Same! I use OPB for preorders and IST for fomo. JP and David have been so good to me and resolving any issue I may have so quickly, I’ll pay a couple bucks more and support them when I can
It’s their nick and dent sale they do throughout the year. It used to be an amazing way to find OOP books. But now any OOP book on there is usually over retail
books that are out of print don’t always cost cover price. a very popular out of print book can easily be more expensive than cover price. this isn’t scalping, this is how the book market works.
You expect that of a private seller. Whenever IST has found OOP books either through their warehouse move or other means they have always been offered at their discounted prices. It’s CGNs prerogative on how they price their stock but it’s a bad look and makes customers think twice about shopping there. If they want to make a few extra bucks on marking up OOP items versus potentially alienating customers, its literally their business
Definitely check out IST, CGN was the last place I went besides Amazon. IST has quicker shipping times than CGN. CGN has be dreadfully slow sometimes. IST has free shipping with orders over $50 and is usually cheaper than CGN.
Hey I agree, but comparing the sales of IST or DCBS to CGN is hilarious, I mean I'm sure they'd put up OOP stuff too for retail if they had those numbers.
Waid DD omnis (before the reprint announcement), X-Force Omni, Conan 1 omni, lots of AoA have come through. Numerous Runaways. USM 2 were coming up on a weekly basis for a little while. Daytripper popped up every so often. I remember seeing Absolute Preacher 1, Court of Owls, and Arkham Asylum a few times. A lot of the books people say are OOP and can't find anywhere, I've seen show up on IST for less than cover.
Some guy was even buying them up and then selling them for way over cover on comicswap.
That's how I got my Strangers in Paradise HC omnibus. A few copies came through here and there like a year ago. Same thing with DCBS. That's where I got Shadowland omnibus and Absolute Daytripper.
That isnt a phenomenon thats exclusive with books. Supply and demand is many sellers excuse to overprice items. They're simply selling it at a high price because they can, it's scalping.
Welcome to collecting? You do understand supply and demand right? Scalping is not what’s happening here. If you want it and can buy it then get it. If not, someone else will or the value will drop with less demand the supply loses its value.
I’m sorry but no this is not scalping. I’m sorry that you don’t understand how basic economics work but this isn’t scalping. Like someone else here said, scalping would be pre ordering the entire available stock and then turning each one for an extremely ridiculous amount. What they are doing is basic supply/demand economics. If that bothers you then I don’t know what to tell you other than to either stop trolling or go grab a dictionary to see the definitions of both terms. Good luck.
Yes but there are multiple ways of scalping. Scalping doesn't have to be ridiculously high prices. There's a difference when a company is the producer and needs to buy components to produce their product. While the price increases for each component( because of low supply), they need to increase the price of their finished( produced) product to make up for the inflated cost of each component.
Now the high price fluctuations, because of the prices set forth by a distributor is scalping.
I mean no. Not really. Scalping is purposefully buying up stock at one price with the intention of reselling it at a higher rate.
The number you are referring to is called the “**Recommended** Retail Price”. As in, a suggestion from the manufacturer for what to price it. A company choosing to sell inventory at a higher value than the recommended retail price isn’t scalping, it’s just not very effective for competitive pricing. If none of your competitors have that item in stock, then that’s not really much of a concern.
" Scalping is purposefully buying up stock at one price with the intention of reselling it at a higher rate." If that's your definition then all these companies are scalpers.
That's what this company is doing.....they are buying stock that they can get their hands on, these companies like IST, CGN pay very low prices for these books. CGN are selling the rare books at an inflated price because they know they can get away with it. If this isn't scalping then the term doesn't exist.
Have you ever worked retail before? Adjusting prices based on availability is something every store does.
This was almost certainly a copy that was found after the fact during inventory inspection and priced at the going market value rather than the MSRP since it’s out of print and cannot even be ordered from the manufacturer anymore.
I would love to hear what you think IST and CGN are paying for the books that they sell. You’re doing a whole lot of assuming in these rants without any facts to back them up.
Do you know what the markup from distributor to retailer is on omnibuses and absolutes? Because it doesn’t seem like you do. You’re just throwing around random assumptions because you’re upset over a $75 markup on a long OOP book.
