www.ComicBookPage.com

I just received a shortage notice from DCBS. I've received a few over the years. I was curious how shortages / allocations work in a preorder industry. I pre-ordered Generations Thor before the FOC. All the shops, including DCBS placed there order with Diamond. Marvel then printed the order plus some extras and shipped them to Diamond, to the store, to me.

1. Marvel didn't print enough / left money on the table?
2. Diamond lost or comics or shipped the wrong amounts to the wrong stores?
3. Damages, which I would think marvel would just print more or the over print would cover?

I wonder how often this happens?



Title Reason Order Qty Credit
GENERATIONS UNWORTHY THOR & MIGHTY THOR #1 [JUN170842] We were shorted by our distributor for this title. Unfortunately, replacements are not available. We apologize for the inconvenience

I've had this happen once in a while. Not often but it is annoying when it happens.

The other possibility is some stores placed advance reorders and Diamond filled the those advance reorders leaving them short for the pre-FOC orders for other stores. I don't know if this happens or not but it is a possibility.

Makes me very sad

This was a book that I was not aware of being "allocated". My guess is that copies were placed in the wrong box, and sent to a different reseller. That is the most common cause for shortages - it would make sense if DCBS uses the phrasing "allocated" as a generic response.

But I bet you can find your way to one ...

compsolut wrote:This was a book that I was not aware of being "allocated". My guess is that copies were placed in the wrong box, and sent to a different reseller. That is the most common cause for shortages - it would make sense if DCBS uses the phrasing "allocated" as a generic response.

But I bet you can find your way to one ...

I already love you guys at Kowabunga, my new store

jrphoenix wrote:I just received a shortage notice from DCBS. I've received a few over the years. I was curious how shortages / allocations work in a preorder industry. I pre-ordered Generations Thor before the FOC. All the shops, including DCBS placed there order with Diamond. Marvel then printed the order plus some extras and shipped them to Diamond, to the store, to me.

1. Marvel didn't print enough / left money on the table?
2. Diamond lost or comics or shipped the wrong amounts to the wrong stores?
3. Damages, which I would think marvel would just print more or the over print would cover?

I wonder how often this happens?



Title Reason Order Qty Credit
GENERATIONS UNWORTHY THOR & MIGHTY THOR #1 [JUN170842] We were shorted by our distributor for this title. Unfortunately, replacements are not available. We apologize for the inconvenience

Yeah, DCBS did this to me also. The previous occurrence was also this year with the Black Hammer special (?). Anyway, here in Japan, I was lucky that I had just visited my friend's shop in Kobe and I happened to see he had at least one copy of that Thor Generations that he hadn't sold yet, so I contacted him and had him save it for me. He's about 4 hours away from me (by bullet train) so it'd be impractical for me to go there just for one comic. I'm just lucky he had a copy. Don't know what I'd do if I hadn't seen it there...

The big thing is that they were allocated or shorted the same stock. Which likely means the stock they got was truthfully shorted or shipped to someone else by accident. The other possibility was that their stock came in very damaged, and Marvel didn't have enough to cover a replacement.

Both Marvel and DC have been printing very close to order numbers nowadays, meaning there is not much overstock to cover for damages if one printing/binding of a book comes back heavily damaged.

I do find it odd that DCBS does not send out a note/email with the option to get the second print in for those who care more about the story than the actual printing.