***Post updated based on feedback.***
Hello COMC Nation,
Today we are launching the changes we announced back in October regarding how we will handle and manage Beckett Book Values with the launch of COMC.com. As we’ve grown as a company, our partnership with Beckett has had to change. With this change, we’ve been able to provide features like our Grading through COMC service. Unfortunately, as we’ve grown and our inventory has gotten larger, our inventory has become too large to give away the Beckett Book Value data as we had in the past. As it’s Beckett’s business to supply pricing data, we can’t simply give away a third of their data for free. Yet it is important to us to find a solution that works for all parties. We hope you understand, and we are working hard to innovate and continue to make COMC a great place to buy, sell, and flip. While this may be a difficult change, we won’t stay here as a company, and there will be some positives. We will continue to listen to you and come up with creative ways of helping you enjoy the hobby. This step can perhaps move us away from book prices determining asking prices and truly let the market decide.
Starting today, users will be able to purchase and utilize their Beckett Subscriptions directly through COMC.
Now when you look at cards on the site, you should see this:
The Subscribe link now displays next to Beckett BV. When selected, it leads you to a page to purchase a Beckett subscription through COMC:
Click to Enlarge
On this screen, you will have the option to purchase the level of service that best meets your needs as a buyer or seller. If you only need to know the value of a single card, player, or sport, you’re covered. If you like to shop for all kinds of cards, you’ll want to consider a Total Access subscription, which grants you full access to the millions of items listed in Beckett’s Online Price Guide. All subscriptions purchased on COMC will also be accessible on Beckett.com.
Existing OPG Subscription
What if you already have a Beckett OPG subscription? As you can see in the photo above, you can link your current subscription to your COMC account to view the book values for all the COMC listings to which you’re currently subscribed to. After clicking the link, a popup will display requesting you to log in to your current Beckett account. Once successful, your accounts will be linked and any subscriptions purchased on either site will be reflected in both your Beckett and COMC accounts.
Physical Beckett Guide
There’s another option if you’re “old-school” and still want to have that physical copy of the Beckett Guide. If you choose the “Dynamic Duo” option, you’ll have access to the OPG as well as receive your physical copy in the mail. So, you’ll have your Beckett access however you need.
Consignors
Finally, to all our consignors don’t worry. You still have the ability to see Beckett book values for items you submitted to COMC as it’s built into the cost of our processing services.
While this is a big change, we have something else waiting in the on-deck circle that we’re just about ready to announce, which we hope will be a game-changer. Tim is busy working on it right now. Stay tuned for details, and in the meantime, feel free to leave us your thoughts in the comments below and stay in touch by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Beckett pricing was suppose to be $10 a month. $31 a month is ridiculous. Unfortunately, as COMC grows pricing is going up,up and up. Extra for this and that. I don’t agree.
Jokes on us… 🙁
31/month is for total access, not one sport
Anything to make an extra buck and screw the common people.
I’m sorry but this could be a deal-breaker for many. I thought paying fees offset being able to see book prices but I guess not. I know my purchases will be cut drastically with this latest subtraction of functionality and service. It’s too bad… Comc was a threat to Beckett marketplace so I guess it had to be crushed
If I’m not mistaken, $31 a month is all-access, every sport. $10 a month would be a single sport, I think.
Hi, guys, in rolling out this inevitable change, we wanted to give as much flexibility to you as possible, which is why we allow you to isolate by card, player, sport, or have all access, to tailor to your need level. It’s $0.50/card, $4/player, $9/sport, $31/all access, with price breaks with longer subscriptions. We hope you can find something that fits your needs and are continuing to listen to you and innovate.
How about a per team price?
Hey Daniel:
I’d like to point out to you that doing anything less than the $9 per sport deal is a ripoff, unless you only sell cards from ONE player or ONE team.
$4 per player, as in the example, is ridiculous. There are 200+ stars in the NFL, 400+ in MLB (not counting prospects), 60+ in the NBA, so if you buy a subscription for the ELITE players (top 25%) you’re looking at 175 players, or $700 in per player fees.
If they instituted a $6 per team fee (above per player, less than per sport), you’re looking at 32 NFL teams, 30 NBA teams, and 30 MLB teams. If you were only interested in major markets (20 teams across three major leagues), that’s $120 in per team fees.
When you can just buy each sport for $9, or $27 total.
You’re welcome
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I’ll be honest here. I stopped getting Beckett because their costs got so out of line with reality. 81.00 per year for a magazine subscription that only comes out once a month? Really? Also you would think the :”partnership” with COMC.com would provide some kind of discount to their users but it’s the same pricing that priced me out of their market. Don’t get me wrong, I love COMC.com but Beckett drove any other competitors out of the market like SCD and Tuff Stuff and now they figure they can charge whatever they feel like. The value isn’t there for most collectors.
Boo.
I’m getting off the bandwagon. Unless you’re a dealer, you’re getting hosed. I dont get how BGS can have a side company, BCGS or whatever it’s called, and they are worth so much less. Business takes the fun out of collecting.
Not a fan of this either. Was shocked and disappointed when I logged in and saw the change today.
There needs to be another class of premium membership that includes an all-access price guide membership. I am too stubborn to pay for this separately, but bundle it with
a) some free submissions (like eBay is doing with its free monthly listings, even for stores)
b) free hard copy editions of the magazine (which I could either sell on eBay or flip on ComC for that matter)
c) an increased limit (or no limit) on Hot List submissions
d) some other thing that doesn’t cost you much but has a high perceived value with your sellers
I can’t flip cards or buy ports without knowing the BV. It’s not that I care about BV, but enough buyers do for it to make a difference. If other flippers are equally discouraged, it will put downward pressure on prices for two reasons:
1) Flippers help provide a floor for cards, and if you make it hard for them, they will leave
2) I will use my store credit to send more cards in, meaning supply goes up, but demand will be lower because of there being fewer flippers
Your announcement is fine. You needed to do something to coexist with Beckett (at least that is the perception), and it is what it is. However, the four suggestions above will hopefully make it more palatable for some who’ve reacted negatively.
For folks with a mass amount of sales like Joelshitshow, maybe a premium subscription would work. For the majority of us, we’re struggling as it is and certainly can’t afford to drop this kind of money on something that was free yesterday.
I hear you, Concerned. We have always been a company that values the “little guy” along with our bigger customers. While we can’t give away something that’s not ours to give, we will continue to work with what we have to help you buy, sell, and flip on COMC.
Hi, Joel, thanks for your great feedback as always. We have also been thinking along these lines, so it’s great to hear you’re right there with us. Also, we certainly want to do what we can to cultivate a good environment for flippers. We will continue listening to our customers and trying to come up with creative solutions!
What the HAY!!!! The reason I’m a member of COMC is for selling and buying and also for the BV
I can see if you weren’t a member of the site ….but a member getting raked by high subscription prices …
I agree with ….justin …..”Business takes the fun out of collecting”
The little peanuts I make on “flipping” ….Beckett wants it ……BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
This is stupid. I just went to Inventory Manager and I can’t see the Beckett values for the cards I’m selling. Is this a bug you will fix soon? You say you offer pricing at original list, but what about when sellers want to change a price? Beckett has taken you by the short hairs and you didn’t fight hard enough. We’re selling $1-$10 cards here. How many people are going to spend $280 a year for OPK? (My wager is less than 10/yr.) IF this is the new reality and you blame Beckett for this, you should just give Beckett the snub. Stick up for your members. Don’t take the % kickbacks they’re giving you for OPK sales, and yank all pricing and FREE Beckett promotion on your site. This fiasco is a major fail.
Yeah now I have no clue what the BV is when someone makes an offer.
I have joined the COMC website a little less than a year ago, and I have watched this so called “Growth” and finally I need to say something. I have spent a significant amount of money in lising fees, promotion fees, auto-accept fees, classified fees, port fees, monthly fees, cash-out fees, fees, fees, fees, based on my calculations you end up with roughly 65% of what you actually sold your item for when everything is said and done……Now this has added yet another level of fees for values, and it is absolutely absurd. You are trying to take on the giant in eBay, however you are quickly taking away what gave you the edge over them in the first place. I list on ebay in my store, it costs me 9% in fees, and another small percentage from PayPal, sure I have to scan and list my items and sure I have to ship them (there is also money to be made in shipping, it never costs as much as you charge). They give me 20% Top Seller discounts, they provide me with a 150 free listings per month, for being a valued customer, while at COMC I am treated the same way if I send in a 1000 or 5 cards. I think that you guys need to re-evaluate your way of doing business, before you loose the people who got you where you are in the first place.
+1000000
Amen to all of this.
I enjoyed this site because it wasn’t ebay it seemed like a company who wanted to grow the collector/card market. Now with yet another change to deal with that’s it for me cards are supposed to be fun and hopefully profitable, if it is expensive to research and shop for new collections or acquisitions then people will just pass on the industry. Fresh inflow of new collectors is needed……charging for everything drives them away. Pay attention COMC we are angry and leaving.
Amen
Of course you are excited, now Beckett will be paying YOU instead of the other way around.
Do us a favor, hide the damn subscribe link, it looks tacky seeing it everywhere. If you want to limit the viewing to people buying through Beckett, fine, but expecting us to see this as an exciting opportunity is just silly. “Wow, I never knew Beckett made their values available for money”. *rolls eyes*
Yes, remove/hide it from the current location or maybe move it next to the title of the card instead. No need for it to be so redundant.
well I guess I gotta find something new to do by no means am I a big flipper but it gave me some thing to do a night so I send in my $40 a month to cover my $1.50 storage fees and go look for deals of players I like .I sold $168 worth of cards last year and spent it all on new cards . based on that I would be down -$111 and no new cards if I cant shop with my profit theres no fun for me . I left the card hobby for 20 years and guess what I can leave again. I think if you lose the small guys like me you stop a lot of money changing hands in site and just give it to beckett………good luck with that
Well said.
beet72 pretty much described my situation and feelings. I expect I will visit COMC much less frequently now. My flipping days are definitely over, All this just when I was getting the sense there was a mildly resurgent interest in collecting sports cards. I understand the conflict with giving away for free much of what Beckett sells so I don’t fault COMC for what was probably a forced change but I know it will have a negative effect on me as a buyer and if I am not buying who else won’t buy? Will it be worth it for me to continue selling? We’ll see. I buy the Beckett price guide annuals every few years so I can look up pricing data but it isn’t convenient for volume buying or identifying bargains.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe not having prices will allow us to all sell a few cards way over book and have the satisfaction that comes from fleecing an uneducated buyer at the expense of engendering goodwill towards the hobby in general.
My bottom line feeling is that I will visit the site once a year, buy the $4.00 plan for a single player for one month, see if there is anything I need available for a fair price and use the data to update the spreadsheet I use to track my collection. $4 is cheaper than a $30 annual. I primarily collect one player so that’s a win for me but it is not a win for anyone else. Not sellers, not COMC, not even Beckett.
I bought the subscription and the prices are all still hidden, how do they become visable?
Hello Dean,
Thanks for contacting us. I have spoken to one of our Web Team, and they have indicated that the cache on your computer may simply need to be reset. To do this, simply log out of your account, and then log back in.
Regards,
Mark M.
Thanks for the advice but it doesn’t seem to help, I have closed, logged out and reopened my web browser and no luck. Beckett.com works fine.
Hello Dean,
I have forwarded this along to our Web Team. We will investigate this issue, and hopefully it will be resolved shortly.
Regards,
Mark M.
This is BS. Just freaking go back to the way it was a day ago…or even how it was over a year ago, and just give us the BV. Screw Beckett, they need to grow up. You, along with Beckett, are going to lose a lot of business because of this.
Yes, the change does rot for those used to looking at book prices, however it’s the market which really dictates the price. If 5 people have the same card for sale at various prices (.40, .66, 75, 1.25, 2), who cares what the book price is really. The card at .40 is the one that is going to sell before the others listed. The only way BV can come into play is when listing or flipping a card which is the only copy on the site, so you would have no BV to base your price off of (unless it’s a card which you sent in, then the BV will be made available). I suppose there is eBay and looking through the completed listings to get an idea of what to list it for. There is also the newly listed option from comc that allows one to see historical sales data on a card (provided it has actually been shipped (not flipped or made not for sale by another person)).
Thanks for your feedback, DeepDiscounts. You found the historical sales data! We will be discussing this more in the near future, and hope that we can continue to develop it as a free solution people are requesting.
Julia:
None of your site’s users got a chance to prep for this sneak introduction of a new policy. Why do we have to wait for this anticipated moment when, “We will be discussing this more in the near future…?”
We never received an opportunity to review, plan and adapt to something new. The cart is definitely way, way, way in front of the horse in this instance.
It is so unlike comc.com to just drop this major bomb without any prior notification. I know there was a video blog in October, 2012, of Tim talking about the Beckett/Book Value issue, but I sure didn’t see or hear any of us being told it would happen at 3:30 p.m. on Tues. July 9, 2012.
I say there was no warning — because there wasn’t.
If comc is going to stand behind the release of this video blog nine (9) months ago as being advance notice, then why isn’t the cost “about $10” with no qualifiers (as was stated in this communication)?
This is such a failed roll-out. A real kick in the you know whats…
As you can tell from the quantity of replies to this blog, your users have serious questions — and know you have the information and won’t tell us for some mystical reason.
Your “…we hear you and share your concerns…” responses mean nothing. We knew having to pay Beckett for the pricing information was inevitable, but the surprise introduction still amazes me. Again, I never expected a bombshell like this from comc.
I agree, the Beckett link on all cards is really bothersome. Also, please explain how to use the historical data. Thx
Beckett pricing is so out of touch with the real world it is ridiculous. If we have to pay how about a service that reflects pricing that is close to what is really going on out there. If Beckett is $25 and you pay $7.50 then the card is worth $7.50. If Beckett reflected true pricing this industry would be done.
Couldn’t agree more. I would pay $40 for a price guide that actually reflects market value. Terapeak is the only service currently that provides this service in the hobby.
Linked my Total Access OPG subscription successfully…. still no prices. ???
BTW, Cleared cache, logged out and back in, tried on a different browser, and finally tried on a different computer. Still nothing despite my subscription being successfully linked and showing up. I’m not worried, as I’m sure you’ll get it straightened out like you always do, but its definitely an issue on your end.
Yep still cant get it to work on anything of mine cant even log on to Firefox web browser also?
Hello Mike,
Thanks for contacting us. I have spoken to our Web Team, and they are currently working to resolve this issue. If you could please send us an email with your User ID, we will investigate this issue, and get it resolved as quickly as possible.
Regards,
Mark M.
Its working now. That was quick! Thanks! Not sure if your team did something or it just takes some time, but I logged out again and back in, and it is now showing book values again.