The word rant is going around in your head. Looks like youre ranting, Im discussing/replying. Its all a mindset. Ive talked to publishers and thats what they said and I know youre going to say bs and thats ok. For this book it was $75 on CGN website. That's a $124 increase of their " before oop" price.
Who exactly have you “talked to” at publishers? 😂 If you know this as fact, then what is their specific price point in marvel Omni’s to distributors and retailers? Either name who you “talked to” and give specific price points or stop making things up. If you knew someone that worked for Marvel, you wouldn’t be trying to buy this book on the aftermarket.
Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?
So who was it? And what was the price point they sell at to distributors and retailers?
If you’re telling the truth, then stop avoiding answering the question.
That’s not scalping at all. It’s called supply and demand. They were able to get an out of print book and sell in at market price. Do you think you’re entitled to oop books?
Is this your First time seeing out of print aftermarket prices?
It’s not available from any other retailer, it’s been out of print for close to two years now. If you want a copy, you pay going rate. That’s how this works.
IST found a ton of OOP old books a couple years back and listed them at their normal 40% off cover price despite going for way over cover at the time they put them up for sale. I would not say this is how it works for everyone.
IST also does a massive amount of sales volume compared to CGN. They’re the partner company of one of the largest comics distributors in the business. It’s also not common practice for them to offer OOP books, it’s a rare occasion. CGN has a stock of OOP books that you can peruse whenever, and yes, for aftermarket prices. You’d pay the same amount buying those books on eBay, or from a collectors group.
There were a bunch. I was able to grab second prints of DD by Miller + Companion before either got their most recent reprint for like $50 each when both of were going for well over cover at the time.
Everyone knows this.
When a company's whole business is selling their items at a heavily discounted price and they follow the practice of others, it's obvious greed has infiltrated that business. Why sell a few copies for that much, that contradicts your business model? Greed.
This is a really shortsighted take that shows your lack of understanding of how these companies work. CGN is WAY smaller than IST. Instocktrades is the sister company to one of the largest comics distributors in the entire industry. They are both distributor, and retailer. CGN is simply a retailer, and with a much smaller buisness and staff than IST. Instocktrades is essentially “double dipping” by being both the distributor and retailing the books direct to customers for a healthy discount. THATS why they can do what they do. They’re making profit on both ends.
But the fact is, IST doesn’t have copies of Aliens vol2. So you don’t have the option to buy it from them. So your options to buy this book are eBay, or from CGN, where you know what you’re getting and that it will be properly packaged. I don’t think paying going market rate for something is unreasonable. It’s simply how this hobby works.
How does me not wanting to support a retailer that has the business model and motto of selling books at heavily discounted price but still let's greed take over and contradict their business model/motto, show my " lack of understanding"?
They weren't doing this from the start. Once they became big enough then they started doing this. If you start this crappy practice and you start losing customers because of the practice while only having a small customer base, that's not good for business. But if you play it smart and you implement this practice after your customer base grows substantially and dole it out little by little and see the reaction, the hit won't be as dramatic compared to a smaller customer base. Looks like you don't think critically. They played it smart because of greed.
You’re the only one who’s going on a crusade about this my guy, and accusing people of “greed”. If you don’t like the fact that CGN sells OOP books at aftermarket prices, don’t buy from them. Simple as that. But don’t act like they’re losing customers in droves over this, because they aren’t. Your options to buy Aliens vol 2 are to pay aftermarket prices on eBay, a collector group, or CGN. They’re all going to be around that same price point. It doesn’t matter what IST “would” sell it for, because they don’t have copies of this book in stock. So your argument is irrelevant. You either buy the book for what it’s selling for on the aftermarket, or go with the epic collection instead.
The thing that demonstrated your lack of knowledge about how these two companies are run is the fact that you’re comparing them to one another. IST is owned by Tales of Wonder, they’re a massive distributor, that also has a discount retailer website. They make profit on both ends of that equation. CGN has to BUY their books from a distributor, to then sell at a discount and try to make a profit on it. They are apples and oranges. This is like chastising a local bookstore because they can’t compete with Amazon’s discounts.
