Were you one of the lucky few to score a graphic novel at an insanely low price thanks to Amazon’s pricing glitch last week? (If so, I kinda hate you, because I didn’t.) Well, enjoy it, because Amazon has stopped selling most graphic novels altogether while the problem continues to be sorted out.
Comicbookresources.com recently spoke to some publishers about how the debacle, and Amazon’s halt to selling graphic novels, affected them. According to Dan Vado, Publisher of SLG Publishing, “A lot of sales will go to third party vendors. Those sales often are used books which have already been bought and paid for from us some time ago. On top of that a lot of third party people list books they do not have in stock at tremendous discounts. Or, in another example, some joker has listed Animal Crackers, the Gene Yang collection, at $72. Not sure why, but I do know it is impossible for them to have the book since it just left our warehouse on Monday. Not every third party vendor is on the up and up or on top of their game. Someone may have seen an opportunity to create a false sense of value in these books. I don’t know. But long term, if this does not get fixed soon I think the sales lost will be lost forever.” Vado also adds that neither Amazon or comic book distributor Diamond have said when things will return to normal at Amazon.
Well, this sucks, but it’s also a good excuse to get out there and support your local comic shop. And then flip what you bought on Amazon for a nice profit. Yay, capitalism!