Disappointed with Preorders from Mycomicshop.com 2 2

[thehumantorch]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:27 AM, 500Club said:

This is a complaint of our LCS as well.

His argument that ‘these are collectibles, and this book is not in collectible condition’ often falls on deaf ears. 

And there's the divide.  Comics were created to be read and consumed and the materials used and the distribution methods used aren't consistently delivering collectible mint product.

[500Club]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:43 AM, thehumantorch said:

And there's the divide.  Comics were created to be read and consumed and the materials used and the distribution methods used aren't consistently delivering collectible mint product.

Yup.  And leaving businesses ‘middled’ - stuck between a product designed a certain way, and a customer base that differs in its expectation of the product.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

Conan,

Thank you for your response.

[lostboys]

"I'm so sorry this happened to you."

 

I cant be the only one that reads this sentence in Rick Grimes' voice...

 

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:59 PM, Tec-Tac-Toe said:

Conan,

Thank you for your response.

I’ve yet to see a response from MCS that I didn’t like 

[Bookery]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:29 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

My LCS gave up on new releases all together.   Hardly seems worth the hassle to stock them.

Yep.  After 38 years we got out of new comics altogether last spring.  Last year was financially also the best year in our history.

[500Club]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:53 AM, Bookery said:

Yep.  After 38 years we got out of new comics altogether last spring.

What factors led to your decision?

[Cephusdog]

Thank you for adding your insight, Conan.

I've been in contact with customer service a couple of times so far today, and it has been a productive discussion.

A few things regarding the condition of new comics: my frustration was not directed at the condition of new comics, per se, and I probably did a poor job communicating this. Usually, if I receive a comic in rough shape -- or I should say in a condition that bothers me -- I will reorder a NM comic from MCS' site. Conan can go through my order history to see that I have done so on numerous occasions. The issue was that I requested NM, not VF as replacements for the seven comics not listed in stock on the site and would rather have taken store credit or a refund if not possible. I don't know if replacement issues are discussed for the preorder plan on MCS' site, but I haven't found it, and honestly, I had never given it much thought before these incidents. I guess I assumed there might be several "break glass in emergency" copies not listed in stock in case this very problem arose. Instead of the transparency I received yesterday -- that if NM copies were not available, VF or lesser condition would be issued as long as the price listed on the MCS' site was not below what I initially paid -- I was led to believe they were not going to be VF copies. Now, maybe they potentially could have been, as the representative said they were sourced from bundles back from the shipper, whatever that means, but they were obviously in much poorer condition than the others I received. So expectations were set and made the resolution worse than if it had been spelled out to me from the beginning.

Now, I completely understand MCS can't fill orders with copies they don't have. However, because over a month has passed since the release of many issues in my order, oftentimes stock will be nonexistent, and only the lesser condition comics will be left. It might be that those issues will be worse than the ones being returned. Again, relative information for replacements for the buyer. In a no-win scenario for both MCS and the buyer, I know that being given a little say in the conditions of the replacements -- such as you have the option of this VF condition comic or store credit -- would have gone a long way.

The packing tape is definitely the focal point of my irritation. It turns out that it was noted in my file to use extra tape, so I'm glad that message was received. However, the representative said they forgot, so it doesn't really matter in the end. I know I must be blessed with incredibly rough UPS/USPS carriers in my area, but I am a bit in disbelief that more subscribers haven't complained about this very issue. Since I have never had a problem in over a decade with DCBS, I know it is possible for me to receive an undamaged shipment consistently.

[Cephusdog]

On 2/24/2023 at 1:53 PM, Bookery said:

Yep.  After 38 years we got out of new comics altogether last spring.  Last year was financially also the best year in our history.

My closest LCS stopped carrying DC comics when they switched distributors. That makes preorder services from companies like MCS very valuable for customers like me.

