Account Application

The form that must be submitted by any retail operation wishing to place monthly orders with Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. Information on your store name and address; the type of business you operate; credit background of all principal parties involved; and tax and government licensing information applicable to operating a retail business in your state are necessary to complete this application. Whether you are opening a new business, have an existing business but are ordering from Diamond for the first time, or already have an account with Diamond but plan to open additional retail outlets, a completed Account Application is required before any monthly PREVIEWS orders may be processed for that store, or before Credit Terms can be established. (Please Note: Outreach customers are not required to place monthly orders.)

Account Application Chain Store Supplement

A form that you must complete and return to Diamond’s Credit Department, located at the Home Office, if you intend to submit separate PREVIEWS Retailer Order Forms for multiple accounts/stores under common ownership.

Account Update Form

This form – available as a PDF download from the Terms of Sale/Diamond Info page of Diamond’s Retailer Services Website – is designed to help you notify Diamond’s Credit Department when you wish to add or delete an employee’s name as an Authorized Purchaser on your account. Simply write down the names of the employees you wish to add or delete, along with their status in your organization, sign it, and email it to your Credit Analyst in Diamond's Department or fax it to (410) 683-7080/7081.

Adult

A designation for those comics and other products depicting explicit sex and/or violence, which are intended for purchase by customers age 18 or older. (In some states, the legal age for purchasing Adult titles is 21; consult your local statutes for details.) Only the titles, creators, formats, page counts and prices of Adult titles are listed in the PREVIEWS catalog; complete descriptions and graphics are provided in PREVIEWS Adult, which can be downloaded each month as a PDF from Diamond's Retailer Services Website.

Advance Reorder

Any order submitted to Diamond after the Order Increase Cut-Off (OIC) or Final Order Cut-Off (FOC) Dates printed in the PREVIEWS Retailer Order Form, but before the product has shipped. Advance Reorders are billed at 3% less than their original Discount price, unless the item was: 1) offered by Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing (plus PRH and PRH’s imprints) or Image Comics; 2) listed by Diamond at a Net Cost; or 3) listed with a Discount Code of I, J, K, L, R or U. They are processed on a modified first-placed, first-filled basis. (Some limits are imposed on some titles to allow for equitable distribution.) Depending on several factors, including how far in advance they are placed, Advance Reorders may ship from your Distribution Center the same week as your Initial Order, or with a subsequent weekly shipment.

Please Note: Your Advance Reorder will remain active for a period of anywhere from 30-90 days after the product you originally ordered ships. (This length of time depends on the type of product, and is similar to the Back Order Period.) For example, if you place an Advance Reorder in June for a book scheduled to ship in August, and the book ships as scheduled on August 1, then the vendor has 30 days beyond that August 1 ship date to fulfill your Advance Reorder for that book. If the vendor fails to do so, then Diamond reserves the right to cancel the purchase order for your Advance Reorder.

Affidavit of Destruction

A signed document in which an International Customer attests that he/she has destroyed all copies of a title that has been deemed returnable by Diamond, and designated with a “D” code in Diamond's Authorized Returns Form. This procedure applies only to those International Customers who are located in a country other than that of the Distribution Center that services their account.

All-in-Stock List

This file is available for download from the Data Files page of the Downloads section on Diamond’s Retailer Services Website to make ordering as easy as possible for retailers by providing them with key data for their own use. It offers a complete listing of items available for Reorder from Diamond’s Olive Branch Distribution Center inventory hub and is updated every two hours. The list is available as a text or comma-separated value (CSV) file and contains key data from ordering and inventory files that reflect what Diamond has in inventory. The file also provides unit details for each item, including Unit Length (in inches), Unit Width (in inches), Unit Height (in inches), Unit Weight (in pounds) and Case Quantity. Please Note: To avoid conflicts with retailer POS programs importing the data, no field names (“headers”) are included in the actual All-In-Stock File. Explanations of field names and descriptions are provided in the All-In-Stock Data File Key Guide, which can be downloaded as a PDF from the same area. To keep retailers apprised of which items are housed off-site, the list also contains an Off-Site Yes/No column to the far right of the file. Items flagged with “Y” are housed in a facility outside of Diamond’s Olive Branch inventory hub. Off-site items are not available for Direct Ship Reorders, but can be reordered for inclusion with their regular weekly shipments.

Alliance Game Distributors

Offering the largest selection of Hobby Games products of any distributor in the U.S., Alliance is a Diamond sister company and a full line distributor with an extensive selection of Role-Playing Games, Collectible Card Games, Miniature Games, Board Games, Brushes, Paints, Dice, and Hobby Accessories. With dedicated sales representatives whose singular goal is to help stores succeed, and a completely integrated preorder, ordering and warehouse system with direct access to live inventory and backfill capability, retailers can be assured that orders will be handled with precision and care to detail. Alliance also publishes Game Trade Magazine (GTM), the gaming industry's leading consumer preorder guide. Each issue is filled with adventures, fiction, and product previews from industry icons, and the Alliance Preorder Guide, an informative catalog offering advance solicitations, complete with descriptions and images, for items releasing in the next few months. GTM provides the perfect opportunity for stores to learn about upcoming products, and to inform their customers of future product before the store’s orders are due. Alliance also hosts the annual Alliance Open House for game retailers and retailers interested in carrying game products.

