Comic Book Subscriptions that offer discounts!?!?

jordan silo · Post by **jordan silo** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:21 pm

Hi everyone!

I know this must be an old post and question, but does anyone know who offers this service with a major discount that doesn’t have to be months in advance? Please let me know.

Thanks,

Jordan

davidb · Post by **davidb** » Fri May 05, 2006 3:44 pm

You might talk to Daydreamscomics. He's talked about doing something like this before - IIRC, it was 20% off cover, but I don't know how shipping would work.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:13 pm

Hey, I get another chance to plug MailOrderComics.com! The base discount on new comics is 36%, but they have many items discounted higher (50% and up to 75%). No minimum order. Discount isn't based on how much you order. Their service is fantastic. Excellent shipping rates. I highly recommend them.

You DO have to place your order a month or so in advance. For instance, I just placed my order for items shipping in June. But that's going to be true for just about any vendor you choose if you expect a nice discount.

jordan silo · Post by **jordan silo** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:03 pm

How about comics that are 2 - 3 months old? Do you guys know a site that offers the same GREAT discounts?

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:13 pm

davidb wrote:You might talk to Daydreamscomics. He's talked about doing something like this before - IIRC, it was 20% off cover, but I don't know how shipping would work.

I get my monthly books through Daydreamscomics...

15% off cover and free bags-n-boards.

Heath wrote:Hey, I get another chance to plug MailOrderComics.com! The base discount on new comics is 36%, but they have many items discounted higher (50% and up to 75%). No minimum order. Discount isn't based on how much you order.

What ? 36% ??? Do you have to keep ordering or is it a monthly 'pull list' ?

Are they shipped in bags-n-boards ?

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 pm

Knightt wrote:
Heath wrote:Hey, I get another chance to plug MailOrderComics.com! The base discount on new comics is 36%, but they have many items discounted higher (50% and up to 75%). No minimum order. Discount isn't based on how much you order.
What ? 36% ??? Do you have to keep ordering or is it a monthly 'pull list' ?

Are they shipped in bags-n-boards ?

They're pretty flexible. You can add ongoing titles to your pull list and they will be automatically added to your cart each month. An optional feature they just added is automatic ordering - if you don't go through a manual checkout (as I've forgotten to do a couple of times), they will automatically order what is in your cart at the order deadline. But this won't happen unless you specifically sign up for this service (which is just checking a check box on their web site).

There is no long term comittment. If you want to place an order this month, but never again, then you get the same great discount. You can order one book, or a hundred. They use Previews and you can order a Previews catalog for $3.00 - or it's free with an order of $100 or more but I never order that much.

And 35% is the base discount - many books are discounted even further. For instance, I just ordered the new Flash #1 at a 75% discount (that's a cost of $0.74)!

Bags and boards are not an advertised service, but they do it by request. And they're not free - they're an extra $0.10 each. They bill you this month for the bags and boards they sent last month - so you pay exactly for the bags and boards you use so cancelled or late books don't cause problems with bag and board billing.

Their shipping and service has been fantastic. I've been ordering from them for nearly 2 years and I've only had 1 shipping problem - they sent a copy of Action Comics instead of Amazing Spider-Man. But they fixed the problem right away and sent my ASM priority mail at no extra cost to me. Every time I've emailed them with a question, they've responded very quickly and answered me in great detail. Customer service is obviously a high priority for them. Even if their discounts weren't as good as they are, I'd still shop with them just for that reason.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:36 pm

What type of shape do the books come in?

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Sat May 06, 2006 11:34 pm

400yrs wrote:What type of shape do the books come in?

Normally rectangle in shape... kind of like a........... comic book.

stone384 · Post by **stone384** » Sun May 07, 2006 12:43 am

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun May 07, 2006 5:43 pm

Knightt wrote:
400yrs wrote:What type of shape do the books come in?
Normally rectangle in shape... kind of like a........... comic book.

Sounds NM to me.

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:44 am

whoa.... thats all it takes ?

daydreamscomics · Post by **daydreamscomics** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:39 pm

jordan silo wrote:How about comics that are 2 - 3 months old? Do you guys know a site that offers the same GREAT discounts?

most of the stuff we have from the past two years or so i can offer a decent discount on.

new new stuff not so much. we don't even give regular customers the kind of discount i do the few board members who get books from me each week.

you gotta realize that companies like mailordercomics.com are ordering THOUSANDS of each issue, thus they get insane discounts. we're small beans compared to them, but we still do okay

if you think about it, if they can offer a flash #1 for 75% off on the retail side, how much does it really cost to make a comic? because you know they aren't going in the hole nor is DC. you gotta figure it only costs $0.30 - $0.50 to produce a comic. that's a huge mark up to diamond to then retailer. it'd make more sense for marvel/dc/etc. to cut out diamond and do it themselves. they'd make way more money.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Sat May 13, 2006 10:48 pm

daydreamscomics wrote:you gotta realize that companies like mailordercomics.com are ordering THOUSANDS of each issue, thus they get insane discounts.

One of the things I love about them is that, while they do order an insane number of comics, they *feel* like a small internet specialty shop. For instance, when I email them, the owner emails me back - within hours. They got my attention with the discounts. They earned my return business and loyalty with their service!

daydreamscomics wrote: we're small beans compared to them, but we still do okay

That's great, and I envy you. I'd love to be able to make a living in the comic biz. And I hope you don't feel like I'm trying to slight you any with my bragging of MOC. (I was doing business with them before I knew anybody here.) I've never done business with you, but if Knightt vouches for you, that's good enough for me!

daydreamscomics wrote:if you think about it, if they can offer a flash #1 for 75% off on the retail side, how much does it really cost to make a comic? because you know they aren't going in the hole nor is DC. you gotta figure it only costs $0.30 - $0.50 to produce a comic. that's a huge mark up to diamond to then retailer.

Yep. Compared to the majority of the retail industry, it is a HUGE markup. When I managed a college book store's "comic book department" my department was one of the most profitable (rivaled only by text books because of sheer volume from that dept). This included books (fiction, non-fiction - "Waldenbooks" type merchandise), greeting cards, teaching supplies, clothing, and other depts. Our base Diamond discount was 50% (which wasn't even placing a huge order). The largest discount any other department received on their merchandise was 20%. Or in terms of markup, that's a 100% markup for my department, and a 25% markup max for other departments.

daydreamscomics wrote:it'd make more sense for marvel/dc/etc. to cut out diamond and do it themselves. they'd make way more money.

Marvel tried that once before, didn't they? They bought a smaller distributor (Heroes World was it?) and went exclusive with them (and distributed Marvel comics exclusively). Why did they eventually go back to Diamond? I remember it was a pain in the butt as a retailer.