By Vanessa Williams
Senior Vice President of People & Operations
Recently, we shared an update with the COMC community about the operational and customer service improvements already in motion. In that message, we tried to be clear and direct about where we have fallen short, especially around fulfillment timelines and response times, and we committed to fixing the underlying issues instead of applying temporary patches.
Today, I want to continue that conversation. I would like to share more detail about the changes we have already made and the next steps we are taking to make COMC stronger and more reliable for the long term.
Here’s where things stand and what we’re doing next.
Customer Service: Faster, Clearer, and More Proactive
Customer Service hasn’t been where it needs to be. Response times have been too slow, backlogs grew too large, and we know that was frustrating.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve made significant structural changes to fix that.
We completed a full transition to a new customer support platform designed for better routing, cleaner intake, and stronger internal visibility across teams. While previously unanswered tickets could not migrate during the transition, the new system positions us to serve you faster and more accurately going forward.
At the same time, we’ve reduced our open ticket backlog by more than 65 percent. As the new system takes hold, same-day response rates have increased by 75 percent, and we are now operating at near full same-day engagement capacity. Customers can increasingly expect same-day or near same-day responses, a major shift from prior service levels.
We’ve also improved ticket quality by encouraging one ticket per issue and clearer descriptions, including order numbers and detailed explanations. That clarity is helping us resolve issues more quickly and consistently. Requests are handled first come, first served, and submitting duplicate tickets does not change prioritization.
In parallel, we’ve expanded and strengthened the Customer Service team and are hiring key leadership roles, including a Director of Customer Service and Communications. This role will establish clear service standards, improve accountability, and lead to more proactive communication.
Customer Service is no longer just reacting to tickets. We are identifying root causes, addressing recurring issues, and working closely with our Product and Operations Teams to reduce friction before it impacts more customers. We’ve also implemented structured prioritization standards to ensure high-impact and time-sensitive issues are addressed first.
The goal is straightforward: respond faster, communicate clearly, and deliver a consistently better experience.
Operations: More Resources, Smarter Execution
We’ve made two immediate shifts in Operations: smarter retrieval and more people on the floor.
First, we increased the size of our retrieval passes through the warehouse, reducing wasted movement and increasing throughput in a meaningful way.
Second, we consolidated our operations into a single location and brought teams closer together, which increased headcount in our fulfillment center. In addition, we hired over 20 people this year. Process improvements only go so far without the team to support them.
As part of this consolidation, our Redmond location is no longer accepting incoming submissions. As a reminder, all mailbox submissions must be sent to the new address, as we will no longer be accepting submissions that arrive in Redmond.
We’re already seeing positive early results as a result of this consolidation. In February, overall shipping volume increased nearly 25% compared to levels late last year, and several recent days have shipped at more than 130% of our previous baseline.
We still have work to do, but the trend lines are moving in the right direction, and that matters.
Extended Grading SLAs
We’ve made the decision to temporarily pause processing on new grading submissions.
Clearing the larger fulfillment backlog and restoring predictable turnaround times is our immediate priority. To accelerate that effort, we are temporarily redeploying members of our grading team into fulfillment. That shift reflects our commitment to restoring speed and predictability across the platform. We are aligning every available resource to move product through the system faster and eliminate delays.
During this pause, customers may continue submitting items to grading through COMC. However, timelines and SLAs for those submissions will be extended by the same duration as the pause in service, which we currently forecast at approximately six weeks. We want to be transparent about this expectation so members can make informed decisions about whether to submit during this period.
At the same time, we are implementing a number of structural changes to our grading services behind the scenes. This includes operational refinements, workflow improvements, and expanded grading partnerships. When new grading submissions resume, they will return within a more streamlined process, supported by stronger infrastructure and an even broader set of grading partners.
As part of these changes, the Pre-Grade Review service will be discontinued indefinitely. There will be no changes to the Reprocess As Elite (RAE) option, which is handled by our ingestion team rather than our grading team.
We are focused on getting this right. We’ll continue to share updates as we make progress.
Per-Item Shipping & Handling Fee Update
Effective immediately, we are adjusting our per-item Shipping and Handling fee as follows.
| Item Type | Old S&H Fee | New S&H Fee |
| Standard Trading Cards | $0.25 | $0.50 |
| Toploaded & Jumbo Cards | $0.45 | $1.00 |
| Graded Cards | $1.00 | $2.00 |
We understand that fee changes are never welcome news. This decision was made carefully and with a long-term view in mind.
In an industry where shipping costs are often hidden inside higher item prices, we choose transparency. We show our fees clearly instead of burying them. However, we can only grow effectively if the underlying model is sustainable.
For many years, this has been a loss leader to keep prices low. Over time, that limited our ability to reinvest at the level required to support growth and service improvements.
This change helps ensure we can continue building those capabilities while staying transparent about costs.
What to Expect During the Transition
As this change rolls out, you may notice a temporary mismatch between the fee shown on a listing and what appears at checkout. That’s simply a timing issue as updates propagate across our systems and external platforms.
Here’s what that timing looks like:
- Checkout: up to 48 hours
- COMC.com listings: up to 2-3 days
- COMC.com search filters: up to 14 days
- eBay listings: up to 30 days
- UpperDeckePack.com listings: up to 48 hours
We know that kind of inconsistency isn’t ideal. Thanks for bearing with us while everything syncs up across the board.
A Small Thank You
We know the last few months haven’t been perfect. Many of you have shown real patience while we work through this reset, and we truly appreciate that.
As a small thank you:
Free seller promotions run March 1–April 6 as part of our first ever Bracket Battles event, with chances to win store credit and benefit from increased buyer traffic.
Historical Pricing is free for all users through April 6, 2026. You’ll find it at the bottom of any card page. It gives you real sales data and trends to help you make smarter decisions during Bracket Battles.
It’s a small gesture, but it’s sincere.
Our focus is on building a COMC that is more responsive, more reliable, and built to last, one that earns your trust every day.
Thank you for sticking with us and for being part of the COMC community as we grow and improve.