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NEWS: Diamond Cancels Some July Manga/Anime Related Orders


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JohnnySake



Joined: 22 May 2008
Posts: 582
Location: Auburn Hills, MI
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:35 am Reply with quote
I realize that Diamond must have some sort of financial reason for what they have done. ($2,500 cost recoupment floor) However, it certainly has pissed off / alienated / irritated many a person. I read about the effects of it in the comics industry as well. Making it more difficult for your customers to sell their products doesn't seem like the smartest business strategy.
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LKK



Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 426
Location: Virginia, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:46 am Reply with quote
Ouch. There are six titles on that list I would like to buy. Three of them are near the top of my Most Looking Forward To list. I'm sure I'll be able to find them through other sources, but my local independent shop via Diamond was the most reliable method for those titles.

Yen Press was hit hard. I hope this doesn't spell ill for the publisher and its future releases.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:56 am Reply with quote
There is one good point to this. It makes it a little bit harder for Dragonball:Evolution to get to stores. Otherwise it stinks.
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Aura Ichadora



Joined: 25 Apr 2008
Posts: 2281
Location: In front of my computer
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:21 am Reply with quote
Big ouch for Yen Press, but also an ouch for fans of Gurren Lagann looking forward to the release of the new DVD.

But in a different view of things: was there seriously going to be really many people buying the DB:E movie enough to care about it being canceled? And for it to come out on three different formats, including Blu-Ray? Come on...
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:35 am Reply with quote
Guess it's time to kick Diamond to the wayside, they are failures. Are they really needed anyways? Seems to me that they're just a pointless middleman anyways. But, I admit I don't really know the full extent of their role in the distribution chain, so maybe it would mean the end of the comics industry if they disappeared, I don't know. I just hope that I can get ahold of the rest of Spiral. That's the only title off that list that I was following, but I'd still like to see it completed.
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:04 am Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Guess it's time to kick Diamond to the wayside, they are failures. Are they really needed anyways? Seems to me that they're just a pointless middleman anyways. But, I admit I don't really know the full extent of their role in the distribution chain, so maybe it would mean the end of the comics industry if they disappeared, I don't know.


Diamond is like some horrible toxic cancer inducing glue to the American comic book industry. It's a necessity but it in part, has caused the industry to become deathly ill.

Many product companies, use outside distributors to get the product to the store. Distribution is a huge deal and not something most companies want to spend the money on to set up distribution centers, and trucks, etc. So Diamond is needed in the industry, but since Diamond is the only Comic book store distributor there is no competition. So it seems since there is no competition Diamond can do want ever it wants how ever it wants to. Which seems to means terrible quality control. I can’t tell you how many times the store I worked at order manga only to get some manga but none of the titles we ordered. There were also many times big name titles like X-men didn’t come in our delivery. I can’t even to begin to tell how damaging it is for a small Mom & Pop store to be missing a big title like that for new release even if it only for a couple of days.

I can kind of understand where Diamond is coming from with the raise of the recoup cost but in the end I think it will only hurt the industry in the long run. It’s hard times for the independent comic book shop and why shop there if you can’t get the titles you want?

Ugh, this is making me frustrated inside, I’ll stop now.
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KrisEllieOphi



Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 111
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:17 am Reply with quote
Siiiiiiiiigh......

So my order for Sarasah was canceled; gonna have to track that down elsewhere I guess.

I'd like to understand how this works. If the product doesn't meet the $2,500 order requirement it just gets canceled? Is it that hard to ship out what WAS ordered?
I'm a little confused on the wording for "demonstrating" that a product can meet the order mark. Does this mean you can list anything you wish, but regardless of what IS ordered, if not enough is ordered they just drop it all together?
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:18 am Reply with quote
Sorry to rain on the parade, but I took this as meaning it only affects those who get delieveries from Diamond. I can't see this as including Best Buy so I'd think Dragonball:Evolution will be in all the expected outlets on schedule, just not in comic shops. Same for Bandai & Gurren Lagann.
TRSI should have all the Yen Press stuff available.
The comic shop I've frequented for years has complained about Diamond. On the other hand, they've drastically cut their manga product anyway to just the major, major titles like Naruto & Dark Horse stuff because their customers want the American comics, not the manga. Manga buyers do seem more prone to hit Barns & Noble or Borders so what this is really doing is forcing the end-line purchasers into specific outlets, continuing to divide the 2 fandoms.
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:18 am Reply with quote
IF you are depending on an American distributor with a monopoly in the domestic market for anime goods and merchandise, then you're basically barking up the wrong tree!

Seriously, I've had a few things cancelled on me in the past but it was nothing I couldn't live without and nothing that I couldn't have found online at AnimeNation or just by asking a good Japanese bookstore or better online anime vendor.

I don't know why you would want to buy this stuff through a comic book store anyway unless you don't have access to a checking account or credit card! This stuff is generally cheaper through a Japanese bookstore or even AnimeNation. Anime is definitely at least 20% cheaper online! Why pay full MSRP through flaky comic book distributors????

