COMC.com Launch – The Final Countdown

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We are on the doorstep of the new COMC.com – on October 1st the new site goes live! Our teams have been pushing hard and we’re very excited for all the great features and design changes we’re about to launch.

What to expect:
A brand new site experience. Cleaner, more professional, and more intuitive to navigate. New buyer and seller features (and more to be added) and eventually new supported markets such as the coins and comics we are currently accepting through our Beta Test Service.

What to remember:
First, the classic version of our site – the version folks use today – will still be available to continue using until we have worked any kinks out of the new site. We are shooting for somewhere in the next 1-3 months. Just go to check out my cards instead of the new www.comc.com and you can log in to the site exactly as it used to look and feel. The sites aren’t separately run – a sale on COMC is the same as a sale on Check Out My Cards, and an offer from one can be answered from the other – but we don’t want to rush anyone into a site experience they aren’t ready for.

Second, although we’re trying to iron out most bugs before we go live, we may miss a few. We’ll appreciate your patience and input while we chase out the kinks in the system.

We’re very honored by the folks who have come with us on this journey for so long. A lot of you have had accounts since the very early days of the site and we couldn’t have made it this far without you. This change is the new beginning we’ve needed to take COMC to the next level. Thanks for helping to make our vision for the future of collecting a reality.

87 thoughts on “COMC.com Launch – The Final Countdown”

  4. Can’t wait for the new site to go live. You guys have killed it for the past month. I’m impressed.

    PS: Post the new classifieds for the weekend 🙂 ..i’ve got some football stuff to move.

  5. Tim – I appreciate all you guys are doing – but please make sure you are staffed appropriately for customer support and seller support for the new launch. We can live with and can help debug the issues – but its frustrating when user reports of issues go unanswered – or go unanswered for a long period of time.

    • Yep, the recent backlog in customers service has been a growing pain. Just last week we has a reorg to address these needs. Customer support is now spread across 5 full-time people and we are adding a 6th. Prior to last week we had less than 3 full-time people helping that area.

  6. Happy Launch and full speed ahead. Rides are no fun with out an occasional
    bump here and there. 🙂

    • I also would rather see the old logo. Really, what is COMC to the people that don’t know what CheckOutMyCard is?
      I look forward to the new site. Good Luck with the launch!

  11. I’ve been through a live site relaunch and I can say it’s not without it’s hiccups. I’m very impressed that you are going to run the old site concurrently to address any issues. People should have no reason to complain. As a UX/UI designer I’m very excited to see what you have cooked up.

  12. Advanced reseller mode appears to be working–I noticed that some of you were smarter than me and already priced your stuff with a .75 on the end. One suggestion, under options you might put a link to that blog post on “how to flip.” I know you’re attempting to simplify everything, but the people who want simple won’t look under profile and options anyway.

  13. The new site is looking good. Hats off to everyone who has been working so hard in all areas of the site. Looks like you all have been working to fix the customer service issues of late which was my biggest complaint. The only other thing I would personally like fixed is the sort function of highest percentage off. It has not been working right for a VERY long time. Other than that, good job everyone!

  14. Looks nice but PLEASE make the classified ad section more noticeable. I couldn’t find it at first.

  15. Where is the Beckett pricing on the new site? Why is everything smaller – including fonts? Why all the ugly white space? The old site is much more aesthetically pleasing. What’s the deal with those price tags and why are they look like a stack of three? Why are the prices so large in comparison to the scans? Man, I sure hope this is a work in progress… I’ve been a big supporter, but I feel a rant coming on. But definitely put the brown banner back at the top of each page. If all these questions and more are addressed somewhere else, please direct me.

  17. So far looks good! I’m hoping that with this new upgrade we’ll be able to:

    1. stay logged in much longer – currently I’m logged out every 5-10 minutes
    2. be able to send private messages to sellers.

  18. Wow! No more beckett book values. Didn’t see that one coming! You’ve lowered your bar to the level of every other site on the web. That was your only advantage over your competition.
    Also noticed all prices have increased 25 cents while my present shipping cost remains at 3.25 for 1st and 25 cents for each additional. Double dipping anyone?
    Also the search engine I prefer to use doesn’t recognise your new address at least on the first page. Haven’t checked any other engines yet.
    Overall look unappealing. Overall type too small for us old fogeys who have to squint.

