Following five weeks of rotating strikes, Back-to-Work Legislation for Canadian Post employees to return to work has been passed by the Canadian Government effective on November 27th. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have been on rotating strikes since October 22nd, and may continue to the fight the legislation that was recently passed.
Impact on our Canadian Customers:
The rotating legal strikes have created a severe backlog of mail and parcels, which is expected to grow even larger due to the increased volume of eCommerce over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. Delivery delays are expected to continue for the foreseeable future through the Holiday season and into January 2019.
While Canada Post is operational and working diligently to minimize service impacts, mail and parcels will be handled on a first-in, first-out basis. Even after striking stops and Canada Post stabilizes, mail and parcels recently shipped will still be subject to the same lengthy delays as mail and parcels shipped during the rotating strike period.
Because these delays will vary in length, COMC is unable to provide an accurate timeline for when orders placed to Canada may be delivered once they enter the Canada Post mail system. If these delays create a delivery inconvenience, we recommend taking advantage of COMC’s Buy Now, Ship Later functionality. With this feature, customers are able to purchase items, or transfer them from Upper Deck’s ePack Service, and request shipment at a later date once postal delays have been resolved.
If you do not yet have a COMC account, sign up for free here.
In the meantime, we encourage you to visit www.canadapost.ca/update to read about the latest developments and sign up for email updates.
If you have any questions, we’re here to help! Contact our Customer Service at staff@comc.com or 1-800-517-3540.
Thanks,
– The COMC Team
Previous Update from September 19th, 2018:
As you are likely aware, Canada Post services may experience a disruption as early as September 26 amid negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. In the event of a work disruption, COMC and Upper Deck e-Pack shipments to Canada will experience delays. Shipments will be held at our Burnaby, BC office and will be promptly shipped when work resumes.
Orders already in the Canada Post system during a work disruption will remain in their system until Canada Post resumes operations. Please anticipate delays in delivery times for these orders. Should the work disruption occur, we strongly recommend our Canadian customers take advantage of COMC’s unique service which allows customers with a COMC account to buy over time and ship everything together in a single shipment when Canada Post resumes operations.
Canadian sellers: You can either drop your consignment submissions off at COMC Canada in Burnaby, BC or use alternative carriers such as UPS, FedEx, and Canpar. There will be no service delays for cards stored remotely in Canada purchased by non-Canadian residents
Before the three Seahawks Super Bowl appearances from 2006-2015, and the rise of the Seattle Sounders FC, the city of Seattle was once an energetic baseball town. The phrase “Refuse to Lose” swept through Washington state in 1995 as an unlikely Seattle Mariners team made a historic playoff push that fell short to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. The magic of that season carried over for many years to come, and while that particular era of the Mariners never achieved success greater than that 1995 season, a message was delivered to a faithful Mariners fan base: This team can contend.
I talk highly about our past so that I can disappoint you with the present. For the past 17 seasons, Mariners fans have slowly watched the magic of the 1990’s disappear with each failed attempt to make the playoffs. It took a record breaking 116-win season, a Manager of the Year in Lou Piniella, and an MVP and Rookie of the Year performance from Ichiro Suzuki for the last Mariner’s team to make the playoffs, falling short to the New York Yankees in the 2001 ALCS. The organization has not won more than 93 games in a year since and have only had seven .500 or better seasons during their playoff drought.
Being a die hard Mariners fan is like living in a perpetual state of Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons. Queue the Memes…
To offer perspective of how long those 17 years have been, here is a short list of things that have happened in that time frame:
Apple’s stock price rose from $1 (Oct 2001) to $180 (Nov 2018)
Professors and Trainers have discovered 556 new species of Pokemon, bringing the total number of Pokemon from 251 (2001) to 807 (2018).
Lebron James went from 0 career points to fifth most in NBA history.
John Cena has won 16 World Championships in the WWE.
COMC was founded and has processed 58 million cards and counting.
The failures of the franchise have compounded over the better part of the last two decades. At this point, it’s nearly impossible to point the finger at any one point in time as the definitive reason why the team has yet to earn so much as a wildcard spot. First, the team couldn’t win with big free agent signings like Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre. Then the team couldn’t get it done by trading prized prospects for pitchers who under performed. And most depressingly, the team couldn’t so much as come close to one single playoff appearance through the rise and fall of a King’s career.
