Testing out on-line stores

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:32 pm

Darth Kramer wrote: And here's an interesting little quirk I have found with my ordering experiences from MyComicShop.com. If I place an order on Monday morning before noon CST, generally the order will be checked in by noon on Tuesday and in the mail that day or Wednesday.

I think they process orders on Tuesday morning, so if you make an order Monday, it's checked in on Tuesday. If you order on Friday or over the weekend? You're still going to be waiting until Tuesday.....

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:41 pm

TORPEDO COMICS UPDATE

I bit the bullet and placed an order with Torpedo. Search function was pretty useless, but I decided to power through all 200+ pages of their 99 cent comics.

There were some hidden gems in there, but it was certainly a chore to order them. Much more selection from the front of the alphabet, but they seem to still be entering books in from their warehouse.

Biggest problem for me was: NO FREE SHIPPING!

I ended up paying about $10 for shipping (cheapest method), so my pile of $1 comics ended up being about $1.25 each

Also, one issue I ordered (Superman/Darkness #1) was out of stock after they processed to order, so now I have the 2nd issue of this 2 issue series, I need to poke around for that 1st issue.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:01 am

Hey Bob, what's your impression of these sites? Some of them might not have the back issues you're looking for, but you might find a deal on a statue, bust or piece of comic art that catches your eye.

http://collectibleshop.tripod.com/
http://store.comicfusion.net/index.html
http://thecomicmuseum.com/
http://www.comiclinkexpress.com/forsale.asp
http://www.comicvendor.com/
http://www.cpgcomics.com/
http://www.streetlifecomics.com/
http://www.superworldcomics.com/index.php
http://x-worldcomics.com/

Unsurprisingly, you can find Darkness/Superman #1 at:

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=549321

But what's the fun in that?

Post by **JohnMayo** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:45 am

I should have figured you havea ton of links to other places for us to spend money, Lobo.

You wouldn't happen to know of any places I could get superhero RPGs at a good discount, would you?

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:55 am

johnmayo wrote:I should have figured you havea ton of links to other places for us to spend money, Lobo.

You wouldn't happen to know of any places I could get superhero RPGs at a good discount, would you?

This place offers what I'd consider a "moderate" discount...

http://roleplayingtips.rpgshop.com/defa ... Path=_1_18&

... but how's free sound?

http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/free ... rhero.html

Edit: Here's a few more sites to check out...

http://www.thoughthammer.com/?cPath=41
http://www.trollandtoad.com/All--Other- ... p1n10.html
http://www.scifigenre.com/browse.aspx?s ... tegoryID=9
http://www.deepdiscount.com/Role-Playin ... iewcat.htm
http://www.tfaw.com/More-Products/Games
http://www.ccgarmory.com/rolplaygam2.html

And possibly the most interesting site...

http://www.bookrenter.com/products/deta ... 0972359917

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:46 am

OK, I'll check these out one-by-one over the next few days and call 'em as I see 'em:

Lobo wrote:Hey Bob, what's your impression of these sites?
http://collectibleshop.tripod.com/

Hmmm. This site seems to just be a guy selling his comics. No on-line store per se. You can e-mail him about buying stuff he has listed.

His prices don't seem to be that great (spot checking stuff I'm interested in everything is pretty close to Overstreet). This is risky with a new dealer, as you are never sure how accurate their grading is. Also, this guy seems to mostly have stuff I already have. Could be better for people with less extensive collections than I have.

Clearance page is pretty weak.

Another problem:

This is a hobby/private collector site, strictly mail order. Items sold collector to collector, or to anybody with money!
I DON'T take credit cards or PayPal. I take money orders, online bank checks, Western Union transfers and the like, and personal checks

This is not something that makes me too inclined to try this guy out.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:56 am

MyComicShop.Com UPDATE

Gee, I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

On the happy side, my wife wants me to spend less money, and the latest developments at MyComicShop.Com are going to have me spending WAY less money with them until they change policy again:

Snippet from their e-mail this week:

This week you'll save an extra 5% off pre-1981 issues and 10% off modern-era issues in sale groups DC A-L titles, Marvel issues from1980-1989, Dell titles, and Charlton titles in our back issue comics selection. (All this is on top of the across the board up to 50% off sale on 1981 to current modern era comics).

The things to notice:
extra 5% off pre-1981 issues and 10% off modern-era issues
They cut the discount from 10% to 5% on pre-1981 books (which is mostly what I get. I don't know about anyone else, but 5% off is not enough to get me excited.

