So the when I used to work at GameStop, the promo codes and preorder content printed on the receipts when you purchase the physical item. Something similar could be done here.
Apples and Oranges.
Video Games is an industry in which every publisher has university has adopted the practice of using such codes, and whose products can only be used with internet connected devices, and those preorders are only available at retailers with the highest volume of sales such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and GameStop. The software to have all of those codes individually generated at the POS is ridiculously expensive and was probably subsidized by the publishers. It requires every individual code to be generated at the POS. That kind of thing could only be implemented if the publishers issue each of those retailers a specific block of codes to prevent competing retailers from issuing the same code to different customers, which is part of why preorders are limited. On top of that, for retailers with brick and mortar locations, the code generation software has to also prevent to different locations from generating the codes in realtime... globally....
You can purchase a copy of the PHB on Amazon and in every Walmart, and Target in the world, and theoretically WotC could piggyback off of the same code generation software used for video games... if the video game publishers agreed to the use of that software. But you can also buy a PHB at Barnes&Nobel as well as every other bookstore in the world, and at every comic book store and LGS in the world too. Some of those still use POS systems that are not even capable of internet connection. WotC is not going to pay for upgrading all of that. And even if they did, how could it possibly continue for every book indefinitely? It’s not possible with current technology. And on top of that, the books would have to cost more because WotC would have to charge more to cover the costs of the digital product.* After that they would have to pay DDB for those copies, and currently the money flows the other direction. *(That’s why a video game costs $60, and a PHB only costs $50. Every brand new copy of the game ever sold contributes towards offsetting the additional costs of the preorders until a certain point and then the rest is just extra profit.)
It would only really be feasible if those codes were only generated for digital preorders, and the code unlocked a manufacturer’s coupon for the physical books. But then all of those comic shops and LGSs would loose sales since nothing else they retail uses coupons so they have no systems in place to deal with such things. The other alternative would be if the digital preorder code worked like a mail-in rebate. So then you would have to submit your code to WotC and then wait 30-90 days for them to send you a paper check in the mail....
The only other, other alternative would be something really crazy, like if DDB just sold you the product for something like 40% off MSRP so it would only cost $30 instead of $50. 🤔.... Nah, that would never work. 🤨
So the when I used to work at GameStop, the promo codes and preorder content printed on the receipts when you purchase the physical item. Something similar could be done here.
That kind of infrastructure is not free. Somebody has to pay and work to implement that system. Please read this pinned post for more information, and it has already been stated countless times why things are probably the way they are right now.
Personally, I am vehemently opposed to Beyond spending any more of their resources to appease people who have not paid a dime to this site, as Beyond have yet to satisfy their existing paying customers. Beyond is already stretched thin on manpower and resources, and they still have not implemented a lot of options, features, and rules in various books. As a paying customer, I have already spent just over $800 on this site, and I would be extremely upset if the business I patronize prioritizes the needs of people who do not even support the business. I do not care if a person bought all the physical copies of the books; none of that money went to Beyond, and their needs should not be prioritized over my needs. For example, I am still waiting for Epic Boons to be implemented, I am still waiting for Spell Points to be an additional option for my players, I am still waiting for My Characters section to have better organization, and all that waiting is just the tip of the iceberg. And there are plenty of people with icebergs of annoyance and frustration far bigger than mine.
People with physical books can already use the site for free, since they can just use private homebrew to manually digitize the information in their books. I agree that it is a hassle, but time is the price people will have to pay if they do not want to pay with money.
So the when I used to work at GameStop, the promo codes and preorder content printed on the receipts when you purchase the physical item. Something similar could be done here.
That kind of infrastructure is not free. Somebody has to pay and work to implement that system. Please read this pinned post for more information, and it has already been stated countless times why things are probably the way they are right now.
Personally, I am vehemently opposed to Beyond spending any more of their resources to appease people who have not paid a dime to this site, as Beyond have yet to satisfy their existing paying customers. Beyond is already stretched thin on manpower and resources, and they still have not implemented a lot of options, features, and rules in various books. As a paying customer, I have already spent just over $800 on this site, and I would be extremely upset if the business I patronize prioritizes the needs of people who do not even support the business. I do not care if a person bought all the physical copies of the books; none of that money went to Beyond, and their needs should not be prioritized over my needs. For example, I am still waiting for Epic Boons to be implemented, I am still waiting for Spell Points to be an additional option for my players, I am still waiting for My Characters section to have better organization, and all that waiting is just the tip of the iceberg. And there are plenty of people with icebergs of annoyance and frustration far bigger than mine.
