COMC Newb

[NLidstrom]

I have been a huge COMC fan for about 2 years, that is until they started taking 5% of all transactions recently. Before you could buy and sell as you liked, taking your profits to buy nice cards for your PC. As of Jan. 1st 2019 they've started to take 5% of all transactions (sales, ect). I see that move by COMC purely out of greed, and seemingly every time you turn around there's a new fee or something to take away from your bottom line, but that's my opinion.

I've had some cards sell after waiting over a year, and other cards sell in a matter of seconds. As other users have mentioned, it's a great place to buy, especially with the e-Pack overflow.

If you're going to send cards to COMC via a drop off at a card show that they're at, make sure to read the requirements/rules on their site first. There is a 100 card minimum I believe, and likely other things to follow.

You can also set a minimum offer % for your items on COMC - not sure if that was mentioned above or not!

[Spiderpool]

I have been a huge COMC fan for about 2 years, that is until they started taking 5% of all transactions recently. Before you could buy and sell as you liked, taking your profits to buy nice cards for your PC. As of Jan. 1st 2019 they've started to take 5% of all transactions (sales, ect). I see that move by COMC purely out of greed, and seemingly every time you turn around there's a new fee or something to take away from your bottom line, but that's my opinion.

I've had some cards sell after waiting over a year, and other cards sell in a matter of seconds. As other users have mentioned, it's a great place to buy, especially with the e-Pack overflow.

If you're going to send cards to COMC via a drop off at a card show that they're at, make sure to read the requirements/rules on their site first. There is a 100 card minimum I believe, and likely other things to follow.

You can also set a minimum offer % for your items on COMC - not sure if that was mentioned above or not!

Have not heard of the new fees... I am hoping these are only fees for sellers and not buyers. (I have a buying account with about 5000 purchases. Never made a single sale on COMC!).

But the whole "fees" thing is a separate beast. eBay is not without fees either. If you want to be a seller, you will have to pay fees. Collectors (mostly sellers) have made themselves easy targets.

I certainly agree that all these fees are out of pure greed, but, when I look at many of the case breakers who open product that they don't even collect just so they can turn around and try to sell it for a profit, all I see is pure greed there too. And then to top it all off with greasy fingers! Please, if you are making a case break video, please please, don't show us you eating greasy food or chocolate bars and then opening packs of cards. Please at least make an attempt to fool us into thinking you have washed your dirty hands and cut that part out of your videos!

Personally for me, it is just CHEAPER to put all my cards in boxes and store them nicely under the stairs until I die and then my family can throw them in the garbage, than it is to actively sell cards on eBays or COMCs.

In addition, since the "minimum offer" was mentioned. I personally only buy from COMC sellers who will allow me to make an offer. If they are not currently accepting offers, then I just move on to the next seller who is accepting offers. I will even purchase a card that is more expensive from a seller who will accept offers than from a seller who has a cheaper card but won't accept offers. The smart sellers have caught on to this. The dummies have not. Even if I only get a nickel off a card, at least I feel like I got a deal and it will be a pleasant transaction.

[Manny]

"Personally for me, it is just CHEAPER to put all my cards in boxes and store them nicely under the stairs until I die and then my family can throw them in the garbage, than it is to actively sell cards on eBays or COMCs."

... or sell your high end rookies at a garage sale for $0.25 a piece in the year 2100? One man's loss is another man's fortune I guess

[subban7677]

These companies that charge fees do not do so out of greed, they do so because they are a business. The don't facilitate sales for us out of the kindness of their hearts.

[30ranfordfan]

See comments about the new transaction fees on COMC (I wasn't aware of them when I posted).

I would say this: If you're intending to sell cards & then cash out - it's now actually CHEAPER for the seller than it used to be (without being any more expensive for buyers).

COMC is charging a 5% transaction fee, and at the time of cashing out there is a 10% cash-out fee. It used to be that you paid 20% to cash out.

If you're intending to use the proceeds of your sales to pay for shipping, listing fees, or to buy new cards: It just got more expensive.

The other thing they've done: Before.... if you chose the option to list your cards on eBay & Amazon as well, they took 20% of the sale. Now they're inflating the price of your card, but you get the full value you listed for. For example: A card I'm currently asking $40 for on COMC, is listed for $50.24 on eBay. I'm assuming that's supposed to be a 25% markup - I don't quite get how the exact dollar figure works.


Going back to the ability to sell lower end cards:

Suppose you're listing a card that you believe you can sell for $1.00 (the price that a buyer on COMC will actually pay is $1.00).

25 cents of that is the s/h charge added to all sales that COMC applies. The actual price you assign that card is $0.75.

COMC will take 5% of the sale when it happens, so the actual amount of cash transferred to your account at the time of sale is $0.71.

It cost you 30 cents to list the card (assuming you didn't get some kind of promotional price, and you didn't pay for a premium service).

Your profit on that $1 sale is actually $0.41.

