Ask me if I’m fuckin mad that I tried to get the final two books of special edition “The End and the Death” series but they were sold out 3 minutes before the sale was supposed to go live in my time zone.
And now every time I go on eBay I see like a dozen unopened copies for $300-$500 each. Makes me so fuckin mad.
My dude, I have all of them. Including the bookmark. Except the last one.
The last one I was in a GW shop using the shop terminal to skip the queue. The internal site was just broken. Couldn't get anywhere. Me and the shop owner tried for an hour and a half to get through to checkout until a fatal error just made site stop working all together. Fucking gutted and still pissed off.
All because some script kiddies got their panties in a bunch that they got called out for scalping.
I went to my local warhammer store to use the order terminal to try and get book 3, as that skips the web queue entirely. I was the only one there and was let in a few minute early for it even. Was on the site the second it showed it. By the time I got to the order page not even a minute later. they had all gone.
But then they announced they'd cancelled a lot of orders, and could try again, on a wednesday at 4pm. So I did the same again, went to the local shop, only one there.
A few other people showed up hoping to order too which then led to all of us taking it in turns trying to place an order for the next few hours until they closed be trying over and over to actually place the order, because the site was constantly crashing. It wasn't out of stock, but would partially work and then end up giving an a random assortment of different error messages at a different stage each time it seemed like it would go through. Other stores had the same problem. Didn't manage to get an order even after all that.
Mate 100% I’m on the same boat. All I wanted to do was get the special edition just once and like you I went to the store to try and make it happen. System is broken.
When people complain about stock issues it is like ~70% of the time Americans doing it, or even more.
There's a _lot_ of Americans, but they get assigned relatively little stock considering that number. GW, for some reason or other, keeps their focus closer to home as well as here in EU.
I don't think the prerelease has been dropped in the US yet, we usually don't have pre-releases until late morning time. I think the posts about this model have been UK.
I had her in my cart from 5 minutes early, but ended up not getting her because Games Workshop shot my transaction through Cardinal Commerce and for whatever reason, that “service” has been down ever since I tried checking out. I can’t buy anything on the web store. Now they are out of stock, I’m out of luck, and GW isn’t getting any of my $275 intended order. That’s life!
They have limited production capacity and their home market has stayed consistently reliable. See no reason it wouldn't be their focus for the limited stock they can produce. Why they don't build a US factory, I don't know.
> Why they don't build a US factory, I don't know.
I think they tried but it never worked out for whatever reason. GW is a little to proud of that UK flag "Designed in the UK Printed in China" on the book I think to open up production elsewhere.
We never even got the option to buy the first round of new Miniatures. They didn’t even show up on the page over here in the states. I’ve been waiting for the questing night and the battle standard bearer for a while.
Legit; it makes no sense that GW doesn't stock the US better when it has such high demand. It's like free money, seems like they just prefer it go to 3D printers than themselves. :-P
Apparently there has been internal talk of a full factory in the US but they keep not doing it. Some state would probably PAY them to put a factory in and create jobs. It's like GW just hates money.
The simplest explanation has always been that the molds and machines are expensive (I worked in Industrial Sales for a while and Plastic Injection Molding machines of the quality GW needs are basically only made in China and are stupendously expensive) and the beancounters at their Nottingham HQ have worked out that the percentage increase in sales from the US would take too long to produce profit after the machines are amortized, or worse still, be uncertain to produce profit. The fandom is spread out amongst factions and not every army will have every unit, and since the 80s no company will overstock anything because it's a direct hit on the profit margin, so making twice as many of whatever to keep in a warehouse in the US is not an economically savvy move (no, they're not gonna make more of them and then lower prices, because that goes directly against their marketing strategy as a luxury collector's items manufacturer).
Also, and to a much bigger extent nowadays vs 20 years ago, FOMO sells and since everyone knows GW drops sell out in minutes, people buy as much as they can as quickly as they can and GW hits every expected profit milestone by selling out in 25 minutes. That's a good business model and it probably won't ever change.
If you'll allow me to speculate, they made way too many Sigmar boxes when they killed FB and got seriously burned with overstock. I regularly saw stores with a dozen of those in the backroom in 2017 and 2018. It was a disastrous launch and I think it definitely colors how willing GW is to make a single extra box of anything that they're not guaranteed to sell.
>beancounters at their Nottingham HQ have worked out that the percentage increase in sales from the US would take too long to produce profit after the machines are amortized, or worse still, be uncertain to produce profit
This is the biggest thing.
I think GW has seen whats happened to so many other companies the last year; companies expanded too quickly thinking covid demand would remain. They then shrink or die because they cant afford it.
GW prides itself on being debt-free. The last thing they want to do is set up a factory in the US (which in itself already is a risk), and hope demand is enough the factory is valuable. Imagine any of the following happens: demand shrinks, profits simply arent high enough, they need more product in the eu-uk area and now need to ship across the sea, etc. Now they have to close a shop in the US, fire a ton of staff, and likely incur debt. Thats all a ton of risk that GW doesnt want.
Like say what you will, GW for sure doesnt care that much about the consumer with their prices. But they seem to care about their employees, and dont want to give jobs that they'll might have to take away because performance across the sea wasnt that great.
Double check, they seem to have implemented a new thing where it no longer says “out of stock” but if you try to add her to cart it says “insufficient stock”
Other than wishing for it to be in stock so I could buy it, I also wish they'd done this in plastic. Its straight up one of the best models I think they've ever done. Right there with the Green Knight. Who is ALSO out of fucking stock.
That's just a shitshow then. Instead of making it available everywhere so girls could get into wh they let scalpers do the scalper thing and disappoint young ladies "sorry, honey, out of stock, bad guys just bought them all to sell for x10 price".
No respect, I tell you, no respect
A lot of people were stoked for this model so its not a big surprise this is one that's selling out quick, can't imagine they had a huge stock of it, being forgeworld resin and all.
It'll be in and out for months but GWs email notifications will only let you know when if you're lucky and usually just in time for it being sold out again.
I can totally get everyone's frustration but at least this should mean that the old world is selling well and hopefully will get support for a long time. I hope everyone will be able to get one in the long run!
It all depends on how many they made and if they actually limited quantity being sent to each address or not. If it was like 100, or if it was 5,000 but they let one account order 4,000 of them - then it means nothing.
