Incubi no longer available via 3rd parties

I emailed a few independent retailers asking them when they are going to restock the Incubi. Wayland Games told me that they are no longer available through 3rd party sellers.... Why is this? Does this happen often? I'm thinking there must be a specific reason for it e.g. re-release in plastic or something, because there are other finecast models available (wracks etc). Any ideas????

A couple of weeks ago, an independent retailer I spoke to informed me that Games Workshop are making all Finecast models direct only from their website*, so they (3rd party sellers) will only be able to sell the Finecast models that they have in stock and will not be able to obtain more.

*Due to the UK's Fair Trading Act, any restriction Games Workshop place on the sale of their items by other retailers must also be placed on their own stores, so you won't be able to buy them from a GW shop either - merely place an order with them.

Yeah I doubt we would get plastic incubi anytime soon.

Sneaky move on GW part with the independent retailers...

Havent there been a load of complaints Re: Third Party Finecast?

Erebus
In theory perhaps, but in practice, they can just screw with delivery, credit, trade price ect.

Heh, that's cute. They really don't like those independent retailers, do they? Slowly but surely they'll phase them all out.

So they can't sell them in store either?! Really bizarre! Why would they do that?

Is that only for England? Cause here in Germany I haven't seen a dropping off Finecast in stores.

As far as I know, this is UK only, yes. Games Workshop will have to abide the respective countries' trading laws.

Delvian wrote:

So they can't sell them in store either?! Really bizarre!

The way I understand it, as a manufacturer, they can set the terms of sale - price, distribution methods, etc. - but as a retailer, they then have to abide by those same terms. This is to prevent corporations gaining a monopoly on products, and thus keeping consumer interests at heart.

Delvian wrote:

Why would they do that?

A lot of independent retailers sell GW products at a discount, making them far preferable sources than GW itself and so heavily cuts into their (desired) profits. Additionally, many are buying Finecast at a discount and then getting the miscast models replaced by GW, so they're losing out even more than mere competition. By making them direct only, they make sure they're the only ones benefitting from their sale, whilst still technically adhering to the Fair Trade Act. If they were to try this with all their products, 3rd party sellers would no doubt file complaints with The Office of Fair Trading.

I wonder if this is because no one is buying them.... Personally I scoured ebay for months collecting 10 metal incubi in piece-meal over that time rather than buy the finecast.

the funny thing is I also think this is to give the GW stores more shelf space. I know my LGW keeps running out of room on the walls. especially when they keep adding more models, while not taking any away. Its a real pain as a customer as things are doubled up due to trying to save space, and sometimes you dont see what you want because its behind something else.

Seen the same problem too. Lots of stuff, but often something else is left in the back. I thought one store didnt have Urien until I checked behind Lelith!
But its sad that independent retailers lose their variety in products. But what can we do?

The GW Manchester store, one of the largest in the world, carries about 10% of the product lines.

Was in today, and a very switched on member of staff (who usually know nothing I admit) seemed fairly sure CFC was just a temporary thing and everything would be plastic sooner rather than later.
I've always questioned the economics, but
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440108a&prodId=prod1340007a
Plastic

So who knows

There are rumours that Finecast is a tempory stopgap in the transition to plastic.

I noticed that the independent retailer I use hadn't restocked Incubi for a while, thanks for this post. Typical of GW though, gotta ruin every little break we can find.

Oh yeah, I'm in Canada, so it's not just the UK.

Might buy some Wracks from my FLGS before they stop stocking them. Other than that though, I don't really want or need any more Failcast models.