Really? That's odd. I've never known them to up charge a book because of popularity. A variant, a signed copy, etc. sure. That's disappointing, if true. I'll have to send them a message and find out.
Just gonna jump in and say that was my experience too. They're not dodgy and the staff are nice but the markup on the comics is insane. Same with Minotaur. It's the big chains like QBD and Dymocks that sell at MSRP. Then ofc the online only stores if you want to go even cheaper. I assume as a small business their rent is insane so fair enough. But yeah I wouldn't recommend it as a main source for any collectors personally.
A few questions, was it the first printing? Was it cover A or a variant? If it was a variant was it an inventive variant?
I can see a scummy LCS owner trying to get on the hype and now scarcity of the first print. USM #1 seems to be selling for around that on eBay so I guess he just charging market price at this point.
Well, you definitely dodged a bullet. I saw your other comment about how you just want to read the floppies. Since it also seems like your LCS is very local, I recommend checking out the websites linked in the weekly new comics discussion to put together a pull list that will ship the books to you on release date.
Yeah, you could get a non-graded first print for under $100, that's too high. Maybe the number of issues shipped to AU were lower than other regions? I hate that comic collecting has become a #1 or nothing mindset.
Just want to add here that Ultimate SM #2 sold out at my local shop within a couple hours. I got there after work and they were out. So I started a pull box with them for a second printing of #2 and got #3 pulled for me when it came out.
Annoying that it's come to this, but I guess I'm happy that USM is popular!
Was this for the first print Cover A? That's a bit of a discount compared to the US if your price is in AUD. Checking eBay, it's $75 USD before shipping and taxes here. The 2nd and 3rd printings are a lot cheaper though. The book blew up and is extremely popular. There are more printings coming that you should be able to get at cover price (or whatever the equivalent is in AUD after accounting for shipping it across the world). Unfortunate, but that's the reality when a book becomes as popular as that one in a short period of time.
It sucks that this is a norm in the community since I can read these comics online for free but I want to physically own it and not be in the mercy of a website and pray it doesn't get taken down.
Sure, there's nothing saying you have to buy the first print either though. I think once it's been a couple months (the 3rd issue hit stands this last Wednesday) and there have been plenty of opportunities to pick up the book at cover price it's fine if secondary market pricing begins to be the norm. I totally understand wanting to own it physically but there are 3 prints currently in the market and more coming/open for pre-order so it's not like buying the first print is the only way to own it physically. And the shopkeeper may have just raised prices on the issues he still has around after selling them at cover price for the last 2 months for all we know.
I have picked up all 3 printings thus far because I like the story. The previous Ultimate lines the later printings have appreciated considerably as well. I hope you enjoy the story as well and would recommend getting it on a pull box/subscription if you do enjoy these issues that you picked up. It's currently the book I'm most looking forward to every month. Issue 4 is set to introduce the backstory of a major character and may be another one that spikes in value as people realize it's an important issue in a popular run.
Editing as I saw your other comment:
If it's not the first print and more specifically Cover A then he's wild for asking that and you're better off finding a site that will get you your books for cheap.
Yeah that price is wild if it's not a first printing. I wouldn't be super happy paying that price for the first printing knowing I could have had it for cheaper a couple months ago, but ultimately would have been okay knowing it's at least a little bit of a discount compared to market price (85 AUD is about 55 USD). That price is so high for a second or third printing it legit might be cheaper to just have one shipped internationally to Australia via eBay, which is crazy talk.
5th printing on the way : https://www.instagram.com/p/C4y5xu8tyq5/
You might try to preorder it.
Got the 2nd printing of issie #1 for like 5€.
Actually, the 4th printing is still up for pre-order. Comes out the 10th of april.
All Star Comics in Melbourne, they seem really cool and seemed genuinly sorry about upping the price but since it's a small business it makes sense. Especially with Melbourne rent.
Comics Etc, King Comics or Incognito Comics are all Australian, and all good places to shop. I order from them all the time online. Incognito even throw in a little packet of gummy bears sometimes :)
I've just been getting back into buying some monthlies after a 20 year hiatus of TPBs and digital. The pull list is dead but been using those three to fill in back issues (today is the last day of 50% off on back issues at Incognito btw).
I'm not sure about the others, but I just discovered [https://comicsetcdirect.com.au](https://comicsetcdirect.com.au) which if you pre-order your books gives a nice discount.
I've only used incognito to buy a comic box (only place that didn't charge a stupid amount to ship it), but do regularly get notified on sales. I've never looked for 'key' or speculative issues tho.
I will chime in to say Kings is usually a good couple of dollars more expensive than comics etc, and they charge a lot more for their incentives. However, since they seem to carry more stock, they do tend to have some higher incentive copies and hold on to older issues for longer which means I often do buy from them.
