COMC Mailbox Thread

[West Oz Cards]

Thanks Moe, for the explanation of the origins of COMC and its intended purpose.

The initial reason I started using COMC was for the ability to use it as a drop-box service. Secondly for ease of grading cards.

I would never use the site purely for buying cards from other sources to flip on COMC because of losing 20% when you want to withdraw any money.. seems like a bigger kick in the guts than selling on feebay and then paying their fees and paypal fees.

 

[Jonathon M]

Whatever the initial intentions Moe, this was never how it was promoted/sold (go back over the launch material) it was always as a third party mailbox service for international collectors. Then the issues started arising and COMC started backpedaling on the intended purpose to make it sound like it was never meant to be a forwarding mailbox and whatever else to justify the excessive processing work COMC does and charges for....go read the launch material in the first post and tell me where it states the primary purpose of the mailbox was to sell cards on COMC?

The new mailbox costs don't bother me, the justifications for them do..... Especially with the who "initial purpose" crap.... I'd hate to think you're treating us like idiots

 

[rishgoon]

Whatever the initial intentions Moe, this was never how it was promoted/sold (go back over the launch material) it was always as a third party mailbox service for international collectors. Then the issues started arising and COMC started backpedaling on the intended purpose to make it sound like it was never meant to be a forwarding mailbox and whatever else to justify the excessive processing work COMC does and charges for....go read the launch material in the first post and tell me where it states the primary purpose of the mailbox was to sell cards on COMC?

The new mailbox costs don't bother me, the justifications for them do..... Especially with the who "initial purpose" crap.... I'd hate to think you're treating us like idiots

Bit harsh.
I think it's a great service, one that was maybe too cheap to begin with. I'd still rather COMC handle my cards, as 'card people', then some other shipping service.

 

[banzini]

Bit harsh.
I think it's a great service, one that was maybe too cheap to begin with. I'd still rather COMC handle my cards, as 'card people', then some other shipping service.

Well said Luke! This is a prime factor.

 

[Jonathon M]

Bit harsh.
I think it's a great service, one that was maybe too cheap to begin with. I'd still rather COMC handle my cards, as 'card people', then some other shipping service.

Why harsh?

I said I have no issue with the actual cost but when I read COMC staff saying this I get annoyed

"I want to take a quick moment to remind folks of the original purpose of the mailbox, and that was to allow COMC sellers to acquire cards from third-party sources (such as eBay) and have them sent to COMC, in order to add those cards to their COMC portfolio, for the purposes of selling."

"We honestly did not foresee people using the mailbox as a "drop box" service; using it to get cards sent to them from eBay sellers who refused to ship outside the continental United States. When we initially set up the fee structure, it was with the idea that people would just be adding cards to their COMC ports, and not turning around and having them shipped out."

Really??? I take that as rubbish.... What did they think an Intl Mailbox would "honestly" be used for???

Here is the launch material http://blog.comc.com/2013/05/17/announcing-the-comc-mailbox-service/

Here it states....

"The COMC Mailbox service is designed to serve all of these needs:
- Purchases from other sites
- Group breaks
- Proxy shipments to international customers
- Forum trades
- Many other potential uses"


It's hard to be "reminded" when it was never even remotely communicated in the first place

So like I said, it's not the costs, its the reasoning behind it..... Just say, "look it's not viable at the current structure because changing the format in regard to the processing procedure to lower costs is not an option (for whatever reason) so we are raising costs to make it viable" then fine, I accept that.... but to say that in some way it's our fault costs have been raised "well you've all been using it wrong so now we have to raise costs" is BS

 

[rishgoon]

Why harsh?

I said I have no issue with the actual cost but when I read COMC staff saying this I get annoyed

"I want to take a quick moment to remind folks of the original purpose of the mailbox, and that was to allow COMC sellers to acquire cards from third-party sources (such as eBay) and have them sent to COMC, in order to add those cards to their COMC portfolio, for the purposes of selling."