So here we are in the cold winter months before the 2019 season, and a tear down of a team that won 89 games but finished 3rd in the A.L. West following a “That’s so Mariners” collapse is underway. Mike Zunino is gone, leaving a void behind the plate. ‘Big Maple’ James Paxton is now in the Big Apple, and Justus Sheffield is the latest name in a long laundry list of pitching prospects that we are told to believe will bring playoff baseball back to Seattle. Off the top of my head, here’s some other names on that list of pitchers who we were promised would bring us back to the post season:
Travis Blackley, Matt Thornton, Phillipe Aumont, Brandon Morrow, Brandon Mauer, Doug Fister, Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, and Michael Pineda.
For fans of teams that are perpetual contenders, the winter months are an exciting time of speculation and imagination.
“Which free agents will my team sign?”
“Who’s available that we can trade for that will make an immediate impact?”
For Mariners fans however, the actions of “Trader” Jerry Dipoto cannot be predicted, outside of the guaranteed two or more swaps a year with the Tampa Bay Rays. Will he crack open the piggy bank? Will he take on another project player who maybe just needs a change of scenery to live up to their potential? Though the fear, doubt and uncertainty of a cruel history of losing will always linger in the background, the Mariners fan base will always be optimistic that management is leading the franchise in the right direction. After all, Jerry was the guy who signed Mike Trout to a six year deal through 2020 with the Angels right?
“But James, he also gave Josh Hamilton $120 million in 2012 and Albert Pujols a 10-year /$240mil deal at age 32.”
Oh yeah. As I said, lingering doubt.
Would you trust this man with your franchise?
I’ve got to say, living in the perpetual fear that any player on your favorite team can be traded has been one of the most trying and mentally exhausting experience as a fan that I’ve faced while aboard the S.S. Mariner. Closer Edwin Diaz chased K-Rod’s magic number of 62 saves, coming up short at 57 (in an 89-win season mind you), but still had one of the most dominate seasons ever as a closer. He’s likely gone, especially in a climate where lights out closers yield a huge premium. Mitch Haniger, an emerging superstar and offensive spark plug over the last two years, as well as my personal favorite player since the golden era of “Big Time Timmy Jim” Tim Lincecum, could also be on his way out for a strong yield of prospects. While the salary dump of Robinson Cano, Dee Gordon, Kyle Seager, and Felix Hernandez would be welcomed, the thought of not resigning Nelson Cruz and watching him tee off against the M’s while wearing an Astros uniform is downright frightening. And then there’s Ryon Healy,Ben Gamel, Dan Vogelbach, and Jean Segura, who could all be on the move before having their fair chance to win as Mariners.
“To win as Mariners.” Heh. I don’t even know what that means anymore. The Yankees and Red Sox have taught us that you can buy your way to the post-season. The Marlins have taught us that you can draft your way to the World Series. Most recently, the Astros have taught us that you can tear it all down and rebuild your way to Post Season excellence. But it doesn’t appear the Mariners are committing 100% to any single one of those tried and true methods. The only thing that is for certain in the team’s future is that Ichiro, the last connection remaining to a Mariners team that made the playoffs, will suit up in an M’s uniform in 2019 at play at the age of 45 when the Mariners and Athletics open the season in Japan next March.
The Mariners are a lot like that toy that you really wanted all year and finally got on Christmas Morning, only to realize it was damaged. No one can seem to find the receipt, so it can’t be returned, but your Dad is certain that he can fix it. I don’t know if it will be a Christmas Miracle this year that will make or break baseball in Seattle, but we’re this deep in, so what’s a few more years?
I mentioned in my previous column about how much I enjoy the YouTube page “Classic Baseball on the Radio“. While they have some games such as the World Series and All-Star games that you would expect them to have, the regular season games they also have are sometimes famous in their own right. One of those games is from the 1962 New York Mets season. Now when a team loses 120 games in a season, usually the fans leave in droves. But because those Mets were so lovable, they actually drew more fans than you would expect, considering how bad they were and the Polo Grounds location.