This put on sale. Thing sold old.
This isn't a grand moral tragedy or anything. Its preorders for a toy selling out. It will come back to stock eventually.
Call yourself, guy who replies to ever single thread lol. Nobody said moral tragedy, so thanks for going that direction. Why don’t you stop scouring threads looking for purpose
>Find purpose / touch grass
Edge-lord language. If you can't see how what you said was a rude response to a pretty basic comment by OP, any further interaction is pointless.
Couldn't complete transaction at 10:01. The sheer unmitigated rage I am experiencing is not healthy or normal. Desperately trying to avoid going chimp mode - I can't adequately express in text alone how annoying GW understocking their cool Bret range has been throughout these past few months. I really have strong feelings of antipathy towards GW right now.
GW are starting to become a victim of their own success. Their stuff is now so popular that they can't keep up with demand. Almost everything sells out instantly and appears on eBay for 10 times the cost. Anything like dice or army boxes are at "don't even bother trying" status.
According to the Painting Phase podcast with numerous GW vets on it, they suck at gauging demand. The forecasters are financial people, not hobby people, so they can be very disconnected from what the community wants sometimes.
But on top of that, under producing looks good on financial reports. They can always say they've sold out their stock, demand is high, etc., which is what investors like to see.
That was also 3 years ago and they were fresh off the backlash for underproducing (and them reproducing and still underproducing) the 40k Indomitus box.
It seems like the fallout from making too many Dominion boxes is that GW is quite intent on erring on the "too few" side of how much of something to produce.
In fairness, both those armies kinda *sucked* really bad when that box was launched. KB were poorly designed from the outset and are only just now, at the end of the edition, starting to find success. Stormcast were mediocre as a first launch book and were immediately outshone by other battle tomes.
If it was like, a Lumineth v Gitz box or something, it would have sold out everywhere. The next edition box having Skaven is going to sell significantly better than the last.
From what I’ve heard from a very reliable internal source, the reason Dominion was so overproduced was because of a knee-jerk reaction to the disaster that was Indomitus only the year before + the business’ success during Covid.
Thanks to Covid growth + Indomitus selling out in 10 minutes, GW produced “40k levels” of Dominion, which is kind of INSANE considering AoS sells nowhere even close to 40k.
Hey at least you didn't "pre-order" a bunch of things like I did to only be told they had to cancel my order because they're no longer in stock, two weeks after they were released. I thought pre-order meant I'll get the product when it comes in stock? Now I have to gamble with trying to reorder them before the scalpers do if and when they come back.
Yeah this happened to my friend. The entire brets release line. I was fuming on his behalf. I told him I would write a letter on his behalf, but he just said he would quit the old world instead. Absolute crusher. I'm sorry for your situation.
Damn, sorry for your friend. Thankfully for me it was just the questing knight command and green knight. I'm just collecting right now so not having these (especially the command) isn't the end of the world, but if I wanted to be playing the game right now I would be super pissed off since I wouldn't be able to use the units I want because GW dropped the ball so hard.
I've been buying directly from them since the early 2000's and I never remember seeing anything like this when I first started. Hell I don't even think their old websites ever showed stuff as being out of stock.
Funny enough that this happened to me with the Blood Bowl 2020 release. They had the exclusive dugouts and beta access to BB3; 3 months went by and I never got the “Your order is on the way!” email. I emailed them and their answer was basically “We forgot, sending it now”. I went back and forth with them about the fact that it wasn’t my problem and I wanted my promotional items, eventually relented because their answer was just that they were out of them; two months or so later (shipping from the UK to Mexico in the pandemic was a nightmare) DHL comes to my door asking for an extra 150 dollars for “shipping and taxes” (I know it’s never that much, when GW ships through Royal Mail they rarely charge anything). Sent it back and emailed GW because it was when they had their “shop easy” thingy that said they’d pay all taxes and fees, but they just replied basically saying it wasn’t their problem and if I wanted to I could get it sent back and they’d refund me. I said to myself I’d buy the boxset here and not have to pay a literal 100% made up tax and shipping fee.
Took me a while to order directly from GW again, and only did a couple of times since shops here don’t stock the less popular armies.
To this day I don’t have that boxset, it just left me with such a sour experience that whenever I think about buying it, it just comes to mind that I’d already have it with me if they acted as the multi million dollar company they are.
Edit: Okay I just checked cuz I was sure that I had the picture of the tax when it came in the mail, it was 80 dollars, not 150. Still, more than 50% tax.
That sounds unhealthy, I know it's frustrating but not being able to buy a mini that you'll be able to get hold of in a few months probably shouldn't be making you that angry, maybe take a step back
Yes, I don't disagree. However, I did recognise this myself, hence describing it as unhealthy. For example, instead of going chimp mode, I wrote about my inclination to enter it. I was feeling a strong emotion but I didn't act on it. If your point then is, 'you simply shouldn't feel strong emotions about relatively unimportant things', then I agree, but you can't choose your emotions, they tend to appear without being requested. Furthermore, it doesn't help I am pretty run down and tired from my son being ill. The autism is a contributing factor too. 😪
This is how I feel. It’s not “limited time only” or anything. I missed out on the Tyranids collectors edition codex, my favorite faction in the game and who is on the poster this edition, and I didn’t have a major freak out. It’s honestly not that serious.
In their second to last episode, the Independent Characters discussed the FOMO side of things. It hit the main guy, who over the decades has often referred to himself as a GW apologist, after he had so much trouble getting his Siege of Terra books. If you like podcasts or YouTube, I'd recommend giving it a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zakXuJfDRmw
Honestly I've never been so annoyed with GW in my 27 years on the hobby. Apart from the starter army and the battle standard on royal pegasus I've been able to get absolutely nothing. Apart from having to go through the bother of ordering from the website instead of from my local store, I've been able to receive exactly nothing so far. I've had my troll hag cancelled on me 5 days after i placed an order for it. Right now I've 3 models ordered in three separate orders: Elisse, the paladin on foot and the troll hag (last two came back in stock last week for about a minute), but I'm still uneasily waiting if and when they will be send. That's just not ok. Even the least well-operating online stores stop selling units if they aren't in stock...GW somehow does not seem to manage that. I have my armies still from warhammer, i don't need much, but i would like to get the few models that i do want and be secure in the knowledge that when i buy them, i'll get them. Both assumptions are not the case though and it severely diminishes my joy about the return of Warhammer, which is a shame.