This change is difficult indeed. The inability to view Beckett Values is a severe impediment to the buying habits of flippers like myself. The lack of BV also makes it much more difficult to navigate the site, as filtering options (Highest BV, Highest Percent Off, and Biggest Discount) have now been rendered irrelevant for those users who do not have a Beckett subscription. Although most users would agree that Beckett Values are NOT a good gauge of a card’s true value, being able to view them is certainly beneficial…more information is always an asset. Having suggested values posted below each card undeniably facilitates sales. Consumers feel more at ease when they have an idea of an item’s value (even the seemingly arbitrary values suggested by Beckett), which makes them more likely to ultimately make a purchase. It would not be surprising if this change had a statistically significant negative effect on overall sales through COMC.
I am a big fan of the idea suggested by Joelshitshow in regard to a “Premium Membership” bundle that includes the rights to all Beckett Values. For example, a $100 per month membership that would include all access BV, plus a higher free storage threshold (such as asking prices of $5.00, up from the $2.50 threshold for the $50/month membership), or some other perk that would make paying for Beckett Values less of a burden to sellers.
It is unfortunate the Beckett has deemed it necessary to pull Beckett values from the site due to perceived lost business. I’m sure the COMC team will come up with some creative solutions as usual to ensure the positive forward progress of the site as a whole.
Excellent post. I could care less about book value but there are many people who still swear by it and make purchases based on it. I think this will negatively affect COMC in the long run and am concerned about sending more inventory in.
Thank you for your feedback, samjams3. You are a valuable part of the conversation.
NYSPORTSFAN:
Here is a suggestion that may help? How about getting rid of the storage fees that total or under $31.00 a month and anything over that will be subjected to the storage fees. Also the buyers who are not members should not BE subjected to subscribe to Beckett that is insane IMO. That will hurt all of us who are trying to sell our cards. This is good site let’s keep that way.
Time to leave your website. The biggest advantage you had was that you showed the book value. Sorry, time to go back to Ebay.
See you there
I just “caved-in” to this extortion and opted to buy the one-month Total-Access OPG subscription for $31.
A pop-up stated I couldn’t cancel or suspend this payment.
The $31 in credit was promptly removed from my account.
And I get NOTHING! What up?
Hello BallCards,
Thanks for contacting us. Our Web Team is currently working to resolve this issue. This should be corrected soon.
Regards,
Mark M.
Can I cancel? Please advise asap
How about you correct the problem of “partnering” with Beckett?
Hello BallCards,
We have isolated the problem. I appears that one final step was missed in getting your account synced up to Beckett. In order to link your account, please follow this link, and you will be able to see the BV on COMC and Beckett: http://www.comc.com/LinkBeckettAccount.aspx?SkipIntro=True
If you need anything further, feel free to email our Customer Service team.
Regards,
Mark M.
If you guys aren’t boosting about how great you are your telling us how exciting paying more fees are… Do you guys honestly think we are this stupid?? O how exciting I can pay too see the price now!!!!!!! What a joke but you will find a way to sugar coat it… Doubt this will even get posted
lol seems to be a trend around this blog doesnt it aaron
Wow!!! You guys at comc are really digging yourself a hole here,no wonder i have been selling my collection off the last few weeks it seems as if it is time to go. It has been a fun ride the last 4 years but fee, after fee, after fee, has got the best of me. Truly a sad day for not only me as a collector and seller but for you a business that could have owned the hobby at some point in the future but you took the other path and lay down
This is the right time to ask: Is there any other “exciting news” we don’t know about…?
Nah, just wait for the surprise bomb they drop on you after they’ve already implemented it.
Why yes, there was a storm in the mid east last night so now we have to charge more fees, hope you all understand -comc
I think Beckett and COMC are in line to lose way more money then they were making before this exciting news. I would encourage COMC to grab Beckett by the zipper before both companies level off and then trend downward. I was about to send my cards to sell but this exciting news will delay that decision because I actually wanted to sell them, offset all the fees, and maybe make a penny or two. COMC you have a great business plan remember that Beckett doesn’t get paid anymore if you fall off the map.
Working now thanks guys!
Its great your helping beckett. But shouldn’t they help you or us?? maybe a COMC special back to older time prices through the site like 4 or 5.00 for a sub. It really sucks i can’t see cards prices for ones i bought or the ones i sent in now.
So what you guys are really saying is that you cannot afford to pay Becketts licensing fee so now we the users have to pay….wicked good news! I only collect hockey so my plan was to send anything non hockey related so I could flip the cards for stuff I need….now you have made me regret my decision to send in my first batch of cards as I certainly do not plan on buying subscriptions to all the different sports when I really only care about hockey.
Really? What a joke………I enjoyed this site more that that I enjoyed not dealing with Beckett, now I have to partner? I don’t ever want to deal with Beckett so now I guess I won’t be dealing with COMC. A couple of years ago this was the greatest site for serious and newcomers to the card world now it is just ruined, what a shame. See ya!!!!!!!!!!!
Do not like!!!
What they are saying as that after going into business with me, a consignor, COMC has decided to make an extreme change that will kill our sales without taking my needs into consideration. Our customers now have to pay a monthly fee to get the only advantage this site had over Ebay.
What upsets me the most is the COMC’s cockiness. They think they can do no wrong. After all, “NO ONE ELSE DOES THIS”. Yeah, no well else treats partners and customers like this.
I have known about this since March of 2011 when i went to beckett at the Industry Summit to see if i can add beckett book values on my new website i was launching and they told me i couldn’t and that when checkoutmycards contract with them is up things would be changing and that they will no longer allow book prices on there site for free.i told a few people at the conference about this and they didn’t believe me that this was true.They went to Tim and he told them that wasn’t true and now today everything has changed.I guess what i told everyone was true. Since 2011 my inventory of $130,000 book value has dropped to $10,000 with only 800 cards for sale, i only send in cards that aren’t on the site yet.Now that i am reading all these post im not sure about sending any in now.
This is the part that upsets me. COMC knew this would be coming…for at least a few months…and they don’t tell us until the day it happens. If we had some fair warning, maybe some of us wouldn’t have submitted more cards or purchased more ports. It is extremely deceiving and makes COMC look very untrustworthy to me.
I am going to hold my tongue till this all gets done. You cats are pre-mature announcers. If there’s good news just tell us already. There was a time I remember that swag cards was on top of every list. You won’t find that today. There’s comments here from some heavy hitters as there was when you announced the higher fees last time. I think we can all agree that if you put a port up for sale (that’s if you can afford the $10 now) joelshitshow will at least send u a offer if not buy it. Buymore is on most list and is a fine supporter of comc. After the last price increase you offered a out for your sellers and I think this should be offered again. I ask that u please stop processing on all my items and refund my processing fees along with sending them cards that are not processed yet back to me at no cost. I will gamble with the ones already listed in hopes that good news is around the corner. This will also be contained in a email 2 you. Thanks for your help. Cardko
I am sure it most of my processing cards I am in my window for a refund. I don’t no if cutting a check is cheaper for you cats or sending the money to PayPal either way is fine with me. I will contuine to support this site if this is fixed otherwise I just can’t. I mean I left Beckett marketplace for a reason. There’s not much difference between you cats now. Basically comc is Beckett marketplace just on a different website. O someone please start another yardsellr.
I find it funny that COMC is ignoring all comments, other than those left by people who have purchased the Beckett service and it still doesn’t even work, what a JOKE !!!
Yep, it’s pretty much their standard M.O. Ive loved the site but it really makes them seem extra shady when they never answer legitimate concerns postedby users on the Comc blog and blowout cards forums but will answer the other things at the same time. Not sure why they can’t actually respond to anyone’s reasonable concerns about their changes. Not sure whether I’ll stop using the site but I’m defiantly starting to question how Comc is going.
I’m glad someone else took notice of that also …..of only of the one’s who purchased Beckett …..
Sorry but Beckett hasn’t been relevant since the early 1990s. The book prices are so far off from market pricing it is almost laughable. Ebay goes back 3 months now which was another nail in the coffin for Beckett.
I plan on staying and selling but between the new site and this I will no longer buy cards here anymore.I bought 4000 cards the last year to flip which averages out to around 11 cards a day but it is just to difficult to flip here anymore…..and thats ok it was a good ride, hopefully sales wont slip too much and I can keep sending cards in and continue selling as I am still a fan of COMC and i can buy cards elsewhere.
Hey, I already pay $9.99 for each hard copy beckett book (baseball, football and basketball). If I scan in my upc code can I get access !!! . Not buying into this scam. IF “and that is a big if” I send additional cards in to the site ,Are you saying the site will no longer provide the book value prior to me pricing the item for sale if I do not subscribe ? Congrats, You made it BIG partnering with Beckett. However, I am sorry to hear that, once again its BIG business trying to increase its profits at the expense of the common man. The more time I spend looking items up, the less time I have to actually find something worth buying.
Hello Joey,
If you submit items to our site, you will be able to see the Book Value of these cards when they are placed into your account. This is built into the processing fee for sending batches into us.
Regards,
Mark M.
All of a sudden Ebay or even local card shows seem much more appealing. I think this gets me ever so closer to the point where I sell everything off and leave the hobby for good sans buying a few PC cards once in a while. Need to save up money to buy a house anyway and maybe burn a few old Beckett magazines in a bonfire. I’d like to sell a lot of my stuff in ports, but someone had to take that great classified port option away we once had!!!!!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you’re digging yourself a hole….
seriously, do you want to lose sales, seller, and customers??
I have been here since the fall of 2010 and have really enjoyed the site. I buy cards for my PC and to flip as well and have also added about 15,000 cards. I was fine with the last fee increase(which I believe is the third one in the time I’ve been here), but then the “promotions” were added with a 3% take on top off $3 per day compared to just $3 on the classifieds along with a ridiculous $10 port sale promo, on top of an incorrect 25% cash out fee, and now this. How can you expect flippers and the regular buyers to use the site if they can’t go off of the norm of using BV to gauge whether or not you are paying a fair price and expect them to pay $9 a month, $31 a month, or $274 a year or whatever the ridiculousness comes out to add up to, all just to use the site correctly. Screw market value, I see this as the single largest mistake COMC has made since I’ve been here. Going to lose a ton of sales and business due to this “exciting news”. Can you say Check Out My Fees? This is probably the straw that broke the camels back for me. I’ll see how this all lands but I’m most likely headed back to Ebay myself since it now really makes more cents to do so.
I said “boo” earlier, and I still feel that way, but for different reasons.
I don’t know why Beckett is even needed. At this point, COMC has sold enough cards and accumulated enough market data to come out with their own price guide. Instead of Beckett BV, why not just be a little transparent and list the average sale price of that particular card?
There will be a period of market correction (no more padding the BV of your port by selling a $10 card for .75 cents) but I would prefer that to no listed price at all. I think the Beckett BV is crap for the most part, but I think people do need some sort of guide here.
But seriously, COMC does not need Beckett. As it’s been said a number of times in this thread, Beckett is about two decades removed from being relevant. I’ve always thought COMC is a much better price guide than Beckett, and COMC could wipe the floor with them if they decide to get into the business of publishing accurate market value of cards. Instead of getting into bed with Beckett, I think COMC has the power/capabilities to make them obsolete once and for all.
^^^^
Yes, agree with this. Enough sales data has been gathered to post an average selling price (don’t add in shipping fees, just go off of raw buy price), this shouldn’t be concealed as eBay users can easily see past sales figures. Then, Beckett prices would no longer be needed, the user can determine what a fair price is. However doing this may jeopardize the grading agreement that comc has with BGS.
Nice comment Smith.
I agree with. COMC can use a spread for average price realized. For example, if a card Sells for $6 and then 2.75. The average realized price would be $6-2.75. Similar to thepit.com pricing. COMC has all the sales data they could use this info to put up a realized price. COMC would then be “live realized price guide.”
Tim review how thepit.com uses their own pricing…something similar may work for COMC.
Unfortunately, the worst thing that happened was from day 1 COMC used Beckett pricing. If thye never used it like ebay, naxcom, etc. we wouldn’t be complaining it was removed today.
Tim, I know you won’t answer this…but, what is Beckett asking to use it’s pricing rights? $10,000-$40,000 a year? Couldn’t you just charger each member a portion $2-10/yearly to cover the cost?
I also, do agree w/ joelshitshow. some type of monthly or yearly subscription maybe a good idea. higher storage fees or X amount of free submissions a year.
COMC fees have gone up, Beckett removed….negative press. What has COMC done positively for it’s loyal sellers? I hope you have something up your sleeve Tim.
I like the idea to list an average selling price. It gets around the licensing issue and gives a price to go by.
I agree. Giving people the choice to get beckett is not good, the playing field needs to be the same for everyone. It’s all or nothing on this one. I do not seeing this working out. Some people who have the money get to see beckett values and the people who don’t get the shaft. You have created to classes.
This is great suggestion. Real sales data is more useful than Beckett’s mythical Book Value data. Beckett is and has always been an industry scourge. If COMC broke ties with them it would be for the best. I’ll come back and look at the site again some day and see if any progress was made towards such an end. Good luck and best wishes to everyone. I enjoyed buying from all of you.
A few thoughts:
1. Screwing over all the flippers. How are flippers supposed to set a fair asking price if they don’t know what the BV is? As people have said, Beckett’s BVs are not accurate anymore, but sales are helped a lot when there is that little red “80% of BV” next to the listing. I’ve bought off of here for years, and I definitely have an easier time buying cards that are marked as a high percentage off of the BV. I recently started to flip a few low valued cards, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that any more.
2. You’re hurting the hobby in more areas than you think. I trade on a couple of different websites, and a lot of traders still use BV as the main way of measuring a card’s worth (unless it is completely obvious that it is off, as it commonly is). I know a lot of us traders used Check Out My Cards to look up BVs of cards. Less people did so after the switch to COMC, but a lot still did so, including myself. Now, to find what Beckett says is the current value, we will be forced to buy a subscription. As a result, we will have less money to help out the local card stores, stimulate the hobby by buying boxes, and what you guys will see as the most important, less money to buy things on COMC. Just a heads up.
3. I’d also like to note that COMC seems to only be responding to the people that have bought Beckett subscriptions and are having issues with it. Just an observation
4. Finally, I’d like to repeat what Phenomenal Smith suggested and say that COMC could easily have their own value system. I know you guys keep track of what cards have sold for, because when I was (trying to) get into flipping, I would see “you bought this card for $0.60” (or whatever the price for that card was) on the price manager page. How hard would it be to add in a little box that says the highest, lowest, and average prices that a certain card has sold for on the site? Wouldn’t be hard at all. If something hasn’t sold on the site before just change the text to say “this card has no previous sale history on COMC” or something like that. An easy fix that would probably satisfy a lot of people.
Hi, everyone, thank you so much for all your feedback. Please know that we do take it to heart and really care about your experience and the future of the hobby. This is a difficult change, but we are trying to stay optimistic. Please know that we don’t plan to stay here, but will continue to listen to you and innovate, so you can enjoy the hobby, and we can be a strategic part of that. Ultimately, our most important partner is you. You are the one we work for and the reason we are devoted to making buying, selling, flipping, and collecting continually safer and easier. There may be areas where our hands are tied, but we won’t let that stop us from continuing to work creatively to give you a good experience.
