First let me explain my plight. I am opening a store. Very soon in fact, but no one in their right mind would open a store with nothing to sell. Now I know I have my thousands of back issues, my hundreds of TPB, and many other various other related products, but I refuse to open in a market that has competition without new product to offer. Therein lies my problem. Without a store front Diamond is making me jump through loops to set up an account. I know in the past that others have abused Diamond by setting up a business account for there own collecting habits, but there has to be a logical way of handling new retailers without screwing them around. Hell, I just spent over two grand on fixtures. Maybe I can send them copies of these reciepts to show that I intend to open when my orders arrive.

How did you guys handle this problem when you first opened?

Did you just plan on throwing away the first two months of rent, utilities, advertising, and any of the other monthly costs? I am trying to minimize these losses by having something to sell.

Diamond did offer to me a snail mail order form, which I am to fill out and send it back through snail mail and then when it arrives they said they would call me and then I could finally snail mail a check or money order. This should postpone me opening by at least an additional month. That is them losing money along with me.

Does this sound a little proposterous or what?

Why am I being punished for using a common sense approach to business?

I know this is a lengthy post, but I am a little baffled by all of this and I could use some advice.

In the end in my opinion it all boils down to Diamond's virtual monopoly as a distibutor. I really don't have a choice but to jump through their hoops.

My new career just started and I am already disenchanted.

maybe use coldcut?? they don´t carry the biggest mainstream publishers (no dc, marvel, darkhorse, image, tokyo pop) but everyone else they do carry and they´re said to give good discounts too...

All you need is a copy of your retail tax permit, and your federal ID that denotes you as a business, then you can order anything you want. I believe you have to pay cash until your COD/Check application is approved.

Be aware there is a two week wait from the time you order to the time its delivered

I do have a tax ID and Oklahoma doesn't require anything else for a lawful business. The whole sticking point is that until my product arrives I am not spending the money to open a store. Technically until that happens my tax ID has the address of my home, whcih I have already filled out the change of address form for when I move into the actual store.

I guess I dont understand your dilemma?

Why not simply open your store, put a sign up for customers saying you'll be getting new product in a few weeks time and just sell what stock you currently have.

Your extensive backstock is what'll give you the competitive advantage vs the other stores out there.

I doubt everyone who visits will simply up and leave because you don't have this week's releases.

If I understand correctly, you can get product from Diamond on less than a 2 month lead, you'll just pay a few extra percentage points for it. What you'll be doing is placing advanced reorders for most publishers, and FOCing Marvel books.

You also should plan to have your store for some time before opening. You'll need time to set everything up, get your signage up, and the like. Being able to post an opening date in your window should build growing interest before the doors actually open.

As for your user name, you should register as a new user. And if you choose to change your name, consider using your real name, or at least something that does not call for physical abuse of anyone.

I understand what everyone is saying about just opening the store without the new product to offer and that in the end is what I am doing, but it just seems like a flawed system. Does Wal-Mart open with only a limited inventory or any other real business for that matter? While I decided to take the plunge due to my love for the medium, I am in this to make at least a minimum amount of profit. When I found out about the rules of Diamond's account system it just kind of shocked me. But as of this post I have acquired a store front. I still don't feel right about giving in, but I can guarntee after I have developed some relationships with the people at Diamond I am going to bring this topic up.

As for changing my name, that is a good idea, but won't I lose my manly post count? I am going to eventually change it to my store name anyway. Thank all of you for the advice even though I am still confused. (But hey I got an excuse right? I'm a Pollock.)

"Does Wal-Mart open with only a limited inventory or any other real business for that matter?"

I don't know of any real business that expects to open without knowing two months ahead of time where their storefront will be. It takes time to design the space, set up fixtures, hire employees, and get them up to speed with procedure.

I also understand that, but as for setting up my store, I need certain supplies that Diamond offers, such as bags, boxes, and boards. Now how am I going to get these without an account? Honestly I can have this store up and running in two weeks, which is my naive little plan. It all is pretty pointless now, although I still will lose money and time due to their system. Maybe I am not seeing the picture properly, but I see this as an asset.