All I want to do is talk about COMC

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by OLDPAPER

Nah...we all know that storage fees go towards advertisi....ahhh forget it

What you did there, I saw it and if it didn't hurt so badly, I would have laughed at it.

[Jonathon M]

I always figured storage fees were purely to cover the overheads of actually having the cards stored in the facility (insurance obv. is part of that too)

[thebrett]

Storage fees also create a revenue model as well as encouraging prices downward to either 75 cents or 2.50 depending on where you fall

I pay around $85 a month for my upgrade plus cards over $2.50

A lot less than a brick and mortar store rent, and pretty soon here I will rival inventory of many that remain. Also easier to search, find and price

Setting up at one show would cost me that

[Jonathon M]

Originally Posted by thebrett

A lot less than a brick and mortar store rent, and pretty soon here I will rival inventory of many that remain. Also easier to search, find and price

Setting up at one show would cost me that

Agree, of the things to be critical of comc about, the storage and cash out fees as they currently stand shouldn't be among them IMO

[fezziwig]

Originally Posted by jmscoggin

* Need to advertise.

Where? Let's say you're "Tim" (Julia), what is the detailed plan of action to advertise the site?

At a guess, there are two reasons I think why we haven't seen any serious advertising campaign: they don't have the money, and/or they're afraid of the consequences of a success. Total number of registered accounts has increased at a 12% rate for each of the last two years. The number of consignors accounts has grown at a 20% rate over the same period. That is without advertising. A successful campaign could lead to a situation where demand far exceeds capacity, giving us demand killing outcomes like increasing submission fees to discourage submissions due to extremely limited warehouse space, or processing and/or shipping staff consistently fail to meet deadlines and user confidence drops (weren't we in the middle of this recently?) and a greater volatility in demand. I'd love to sell out my port tomorrow due to a mass influx of buyers, but steady and predictable growth is probably the best course for COMC to take as a business.

I would like to know what, if anything, is being done to encourage the people buying through Amazon to register and deposit money and buy directly on COMC. The 20% fee Amazon takes is money that should be entering the COMC ecosystem. Instead of vanishing into thin air, that money could be used to increase transactions and inflate the overall market, and would have an actual chance of eventually reaching COMC's pockets via cashout or increased processing or shipment orders. I would hope every Amazon shipment includes a "Why you should buy on COMC.com" advertisement inside, or something similar to the Black Friday $5 instant win promo codes.

I also wish the social media presence was alive again. I believe it was Moe who posted daily on Twitter, honoring birthdays or anniversary's of special athletic achievements and linked to that player's COMC page. It might not seem like much but if that led to any sales, either from bringing in a new user or reminding an existing user it's time to buy, it was well worth the companies money. Us sellers should probably be doing more outreach, either in person at shops and shows or online in places like the Welcome/Introduction forum here or elsewhere, but it is difficult to find the sense of spirit and faith when the head cheerleaders think blooper cuts of scripted Youtube infomercials convey anything but a message of incompetence (rambling and sleep deprived Tim, circa 2014, is the authentic leadership we believe in).

[Tsquared8]

[QUOTE=thebrett;10319483]More importantly
If you have $100 COMC and you wisely purchase 400 cards to flip for 25 cents each. Mark them 50 cents each and run a 20% off sale you will need to sell 250 of them to get back to your initial $100 plus you will have 150 inventory cards. Take that $100 and repeat, and repeat and repeat and eventually you will have a whole butt load of cards, more balance than you started with and you can complain about the cash out fees of $40 on a $200 balance even though you now have a ton of cards and more money than you started with.

I'm absolutely trying this when I get my next pay....I've been wondering how to get a good start, thanks!!!!!

