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I just emailed GW the following:

I am writing to express my disappointment with the AU pricing for Warhammer 40,000 7th Edition.

The UK price, 50 GBP, equates to $89.75 AUD and $84.01 USD at current exchange rates. US customers pay $85 (almost exactly 1:1 on the exchange rate) yet Australian customers are expected to pay $140, over a 50% markup.

I do not expect that Games Workshop will change its exploitative pricing policy on the basis of one email, but at least now you know why I did not pre-order and will not purchase this set on principle. I certainly can afford $140, but enough is enough. My son and I will make do without 7th edition.

Regards,

This isn't a ragepost. But simply "not purchasing" or yarring PDFs doesn't actually send a message to GW. If you're in the same position, please consider sending a polite mail to GW customer service so they get the message. Who knows, if enough people do, maybe they might care.

Isn't this the case for anything Australians buy though? It's not just GW doing this but ALL business. Are they not following Australian government law?

Australia tax isn't an actual tax. It refers to a common practice for many companies to exploit Australia's limited consumer choice to arbitrarily jack up prices.

Adobe was recently hauled in front of an enquiry over their Creative Cloud pricing, which charged Australians a premium, and they were unable to explain why other than "we are free to charge whatever we want". They have since matched the AUD price to the USD price.

They charge it because we pay it. Until we don't.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/personal-tech/australians-pay-50-per-cent-more-for-tech-goods/story-e6frgazf-1226687429151
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/07/29/australian-inquiry-finds-no-justification-for-massively-higher-games-prices/

Oh I thought it was a law to help the Brick and Mortar stores. Thanks for the Clarification.

I know what you mean. While not as extreme as you guys, but we have to pay 20-30% more than Americans as well when we are either on par or about 10% difference from the US buck. No explanation except for being exploited as well.

I will join in. Ill see how many club members will email them also.

We the NZ tribe, are also sick of prices that dont add up. At GW prices we pay 152 AUD ish.

I just picked up WD from my local GW and explained to the owner that he was losing a preorder because of the exploitative pricing disparity. I hope he mentions that to his HQ rep - the store owners should be every bit as cross about this as consumers are, as it hurts sales and forces people to import or ebay.

Oddly it says you are in the US now, which was confusing for a second.

Yea it hurts everybody trying to sell GW products here. There will always be people who buy it from them, but I imagine its getting smaller.

Posting from my phone now, not sure why that gave me a US flag!

They're not going to do anything.

We've been paying more since they sold stuff here. Back then the reason was how strong the British pound was at the time (IIRC is was nearly 3:1 Aussie dollars). When the Aussie dollar got far stronger, they made new excuses - import tax, rent, cost of living, everyone in Australia is a miner and drives a gold plated Mercedes, etc.

It was, however, pretty clear once online sales started getting big that we were simply getting shafted. They made that even clearer when they embargoed European retailers from reselling outside of the European Union - there's very few countries that made a huge difference to, and Australia and New Zealand were the biggest.

They're not going to change unless they get a change of management, and even then I doubt it. The best things I can suggest are:

1. Accept it, and pay through the nose for their stuff.
2. Trawl ebay for bargains, though this makes getting what you want pretty hit and miss.
3. Give your hobby dollars to a better company. There's plenty of wargames out there these days.

Yea I think we all know that. Hence why I dont buy from GW. Always from someone who offers a good deal or second hand.

Other companies get most my money, because as you say, there are better games out there.

But its nice to kindly remind them.

 Swastakowey wrote:
But its nice to kindly remind them.

That's a good point. I might try and see if I get a form reply too.

Interesting. Personally I will hope to find the rules part of the new book on eBay some where, because damn I hate Aussie prices.

 the shrouded lord wrote:
Interesting. Personally I will hope to find the rules part of the new book on eBay some where, because damn I hate Aussie prices.

See, there's the problem.

We shouldn't have to look for the rules section only on ebay as a bargain. That's absurd. And shows just how bad their pricing is.

There is a place called oz hammer I purchased from a while ago. I am fairly sure he just buys GW goods from UK at their prices and sells to us as a profit. Heck even with the annoying shipping costs its cheaper than GW. Not the greatest bargain, but if this guy can buy the goods in another country and sell it for a profit then thats a huge no no.

 -Loki- wrote:

 the shrouded lord wrote:
Interesting. Personally I will hope to find the rules part of the new book on eBay some where, because damn I hate Aussie prices.

See, there's the problem.

We shouldn't have to look for the rules section only on ebay as a bargain. That's absurd. And shows just how bad their pricing is.

