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Viz prices on the rise!?

I hope this isn´t true, but it looks like it is...
At simonsays the SJ titles that are scheduled to be released on october 2009 the price says $9.99...
Though in o ther sites the price is still at $7.95...
So what´s your thoughts on this?

For me, a $2 increase is too much, I don´t know if I will keep following REBORN! which I just bought every now and then, but with the story as it is right now in Japan, I wont even bother now...

I'm not too concerned unless their larger size 12.99 books start selling for 15 or more. Since VIZ Signature is pretty much all I read.

I've sorta gotten used to the idea that the "normal" price for manga is now $10.99 (where I used to accept it as $9.99), in part due to Yen Press and Del Rey. I'm just glad that Viz were able to keep their prices down for so long. Most of Viz's Big editions can still be called "dirt cheap" by comparison, they range between $17.99 and $19.99 and they all have at least three volumes shoved in there, not to mention that they're printed on much bigger paper. For the price, I just wish they're re-release a few more older series that I want or that I want other people to get (Please Save my Earth, Firefighter Daigo, etc) in the Big editions.

For me though, Viz's most notable price jump has been on their Sig series, a jump from $9.99 to $12.99 per volume. However, it has already been noted that the book itself is simply larger and the quality is still just as good as ever. Considering that the Sig line publishes most of my favorite series from Viz, a jump in price with a jump in quality isn't such a terrible thing to me. The only other series I paid $12.99 a volume for in normal manga size was Del Rey's Parasyte, who's page count was always between 288-304, so $12.99 seemed fine to me. In fact, that could be my only real complaint with the recent Sig volumes is that since they have the same page count as a normal manga, I'd rather have them print it smaller and charge me a bit less.

And then of course, consider that at least half the population here shops at TRSI a lot, and they routinely shave off about 25% of the price + sales + weekly specials + bargain bin + deal of the day + club membership, when I shop over there, it's like the prices haven't even gone up. I also tend to always buy at least $49 worth of stuff for free shipping and half the time it involves me adding a manga to my order that would cost me the same as what shipping would have. If you buy enough to not pay the shipping, then it's a great deal. And Borders gives you coupons ranging from 20-40% off a single item every weekend. Amazon isn't bad sometimes either, they frequently discount items too and offer free shipping with no tax. Perhaps it's because I used to shop in just plain Borders for years without proper knowledge of the greatness of TRSI and shopping on the internet in general, but perhaps it's so easy to avoid the price hikes or at least greatly lessen them that I don't find Viz's price jumps to be a big deal. And at least Viz hasn't been annoying their fanbase for years by publishing horrible series with poor translations, the occasional good series with translation issues, canceling half their series at random, and printing on tissue paper and then upping the price.