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My local store phoned me today to tell me that Esdevium Games [main distributor in UK] had not delivered any of the 12 copies he ordered. He was also told that the release date was next Thursday, and he would only get 3 copies!
I phoned Esdevium Games myself and asked if the PF core rule book was released today... answer, "Yes"!
I then told them where I live and asked them to direct me to a local store that would have copies... answer, "Sorry, all our copies were given to London based stores, you'll have to order one from them"!
They didn't even tell me about my local store existing! WTF.
6 of those 12 books were reserved for my gaming group.
I'm Disgusted.
Please use Hobby Games in future.
My local store phoned me today to tell me that Esdevium Games [main distributor in UK] had not delivered any of the 12 copies he ordered. He was also told that the release date was next Thursday, and he would only get 3 copies!
I phoned Esdevium Games myself and asked if the PF core rule book was released today... answer, "Yes"!
I then told them where I live and asked them to direct me to a local store that would have copies... answer, "Sorry, all our copies were given to London based stores, you'll have to order one from them"!
They didn't even tell me about my local store existing! WTF.6 of those 12 books were reserved for my gaming group.
I'm Disgusted.
Please use Hobby Games in future.
I'm sorry, bob. My LGS (in Manchester) had 30 copies delivered on Tuesday, but I don't know how many he ordered.
The store is fanboy3, if you're interested. Try www.fanboy3.com or phone 0161 247 7735
Yeah, Manchester vs. little town by the sea...!
I've had a look at UK google and a number of stores are giving next Wednesday as the release date. Maybe they have the same suppler.
If so, they too are not being told the correct info.
Myself, I now have 8 copies, ordered from one of the lucky few stores that did get stock from Esdevium on the correct day, and I've given a copy to my local games store... one of the stores that Esdevium didn't tell me about! Needless to say, they are NOT happy.
Paizo, please look into this. Hobby Games are far better [and no I don't have any connection with them].
amethal
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Tales Subscriber; GameMastery Superscriber)
My FLGS was assured last week by the distributor that all 10 ordered copies would be arriving today.
On Tuesday, they were informed they would be only receiving 2 (neither of which was my copy).
The FLGS is blaming Paizo for this debacle. I'm not - I don't know where the blame lies, but the shop's distributor has never filled me with confidence - but goodness knows who the other 7 unhappy non-customers are blaming.
Looks like I'll be waiting until November for a book I ordered in June.
My FLGS tells me about Diamond (US distributor) playing games like this all the time, and not just for games either.
I think the main problem is that the distributors have no incentive to give a damn. So long as they get money to throw things in and out of the warehouses quickly, they really don't care about anything getting, you know, distributed.
We went through this with some of the first expansions of M:tG. Diamond would tell a different story to all their customers in my town, and no one would get the number they ordered.
As I recall, it was particularly bad for The Dark expansion.
And the comics store owners shrugged their shoulders and said, "Hey, we've been dealing with this for years."
I'm sorry, bob. My LGS (in Manchester) had 30 copies delivered on Tuesday, but I don't know how many he ordered.
The store is fanboy3, if you're interested. Try www.fanboy3.com or phone 0161 247 7735
Hmmm, I wonder if those 30 copies will last out the launch event tomorrow?
I have to wait to get the core book for monetary reasons, I do have the PDF though ;)
Paizo, please look into this. Hobby Games are far better [and no I don't have any connection with them].
We sold in the past to Hobby Games and would do so now. We aren't exclusive with Esdevium, so Hobby Games could have placed an order if they wished to, just like any other distributor. For some reason, they didn't. I've know their manager, John Maitland, for quite a long while and would have no problems selling to Hobby Games.
-Lisa
Paizo, please look into this. Hobby Games are far better [and no I don't have any connection with them].We sold in the past to Hobby Games and would do so now. We aren't exclusive with Esdevium, so Hobby Games could have placed an order if they wished to, just like any other distributor. For some reason, they didn't. I've know their manager, John Maitland, for quite a long while and would have no problems selling to Hobby Games.
-Lisa
Thaks good to know, thanks.
Still, telling Local Game Stores utter rubbish about release dates is really not on. I encourage Paizo to address this issue with any distributors doing so.
It does seem that Esdevium seriously underordered...My FLGS owner tells me he had to insist on getting my copy(we pre ordered three months ago) unfortunately it had to come from someone elses order...so if you are Swedish and didnt get your copy..I'm sorry
I don't think that only Esdevium underoredered, but almost everybody did, From Distributors down to Local Stores.