Yep, 'I'll buy part of it second hand for a much more reasonable price' is in no way a legitimate workaround.

There really is no justification for this, but even worse than that it looked like they tried to force our prices on the US for a while last year (WoC plastic hero release in Feb '13 was the same price for each),

Until buying 3 pots of GW paint recently (nuln oil really is very good : /), I had not bought a single GW product in Australia. It's all been imported from overseas - first Maelstrom in the UK, and now Discount Games Store and BulletBits in the US.

I've also resorted to alternative means for both rules and models. If they want to shaft us, I'll shaft them back twice as hard. I'll just spend what I saved doing this on companies that deserve the money. Australia has the highest piracy per capita. Is it because we're a nation founded on criminals, or because companies always try to shaft us with pricing and distribution? Probably both, but for most people I know it's definitely the latter.

It doesn't help that the primary Australian wargaming forum (WGAU) bans mentioning non-sponsors so you can't help brothers out by pointing them to the cheapest places to get miniatures. It also has a brigade of GW white knights that leap on any criticism of GW. I'm confident that this is substantially to blame for the recalcitrance of GW in this area, as WGAU basically enforces the regional pricing for GW.

I'll be writing them a nice letter to show my outrage at the amount they charge. The usual excuse is shipping it around the world which is completely bull****. Shipping is not that much especially when you have to send, discounted etc.

Just my two cents.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Yonan I like to think I'm a pirate or convict...

Just wanted to say the pricing on your products here in New Zealand and Australia are awful. It is more than likely that you get these emails everyday (I hope that you do) but there is no reason for you to charge so much more for your products here than elsewhere in the world. I would understand if you have a good reason for the huge jump in pricing, however I am certain that you do not have such a reason. If there is a good reason please enlighten me.

A lot of policies you have a bad enough as it is.

I know things will not change, its what many players expect of Games Workshop now days, but I thought id let you know how disappointing it is. I have purchased things from you in the past, not fully aware of the extent I have been overcharged. No more will I be ripped off, so unfortunately I will no longer be buying from Games Workshop.

Again, if there was a reason for this increase or if the price increase was not so high, I would not be having to do this and nor would I feel this way.

Cheers

This is what I sent, should have wrote it, waited an hour then sent it. Dont know how good it is. Didnt want to seem angry or insulting etc. I have got a few others to join in. Not sure how many emails they get a day, but hopefully these wont be missed. I labelled my subject "Need Help With an Issue" so that it may have a higher chance of being read.

Already spotted some errors -.- always wait before sending grumpy messages

 -Loki- wrote:
They're not going to do anything.
1. Accept it, and pay through the nose for their stuff.
2. Trawl ebay for bargains, though this makes getting what you want pretty hit and miss.
3. Give your hobby dollars to a better company. There's plenty of wargames out there these days.

The problem here is that option 1 is essentially submitting to being exploited, and 2 and 3 hurt my local store. I have an interest in keeping my local store open because I like playing there, and I have no interest in other systems. I understand that GW won't change because of one complaint, and by and large I will continue to support the local store because there's something in it for me.

There's a very good chance my mail has already been deleted, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

 Swastakowey wrote:

Just wanted to say the pricing on your products here in New Zealand and Australia are awful. It is more than likely that you get these emails everyday (I hope that you do) but there is no reason for you to charge so much more for your products here than elsewhere in the world. I would understand if you have a good reason for the huge jump in pricing, however I am certain that you do not have such a reason. If there is a good reason please enlighten me.

A lot of policies you have a bad enough as it is.

I know things will not change, its what many players expect of Games Workshop now days, but I thought id let you know how disappointing it is. I have purchased things from you in the past, not fully aware of the extent I have been overcharged. No more will I be ripped off, so unfortunately I will no longer be buying from Games Workshop.

Again, if there was a reason for this increase or if the price increase was not so high, I would not be having to do this and nor would I feel this way.

Cheers

This is what I sent, should have wrote it, waited an hour then sent it. Dont know how good it is. Didnt want to seem angry or insulting etc. I have got a few others to join in. Not sure how many emails they get a day, but hopefully these wont be missed. I labelled my subject "Need Help With an Issue" so that it may have a higher chance of being read.

Already spotted some errors -.- always wait before sending grumpy messages

Did you send it to the Australian email address?

Yes I did. Is there a better address to send it to?