[Tsquared8]

Originally Posted by thebrett

More importantly
If you have $100 COMC and you wisely purchase 400 cards to flip for 25 cents each. Mark them 50 cents each and run a 20% off sale you will need to sell 250 of them to get back to your initial $100 plus you will have 150 inventory cards. Take that $100 and repeat, and repeat and repeat and eventually you will have a whole butt load of cards, more balance than you started with and you can complain about the cash out fees of $40 on a $200 balance even though you now have a ton of cards and more money than you started with.

Im absolutely trying this my next pay, I've been looking for a good way to start, thanks for the idea!!

[thebrett]

Originally Posted by Tsquared8

I'm absolutely trying this when I get my next pay....I've been wondering how to get a good start, thanks!!!!!

A word of caution, it can take a long time to get the ball rolling. I buy for flipping all day everyday and it is extremely tough to predict what will sell and when. There is also the threat of under cutters between when you buy and another buyer comes along.

I have spent hundreds of hours scouring the site for flippable items so it does require work. The more you have the better off you are. With as many cards as I buy I can afford a few mistakes or miscalculations.

That being said, I spend 99% of my time on baseball so I'd guess there is plenty to be found in other sports

[JustMoe]

Originally Posted by fezziwig

I also wish the social media presence was alive again. I believe it was Moe who posted daily on Twitter, honoring birthdays or anniversary's of special athletic achievements and linked to that player's COMC page. It might not seem like much but if that led to any sales, either from bringing in a new user or reminding an existing user it's time to buy, it was well worth the companies money. Us sellers should probably be doing more outreach, either in person at shops and shows or online in places like the Welcome/Introduction forum here or elsewhere, but it is difficult to find the sense of spirit and faith when the head cheerleaders think blooper cuts of scripted Youtube infomercials convey anything but a message of incompetence (rambling and sleep deprived Tim, circa 2014, is the authentic leadership we believe in).

Hey, thanks for the shout-out - it's nice to know that someone remembers those tweets and what-not. I tried to direct as much traffic to the website as I could, and the company's various social media outlets were definitely a means to do that. I'd like to think that they helped the sellers move a few more cards.

And, yea...it would be awesome if they did more with the social media...I spent nearly 2 years building up those accounts and to see them neglected is frustrating - not only for me, but for the users who came to rely on those avenues to communicate with the company. Just check out the COMC Facebook page, there are so many questions and comments that are unanswered. It just looks bad...

[Jonathon M]

Originally Posted by JustMoe

Hey, thanks for the shout-out - it's nice to know that someone remembers those tweets and what-not. I tried to direct as much traffic to the website as I could, and the company's various social media outlets were definitely a means to do that. I'd like to think that they helped the sellers move a few more cards.

And, yea...it would be awesome if they did more with the social media...I spent nearly 2 years building up those accounts and to see them neglected is frustrating - not only for me, but for the users who came to rely on those avenues to communicate with the company. Just check out the COMC Facebook page, there are so many questions and comments that are unanswered. It just looks bad...

This is what happens when you replace an agent with a "manager".... This kind of work is waaay beneath "managers".....

Seriously, WTF does Nathan do? nothing personal against him as he is obviously adhering to his job description outline by Julia, but I have stopped paying attention to COMC facebook, which isn't hard because it NEVER shows up on my feed anymore but their is absolutely no excuse for a large internet based company to have such a pathetic social media presence

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by fezziwig

Where? Let's say you're "Tim" (Julia), what is the detailed plan of action to advertise the site?

I've always said that I would like to see them advertise with Panini and/or Topps. They could pay them to have advertising put on the blank decoys that are inserted into packs. It is by far the best way to get into the actual hands of the common buyer/collector.

You make very solid points on controlled vs explosive growth. Obviously I don't have the answer on what they are capable of going forward. Most of my advertising gripes come down to two complaints, first, when they raised the fees the last time we were told those increases were going to be for advertising and the advertising never happened. That makes me feel fleeced. Second, my average monthly sales have dropped by probably 75% compared to where they were two years ago even while my pricing strategies have remained the same and while still adding good stuff to my port. That tells me that serious buyers have dropped off and mostly flippers have remained.