To take this a step farther.... let's say you sent in, and sold, one thousand cards that you listed for $1 each. (Tough to actually do, but let's work with the hypothetical). You plan is to take the cash. When you cash out that 71 cents, you'll pay 10% - so you're actually seeing more like 64 cents.

You sold 1,000 $1 cards, by pricing them for 75 cents each + the COMC s/h fee of 25 cents.
Of the $750 you made, 5% was taken in transaction fees. You actually saw $710.00 come back into your account from those sales (the rounding each of the small sales cost you another couple of dollars, I think)

You cash out, and pay 10% to do so. You get $639.

It cost you $300 to list the cards in the first place (plus shipping costs, if you didn't do a drop off). The actual money you earned by getting rid of those 1000 cards was $369.

Assuming the $639 went into your paypal account, you're paying a percentage of that when you cash it out to your bank account (or credit card) too.





I'm not saying I have a problem with any of this.... but just trying to point out what selling a lower end card will actually return.

[30ranfordfan]

Yeah, fees are for the seller, not the buyer. COMC takes 5% of the sale.

They lowered the cash-out fee from 20% to 10% - so this is better for people who do high volumes, and actually transfer cash home. If you're selling mostly lower end stuff, just to make a few extra bucks and build a balance on COMC to spend on shipping or more cards - it got more expensive.

I'm with you on the minimum offer stuff. If want a card, but the cheapest listing doesn't accept offer, typically I deal with the seller(s) right above it.

I think my personal favorite has to be the sellers that have opted in for Amazon / eBay - but won't take offers.

Now that they're adding a premium to those listings (charging the eBay buyer more, you get asking price) this isn't a thing... but for YEARS you would get a scenario like this:

Card is listed for $10 on COMC or eBay
If the card sells on COMC, seller would get $9.75
If the card sells on eBay, seller would get $8.00

Seller won't accept offers on COMC

That makes no sense to me. If I'm going to have to pay $10 for the card regardless, why would I not do it through eBay, and earn eBay bucks (and $$$ through eBates) - since i receive no cashback perks for buying on COMC ???

Should the seller be expected to take $8.00 for the card, via COMC, just because they're willing to blow 20% to get a sale on eBay? Maybe not... but if they are willing to pay 20% for eBay & Amazon - you'd think they'd be willing to shave 10% (give or take) to sell directly on COMC.

As I said though.... that scenario no longer exists. With the way they've redone the eBay & Amazon listing - buying the card on eBay would now cost you $12.50.

Have not heard of the new fees... I am hoping these are only fees for sellers and not buyers. (I have a buying account with about 5000 purchases. Never made a single sale on COMC!).

But the whole "fees" thing is a separate beast. eBay is not without fees either. If you want to be a seller, you will have to pay fees. Collectors (mostly sellers) have made themselves easy targets.

I certainly agree that all these fees are out of pure greed, but, when I look at many of the case breakers who open product that they don't even collect just so they can turn around and try to sell it for a profit, all I see is pure greed there too. And then to top it all off with greasy fingers! Please, if you are making a case break video, please please, don't show us you eating greasy food or chocolate bars and then opening packs of cards. Please at least make an attempt to fool us into thinking you have washed your dirty hands and cut that part out of your videos!

Personally for me, it is just CHEAPER to put all my cards in boxes and store them nicely under the stairs until I die and then my family can throw them in the garbage, than it is to actively sell cards on eBays or COMCs.

In addition, since the "minimum offer" was mentioned. I personally only buy from COMC sellers who will allow me to make an offer. If they are not currently accepting offers, then I just move on to the next seller who is accepting offers. I will even purchase a card that is more expensive from a seller who will accept offers than from a seller who has a cheaper card but won't accept offers. The smart sellers have caught on to this. The dummies have not. Even if I only get a nickel off a card, at least I feel like I got a deal and it will be a pleasant transaction.

[crashchicago32]

Things I wish I knew a few years ago when I started using COMC: If you are looking to make money on cards, I highly suggest other outlets. The only cards that consistently sell quick and for decent prices are the newest release, otherwise, people really "pinch" pennies on there. I mean, they'll look at your inventory, select 5 cards and offer you $0.30 on the dollar. Not to mention, things on there are generally at least 20-30% over price to make up for costs.

Now, I really don't like to send things in. I would rather put a deposit of just $$ in every so often and pick up older inserts and parallels to complete sets or PCs.

[Rockthaworld]

Things I wish I knew a few years ago when I started using COMC: If you are looking to make money on cards, I highly suggest other outlets. The only cards that consistently sell quick and for decent prices are the newest release, otherwise, people really "pinch" pennies on there. I mean, they'll look at your inventory, select 5 cards and offer you $0.30 on the dollar. Not to mention, things on there are generally at least 20-30% over price to make up for costs.

Now, I really don't like to send things in. I would rather put a deposit of just $$ in every so often and pick up older inserts and parallels to complete sets or PCs.

What do you find is the best place for selling cards?