People with physical books can already use the site for free, since they can just use private homebrew to manually digitize the information in their books. I agree that it is a hassle, but time is the price people will have to pay if they do not want to pay with money.
I don't think anyone is arguing for buying the book at Walmart, getting a code for the DDB unlock and DDB not getting ANY of the sale. Obviously if they did implement a code system wherever you redeem that code - DDB, Fantasy Ground, Roll20, etc... that online entity would get a % of that sale. Yes, that introduces complexity, but not that much.
In theory Wizards sells the book/digital to the retailer for x. The retailer sells that for y. Each month DDB and others provide a list of how many books were redeemed, Wizards cuts a check for the total. Wizards has already been paid for both the book (which they are providing) and digital (which they are not providing) at time of sale to the retailer. Pretty straight forward. Yes - I know this is a simplified explanation, but this is how you could do it.
So the when I used to work at GameStop, the promo codes and preorder content printed on the receipts when you purchase the physical item. Something similar could be done here.
That kind of infrastructure is not free. Somebody has to pay and work to implement that system. Please read this pinned post for more information, and it has already been stated countless times why things are probably the way they are right now.
Personally, I am vehemently opposed to Beyond spending any more of their resources to appease people who have not paid a dime to this site, as Beyond have yet to satisfy their existing paying customers. Beyond is already stretched thin on manpower and resources, and they still have not implemented a lot of options, features, and rules in various books. As a paying customer, I have already spent just over $800 on this site, and I would be extremely upset if the business I patronize prioritizes the needs of people who do not even support the business. I do not care if a person bought all the physical copies of the books; none of that money went to Beyond, and their needs should not be prioritized over my needs. For example, I am still waiting for Epic Boons to be implemented, I am still waiting for Spell Points to be an additional option for my players, I am still waiting for My Characters section to have better organization, and all that waiting is just the tip of the iceberg. And there are plenty of people with icebergs of annoyance and frustration far bigger than mine.
People with physical books can already use the site for free, since they can just use private homebrew to manually digitize the information in their books. I agree that it is a hassle, but time is the price people will have to pay if they do not want to pay with money.
I don't think anyone is arguing for buying the book at Walmart, getting a code for the DDB unlock and DDB not getting ANY of the sale. Obviously if they did implement a code system wherever you redeem that code - DDB, Fantasy Ground, Roll20, etc... that online entity would get a % of that sale. Yes, that introduces complexity, but not that much.
In theory Wizards sells the book/digital to the retailer for x. The retailer sells that for y. Each month DDB and others provide a list of how many books were redeemed, Wizards cuts a check for the total. Wizards has already been paid for both the book (which they are providing) and digital (which they are not providing) at time of sale to the retailer. Pretty straight forward. Yes - I know this is a simplified explanation, but this is how you could do it.
And somebody has to pay to implement that system, and it has been explained constantly over, and over, and over again that nobody wants to pay for it on various threads like this and in the pinned post. You cannot just expect something to come about for free, and people often underestimate the cost of implementing infrastructure like this.
Wizards see no reason to do it, and if that model really worked out that well, we would see more products like the Essentials Kit after that came out.
Most customers sure as hell are not going to pay for that system, or else they would not be constantly asking to integrate their physical and digital products on here.
Print a code on the receipt of purchase just like GameStop does for dlc and exclusive downloads. If someone sells the code then so be it. And only offer the code of the hardcover or deluxe edition. I’m new to dnd and am torn in whether to go digital or hard copy so I just found PDFs on Reddit for the time being until I make a decision but homebrewing seems to be my future since it’s free and I can just create the things that are in addition source books for my own use. Digital+physic bundles would encourage me to buy all the sourcebooks and start buying adventures. Like I wanna get the new feywild witchlight but I want a digital copy on DDB to encounter build and a hard copy to read at work/on the train lol
Print a code on the receipt of purchase just like GameStop does for dlc and exclusive downloads. If someone sells the code then so be it. And only offer the code of the hardcover or deluxe edition. I’m new to dnd and am torn in whether to go digital or hard copy so I just found PDFs on Reddit for the time being until I make a decision but homebrewing seems to be my future since it’s free and I can just create the things that are in addition source books for my own use. Digital+physic bundles would encourage me to buy all the sourcebooks and start buying adventures. Like I wanna get the new feywild witchlight but I want a digital copy on DDB to encounter build and a hard copy to read at work/on the train lol
In order to print codes on the receipt, you need your PoS (Point of Sale) system to be configured to accept external data, as well as having it connected to an authentication system that can generate codes on the fly at sale. This is not only expensive to implement from D&D Beyond's perspective (meaning more cost on books), but it's also expensive for the gaming stores. These PoS systems aren't cheap (they can be in the thousands) and many smaller LGS don't use fancy till systems but instead use things like Square and other smart-payment devices in order to keep costs down.
