Just Bill wrote:Since I can't seem to discuss this in a public forum anywhere else, does anyone have any dealings with a mail order company called HEROES CORNER? They are a competitor to DCBS, and they give an additional 10% off your first order. Plus free bags and boards, free shipping over $75. I'm a bit nervous about trying them out, but at the same time, the savings are not small... it would be like getting the STARMAN HC and a few other comics for free this month.
I LOVE DCBS... but I use a mail order company in the first place in order to save money, so I gotta at least consider these guys at least for the month.
But if they are a shady operator, I'd obviously rethink my (current) decision to give them a shot.
Oh, great...
Now I'll have to lock the thread, erase the server, melt the hardware and irradiate the hosting location...
(Actually, we might end up moving this into a new thread for online retailers of new comics versus this thread which has mainly been for back issues... I'll leave that decision to Bob...)
I know next to nothing about this company so I can't say if they are on the up and up or not. I currently have no real reason to think they aren't.
Have you done any web searching for reviews of the company, Bill? I would think that if they are a shady operator that someone would have posted a length explanation of how and why they are somewhere on the internet.
I'll say upfront that I've been a customer of DCBS for over four years and have been very happy with the service and discounts from them during that time. So, the chances of me switching to another online retailer are small. The savings and benefits would have to be significant and they company would need to come highly recommended.
DCBS has made fewer mistakes over the past four years of weekly shipments than the local store I had been a customer of had made in a single week. While DCBS may not be perfect, I can personally vouch for the quality of service that they have provided me over the past four years. But your mileage may vary, etc, etc, etc... All I can say is that I'm very happy as a customer of DCBS.
Also, in the interests of full disclosure, Cameron from DCBS was a guest on the next episode of the Back Issue Spotlight (#007 covering the Saga of the Super Sons) which will be released as soon as I finish editing it.
Cameron was kind enough to extend a limited time 45% discount on the Saga of the Super Sons trade paperback at In Stock Trades site (which should be good until mid February 2008).
Cameron has also let Bob and I pick a few items for promotional discounts.
DCBS/IST are not sponsors of the Comic Book Page podcast or website. The only benefits Bob and I have gotten out of all of this is the same discounts being offered to everyone else. (Well, I consider having had Cameron on the Super Sons episode a benefit as he was a lot of fun to talk with and clearly a big fan of those stories.)
Being curious about the potential savings, I've plugged my January order that I'm planning on placing with DCBS into the Heroes Corner Excel file to see how the two companies compared.
The first thing I noticed was that I liked the DCBS Excel file better. Part of that was I'm used to it. But part of it was that it had breaks between the major sections and publishers and between pages. That makes it a lot easier to find things. I had a few problems finding things on the Heroes Corner Excel file. But, presumably after a few months you could get used to the structure of the file and that wouldn't be a big deal. It certainly isn't a deal breaker.
The second thing I noticed was that items that I had on my DCBS order form weren't available on the Heroes Corner one. Specifically the inner case assortment of DC Direct figures were not listed nor were any of the RPG items I was mildly interested in. But, Diamond sucks at handling RPG modules anyway so I stopped getting them from DCBS when I had to cut back around September 2006. In the interests of doing an apples to apples comparison, I made a copy of my DCBS order form and removed items that Heroes Corner wasn't offering.
(And when I explained to Cameron back in September 2006 that the company I was working for at the time was in the process of going under he was exceptionally understanding and helpful.)
I then compared prices. Overall, for what I'm planning on getting in January DCBS came in about a $0.98 cheaper in price. Not a big difference at all. And even if it went the other way, it isn't even remotely close enough for me to jump ship over.
What was interesting was that DCBS seemed to be cheaper on DC and Marvel items. Some times only by a penny but other times by as much as $3.75 on a hardcover. On the other hand, about half the items on my list that Heroes Corner was cheaper on were indy titles.
A lot of it came down to which company was doing either door buster discount on an item or simply a better door buster discount than the other company. In a number of cases, Heroes Corner came out the winner. But, according to the Heroes Corner website they had quadruple the number of door buster discounts. It is unclear if that is only for January or if it will continue in the future.
Most of the items I was getting (94 out of 160), the prices were the same at both places. DCBS had 27 items cheaper and Heroes Corner had 39 items cheaper.
But, again, in terms of the actual cost of the comic, DCBS came in $0.98 cheaper. Obviously your savings will vary. It might be more if you get a lot of indy titles but might be less if you get mainly stuff from the premiere publisher. And, of course, it will depend which company has better door buster discounts on the specific items you are getting.
The only noticeable difference is in the bags and boards and shipping.
Heroes Corner offers free bags and boards while DCBS charges $0.10 a comic. Obviously free is better but the cost at DCBS is reasonable. And for people getting mainly trades and other items that don't need bags and boards this is a non-issue. Still, Heroes Corner seems to come out in front on this.
Both companies have a flat rate of $5.95 for monthly shipping. This is new for DCBS as of this month. Heroes Corner offered free shipping for orders over $75 which gives them a slight edge over DCBS.
Where things get interesting is on the shipping options. DCBS offers twice monthly shipping for $5.95 (as of this month) while Heroes Corner charges $9.95. (I couldn't figure out how to indicate a desire for twice monthly shipping on the Heroes Corner Excel file.) DCBS offers weekly shipping for $11.95 (as of this month) while Heroes Corner doesn't have this option listed.
In January, it looks like I'd possibly save under $20 which works out to a savings of around 5%. And to get that savings I would have to forgo the option of weekly shipping and the DC Direct figures and RPG items.
But it isn't worth the $20 to me to switch away from DCBS. I know the quality of service I can expect there and I'm happy with it.
Frankly, it isn't worth a one time 10% discount either. Now, if money were tight, I might not think that. But, when money got *very* tight for me a year ago, Cameron was exceedingly understanding and that is worth a lot to me.
Would I like DCBS to perhaps take a closer look at the discounts they give on indy titles? Sure. That alone would account for the most of $20 difference for me.
Would I like DCBS to offer free bags and boards? Sure. That would save me about $15 this month.
But, I also want Cameron to base his decisions on things like this on what works for him and DCBS since it does me no good for him to changes that lead to him going out of business.
Cameron also has a track record of making changes that benefit the customers. Remember when he changed the base discount from 35% to 40%?
And, how about the reduction in shipping costs at DCBS as of this month? While I'm not sure why Cameron made those changes, he is doing things to stay competitive and I respect that.
For me, staying with DCBS is the right choice.
But that isn't to say that switching to Heroes Corner would necessarily be a bad choice, just not the right one for me right now. But if I were to switch online retailers every time I could save a few bucks I'd probably end up splitting my order across a few different retailers angling for the best deals each month. And I'm too lazy for that. It would make tracking my orders and maintaining my inventory a real pain.
So, what do I think you should do, Bill?
That is a tough question.
I completely understand the desire to save money and can't fault you for it. Comics are optional purchases after all. Getting more for your money when you can, makes sense.
That having been said, I'm not going to recommend against DCBS either. Ordering from DCBS has worked out very well for me and it is a company I feel comfortable highly recommending. That isn't something I do often.
But the bottom line is that I don't have any dealing with Heroes Corner so I can't recommend for or against them based on experience. In terms of price, they seem to offer a good deal.
Again, I do recommend Googling for reviews of the company. If there is any customers that are unhappy it shouldn't be too hard to find them.
If you do go with Heroes Corner, please report back to us during the process and let us know how it goes.
If you stick with DCBS, it would be great to hear your reasons for doing so.
Witchblade #110 AA: $2.99 MCS: $4.00