If so thats great because I can fix the errors.

it's obvious there's some over markup but your not going to try and tell me there's no additional cost of business in Australia over America or Europe without eliciting a great deal of laughter. I believe the Adobe lawsuit was regarding a digital product was it not? Digital products should obviously be priced similarly to exchange rates....but physical product is obviously going to be marked up to higher shipping costs, overhead (IE paying employees in Australia and what not) and doubtless other factors like taxes or tarriffs on imported goods.

Is 50% to high? No doubt....but I'm betting not by as much as you think.

 Swastakowey wrote:
Yes I did. Is there a better address to send it to?

If so thats great because I can fix the errors.

Maybe send it to the UK address?

Everything in Australia gets the "Australian Tax"

I am un sure why.. but I do think the issue is allot bigger than each separate company specifically trying to rip Aussies off. There must be some structural reason why..

I would hesitate to blame GW specifically (all though I understand it is an overly expensive hobby compared to other toy soldiers)

What I generally do is but my models from the US and the books from my FLGS. Models I can wait for but the rules I kinda want instantly and it feels good to at least give some of my money to my local store.

In Canada at any rate, much of the price disparity comes from the absurd import tariffs the government charges companies to bring their goods into the country. If the situation is similar in Australia, perhaps writing to your member of Parliament would also be helpful.

There is also a sort of "Canada tax" that comes from the generally higher cost of living here. The minimum wage is far higher, electricity is more expensive, taxes are higher, rent is more expensive, and so on. So companies raise their prices and consumers pay for the higher cost of doing business. The large US chain Target opened here not long ago and its prices are far higher than in its US stores for the same goods. So it isn't just GW that does this, it seems to be common practice to pass these costs on to the consumer. Again, this may be something worth addressing with your member of Parliament as well as with the company.

Davor wrote:
Isn't this the case for anything Australians buy though? It's not just GW doing this but ALL business. Are they not following Australian government law?

Yes.

The vast majority of products from TV's to Fuel (Gas) to Iphones, Cars, Electricity, household appliances etc.. are more expensive here.

I also believe there is some sort of competitive tax on digital books so that the price of a digital copy of a production is closer to the book version (I think its to help book stores?)

Orktavius wrote:
it's obvious there's some over markup but your not going to try and tell me there's no additional cost of business in Australia over America or Europe without eliciting a great deal of laughter. I believe the Adobe lawsuit was regarding a digital product was it not? Digital products should obviously be priced similarly to exchange rates....but physical product is obviously going to be marked up to higher shipping costs, overhead (IE paying employees in Australia and what not) and doubtless other factors like taxes or tarriffs on imported goods.

Is 50% to high? No doubt....but I'm betting not by as much as you think.

We can import items from overseas discounters, pay courier shipping and pay less than items are wholesaled for here by GW. You want laughter? It's directed exclusively at you for that ridiculous statement as the additional cost is so far below the current additional cost that it's hilarious you think otherwise. Other companies that aren't trying to price gouge manage to do it just fine.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=United+States

This may help, but it doesnt really explain why. There is more on the site which may help but I havent really looked yet.

But given that massed shipping is cheaper than minor shipping, its pretty crazy that we can still get it elsewhere for cheaper over all.

I just sent off an email to the Australian gw customer service address.

I agree with the sentiment. It is getting to that ridiculous stage, especially when we know there'll be associated expansions and etc. that we'll also have to purchase. If the $140 cost of the rulebook included everything needed, it would be a bit more palatable.

Orktavius wrote:
it's obvious there's some over markup but your not going to try and tell me there's no additional cost of business in Australia over America or Europe without eliciting a great deal of laughter. I believe the Adobe lawsuit was regarding a digital product was it not? Digital products should obviously be priced similarly to exchange rates....but physical product is obviously going to be marked up to higher shipping costs, overhead (IE paying employees in Australia and what not) and doubtless other factors like taxes or tarriffs on imported goods.

Is 50% to high? No doubt....but I'm betting not by as much as you think.

Yes, the Adobe inquiry was in regards to digital media. There was also one involving iTunes downloads. However, in regards to the higher costs associated with doing business in Australia, I'm not sure if your argument holds up. Other gaming stores (including brick and mortar) who stock GW products manage to sell them at a substantial discount as compared to the GW retail prices. For example, the SM Battle Force retails from GW at $350, whereas I can find it from several other stores going for $275. If they can do so, and (I assume) still turn a profit, why can't GW? Another thing I don't like about GW stores is their sales push. I understand that it's their job, but other FLGSs don't seem to push you as hard to make a purchase (but this could just be my local GW).

Generally, I exclusively buy GW products from other Australian gaming stores. That way GW still receives a share (FLGS have to buy their stock too!) and a local shop gets some profit as well.