on the distribution side.

I understand the GW philosophy but am not going to shut down because i do what they wont.

I feel a sudden urge to make a bitz order from the Warstore........

Well, that's fine, we know that you don't have a trade account so this won't affect you, but it will affect others and their ability do continue their thus far legal and profitable businesses while simultaneously providing a much needed service to customers.

Believe me, I'm on our side, not GW's. That's my main location to get bitz from, and I would hardly like to see them be affected, too.

Just ordered bits from Warstore, help Neal out as much as we can guys!

I have a strong feeling that this new move by GW is directly aimed at him.

There are plenty of bitz sellers as large (or larger) than Battlewagon Bitz. I seriously think it's just that GW hates loyal customers in some way, or at least it's become more and more like that since the early 2000's.

They obviously have to see that all the bitz out there still made them money in the first place. It's their own fault for dropping their own Bitz service. I seriously spent more money and made more orders with GW directly back then, just for bitz alone, than I have done with secondhand bitz dealers nowadays.

I think I actually made more individual purchases from GW online just for bitz than I made from trips to the two LGS' in my area combined.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
There are plenty of bitz sellers as large (or larger) than Battlewagon Bitz. I seriously think it's just that GW hates loyal customers in some way, or at least it's become more and more like that since the early 2000's.

They obviously have to see that all the bitz out there still made them money in the first pthelace. It's their own fault for dropping their own Bitz service. I seriously spent more money and made more orders with GW directly back then, just for bitz alone, than I have done with secondhand bitz dealers nowadays.

True in overall he's in the middle level of bits as he makes way more off normal gw call in sales. He's a great guy and i have a good relationship with them. Atm Hoard'o'bits is the largest bits seller so if they were actually target someone it would be them.

I can understand the business decision GW made when they discontinued their bits service. Now with most models plastic it would be even harder for GW to run a bitz service.

The various independent companies are providing a service that GW really could not possibly engage in due to scale issues. The bitz purveyors are making sales that GW otherwise would not have. I just do not see anything positive for GW in their new policy. It is inexplicable.

Coming from GW... I dont need a source, sound like something they would do...

Now, about the real effects of it...

I will only coment this: when GW started the embargo thing, and i found i could not buy GW stuff from wayland games, i found another online store, a bit seller who sell complete kits out of original package, who aparently dont get their products from GW.

I think this will be so usefull for GW as a price increase, except for the extra money and incresaed selling "pre rise"...