  19. I too was a bit disapointed to see that when I went to site that I now had to subscribe to Beckett pricing in order to see the book value.. Why was there no mention of this in previous posts? The new site is a bit cleaner but pricing scheme can be a bit cumbersome. When my one week fre trial for Beckett pricing is over, then how much will it cost me?? Pricing and maintenancing my cards appears to be more of a hassle… First impression, disappointed…especially with the pricing “subscription” that you’re now going to require us to purchase..

  20. Looks great, but the loss of Beckett values are a punch in the guy, I wish COMC would at least be able to offer a discounted rate to view Beckett BV’s, but the fact that they won’t be there at all for most members is killer, now people won’t see that nice 80% off on most of my cards

  21. To be fair, they DID tell us about the loss of Beckett values, they were not able to come to terms with Beckett for a new contract agreement…. Which REALLY sucks, because I think your right about that being their bread and butter

  22. I am surprised at the comments about Beckett pricing being so important. Almost everywhere I go people rail against how out of touch Beckett is. I think not having book pricing here will stop the “race to the bottom” Common sense will take over. In most cases you know what you have in a card and how much you want to get out of it. Price it accordingly.
    The site itself…. some things I like…some things make me raise my eyebrow. However it has been live less than 24 hours. If this is the final product (which I doubt) I’ll get used to it and make it work. More than likely though there will be tweaks and changes. Looking forward to what is to come.

  24. Wait this is the new site? It’s white…Honestly I think it looks a lot worse than the old site. I also don’t see to much of a difference. I really hope you are still working on this because if this is the “NEW SITE” then I’m scared for the future.

  25. 1) Classified ads don’t work on the COMC side.
    2) I’m getting BVs for cards I’ve sent to the site myself. I don’t need BVs for cards I’ve bought to flip because I already know what I’ve paid for them. However, it would sure be nice to have if it is keeping people from buying cards. Too early to know whether sales are down or up, obviously, with the new changes.
    3) Haven’t looked on a tablet yet, but I’m assuming the user experience is improved. That’s the only reason to update a site these days, even if an app is in the works because not everyone wants to download apps.
    4) The “highest percentage off” list has been like that for a while. It is the highest percent off when including shipping.
    5) I think showing the price with handling when I edit a price is too confusing on the COMC side. You should only show us what we’ll get for it, because the prices of rival cards shown are also only what the seller would get. Make sense?

    Glad you all use analytics so much, because it’s more important that you know what is and isn’t working than for us to know 🙂 You can do something about it!

  26. Site looks great; however the lack of Beckett pricing is more than unfortunate. It will hurt my sales. Please fix ASAP. Beckett isn’t everything. In fact, I hardly look at it ever for selling on ebay. Here, it greatly shows the excellent value my potential customers could get and is,without a doubt, the largest part of the sales incentive. Please fix ASAP. Thanks.

    • Agree 1000% especially as a buyer. COMC spoonfed us this wonderful asset and now they’ve cut us off. Even druggies have clinics where they can get their fixes!

  28. Aside from the general public “Buyer” not seeing the Beckett BV the web site should transition based on UI experience. I am certain Tim and Co. will be monitoring the heat map to see were users navigate and what users will mostly use. I can see the site getting more complex with the smaller font and addition of several more categories in the near future.

    The concerns may be that now the Buyer will view the upfront cost to purchase that will include the min. 25 cent per card shipping fee. This is a game changer and will shape what us dealers send in and what will simply sit on the site until 2020 and never get sold. Low end commons will have no place here.

    Since a huge number of cards are sold on COMC and Beckett BV is a thing of the past for buyers to compare what they should pay or think they should pay, why not display historical sales as a whole!!! Now is the time to establish a real sales history and create our own price guide. Imagine the opportunities of the future of the sports card community coming back to “What did it sell for on COMC” pretty powerful stuff and we could all benefit from the real sales knowledge.

    Just my thoughts.

