Comics publishers squeeze
Canadian newsstand buyers
Are Canadian comics buyers suckers? Apparently at least some comic book publishers think so, according to a story in The Comic Wire, a website for fans and collectors. Marvel Comics has hiked prices on some titles, says the site.
The price hike seems to be isolated to a few specific titles like “Ultimate Fantastic Four” and “New Avengers.” To find out if a Marvel title you are reading is in this group, check the indicia on the first page of the comic book. This indicia for “Ultimate Fantastic Four #43” states that the price is “$2.99 per copy in the U.S and $3.75 in Canada (GST #R127032852) in the direct market and $3.99 per copy in the U.S. and $5.75 in Canada (GST #R127032852) through the newsstands; Canadian Agreement #40668537.”It looks like comic book publishers may be trying to get a greater price offset on newsstands because unsold copies are returnable (as opposed to comic book stores).And it also looks as though they are ignoring the closing exchange rate gap between the US and Canadian dollars.
That one sentence in the indicia explains why this went virtually unnoticed. This price increase doesn't impact most readers of those titles. The only two groups that are going to feel this price hike are newsstand shoppers and Canadians. Now is not the best time to be a Canadian that buys comic books at newsstands.
Where it gets confusion is when you ask why a different exchange rate is used for the newsstand channel. That rate is $1 USD equaling $1.43 Canadian. That is an 18 cent difference per US dollar. That copy of “Ultimate Fantastic #43” that can be bought for $2.99 in a direct market comic book store in the USA would cost $3.99 at a newsstand in the USA. In Canada, that same comic book would cost $3.75 Canadian at a direct market comic book store and $5.75 Canadian at a newsstand. That is an increase of $2 Canadian for copies sold through Canadian newsstands. This penalty for Canadians is highly ironic since most comic books are printed in Canada.It also appears (see comment about CBC.ca story)that Canadian and U.S. comic stores will be selling all titles at the U.S. price.
Labels: newsstand, Single copy
posted by D. B. Scott at
9:26 am
3 Comments:
Interesting timing. There's a story on CBC.ca that says most Canadian comic booksellers are selling their product at the American sticker price.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/07/12/books-prices.html?ref=rss
Far from "most Canadian comic booksellers". The article says one Canadian retailer is doing that. None of the stores in Edmonton do it.
Agreed that Silver Snail is quoted as having done it, but clearly in the CBC story Chapters-Indigo, the largest chain in the country, is actively considering shifting its discount structure on comic books; it represents 70% of Canadian newsstands (although those do not include comics retailers).
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home