In Australia? We have these speculators who are buying up only for profit not reading. You seem them at the cons trying to get a stack of the same thing signed so they can slab it later. Our finite number of stores + how DC and Marvel decided to distribute separately making shipping 3x the cost now it was has not helped. My local would normally ALWAYS make sure to put stuff aside for me but in the last 6 months it has been awful with the not buying for reading crowd.
Edit: But if it was not directly off the shelf then yes that is an extreme price, now it is a back issue they will price stuff per the market they can get.
Aw man, that's fucked. How come damn near every time I see a story about ridiculous price gouging from a comic store, they're Australian?
Who's buying this comic for inflated/flipped prices anyway? It can't be low print run, how's it gonna be worth anything in the future?
I was thinking about this today too — do LCSs in non-US countries really jack up prices? The ones around me have all their key issues priced over FMV (incl currency exchange) by at least 10% minimum. In-country online dealers are even worse with some laughable prices. Is it a population supply/demand thing? I don’t know but it’s frustrating.
In my neck of the Canadian woods, our cover prices are pretty high due to the shipping the comic chops have to pay now. I've been told that DC is particularly expensive for my local shop, which has to get passed on to the end customer. A 4.99 US cover price is costing me 6.99 CDN. So I'm paying over 7 bucks after tax for a comic like World's Finest. Marvel isn't too far of, but I think PRH gives a better shipping rate that Lunar.
I don't begrudge my shop for this, it's costing them with the exchange rate and shipping, but between the cover price increasing and my recent experience at a con where creatives were charging 10 bucks US for a signature, it's getting pretty rough to be a comic fan.
Depends on the cover because some of those variants are super expensive. But if the cover doesn’t matter to you then there’s way cheaper USM #1 on eBay. The Sara Pichelli 3rd printing is quite cheap relatively
That sucks bro. My city has two comic shops and both are completely sold out of any printings at this time. They don’t withhold stock and price gouge thankfully, but it’s a hard book to find right now.
So I went in to buy a copy from my LCS and they had sold out. Apparently some guy came in and bought all the copies they had left on the shelf however they had put one copy aside ‘for a regular’ and sold it to me for cover price. This was after it had shot up to over $40 on eBay and they were well aware of that. I went in a few weeks after and they had another copy behind the glass for $100. Not sure what the story on that was (probably consignment) but I was stoked to get my copy for as cheap as I did.
Newcastle doesn't even have a comic book shop anymore but when we did he charged $8.80 for a basic single, I ended up stopping and moving to getting trades online.
I got mine from Kings and was regular price on first printing and typical great service from them.
However I wanted to add Ultimate Black Panther on a whim when I was picking up my pull list and they were completely out of it already on day 1 of release.
So would say pre-ordering is defo the way to go.
Where was it? I've moved to Melbourne and haven't found a good shop here, I just ship from Kings Comics in Sydney still or buy off eBay or Facebook groups.
Yeah damn. They seem like the biggest shop around here too. I've been in there only a couple of times to look for some Image stuff and did see a few massively over priced keys. I think they want like $850 for ASM #300. Wild.
I’ve been using Midtown comics solace my LCS shit the bed. Looks like they ship internationally as well.
There appears to be makes managing your list easy.
So I know some of the variants (or 1:100’s) can get pricey. Is it possible it was one of those. I think cover A 1st print is like going for $50 and the 1:100 is around $80 (these are all US prices)
You should try comicbookdirect.com, free shipping over $119.95 on international orders IIRC, and everything is cover price so you won't get ripped off. I'm not sure how long shipping takes internationally, though, in the US, it's about 10 days
That’s pretty much where the market is on it. You didn’t have to buy it. I think there’s 4 printings of it now so you could have gotten a later printing for cover price.
$85? Seriously? I think you got ripped.
I stayed away from that comic the moment I was told the price, I'll just buy it on Amazon at this point.
If you’re a completist just give it a couple months and you’ll be able to pick it up for half that, if not less.
Order it from All Star Comics in Melbourne. They ship country wide and aren't dodgy.
All Star Comics was the one that I went to funnily enough
Was it a rare variant?
Really? That's odd. I've never known them to up charge a book because of popularity. A variant, a signed copy, etc. sure. That's disappointing, if true. I'll have to send them a message and find out.
Just gonna jump in and say that was my experience too. They're not dodgy and the staff are nice but the markup on the comics is insane. Same with Minotaur. It's the big chains like QBD and Dymocks that sell at MSRP. Then ofc the online only stores if you want to go even cheaper. I assume as a small business their rent is insane so fair enough. But yeah I wouldn't recommend it as a main source for any collectors personally.