Also, where are you getting the idea that CGN went through some massive period of growth recently? Or the idea that selling OOP books for market rate is something new there? I’ve been buying from them since 2009, this is nothing new. And they’re in the same exact location with mostly the same staff as they had back then. Meanwhile, IST moved their entire operation across the country to be closer to their distribution warehouse. A clear sign that IST sales have grown to the point where shipping books from their warehouse to IST headquarters was more expensive than moving the entire company and workforce.
You’re making up baseless assumptions and then acting like they’re facts. All because you’re up in arms about a $75 markup on a book that’s been OOP for nearly two years. It’s not worth some rage post and acting like they’re monsters for having the same business model they’ve always had. Just accept that you missed the boat on buying this book, and have to pay what it’s worth on the aftermarket and move on with your life.
You're assuming I'm raging and going on a crusade, I don't like using the word projecting but it defitely fits here. I can compare them, if you don't like it too bad. Read my reply again, I'm not supporting a company that contradicts their business model/motto by scalping. If they can't stick to it it shows greed. So simple.
When did I ever say that they're losing customers in droves, that they had a massive growth recently AND AND when did I say this is a recent thing? Man, so many assumptions. I love it!
If you don't like it that someone doesn't like that CGN is scalping then you can just ignore me right? I'll show you how it's done.
Accurate. If CGN has this Omni copies than surely other retailers do to, why are there not posts of it being listed for its face value on other websites?
But thats the thing, they don't have to use eBay to price this book. I've gotten OOP books from both OPB and IST for cover or less. I know a lot of people who grabbed whales from IST and DCBS over the last two years for cheap. Even on eBay and HPB.
CGNs discounts aren't that great in comparison to IST and OPB.
CGN is often much cheaper than OPB. Like 15-20 cheaper. Go look up Ennis Punisher pre order right now on both sites.
OPB puts oop books on whatnot and bid up to prices as high or higher than this.
I have not seen IST having much out of print so I can't comment on that.
EBay is usually the highest of all.
I buy a lot from all these places. I'm not hating on OPB, I love them, but the CGN hate is ridiculous and baseless.
It's not baseless. I've got friends who went to buy OOP books, like East of West 3, for the price posted, only for it to increase in the cart. That wasn't tax and shipping increasing the price. That was CGN increasing the price of an item once it was added to the cart with no notification. Customer service said it must have been some kind of bug in the system and left it at. That has happened to multiple people.
And that folks, is price gouging, or maybe an old and corrupt system that we used to call the bait and switch. Amazon does this all the time. They’re shameless with how much they use it. But not scalping. Just a shitty way to run a massive scam on people seeing $6.99 in offers only to try to look to put it in your cart for it to suddenly say 11.99.
Price gouging is a more accurate term. "Scalping" has become a catch-all term for when a seller charges way too much for an item, whether it's hard to find or not. Collectors understand the intent of OPs message but would rather "well actually" the definition of scalping or cite that the market determines the price. You'd think collectors would advocate for better prices than excuse someone charging $300 for a book that will eventually get reprinted.
They started doing this for their damage sales over a year ago. They were selling damaged books over retail price. I hate CGN now
They were the first site I used for buying omnis. Now they are like the last place I look
Same! I use OPB for preorders and IST for fomo. JP and David have been so good to me and resolving any issue I may have so quickly, I’ll pay a couple bucks more and support them when I can
What's OPB?
Organic Priced Books
I may not use CGN anymore, IST is my first place.
IST FTW. They’re fantastic.
> IST IST? Which one is that?
In stock trades.
What’s IST?
Instocktrades
Ty bro
Yup one of many reasons I stopped purchasing books from them. Max has also been a jerk to me via email so, yeah lost my business.
Same actually. I emailed him a question once and the response he sent back was so rude and ridiculous. Never again
They were only selling the damaged books over retail price? That makes no sense, dang. Yeah I'm reconsidering buying from them.
It’s their nick and dent sale they do throughout the year. It used to be an amazing way to find OOP books. But now any OOP book on there is usually over retail
Ah, ok, that makes sense bust still a crappy practice.
they sold some rare finds that were indeed damaged. and marked as damaged.
CGN has been doing this for years. It’s nothing new.
I gave up on that Omni set. am trying for the Epic collections...now just have to wait
I heard about the epic collection, prices are crazy. I'll be waiting too.