    • I think thats a great idea with the sales history for each card. Similar to something Half.com does when you are listing a book for sale, you can see the price range, and you can see the most recent sold price and how many of that book has sold. That way BVs won’t be so important. I think Tim just hurt himself with this new launch to push the COMC.com name. I know for myself after my newest batch gets in tomorrow, I won’t be sending in anymore until this mess is all sorted out.

      • Googling on Check Out My Cards or CheckOutMyCards or COMC.com all take the user to the target site. Most computer users have long ago adopted and accepted the vernacular of mnemonics !!!

  30. not really in love with the new site the way I was with the old. on appearance it looks like a website you get when you type the wrong address without realizing it. I never criticized using beckett, but if we are spending ungodly sums of money on advertising with them can’t they scratch our back with the book value without having to purchase it? I think on the whole it is useless for pricing cards but it gives the buyer a point of reference, and most buyers as well as myself would probably want that.

  31. Beckett sees COMC as a threat. And trust me this place is. They know it and their dealers know it. I am surprised Beckett would supply pricing to this site at any cost. It would be like going to war and handing the enemy bullets to put in their shiny new guns.
    In any case Beckett pricing is not free to COMC. I certainly don’t want to pay any more fees to be able to get pricing so I am glad it is an optional thing rather than something that caused an increase in costs for everyone.

    A++++ to the developers. In the hours/days and weeks after the last two Beckett site relaunches the site was in complete chaos for dealers and traders. So far at least from a technical standpoint this seems to be a nearly flawless transition.

    • I’m not saying your wrong triple a but if they saw comc as a threat why are they doing our advertising? I know the answer is money. this is a hobby for me. I work in the business world, and any business person worth there salt is going to negotiate a way to keep/get more. as in this case here is advertising dollars and we keep book value.

      • Phil all I can tell you is that the dealers on Beckett see this place as a huge threat and are asking the same thing you are…why is Beckett allowing a competitor to advertise. But you answered it. Beckett has 2-3 employees running the marketplace and a call center and tech support in India…COMC has 55 employees who to the best of my knowledge all live in North America. Beckett is a dying magazine…COMC is growing.. Beckett website has gone through several facelifts and is a disfunctional website. COMC is a thriving website with very few glitches. The Beckett Marketplace as recently as a few years ago had around 150 dealers and was a thriving Marketplace….Now it is around 80. I don’t know the ins and outs of the negotiations between Tim and the folks at Beckett. But I do know that Beckett has lost huge marketshare to this place both from a buyer and dealer perspective.

      • thanks triple a. I really enjoy your posts I think they are informative and provide great food for thought. I love this site, and only want to see it continue to prosper, but that doesn’t mean that everything is always great.

      • Phil. agree. And we’ve stated concerns…to the delightful annoyance of some..in the past few weeks. Right now though I think the positives do outweigh the negatives and what this site needs is a strong united front with it’s membership working with the folks at COMC to support the site, not appearing like their is an uprising. Other sites are watching what is going on here, including these blogs. Some out of fear of the competition and some trying to evaluate if they can do what is done here but better. Unlike the slime who ooze around the offices at Ebay and the Beckett call center in India, folks here do listen to rational ideas and concerns. Some get implemented and some don’t. We didn’t like the condition fees, they made them o away. I am sure our “venting” about them wasn’t the reason but at least we felt like we were being listened to.
        This site belongs to Tim. We are simply customers and not partners. That said COMC listens and engages in more give and take than most sites. It is for those reasons I have confidence that anything that needs tweeking with this launch will be done. That said…this is truly as smooth a relaunch as I’ve ever seen.

      • Well stated TripleA !!! I could not agree more. I’m all in and have recently shipped some cards plus some comic books a few days ago. I’m all in.

  32. Hey! Moe here, on the COMC Social Media team. Thanks for the feedback so far; we’re taking notes and working on improving the user experience on the new website. We’ll post a more-detailed update later today on all the goings-on, but we wanted to quickly address the change re: the discontinuation of the publishing of the Beckett Book Values.

    This past August, Tim posted to the Blowout Cards forums, discussing this change. Here’s the link:
    http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/3080772-post1425.html

    As Tim says, “One of the things that the book value did as we were growing is that it forced sellers to set fair asking prices. Now that we have an average of 3 instances of any given card, the market is doing that for us. Sellers are setting asking prices relative to each other…this should result in market prices being driven by the market and not by book prices.”

