What are your opinions on a $1 mark up on boosters from your FLGS?

I doubt people would like it. Why do you ask.

Any LGS that sells new product above MSRP is the lowest kind of hobby scum in my book.

I doubt people would like it. Why do you ask.

I was hoping for opinions counter to the vile spew of rhetoric that came to my mind when I was about to buy some packs at an LGS. I held the thoughts from coming out of my mouth, a huge feat for me.

Wherever I go (I'm a widely traveled Organized Event Roadie), I always try to spend money at the stores I visit, ya know, to support them supporting my addicti...erm, um, Hobby. This move gave me that feeling you get when deciding what tip amount to give my restaraunt server for nonexistent service. My spending habits at game stores is usually as automatic as tipping. This type of behavior from store owners offends me.

So you put them back, right? I walked out of a store passing on an out of print game when they had the Yu-Gi-Oh Dice Masters marked up $0.50.

Doesn't sound very friendly to me. Would certainly encourage me to find a friendly game store to make my local game store.

That being said, these boosters are so hot right now, I would consider buying them anyways if they had them in stock at that price.

I'd rant and rave but with the scarcity of booster packs I don't blame them. Personally I wouldn't buy them. I would think it would discourage people from playing as well, which would be a bad thing if you wanted a new revenue stream..

that's capitalism for you. Also take into consideration the location, is the store in the middle of a downtown core? rent is usually really high for stores operating in a city area compared to the outskirts or a rural area and as such they usually need to mark up product to compensate for it

although the best way to weed that out is does the rest of the store have a large mark up on the majority of the product in stock? or just Destiny? There are a couple stores in my hometown that have a large mark up, and while i still try and support them i do usually avoid putting my money in there on small product such as boosters which really add up when you start buying lots for $0.50-$1.00 more as opposed to buying a board game for $5 more than everyone else.

(I'll convert figures to USD for ease).

One of the three LGS in town, and the place which got FFG's launch party event, started off selling the booster packs for $5.10 each. Then the other LGS got stock in and priced theirs at $4.30 each. After about a week, the first guy brought his down to match this at $4.30 per booster. The third LGS isn't particularly interested in stocking Destiny (or FFG products at all, I've noticed) but he told me that, according to his supplier catalogue, if he were to get them in he'd be selling the boosters for $3.60 each, which is bang on the RRP.

All three are asking for $130.00 for a gravity feed, which is the RRP.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about it. I'll drop a copious amount on board games because I believe in A) supporting the local and B) getting my stuff noooow but markups like this, and the sense of being ripped off that come with it, drive me to the internet.

(the original prices are $7.00, $6.00 and $5.00 per booster at stores 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and $180 for a gravity feed, all in AUD)

(I'll convert figures to USD for ease).

One of the three LGS in town, and the place which got FFG's launch party event, started off selling the booster packs for $5.10 each. Then the other LGS got stock in and priced theirs at $4.30 each. After about a week, the first guy brought his down to match this at $4.30 per booster. The third LGS isn't particularly interested in stocking Destiny (or FFG products at all, I've noticed) but he told me that, according to his supplier catalogue, if he were to get them in he'd be selling the boosters for $3.60 each, which is bang on the RRP.

All three are asking for $130.00 for a gravity feed, which is the RRP.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about it. I'll drop a copious amount on board games because I believe in A) supporting the local and B) getting my stuff noooow but markups like this, and the sense of being ripped off that come with it, drive me to the internet.

(the original prices are $7.00, $6.00 and $5.00 per booster at stores 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and $180 for a gravity feed, all in AUD)

don't forget your also pay the extra taxes for living on a remote island in the corner of the world. it's pretty hard to sell at MSRP when there are extra shipping costs and taxes

we pay a mark up in Canada as well, but being neighbors with the US, the shipping costs aren't what get us, it's our dollar and our high taxes

but the local store that i buy from sells at $4.00 per booster CAD

don't forget stuff and such...

I'm not.

The local (Australian) RRP is $5.00 per booster, which translates to US$3.60 (a 61c mark-up per booster on their RRP, a tax for living far, far away). Based on the $5.00 RRP store 1 was charging a $2.00 mark-up, and stores 1 and 2 are now charging a $1.00 mark-up. As stated, store 3, if they ever get stock, will sell at $5.00 per booster, for a $0 mark-up.

I get where you're coming from, though... Sometimes people are just whinging, and sometimes the gouging is real.

Vesh you acronym has too many letters: F LGS ain't nothin' friendly there. This isn't supporting player loyalty it is abusing it.

I think price gouging because stock is limited is very short term gain over long term gain. It will drive a divide between the store and the customers who will remember the action and take business elsewhere.

Brick and Mortar have it tough enough, and this is just driving the nails into your own coffin, this is just screaming "go online for you shopping." In general the elasticity of non-essentials is somewhat inelastic, which is to say small variations in price may have rather large changes in demand. As such the numbers of people likely to go elsewhere are far more than normal.

Can I ask, why do you have bite marks on your lip? May need stitches my friend.

I think this really depends on the store. If its just a storefront and you buy products and leave its not great. However if they're an important part of the community providing play space and running events and taking an active part in the health of the game i dont mind paying a bit more.

