"Heads-up: Price Adjustment, New Releases!" - GW

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**queen_annes_revenge**

insaniak wrote:
queen_annes_revenge wrote:

This. I'm no economist but, but one thing that definitely eludes me is how GW can raise prices for old product that are basically bringing in pure profit?
.

The answer being that this product isn't just bringing in pure profit. It's paying for the development studio, the running and expansion of production facilities, a warehouse and distribution chain, more than 300 stores worldwide (that are currently bringing in 0 revenue), community support, and an expansive and resource - heavy website.

As those things get more expensive to run, the available product needs to either sell in higher numbers, or sell for higher prices.

See I'd be more inclined to swallow that if GWs profit margins and stock market performance weren't so absurdly high. GW are doing incredibly well as a company, you'd think they would let some of that trickle down to the consumer, on whom they depend.

As I said, they have the right to charge what they see fit, but just because you can, doesnt necessarily mean you should.

**CoreCommander**

posermcbogus wrote:
It's cheaper to take my gf out for a date and pay for everything than it is to buy a box of one troops.

You should've learned by now this box of tiny plastic soldiers is your real significant other and not your gf. Ugh, If I could only get back the money I wasted on failed dates... I never feel this way with my GW purchases

posermcbogus wrote:

Just for once, I wish, instead of attacking everyone who sucks in their breath and says "On Khorne Berzerkers? A bit much, isn't it?" and the few people who seem to be teetering on "this has got to be the last straw", they price apologists would just admit that they're happy cows, smiling as they get milked.

I am a happy cow smiling as I get milked. Joke aside, I enjoy GW stuff and as long as I enjoy it I will find a way to buy it. I am aware of alternative forms of entertainment, but I want part of this entertainment to be warhammer. As long as I can pay it I will and truth to be told I think that as long as GW exists they will never price me out - not that I have that much money, just that price will never get that high that I can't afford atleast something

**Danny76**

Surprised the Hobby Cost discussion hasn’t come up yet.

If anyone plays Golf for instance, then costs are similar.
Insert arguments for various activities for cost/time.
(Also several that are less, and plenty more, as everything varies).

I don’t buy much now, as I have too much, am not playing enough, and have less to spend on it (kids eh?)..
The odd thing I will possibly pick up as time goes on, in reality no more or less than before.
As by the time I buy, it will have been long forgotten this price hike

**tneva82**

posermcbogus wrote:

Just for once, I wish, instead of attacking everyone who sucks in their breath and says "On Khorne Berzerkers? A bit much, isn't it?" and the few people who seem to be teetering on "this has got to be the last straw", they price apologists would just admit that they're happy cows, smiling as they get milked.

I wish that once in the future rather than simply complaining about prices in internet forums where it's 100% useless people would actually do something about it. Complaining in internet forum leads just to hurt feelings and flame wars. Rather than complain do what you can.

Complaining in dakkadakka is 100% useless. Unless your goal is to start flame war.

When you have for 20+ years read same complains it gets old. People complain yet buy anyway. Don't buy or don't complain.

**Not Online!!!**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:
insaniak wrote:
queen_annes_revenge wrote:

This. I'm no economist but, but one thing that definitely eludes me is how GW can raise prices for old product that are basically bringing in pure profit?
.

The answer being that this product isn't just bringing in pure profit. It's paying for the development studio, the running and expansion of production facilities, a warehouse and distribution chain, more than 300 stores worldwide (that are currently bringing in 0 revenue), community support, and an expansive and resource - heavy website.

As those things get more expensive to run, the available product needs to either sell in higher numbers, or sell for higher prices.

See I'd be more inclined to swallow that if GWs profit margins and stock market performance weren't so absurdly high. GW are doing incredibly well as a company, you'd think they would let some of that trickle down to the consumer, on whom they depend.

As I said, they have the right to charge what they see fit, but just because you can, doesnt necessarily mean you should.

GW follows the same principle alot of Mobile games follow, basically pricing everyone out except the dolphines and whales.
Except unlike those GW can't just put in bots to replace the social interaction required and that is why i think in the long run their attempt at whalehunting will fail, hard.

