My LCS Refuses to Stock Valiant Variants

[Xtianhardy]

I just talked to my retailer (the only retailer in my city that carries Valiant) yesterday about why I didn't receive the Master Darque pullbox variant for Shadowman #5, and apparently they've refused to order any of the variants because, to quote the owner, "Valiant keeps screwing with our variant orders."

This is likely not a Valiant issue, but an issue with my LCS. I've had problems getting the books I've ordered from them in the past, especially Image comics. I'm not a hardcore variant collector, but it's nice to get a few of the variants when they're available, and the pullbox variants should be the easiest ones for my LCS to order. This kind of crap makes me want to quit buying single issues altogether and buy the trades for my physical copies and then pick the singles on Comixology.

I envy you guys who can just go in and buy the variants you want off the shelves.

[FormerReader]

Why don't you order online?

[Xtianhardy]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

[GGSAE]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

Have you looked at Canadian-based retailers? I seen a few large online stores in Canada that were pretty cheap....one made me think about switching my LCS, but they've been too good to me.

[FormerReader]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

Nuts! Sorry that was my only idea.

[Xtianhardy]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

Have you looked at Canadian-based retailers? I seen a few large online stores in Canada that were pretty cheap....one made me think about switching my LCS, but they've been too good to me.

I've tried searching online but very few of them have a decent online ordering system, from what I've managed to find anyways. The best online retailers are all U.S. based. Almost none of the Canadian online retailers offer options to add a monthly pull list, and again, shipping costs are an issue.

It all comes down to cost for me. I like reading single issues, but I'm not going to pay more than cover price for single issues, and trades are always cheaper on Amazon.ca. I'd like to buy variants too, when they're available, but I'm not going to go out of my way and pay online prices for books I should be able to buy at my LCS if they weren't incapable of getting their orders straightened out.

Canada kinda sucks for comics fans who would rather buy online. Oh well, at least we don't have to pay a "Canadian cover price" any more.

[nscc]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

I have used DCBS once so far, it was get 5 Valiant titles for 9.95

HARBINGER (VU) #10 EVANS CVR
X-O MANOWAR (VU) #11 DJURDJEVIC CVR
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (VU) #08 LUPACCHINO CVR
BLOODSHOT (VU) #09 SUAYAN CVR
SHADOWMAN (VU) #05 ZIRCHER CVR

Shipping for these said $16.95.

The charge was billed to my card on feb 17th.

There is also a note that actual shipping is calculated when they are ready to ship. Since I chose to have them ship just once per month to save, they will not ship out until the end of this month. The charge for shipping could change once it is ready to be sent out, so we will see. It could go either way I guess.

This works out to 5.4 per comic.



Buying them from my lcs with a 10% discount and tax (15%) on top works out to $4.35 or so each.

My lcs is 45 mins away, so that is a factor for me too.

If I decide to go through mailorder, instead of the local shop, I would probably go through Collectors Paradise http://comicsandcards.net/. I have bought some stuff from the owner Ed, here, and he is great to work with. He is Paradise on the forum here and has lots of Valiant Variants for sale in the buy/sell section. I haven't done it myself, but he has an online store/subscription service. Shipping is going to be expensive no matter where you get it from it seems like..


I havent spent a lot of time looking or anything, but even on some of the canadian online comic stores, their shipping is pretty crazy too. One I'm sure was an error but to buy 15 comics, the shipping was $174


One thing I can tell you that will hopefully help is http://www.chapters.indigo.ca has some graphic novels/trades. They are sometimes 30% or more off and they have free shipping to a local store and they seem to have them all over canada, hopefully one is local to you. Mine is a 10 minute drive from my house.

[Dallow Spicer1]

Wow, crazy situation! I get my Valiant from an online retailer for £2.75 which includes shipping! It's amazing to hear Canadians find it easier to order from the US! The shipping costs seem high too, guess that's the price you pay for living in big arse countries (just kidding, I genuinely sympathise).

Hope you can find a better source for ordering the comics you want, variants and all!

[Xtianhardy]

The problem with ordering online is that shipping to Canada is expensive. Most online retailers will ship to Canada, but at a greater cost than to ship in the continental U.S. Most Americans seem to pay less by ordering through sites like DCBS, but for me it could mean buying my regular monthly books at more than what I'd pay for them off the rack. If any fellow Canadians can tell me about their experiences with DCBS I might consider it.