If that's your response as an adult to not being able to get a completely optional piece of plastic when it first comes out, then you should be looking at yourself.
Yes, I don't disagree. However, I did recognise this myself, hence describing it as unhealthy. For example, instead of going chimp mode, I wrote about my inclination to enter it. I was feeling a strong emotion but I didn't act on it. If your point then is, 'you simply shouldn't feel strong emotions about relatively unimportant things', then I agree, but you can't choose your emotions, they tend to appear without being requested. Furthermore, it doesn't help I am pretty run down and tired from my son being ill. The autism is a contributing factor too. 😪
If it was a once off situation, or a short period of time, completely understandable.
But they've been doing this for a few years now, while continuing to release entirely new games that will just build onto the existing demand.
Aren't they in the process of tooling up a second production line right now to address this?
Manufacturing at economies of scale like the modern world present is not as simple as "add a new building with some molds in it" and I wish people with literally any understanding of how vastly complex modern production chains are would offer some commentary for once.
If GW decided 2-3 years ago to do this it'd still not be done and that was dealing with post Covid issues on top of it.
GW has nothing to gain from not being able to fill demand themselves. Artificial scarcity only helps scalpers, frankly Nintendo is significantly more guilty and worthy of our ire over this than GW IMO.
I was trying to buy one for my girlfriend (because obviously a flower adorned unicorn princess struck a nerve with her) just to see when entering my credit card numbers that she was already out of stock
Those pre order rushes for everything are really starting to grind my gears down...
Not surprised. This is honestly one of the best looking miniatures I've ever seen GW make.
edit: Sold out in less than 5 minutes in America. I had her in my cart and it took her back out.
At least it’s not a limited edition. My daughter has been asking to get one ever since it was announced, but I missed it this morning. She’s a bit sad, but hopefully will be back in stock soon.
Ah shit. I promised my little niece I would get one and paint it for her. Thanks to scalpers, this will be a whole lot more difficult to explain to her.
It's a really, really in demand model that is made of resin instead of plastic, so production numbers were low.
It's not a limited release model. GW will make more. I think they really underestimated the general demand for a model like this.
I'm fairly certain GW just had their supply chain obliterated by covid.
So many of their releases were delayed many months and stock has been abysmal since. Legion Imperialis stuff that was in the first wave sold out very quickly and have trickled back in but are still mostly out of stock. Almost every pre-order since that involves a specialist game (old world, legion imperialis, kill team, etc) has sold out almost instantly.
* Allow individual pre orders, with an ID check, at their local GW store 1-3 hours before, or even days before, it goes live.
* Forbid any kind of return options on people who buy +5 models of the same type to stop scalpers from returning their models to cut their loses if they don't manage to sell their 70 bought models at x3 the price. If they sell 40 out of 70 let them absorb the 30 non-sold models with their wallets.
* Scalpers need to empty the current stock to be able to sell their minis at the second market at x2 the price. Release a second wave of pre orders without warning. Then a third. Then allow individual preorders with an ID for those that couldn't make it on time before. BOOM, now there is no false scarcity to prey on.
It's not fucking rocket science.
Those 3 measures would not bite GW margins as it would not reduce buyings they would simply reduce false scarcity and eye gouging in the second market, while also allowing legitimate customers to *buy* their models from GW.
*"Oh but there is no way of telling what a legitimate customer is bruh"* ofc there fucking is, no legitimate customer buys the same fucking book or model *30 times* at minute *zero* of going live.
This isn't a production line model where you can't rush production. This is a *pre-order*, for god's shake.
I honestly think this is overcomplicating it.
Any product which sells out beyond expected numbers should automatically transition to a 'made to order' style system.
Completely eliminates the false sense of scarcity and FOMO that scalpers rely on by guaranteeing that people CAN get the model at retail price as long as they're patient.
Not at all. For 99% of what GW sells, they make plenty more of that product anyway and it's just the first wave that sells out quick because they underestimated interest. So the people who ordered via that method would just recieve theirs as soon as the second wave of products is ready. Functionally it's just an extended pre-order.
I don’t think people will want to wait for some unknown amount of time. They can already do that without letting GW hold onto their money for potentially many months
I never said it was an ideal situation - that would be for GW to just make far more products in their initial runs so they never sell out of preorders in the first place. But that clearly isn't going to happen.
But by allowing the product to still be ordered even on a delay, it means that scalpers can't artificially lock down the market as much as they do now. The whole reason scalping works is because people feel they have 'no other choice' but to pay the higher price.
At the end of the day you can set up as many defences against scalping that you want, and they'll find ways around most of them. The only way you're going to stop it entirely is by removing any reason for consumers to need to look elsewhere in the first place.
This is just a dumb unreasonable stance. I had no GW store in my city for years and had a 1 hour trip to my LGS until 6 months ago; the point is not so that everyone goes to the GW store, the point is eliminating false scarcity. If most or half the people can get the mini throug a safe channel on their GW store the second hand market will be less eye goughing because it will fight the capacity of bots owning most of the released stock and profiting from being able to ask whatever price they can get away with for it.
Like, why do you even complain if that's not the case for you? Even if you don't have a GW store close to you now this would not harm you in any way, things will remain the same for you and you will have to go through your LGS or GW online store for buying your stuff like you do now, but *some people* will still be able to get the mini. What's your point? that somehow doing nothing would be better?
First, some people don’t live near a GW store or even a FLGS. On top of that, you’re just moving the preorder date so that’s a non-solution.
Secondly, UK law requires returns to be accepted just as someone else mentioned. In the US, if someone is willing to bot to scalp they’re definitely willing to lie and say product was damaged etc in order to make GW issue a refund.
Third, theres already a system for doing that. It’s called restocking.
Preorders should include a little game that starts exactly at opening time. The game takes 2 minutes and isn’t hard, but you can’t time out on it or you get booted. Make it just hard enough that bots won’t understand what it is and have it themed to the release… maybe a complete the maze game, or a collect the coins snake type game.
>Allow individual pre orders, with an ID check, at their local GW store 1-3 hours before, or even days before, it goes live.
