Online Retailers, Honest Question

My question is; Why would anyone order a boardgame from any other retailer than Amazon? I ask because Amazon seems to always be dirt cheap AND have free shipping. It just seems like a no brainer. I can get say Lords of Waterdeep for $32 with free shipping from Amazon or I can get it for $35 from say Noble Knight PLUS shipping. Obviously say for miniatures or sub $25 games I would hit up Mini Market, but other than that, why choose any online retailer over Amazon?

There's cheaper retailers online, that's why.

Ebay, the BGG Marketplace, Coolstuffinc, Thoughthammer...all have advantages and disadvantages, and they all have sales and whatnots.

Me, I rarely buy new. I buy used because over the span of a year we're talking about saving a couple hundred bucks.

Amazon is also slow to stock new titles, and doesn't carry a particularly deep selection.

I often check there, and sometimes buy there (I'm also a Prime customer), but they aren't the only place, because they don't always have what I want. For FFG or Rio Grande titles, they're great. For other stuff, not so much.

Paul pretty much covered it. Amazon generally has the cheapest pre-order prices for the titles they do stock but they're guaranteed to be at least a month, if not more, behind other retailers. They also have little by way of miniature or wargame stock to speak of.

usually Amazon is more expensive, at least for the games I've looked at. Factor in Prime shipping and its pretty comparable, but if I can get a free shipping order together at CSI, its usually cheaper.

I shop with Noble Knight almost exclusively. I pay more because of this, but I don't really care. Almost anything I'd ever want is right there in one spot, I like the layout of the site, and most importantly, they don't fuck around. If it's not in stock, they clearly mark the item "out of stock." I order something in the morning, it's in the mail that day, and I get the tracking number. I have an issue, it gets taken care of post haste; no arguing, no getting jerked around.

I placed a big order with them once, and the USPS fucked it all up, damaged my package, and returned it to NK with the shipping label all mutilated. The guy went through the whole box, assessed all the damage to the games, and asked if I wanted to cancel the order for the damaged items or did I want store credit for the damage or what? I told him I understood none of it was his fault, and there was no reason he should have to take a hit because the postal service fucked it up. Just send the order out parcel post, I'd pay for it and take the whole thing up with the USPS, because I'd been getting nothing but lousy service out of them for some time and I was fed up.

No, no. He apologized on their behalf, insisted on eating the $60 or more cost to reship the order priority, plus hooked me up with a decent amount of store credit. When I reiterated my frustration about the fact that either of us should be stuck losing money because the USPS couldn't handle their business, he explained that they go out of their way for him quite often, so this was something he was OK with, and there was no reason for any of us to go get pissy with them (not that I thought it would do any good anyway).

So yeah, dude's a class act as far as I'm concerned. Why don't I just shop at Amazon and save myself $10 or so? Because I'd rather deal with a class act than an asshole, and $10 is perfectly within my asshole avoidance budget.

While resistance may be futile. Some of us still resist being assimilated into the Borg (that is Amazon/Google)

repoman wrote: While resistance may be futile. Some of us still resist being assimilated into the Borg (that is Amazon/Google)

I'll tell you what, I'm Amazon's biggest fan but they ain't bringin it with games. I generally find stuff cheaper on the mom & pop web sites. It's the exact same package and the folks at GameSurplus and CoolStuffInc are giving me customer service as good as Amazon. That's a pretty high bar to clear.

S.

I used to place all of my orders at Coolstuff inc and Miniature Market. When I first getting into the hobby I used to routinely place large orders over $100. Getting free shipping from these places is the only way to get a good deal.

Amazon.com is not the place to shop if you need a huge order OR the game just came out (usually). Where Amazon really shines is if you have a Prime account and you're buying a game that came out months ago.

For example I just bought Runewars today off amazon for $63, with free two day shipping. Sure I could have bought it on Miniature Market for $65, but I wouldn't have been eligible for free shipping. So the cost jumps from $65, to over $75...not much of a deal anymore.

Since I buy games at a much lower rate than I used to I typically buy most of them off Amazon. They have cheap prices and free shipping. I can't ask for much more than that.

+1 Coolstuff.
reat prices and no problems.

Steve"Online shopper"Avery

Generally coolstuff or funagain because their selection is soooo much better. Amazon when it's a bigger game that's been out a while for prime shipping.

I'm fairly mercenary about my purchases, though I have had some less than great shipping with amazon's game retailers so I'm leaning more toward CSI and funagain in the future.

It is rare that Amazon beats out the online retailers (Miniature Market and CoolStuffInc, specifically) if you order enough to hit the free shipping thresholds (typically $100). I usually shop around, though, as prices vary and sometimes Amazon is the cheapest, but this is rarely the case. Now, if you're doing a one-shot order, it's about 50/50 as to who is cheaper. Lords of Waterdeep is one of those exceptions where Amazon is just plain cheaper (and if I buy it, I'll go ahead and get it from there).

I order almost exclusively from Miniature Market. They are really fast (usually ship same day if you place your order in the morning) and never lie about their inventory. And their prices are usually a few bucks better than the competition. My only complaint is that they go out of stock a lot...mainly because they have the best prices!

I've got my pre-order for Eclipse locked at $61 and change, try and beat that.

mjl1783 wrote: I shop with Noble Knight almost exclusively. I pay more because of this, but I don't really care... -snip-

I came across NK because of Drake's Flames. I've ordered a couple OOP games through them and besides everything you said about them shipping quickly, etc etc, the games were in better condition than they were listed on the website. I think both games were listed as VG+, but I would have been totally comfortable describing them as Mint or Near Mint. In both cases I paid about $5 or $10 more than I could have gotten the games off the BGG Marketplace, and the price difference was well worth it.

Top notch in my experience, and the first place I go when I'm looking for something that's not always easy to find.

But to QP: Why not Amazon? I'm a Prime member, and I order a lot of shit through Amazon that isn't worth a special trip to the store. But CoolStuffInc almost always beats them on price for me. The caveat is that I wait to place an order until I can get the free shipping threshold. This does two things for me: it saves me money, and it makes me think more about purchases. When I've got a couple games in the cart that run $60 I don't just fill out the cart with another $40 game. I wait until I find $40 worth of games I actually want. And in the meantime I have the opportunity to reflect on the first $60 worth of games. It's not uncommon that I decide to not buy one of them for whatever reason, which brings me back below the shipping threshold, which causes the cycle to repeat. Amazon with free shipping for only a couple bucks more than CSI makes it too easy for me to buy a bunch of crap.

I use amazon only for the ~20 or so I get in free gift cards each month. They're a little on the pricey side compared to most specialized online stores, but not too bad and often have free shipping. Other than that, I use Meeplemart. Good sites for Canadians in Ontario, really good prices and decent selection.