I have used DCBS once so far, it was get 5 Valiant titles for 9.95

HARBINGER (VU) #10 EVANS CVR
X-O MANOWAR (VU) #11 DJURDJEVIC CVR
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (VU) #08 LUPACCHINO CVR
BLOODSHOT (VU) #09 SUAYAN CVR
SHADOWMAN (VU) #05 ZIRCHER CVR

Shipping for these said $16.95.

The charge was billed to my card on feb 17th.

There is also a note that actual shipping is calculated when they are ready to ship. Since I chose to have them ship just once per month to save, they will not ship out until the end of this month. The charge for shipping could change once it is ready to be sent out, so we will see. It could go either way I guess.

This works out to 5.4 per comic.



Buying them from my lcs with a 10% discount and tax (15%) on top works out to $4.35 or so each.

My lcs is 45 mins away, so that is a factor for me too.

If I decide to go through mailorder, instead of the local shop, I would probably go through Collectors Paradise http://comicsandcards.net/. I have bought some stuff from the owner Ed, here, and he is great to work with. He is Paradise on the forum here and has lots of Valiant Variants for sale in the buy/sell section. I haven't done it myself, but he has an online store/subscription service. Shipping is going to be expensive no matter where you get it from it seems like..


I havent spent a lot of time looking or anything, but even on some of the canadian online comic stores, their shipping is pretty crazy too. One I'm sure was an error but to buy 15 comics, the shipping was $174


One thing I can tell you that will hopefully help is http://www.chapters.indigo.ca has some graphic novels/trades. They are sometimes 30% or more off and they have free shipping to a local store and they seem to have them all over canada, hopefully one is local to you. Mine is a 10 minute drive from my house.

Yeah, that pretty much confirms what I thought. As much as I would like to have the physical copies of the single issues, there's no way in Hell that I'm paying over $5 per single issue, Valiant or not.

I never thought about using Chapters.ca instead of Amazon.ca, but I'll keep an eye out. So far Amazon.ca has been really reasonable as far as the trades are priced.

I think I've basically decided to quit buying single issues after Harbinger Wars is finished. At least until I move to a city with a better, more reliable comic shop. It seems like my LCS only cares about what it makes from selling statues and board games, comics really get short shrift there. As much as I'd like to support Valiant with the singles, they'll still get my money from the trades and Comixology.

[Xtianhardy]

Wow, crazy situation! I get my Valiant from an online retailer for £2.75 which includes shipping! It's amazing to hear Canadians find it easier to order from the US! The shipping costs seem high too, guess that's the price you pay for living in big arse countries (just kidding, I genuinely sympathise).

Hope you can find a better source for ordering the comics you want, variants and all!

Canadians really got the shaft on our comics prices pretty much until around 2008 when the U.S. economy took a dive and all of a sudden our dollar became worth more, then we started getting comics at the U.S. price, and then later the U.S./Canadian price difference was dropped altogether. We still get hosed on shipping from the U.S. though, even if there's virtually no difference between shipping something to Montana and Saskatchewan (we are neighbours).

[Dallow Spicer1]

Wow, crazy situation! I get my Valiant from an online retailer for £2.75 which includes shipping! It's amazing to hear Canadians find it easier to order from the US! The shipping costs seem high too, guess that's the price you pay for living in big arse countries (just kidding, I genuinely sympathise).

Hope you can find a better source for ordering the comics you want, variants and all!

Canadians really got the shaft on our comics prices pretty much until around 2008 when the U.S. economy took a dive and all of a sudden our dollar became worth more, then we started getting comics at the U.S. price, and then later the U.S./Canadian price difference was dropped altogether. We still get hosed on shipping from the U.S. though, even if there's virtually no difference between shipping something to Montana and Saskatchewan (we are neighbours).

I'd forgotten that comics used to have a separate US and Canadian price (makes me nostalgic for 1980's comics!)! I guess there's additional taxes applied when shipping across borders? Seems unnecessarily pricey though!