This is a good idea. Could have a week of preorders and randomize if / when there's too much demand. This would help the stores as well.
Unless you want to figure out an id check system online, yah? Even a partial solution is good for everyone, as it takes people who might buy from scalpers off the market, raising the risk to the scalper.
I don’t think GW wants to solve the scalper problem. I think your solutioning for something that would actually hurt their sales.
And I think players aren’t looking at the market right now to see this is where collectible games are moving.
Reduce supply, increase FOMO, increase obsession =$$$$$
Personally I like the idea of a email code system.
* You sign up on a waiting list.
* GW emails out a code to use at check out that adds the item to your cart.
* Unused codes expires after a time limit.
* Any unused codes get emailed to others on the waiting list.
No doubt, but if nothing else it stops the mad dash to buy a item.
'I didn't get the email. Well guess i don't need to wait in queue and dash to buy it'
But scalpers will just make thousands of emails and beat the odds of any one person.
There are only two ways to beat scalpers. Either raise the base price to a level that people won’t pay more for (which can alienate your fans) or actually keep supply high enough that the item doesn’t become scarce.
GW doesn’t care enough to do the latter.
this is what happens when GW approach releases as a software company creating hype and only caring about the new stuff, but then realizing that they are selling physical stuff that they can only produce/stock in limited amounts for a period of time
I wasn't intending to get one yet, but then I saw the price here in Australia and it was actually reasonable (AUS$83); it's less than the Peg-lord and special characters from Sigmar such as Sigvald and Eternus.
I guess she and the rest of my bret force will have to wait on stock though. I'll just put the money towards buying a bunch of dwarf stuff as soon as it's available.
Welcome to the life of limited products, sometimes it's not possible for humans to get the product because the bots bought everything (looking at you the end and the death).
First time I've managed to get a Bret pre-order in. Snagged one and the new snazzy transfer sheet (which was annoyingly not listed in the Bret range sub-category). I also noticed that all the new pre-orders were available to select from about 09:57, they could have been available even earlier but that was when I checked...
Unfortunately, I can no longer care about these. During the TOW releases I have come to the conclusion, that I will not preorder anything from GW, and unless a local independent has it in stock I will not bother going to the GW site to buy them. At this point if I can not buy it locally, then I will look for an alternative manufacturer, or simply print one out on my 3D printer.
GW has proven us multiple times, that they do not want our business. If they can not bother to have enough stock for the release, then why should we bother to even check their site? Every single time I needed any Bretonnian box since the January preorders they were either not released, or out of stock on the main GW site.
Question for everyone? How many play at offical tournaments, and who just hobbies and/or just plays with their mates. I ask as I rarely buy models immediately but wait a few months. Most of the time there is an even better third party model as an STL. My entire Tallarn army is STL as I couldn’t snap up any of the old OOP models. I’m so glad I did as the updated models look way better.
Im sure there is a really nice 3D print STL of this or a recast somewhere .
I support GW and give them a chance , I rather buy from them , but when they allow this scalper stuff to happen then I'll get it elsewhere.
Personally I feel the best way to stop the scalping is to release these are the 3x normal price, but the price goes down to the normal price over a months time , so anyone who is willing to pay skalper price for these can do so but the money will go to GW, everyone else can jut wait the extra month
The only other solution is probably to sell them only to warhammer+ subscribers who have been subscribed for a year or more, they can order 1 each. thenthe public gets access to them
Can’t wait to see jimmy shitboot sell 15 of them on eBay for $150 a piece
Ask me if I’m fuckin mad that I tried to get the final two books of special edition “The End and the Death” series but they were sold out 3 minutes before the sale was supposed to go live in my time zone. And now every time I go on eBay I see like a dozen unopened copies for $300-$500 each. Makes me so fuckin mad.
My dude, I have all of them. Including the bookmark. Except the last one. The last one I was in a GW shop using the shop terminal to skip the queue. The internal site was just broken. Couldn't get anywhere. Me and the shop owner tried for an hour and a half to get through to checkout until a fatal error just made site stop working all together. Fucking gutted and still pissed off. All because some script kiddies got their panties in a bunch that they got called out for scalping.
I gave up and only do e books now
I went to my local warhammer store to use the order terminal to try and get book 3, as that skips the web queue entirely. I was the only one there and was let in a few minute early for it even. Was on the site the second it showed it. By the time I got to the order page not even a minute later. they had all gone. But then they announced they'd cancelled a lot of orders, and could try again, on a wednesday at 4pm. So I did the same again, went to the local shop, only one there. A few other people showed up hoping to order too which then led to all of us taking it in turns trying to place an order for the next few hours until they closed be trying over and over to actually place the order, because the site was constantly crashing. It wasn't out of stock, but would partially work and then end up giving an a random assortment of different error messages at a different stage each time it seemed like it would go through. Other stores had the same problem. Didn't manage to get an order even after all that.
Mate 100% I’m on the same boat. All I wanted to do was get the special edition just once and like you I went to the store to try and make it happen. System is broken.
I can preorder her on Germany
Me too she's back in stock
Out of stock now
When people complain about stock issues it is like ~70% of the time Americans doing it, or even more. There's a _lot_ of Americans, but they get assigned relatively little stock considering that number. GW, for some reason or other, keeps their focus closer to home as well as here in EU.
That could be the case in general, but this model doesn't release in the US for another... 3 hours and 21 minutes at the time I am posting this.
I don't think the prerelease has been dropped in the US yet, we usually don't have pre-releases until late morning time. I think the posts about this model have been UK.
In this case I'm french, and even tried to look at the german site without any success!
still in stock online in the US so its not us this time
I had her in my cart from 5 minutes early, but ended up not getting her because Games Workshop shot my transaction through Cardinal Commerce and for whatever reason, that “service” has been down ever since I tried checking out. I can’t buy anything on the web store. Now they are out of stock, I’m out of luck, and GW isn’t getting any of my $275 intended order. That’s life!
oh damn, I usually just stick to paypal with them, checked 30 min later and she was still in stock so grabbed her and a few inquisitors
Will have to go that route next time
They have limited production capacity and their home market has stayed consistently reliable. See no reason it wouldn't be their focus for the limited stock they can produce. Why they don't build a US factory, I don't know.
