ComicConnect

[oldwhy]

I bought a cover on ComicConnect at the beginning of July via "buy it now" and paid right away via check. Ever since I've been exchanging emails with them regarding the delivery of the artwork. Today I received the following email:

 

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we do not have the art in our facility and are waiting it to be shipped in by the consignor. We have reached out to the consignor several times on shipping the item to us but have not heard back. We will give you an update as soon as we get a reply."

 

Is this normal business practice at this action house? Did somebody else have an experience like this with ComicConnect? What are the chances that I will still get my artwork?

 

 

 

[tth2]

It's a bit beyond CC's control, but I think you can trust that they won't stiff you.

 

I have to admit I was the cause of a delay when someone hit a BIN on Heritage on something I owned, and because of work travel and then going on leave, I wasn't able to ship the item to Heritage for about a month (I was supposed to ship within 72 hours or so, and have done so in the past for other items).

 

I did communicate with Heritage regularly during the process to let them know about the delay and also offered to release the buyer from the deal if he/she wanted, since the delay was my fault, but the buyer was okay with waiting and I ultimately did ship after getting back from vacation.

 

So you should ask CC for some timeframes and to check if they're regularly checking with the seller, and also to communicate by what date you want to be able to pull the plug on the deal if CC still hasn't received the item.

[AKA Rick]

It's a bit beyond CC's control...

 

You would think it should be under CC's control and responsibility as the host website for a sales transaction for which they collect a fee for. If not, then they are neither earning the business nor running a good system.

 

I think with other auction houses, they insist on having consignments in their possession to authenticate, describe (especially where condition plays a role), and do the marketing (write up description and high resolution photos/scans). Then, also, it is their role to collect the payment from the buyer without incident, as well as ship the item to the buyer upon payment promptly in secure packaging. Otherwise what is the role and responsibility of that auction house.

 

So, I'd agree due to an inept system it may be out of CC's control, but that it should be a wake up call for CC to put in proper measures, systems, rules and protocol to always be in control, to best service their buyers and sellers.

[JadeGiant]

I would find that very frustrating as well. It is true in a sense that it is out of CC control but in another sense not so much as they created the system where they collect your money and hold it while they wait for the owner to ship it and then ship it to you. There is no perfect scenario … if the owner of the art shipped first they buyer could back out and/or take a long time to pay. It makes sense to me that the buyer pay first … hopefully it is a situation like described above where the current owner will ship it soon. I recently bought a piece in the Comic link exchange and did not realize the process until it played out. Fortunately it went very smoothly and the art was on it’s way to me in a timely manner. Once I figured out what was happening I did ask the auction house about guarantee’s on the condition of the art, verification that the image they used to sell it was still a good representation of the art (the auction house had last had it in their possession years earlier), etc. They assured me that they would verify and inspect before shipping to me and that the person they were dealing with was a regular buyer/seller and they had a very good working relationship with them.

[tth2]

It's a bit beyond CC's control...

 

You would think it should be under CC's control and responsibility as the host website for a sales transaction for which they collect a fee for. If not, then they are neither earning the business nor running a good system.

 

I think with other auction houses, they insist on having consignments in their possession to authenticate, describe (especially where condition plays a role), and do the marketing (write up description and high resolution photos/scans). Then, also, it is their role to collect the payment from the buyer without incident, as well as ship the item to the buyer upon payment promptly in secure packaging. Otherwise what is the role and responsibility of that auction house.

 

So, I'd agree due to an inept system it may be out of CC's control, but that it should be a wake up call for CC to put in proper measures, systems, rules and protocol to always be in control, to best service their buyers and sellers.

CC has 2 different models.

 

One is when CC runs an auction, in which case I assume they require the books to be shipped to them before the auction because the expectation is that the books WILL sell.

 

The other is as a listing site for people to list what they`ve got for sale, with a buy it now price. They post their own scans and provide their own descriptions. It`s basically the Comiclink model, which in essence is an internet version of classified ads. So of course you`re not going to ship the comic to CC, because there`s a very real possibility that the book will never sell, and CC will never require people to ship their books because then no one would use the listing service.

 

I`m sure that CC has in its user agreement with anyone listing a book that they`re obligated to ship the book if they accept an offer or if the BIN price is triggered, etc. But in most cases not worthwhile to enforce, and more likely that CC would blacklist any seller who never fulfills the sale.