I say all that because there is a 1962 Mets/Cubs game saved which actually had two memorable moments before the 1st inning was even concluded. I had read about one of those moments when I was very young, but never knew it was not an apocryphal story, while the other was noted but still difficult to believe. By the way, last article’s subject Roger Craig does not appear in this game. In case you want the spoiler, here is the Retrosheet recap of the game on June 17, 1962.
The first of those two events occurred in the top of the 1st inning. You see a Cubs rookie by the name of Lou Brock deposited a homer into the Polo Grounds center-field bleachers.
Now it may not seem like hitting a homer into the bleachers is so special, but remember just eight years earlier, the most famous catch in baseball history occurred in those vast expanses of the Polo Grounds. If you have not seen this play and are a baseball fan at all, I’m shocked. The most amazing aspect of this catch was not just how far Willie Mays ran to catch the ball, but the amazing spin and throw immediately afterwards. There was a runner on second base and despite how far the ball was slugged, the runner only got to third base.
Mays was such a great center fielder for so many years. More than 15 years later this next catch occurred. In some ways, this is a harder catch than the more famous effort:
The great aspect of the 1954 catch is how it is immortalized on this 1959 Topps card:
But going back to Mr. Brock, while today we think of him as a singles hitter who accumulated more than 3,000 hits in his career, during those early stages he would constantly be in double digits for doubles, triples and homers. During the 1967 season, which may have been his best season, Brock garnered 65 extra base hits, with 21 of those having left the ballpark.
He continued his hot hitting in the 1967 World Series, leading the Cardinals to their second World Championship in just four seasons. This 1968 card show his effect on those games:
When he retired,Brock had set the record for most career stolen bases. He was later elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
With that, the top of the first has been concluded but the real fun stuff occurs in the bottom of the first inning. As we noted, those 1962 Mets were on their way to 120 losses, and among their highlights they never won a game on a Thursday that season. While Roger Craig is the Dallas COMC official player, the most popular player on those Mets was a man named Marvin Eugene Throneberry whose initials spelled out MET. Somehow that all seemed appropriate as Marv was a decent player until he got to the Mets and then just imploded as a player.
Sadly, although some of the later additions to the 1962 Mets are immortalized on cardboard, we would have to wait until 1963 for Marv to receive his Mets card. Why is this 1962 game important to Marv’s legend? You see, in legging out a triple, Marv missed both first and second base on his way to third. When the appeal play at second worked, famed manager Casey Stengel went out to challenge the call, but one of the umpires informed him he also missed first base. The radio broadcast and retrosheet actually verifies this seemingly impossibility. Now, as a fledgling dealer in the 1980’s, I would have loved to have seen Marv on a 1962 card for today’s affordability reasons. I’m kind of glad he has attainable 1963 cards instead.
And almost 60 years later, having proof of both of these events saved on tape showed what I had heard about as a young child but always assumed was not true when it came to “Marvelous Marv”. Thankfully Marv had a nice renaissance in his later years as he became one of the famed Miller Lite spokesmen. While he passed at the early age of 60, Marv is still a beloved figure for those who liked those early Mets teams.
COMC’s very own “Viscious” Verne Siebert (Google him!) and Barry Mah working the booth.
We had a fantastic time last weekend at the 2018 Legends Weekend 1st annual Western Canada Hockey Expo at the Langley Event Centre! Thanks to all who stopped by our booth to chat, play our dice game, or drop off consignment submissions. And thank you very much to Bossa Productions for bringing this show back! Here’s hoping for many more great years to come!