Don't get me started on the Amazon stuff, I'm of the belief that that partnership is a net negative and I opt out of it. I'm not paying submission fees, storage fees, 20% cash out and then 20% Amazon. Add those fees to the initial acquisition costs of your items and I can't see how anyone can make a profit under that model outside of Amazon and COMC. If people can find COMC through Amazon, they could find it directly if more advertising was done, thereby eliminating the 20% hit and benefiting all (except Amazon but boo hoo).

Brett, yes, buying ports for pennies on the dollar, especially when you consider that the submission costs have already been paid by someone else, is a fantastic strategy but it isn't for everyone. First off, I don't have the time to do what you do, my real job provides me very few time opportunities to scan, research and flip. Also and I've been saying this for awhile, under the current set up, COMC is destined to end up with only a couple of very large sellers as people such as yourself continue to cannibalize the small sellers.

Why is this a bad thing? Two reasons. First, as mentioned above, under your model, you don't pay submission fees plus you end up buying ports for pennies on the dollar. This allows you to way undercut prices on where I can be for my items that I send in as my personal submissions. Second, the more the first happens, the more that people like me flee the site as it stops making sense.

This leads to the flippers having dwindling ports to buy which ultimately will cause the whole thing to collapse. Care to say that I am/have been wrong? Take a look at the list of top consignors and you will see that it is a very, very pointy spear. I'm top 20 and I feel like I'm in a sinking ship. How must the average submitter feel?

In summary, it is easy for you to disagree with my fee complaint assessment because your model mostly eliminates two of the biggest fees. It completely bypasses the submission fees and you either limit or mitigate the cash out fees by using your profits to reinvest on the site. That is great for you but it doesn't work for me. I have no interest in being a COMC Don Corleone, I use it to liquidate cards that I don't want and get actual money back into my pocket. COMC is increasingly becoming unfriendly to that plan and as much as I shudder at the thought, Ebay is again probably my best option. I don't want a "brick and mortar" or an online "store", I just want to sell my unwanted cards and free up my cash. You are looking at the issue strictly through your perspective which is the extreme minority perspective.

[thebrett]

Originally Posted by jmscoggin

I've always said that I would like to see them advertise with Panini and/or Topps. They could pay them to have advertising put on the blank decoys that are inserted into packs. It is by far the best way to get into the actual hands of the common buyer/collector.

You make very solid points on controlled vs explosive growth. Obviously I don't have the answer on what they are capable of going forward. Most of my advertising gripes come down to two complaints, first, when they raised the fees the last time we were told those increases were going to be for advertising and the advertising never happened. That makes me feel fleeced. Second, my average monthly sales have dropped by probably 75% compared to where they were two years ago even while my pricing strategies have remained the same and while still adding good stuff to my port. That tells me that serious buyers have dropped off and mostly flippers have remained.

Don't get me started on the Amazon stuff, I'm of the belief that that partnership is a net negative and I opt out of it. I'm not paying submission fees, storage fees, 20% cash out and then 20% Amazon. Add those fees to the initial acquisition costs of your items and I can't see how anyone can make a profit under that model outside of Amazon and COMC. If people can find COMC through Amazon, they could find it directly if more advertising was done, thereby eliminating the 20% hit and benefiting all (except Amazon but boo hoo).

Brett, yes, buying ports for pennies on the dollar, especially when you consider that the submission costs have already been paid by someone else, is a fantastic strategy but it isn't for everyone. First off, I don't have the time to do what you do, my real job provides me very few time opportunities to scan, research and flip. Also and I've been saying this for awhile, under the current set up, COMC is destined to end up with only a couple of very large sellers as people such as yourself continue to cannibalize the small sellers.

Why is this a bad thing? Two reasons. First, as mentioned above, under your model, you don't pay submission fees plus you end up buying ports for pennies on the dollar. This allows you to way undercut prices on where I can be for my items that I send in as my personal submissions. Second, the more the first happens, the more that people like me flee the site as it stops making sense.