"We honestly did not foresee people using the mailbox as a "drop box" service; using it to get cards sent to them from eBay sellers who refused to ship outside the continental United States. When we initially set up the fee structure, it was with the idea that people would just be adding cards to their COMC ports, and not turning around and having them shipped out."

Really??? I take that as rubbish.... What did they think an Intl Mailbox would "honestly" be used for???

Here is the launch material http://blog.comc.com/2013/05/17/announcing-the-comc-mailbox-service/

Here it states....

"The COMC Mailbox service is designed to serve all of these needs:
- Purchases from other sites
- Group breaks
- Proxy shipments to international customers
- Forum trades
- Many other potential uses"


It's hard to be "reminded" when it was never even remotely communicated in the first place

So like I said, it's not the costs, its the reasoning behind it..... Just say, "look it's not viable at the current structure because changing the format in regard to the processing procedure to lower costs is not an option (for whatever reason) so we are raising costs to make it viable" then fine, I accept that.... but to say that in some way it's our fault costs have been raised "well you've all been using it wrong so now we have to raise costs" is BS

The new mailbox costs don't bother me, the justifications for them do..... Especially with the who "initial purpose" crap.... I'd hate to think you're treating us like idiots

^ Thought that was a bit harsh. Moe's been pretty decent with his correspondence with us on here.

 

[Jonathon M]

^ Thought that was a bit harsh. Moe's been pretty decent with his correspondence with us on here.

Ok I accept that in regard to Moe personally as I was referring to COMC not Moe personally. I just don't like the way it is being inferred that we aren't using the mailbox as it was originally intended hence the reason for the price rise

 

[ooneil]

I tend to agree with some of Jonathon's comments but we need to respect that COMC needs to be making money for this service otherwise why bother.

@Moe@COMC why not have a service that just caters to the international customers.

Its seems such a waste of time that you go to the effort of removing all these cards from top loaders and one touches, scan them in, then put them back in top loaders and send them out!

The system for international customers really does not need to be as labour intensive as you guys have made it.

 

[matty83]

I think the mailbox and the users store need to be 2 seperate entities.

Combining the 2 is where the problem lies.

Mailbox soley used for forwarding.

Store (separate address ) used for selling.

That system is easy and would work.

 

[nichj99]

@Moe@COMC if we send a card to COMC to then be forwarded for grading, does that still require the $1 per card processing fee?

 

[banzini]

I can't see them offering a borderlinx type service for all of us. The bottom line of COMC is to receive cards to their warehouse and have that card turned over numerous times so they have people depositing money into COMC. Users aren't awarded for their sales and have to cop a 20% hit when they want to cash out. They aim to keep most of the money on the site. Having cards delivered to their warehouse that just get turfed out again isn't what they're in the business for. I can't see them offering this type of service. Again, it's a 50c price rise and it's still cheaper than sending individual cards to AUS

 

[ooneil]

Its not really "only 50c" when that's double the original cost.

 

[banzini]

Its not really "only 50c" when that's double the original cost.

I paid $4.75 approx and now pay $5.25 approx for one card dlvd to my door. It's really not an issue for me personally.

Like @rishgoon said earlier, they probably did undercharge us initially in the first place. They receive our mail, notify us when it arrives, take a picture of what is received, notify us when they're processed to our port, place the card in our port and then take another photo of the front and and back of the card. For me, I felt like all of this was a GREAT deal. I thought I was getting more than what I was paying for so the price rise won't affect how I use COMC going forward.

 

[Jonathon M]

I paid $4.75 approx and now pay $5.25 approx for one card dlvd to my door. It's really not an issue for me personally.

Like @rishgoon said earlier, they probably did undercharge us initially in the first place. They receive our mail, notify us when it arrives, take a picture of what is received, notify us when they're processed to our port, place the card in our port and then take another photo of the front and and back of the card. For me, I felt like all of this was a GREAT deal. I thought I was getting more than what I was paying for so the price rise won't affect how I use COMC going forward.

