We all hate store variants but

Comics Marvel Comics
#2994

@Anthony
I agree that they didn’t have an actual hand in the production of the acetate cover, but I do believe they had a very active role in the scandal itself. The entire situation wasn’t “just” about the cover/ fact it was a bootleg (or whatever it’s being called).

It was another perfect example of the manipulative system that has been well crafted, honed, and put into play by Whatnot.

Ask yourself this, if Whatnot and their sellers had never gotten involved with this variant, never hyped it in advance ( in conjunction with Black Flag) does anyone believe that cover would have sold out at $85 a pop?
Maybe I’m completely wrong and underestimate the desire for folks to throw away money.
I don’t think there is a defense that it “was” selling like crazy, for crazy amounts initially as again, that was the hype train starting to chug.

Do other store variants, that aren’t part of these schemes, priced at absurd $85 sell out?

The pre con communications, back door deals, bulk buying and indicated line jumping (which were Whatnot folk) was as much of the scandal as the bootleg book itself. It was their actions that created the domino effect.

4 Likes
#2995

I think the “influencers” are more to blame than anyone. Let’s also not forget that a certain top 10 list had the book on the list the Friday before the convention started and before the books went on sale.

Whatnot is a platform, not a person, just like eBay. And we have seen platforms manipulated in the past. SDCC We Can Never Go Home #1 for example. eBay was linked to that severe pump and dump due to a select group of individuals buying up all the copies of the book and massively hyping it up.

Like I said, I am not defending Whatnot I haven’t been on the platform for a show in months, just blaming the people involved and not the platform.

Not sure if we can say they are Whatnot folk, or just whatnot sellers.

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#2996

Very valid points and I get where you’re coming from.

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#2997

Will CGC will be selling in house owned slabs on WhatNot? :thinking:

#2998

That’s a good question. I am guessing they will have books there for signatures and remarks then grade and ship out. Man the link Wooky posted, the comments, were killer. All in all a very bad look for CGC.

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#2999

They may not outright sell their slabs, but at this point, I can see them selling through another entity, just like Disney used to do their rated R movies through Touchstone.

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#3000

Next funding for WhatNot will be interesting to see if the name… Blackstone joins the investment group… :scream:

Thats how you keep it in the 'family" :rofl: :moneybag:

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#3001

Jim Lee, Sinclair, Williams, WhatNot & CGC in one big giant event? OMG - I’m sure there will incredible deals abound during this event :rofl:

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#3002

I did see a video of WonderWorld who is all about CBCS mention while at C2E2 he wasnt given any WhatNot slot time… makes sense now

#3003

If WhatNot influencers are on CGC whatnot channel sellings slabs… game over

CGC getting that $500 monthly deal and ComicCon expenses? :thinking: oh wait we are told NO ONE gets WhatNot money … :rofl:

3 Likes
#3004

any sales on cgc would be game over for cgc imo, you cant be a grader and a reseller

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#3005

Giving them away is the same thing as selling them, they graded them and will write them off as advertising.

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#3006

In my experience, any Marvel/DC exclusive without the numbers revealed is still the minimums (3k/1k/etc.). Shops don’t disclose them because people who don’t know how the game works think “exclusive = limited” and buy it. If they knew there were 3k, they’d probably hesitate. People who understand how they work know the numbers and just assume that’s what it is.

If an exclusive is for Image, Boom, Aftershock, etc. where MOQs are smaller and a store doesn’t disclose numbers, then they’ve printed a lot more than other stores have and don’t want people to know that and are relying on the people who know how exclusives work to assume the run is 250, 500, etc. and not the 1k+ printed. The indie titles are USUALLY marketed more toward actual collectors and spec people because mainstream Marvel movie fan is a harder sell for a new Image title than a new Spider-Man #1.

Exclusives themselves are a polarizing topic. My personal stance, having been responsible in the past for making quite a few of them, is shops should do exclusives for titles they actually like or want to support, with creators they like and want to support. Full stop. Doing exclusives as a way to make easy money and only to make money is catching a falling knife. For every Marvel or DC exclusive that sells out and makes profit, there’s 2 that don’t.

The biggest issue with exclusives in general is the rise of the online exclusive-only shops. There’s a LOT of shops that do exclusives where that’s basically their entire business model. They got used to the success, tried to increase it, and keep forcing them out and having to find questionable ways to ensure sell outs because they’re the main source of revenue. With exclusives themselves being more common and harder to sell out due to way too many reasons to list (economy being a big one), I’m not shocked at some of the gimmicks or partnerships some of those stores have come up with to make sure they sell out.

Those stores generally do exclusives and view comics as a way to make easy money, and you can usually spot which store owners think that way vs which ones actually like comics just based on who they work with, how many they do, what their ideas are, etc.

