Direct Market Frequently Asked Questions

Penguin Random House is the global home to adult and children’s publishing across more than 300 core publishing imprints and more than 50 distributed clients. Headquartered in New York City with operations in 20 countries across six continents, Penguin Random House has distribution centers in Indiana, Maryland, and Nevada.

Penguin Random House currently provides sales and distribution services to 50+ independent publishers including DC Comics, Kodansha, and Seven Seas. See a full list of our clients here:  https://Penguin Random Housepublisherservices.com/our-clients/

Penguin Random House aims to be the best distribution partner for the Direct Market. You are the epicenter for pop culture in your communities, and we want to better support all areas of your business. We will provide you with a top-notch supply chain, customer service support, and increase your access to our books, marketing & promotion campaigns, and publishers. The goal is to work together to grow your business and legacy.

Yes, Direct Market retailers will have the option of continuing to order comics from Diamond, acting as a wholesaler, or Penguin Random House.

Please follow up with Diamond directly to discuss any open orders.

All Direct Market accounts are assigned a dedicated Sales Rep and a Customer Service Rep for all sales and ordering queries. If you do not have an account with us, please reach out to the New Accounts team to submit an application. Once your account has been setup, you will be assigned a Sales Rep and a Customer Service Rep.

Once you have set up an account you can start ordering either through our self-service ordering website, self-service.BIZ, which will be expanded to accommodate Direct Market ordering practices, or through Customer Service.

Follow this link to our new self-service.BIZ to initiate registration. In order to register, you will need an email address, your account # and your SAN. If you need any assistance, please email Customer Service.

After you have been set up as an account you will be able to register for self-service.BIZ. Once registered, you will have full access to search items, place and track orders, print invoices and so much more. For help with using the features on the site please visit the retailer FAQ.

Right now, quantity pasted here is additive.

• If you have 10 units of book x in your cart and you paste book x in this window with 5 units, you will have 15 units in your cart, not 5.
• If you do not have book x in your cart and you paste book x in this window with 5 units, you will have 5 units in your cart.

We know that some customers would like the quantity that they paste in the quick add ISBNs/UPCs feature to overwrite quantity already in their cart. We’re considering solutions that will meet the needs of these customers.

We have enhanced the self-service.BIZ site to support entering orders for FOC deadlines. FOC deadlines will continue to be regularly scheduled on Mondays ahead of on sale dates as expected. More information on managing your FOC cart an be found here.

You can place replenishment orders and any orders after the FOC deadline through the general cart, but we cannot guarantee that we have enough inventory to fulfill your order. Please note ratio titles are ineligible for ordering after FOC.

• If the title had been confirmed in its original FOC-date-cart, and it moves to a future FOC-date-cart that was confirmed, it will remain confirmed. You do not need to do anything in this scenario.
• If the title had been unconfirmed in its original FOC-date-cart, and it moves to a future FOC-date-cart that was not confirmed, it will remain unconfirmed. You do not need to do anything special in this scenario, either. Though, you will still need to confirm the carts.
• If the title had not been confirmed in its original FOC-date-cart, and it moves to a future FOC-date-cart that had been confirmed already, you will need to take some action. The cart will look just like a confirmed cart to which you’ve manually added some new quantities or titles. You’ll need to reconfirm it. This is because the title being bumped had never been confirmed previously, and we want to make sure that anything you order from us is confirmed.
• If the title had been confirmed in its original FOC-date-cart, and it moves to a future FOC-date-cart that has not yet been confirmed, it will remain confirmed. You do not need to do anything in this scenario, but of course, you will still need to confirm the future FOC-date-cart if you want to receive product for the FOC date other than this singular title that moved.

More information on Managing Direct Market FOC carts can be found here.

• Any cart checked out prior to 12/07/2021 cannot be edited.
• Any cart confirmed on or after 12/07/2021 will remain editable until the FOC deadline.

You can always refer to your order history on the Orders page to review all previously placed orders.

More information on FOC Cart Confirmation can be found here.

Promotional items (posters, postcards, etc.) and variants from Marvel will continue to be offered through PRH. Variant eligibility will be displayed on the self-service.BIZ site.

Yes, retailer exclusive opportunities will continue and expand for Marvel titles.