**Not Online!!!**

posermcbogus wrote:

Spoiler:

This is it. This is the last one for me, boys.

*worn, old soapbox makes a sad, low grating noise as I drag it across the forum floor for the last time*

Every time I post about prices, I get at least 2 chimps trying to scream me down, be it in the name of GW making the finest quality products that I should be thankful for having the opportunity to buy, or some desperate defense of freemarketism without ethical considerations because we live on a dying planet where millions needlessly go hungry everyday and international corporations have reduced swathes of the world into neocolonial hellholes to help poison all of our air and fill our oceans with trash.

But man. This is it. I'm fully out now. I haven't bought from GW in 6 months. Because of the price out here. If you've got a little Union Jack flag next to your name, I really don't want to hear "ahh, it's only a few quid, what's the harm". I don't want to hear "uh-oh, wait till the ozzies wake up! lolololol". Last night, I thought, as a treat for having not spent any hobby money for a while, and a bunch of other stuff, I might get some Orks for kill team. the GW site has been down here for DAYS, but I know more than 3 boxes, about 20 minis tops? Is gonna run me close to £200.

Spoiler:

Now. Tinfoil Time™️! Just after GW announced the partial re-opening thing of their online deliveries? When everyone was complaining about their position in the queues? In Japan you could get to the webstore instantly. Because there was just no queuing at all. I think they're throttling our access now, so we can't get on until after the price hikes.

Spoiler:

Chew that one over for a second. £200. for 20, basic, no frills, standard army-filler minis.

With GW's pricing pattern, you're next.

Particularly for overseas customers, GW prices are already rough. In terms of conversion rates, cost of living, the real value of the ￥ in your pocket? Those new Eldar Banshees are over £80. For 5 little plastic space elves.
GW clearly have been trying for a piece of the pie out here for a while. The Japane exclusive marines, their consistant buying up of space in Hobby Japan, one of the nation's most popular modelling magazines, something avidly picked up and enjoyed by the pretty huge Japanese modelling community. There was even a special one off only GW edition that I guess GW probably paid (read, wasted, no-one bought it) a stackload for. I have seen, let alone met, scarcely 10 Japanese GW fans. That changes a little when you factor in foreigners, but that's a really almost-insignificant part of the population here.
And it hardly is a surprise. I showed a mate of mine (while I was in Korea, mind, where you have to go through the international store, so everything is in dollars) the start collecting boxes. He was curious about the little men I was painting. When he saw the entry price? He was out.

The entry price for the SC boxes, in Japan, as it stands right now? Are usually around double that. None are less than £120. Most are creeping towards £150. The product GW are pushing as the "affordable starting point" of this hobby in Japan is around the price of a Perfect Grade Gundam, to name a close rival product.
A perfect grade is something Gundam fans dream of from childhood. Supposed to be the ultimate in technical complexity and detailing, the Perfect Grade is something few people will ever actually buy, as it's so expensive, but is considered an ultimate centerpiece - a part of your collection that symbolizes you prowess as a modeller, and a genuine undertaking. Let's then look at the sisters boxset. I'm a pretty standard whitecollar worker here. It was about 15% of my takehome pay, after taxes. Double the price of a Perfect Grade Gundam. How am I supposed to justify that?
Unsurprisingly, months after they had been snapped up by scalpers, they were still being sold in GW stores in Japan, still advertised in Hobby Japan, even now, still popping up on online sites, at Japanese RRP. No scalping.

The argument about "GW prices are fine if you're whitecollar" is bs. I work for the state, I'm about as whitecollar and middle class as it gets. I'm not not paying £70 for a box of sisters because it'd put me below the poverty line, I'm not paying because that's insane for ten plastic minis. Because, as a white collar worker, I know that my future isn't wholly secure. Because I've got plans to advance my whitecollar career that I went to college and racked up crazy debt for, that I have taken tremendous financial personal risks for, that I need to plan for the future for. If I want a family, a home, what should I do? Spend bs money on exponentially rising prices collecting little space men that make me happy, but decrease in value the more I touch them? It's cheaper to take my gf out for a date and pay for everything than it is to buy a box of one troops. For a game that requires an army to play.

