Who Is Getting The Better Deal?

As a fan of both Anime & Manga, one thing that has captured my attention is the price of Manga being sold here in Australia. The key examples that I plan to use are Comic Shop Pricing, as well main bookstore prices like QBD, Dymocks, Collins Booksellers, Angus & Robertson, Robinsons Bookshop, Booktopia of some of the ones that will be covered.

Also learning of how people are turning to manga including picking manga over comics, not that there is anything wrong with that, because I follow quite a number of Manga titles myself, I also enjoy getting comics including trades connected to them.

Manga Pricing In Comic Stores

As a customer of course you will go where you have the best deal, what if you choose to go through the comic stores, an could this be a minor problem to which has also led some comic stores end up closing shop. For this I intend to show some screenshots of some Manga being sold on comic store websites here in Australia.

So lets move into the 1st Comic Store & their prices.

Alternate Worlds

The manga covered in alphabetical order

Bakuman

Death Note

Yu Yu Hakusho

The Next comic store is Incognito Comics

Incognito Comics

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Kings Comics

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Minotaur

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

As you can see the prices set before you placed on how some of these titles are available, the lowest price expected for an individual manga is about $13:95 via Kings Comics for Bakuman, highest price being for the same manga through Incognito Comics at around $19:95.

On the topic of Box Sets the lowest you will pay for Death Note is through Incognito Comics at $159.95, where the highest is at Minotaur at $175.00

I also chose a 3rd manga being Yu Yu Hakusho, only Minotaur & Alternate Worlds had it on display, only 1 is being displayed for price, in this Minotaur gain best low price for it.

Mainstream Bookstores

Again in this I use the same titles as above to show the comparison, the shops used in these prices are Angus & Robertson, Booktopia, Dymocks & QBD.

Angus & Robertson

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Yu Yu Hakusho

Booktopia

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Yu Yu Hakusho

Dymocks

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Yu Yu Hakusho

QBD

Manga covered in Alphabetical Order

Bakuman

Death Note

Yu Yu Hakusho

Now we are able to address the Lowest Yu Yu Hakusho price being at $12.50 at Angus & Robertson, highest being at QBD & Dymocks at $14.99.

For Death Note Box Set its Lowest price at $113.50 through Booktopia, its highest price at $175 at both QBD & Dymocks again.

And for Bakuman Box Set its lowest price at $190.25 through Booktopia, highest price once again at $250 again at both QBD & Dymocks.

For some things the mainstream Bookstores do have some advantage over the comic stores, an the fact that mainstream can sometimes have the reliability factor over comic stores, including outlasting them, until they get less traffic through their doors, that is when they close.

Looking at the health of the comic book store industry, I can understand if they use other methods to keep sales, one else that might be able to keep them around is to work on a neutral partnership with the mainstream stores, where they are able to promote each other to get customers through their doors.

I won’t call it a perfect idea, definitely a testable theory to be put into practice.

What are your personal thoughts on these prices?
Are mainstream Bookstores getting a better deal on Manga or is it the comic stores?

originally published here