Open an Account: newaccount@penguinrandomhouse.com

Customer Service: customerservice@penguinrandomhouse.com

US Sales: comicmarketus@penguinrandomhouse.com

International Sales: internationalsales@penguinrandomhouse.com

Canada Sales: specialmarketscanada@penguinrandomhouse.com

Our self-service site gives our retail partners the ability to track orders. Tracking links can be found on the Order Detail page. You can go to the Orders tab and enter the PO or Order Number from the invoice into the search bar. Click on the order to view the tracking links. More information on how to track shipments can be found here. Customer Service is also available to answer any of your questions or needs.

PDRs are intended to outline all new release product stores can expect to receive on a given day. They are limited to new titles only and will not include shipments for reorders or replacements. The reports are generated by location and are rolled-up by on-sale date (typically Tuesdays and Wednesdays of each week). If you have multiple locations, you will have multiple PDRs for the same on-sale dates.

These reports will include expected delivery dates as well as each title’s associated PO#. Therefore, if the same ISBN/UPC was ordered across multiple PO#s to the same location, stores will see the same title represented on multiple lines in the PDR.

For initials: PDRs are generated once PRH is preparing to pick a week’s shipment. For comic books, this is typically 7-10 days before the product arrives.

Reorders and replacements will not be included on your PDRs. For more information on these please refer to the Orders tab of your account.

The PDRs are meant to serve as advanced notification about upcoming deliveries to assist with the receiving of new release product. The PDR is not a financial document and cannot be used as a final confirmation of what will be billed. For pricing and billing information please refer to your invoice.

Invoices outline product that has been officially shipped and billed to the retailer. These files include billing information such as discount percentage and net costs.

Typically invoices are generated as product is shipped. This is certainly true for reorders. For new release product, billings are held until the same month the product goes on-sale. So, for example, if a title with an 11/3 release was shipped to retailers in October. PRH will invoice retailers in November for that product, therefore allowing a few extra days on terms.

Invoices can be used as the final confirmation for what was charged or is owed to PRH. This document is also what retailer can use when placing damage or shortage claims.

Information on where to send payments can be found in the top left corner of your invoices. You can access your invoices from the Invoices & Claims tab on the self-service site.

Comics will ship from our new warehouse in Hampstead, MD. All other product (publisher depending) will ship from our other warehouses in Maryland and Indiana.

Orders placed by the FOC date will ship to deliver no later than the day before the on-sale date. Reorders and promotional product will ship on a regular basis pending availability.

Initial shipments will not combine with reorders. Reorders will combine within each warehouse. To minimize damages, we will not be shipping comics with graphic novels.

We will distribute comics worldwide for the Direct Market. Customers outside North America should refer to the International and Canadian section in this document for further details.

Sales through Penguin Random House are freight inclusive within the United States and Canada.

No.

Yes, you will set up your payer account and then can set up each of your locations as a ship-to account connected to that payer account. More information on managing your locations can be found here.

Our self-service site gives our retail partners the ability to place orders, track shipments, print invoices, etc. Customer Service is also available to answer any of your questions or needs.

Shipping is available to Canada and overseas. To set up an account, please contact our New Account team to complete an application.

Reordering items is available on the self-service.BIZ site and through Customer Service.

Yes. Because of the delicate and collectible nature of comics we will be using our warehouse in Hampstead, Maryland to process comic book orders. In order to minimize damages, comics will not ship with graphic novels or other book product.

Claims for damaged or defective product must be submitted within ten calendar days of receipt of product. Claims can be processed on the self-service.BIZ site and can also be placed via Customer Service.

The off-invoice standard discount for comic shops will be 50% non-returnable (NR), freight inclusive inside the US and Canada.  Please contact your sales representative for more information.

Promotional terms or other benefits may be available.  Please contact your sales representative for more information.

Payments can be made with a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) at the time an order is placed. Those who apply and qualify for Credit can pay in the form of checks, money orders, or funds transfers.

For retailers that qualify for credit, payment terms are 60 days End of Month (EOM) from the invoice date.

PRH will only accept returns on product deemed eligible for return by the publisher. These titles will be clearly labeled as return eligible in the catalog as stores are placing orders. Return eligibility will also be noted in the downloadable catalog and FOC metadata CSV files. Returns for these titles will only be accepted during the specific date window.