2018 Legends Weekend 1st Annual Hockey Expo Dice Game Results:
(Roll a 3, 4, or 5) – 2017-18 Upper Deck #247 Brock Boeser RC – nucksfan167
(Roll a 6 or 7) – 2016-17 Upper Deck #201 Nico Hischier RC – MikeDempsey
(Roll a 8) – 2013-14 National Treasures #110 Joe Cannata Autographed RC #55/99 – trex604
(Roll a 9) – 2015-16 MVP #280 Nikolay Goldobin RC – ezccollectables
(Roll a 10) – 2017 Upper Deck National Convention Prominent Cuts VIP #VIP-2 Connor McDavid – sandbagger
(Roll an 11) – 2015-16 Trilogy Rookie Premieres #160 Nikolay Goldobin Level 2 Auto #417/499 – Aldamji007
(Roll a 12) – 2015-16 MVP #281 Jake Virtanen RC – sgillis
(Roll a 13) – 2016-17 MVP Rinkleaders Achievement #RL-0 Wayne Gretzky – CanucksFan58
(Roll a 14 or 15) – 2017-18 Upper Deck A Piece of History #PC-HS Henrik Sedin – micerule934
(Roll a 16, 17, or 18) – 2015-16 The Cup Gold Spectrum Foil Autograph #183 Jake Virtanen #32/36 – scottym912
To claim your prize, you must contact staff@comc.com with your name and username before January 18, 2019 @ 23:59:59 PST.
*** BLACK FRIDAY / CYBER MONDAY DEALS ARE NOW LIVE ****
Black Friday Kickoff Sale – November 23rd Black Friday Weekend Sale – November 24th & 25th Cyber Monday Last-Chance Sale – November 26th
Get ready to finish building your sets, add those missing pieces to your player collections, and find incredible savings over our four-day annual COMC Black Friday – Cyber Monday Sales Event! The sale kicks off this Friday (November 23rd) and the savings don’t end until the final minutes of Cyber Monday (Nov 26th).
We want to help you get the cards that you want at the prices that you want to pay! Our sellers will be cutting prices on items from your favorite teams, players, and sets all across the COMC Marketplace! Not only do we want you to find good deals, we also want to help you on the cost of shipping. With that being said….
Free Shipping All Weekend Long!
All orders of 25 or more items placed on COMC from November 23rd through 26th will be eligible to receive free shipping. Orders can be placed from a COMC shopping cart or from your COMC account. Orders that qualify for our Free Black Friday shipping promotion will ship on or before December 17th.
If using your COMC account, items must be purchased in Simplified Shipping Mode to qualify. All non-qualifying shipments of 25 cards or more will still receive free shipping, but will also incur regular per-item S&H fees (i.e. items purchased in Advanced Reseller Mode, transferred from ePack, or items consigned and being returned to the seller). Orders shipped to Canada will still be subject to the delivered duties paid fee.
The Advantages of Using Your COMC Account!
There are many advantages to using your COMC account, but perhaps the biggest advantage for COMC members during Black Friday is our buy now – ship later functionality. While you’re shopping on COMC, items in your shopping cart are not reserved, and can be purchased by other shoppers before you complete the checkout process for your order. Using your COMC account to instantly purchase items with store credit will prevent other shoppers from snagging those too-good-to-be-true deals before you can.
By using your COMC account and purchasing items using COMC Credit, you get to decide when you want your items shipped to you! This key feature is also perfect for pooling items together until you have enough items to qualify for our free shipping promotion!
With COMC Credit, you can buy a few items on Friday, a few more on Saturday and Sunday, and come back on Monday to scoop up a ton of last-minute deals. All of those items will stay safe within your COMC account until you’re ready to place a shipment request for them. You can place a shipment request for those items the next day, the next month, or even the next year! As long as you own them, and they’re in your COMC account, they’ll stay safe in our warehouse until you’re ready to take possession of them via a shipment request.
Don’t have a COMC account? Click Here to check out why you should have one and then create an account. It only takes a minute!
Three Free Sales Promotions for COMC Sellers!
Once again we’re giving COMC sellers not one, not two, but THREE free sales promotions to run throughout the Black Friday – Cyber Monday Sales Event. Starting with Black Friday (Nov 23rd), sellers will also be able to run sales throughout Black Friday Weekend (Nov 24th & 25th), and finally offer buyers one final chance to save during Cyber Monday (Nov 26th).
The best way to stay informed and up-to-date on COMC news and happening is by following our blog and social media pages! Throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday we’ll be offering our social media media followers a chance to win one of FOUR contests for some very cool cards & prizes. You’re not going to want to miss these giveaways! The only way to get involved in the action is to follow all three of our accounts above!
Need Help? We’re Here For You!