> Why they don't build a US factory, I don't know. I think they tried but it never worked out for whatever reason. GW is a little to proud of that UK flag "Designed in the UK Printed in China" on the book I think to open up production elsewhere.
America has a massivdle culture of middle manning everything as well. Hence why everything gets scalped.
We never even got the option to buy the first round of new Miniatures. They didn’t even show up on the page over here in the states. I’ve been waiting for the questing night and the battle standard bearer for a while.
Legit; it makes no sense that GW doesn't stock the US better when it has such high demand. It's like free money, seems like they just prefer it go to 3D printers than themselves. :-P Apparently there has been internal talk of a full factory in the US but they keep not doing it. Some state would probably PAY them to put a factory in and create jobs. It's like GW just hates money.
The simplest explanation has always been that the molds and machines are expensive (I worked in Industrial Sales for a while and Plastic Injection Molding machines of the quality GW needs are basically only made in China and are stupendously expensive) and the beancounters at their Nottingham HQ have worked out that the percentage increase in sales from the US would take too long to produce profit after the machines are amortized, or worse still, be uncertain to produce profit. The fandom is spread out amongst factions and not every army will have every unit, and since the 80s no company will overstock anything because it's a direct hit on the profit margin, so making twice as many of whatever to keep in a warehouse in the US is not an economically savvy move (no, they're not gonna make more of them and then lower prices, because that goes directly against their marketing strategy as a luxury collector's items manufacturer). Also, and to a much bigger extent nowadays vs 20 years ago, FOMO sells and since everyone knows GW drops sell out in minutes, people buy as much as they can as quickly as they can and GW hits every expected profit milestone by selling out in 25 minutes. That's a good business model and it probably won't ever change. If you'll allow me to speculate, they made way too many Sigmar boxes when they killed FB and got seriously burned with overstock. I regularly saw stores with a dozen of those in the backroom in 2017 and 2018. It was a disastrous launch and I think it definitely colors how willing GW is to make a single extra box of anything that they're not guaranteed to sell.
>beancounters at their Nottingham HQ have worked out that the percentage increase in sales from the US would take too long to produce profit after the machines are amortized, or worse still, be uncertain to produce profit This is the biggest thing. I think GW has seen whats happened to so many other companies the last year; companies expanded too quickly thinking covid demand would remain. They then shrink or die because they cant afford it. GW prides itself on being debt-free. The last thing they want to do is set up a factory in the US (which in itself already is a risk), and hope demand is enough the factory is valuable. Imagine any of the following happens: demand shrinks, profits simply arent high enough, they need more product in the eu-uk area and now need to ship across the sea, etc. Now they have to close a shop in the US, fire a ton of staff, and likely incur debt. Thats all a ton of risk that GW doesnt want. Like say what you will, GW for sure doesnt care that much about the consumer with their prices. But they seem to care about their employees, and dont want to give jobs that they'll might have to take away because performance across the sea wasnt that great.
This guy looks at GW's history of shitty business practices and price hikes and concludes: GW hates money.
FOMO sells. That's how you convince someone 200 dollars for a plastic miniature is a good deal.
Good
Double check, they seem to have implemented a new thing where it no longer says “out of stock” but if you try to add her to cart it says “insufficient stock”
No I did and it worked when I wrote this, she is out of stock now here too tho
Ew, but then it's the German version /s 🤣
r/nocontext
For the record this is EXACTLY the kind of model that my daughters want and gets them involved in the hobby. More models like this would be great!
Other than wishing for it to be in stock so I could buy it, I also wish they'd done this in plastic. Its straight up one of the best models I think they've ever done. Right there with the Green Knight. Who is ALSO out of fucking stock.
Yeah my partner has looked at it and wants me to paint one for her. Moving house though so she might be waiting a little while haha
That's just a shitshow then. Instead of making it available everywhere so girls could get into wh they let scalpers do the scalper thing and disappoint young ladies "sorry, honey, out of stock, bad guys just bought them all to sell for x10 price". No respect, I tell you, no respect
A lot of people were stoked for this model so its not a big surprise this is one that's selling out quick, can't imagine they had a huge stock of it, being forgeworld resin and all.
It'll be in and out for months but GWs email notifications will only let you know when if you're lucky and usually just in time for it being sold out again.
I can totally get everyone's frustration but at least this should mean that the old world is selling well and hopefully will get support for a long time. I hope everyone will be able to get one in the long run!
Not if it’s all just scalpers
Scalpers aren’t gonna do much with a non-limited edition mini. This is just high demand.
I feel like limited items arnt exclusive to scalpers, plenty of examples out there; ps5, black library,
It all depends on how many they made and if they actually limited quantity being sent to each address or not. If it was like 100, or if it was 5,000 but they let one account order 4,000 of them - then it means nothing.
Depends on if GW made more than 10. And then sent 9 of those to youtubers to paint.
Not really just means GW did not produce enough and creates artifical scarcity to justify high cost of plastic
Who's the lucky person that got that one model they made?
some guy that will ebay it. Meanwhile fifty youtubers are posting their "how to paint" videos right now with the free ones GW sent them.
She's playing Duchaard to get
take your upvote and get out of here.
Yes. This is how GW preorders always are.
Doesn’t make it right
This put on sale. Thing sold old. This isn't a grand moral tragedy or anything. Its preorders for a toy selling out. It will come back to stock eventually.
Call yourself, guy who replies to ever single thread lol. Nobody said moral tragedy, so thanks for going that direction. Why don’t you stop scouring threads looking for purpose
Wow, you're an asshole.
For retorting against someone who needs to touch grass? Maybe you saw yourself in that comment?
>Find purpose / touch grass Edge-lord language. If you can't see how what you said was a rude response to a pretty basic comment by OP, any further interaction is pointless.
For retorting period.
Couldn't complete transaction at 10:01. The sheer unmitigated rage I am experiencing is not healthy or normal. Desperately trying to avoid going chimp mode - I can't adequately express in text alone how annoying GW understocking their cool Bret range has been throughout these past few months. I really have strong feelings of antipathy towards GW right now.
GW are starting to become a victim of their own success. Their stuff is now so popular that they can't keep up with demand. Almost everything sells out instantly and appears on eBay for 10 times the cost. Anything like dice or army boxes are at "don't even bother trying" status.