    Let’s keep the discussion going (as adults, please) and make this new launch as successful as possible, for everyone! Thanks!

    • I recently manually priced 1800+ newly shipped cards. I did not count but a considerable number of those cards became the only such card posted at that time on COMC. In some cases almost every card from a particular brand set. I would have (will not have) had no idea how to price them NOR would I have any idea how to respond to offers without some kind of value reference point. Thus I would probably not offer those cards For Sale. Sorry……I am a neophyte at this having inherited hundreds of thousands of cards.
      I have never participated in any Blow Out Cards forum and did not I should do that in order to be aware of upcoming changes to COMC which I would find as startling as the loss of value reference points. I am inclined to accept the new graphics of COMC.com as cleaner and more vivid….as long as I have the right glasses on. 🙂

      • I do think COMC should post these things on a forum attached to this site. I know they are partnered with blowout but we rarely do business with them so thinking to check their forums is not something we do on a daily or even weekly basis.

      • Americana, they have said, and it is this way on the new site, when you are pricing your own cards in the Manage Inventory you will always be able to see the Beckett value. So in your scenario of pricing your 1800 cards, nothing has changed.

  33. I’m still trying to understand the purpose of the redesign. Are there new features that I’m not aware of?

    It’s rare that I agree with TripleA, but he’s right. I was essentially using COMC as a Beckett. I bet plenty of others were too. Does this mean that searching by Biggest Discount and Highest Percent Off are going to disappear?

    • Be careful Squeeealer… agreeing with me will get you booted out of the union 🙂 Just kidding. You raise a great question regarding the search questions. It may just boil down to searching for lowest price…unless they have a way to integrate those other searches for those who pay for the pricing.

  34. I will wait for a couple weeks to see how it goes before making any final decisions on staying around. I do not like the changes, but I understand that people are naturally resistant to change when they are used to something being a certain way. If more of my cards sell with the improvements to advertising and the shipping restructuring then I will commend the forward thinking of Tim and the crew. I will say that since the revised sight launched, I have not sold or received offers on any cards, I typically would have sold a few by already by this time of day.

  35. Personally, I do not like the site redesign. The color scheme is worse and the price tag thing just looks stupid. I do like when there is multiple cards there is like 3 price tags. But can we just ditch the price tag logo, the small scans and the huge price numbers. I think that just looks bad. Also the classifieds section is so minimal, I think you will lower your profits from that. Personally, Im going to be using checkoutmycards for a while.

  37. When I was at the National, I spoke with Tim about the Beckett pricing. He said that we would see pricing for cards that were in our inventory at no extra cost. Is this no longer the case, as I am not seeing pricing for any of my cards?

  39. While I am disappointed that the Beckett pricing is no longer available publicly, I completely see the reasoning behind it (proprietary information, et al). I think that the major mistake here is posting information (such as the Beckett info) on a separate website’s forum (blowout). While I follow facebook and RSS subscribe the blog I am currently commenting on, information such as the above could have easily been posted here, facebook, etc. I have had nothing but good experiences as both a buyer and seller here, but information is king. People want to know what is going on, especially in times of change such as the previous few months.

  40. On the new site:
    If classified ads were moved to USER RANKINGS that would work better for seeing the ads.

    Why are only 12 on a page shown when 18 would fit perectly?

  41. What is the purpose of including the .25 shipping cost in the list price of each item on the new site? I can’t see how that would encourage sales. In fact, it’s probably going to discourage impulse sales, particularly cards priced less than $1. Please consider removing that “feature”.

  42. Hope I’m wrong for sure, but looking like I might be done selling on here once my port is sold.

    Most of my cards are 10-30 percent OF bv but that won’t be known with the new site since bv is gone. And bv plays a large roll here…very large.

  43. Agree with the Beckett Value situation.

    We can lament in the hobby that Beckett isn’t everything, yet to those who don’t follow eBay, read Becketts, or participate in the hobby in any way, not seeing a % off will affect those visitors who stumble upon the site or are driven to the site from ads. It works really well in the real world, and in the cyber world, as well.

