DCBS reviews?

[PrismaticSmoke]

Me and a bud are considering switching over to DCBS to order Comics and drop our LCS. It looks like we can save huge coin, but with big savings come big questions. So who uses the service? IS it reliable? books well packed? If any problems were they resolved quickly and to your satisfaction?

[Reno McCoy]

If you do a search, you'll find many of us here use DCBS without problem. Great service. I get my comics in minty fresh condition, and on the rare chance that something was wrong with my order, their customer service gets back to you and corrects the problem almost immediately.

 

Well worth signing up.

[Scrooge]

If you do a search, you'll find many of us here use DCBS without problem. Great service. I get my comics in minty fresh condition, and on the rare chance that something was wrong with my order, their customer service gets back to you and corrects the problem almost immediately.

 

Well worth signing up.

 

+1 VERY reliable. GOOD customer service. Issues ALWAYS resolved when there are any. Books shipped on time and safely packaged.

[shortstack comics]

If you do a search, you'll find many of us here use DCBS without problem. Great service. I get my comics in minty fresh condition, and on the rare chance that something was wrong with my order, their customer service gets back to you and corrects the problem almost immediately.

 

Well worth signing up.

 

+1 VERY reliable. GOOD customer service. Issues ALWAYS resolved when there are any. Books shipped on time and safely packaged.

 

+2

[jordanscott]

Great service.

 

Very helpful customer service via email.

 

Only problem I ever had with an order was a missed Previews catalog.

 

Never received damaged books.

 

Using them for almost 2 yrs.

[JayT]

Can't go wrong.

 

I'm not even sure why anyone goes to an LCS for new books (if they read them in numbers), and 50% of that opinion is based on the existence of DCBS.

[sd2416]

been using them since 03. Nver a problem. Great packaging, shipping. Books are in great shape. Love the money I save.

[Scrooge]

been using them since 03. Nver a problem. Great packaging, shipping. Books are in great shape. Love the money I save.

 

I don't save money. I just read more books

[james_c]

I just recently started using DCBS (4 months) and have no complaints. I had one book that was damaged and a replacement was placed in my next order.

 

[PrismaticSmoke]

Well thats good enough for me, I tossed my Jan order in the cart and was stunned to see 57 items cost 115 bucks, thats almost half of what I normally spend per month. Plus with 2 people splitting shipping that savings adds up and sticks.

 

LCS wont be happy, but hey my pocket before theirs.

[marvelcollector]

I switched over to them in June.

No problems whatsoever. They have great customer service, and a nice website with a very good user interface.

The books have arrived in excellent shape, and I don't buy the bagging and boarding.

Nothing but good things to say about them.

 

I was wondering...do they have an account here on the boards?

Anybody know? Not sure I've ever seen a post from them....

[itssmeeeeee]

EXCELLENT SERVICE. besides the obvious great prices they deliver on time with tracking and books are always in excellent condition.

 

One time i had a TPB in an order. They forgot to put it in my order and i Emailed them that day. They shipped it out the same day no questions.

[ripclaw923]

I switched over to them in June.

No problems whatsoever. They have great customer service, and a nice website with a very good user interface.

The books have arrived in excellent shape, and I don't buy the bagging and boarding.

Nothing but good things to say about them.

 

I was wondering...do they have an account here on the boards?

Anybody know? Not sure I've ever seen a post from them....

 

i don't think so but, i know Erik Sternberger over at the comic bloc forums works or owns dcbs.

[PrismaticSmoke]

Oh another question, do they ship on wednesday or before? And when do you all get your books typically (day)

[Schmakt]

I always get a notification that I'll get my books on Friday, but they always show up the following Monday instead...

 

I switched back in March or something, and I've been really happy with everything thus far. The website still has some shortingcomings, but it's getting better. (you can now edit orders, thank goodness!) Still sucks when I forget to order something one month, but other than that - *thumbs up*!

 

EDIT: I used to get the bag&board service, but I stopped... the books still come in excellent condition, but there is definitely is definitely a drop in quality w/o the individual b&b service. My next order has the cheapest b&b option; we'll see how that goes. (I used to use the middle option)

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

Unfortunately I, relative to all other posters, had a very bad experience with DCBS in terms of the condition of many books I received from them and customer service.

 

Please note, what follows is a very condensed version of the story.

 

I typically ordered approximately $150.00 to $300.00 of books a month, including mylites and half-backs, and, although most ranged in condition from 9.4 to 9.8, far too many were in the 9.0 to 9.2 range. Although early on the 9.0 to 9.2 books were gladly replaced by DCBS, I apparently wore out my welcome as I received a very terse e-mail in August of this year, I believe, informaing me that the books I had returned for replacement copies could not be replaced as they were in saleable condition. Well, yes, of course they were in saleable condition because books in 9.0 and 9.2 are constantly being sold. However, since I had purchased and, more importantly, paid for books that were at least in 9.4 condition I wished to obtain replacements for those books.

