We want to make sure everyone gets the products they’re looking for! Read on to learn how to secure the latest & best in the hobby space.
Preorders
Preorders
The best way to get upcoming products is to preorder!
As soon as a product (or product line) has officially been announced and we know what the product is called (or know the names of every item in the product line), we can start accepting preorders!
How to Preorder
Ask at the counter or send us a text at (509) 404-3111!
When you reach out, we need:
- Your name – First and Last
- Your phone number – so we can reach back out
- Product name – we’ll work to confirm we know exactly what you’re asking for
- Quantity – let us know if you need more than one!
Pre-payment is not accepted for Preorders or Stock Requests.
What happens next?
For most items, we’ll text you back as soon as we have your request in-stock! We may also text you to confirm exactly which product you’re looking for (if it’s still unclear), or to let you know that we sadly cannot stock/restock the item in question. If the item has a street-date, we’ll let you know the date you can pick up the item when we reach out.
Allocation
With any highly-anticipated release, we can be met with complications, and those complications can often scale in size with the release. For any release, retailers such as ourselves put in preorder numbers with our distribution partners a month or more ahead of release (often many more – this window changes by publisher). We tend to order a buffer of additional units beyond our current preorder quantities when our lock window comes. This helps us to provide enough product for everyone who preorders in the last mile as hype builds towards release. At length, our distributors are told by the publisher how many units of each product they’ll be able to get, and the distributor allocates those units amongst their accounts. This process is byzantine, and is unique to each distributor.
At length, we receive our allocations from each of the distributors. If that quantity does not meet our volume of requests, we will need to allocate preorders.
Methodology
Allocation is performed by one of two different methods:
Time-Stamped allocation
For most items, the time that the item was requested is your timestamp, and copies are allocated to people in the order they were requested. The earlier you get in, the better! Time-Stamped allocation starts at the top of the list, and allocates a single unit to each person until the list ends, and then repeats from the top as stock allows. This method is used to help spread a high-demand product among the largest swath of the community.
- Everyone gets 1 before anyone gets 2.
- Priority is based on when each request was made.
Random Drawing allocation
When the volume of a product we can receive is drastically misaligned with local demand, we will allocate by Random Drawing. We use this method to ensure products are not “pre-sold out” in the first few days, hours, or minutes after a product is announced, allowing community members a more equal footing to request the product. Random Drawing allocation gives equal weight to anyone who puts themselves down for products before the cutoff date.
- A notice will be posted with instructions on how to enter the drawing for the desired product. This will include a cutoff date, indicating when entry must be completed by.
- Notice not up yet? We will reach out to anyone who provides their information to proactively direct persons to the notice once posted.
- All items allocated this way will be limited to a hard cap of one unit.
- All items allocated this way will be ineligible for any discounts.
- It is possible an item will be changed to Random Drawing after we start taking preorders; we’ll reach out to everyone down at that point to provide instructions.
This method is often used when the number of units we were able to receive (or expect to receive) is 20% or less of local demand.
Additional Units
Sometimes, we are able to get more copies of items post-release, in which case we will continue to reach out as they arrive to notify people as we continue fulfilling units under the same method as the initial allocation.
Communication
We send texts out individually to everyone on our preorders list. This includes the allocation, if any, for every product that was requested. If you have a preorder with us, and do not receive a text as the release date looms, or have any questions about the text you receive, please give us a text back: (509) 404-3111
Games Workshop Preorders
GW Preorders
Games Workshop provides previews for new Warhammer products on a constant basis. We’re happy to take your preorders for these items so we can best ensure we have your product available on release!
To this end, there’s some important dates to keep an eye out for.
Product Life Cycle
Initial Preview
Each product is likely to be previewed well in advance of its release. Keep an eye out for previews at large events such as Adepticon, Las Vegas Open, and Nova Open. As soon as we have the name of a product, we can register your interest!
Sunday Preview
Official release announcements happen on Sundays, in an article posted to Warhammer Community called “Sunday Preview”. This is when the official release date is announced, as well as when we receive the product data for items.
From this date, retailers only have one full business day before preorders are due! Let us know what you want immediately!
The full archive of these articles can be found here:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/topics/sunday-preview/
Retailer Preorder Date
Retailers must place their preorders just over 48 hours after the Sunday Preview goes live. This…isn’t a lot of time. We generally order a buffer of additional units for new releases, but it will be difficult to fulfill any requests we receive after EOB Monday. Restocks will eventually arrive, so fear not! You should still let us know what you’re looking for so we can restock in appropriate quantities.
GW Preorder Date
GW will sometimes advertise a “preorder date” on the Saturday following the Sunday Preview. This is the date when new releases can be preordered on the Warhammer webstore, but it is almost a week past when retailers put in their preorders with GW!
Release Date
The date the products can get into your hands! All GW releases occur on Saturday almost every week of the year (except Black Friday, and a couple other exceptions). Respecting Street Date is a very important aspect of stewardship, and releases will never be available prior to the appropriate release date.
How to request an item
Ask at the counter or send us a text at (509) 404-3111!
When you reach out, we need:
- Your name – First and Last
- Your phone number – so we can reach back out
- Product name – we’ll work to confirm we know exactly what you’re asking for
- Quantity – let us know if you need more than one!
No pre-payment is accepted for Preorders.
What Happen Next?
Mostly, we’ll text you back as soon as we have your request in-stock! We may also text you to confirm exactly which product you’re looking for (if it’s still unclear), or to let you know that we sadly cannot stock/restock the item in question. If the item has a street-date, we’ll let you know the date you can pick up the item when we reach out.
Stock Requests
Stock Requests
Sometimes, we don’t carry the thing you’re looking for. Or we may have just sold out! We attempt to restock a massive catalog of items across numerous distributors every week, but not everything is available when we ask for it, which can cause long outages.
Just let us know if you don’t see something, and we’ll look into how quickly we can get it back in for you. Once we get it back in, we’ll shoot you a text message and hold it for you behind the counter!
How to request an item
Ask at the counter or send us a text at (509) 404-3111!
When you reach out, we need:
- Your name – First and Last
- Your phone number – so we can reach back out
- Product name – we’ll work to confirm we know exactly what you’re asking for
- Quantity – let us know if you need more than one!
No pre-payment is accepted for Stock Requests.
What Happen Next?
Mostly, we’ll text you back as soon as we have your request in-stock! We may also text you to confirm exactly which product you’re looking for (if it’s still unclear), or to let you know that we sadly cannot stock/restock the item in question. If the item has a street-date, we’ll let you know the date you can pick up the item when we reach out.