ComicLink — What the....???

[TeddieMercede]

Well in my experience with credit card fees, as I have a small business that i own, you are charged different rates by the different merchant services companies. You have to pay a strict fee per transaction that ranges in value (less then a dollar generally speaking) and then the discount rate. Visa, MC, and Discover are generally half of Amex in the 1-2% range and Amex over 3%. All I can gather from this info is that since Josh and Doug are charging a flat 3% rate they may be making a little money off of this, albeit a very small amount, since most of the cards that people use are Visa and MC. If you want them to take something buy stuff off of them using your Amex card. And no I didnt put that CC charge onto the customers using their cards...

[Aman619]

3% is a huge cut out of a 10% commission. So I understand Josh not wanting to pay it out of HIS share of the sale. But if it is illegal to add a surcharge to cover it, it seems the best sloution all around, is for all three parties to split it evenly. Josh pays 1% (keeps 9%) seller pays 1% (keeps 89%. Buyer pays 1% (pays 101%) Visa gete the remaining 3%. I suggested this months ago. I would think Josh would jump at a measly 1% fee to be legit on this bothersome business that just wont go away. But I wonder if its any more legal since the buyer would still be assessed a 1% surcharge...?

 

or, rewrite the display to show 2 prices: first the CC price with the 3% added in, and the cash price showing a 3% discount like Hertitage shows the current bid and the bid+premium. If the bidder sees it there all along, he'll be liable to just accept it because the choice of payment (and repercussions) was there in his face all along. No arguments or accusations necessary...

[joe_collector]

or, rewrite the display to show 2 prices: first the CC price with the 3% added in, and the cash price showing a 3% discount like Hertitage shows the current bid and the bid+premium. If the bidder sees it there all along, he'll be liable to just accept it because the choice of payment (and repercussions) was there in his face all along. No arguments or accusations necessary...

 

That's the best way, but obviously Josh does not want to show the real price, and drive potential bidders away. He doesn't even note the 3% surcharge (or discount) anywhere on the item or bidding pages.

[ComicSupply]

Whenever a collection comes in that is going to be consigned I have a talk with the owner of the books about the 3% credit card fee.

 

Generally what is agreed on is that the 3% is taken out of the books selling price, which we don't charge commission on. We then charge our commission on the 97%

 

For example if it is a $100 book, we charge commission on the $97. Nobody gets the $3 except the CC companies so it isn't fair to charge tbe buyer or charge the seller commission on it.

 

This way the buyer isn't paying anymore and the owner of the book can see that it does cost money to sell the books. If someone pays in cash in person or at a show, then that 3% isn't charged and the same commission rate is charged on 100% of the sale price.

[sfilosa]

Whenever a collection comes in that is going to be consigned I have a talk with the owner of the books about the 3% credit card fee.

 

Generally what is agreed on is that the 3% is taken out of the books selling price, which we don't charge commission on. We then charge our commission on the 97%

 

For example if it is a $100 book, we charge commission on the $97. Nobody gets the $3 except the CC companies so it isn't fair to charge tbe buyer or charge the seller commission on it.

 

This way the buyer isn't paying anymore and the owner of the book can see that it does cost money to sell the books. If someone pays in cash in person or at a show, then that 3% isn't charged and the same commission rate is charged on 100% of the sale price.

 

So now you want Josh to tell the seler, this book was paid with a credit card, this one didn't, this one did, etc.

 

And then sellers says, "I wouldn't have sold it for that price if I knew the buyer was paying with a credit card". Imagine a $10K book and then you find out that not only do you have to pay 10% commission plus another 3%.

[Foolkiller]

No: You ask the seller, do you want to accept credit cards on this transaction? If yes, we will say so, if not, we will also say so.

 

It's not a difficult concept to implement.

[shadroch]

Yeah. what a biatch.

Josh only makes $970 on that book. Not the full $1,000. Its much better for the buyer to get hit with the extra $30,huh?

[skybolt]

Yeah. what a biatch.

Josh only makes $970 on that book. Not the full $1,000. Its much better for the buyer to get hit with the extra $30,huh?

 

I think it's more like $700.

 

I will admit that the additional 3% doesn't bother me that much on $100 or $200 purchases. However, I doubt if I'd buy a $1,500 book from CL and get hit with the additional 3% surcharge.

[shadroch]

My mistake. You are correct.

Shouldn't be surfing the web,playing poker,and catching up on the West Wing marathon at the same time.

[burntboy]

After the Donut situation and my often professed ire for the Credit Card handling whatever you want to call it, its still a surcharge. I just choose to shop elsewhere. I really think that the average customer service from a comic vendor is so bad that when collectors don't get raped and pillaged they exude the superlatives of a seller. We really need to start expecting more for our money and Comic Link, largely due to its set up as a volume way station for books often does not have the control to deliver that service.

 

I simply have found too many other outlets for books to have to be bothered with with the CL set up - too many loop holes. Thats not to say I wouldnt buy a book off CL, its just not my first option. When you buy off Comic Link you are usually buying at the top of the market. If I'm going to have to shell out top dollars I would prefer to give my business to Doug at Pedigree, or Bob at High Grade. At least you know they have the book in their possession and you will 99.9% of the time get nothing but A+ service from start to finish.