We want to hear more of your feedback, respond to your comments, answer your questions, and ultimately FIND SOLUTIONS to your buying, selling, and flipping needs. Please submit your questions, either here on the blog, or by sending an email to staff@comc.com with “Discussion with Tim” in the subject line, and Tim will film another video in response shortly.
We appreciate having a close working relationship with you and don’t take it for granted.
Julia-
What do you mean when you say: “Please know that we don’t plan to stay here, but will continue to listen…”? That is the 2nd time I have read the words “we don’t plan to stay here”. What does that actually mean????
Was thinking the same thing. What does that mean, Jules?
By “we don’t plan to stay here” I wonder if she meant that they got locked into a contract with Beckett (that they are starting to regret) and are stuck with this hidden BV thing until their contract is over. She also mentioned that there “areas where our hands are tied,” which is a curious thing for an innovative company to say unless something is technically or legally impossible.
I was quite concerned upon reading this as well. Would love to hear a response from a COMC employee as soon as time permits.
I guess I find it hard to believe that the most important partner is us when the partnership with Beckett seems to make you implement this type of fee structure. I would not be adverse to a small “flipping fee” as an alternative, for instance.
Also, I think it could have been better to pass on Beckett values in their entirety. While they represent a data point, it’s clear to me (and others) that they are not representational of the market. And in addition, the proprietary information on COMC sales should be more valuable and representative than what Beckett produces, IMO.
Hey, guys, I simply meant that we are never stagnant as a company. We listen to our customers, we care about your needs, and we act based on that best we can. For everyone who is frustrated with where we are now, this is not the final destination.
In terms of areas where our hands are tied, I simply mean that since Beckett’s data is not ours to give away, we don’t have free reign what we do with it. Instead, we are grateful for our relationship with Beckett all these years, it is important to us, and it is important for us to find a win-win-win solution: one that works for Beckett, for you, and for us.
We understand that we have gotten too big for us to release so much of Beckett’s information, which is their livelihood. We want them to succeed as a company. We respect their place in the collecting ecosystem. We also understand that our customers appreciate having Beckett BV to make decisions and ultimately want a pulse on the market.
We care about our relationship with Beckett, we care about our relationship with you, and we will do what we can to listen to you and work to meet your buying, selling, and flipping needs.
Wake up….Beckett is playing you. You don’t need them. Post the the the selling prices you have experienced on your site and cut your ties with Beckett
You care about our relationship with us as collectors? Doesn’t seem like it. Whatever profit you gain from charging for beckett you will lose x100 as 99% of flippers will leave the site and many people will no longer send cards in to the site.
Go back to your roots and what made you successful instead of ruining this hobby. You guys were a great thing when you started but are now far worse than ebay.
Julia:
When you say, ” Please know that we do take it to heart and really care about your experience and the future of the hobby,” why was this popped on the site’s users without any advance preparation? Even if you were in negotiation with Beckett and the result was less than desirable, why was there no “fallback” plan?
I think most users are blown away by the sudden implementation of the new policy. Until today, comc has been great at providing prior notification to any policy revisions.
The primarily negative feedback by respondents is indicative of our surprise and shock. And your timing as a company to deliver unpopular news couldn’t be worse with the National coming up in a few weeks.
Well said, BallCards.
I can see how this new fee system benefits Beckett. I can see how this new fee system could benefit COMC. I can’t see how this new fee system benefits the buyers and sellers here.
BallCards, we discussed this change back in October: http://blog.comc.com/2012/10/01/come-see-the-new-comc/. We will work to improve our communication and to get the word out on important issues. We still want to discuss changes and work to find solutions together. Tim will be weighing in shortly as well.
We understand Beckett’s position on charging for their data, which is their livelihood. It is not ours to give away, but we are grateful for our partnership with Beckett to be able to provide their data through COMC for a cost as it is a valuable resource.
I already had a Becket total access online subscription, however, I agree with the majority of people posting: these big changes (especially the most recent ones) are going to be your undoing. It’s sad, but at this point I am truly making a larger profit margin off of ebay (and trust me, I’m not making a retirement nest egg with my profit margin there). However, at this site, after doing the math, I see no way I can make close to what I do at ebay. That is SAD. I am a guy who said he would never ever sell on ebay, but the last half year’s changes here have forced me to explore ebay. I have a gross sales amount each month on ebay that equals my total sales here since November 2012, with a recent higher profit margin to boot. Think about how sad that really is!!! You may get rich short term, but long term your “stock market is going to crash”, I fear.
Will Mark, Julia, Tim or someone at COMC please answer my question posted earlier today? When I click on Inventory Manager, it’s not showing the Beckett Value of cards I’m selling. Are saying you will show the Beckett Value only at original submission, but not again when we want to adjust sales prices? That can’t be right. Thanks in advance for clarifying for all of us sellers.
Lon, follow the link they posted above on this blog. It corrected my issue with the same thing you were experiencing.
I don’t have a Beckett account, so that link doesn’t help. If I can see Beckett Values when I originally price a card, why can’t I see it when I want to reprice a card? Will Mark, Julia, Tim or someone at COMC please answer my question? Thanks.
This blog states:
“Consignors
Finally, to all our consignors don’t worry. You still have the ability to see Beckett book values for items you submitted to COMC as it’s built into the cost of our processing services.”
I see they fixed this overnight. Disregard. Thanks.
I’ve noticed the same trend as arodforpres, less at a higher cost while throwing around the term growth quite haphazardly. In this case you are removing a service without readjusting any of your fees for sellers, that’s my issue with this move.
I actually find beckett pricing to be fairly inept and the subs themselves to be overpriced these days. They are very slow when adjusting prices for relevant players (such as kaepernick or russell wilson last year) so I find their pricing to be nothing more than a convenience.
With all that said I find this present trend to be quite alarming, the cash out fee here is already immense, the features that balanced that out are slowly declining. The last few months of announcements have made me pump the brakes on sending in a shipment that would exponentially increase my inventory for football season.
It’s also great that you guys are interested in growing your brand, this could be a great site, but since you’ve been going off the rails with the word growth it seems the only things that are growing is your profit margin and the bs laced corporate speak.
Based on the responses that I have seen from some of the biggest sellers on COMC, the “Growth” will quickly come to a stop. I read the response from Julie, saying that they are working to improve, and I would like clarification as to where and when this improvement was made? This particular thread was started by “Great News!!!”, a very pathetic attempt at putting a positive spin on a bad situation. Rather than coming to the COMC community and notifying us of the change, the corporate folks decided that it would be easier to put the wool over our eyes and see if they can get away with it. I have been in this hobby for a very long time, and one thing I know is that the bigger the companies in this industry get the more they are destined to fail. Beckett can be one of the primary examples, they are trying to flex their muscle and charge people $9 per month for a dated price guide, while they are down to 2 or 3 employees in their entire pricing department. I like the concept of the COMC system, and I have sent them several thousand cards and they have made a good chunk of change off my submissions, however the latest changes are going to steer me away from their service, and many others will follow. At this rate they will not longer be too big to afford Beckett services, and maybe it will once more become free to all………….
Hi, arod4president, we strive to not only communicate to our customers but WITH our customers. When we fall short, we work to improve communication and find ways to fill the gaps. We have been listening to feedback since we announced in October the news that BV would be for sale. We would love to discuss this further with everyone. Tim will be making an announcement soon with additional developments.
Its funny how Rich Klein who use to work for beckett who now works for Sportscollectorsdaily wrote an article about how COMC is doing and all the good things but left out the pros & cons about selling or buying on COMC. one is by the time you sell your card COMC has gotten 44% of your money with all the fees.The other was the buyer still is paying the $ .25 for each card they buy plus $3.00 for shipping.He left out alot of the things in his article. He hasn’t made a comment about this issue with us having to pay to see the book price or anything. i wonder how many people will be selling everything off this week cause of this issue.i was getting ready to send in 500 cards at the 1 week service which will now end up on ebay and collectors revolution
It’s interesting that in all the recent marketing – which has been crisp, clean and professionally put together – COMC has ignored the actually greatest aspect of the business: flipping cards. While buying and selling cards is something numerous other sites offer, I don’t believe anybody else offers such an ability to buy a card and instantaneously put it up for sale. It’s fantastic and what truly separates COMC.
So let’s be honest: this new Beckett subscription fee is a direct shot at flippers. While Beckett prices are built into the consignment fee, there has apparently been nothing in the fee structure for flippers to contribute.
This solution, however, seems short sighted. A dramatic change such as this, announced without any prior notification, has obviously hit a nerve and I believe many people here will reduce, if not eliminate, using this site.
As a flipper, I would have loved to have contributed to the discussion. I, for one, would not let a five cent or ten cent fee (maybe higher) per flip dissuade me from flipping cards here. But there’s no way with my limited activity that I’ll pay for a Beckett subscription.
That’s what makes this whole thing so confusing (to say the least): this fee works in opposition with COMC’s greatest, and most unique, aspect – flipping. And as it drives away flippers, the entire COMC market suffers.
I’m a 30-something-year-old who has a small collection and has found selling both here and on eBay to be a fun hobby. My plan included never having a huge portfolio here (for the simple fact that I don’t have time for a huge port), but flipping cards, having fun and hopefully increasing my store credit to get more cards. Rinse and repeat.
Now, I’m very likely to sell what I’ve got and leave. I’m sure I’m not unlike many others here: somebody with some discretionary funds hearkening back to childhood by diving into cards. I’m pretty sure I fall neatly into a demographic that most companies, COMC and eBay included, target – I’ve got some money and I’m willing to spend it (I think there was an article somewhere, the Motley Fool, Sports Collectors Daily or some such site that highlighted this very demographic’s potential to fuel a hobby).
Anyway, a decision such as this certainly pushes me elsewhere. If flippers aren’t welcome here, then I’ll find another way to spend my money on cards.
This is great feedback. I would love to hear more about the flipper’s experience: what has made COMC a great place for flippers and what you depend on, so we can continue to cultivate an environment for flipping.
Well said. I am in the exact same boat you are. I enjoyed the flipping to make it fun and help pick up some pc cards. COMC has an awesome concept but frankly if it becomes too difficult to flip cards i might just use my little money i spend on collectibles on ebay where there is a much larger selection of my pc items and not bother selling. Or like you i might just find something else completely to spend my money on. That is the real shame if COMC suffers as a result of all these changes (not just the BV but the fee increases, etc). I guess we will see what happens.
I thought nobody used Beckett pricing anyway? I thought the almighty Ebay (haven’t sold there in 6 years) was the basis for all pricing? That is what many on the forums have stated… So who cares if Beckett pricing isn’t free here? It isn’t free on any other site either…INCLUDING BECKETT!
I think including Beckett values was a nice feature for COMC, particularly for flippers. Any pricing information, whether Beckett, eBay, COMC sales or whatever, can serve as useful peripheral information when making a sale or purchase, with whatever grain of salt you want to take it with.
I’d say, based on the responses, that users have appreciated the Beckett values only at the free level, or perhaps if the information were available for a (very) small fee. Otherwise, we’d all already be subscribers to Beckett.
And for COMC users such as myself, who don’t have huge portfolios with tons of turnover, access to Beckett values at this price point is prohibitive. I’m fairly new, but I don’t see myself surpassing one sale or purchase a day – which is just about what I’d like to be doing. There is no way I’d be able to foot the bill for Beckett values as presented.
While I agree with you, the playing field for flippers must still be fair. One guy gets BV the other guy doesn’t. That’s just not right.
COMC doesn’t need to license the Beckett data for the prices, they need Beckett for the checklists. That’s how they list cards so fast. I wouldn’t expect this “partnership” to split anytime soon.
Although according to Tim in the October video, at the time COMC had 1.5 million of the possible 6 million different cards in existence. At some point, those checklist needs will diminish significantly, if not totally.
Hello Folks,
Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. At this time, Tim is preparing a video that will be discussing our new market data feature as well talking a bit more about the Beckett Subscriptions.
Just so we are all on the same page, the primary reason we have been responding quickly to the initial queries from users who have purchased the subscription is to make sure that they are receiving the product that they have paid for. This new feature has been a tremendous undertaking and we are trying to make sure that its integration is as smooth as possible.
We are not ignoring any of you, and we are trying to get as much information out to you as we can and as quickly as we can. Please be on the lookout for Tim’s upcoming video, and if you need any specific assistance with the new feature, please email our Customer Service Team. Have a wonderful rest of you evening, COMC Nation.
Regards,
Mark M.
I am so glad I got out of COMC awhile back, all these so called growth changes are gonna be the end of the site. Its too bad really, it had a lot of potential.
If the Beckett price is $31 for the all inclusive package, doesn’t this mean the actual price we should be paying is around 3 bucks, since most things are sold for 90% off book anyway!
This would be a great time to step up and create your own pricing date. Beckett is so worthless, fifty percent of items , they do not even give a price. You have photos, something Beckett refuses to do and relies on customers to do it. Most sets now are not even priced in Beckett. A great opportunity for COMC to really take a lead and give the customer a Price Guide that is useful.
I get way more return from ebay. Decided to give this a go, but now I still have to use eBay to get current card values. I am going straight back to evil eBay with it’s higher customer count, more exposure and cheaper(!!) fees. Thanks and good luck with your endeavors.
Hello,
I’ve read these comments all day today and have thought long and hard about if or what I want to comment on this topic. So here it goes.
I’ve pretty new to this site as I joined back in March. In April I was one of the top 5 buyers and bought over $35,000 in BV. Since then I’ve enjoyed flipping cards on this site and am active throughout the day and night as it is quite fun.
Since i’ve joined there have been a lot of negative changes. I have only shipped like 3 cards to myself and have been primarily a flipper. In May, $15,000 of my BV was removed and those items were placed in items without bv. As of 2 days ago, they finally have gotten there book value back and my portfolio’s BV was restored. Yesterday BV goes away.
I have done 1 port sale on this site and just put another up. I paid the 10$ + $5 for a classified ad, since the recent change when port sales were removed from classifieds to prevent double spending, it achieved the opposite. Now, I can’t make any comments on a port sale unless I do both, which is the opposite effect. I can deal with that though. I really just want to break even and lose my 20% cash out fee and call it a day at this point.
I got a question / suggestion about this topic and hope to get a response.
If a consigner ships a card in and pays the processing fee. The BV is then part of that fee correct? If that is the case and the consigner sells the card to flipper, why is the BV removed from the card? Shouldn’t the BV follow the card as it was paid for already? I mean the consigner loses the card and hence loses the BV for that card as well, so why doesn’t the new owner get the card + the BV since it was already paid for? It wouldn’t be the same as it was, but if I bought a card and now the BV appears, it would help me reprice that card to flip it. The scan follows the card and that part of the processing fee, why wouldn’t the BV follow the card? I think that would be reasonable.