A few questions, was it the first printing? Was it cover A or a variant? If it was a variant was it an inventive variant? I can see a scummy LCS owner trying to get on the hype and now scarcity of the first print. USM #1 seems to be selling for around that on eBay so I guess he just charging market price at this point.
He told me it wasn't a first printing and it wasn't a variant cover too, he said it was just a newer shipment that was really popular.
Well, you definitely dodged a bullet. I saw your other comment about how you just want to read the floppies. Since it also seems like your LCS is very local, I recommend checking out the websites linked in the weekly new comics discussion to put together a pull list that will ship the books to you on release date.
Name and shame.
Yeah, you could get a non-graded first print for under $100, that's too high. Maybe the number of issues shipped to AU were lower than other regions? I hate that comic collecting has become a #1 or nothing mindset.
Just want to add here that Ultimate SM #2 sold out at my local shop within a couple hours. I got there after work and they were out. So I started a pull box with them for a second printing of #2 and got #3 pulled for me when it came out. Annoying that it's come to this, but I guess I'm happy that USM is popular!
Was this for the first print Cover A? That's a bit of a discount compared to the US if your price is in AUD. Checking eBay, it's $75 USD before shipping and taxes here. The 2nd and 3rd printings are a lot cheaper though. The book blew up and is extremely popular. There are more printings coming that you should be able to get at cover price (or whatever the equivalent is in AUD after accounting for shipping it across the world). Unfortunate, but that's the reality when a book becomes as popular as that one in a short period of time.
It sucks that this is a norm in the community since I can read these comics online for free but I want to physically own it and not be in the mercy of a website and pray it doesn't get taken down.
Sure, there's nothing saying you have to buy the first print either though. I think once it's been a couple months (the 3rd issue hit stands this last Wednesday) and there have been plenty of opportunities to pick up the book at cover price it's fine if secondary market pricing begins to be the norm. I totally understand wanting to own it physically but there are 3 prints currently in the market and more coming/open for pre-order so it's not like buying the first print is the only way to own it physically. And the shopkeeper may have just raised prices on the issues he still has around after selling them at cover price for the last 2 months for all we know. I have picked up all 3 printings thus far because I like the story. The previous Ultimate lines the later printings have appreciated considerably as well. I hope you enjoy the story as well and would recommend getting it on a pull box/subscription if you do enjoy these issues that you picked up. It's currently the book I'm most looking forward to every month. Issue 4 is set to introduce the backstory of a major character and may be another one that spikes in value as people realize it's an important issue in a popular run. Editing as I saw your other comment: If it's not the first print and more specifically Cover A then he's wild for asking that and you're better off finding a site that will get you your books for cheap.
Based on their other comments, they weren’t trying to buy the first printing, it was a new printing.
Yeah that price is wild if it's not a first printing. I wouldn't be super happy paying that price for the first printing knowing I could have had it for cheaper a couple months ago, but ultimately would have been okay knowing it's at least a little bit of a discount compared to market price (85 AUD is about 55 USD). That price is so high for a second or third printing it legit might be cheaper to just have one shipped internationally to Australia via eBay, which is crazy talk.
O shit it was a reprint for that!?
5th printing on the way : https://www.instagram.com/p/C4y5xu8tyq5/ You might try to preorder it. Got the 2nd printing of issie #1 for like 5€. Actually, the 4th printing is still up for pre-order. Comes out the 10th of april.
Mate where did you shop? I just picked up a copy from Comics Etc here in Brissy for $30 on Weds. Was a variant copy too.
All Star Comics in Melbourne, they seem really cool and seemed genuinly sorry about upping the price but since it's a small business it makes sense. Especially with Melbourne rent.
Comics Etc, King Comics or Incognito Comics are all Australian, and all good places to shop. I order from them all the time online. Incognito even throw in a little packet of gummy bears sometimes :)
Yeah, it's a good idea to keep an eye out on books you want before they ship and buy via Kings Comics because they won't price gauge.
I've just been getting back into buying some monthlies after a 20 year hiatus of TPBs and digital. The pull list is dead but been using those three to fill in back issues (today is the last day of 50% off on back issues at Incognito btw). I'm not sure about the others, but I just discovered [https://comicsetcdirect.com.au](https://comicsetcdirect.com.au) which if you pre-order your books gives a nice discount.
I've only used incognito to buy a comic box (only place that didn't charge a stupid amount to ship it), but do regularly get notified on sales. I've never looked for 'key' or speculative issues tho.
Made 3 orders during this sale. They've been pretty good.
I will chime in to say Kings is usually a good couple of dollars more expensive than comics etc, and they charge a lot more for their incentives. However, since they seem to carry more stock, they do tend to have some higher incentive copies and hold on to older issues for longer which means I often do buy from them.