[cavemold]

if all else fails buy it digital, sounds like your lcs is tough to deal with,

[nutflush76]

I just talked to my retailer (the only retailer in my city that carries Valiant) yesterday about why I didn't receive the Master Darque pullbox variant for Shadowman #5, and apparently they've refused to order any of the variants because, to quote the owner, "Valiant keeps screwing with our variant orders."

THIS is why so many comic retailers fail. This guy doesn't even know that he orders his books from Diamond (or whatever the Canadian distributor. Do they even have a different distributor?) and not directly from Valiant.

Second, if your customer wants something, instead of telling that customer "NO" why don't you see if you can get it for him? This is called customer service and too many comic shops completely lack it. Not to mention any kind of business sense.

As for your problems with getting your books to Canada, maybe you can check some of the dealers on Comic Collector Live? Many of them carry new releases, even below cover price, and I'm sure you can find a good deal on shipping there. Heck, you might even find some located in Canada.

[Xtianhardy]

I just talked to my retailer (the only retailer in my city that carries Valiant) yesterday about why I didn't receive the Master Darque pullbox variant for Shadowman #5, and apparently they've refused to order any of the variants because, to quote the owner, "Valiant keeps screwing with our variant orders."

THIS is why so many comic retailers fail. This guy doesn't even know that he orders his books from Diamond (or whatever the Canadian distributor. Do they even have a different distributor?) and not directly from Valiant.

Second, if your customer wants something, instead of telling that customer "NO" why don't you see if you can get it for him? This is called customer service and too many comic shops completely lack it. Not to mention any kind of business sense.

As for your problems with getting your books to Canada, maybe you can check some of the dealers on Comic Collector Live? Many of them carry new releases, even below cover price, and I'm sure you can find a good deal on shipping there. Heck, you might even find some located in Canada.

Hey thanks for recommending I used Comic Collector Live. I'll definitely check that out!

As for my retailer, he knows that he gets his books from Diamond, but I don't know, they seem to be biased against Valiant or something. They definitely have no problem stocking loads of expensive Marvel variants, but getting a couple Valiant books on the shelves seems to be some big hassle. I think the main problem is that my LCS has been transitioning over the past few years to be more of a geek hobby shop, focusing toys, statues and board games. They've really let the comics side of their business fall by the wayside (seriously, they don't even sell back issues). Then again, maybe comics don't pay the bills anymore, what do I know? All I know is that I've had problems getting my orders with this shop before. The only books they seem to be able to get me consistently are Marvel/DC, and I'm reading fewer and fewer of those all the time.

[Chiclo]

I just talked to my retailer (the only retailer in my city that carries Valiant) yesterday about why I didn't receive the Master Darque pullbox variant for Shadowman #5, and apparently they've refused to order any of the variants because, to quote the owner, "Valiant keeps screwing with our variant orders."

THIS is why so many comic retailers fail. This guy doesn't even know that he orders his books from Diamond (or whatever the Canadian distributor. Do they even have a different distributor?) and not directly from Valiant.

Second, if your customer wants something, instead of telling that customer "NO" why don't you see if you can get it for him? This is called customer service and too many comic shops completely lack it. Not to mention any kind of business sense.

As for your problems with getting your books to Canada, maybe you can check some of the dealers on Comic Collector Live? Many of them carry new releases, even below cover price, and I'm sure you can find a good deal on shipping there. Heck, you might even find some located in Canada.

Hey thanks for recommending I used Comic Collector Live. I'll definitely check that out!

As for my retailer, he knows that he gets his books from Diamond, but I don't know, they seem to be biased against Valiant or something. They definitely have no problem stocking loads of expensive Marvel variants, but getting a couple Valiant books on the shelves seems to be some big hassle. I think the main problem is that my LCS has been transitioning over the past few years to be more of a geek hobby shop, focusing toys, statues and board games. They've really let the comics side of their business fall by the wayside (seriously, they don't even sell back issues). Then again, maybe comics don't pay the bills anymore, what do I know? All I know is that I've had problems getting my orders with this shop before. The only books they seem to be able to get me consistently are Marvel/DC, and I'm reading fewer and fewer of those all the time.

I imagine debacles like the Flamingo cover of Harbinger 7 is what he was referring to by Valiant messing up his variant orders.

