Selling Comics to Lone Star / MCS

[Point Five]

I was wondering how many of you have had experience selling books to Lone Star Comics aka MCS.

 

I did a few years ago and found their grading to be a little strict, about a third of the books I submitted as NM they graded as VF. A couple weeks ago I noticed they were offering decent money for a few different book so I put together 50 books to send to them. I looked them all over before shipping. I had about 75% as being NM. They were all shipped bagged and boarded and some were right off the rack, never read, pristine copies. Anyone want to take a guess as to how many of the 50 comics they graded out as NM?

I've had great success selling through MCS in the last six months and I genuinely like working with them... they've been friendly, responsive and their consignment interface is great to use... but I definitely pick my battles as far as what to sell through them.

 

My best luck so far has been with SA/BA books in the $20-60 range, generally in midgrade. Their auctions sometimes appear to attract run collectors (just speculating here) who bid on books almost regardless of grade, and a random book in the run might get more attention than on ebay. I've had some nice surprises with results; some have underperformed but nothing too awful, certainly no worse than ebay. I think for the most part buyers know their grades are super-conservative, and bid accordingly.

 

You're right though, their grading is super-strict and for the most part I've held off sending in very high grade raw books. I do wonder sometimes if this is genuinely the way they grade, or if they arrive at a true grade and then knock off another point or two to be 'safe' and ensure happy customers. They certainly must be the strictest-grading dealers out there.

 

Once more with feeling, I've been very happy with them, but yeah, knowing the way they operate, sending ultra-HG stuff and expecting top grades/top dollar unfortunately does seem like a bit of a gamble.

 

 

[kav]

Definitely I get my mid/low grade runs from them. It's just easy.

[Hudson]

I have purchased a few books from them and been content with their grading. Their prices also seemed relatively in line. Sure I might pick up the same book on eBay for a little less, but then again I have purchased books on eBay and found them to have pages missing (thus having to deal with the hassle of returning).

 

Now some of their consignment stuff seems high to me. For example, they want $2,650 (plus a $79.50 buyer's premium) for just the back cover to an Action #10. I suppose if I owned an Action #10 that was just missing the back cover, perhaps I would pay that, just to complete the book, but still it seems a bit high. Maybe I am off base here as I have never bought just the back cover to any book (and this is an expensive book).

 

As for selling books to them. I have not done that, as I rarely sell any books. I did, however, look at the prices they were offering for a few books I have and found their prices (on those silver age books) to be well below what I thought was "fair". Then again, my father always told me, "Life is not fair." Perhaps on BA books the margins are better. I don't know. If, however, I was going to sell through them, I think I would have to go the consignment route.

 

I think before I did that, however, I would attempt to sell here on the boards. I would just feel better dealing collector to collector. Then again, I am not putting anyone down who chooses to sell via any other method, eBay, MCS, or whatever. Each person should do what they feel is best.

[Buzzetta]

Purchased through them numerous times and have always been pleased.

[horsehater27]

I consign, sell and buy from Mcs. They are really good. Este the consignment coordinator is a wonderful person, she goes the extra mile to help you. I was in the market for a Detective comics #233 first Bat-woman and there was one put in a upcoming auction, She calle up the seller and pitched him my offer and he took it. YEs i believe they are more strict in grade but you have to take the good with the bad i guess.

[mycomicshop]

Also remember that their want list changes at least daily. I have had the experience of books that should have gone for $% getting offered 10 cents for because the book fell of the list between pulling and finalizing

 

Feel free to contact me privately about any instance where you think this has occurred, but the prices we offer when you first submit the book should be locked in place at the time of submission, across the entire grade range. So if the status of the book changes while your transaction is in progress (from on our want list to off the want list) it shouldn't result in you being offered less money.

 

If we downgrade your book versus the originally listed grade, then the offer price will be lower, but it should be the price for that lower grade that was listed at the time you first submitted the book. Our buying system even warns you in cases where there's a steep drop-off from one grade to the grade below (eg because we already have lots of copies in the lower grade).

