MyComicShop @ Ebay...Anyone Know Them?

[Mr Wiggles]

I've had a couple weird issues when ordering from MCS.

 

Once ordered a CGC 9.8 book and received a 9.6 (not my opinion, the actual number in the corner). Emailed customer service and never got a reply. Called and was told I can't return it because I needed to contact them within 7 business days. After reading off the email I sent them the same day I received the book, I was met with silence and told to ship it back at my expense.

 

Once ordered a signed book by writer and artist with their in house COA. Instead I received the book signed by the inker only with the COA for the writer and artist. I called customer service and was told to return the book at my expense. I asked if I could just get the correct COA instead of dealing with a return. I was told no it had to be returned. I asked if I could return the book to get the correct COA and then have it shipped back to me. I was told no, I would have to repurchase the book. When questioned if they could make it available to me privately (this issue rarely stays in stock for more than a few hours when it pops up) so I could repurchase the book with the correct COA, I was again told no.

 

In both instances I received something I did not order and in both instances I was told to fix it at my expense. I kept both books and resolved that I should just expect MCS mistakes to come at my expense.

 

I've also had orders where the bundle was dropped on a corner (prior to being placed inside the shipping box) and still shipped to me with every corner smashed an inch in. I've received countless errors on their COA for signed books (wrong signature, wrong book, wrong series, or just misspelled). In each of these instances I never bothered with the customer service call of telling me to ship them back at my expense.

 

I place orders with MCS regularly, still do, and have received plenty of orders I didn't have a problem with. But when I did have problems, MCS wasn't there to take responsibility. MCS is a great company but they are far from infallible. It wouldn't hurt to have them take a look at their customer service and see where they can improve.

[roulette44]

I'm sure they take the feedabck to heart - Conan would certainly come running to help if he knew aboutit.

 

my two cents

[Bosco685]

I've had a couple weird issues when ordering from MCS.

 

Once ordered a CGC 9.8 book and received a 9.6 (not my opinion, the actual number in the corner). Emailed customer service and never got a reply. Called and was told I can't return it because I needed to contact them within 7 business days. After reading off the email I sent them the same day I received the book, I was met with silence and told to ship it back at my expense.

 

Once ordered a signed book by writer and artist with their in house COA. Instead I received the book signed by the inker only with the COA for the writer and artist. I called customer service and was told to return the book at my expense. I asked if I could just get the correct COA instead of dealing with a return. I was told no it had to be returned. I asked if I could return the book to get the correct COA and then have it shipped back to me. I was told no, I would have to repurchase the book. When questioned if they could make it available to me privately (this issue rarely stays in stock for more than a few hours when it pops up) so I could repurchase the book with the correct COA, I was again told no.

 

In both instances I received something I did not order and in both instances I was told to fix it at my expense. I kept both books and resolved that I should just expect MCS mistakes to come at my expense.

 

I've also had orders where the bundle was dropped on a corner (prior to being placed inside the shipping box) and still shipped to me with every corner smashed an inch in. I've received countless errors on their COA for signed books (wrong signature, wrong book, wrong series, or just misspelled). In each of these instances I never bothered with the customer service call of telling me to ship them back at my expense.

 

I place orders with MCS regularly, still do, and have received plenty of orders I didn't have a problem with. But when I did have problems, MCS wasn't there to take responsibility. MCS is a great company but they are far from infallible. It wouldn't hurt to have them take a look at their customer service and see where they can improve.

 

Just curious. Who was it in Customer Service you dealt with at MCS?

 

I seem to get a hit-or-miss experience with Beth (I believe she is the manager), and I have to push to get return shipping covered. Skylar, on the other hand, comes across very customer focused, and never gives me a hard time about returning a book.

 

But Beth seems to have calmed her inner angst over the years, as she was much tougher to deal with a few years back.

[Mr Wiggles]

I'm not sure of the name of the customer service representative I dealt with each time.

 

Mistakes happen when you are a business as large as MCS and I'm frankly amazed they haven't happened more often. Having a customer service department (I'm speaking generally) that isn't willing to actually service the mistakes that are made is damaging.

