ComicLink charging illegal fees

[Rocketeer]

...you're not hearing what I'm saying,...you are showing the display for a credit sale and a check sale after you choose an payment option,..and don't try to tell me otherwise cause I just paid a comiclink invoice,...the original invoice,..in which you conveniently choose not to display clearly states that there is a 3% buyers premium on all purchases....this shows before you chose check, money order. credit card, or tulips,...it also states that there is a discount for check/MO sales,...

[drice6900]

If it truly was a discount for paying via cash/check, then the discount should show up there in your total. Instead, the mark-up shows up under the Credit Card option. This is why everyone sees it as a CC mark-up. If Josh was smart, he would fix his software to show a cash discount - not that I agree with what he is doing anyway. Personally, I gave up on this guy a long time ago.

[Rocketeer]

If it truly was a discount for paying via cash/check, then the discount should show up there in your total. Instead, the mark-up shows up under the Credit Card option. This is why everyone sees it as a CC mark-up. If Josh was smart, he would fix his software to show a cash discount - not that I agree with what he is doing anyway. Personally, I gave up on this guy a long time ago.

 

..you are correct,..if he truly wants to cover his butt he should show a buyer's premium on both options when you check out, ....with a discount negating the 3% on the check/Mo checkout

[Aces]

No, it's not a discount for cash since it only appears when you select Credit Card as a payment type. To qualify as a cash discount it would have to appear as a debit on your purchase when selecting something other than MO.

 

...not true,...again,.. I am not condoning this ,..however,.. it does not appear when you select the option for credit,...it is clearly stated in the invoice, ..before you choose any option of payment,...that there is a 3% buyer's premium on all purchases,...and as a courtesy they offer a 3% discount on payments made by check or money order,...

 

You are wrong... see for yourself.

 

When you select "Check"... no Buyer Commission

 

 

When you select "Credit Card"... Buyer Commission

 

 

Damn, I'd buy that right now but $14 for shipping!?

Shipping profiteer!

[Drummy]

I just picked up a book from Comiclink and noticed the $14 shipping charge. I plugged in the numbers of the package to the UPS website (assuming Josh uses a pick-up service) and the rates ran $11.38 to $13.35. Don't know exactly which UPS services are used, but my guess is the actual costs are these (plus the time putting the books in free padded envelopes and taping them between two solid pieces of cardboard). My guess is there's minimum profiteering, but probably some...

 

Dan

[Shield]

This is all sounding familiar.

 

Long story - my sister works at Discover in some sort of fraud management area. I originally emailed her all this information, and here's the jist:

 

Comiclink CAN charge this amount, at least "allowable" through Discover, because they're charging the same surcharge for Mastercard and Visa.

 

Now, if he only charged extra for Discover, they'd void his merchant agreement.

 

Please be advised that my comments have nothing to do with the laws in his state, which he might be violating.

 

I actually called comiclink and had a long conversation with Josh about the entire thing. I suggest if you guys feel as strongly about it as I did, pick up the phone and call Josh. While we still had some differences, he did explain things from his perspective and I understand where he's coming from.

 

Guys, my beef with him was the principle of him coming on here saying "I've removed the surcharge" when he in fact re-instated it, and the fact when I sell on EBAY I can't offload those Paypal fees onto my buyers.

For me, even though I still disagree, it's just not worth arguing about. Do we want comiclink's business model set up like Heritage, with the 19.5% BP? Of course not. Josh gets 10% I believe from the seller, and 3% from the buyer ONLY if you pay with a credit card.

 

 

Perhaps Josh should just call the 3% a "Buyer's Premium" or something, and charge it for every transaction?

[Scheradon]

...you're not hearing what I'm saying,...you are showing the display for a credit sale and a check sale after you choose an payment option,..and don't try to tell me otherwise cause I just paid a comiclink invoice,...the original invoice,..in which you conveniently choose not to display clearly states that there is a 3% buyers premium on all purchases....this shows before you chose check, money order. credit card, or tulips,...it also states that there is a discount for check/MO sales,...

 

Here's the problem I have...He doesn't elude to any "buyers premium" anywhere else before you begin the purchase process. In fact, here is an excerpt from the his "seller's" page that specifically indicates one of the advantages of selling through CL is that there are no buyer's premiums, thus resulting in higher paid prices for the seller.

 

In addition, we feel that buyer commissions are just a slick way to hide the fact that the seller is getting a much lower percentage of the total final price realized - sure, it may be possible to get a low seller commission from a standard auction house, but the buyer commission is still 15% - even if the seller commission is waived entirely, they are still charging you more! In addition, items up for auction sell for substantially less on average then on ComicLink - not a good combination! Buyer commissions translate into more profits for the auction company but a lower net price realized for sellers, very frequently on top of a lower gross as well.

 

So, here he feels it's a "slick" way....and later he uses this "slick" process himself.