This leads to the flippers having dwindling ports to buy which ultimately will cause the whole thing to collapse. Care to say that I am/have been wrong? Take a look at the list of top consignors and you will see that it is a very, very pointy spear. I'm top 20 and I feel like I'm in a sinking ship. How must the average submitter feel?

In summary, it is easy for you to disagree with my fee complaint assessment because your model mostly eliminates two of the biggest fees. It completely bypasses the submission fees and you either limit or mitigate the cash out fees by using your profits to reinvest on the site. That is great for you but it doesn't work for me. I have no interest in being a COMC Don Corleone, I use it to liquidate cards that I don't want and get actual money back into my pocket. COMC is increasingly becoming unfriendly to that plan and as much as I shudder at the thought, Ebay is again probably my best option. I don't want a "brick and mortar" or an online "store", I just want to sell my unwanted cards and free up my cash. You are looking at the issue strictly through your perspective which is the extreme minority perspective.

Fair point, and I have often considered if I am a positive or a negative to the site.

To be honest, I come down on the side of neither. I shouldn't matter based on the volume. If you are a list and sell user and fees matter then there is no arguing that the pure and simple fees are higher. However, your feedback included that you do not have time to do what I do and scour the site. Well, my real career is selling around 100 very expensive items a year so I constantly have Windows of 2-5 minutes where I'm at a stoplight, waiting for a finance response, in a waiting room, waiting for my Sales Coordinator, waiting at Chipotle for q customer etc... What I don't have time for is eBay, and to me eBay fees are higher due to the actual concrete time involved as well as the interaction with other humans.

COMC offers something for me, and my feedback was that it IS possible to render the fees irrelevant. eBay makes sense for other life models, and sport card lots makes sense to others.

Ultimately you and I agree on 1 fundamental issue which is more buyers is the key. Flippers just move money around, cards coming off the site to collectors is when COMC succeeds. What is frustrating for me is that I can scan eBay at anytime of any day and see thousands of cards I would have bought on COMC sell for less than I would have paid. To say eBay is better diminishes the fact that COMC offers so many positives over eBay.

I have said before, and I will say again... If the site cut their cash out to 15% I firmly believe they would make more profit. Too many people have quit the site or take a high end card off the site and move it to eBay to circumvent the fee that in my opinion it has single handedly been the biggest stunt to their growth.

That being said, I have zero reason to believe COMC will wake up today, tomorrow or next year and all of the sudden have some newfound business savvy, so I am forced to win the game with the current rules.

COMC could be, and should be better. Good is the enemy of great.

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by thebrett

Fair point, and I have often considered if I am a positive or a negative to the site.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not being critical of you, you figured out the rules and have mastered the game. I'm only saying that you've gotten so good that eventually people are going to refuse to play with you. It isn't a slight on you, just an observation on how I see this ultimately playing out.

Originally Posted by thebrett

To be honest, I come down on the side of neither. I shouldn't matter based on the volume. If you are a list and sell user and fees matter then there is no arguing that the pure and simple fees are higher. However, your feedback included that you do not have time to do what I do and scour the site. Well, my real career is selling around 100 very expensive items a year so I constantly have Windows of 2-5 minutes where I'm at a stoplight, waiting for a finance response, in a waiting room, waiting for my Sales Coordinator, waiting at Chipotle for q customer etc... What I don't have time for is eBay, and to me eBay fees are higher due to the actual concrete time involved as well as the interaction with other humans.

I vote net negative. True, it won't matter as much on the higher end items as it does on the lower end items but it still matters. I need to take into account acquisition costs (yours are likely lower than mine as you've bought a port at pennies on the dollar), submission costs (you've avoided entirely), cash out fees (you avoid or mitigate by reinvesting). How can I price my items competitively against yours when my costs are much higher? True, I can play the game by your rules but my goals are different than yours and your rules won't get me to my end game. That isn't your problem but there are a lot more sellers like me than there are like you.