All this is on top of the across the board up to 50% off sale on 1981 to current modern era comics
There is that pesky 1981 cut off again. They used to have the "50% off sale" on all back issues, now just on 1981 to modern books.

On a quick shopping trip through the site, I am finding that most of the older books I had been buying (and am interested in) are mostly tracking very close to Overstreet now, whereas I used to be able to get them regularly for 30-50% less than guide price. This equates to a HUGE price hike for the stuff I am collecting.

So, just in time for Christmas, I'm going to have extra money in my wallet for other stuff, as I will no longer be blowing the $100+ per month I had been dropping on this web-site.

Not sure how long this will last. Previously, they did away with free shipping and I didn't place an order for about 4 months. Once free shipping came back, I started making a $50 order (to get free shipping) 2-3 times a month. Now that they effectively hiked prices on all the stuff I love to collect most, I'll be similarly absent from the site.

Still a great site for people buying books 1981->present, though.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:45 am

JLAFan wrote:OK, I'll check these out one-by-one over the next few days and call 'em as I see 'em:

Looking forward to it.

Some sites emphasize new books (like DCBS), back issues, statues, busts, trades, etc, and I'm curious if some sites are better in some areas than others.

That guy's site is kind of like an online garage sale, but I've picked up deals at garage sales too, so I didn't want to leave it out.

Post by **JohnMayo** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:23 am

Lobo wrote:
johnmayo wrote:I should have figured you havea ton of links to other places for us to spend money, Lobo.

You wouldn't happen to know of any places I could get superhero RPGs at a good discount, would you?
This place offers what I'd consider a "moderate" discount...

http://roleplayingtips.rpgshop.com/defa ... Path=_1_18&

... but how's free sound?

http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/free ... rhero.html

Edit: Here's a few more sites to check out...

http://www.thoughthammer.com/?cPath=41
http://www.trollandtoad.com/All--Other- ... p1n10.html
http://www.scifigenre.com/browse.aspx?s ... tegoryID=9
http://www.deepdiscount.com/Role-Playin ... iewcat.htm
http://www.tfaw.com/More-Products/Games
http://www.ccgarmory.com/rolplaygam2.html

And possibly the most interesting site...

http://www.bookrenter.com/products/deta ... 0972359917

I've done a quick check of the first two links you posted and they look very interesting. Hopefully I'll have some time over the long weekend to check them out properly as well as all of these others you've posted.

While I thank you for the links, I'm not entirely sure my wallet will be as happy.

Post by **JohnMayo** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:26 am

JLAFan wrote:MyComicShop.Com UPDATE

Gee, I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

On the happy side, my wife wants me to spend less money, and the latest developments at MyComicShop.Com are going to have me spending WAY less money with them until they change policy again:

Snippet from their e-mail this week:
This week you'll save an extra 5% off pre-1981 issues and 10% off modern-era issues in sale groups DC A-L titles, Marvel issues from1980-1989, Dell titles, and Charlton titles in our back issue comics selection. (All this is on top of the across the board up to 50% off sale on 1981 to current modern era comics).
The things to notice:
extra 5% off pre-1981 issues and 10% off modern-era issues
They cut the discount from 10% to 5% on pre-1981 books (which is mostly what I get. I don't know about anyone else, but 5% off is not enough to get me excited.

All this is on top of the across the board up to 50% off sale on 1981 to current modern era comics
There is that pesky 1981 cut off again. They used to have the "50% off sale" on all back issues, now just on 1981 to modern books.

On a quick shopping trip through the site, I am finding that most of the older books I had been buying (and am interested in) are mostly tracking very close to Overstreet now, whereas I used to be able to get them regularly for 30-50% less than guide price. This equates to a HUGE price hike for the stuff I am collecting.

So, just in time for Christmas, I'm going to have extra money in my wallet for other stuff, as I will no longer be blowing the $100+ per month I had been dropping on this web-site.

Not sure how long this will last. Previously, they did away with free shipping and I didn't place an order for about 4 months. Once free shipping came back, I started making a $50 order (to get free shipping) 2-3 times a month. Now that they effectively hiked prices on all the stuff I love to collect most, I'll be similarly absent from the site.

Still a great site for people buying books 1981->present, though.

Very interesting. I'm glad you pointed this out. I completely missed the fine print in the latest email from them.

Most of what I'm getting these days is pre-1981, not by a whole lot but enough to get the lesser discount.