    I think the price tags are confusing, there’s a lot of white space, and the old site was more visually functional.

  44. I echo the sentiment that COMC needs some pricing reference. EIther it be COMC numbers from past sales. EBAY. Becket, whatever. But having a reference does allow someone to know if there is a good deal to be had.

    Yes, the .25 shipping fee does away with low end cards. That’s a shame as this site had a nice niche for set builders, in person autograph collectors, and flippers. The strength of the site was never higher end chrome’s and such. Now that seems to be the target. I will always list those on ebay. Less fees and more buyers.

    Ebay doesn’t work for lower end items that is why this site filled that need. Now with the .25 cent fee that is gone. What corner is COMC catering towards? I hope it’s just not crap cards that people don’t want to list on EBAY.

    Please find a different color background and layout. It does hurt the eyes.

    So far my sales are way down for the first 1.5 days in October compared to an average day in the past few months.

    Personally I don’t feel inclined to buy in the current environment because I don’t know the outcome of the site and how buyers will react. So i’m looking to move what I have and wait and see.

    Please roll out some features for sellers because we are hitting a lot of negatives here and the buyers may be drying up for certain markets.

    • Scott I think there are alot of sellers here who want nothing to do with Ebay who will sell everything from common inserts etc to high end. I don’t think this site was ever meant for commons. How many scans of 1986 Topps Tony Bernazard cards do you need to see? There are oher sites out there that are much better suited for those. Looking at the site here I see a broad range of high end to low end and I don’t see that changing.

      • I have to disagree Triple. I think you will see soon that less and less lower end cards will be sent in to this site. I for one was selling a lot of lower end cards, medium middle end and some higher end cards. So I would send in more lower end as that is what I was able to sell. Now with the $0.25 fee, I won’t be sending in the lower end stuff, but only stick to the middle end. It might not seem like a lot the $0.05 increase, but for 100 cards it was $20, now its $25. So I would send in 200-300 at a time so now it’s $10-$20 increase. That adds up over the course of a year. So to me it seems like COMC doesn’t fit into anything anymore. Some other site is going to come along and do the same thing for less and they will have to try and deal with it. It stinks for the sellers on here right now. Also,I still only use ebay for Higher End cards as well because it does reach a lot more people.

  45. Instead of listing the “Beckett Value” of a card why dont you just list a “Market Value” of the card and dont give the exact amount [eg.: if the card retails at $0.75 list the “Market Value at 0$-$1.00 OR if a card retails for $2.50 list the “Market Value at $2.00-$3.00]…..just a thought.

    • Hi, YankeeDodel.
      Appreciate the suggestion; it’s an interesting one and a couple people have mentioned something similar. We’re definitely taking ideas for how to keep improving the site experience.
      Thanks!
      Jeremy

    • We’re definitely working on figuring out a deal to make that possible.
      Thanks!
      Jeremy

  47. You are giving your sellers a huge advantage over your buyers by not listing book prices. Buyers want to know “how good” of a deal they are getting. With no book prices they have no clue, for all the buyer knows the seller could be trying to sell at higher then book price.. Am I reading this correctly that I am gonna have to pay to see book value for cards for sale on the site?. If so you can close my account now and good luck to you.

    • Hello, crystal king.
      We appreciate you taking the time to write. The Beckett book value was always intended to be a reflection of the market, not what determines it. If you check out our legacy site, checkoutmycards.com, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any card that is selling at Beckett BV. Millions of cards are drastically below and many are above. Beckett is already difficult to use to determine how good of a deal you are getting unless you know what the market is like, what others are selling the card for, and what you’re willing to pay. The Beckett data was never really “free”. We paid for it in licensing fees. Those fees were not passed on to the users because we didn’t carry a large enough selection to impact Beckett’s subscriptions. Now, though, we have fully 25% of their entire documented catalog for sale on our site and they can’t give away that much data and stay in business – their entire business model is built on selling it. We’re therefore giving users the choice to pay Beckett fairly for it or to see if they don’t mind going without it.
      Thanks very much,
      Jeremy

    • This is one of the main reasons I used COMC. I liked the fact the book prices were posted. It was something other sites did not have. It was unique and thats what I liked about it. But its not the end of the world. They are just cards. I will be having the last of my items shipped to me and going elsewhere to do my business. The site is no longer providing me with the things I liked about it. Take care and I hope everything works out for the site.