Agreed on Ebay which is why I use COMC. I just don't have the time that selling on Ebay requires, nor the patience in dealing with the idiots. For all of my bluster, I'm likely to stay with COMC even though I can see the iceberg in the distance.

Originally Posted by thebrett

COMC offers something for me, and my feedback was that it IS possible to render the fees irrelevant. eBay makes sense for other life models, and sport card lots makes sense to others.

This is true .................. for you, not for me. It's a great system, IF you want to keep your chips on the table.

Originally Posted by thebrett

Ultimately you and I agree on 1 fundamental issue which is more buyers is the key. Flippers just move money around, cards coming off the site to collectors is when COMC succeeds. What is frustrating for me is that I can scan eBay at anytime of any day and see thousands of cards I would have bought on COMC sell for less than I would have paid. To say eBay is better diminishes the fact that COMC offers so many positives over eBay.

100% agreed.

Originally Posted by thebrett

I have said before, and I will say again... If the site cut their cash out to 15% I firmly believe they would make more profit. Too many people have quit the site or take a high end card off the site and move it to eBay to circumvent the fee that in my opinion it has single handedly been the biggest stunt to their growth.

150% agreed.

Originally Posted by thebrett

That being said, I have zero reason to believe COMC will wake up today, tomorrow or next year and all of the sudden have some newfound business savvy, so I am forced to win the game with the current rules.

COMC could be, and should be better. Good is the enemy of great.

This is correct (sadly) and again, while I know I can "win the game" if playing by their rules, it doesn't work for where I want to go. Is that a me problem or a them problem? That is open for discussion.

[chezball]

JMS don't you accept offers of at least 20%,or do want to accept offers on certain cards?
Amazon doesn't allow you to do that.
I had my auto accept set at 25% so the 20% worked fine for me.
Just asking,not trying to start an argument.

[thebrett]

It is interesting that to JMS I am a net negative

The world is often viewed thru a very personal lens which makes sense

I offer thousands of cards at the lowest price on the site which would be viewed as a positive in attracting new buyers

I am consistently in the top 5 buyers on the site, and would guess if SRP was accurate I would be top 3 at almost all times. That means actual dollars put into sellers pockets to either cash out or buy other items they want on the site

Under half of my purchases are made in port acquisitions. Port sales are almost always the undesirable leftovers. I have more success cherry picking from clearance sales and recently added items. That means I am paying the same price any other buyer would pay. I simply have more practice and a larger data set on what I can turn and at what price point.

Additionally I consigned over 10,000 cards in 2015 and will likely submit over 15,000 in 2016

Last but not least, I purchased and took possession of hundreds of cards in 2015 so I am removing inventory regularly.

I understand I may be a negative to your specific business model, but I could also argue that it is an incomplete business model destined to fail.

Very few opportunities are missed, many are picked up by others.

I am always looking for more inventory, we could work a direct to me deal if there is a benefit to you to be had. Ultimately I will exploit margin, buying power and market knowledge to my own gain with an eye toward growth and expansion. I plan to grow my COMC presence by 50% or more in 2016, so any issues you see with my footprint now is likely to get worse. I have been actively educating myself on basketball and vintage so those will be my growth focus

I have also improved my IRL card sourcing which should move me to the top 20 of consignment sellers as well

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by chezball

JMS don't you accept offers of at least 20%,or do want to accept offers on certain cards?
Amazon doesn't allow you to do that.
I had my auto accept set at 25% so the 20% worked fine for me.
Just asking,not trying to start an argument.

Please, no argument interpreted. I love discussion and am open to all points of view. The short answer is that I wish there was a way to opt in or out of Amazon sales on a card by card basis. With 95% of my port, I'd be open to 20% or more right off the top. It is that other 5% that I wouldn't that stops me.

