local comic shop scammin'?

[daveageallen]

so my lcs charges more for varient cover issues of comics. like a 3.99 issue of new avengers was at 8.99 even though by the bar code it still said 3.99,the day it came out.
i was wondering if all shops do that or if they are ripping people off, they seem to be kinda weird with people so i want to make sure.

usually i dont care about covers, but the cap 600 varient looks so good.

help me out.

[ANewHope]

$8.99 is hardly a rip off (debateable)

Although there are 50/50 variants that might be published, there are also variant covers for every 25 issues, or even 1 in 50 or 1 in 100. [NOTE: not every comic has variant covers.]

The cap 600 even has a 1 in 250 variant which will probably go for $100 dollars on ebay or higher.

It's a luxury item. Variant covers are generally much rarer than regular covers.

Usually, for every 25 regular covers sold, there is only 1 variant produced.

Today, I bought 2 Batman and Robin variants paying $7.00 bucks for each. In addition, I bought 2 copies of the regular cover the day before. So in total, I bought 4 copies of Batman and Robin.

[Lusus420]

Oh man, that's completely normal. Where I am, 1-in-10 issues go for $10, 1-in-25 issues go for $25.... and so on. That's just how it is, I guess. However, the variant market has dried up a bit, so a 1-in-25 might go for $18-20 now, unless the book is hot...

[Rurik]

Sounds like that's a matter of opinion then, charging more than $4 when that's the price on the bar code sounds like a massive ripoff to me.

[daveageallen]

Sounds like that's a matter of opinion then, charging more than $4 when that's the price on the bar code sounds like a massive ripoff to me.

me too. they seem to just stack both comics next to each other, a pile of each and some are just more money than others. weird to me. the 50/50 varients are what i see most and they are always more money.

[Lusus420]

Yeah, it is a ripoff, but imagine this...the shop owner puts out a stack of comics...then, he opens the doors and people FLY in to scoop up all the 1-in-25 comics in with the other regular covers. It would be a madhouse situation; like a Wal-Mart on the first day of Christmas shopping, complete with trampled people. Wait....that kinda sounds cool; I'd be waiting at the door!

[Rurik]

It especially sounds like a ripoff with the 50/50 ones, if they're evenly split half and half, how is either cover worth more than the other? There's just as many of both at that ratio.

[Lusus420]

OK, Rurik, I see what you mean. No, my shop doesn't charge extra on any 50/50 covers. Sometimes, one cover will end up worth more than the other, but when they're new? Sounds like your shop is screwin' people! I'm glad my shop doesn't do that. I think he knows better...we'd riot if he did that!:evilsmile:

[mgs]

mine only does this with some comics (different publishers and series'), not all of them.

As long as 'regular' cost issues are available, I don't have too much of a problem, it's only them trying to reap back costs of running the place.

[TheORKINMan]

My LCS owner has the best system for this. Say he gets a Wolverine Variant, he assigns each customer who subs to Wolverine a number and rolls a D&D dice to see who gets that variant and he then sells it at cover price. I've gotten a few nice variants this way including Uncanny X-Men #500 and some THunderbolts and Cap variants.

[Rurik]

I actually like that idea.

[_OM_]

Sounds like that's a matter of opinion then, charging more than $4 when that's the price on the bar code sounds like a massive ripoff to me.

...Actually, I strongly suggest contacting your respective state AG's office, because as these are new items charging more than what's marked on the barcode may be illegal. In Texas, I know for a fact that it is because it's considered "Bait and Switch", which the Texas AGs love to put people in jail for almost as much as they do deadbeat dads.

...Now, there *may* be a loophole in this: if they bag & tag it as if it's a back issue "collector's item", and it's not sold as new, then the law may not apply. Again, I recommend first thing in the morning you contact your respective state AG's office and have them look into it.

[Moose967]

$8.99 is hardly a rip off (debateable)

Although there are 50/50 variants that might be published, there are also variant covers for every 25 issues, or even 1 in 50 or 1 in 100. [NOTE: not every comic has variant covers.]

The cap 600 even has a 1 in 250 variant which will probably go for $100 dollars on ebay or higher.

It's a luxury item. Variant covers are generally much rarer than regular covers.

Usually, for every 25 regular covers sold, there is only 1 variant produced.

Today, I bought 2 Batman and Robin variants paying $7.00 bucks for each. In addition, I bought 2 copies of the regular cover the day before. So in total, I bought 4 copies of Batman and Robin.

What's the Cap 600 Variant look like. I know Ross and Epting did the 50/50 covers. Who did the variant and is there an image?

[GHalecki]

...Actually, I strongly suggest contacting your respective state AG's office, because as these are new items charging more than what's marked on the barcode may be illegal. In Texas, I know for a fact that it is because it's considered "Bait and Switch", which the Texas AGs love to put people in jail for almost as much as they do deadbeat dads.

