Action Comics 1000 variants 1 1

[LOC Collectibles]

Now $120 @ Midtown. 

[WolverineX]

5 minutes ago, Bighaley21 said:

Now $120 @ Midtown. 

That unacceptable, especially since they are the initial dealer from Diamond.  Are they breaking any sort of rule or law? 

[1Cool]

Don’t think they are breaking any rules let alone laws.  Has it been done before?  I know companies sells off unsold variants but I’ve never heard of companies holding books back to sell them for a profit.

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, Bighaley21 said:

Now $120 @ Midtown. 

This just seems incredibly immoral.  I understand if you want to put a limited amount of stock online and sell the rest at a show.  But to have the books trickle out to increase its after market value is kinda disgusting.  I'm disappointed in Midtown.  At this point, they might as well just create an anonymous eBay handle and start selling them on the bay for even more.

[fastballspecial]

47 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Don’t think they are breaking any rules let alone laws.  Has it been done before?  I know companies sells off unsold variants but I’ve never heard of companies holding books back to sell them for a profit.

Why not? Comics shop do it. This should surprise no one.

In fact I look for this continue to happen. Greed sometimes clouds the judgement.

 

 

[1Cool]

I understand middle men wanting to maximize profits but the initial seller shouldn’t restrict sales to manufacture demand.  What is next Marvel releasing only 500 copies of a book and hold the rest back in order to trickle out books on their web site.  

[WolverineX]

38 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

I understand middle men wanting to maximize profits but the initial seller shouldn’t restrict sales to manufacture demand.  What is next Marvel releasing only 500 copies of a book and hold the rest back in order to trickle out books on their web site.  

Agreed.  There's something very wrong about the initial seller doing that.  I wish there was something we could do. 

[fastballspecial]

This is what happens when you get into ratio "store" variants and such.. Greed brings out stupid decisions.

I prefer a much simpler time and cant wait for these fly by not shops to go out of business.

This isn't the 1st time something like this has happened its just the 1st time its out in the open.

 

 

[williamblood]

torpedo held back copies too, they posted on facebook selling them for 200 in NM. 

[ExNihilo]

The thing that irks me is that this is advertised as a "Tour variant" and that originally only a small selection would be available in store/online for sale.  As far as I can tell 3 stores were involved (Torpedo Comics, Midtown, and Album Comics Paris).  Print run is apparently 2500 copies with 300+ going to the Paris shop (well, 300 were signed, I'm guessing they received 500-600 copies overall).  So let's assume Torpedo and Midtown received similarly sized allocations.  That means there's about 700+ copies for Jim to sell while at cons.  I guess I'm starting to wonder if the print run was accurate.  And whether the dealers have been complicit in their distribution of inventory in order to increase profits.  I think it's especially upsetting in Midtown's case considering the breadth of business they do on a national scale.

[WolverineX]

7 hours ago, williamblood said:

torpedo held back copies too, they posted on facebook selling them for 200 in NM. 

WHAT THE HECK.  when I called the they said they had NO NM copies and only had VF+

[williamblood]

1 hour ago, Wolverinex said:

WHAT THE HECK.  when I called the they said they had NO NM copies and only had VF+

was this when they first went on sale? if so it seems pretty clear midtown and torpedo held back stock from initial sale for the sole purpose of upping price.

[ygogolak]

14 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

That unacceptable, especially since they are the initial dealer from Diamond.  Are they breaking any sort of rule or law? 

Huh? Third party sellers the only ones allowed to make money?

[LOC Collectibles]

54 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

Huh? Third party sellers the only ones allowed to make money?

So you're saying this is a practice you're ok with? 

Edited May 10, 2018 by Bighaley21

[ygogolak]

6 minutes ago, Bighaley21 said:

So you're saying this a practice you're ok with? 

Yup, Midtown restocks all the time.

Are they not allowed to sell for market value? (Which they are at 50% of?)

Edited May 10, 2018 by ygogolak

[LOC Collectibles]

1 minute ago, ygogolak said:

Yup, Midtown restocks all the time.

Are they not allowed to sell for market value? (Which they are at 50% of?)

Isn't a perceived shortage what's driving the market to begin with? I doubt the book sells for close to what it is on eBay if copies are still sitting on Midtowns site for $25 a pop..

[ygogolak]

10 minutes ago, Bighaley21 said:

Isn't a perceived shortage what's driving the market to begin with? I doubt the book sells for close to what it is on eBay if copies are still sitting on Midtowns site for $25 a pop..

They are not $25, they are now $125.

Price is based on supply / demand. I don't think Midtown putting a copy copies up for sale is manipulating the market.

Midtown is most likely the largest brick and mortar retailer for new comics in the world. That being said they inventory is constantly changing and being updated between warehousing and multiple retail locations.

Edited May 10, 2018 by ygogolak

[1Cool]

29 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

They are not $25, they are now $125.

Price is based on supply / demand. I don't think Midtown putting a copy copies up for sale is manipulating the market.

Midtown is most likely the largest brick and mortar retailer for new comics in the world. That being said they inventory is constantly changing and being updated between warehousing and multiple retail locations.

I agree they have done nothing unlawful and i guess my concern stems from who deemed the books sold out.  Did the buyers start saying the books were sold out since Midtown sold out its initial run or did Midtown somewhere state the books were sold out which is clearly not true.

I think it sets a bad precedence where the slope is very slippery when distributors can hold back most of a run of books to entice huge price increases since buyer assume the book is sold out and in short supply.  This will of course cause buyers in the future to hesitate on paying high prices since who knows if the distributor sold out or is keeping books in reserve - they don't exactly publish this info.

Lastly - if I went out and bought up every copy of X-Men 129 and slowly trickle out books I'd be accused by most of being a manipulator or hoarder.  Look what happened when Eternals 1 shot up there was a large group yelling about price manipulations in CGC 9.8.  I envy Midtown for pulling off a financial windfall but the negative taste to buyers may not be worth it in the long run.

[ygogolak]

10 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

I agree they have done nothing unlawful and i guess my concern stems from who deemed the books sold out.  Did the buyers start saying the books were sold out since Midtown sold out its initial run or did Midtown somewhere state the books were sold out which is clearly not true.

I think it sets a bad precedence where the slope is very slippery when distributors can hold back most of a run of books to entice huge price increases since buyer assume the book is sold out and in short supply.  This will of course cause buyers in the future to hesitate on paying high prices since who knows if the distributor sold out or is keeping books in reserve - they don't exactly publish this info.

Lastly - if I went out and bought up every copy of X-Men 129 and slowly trickle out books I'd be accused by most of being a manipulator or hoarder.  Look what happened when Eternals 1 shot up there was a large group yelling about price manipulations in CGC 9.8.  I envy Midtown for pulling off a financial windfall but the negative taste to buyers may not be worth it in the long run.

As I said, restocks on books from current or last week happen all the time from Midtown. Typically they are not marked up, but I don't care if Midtown makes a buck. They are taking a chance on buying extra inventory.

Also, as I said this is still 50% of going rate on eBay.

How many books has Midtown lost on over the years? It's enough to have multiple warehouse $1 sales, I know that.

Edited May 10, 2018 by ygogolak

[ExNihilo]

3 hours ago, ygogolak said:

Huh? Third party sellers the only ones allowed to make money?

But they're not a 3rd party seller in this case.  Midtown, Torpedo, and Album Comics Paris were the only shops to receive original allocations of the books.  They are the primary and the only vendors to receive the books at the dealer prices.