All other product is sold non-returnable. However, if replacement copies are needed due to damage or shortage, please contact Penguin Random House Customer Service within ten (10) calendar days of receipt of product to discuss the claim.

Those stores with credit terms have the option to receive invoices sent via email or mailed to them. They are also able to download invoices on the Penguin Random House self-service.BIZ site.

Please email our US Direct Market sales team at comicmarketus@penguinrandomhouse.com

The off-invoice standard discount for comic shops is 50% non-returnable, freight inclusive inside the US and Canada. Please contact your sales representative for more information.

Credit terms are available for qualified international customers and will be determined upon account opening.

Sales through Penguin Random House are freight inclusive to retailers in Canada or to your freight forwarder based within the US.

International: internationalsales@penguinrandomhouse.com

Canada: specialmarketscanada@penguinrandomhouse.com

We have expanded the self-service.BIZ site to include access to a monthly catalog of upcoming comics, graphic novels, and manga that can be purchased through Penguin Random House. More information on catalogs as well as how to download the PRH Monthly Data file can be found here.  The website and accompanying catalog will include information on new and upcoming features, sneak peeks, a listing of top-selling titles, and more. More information on these features is available here.

Penguin Random House will continue the weekly Marvel Mailer distributed each Thursday to communicate top title information and data changes. The weekly newsletter, title changes and title collections can also all be found on the self-service.BIZ site. More information can be found here.

Direct Market customers are also able to download the CSV data file from the site. This file is updated daily and contains the most up-to-date data elements for all items in that month’s solicitation catalog. More information on the PRH Monthly Data file can be found here.

Yes, Marvel and Penguin Random House will utilize standard UPC identifiers for all comic book product and ISBNs for all trade graphic novels. All orders will be placed using either UPCs or ISBNs for relevant products. This means the item numbers for product still available for purchase as of the transition date will change, and this will be communicated in advance via the Penguin Random House sales and operations teams.

PRH includes series information on our self-service site, as well as in the various data files available for download from .BIZ (including monthly catalog CSV files, FOC files, and weekly change files). Series information includes Series Name, Series Code, and Series Number.

• The Series Name field provides the name of a series, if the item is a part of a series.
• The Series Code field is an alphanumeric code associated with a series, if the item is part of a series. This field will match previous numeric Diamond Series Codes for any Marvel series exclusively distributed by Diamond prior to PRH’s distribution; however, any series distributed by Penguin Random House will carry PRH-proprietary alphanumeric series codes.
• The Series Number field displays the issue or volume number of the item, if it is part of a numbered series.

For example:

• STAR WARS #21 has the Series Name of “Star Wars”, a Series Code of “143042” (this is a Diamond Series Code, as this series existed before PRH started distribution of Marvel product), and a Series Number of “21.”
• WHAT IF…? MILES MORALES #1 CLARKE VARIANT has a Series Name of “WHAT IF…? MILES MORALES”, a Series Code of “W14” (this is a PRH Series Code, as this series is beginning after PRH started distribution of Marvel product), and a Series Number of “1.”

Comics will continue to go on-sale weekly, every Wednesday.

Inventory information will be available via Penguin Random House’s Self-Service.BIZ site.

Penguin Random House strives to ensure that all retailers, data aggregators, and POS vendors have the title information they need to conduct business smoothly. If you’d like to request that a specific company or vendor continue receiving Marvel data, please contact your Penguin Random House sales representative.

Penguin Random House is dedicated to help bring new readers into specialty comic shops across North America and around the world.  We recognize the importance of Free Comic Book Day as a valuable initiative to support new comic book readers and will continue to support the publishers who want to participate in it. More details on how Penguin Random House will participate in FCBD will be shared when available.

The Penguin Random House self-service.BIZ site will serve as a one-stop shop for all available information for new releases and publisher announcements for upcoming titles and media tie-ins. More information on how to view News & Updates on the site can be found here.

Updates and announcements will also be shared through weekly newsletters that you can sign up for by contacting the comic market sales team or once you’ve set up an account.

Please reach out to your sales rep with a proposal for an event.