I can only say one thing about shops having their own FOC cutoffs… if I was a retailer myself and now having two Distributors with a Sunday FOC while the other is on a Monday, I’d probably make my own FOC for customers the Friday or Saturday midday prior to both cause I’d spend that Friday early evening or Saturday doing the orders, to make sure all my customers who pre-order get the books they want.
Not sure about the rest of you all but I wouldn’t be in the business of sitting up late Sunday and then Monday night putting in orders, possibly making mistakes at the last minute, missing or messing up orders, etc… I’d want a piece of my life back not working as well. So I don’t blame retailers for doing their own cut off for pre-orders ahead to make sure the orders are done right. Get your own pre-orders together if you know your shop has their own cut off time and don’t be that guy that bugs them after their FOC has surpassed…
That’s why when I ordered all these additional printings blind with no cover art. If I like the cover I’ll add more. My fav shop FOC is closed before most of these prints get announced let alone cover art is shown.
DC is a different beast. Spec on thT is usually down to flavor of the month and Batman. I do that on friday cause well, its DC.
The rest through Diamond is hit or miss. U need a weekend of sales and talk to weed through the hit and misses. Watching twitter and instagram and getting the retailer emails. Looking at ebay data and talking on forums and facebook. I spend far to much time doing this. But the end result is worth it.
That’s a retailer doing their own speculation though of what to load up the shelves with… what I detailed is a retailer doing FOC based on their own customer pre-orders.
What a retailer orders after their own FOC based on actual customer orders is on them and their own time for personal or business.
But these forums are different. Anyone can just read as it’s all public (well, not the Lounge area that requires a login but even that’s free and you can become a level 2 member by browsing casually for hte most part). This is not a group one must join before seeing what people post.
I kid I kid. But it’s kinda true. Being in those retailer forums they can be very anti-online sellers. Many require book and mortar stores, which you guys also have. But being aware of trends do not mean they take action on them. I went into a shop recently that had 10 copies of a hot back issue. I asked if they had a limit on their back issues. They said no. I pulled 6 for myself and took the other four to the counter. He rang me up for the six and said what are the other four copies for. I said they are $20 books you are selling for $3. Make some money off them. He said thanks. Went back the next week and bought the other 4 for $3 each. He put them back. $80+ dollars was not enough for him to list them online. But for me it was an awesome grab. Sold 6 of them at $20.
I use to do the same thing for Capstone. Picked up hot book and would grab another, before checking out, I’d yank the copy and hand to him and say, this is heating up, tuck it away for yourself to make money after you sell the others on the wall. Always got the “thank you”… then next week I’d be like, you sell that book… "Nah, a regular came in and I was out so I gave to him for cover price… "
So yeah, sometimes he’d end up selling but he was also the type that wanted everyone to get at retail price. Man I miss Capstone… It was my other goto for back issues… Now all we have here in Austin is Austin Books and they suck…
Yeah, comic politics can be weird sometimes haha. Lots of LCSs don’t like talking to us because of our online store, ignoring or not knowing we have actual stores that have been open for several decades, too.
There are a lot that I’ve become friends with, though. And I’ve helped a lot of older stores get set up online and learn how to do the whole Internet thing, or set up digital ad campigns. But when I started here about two years ago it was definitely like being on an island and teaching myself a new industry!
Its funny you say that, when i first started i noticed the same thing. I get brushed off by BnM shops because i was online only. Same thing happened when I applied to ComicsPro.
At one point i almost reached out to TFaW and DCBS to see if there was an online retailer forum and if there wasnt if they wanted to join me in starting one. Then I found this site and just lurked for awhile
For all but DC, if I don’t get my FOC in prior to the shop opening on Sunday, consider my order most likely not being put in. I didn’t know they had a different cut off until I ordered something on a Monday that I missed on Saturday. Only reason they don’t cut off on Saturday I think is since the list isn’t necessarily “finalized” until Friday? Also, they’re closed on Monday so I like the fact they have a cut off and can enjoy some much needed rest.
This is mainly a speculation site. If you dont want to share until you’ve grabbed your copies, then don’t share until that time. This is not the only source for comic book speculation. If it isn’t original, and it isn’t new, then most likely it can be found somewhere else. What we say and do here does not drastically alter the landscape of the hobby as a whole, or in part, if at all, imo.
Exactly. Share, don’t share. Don’t like what we do here, then simple solution is, don’t bother coming here then. We welcome all though… collectors, readers, flippers, speculators and assholes… Just be a polite ass if you are one!
I’ve been busy working all day, so I haven’t had time to reply. I hope you’re not calling me an arsshole.
I’m not trying to be an arsshole… And I’m not trying to take away from the fun here.
It just doesn’t seem intelligent to demonstrate a lot of demand pre-FOC is all.
If you knew of a good deal on a house, are you going to go around telling every stranger before you buy it? Of course not, it’s essentially the same thing.
But I’m done talking about this. My only goal by bringing it up was to get people to think a little bit.
