Author Topic: IWM products not available?  (Read 13159 times)

MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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IWM products not available?
« on: 06 August 2018, 21:53:55 »
Hey, I know that this might run into an NDA, but I have a question regarding IWM products.

A couple months ago I tried ordering a pack of hex bases from my local comic book shop, which is very willing to add anything I 'd like to their regular game orders.  It was listed as unavailable.  It's stayed unavailable, and when I stopped by today the owner noted that he's seen an increasing amount of Battletech minis get listed that way.

Is something happening?
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Dragon41673

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #1 on: 06 August 2018, 21:57:16 »
It's their Distributor that is deciding not to carry Battletech...IWM is still making everything, ESPECIALLY hex bases, trust me on that...I'd know.  8)
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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #2 on: 06 August 2018, 22:13:43 »
Yeah, hex bases have been the number one selling Battletech mini product since they were developed.  I was just wondering if there was anything going on on IWM's side.
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Hythos

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #3 on: 06 August 2018, 23:16:41 »
I was at IWM's factory just 12hrs ago. They have boxes of hundreds of hex-bases, and many kinds beyond the standard style.
I DID clean them out of a number of mini's, but they were already working on a large order for PAX so not everything was available (to me). Also, many of the ones I was after were also incomplete on the shelf and needing additional casting (missing one or more parts), so I'll need to make another trip some other time...
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Feenix74

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #4 on: 07 August 2018, 01:30:48 »
I will back up Dragon41673's and Hythos' sightings of Hex Bases (4) [20-800] being available in the wild.


They are a standard line in my orders with IWM and I have a couple sitting in my inventory (I would sell them to you but shipping from Australia to you will make it uneconomical for you). I assume if you were to jump on Dragon41673's Ares Games and Miniature webstore, he should have some to sell you.

Hythos - so I have you to blame for the delay in Melissa shipping my order that is stuck in Con Season hold pattern :(
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Dragon41673

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #5 on: 07 August 2018, 05:41:11 »
I will back up Dragon41673's and Hythos' sightings of Hex Bases (4) [20-800] being available in the wild.


They are a standard line in my orders with IWM and I have a couple sitting in my inventory (I would sell them to you but shipping from Australia to you will make it uneconomical for you). I assume if you were to jump on Dragon41673's Ares Games and Miniature webstore, he should have some to sell you.

Hythos - so I have you to blame for the delay in Melissa shipping my order that is stuck in Con Season hold pattern :(

Haha...no, it's GneCon you have to blame there! I had one order delyaed by 4 weeks, and another is still pending, and I just placed another this past Sunday. Maybe it's me too?  >:D
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Feenix74

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #6 on: 07 August 2018, 06:10:44 »
I feel your pain.

My order was lodged in late June, but I knew it would get caught up with Historicon, I was hoping that Melissa would be able to pump it out before Gencon but I looks like it will now be after. My clients have been very patiently waiting.

So I will blame both of you, I cannot bring myself to blame Melissa  ^-^
Incoming fire has the right of way.

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Always remember that your weapon was built by the lowest bidder.


                                   - excepts from Murphy's Laws of Combat

Dragon41673

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #7 on: 07 August 2018, 06:34:16 »
I feel your pain.

My order was lodged in late June, but I knew it would get caught up with Historicon, I was hoping that Melissa would be able to pump it out before Gencon but I looks like it will now be after. My clients have been very patiently waiting.

So I will blame both of you, I cannot bring myself to blame Melissa  ^-^

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GRUD

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #8 on: 08 August 2018, 21:24:28 »
Hythos - so I have you to blame for the delay in Melissa shipping my order that is stuck in Con Season hold pattern :(
I had one order delayed by 4 weeks, and another is still pending, and I just placed another this past Sunday.

I Hope you guys weren't wanting a lot of Partisans.   :-\  I bought EIGHT of them Tuesday afternoon.  :o

 :D


I did NOT buy any hex bases though, I Promise!  And Yes, I saw several blisters of them also!
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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #9 on: 15 August 2018, 00:45:20 »
So I've been looking around and I'm noticing a lot of stores seem to have been having trouble getting Battletech minis in.  My local gamestore's distributor is down to listing only 27 minis in its inventory, with only 5 in stock.
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Dragon41673

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #10 on: 15 August 2018, 05:47:30 »
So I've been looking around and I'm noticing a lot of stores seem to have been having trouble getting Battletech minis in.  My local gamestore's distributor is down to listing only 27 minis in its inventory, with only 5 in stock.

Yeah...that's most likely because of this same post...

It's their Distributor that is deciding not to carry Battletech...<snip>

A lot of physical stores don't order direct, they go through distribution so they can pad their shipments to hit free shipping. It keeps profits high and costs down.
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Joel47

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #11 on: 28 August 2018, 12:25:22 »
A lot of physical stores don't order direct, they go through distribution so they can pad their shipments to hit free shipping. It keeps profits high and costs down.

Also less labor -- they're picking one order from a large list (or two or three -- my local store uses a couple of distributors), instead of chasing down a number of manufacturers.