[miraclemet]

I've sold to MCS 2-3 times...

 

1. Found it to be an easy process (I use their online system, enter the books in their grade, and such).

2. Felt like prices were fair

3. Got paid fast

4. Love being able to send them 30-40 books as one transaction, way better than piecing them out.

5. I get to see their pricing before I even offer them the book. Not many (read NO) other dealers list their buying prices for all to see.

5. I think on average we agree on grades 70% of the time. 10% of the time they are higher, 20% of the time they're lower. Seems fair to me.

 

yes if you're gonna sell to a dealer, you're gonna get less than eBay, you are also gonna have fewer headaches and be able to get rid of more books in one transaction than eBay.

[mycomicshop]

About 4 or 5 years ago I sold some books back to them which I had just bought a year or two previously (I was trying to put together a Miracleman run, but had to sell them off to pay bills). Bags were never opened so the books were untouched since I received them and they still had the MCS label with the grade on the back. They disputed the grades on several of the books and knocked them down a few pegs. When I complained to customer service that I was sending the books back in the same condition as when I bought them, the rep told me the grades were right as they (customer service, not the grader) could clearly see several color-breaking stresses on the front cover. Still bitter about that as it cost me a pretty decent amount of money. I had sold books through them several times before and actually found the service fairly convenient, but I was ruffled enough by this that I quit selling through them.

 

That situation is entirely possible. All we can do is do our best to accurately grade the book in front of us, just like CGC grading a book that's been resubmitted--they go by the book in front of them, not what grade the book may have previously been assigned. We don't get a book, see it has our own previous grade label on it, and assume it's that same grade--we look at and grade everything fresh.

 

It'd be great if we could guarantee that every book we sell will always receive the same grade if sold back to us at a later time, but with as many books as we handle, and especially if you're making comparisons over a timespan of multiple years, we won't be 100% consistent. If anybody feels particularly wronged by items they purchased from us and then sold back to us at a later date receiving a lower grade, feel free to PM me and I'll see what I can do for you.

[Tony S]

MCS is definitely strict on grading. I think it is quite simply they are more concerned about dealing with returns on consignment books listed on the exchange then they are about getting a bit more money. Considering that PayPal and credit cards allow a fairly big window to initiate returns. They could easily end up with returns on books they have since paid the consignor.

 

Consignors set the price, MyComicShop the grade. You see a lot of consignment books on their website where the price is substantially more than market for the grade. But the grades looks underestimated.

 

I've bought from them, never sold books through them. Have friends that sell through them. They grumble about the overly strict grading - but use them because ultimately they can set the price and the get sales.

 

[marmat]

Stories like this are why I never sell to LCS.

 

+1

 

Not to mention they don't care to realize how much they are squeezing you to make their own profit.

 

In my experience, this is simply not true

[kav]

MCS is great. Just ignore the consignments like Woodgod $3000

[LOC Collectibles]

Stories like this are why I never sell to LCS.

 

+1

 

Not to mention they don't care to realize how much they are squeezing you to make their own profit.

 

In my experience, this is simply not true

 

+1 One of the most trustworthy sites out there IMO. You don't like their prices then go elsewhere. They pay immediately and are very fair with their consignment fees.

[makeminemego]

I like the way their grading system works. They grade tough on the way in AND on the way out. About as fair as you can ask for

 

I;ve had the same thing happen to several times. Buy a book at 4.5 from MCS, comes back at 6.0-7.0.

 

A fine company to deal with.

[Hudson]

Although I do not sell though MCS, I will say I appreciate their complete transparency when it comes to what they will buy and sell a book for. I looked at some random low grade, silver age, Action Comics this morning just to show an example of this. I randomly picked 3 books they had in GD 2.0 (non consignment). Here is what the breakdown looks like.