With these hikes, GW are again showing how the "community" thing is just a buzzword. They don't care about the game - the rules are a mess. They don't care about you, they care about what's in your wallet. If you've got a kid, they'll take what's in their wallet too, if you let them. The myth of the friendly company who started in a garage making silly minis for the wild universes they created is fething dead as far as I can see. I've loved GW for 5 years. I really have. That's why I feel so let down, because all they do to their customers is wring them for their cash. They're keeping out new fans, and they're pushing out older ones.

To go back to the Gundam comparison. Bandai reduces prices over time. They do re-runs of old kits regularly, preventing them becoming these ancient, lost gems that go for too much on ebay. Their entry level stuff is really priced so that kids can buy them with pocket money - most of the beginner kits are rarely over £10, and kind of cap out at £20 for the largest of them.

Just for once, I wish, instead of attacking everyone who sucks in their breath and says "On Khorne Berzerkers? A bit much, isn't it?" and the few people who seem to be teetering on "this has got to be the last straw", they price apologists would just admit that they're happy cows, smiling as they get milked. I wish they'd look into what those kits cost overseas, what they will cost after another, consecutive price hike, and think. "Hang on, if that was me, would I still be justifying spending that money?", rather than lecturing people about "Oooh, GW have always done this, stop whining, it's not like the last 3 times they did it, it was from a slightly more reasonable price than this time, poor people/teenagers/anyone with a sense of the future/people with jobs that may become precarious get out of my hobby, or shut up and cope so I don't have to feel bad about spending £70 on myself rather than taking a loved one out for a nice night out."
You know what, if you wanna spend that money. Fine, have fun. I wish I could get those minis, too, but I can't justify it with all the other stuff I could get instead. I've got enough stuff that I haven't finished to keep me going. There's enough one-off second hand stuff. There's enough reputable recasters with whom I have a decent relationship. There's a wave of new, really nice Evangellion Real Grade kits coming out from Bandai. But rules? New minis? I'm done. GW have jumped the money shark too many times.

I also want to give GW a big anglo-centric feth you for only putting this announcement out in English, despite having enough translators to do customer service and write rules in foreign languages. Cowardly.

I've got half a mind to complain to the poor underpaid grunts at customer service. I've got half a mind to try and start an anti-hike boycott on social media. But I just can't care enough anymore. feth this gak. I'm out boys. See you all in Painting and Modelling.

i'd say do it.
i am in a similar but not yet east asia moronical situation.

also it's a shame they priced you out, your stuff when made, allways looked exceptional.
the only thing i hope for is that their whalehunting actually starts to hurt them bottomline via the lack of possible opponents for their whales.

**Kdash**

Togusa wrote:
yukishiro1 wrote:
I don't think anyone thinks it'll kill GW. Just that it's a remarkably tone-deaf and offensive thing to do in the current world situation, and that that leaves a very bad taste in many peoples' mouthes.

Which, as you note, GW will be well aware of. They know exactly how tone-deaf it is, and don't care, because they have calculated that there's more money to be made off annoyed people who will still buy their products than off the people they lose by taking such a tone-deaf action.

Well they did shut down their entire operation AND pay their staff with zero income. It's likely this price change was set in stone MONTHS ago. It's also a measly 2 dollars US raise.

It is worth noting, that whilst they paid their workers while having the factories etc shut down, they were then getting those costs from the Government. They -might- have been topping up the salaries from the 80% scheme, but, I have no idea whether they did or not.

I agree that the change was likely set into motion a while back, but, it would always be under review based on the current and expected economic situation.

Price increases are annoying, but, not something that is going to stop anytime soon. What does surprise me is some of the models that are getting increased in price. My only logical thought for things like Old Marines, is that it is an attempt to push out a lot of kits that are just sat on pallets in the warehouses to free up space. These will then likely see a bigger drop off in sales after the surge and price increase allowing production to focus even less on them.