Contrast that with Gamestop, a massive retail chain with it's own centralised PoS system that itself can be connected to DLC/digital sale verification with Xbox/Sony/Nintendos code generation system, it's not even a comparison.
This would create a two-tiered retail model; those gaming stores that can afford the PoS systems and those that can't. However, this would still result in higher book costs (either physical or digital), meaning customers are going to be driven to those stores that can afford the more expensive PoS system.
This isn't even touching on the fact that D&D Beyond isn't the only digital retailer (there's also Fantasy Grounds and roll20) so how would you handle that? Select a code at sale? Cool, the system just got more complex and thus more expensive. Generate all three codes? Well now the books have jumped in price even more to cover the fact you're now subsidising three versions instead of one. Only server D&D Beyond? That is not at all in Wizards interest as they benefit from having multiple digital partners.
Ultimately this is a problem that has no solution that doesn't put someone much worse off than they are now.
or just skip all of that and just sell the book/digital online direct from Wizards, the customer selects their online platform of choice.
That would be a decision for Wizards of the Coast to make, which is beyond the scope of this feedback forum. D&D Beyond isn't going to dictate how Wizards of the Coast distributes their products; it'd probably be better to direct this feedback directly to WotC
or just skip all of that and just sell the book/digital online direct from Wizards, the customer selects their online platform of choice.
That would be a decision for Wizards of the Coast to make, which is beyond the scope of this feedback forum. D&D Beyond isn't going to dictate how Wizards of the Coast distributes their products; it'd probably be better to direct this feedback directly to WotC
It isn't feedback, it is me saying that it eliminates all the complexity of a POS and would be a way to do this, but it isn't going to happen either way.
or just skip all of that and just sell the book/digital online direct from Wizards, the customer selects their online platform of choice.
That would be a decision for Wizards of the Coast to make, which is beyond the scope of this feedback forum. D&D Beyond isn't going to dictate how Wizards of the Coast distributes their products; it'd probably be better to direct this feedback directly to WotC
It isn't feedback, it is me saying that it eliminates all the complexity of a POS and would be a way to do this, but it isn't going to happen either way.
It also eliminates the need to buy books from your local gaming store, which would harm their sales. Gaming stores don't just sell D&D books but (pre pandemic at least) provided spaces for people to play D&D. Wizards has always been active in supporting gaming stores, hence why the alternate covers are store exclusives. So I don't think this would be the solution you may think it is.
or just skip all of that and just sell the book/digital online direct from Wizards, the customer selects their online platform of choice.
That would be a decision for Wizards of the Coast to make, which is beyond the scope of this feedback forum. D&D Beyond isn't going to dictate how Wizards of the Coast distributes their products; it'd probably be better to direct this feedback directly to WotC
It isn't feedback, it is me saying that it eliminates all the complexity of a POS and would be a way to do this, but it isn't going to happen either way.
It also eliminates the need to buy books from your local gaming store, which would harm their sales. Gaming stores don't just sell D&D books but (pre pandemic at least) provided spaces for people to play D&D. Wizards has always been active in supporting gaming stores, hence why the alternate covers are store exclusives. So I don't think this would be the solution you may think it is.
It only eliminates buying from the store if you are specifically buying both a physical and digital. If you are going to a local store to play, you are probably more interested in the physical book, but ok, so you buy the book in store, nothing would stop Wizards from letting you upload your receipt to get the digital at a 'reduced' rate.
and yes, I know it isn't fool proof and someone could just return the book, I don't care about the dozen reasons this could be abused. It would be a way (without any effort on the store) someone could get both, and again - it isn't going to happen anyway, so there really isn't any point in arguing over why this wouldn't work, it's just another way that it could be done.