Seriously, Google for this stuff and look it up online. You'll often be able to get things for at least 15% less than what Diamond charges through Previews and sometimes better than that. Even with domestic shipping costs factored in you can often still come ahead of what you'd pay at a store with tax added.

Stop wasting so much time bitching about this stuff here and hoping Diamond's going to change its policies.

They won't because they have their distribution monopoly and are hemorrhaging money! The US comic book industry is in sore shape and they sold something like 30-33% fewer books in May than they did a year ago. (Of course, nobody mentions the sad shape of editing and writing in comics today nor the fact that a lot of people are looking long and hard at cover prices and passing on monthlies for the inevitable trade collection or passing on storylines altogether. You save a ton of money borrowing this crap from libraries, too, if they have a decent graphic novel collection.) That's why they raised minimums and have been cutting accounts on smaller companies left and right. You realize with how much it costs to import goods that they probably are not making much money on imported anime guide books that maybe sell a a dozen or fewer copies nationwide?????

Sometimes the manga and anime hardcore crowd assumes the population of the otaku crowd is bigger than it actually is in the US. Sure, it'd be great if we all lived on the West Coast in San Francisco or LA where they have decently-stocked Japanese bookstores but if you don't live there, you have to find your other venues or do searches online and make calls and e-mail...
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:47 am Reply with quote
I think the only people this hurts is Diamond. When you can't order the manga from them, all a person needs to do is go to the books store right next door and order through them. I know Ingram, the distributor we use at our book store, doesn't have a single problem with supplying any of these titles. Bookstores don't charge you either (At least they shouldn't) when you order books through them. They just come in automatically with the regular shipments. More money for Ingram and the bookstores I guess. Better business too if it's not a chain store.
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yamneko



Joined: 24 Jun 2009
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:04 pm Reply with quote
For all those confused on WHY anyone would get manga from a mom & pop store: take this, you're not on the east or west cost, where there are japanese stores of ANY kind, and the only comic shops around ARE mom and pop stores. Sure you could go to barns and noble, but the chances are, you ALSO get regular comics (diamond has a monopoly for DC/Marvel, so order from diamond or not get those at all) And not to mention B&N etc move their store front at least every year for god knows why, so where is it now? Who knows. At least that's what it's like where i live. Let's not exclude custom orders now. We hand people the order catalog and let them go through, pick what they want, and let them know when it comes in. And hang on to it for them. Other stores hang onto it till Tuesday or some such sense, and if you miss it, sorry, you gotta order it again.

Getting a separate distributor for the anime/manga would make no sense. Most have a minimum limit you need to order PER MONTH for a retailer account/discounts, which mom & pop COMIC stores wouldn't be making, never mind having to deal with a whole separate order form, account and books to keep track of.

What the industry really needs is another distributor all together. Then maybe we'll be getting full shipments in one piece, unbent.

(sorry, had work to day, and a huge stack of titles was all bent, stupid diamond.)
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CMB



Joined: 12 Sep 2006
Posts: 44
Location: Lock Haven, Pa.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Sad Gees more bad news. Crying or Very sad
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:22 pm Reply with quote
Minors shouldn't have their own credit cards (although I guess some companies have issued them which is their loss, really. In California last I heard minors cannot sign contracts, thus cannot be legally bound to a contract. My daughter's Verizon account is in my name.) Maybe you don't want mom to open the manga you ordered. Maybe you don't want to have to explain what you want to buy to your dad. Maybe you live in an apartment & your nasty neighbors steal stuff off your porch all the time.
There can be many reasons one has to buy from brick & morter stores. I used to get about a dozen titles held for me at a local comic shop, but it's down to about 6 & I do it just to support local business because I can get the books cheaper online. It's an excuse once a month to go in & talk to them more than anything else.
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LKK



Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 426
Location: Virginia, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:37 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:
I don't know why you would want to buy this stuff through a comic book store anyway unless you don't have access to a checking account or credit card! This stuff is generally cheaper through a Japanese bookstore or even AnimeNation. Anime is definitely at least 20% cheaper online! Why pay full MSRP through flaky comic book distributors????

I am willing to pay MSRP at my local comics store BECAUSE it is my local comics store. Having a local store adds to the quality of life in my city in tangible and intangible ways. It adds to the variety of shopping experiences by offering products that might not otherwise be available locally. (An intangible benefit.) The shop pays city business taxes which means things like schools, emergency response departments, and city-provided public services can have a higher operating budget than they might otherwise have. (A tangible benefit.) To me, the extra 20% to 40% per manga that I pay by buying at my local store is far outweighed by the benefits of having a store that supports my community's quality of life and finances.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:48 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
There is one good point to this. It makes it a little bit harder for Dragonball:Evolution to get to stores. Otherwise it stinks.


That is a good point indeed. You have to take the good with the bad.

But ouch for Yen Press. But unless those series were high sellers, I don't think this will hurt the company too much.
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