Kirby & Deb Tardy of Tardy's Collectors Corner in Grand Rapids, Michigan comments on comic book publisher's discount levels.

Addressing wholesale discounts reveals a very odd situation.  DC's holding the line at $2.99 is costing some retailers real money due to discount plateaus.  Marvel will give a 53% discount with a $2,500 monthly order; DC's is at $3,000.  With a lower average cover price and much lower product output than Marvel, DC's is much harder to reach.  This results in my Image discount (grand-fathered in with some unknown formula from days long past) being higher than any other publisher!  I currently get 53% off with Marvel, 50% off with DC, 52.5% off from Dark Horse and 53.5% from Image.  How can this be right?  

I feel it's time to revisit these plateaus to reflect today's weak sales climate.  I cannot afford to pay .09 more for a $2.99 DC comic than a comparable Marvel comic.  Yes, DC is holding the line but it's costing me more than before.  I'm faced with trying to surcharge my customers .10 for DC comics or eating an additional cost than cannot be afforded nor justified when compared to other comics.  We've been selling comics for 32 years and every year it seems there are more obstacles to overcome just to stay in business, much less make any kind of profit. Is anybody else affected by this situation?

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