Alliance Open House

Held annually in Fort Wayne, IN, this trade show offers retailers who sell games numerous opportunities to interact with representatives of Alliance and of attending vendors, as well as with each other. Programming typically includes a wealth of informative Retailer Workshops, Open Gaming, the Open House Exhibit Hall, vendor presentations, meals, prize drawings, auctions to benefit worthy causes, and more.

Allocation

A situation where the full quantity of a specific product ordered by Diamond customers cannot be filled due to supply limitations dictated by the vendor or other situations beyond Diamond’s control, and which can be caused by a variety of circumstances (i.e., limited production runs, product being released in waves, weather-related damages, etc.).

In virtually all Initial Order Allocation situations, the portion of an order that is filled is based on the percentage of product received by the Distribution Center.  For example, if the Distribution Center received 50% of its full order, each customer would, in turn, receive approximately 50% of their Initial Order (provided that each account is in good standing, with no outstanding payments due).  Every attempt is made to evenly distribute the product among customers who placed Initial Orders for the allocated product.

Anime

This term, pronounced “ANI-may,” is used to describe animation artwork, films and videos from Japan. Examples of this art form include such best-selling series and films as Spirited Away, Akira and Gundam. Having enjoyed international popularity and acceptance as an art form for decades, anime – and its comic book counterpart, manga – have established a tremendous American following as well.

A.R.S. Label

A pre-paid UPS shipping label provided by Diamond that enables you to send Damages, Overages and select Authorized Returns to Diamond. If you are requested to return your Damages and you fail to tender them to Diamond's Olive Branch Distribution Center within seven days, Diamond will re-bill you for the Damaged items.

Authorized Purchaser

In addition to the storeowner, Diamond customers with ordering privileges are known as Authorized Purchasers. Typically, these might include Managers & Assistant Managers, Department Heads or other store employees. Only the storeowner may consent to and sanction persons to be Authorized Purchasers. See also Authorized Signature. You can quickly verify which employees are on your store’s account by going to the Overview page of the My Account section of Diamond’s Retailer Services Website. The names of all authorized buyers on your account are listed at the bottom of the screen. You should email or fax a completed Account Update Form to Diamond’s Credit Department to request that an employee’s name be added or removed from the account as an Authorized Purchaser, and you should contact Diamond Retailer Services Technical Support to request a password change if an employee with access to your account on Diamond’s Retailer Services Website leaves your business.

Authorized Return

With the cooperation of vendors, Diamond will accept returns on normally non-returnable items due to late shipping (product received by Diamond 30 days or more past the scheduled release date, or – in the case of Merchandise – 90 days), holiday-themed product which does not ship at least 21 days before the pertinent event or holiday, significant content changes or factors that may have a detrimental effect on sales. These returns are announced via the Data Files page of Diamond's Retailer Services Website. Once they are collected and processed by Diamond, credit is issued to any customer who submits an Authorized Returns Form with their returnable product by the Authorized Return Due Date, provided the guidelines for returning that product are followed.

Authorized Return Due Date

The cut-off date by which an Authorized Return must arrive at Diamond's Olive Branch Distribution Center in order for it to be accepted and credited to your account.

Authorized Returns Form

A PDF that is available for download from the Data Files page of Diamond's Retailer Services Website that contains an itemized list of Authorized Returns that you can currently submit to the Olive Branch Distribution Center for credit. The form also includes each item’s respective Authorized Return Due Date (in most cases, Authorized Returns will be accepted for three to four weeks), and space for you to note your account information and the quantities being returned on each title so that proper credit can be issued. The form also notes whether each return must be “full-copy” or “stripped cover.” A personalized version of the Authorized Return form is also included as part of the Order Status Report with a customer’s weekly invoice. (Titles eligible for “stripped cover” returns are noted by a “Y,” while ineligible titles are denoted by a “N.”) Authorized Returns will not be processed, nor will credit be issued, unless a completed copy of this form is included with the returned product.

Authorized Signature

The required signature from the storeowner or Authorized Purchaser(s) of your account (as specified on your Account Application) that must appear on all Initial Orders submitted to Diamond. A line is provided for this signature in the PREVIEWS Retailer Order Form, on the page immediately preceding each month's listings, and on all fliers with order forms created by Diamond. When confirming an Initial Order online, your agreement with Diamond’s Terms of Sale serves as an electronic signature. Your Authorized Signature verifies that you will accept and pay for all product ordered, in the quantities indicated, that appear on the appropriate form; and that you are 18 years or older and, therefore, legally able to purchase any materials offered with Adult or Mature themes. Diamond will not accept or process any non-electronic Initial Orders unless they are submitted on the proper form with this Authorized Signature. Please Note: Only the storeowner may add, remove or change the Authorized Purchaser on an account.