...or so my local store owner tells me as he explains why he won't order from IWM (or anyone) directly despite of the difficulties of getting Battletech minis through his supply chain.  :P

Dragon41673

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #12 on: 28 August 2018, 12:47:49 »
Also less labor -- they're picking one order from a large list (or two or three -- my local store uses a couple of distributors), instead of chasing down a number of manufacturers.

...or so my local store owner tells me as he explains why he won't order from IWM (or anyone) directly despite of the difficulties of getting Battletech minis through his supply chain.  :P

I hear ya...kind of a bad situation either way.
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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #13 on: 28 August 2018, 12:50:57 »
I only know of a couple of stores that bothered with ordering directly from IWM, and both of them sell a lot more Battletech minis than most places.
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Colt Ward

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #14 on: 29 August 2018, 16:20:41 »
Also less labor -- they're picking one order from a large list (or two or three -- my local store uses a couple of distributors), instead of chasing down a number of manufacturers.

...or so my local store owner tells me as he explains why he won't order from IWM (or anyone) directly despite of the difficulties of getting Battletech minis through his supply chain.  :P

My local group is trying to get together a order for the local store to put in to IWM for things they cannot get from their distributor- a way of encouraging them to carry some of the iconic mechs like the Timberwolf, Dire Wolf, Summoner, and some of the IS ones not in the new boxes.
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kinwolf

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #15 on: 22 March 2019, 18:07:35 »
I went to my FLGS today and he looked through his suppliers list:  All battletech minis were listed as unavailable(there were LOTS of them listed, and all in red, unavailable).  I mentioned that he could order directly from IWM but he wanted to know if there is a minimum order before bothering to do so.   Anyone knows the answer?
« Last Edit: 22 March 2019, 18:09:21 by kinwolf »

Psycho

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #16 on: 22 March 2019, 20:30:38 »
No minimum, but it does benefit the person ordering to put together a larger ($150+) order to save on shipping costs. See the following link for details:

http://ironwindmetals.com/store/shipping.php

beachhead1985

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #17 on: 22 March 2019, 20:44:44 »
I have had this same issue in both parts of Canada I lived in. Distributors seem to hate this game. It's like they are all running on an inventory from 20 years ago and never restocked.

When I ordered my Map Pack the other day; they gave me some nonsense about "Typical Catalyst; it's out of stock, but we'll try and back-order it for you." I set them straight that the new Map Packs aren't even hitting stores till mid-april, but this is typical IME
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speck

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #18 on: 23 March 2019, 18:55:23 »
I went to my FLGS today and he looked through his suppliers list:  All battletech minis were listed as unavailable(there were LOTS of them listed, and all in red, unavailable).  I mentioned that he could order directly from IWM but he wanted to know if there is a minimum order before bothering to do so.   Anyone knows the answer?

Have your FLGS contact Melissa for details regarding stores ordering direct.

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kinwolf

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #19 on: 24 March 2019, 08:58:47 »
Good to know, I will pass the information, thanks!

Orin J.

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #20 on: 26 March 2019, 00:08:48 »
well i'll just PM myself that info since my local distributor seems to be a little crass about this as well. thanks speck, you've saved me a long trip to my buying needs (and my local games shop owner many times of me trying to order things and failing with him! xp )
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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #21 on: 29 March 2019, 23:23:45 »
Have your FLGS contact Melissa for details regarding stores ordering direct.

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Mine did a few months ago, never got a response.  :(
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Greatclub

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #22 on: 01 April 2019, 22:42:33 »
have them poke her again, it took my FLGS a couple tries.

DarkSpade

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #23 on: 14 April 2019, 09:20:09 »
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MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #24 on: 14 April 2019, 09:53:13 »
Ugh.
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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #25 on: 14 April 2019, 10:35:56 »
it's been pretty obvious alliance had ghosted IWM but it's good to get official confirmation

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Bedwyr

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #26 on: 14 April 2019, 10:40:40 »
Oh dear.
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Daryk

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #27 on: 14 April 2019, 10:42:55 »
It's odd a distributor would drop IWM just as BattleTech is starting an upswing.  I wonder what they're thinking...

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #28 on: 14 April 2019, 11:10:10 »
It's odd a distributor would drop IWM just as BattleTech is starting an upswing.  I wonder what they're thinking...

I think you're overestimating the effect of the upswing. Even with the box set selling well, CGL is still small potatoes compared to the scale Alliance works at. The product association IWM and CGL have are most likely not overcoming the business decision of replacing IWM with a company/product that's moving faster. And there is a *lot* of product out there. I mean a *lot*. BT is fortunate to have a lot of name recognition, but you have so many tabletop products being released, it would be best to think of the industry and Alliance's role in it more like this:



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abou

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Re: IWM products not available?
« Reply #29 on: 14 April 2019, 11:19:21 »
Do you think there is some sort of legal issue where a distributor is only allowed to have so many products of the same type or a semi-non-compete? Or did it just no longer become financially viable for Alliance to devote manpower to stocking IWM's products?

I can see all as possible. On my end, I had one of my main distributors for drugs find themselves temporarily locked out from an entire drug company's catalog because they started carrying a competitor's product.

Then again we may never know. And it may not even matter.

 

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