 

In fact, I recall, prior to receiving the August e-mail, offering to pay for replacement copies of the books and still keep the damaged copies. DCBS, however, very kindly told me that, no I should return the books and receive repalcements. Unfortunately, that was not to be as the August e-mail informed me that I could either take the same books back or receive a credit. I took the credit, stopped ordering from DCBS, and took my business elsewhere.

 

Apparently DCBS was thankful for my business only up to a point.

 

My

[jordanscott]

that's unfortunate.

 

the only strike against them that I know of.

 

i didn't know they offered guaranteed grade service either. not that it matters to me but i can see you'd be frustrated if you're paying for a specific grade and they don't get it to you.

 

i guess they've stopped doing that as I can't find anything about it. maybe they were having too many problems.

 

 

[Scrooge]

i didn't know they offered guaranteed grade service either. not that it matters to me but i can see you'd be frustrated if you're paying for a specific grade and they don't get it to you.

 

they have never offered a guaranteed grade service.

 

It seems to me that the poster had unrealistic expectations from a service that never marketed itself as Colossus Comics did with a guaranteed grade to the books received.

 

Most LCS would also not kindly take to a customer demanding all books bought to be 9.X guaranteed when there is no guarantee the LCS or DCBS would receive any books of that particular issue in stated grade! Plus, I also figure that the folks at DCBS don't have time to screen the books and parse them out to specific orders. IMO, as stated above, the expectations from the poster were not in line with what the service is and I, for one, don't blame DCBS for cutting him off.

 

Now, if they had an agreement that guaranteed you a grade and I am not aware of it, that's a different story.

 

In response to the other poster: I receive my books on Thursday afternoon, the day after they are released ... but I am quite close to the DCBS store. My books transit from Indiana to Wisconsin. I am on the twice a month shipping schedule and I don't ask for b&b as I never bag my moderns. They are read then thrown in long boxes.

[ChemEng]

I'm fairly certain they don't guarantee grades. They will replace 'damaged' books, but as a reasonable, general person might interpret it. (Tears, large bends, etc)

 

With the b&b service, the average quality of the books I've been getting has been far higher than what I find at the LCS. The vast majority are easily NM, if not M. I certainly wouldn't be concerned with a 9.2 vs a 9.4 since sometimes books aren't even a 9.4 coming from the publisher. But I respect that some people are very concerned with grade, and another service that guarantees grade would be better for them.

 

I've had DCBS for over 2 years, and even though they'll make a couple mistakes now and then, they'll always fix them well beyond what I expect. I've had damaged items, missing books (very rare, btw), wrong bags, etc. I always act professionally, and they'll fix it 90% of the time with the exact item, or a full credit if that's not possible.

 

The only downsides are 1) The bags and boards are a little on the pricey side, but I imagine a little bit of this is labor cost of having someone do all the bagging, 2) Because you are pre-ordering, DCBS has no control over when the comics come in. Most will be shipping in 2-3 months, but there are always a handful of stragglers at 4,5,6+ months after order. It used to annoy me, but DCBS will eventually issue credit when a publisher drops the ball on a comic.

 

It does give a better appreciation for what LCS owners have to put up with though! I find myself ordering a lot less from certain companies who repeatedly drop deadlines and/or entire series now.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

i didn't know they offered guaranteed grade service either. not that it matters to me but i can see you'd be frustrated if you're paying for a specific grade and they don't get it to you.

 

they have never offered a guaranteed grade service.

 

It seems to me that the poster had unrealistic expectations from a service that never marketed itself as Colossus Comics did with a guaranteed grade to the books received.

 

Most LCS would also not kindly take to a customer demanding all books bought to be 9.X guaranteed when there is no guarantee the LCS or DCBS would receive any books of that particular issue in stated grade! Plus, I also figure that the folks at DCBS don't have time to screen the books and parse them out to specific orders. IMO, as stated above, the expectations from the poster were not in line with what the service is and I, for one, don't blame DCBS for cutting him off.

 

Now, if they had an agreement that guaranteed you a grade and I am not aware of it, that's a different story.

 

In response to the other poster: I receive my books on Thursday afternoon, the day after they are released ... but I am quite close to the DCBS store. My books transit from Indiana to Wisconsin. I am on the twice a month shipping schedule and I don't ask for b&b as I never bag my moderns. They are read then thrown in long boxes.

 

You are correct, DCBS never guaranteed a grade. However, when I receive, for example, several books in a shipment with torn covers and I visit my LCS and the covers are not torn on those titles I expect to receive such from DCBS. Since DCBS is unable to meet my expectation, we parted ways. It turned out for the best on both sides as I am happy with the comic book dealer I purchase from now and DCBS is happy since they don't have to meet my expectations.

 

Lastly, I "cut DCBS off" as they would have been perfectly happy to continue selling me comic books.