I really wish publishers would be more visible in regards to exclusives, but I understand why they also keep it all vague as much as they do. It’s easy sales for issue numbers, and for some publishers stores are paying significantly more per exclusive than they are for a regular cover. When I was working in comics I talked with a lot of the reps who handled exclusives to try and see if they would consider sharing print runs for exclusive variants to give some more transparency to fans. There were (not surprisingly) a LOT of exclusives I saw advertised as a run much smaller than what I heard had been printed or ordered for it.

8 Likes
#3007

best thing that could happen to the hobby is the downfall of store variants, would help collectors and sellers a like

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#3008

I don’t want to see store variants to go away, there have been some really cool ideas and concepts. I want to see the store variant a week model go away, the constant 30 stores doing a variant on the same title. Make them something special again and not the norm.

5 Likes
#3009

Who is the actual market for a store variant? It appears it is mostly the cool-cover club, but how many of those that are purchased are done so with the intent to resell them?

Money can certainly be the driving factor for making them, but there has to be a need for them as well in order for them to keep making them. For me, it has only been the cool-cover that has made me buy them and I really can’t think of an instance where I bought one to re-sell.

#3010

I personally like store variants because it means i get to see more art from the stories I enjoy. Doesn’t mean i’m going to buy it but I think having the option to buy it is a good thing. There are still multiple cover price variants for almost any comics issue for people who don’t like exclusives to buy. So exclusives really don’t change anything at all with normal collecting and reading the stories. They just add a different layer on top.

If you take any emotion out of it, to me the trend with store exclusives, specifically for Marvel, is very clear. There will be two strategies:

  1. Trash a significant portion of the print run and sell at a higher price. Like Mayhew did with his last Mandalorian exclusive. From a business standpoint it makes sense even if some people hate it. We all know that collectors are much more likely to buy something they perceive as rare and it’s a lot easier to 800 copies for 40 than 3000 at $12. It’s not unique to comics either. I work in marketing and have been help build a handful of successful businesses and every time your better off getting less people to pay you more. Lower overhead and headaches. There are exceptions but for small businesses (which these shops are almost all pretty small in the grand scheme of things) this is usually the case.

  2. Sell the normal 3,000/1,000 variant and partner with other stores. Then make up any losses through bundling in other channels. Antihero Gallery is an example of this. They sell the normal exclusives at the normal costs. Split the costs with 2, 3, or more other shops. And then sell mystery packs and bundles at discount on marketplaces like WhatNot, FB Groups, etc. So instead of $15-$20 per trade dress you’ll pay $40 for 4-5 of them. They paid ~$4-$5. This strategy takes longer to win with but they are building a following on WhatNot and always have stuff to sell.

Again im not saying I particularly like the way stores are handing this but to me it’s the reality. I cant say I would do it any different if it was my business. Unless something changes in the way store exclusives are done from a publisher level this is what we should expect.

I think the reason everything is going this way is because:

  1. Too many shops have made exclusives their primary way of making money so to stay at the level they are at or to grow bigger they have to do them or no one would shop there. Without all of the hype that comes with exclusives many of the shops that are now household names would still just be a local shop.

  2. People keep paying stupid money for these things because they cannot handle not getting something. Because of that speculators kept buying them up because they know some bozo is going to pay them a ton of money for it. Even more if it sells out. I know its easy to blame sellers for this but if people would stop buying them they would stop selling them. Until collectors learn to practice some self control nothing is going to change because why would it?

(also most exclusive heavy comic stores do a trash job at marketing their exclusives. Only the die hard fans see it. If you only plan on only promoting the book to people who already buy exclusives there is no way in hell you are selling 4,000 books)

4 Likes
#3011

Let’s get real, NO store is trashing product they purchased. They might make it “limited” from the shop they’re selling them from but they’re likely either holding them to leak out over time and or selling them (the remaining copies) by other means.

2 Likes
#3012

Back circa 2015, I remember buying multiples of certain store variants and doing really well on reselling them. John Tyler Christopher’s first exclusive, Star Wars #4 Boba Fett, sold like crazy. I think I bought 20 copies of those and sold them for $80-100 each.

Now, the field is so flooded, I think there’s no good chance you’re going to pick a winner like that from all the offerings. I stick to what I know-Star Wars. Within that small niche, I can mostly tell.

The Mayhew Mandalorian 3 was bound to be a winner. First Armorer cover, “limited” to 800 copies. High buy-in. Yeah. It was going to be a winner. I still only bought one for the PC though.

Nowadays, I only buy if it has something unique on it. A first cover appearance, things like that. If there’s a trade dress option, I just get one copy of that for a lower price than a virgin “bundle” and call it good. Itch scratched. I can get on with my day.

3 Likes
#3013

something to think about
midtown did not even do a exclusive for mando or asm #1 (latest vol)