I already price my stuff as the lowest or darn close to it, not everything has another 20% of room in it. Most does but some doesn't. Sure, I can price that 5% 20% higher to account for it but now I'm losing out on potential COMC offers from people that think my prices are unrealistic.

Originally Posted by thebrett

It is interesting that to JMS I am a net negative

Again, don't misunderstand, my comments weren't personal. I think you are a great seller and have bought plenty from you. COMC has made a lot of money from you so they are satisfied. As a seller I have sold you cards and I am thankful for that. My comments were not intended to say that you are bad, they were directed at your model and yes, they are filtered through my personal point of view.

I liken it to Walmart vs small business. Walmart brings jobs, has almost anything you could want and at low prices but they knock out almost all of the surrounding and competing small business. Is this a good thing? Both sides can make valid arguments.

Is my "broken" model a bad thing? No, COMC just might not be the right vehicle for it any longer which is sad because COMC used to be the PERFECT vehicle for it. Again, I love what you have been able to do and a part of me is jealous but it just isn't the route I want to take. I want to continue to sell off excess cards and put money back into my pocket. I believe that your model will eventually crush my ability to do that in a way that makes sense. I see COMC eventually having a small handful of very large sellers that will either squeeze out or swallow up small sellers. Is that good or bad? No idea, it isn't personal, I hold absolutely zero ill will, it is just business but I absolutely envision it happening.

[Cactuspies]

I like cards, though my buying on there has dwindled to nearly zilch (only 1 card last year). My submissions have also been smaller and less frequent. I use ebay much more now and then they eventually go to COMC. I was flipped on that a few years back when ebay was really bad. I've been doing quite well there in the last couple of years.

Sales:
2016 $0.53 2
2015 $1,490.75 556
2014 $1,589.73 686
2013 $2,625.04 835
2012 $2,820.21 801
2011 $2,664.40 2,320
2010 $1,494.08 1,011
2009 $1,445.29 1,187
2008 $403.59 279

Cards Added to Site:
2016 0
2015 648 2 batches
2014 364 1 batch
2013 1551 9 batches
2012 863 3 batches
2011 2095 6 batches
2010 488 3 batches
2009 1067 8 batches
2008 793 3 batches

[JustMoe]

Originally Posted by Jonathon M

This is what happens when you replace an agent with a "manager".... This kind of work is waaay beneath "managers".....

Seriously, WTF does Nathan do? nothing personal against him as he is obviously adhering to his job description outline by Julia, but I have stopped paying attention to COMC facebook, which isn't hard because it NEVER shows up on my feed anymore but their is absolutely no excuse for a large internet based company to have such a pathetic social media presence

Not to pile on here (but I will, anyways) what's the deal with the blog? You look at the last few posts and there are (almost) no comments. Have readers stopped replying or has the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments to which they think they can't offer a reply? It's becoming as redundant as the rest of their online presence...save for the videos, of course.

[Swipe79]

This is the answer.

Originally Posted by JustMoe

the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments.

[Cactuspies]

Originally Posted by JustMoe

Not to pile on here (but I will, anyways) what's the deal with the blog? You look at the last few posts and there are (almost) no comments. Have readers stopped replying or has the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments to which they think they can't offer a reply? It's becoming as redundant as the rest of their online presence...save for the videos, of course.

TonyAAAAA and JHS have been busy making the world a better place?

[DaClyde]

Originally Posted by JustMoe

Not to pile on here (but I will, anyways) what's the deal with the blog? You look at the last few posts and there are (almost) no comments. Have readers stopped replying or has the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments to which they think they can't offer a reply? It's becoming as redundant as the rest of their online presence...save for the videos, of course.

I keep asking a question about Tim's "completion" numbers, but it never gets posted. Basically when he says the catalog is XX% complete, what is that based on? I'm guessing it is based purely on the number if as-yet-unidentified cards in the catalog vs the total. Unfortunately, that is including all the misidentified cards in the percentage of completion.

