Don't Buy the Zines!
Saturday, 14 March 2009 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
byslantedlightCan I just say - gaaaaaah!
Have just been wandering around on Ebay and found some of the most blatant rip-off prices for Pros zines that I have ever seen - please, please please don't pay these prices for zines, especially ones that are still in print!
Links are not to the ebay seller, but...
The Peerless Pair - a fab AU historical zine by HG - is being sold for US$50.00 +p&p. It's available for half that price, brand new, from the publisher! That's being sold by someone called bandit2142 - he's always been overpriced, he's a dealer, and he's totally making money from HG's writing here. Making a profit from someone else's hard work and generously given effort! Leech!
In the Public Interest III is being sold by "Doctor Beth2000" for - wait for this - US$100.00 +p&p! Three of the stories are available in the archives - and I bet the other two are on the UK paper circuit.
Where do these people get off charging prices like that? They're blatantly making money from fic that was given freely to fandom - bastards!
Another one - Bene Dictum: A Dickensian Christmas can be downloaded for free at the publisher's own website - printed off in exactly the zine format, and comb bound yourself if you want it - "DoctorBeth2000" wants US$45.00 for it! The stories are also available for free online at the Circuit, Hatstand and on the ProsLib CD! Gaaaaaargh! I've seen her around ever since I was in Pros, and always overpriced too. I hear that she claims to be selling off her own zine collection - at the risk of sounding cycnical, yeah, right...
You know I love zines - I adore zines, proper paper stories, so much more than reading from the internet and my computer screen, but... please, please, please don't be ripped off by these people! You can defend capitalism all you want to me, and tell me that people won't pay it if they don't want it, and if they do then that's a fair price, but... no. Selling fanfic like that, blatantly making a profit from selling other people's writing when those authors were careful enough to fly under the fandom radar themselves? Just... no!
Grr.
Now back to writing. Which will always be free to Pros fans! *g*
Have just been wandering around on Ebay and found some of the most blatant rip-off prices for Pros zines that I have ever seen - please, please please don't pay these prices for zines, especially ones that are still in print!
Links are not to the ebay seller, but...
The Peerless Pair - a fab AU historical zine by HG - is being sold for US$50.00 +p&p. It's available for half that price, brand new, from the publisher! That's being sold by someone called bandit2142 - he's always been overpriced, he's a dealer, and he's totally making money from HG's writing here. Making a profit from someone else's hard work and generously given effort! Leech!
In the Public Interest III is being sold by "Doctor Beth2000" for - wait for this - US$100.00 +p&p! Three of the stories are available in the archives - and I bet the other two are on the UK paper circuit.
Where do these people get off charging prices like that? They're blatantly making money from fic that was given freely to fandom - bastards!
Another one - Bene Dictum: A Dickensian Christmas can be downloaded for free at the publisher's own website - printed off in exactly the zine format, and comb bound yourself if you want it - "DoctorBeth2000" wants US$45.00 for it! The stories are also available for free online at the Circuit, Hatstand and on the ProsLib CD! Gaaaaaargh! I've seen her around ever since I was in Pros, and always overpriced too. I hear that she claims to be selling off her own zine collection - at the risk of sounding cycnical, yeah, right...
You know I love zines - I adore zines, proper paper stories, so much more than reading from the internet and my computer screen, but... please, please, please don't be ripped off by these people! You can defend capitalism all you want to me, and tell me that people won't pay it if they don't want it, and if they do then that's a fair price, but... no. Selling fanfic like that, blatantly making a profit from selling other people's writing when those authors were careful enough to fly under the fandom radar themselves? Just... no!
Grr.
Now back to writing. Which will always be free to Pros fans! *g*
no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 March 2009 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 March 2009 08:32 pm (UTC)I'm not sure that's a fair comparison actually. Dr Beth and Bandit are neither of them "ignorant people", they've not come across their dead mother's zine collection, done a bit of research on ebay and decided on prices based on that. From what I gather, Dr Beth for one goes to cons, buys these zines cheaply, and then sells them on at huge mark-ups to make a profit. Out of what she knows is work that other people gave to fandom for free, out of (excuse the rainbows and flowers) love for the characters, their shows, and fandom in general.
I can roll my eyes at someone who's getting rid of a collection, a one-off, or even someone who's suddenly desperate for money and has to sell their collection to pay for baby's new shoes - but these guys are dealers. Knowing dealers, who are doing something illegal with writing/artistry etc that was originally created by people trying not to do that same illegal thing...
no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 March 2009 08:38 pm (UTC)Ok, you can't read my mind, when I typed that I thought of something that happened in S&H recently. The life partner of a deceased fan who was not a fan herself sold the zines of the fan (through a mailing list) and I for my part was glad for that, because I could get some zines I had wanted for months for decent prices, plus she was, as you said, in desperate need of money. I also came across sales where the money for the zines went to a good cause / was donated. What those eBay people do is definitely not right.
no subject
Date: Saturday, 14 March 2009 08:42 pm (UTC)