I know that this occurs, usually it doesn't bother me because I'm not interested in any variants. Sometime before my first LCS closed down it charged 25 cents for the lantern corps rings that were supposed to come free with the comics. I didn't mind because it wasn't much and I really loved that store. I went to my current LCS to get one villains month book, the only one I'm interested in for the whole month (not counting Forever Evil) just because it sort of ties into a title I'm reading. None of the $2.99 ones were on the shelves and won't be in for a little while.
They did have the special covers. Since I'm not getting many comics spending another dollar wouldn't be too bad. Only they are charging $12 and up for the special covers. I noticed a few of the older covers are apparently selling for at least $25. This is especially ridiculous because I can literally get these covers online for the cover price. Actually at some online places I can get them 10-20% cheaper. Most variants online are usually marked up but not most of these (I heard Harley Quinn was but I can't say if it's true since I don't see it listed.) It's really annoying and makes me want to shop online instead of waiting for them to get the $2.99 shipment. Especially since I only try to make one trip that way a month since it is a bit out of the way.
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That is outrageous! And stupid, since, you can as you said, buy them more cheaply elsewhere. I wonder if they actually sold any of those books at the insanely inflated prices?
ReplyDeleteI always wonder about that. I did overhear someone talking about the Harley Quinn selling for a much higher price in store but I'm not sure about the others.
ReplyDeleteBack before the Internet, it was common to find regional pricing varying widely. You have no idea how many collectors -- comic books, dolls, sports memorabilia, etc. -- I have heard complain about how the Internet "destroyed" values by removing barriers to uneven distribution. (That is my language, not theirs. Theirs invariably sounds something like "stupid eBay lowballs prices on everything just to screw me!") Even now, I find that many smaller market shops still do similar mark-ups just because they have one or two customers who will pay it. (Many consumers are just too lazy or ignorant or impatient to shop around.) It's the natural mentality of some salesmen to think they should sell something for however much they can get for it. (Morality and capitalism are old enemies.) The old adage "buyer beware" applies as much now as it ever did.
ReplyDeleteTrue, sometimes laziness, ignorance and impatience wins out. I'm always somewhat surprised to find items like $60.00 price variants sell out. Although the consumers that feel obligated to get every comic and/or collectable no matter what play a part too. Their willing to pay the price so the market keeps selling it at those costs because it still works.
ReplyDeleteMy first LCS didn't do as well but this current place? I think I'm the customer that gets the least amount of things month to month. I've stood in line while others get HUGE stacks of comics that usually are the size of 6 or 7 trades. It's very commonplace to see most of the customers with big stack and still looking through everything.