Here's my thoughts have a small brick and morter store I go to play dnd I want nothing more then to buy stuff amd support them but digital books help me better as I can make characters much better and easier since I'm new so here is my proposal on the situation. What they could be is sell codes cheaper then the books like they do on beyond but give them to the store themselves to sell instead of having to go to the app it helps the app and the store. I don't necessarily need the physical Book just the info.
As mentioned multiple times before (please read the pinned thread on this subject), it is not that simple nor cheap, and Beyond has no incentive to allow others to cut into their profits.
they could just have the code printed on ur receipt like they did with phone top up
This requires gaming stores to use a POS (Point of Sale) system that runs just the right software to connect to the D&D Beyond servers and automatically request codes be generated on the fly on a purchase. This would require D&D Beyond create a secure code generation API that can only be accessed by authorised POS systems that can prove the validity of the transaction. This system would be expensive because it'd require gaming stores to replace their POS system, or even buy one; many gaming stores don't operate using a POS system, but using an off the shelf application (or even sheets or excel) and white label EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) system like square, sumup or iZettle. To give you some perspective, a Square unit is about $25 + fees, and google sheets for sales logging and inventory is free. A basic POS system can be several thousand dollars.
This isn't even looking at the costs this would create for D&D Beyond trying to open up an API for their code generation system securely. So you've got gaming stores footing more costs for an upgraded, likely bespoke POS software system, D&D Beyond footing more costs for a secure API purchase callback system, and someone footing more costs (be it Wizards, D&D Beyond, or you, the consumer) for bundling the books together. Ultimately this approach would be an everyone loses type deal.
they could just have the code printed on ur receipt like they did with phone top up
This requires gaming stores to use a POS (Point of Sale) system that runs just the right software to connect to the D&D Beyond servers and automatically request codes be generated on the fly on a purchase. This would require D&D Beyond create a secure code generation API that can only be accessed by authorised POS systems that can prove the validity of the transaction. This system would be expensive because it'd require gaming stores to replace their POS system, or even buy one; many gaming stores don't operate using a POS system, but using an off the shelf application (or even sheets or excel) and white label EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) system like square, sumup or iZettle. To give you some perspective, a Square unit is about $25 + fees, and google sheets for sales logging and inventory is free. A basic POS system can be several thousand dollars.
This isn't even looking at the costs this would create for D&D Beyond trying to open up an API for their code generation system securely. So you've got gaming stores footing more costs for an upgraded, likely bespoke POS software system, D&D Beyond footing more costs for a secure API purchase callback system, and someone footing more costs (be it Wizards, D&D Beyond, or you, the consumer) for bundling the books together. Ultimately this approach would be an everyone loses type deal.
Yeah everyone loses except the customer. That is the point.
they could just have the code printed on ur receipt like they did with phone top up
This requires gaming stores to use a POS (Point of Sale) system that runs just the right software to connect to the D&D Beyond servers and automatically request codes be generated on the fly on a purchase. This would require D&D Beyond create a secure code generation API that can only be accessed by authorised POS systems that can prove the validity of the transaction. This system would be expensive because it'd require gaming stores to replace their POS system, or even buy one; many gaming stores don't operate using a POS system, but using an off the shelf application (or even sheets or excel) and white label EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) system like square, sumup or iZettle. To give you some perspective, a Square unit is about $25 + fees, and google sheets for sales logging and inventory is free. A basic POS system can be several thousand dollars.
This isn't even looking at the costs this would create for D&D Beyond trying to open up an API for their code generation system securely. So you've got gaming stores footing more costs for an upgraded, likely bespoke POS software system, D&D Beyond footing more costs for a secure API purchase callback system, and someone footing more costs (be it Wizards, D&D Beyond, or you, the consumer) for bundling the books together. Ultimately this approach would be an everyone loses type deal.
Yeah everyone loses except the customer. That is the point.
Except doing all this would drive up costs on all ends, inflating prices for the customer, who then also loses as well.
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Apples and Oranges.
Video Games is an industry in which every publisher has university has adopted the practice of using such codes, and whose products can only be used with internet connected devices, and those preorders are only available at retailers with the highest volume of sales such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and GameStop. The software to have all of those codes individually generated at the POS is ridiculously expensive and was probably subsidized by the publishers. It requires every individual code to be generated at the POS. That kind of thing could only be implemented if the publishers issue each of those retailers a specific block of codes to prevent competing retailers from issuing the same code to different customers, which is part of why preorders are limited. On top of that, for retailers with brick and mortar locations, the code generation software has to also prevent to different locations from generating the codes in realtime... globally....