[Xtianhardy]

I imagine debacles like the Flamingo cover of Harbinger 7 is what he was referring to by Valiant messing up his variant orders.

It wasn't just one issue, though that probably didn't help the situation. I think they're biggest issue with Valiant is that each month there are different amounts of variant covers to potentially order, and some months they can order pullbox variants and other months they can't. They'd prefer if it was more predictable and they could order the same number of variants, get the pullbox variants every month, etc. I just don't think they care enough to try and order the variants. To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city like me who are buying them.

[greg]

To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city who ever open the comics and try to read them.

Fixed that for you.

[KXXX]

To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city who ever open the comics and try to read them.

Fixed that for you.

[Xtianhardy]

To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city who ever open the comics and try to read them.

Fixed that for you.

[lorddunlow]

To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city who ever open the comics and try to read them.

Fixed that for you.

[greg]

To be fair to them, my shop probably sells more Zenescope and Aspen comics than Valiant. They're just not a priority since it's only a handful of fans in the city who ever open the comics and try to read them.

Fixed that for you.

If they sell more Zenescope and Aspen, it sounds like they're selling (PG-13 and R-Rated) covers, not actual stories. Does anyone READ those?

[Savant]

Wow, crazy situation! I get my Valiant from an online retailer for £2.75 which includes shipping! It's amazing to hear Canadians find it easier to order from the US! The shipping costs seem high too, guess that's the price you pay for living in big arse countries (just kidding, I genuinely sympathise).

Hope you can find a better source for ordering the comics you want, variants and all!

Canadians really got the shaft on our comics prices pretty much until around 2008 when the U.S. economy took a dive and all of a sudden our dollar became worth more, then we started getting comics at the U.S. price, and then later the U.S./Canadian price difference was dropped altogether. We still get hosed on shipping from the U.S. though, even if there's virtually no difference between shipping something to Montana and Saskatchewan (we are neighbours).

Are magazines & conventional books now the same price, also, or are they still priced higher in Canada?

Aside from shipping, itself, there are also tariffs Canadian customs loves to charge if you buy from "international" stores. I assume they still do that, I lived in Canada from 2001-2004.

An example would be when I got a free DVD from a retailer in Indiana, Canadian customs charged me a $10 tariff or else I wouldn't be able to receive it and they'd send it back. So, in essence, I paid $10 for a free DVD, and it wasn't the retailer who got the money. I really loved that, all around.

[caniac]

Why don't you say that your screwing with my orders and tempting me to go elsewhere?

[Xtianhardy]

Why don't you say that your screwing with my orders and tempting me to go elsewhere?

We aren't exactly spoiled for choice here in Saskatchewan. The nearest "elsewhere" is 3 hours away.

[Xtianhardy]

Wow, crazy situation! I get my Valiant from an online retailer for £2.75 which includes shipping! It's amazing to hear Canadians find it easier to order from the US! The shipping costs seem high too, guess that's the price you pay for living in big arse countries (just kidding, I genuinely sympathise).

Hope you can find a better source for ordering the comics you want, variants and all!

Canadians really got the shaft on our comics prices pretty much until around 2008 when the U.S. economy took a dive and all of a sudden our dollar became worth more, then we started getting comics at the U.S. price, and then later the U.S./Canadian price difference was dropped altogether. We still get hosed on shipping from the U.S. though, even if there's virtually no difference between shipping something to Montana and Saskatchewan (we are neighbours).

Are magazines & conventional books now the same price, also, or are they still priced higher in Canada?

Aside from shipping, itself, there are also tariffs Canadian customs loves to charge if you buy from "international" stores. I assume they still do that, I lived in Canada from 2001-2004.

An example would be when I got a free DVD from a retailer in Indiana, Canadian customs charged me a $10 tariff or else I wouldn't be able to receive it and they'd send it back. So, in essence, I paid $10 for a free DVD, and it wasn't the retailer who got the money. I really loved that, all around.

Books are still priced higher, as are most hardcover graphic novels. Even Amazon.ca charges more than Amazon.com, although it's cheaper than buying directly from the bookstore. I haven't bought a magazine in a long time, but I imagine there is still a U.S./Canadian price difference with magazines as well.