...Now, there *may* be a loophole in this: if they bag & tag it as if it's a back issue "collector's item", and it's not sold as new, then the law may not apply. Again, I recommend first thing in the morning you contact your respective state AG's office and have them look into it.

I am pretty confidant that if the item is clearly marked at the higher price, and the store itself does not advertize it at the lower price, than there is nothing illegal about it.

If it was sitting on the shelf with the preprinted $4.99 price on it, and you brought it up to the counter and they rang it up for ten bucks, then you would certainly have an issue.

It is enough of a problem that in supermarkets, where they have the price tags stuck to the shelf in front of the product, if they stock the wrong cans on the shelf, and the item rings up at a price higher than what that tag says, they get a pretty big fine. The tag doesn't even have to be for that item.
You could have the tag for a 8.5 oz tiny can of Beefaroni for $.79 (clearly labled for that item in that size), and if it is accidentally placed in front of the economy size 108 oz can of ravioli, it is considered false advertizing.

[Grapeweasel]

You want to talk ripoff?

My comic shop sells comics with a ten cent cover price for HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS!!!!!!

[agrich]

To get the variant (the non-50-50 kind) the retailer typically had to buy way more copies of the regular cover than he ordinarily would. So he marks up the variant to cover his expenses of buying the extra copies of the regular cover, which frequently will no doubt go unsold.

Since nobody is actually required to buy the variant cover, there's no reason to call it a ripoff. Granted, my local comic book retailer is living large with multiple yachts and lots of bling, but I'm OK with him making some extra money on something that some fans feel is worth the extra money.

[Jadeskies]

You don't -have- to buy the varient, the only thing different between the two is the cover after all. I try to avoid them myself, I just read comics to read them, then I store them properly for all eternity and I have no intentions of selling them so I dont care what they are worth. So I dont buy varients.

I usually remember what a cover looked like when I try to figure out if I have already bought the comic, which is when Varient covers usually stick it to me. That and Wizard mags, which like to fool me with 3 or 4 varient covers every month.

[Methalius]

so my lcs charges more for varient cover issues of comics. like a 3.99 issue of new avengers was at 8.99 even though by the bar code it still said 3.99,the day it came out.
i was wondering if all shops do that or if they are ripping people off, they seem to be kinda weird with people so i want to make sure.



I think it depends on the store. I am fiercely loyal to my comic book store. The owner and employees are all great guys. Imagine if you will a comic book fan owning a comic book store and employing the biggest fans of comics as well. It's a really good vibe.

Back on topic, I think it's excessive. The place I go the variants I bought this week Dark Avengers #5 (Daken/ Young Guns variant) and New Mutants #2 (which is the most beautiful cover I've seen in a long time) were both face value $3.99 and $2.99 respectively.

Granted the variants are more valuable due to a limited printing but the comic book store shouldn't exploit you for that. Not on the release date.

New Mutant #2 variant for reference:
http://www.marvel.com/i/content/st/27463new_storyimage3610366_thumb.jpg

I get to my local store every Wednesday by 6pm I'd definitely have a problem if the variant on the day of release was being held for ransom.

[agrich]

Granted the variants are more valuable due to a limited printing but the comic book store shouldn't exploit you for that. Not on the release date.

I get to my local store every Wednesday by 6pm I'd definitely have a problem if the variant on the day of release was being held for ransom.

I guess it depends how many copies of the variant are available. If your store is huge and sells hundreds of copies of the regular issue normally and gets plenty of variants, maybe it's easier for them to sell them at lower prices.

When I see individuals selling variants on eBay for small fortunes, I can't help but wonder if they went into their local store, bought up all the variants for cover price, and then sold them for a much higher price on eBay. I mean, if somebody's going to make money off a rare variant issue, I'd rather it be the retailer.

[Kylun123]

I guess it depends how many copies of the variant are available. If your store is huge and sells hundreds of copies of the regular issue normally and gets plenty of variants, maybe it's easier for them to sell them at lower prices.

Funny how that works. When I lived in NYC and went to Mid-Town comics, which I imagine fits that description, the variants would be marked up day of.

But I imagine that's like others said - How could you have a 1 in 50 variant and just put it in the shelves like all the others when hundreds of people will be after it.

[Methalius]

I guess it depends how many copies of the variant are available. If your store is huge and sells hundreds of copies of the regular issue normally and gets plenty of variants, maybe it's easier for them to sell them at lower prices.

I don't think the store I go to sells a ton of variants. I was the first to have bought the variants from this week and I was there at around 5pm. I'd think their best sellers are probably around 100 copies perhaps more, I'm not entirely sure though. It appeared that they had roughly 10-12 variants each.