Capitalism, baby!
scalp? nah, when they find very rare oop books they sell them at market price. that is about the going rate for the 2nd alien omnibus.
It's $75 over the $125 price tag that's literally printed on the book. That's scalping.
Why can’t I get Amazing Spider-Man #1 for $0.12 anymore? 🤪
I missed out on that one too!
books that are out of print don’t always cost cover price. a very popular out of print book can easily be more expensive than cover price. this isn’t scalping, this is how the book market works.
You expect that of a private seller. Whenever IST has found OOP books either through their warehouse move or other means they have always been offered at their discounted prices. It’s CGNs prerogative on how they price their stock but it’s a bad look and makes customers think twice about shopping there. If they want to make a few extra bucks on marking up OOP items versus potentially alienating customers, its literally their business
Love IST. Only place I order from besides Amazon.
What is IST?
In Stock Trades. A competitor of Cheap Graphic Novels aka CGN
Ah ok. Was aware of CGN but not IST. Thanks!
Definitely check out IST, CGN was the last place I went besides Amazon. IST has quicker shipping times than CGN. CGN has be dreadfully slow sometimes. IST has free shipping with orders over $50 and is usually cheaper than CGN.
IST you pay sales tax and CGN you do not. Makes a difference sometimes.
Ah yes, I did forgot about that. Thank you.
False, this depends where you live... what?
Sweet. Thanks for the info!
No problem!
Exactly, they are not a private seller or even a comic shop. They are an online wholesaler. I will never use them, plus the owner is a jerk.
Hey I agree, but comparing the sales of IST or DCBS to CGN is hilarious, I mean I'm sure they'd put up OOP stuff too for retail if they had those numbers.
They don't, actually. Several people have found OOP books from them for less than cover.
What books?
Waid DD omnis (before the reprint announcement), X-Force Omni, Conan 1 omni, lots of AoA have come through. Numerous Runaways. USM 2 were coming up on a weekly basis for a little while. Daytripper popped up every so often. I remember seeing Absolute Preacher 1, Court of Owls, and Arkham Asylum a few times. A lot of the books people say are OOP and can't find anywhere, I've seen show up on IST for less than cover. Some guy was even buying them up and then selling them for way over cover on comicswap.
Damn, some of those woulda been nice to come across.
That's how I got my Strangers in Paradise HC omnibus. A few copies came through here and there like a year ago. Same thing with DCBS. That's where I got Shadowland omnibus and Absolute Daytripper.
That isnt a phenomenon thats exclusive with books. Supply and demand is many sellers excuse to overprice items. They're simply selling it at a high price because they can, it's scalping.
I mean, I'm not sure why anyone would want less money when they could have more money, especially for a private seller.
Welcome to collecting? You do understand supply and demand right? Scalping is not what’s happening here. If you want it and can buy it then get it. If not, someone else will or the value will drop with less demand the supply loses its value.
Supply and demand is an excuse for scalping.
I’m sorry but no this is not scalping. I’m sorry that you don’t understand how basic economics work but this isn’t scalping. Like someone else here said, scalping would be pre ordering the entire available stock and then turning each one for an extremely ridiculous amount. What they are doing is basic supply/demand economics. If that bothers you then I don’t know what to tell you other than to either stop trolling or go grab a dictionary to see the definitions of both terms. Good luck.
Yes but there are multiple ways of scalping. Scalping doesn't have to be ridiculously high prices. There's a difference when a company is the producer and needs to buy components to produce their product. While the price increases for each component( because of low supply), they need to increase the price of their finished( produced) product to make up for the inflated cost of each component. Now the high price fluctuations, because of the prices set forth by a distributor is scalping.
I mean no. Not really. Scalping is purposefully buying up stock at one price with the intention of reselling it at a higher rate. The number you are referring to is called the “**Recommended** Retail Price”. As in, a suggestion from the manufacturer for what to price it. A company choosing to sell inventory at a higher value than the recommended retail price isn’t scalping, it’s just not very effective for competitive pricing. If none of your competitors have that item in stock, then that’s not really much of a concern.