 

Action #225 in GD (restored) - $52

They have another copy as a consignment in Fine - $150 (plus 3%)

 

For this same book they say they are willing to pay $28 cash.

 

For the math challenged, this means they are willing to pay you just under 54% of the price of a restored copy for an unrestored copy.

 

Action #229 in GD - $48

They have another copy as a consignment in 1.8 - $44 (plus 3%)

 

For this same book they say they are willing to pay $24 cash.

 

This means they are willing to pay you 50% of what they sell the same book for.

 

Action #237 in GD - $45

They have another copy as consignment in 0.5 - $35 (plus 3%)

 

For this same book they say they are willing to pay $18 cash.

 

This means they are willing to pay you 40% of what they sell the same book for.

 

For each of these books they say they have 15 - 18 people on waiting lists.

 

So there you have a VERY small sample of what they pay as compared to what they must believe is FMV for the same book. It seems to me a seller MIGHT be leaving a good deal of money on the table selling to MCS, BUT then again, it is VERY convenient. Since most people do not have the extensive website and advertising that MCS has, it is questionable (at best) to think a person would (on average) be able to command the same price for a book as MCS. In addition, a person must determine what their TIME is worth. Listing books on eBay or other venues takes time. Mailing to multiple customers takes time. Time is valuable. So that is the trade off.

 

I will say this about MCS. It is my opinion that their customer service has drastically improved. In times past, I had a number of problems with MCS. Recently, I emailed Conan (via PM through the board) and he took action to resolve the issue. Customer service is VERY important to me and I am VERY impressed with the customer service that I have recently received.

 

Hope this helps.

[nocutename]

I have traded many times with MCS. Most of the time I take the credit option and purchase other comics or tpbs from my want list. I used to keep track of my submitted grades with prices to compare the results with the final review. The end result I found that most of my trades where in the ballpark of my original credit price. Some even slightly higher and only a couple lower. I don't worry about them knocking down one or two books because there is usually one or two books that get upgraded in my pile.

 

I haven't traded too much with them lately because I stopped collecting for a while. I think I sold them an entire run last year when it didn't sell here. It was much easier than dealing with ebay. I still feel like I got a fair deal and didn't leave much on the table. If I wasn't so lazy I would try and put together another bundle to sell.

[Dale Roberts]

I guess none.

 

We have a winner!

 

Pretty frustrating

 

I know a comic store owner from Florida who used to send them stuff that was his store overstock. He had the very same experience. He would send them new condition comics and while they offered one price in trade value corresponding to condition, they always knocked down the conditions. If you don't want to take their offer, you have to pay return shipping from what I understand. This is a guy who regularly sends books to CGC and knows what a 9.4 book looks like and what a 6.0 book looks like.

[spidey300]

I've not sold to MCS yet. But I'm a HUGE fan of their website, customer service, and grading. I'm really glad Buddy made the decision to sell off the comic shops in the area and put all his efforts into the website.

[Cephusdog]

I sold a run of walking dead comics a few years back and they helped me maximize my profits. They walked me through the cgc submittal and explained the whole consignment process to me. They could have completely taken advantage of me but instead answered all my questions and always responded promptly.

 

The only negative issues I've ever had were with their packing. I had to stop ordering from them as the books would always shift in transit and I ended up with all bent corners. I'd rather give them my money than mile high, but I've never had such issues with mile high or even dcbs.

[gcstomp]

Really, MCS packing to me is unimprovable. They bundle your lots to larger thick cardboard and then bag that bundle, and then seal those bundles onto another larger board and put the whole thing in a box with packing material. I am always amazed at their packing.

[StuporMan]

Stories like this are why I never sell to LCS.

 

+1

 

Not to mention they don't care to realize how much they are squeezing you to make their own profit.

 

In my experience, this is simply not true

 

+1 One of the most trustworthy sites out there IMO. You don't like their prices then go elsewhere. They pay immediately and are very fair with their consignment fees.

 

I do