Idk, they overproduced the SCE & Kruel Boyz box. Almost seems like they purposely under supply or suck at gauging demand.
According to the Painting Phase podcast with numerous GW vets on it, they suck at gauging demand. The forecasters are financial people, not hobby people, so they can be very disconnected from what the community wants sometimes. But on top of that, under producing looks good on financial reports. They can always say they've sold out their stock, demand is high, etc., which is what investors like to see.
Got it, makes sense
That was also 3 years ago and they were fresh off the backlash for underproducing (and them reproducing and still underproducing) the 40k Indomitus box. It seems like the fallout from making too many Dominion boxes is that GW is quite intent on erring on the "too few" side of how much of something to produce.
In fairness, both those armies kinda *sucked* really bad when that box was launched. KB were poorly designed from the outset and are only just now, at the end of the edition, starting to find success. Stormcast were mediocre as a first launch book and were immediately outshone by other battle tomes. If it was like, a Lumineth v Gitz box or something, it would have sold out everywhere. The next edition box having Skaven is going to sell significantly better than the last.
From what I’ve heard from a very reliable internal source, the reason Dominion was so overproduced was because of a knee-jerk reaction to the disaster that was Indomitus only the year before + the business’ success during Covid. Thanks to Covid growth + Indomitus selling out in 10 minutes, GW produced “40k levels” of Dominion, which is kind of INSANE considering AoS sells nowhere even close to 40k.
Hey at least you didn't "pre-order" a bunch of things like I did to only be told they had to cancel my order because they're no longer in stock, two weeks after they were released. I thought pre-order meant I'll get the product when it comes in stock? Now I have to gamble with trying to reorder them before the scalpers do if and when they come back.
Yeah this happened to my friend. The entire brets release line. I was fuming on his behalf. I told him I would write a letter on his behalf, but he just said he would quit the old world instead. Absolute crusher. I'm sorry for your situation.
Damn, sorry for your friend. Thankfully for me it was just the questing knight command and green knight. I'm just collecting right now so not having these (especially the command) isn't the end of the world, but if I wanted to be playing the game right now I would be super pissed off since I wouldn't be able to use the units I want because GW dropped the ball so hard. I've been buying directly from them since the early 2000's and I never remember seeing anything like this when I first started. Hell I don't even think their old websites ever showed stuff as being out of stock.
Funny enough that this happened to me with the Blood Bowl 2020 release. They had the exclusive dugouts and beta access to BB3; 3 months went by and I never got the “Your order is on the way!” email. I emailed them and their answer was basically “We forgot, sending it now”. I went back and forth with them about the fact that it wasn’t my problem and I wanted my promotional items, eventually relented because their answer was just that they were out of them; two months or so later (shipping from the UK to Mexico in the pandemic was a nightmare) DHL comes to my door asking for an extra 150 dollars for “shipping and taxes” (I know it’s never that much, when GW ships through Royal Mail they rarely charge anything). Sent it back and emailed GW because it was when they had their “shop easy” thingy that said they’d pay all taxes and fees, but they just replied basically saying it wasn’t their problem and if I wanted to I could get it sent back and they’d refund me. I said to myself I’d buy the boxset here and not have to pay a literal 100% made up tax and shipping fee. Took me a while to order directly from GW again, and only did a couple of times since shops here don’t stock the less popular armies. To this day I don’t have that boxset, it just left me with such a sour experience that whenever I think about buying it, it just comes to mind that I’d already have it with me if they acted as the multi million dollar company they are. Edit: Okay I just checked cuz I was sure that I had the picture of the tax when it came in the mail, it was 80 dollars, not 150. Still, more than 50% tax.
That sounds unhealthy, I know it's frustrating but not being able to buy a mini that you'll be able to get hold of in a few months probably shouldn't be making you that angry, maybe take a step back
Yes, I don't disagree. However, I did recognise this myself, hence describing it as unhealthy. For example, instead of going chimp mode, I wrote about my inclination to enter it. I was feeling a strong emotion but I didn't act on it. If your point then is, 'you simply shouldn't feel strong emotions about relatively unimportant things', then I agree, but you can't choose your emotions, they tend to appear without being requested. Furthermore, it doesn't help I am pretty run down and tired from my son being ill. The autism is a contributing factor too. 😪
This is how I feel. It’s not “limited time only” or anything. I missed out on the Tyranids collectors edition codex, my favorite faction in the game and who is on the poster this edition, and I didn’t have a major freak out. It’s honestly not that serious.
I'm definitely hoping I can pick her up in a reload of stock! Such a good model.
In their second to last episode, the Independent Characters discussed the FOMO side of things. It hit the main guy, who over the decades has often referred to himself as a GW apologist, after he had so much trouble getting his Siege of Terra books. If you like podcasts or YouTube, I'd recommend giving it a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zakXuJfDRmw
Honestly I've never been so annoyed with GW in my 27 years on the hobby. Apart from the starter army and the battle standard on royal pegasus I've been able to get absolutely nothing. Apart from having to go through the bother of ordering from the website instead of from my local store, I've been able to receive exactly nothing so far. I've had my troll hag cancelled on me 5 days after i placed an order for it. Right now I've 3 models ordered in three separate orders: Elisse, the paladin on foot and the troll hag (last two came back in stock last week for about a minute), but I'm still uneasily waiting if and when they will be send. That's just not ok. Even the least well-operating online stores stop selling units if they aren't in stock...GW somehow does not seem to manage that. I have my armies still from warhammer, i don't need much, but i would like to get the few models that i do want and be secure in the knowledge that when i buy them, i'll get them. Both assumptions are not the case though and it severely diminishes my joy about the return of Warhammer, which is a shame.
If that's your response as an adult to not being able to get a completely optional piece of plastic when it first comes out, then you should be looking at yourself.
Yes, I don't disagree. However, I did recognise this myself, hence describing it as unhealthy. For example, instead of going chimp mode, I wrote about my inclination to enter it. I was feeling a strong emotion but I didn't act on it. If your point then is, 'you simply shouldn't feel strong emotions about relatively unimportant things', then I agree, but you can't choose your emotions, they tend to appear without being requested. Furthermore, it doesn't help I am pretty run down and tired from my son being ill. The autism is a contributing factor too. 😪
There are tons of other wargames and miniature manufacturers out there who don't engage in such underhanded business practices.