You can purchase a copy of the PHB on Amazon and in every Walmart, and Target in the world, and theoretically WotC could piggyback off of the same code generation software used for video games... if the video game publishers agreed to the use of that software. But you can also buy a PHB at Barnes&Nobel as well as every other bookstore in the world, and at every comic book store and LGS in the world too. Some of those still use POS systems that are not even capable of internet connection. WotC is not going to pay for upgrading all of that. And even if they did, how could it possibly continue for every book indefinitely? It’s not possible with current technology. And on top of that, the books would have to cost more because WotC would have to charge more to cover the costs of the digital product.* After that they would have to pay DDB for those copies, and currently the money flows the other direction.
*(That’s why a video game costs $60, and a PHB only costs $50. Every brand new copy of the game ever sold contributes towards offsetting the additional costs of the preorders until a certain point and then the rest is just extra profit.)
It would only really be feasible if those codes were only generated for digital preorders, and the code unlocked a manufacturer’s coupon for the physical books. But then all of those comic shops and LGSs would loose sales since nothing else they retail uses coupons so they have no systems in place to deal with such things. The other alternative would be if the digital preorder code worked like a mail-in rebate. So then you would have to submit your code to WotC and then wait 30-90 days for them to send you a paper check in the mail....
The only other, other alternative would be something really crazy, like if DDB just sold you the product for something like 40% off MSRP so it would only cost $30 instead of $50. 🤔.... Nah, that would never work. 🤨
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
That kind of infrastructure is not free. Somebody has to pay and work to implement that system. Please read this pinned post for more information, and it has already been stated countless times why things are probably the way they are right now.
Personally, I am vehemently opposed to Beyond spending any more of their resources to appease people who have not paid a dime to this site, as Beyond have yet to satisfy their existing paying customers. Beyond is already stretched thin on manpower and resources, and they still have not implemented a lot of options, features, and rules in various books. As a paying customer, I have already spent just over $800 on this site, and I would be extremely upset if the business I patronize prioritizes the needs of people who do not even support the business. I do not care if a person bought all the physical copies of the books; none of that money went to Beyond, and their needs should not be prioritized over my needs. For example, I am still waiting for Epic Boons to be implemented, I am still waiting for Spell Points to be an additional option for my players, I am still waiting for My Characters section to have better organization, and all that waiting is just the tip of the iceberg. And there are plenty of people with icebergs of annoyance and frustration far bigger than mine.
People with physical books can already use the site for free, since they can just use private homebrew to manually digitize the information in their books. I agree that it is a hassle, but time is the price people will have to pay if they do not want to pay with money.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I don't think anyone is arguing for buying the book at Walmart, getting a code for the DDB unlock and DDB not getting ANY of the sale. Obviously if they did implement a code system wherever you redeem that code - DDB, Fantasy Ground, Roll20, etc... that online entity would get a % of that sale. Yes, that introduces complexity, but not that much.
In theory Wizards sells the book/digital to the retailer for x. The retailer sells that for y. Each month DDB and others provide a list of how many books were redeemed, Wizards cuts a check for the total. Wizards has already been paid for both the book (which they are providing) and digital (which they are not providing) at time of sale to the retailer. Pretty straight forward. Yes - I know this is a simplified explanation, but this is how you could do it.
And somebody has to pay to implement that system, and it has been explained constantly over, and over, and over again that nobody wants to pay for it on various threads like this and in the pinned post. You cannot just expect something to come about for free, and people often underestimate the cost of implementing infrastructure like this.
Wizards see no reason to do it, and if that model really worked out that well, we would see more products like the Essentials Kit after that came out.
Most customers sure as hell are not going to pay for that system, or else they would not be constantly asking to integrate their physical and digital products on here.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Print a code on the receipt of purchase just like GameStop does for dlc and exclusive downloads. If someone sells the code then so be it. And only offer the code of the hardcover or deluxe edition. I’m new to dnd and am torn in whether to go digital or hard copy so I just found PDFs on Reddit for the time being until I make a decision but homebrewing seems to be my future since it’s free and I can just create the things that are in addition source books for my own use. Digital+physic bundles would encourage me to buy all the sourcebooks and start buying adventures. Like I wanna get the new feywild witchlight but I want a digital copy on DDB to encounter build and a hard copy to read at work/on the train lol
In order to print codes on the receipt, you need your PoS (Point of Sale) system to be configured to accept external data, as well as having it connected to an authentication system that can generate codes on the fly at sale. This is not only expensive to implement from D&D Beyond's perspective (meaning more cost on books), but it's also expensive for the gaming stores. These PoS systems aren't cheap (they can be in the thousands) and many smaller LGS don't use fancy till systems but instead use things like Square and other smart-payment devices in order to keep costs down.