When I see individuals selling variants on eBay for small fortunes, I can't help but wonder if they went into their local store, bought up all the variants for cover price, and then sold them for a much higher price on eBay. I mean, if somebody's going to make money off a rare variant issue, I'd rather it be the retailer.

That's probably what happens. Either that or the stores hold some back and sell them on eBay. My store limits variants to one per customer. He tries to be fairer than he should, considering he is running a business.

But I imagine that's like others said - How could you have a 1 in 50 variant and just put it in the shelves like all the others when hundreds of people will be after it.

At the LCS variants aren't on the shelves, they are behind the counter not even displayed. You have to ask for them.

[ReboundTerminator]

over priced variant covers should have stayed dead with the 90s. who brought them back?

[RolandJP]

You want to talk ripoff?

My comic shop sells comics with a ten cent cover price for HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS!!!!!!

Someone had to walk both ways in the snow to get that book, thats why!


LOL. Well-played sir!

[celticguy]

You want to talk ripoff?

My comic shop sells comics with a ten cent cover price for HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS!!!!!!


The bastard!!

[timbox]

I paid extra for this variant featuring Pixie's large breasts long before I knew Greg Land was going to be drawing her regularly.

http://th05.deviantart.com/fs23/300W/f/2007/337/9/a/X_Men_205_cvr__Campbell_by_Eldelgado.jpg

It was worth it at the time, but not so much now.

[YouthofToday]

The LCS I go to regularly rarely has any variants on the shelves. So either they all go to subscribers or their other location gets them. This other place I hit every now and then seems to get a lot. They are bagged/boarded and of course have a much higher price. While some of very cool, I don't think I would ever buy one.

Some stores have different formulas on how they price them. I was just reading an article the other day about this. Some people do it this way, if they normally order 45 copies of title, but this month they offer a 1:50, they'll order 5 more to get it. Then they'll price the variant at what it cost to buy those extra 5 copies. I guess that's reasonable.

[Avenger08]

Im pretty sure it isnt because it costs them more to order variant covers. The fact they dont put a new price on it is rediculous of them (i dont mean right on the book). Like my LCS is great because if it costs any more than the book says it is on the cover they put a tag on the plastic sleeve (which is on all of their comics which i love).

[celticguy]

I usually just grab a copy of whatever cover is closest. If they are side by side I may pick a favorite I have seen in at least one chain the one in 25 or such covers put in sleeves with a board and sold for more but I don't care enough about covers to bother.

[mgs]

I paid extra for this variant featuring Pixie's large breasts long before I knew Greg Land was going to be drawing her regularly.

I love how some artists who draw (even in mere semi-realistic styles) seem to think that the hard, round grapefruit size is what natural breasts are supposed to be like in clothing.

[_OM_]

I am pretty confidant that if the item is clearly marked at the higher price, and the store itself does not advertize it at the lower price, than there is nothing illegal about it.

If it was sitting on the shelf with the preprinted $4.99 price on it, and you brought it up to the counter and they rang it up for ten bucks, then you would certainly have an issue.

It is enough of a problem that in supermarkets, where they have the price tags stuck to the shelf in front of the product, if they stock the wrong cans on the shelf, and the item rings up at a price higher than what that tag says, they get a pretty big fine. The tag doesn't even have to be for that item.

You could have the tag for a 8.5 oz tiny can of Beefaroni for $.79 (clearly labled for that item in that size), and if it is accidentally placed in front of the economy size 108 oz can of ravioli, it is considered false advertizing.

...In order:

1) And there lies the lynchpin in all this. If the price is on the barcode, it is considered the same thing as a price tag. Ergo, if I have an item with a barcode, and there's a decimal price on the barcode of $3.99, and the item is a new item that is not a "collector's item" with any appreciable age, then charging more for the item *may* be illegal under either "False Advertising" and/or "Bait and Switch". Again, YMMV depending on your particular State's laws, and I'm not even going to get into where Federal laws are concerned where mail order comes into play.

2) See 1) above.

3) Most of the time it's not that they've stocked the wrong cans, but that the wrong description was entered into their POS for that item and/or they didn't update the price to reflect a special either starting or ending.

4) When that happens, it's usually never considered false advertising, but bait and switch. Egghead Computers got in trouble for this all the time by advertising hard drives for dirt cheap, then never providing the stores with any of the items on sale. Customers would arrive the second the store opened, and the store geeks would say "sorry, we just sold out", and *then* - here's the kicker - they'd immediately offer a more expensive drive and claim it had been marked down to compensate when in fact they were marked up as much as $10 above the normal price. I personally helped get the local stores busted in the late 80's on four separate occasions, and actually got two hard drives *free* from Egghead as part of a settlement.

But I digress. We're talking about comic books...:biggrin:

[kindella2]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060904-TS-Variants.html

this link explains why some variants are higher priced. it varies from store to store. Good info.