I also would think that if I didn’t want Beckett’s services for their site, items like the organizer etc. and just wanted the BV on COMC it should be at a discounted rate. I don’t understand why it is full price and extra services are being forced upon the users of this site. I don’t want beckett.com services as it was too pricey and not worthwhile, but if I just want to have what I had a few days ago on this site, I feel that it should be discounted.
Just some thoughts. If the BV followed the card, I think it would be a win win win. Currently its not a win for the users of this site, just comc and beckett, as this is a double fee. 1 for comc processing (which includes BV) and again for BV directly. I don’t like paying fees once, but i won’t pay fee’s twice.
I hope this gets resolved as this has been a fun experience and i enjoy this site very much, but at this point I just really want to take what I put into it -20% cash out fee and move on.
Thanks for reading.
This is a joke. COMC is turning into an awful money sucking business.
Fees on top of Fees thats making it not even worth it to send anything in.
You guys are ruining your rep.
I bought cards only once from here, and i guess it was the last time too. If i can’t see the BV and the price next to each other for free why would i prefer this store over ebay???
After reading 98 replies on the New Beckett Pricing I have this to say. We know COMC has a valued relationship with Beckett. We know we have been getting Beckett pricing as a service (for cards only listed for sale on COMC-Not free because we have paid fees, submission or storage). We know COMC has to pay Beckett. Reasonable people understand COMC either has to charge something for this or Beckett’s ego has to bend some.
The big sellers on COMC seem to understand! I applaud them! And they probably already pay for Beckett online. The smaller sellers and flippers are going to get hurt badly. We obviously understand there is a cost of doing business because we pay submission fees, storage fees, advertising fees (upwards toward $120.00 a month) and commission fees!!
There was a uniqueness to COMC and now that seems lost and all these comments support the discontent. I hope COMC doesn’t just figure we’ll get used to it or we’ll get over it. I think there has been a great deal of damage done today.
Beckett pricing is a guide only but is useful to some but not to all. I actually was considering buying it until I was being forced to today. It taste really bad right now. I feel Beckett has a great deal to do with shrunken hobby with too their too many hands in the fire!! And their grading is considered a notch or two down already!!
It’s decision time- do I want to send more cards in?
Yeah, lets all wait anxiously for the suspense of Tim’s big video announcement saying why the change was necessary, where COMC is heading (down the crapper), and then offer some other promotion or mention of a new feature that benefits everyone to deflect the negative posts etc and make a few people forget about how this site was ruined yesterday. You guys can say what you want about Beckett not being relevant anymore but this one single item helped drive sales more than any other on here. What about the new collectors just coming to the site, or the parents hunting cards for their children, the average card collector needs BV to get an idea of what they are paying for. There will be a huge decline in sales here which doesn’t help anyone.
I was as frustrated as anyone by the deletion of Beckett prices until I saw a comment about the addition of Market values. I have requested for years that this information be added. It would go a long way to offsetting the loss of Beckett. However, when I went to use it, I find that I have to “earn” the right to access this information. That is just about the last straw for me. If all the fees I have paid since 2008 are not sufficient, then I am done.
For my particular interests and the way I use your site, almost every change in the past year has been a negative. I was so excited to read about the Market value data only to find you are setting up to charge for that, too. This information needs to be made readily available to buyers and sellers to at least partially offset removing Beckett.
I will be reading this post chatter much more closely, as I feel this may be a turning point in value added services that made COMC a cut above mostly all other sales sites. Without any comc support in recognizing the BV, many that simply can’t afford or object to paying for BBV (beckett bv)
will make necessary adjustments accordingly.
I don’t suggest beckett earn $0 for their proprietary services, however I do expect comc to react to user behavior should they recognize user traffic decline. React in a way that could subsidize valued Buyers and Sellers for their buying/seling volume and activities.
Another point that I have made in the past, is the very, very important information this web site has; the actual selling values on comc.com. With all the sales on so many cards everyday, COMC could actually create it’s own proprietary card value library. There is enough data over the past 10 million card sales to provide an internal sales history, lowest to highest, or any median range that agrees to make the most desired sense, A TRUE sales report that would really bring the user traffic up.
COMC.com could and should take “Card Value Services” very seriously and capitalize on it. They too can be in the subscription business that we all can afford and value.
In closing and the way it sits today, the only winner here is Beckett Publications. Making grand advances in card collecting for fun and profit is COMC, however too many fee’s may further drive down the growth track that they have enjoyed to date.
Comc decided to announce (on the blowoutcard forums) that they were going to announce historical data and a lot of people thought it was horrible. I liked the idea, but many people thought it would diminish sales.
Well to add my two cents.. I’m going to give Comc the benefit of the doubt and say they were probably either forced to do this by Beckett or whatever cost they were paying became too much to reasonably carry free of charge, and this isn’t just a money grab. That’s fine. What rubs me and I think a lot of people the wrong way are two things.. 1. It would be one thing if Beckett were even remotely reasonably priced.. $4/sport/month or /$10 for all sports.. something like that.. As it is Beckett prices are outrageous, and it’s why I gave up the susbscription I had with them a long long time ago.. If it costs my $280/year or whatever for pricing.. at %10 profit per flip.. I have to turnover $3000/yr of cards or so after expenses just to break even.. for something I WAS getting free. It’s just not feasible – most people here don’t do that kind of volume. 2. Trying portray this as some kind of added benefit or bonus you’re giving us is just plain insulting. Never tell your customer they’re “lucky” to have the “opportunity” to pay more money for something they were getting for free.. unless they’re an idiot they’re just going to be offended. I would have much preferred something along the lines of “Guys, we apologize, we’re so sorry, but we just can’t carry Beckett pricing free anymore.. you’ll either have to subscribe to their service or to cover licensing costs we’ll have to charge a premium membership fee, until we get a better option.” – or something like that. As for myself.. I plan to spend my remaining credit.. get the cards I do have shipped.. and pretty much call it a day.. I’m not paying Beckett pricing.. and it’s a mega-pain to have to look every cards up manually in my books.
You say let the market decide??? But you never release info on previous sales of items. If that information was available, this wouldn’t be such a big hit to sellers. But without it, the only true info out there is on EBay. So, since they ARE providing that info, that is where I will sell.
HOW DO YOU EXPECT BECKETT TO KEEP UP? There site is slow already. When will all this end? There’s new features and stuff once a week, are you guys ever satisfied with your site? Every 5 minutes there’s something new for a seller to check on or deal with, it just never ends. There’s no time to sell cards as a seller, we are forced to call or write in blogs because you cats keep changing things. You all need to go on vacation for a month and leave us alone. We finally get settled in after a fee hike back in October, you can’t even wait a year to nail us again. I just can’t take it anymore, i’m so sick of bending over and taking it. There’s lots of great stuff on COMC and it seems its going away slowly. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT I AM NOT ABLE TO AFFORD TO SELL ON COMC ANYMORE. I think others have the same issue. Its not that I don’t want to sell here, I enjoy it. I just can’t afford it. Please give your sellers a way out. Sellers should not have to take the hit on changes that are made by others. We send in cards with the thought that this is how it is, then you change the game. I for one thing the announcement should have been made with a 3 month warning so those who don’t want to follow you down this path, had time to sell there items, and not send in more cards. You guys do a good job here and I think you have a great business but like I said i’m just not able to afford it otherwise I would hang around. Please comment on if there will be a out for sellers or if this will be handled on a case by case basis. I think adding a tab in the refund section would be nice, with this big change. to help support my idea I have a example for you.
We all no Ebay so i’ll use them. If I list something on ebay and my fees are $.25 to list it. It would not be good business to increase those fees half way through my 7 day listing, then tell me i’m stuck paying them if I want to sell on there site the same way I did in the past. Now this would be different if it happened when I started my listing, but this is not the case with the new fees. Now please don’t say no one is forcing you to buy the beckett pricing, because I already bought it when I hit the buy button when I purchased some of the cards in my inventory. The cards already on site should keep there book value, cards that where summited prior to 7/9/2013 should also keep book value, no matter if there flipped 500 times. This is only fair and more importantly honest.
I agree that Sellers should be given a way out if they are not happy. Offer a one time flat fee to ship ALL of their items back to them. I am on the fence on whether I would take it or not but I would appreciate the opportunity to consider it. I have been unsatisfied with several recent issues.
I say ALL items as it would be unfair to allow Sellers to pull some items yet take advantage of your site for others. I would offer a one time, take it or leave it offer.
I feel like my cards are held hostage by COMC and i need to pay a “RANSOM” to get them back. if i leave the cards with COMC eventually the storage fees will eat the value and i end up with NOTHING. I dont want to use the site but forced to now or lose $10,000 in cards. I have bad timing. just sent the cards in last month and in a few days another batch will be live. what a waste of time,money and cards. I had NO CHANCE to even make money on COMC, heck, my next batch doesnt have a chance. everyone bailing will drive prices down down and down.
Agree. I sent in a shipment a week or two ago and had no idea this would happen. Now I’m considering whether I want my cards back or not. And there is no way to get them back easily.
I wish they would address the issues here as they are ignoring everyone except the people praising them.
Sounds a bit like topps…
The market values/history has a good chance to help offset some of the loss of the Beckett BV. But the History Points concept is a horrible, horrible idea. When we’re already paying service fees as customers, why should we have to do more work just to be able to see the information about what sold in the past on the site we’re paying fees to? That info should just be part of the COMC service. Please, please, please listen and do not go through with the earning of history points idea. I don’t have time nor do I want to answer questions and have to do more just to be able to see the past sold history for one card. Some days, I look at hundreds of cards…how are there enough hours in the day to spend time earning points and then look up the cards. Awful, Awful idea.
It’s 2013, Beckett and “book value” are as relevant as Laser Discs. Beckett is the one gaining here, no one else. And so unless COMC is making a decent amount on the back-end opening up your user-base (which is growing or grown beyond Beckett) to a third-party doesn’t make sense. Beckett needs sites like COMC to help then appear important. They aren’t. They served their purpose over the years, but in this modern world, their archaic pricing model is done.
couldn’t just leave things alone huh? Sad, disappointed and moving out!
The only flipping that’s going to happen now is people flipping comc the bird !!!!!!!!!!!
I know your paying for Beckett fee’s . But what are the fees? I would rather see a last sale BV from your site or a way for us as buyers and sellers to post links of other sales of said items if found to you to update prices or allow us to correct them. It would make it more of a live price guide that beckett doesn’t offer. I’m also still waiting for the trade card option . I think all the buyers flippers sellers etc could go with a COMC BV system That data is given to you from the buyers and sellers. If these are older cards with no sales then we find the last sale either on the site or have an N/A BV on it until it moves on COMC or somewhere else.
I’ve asked for this a million times just like half.com does. When you list a book for sale it shows the last price sold and the average price sold. Why can’t COMC do this for the seller? Most of us already have a subscription to beckett, so I can always look up those bvs if needed. I want to see what the cards are selling for.
It’s getting harder and harder to be a seller on this site. Less and less cards of mine have been selling due to the fees I have to put out at first, then the storage fees, so I have to up the cost of the card a little, but more people are selling off their cards in Ports which means those buyers can offer those cards so much lower in price that I can’t move my greatly priced cards anymore. I just added more cards last night and I completely regret it now. I wish I hadn’t until all of my other cards had sold. It’s a rough go right now with this. Fees, Fees, Fees, Fees….
I am accepting offers. I need these cards gone. Send away.
Hi. I was just about to start getting serious in this site but won’t now. What are some good alternatives aside from eBay? Thanks.
As a former top 15 seller, COMC has been really good to me over the last 3 years. Unfortunately, with all these higher and additional fees, I cannot see myself sending in thousands of cards anymore. I may use The Vault in the future but $.25 listing fees, shipping fees, Beckett fees, storage fees, etc. fees, I cannot continue to pay for the regular service. Thank you for everything….
To me, it doesn’t matter whether I buy the OPG or not (which I won’t). What matters in the end is what the casual buyers will see. Now that they do not see their perceived savings or an estimated book value, a lot of value that selling on this site once held is beginning to dwindle. I have already slowly started back up with lower end eBay listings, and this will surely increase them even more. I’m very disappointed about this announcement.
Google “yardsellr.com” The NOW closed site had experienced HUGE growth faster then COMC in 2011 with a huge following on facebook. NOW IT IS OUT OF BUSINESS because of changes,fees and forgetting the people that got yardsellr started, THE USERS. COMC, this is not wallstreet, YOU are NOT TO BIG TO FAIL. AGAIN, GOOGLE “yardsellr.com” sad ending.
I have a question about history points
it says that you will get 1 history point per .10$ of store credit purchased, but if you use up your history points then you won’t get a 100% refund. so, if i put 10$ of store credit in and use the 100 history points up and find nothing i want to purchase and want a refund. how much will i get back?
since history points now how a value can you please make it something other than the price of the card that instantly spends the history point. I used to click the price to go to the cards listed and have already wasted roughly 30 history points by mistake.
I’m fairly new to buying/selling/flipping here, so I didn’t see the October video until now. And while it’s true that it served as a “heads-up” of sorts, if that’s the only thing COMC can point to they did not do their job. It’s easy and appreciated to keep buyers, sellers and flippers in the loop, and a shift in policy such as this should have garnered at least a few notices in advance (one month, at least, with perhaps another reminder or two).
Furthermore, it’s rather peculiar that Beckett values are “built in” to the consignment fee, but now there is the Beckett fee that overlaps this. Will those buyers/sellers/flippers who subscribe to Beckett see a reduced consignment fee, so they can avoid double charges of this?
And will those buyers/sellers/flippers who have subscribed to Beckett through their time here see a refund of the portion of consignment fees that had Beckett values “built in,” but ended up being free in other situations (such as flipping)? (I haven’t been, nor will I be a Beckett subscriber – but as constituted, it has not been fair, nor will it be fair, for Beckett subscribers in these two ways)
Finally, as noted, the “built in” fee for consignors is included, which can be as low as 25 cents per card. Yet purchasing a Beckett value for an individual card is 50 cents. Why isn’t the purchase point for an individual card’s Beckett value the same as that part of the consignment fee dedicated to the same thing?
Good point on the “built in” consignors fees. I didn’t think about that, but now I’m upset over that. The fees have been going up and up on here for so many of the services. If COMC is double dipping, they need to let us all know now. They get the $0.25 consignor fee, and the buyer also pays $0.25 per card bought- so they have $0.50 now for that card that sells. Then they charge the $3 flat fee for shipping. Then if we want to ‘cash out’ its about 16-20% fee on there. Their whole idea was to be safer and cheaper than ebay, but I’m a power seller on ebay so it’s free to list on ebay, %15 of the final sell price and the paypal fees- but I can make up a little of that on the s/h charges where I’m not losing that much money in the long run like I am now here. Its getting frustrating!!!!!
