Online gaming discount store or counterfeiters making hay?

[blind pig]

on BOLS and Facebook:

http://www.miniatureshobby.com

The Aussies on BOLS are less than sympathetic with GW stuff being supposedly blagged.

Discuss.

[Lane]

Love or hate the idea somebody is checking out the site. Got a Bandwidth Exceeded page.

This exactly the type of site the US govt is trying to pass a law to block.

There have been people counterfeiting GW minis for years, but it has been small scale. I even had some fakes, ironically they were better quality than GW, and the guy making them only did a few hundred minis per year.

Large scale counterfeiting could screw the gaming community. If the quality is poor, but just barely usable,it could lead to disappointment customers that loose interest. If quality is good it could draw serious income away from the IP holder and legit retailers. From what I hear 10% loss can kill a small retailer and 20% for several years will at least hurt a major company.

I wonder how many people who buy knock offs would even consider they may be to blame if their local game store or favorite game company went out of business.

[mangozac]

[Lane]

[Munkey Joe]

Just a quick drop in and to prove Im alive....

Well Im torn. The argument of IP and development is a good one. I understand. But 4 years ago i spent $45 for the same exact model I now spend $69 is a rebuttal. its a narrow, twisty, Grey line to walk between supporting original products and development and getting ripped off by this same company.

Would I knowingly buy knockoffs?? Damn right I would IF the quality is good and compareable to the original. If not NO because I want Value for my money. THERE I said it....

I will not say do not support the parent company, because they do need to make profit. But If they are not supporting their customer base properly then SOMEONE will. I think this is an example of supply/demand and capitalism.

I intentionally left Company names out and as vague as I could, but I have and will continue to buy High quality parts (russian knockoffs ESP!!!) for 1/3 the price as long as I can. this is my PERSONAL opinion and this site NOR anyone associated with me or it can be held responsible for this post.

[paulson games]

Had this question been asked a year ago I think I would have had a very differant opinion...

I prefer to see people make their own stuff and show some respect for their fellow artists, personally it's not a line I'd cross. However that said; F**k em! I hope that GW bleeds the death of a thousand cuts. They waste their time hassling small companies that are at least casting their own work, meanwhile there's a lot of recasters out there doing real damage.

Over the last year I've noticed a huge upswing in small casting companies doing stuff very close to GW designs and I hope that trend continues. I think it promotes variety in the modelling end and if it hurts GW's bottom line that's just an added benefit.

I look at the designs and quantity of stuff other people have coming out vs my handful of models and really wonder why I ended up as a target. bah

[Lane]

Well I suspect this sites existence will be short lived.

They only accept Paypal as payment. Copyright infringement is specifically against Paypal terms of use. The website specifically states many of their products are "not original"

I personally would not (knowingly) give my credit card information to a company that admits to illegal activities and definitely not one based in China.

[paulson games]

This I grabbed from one of the BOLS popsts as it sums up my feelings just about perfectly

"why pay loyalty to an entity that will not return it?"

GW has been doing it's letter best to f**k their customers over with increasing intensity over the last couple years. It's a bloated dinosaur company that is still living in the early nineties thinking it can do what it wants.

They are failing to realize that their customers are fed up with their BS and that there are plenty of other gaming options out there now, many of which offer superior products. It will take time but if their current apathy towards their customers continues they will end up losing their grip on the market and maybe even fail all together.

[blind pig]

[blind pig]

I have a mate who is currently living in Shanghai teaching English to school kids (Gawd help them all).

He said that there are lots of places selling Forgeword Stuff, mainly Marine stuff. I think FW may not have been too careful when they were disposing of their moulds and all those peole that they trained in their casting techniques had to do something when FW pulled out of china......

As a bit of a confession: I have bought something from that site and I shall let you know when it arrives and how it compaires to the same item that I had previously bought from FW.

[Anvils Hammer]

Theft is Theft...

If a company is treating you in a way you disapprove of, or you do not like the price they charge for their product, do not purchase the product and give your bussiness to another company.

Nothing GW do can EVER justify recasting, or purchasing from a recaster. The protection afforded to GW and other companies by copywrite law is the only reason the hobby can exist.

Dont like GW/FW prices, dont buy it. like the model and want it? pay the price charged by the sculptor/the sculptors parent company.

AH

[blind pig]

Well, I don't know that it is a recast, it probably isn't recast.

Do you with 100% certainty?

I know stuff I have bought from eBay has been recast, and poor quality at that. Buying from these guys is a $40 risk that I, and many others must have taken if their bandwidth overload is anything to go by, are trying out.

Are they a legit company? Is what they are selling legit? who knows? I shall let you all know in a couple of weeks what the quality is like.

Good luck to GW trying to Cease and Deists a Chinese company, if what they are doing is against the law.

LOL Anvils Hammer! Does that mean that you never buy of a discount online store, but buy from a GW store, as that is the price that GW has set and therefore you must pay that price?

Really? Who is stealing from whom then?

How do we know that some smart cookie in China isn't taking advantage of local Chineese laws and Labour and simply discounting the price of a FW product?

I do know that when GW start to treat me and other Australian and New Zealanders fairly, then I will start buying GW stuff again. Until that time, I shall buy what I want, when I want, and no one shall change my mind, no matter what they say.

[Anvils Hammer]

No, I didnt mean that one should pay RRP, simply that you should purchase the actual product. GW own the copywrite and can decide how and when they sell the product. They decide to sell at "trade" price to other retailers, hence the existance of discount stores, which are totally legit as GW is benefiting from the sale of their product and has faciliated it.

Companies which recast are not contributing anything original to the market, or investing any work in creating their own products.

Recasting for personal use where the recasting not done simply to save money, is somthing Im generally fine with, but doing it purely to make money is just plain wrong, no matter if the victim is GW or any other company..

But Im not trying to change your mind.. If I was embargoed Id probably feel exactly the same!!

[Lane]

[mangozac]