Remember, it is MSRP, the word suggested is in there. It comes down to supply and demand. If the game store charges MSRP they will be bought out immediately and someone is making a lot of money on ebay. This is FFG's fault and no one else's.

BTW, this happens all the time with collectables, especially CCGs like Magic. If you are going to play and collect a CCG you better get use to this.

And you can just be patient and wait till the stock comes back in to line. Or just buy from an online market and then support the LGS with participating in tournaments and such and buying some snacks/drinks.

~D

Sounds like they lost their F. Have fun at your LGS!

BTW, this happens all the time with collectables, especially CCGs like Magic. If you are going to play and collect a CCG you better get use to this.

Charging what the market can bear is all well and good. Out of print cards and the like will command such pricing. Will anyone stop shopping at your store or go elsewhere if you have a rare Darth Vader behind glass on sale for $80?

However, the existence of the shortage of product, with the ensuing debate as to the cause, doesn't seem to be in the same class. At this point in time the store should be promoting community and growth. This is the exact opposite and calls attention to the players just how little regard the store has for them. There are a few ways a store could spin this to the players and come across far better than this in wanting to form a community from the game.

As I said earlier, building a community now, will have far more benefits to a store than making a few hits off their player base by doing this. Word of mouth is 75% of your advertising, and usually once the damage is done to your reputation you lose more than you can gain. I am sure it is hard work for stuff all money running a game store, but why do you want to make it harder?

Ultimately, stores can charge what they want. You, as the consumer, need to make the decision whether that price is reasonable.

Is it a 'good' way to do it? Probably not, and it's probably not going to breed a successful community. The owner of the store doesn't neccasarily care about that, though, and you can't really tell them how to run their own store (assuming someone who's marking up probably isn't going to listen to someone complaining about the prices).

It's terrible. Though I'll admit I bought a booster for 10 bucks from Amazon. Granted this was simply an experiment considering so many people were getting entire booster boxes after ordering single packs. I figured 10 was worth the gamble to see if it ended up being a box.

It hasn't arrived yet so the mystery continues!

It's not like local stores are the only ones that do this. CoolStuffInc jacked up their prices on Final Fantasy TCG $10 over retail on Starters and $2 over retail on Boosters when their scarcity became known.

I wouldn't support a LGS if they marked up their prices on a product based on scarcity or hype, but I wouldn't fault them for trying to scrape their way in a tough business. They gotta make every penny they can.

I do find it funny that LGSs or online stores would mark up Destiny, when the secondary market isn't that bad right now. Vader and Han are the biggest Legendaries right now at the $30-40 range and everything else is much more financially manageable. Remember when Vader was $70 on the secondary?

if you don't like it don't buy from them...and let them know it.

if you still buy from them and try to ***** about it you are a hypocrite.

My LGS got a booster box through the secondary market and is charging $4 for packs from that box. I am not thrilled by this but I understand the mark up. it has slowly sold but there are still ~10 boosters in it.

(I'll convert figures to USD for ease).

One of the three LGS in town, and the place which got FFG's launch party event, started off selling the booster packs for $5.10 each. Then the other LGS got stock in and priced theirs at $4.30 each. After about a week, the first guy brought his down to match this at $4.30 per booster. The third LGS isn't particularly interested in stocking Destiny (or FFG products at all, I've noticed) but he told me that, according to his supplier catalogue, if he were to get them in he'd be selling the boosters for $3.60 each, which is bang on the RRP.

All three are asking for $130.00 for a gravity feed, which is the RRP.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about it. I'll drop a copious amount on board games because I believe in A) supporting the local and B) getting my stuff noooow but markups like this, and the sense of being ripped off that come with it, drive me to the internet.

(the original prices are $7.00, $6.00 and $5.00 per booster at stores 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and $180 for a gravity feed, all in AUD)

This is a good question, and it was a decision I made recently.

I have a LComicS and LGS. My buddy and I always went to the LGS to pick up our gaming pieces, and this included Destiny. However, I didn't register for the pre-event so I didn't get the starter sets when they first were released. A few days ago I called up my LGS and they had them in stock (starters) for 19.99+tax. I decided to pass since I knew they were going for 14.99 at most other places, and I could be patient. I then went down to grab my pullbox from the LCS and asked if they had Destiny. They stated that they did the pre-release but were out as well, and should have them in the afternoon of the next day. I told them how I was disappointed that the LGS marked up the price and asked what my LCS sold them for...

...they told me ALL gaming was 20% off, and Destiny was no exception, boosters or starters. I went the next day and walked out with both Starter sets (Ray and Kylo) for 25 bucks with tax.

Basically, I am not down for mark up just because something is new under the supply and demand. And this ultimately cost the LGS a customer, because now I will go to my LCS and just order the gaming stuff I need rather than pay an inflated price.

My LGS got a booster box through the secondary market and is charging $4 for packs from that box. I am not thrilled by this but I understand the mark up. it has slowly sold but there are still ~10 boosters in it.

I'd be okay with that too, seeing as it's a completely different situation from the one which I explained.