I’m disappointed that my comment was not added.
I feel sellers who have pending inventory that is currently being processed should have the option of that processing to be stopped and those cards shipped back at no charge.
Thoughts, COMC?
Me to.
I have appreciated the transparency on COMC for the Beckett pricing up until now. For instance, on a 2010 Topps Prime Rookie Auto of CJ Spiller in my inventory, it has a Beckett price range (I won’t divulge it) with an associated date, in this case it is “as of 12/15/2010.”
So my question about Beckett is: what am I getting from a subscription? Data, in some cases, that may be two and a half years old? I am expected to pay for that service?
I chuckled when I first saw that data, and while it may be the exception rather than the rule, it’s even funnier now in a sad way.
So many people that constantly threaten to leave everytime there is a change… COMC told you this was coming months ago… NOBODY has Beckett pricing for free.. not even Beckett.. I paid $250 a month for nearly 8 years to be on the Beckett Marketplace and have access to their pricing and inventory tools. So to you guys leaving…good luck on Ebay or wherever you go… none of those places have Beckett pricing either!
One thing the other places did was not center its platform on beckett pricing. so sellers could plan on what type of selling practices work. COMC basically is beckett pricing . I left “buying: 3 years ago, now i wish i could leave as a “seller” but the COST TO STOP is nasty. Atleast with Scumbay, etc i can leave at MY OWN WILL, COMC has my cards hostage. can’t leave that easy.
Tony, I don’t think its the whole Beckett issue, it’s more of the reference point as to where cards should be listed. On ebay, you can see what the cards have sold for in the past. Beckett on here gave sells and buyers an idea of what was working. Remember most people don’t buy cards to resell- they buy to collect them. So the BVs helped to keep a good eye on what price range a card should be in. COMC I believe should put in a “Past Sold Price” instead of BVs from Beckett.
I guess I sent more cards in because I was told this in October of last year. I guess I thought the problem was resolved and this was not going to happen. I little heads up would have been nice or a reminder that this was taking place in July of the next year. Tim said in his video it would be free for another week now its months later and hes taking it away. I thought this was under the rug one of the main reasons I returned to COMC.
This is a sad, dark day for the hobby collector, trader, seller, and buyer. It is a great day for a corporation who feels the need to destroy the market with their inflated, out of date, and insufferable price evaluations. I believe that is the narrative of the last 20 years of the country. The rich get richer, the poor are victimized as taxes, fees, and benefits go away because someone wants to make more money.
Having BV available for free made your company and website unique. Now you are no longer unique, and therefor you are no longer an asset to my small business. I didn’t buy Beckett because I used your service (Which is why Beckett is calling foul). This isn’t going to force me to buy Beckett memberships though. This just makes me angry, and gives me ambition to go use eBay’s FREE “Sold Listings” over the last 90 days to see exactly what the market value of a card is. You know, because it’s FREE. I’m not asking for a hand-out, but taking a feature that was free yesterday and decided to charge for it overnight is unprofessional. Consumers remember companies that are unprofessional, and those companies go out of business.
You are not growing your own brand by doing this. You are digging your own grave. While I do not hope you go out of business, I hope you lose business to realize how significant this was to your overall sales and attraction to the average buyer and seller. The only way to affect a companys direction is to affect their profits. Greed will only get you so far. As the divide between the rich and poor, and small business and corporations continue to grow, so will the animosity between the groups.
Freud once said “We learn from our greatest mistakes, which allow us to see the error of our ways and we become better because of them.” He was on copious amounts of cocaine, but, his point is still valid.
When i first came aboard here a few years back, I knew that this was probably not a long term thing. What I have learned is that nothing stays the same. If you look back at any of my old posts, I never ever complain about price hikes or fees. I run two relatively successful businesses so I understand the business aspect of it. When I joined Checkout, it was an easy and fun site and I enjoyed it tremendously. It is now a chore. I have never threatened to leave and this is not a threat either .COMC knows what they are doing and I am sure they will be just fine, though every change that has been made I feel has been tough for me to prosper.
First change—– the vintage grading debacle.. Some batches everything gets through some almost every card gets downgraded we are basically at the mercy of which processor we get. This change has been a colossal disaster.
Second—- declining cards at submission
Third——The new site…Nothing more needs said
Fourth—-Loss of book value.
Yea every once in awhile a small idea(vault,redemption)goes over well but lets face it they are small potatoes and mostly irrelevant.
Even the higher-ups at COMC probably realize that COMC is not what it once was and has lost alot of its luster.
To all that are angry about changes ,i understand but I am thinking that COMC is more of a short term place than long term and that is fine.They seem to be prospering and I plan to continue to sell here its just all but impossible to flip here and I have accepted that and wont give it another thought
Could you please provide options for liquidating our inventory for those of us who may decide to no longer sell on your site?
Couple of thoughts on the situation. I understand the frustration that many of you are experiencing as something that was free was taken away. I’m pretty sure that everyone knew this was coming as from the blog posts I’d seen anyways, it was pretty clear that having Beckett values available was going away at some point as Beckett didn’t want their primary service given away on a competing website. This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.
Personally I’m surprised about how many folks on here that make are in the business of buying/selling/flipping sportscards don’t have an online Beckett pricing subscription already as it’s the industry standard whether folks here like it or not. I think it’s cool of Beckett to even allow existing subscribers to be able to use their subscription on a competing e-commerce site, as I’m fairly confident they didn’t have to.
I consider Tim Getsch a good friend and I’m standing up for him here not just because of our friendship, but because he is a visionary who has built a mousetrap here unlike any other. Everybody compares this site to EBAY and COMC even promotes their advantages over EBAY, but in reality COMC has no competition in this vertical for what they do. Think about it, in this copycat industry of ours which is short on innovation and heavy on duplication, NOBODY has tried to replicate COMC after six years. There are a multitude of reasons for this but the two biggest ones are that nobody else wants to build a physical/technological infrastructure that could support this type of enterprise, and nobody else has been able to talk Beckett Media into leasing their database, never mind affording it. By the way it’s $10,000 a MONTH for anyone that has an interest.
I’m with Tim on this, going away from Beckett is the wrong call here, He’s the one person who’s been able to tap into their database outside of the Beckett walls and that’s given him a HUGE advantage in the market to do things as seamlessly as possible. When their relationship first started I don’t believe that either side looked at the ramifications of people using COMC as a price guide with Beckett values. As a businessman myself, I know that if my main proprietary resource was being given away for free, I’d be looking to fix that as soon as the current contract ran out, and that’s exactly what they did. Tim and his company had a choice, notified it’s members, and moved forward.
Every big portal in this industry is in it to make money and hopefully giver their consumers a positive experience which allows them to grow. People keep mentioning EBAY, and I even heard free listings thrown around. Last time I checked they DOUBLED the insertion fees and made huge scans mandatory in order to sell. EBAY’s selection is dwindling as they keep making it more and more difficult/expensive to do business on any kind of scale there.
Every company in this business that allows you to sell merchandise has advantages and disadvantages to a given user. COMC may have the biggest competitive advantage of all as it’s labor free for the seller, and that’s why the majority of you are here, and contrary to what I hear above, you’ll still be here. Fees are a part of doing business in this industry, it’s just the way in which they are levied are different. No company deserves a higher fee structure than COMC as no company gives you a better complete solution for selling your cards. I sell else where and I’m well aware of the costs of selling cards and the labor that’s involved to do it right. Each and everyone of us that are members here have an amazing team of “employees” that scan cards, do marketing, intersort cards, pull cards, identify cards, handle customer service, protect our cards, package cards, and we have a tech department that’s second to none. That all costs money, LOTS of money, hence the fees which IMO were far to low to begin with knowing what these above services cost me. How many of you lease a 27,000 square foot facility with 55 employees and the benefits that go along with them? Running COMC is VERY expensive and in order to do it right, their will be fees that meet the service and make them hopefully profitable. If value is seen by the user, they will stay, if not they will look elsewhere.
I’m about done with the rant, but at then end of the day The Beckett Pricing issue is a dollar a day for the complete subscription to millions of unique items that we have the ability to buy and sell here and on Amazon. As someone who does this for a living, it’s the best deal in town, especially when someone else is doing all the work. And by the way, I see having this information as a true competitive advantage on this site going forward.
I know this post won’t be popular, but it’s just the reality of selling cards in 2013. We either make the adjustments or we don’t.
Spoken like a true “company man”. Thank you, but I’m not drinking tour kool aid.
Things on Beckett still rocking?
This makes total sense – for the big sellers who sell collectibles for a living, $1 a day is a deal. For those of us who are in this as a hobby and are flipping, it’s very likely $1 a day is absolutely unfeasible.
And running any business is expensive, and decisions such as this have to be made. I understand that. I’m sure you and Tim both also understand there can be predictable or unforeseen ramifications, such as the potential for pushing out flippers such as myself with the new price structure, thus diminishing the number of buyers and sales volume in the market.
Will it be enough flippers leaving to make in impact on your bottom line, as well as COMC? We’ll see.
That’s the adjustment I’ll make; to move on. But nobody in this business is immune from making adjustments – perhaps it’s Beckett’s turn to step up and make one.
Broder he is one of the Biggest cheerleaders Beckett has ever had…..
I wonder what’s next…
It’s clear from this discussion that COMC highly values its relationship with Beckett, which I completely understand. But if the complaints here are more wide spread than from a vocal minority, the new Beckett fees will likely have a negative impact for COMC and its users.
I’m very interested to see if Beckett will step in to help out COMC, if this comes to fruition, and how much Beckett values the relationship.
According to its website, Beckett started in 1984 and besides from pricing guides also has interests in fantasy sports (partnerships with NBC Sports/Rotoworld), offers grading services, provides an online marketplace for collectables, autograph services and more. The company has been around for a while, diversified and certainly appears to be very well established.
Yes, pricing guides are part of the “livelihood” at Beckett, but not the entire livelihood.
I hope that if the waves created here are even close to as big as they seem, Beckett can step in and help find some middle ground. The fee structure went from one extreme (free) to the other (Beckett prices), and for a certain population here, that’s just untenable.
To all those accusing COMC of changing this “overnight”…. the TRUTH is…the change was announced months ago. How many of you sent in cards after that announcement was posted? If the answer is 1 or more…you have nobody to cry to but yourselves.
I think people meant more of a concrete date rather than a vague this will change in a matter of months not to split hairs. Technology doesn’t always keep to deadlines, and I don’t blame comc for that. I have worked in IT infrastructure, and a lot of people don’t get moving a button can result in a website outage that’s beside the point. Tony I enjoy your post and agree with a lot, but I really thought you’d be against anything that brings this site closer to Beckett. My disappointment stems from the fact that we had an opportunity to create the first sportscard site that relied upon the data we’d been getting for years. So on that note it seems like a missed chance.
Here is my thing on Beckett.. I think their company isn’t worth the price guides they are printed on anymore. The couple of quality people who work there are hamstrung by a dysfunctional site with dysfunctional technology.. I pay no attention to Beckett (or Ebay pricing) when I price my stuff. I price based on what I pay for something and what I think I can get out of it based on being in business for over 20 years. So losing Beckett pricing means nothing to me. What I don’t get though is this backlash and sense of entitlement that some have thinking they should get something for free that Beckett is now forcing COMC to charge for. I would rather those who want to pay for the pricing pay for it instead of an across the board increase in other fees.
A seven-minute video posted nearly 9 months ago was the only mention I can find. If that’s the case, it falls heavily on COMC for not keeping it at the forefront of the community.
I know what you mean. I think the ceiling matters more on the book values although nothing trumps credibility. In general you aren’t going to pay more for something than the actual value unless it’s a kaepernick kind of situation.
I’m not totally upset about losing beckett value, although I feel worse for the buyers amongst us. Look beckett was totally useless for 80% of the cards. I know a 1995 Score Scott Brosius card is under a $1. What I don’t like is that through the (possible) years and months we knew this would happen why wasn’t a system devised to aggregate the sales of a particular card and give that the spot of book value especially cards that come in over $10? Book value is fine for the lists, and the top sellers, buyers, etc. Then you partner with the place that has been destroying collectibles and the reputations of sellers (some do that on their own) for the better part of two decades?
This just doesn’t seem like a very good idea. I will still buy for my own collection (autos of every sport) but as far as selling I just don’t see the potential I do on other sites. Lastly, I feel kind of bad. I have told two users in the past what a great site this was. One buys and one buys/sells. I even defended the cash out policy by saying just get a card and put it in your store, or sell it elsewhere. I never used the referral program because I’m not that kind of guy. I feel bad because these changes don’t make this a better place, and somewhere in my soul I feel the cash out fee was high enough to sustain the book prices on this site. A possible caveat being not as many people cash out as I think.
I find it humorous how many people who do nothing but complain about how irrelevant Beckett is are now up in arms because they no longer have free access to a service. You don’t have access to it on ebay so what is the big deal. I can understand your complaints if comc.com was charging you a monthly fee and then took it away. However, they were offering this as a FREE service before, and it no longer feasible for them to continue doing so. So in other words suck it up. So many collectors are becoming entitled little brats that it is becoming more and more difficult to deal with them, They want everything handed to them for free.If you are going to try and sell cards, buy a price guide it is a cost of doing business, Don’t expect companies to hurt their bottom line to give you something for free.
I love how the COMC defense (through a third party “friend”) is, and has been, they do the work for us. Do they not read the comments and complaints about how ridiculous that is? Do you know how much time it takes me to take a picture with my phone, paste a generalized description (changing year, player name, and keywords), and hit “List” with my eBay App? About 10 seconds. I’m not paying anyone ,25-.50 per card to do that for me.
eBay may have doubled their insertion fees, but, they give 50 free listings to every seller, every month. They give even more to sellers who buy subscriptions. In addition to MORE free listings with the subscription, you get a discount on final value fees, you get a discount on any insertion fee after the free ones run out, and you get great tools within your Store such as “keywords associated with your store”, reports and breakdowns on sales by the time of the day and day of the week that allow sellers to capitalize on certain items, certain times, and certain days that business is best for them to sell.
I sell on eBay, I’ve said this multiple times across multiple blog posts. I don’t hide the fact. It’s better, for me. I go with the route that is more advantageous as a small business owner. eBay can be frustrating. But you have to choose the less of two evils. They offer better deals, lower fees, and a wider selection of customers. Their structure is not perfect, and it’s far from great, but it’s better than selling on here. Point blank and simple.
I do not have a 27,000 sqft warehouse, or 55 employees to pay wages and benefits to. That’s why I’m a SMALL BUSINESS owner. Don’t play the poverty card because you choose to expand and grow. And do NOT pass the cost of expansion onto your business associates and customers. That is capitalism.