Any questions? Our friendly Customer Service Team is always ready to help out! In order for us to most efficiently and effectively handle the increased volume of requests over the Black Friday weekend, please send an email to staff@comc.com and allow for up to 48 hours for response. Please note that our offices will be closed on November 22nd in observation of the Thanksgiving Holiday. To best accommodate the increased number of customer service requests, our customer service phone lines will not be available from Thursday – Monday. Phone service will resume on Tuesday, November 27th.
On behalf of the COMC team at the Toronto Expo (Boo-Barry, Geoff “Don’t call me Steve” Holland, and “Steven King” Hollander), we would like to thank everyone who stopped by to chat with us. Visiting the GTA twice a year, it’s beginning to feel like we’ve formed and established some really great relationships with our customers in the area. We look forward to continuing to build upon that foundation in 2019!
We would normally announce this as our final show of the year, but the COMC Canada team will be in attendance at the 2018 Legends Weekend from November 16-18 at the Langley Event Centre. There will be more giveaways and prizes to be had! We will also be accepting your consignment submissions all throughout the show. For more details visit their page at: http://www.bossashows.com/2018-legends-weekend
Without further adieu, here are the winners of the 2018 Fall Expo Spin-to-Win contest.
Don’t forget that in order to claim your prize, you must contact staff@comc.com with your name and username before January 11, 2019 @ 23:59:59 PST. Due to the Canada Post rotating strike, the prizes will not be available to process into winner’s accounts until the middle of next week at the earliest. Submissions received at the Expo are also delayed with the strike taking place in Mississauga at the time of our drop-off at Canada Post.
Coming next Monday, we’ll be announcing the details of our upcoming Black Friday – Cyber Monday Sales Event. Stay tuned!
Thank you for helping COMC grow from being a garage startup to making a tangible impact on the trading card industry. COMC currently ships more single trading cards than any other company on the planet, and we could not have done this without such amazing support from all our sellers, buyers, employees, vendors, and partners. I am incredibly proud of what we have built together and feel very fortunate to be on this journey with you.
Today we are making one of our biggest announcements ever, and we don’t take this lightly. In fact, we have been pondering and refining these changes for nearly 5 years.
If you haven’t already watched the video above, I recommend doing so before reading the rest of this post.
What enabled COMC’s success?
Several factors have made COMC’s service so popular, but one of the most significant factors is our Buy Now – Ship Later model. This is a key reason why we are considered the best website for set builders and player collectors.
While most sites have tried offering faster and faster shipping to attract more business, this strategy has resulted in average order sizes of less than 2 cards per package.
At COMC, we have invested in a model where you can sell cards to earn COMC Credit, or you can buy more credit, and then you use that credit to make offers, instantly purchase items, and eventually request a shipment. This Buy Now – Ship Later model has resulted in an average of 40 cards per package, saving COMC members millions of dollars on shipping, and allowing COMC to dominate the low-end portion of the trading card market.
Why change?
Many sellers have expressed they would like to use our service for more of their mid-range and high-end items in addition to all their low-end ones. The greatest cost when selling low-end items is shipping, but as you progress to more mid-range and high-end items, commission fees gradually surpass shipping costs, and eventually commission fees become the most significant costs.
A fee structure that can support both low-end and high-end items will be a huge win for our sellers and our buyers.
What is the goal?
We want to welcome more mid-range and high-end items onto the COMC platform while also preserving our superiority with low-end items.
What is changing?
We are reducing the overall commissions we collect by making the following changes.
Our 20% Cash-Out Fee is being replaced with a 10% Cash-Out Fee and 5% Transaction Fee.
Our 20% eBay/Amazon seller’s commission is being replaced with a much smaller buyer’s premium.
A small Enhanced Security Fee will be assessed to items listed for $50 or more.
Cash-Out Fee Details
On January 1st, 2019 we will reduce our Cash-Out Fee to only 10%. This will be available for all COMC Credit that was charged the 5% Transaction Fee. With any Legacy COMC Credit you earned before the 5% Transaction Fee, you will have these choices.