 

There is a lot of love for MCS on these forums, myself included, and my intentions are not to carry a banner that MCS shouldn't be trusted or should be avoided. I'm just offering my actual experience of when mistakes happened and what their resulting outcomes were. When mistakes don't happen, you can't beat MCS.

[slym2none]

I've been unhappy with their books multiple times. While completing runs of ASM, Batman, and others, I've ordered a number of books from them. I don't remember how many orders, 4 or 5 probably. In every order I had multiple books that were significantly damaged.

 

I'm not talking about books being over graded a grade or two. I'm talking about over looking a serious flaw like a pop'd staple, a large tear on the cover, and things of that nature. They just aren't paying attention when they are sending out the books.

 

The problem is, everytime I tried to resolve the problem their only offer was for me to send the book back for a refund. I can't justify the time and cost of shipping back a couple books that cost a few bucks. So I just had to eat it. Maybe I have come to expect an Amazon.com level of customer service, in the case of a $3 ASM I would only be happy if they just said keep the book and gave a full refund. Expecting to have the buyer ship it back is sort of asinine in my opinion.

 

Anyway I don't order from them anymore if I can help it.

 

 

So in other words, you want to have your cake and eat it too. Expecting a full refund AND keeping the book smacks a little of a heightened sense of entitlement.

 

Would you still be unhappy if the seller gave the full refund and paid for return shipping? Just because you don't want to "justify the time and cost of shipping back books?"

 

Yes I'm entitled to get what I paid for and not lose money and time shipping back to the seller that was their error. My time is a bit more valuable than the hour or more I'd waste going to and from the post office to return a $3 book, and I'd lose the return shipping cost to boot. If you can afford to waste that time you should probably look into a new career.

 

This isn't a "heightened sense of entitlement", it's having an expectation of high quality customer service. Get off off your high horse and stop being an apologist for a company that does in fact frequently over grade and send out books that are damaged or don't match the description as advertised.

 

I'll choose to no longer do business with them because their product and customer service do not meet my expectations, and shared my experiences. When you feel like being judgmental next time, go do it to someone that cares what your opinion is.

 

 

You are the definition of an unwanted customer to almost any business, never satisfied, taking any mistake as a personal affront. Sure, your time is more important than anyone elses, and your expectation of a minty fresh comic for 3 bucks is totally realistic. I think it's far more important to the world economy that comic dealers avoid you than you avoiding any particular dealer.

 

I am now wondering if techvoodoo has an eBay account, and what the name is there. I'd block them in a heartbeat.

 

 

 

-slym

[techvoodoo]

Sorry I just don't understand.

 

So what are you guys saying is your solution if you buy something, and it comes not just in a little worse condition than you expected, but significantly worse (ruined) and the cost of returning it would be more than the cost of the item?

 

And not only did this happen once, but multiple times from the same vendor?

 

 

[slym2none]

OK, I will admit I jumped the gun here a bit. I took a look at what I am currently selling and could see the frustration if the guy who bought $1.75 worth of quarter-bin comics would have if the package arrived damaged. I am surely not going to insure it (unless they pay for it, of course, but the insurance would cost more than the comics) and the comics would definitely be worthless then.

 

I guess it was the way it was worded that sounded a little arrogant, tech, but in the case I described above in my post, I'd offer the buyer the refund for the comics and maybe a little extra (say, rounded up to the next dollar) but not for the shipping, and to just keep the comics. Sorry if I offended you with my "block this eBayer" line.

 

To everyone - since we are not eBay, should we sellers here make insurance mandatory on orders over, say $5? Or some purchased amount that is reasonable to make it worthwhile to both seller & buyer?

 

 

 

-slym

[InvstmntComcSuply]

No

[slym2none]

OK

 

 

 

-slym

[InvstmntComcSuply]

(thumbs u

[Bosco685]

Why would you be surprised by somebody ordering a NM+ and receiving a VF+? There have been examples given here over the years of this happening to boardies. It has happened to me. And not just with books under $50. Nothing "hypothetical" about my statement. Just fact about books I have received from MCS. I also doubt that a ripped back cover on a book and a 2" corner crease on another book happened due to shipping damage. NM+ books indeed.