COMC is not innovative. If it was truly innovative, it would come up with own value and pricing guide using real-time market value data to make Beckett irrelevant. But as someone already said, that would affect their business deal with Beckett grading. Sleeping with the enemy and handcuffing yourself behind poor short-sighted business decisions will not help grow your business. I hope I have made myself clear.
I closed my previous post with a great quote, I’ll do the same here. “Evolution is the key to success. Continue changing, continue evolving, continue learning. Continue being better than everyone else by listening to your customers, because they are the only asset that matters.” – Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart
-(Met me summarize that for anyone who might not understand my point. You can have great policies, great product, and the best intentions. But if you do not have any customers, your business is moot.)
Matt… That third party friend has been a cheerleader for Beckett for years… His comments about this place and those who sell here at one time very not very positive… Apparently the tune has changed and he has adopted a “can’t beat em…join em” attitude which is great. The more the merrier here.
That said what is lost on everyone here is that COMC is not being greedy…this is not their choice or their fault. These charges are being levied on them so there are three choices
A… offer subscriptions
B… Eat the cost themselves (not a smart business decision)
C… pass the costs on to everyone in the form of fee increases in other areas.
I am glad they chose A. As someone who has no need for Beckett pricing this doesn’t hurt me. And as I have pointed out elsewhere…no other site offers Beckett pricing for free. And if you like Ebay pricing…you can still run searches to check it.
That said…I agree with those who say that if they want to forfeit all the submission fees already paid and have a mass return of inventory..there should be a way to do it. I think it is short sighted…but that is strictly my opinion.
Option D – Tell Beckett to go f**k themselves. I would have been on board with that.
How about a subscription to COMC to use this site? The fees collected could pay for the licensing from Beckett and COMC would not have to rely on another company. That I would do.
A quick note regarding blog comments: to prevent spam bots (which we get a lot of) and people commenting just to harass other commenters (which fortunately we don’t get a lot of), this blog has always had a setting where a new commenter’s first comment must be manually approved. After initial approval a commenter may comment freely without delay on any post. That is why some comments have a delay before appearing.
We are reading all comments and as Julia noted we intend to address all the constructive points people are making. COMC has grown to be as successful as we are now because of an engaged community, and we appreciate the passion and insight from our users. We don’t intend to stop listening, since our goal as a company is always to serve the community’s needs as best we can.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy while I thank you for commenting on this. We need more of it. This seems like where talking and no ones listening when nothings being said. With all the blogs about new services and fee hikes there should be someone assigned to the blogs. I was forced to call COMC. I talked with Nathan and he was very helpful or as much as he could be with the info or clearance he has been given. I thank you for your effort to make this work better but more effort is needed. People are angry and the lack of communication only makes me angrier.
Jeremy: If you are reading all comments, why aren’t some of the specific questions answered?
Tim aired a video blog in October telling us we’re going to have to pay for data eventually.
I have no problem with this. But why did we get zero (0) notice?
If you don’t agree this is totally unprofessional and unacceptable, please state why not.
And finally, aren’t you embarrassed to say, “Our goal as a company is always serve the community’s needs as best we can…” after yesterday.
My question is simple. Why weren’t we notified in advance that yesterday’s new policy implementation was going to happen at a specific date and time? Your programmers weren’t even ready to accept orders for the subscriptions.
A complete failure from a project management standpoint and a product roll-out disaster.
SO TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jeremy: If you are reading all comments, why aren’t some of the specific questions answered?
Tim aired a video blog in October telling us we’re going to have to pay for data eventually.
I have no problem with this. But why did we get zero (0) notice?
If you don’t agree this is totally unprofessional and unacceptable, please state why not.
And finally, aren’t you embarrassed to say, “Our goal as a company is always serve the community’s needs as best we can…” after yesterday.
My question is simple. Why weren’t we notified in advance that yesterday’s new policy implementation was going to happen at a specific date and time? Your programmers weren’t even ready to accept orders for the subscriptions.
A complete failure from a project management standpoint and a product roll-out disaster.
I completely understand that Beckett made you guys do this and that you are planning to add in historic pricing data, which is more useful anyway. But why would you take away 1 feature, wait, and then add another feature later? Couldn’t you have added historical pricing a month ago so people still had something to use? At the hospital, they don’t take people off of life support and say “hey, they have a better system coming in 1 month from now” because it would kill them, and in your situation you are killing smaller sellers who don’t want to waste $30 a month.
Great discussion with lots of passion. Tim and Julia didn’t ask me to post, I’m not fighting their battles, they do a fine job themselves. I’m just looking at things from both their side as well as Beckett’s. Tony, The BMP is kicking butt btw, never better. And btw, I only cheer lead for companies that make this industry a better place.
Couple more points to make. When was the last time you saw a Beckett Marketplace banner on COMC? Sure there is a link to the Beckett home page, but there is no banner promoting the fact that Beckett is a portal for selling cards. Beckett allows COMC to advertise their goods and services on their site. This is a matter of Tim not taking the easy money or discounted fee from Beckett as he doesn’t want his competition advertising here .
Also, while Beckett has been willing to license it’s data, (at a steep price) Tim and COMC haven’t been willing to license their industry leading image repository, (at any price) to Beckett or anybody else.. This is one of the biggest competitive advantages of the site, if not the biggest.
While many of you accuse Tim of caving to Beckett, I find the opposite to be true as he’s turned down the easy money and chosen to keep this site as independent and unique as possible. If any of you think this site could have become as successful and easy to navigate and sort without Beckett providing the nomenclature and pricing, your fooling yourselves. The relationship was as necessary from the start as it is today.
As far as this site acting as a price guide based on completed sales, be careful what you wish for. There is probably a reason that Tim and his team haven’t done this, as for sellers it would be a disaster. Imagine a $10.00 book value card now being listed as being worth $2.00 to the buyer, and everyone now competing on that selling that card at a percentage of $2.00 with all the fees in operating a site like this.
Beckett pricing isn’t a joke as many of you assume, while few may sell cards for Beckett value or higher based on their service, it is a price point that is vital to the category as it sets a retail benchmark from which buyers and sellers at all levels work from. The same card on Amazon.com could sell at $10.00 to a gift buyer that sells here in a port at 75 cents. The price of a card depends on a plethora of variables, exposure, presentation, delivered price, competition, selection associated with that item, quantity of that given item, location of that item, eyeballs seeing that item and the list goes on.
Again I’ll reiterate, Tim and Julia didn’t ask me to post this, I posted this as I hate seeing good folks being maligned for trying to make the industry a better place. Take a step back and ask yourself as a business person, “what would you do in their shoes”? They are truly invested in this industry and really have your best interests at heart, I assure you, but the reality is that they don’t own the prices and can no longer give them away. Any other option they chose would of doomed this site.
Btw, keep up the discussion whichever side of the fence you’re on as it’s the viewpoints good and bad from the membership that will be helpful to Tim and Julia. Just keep in mind, this is a for profit business that is a marketplace that’s dependent on an established pricing/nomenclature system that maintains order and the ease of use we’ve all become accustomed to.
It’s funny, but this morning I looked at Beckett’s website and there is no link to the COMC website. No mention of it in Beckett’s “About Us” page, despite descriptions of many of Beckett’s other developments over the past few years.
An advanced Google search and a search of news archives leads to just one news release focused on the COMC/Beckett relationship, while every other mention of COMC I found was either on a message board or in a comment.
So while it seems competition advertising is not apparent here, it is matched by the Beckett website.
What would I do? I’d find middle ground on the issue or leave Beckett’s values off the pages entirely. Those Beckett subscribers would still have their access anyway.
But for the middle ground, let’s have fun with math, Beckett-style:
The cost of a one-month subscription to all categories is $31, but I’ll round it down (great deal) to $30.
According to Tim on the October video, there are approximately 6 million cards in the Beckett database.
Let’s assume that 1/12th (600,000) of the cards are of actual interest when it comes to market values, with the rest being commons and junk cards that we’ll assume would be included as free for anybody who wants a subscription.
So $30 divided by 600,000 is 5/1,000 of a penny – essentially, the market value of a desirable individual card in Beckett is 5/1,000 of a penny.
Under the new price structure, if I want to purchase a Beckett value for a single card for a month, the charge is 50 cents.
That 50 cent charge is 10,000 times the cost of the 5/1,000 of a penny that’s included in the month subscription.
Middle ground: A penny for a card value. Even five cents, which would still be a markup of 1,000 times what the monthly subscribers are charged (I’m sure most every business owner wouldn’t mind that markup, right?).
Would that doom the site, as you think? I don’t know. I know that it would be more palatable than what is now offered.
Like I’ve said elsewhere, this new fee structure kills the COMC user who is here as part of their hobby and involved in flipping. I’m not going to open a business, I’m never going to have a gigantic port that can support a month long subscription to Beckett and get the most out of it.
I’ve joined for the fun of flipping – where else can you put in $10 and with some foresight and time turn it into a card worth hundreds, if not thousands by flipping? That was the coolest part of this endeavor, but was just made much more difficult with the new Beckett pricing. So much so, that I’ll simply find other ways to spend my money and enjoy my collection.
Glad to hear you think Beckett is doing so well.. I admit it goes against the cut and paste of threads being emailed to me. …still showing orders coming through without shipping charges etc…. And I hear Beckett/Ebay/Amazon relationship is on rocky road due to images and other issues. But hey…they outsourced to India so maybe that will fix everything….
I am glad you saw the light about this place..as have an increasing number of other current and former Beckett dealers.
I agree with you on the overreaction here to this…I think the business relationship between COMC and Beckett is a good one I also think this solution is a good one. I don’t want to pay for Beckett pricing so I don’t have to. I am glad the solution was presented this way.
They should put you on the payroll. They certainly are not posting on here. Some would assume they really don’t care. It doesn’t take that long to make a video. Tim probably needs to call beckett to make sure its ok to make a video, seeing that hes working for beckett now.
Wow, so much venom in your words. Chill out for a few days and I would bet you that they will come out with something that clarifies this in some way.
$10 bv cards are already and have been selling for $2.
This change had to happen, I completely understand why. And yes, we were warned. I wish people would not have such knee jerk reactions. Give it some time, see how it goes, with any change there are negative and positive impacts. I still see a ton of value in the service that COMC provides, and don’t think this BV change will have as big of a impact on sellers or COMC as a company as some people think. I am excited to use the new vault service, with a 10% fee cashout, I price cards to sell so $.01 a day will be a Non Factor for $100 + cards. (Even $50 cards IMO). I wish everyone would relax and see how it goes for a couple months, then make judgement. Constructive comments and questions are good, but just saying this is horrible, I’m done, pulling everything out, doesn’t help anyone, including yourself.
I walked into my local card shop today and noticed something different. The store owner has thousands of singles for sale at reasonable prices. This is nothing new, but something caught my eye. Where the price sticker is it always says
BV: $xxx
Our Price: $xxx
But this time, the BV had a flap over it so I couldn’t see it! I asked the owner what this was all about and he told me I simply needed to pay him $31/month to open that flap and see the price.
I walked out.
While I understand the point you are trying to make, it is not a fair comparison, this fictitious card shop example would not have these BV stickers available to the entire world to see for free, you have to physically be in their store, and hope they have the card you want, and can find the card you want within a reasonable amount of time. On COMC, the whole world can see their site, and can easily find the card they are looking to buy or see book value very quickly from the comfort of anywhere.
So you feel you are entitled to free pricing?
My question above was directed at “concerned”:
I had cards added last night. I just randomly clicked on a page that had 10 cards ready to price from all 4 major sports. This is what I see. Pricing as of 3/6/2012, 2/18/2011, 4/28/2010, 9/5/2007, 1/11/2007, 12/24/2006, 10/24/2006, 6/6/2011, 3/25/2006, 3/8/2012. Can you clarify, is this the date a change in price happened? Or, is the BV not current? Would someone who purchases the Beckett subscription see the same thing or are their dates listed with the current month?
I believe if prices have not changed…they are not updated. The date you see is the last price change.
Hello NCWrestler,
Thanks for contacting us. If you could please email our Customer Service Team with a screen shot of this issue, we will investigate this issue. Once you have subscribed, you should be able to simply see the current BV for the cards on the site and the same will be true of cards you have submitted.
Regards,
Mark M.
Is there some sort of timeline when you guys will be answering questions? So I can come back then.
Hello cardko,
We are currently preparing another post to try and address as many of our users concerns as possible. This post should be going up very shortly, and we are sorry for the delay in our response times.
Regards,
Mark M.
Can we get a list of all the upcoming fee’s your surely going to be adding with excitement!
I’m guessing there’s a fee to answer our questions now. Seeing that there not doing it.
I’m sure this IQ history will be 10 cents a look.Oh gee,wasn’t expecting that.
The problem is not for me as a seller. Or even for me as an experienced buyer or flipper. I just don’t personally care that much. The problem is the hundreds or thousands of casual buyers that will either feel uninformed and walk away from the site or continue as is but lose $31 a month
in buying power. Money that previously went to COMC sellers or flippers and money that was passed around the site. Eventually leading to COMC pockets either through cashouts at 20%, storage fees, or new consignments. This reduced buying power and buyers walking away should lead to dramatic drops in sales.
Take myself for an example. I’m an occasional flipper and buyer of smaller ports. I’m currently ranked 115 among sellers for the size of my port for sale. Last month my sales were $507. Let’s forget about all the shipping and insurance I spent to get cards to COMC. Let’s even forget the consignment fees (which supposedly factored in the cost of the Beckett licensing. Surely this would mean that the cost for adding cards to the site will be reduced, right?! Lol). So let’s assume I want to cashout that money. Down to 405.60. Now let’s do my storage fees. Now we have 371.60 left. Now the new Beckett cost. Gotta have that! 340.60 left. Now let’s assume I’m a really good buyer and I’m able to double my money every purchase. Impressive! So we reduce my original cost of 253.50. Leaving me now with $87.10. So, assuming I’ve not had to ship or insure any cards, I’ve paid no consignment fees, I’ve found amazing deals and was able to double my money every single sale, my $253.50 in total profit for the month has paid $166.40 in fees. I’m left with $87.10. Again, this is without submitting any cards on my own and making some great buys! Are most casual buyers or sellers, or even serious buyers or sellers able to pull off this feat? Sorry guys, the numbers just don’t add up for this site.
I understand the need for a business to do something profitable, then scale it, then when you’ve scaled to a large degree you need to find new avenues of generating revenue. The easiest thing to do is to look to services you’re currently offering for free or for services that can withstand a price increase. COMC has hammered and hammered and hammered all of these and looks to be no signs of stopping. It’s simply not sustainable. The idea that you do not have any kind of VIP program is killing your company. You fee to death your biggest and best sellers and just pray that new ones will come along. You’re quickly drying up that well. Creating no benefits for your larger sellers, or even your larger buyers for that matter, is a travesty and a detriment to your company. Not to mention the fact that you provide virtually no usable seller tools for price adjusting. It’s no wonder you constantly lose your biggest sellers. The lack of seller tools is simply laughable. COMC, you need to get your priorities straight. And priorities are not offering new services that you can charge for. Not until you fix the old services. Hiking and adding fee after fee only adds to the disdain. COMC needs the big sellers and consigners and it needs the casual collector and everyone in between. Sadly, it caters it’s business to none of them.