  49. BTW Jeremy,
    Since every else is running their wish lists out there (and some good ideas by the way)…
    I would like to see the ability to set auto accept at different levels for specific cards. Obviously we’d discount some cards more than others so that is why it would be helpful.

  50. The main reason I used COMC was due to the fact I could see the book price and the value I was getting when buying card also using the book price as a guide on what to ask/expect to get for my cards. Once the new site is in place I will be done with COMC along with some others I have spoke with who buy/sell on COMC.

      • Problem is that comc has spoonfed us this info for 4-5 yrs. and now expect to yank it away from us without a whimper. It’s been the cornerstone of their corporate model for buyers. Typical head in the sand corporate move.

      • It sounds as if you’re inferring that this was COMC’s choice.

        I don’t know any more than anyone else, but to me the obvious solution is to include pricing with an account upgrade. I can see myself spending $100/month instead of $50 and then getting, say, no storage fees and free pricing for cards. On the buyer side, maybe a membership fee a la Costco/Amazon Prime that include pricing and free shipping. You’re going to pay for this pricing, just as you always have with the various fees. The feedback here essentially says that we all must be fooled into paying for it. Nothing is ever free, just like healthcare, but it is cheaper for everyone if we all participate, just like healthcare.

      • I dont think anyone said that other sites were showing book value. I believe they were just referring to the fact that one of the main things they like about COMC was the fact that had had book prices. It was an advantage they had over other sites and alot of people liked it. It was one of the main reasons I used the site. Now to not have it anymore takes something away from buyer that they were very used to having at thier disposal. When I pay 25 dollars shipping for a package that would cost 5 dollars to ship(I know this because I sell cards as well) then yes I expect a few perks. Book values was a great perk. I understand they have to make money and I have no problem paying a little extra for shipping. But paying 5x what I know it takes to ship a package and to have one of the best features of the site taken away is dissapointing.

  51. Joel-that’s fine as long as fee is reasonable except the buyer’s only option is a 10$ a month fee and I’m presuming that’s for one sport only. Pretty steep for a casual buyer who only spends a few bucks now & then. In any case, I would get it from Beckett at 81$ a year. Then I could use it at any web site instead of bouncing back to comc who might not have the card anyways. Hey, that means the 10$ doesn’t even cover all the baseball cards that Beckett lists, only the ones comc has, speaking from a buyer only perspective. Your right that it obviously isn’t comc’s choice but we have been spoonfed and it has become their largest plus along with their variety of middle & high end cards at obtainable prices again thanks to BV and knowledgeable sellers who understand cash flow and supply and demand.

    • I could be wrong but I don’t believe they stated it was per sport. That said I do believe they should offer the “pay per price” that I proposed.

      Beckett did this because of the threat they see coming from COMC. The remaining dealers at Beckett are screaming about lack of sales, the competition from COMC, the advertising in Beckett from COMC and the advantage COMC has on Amazon. Beckett put the screws to COMC because of the real threat this site poses.

    • Hi, Brian.
      The $10/month licensing fee is for all BVs on the site and isn’t subdivided by sport.
      Thanks,
      Jeremy

      • Thanks for clearing that up, Jeremy. Just a short story to show you the recognition factor between Beckett BV & COMC.
        A couple of years ago my son & a buddy where at the house & a discussion on Alex Ovetchkin & the value of his rookie card came up. My son immediately went to the computer & your website to look it up. He hasn’t collected since the early 90’s but somehow was aware of your website and that was my introduction Checkoutmycards!
        As for Tripleavintages comment on Beckett’s upset sellers, it can’t be that great of a concern to Beckett as they’ve managed to put a price on their service to you, the competition. They’re not interested in Comc taking over the field, just in how much they can charge you for it and how they can upset Comc’s buyers. Not much positive action there!

