Buying old adventure paths


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I'm looking to try and collect a lot of the old adventure paths, or the newly updated and released versions, and I was hoping for physical copies because I enjoy them so much more. I got up to Legacy of Fire, and ran across a problem.

Most of the modules sell for like 5 bucks, but for some reason, 1 in particular, End of Eternity, the 4th one, is unavailable everywhere and costs a fortune on ebay or amazon.

I just wanna know, why??? Is it that amazing, or did someone just arbitrarily decide to horde them and hike the prices up?


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In most cases, it's probably because they sold out and resellers correspondingly raised their prices due to the scarcity of new copies. If you don't mind a slightly roundabout method, you could purchase the PDFs and have a copy professionally printed for yourself - this is specifically allowed by Paizo.


Supply and demand! Check out the PDF before you sink a chunk of cash into the secondary market.

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

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Bots. And factoring.

When everyone starts selling out, and it gets to a point where only a few of something are left, the price gets bumped up by a bot, one that is operated by a factor (someone who sells an item they don't own at a markup, then buys a copy to drop-ship from a third party). Then, there's another bot watching that bot, and it wants to be slightly less expensive than the most expensive one out there, but not TOO much less expensive, so it bumps up its price. Just so happens that the first bot sees that price increase, knows its own margin isn't correct any longer, and bumps its price up to compensate. Which, of course, causes the second bot to raise its price. Wash, rinse, repeat. You end up with outrageously priced items.

This blog post back in 2011 does a pretty good job of explaining the occurrence: The $24million Dollar Book About Flies

I see this happen all the time with games that drop out of production temporarily (or permanently). And because of it I always know when a game is suddenly unavailable. It often is a game that has sat on my shelves for months, selling a copy here or there, but nothing noteworthy. Then, one week I go from 6 copies to 0, often in the course of two days. I take a look on Amazon and, sure enough, it's selling for twice MSRP. Speculators come in to buy me out, and list them for slightly less than the bots. Cracks me up because, usually, the game is available again within a couple months.

Anyhoo, if you would like a copy of End of Eternity at MSRP, I may be able to help you out. I believe I still have one in stock. Would you like it?


Starfinder Charter Superscriber

I would just ask in the "Gamer Talk" forum.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, I bought several used books from someone who had to downsize and got them at a very reasonable price. As far as I know, he still has all of Legacy of Fire available: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2u55b?APs-and-other-books-Mint-condition#4

The Exchange Owner - D20 Hobbies

Now a days on Amazon, it's mostly keyed off percentage above or below buy box. Which is an internal average calculated off the best sellers by Amazon's perspective (price, metrics, etc).

So I think most sellers getting on now, will use the "buy box" * X way. That method will never raise above crazy amounts and happens when stock reduces from sales such that some sellers with "don't sell below 2x MSRP" will be influencing the buy box and the other sellers willing to sell for less will have their prices raised via the auto price rules they set.


Salbade wrote:

I was hoping for physical copies because I enjoy them so much more. I got up to Legacy of Fire, and ran across a problem.

Most of the modules sell for like 5 bucks, but for some reason, 1 in particular, End of Eternity, the 4th one, is unavailable everywhere and costs a fortune on ebay or amazon.

Well, if the price is too extreme, you can always buy the PDF and print it yourself.


If I ever run it I'll probably just buy the pdf, and for now I'm just keeping my eyes open. I was just curious why this one in particular got the price jacked up so high. Wasn't sure if it was just because its an older one or if it was a really solid adventure.

The Exchange Owner - D20 Hobbies

When I got into 3.5 D&D, I wanted to buy all existing books.

I got down to 3 or 4 that were not 99 cents plus $3.99 shipping on Amazon.

All were $80+. I managed to buy those in a couple of months of shopping around. It took me a couple years to find Faiths and Pantheons for something reasonable ($61.75 according to my Amazon purchase history). Now it's worthless.

Verdant Wheel

I had this happen - and was inconvenienced by an unscrupulous weasel.

I called around for the 1st book of an AP, and got a guy who worked in my local game store saying he'd sell it to me for twenty bucks. I asked him if he'd take my number "just in case" and he refused saying "what for?" So I took 2 hours public transit to the store the next day. When I got there, the guy I talked to on the phone pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about. He had a horrible poker face. I just walked out.

I think what happened was he found out he could sell it for more, and since he didn't take my number, didn't give me a courtesy call to redact his offer.

Almost jaded me enough to discontinue my patronage to the store. Almost.

Morale: if you make a deal, make sure they take your number!

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