COMC offering Beckett memberships will line Beckett’s pockets from previously lost subscriptions while emptying the pockets of COMC buyers, COMC sellers, COMC flippers, which in turn empties the pockets of COMC itself. Of course, this is assuming the new contract in place doesn’t have
COMC generating a nice big affiliate cut for every subscription sold to reduce the blow they otherwise would have taken. Which I just have to imagine is the case in the new contract. But that’s pure speculation on my part.
What’s the alternative? I’m not really sure. But it’s likely not COMC providing it’s own market data like many are suggesting. Spend 20 minutes (lol, time well spent) and earn some History Points. Then go through a few hundred cards and see the massive number that have zero sales. Therefore no pricing data at all to offer.
Beckett needs COMC. COMC doesn’t need Beckett. My guess is this move, and probably a good one for Beckett, is to ultimately drive COMC into submission until Beckett can buyout the company. I don’t see COMC running a successful business moving along the path they are currently following. But I imagine Tim is doing everything he can to maintain control of his company without realizing he’s probably going to lose it anyways unless he completely changes it’s direction or succumbs to Beckett’s advances. Again, this is PURE speculation on my part. I’m sure Tim’s upcoming video will try to put a positive spin on this, but the direction COMC is headed is certainly not positive IMO. But it looks to me that in the not so distant future COMC will be ground into submission by Beckett and Beckett can swoop in and scoop up the company to “save” them.
I know this post is getting way too long, but I saved the best for last….These are what I personally feel are terrible business decisions, though it’s not my business, so not my call. This is Tim’s baby, and he’s likely blinded by that as most parents are blinded by their own children’s downfalls……
BUT!!!!!! To insult ALL your customers and start a blog with the first sentence saying “Hello COMC Nation, we have some very exciting news to share with everyone today!” This is just appalling. This shows arrogance and/or incompetence of an immense magnitude. I would immediately fire anyone that wrote or approved this message. It’s truly that insulting to your customers. Whether it’s a top 10 seller or a very casual buyer. ALL should be completely insulted and disgusted how this was portrayed. Throw in the “new and exciting” way to earn history points! What a complete and utter waste of time. Do you seriously think your customers time is best spent entering card numbers from the back of trading cards trying to earn points to receive sales data? Seriously? This was someone’s brilliant idea and it got approved? Arrogance or incompetence. I can’t decide which.
Let’s be fair, as I’m sure they are preparing to respond to our concerns. It seems clear to me that the good people at COMC likely expected some negative response from this, but not to the degree that it’s been… hence the unfortunate wording with “excitement” about the new structure in the original wording of the post, plus the very limited warning with just the video from last October offering generalities when it came to new fees and a timeline.
The fair criticisms here have been interesting to read and I hope there can be a resolution beyond what the new fee structure has imposed. I have my doubts, as my hunch says there is likely an agreement in place that will not be changed, but I remain hopeful something can be done.
I’m eager to get back to flipping, if possible, and watching my emails closely for new offers, rather than watching my emails closely for updates on this thread.
Just so everyone on here knows when I went to Beckett at the 2011 Industry Summitt. I tried to make a deal to get Beckett pricing on my website I was launching, Dave at Beckett said it cost $10,000 a month for it but the new CEO was done letting people pay for there pricing data, he then said that the only company left was COMC that was paying the $10,000 a month and when his contract is up he would be losing the book prices on his website. I asked why is that he told me that Beckett was losing alot of money cause the book prices were free on his website. So since I have known about this I have cut down on sending in cards to COMC. I did tell some of the card shops at the conference who were selling on COMC they told me I was full of crap and that this would never happen and then yesterday it happened.
Hello Folks,
I just wanted to quickly chime in. A number of you have indicated that our responses have been lower since last night, and this is true. We are currently preparing another blog post to talk a bit more about this change and to address some of the concerns that have been brought up in this thread.
Many of you have brought up very valuable points and valid concerns about the Beckett Subscriptions, and we want to try to answer as many of you as possible as quickly and effectively as possible. I am sorry for the delay, and I will try to get this new post up for you all as quickly as possible.
Regards,
Mark M.
It is clear some people here have never taken a business course or have a clue on how a business can be sustainable for the long term.
I have been a VOCAL critic of COMC fees at times. I would have been VERY vocal if fees were increased to pay for a pricing system I never used.
The same complainers here complained months ago when COMC warned you this was happening…many of you threatened to leave then but are still here…and now that COMC has followed through with their plan…you are back complaining some more…
Here is an idea…go pay $250 and be a Beckett Marketplace dealer…. You get your pricing and inventory creator set up for that…. You also get years of broken promises…site malfunctions and your phone calls are answered in India… or…go back to Ebay and deal with those fees and the idiot buyers who take advantage of every loophole to rip you off.
But stop acting like a bunch of 5 year olds who just learned there is no tooth fairy.
I deal with this in my world when it comes to my political position…there is no free ride in 2013 anywhere. Stop putting your hand out and saying “gimmie!” You are NOT ENTITLED!.
Rant over…..feel free to bash me as much as the mods will allow. This thread has already disintegrated into a playground and I would not blame COMC employees for not wanting to engage this.
You can be sure the bashers of COMC on the Beckett Marketplace are reading this and laughing….
Thank you for saying what I was thinking!!! Plus don’t forget all us Canadian customers that won’t buy your lower end cards on ebay because of the shipping fees thanks to your postal service.
Tony I think the reason the blog has become this way is because they are not answering questions. Not the other way around. People like myself are getting tired of waiting on answers, and for me anyway this makes me more angry. It’s like sitting on hold all day, comc is at a stand still which is good for no one.
Well Tony as easy as it would be to so called BASH you i wont! I will just hold back and say that you are a bit of a hypocrite!!! I have read dozens of endless paragraphs over the last year from you, to where u just go on and on about the fees and sudden changes that this site drops on us. Don’t come on this blog and start calling people baby’s and telling them not to voice there opions when you are one on the worst. Its really simple, you deal with the changes that comc has offered or you leave,the rest will play out for both the sellers and the company as a whole
Buymore….your post was a good attempt…but this change is not sudden…it was announced months ago… therefore the rest of your veiled bash of me…is rather irrelevant.
this coming from a guy who cries and moans anytime there is a small fee increase…I sayr aise the fees to cover the expense
“lee” you are going to have to try harder than that…
I’ll be honest. I think the responses of many people here were just kind of angry rants without knowing the whole picture. COMC could not possibly continue to give out BV for free. With over 1/4th of Beckett’s total database, it was just bad business for Beckett. People should realize that this is not at all what COMC wanted, or tried to do and COMC did everything in it’s power to keep it on the site. Also, they did announce it and re-stated it several times, and they have kept it on the site for much longer than they originally had planned. To continue, there is a few things COMC can do to help soften the blow for their customers.
1. Simplify the fee structure – I think many new buyers don’t understand the fee structure as it is overcomplicated. The multitude of fee types confuse and make people feel as if there is more fees than there actually are.
2. Stop reminding people of the change – COMC needs to remove the subscribe to BV from under each card. It gives a vibe that it unnecessary and makes people feel as if there is more fees than there truly is and the link in unnecessary for most people. The casual buyer/seller is not going to buy the BV anyways and the experienced buyer/seller which may actually want it, will know they can get it.
3. Slow the rate of change – COMC has made a lot of changes in the past year, some of them good and some of them bad, but they need to slow it down. I think the rate of change is overwhelming for a lot of people and gives the impression that you are cocky (from a psychological point of view).
4. Provide BV for flippers – I think this is one of the most important and the least likely to happen. Flippers are some of COMC’s most important customers and I think giving the BV whenever you buy a card would be something everybody would like.
Thank you so much for your feedback, Nathan F!
Julia:
People knew comc would eventually have to charge for Beckett pricing. I understand this and have no problem paying.
But I must ask for the third time, why was no (as in zero) advance notice given that the change would begin yesterday at a specific time?. There has to be a reason you’re not divulging.
BallCards, we apologize for inadequate communication regarding this change. It was not malicious on our part. We have acted to prevent this from happening again by building into our development system – not only the new feature, how it will work, and the plan for implementation – but also our plan for communicating changes to our customers. Whereas, in the recent past, we’ve been a small company with Tim doing all the development, design, and communication work – much of which happened all at once and in the moment – we now have a bigger team and are still developing supportive infrastructure, such as adequate communication lines with our customers. The good news is we have already taken steps to help alleviate this going forward. Our sincerest apologies for this growing pain.
Business person? LOL. When a consumer buys something, THE LAST thing a customer wants to here is “you know how much it cost to lease a 27,000sft shop ” “how much i pay employees” “how much franchise fees cost” “i work hard to clean,sweep,smile,yads,yads ,yada”
CUSTOMER IS THINKING ===> “JUST GIVE ME MY FKKK item i paid for idiot” .
What a bunch of garbage !!!!!!!!!!! More lousy changes by COMC. You guys are going to drive yourselves right out business. Bad enough that your shipping is ridiculous, & now this !!!! I just paid $9 to have 23 cards shipped to me. What a Joke !!!!!!!!!!! Get with it !!!!!!!!!!
What prevents me from buying the $31 total access package, entering all the prices into a database, and sourcing it for free enterprise at no charge to anyone? I paid for it. Is it illegal to tell your friends what the BV of a card is, if you purchased the OPG?
I never had a problem with Beckett throughout the 90s. I actually looked forward to buying the monthly issues and checking prices. I really started to despise them when it became clear they did not offer anything significant to the business, and decided it was more important to sell issues of their garbage price EVALUATIONS AND ESTIMATES magazines.
For example: A book value price is developed by looking at what a card is selling for at private shows, national conventions, and on eBay (and sites like COMC), as well as private card shops that report their gross sales. After that, an economic market evaluator uses this data to gauge an effective value based on condition and rarity.
Rarity is the key there. How can you tell the difference between one serial numbered 3 CLRed patch and a serial numbered 1 CLR patch from the same print run in the price guide? You can’t. I have this argument with buyers all the time who try to lowball unique pieces, citing the book value. It’s ONE facet of the market, but book value does not define the market. It’s a important tool to have when buying and selling, but it’s not the end all be all. At the same time, you need BV to VALUE the card. It does not define a price. Those are different things.
Without the book value, buyers and sellers have no way to gauge PRICES. That leads to chaos in the market, and that’s what Beckett doesn’t care about.
BIG SELLERS! Have you ever read the user agreement entirely? Basically if COMC makes a bad decision and goes bankrupt, you could lose your entire inventory and no recourse to file in court. ALL USERS BASICALLY give up all rights to litigation. It is a bit extreme to say COMC would do that, but if you read the user agreement , it has to make you worry atleast a little. I can live with a few thousand cards being lost, but 10,000’s inventory? sleep good at night after you re-read the user agreement a couple of more times.
Now i am interested in this penneypacks where does it say that we would lose our collection??? If this is the case i am out now! If the company goes belly up which is a possiblty more and more every day why would they get to keep my cards? WTF someone from comc needs to answer this now
Basically, by using COMC , you relinquish all rights to sue comc,workers,owners,agents,etc,etc…
It is a well written users agreement releasing comc from any damages and liability that could occur.
Its great business practice by comc. But i dont know how big sellers can sleep at night when recent decisions are not looking good for future growth.
Hi, everyone, it is not the intention of the user agreement to hold your cards hostage. We have always taken care of our customers, and in the event you want your cards back, we will send them back to you. COMC is not going out of business, but even in that hypothetical case, your cards would be safely returned to you. We are collectors and are deeply invested in the long term viability of the sports cards and collectible industry. Within that, we stake our reputation on being the safe and easy way to buy and sell online. We stand by that.
Hi, everyone, it is not the intention of the user agreement to hold your cards hostage. We have always taken care of our customers, and in the event you want your cards back, we will send them back to you. COMC is not going out of business, but even in that hypothetical case, your cards would be safely returned to you. We are collectors and are deeply invested in the long term viability of the sports cards and collectible industry. Within that, we stake our reputation on being the safe and easy way to buy and sell online. We stand by that.
—————————————————————————
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH… Then why make people agree to a waiver that puts their cards at total risk ?
It doesn’t matter what the intention is, by shipping you cards we are entering a legally binding contract that the cards will become yours if anything goes wrong. You can tell us all you want that you won’t, but until you change the agreement, you legally can keep them. If you do keep them, we can’t bring you to court over a blog comment that said you would ship them back.
We are a consignment service. We safely hold your cards for you while they are in our care. It is not the intention of the user agreement for us to take permanent possession of your cards in any case.
Why should we pay for a book value twice. I don’t understand. It’s been send that when the card is new to the site u get the book value in the processing fee. So as a seller I am selling my card, the scan that goes with it and the book value. My buyers should not be charged something I already paid for. Same as if shipping was paid on a item it was stated the next guy wouldn’t have to pay that. This is the same. You or Beckett can not charge for a product I already bought. I think it might be illegal. While I’m not a lawyer it sure sounds illegal to me.
Read the user agreement. basically COMC can do ‘anything” without notice. I am on your side of the argument that the paid for “service” should follow the card like the scan does, the BV should also. But COMC can do what they want at any time with no notice. I know they wouldnt, but comc could make storage fees $0.25 a card next month if they wanted to. its like a business(users) leasing a retail space with a lease that the landlord(comc) can change the rent anytime, sucks.
Hi, pennypacks, we understand that our most important partners are our users, and any changes we make – especially with fees – are only done with the utmost concern and with the long-term sustainability of all our interests in mind. We realize it’s essential to find a win-win solution between us and our customers. We don’t take that lightly. In terms of Beckett BV, we can’t “do what (we) want at any time.” But we can make improvements to our features and offerings – such as our historical sales data – based on your needs and wants, and we want to dialogue with you on how to best partner with you.
As for the litigation comment, here is the exact quote from the User Agreement
“Release of COMC.com: Other than as expressly stated in this agreement, YOU (AND ALL USERS) RELEASE COMC.COM FROM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES YOU MAY CLAIM RESULT FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. More specifically, You irrevocably and unconditionally waive and release your rights (if any) to recover from COMC.com, its directors, officers, employees, representatives, agents, subsidiaries, and affiliates any and all damages, losses, liabilities, costs or expenses (and claims thereof), whether direct or indirect, known or unknown, or foreseen or unforeseen, which may be caused by, arrive from or be related to your use of the Service. ”
Pay close attention to the last 4-5 lines “You waive and release your rights to recover [damages] from COMC, (…) whether direct or indirect, known or unknown, foreseen or unforeseen, which may be caused by, arrive from, or be related to your use of the Service.”
