Have i made a Schoolboy error?

[mikeland]

I am very lucky having a WG stockist within minutes of where I work (only sells the plastic's and boxed sets, no blisters). So I try to buy from them where possible, if it helps to keep them in business I am prepared to forgo any discounts I might get online.

[Invisible officer]

I must live in the center of the world. At least the warlord world. One super shop in 25 minutes walk distance (including blisters) , two more in half an hour distance with public transport and some more in 1 h distance.
And the nearest even give discounts on everything if you buy enough. Paradise. Or wives hell.

Paypal is strongly connected with Ebay. Payments for Ebay items are very secure. With many many Ebay transactions I had a very few postal losses. (And one with a guy not happy with the price, pretending a loss in the mail) In every case Paypal paid back my money.
But that's not so outside that connected system. So I do use Paypal only with Ebay and traders I know.

Hope all the dicussion will be in vain and you get your items for a nice x-mas.

[gorgarrak]

@ Invisible Officer, i hope that it is all in vain too, but I'll let you all know in due course!

Mike

[Chesh]

So so so wish I had somewhere that stocked items close by. Although I think that spending wise I would go crazy if I walked in and saw everything in store!

[Colonel White]

Whilst I advocate supporting the local store wherever possible , I appreciate this cannot always be done. My own circumstances are that the local store is unable to obtain the things I need. I am therefore left with no choice but to look elsewhere. My own preference is to buy from hobbyists if at all possible. Shaun( SandS Models) who is a very experienced wargamer and is one of the drivers for his local club is assisting me to assemble a Soviet 20mm Cold War Force to take on the rest of the members of our club.I am more than happy to do business with him but wouldn't have found his company if it wasn't for the net. What I gain from this connection apart from the army of course is the satisfaction that my money will probably remain within the hobby.

[grant]

My local shops can get and stock some WG, Victrix, Perry - but the "distributor" jacks the price up somehow and/or the shop charges waaaay too much for a box. Works out to more than 2x on exchange instead of ~1.65. And with free shipping from WG there is no way to justify that. It's like they are buying at full retail and then marking it up.

Direct for me thanks. Even Perry with 10% shipping isn't that bad!

[NTM]

A games store has just opened in my home town, not visited yet but I understand it is stocking mainly GW & FoW promising internet pricing. It also has gaming tables for hire. This could suit me, because of other commitments I've not been able to join a club due to clashes on their meeting dates etc. I fully intend to buy as much as I can from them as long as they fulfil the promise of internet prices. Hobbycraft did give easy access to FoW but as they charged above RRP I only purchased when items were on offer/clearance or I had a discount voucher.

[grant]

Can't see why anyone would think they can charge over retail. With the Internet it doesn't long or much effort to figure out a shop is taking them for more.

[zedeyejoe]

Ease of access and you can buy it right then and there. Of course the internet guys will always have the edge on price, so shops have to compete in a different way. And some of course choose to support their local gaming shop.

[NTM]

Can't see why anyone would think they can charge over retail. With the Internet it doesn't long or much effort to figure out a shop is taking them for more.

Buying a single pack/model is often cheaper in a store even if charging above retail as you don't have to pay postage. Larger purchases tend to be post free but I'd normally do those at a show when you can get a pretty good discount through pre-ordering or show offers. Like to be able to pick up and see what I'm getting because even though reputable online traders will replace miscasts it's a hassle I can do without.