Heads up for Canadian Nerds!

[teddog]

When the dollar suddenly rose a couple of years ago, it took a long time for book prices in Canada to roll down to the point where they're closer to US levels. The dollar has been bouncing around a bit, for the most part we really haven't seen a change otherwise.

I've seen my first case of a book being stickered UP in price. Tokyopop has placed a sticker on at LEAST copies of Fate/Stay Night volume 2, raising the price from $10.99 to $13.99 CDN. Problem is that it's actually printed with the original price, which was $10.99. The book in question was at an Indigo. I wasn't buying, but I was scouting to see if Aria volume 4 has appeared anywhere, but sadly it appears be delayed until further notice.

Now, Tokyopop is a graphic novel publisher who is in rough times - staff are getting laid off left and right, books aren't selling and the company has made some real lame business decisions in the past few years. They've angered me many times before and I have at least 3 unfinished series from them. We knew that there was a US price rise coming this spring, but this sudden jump in Canadian sticker price was completely unannounced and unexpected, especially since THE COVER WAS PRINTED WITH THE OLD PRICE. With the exchange rate the way it is, $9.99 US is about $12.15 CDN. I'd even take $12.99 if it is that much of an issue. Going back up into the $14 range is like going back to 2004/2005 levels. It's like being in college all over again!

Granted, I enjoyed being down in the $10.99 range because it's a huge savings in the long run, so my opinion is very selfish. And, honestly? I can find places that will give me US cover or a discounted price. It's not going to hurt me. I'm just pissed at the principle.

Anyone else seen this happen with other books yet? This might be isolated, but I'm worried about a price spike in graphic novels across the board. The markup in the Canadian market is usually painful and can be waaaay above the exchange rate.

Comments

[urufudo.livejournal.com]

Are you sure that it was TokyoPop that marked it up? It's usually the individual retailer that puts the stickers on the books, as they decide to raise or lower the price(s). I don't think I've ever seen a publisher price sticker on a book before... I'd be more pissed off at the retailer. I wonder if they got two shipments in? One that was older and listed $10.99 and a more recent one with $13.99, and they decided to put stickers on the old copies? Sigh.

I think it's bs that they charge that much for a graphic novel. You can buy them out of Japan for $3.50-$6 each. Granted, that doesn't cover the cost of translation, which is why I'm fine with paying $8-$10 for my English copies but $14 is just absolutely ridiculous. I love seeing books priced at $16.50 too. -_-

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

No, it's an across the board price jump from what I can tell. Both online stores for Chapters and Amazon are listing it's full price as $13.99 online, so it wasn't limited to that one store. The older shipment theory doesn't explain it either, as the book just came out yesterday. The stock that was out on the floor was actually out a day early.

I think the low prices in Japan also have to do with volume of sales as well, although the fact that the final product has been processed twice factors into it. Over there can move a lot more product in a shorter amount of time and high sales on popular title can float the more niche titles to an extent. Meanwhile, in North America, every title might as well be a niche title and print runs are smaller.

[mbehemoth.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Gas prices to me. Slow to drop but will jump back up at a twitch in the price.