Copic Markers on Black Friday. The Discounts Exist but They Hide in the Small Sets.

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Every November, my inbox fills with the same question from colorists who want to finally buy Copics: do they ever actually go on sale? The honest answer is uncomfortable for a budget column — Copic markers almost never go on real discount. Copic controls its pricing tightly, and deal trackers who watch the brand all year found only a single six-piece set in the official Black Friday lineup. The discounts that do exist hide in the small Ciao sets and the occasional dip on mid-size boxes, and they’re modest: think $5–15 off a box, not half price. But knowing which sets move and which never do is the difference between catching a rare floor and overpaying for the “sale” badge in December.

Here’s what the price history actually shows (2025 floors, last checked), which Copic boxes are worth watching this month, and the honest budget swap for everyone the floors never reach.

Copic Ciao 72A Marker Set — The big-box target

The Copic Ciao 72A set is the flagship beginner buy: 72 blendable colors in the cheaper Ciao barrel, the most complete single purchase in the Copic lineup. The honest Black Friday truth: full 72-color boxes almost never floor. Deal history shows the 72A trims by only a few dollars, if it moves at all, because Copic knows the big sets sell themselves. If you want this box, expect “about $200 give or take a modest trim” and treat any dip under last year’s price as your window — it will not get dramatically cheaper after the holidays, because Copic pricing doesn’t work that way.

My take: a fine buy if you’re committed to the alcohol-marker craft, but it is not a Black Friday play — the floor barely exists on full boxes.

Copic Ciao 36B Marker Set — The mid-size reds-and-greens

The Copic Ciao 36B set is where the actual deals live. Mid-size Ciao boxes are the sets that dip during deal season, and the 36B — a red-and-green-heavy palette that suits florals, botanicals, and holiday work — typically runs about half the 72A price. This is the smarter single buy for most colorists: enough colors to blend gradients properly, botanical-weighted, and small enough that a $15 seasonal trim is a meaningful percentage off. The honest con is the shape of the palette itself — if you color skin tones or fantasy scenes, the 36B’s red-green bias will leave you needing singles to fill the gaps.

My take: the set to actually watch this month — mid-size Ciao boxes are where real Copic discounts hide.

Copic Classic 36-Piece V2 Set — The illustrator’s classic

The Copic Classic 36-piece V2 set is the buy-once line: square-barrel Classics with replaceable tips and refillable ink, which is why working illustrators stay on them for decades. Refills cost a couple of dollars and keep a marker alive indefinitely, so the lifetime cost per marker beats buying new Sketches when they dry out. The honest cons: Classic barrels hold less ink than Sketch, and the square shape bothers some hands on long sessions. Full Classic sets sit in the same “rarely floors” camp as the 72A, though this box occasionally sees small seasonal trims.

My take: the lifetime-value pick if refills appeal to you — buy it when you need it, not when a sale banner tells you to.

Ohuhu 80-Color Dual-Tip Alcohol Markers — The honest budget swap

The Ohuhu 80-color dual-tip set is the answer for everyone the Copic floors never reach. At roughly a quarter of Copic’s per-marker cost, you get 80 colors with a brush tip and a broad chisel on each marker — and current Ohuhus blend respectably for coloring-book work, which is a different bar than professional illustration. The honest cons: ink flow isn’t as consistent, the caps are looser so markers dry out faster in storage, and nobody refills an Ohuhu. But for a colorist spending evenings in a coloring book, the craft difference is much smaller than the fourfold price difference.

My take: the swap I recommend to beginners outright — learn blending on these, then buy Copic singles for the colors you actually finish.

Common mistakes in the marker aisle

• Buying the “sale” badge: a $6 trim on a $200 box is 3 percent. That’s not a deal, that’s a banner.
• Buying 72 colors before you know you like the medium: the 36B or an Ohuhu set answers that question for half or a quarter of the money.
• Ignoring refillability: the real Copic value is the bottle of ink, not the marker. If you’ll never refill, the Ohuhu math wins outright.
• Waiting past the window: the small Ciao set discounts show up late November and vanish — by mid-December you pay list again.

Do Copic markers ever actually go on sale?

On specific mid-size Ciao sets, yes — modestly, during deal season. On full 72-color boxes and Sketch sets, essentially never; Copic holds its price and the “discounts” are a few dollars of trim. If a mid-size Ciao box is at or under last year’s floor price, that is the buy signal; if you’re waiting for Copics at half price, that wait has no documented end — the honest swap is Ohuhu.

The budget note

• Cheapest credible alcohol setup: Ohuhu 80-color (about a quarter of Copic’s per-marker cost) plus any marker-pad paper you already own.
• The Copic entry: one mid-size Ciao box at its seasonal floor, then singles — and a pair of coloring books to practice on: our best coloring books under $15 list has the practice-page picks.

Deep-focus coloring hits different with an audiobook — Audible’s free trial is here if you want to try it (affiliate link, same deal as everything else on this page).

Keep reading: our beginner colored pencil kit under $40 covers the cheaper side of the desk, and the 15-minute coloring protocol is the habit that makes any marker set earn its price.

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