 

We do not list any of our sub-$10 graded books graded as "NM+". For sub-$10 books, the highest grade we use is "NM". For the more expensive books graded on the 10 point scale, we'll use grades like "NM- 9.2", "NM 9.4", "NM+ 9.6", and (very rarely) "NM/M 9.8".

 

My point is that the only way you could order a NM+ book from us is if it was one of our ten point graded books. If you ordered a non ten point "NM" book from us and we missed a flaw that would knock it down to VF or VF+ish, yes that's possible and will occasionally happen. But if you ordered a book we graded as "NM+ 9.6", the accuracy should be quite tight. As I said previously, we're very picky about assigning top-end grades like NM+ 9.6 or NM/M 9.8. Nothing's impossible, so yeah somehow maybe we could mess up on a book, but if that were to happen that should be the exception that proves the rule. It will be extremely, extremely unlikely for a book we've graded as NM+ 9.6 to have overlooked flaws that knock it down to VF+ 8.5.

 

If you know for sure that what you ordered was listed as "NM+ 9.6" and not just "NM", then I'm not disputing your experience, but it should be very, very unlikely for something like that to happen.

 

Conan, I don't think this statement is accurate. At least someone may be posting books in a way that potentially violates your store policy.

 

I went and checked my receipts since I save everything for historic reference. I purchased a Batman: The Blue, the Grey and the Bat (1992) listed as NM/M 9.8 which sold for $5.40 on 12/7/2012. What arrived matched the description, so I was overjoyed with this book, along with the other three that were listed as NM but ended up being 9.4/9.6 or better.

 

So there is a chance there were sub-$10 books listed as 9.6+ or even 9.8 from my experience.

[Sekowskyfan10]

I have also bought quite a bit of stuff from MyComicShop, and sold them books on several occasions as well.

 

Every single experience has been outstanding in every way.

 

I have found their grading to be extremely consistent and conservative--certainly more so than CGC and, with a couple of exceptions, the sellers I have purchased books from on this forum.

 

One thing I would add, though, is that it's clear that their inventory has been graded over the course of many, many years. My impression is that the older stuff is not as tightly graded--just based on the scans. Which is why I always want to see pictures for any book I am buying--regardless of the seller.

 

This.

 

Overall, my mcs experience has been excellent.

 

[rjrjr]

 

I believe this has been summed up perfectly in another thread:

 

If you buy expensive books from MCS, you will be happy with your purchases.

 

If you buy cheap books from MCS, you may or may not be happy with your purchases.

[jop]

I have only dealt with them recently and just for a few inexpensive issues and my only concern is that I have not received a corrected invoice to pay from unless they do expect 17 bucks shipping for four books.

 

So I have no real dog in this but everyone should be aware of who they are buying from and their rating would be hard pressed to match with that many transactions per month although it would seem the customer service could be improved.

[mycomicshop]

Why would you be surprised by somebody ordering a NM+ and receiving a VF+? There have been examples given here over the years of this happening to boardies. It has happened to me. And not just with books under $50. Nothing "hypothetical" about my statement. Just fact about books I have received from MCS. I also doubt that a ripped back cover on a book and a 2" corner crease on another book happened due to shipping damage. NM+ books indeed.

 

We do not list any of our sub-$10 graded books graded as "NM+". For sub-$10 books, the highest grade we use is "NM". For the more expensive books graded on the 10 point scale, we'll use grades like "NM- 9.2", "NM 9.4", "NM+ 9.6", and (very rarely) "NM/M 9.8".

 

My point is that the only way you could order a NM+ book from us is if it was one of our ten point graded books. If you ordered a non ten point "NM" book from us and we missed a flaw that would knock it down to VF or VF+ish, yes that's possible and will occasionally happen. But if you ordered a book we graded as "NM+ 9.6", the accuracy should be quite tight. As I said previously, we're very picky about assigning top-end grades like NM+ 9.6 or NM/M 9.8. Nothing's impossible, so yeah somehow maybe we could mess up on a book, but if that were to happen that should be the exception that proves the rule. It will be extremely, extremely unlikely for a book we've graded as NM+ 9.6 to have overlooked flaws that knock it down to VF+ 8.5.