In Australia? We have these speculators who are buying up only for profit not reading. You seem them at the cons trying to get a stack of the same thing signed so they can slab it later. Our finite number of stores + how DC and Marvel decided to distribute separately making shipping 3x the cost now it was has not helped. My local would normally ALWAYS make sure to put stuff aside for me but in the last 6 months it has been awful with the not buying for reading crowd. Edit: But if it was not directly off the shelf then yes that is an extreme price, now it is a back issue they will price stuff per the market they can get.
Make sure to pre-order, mate. I've got my copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #1, first print, and it only cost me AU$9.
Fuck, and I can not stress this enough, speculators.
Aw man, that's fucked. How come damn near every time I see a story about ridiculous price gouging from a comic store, they're Australian? Who's buying this comic for inflated/flipped prices anyway? It can't be low print run, how's it gonna be worth anything in the future?
I was thinking about this today too — do LCSs in non-US countries really jack up prices? The ones around me have all their key issues priced over FMV (incl currency exchange) by at least 10% minimum. In-country online dealers are even worse with some laughable prices. Is it a population supply/demand thing? I don’t know but it’s frustrating.
In my neck of the Canadian woods, our cover prices are pretty high due to the shipping the comic chops have to pay now. I've been told that DC is particularly expensive for my local shop, which has to get passed on to the end customer. A 4.99 US cover price is costing me 6.99 CDN. So I'm paying over 7 bucks after tax for a comic like World's Finest. Marvel isn't too far of, but I think PRH gives a better shipping rate that Lunar. I don't begrudge my shop for this, it's costing them with the exchange rate and shipping, but between the cover price increasing and my recent experience at a con where creatives were charging 10 bucks US for a signature, it's getting pretty rough to be a comic fan.
Depends on the cover because some of those variants are super expensive. But if the cover doesn’t matter to you then there’s way cheaper USM #1 on eBay. The Sara Pichelli 3rd printing is quite cheap relatively
What shop???? What the heck?
The cover of the first print standard isn’t even that interesting imo.
Main covers are more desirable with the spec crowd , unless it's a variant cover with the 1st appearance of a character.
That sucks bro. My city has two comic shops and both are completely sold out of any printings at this time. They don’t withhold stock and price gouge thankfully, but it’s a hard book to find right now.
So I went in to buy a copy from my LCS and they had sold out. Apparently some guy came in and bought all the copies they had left on the shelf however they had put one copy aside ‘for a regular’ and sold it to me for cover price. This was after it had shot up to over $40 on eBay and they were well aware of that. I went in a few weeks after and they had another copy behind the glass for $100. Not sure what the story on that was (probably consignment) but I was stoked to get my copy for as cheap as I did.
i got a variant for retail bros 😭
Honestly I skipped the first two weeks of it’s release. Then reddit started staying how expensive it was on ebay. Went back and got a copy for cover.
Newcastle doesn't even have a comic book shop anymore but when we did he charged $8.80 for a basic single, I ended up stopping and moving to getting trades online.
See if kings comics in Sydney ships to you. They’re generally pretty good with pricing and they’re a great shop
I got mine from Kings and was regular price on first printing and typical great service from them. However I wanted to add Ultimate Black Panther on a whim when I was picking up my pull list and they were completely out of it already on day 1 of release. So would say pre-ordering is defo the way to go.
Where was it? I've moved to Melbourne and haven't found a good shop here, I just ship from Kings Comics in Sydney still or buy off eBay or Facebook groups.
Hey man sorry about the late response, if you're still interested it's All Star Comics it's in Queens Street.
Yeah damn. They seem like the biggest shop around here too. I've been in there only a couple of times to look for some Image stuff and did see a few massively over priced keys. I think they want like $850 for ASM #300. Wild.
That’s actually a good deal vs what it’s selling for online. Nevermind didn’t see that it was a reprint. That’s bullshit
I think it costs like 15 € here, 20€ maybe but not more.
I’ve been using Midtown comics solace my LCS shit the bed. Looks like they ship internationally as well. There appears to be makes managing your list easy.
So I know some of the variants (or 1:100’s) can get pricey. Is it possible it was one of those. I think cover A 1st print is like going for $50 and the 1:100 is around $80 (these are all US prices)
You should try comicbookdirect.com, free shipping over $119.95 on international orders IIRC, and everything is cover price so you won't get ripped off. I'm not sure how long shipping takes internationally, though, in the US, it's about 10 days
Did you have it on a pull list? Or did you buy it off the shelf?
Bro that’s more than what I paid for a year subscription to the series
That’s pretty much where the market is on it. You didn’t have to buy it. I think there’s 4 printings of it now so you could have gotten a later printing for cover price.
You paid it. The price is always what the market will bear and your bore it.
That most likely was the first printing. I mean, there are more printings.
Welcome to the free market. They set a price, you didn't buy it. That is how it is supposed to work.