tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post7705558667198778074..comments2024-02-19T10:13:57.548-05:00Comments on Sorcery & Super Science!: Talking About the Business of RPGsjgbrowninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16274622778419965618noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-50519082398707823462011-12-05T07:16:45.129-05:002011-12-05T07:16:45.129-05:00There's another factor when selling through Lu...There's another factor when selling through Lulu.com (or RPGnow for that matter) that is worth considering. If you're in Europe Lulu.com will print and ship the books from inside the EU, lowering shipping costs and bypassing completely custom costs. Given the chance I always buy directly from the source, but I had to stop buying products from the US as the custom costs began to increase to insane levels. Now I buy only from inside the EU and only risk buying outside when there isn't any other way to get what I want.Aelwë Lothglorionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06267036555422273258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-6335505522964622572011-12-04T21:03:34.868-05:002011-12-04T21:03:34.868-05:00I buy Fight On! and other stuff from Lulu. Thus, i...I buy Fight On! and other stuff from Lulu. Thus, it's easy for me to add stuff to the Lulu cart, specially if there's a sale involving free ground shipping, ie. UPS to Switzerland. Regular shipping prices to Switzerland can be up to 50% of what I buy there, however. That frustrates me to no end. I stumbled upon the survey and decided to see what it would cost to order directly from you and was surprised that it would have cost me only $4.50 for a $12 book – which is a bit better than what Lulu offers. Buying the $12 Knockspell as a single item would cost about $8 in shipping! That's why I would prefer to buy from you directly.Alex Schroederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17104864340940538702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-41589289973168039092011-12-01T09:52:18.171-05:002011-12-01T09:52:18.171-05:00Thanks for all the comments, guys!Thanks for all the comments, guys!jgbrowninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274622778419965618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-35359762097167968932011-11-30T22:36:48.184-05:002011-11-30T22:36:48.184-05:00I would rather purchase a product direct from the ...I would rather purchase a product direct from the publisher. I'm happier knowing that all the profit from my purchase is going to the games company itself, rather than having a huge chunk go to a middleman.<br /><br />However, that being said, I do make a lot of purchases through the likes of Drive Thru RPG and lulu but only when one of the two following conditions are met<br /><br />1 The publisher is a small company that can't afford the initial outlay of printing their own product or the time/effort to maintaing their own digital shop for pdfs.<br /><br />2. The publisher is one of the larger companies that can more easilt absorb the loss of revenue from going through a middle-man.Dangerous Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11494853825931603065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-66524986990735252982011-11-30T17:20:39.785-05:002011-11-30T17:20:39.785-05:00i'm a one stop shopper. i like that i can go t...i'm a one stop shopper. i like that i can go to Lulu and find an assortment of OSR goodness. i've purchased quite a bit through Lulu without a hitch and i'm not as inclined to make a bunch of smaller orders from each individual publisher, incurring shipping and handling with each order. in fact, i just made an order on monday when Lulu had a 30% off deal. I would have purchased "Malevolent & Benign" if it was offered as a paperback.dervishdelverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13803513672258666141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-41754838386654166712011-11-30T15:23:31.282-05:002011-11-30T15:23:31.282-05:00Being an international customer it would depend on...Being an international customer it would depend on the postal rates. If they were close but the publisher was a bit more expensive I would shop through the publisher site, but if Lulu was a good deal cheaper then I would shop there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-1396336812234493242011-11-30T14:09:58.457-05:002011-11-30T14:09:58.457-05:00Joe:
I'd rather buy product (especially hardb...Joe:<br /><br />I'd rather buy product (especially hardbacks) directly from you if they were available.Demiurge_Reduxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17790186931817730783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-80260454036233556122011-11-30T13:04:47.621-05:002011-11-30T13:04:47.621-05:00I've ordered stuff from Lulu and never had a p...I've ordered stuff from Lulu and never had a problem... but have heard a lot of complaints about print quality from Lulu by other users in the online community. I guess that if you place a Lulu order, Lulu will send your order to the nearest or most logical subcontractor print shop in their network... and I guess quality varies across the network.Stefan Poaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192911890556534923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-39556542821029911882011-11-30T12:57:32.462-05:002011-11-30T12:57:32.462-05:00I distrust lulu because the quality is so spotty. ...I distrust lulu because the quality is so spotty. Whereas if I have confidence in the individuals behind the website that are packaging my order, I know that they will screen out any flawed product.EOTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17514955150414369244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-49157516299422070782011-11-30T12:57:20.177-05:002011-11-30T12:57:20.177-05:00@John: I tend to think that's what's going...@John: I tend to think that's what's going to happen, but as I need to make 3 sales at Lulu to equal 2 direct sales, I'd need to be careful to not cannibalize by direct sales to a less-profitable revenue stream. Thinking about this for the past few days, I know I'm going to put up our out-of-print material (d20 material) up at Lulu as there is no potential downside there, but I'm still on the fence about the more current material. So far the poll has been strongly in favor of one side over the other, but I figure after a month, I'll have better information.jgbrowninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274622778419965618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-53305326455066674452011-11-30T12:52:57.685-05:002011-11-30T12:52:57.685-05:00Joe, like the others have said, I tend to like to ...Joe, like the others have said, I tend to like to buy direct. However, it would seem that putting stuff up on Lulu might open your revenue stream to others who *gasp* might not be familiar with your product but buy stuff from Lulu. I'm not sure as I'm not in the publishing side of things, but it might be worth a shot if for no other reason than to pick up a few stray sales.Xyanthonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07902260753434100101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-23390042190308850022011-11-30T11:24:53.128-05:002011-11-30T11:24:53.128-05:00I would always be more likely to buy from the writ...I would always be more likely to buy from the writer/artist/game publisher than through other websites. I would rather the w/a/gp get the money than the others sites.<br /><br />That said, I would generally buy them from my FLGS to support them also.Jimmy Simpsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03265501552844485806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-20238195308655197512011-11-30T11:14:35.465-05:002011-11-30T11:14:35.465-05:00We are *highly* attentive to customer service at o...We are *highly* attentive to customer service at our website because we may only have one shot at making a good impression, and every customer may turn into a recurring customer. Recurring customers are the "gems & jewelry" in the treasure horde of the small-publisher rpg business. :)jgbrowninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274622778419965618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881639213616245512.post-43856168917909282932011-11-30T11:10:12.580-05:002011-11-30T11:10:12.580-05:00I would always rather buy direct from the publishe...I would always rather buy direct from the publisher than from somewhere like Lulu. I've never had problems with anything I've purchased from there, but I have generally had much better service dealing with publishers than distributors in other cases. Also, I like to see publishers get as much as possible for their products, provided the price is reasonable overall, so that they will produce more in the future.Robert Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03345468894311108269noreply@blogger.com