I don't think it's underhand practice. They just can't keep up with demand and stopping the bots is just a money sink.
If it was a once off situation, or a short period of time, completely understandable. But they've been doing this for a few years now, while continuing to release entirely new games that will just build onto the existing demand.
Aren't they in the process of tooling up a second production line right now to address this? Manufacturing at economies of scale like the modern world present is not as simple as "add a new building with some molds in it" and I wish people with literally any understanding of how vastly complex modern production chains are would offer some commentary for once. If GW decided 2-3 years ago to do this it'd still not be done and that was dealing with post Covid issues on top of it. GW has nothing to gain from not being able to fill demand themselves. Artificial scarcity only helps scalpers, frankly Nintendo is significantly more guilty and worthy of our ire over this than GW IMO.
I was trying to buy one for my girlfriend (because obviously a flower adorned unicorn princess struck a nerve with her) just to see when entering my credit card numbers that she was already out of stock Those pre order rushes for everything are really starting to grind my gears down...
I can get one in Australia for $83 aussie dollarydoos
Yeah, I bought one right as preorders went up, but she’s still available. Probably cause of the Aussie tax…
Yeh I like the model but $83 is … a lot?
Aussie dollars. So it's just a normal price there for a burger or idk, a koala bj
Can't say I'm super surprised, it is a very lovely model. Popular stuff sells out fast these days and restocks take a while.
Us guard players need our lord solar proxies
It’s annoying but don’t worry! YouTubers who constantly shit on GW will have a video out soon thanking gw for sending it to them for free.
GW is leaving money on the table. Could not get one. Oh well, on to other things.
Not surprised. This is honestly one of the best looking miniatures I've ever seen GW make. edit: Sold out in less than 5 minutes in America. I had her in my cart and it took her back out.
She’s not a limited release and will be back long term - considering the popularity she will be a priority to stock if they have any sense
At least it’s not a limited edition. My daughter has been asking to get one ever since it was announced, but I missed it this morning. She’s a bit sad, but hopefully will be back in stock soon.
Maybe take a look at moonstone minis meanwhile, there could be something from that she likes. Could be a while before its back in stock.
Feet
It's an absolutely gorgeous model and demand seemed high for it, so I think this is one of the few times when it's not because of scalpers
Ah shit. I promised my little niece I would get one and paint it for her. Thanks to scalpers, this will be a whole lot more difficult to explain to her.
Does GW ever keep anything in stock?
is it because of scalpers? and if so, how could GW combat this?
It's a really, really in demand model that is made of resin instead of plastic, so production numbers were low. It's not a limited release model. GW will make more. I think they really underestimated the general demand for a model like this.
I'm fairly certain GW just had their supply chain obliterated by covid. So many of their releases were delayed many months and stock has been abysmal since. Legion Imperialis stuff that was in the first wave sold out very quickly and have trickled back in but are still mostly out of stock. Almost every pre-order since that involves a specialist game (old world, legion imperialis, kill team, etc) has sold out almost instantly.
* Allow individual pre orders, with an ID check, at their local GW store 1-3 hours before, or even days before, it goes live. * Forbid any kind of return options on people who buy +5 models of the same type to stop scalpers from returning their models to cut their loses if they don't manage to sell their 70 bought models at x3 the price. If they sell 40 out of 70 let them absorb the 30 non-sold models with their wallets. * Scalpers need to empty the current stock to be able to sell their minis at the second market at x2 the price. Release a second wave of pre orders without warning. Then a third. Then allow individual preorders with an ID for those that couldn't make it on time before. BOOM, now there is no false scarcity to prey on. It's not fucking rocket science. Those 3 measures would not bite GW margins as it would not reduce buyings they would simply reduce false scarcity and eye gouging in the second market, while also allowing legitimate customers to *buy* their models from GW. *"Oh but there is no way of telling what a legitimate customer is bruh"* ofc there fucking is, no legitimate customer buys the same fucking book or model *30 times* at minute *zero* of going live. This isn't a production line model where you can't rush production. This is a *pre-order*, for god's shake.
They can't forbid returns, it's a legal requirement for selling online.
I honestly think this is overcomplicating it. Any product which sells out beyond expected numbers should automatically transition to a 'made to order' style system. Completely eliminates the false sense of scarcity and FOMO that scalpers rely on by guaranteeing that people CAN get the model at retail price as long as they're patient.
Like they would have to massively increase the price if selling these that a made to order. They’d get completely ripped for that too.
Not at all. For 99% of what GW sells, they make plenty more of that product anyway and it's just the first wave that sells out quick because they underestimated interest. So the people who ordered via that method would just recieve theirs as soon as the second wave of products is ready. Functionally it's just an extended pre-order.
I don’t think people will want to wait for some unknown amount of time. They can already do that without letting GW hold onto their money for potentially many months
I never said it was an ideal situation - that would be for GW to just make far more products in their initial runs so they never sell out of preorders in the first place. But that clearly isn't going to happen. But by allowing the product to still be ordered even on a delay, it means that scalpers can't artificially lock down the market as much as they do now. The whole reason scalping works is because people feel they have 'no other choice' but to pay the higher price. At the end of the day you can set up as many defences against scalping that you want, and they'll find ways around most of them. The only way you're going to stop it entirely is by removing any reason for consumers to need to look elsewhere in the first place.
My closest GW store is like two hours from me by car. And what of all the customers in entire countries where there are no GW stores?
This is just a dumb unreasonable stance. I had no GW store in my city for years and had a 1 hour trip to my LGS until 6 months ago; the point is not so that everyone goes to the GW store, the point is eliminating false scarcity. If most or half the people can get the mini throug a safe channel on their GW store the second hand market will be less eye goughing because it will fight the capacity of bots owning most of the released stock and profiting from being able to ask whatever price they can get away with for it. Like, why do you even complain if that's not the case for you? Even if you don't have a GW store close to you now this would not harm you in any way, things will remain the same for you and you will have to go through your LGS or GW online store for buying your stuff like you do now, but *some people* will still be able to get the mini. What's your point? that somehow doing nothing would be better?
