Experience with Beachbum Comics? 2 2

[StillOnly25Cents]

pre-ordered a book in early September as a late holiday gift for my daughter (who is a dancer)

https://beachbumcomics.com/products/spider-gwen-annual-1-jeehyung-lee-variant-cgc-9-8?_pos=2&_sid=23d7d670a&_ss=r
 

expected back from CGC date was listed as January 2024

we are now at July 1 and no book from beachbum 

this was not a rare book in any way, how is it with a turnaround time on modern books from CGC of 20 working days that my order would still be in unfulfilled status?

last response to an email from beachbum on 2/1 ……

Sorry for the late reply. We are currently updating the new arrivals section with incoming CGC but this is not one of them. We should have them shortly.

 

 

[Pitboss]

@BeachBum

Always a pleasure to deal with. Hopefully he sees this.

[sd2416]

These kind of posts seem to be popping up on Reddit, FB, and here frequently here lately.  Hope all is well and its just a oversight. 

[DougC]

I purchased roughly 25% of my X-Men (1991) run from Dre and would not hesitate to purchase anything he was personally selling.

His business on the other hand is a different story; I have only had a bad interaction when I ordered until he stepped in to personally reply to emails and send it out. The pre-order slab business can be difficult due to delays on multiple fronts causing business stress that leads to only taking care of those who complain a lot, thus leaving people who are trusting and patient in limbo.

I took a look through multiple sales avenues beachbum uses and they all have the same complaints; late orders & communication.

I do not know his current expenditures or standards for delays but would wholly recommend a destination flag board style page implementation on his website. A single landing page with basic information on expected order date, ship date, signings, and delays to point customers to in your response form email and any email interaction.

Something like this but made by someone with talent:

Of course this involves having a single person responsible for updating the 100s of books in the pre-order queue but should be worth the investment if implemented with some automation and can be used internally to keep items on track (or if your into that kind of thing add story points to items and assign T-Shirt sizes to critical issues).

[Domo Arigato]

On 7/1/2024 at 4:08 PM, Pitboss said:

@BeachBum

Always a pleasure to deal with. Hopefully he sees this.

His last post in here was on February 10, 2020 in this thread.

 

[Pitboss]

On 7/2/2024 at 1:54 AM, Domo Arigato said:

His last post in here was on February 10, 2020 in this thread.

 

I realize that  Sometimes you get an e-mail via a tag.

[Domo Arigato]

On 7/2/2024 at 1:58 AM, Pitboss said:

I realize that  Sometimes you get an e-mail via a tag.

Settle down, Francis.  The link in my first post was screwing up, so I just made another one. 

 

[Pitboss]

On 7/2/2024 at 2:01 AM, Domo Arigato said:

Settle down, Francis.  The link in my first post was screwing up, so I just made another one. 

 

I know 

[Domo Arigato]

On 7/2/2024 at 2:09 AM, Pitboss said:

I know 

Then why'd you go all Faren?

(That's Forum Karen for those that don't know.)

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

[MadGenius]

I have three outstanding pre-orders from July/August of last year. I've been inquiring about them regularly since around January (they were supposed to be arriving in October/November). Dre called me personally to explain the delays in March and that set my mind at ease for a while.

Since then, no books and no responses to my last three emails. Last email correspondence was in April saying the orders would be shipped "soon." I've been ghosted since then.

[RockMyAmadeus]

[RockMyAmadeus]

[ChiSoxFan]

Not to pile on, but I have a pre-order from back in August of last year for 2 books that still haven't shown up yet.  I got concerned when I saw that similar CGC 9.8 copies were showing up on eBay from various sellers, and that they were 4 months+ overdue from the time they were projected to get back.  To their credit, when I contacted them by email on June 13th to address the long delay, someone was back in touch with me within 5 minutes to tell me that said books were going to be in the next batch they were receiving from CGC.  It's a little disconcerting to see that others are running into similar delays.  I figured that I'd give it until the 13th of this month to inquire again (to give the additional 30 days from my first contact), but that might be sped up a bit in light of what's being reported here.

These aren't expensive books by any stretch, but the delay is confusing.  Again, these are books available at other locales now (and have been, apparently, for at least a little while), and I'm getting moderns I submitted at Heroes Con back in the next few days, so I'm somewhat confused as to what caused such a lengthy delay.

Edited Friday at 05:05 AM by ChiSoxFan

[thehumantorch]

On 7/4/2024 at 11:04 PM, ChiSoxFan said:

Not to pile on, but I have a pre-order from back in August of last year for 2 books that still haven't shown up yet.  I got concerned when I saw that similar CGC 9.8 copies were showing up on eBay from various sellers, and that they were 4 months+ overdue from the time they were projected to get back.  To their credit, when I contacted them by email on June 13th to address the long delay, someone was back in touch with me within 5 minutes to tell me that said books were going to be in the next batch they were receiving from CGC.  It's a little disconcerting to see that others are running into similar delays.  I figured that I'd give it until the 13th of this month to inquire again (to give the additional 30 days from my first contact), but that might be sped up a bit in light of what's being reported here.

These aren't expensive books by any stretch, but the delay is confusing.  Again, these are books available at other locales now (and have been, apparently, for at least a little while), and I'm getting moderns I submitted at Heroes Con back in the next few days, so I'm somewhat confused as to what caused such a lengthy delay.

This doesn't look good.

[StillOnly25Cents]

On 7/3/2024 at 6:43 PM, MadGenius said:

I have three outstanding pre-orders from July/August of last year. I've been inquiring about them regularly since around January (they were supposed to be arriving in October/November). Dre called me personally to explain the delays in March and that set my mind at ease for a while.

