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Talk to me like I'm five years old
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Started by Patriot6,

60 posts in this topic

Patriot6

Patriot6

Posted
Posted

Here's the skinny: 

I have read and read on the website. Repeatedly.  I still know nothing.  Can the collective hold my hand and walk me through this? Please and thank you.  

Comiclink, how does it work exactly?  

I've signed up. Years ago. I watch, I covet and I dream of buying.  

I am unable, for the life of me, to determine what I will actually pay for something.  If I bid x I will total x is not equating for me. I have contemplated just buying something to examine the invoice and chalking it up to a learning experience, but I can't bring myself to blank chequing something.  Plussssssss, what the heck is going on with shipping?  It is very vague.  The curve ball is the shipping is to Canada in my case.  

 

Please wise ones, I have my Crayola in hand, and I'm ready to colour within the lines of Comiclink, please guide me.

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Cat

Cat

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On 1/27/2024 at 3:38 AM, Patriot6 said:

Here's the skinny: 

I have read and read on the website. Repeatedly.  I still know nothing.  Can the collective hold my hand and walk me through this? Please and thank you.  

Comiclink, how does it work exactly?  

I've signed up. Years ago. I watch, I covet and I dream of buying.  

I am unable, for the life of me, to determine what I will actually pay for something.  If I bid x I will total x is not equating for me. I have contemplated just buying something to examine the invoice and chalking it up to a learning experience, but I can't bring myself to blank chequing something.  Plussssssss, what the heck is going on with shipping?  It is very vague.  The curve ball is the shipping is to Canada in my case.  

 

Please wise ones, I have my Crayola in hand, and I'm ready to colour within the lines of Comiclink, please guide me.

If you bid X you will pay X, as there's buyers premium to include, as per my understanding. Plus shipping of course. 

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wardevil0

wardevil0

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It's really not that much of an issue... there's a small buyer's premium but it's on par with most other online auctions.  The only thing I watch out for is shipping, which has a fairly high initial rate.  Inside the US, shipping for one item starts at $20 (last I checked) but goes up slowly from there, so it's more cost effective to get more than one item if you consider shipping as part of your per-unit costs or whatever.  They're also sometimes slow to ship, but I've always gotten things incredibly well-packed and secure.  I have no information on shipping to Canada.

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Stefan_W

Stefan_W

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On 1/26/2024 at 12:38 PM, Patriot6 said:

Here's the skinny: 

I have read and read on the website. Repeatedly.  I still know nothing.  Can the collective hold my hand and walk me through this? Please and thank you.  

Comiclink, how does it work exactly?  

I've signed up. Years ago. I watch, I covet and I dream of buying.  

I am unable, for the life of me, to determine what I will actually pay for something.  If I bid x I will total x is not equating for me. I have contemplated just buying something to examine the invoice and chalking it up to a learning experience, but I can't bring myself to blank chequing something.  Plussssssss, what the heck is going on with shipping?  It is very vague.  The curve ball is the shipping is to Canada in my case.  

 

Please wise ones, I have my Crayola in hand, and I'm ready to colour within the lines of Comiclink, please guide me.

Hello fellow Canadian!

I use CL auctions and I track the numbers very carefully. One thing to be aware of is that currency exchange rates can fluctuate. 

Here is the skinny on how much things cost for Canadians. First off, fill up shipping with as many books as is allowed prior to a cutoff. So I typically use the 12 book threshold before shipping. If you get to 12 books the amount you actually pay will work out to roughly the hammer price X 1.6-1.7. For example, if you get a book for $100 and it is a part of a group of 12 books that you have shipped back to Canada, the final cost will be approx $160-170 CAD by the time you pay for fee, exchange, shipping, and customs and duty charges. Higher value books mean shipping accounts for a lower percentage which brings it closer to 1.6, while lower value books (say under 1k total) will bring it more toward the 1.7 mark. If you do not fill out a shipping tier, or only ship 6 books to get into a lower shipping rate category, the numbers get significantly worse (e.g., the last time I did that it was 1.68 times the hammer price). As an added note, it used to be about hammer price X 1.5 before the shipping price hikes which never stops ticking me off. 

A further thing to be aware of is that customs flags high value items with the cutoff being $3,000. So when you are figuring out your bids and when to stop adding to your shipment you can save yourself some hassle by staying below 3k totals. It always works out fine, but you want to avoid getting pestered and delayed. 

Best of luck at the auctions!

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Patriot6

Patriot6

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On 1/26/2024 at 1:55 PM, Stefan_W said:

Hello fellow Canadian!

I use CL auctions and I track the numbers very carefully. One thing to be aware of is that currency exchange rates can fluctuate. 

Here is the skinny on how much things cost for Canadians. First off, fill up shipping with as many books as is allowed prior to a cutoff. So I typically use the 12 book threshold before shipping. If you get to 12 books the amount you actually pay will work out to roughly the hammer price X 1.6-1.7. For example, if you get a book for $100 and it is a part of a group of 12 books that you have shipped back to Canada, the final cost will be approx $160-170 CAD by the time you pay for fee, exchange, shipping, and customs and duty charges. Higher value books mean shipping accounts for a lower percentage which brings it closer to 1.6, while lower value books (say under 1k total) will bring it more toward the 1.7 mark. If you do not fill out a shipping tier, or only ship 6 books to get into a lower shipping rate category, the numbers get significantly worse (e.g., the last time I did that it was 1.68 times the hammer price). As an added note, it used to be about hammer price X 1.5 before the shipping price hikes which never stops ticking me off. 