To everyone outside of the UK – I’m sure someone has done the calculations before, but –
If you were to buy a GW product (at flat UK price) via ebay or something that includes all the import costs and taxes, what does the total cost look like, when compared to just buying it locally? Lets say, if I put a box of Old Marines on Ebay for the UK price and sold it internationally, what does the cost look like?

**jeff white**

Galas wrote:
The coincidence is quite funny.

Can we really blame them?

https://twitter.com/AlexWhite1812/status/1263442326229323777?s=19

This was followed by a tweet, that both gas and GW products are both burning money and something that we feel that we cannot live without.

You have taught me the Internet for today. Perfect!

Automatically Appended Next Post:

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Polonius wrote:
it turns into a half baked referendum of the competency of the company.
This is when Hanlon's Razor makes its appearance, as if not incompetence, then it's malice.

And we're giving GW the benefit of the doubt and assuming that they're just stupid rather than cruel.

Exalted.

**CoreCommander**

Kdash wrote:

To everyone outside of the UK – I’m sure someone has done the calculations before, but –
If you were to buy a GW product (at flat UK price) via ebay or something that includes all the import costs and taxes, what does the total cost look like, when compared to just buying it locally? Lets say, if I put a box of Old Marines on Ebay for the UK price and sold it internationally, what does the cost look like?

For me, shipping tends to be about 10-12 pounds on average. For a Box of old marines the price postage included would be about 45 Euro. Here, I can get it for 33-35 Euro. On average the 12 pound postage kills the difference I would get from bying in pounds

**posermcbogus**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:

This. I'm no economist but, but one thing that definitely eludes me is how GW can raise prices for old product that are basically bringing in pure profit?

I do think GW have the right to charge what they like, but people also have the right to be unhappy about them.

For me personally, these raises dont affect me as much as a gamer, as I rarely buy from GW themselves, only the odd character model here and there. I mainly buy from ebay, and supplement from bits sellers. However, These I do find these price hikes very unreasonable.

Honestly, I kind of feel like GW are probably run by a bunch of enthusiastic nerds that don't understand finance or business, just getting bullied about by shareholders.

CoreCommander wrote:
I am a happy cow smiling as I get milked. Joke aside, I enjoy GW stuff and as long as I enjoy it I will find a way to buy it. I am aware of alternative forms of entertainment, but I want part of this entertainment to be warhammer. As long as I can pay it I will and truth to be told I think that as long as GW exists they will never price me out - not that I have that much money, just that price will never get that high that I can't afford atleast something

Thanks for bragging, I wish I had as much disposable income as you.

tneva82 wrote:

I wish that once in the future rather than simply complaining about prices in internet forums where it's 100% useless people would actually do something about it. Complaining in internet forum leads just to hurt feelings and flame wars. Rather than complain do what you can.

Complaining in dakkadakka is 100% useless. Unless your goal is to start flame war.

When you have for 20+ years read same complains it gets old. People complain yet buy anyway. Don't buy or don't complain.

I just said I've been in the "Don't buy" camp for months.
Just because something's been going on for a long time, doesn't mean that it isn't getting more and more unreasonable.
If I start a flamewar - fine. Good. Whatever. Sounds like there are enough people who care. Maybe that'll spill into other forums, too. Maybe, it'll make a few more people not just more vocal, but more active, too. Maybe someone who works for GW does lurk around the big boards. Or just maybe, it feels good to vent about patterns of price hikes that, from my perspecitve, are ruining this hobby. I don't owe GW silence, nor do I owe anyone here it, especially someone with a "shutup or go away" mentality. I think seeing people complaining about people complaining about things is old, too. Why don't you just buy, without complaining about the rest of us?

Not Online!!! wrote:

i'd say do it.
i am in a similar but not yet east asia moronical situation.

also it's a shame they priced you out, your stuff when made, allways looked exceptional.
the only thing i hope for is that their whalehunting actually starts to hurt them bottomline via the lack of possible opponents for their whales.

Thanks Not Online!!!, hearing that really means a lot

as salty as I'm being, I really do love this hobby.
I'm not optimistic about the future of GW and their prices.