I typically submit anywhere from 10-500 corrections each day, and I am making a dent, but is there any internal process for methodically proofing the catalog to be sure that the subject listed in the database matches the subject on the card? This is especially a problem with less mainstream sets. Most of the CFL & college sets were roughly 30% wrong. Minor league baseball sets are usually 30-40% wrong, as well. It can be fixed, I just wish there was some indication it was more than just a few users doing the work on that, or even some acknowledgement that it is an issue that is being addressed.

Based on the Baseball Players challenges, they arbitrarily assign a name to some combination of characters...so mifi = Mike Fischlin. But at what point do they refine that do make sure it is actually Mike Fischlin and not Mike Fitzgerald, Michael Finley or Mickey Filer? I know they had the "Which Player?" challenges, but I haven't seen one of those in months. Maybe I'm just too active with the corrections for it to be worthwhile to generate more of them?

Currently to find the cards with [Missing] in the name field, I search for this:

Missing -link -foil -signature -showcase

Trying to exclude common sets or printing flaws that actually have Missing as part of the description. The results have dropped by a good 500 or so cards in the last 24 hours, so I am making progress.

[Jonathon M]

Originally Posted by JustMoe

Have readers stopped replying or has the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments to which they think they can't offer a reply? It's becoming as redundant as the rest of their online presence...save for the videos, of course.

I stopped commenting, because 90% of them get blocked, even simple questions that are not negative get blocked (like "is there a boxing day sale this year").... Why bother with their BS, it's a waste of time... The "C" in "COMC" must stand for "Communist" now... As transparent and open as Chinese TV lol!

[JMarchand1981]

Originally Posted by thebrett

It is interesting that to JMS I am a net negative

The world is often viewed thru a very personal lens which makes sense

I offer thousands of cards at the lowest price on the site which would be viewed as a positive in attracting new buyers

I am consistently in the top 5 buyers on the site, and would guess if SRP was accurate I would be top 3 at almost all times. That means actual dollars put into sellers pockets to either cash out or buy other items they want on the site

Under half of my purchases are made in port acquisitions. Port sales are almost always the undesirable leftovers. I have more success cherry picking from clearance sales and recently added items. That means I am paying the same price any other buyer would pay. I simply have more practice and a larger data set on what I can turn and at what price point.

Additionally I consigned over 10,000 cards in 2015 and will likely submit over 15,000 in 2016

Last but not least, I purchased and took possession of hundreds of cards in 2015 so I am removing inventory regularly.

I understand I may be a negative to your specific business model, but I could also argue that it is an incomplete business model destined to fail.

Very few opportunities are missed, many are picked up by others.

I am always looking for more inventory, we could work a direct to me deal if there is a benefit to you to be had. Ultimately I will exploit margin, buying power and market knowledge to my own gain with an eye toward growth and expansion. I plan to grow my COMC presence by 50% or more in 2016, so any issues you see with my footprint now is likely to get worse. I have been actively educating myself on basketball and vintage so those will be my growth focus

I have also improved my IRL card sourcing which should move me to the top 20 of consignment sellers as well

I personally think you were great for my comc experience. They were cards I was willing to pay to sell. I just happened to profit a little also.

[phillies347]

Part of my first submission process just got processed, so I am going to see how selling traditionally works out. I am attempting the 20% AA method, and flipping cards I can list for double and sell easily. It's only been a few weeks since I sent my shipment in - they aren't due until mid February - so I am pretty happy with that.

[phillies347]

Originally Posted by JustMoe

Not to pile on here (but I will, anyways) what's the deal with the blog? You look at the last few posts and there are (almost) no comments. Have readers stopped replying or has the company decided to just not approve/block all the comments to which they think they can't offer a reply? It's becoming as redundant as the rest of their online presence...save for the videos, of course.

COMC has deleted all/any comments I've posted on their blog posts as well.