That means if they go belly up, you waive your rights for damages. If the company is liquidated and sold, any stock or product they have of yours is gone and you can not sue them for damages.
guess i will be having a load of my cards sent back to me this weekend. I cant belive i never read that BS. I am guessing there will be a backlash form this also,man when it rains it pours.
Hi, Matt Davis, buymore, and folks, it is not the intention of the user agreement for us to take permanent possession of your cards. We have always taken care of our customers, and in the event you want your cards back, we will send them back to you. COMC is not going out of business, but even in that hypothetical case, your cards would be safely returned to you. We are collectors and are deeply invested in the long term viability of the sports cards and collectible industry. Within that, we stake our reputation on being the safe and easy way to buy and sell online. We stand by that.
I think my biggest issue now is i paid 10.00 for a port sale promotion that i was getting offers on yesterday . Before the changes and now nothing . So basically i just wasted 10.00 on the promo. Thanks
LOL dont feel bad i havent sold a card all day and i have nearly $400,000 in bv, great sign of the times ahead
My sales have tanked as well…I average somewhere around 20 cards sold a day….Today 2 yesterday 7…Its been awful since the new site went into effect last week
Yep, most of the site changes are detrimental. COMC will probably go under because of them.
It’s a shame, because it USED to be a good site.
“My sales have tanked as well…I average somewhere around 20 cards sold a day….Today 2 yesterday 7…Its been awful since the new site went into effect last week”
Yesterday I sold 114 cards, which is typical. So far today I have sold 68, and the busiest part of the day has yet to happen. I’m not seeing a noticeable decline in sales so far. I’m as surprised as anyone, but the lesson here perhaps is that the commenters herein aren’t representative of the COMC buying public. You can get mad all you want, but at the end of the day, the analytics (the numbers) are what matter to me.
I have 100’s of cards w/no BV so I have been relying on ebay and just a crapshoot for pricing on them. So BV meant nothing for them. Other cards it made a difference I’m sure. Maybe COMC can let us have an edit function where you can just put in a “BV” like some do on ebay in their auction titles. That would be great right?!
It’s going to be a change but we also went through this some time ago for a bit (I think it was when COMC went live) I really don’t know if sales were effected. Do the folks buying on amazon see the BV? Probably not and I have sold a good chunk through there. I guess some of the top 10 will no longer have a small mansion in BV and have a nice ranch instead.
Lots of chicken littling going on once again.
Oh my gosh people, settle down, take a breath. Talk about the sky is falling mentality.
Free Beckett Value, was one feature of COMC, I don’t feel it was the biggest feature. There are still all the many other many great features about COMC. Let me list my favorites.
1. Huge time saver for me, well worth the fees. I can send hundreds of cards at a time and have them scanned and listed for sale by someone else. There is no way I would have time to do this on eBay.
2. in my opinion competitive cashout if you take advantage of things like Blowout Gift certificates, Buying other cards on the site for your collection with no cashout fee, and the new 10% Vault.
3. People complain about shipping fees, but I think nobody can compete with COMC for their shipping and handling charges, don’t forget about the handling that every business figures into the bottom line. Sure if you buy one card, and have it shipped, 3.00 is a little high. Paying the flat rate of $3.00 + the .25 built into the selling price is awesome when you can buy from many different sellers and have them all shipped in one package try buying 5 cards from 10 different sellers on other sites, and see what your total shipping charges are.
4. Option to still see Beckett Value on COMC if it is worth the money to me.
5. Endless array of cards for sale, and growing every day.
6. Customer Service that is unparalleled, they listen, they respond, they are fast with their responses. No other businesses in our industry are so available and helpful as COMC.
7. The speed and user friendly nature of their website, and yes, I have no issues with the new site, I no longer miss anything about the old site. So many websites in our industry are slow and klunky, not COMC.
8. I now get a discount on my Beckett OPG subscriptions, how you say? Because I can use store credit which saves me the 20% cashout fee.
I am currently a small seller, I have been bigger in the past, and will be a little bigger soon, I have a 500 card batch to send in soon, and I have no reservations about sending it in.
There is plenty of good points to the site ….send your cards in and they take of the rest ….no complaint from me there …..love that. But the $31 a month for Beckett ………..FORGET IT!!!! …not worth it ….I flip a lot of cards and 5 cent and 10 cent there (sometimes 1 cent) profit ….that’s a whole lot of cards to make $31…. If I make $10 profit for the month ….count me lucky …….I’m not a card shop ….just a little guy who just sees if I can make a little scratch. Got to see and waiting to see how things go ………. 🙁
The pricing is from Beckett, COMC has no control over it. Just saying.
Then why make user agree to the waiver ??????????????????
” Hi, everyone, it is not the intention of the user agreement to hold your cards hostage. We have always taken care of our customers, and in the event you want your cards back, we will send them back to you. COMC is not going out of business, but even in that hypothetical case, your cards […]
We are a consignment service. We safely hold your cards for you while they are in our care. It is not the intention of the user agreement for us to take permanent possession of your cards in any case”.
The user agreement does not give us permission to permanently keep your cards. This will not happen.
Untrue. It does basically give COMC the right to keep eveyone’s cards. Otherwise you would not make people agree to the waiver.
Julia @ COMC says:
July 10, 2013 at 3:05 pm
———————–
The user agreement does not give us permission to permanently keep your cards. This will not happen.
There are many billion dollar companies that go bankrupt,, I AM SURE COMC NEVER INTENDS for anyone to lose there collection. BUT SHHHT happens. and happens daily with huge companies. COMC has there user agreement to cover their azzz, but the customer has every right to understand and worry about his or her azzzz also.
One thing that people needs to realize. The cost will never go down.. if beckett pulls a “comc” on “comc” and raises there “fee” to $50,000 a month. I am sure comc will raise some fee like storage to $0.05 each a month. and when the lease of the 27,000 sqt facility expires and if comc is profitable, i am sure the landlord will raise the rent. Guess what will happen when any “lease” or “fee” that comc encounters raises, higher fees for the customer. COMC is just a victim of success and too fast expansion. if comc did not invest profits from sports cards into other collectibles like coins,comics,etc then the fees probably could have stayed at $0.10 submit and $0.10 shipping etc… Nothing against coins,comics,etc but the SPORTS CARD COLLECTOR is funding the expansion. COMC, sometimes its best to continue what you were doing best, provide a great site to sell sports cards. You were #1 by far when it was only sports cards. with every expansion or venture out of sports cards, its been a risk that my bring you down.
The reason behind it is more likely to protect COMC in case something happens to your cards that they can’t control. If something like a freak hurricane happened and insurance didnt cover it and somebody tried to sue them because of it…. You can probably guess the rest.
Also, just read the user agreement at any other place. All UA’s that I have taken the time to read have said something along the lines of you can’t sue us if something happens.
They should be liable for loss of a customers cards. That is what INSURANCE is for. Anyone that puts their cards on here and agrees to the waiver, should have their head examined.
Brittany, does your last comment mean that you do not have any cards on the site?
I have read some rather interesting comments over the last 2 days. Some great ideas and some very unhappy COMC users. I just hope Comc is paying attention to these users. I have enjoyed this site and would like to keep enjoying it. A lot of users are ready to hang it up (not all really will) but sales are going to be affected at least for a while. I guess I need to start dropping prices (and they are already too low) tonight so I can sell something!! Small sellers are getting hammered with ad fees ($120/month) already and now this. It’s hard to believe COMC couldn’t negotiate a deal with Beckett better than this! A bad time for COMC not an exciting one!!
So now we go from ranting about having to pay for something that was announced months ago…to ranting about a user agreement you were supposed to read before you signed up… It just gets “complainier”
Settle down settle down… The $0.25 submission , $0.01 storage $0.25 shipping and $31.00BV will look like a bargin by next year. The fees will only go up, so lets plan ahead. Stock pile as many cards as you can now. fees will keep on getting higher, so better enjoy it. COMC is doing pretty good, hopefully they start venturing into Louis vuttion bags(GIANT market), rolex watches and heck add in collectible guns, move into a 57,000 sqt facility why stop at 27,000. hire 110 employees. with satellite offices in japan,england and china.
Now what I really don’t get aside from the fact everyone hates this “Brittany” character is the people on here who are complaining they’re done with COMC and want to sell out, but when I go look at their port and offer half off, it says that the seller’s only accepting a certain percentage as offers. Really? Do you want out or not? I’m willing to take some of your crap off your hands so please decide!
I don’t think it is possible to hate an anon name that is obviously being used by a child. The key is once you figure out that is what you are dealing with, report it to management and move on. As far as your observation goes about sellers who say they are leaving… I noticed the same thing…
None of them leave,do you know how many times TSJCT, Cardko and others say they are leaving yet never do…and COMC knows this…Its quite comical….COMC could announce that they will be a 10% fee on top of other fees for every card sold and everyone will complain and cry then COMC will throw them a small bone and wait a day or two and all is good.
I will take 50% off my whole port, but you need to take everything. pretty much lowest price or only one. most with BV prices showing. (i sent it in). SERIOUS ONLY. would be about 5k -6k after i price 800 more cards ..
Lee I agree with that which is why I wish they would focus energy into offering solutions.. I have been vocal about some fee hikes but the “take my stuff elsewhere” rants make no sense to me. If the fees got to the point where I could pay my staff to do it cheaper…and I can tell you that I will not pay more than 30 cents per card to submit so that is our threshold…I wouldn’t announce I was leaving in public…I would just do it… or more likely I would simply stop submitting items and continue to use the site for flipping and purchasing store for my shop when something shows up at a price point I am willing to pay.. All of the “threats” of leaving in public make no sense to me.
Hey boss come visit cardko.net I’ll treat u right as long as u remember it cost me $.25 to list the older stuff and $.50 to list the new stuff.
Lol
Let’s at least handle this like adults. I disagree with some of the views on here, and that’s fine this is big enough for all opinions. COMC has been a good thing for all of us. I plan on keeping items for sale while buying although I understand that may not be an option for everyone. No one has any right to tell someone how to make a living if that is what your doing here. My advice would be to give it a chance – you don’t have to buy the book value after all. If it doesn’t work then go. It never hurts to have an exit strategy.
this is terrible with this new fees it makes thing almost impossible to make a profit flipping and selling with the newbies not knowing the deep discount there getting from the card value price and you give 20 percent of your earnings on top of that on cash-out forget about it this site is now officially now just a hobby for most people now
i guess ill wait for the coins section to come out unless they charge you for that to.
I think the one major thing no one here seems to realize is this isn’t a choice COMC made. Its pretty much being forced on them. They can’t give the pricing away any longer without Beckett taking action. I’m sure behind the scenes this has been a heavily debated discussion.
Just as if you bought a movie and tried to rent it out to make money. You can’t just do that. You have to have the rights to do so. Maybe a suggestion would be for Beckett to have a fee for companies like COMC. The company could pay a fee for the rights to let COMC show the pricing. Sure COMC would be paying a hefty fee but I’m sure they could find a way to charge somewhere to make it up.
The flat out charging for all members, especially the flippers that make this site successful, is not gonna work. I imagine you at COMC have already seen a huge decline in profit just these last few days.
Beckett is monopolizing the market due to the fact they have no competition and they have you by the balls now with no where to go. I can bet my collection that COMC is as unhappy about this as we are. They just can’t say it because the relationship they have with Beckett has to stay alive.
What you need there at COMC is a staff to create your own pricing and run Beckett out of the game. They went from the best source in the hobby to the worst part of it. For years we have all hoped someone could shut them down but its just next to impossible. Some way, some how someone needs to do this.
Well said!
Remember tuff stuff and baseball card monthly…come up with relistic comc book value pricing on how cards are selling on comc and NOT what Beckett.com uses. If beckett trademarked book value then comc should coin the term true current value and trademark that.
DBR, COMC was paying $10,000 a month for the pricing data until the CEO realized they were losing money letting COMC show book prices on the site. People wouldn’t go to Beckett.com anymore and purchase the price guides or opg. So that was when things had to change. I have known about this change since 2011 at the Las Vegas Industry Summit when I asked how much it would cost me to use on my site. They told me the CEO is done selling the info to companies that will use it on there websites cause there losing money.
And now COMC will pass on that $10,000 savings to us, right ? HAHAHAHAHAHA
I guess as long as your not listing your cards as Beckett bv just bv or suggested retail price I really think there’s nothing they can do. How do they no how u got that price. Information is freely shared everywhere, I’ve put $10 bv on eBay listing Christ I’ve even sold lots and copied and pasted a large group of cards. Just take the Beckett name off it and your fine. I guess I feel I pay good money for that service for one reason to sell cards yet becketts says you can’t use that info to sell. That don’t seem right. Is that not what COMC is doing with it so why can’t I.
You cant do that either there is no way around that. if they were to go after someone who is putting book prices on there website then they can be sued for using them.you would have to prove how you got the prices, which you wont be able to do with beckett the only player in the game for pricing. which means beckett would sue for damages and would ask how many users are on your site and then your out of business.
there is a simple solution to the “book Value”problem and no way beckett would be able to sue COMC, but i would only release that simple system if comc pays me a fee. Its being done for years in other industries already.. beckett does not own the term “book value”. Easy, but i charge fees for any information or service from this point on.
Comc- any idea on the release of your initiatives? I would like to send a batch in for processing, but want to keep an ear to the ground first. Thanks
Having the book value was my favorite part of this site. Too bad I’ve only been on here a month…..
What a terrible idea this is!!! Over the past year, I have transferred 1000’s of cards to COMC from what otherwise would still be listed on ebay. I continue to sell my high end cards on ebay because of your consistently rising fees. Now you have dropped the Beckett pricing. Anybody who says they like Beckett price guides is crazy, but anyone who says they don’t care about Beckett pricing (except maybe vintage dealers) is a liar. Every collector in the marketplace uses 1/2 Beckett pricing because there is nothing else remotely relevant
Every seller here raved at some point about ebay fees and how competitive COMC was (key word:WAS!). You will chase small collectors away with your fees and now you will chase away small sellers. Why so greedy? The sellers are already paying shipping fees out of our margins. We are paying a storage fee and a listing fee. Now you demand a price guide fee. What are you offering us in return? It has instantly gotten more difficult to buy or sell cards on your website.
Even The Vault, which seemed like a great idea at first, has so many different fees, and bugs, that I am starting to have serious reservations and it has only been one week.
Seriously guys, if you chase away our buyers, what are you offering us to list here?
Book values have not been relevant for many years, as collectors we all know what we are wanting to pay for the cards we want, I have hundreds of thousands of cards going back to the 30s and could careless about book value because when and if I ever want to sell them I will never get anywhere close book value thus I will never need to waste $31 a month for numbers I can guess my self. I buy a lot from comc but never sell, I could care less at seeing the BV on the cards. I would rather just it disappear all together.
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