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Any Board Games Fans?

48 watchers
Feb 2022
8:57pm, 1 Feb 2022
44,224 posts
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
Do they not get the games in at all Synge?


I have seen threads relating to Ark Nova, which is admittedly in short supply everywhere (managed to get mine last week from a very good local supplier!), and relating to Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition (which I know nothing about) where it is reported that they either said they could get no stock or said the price had gone up and they would have to surcharge the buyer.

The factors in their email to you have undoubtedly had an impact on UK supplies, but there seems to be more dissatisfaction with them than with other better established suppliers. I wonder from the name if they are trading card specialists who are venturing into board games and not quite getting their pricing or the certainty around their supply chain quite right.

I would consider going back to them and trying to get a realistic answer from them - maybe cancel your order and buy elsewhere, even if it costs a few pounds more ...
Feb 2022
9:50pm, 1 Feb 2022
13,468 posts
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mrs shanksi
Thanks for the info Synge. I've checked and I can't find it available elsewhere. I might give them another week or so and ask them if they can give me a firm date. If they can't do that then I'll ask for my money back. Looking at their twitter they are a card trading company it seems.
Feb 2022
7:42am, 2 Feb 2022
22,306 posts
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Meglet
It’s a bit naughty advertising stock they don’t actually have yet. Which must be how they’re getting the orders.
Feb 2022
7:50am, 2 Feb 2022
44,244 posts
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
It’s quite common for online board game suppliers to take preorders, but my understanding is that they’ll do this only when they have a confirmed order with their distributor, a reasonable idea of when the container is going to clear customs and that they’ll mark it as out of stock once they’ve taken preorders up to a confirmed quantity. (But that’s several assumptions on my part.)

TC may of course have done some or all of those things, it’s hard to tell. But their prices are arguably too good to be true!
Feb 2022
9:22am, 6 Feb 2022
368 posts
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ftrobbie
A bit late to this.

I have no affiliation to Total Cards, but have used them in the past (last time Aug 21) and have had no issues with them on any orders I've placed (all boardgames).

There can be issue with preorders, I'm still awaiting a Kickstarter 14 months later. Another Kickstarter I preordered through retail, it's fulfillment keeps being pushed back throughout Europe. I don't know the particular issues around Total Cards and Ark Nova, but similar issues occurred with other suppliers and Wingspan last year when the distributor changed the retailer allocations based supply issues (allegedly).

For reference Meeples Corner and Firestorm Cards are the only retailers I can see taking preorders fpr Ark Nova and they are showing a release date of 31 March 2022, if it helps
Feb 2022
10:00am, 6 Feb 2022
44,318 posts
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
Christoph at Meeples Corner is one of the good guys. 👍
Feb 2022
10:06am, 6 Feb 2022
369 posts
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ftrobbie
Yes, it was me that showed Total Cards were taking preorders for Potion Explosion, but they weren't giving a date on the site at the time from memory. Given it is a reprint, they are notorious for being bumped in production ie delayed. Then you have the issues with shipping (capacity) and chaos at British ports. [Thanks for global frictionless trade at UK ports Brexiteers]

BoardGameGuru (I've never used) are showing fulfillment as Feb 2022 for Potion Explosion, Gamers@Hart (I've used for a preorder [just fulfilled]) are not showing a date. It's a waiting game with preorders in the gaming industry, they do not have the negotiating muscle of other industries and are almost a production filler, so dates do get moved. I think it's one of the reasons that Czech Games Editions manufacture their games in house in the Czech Republic.

For reference fulfillment for a game I backed via crowdfunding in February 2020 was supposed to be Jan 2021 (yes 2021). In November 2021, the "promise" was Jan 2022. I got the tracking details on the ship that had my Kickstarter onboard and I have patiently tracked since it left Singapore. The ship finally arrived in Southampton, at the end of Jan 2022. I'm hoping the final leg of fulfillment will be in the next 4-6 weeks. That fulfillment was crowdfunding exclusive, not going to retail, too expensive for what it is. The publisher isn't small, Arcane Wonders, and they had trouble with design completion, production slots and shipping.
If it helps preorders in this industry tend to be fulfilled just later than originally intended. Hope it works out.
Feb 2022
10:15am, 6 Feb 2022
370 posts
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ftrobbie
"Christoph at Meeples Corner is one of the good guys. 👍"

TBH Synge the only bad experience I've had is with Rogue Games, who on 4 orders short shipped twice. I think there were issues in their warehouse and so the "keen" price wasn't worth the hassle especially with the inference that I was scamming them.
Feb 2022
1:38pm, 6 Feb 2022
13,485 posts
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mrs shanksi
Thanks for all the extra info re Total Cards. We ended up cancelling the order and are waiting on getting our money back. They had emailed the following when I originally ordered the game :

Thank you for shopping with us. Your order has been confirmed and is being processed, you will get a notification once your order has been shipped. If you have questions, you can reply to this email, or submit a ticket via your account.

Free Royal Mail - 48 Tracked (2 Days)

Estimate Delivery: Tuesday 1st February

There was nothing about it maybe being delayed so that's why we cancelled. We put a couple of bids in for an auction in ebay but they were both rejected straight away. Going to leave it for a bit, we still have Rules of Play in Cardiff emailing us if it comes in.
Feb 2022
6:58am, 7 Feb 2022
371 posts
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ftrobbie
My recent order confirmation from Rules of Play

"Rules of Play
ORDER #*****
Thank you for your purchase!
Hi ****, we're getting your order ready to be shipped. We will notify you when it has been sent."

I know this is not coming in to the UK until March, got this in December. So re most online games stores with preorders, they do not have a separate system for preorders, they use their standard fulfillment system. So you get an automated confirmation based on the fact that most (>95%) of their business is from stock on quick pick, pack, post cycles.

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Maintained by MisterTea
Any other board games fans out there on Fetch? Any recommendations for some great games?
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