I don't think that is the issue, the issue is the justification of the price rise by implying it's our fault for the way we've used it.... Why can't they just be honest about it? "look guys, unfortunately after review of the figures the Mailbox is not sustainable currently, so some price change need to be made" - The whole "Our system/structure worked fine until you all stuffed it up by not using it how it was intended" shtick is quite frankly insulting..... It has nothing to do with the 50c.....

Isn't it obvious they've seen an opportunity to increase prices so they have, plain and simple.... nothing wrong with this it's every businesses right (look at Ebay), Just be honest and upfront about it COMC.... One thing you don't do, is try and make the customer feel like it is some way their fault because the "haven't used it how it was intended"..... then don't insult the customers intelligence by expecting them to believe it....

I have had over 100 cards sent to my mailbox so I still use the service, for the most part it's been great, I even accept the toploader and excessive processing situation for what it is, however I will not accept being blamed (all of us) for a price rise because we haven't used the system properly.... Seriously, that rationale is ok with you?

 

[banzini]

Seriously, that rationale is ok with you?

I haven't been involved in this thread to speak about the rationale behind why they are increasing their prices. To be honest, I don't care how they justify it. 50c is 50c.

If you do want my opinion on their justification behind the price increase then yes, I agree with you. When it was advertised initially it was more of a service we could use to acquire our cards from ebay and other external sources. I can't say that many people would have signed up to then re-sell the cards on COMC as @Moe@COMC has outlined above. The main reason I signed up to COMC was to buy cards from ebay and acquire them at a lower price by way of decreasing my shipping fees.

 

[nichj99]

I guess to me all it means is one less cone to order from McDonalds on my way home work!

 

[Dogs2194]

I guess to me all it means is one less cone to order from McDonalds on my way home work!

Don't you get a flake on yours
Tightas$

 

[Moe@COMC]

Hi all; I love the discussion here and I want to apologize for mis-speaking earlier. I totally spaced on the wording of the original blog post that Jonathan_M pointed out, and for that, I'm sorry. That was an oversight on my part, and there's simply no excuse for it. I do remember that a lot of the internal dialogue at COMC was focused on getting more cards on COMC, but then I forgot that our customers don't usually hear what goes on behind our walls, and that was extremely short-sighted of me.

The last thing we want to do is treat our customers poorly or with any disrespect; I just want to try and be as helpful as I can, and help handle any issues that may arise, so your COMC experience is as positive as possible.

As always, please feel free to contact me here or via email (staff@comc.com) - thanks.

 

[ozballer23]

Hi guys, got a few newbie questions before I sign up. This is from the website;

As an introductory rate, we aren’t charging anything for Mailbox creation or maintenance while we ramp up the service. There’s no extra step for getting started either – your Mailbox is created automatically when we receive something addressed to your COMC Mailbox. Additionally, we will never charge for un-used / empty Mailboxes.

So once you sign up, are there any extra steps that are required to get your mailbox, or is it created automatically once you get your first purchase sent? And does that purchase have to be made from the comc web site?

Do you get a notification that you have packages arrive in hand with them that you buy from ebay so you can make a decision if you want them sent to you?

 

[nichj99]

Hi guys, got a few newbie questions before I sign up. This is from the website;



So once you sign up, are there any extra steps that are required to get your mailbox, or is it created automatically once you get your first purchase sent? And does that purchase have to be made from the comc web site?

Do you get a notification that you have packages arrive in hand with them that you buy from ebay so you can make a decision if you want them sent to you?

Yep so create an account with COMC. Then use the comc postal address with "C/O ozballer23" (eg only)
Once COMC recieves mail addressed to you, they open it, photograph it and send it to you for confirmation.
With the new changes you let them know when you want them processed, and it is added to your account for $1 each (no minimum cost so you can do this as they roll in really)
Once processed they are added to your COMC inventory where you can choose to list it on their site for resale or ship it home to yourself instead.

Pretty easy!