[Rurik]

I could understand marking the price up a bit if you had to increase your order to get it, however it should be proportionate to how many more you had to buy to get that one variant, not how rare it is. If you normally order 100 copies of X-Men anyway, there's no excuse for marking the price up for any variant that's 1/100 or less, you didn't pay anything extra for it.

[agrich]

I could understand marking the price up a bit if you had to increase your order to get it, however it should be proportionate to how many more you had to buy to get that one variant, not how rare it is. If you normally order 100 copies of X-Men anyway, there's no excuse for marking the price up for any variant that's 1/100 or less, you didn't pay anything extra for it.

But the retailer only has 1 copy of it. What if there are 20 people who'd like to get it? It raises a supply and demand issue, and yeah, there would be people lined up at the door. Especially if they see, Hey, I can buy it from this clueless retailer for $3 and then put it up on eBay an hour later and sell it for $50! Score!

I don't know. I understand the idea of wanting cover price to be cover price, but when you've got things that are legitimately rare -- 1 out of 50 or whatever -- there are going to be a lot of people who want it and the retailer won't have enough copies of it to make more than 1 or 2 of them happy. So if he prices it higher (and this again is leaving out the fact that he probably had to buy more copies than he normally did just to get the variants), suddenly the demand drops -- whereas almost everybody might want it at cover price, only a handful will want to pay $10 for it.

Let's say you really wanted a variant, and your retailer was selling it for $8 rather than $2.99. Arguably he's doing you a favor, because you'll have a better chance of actually getting it. Otherwise you'd need to be the first one in the door (and maybe that works fine for you personally, but I'm talking in general here) and you might have to slug it out with two other people waiting at the door when the store opens. Retailer is left with one happy customer and two angry ones.

[celticguy]

It is enough of a problem that in supermarkets, where they have the price tags stuck to the shelf in front of the product, if they stock the wrong cans on the shelf, and the item rings up at a price higher than what that tag says, they get a pretty big fine. The tag doesn't even have to be for that item.
You could have the tag for a 8.5 oz tiny can of Beefaroni for $.79 (clearly labled for that item in that size), and if it is accidentally placed in front of the economy size 108 oz can of ravioli, it is considered false advertizing.

where can I get a 108oz can of ravioli?

the fine might be a state thing I am pretty sure there is no federal law for that. Most times it is becasue some 16 year old dweeb (As I was once) screwed up and misplaced the marker or switched the signs in error. Usually the size is noted in the ads in the small print and on the signs.

With the comics most stores around here do not even advertise the issues just that they have the comics if they advertise at all. If they did I would hope they would advertise using the main cover art if they are listing it a price.

[Rurik]

Yeah, but then if the price at the retailer is $50, that same person is going to buy it, and then put it up on eBay for $200. I liked the idea one person said their local shop uses, if they get in a variant cover, their subscribers get first dibs, and they decide which one gets it by rolling dice, the subscriber that wins gets it at cover price, half of the variant covers I've seen aren't even that much better than the standard covers anyway, and they're not all that special any more, variants should be reserved for special occasions, 500th issues, 20th year anniversaries, things like that, every other issue these days is a variant.

Also, you'll note I'm a firm believer comics should never be considered collectibles to begin with. The writers and artists put a lot of work into what goes into those comics, what's the point if you're just going to put it in a glass case and look at the pretty picture on the cover? You might as well just sell the cover by itself.

[agrich]

I guess the bottom line is I don't have a problem with retailers making extra money on something they likely had to spend extra to get, and that somebody is willing to pay more for. Nobody has to buy these things. Nobody has to have them. If Marvel wants to make a variant cover of every single issue they publish, I still don't need to own any of them, and neither does anybody else. For a person to feel that their retailer is running some sort of "scam" -- I mean, I don't know that many comic store owners who are rolling in money. I personally don't want to pay $10 for a variant, so I don't. Somebody else does, and yeah maybe they think they can then sell it for even more online or whatever, and they do. I guess I just don't see the problem.

[_OM_]

where can I get a 108oz can of ravioli?

...Sysco sells ravioli in a #10 can, which should be close enough to that size to suit you. Don't have the stock # for it, but I'll see what I can do.

[CarlosTheDwarf]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060904-TS-Variants.html

this link explains why some variants are higher priced. it varies from store to store. Good info.

Nice link - thanks!

As long as the non-varient cover looks good, I've got no problems with varient overpricing (since I tend not to partake except in rare instances). In the case of, say, Batman & Robin, I REALLY like the normal cover and the varient is cool, but definitely my second choice. So to me that's a win/win for the cover collectors and us "regular joes".

I see varients at my local store go for $25 and I just laugh. Ridiculous! But then I pay my weekly $50 comic bill and suddenly I don't feel as superior.