[lou_fine]

On 2/24/2023 at 8:57 AM, mycomicshop said:

Unfortunately, the condition of new comics these days is notably worse than it used to be. There are more distributors now than when it was just Diamond, and some publishers have made changes to cover stock and printing processes that make defects much more likely.

When new comics come in, we go through and grade-check those brand new comics. For preorders, we do our best to see that preorder customers get nice copies, but we can only provide what we get from the distributor. Some will get books that would be NM and some will get books that might be VF. Books that are significantly beat up we can treat as damages and try to get covered by the distributor, but publishers and distributors have a very different standard for what they consider an allowable damage return vs collectors who don't want anything less than a pristine NM book.

 

On 2/24/2023 at 9:27 AM, 500Club said:

This is a complaint of our LCS as well.

His argument that ‘these are collectibles, and this book is not in collectible condition’ often falls on deaf ears. 

 

On 2/24/2023 at 9:29 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

My LCS gave up on new releases all together.   Hardly seems worth the hassle to stock them.

From what I am reading here, it sounds as though the LCS's and larger mail house retailers need to petition the publishers that they should really go back to using Diamond since they clearly treat their products more like collectibles, as opposed to throwaway disposable items.  

[Bookery]

On 2/24/2023 at 2:17 PM, 500Club said:

What factors led to your decision?

New comic sales keep forever dipping, year after year, so that they had pretty much become loss-leaders.  I was okay even with that, in order to bring in customers for other products.  But then everything got broken into more and more distributors.  As MCS stated, damages became more prevalent.  And costs kept getting higher.  When I started out comics had a cover price of maybe 75-cents.  Taking a chance and getting stuck with 5, or even 10, copies was not a big deal.  Getting stuck with that many comics priced at $3.99 or $5.99 or $9.99 is a different ballgame.  Little or no profit... more and more time spent putting together orders instead of processing other stuff... more and more people not picking up their files because if something happened (car repair, etc.) they no longer had the $50 available to pick up a small stack of weekly comics.  And I'm old.  The patience for dealing with all of this waned.  I prefer dealing in vintage stuff.

[ttfitz]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:19 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

 

On 2/23/2023 at 8:27 PM, Dave2739 said:

TLDR dude. Cut us a break.

[Scrooge]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:58 AM, mycomicshop said:

I promised this and we haven't gotten it done yet, but it's still in the works.

Thank you for the update. Honestly, I know that's a feature I will use if ever put in place but I don't know how you'll be able to make it work on your end. It seems "risky" for the lack of a better word as customers, as you know, can be unreliable. Certainly far less reliable than you guys are. 

[Sigur Ros]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:13 PM, mycomicshop said:

Similar position from DCBS:

This is really all that can reasonably be expected. 

Excellent response overall, too.  👍

 

[ttfitz]

On 2/24/2023 at 5:56 PM, Scrooge said:

Thank you for the update. Honestly, I know that's a feature I will use if ever put in place but I don't know how you'll be able to make it work on your end. It seems "risky" for the lack of a better word as customers, as you know, can be unreliable. Certainly far less reliable than you guys are. 

My assumption is that you would pay for your purchases, and just have them held to ship later in a group, similar to what other auction houses will do. Less chances that way for a customer to be unreliable, I would think.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 2/24/2023 at 8:14 AM, Cephusdog said:

Thank you for sharing. I knew I couldn't be the only one experiencing this. I know I must be blessed with rough UPS/USPS handlers in my area, but the packing tape seems to be the biggest problem. I, too, choose the $9 shipping option after the first incident to no avail. Ultimately, I believe both shipments would have arrived safe and sound if the tape held up.

I apologize for my late response. You are welcome.