Spend it on cards and services
Convert some or all Legacy COMC Credit to new COMC Credit by paying a 5% Conversion Fee
Wait until January 1st, 2020 when we retire the concept of Legacy COMC Credit and give 10% cash-outs to any COMC Credit
No matter which option you choose, you will be better off than you are with today’s 20% cash-out. That said, the best option is still to simply use the Legacy COMC Credit on COMC and avoid the cash-out and conversion fees all together. When you use COMC Credit to consign items, make offers, buy items, request a shipment, or pay for any other COMC services, we will use up your Legacy COMC Credit first. When you Cash-Out COMC Credit, we will use the new COMC Credit first. We will always use the credit that is most advantageous for you.
Here are some example Cash-Out scenarios.
December 31st, 2018
January 1st, 2020
$1,000
COMC Credit
$1,000
COMC Credit
– $200
20% Cash-Out Fee
– $100
10% Cash-Out Fee
$800
PayPal Deposit
$900
PayPal Deposit
January 1st, 2019
July 1st, 2019
$0
New COMC Credit
$600
New COMC Credit
+ $1,000
Legacy COMC Credit
+ $400
Legacy COMC Credit
– $50
5% Conversion Fee
– $20
5% Conversion Fee
$950
New COMC Credit
$980
New COMC Credit
– $95
10% Cash-Out Fee
– $98
10% Cash-Out Fee
$855
PayPal Deposit
$882
PayPal Deposit
We will also reduce the cost of Blowout Cards gift certificates. These details will be provided in a follow up blog post.
Transaction Fee Details
Starting January 1st, 2019, we will charge a 5% transaction fee on all transactions that transfer store credit in exchange for items. This fee will be collected at the time of sale and is very similar to the 3% promotion fee charged when you run a standard sale promotion today. Consequently, we will also reduce promotion fees so it is easier for you to run promotions and drive sales. More details on the new promotion fees will be provided in a blog post coming soon.
Traditional Order vs Buy Now – Ship Later
We classify all eBay, Amazon, and COMC Shopping Cart purchases as Traditional Orders. These orders require immediate shipment as part of the payment contract. We will make several changes to streamline these Traditional Order scenarios, which are really intended for the causal buyer that just wants to quickly add a few items to their cart and check out. For example, we have offered “free shipping” on more expensive eBay listings by embedding the cost of shipping in the eBay price. Also, eBay and Amazon require all orders to be mailed out within 1 business day. So, we will simplify our shipping options and standardize across eBay, Amazon, and the COMC Shopping Cart, making it seamless for casual customers to very quickly purchase a few items.
In contrast, our COMC Credit scenario enables the Buy Now – Ship Later functionality. This is designed for more serious collectors who frequently do both buying and selling. With COMC Credit, the buying process is clearly differentiated from the shipping process, and shipping is optional. It is very common for people to buy items and then resell them without ever taking physical possession of the items. It is also common for people to buy items one day and not request a shipment for weeks, months, or even years, so we will continue to offer our low-cost, slower shipping options when placing shipment requests with COMC Credit.
Improved eBay & Amazon Selling Experience (Traditional Order Premium)
Over the past several years, we have required sellers to factor the 20% eBay/Amazon commission into their asking prices, making it more difficult for sellers to set competitive asking prices for mid-range and high-end items when opted in to sell on eBay and Amazon. We will replace this seller’s commission with a much smaller buyer’s premium that we refer to as the Traditional Order Premium.
The Traditional Order Premium will be 10% + $5 for items with an asking price of $100+ COMC Credit and 15% for items with an asking price of less than $100 COMC Credit. As a seller, you will no longer need to inflate your prices to cover the old 20% eBay/Amazon commission. Instead, you will only need to factor in the 5% Transaction Fee and optional 10% Cash-Out Fee. If you plan to buy other items with the COMC Credit you earn from selling, you can ignore the 10% Cash-Out Fee altogether.
Starting immediately after Cyber Monday, prices on COMC will reflect the Traditional Order Premium when you are not signed in. Guest visitors to COMC can only use the COMC Shopping Cart to make purchases, and they will always be subject to the Traditional Order Premium. As a COMC member, you will see the COMC Credit prices after signing in, and you will not be subject to the Traditional Order Premium when you use COMC Credit to make your purchases.
