Comments on: Rules Don’t Apply to Wizard

By: Scott Hassler

Scott Hassler — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 05:20:56 +0000

imagine the uproar if they just sent them to news outlets and didnt give them to the comic shops.

im going to ask my local retailers about this one, but i imagine most if not all of them will prolly have the attitude that theyd rather sell half of what they get and return the rest than not sell any at all, and make no money off it.

By: Alan Coil

Alan Coil — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:02:39 +0000

If I were a store owner, I’d not sell those issues. I’d put them in the back room until they were due for return and return all of them. I’d also demand a credit for the shipping costs.

I do believe that, if I didn’t get satisfaction on the matter, I’d stop selling Wizard.

My LCS used to sell in excess of 40 copies of Wizard every month. The number now appears to be around 10. Maybe Wizard is a dying magazine that is using extreme means to try to boost their circulation.

By: Lisa Lopacinski

Lisa Lopacinski — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 21:13:27 +0000

I contacted several Diamond employees last year when they tried this, and they finally agreed to let us place an order for the ammount we wanted. Many of us are raising holy hell again this year–since aparently the lesson was NOT learned. Once they get away with something like this, what’s to stop them from sending us copies of even less “sellable” items without our ordering them?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 23:16:12 +0000

David, those aren’t the only two options. I think the best thing to do would be to actually plan ahead enough to give retailers more than two weeks’ notice.

By: M High

M High — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:07:06 +0000

This is nothing new. I don’t know how widespread the practice is, but I do know that Diamond does do this every once in a while. Most recently – like a week or two back – we got shipped a pile of some Star Wars magazine in this manner (not regularly solicited, but auto-ordered by Diamond to match the same number as the previous one). And I recall back in 2002, when Tokyopop did this to a whole bunch of trade paperbacks.

By: Dorian

Dorian — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:46:48 +0000

I always hated when Wizard would do this to us. We were pretty on top of our returns situations, but in the mean-time we still had to find homes for 20+ copies of a magazine we didn’t order and our customers didn’t want.

David, when other publishers have an item that needs to be shipped out right away, they usually include it in Diamond Dateline, which retailers get each week, and let retailers select how many, if any, they want to bring in. That Wizard doesn’t do this is, to say the least, frustrating for retailers. Especially retailers who now have a larger than expected freight charge to pay for. Which Diamond is inconsistent about crediting to retailers.

By: David Oakes

David Oakes — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:15:54 +0000

Yes, it’s a bit presumptuous, but the converse – printing a special issue and not letting the shops order them at all because it is too late – doesn’t do anybody any good.

And this isn’t the first time I have heard about Diamond “auto-ordering” for such “inbetween” issues. Isn’t this their standard procedure? Or is it always Wizard who comes up with these things at the last minute. (I can’t say that I recall any instance that wasn’t Wizard, and Diamond is certainly quick enough to cancel orders from other publishers.)