To bad that the cost for shipping directly from Paizo is so high (to good old Europe),otherwise I would have ordered directly from my favorite publisher. As it is now, I spread my orders, 2 stores the UK, 5 with gaming stores in Germany, as well as Amazon UK and Germany. I am afraid, that I will not even get enough books to cover less than half of our players. ( All in all I ordered 10 books, while 6 are needed, and guess what; I have not received one positive message so far. Well, at least I have the PDF, although I could print it for free, It will be a bother transporting that fat print out along (and sharing it with the rest of the crew).
Nope, everybody, including Paizo underestimated the run on that book. I hope that this enthusiasm keeps up and that gamers world wide will order a hell of a big number of copies. Anything to keep Paizo going. ( and maybe in November I get my copy.
Crying.., throwing fits... WHY, WHY, WHY cant it be November already???
Ah, so this is happening elsewhere. I picked up my copy from my FLGS just as the owner was unpacking all the copies (our timing is awesome). He was incredibly pissed off as he'd ordered 30 (and triple checked with them days before shipping, as he'd had a load of interest), but Esdevium only sent 8. Since he had 3 definite preorders and 3 of us standing there chomping at the bit to get copies he had only 2 left to put on the shelves. This was Patriot Games in Sheffield, so hardly Manchester or London, but hardly middle-of-nowhere either.
Ah, so this is happening elsewhere. I picked up my copy from my FLGS just as the owner was unpacking all the copies (our timing is awesome). He was incredibly pissed off as he'd ordered 30 (and triple checked with them days before shipping, as he'd had a load of interest), but Esdevium only sent 8. Since he had 3 definite preorders and 3 of us standing there chomping at the bit to get copies he had only 2 left to put on the shelves. This was Patriot Games in Sheffield, so hardly Manchester or London, but hardly middle-of-nowhere either.
Patriot Games in sheffield nice! I think I was there. To be honest I had a brief stint with Esdevium when I ran a small game shop and I found they had a habit of under estimating the demands of a certain popular product so they ration (rather badly I might add) the good and places like travelling man and leisure games get first dibs due to thier relative customer base.
I don't think that only Esdevium underoredered, but almost everybody did, From Distributors down to Local Stores.
Nope, everybody, including Paizo underestimated the run on that book. I hope that this enthusiasm keeps up and that gamers world wide will order a hell of a big number of copies. Anything to keep Paizo going. ( and maybe in November I get my copy.
Crying.., throwing fits... WHY, WHY, WHY cant it be November already???
Had to correct you but the reports I'm hearing is that the stores have done a fantastic job of drumming up intrest but when they ordered enough copies for everyone intrested plus a few more for the shelves the suppliers are letting them down.
But you are right it does sound like there are simply not enough copies to go around, I understand the desire for Paizo to keep the numbers down, first there is cost and second they are testing the market, under-printing to a business makes sense, however making gamers waiting until November for a reprint is just plain mean, after all if the books sold out you need to get on the phone and make sure more are printed ASAP and keep the book in print.
To all the UK gamers - Paizo has some Core Rulebooks left after GenCon, this might be your chance to grab it !
sadly the P&P for ordering from Piazo to the UK is quite frankly silly so most dont consider it, this is made worse but the fact we can get deliveries from Chaosium, Noble Knights and Amazon(US) for a fraction of the cost that rubs salt in the wound.
Is there a Paizo UK office by the way? I would love to take out a subscription but once again the P&P makes it impractical.
Well, being in Poland I was also faced with high shipping cost.
Initially I wanted to order from Amazon, but here's how my calculations went:
Paizo: 85 USD incl shipping. Apart from the PFRPG, I had several other Paizo products in that order.
Amazon: 45 USD incl shipping.
HOWEVER
- the free PDF knocks 10 USD off the Paizo order
- shipping on the regular Paizo stuff would be 15 USD
so the actual value of the Paizo order was 60 USD.
So still, it was 15 USD above Amazon, BUT that meant I have the guarantee that my book will be shipped and I won't risk the "sorry, the distributor ran out, call us in November" situation. And in case of the package being damaged/lost, I could count on Kosmo or Alison being lovely and replacing the items for me.
So in the end, I went with Paizo. :)
But you are right it does sound like there are simply not enough copies to go around, I understand the desire for Paizo to keep the numbers down, first there is cost and second they are testing the market, under-printing to a business makes sense, however making gamers waiting until November for a reprint is just plain mean, after all if the books sold out you need to get on the phone and make sure more are printed ASAP and keep the book in print.