A further thing to be aware of is that customs flags high value items with the cutoff being $3,000. So when you are figuring out your bids and when to stop adding to your shipment you can save yourself some hassle by staying below 3k totals. It always works out fine, but you want to avoid getting pestered and delayed. 

Best of luck at the auctions!

I think you can mentor me. May I PM you to discuss further?

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Panda2

Panda2

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On 1/26/2024 at 1:55 PM, Stefan_W said:

Hello fellow Canadian!

I use CL auctions and I track the numbers very carefully. One thing to be aware of is that currency exchange rates can fluctuate. 

Here is the skinny on how much things cost for Canadians. First off, fill up shipping with as many books as is allowed prior to a cutoff. So I typically use the 12 book threshold before shipping. If you get to 12 books the amount you actually pay will work out to roughly the hammer price X 1.6-1.7. For example, if you get a book for $100 and it is a part of a group of 12 books that you have shipped back to Canada, the final cost will be approx $160-170 CAD by the time you pay for fee, exchange, shipping, and customs and duty charges. Higher value books mean shipping accounts for a lower percentage which brings it closer to 1.6, while lower value books (say under 1k total) will bring it more toward the 1.7 mark. If you do not fill out a shipping tier, or only ship 6 books to get into a lower shipping rate category, the numbers get significantly worse (e.g., the last time I did that it was 1.68 times the hammer price). As an added note, it used to be about hammer price X 1.5 before the shipping price hikes which never stops ticking me off. 

A further thing to be aware of is that customs flags high value items with the cutoff being $3,000. So when you are figuring out your bids and when to stop adding to your shipment you can save yourself some hassle by staying below 3k totals. It always works out fine, but you want to avoid getting pestered and delayed. 

Best of luck at the auctions!

All of this bang on. I will note that there is a huge difference between the shipping and custom fees between comiclink and heritage auctions for example. Heritage is far more expensive, largely because of the declared value of the package. Also note that if you want to pay by cheque, you will need an American bank/bank account.  Otherwise you can pay by visa (and get dinged the 3% merchant fee) or via bank wire (which also has fees attached). I think visa is good for up to 10k per invoice.

The exchange rates are what give me the biggest heartburn….

 

Good luck!!

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Panda2

Panda2

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On 1/26/2024 at 3:18 PM, Patriot6 said:

Is there a cost above and beyond simple exchange rate?

Customs, shipping, etc, but not associated with the exchange rate - just when your US dollar is worth 1.40 in Canadian, it can be a bit of a shock the first time…or every time

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lizards2

lizards2

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On 1/26/2024 at 12:17 PM, Patriot6 said:

It just hit me what you did there. I almost urined. :roflmao:

My mom gave me "the speech" when I was about 11.

I'm glad I didn't follow her advice. I'm almost 63 now....., :yeehaw:

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lizards2

lizards2

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One of my bits of advice for Clink is to resist the urge to overbid on stuff. Unless you are at a sunk postage point, like someone alluded to.

Almost all the stuff I win is under GPA/Guide whatever. 

For whatever reason, I won more books in this auction than on any other (14) - it was like the kids didn't come out to play on what I was after this time. Now I'm (happily) left figuring out how I'm going to pay for it all.

No regerts though - one thing I have learned over my long collecting career is that there are periods of fat and famine, and always try to "strike when the iron is hot" as much as you can, as tomorrow may issue in another drought period.

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BuscemasAvengers

BuscemasAvengers

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On 1/26/2024 at 3:42 PM, lizards2 said:

 For whatever reason, I won more books in this auction than on any other (14) - it was like the kids didn't come out to play on what I was after this time. Now I'm (happily) left figuring out how I'm going to pay for it all.

I'd say that's a solid for another wham-bam-thank you-ma'am sales thread.

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Patriot6

Patriot6

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On 1/26/2024 at 3:22 PM, Panda2 said:

Customs, shipping, etc, but not associated with the exchange rate - just when your US dollar is worth 1.40 in Canadian, it can be a bit of a shock the first time…or every time

Oh yes, I feel that pain almost daily. I sure miss 2008....

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lizards2

lizards2

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On 1/26/2024 at 12:51 PM, BuscemasAvengers said:

I'd say that's a solid for another wham-bam-thank you-ma'am sales thread.

Didn't know you were a Bowie fan...., hm

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Stefan_W

Stefan_W

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On 1/26/2024 at 4:06 PM, Patriot6 said:

Oh yes, I feel that pain almost daily. I sure miss 2008....

Sadly, I was on hiatus from collecting comics back in the days where you could mark "gift" on online purchases and be charged zero duty, and when the Canadian Dollar was above the USD. I bought tons of stuff back then, and some of it even got shipped out to me rather than the seller simply stealing the payment (which was a drawback back then), but none of it was comic books. 

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Patriot6

Patriot6

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On 1/26/2024 at 3:42 PM, lizards2 said:

One of my bits of advice for Clink is to resist the urge to overbid on stuff. Unless you are at a sunk postage point, like someone alluded to.

Almost all the stuff I win is under GPA/Guide whatever. 

For whatever reason, I won more books in this auction than on any other (14) - it was like the kids didn't come out to play on what I was after this time. Now I'm (happily) left figuring out how I'm going to pay for it all.

No regerts though - one thing I have learned over my long collecting career is that there are periods of fat and famine, and always try to "strike when the iron is hot" as much as you can, as tomorrow may issue in another drought period.

That's what the consensus seems to be, to max out the shipping allowance for books. 

Good advice. I plan to take it to heart. I'm basically trying to upgrade so I corner myself with my desired criteria. The books that fit my criteria rarely come up in my traditional buying avenues, hence my desire to venture into this. Hopefully I can get a handle on the ins and outs sooner rather than later. 

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