News
Amazon Halts In-House Sales of Diamond-Distributed Books (Updated)
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Amazon online retailer has halted in-house sales from all publishers who use Diamond Comic Distributors, including North American manga and comic publishers Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, and Top Shelf. The move comes a few days after a computer glitch caused Amazon to list prices for Diamond-distributed titles well below their normal listed prices. Currently, these titles are only available on Amazon through third-party resellers. Titles from other companies such as Viz Media, Tokyopop, Del Rey, and CMX (via DC Comics) are unaffected by the change.
According to the Publishers Weekly trade magazine, Amazon's removal of in-house listings for Diamond-distributed books is apparently an effort to fix the glitch and perform an audit on which items were sold at which prices. Publishers Weekly's source said that there is currently no timetable for when the audit will be finished.
Neither Amazon nor Diamond has officially commented on the situation.
Update: Digital Manga Publishing is also affected by the temporary halt in in-house sales. Thanks, Cait.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history