Just to chime in here. We most definetely DIDN'T want to underprint the book. We made a print run that was over two times our biggest print run ever. We really felt that we had enough to last until the end of the year at least. To say we were pleasantly surprised when it sold out two weeks before release is an understatement. Once we found out that it was out of print, we got on the phone THAT DAY and ordered the next printing. But print runs of that size just don't appear overnight and finding that much paper was the sticking point. Hopefully we will get lucky, and the book will be in stores before November. But trust me, we didn't mean to underprint and we got right on the reprint immediately.
-Lisa
Just to chime in here. We most definetely DIDN'T want to underprint the book. We made a print run that was over two times our biggest print run ever. We really felt that we had enough to last until the end of the year at least. To say we were pleasantly surprised when it sold out two weeks before release is an understatement. Once we found out that it was out of print, we got on the phone THAT DAY and ordered the next printing. But print runs of that size just don't appear overnight and finding that much paper was the sticking point. Hopefully we will get lucky, and the book will be in stores before November. But trust me, we didn't mean to underprint and we got right on the reprint immediately.
-Lisa
Uggh, November huh? Well, I guess with the next paycheck, about 50 bucks goes to Staples or Kinko's to print the pdf up in color for a 3 ring binder.
So I take it that the next printing will still need the errata right? It won't be a revised version fixing the minor typos? Hey I just got the email today about the fixed pdf file, taking care of the typos. When I print it I'll have a corrected version. Another reason I'm glad for the $9.99 pdf. :)
You guys kick ass. The book looks so awesome, I'll print it in color, just for the art. And I never care about art in RPG books. And I'll still buy a hardcopy when the new version comes out. :)
Uggh, November huh? Well, I guess with the next paycheck, about 50 bucks goes to Staples or Kinko's to print the pdf up in color for a 3 ring binder.
So I take it that the next printing will still need the errata right? It won't be a revised version fixing the minor typos? Hey I just got the email today about the fixed pdf file, taking care of the typos. When I print it I'll have a corrected version. Another reason I'm glad for the $9.99 pdf. :)
You guys kick ass. The book looks so awesome, I'll print it in color, just for the art. And I never care about art in RPG books. And I'll still buy a hardcopy when the new version comes out. :)
The next printing will have all the corrections from the Errata
No matter how you cut it, hobby distribution is a dirty business. Most smaller shops either don't get popular product on time or don't get product at all. I can think of at least three stores who where getting advice on what to carry from their distributors that have discontinued carrying RPGs after the distributor used them to dump poorly selling product.
I wonder if Paizo would pick up more retail stores if they sent out a brochure explaining their product lines to small retailers. Four or six companion books in a display by the register would probably pick up some nice impulse sales. Most retailers I know in the Southern US honestly don't know much about Paizo (they might know about Goodman, but Goodman games goes out of it's way to market to small retailers).
Maybe it's time to look at a Paizo UK or Paizo Europe that could either work with printers on this side of the pond or at least handle distribution? Not that I have any issue with Esdevium (but then I'm not a store owner...)although having had bad experiences with the likes of Amazon (your item is in stock, your item has been dispatched, where's your item? it's not in stock but you can re-order...)I have taken out a subscription with Paizo. Postage to the UK is hefty (less if I was willing to wait longer and have everything shipped together) but at least I get my product.
Maybe it's time to look at a Paizo UK or Paizo Europe that could either work with printers on this side of the pond or at least handle distribution?
I think the retail partners in Europe were chosen to save paizo the hassle of establishing a european dependancy.
Printing in Europe will probably not be an alternative, price-wise. (I guess that it still would be printed in China, needing to split the deliveries at the printer in China. This has the potential for more errors...)Stefan
My book arrived about 6 days after release so thats pretty good. I know the postage isnt cheap from the states but being a subscriber gets some discounts which help a little bit. I just try not to look at the cost of the shipping!
The bonus is you get your books when it appears other places dont seem to be able to.
The bonus is you get your books when it appears other places dont seem to be able to.
Tell me about it. I seriously doubt by now that enough books made it into retail here. I heard that some folks in Germany already have theirs, and all the distributors seem to be out of stock already, so it could be that I get a copy with the next print run, even though I ordered one at my FLGS in June or July. Well, in the meantime I can see if Ulisses really manages to have the translation done by September.
Stefan
The bonus is you get your books when it appears other places dont seem to be able to.Tell me about it. I seriously doubt by now that enough books made it into retail here. I heard that some folks in Germany already have theirs, and all the distributors seem to be out of stock already, so it could be that I get a copy with the next print run, even though I ordered one at my FLGS in June or July. Well, in the meantime I can see if Ulisses really manages to have the translation done by September.
Stefan
Sad but true... I've been trying to get my friends to get their orders in, I dont think they realise the shortage. There are still come copies out there but leg work is requireed.