During December we will begin transitioning eBay and Amazon listings to reflect the Traditional Order Premium. In the meantime, items will be listed on eBay and Amazon either because the seller opted in to covering the 20% commission or because we reflected the Traditional Order Premium in the listing’s price. Until we update a listing, any sales form that listing will still be subject to the 20% eBay/Amazon commission. Once a listing reflects the Traditional Order Premium, you will receive your full asking price when it sells. After January 1st, 2019, your sales will also be subject to the 5% transaction fee.
Once all the eBay and Amazon listings have been updated, you will no longer need to opt in to selling on eBay and Amazon, and all items for sale on COMC will automatically be eligible for sale on eBay and Amazon.
Revenue from the Traditional Order Premium
The majority of the revenue we receive from the Traditional Order Premium will go towards covering eBay & Amazon fees, extra support costs and increased return rates from these platforms, PayPal and credit card fees, advertising to drive more traffic to COMC, and eventually, affiliate and referral programs (hint-hint), as well as the software development costs to build and maintain these systems. It is not easy being one of the largest sellers on both eBay and Amazon. We frequently push them to their limits.
Enhanced Security Fee Details
We anticipate receiving a lot more high-end items as the result of these changes, and our $0.01/month Storage Fee does not sufficiently cover the expenses we incur when properly securing your $1,000 items.
On January 1st, 2019, we will introduce an Enhanced Security Fee for items with an asking price of $50 or more. Low-end items will not be affected by this new fee. The fee will be $0.01 per $1,000 of total asking price per day. This amounts to about $0.03 per month for a $100 item or $0.30 per month for a $1,000 item.
The fee will accrue daily but will only be charged monthly. The first Enhanced Security Fee will be assessed on February 1st, 2019 and will be based on asking prices throughout the month of January.
This fee encourages more competitive asking prices for high-end items and should help clear out some of the inflated prices on COMC today.
We will add a filter to the Inventory Manager that makes it easy for you to find items that are subject to the Enhanced Security Fee so you can easily make price changes to minimize this fee.
Net Effect of Commission Changes
When an eBay buyer spends $1,000 on one of your items, you will net 20% more cash.
COMC on eBay Today
COMC on eBay After Changes
$1,000.00 List Price
$800.00 after 20% eBay Commission
$640.00 after 20% Cash-Out Fee
$1,000.00 Traditional Order Price
$904.54 COMC Credit Price
$859.31 After 5% Transaction Fee
$773.37 After 10% Cash-Out Fee
$773.37 is 20.8% more than $640.00.
If you want $1,000 cash in your pocket for an item that sells on eBay, you will be able to do that with 17% lower prices on eBay.
COMC on eBay Today
COMC on eBay After Changes
$1,562.50 List Price
$1,250.00 after 20% eBay Commission
$1,000.00 after 20% Cash-Out Fee
$1,291.56 Traditional Order Price
$1,169.60 COMC Credit Price
$1,111.12 After 5% Transaction Fee
$1,000.00 After 10% Cash-Out Fee
$1,291.56 is 17.3% less than $1,562.50.
Bulk Price Editor
As a seller, you may want to make widespread changes to your asking prices to reflect the new fee structure. We will release an updated version of the Bulk Price Editor to make that process easier for you. Keep an eye out for a future blog post with more details.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have a question about these fee changes, please leave a comment, and we will update this post to answer as many questions as we can.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. We strive to continually improve your collecting experience, and this is just one step of many to come. Stay tuned for many feature announcements over the next few months and throughout 2019.
This year Topps released a very unique and welcomed product named ‘The Living Set‘. Each week, three new cards are released into the set, which should theoretically never end. Each particular week’s cards are only available for that week and then never reprinted again. Current players can only have one card in the set unless they change teams. All cards are stylized after 1953 Topps, can feature current or retired players, and are created around the artwork of legendary sports card artist Mayumi Seto. Card #100-102 (week 34) were released last week, with #100 reserved for Babe Ruth.
From the moment this set was unveiled, two of COMC’s employees were hooked on the concept, design, and the execution. Our Communications Manager James Good and Senior Business Analyst Grant Wescott each own a complete set up to this point in time and plan to continue to collecting the set as new cards are released each week. We asked them to choose their favorite 10 of the first 100 cards released in the set and give a reason why those cards resonated with them.
