hey all, so I'm wanting to get into the hobby(WH: 40K- Necrons) and I'm on a tight budget. I know what I want to get, but I want to save as many dollars as I can. Where would be the best place to purchase online and get the best deal?

I'm on the west coast, if that matters at all.

Thanks all!

TheWarStore.com (http://www.thewarstore.com)

www.gwonline.biz • Index page (http://gwonline.biz/) is good pricing. But in the UK.

Warstore is the way to go. Some places might offer a slightly deeper discount on GW, but they won't have the depth of Hobby products and other things you'll also want all available in the same order shipped for $5.95. Anybody who offers you better than 20% off GW who's not on eBay is usually going to make a chunk of it back up gouging you on shipping.

i'll give it a shot, thanks guys

Please also check out our store review section (http://www.librarium-online.com/category/reviews) to find more stores and comments from other users :)

Maelstrom Games (http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=car) is where I'd buy from. Free worldwide shipping for any order over £10.

They're also currently running a discount of 15%, but I'm not sure that applies to all their items or international purchases. It's achieved by typing in CRUNCH-BEATER in the voucher field.

I've never had any problems with them.

Chaos Orc (http://www.chaosorc.com) is where I order from. 20-30% discounts, usually averaging at 25%, and very reasonable shipping. Of course, it's a US site.

I agree with going with Chaos Orc if you live in the US. Thats where I got my entire Wood Elf army from.

They were a pleasure to do business with and the discounts are great.

Guys, I hate to be a killjoy, but I was speaking to the guys in my local store today about various things, when some little kid came in asking where he could get GW stuff cheap.

Yes, GW's prices may have risen quite a bit over the years, but they are first and foremost a business, and it has to make a profit to provide us gamers with stores to play our games in. Privateer Press don't have stores, and I'm willing to bet that most of their customers play warhammer too.

So, while I'm not aposed to looking for a bargain every so often, please don't buy exclusivley from discount stores, otherwise, GW may have to increase their prices again (Which, let's face it, none of us want,) or even worse, shut down some of their stores, and deprive gamers of a place to play.

Guys, I hate to be a killjoy, but I was speaking to the guys in my local store today about various things, when some little kid came in asking where he could get GW stuff cheap.

Yes, GW's prices may have risen quite a bit over the years, but they are first and foremost a business, and it has to make a profit to provide us gamers with stores to play our games in. Warjack don't have stores, and I'm willing to bet that most of their customers play warhammer too.

So, while I'm not aposed to looking for a bargain every so often, please don't buy exclusivley from discount stores, otherwise, GW may have to increase their prices again (Which, let's face it, none of us want,) or even worse, shut down some of their stores, and deprive gamers of a place to play.

Agreed.

I use the Warstore, mostly for the bigger boxed sets or when my store is out of stock and unable to order, plus the 6 dollar shipping no matter how much you order is nice XD

Well, considering te prices today ( which honestly, are hwatever GW wants, but that's another discussion ), I have no objection to ordering from a discounter. GW still makes money through wholesale, and that more then enough to cover the costs of production. I use the warstore - cheap shipping, great selection ( in everything, you can get GF9, Reaper, Woodland Scenics ( the flock and stuff GW marks ups and sticks it's own name on ) ect. ), and they're close enough to where I live, so I can get it shipping to me in 1-2 days.

Stormchaser - your logic assumes that GW earn more from me buying from Outland than Maelstrom, because they stock in shelves instead of on web pages. I highly doubt it. More likely, Outland quite simply keeps a wider profit margin, as well as having a higher maintenance cost. Unless you buy secondhand, your chances of supplying GW with cash are about as high in a retail outlet at online.
Thus, your argument would be better suited against eBay than this thread.

Unless you're suggesting that those of us who don't happen to live in the vicinity of a GW store should buy airline tickets whenever we want some minis?

For that matter, there is no GW store in my country that offers anything beyond introduction games.

Tutankhankh - GW don't earn more from you if you buy in store. Completley the opposite. However, GW have a larger customer base than Privateer Press and other game companies like that because they have stores. You may not live near a GW store, but you have internet access. I'm not saying "Don't buy stuff Online." I'm merely stating that if everyone who played GW games bought stuff at discount prices, GW would loose money, have to close stores, and therefore, the 10-12 year-olds who walk past and think "cool!" will walk past either an empty space or some boring clothes store/whatever and thus there will be no new beginners and no next generation of gamers, and so the hobby will, slowly but surely, die out.

Maybe it will be a lesson to gw to lower there prices, for now EVERYONE I know buys from ebay or discount sites. Who pays full price at a gw store? If the company slowly dies, then its there own fault. The game will live on with out without it. Converting and modeling is half the fun of warhammer. I would Never pay 35 dollars for a box of 16-20 mini's, Just silly. Now they you trying to buy 10 minis for 22 dollar a box? So my regiments are 44 dollars a piece? and FORGET IT if you are a vampire count player and summon. Then you are SOL for money. DISCOUNTS ALL THE WAY!