  52. Brian,
    Two points…..
    COMC was never meant to be a price guide or a destination for pricing cards. Yeah,I get it, people price and then maybe come back and buy. But if the card it priced fairly chances are they will anyway. I will say again, no other site offers pricing for free and most not at all. People will buy where they are comfortable with the seller and where prices are competitive. I’ll put COMC right with other sites on price and miles ahead of most on quality of shipping (even it if does take longer and cost more) At this point we’ve decided we’ll pay a higher than acceptable shipping rate to know we are getting what we paid for and that their is a clear return policy if something is amiss.

    You are right, Beckett doesn’t care about their sellers or they wouldn’t have destroyed the site. They are in a swift downward spiral.. That said they want to keep the revenue from their remaining sellers coming and at the same time they can get a cash grab from COMC. It isn’t a win-win exactly however in the immediate they do increase their revenue stream and turn to their ever frustrated dealer base and tell them they aren’t giving to COMC users for free something that is a part of what dealers pay $250-$500 a month to Beckett for.

    • Tripleavintage
      It may not have started out as price guide destination but it was a natural evolution of deciding to
      give seller & buyer a BV and the ability to negotiate a price comfortable to both of them. The brain trust must have seen this and said “this is a good idea and maybe card purchasers will stay and buy more now that they can see what a good bargain they can get if both parties know what their starting points are.” That’s why I joined COMC and it encourages me to linger & click that Add Store Credit line more often than I should.
      THAT alone tells me Tim must have majored in Consumer Psychology. How much easier it is to spend money you’ve already spent, if that makes any sense. And you still have to pay for shipping after you’ve paid for the merchandise, at least until the new system kicks in, as I understand it.

      • Brian I don’t disagree and if COMC had decided to start charging for pricing as a simple “cash grab” I would be all over them too. (lol I have been known to rant on fees occasionally)
        That isn’t the case here. And if another site offered free pricing I’d understand all of the threats to jump ship. Now, COMC is for members who don’t wish to pay for pricing simply level with everyone else. And for those who do wish to pay this site offers something no other site does, pricing right next to a quality scan of the exact card you are thinking of purchasing. Not even Beckett themselves can offer that. Those guys are screaming for “stock photos” because they can’t scan their own cards.

        COMC did what it had to do in order to secure the ability to continue to use Beckett pricing. Do I wish it was here for free as a reference? Of course. But I understand it isn’t and I understand it isn’t anywhere else either. And since there are so many other aspects of the site I like, I don’t care enough to want to leave. I guess if someone used this site to buy a few cards a month and the rest of the time simply used it as a free price guide there may not be a reason to visit here. For the occasional shopper that wants it let’s hope there is a “pay per click” option. For the hardcore user who is on here buying/selling/flipping every day that feels they need the pricing right in front of them I think $10 is a bargain.
        I just don’t get all the spewage of “You mean miserable COMC…you took away my free pricing! I want my free pricing! I am entitled to free pricing for life because you have offered it until now. I am taking my shoebox of cards and stomping back to Scambay”

        Brian at least you offer some rational reasons for your concerns. I share some of them but can only hope enough users will see this for what it is and adapt. Always enjoy reading your posts.

      • Thank you Tripleavintage, your comments are appreciated also, as they shed a light for me on a seller’s view which I am not.

        I know I won’t be abandoning comc either, but that won’t stop me from whining a little, being the Hater of Change that I am. They may not have the overall selection of Beckett YET but comc’s prices beat Beckett’s hands down as a rule. I’ve only purchased at Beckett when the card is unavailable here and then sometimes begrudgingly because I know comc dealer prices would be better if available. Only time will tell if prices start to inch up. Hopefully, internal competition between comc dealers will keep prices on the same sort of levels they are now.However, I will probably opt for Beckett’s single sport subscription when the time comes as that’s all I need and want pricing on cards not available here if only for judging the worth of my own collection.

        I essentially like a BV because I think it’s made me a smarter & more cautious shopper and made me more aware of a card’s market value which you and I set in our negotiations as buyers & sellers. Beckett says their guides are formulated from high & low prices expected to pay or get in the market but they sure make you wonder.

        Bottom line- baseball card collecting is my hobby and cards are only worth what I’m willing to pay for them although I have been known to ignore my own philosophy. Thanks for reading.

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