Yeah -- the difference is that comics are mostly supplied through Diamond, who does not take returns. So when a comics store has bought something from a distributor (the one distributor who does comics), they have bought it for good. It's sell it (at whatever price) or have it sit forever.
Because with book distributors there is the longstanding ability to return stock, a lot of a bookstore's business model is tied up in credit with the distributors. So...purchasing is done under the assumption that one can always return what doesn't sell within the time period the distributor allows for that format, not under the assumption that it's yours for good.
It makes more financial sense for a comics store to do this and move the inventory, even if they're taking a hit on the profit margin, than a bookstore. A bookstore can just return the damn things for full value, and has done their ordering back a year ago so that they have enough stock on hand that selling it at 77% of the cover price they bought it at would seriously, seriously hurt.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-09-27 12:32 am (UTC)Because with book distributors there is the longstanding ability to return stock, a lot of a bookstore's business model is tied up in credit with the distributors. So...purchasing is done under the assumption that one can always return what doesn't sell within the time period the distributor allows for that format, not under the assumption that it's yours for good.
It makes more financial sense for a comics store to do this and move the inventory, even if they're taking a hit on the profit margin, than a bookstore. A bookstore can just return the damn things for full value, and has done their ordering back a year ago so that they have enough stock on hand that selling it at 77% of the cover price they bought it at would seriously, seriously hurt.