 

well said - and i agree with your perspective...................

 

i hate this S%$t, where someone can decide not to sell after a buy order has been placed, or can raise the price after the bidding starts to approach the original asking price, etc.............

[RickHigh]

i hate this S%$t, where someone can decide not to sell after a buy order has been placed, or can raise the price after the bidding starts to approach the original asking price, etc.............

 

 

Harry,

 

That was my point with the original post. IMO (and, of course, it's just my opinion), once the seller assigns a price to a book and posts the item for sale, he should stick with that price and not raise it in the middle of bidding.

[Wally's Comics]

Whenever a collection comes in that is going to be consigned I have a talk with the owner of the books about the 3% credit card fee.

 

Generally what is agreed on is that the 3% is taken out of the books selling price, which we don't charge commission on. We then charge our commission on the 97%

 

For example if it is a $100 book, we charge commission on the $97. Nobody gets the $3 except the CC companies so it isn't fair to charge tbe buyer or charge the seller commission on it.

 

This way the buyer isn't paying anymore and the owner of the book can see that it does cost money to sell the books. If someone pays in cash in person or at a show, then that 3% isn't charged and the same commission rate is charged on 100% of the sale price.

 

So now you want Josh to tell the seler, this book was paid with a credit card, this one didn't, this one did, etc.

 

And then sellers says, "I wouldn't have sold it for that price if I knew the buyer was paying with a credit card". Imagine a $10K book and then you find out that not only do you have to pay 10% commission plus another 3%.

 

 

Who doesn't pay or a 10k book (through the mail) with Credit Card?

 

Any other way is taking insane risk!

 

 

[skybolt]

Whenever a collection comes in that is going to be consigned I have a talk with the owner of the books about the 3% credit card fee.

 

Generally what is agreed on is that the 3% is taken out of the books selling price, which we don't charge commission on. We then charge our commission on the 97%

 

For example if it is a $100 book, we charge commission on the $97. Nobody gets the $3 except the CC companies so it isn't fair to charge tbe buyer or charge the seller commission on it.

 

This way the buyer isn't paying anymore and the owner of the book can see that it does cost money to sell the books. If someone pays in cash in person or at a show, then that 3% isn't charged and the same commission rate is charged on 100% of the sale price.

 

So now you want Josh to tell the seler, this book was paid with a credit card, this one didn't, this one did, etc.

 

And then sellers says, "I wouldn't have sold it for that price if I knew the buyer was paying with a credit card". Imagine a $10K book and then you find out that not only do you have to pay 10% commission plus another 3%.

 

 

Who doesn't pay or a 10k book (through the mail) with Credit Card?

 

Any other way is taking insane risk!

 

 

 

I actually did that a couple of years ago. Paid around $13K for 2 books on Ebay because the guy wouldn't accept Paypal. I had made smaller purchases from him prior to this deal, but still. It's safe to say that I won't take that chance again.

[supapimp]

 

Who doesn't pay or a 10k book (through the mail) with Credit Card?

 

Any other way is taking insane risk!

 

 

 

i like to buy books from a private auction with private feedback that guarentees his book to be unrestored, and uses photoshop to alter/brighten his scans. best of all he's reputable since he claims to be a doctor, a doctor at what i'm not sure, but gee golly...doctors are life savers.

[drbanner]

Relevant email I just received from "Hake's Auctions", which is now owned by Diamond International (Steve Geppi's company):

 

"For over a decade, Hake’s has been the sole major auction house to forego a buyer’s premium. The evolution of the collectibles marketplace now requires that we institute a 12% buyer’s premium, with 2% discount for check or money order. However, to offset the premium, bid raises are being reduced to 10%, down from the previous 15% for items under $5,000. The buyer’s premium and 10% bid raising increments become effective with Auction #186, to be mailed and go online in November, 2005."

[joe_collector]

The evolution of the collectibles marketplace now requires that we institute a 12% buyer’s premium,

 

Translation: There seems to be enough dumb speculators to bend over.

[skybolt]

Here's a small problem I ran into as a seller on Comiclimk a few months ago:

 

I listed a book for $120. A few weeks later someone made a bid of $80. Before I left work, I counteroffered that person's bid with $105. When I got home, I noticed that the person had raised their bid to $95 (which was acceptable for me) from the e-mail sent to me by Comiclink. I then proceeded to accept their new bid, but it wasn't active anymore. Apparently the bidder had noticed my $105 offer and pressed on "reject counteroffer" after they had made their new bid. However, by cancelling the $105 bid they automatically cancelled their new $95 bid as well. I guess the bidder felt that they needed to reject the old offer after they made the new one. Afterward, they probably figured that I just ignored their $95 bid and moved on. Is this a minor glitch in the system, or am I completely off base? I just want to find out so I'm more careful next time ------ especially if I'm buying something on Comiclink.

[sterlingcomics]

My guess is that the system keeps one bidder's status on any given item. In other words, it doesn't look like it can manage multiple bids by a bidder on one item.

 

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