 

If you know for sure that what you ordered was listed as "NM+ 9.6" and not just "NM", then I'm not disputing your experience, but it should be very, very unlikely for something like that to happen.

 

Conan, I don't think this statement is accurate. At least someone may be posting books in a way that potentially violates your store policy.

 

I went and checked my receipts since I save everything for historic reference. I purchased a Batman: The Blue, the Grey and the Bat (1992) listed as NM/M 9.8 which sold for $5.40 on 12/7/2012. What arrived matched the description, so I was overjoyed with this book, along with the other three that were listed as NM but ended up being 9.4/9.6 or better.

 

So there is a chance there were sub-$10 books listed as 9.6+ or even 9.8 from my experience.

 

I'm sorry--I got careless in my language. When I said this, it was an oversimplification:

 

We do not list any of our sub-$10 graded books graded as "NM+". For sub-$10 books, the highest grade we use is "NM". For the more expensive books graded on the 10 point scale, we'll use grades like "NM- 9.2", "NM 9.4", "NM+ 9.6", and (very rarely) "NM/M 9.8".

 

Here's a more accurate description. We use two filing systems:

 

System 1:

- Possible grades are NM, VF, FN, VG, GD, FR, PR.

- Books are not individually scanned, and they are filed together with any other copies of that issue in the same grade (all the NMs together, all the VFs together, etc.) If we have 20 copies of an issue that we graded NM, and you order a copy, you're getting one of those 20 copies.

 

System 2:

- Possible grades are the ten point grades like what CGC uses (NM+ 9.6, NM 9.4, NM- 9.2, etc.)

- We don't assign grades higher than NM/M 9.8 to a raw book, because it's kind of a roll of the dice once you get that high, and we don't want to promise anybody a 9.9 or 10.0 unless it's already in the slab.

- Each comic recorded gets its own unique product ID, is filed by itself, and we provide a scan of the front cover. If the value is high enough (roughly $50 or more), we provide a back cover scan too. If you order one of these books, you're not getting one of however many X copies we have, you're getting the exact book pictured in the listing.

- The only books using this system that don't get their own cover scan are NM/M 9.8 graded copies of new releases, because the cover images are all essentially the same--a new flawless book.

- With books recorded in system 2, we are especially careful about assigning the two top grades, NM+ 9.6 and NM/M 9.8. We don't assign those grades unless we've checked very carefully and are confident in the grade.

 

In general books under $10 are graded and filed using system 1 and books over $10 are graded and filed using system 2, but there are plenty of exceptions, including:

 

- Many pre-1980 books are recorded using system 2 even if they're under $10. Similarly, some items over $10 will still be recorded using system 1, including TPBs.

- Sometimes with new releases, especially limited cover variants, we'll look for any good enough to list as NM/M 9.8, and we'll list any that we find as NM/M 9.8 (system 2) even though the price might not be over $10.

- Prices can change over time, so that a book that was above $10 when we recorded it is now below $10, and vice versa.

- All consignment/auction items are recorded as system 2, regardless of what they are.

[mrmyst]

[The Jerr]

I buy from mycomicshop all the time! Great Service and well packed!

 

From what I have learned with them, is when you buy a $2.00 NM book you can't get butt hurt about it if its not NM 9.8 and you got a NM 9.0-9.4. You take the risk if you don't buy books with the scans which are the more expensive books!

 

Overall Great experience each time from them!

[RockMyAmadeus]

[makeminemego]

I'm sure there have been issues with MCS. Same with Macy's, Home Depot, etc.

 

What's amazing is that in a business that revolves around something as subjective as grading, that they can do that kind of volume without being paralyzed by customer service issues. Of course, they do that kind of volume by providing, nearly all of the time, solid pricing, grading, and customer service.

 

I'm sure that the customer service/grading issues that arise are legit, but it's staggering how few and far between they are.

 

I buy from them on the regular and will continue to do so.

 

 

[Hawkman]

Does anyone know who owns this company who sells on Ebay? I'm assuming they have to be on this board for sure!

 

I don't think I'd ever buy from them. 887 Negetive and neutral feedback in the last 6 months!

 

actually, they have 200 negative feedbacks, 200 neutrals, and 83,000 positives in the last 6 months. pretty damn good