I was in one of my local shops tonight and noticed that they had increased the price of boosters to $3.99. I'm curious, is this happening everywhere because of high demand/low supply or are they just being greedy?

They are a-holes. Buy elsewhere and make sure they know why.

Could be they had to buy their product off the secondary market. Lots of stores couldn't get their full order from distributors, so you can't blame them if they bought from an online retailer at or near MSRP and are marking up some.

If they are marking up from their wholesale boxes, then bounce and let them know why. You can buy from Barnes & Noble anytime for MSRP. If the above explanation, then I would applaud them for going out of their way to have some product on their shelves.

30 minutes ago, gokubb said:

Could be they had to buy their product off the secondary market. Lots of stores couldn't get their full order from distributors, so you can't blame them if they bought from an online retailer at or near MSRP and are marking up some.

If they are marking up from their wholesale boxes, then bounce and let them know why. You can buy from Barnes & Noble anytime for MSRP. If the above explanation, then I would applaud them for going out of their way to have some product on their shelves.

That's a good point. I will ask them about it.

I'm pretty certain that they should be demoted from FLGS to just LGS... this seems pretty unfriendly to me

Talked to the manager. They were price gouging because of the shortage. Sucks because I like the store and never expected to see that kind of thing from them. I wish FFG could get a handle on their supply so retailers aren't tempted to rip off their customers like this, but it's ultimately not FFG's fault. Someone made the conscious decision to be greedy and make a few bucks more at the expense of possibly angering longtime customers, and now they get to live with the consequences of losing some business. Oh well, there are several others in the area to choose from.

it happens, mine has Awakens boosters for 5.99 once.

Considering you can go online and order a box of SoR for MSRP, their pricing above MSRP us just silly.

There's still a local store trying to get $7.00 a pop for them. He hasn't caught on yet that the other two have managed to restock and they're back at (or just above) MSRP.

Just terrible. I hope it doesn't become a widespread. One of the appeals of this game is that boosters are cheap enough for players to build decks and collections.

Mine got raised to.

19 hours ago, pkreynolds said:

I was in one of my local shops tonight and noticed that they had increased the price of boosters to $3.99. I'm curious, is this happening everywhere because of high demand/low supply or are they just being greedy?

Sadly, this happens a lot - as others have said. The game hasn't really caught on in my area yet (probably...15-20 people max in a 1-hour radius, with a combined metro population of around 380,000...so really not that many), but the main store that carries a lot of stuff had boxes of Awakening in January. Asked the price - $3.99 a pack. I still thought the game was available in places I traveled to regularly (it wasn't) and didn't buy. Came back a week later saying the heck with it - I'll get a few packs. He moved the price to $4.99 a pack in that time frame. So, I said heck no. No way was I paying that. Someone eventually did though and he was sold out the next week. Supply/demand. I don't like it and I don't think it is right...but you can only vote with your money there and I choose to say no. You can go further and stop going to the store and such, but your mileage may vary - especially if you don't have many other options.

Raising prices on an unopened pack/packs/boxes....in a current game is short sited and wrong. But if people pay it then business is business. He is risking losing the Destiny line if FFG's finds out.

The practices of these business owners are unethical and an insult to reputable LGSs everywhere. My local FLGSs take great pride in their customer service, and part of said customer service is having reasonable prices.

A game store is not an antique store. You can't just line up a whole bunch of dirty glass bottles and charge $20 each for 'em because they're old. A game store is a local community, and fair rates on the games you buy are part of the deal. Amazon and other online giants are already killing local stores, and part of the reason is that nobody's gonna drive across town to go into a store and pay more money than they do online.

The public will develop an image in their mind of game stores, and this image will be highly affected by the price of the items for sale there. If a few disreputable game stores start increasing the prices, people in general will start to write off all game stores, and they will go out of business, FLGS and CLGS (crappy local game store) alike.

Aside from this unspoken code of having good rates to combat the online giants, game stores have a deal with their distributor. They may be breaking this deal, as @DJRAZZ said.

Finally, you have the power to make them pay. Choose the FLGS over the CLGS! If they jack up their rates and don't sell anything, their distributor will notice that they're not moving product and send more to the other game stores, punishing the CLGS in the long run.

#1 dont buy them

#2 dont shop there anymore

Easy-peasy.

And yes, its a **** move by them, but when people stop playing/shopping there, itll all come back around.