Tutankhankh - GW don't earn more from you if you buy in store. Completley the opposite. However, GW have a larger customer base than Privateer Press and other game companies like that because they have stores. You may not live near a GW store, but you have internet access. I'm not saying "Don't buy stuff Online." I'm merely stating that if everyone who played GW games bought stuff at discount prices, GW would loose money, have to close stores, and therefore, the 10-12 year-olds who walk past and think "cool!" will walk past either an empty space or some boring clothes store/whatever and thus there will be no new beginners and no next generation of gamers, and so the hobby will, slowly but surely, die out.

this makes no sense, GW makes the same amount of money from its wholesale whether you get your mini's from a discount website, or from a hobby store for full price.

If GW really lost that much money from online stores, then they would be losing the exact same amount of money from any sort of hobby store besides their own GW stores. If that is true, then you should be asking us not to buy from any store (online or physical) unless it is GW's stores or websites.

There is a reason that websites can usually offer these discounts anyways, and its not that they are somehow ripping off GW.

With a website, your only costs are your product, and your website. With a physical store you have rent/lease, electricity, insurance, and maintenance among numerous other bills. So discount websites aren't ripping off GW, they are just able to give a cheaper price and still keep a good profit from lack of bills to pay for a store.

Maybe it will be a lesson to gw to lower there prices, for now EVERYONE I know buys from ebay or discount sites. Who pays full price at a gw store?

Fine, kill the hobby if you wish. GW provide you with awesome games and increasingly brilliant models, and this is how you re-pay them? I can see how loyal you are:teeth:

Maybe it will be a lesson to gw to lower there prices, for now EVERYONE I know buys from ebay or discount sites. Who pays full price at a gw store? If the company slowly dies, then its there own fault. The game will live on with out without it. Converting and modeling is half the fun of warhammer. I would Never pay 35 dollars for a box of 16-20 mini's, Just silly. Now they you trying to buy 10 minis for 22 dollar a box? So my regiments are 44 dollars a piece? and FORGET IT if you are a vampire count player and summon. Then you are SOL for money. DISCOUNTS ALL THE WAY!

actually if the company died, the game probably wouldn't be around for much longer either, with a lack of new models, new "official" rules, and a company backing it. It would probably die out pretty fast. Without GW backing the game, there would probably be no more tourneys to play in (besides small ones between you and your friends) and consumers would move on to the next table top game.

Buying secondhand from ebay kills GW's profits, buying from a discount store online does not (see my previous post to see why).

--EDIT--

I honestly think it might be a good move for GW to close its stores and only use its website and retailers that are independent from GW, like local hobby shops, or big chains like hobby lobby or hobbytown USA (or the equivalent in other countries). I think it would help them to reduce their costs, while still having their product in a physical location to attract new players.

I think their stores are their biggest problem. They have too many that require too much cash for upkeep, and its a store that ONLY supplies GW stuff so people only go to them when they want to increase their GW hobby. Independent retailers have a plethora of products so people go to them more often. They can go to get comics, or play a CCG, and notice that there are some GW models that they have been meaning to get at the same time.

Er, just to get us back on topic, the general consensus is The War Store, right?

We Aussies get a massive markup just for being in Australia. It's over 40% on some stuff! I was recommended Maelstrom games for larger orders 'cause of the free worldwide shipping and 15% off. However, now that the exchange rates are going nuts, I'm not sure if thats even worth the trouble.

I think GW make more money from the sale of wholesale products.

In short their margins are much bigger even though they sell the products for less. This means, counter intuitively, that the more you spend online at discount retailers the more money the company will be making.

Consider the following examples.

Dreadnought 1

Plastic - 5p
Box - 10p
Manufacturing Costs - 100p
Central Overheads - 200p
Shipping - 10p

Whole Sale Price £15

Margin 405%

Dreadnought 2

Plastic - 5p
Box - 10p
Manufacturing Costs - 100p
Central Overheads - 200p
Shipping - 10p
Store Staff - 600p
Premises and Other Costs - 600p

Retail Price £25

Margin 159%

Clearly the numbers are fictional but the illustration is good. I think GW policy is that stores should pay for themselves to a certain extent rather than make the company a lot of money directly. The more people who come in, play a game and then go home and order a big Wood Elf army the better. Whether it is visits or profits that determines whether or not you keep your store is really where it is at.

I wonder if they make any attempts to monitor wholesale ditribution patterns...

I still recommend Chaos Orc if you live in the states. I am going to buy a full 2k DoC army from them for about 30% less than what I would get buying it for GW's price.

I still recommend Chaos Orc if you live in the states. I am going to buy a full 2k DoC army from them for about 30% less than what I would get buying it for GW's price.

I'm getting the necron warrior phalanx with two tomb spyders. Chaos Orc listed the phalanx as 10 dollars more, and they apparently don't have the spyders in stock.

Wraiths are about a buck cheaper here, though.

EDIT: in comparison from war store and chaos orc.