Contrast that with Gamestop, a massive retail chain with it's own centralised PoS system that itself can be connected to DLC/digital sale verification with Xbox/Sony/Nintendos code generation system, it's not even a comparison.
This would create a two-tiered retail model; those gaming stores that can afford the PoS systems and those that can't. However, this would still result in higher book costs (either physical or digital), meaning customers are going to be driven to those stores that can afford the more expensive PoS system.
This isn't even touching on the fact that D&D Beyond isn't the only digital retailer (there's also Fantasy Grounds and roll20) so how would you handle that? Select a code at sale? Cool, the system just got more complex and thus more expensive. Generate all three codes? Well now the books have jumped in price even more to cover the fact you're now subsidising three versions instead of one. Only server D&D Beyond? That is not at all in Wizards interest as they benefit from having multiple digital partners.
Ultimately this is a problem that has no solution that doesn't put someone much worse off than they are now.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
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or just skip all of that and just sell the book/digital online direct from Wizards, the customer selects their online platform of choice.
You can't just sell "Digital PHB" and have it work flawlessly on every platform.
As a customer you can already select your platform of choice: DDB, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and others I am sure I don't know about.
And Wizards isn't going to just sell a PDF, as that would be trivially easy to redistribute.
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That would be a decision for Wizards of the Coast to make, which is beyond the scope of this feedback forum. D&D Beyond isn't going to dictate how Wizards of the Coast distributes their products; it'd probably be better to direct this feedback directly to WotC
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
It isn't feedback, it is me saying that it eliminates all the complexity of a POS and would be a way to do this, but it isn't going to happen either way.
It also eliminates the need to buy books from your local gaming store, which would harm their sales. Gaming stores don't just sell D&D books but (pre pandemic at least) provided spaces for people to play D&D. Wizards has always been active in supporting gaming stores, hence why the alternate covers are store exclusives. So I don't think this would be the solution you may think it is.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
It only eliminates buying from the store if you are specifically buying both a physical and digital. If you are going to a local store to play, you are probably more interested in the physical book, but ok, so you buy the book in store, nothing would stop Wizards from letting you upload your receipt to get the digital at a 'reduced' rate.
and yes, I know it isn't fool proof and someone could just return the book, I don't care about the dozen reasons this could be abused. It would be a way (without any effort on the store) someone could get both, and again - it isn't going to happen anyway, so there really isn't any point in arguing over why this wouldn't work, it's just another way that it could be done.
As mentioned multiple times before (please read the pinned thread on this subject), it is not that simple nor cheap, and Beyond has no incentive to allow others to cut into their profits.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
they could just have the code printed on ur receipt like they did with phone top up
This requires gaming stores to use a POS (Point of Sale) system that runs just the right software to connect to the D&D Beyond servers and automatically request codes be generated on the fly on a purchase. This would require D&D Beyond create a secure code generation API that can only be accessed by authorised POS systems that can prove the validity of the transaction. This system would be expensive because it'd require gaming stores to replace their POS system, or even buy one; many gaming stores don't operate using a POS system, but using an off the shelf application (or even sheets or excel) and white label EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) system like square, sumup or iZettle. To give you some perspective, a Square unit is about $25 + fees, and google sheets for sales logging and inventory is free. A basic POS system can be several thousand dollars.
This isn't even looking at the costs this would create for D&D Beyond trying to open up an API for their code generation system securely. So you've got gaming stores footing more costs for an upgraded, likely bespoke POS software system, D&D Beyond footing more costs for a secure API purchase callback system, and someone footing more costs (be it Wizards, D&D Beyond, or you, the consumer) for bundling the books together. Ultimately this approach would be an everyone loses type deal.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
glad to see this thread still generates the occasional "just print a code" - "that cost money" back and forth.
Yeah everyone loses except the customer. That is the point.
Except doing all this would drive up costs on all ends, inflating prices for the customer, who then also loses as well.