**Aenar**

Kdash wrote:
[...]
To everyone outside of the UK – I’m sure someone has done the calculations before, but –
If you were to buy a GW product (at flat UK price) via ebay or something that includes all the import costs and taxes, what does the total cost look like, when compared to just buying it locally? Lets say, if I put a box of Old Marines on Ebay for the UK price and sold it internationally, what does the cost look like?

It varies from kit to kit.
Living in the EU I often buy from UK retailers that offer 20% off. Compared to the RRP in euros, I pay two thirds of the price and it saves me money even if compared to discounted prices in euros (eg Fire Warrior box £24 discounted (-20%), €27 in euros vs €40 RRP or €32 discounted (-20% as well)).
Buying at the UK RRP would make little sense if I have access to the 20% off standard discount on RRP in euros, and some stores even offer 25% off (eg Fire Warrior box £30 RRP, €33.50 in euros vs €32 at -20%).

US prices are even higher than EU ones so it wouldn't surprise me if it were cheaper to buy at UK RRP + shipping than at USD RRP. But doing so is grey area legally, while UK-EU free trade is still permitted (at least until Brexit actually happens).

**jeff white**

Given the pop media exposure and soon to be released Marvel comics, I think that the bizniz bigwigs are looking at some massive profit taking this Fall, with the world likely staring into a future all-winter global lockdown yet again by most projections... lots of people sitting home, aniticipating a long winter, locked up, waiting for Spring when the GW finally opens for delivery again, and GW ends up one of the few companies to actually do better during and post-covid.

**CoreCommander**

posermcbogus wrote:

Thanks for bragging, I wish I had as much disposable income as you.

Edit:Not worth arguing about it

**lord_blackfang**

I've been at this for 25 years, I don't care anymore. I just enjoy watching newbies have their heart broken by GW for the first time.

**Moloch**

I just returned to the hobby after a ten year break and wanted to buy an Iron Circle Domitar from FW. 130 $ for a model that size even if you accept that FW is for the Premium customer ? No. Way.

**tneva82**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:

See I'd be more inclined to swallow that if GWs profit margins and stock market performance weren't so absurdly high. GW are doing incredibly well as a company, you'd think they would let some of that trickle down to the consumer, on whom they depend.

GW works for profit for them. Trickle down to customers? As if.

Knock off the political commentary - ingtær.

**Jidmah**

Kdash wrote:
To everyone outside of the UK – I’m sure someone has done the calculations before, but –
If you were to buy a GW product (at flat UK price) via ebay or something that includes all the import costs and taxes, what does the total cost look like, when compared to just buying it locally? Lets say, if I put a box of Old Marines on Ebay for the UK price and sold it internationally, what does the cost look like?

The cheapest way to get GW product in Germany up till now is buying from British.based webstores, order enough to get free shipping and then wait.
You usually pay two thirds of GW's prices that way.

The main reason why our group has stopped doing that is because Royal Mail seems be to utterly incompetent (19 out of 40 packages lost/damaged) and refuses to talk to you unless you can provide them with an address based in Britain.

Once the brexit has been completed this option will disappear, because any orders >22€ would cost an extra 19% of tariffs, making German stores cost the same or less.

**Not Online!!!**

Thanks Not Online!!!, hearing that really means a lot as salty as I'm being, I really do love this hobby.
I'm not optimistic about the future of GW and their prices.

longterm, as it was brought up, they'll have to inevitably lower prices.

**Chopstick**

Another price hike? Sweet, I've been buying less GW products over the year.

**kodos**

Kdash wrote:

To everyone outside of the UK – I’m sure someone has done the calculations before, but –
If you were to buy a GW product (at flat UK price) via ebay or something that includes all the import costs and taxes, what does the total cost look like, when compared to just buying it locally? Lets say, if I put a box of Old Marines on Ebay for the UK price and sold it internationally, what does the cost look like?

if you can get you hands on free shipping or flat shipping rate retailers you save a lot
a reason why GW added high shipping rates to their shop, as an order in UK GW shop will be cheaper, so they made shipping rates that will eat up the savings

and with Brexit GW will have the possibility to block UK retailers from shipping their stuff to the EU

Jidmah wrote:

The main reason why our group has stopped doing that is because Royal Mail seems be to utterly incompetent (19 out of 40 packages lost/damaged) and refuses to talk to you unless you can provide them with an address based in Britain.

which is funny, as for me Royal Mail is cheaper and more reliable than ordering anything from Germany (specially DHL) and I never had anything lost (and they are faster too)

**Not Online!!!**

which is funny, as for me Royal Mail is cheaper and more reliable than ordering anything from Germany (specially DHL) and I never had anything lost (and they are faster too)

lol, jidmah, remember the postal of the ork tankbustaz? Respecitvly the tarifs official

that was glorious.

