The Ugly Side of Business - Price Increases

[Nathan Caroland]

Hi folks,

Today unfortunately I have to let the ugly side of doing business out of the bag and announce a price increase across the ranges for Wyrd Miniatures.

We have been selling miniatures since December 2005 and during that time we have seen an increase in our production costs due to metal price increases from suppliers, raises in costs for mold making, bases, packaging, printing, shipping as well as inflation in the economy forcing us to become more competitive in our pay with sculptors, painters, artists and other folks who help make Wyrd what it is.

We are currently reassessing the costs that go into the creation and distribution of our miniatures and on April 15th, there will be a raise in price for our product. We will be keeping this as low as possible as we believe in releasing a quality product at a competitive price.

We'll be leaving the current prices in place until April 15th as our way of giving you as much warning as possible on the price increases for those that would like to pick anything up at the current costs, whether through us or our various retailers who have been informed of the price change and will make the increase accordingly as well.

Regards,
Nathan Caroland
Wyrd Miniatures

[goblyn13]

thanks for the warning, and unfortunately its not something unexpected as everyone seems to be having to account for the increased prices on tin, and the weaker US dollar.

[Hinton]

Thanks for letting us know, Nathan.

It's unfortunate, but it happens to every business eventually. Speaking for myself, I would rather see a bit of an increase and have you stay in business making great minis rather you selling them at a price that might force you to close up shop.

[demonherald]

here here......get em in folks ...you know you want to....

[DeafNala]

Hey Nathan,
An advance warning is most definitely going the extra distance in customer appreciation. As Hinton say, I'd rather pay a bit more & see you succeed [do we get a discount for brownie points?].
Now, if I can get my pigeons to pay up, I'll get off an order before the [well deserved] price rise.

[Valmont]

Its a fair cop. Hell, one of my vendors announced the need today to add a $7.00 fuel charge onto every order I place, which is a minimum of $1000 order once per week, so the $.25 to $2.00 I'm expecting to see is perfectly reasonable. Heck, I'm suprised prices haven't gone up more over the years and I don't fault you a bit.

[wiccanpony]

That's alright...... I'll just sell one of the kiddlets LOL

[Xenon_Wulf]

I think those price hikes are felt everywhere - no need to apologize for trying to remain in business.

[Thryth]

That subject line scared me. I found the message a relief after that. :)

[Duende]

Noooooooooooooooooo................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!

That's ok, the prices of everything keeps going up.

And my paycheck keeps getting smaller! :mad: (My insurance premiums went up too, grrrrr!)

[diehard]

First, I just want to say how highly commendable to give your customers an advanced warning and a grace period before this increase takes effect. My respect for you just went up a few notches Nathan.
Secondly, as others have said, no need to apologize, with the current economic conditions everything is feeling the crunch, luxury items most of all. also highly commendable that you held of on this for this long.
Lastly, I also agree that if paying a couple more bucks helps keep Wyrd in business then by all means do what you must to continue to do what you do. I may have only been a recent convert and have only managed to pick up Lilliths skirmish group so far but have plans to add quite a few more in the near future.

And besides, it's not like Malifaux's not going to be a major hit and propel Wyrd into the big time so we really have nothing to worry about now, do we.

[thewartoad]

Thanks Nathan for the update. I think we all understand and acknowledge it.

[johnboyjjb]

We all work for a living. We all get paid. If the pay ain't worth the work, you have to do something else. In this case, asking for more money to cover expenses is the only logical option seeing as how you love doing this, don't you?

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks for letting us know, Nathan.

It's unfortunate, but it happens to every business eventually. Speaking for myself, I would rather see a bit of an increase and have you stay in business making great minis rather you selling them at a price that might force you to close up shop.

What he said. You put out quality stuff and have an awesome staff to boot. I appreciate the warning, but it won't keep me from buying your stuff.

[Grinning Buddha]

What he said. You put out quality stuff and have an awesome staff to boot. I appreciate the warning, but it won't keep me from buying your stuff.

Add an echo to this for me too!

[The_Brain]

Ok, now this thread is awesome enough to stick to Wyrd, but when i received a mail with the information i knew this is the most awesome service/forum/company/community ever. I´m really impressed.

[EricJ]

Man, Nathan and I worried about this price increase for months I think, figuring how to put it off or avoid it, but it was finally time it had to be done, so we decided to make sure everyone knew ahead of time and didn't just show up one day and the prices were jacked up. I'm really really relieved it didn't chase everyone off!

[v22TTC]

Yeah, I was with Thryth - saw the headline and had that sinking feeling... think this industry's had enough business ugliness in the last few years to last us a while - Oh, it's only a price increase: hurray!

I can see how you guys at Wyrd feel because you're decent folks but I reckon a necessary price increase isn't the ugly side of business but just the neutral side, really... it's business, like selling stuff to people is business....

Cheers for the heads up (and email) and I suspect that even after the increase, Wyrd minis will still be less expensive than most of the minis I buy.

[Valmont]

And of course we could all make purchases now to give them extra capital to limit their angst....

I assume you make more money direct then if we buy through Neil at the warstore so my Wyrd purchases will continue to be direct (Neil gets enough of my money, infrequently as my purchases are).

[eastman]

By "ugly side", I was afraid you were going to PPP.

A price increase isn't unexpected, so it isn't a big deal to me.

[Nathan Caroland]

Hah, no, never PPP. As for the price increase, its something I've agonized over for a long while now, better than half a year to be honest as I've tried to figure out one way or another to shift things around, find a cheaper way to do things, etc. Believe me, didn't make the choice lightly, though I know 'everyone' is doing so these days, I'm just one of those that hates to do stuff like that.

Ah well, economics and business being what it is, naturally I have to learn and accept and hope that folks aren't too put off by it. I see plenty of 'no worries, its understandable' from folks, both public and private, but naturally one always worries about stuff like this that affects the business on an overall.

As for purchases direct, yes, that puts more capital in our pockets and is always appreciated but I never tell folks to shun our retailers either as its perfectly understandable to want to be able to pick up everything in one spot and to be honest, the sales come our direction eventually anyhow. Naturally we do appreciate it though. Thank you.

[Nathan Caroland]

The price increases and product codes have been changed and updated as of today, along with some minor title or name changes.

For those of you that take the time to look, you'll see that we've begun to organize our product a bit more coherently with the product codes for the factions and the game, as that was part of the trouble of being a miniature company first with game aspirations come late.

In this regards we're able to make a bit more sense in our product layout such as moving the weapons into the 'Base and Accessories' category as it obviously makes much more sense to do that instead of having it break the rhythm of the product codes.

Factions have been separated by product code, which will give ya'll a bit more of a heads up on what we're doing and who goes with whom. One or two might surprise ya'll as well for that matter.

WYR000x - Bases and Accessories
WYR100x - Guild
WYR200x - Resurrectionists
WYR300x - Arcanists
WYR400x - Neverborn
WYR500x - Mercenaries

WYRCP00X - Catacomb Prowlers

We've also started the industry standard product code of three letters vs. our original two which has changed us from WM to WYR. Nothing anyone really needs to care about, just that it makes things more coherent for retailers and distributors and causes them less work and aggravation.

That's about it. Organization is quite welcome, but the increases are something that we fought for some time. We hope you'll still find the product and efforts worthwhile.

Best,
Nathan

[goblyn13]

thanks for the heads up and thank you so much for making it easier to determine the factions :)

[Magno]

And yet you're prices for the starter sets are still a great deal.