Let’s face it, it’s been a wild year for trading cards and unprecedented growth would be an understatement. News about the hobby has entered the mainstream, and chances are even your mom’s friends have told you that cards are really heating up.
It’s been a year of highs and lows in the industry. We’ve seen values skyrocket and shatter records across every major card category, which for some has meant windfall return-on-investment almost overnight. Not long ago card supplies seemed unquestionably available in any quantity, but now we’re seeing shortages as a result of supply chain disruptions and continuous growth in the industry. We’ve also seen new products sell out in seconds to be flipped on the secondary market for unbelievable prices, only to surprisingly sell out again! And, we’ve seen price-hikes from grading and authentication companies as they experience submission levels beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations – sometimes receiving months worth of cards in a matter of days!
COMC Changing With The Industry
Here at COMC, we have experienced highs and lows as well. Our 2020 projections for card submissions were broken mid-2020 and have not stopped growing exponentially month-over-month ever since. Every day, we are excited by the increased interest in trading cards and strive to make COMC the #1 online marketplace for buying and selling cards. We are also aware that the massive growth we experienced led us to drop the ball in some areas, especially in Shipping and Customer Service. Explosive growth in the short-term, coupled with staffing shortages and space restrictions, led some users to experience severe delays in shipping and a negative overall experience with COMC. We sincerely apologize, and we’re doing something about it!
Over the past few months, we’ve looked closely at the areas where we could make immediate improvement and made significant changes to streamline our services and provide a notably better COMC experience. We are happy to say that COMC is growing strong; we’ve more than doubled our employees in Customer Service and Shipping and recently opened a new facility, which is the world’s largest building dedicated to trading cards! We are making these changes to help grow in step with the industry and prepare for the future.
COMC Service Updates
Due to the massive increase in demand for COMC’s consignment and shipping services, we can no longer offer all the options we have in the past. Instead, we have chosen to focus on simplifying our services, reducing the options, and setting timelines that we can stand behind. As the trading card market continues to evolve and as COMC’s investments in infrastructure start to pay off, we will revisit our service offerings, but for now, we are focusing on a fewer number of core services.
Introducing Standard and Select Consignment Services
The Standard and Select services are the two most economical ways to submit cards for consignment at COMC and start at $0.50 per card. These services have turnaround times as short as 2-weeks and are designed for submitting any cards: from vintage to current year cards. Cards submitted with Standard and Select have a maximum list price on COMC of $100, for cards over this amount we require our Elite consignment service. Check out our Consignment Rates page for more information.
Elite Consignment Service
Our Elite consignment service is the premier experience for any raw or graded card worth more than $50. For only $2, Elite includes industry-leading high-resolution photos (front and back) and 2-week guaranteed turnaround times with a 50% discount if we miss the deadline. For more information, please visit our Elite Service page.
COMC Auctions on eBay
COMC Auctions will now only support single trading cards with a $50 minimum auction value. For items valued below $50, we recommend using our Standard or Select services. There are no up-front fees to consign new submissions directly to COMC Auctions on eBay and items are each listed as a 7-day, $0.99 no-reserve auction. More information on how COMC Auctions on eBay are structured can be found on our Auctions page.
Mailbox
Our popular Mailbox service is an easy way to consolidate your online card purchases through a US-based address for eventual sale or bundled shipment. The service is modeled after our Select consignment service and also has a 2-week processing time. It is perfect for buying now and safely holding cards for sale or shipment later. Find out more via the COMC Mailbox page.
Raw Card Review and Reprocessing Services
In order to dedicate more time to other services, we are suspending our Raw Card Review service, and we are limiting our reprocessing service to only the Reprocess as Elite option. Also, you will need to use the Reprocess as Elite service before you can send an item that is already on COMC to an eBay Auction. Once an item has been Reprocessed as Elite, you will be able to immediately send it to an eBay Auction since it will no longer require any reprocessing. At that point, you will also be allowed to select a specific eBay Auction Event you would like to target, or you can simply have the auction launch as soon as possible.
Shipping Updates
We have simplified our shipping services and are now offering streamlined shipping options with more accurate shipping estimates. Find out about your available shipping options by entering your zip code on our Shipping page.
This has been an unbelievable year and we thank you for being part of COMC. We will keep you updated on all the changes and how they will better support your passion for trading cards. We’ll continue focusing on improving our services and delivering an excellent experience so you can maximize your enjoyment of buying and selling trading cards!
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