**Sabotage!**

I have no idea what the price hike is going to look like, but some of the past ones have been pretty absurd.

I only play WU and Warcry, and I think those are pretty reasonably priced. If they raised the prices on a Warband for either game by 5 USD I wouldn’t be too perturbed as I think generally the prices for those games are pretty good (30 or 50 for a full warband), but if the went crazy and raised them 20 to 25 I would probably stop buying them on principle.

**H.B.M.C.**

Sabotage! wrote:
I have no idea what the price hike is going to look like, but some of the past ones have been pretty absurd.

As some have pointed out, this one is already absurd:

So two boxes that cost the same are going up, and the one with fewer models is even more expensive somehow? That's a 20% price increase. That wipes out the discounters that do 20% discounts or lower.

**Not Online!!!**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Sabotage! wrote:
I have no idea what the price hike is going to look like, but some of the past ones have been pretty absurd.
As some have pointed out, this one is already absurd:

So two boxes that cost the same are going up, and the one with fewer models is even more expensive somehow?

**Obispudkenobi**

Hats off they have given warning of the rise, can't think of another retailer who would do that .

**Not Online!!!**

Obispudkenobi wrote:
Hats off they have given warning of the rise, can't think of another retailer who would do that .

it's to induce panic buying, to get rid of the last few khorne berzerkers before the new ones drop with an inevitable WE codex.

**Jidmah**

Not Online!!! wrote:

which is funny, as for me Royal Mail is cheaper and more reliable than ordering anything from Germany (specially DHL) and I never had anything lost (and they are faster too)

lol, jidmah, remember the postal of the ork tankbustaz? Respecitvly the tarifs official

that was glorious.

Yeah, I've also solved the mystery why they were in pieces.
Apparently it's regular procedure to break apart miniature to see if you're smuggling drugs inside. According to someone working at the customs, there has been a problem with cocaine-filled rhinos from South Africa

**Grimtuff**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
The difference is no one is saying they're going out of business now.

Indeed. People quickly forget how Pokemon nearly toppled them, only for GW to be saved by LOTR and the dark days of Kirby’s reign of terror when people were jumping to other systems left and right.

GW has come dangerously close to going out of business in the past and what makes them all of a sudden immune now?

**Jidmah**

kodos wrote:
which is funny, as for me Royal Mail is cheaper and more reliable than ordering anything from Germany (specially DHL) and I never had anything lost (and they are faster too)

The trick with DHL is that you should always use ensured&tracked shipping. If you do, they treat your package like a newborn. If you don't, there is a chance that they might accidentally run it over with a truck. Twice. True story.

Royal Mail loses their stuff even when tracked, so it moves to an airport or logistic center and then apparently stays their until the tracking is deleted.

**Not Online!!!**

Jidmah wrote:
Not Online!!! wrote:

which is funny, as for me Royal Mail is cheaper and more reliable than ordering anything from Germany (specially DHL) and I never had anything lost (and they are faster too)

lol, jidmah, remember the postal of the ork tankbustaz? Respecitvly the tarifs official

that was glorious.

Yeah, I've also solved the mystery why they were in pieces.
Apparently it's regular procedure to break apart miniature to see if you're smuggling drugs inside. According to someone working at the customs, there has been a problem with cocaine-filled rhinos from South Africa

are drug hounds in so low supply?
Also from switzerland, drugs? At most guns , but the model to be shipped to hide a gun is most likely more costly then the gun itself

which would defeat the whole smuggling thingy out of the get go.