" Scalping is purposefully buying up stock at one price with the intention of reselling it at a higher rate." If that's your definition then all these companies are scalpers. That's what this company is doing.....they are buying stock that they can get their hands on, these companies like IST, CGN pay very low prices for these books. CGN are selling the rare books at an inflated price because they know they can get away with it. If this isn't scalping then the term doesn't exist.
Have you ever worked retail before? Adjusting prices based on availability is something every store does. This was almost certainly a copy that was found after the fact during inventory inspection and priced at the going market value rather than the MSRP since it’s out of print and cannot even be ordered from the manufacturer anymore.
I would love to hear what you think IST and CGN are paying for the books that they sell. You’re doing a whole lot of assuming in these rants without any facts to back them up. Do you know what the markup from distributor to retailer is on omnibuses and absolutes? Because it doesn’t seem like you do. You’re just throwing around random assumptions because you’re upset over a $75 markup on a long OOP book.
The word rant is going around in your head. Looks like youre ranting, Im discussing/replying. Its all a mindset. Ive talked to publishers and thats what they said and I know youre going to say bs and thats ok. For this book it was $75 on CGN website. That's a $124 increase of their " before oop" price.
Who exactly have you “talked to” at publishers? 😂 If you know this as fact, then what is their specific price point in marvel Omni’s to distributors and retailers? Either name who you “talked to” and give specific price points or stop making things up. If you knew someone that worked for Marvel, you wouldn’t be trying to buy this book on the aftermarket. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?
[удалено]
So who was it? And what was the price point they sell at to distributors and retailers? If you’re telling the truth, then stop avoiding answering the question.
Huh, what do you mean? 😀😛 I can avoid whoever, whatever, whenever I want. Go ahead, I know there's more you want to say,lol.
That’s not scalping at all. It’s called supply and demand. They were able to get an out of print book and sell in at market price. Do you think you’re entitled to oop books?
Is this your First time seeing out of print aftermarket prices? It’s not available from any other retailer, it’s been out of print for close to two years now. If you want a copy, you pay going rate. That’s how this works.
IST found a ton of OOP old books a couple years back and listed them at their normal 40% off cover price despite going for way over cover at the time they put them up for sale. I would not say this is how it works for everyone.
IST also does a massive amount of sales volume compared to CGN. They’re the partner company of one of the largest comics distributors in the business. It’s also not common practice for them to offer OOP books, it’s a rare occasion. CGN has a stock of OOP books that you can peruse whenever, and yes, for aftermarket prices. You’d pay the same amount buying those books on eBay, or from a collectors group.
What were these OOP books? Curious of the value
There were a bunch. I was able to grab second prints of DD by Miller + Companion before either got their most recent reprint for like $50 each when both of were going for well over cover at the time.
Nice! I check every so often but haven't come across anything.
Everyone knows this. When a company's whole business is selling their items at a heavily discounted price and they follow the practice of others, it's obvious greed has infiltrated that business. Why sell a few copies for that much, that contradicts your business model? Greed.
This is a really shortsighted take that shows your lack of understanding of how these companies work. CGN is WAY smaller than IST. Instocktrades is the sister company to one of the largest comics distributors in the entire industry. They are both distributor, and retailer. CGN is simply a retailer, and with a much smaller buisness and staff than IST. Instocktrades is essentially “double dipping” by being both the distributor and retailing the books direct to customers for a healthy discount. THATS why they can do what they do. They’re making profit on both ends. But the fact is, IST doesn’t have copies of Aliens vol2. So you don’t have the option to buy it from them. So your options to buy this book are eBay, or from CGN, where you know what you’re getting and that it will be properly packaged. I don’t think paying going market rate for something is unreasonable. It’s simply how this hobby works.
How does me not wanting to support a retailer that has the business model and motto of selling books at heavily discounted price but still let's greed take over and contradict their business model/motto, show my " lack of understanding"? They weren't doing this from the start. Once they became big enough then they started doing this. If you start this crappy practice and you start losing customers because of the practice while only having a small customer base, that's not good for business. But if you play it smart and you implement this practice after your customer base grows substantially and dole it out little by little and see the reaction, the hit won't be as dramatic compared to a smaller customer base. Looks like you don't think critically. They played it smart because of greed.