Grant Wescott:
“I’d wished for years Topps would produce an on-demand baseball set with the same, consistent design year after year, featuring only one player to a card, no parallels, and a checklist to eternity. The day Topps Living Set was announced was probably the best of my collecting life. Not only did they check all the boxes – that consistent design? None other than the most beautiful Topps set of all time: 1953. All meticulously hand painted by the talented Mayumi Seto. “
“If Living Set wasn’t wild enough, the market for it is. With the lowest print run in the set of 2,678 copies – because nobody wanted it, PSA 10 examples routinely sell for more than $1,000 – because everyone wants it.”
“Contrasting the Markakis in just about every way, the hot rookie sold more than 17x as many copies. No surprise, baseball fans everywhere were blown away by his debut season and undeniable passion for the game.”
“Ichiro’s 2018 season was inevitably cut short, but not before Topps could immortalize the ageless hitter’s active career. The Mariners cap is also a nice touch with the trident design and AZ Spring Training patch.”
“Try to look at this card and not smile. This goofball looks to be having the time of his life.”
“The beard, the eye black, the Swoosh on the shades, and Blackmon gazing across the thin air at Coors Field. This card has style.”
“#42… 42. Topps didn’t miss a detail with the number slot fit only for baseball’s most important figure.”
“This teenager has reason to grin as he entered The Show as the youngest player in the league. His .292/.406/.517 slash line gave fans in DC more than a few grins last season, as well.”
“Topps fit more of Big Sexy’s body on this card than any other player in the set. The irony is not lost.”
“Who? At least that was my first reaction. Then I saw his stat line. Then I saw his Hall of Fame bloodline. Then I saw this was his first rookie card.”
“Is anyone more suitable for card #100 than the Sultan of Swat? No argument here. Babe is probably the most unique and iconic sports hero of all time.”
James Good
“In an industry that tries to consistently innovate by making cards flashier and more complex, the basic card stock and classic design of Living Set, as well as the focus on artwork, is a welcomed breath of fresh air. While I would prefer that Topps would let me pay for Living Set as yearly subscription service, as opposed to buying each week individually, there is a certain charm to the current format that plays well to my nostalgia for simpler times in the hobby. Just like opening a pack as a kid, there is that rush of excitement that comes with heading to Topps website each Wednesday to see who this week’s subjects are. I thought that sense of satisfaction was long gone in our day and age. Bravo Topps.”
“Ruth was and still is larger than life in many ways. This portrait does an incredible job encapsulating the human element of someone so revered for his accomplishments.”
“Hanny is my favorite current player in all of baseball, so it was a surreal moment seeing my guy make his Living Set debut at card #54. That being said, I hope he’s never featured in the set again.”
“While I will concede the hat does look a little bit like a fireman’s helmet, I love the All-Star Game Patch. Will we see a second Harper card in 2019? He sure would look good in a Seattle or San Francisco uniform…”
“An appropriate player for the card that got it all started 34 weeks ago. Judge was the correct pick for card #1.”
Lindor was featured in Week 21- which coincided with the 2018 National Convention in Cleveland. A well-timed card with an infectious smile.
“How can you not love Big Sexy? A fitting player for Living Set’s first full body shot. “
“The photo-realistic level of detail in Seto’s portrait of Joe Mauer epitomizes what I love about Living Set. “
“It was saddening to watch David Wright’s career end under the terms that it did. I’m happy Topps celebrated the career of a great ballplayer with this card.”
“Fun fact: Grant owns over 1% of the print run of this card, and I have a baker’s dozen of my own. As far as I’m concerned, this is Rodriguez’s true rookie card, and his flashes of brilliance in 2018 suggest this card was a wise investment.”
“Neshek is a fellow collector and a through the mail autograph legend – so I knew this card would have a high print run. Neshek’s card did almost 5k more than fellow week #20 subject Giancarlo Stanton. I would like to think Pat is solely responsible for that feat.”
What are some of your favorite cards in Topps Living Set so far? Who would you like to see featured in the next 100 cards? Do you have a set of your own? Let us know what you think about The Living Set in the comments below!
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