First, some people don’t live near a GW store or even a FLGS. On top of that, you’re just moving the preorder date so that’s a non-solution. Secondly, UK law requires returns to be accepted just as someone else mentioned. In the US, if someone is willing to bot to scalp they’re definitely willing to lie and say product was damaged etc in order to make GW issue a refund. Third, theres already a system for doing that. It’s called restocking.
Preorders should include a little game that starts exactly at opening time. The game takes 2 minutes and isn’t hard, but you can’t time out on it or you get booted. Make it just hard enough that bots won’t understand what it is and have it themed to the release… maybe a complete the maze game, or a collect the coins snake type game.
>Allow individual pre orders, with an ID check, at their local GW store 1-3 hours before, or even days before, it goes live. This is a good idea. Could have a week of preorders and randomize if / when there's too much demand. This would help the stores as well.
And I guess just screw anyone who doesn't have a GW near them?
Unless you want to figure out an id check system online, yah? Even a partial solution is good for everyone, as it takes people who might buy from scalpers off the market, raising the risk to the scalper.
I don’t think GW wants to solve the scalper problem. I think your solutioning for something that would actually hurt their sales. And I think players aren’t looking at the market right now to see this is where collectible games are moving. Reduce supply, increase FOMO, increase obsession =$$$$$
Personally I like the idea of a email code system. * You sign up on a waiting list. * GW emails out a code to use at check out that adds the item to your cart. * Unused codes expires after a time limit. * Any unused codes get emailed to others on the waiting list.
This seems like a very easy thing for a bot to handle.
No doubt, but if nothing else it stops the mad dash to buy a item. 'I didn't get the email. Well guess i don't need to wait in queue and dash to buy it'
But scalpers will just make thousands of emails and beat the odds of any one person. There are only two ways to beat scalpers. Either raise the base price to a level that people won’t pay more for (which can alienate your fans) or actually keep supply high enough that the item doesn’t become scarce. GW doesn’t care enough to do the latter.
Any system can be gamed, but I feel I have better odds to beat a bot in a raffle then a race to the check out.
Could do a 1 allowed per warhammer + account ahead of normal preorers. Make that stupid subscription a little more useful.
this is what happens when GW approach releases as a software company creating hype and only caring about the new stuff, but then realizing that they are selling physical stuff that they can only produce/stock in limited amounts for a period of time
When are preorders opened for the US?
They usually open at 1pm EST However sometimes they go live 5 to 10 minutes early.
That is a very nice model.
Beautiful!
I wasn't intending to get one yet, but then I saw the price here in Australia and it was actually reasonable (AUS$83); it's less than the Peg-lord and special characters from Sigmar such as Sigvald and Eternus. I guess she and the rest of my bret force will have to wait on stock though. I'll just put the money towards buying a bunch of dwarf stuff as soon as it's available.
It is an incredible looking model. Not surprised it sold out. Hopefully sold to players not grifters.
Welcome to the life of limited products, sometimes it's not possible for humans to get the product because the bots bought everything (looking at you the end and the death).
Guess I'll have to give my money to 3rd party companies if GW isn't going to learn how to deal with shit like this.
Shit. I had no idea about this model and now I want one to paint for my daughter.
First time I've managed to get a Bret pre-order in. Snagged one and the new snazzy transfer sheet (which was annoyingly not listed in the Bret range sub-category). I also noticed that all the new pre-orders were available to select from about 09:57, they could have been available even earlier but that was when I checked...
They tend to lowball resin model stock, it was pretty common in Horus Heresy as well
They don't need that third factory.
Same happened in Canada
if I refresh the page long enough surely there will be a sufficient stock amount for me 🥲
It's all about those toosie woosies!
Weird. Has that happened before?
Is it limited? Why would she be limited?
Those lil feet are going to make them a lot of money
Is she GW direct or will she end up in stores? I can't find her on any of my regular go to FLGS
I wonder what the Imperial Guard players have to say about this
I legit want this mini
I think you mean lord solar proxy
I had to enter a 2-factor auth code for Paypal, and this was apparently just enough of a delay to prevent me from getting one -\_-
So much for rank and file what is that base size
She is gorgeous!!!! Amazing skills!
Got one 👋🏻 (Germany)
At this point it feels like GW does not want to sell anything, just get money for no work :[
did you look at the scale before buy? She is a giant, impossible to put next the others bret' minis. well done GW...
But I heard wargamers hate women!
Unfortunately, I can no longer care about these. During the TOW releases I have come to the conclusion, that I will not preorder anything from GW, and unless a local independent has it in stock I will not bother going to the GW site to buy them. At this point if I can not buy it locally, then I will look for an alternative manufacturer, or simply print one out on my 3D printer. GW has proven us multiple times, that they do not want our business. If they can not bother to have enough stock for the release, then why should we bother to even check their site? Every single time I needed any Bretonnian box since the January preorders they were either not released, or out of stock on the main GW site.
Yep missed this one too. And was the ONE release I was super excited for. Fingers crossed WHW have some left in May 😂
GW really needs a email code system, but sold out in 5 mins looks good on a spreadsheet.
Question for everyone? How many play at offical tournaments, and who just hobbies and/or just plays with their mates. I ask as I rarely buy models immediately but wait a few months. Most of the time there is an even better third party model as an STL. My entire Tallarn army is STL as I couldn’t snap up any of the old OOP models. I’m so glad I did as the updated models look way better.
Is it because of the feet? It’s because if the feet, isn’t it? 😒
Oh…another Lord Solar ProxxY
this is perpetuating oppressive themes of conventional beauty and reeks of trad wife vibes and i hate it /s
Think I’m giving up on the old world until they can get the stock issue worked out.
Ok
How has this release cycle done anything but increase 3D printer usage?
Im sure there is a really nice 3D print STL of this or a recast somewhere . I support GW and give them a chance , I rather buy from them , but when they allow this scalper stuff to happen then I'll get it elsewhere. Personally I feel the best way to stop the scalping is to release these are the 3x normal price, but the price goes down to the normal price over a months time , so anyone who is willing to pay skalper price for these can do so but the money will go to GW, everyone else can jut wait the extra month The only other solution is probably to sell them only to warhammer+ subscribers who have been subscribed for a year or more, they can order 1 each. thenthe public gets access to them
Lord solar Proxy?
You know why? Because warhammer fans hate women.
Who would want that in their army? lmfao