I need to be cutting way back on my back issue purchases at least until I start catching up on my back issue reading.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:46 am

johnmayo wrote: I've done a quick check of the first two links you posted and they look very interesting. Hopefully I'll have some time over the long weekend to check them out properly as well as all of these others you've posted.

While I thank you for the links, I'm not entirely sure my wallet will be as happy.

As I like to say, "Why use a mousetrap when a bazooka will do the job."

Forward my condolences to your wallet.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:56 am

OK, I wrote an e-mail to Buddy Saunders (owner of MyComicShop.com) about this and he responded:

Thanks for the feedback and likewise thank you for your past patronage.
I value our reputation for competitive prices and do want to maintain that reputation.
In restructuring prices on so vast a scale, an initial meat clever approach is all that is possible. I'm certain we increased prices in some instances where it wasn't necessary and, for that matter, lowered other prices that shouldn't have been reduced. But to get off to a good footing on our new pricing structure (which is now much more grade sensitive), I thought it best to begin with the Overstreet baseline as that's the pricing I most often see used by stores and show dealers (with whom we do lots of buying). But in the end, it is you the customer who dictates selling prices. If an issue doesn't sell at the price posted, we'll lower both our buying and selling price. If, on the other hand, we sell out of an item and have difficulty restocking, we'll increase both our buying and selling prices.
Although it is still to early to gauge the consequences of the initial change, thus far we've seen a jump in sales--a good sign but, again, too early to really judge. Whatever the case, I'll be adjusting prices as circumstances warrant and as I have time/opportunity to do so.

My response back to him was:

Thanks for the thoughtful response.
I'll be cooling off my buying for a while and see how this plays out. I'm curious about the granularity of your data to show a jump in initial sales, though.
I can understand an initial overall sales jump, as I think a lot of stuff may have gotten better prices (I would frequently see older stuff on your site that was inexplicably double or triple of Overstreet). However, as an example, I have observed price increases on older VG-F books from Action, Adventure, Atom, Aquaman from the 60s & 70s (to name just a few that I was looking at yesterday, and which I had recently purchased at lower prices from you in the past.)
So, if you are able to analyze sales trends at a low level, it would be interesting to see if the sales up-tick extends to these titles as well.

So, in the end, I am glad that he was responsive, but this response was almost exactly the same as when I wrote a long missive to him expressing my opinions about them dropping the free shipping (e.g. "We're seeing an initial positive response to the change, but we will wait, analyze, and adjust accordingly.")

In that instance, I didn't buy from them for about 4 months while things played out (and I needed someone on the forum to tell me to go back there because they had re-instituted free shipping). So, I suspect I'll be doing the same thing again.

As I stated before, good for me, as my wife wanted me to cool off on my $$ spent on back issue shopping.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:59 am

Lobo wrote:RE: http://collectibleshop.tripod.com/
That guy's site is kind of like an online garage sale, but I've picked up deals at garage sales too, so I didn't want to leave it out.

I agree. However, the overall "friendliness" of the site, lack of a decent search, and non-paypal/credit-card payment methods are going to keep me away. For me to put up with that inconvenience, I'd have to be seeing prices that are, on average, around half guide or less.

I was not seeing that, instead, prices seemed a lot closer to guide.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:20 am

Lobo wrote: http://store.comicfusion.net/index.html

2nd in a series!!!

OK, this site does not seem to have a very decent back issue stock at all. Mostly all recent comics. They did have some Crossgen books for around $2.50 each that I was getting for $1 or so at other places.

Manga is about a 20% discount, which is OK, but I can get it cheaper elsewhere online or even at Borders when they send me a 30% off coupon via e-mail.

About a 10% discount on statues and I can do a lot better than that elsewhere. Same for toys.

So, in the end:
* DCBS (and probably other similar services) offer MUCH better prices for newer stuff
* Does not seem to have any back issue selection I am interested in
* Toys/statues are not priced that good either

I'll give this site a miss.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:22 am

One more reply from Buddy:

Re you comment: "I would frequently see older stuff on your site that was inexplicably double or triple of Overstreet."
That is exactly the problem we addressed with our new software. But in fixing one problem others often are created, especially when operating on a vast scale that necessitates a good bit of automation. But one thing I can say is that over all, pricing is now closer to where we want to be although much fine tuning lies ahead.

So I'm hopeful that they'll get back to where they were within a month or two on the pre-1981 stuff. Good faith response in the e-mails from Buddy, and I love the responsiveness.