I believe that MCS will address this issue since, as you wrote, it it likely the weight of the comic books that causes the tape to tear. For example, when I purchase (win at auction) CGC graded comic books from MCS even a large number of them do not cause the tape to tear since their weight is relatively minimal.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 2/24/2023 at 4:59 PM, Bookery said:

New comic sales keep forever dipping, year after year, so that they had pretty much become loss-leaders.  I was okay even with that, in order to bring in customers for other products.  But then everything got broken into more and more distributors.  As MCS stated, damages became more prevalent.  And costs kept getting higher.  When I started out comics had a cover price of maybe 75-cents.  Taking a chance and getting stuck with 5, or even 10, copies was not a big deal.  Getting stuck with that many comics priced at $3.99 or $5.99 or $9.99 is a different ballgame.  Little or no profit... more and more time spent putting together orders instead of processing other stuff... more and more people not picking up their files because if something happened (car repair, etc.) they no longer had the $50 available to pick up a small stack of weekly comics.  And I'm old.  The patience for dealing with all of this waned.  I prefer dealing in vintage stuff.

Indeed the prices of new comic books is ... well, it stinks. I stopped purchasing new releases for about two years over a decade ago; and the prices back then were, in my view, exorbitant. Still and unfortunately (although it pains me to write the latter because I do enjoy reading the ones I buy), I commenced purchasing them again paying even more . However, since the prices only ever increase, I can't recall that they ever decreased, I will very likely be buying significantly less going forward and perhaps increase my purchase of raw vintage comic books although that is already excessive.

[mycomicshop]

As previously mentioned to OP I reviewed with our COO and shipping manager today regarding his concerns about the tape not being strong enough and boxes coming open. After we discussed, they went back and reviewed all our info. Here's their report:

Quote

 

After looking at his photos, we think the boxes used were the appropriate ones, and they were boxed by one of, if not the, most experienced boxers. The first shipment was large enough that it was broken out into two packages. One of which the customer didn't receive at all it looks like. I talked with [preorder customer service staff] about any other issues similar to this one, and they could only mention one other customer/incident where a similar occurrence happened. If it was something happening frequently I'd like to think we'd already be aware, and had made changes. The tape brand we currently use is one we've been using for several years.

We did some testing with the boxes, and the tape. Simulated a similar size and weight of books. They held up pretty well to being thrown about, shoved around, stood on, and punched (repeatedly). Overall, we're pretty confident that OP's package handlers are just really rough, and we think the customer has had some really bad luck.

 

In conjunction with these two comments from the original post, "Everything was wonderful until it wasn't," and "I had used that form of shipment many times before without incident," it does sound to me like it's more a case of bad luck and extremely severe handling than it is a problem with our tape or boxes. We've added some instructions to the OP's account to help protect his boxes against his brutal package handlers (these instructions had already been added prior to this thread), but I don't see any evidence of a broader problem that requires different supplies or changes to how we pack.

[Cephusdog]

Thank you very much for the update, Conan. I have to admit, a part of me still thinks there is something to the tape failing, as someone else also stepped forward and even the tape on my replacement shipment last month was torn on several sides and that package was otherwise immaculate, But after the testing I'm hopeful that I've just been very, very unlucky these past 2 out of my 5 months of preorders with heavier shipments. I truly appreciate your customer service and vigilance for my orders and that's all I can ask for.

[Jesse-Lee]

Seeing the MCS responses in this thread really cements my decision to continue buying pre-order books, and often back issues, from them. Unlike Cephusdog, I've not yet had a bad experience with MCS (not saying his experience isn't valid, just offering my own as a satisfied customer). I've been buying my preorders from them for at least the past 2 years, and I love every aspect of it - the discount, the ease of shopping, the shipping options, the outstanding shipping and packaging, and the high quality of the books I receive. Conan's willingness to respond on an open platform is a level of transparency you almost never see anymore - it's refreshing.

I still try to support my main LCS in other ways, like buying supplies, back issues and some new issues - but my "local" comic shop is about a 1.5 hour round trip for me, so getting stuff on a regular basis can be a challenge. My only tiny quibble with MCS is that I usually have to look elsewhere if I want to try to score ratio variants, but other than that, their service has been easy and outstanding for me.