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checkoutmydeals · 01-11-2019, 11:36 AM

What is a fair percentage of net fees to pay comc from shipment to receiving a check in the mail?

IMO, the stated fees that they charge the sellers are reasonable. The hidden fees that they charge the retail buyers vary from annoying to outrageous.

There's a prominent comic book dealer in my area who will consign higher quality comic books at 50% consignment. You tell him you want $100 for a comic, and he'll agree that if he sells it for $200, you'll get the $100.

But then, he'll jack the comic up to $300 or $400. And if it sells, he'll give you the $100 because that's what you said you wanted.

If you protest by saying that what you wanted was 50% of the sale price, he'll give you some song and dance that's too cute by half and let you know that you can take your stuff back at any time.

The practice is annoying, obnoxious, and the reason that no serious collector will ever consign with the guy twice. I could have done hundreds of thousands in business with him over the years. It's possible I would have never even have opened my own brick and mortar store in the 1990's if this guy just stuck to the 50/50 consignment deal.

When COMC does things like add $3.99 in "free" shipping to $5 eBay items, or when they charge an extra 15% to COMC_Guest customers, or when they force COMC_Guest customers to pay 25 cents per card extra for Expedited Shipping, or when they add the handling fee to the item and THEN put 15% on top of that, it leaves the same bad taste in my mouth that this comic store owner does.

At the very least, if COMC is jacking up my price, they should give me some additional benefit. Ideally, if they're selling my $5 card for $8.99, they should treat it like an $8.99 card when it sells. Give me $8.54, the way they would if I had priced it at $8.99 myself.

Alternately, they could give me some free listing credits or some free shipping credits or some free storage fee credits or some free enhanced listing fee credits.

Alternately, they could allow me to opt out of having "free shipping" added to my eBay items.

But other than those minor tweaks, I'm liking the new fee structure quite a bit. For years, the incentive was to use credit to buy cards, either to flip or to take physical delivery, and never cash out. Now, I'm indifferent as to whether $300 in my account is used to process 1,000 cards, or take physical delivery of 1200 cards, or to spend $300 on items and take delivery, or to spend $300 on items to try to flip.

I think that's a good thing, and I'm glad that COMC will get a little bit of benefit no matter which option I choose.

Under the old system, where COMC would get $60 if I cash out, or $0 if I bought to flip, our interests were not aligned.

I feel that the new fee structure aligns our interests. COMC should now be indifferent whether I buy to flip or whether I buy to take physical delivery or whether I cash out.

However, the $3.99 "free" shipping throws a monkey wrench into this. A person selling $5 items could have their sales drop by 80%, yet COMC could make as much or more than they would have previously. I think they went a bridge too far on that fee, and they should either end the practice immediately, or allow sellers to opt out of "free" embedded shipping on their listings, or cut the sellers in for a piece of the take.

01-11-2019, 11:36 AM	#6225
checkoutmydeals Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: USA Posts: 3,040 king-collect checkoutmydeals	What is a fair percentage of net fees to pay comc from shipment to receiving a check in the mail? IMO, the stated fees that they charge the sellers are reasonable. The hidden fees that they charge the retail buyers vary from annoying to outrageous. There's a prominent comic book dealer in my area who will consign higher quality comic books at 50% consignment. You tell him you want $100 for a comic, and he'll agree that if he sells it for $200, you'll get the $100. But then, he'll jack the comic up to $300 or $400. And if it sells, he'll give you the $100 because that's what you said you wanted. If you protest by saying that what you wanted was 50% of the sale price, he'll give you some song and dance that's too cute by half and let you know that you can take your stuff back at any time. The practice is annoying, obnoxious, and the reason that no serious collector will ever consign with the guy twice. I could have done hundreds of thousands in business with him over the years. It's possible I would have never even have opened my own brick and mortar store in the 1990's if this guy just stuck to the 50/50 consignment deal. When COMC does things like add $3.99 in "free" shipping to $5 eBay items, or when they charge an extra 15% to COMC_Guest customers, or when they force COMC_Guest customers to pay 25 cents per card extra for Expedited Shipping, or when they add the handling fee to the item and THEN put 15% on top of that, it leaves the same bad taste in my mouth that this comic store owner does. At the very least, if COMC is jacking up my price, they should give me some additional benefit. Ideally, if they're selling my $5 card for $8.99, they should treat it like an $8.99 card when it sells. Give me $8.54, the way they would if I had priced it at $8.99 myself. Alternately, they could give me some free listing credits or some free shipping credits or some free storage fee credits or some free enhanced listing fee credits. Alternately, they could allow me to opt out of having "free shipping" added to my eBay items. But other than those minor tweaks, I'm liking the new fee structure quite a bit. For years, the incentive was to use credit to buy cards, either to flip or to take physical delivery, and never cash out. Now, I'm indifferent as to whether $300 in my account is used to process 1,000 cards, or take physical delivery of 1200 cards, or to spend $300 on items and take delivery, or to spend $300 on items to try to flip. I think that's a good thing, and I'm glad that COMC will get a little bit of benefit no matter which option I choose. Under the old system, where COMC would get $60 if I cash out, or $0 if I bought to flip, our interests were not aligned. I feel that the new fee structure aligns our interests. COMC should now be indifferent whether I buy to flip or whether I buy to take physical delivery or whether I cash out. However, the $3.99 "free" shipping throws a monkey wrench into this. A person selling $5 items could have their sales drop by 80%, yet COMC could make as much or more than they would have previously. I think they went a bridge too far on that fee, and they should either end the practice immediately, or allow sellers to opt out of "free" embedded shipping on their listings, or cut the sellers in for a piece of the take.