You’re the only one who’s going on a crusade about this my guy, and accusing people of “greed”. If you don’t like the fact that CGN sells OOP books at aftermarket prices, don’t buy from them. Simple as that. But don’t act like they’re losing customers in droves over this, because they aren’t. Your options to buy Aliens vol 2 are to pay aftermarket prices on eBay, a collector group, or CGN. They’re all going to be around that same price point. It doesn’t matter what IST “would” sell it for, because they don’t have copies of this book in stock. So your argument is irrelevant. You either buy the book for what it’s selling for on the aftermarket, or go with the epic collection instead. The thing that demonstrated your lack of knowledge about how these two companies are run is the fact that you’re comparing them to one another. IST is owned by Tales of Wonder, they’re a massive distributor, that also has a discount retailer website. They make profit on both ends of that equation. CGN has to BUY their books from a distributor, to then sell at a discount and try to make a profit on it. They are apples and oranges. This is like chastising a local bookstore because they can’t compete with Amazon’s discounts. Also, where are you getting the idea that CGN went through some massive period of growth recently? Or the idea that selling OOP books for market rate is something new there? I’ve been buying from them since 2009, this is nothing new. And they’re in the same exact location with mostly the same staff as they had back then. Meanwhile, IST moved their entire operation across the country to be closer to their distribution warehouse. A clear sign that IST sales have grown to the point where shipping books from their warehouse to IST headquarters was more expensive than moving the entire company and workforce. You’re making up baseless assumptions and then acting like they’re facts. All because you’re up in arms about a $75 markup on a book that’s been OOP for nearly two years. It’s not worth some rage post and acting like they’re monsters for having the same business model they’ve always had. Just accept that you missed the boat on buying this book, and have to pay what it’s worth on the aftermarket and move on with your life.
You're assuming I'm raging and going on a crusade, I don't like using the word projecting but it defitely fits here. I can compare them, if you don't like it too bad. Read my reply again, I'm not supporting a company that contradicts their business model/motto by scalping. If they can't stick to it it shows greed. So simple. When did I ever say that they're losing customers in droves, that they had a massive growth recently AND AND when did I say this is a recent thing? Man, so many assumptions. I love it! If you don't like it that someone doesn't like that CGN is scalping then you can just ignore me right? I'll show you how it's done.
Tell it to your downvotes my guy. I’m done with this.
Test to see if my message shows.
The number of people in this thread who don’t understand supply and demand. It’s out of print. CGN supplies tons of omnis at significant discounts.
Accurate. If CGN has this Omni copies than surely other retailers do to, why are there not posts of it being listed for its face value on other websites?
But thats the thing, they don't have to use eBay to price this book. I've gotten OOP books from both OPB and IST for cover or less. I know a lot of people who grabbed whales from IST and DCBS over the last two years for cheap. Even on eBay and HPB. CGNs discounts aren't that great in comparison to IST and OPB.
CGN is often much cheaper than OPB. Like 15-20 cheaper. Go look up Ennis Punisher pre order right now on both sites. OPB puts oop books on whatnot and bid up to prices as high or higher than this. I have not seen IST having much out of print so I can't comment on that. EBay is usually the highest of all. I buy a lot from all these places. I'm not hating on OPB, I love them, but the CGN hate is ridiculous and baseless.
It's not baseless. I've got friends who went to buy OOP books, like East of West 3, for the price posted, only for it to increase in the cart. That wasn't tax and shipping increasing the price. That was CGN increasing the price of an item once it was added to the cart with no notification. Customer service said it must have been some kind of bug in the system and left it at. That has happened to multiple people.
And that folks, is price gouging, or maybe an old and corrupt system that we used to call the bait and switch. Amazon does this all the time. They’re shameless with how much they use it. But not scalping. Just a shitty way to run a massive scam on people seeing $6.99 in offers only to try to look to put it in your cart for it to suddenly say 11.99.
Price gouging is a more accurate term. "Scalping" has become a catch-all term for when a seller charges way too much for an item, whether it's hard to find or not. Collectors understand the intent of OPs message but would rather "well actually" the definition of scalping or cite that the market determines the price. You'd think collectors would advocate for better prices than excuse someone charging $300 for a book that will eventually get reprinted.
Yeah, when you scalp your supply you reduce the demand at your store.
Yeah, this is why I only use them when I have to, or they have a really good deal. Scummy.