~D

For a game to exist at all it must be available to purchase. Some stores raise the price when supply is low so they can keep the game in stock.

I never pay more than MSRP for a booster pack but they have reasons beyond greed.

also keeping a store alive is hard, they got to make money when they can.

A store nearby me raised it to 3.99 when it first came out to avoid people buying from them and flipping on eBay for twice as much, which happened for awakening. So is the customer who is buying just to flip in the wrong or the store to try to keep it in stock so others have a chance to obtain it?

2 hours ago, poke450 said:

A store nearby me raised it to 3.99 when it first came out to avoid people buying from them and flipping on eBay for twice as much, which happened for awakening. So is the customer who is buying just to flip in the wrong or the store to try to keep it in stock so others have a chance to obtain it?

Neither is wrong. The laws of supply and demand have been around since the dawn of human existence. Consumers have the power to vote with their dollar, but the vendor practicing normal capitalism in a capatilst economy isn't something to be alarmed by.

I've owned a small business and it's a constant struggle to maintain a positive cash position. While I personally wouldn't sell sealed product bought at wholesale above retail, I can't blame someone for doing so if it earns them extra without hurting the rest of their business.

And, don't blame the flippers. They profit solely because FFG didn't make an adequate amount of product. Blame Asmodee if anyone. Regardless, the secondary market is dead. Demand for SoR just isn't there. Not just because SoR was a larger run, but also due to the players leaving after Awakenings supply failures and the game's imbalance.

It is hard for me to gage who left and who stayed. I am in my little bubble at home playing with my family. And the only interaction I have is with people online who seem to be everywhere loving the game. Small community perhaps. But they at least make us feel that the game is very much alive. Plus many singles on the secondary market are out of stock all the time. Somebody like me is buying them.

5 hours ago, poke450 said:

A store nearby me raised it to 3.99 when it first came out to avoid people buying from them and flipping on eBay for twice as much, which happened for awakening.

Maybe a better idea to limit flipping a bit would be to increase the price to 3.99, but with 1.00 going towards the customer's store credit? This way regular customers won't be gouged, but a random flipper (i.e. a person who visits the store only to buy boosters at MSRP and sell them on ebay) might be discouraged.

On 6/1/2017 at 1:29 PM, pkreynolds said:

Talked to the manager. They were price gouging because of the shortage. Sucks because I like the store and never expected to see that kind of thing from them. I wish FFG could get a handle on their supply so retailers aren't tempted to rip off their customers like this, but it's ultimately not FFG's fault. Someone made the conscious decision to be greedy and make a few bucks more at the expense of possibly angering longtime customers, and now they get to live with the consequences of losing some business. Oh well, there are several others in the area to choose from.

it is ffg's fault if they printed enough then there wont be a need to gauge

11 minutes ago, soviet prince said:

it is ffg's fault if they printed enough then there wont be a need to gauge

See, I disagree with this. The limited supply doesn't create a NEED to price gouge; it creates a TEMPTATION. There's a big difference. For example, there are at least two other stores in my area who continued selling their product at $2.99 and have never, as far as I know, increased them based on demand, although they could have and almost certainly would have sold out. What's funny is the store that was price gouging has been around for decades and is well established - charging above MSRP on Destiny wasn't a "keep the lights on decision" for them by any means. It was a choice to make quick temporary profit more important than the trust and respect of their customers.

For the record, this particular store has gone back to $2.99 now that product is more widely available, although I'll probably be buying Destiny elsewhere going forward.

A store that has been around for decades Still needs to pay it's electric bill.

On 6/5/2017 at 0:46 AM, pkreynolds said:

See, I disagree with this. The limited supply doesn't create a NEED to price gouge; it creates a TEMPTATION. There's a big difference. For example, there are at least two other stores in my area who continued selling their product at $2.99 and have never, as far as I know, increased them based on demand, although they could have and almost certainly would have sold out. What's funny is the store that was price gouging has been around for decades and is well established - charging above MSRP on Destiny wasn't a "keep the lights on decision" for them by any means. It was a choice to make quick temporary profit more important than the trust and respect of their customers.

For the record, this particular store has gone back to $2.99 now that product is more widely available, although I'll probably be buying Destiny elsewhere going forward.

lets get in the real world, if there money to be made ppl are going to make it, who is to blame the ones who exploit the problem or the ones that created the problem in the first place