Since then, no books and no responses to my last three emails. Last email correspondence was in April saying the orders would be shipped "soon." I've been ghosted since then.

 

On 7/5/2024 at 12:04 AM, ChiSoxFan said:

Not to pile on, but I have a pre-order from back in August of last year for 2 books that still haven't shown up yet.  I got concerned when I saw that similar CGC 9.8 copies were showing up on eBay from various sellers, and that they were 4 months+ overdue from the time they were projected to get back.  To their credit, when I contacted them by email on June 13th to address the long delay, someone was back in touch with me within 5 minutes to tell me that said books were going to be in the next batch they were receiving from CGC.  It's a little disconcerting to see that others are running into similar delays.  I figured that I'd give it until the 13th of this month to inquire again (to give the additional 30 days from my first contact), but that might be sped up a bit in light of what's being reported here.

These aren't expensive books by any stretch, but the delay is confusing.  Again, these are books available at other locales now (and have been, apparently, for at least a little while), and I'm getting moderns I submitted at Heroes Con back in the next few days, so I'm somewhat confused as to what caused such a lengthy delay.

thanks to those who have chimed in

I had a bit of hesitation about making a purchase from them as there wasn't a great deal of info about them on the web and their site is pretty bare bones including no contact number or (noticeable) physical address listed just a generic info@beachbumcomics.com contact for inquires.  I only did so after doing a search here for them and saw some posts (most from around 2018) which were generally positive 

As has been stated, communication is everything ... I don't care if you're a small mom and pop operation either ... their marketing program has no problem with communication as I've received a total of 216 marketing emails about all the other things I can order (and potentially not get) from them since placing my order back on 9/9/23

@CGC Mike maybe CGC can let us know if this company who advertises themselves as an authorized dealer and facilitator for CGC is in good standing with CGC since they have no problem advertising CGC's services and seem to take no blame themselves for any potential delays but are open to lay blame on the publishers and/or CGC

Pre-Orders:

 

Pre-Order items ship when they arrive. Please be sure check the estimated time of arrival in the specific product listing. Factors such as publisher delays and current CGC turnaround times may delay past the estimated time of arrival in the product listing.

https://beachbumcomics.com/pages/faq

as I have noted their listing for the book I pre-ordered still says expected back from CGC January 2024 

at the same time, one of their many marketing emails (this one from June 2nd) is telling me if I pre-ordered a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man 1 it is due in their next batch ......

Ultimate Spider-man #1, all covers and incentives, will be in the batch after this. Once we know of any 9.9 & 10 available we will reach out and offer upgrades in the order that orders were placed.

..... seems odd for that to have a due back from CGC date of May 2024 when it was released March of 2024 but my book from November 2023 with a stated back from CGC date of January 2024 still has not been fulfilled 

 

I've tried to be positive and patient through this.  Like others, in the end this isn't a high value/expensive purchase however,  I can guarantee one thing at this point, however this turns out in the end, I will not be purchasing from beachbum comics ever again 

Edited Friday at 07:16 AM by StillOnly25Cents

[MadGenius]

On 7/5/2024 at 1:04 AM, ChiSoxFan said:

Not to pile on, but I have a pre-order from back in August of last year for 2 books that still haven't shown up yet.  I got concerned when I saw that similar CGC 9.8 copies were showing up on eBay from various sellers, and that they were 4 months+ overdue from the time they were projected to get back.  To their credit, when I contacted them by email on June 13th to address the long delay, someone was back in touch with me within 5 minutes to tell me that said books were going to be in the next batch they were receiving from CGC.  It's a little disconcerting to see that others are running into similar delays.  I figured that I'd give it until the 13th of this month to inquire again (to give the additional 30 days from my first contact), but that might be sped up a bit in light of what's being reported here.

These aren't expensive books by any stretch, but the delay is confusing.  Again, these are books available at other locales now (and have been, apparently, for at least a little while), and I'm getting moderns I submitted at Heroes Con back in the next few days, so I'm somewhat confused as to what caused such a lengthy delay.

I've been fed the next batch line before, so maybe don't get your hopes up.

[shadroch]

I met Dre at a NYC dinner, and he explained his business model to me. It seemed to me that he was too dependent on sources beyond his control, but he didn't see that as a problem. Hopefully, this is just a hiccup in his supply chain.

[CGC Mike]

On 7/5/2024 at 3:07 AM, StillOnly25Cents said:

@CGC Mike maybe CGC can let us know if this company who advertises themselves as an authorized dealer and facilitator for CGC is in good standing with CGC since they have no problem advertising CGC's services and seem to take no blame themselves for any potential delays but are open to lay blame on the publishers and/or CGC

I'll send an e-mail Monday.  I doubt that I will be able to post a yes or no answer though.  

[revat]

On 7/5/2024 at 5:30 AM, shadroch said:

I met Dre at a NYC dinner, and he explained his business model to me. It seemed to me that he was too dependent on sources beyond his control, but he didn't see that as a problem. Hopefully, this is just a hiccup in his supply chain.

I agree with that.  If I understand it correctly, it also seems like a business that is too reliant on volume for one person to handle with all the logistics involved (hopefully he's got good folks working for him).  And with no discernable breaks in the action.  You'd have to be a master (not just above average) of organization and never get sick and never go on vacation just to build it up to a point where its profitable.  Which is probably why a market exists for his services, but once you get behind, whether his fault or not, it seems like a super steep road to catch up.