The decision to raise prices on the newsstands wasn't made in a vacuum. Marvel has made these pricing changes as a result of feedback from the people they sell comic books too: the comic book store retailers and newsstand buyers. These are the people that buy the comic books from Marvel to sell to the comic book fans. While lower prices benefit the readers, they don't benefit the retailers. Retailers get a percentage of the cover price. The higher the cover price, the more profitable the item is for the retailer. Comic books are competing for space on the newsstands with magazines that typically cost about twice as much. While comic book prices may seem high to readers, they may seem low to the newsstand buyers. This puts publishers like Marvel in a difficult position in which they have to balance the needs of the retailers and the end consumers. Experimenting with the cover price on selected titles and measuring the results may be unpopular, but it isn't bad business.

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