All I want to do is talk about COMC

[dustin42]

Originally Posted by Bum Dawg

I'm able to edit each card individually but the dropdown menu stops at 50%.

I just tested it and 50% is the lowest I see also on each card.

[mjohnatgt]

It's only a $1 to run a sale for 1 to 11 days. Just pay the dollar at this point.

[Giroux]

Shipment updates

6 cards
Service: Economy Rushed
Shipping: $12.89
Date Requested: 1/14/2022
Actual Ship Date: 1/19/2022
Arrived: 1/24/2022

2nd order
16 cards
Service: Priority Rushed
Shipping: $16.49
Date Requested: 1/19/2022
Actual Ship Date: 1/24/2022

[wethenorth]

Service: Economy
Shipping: $11.69
Status:
Tracking: Not Shipped Yet
Date Requested: 1/1/2022
Estimated Ship Date: 2/8/2022 (They changed the date from 1/27/2022 to 2/8/2022)
Items Ahead of My Order: 159,081

[Dalston]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

Incorrect, it's paying the ebay sale fees. This occurred before eBay included sales taxes on out of state purchases. And since the purchase is happening from COMC store credits, it's not taxed because the tax on the store credit has theoretically already been paid.

It's entirely possible that I am incorrect, but you are definitely at least partly incorrect. eBay started collecting sales tax on Washington state sales on 1 January 2019 and the COMC auctions, along with the ability to pay with store credit, didn't start until the fall of 2019.

Of course the markup on the BIN items that have been around forever goes in good part to pay the FVF. But that's irrelevant here as eBay collects the sales tax directly on those items. And unless you've seen the relevant contracts with eBay we're all guessing at what COMC has negotiated with eBay. Here's my guess:

1) We know that the big consignors are able to negotiate substantial discounts on FVFs that get higher as cards sell for more. It seems reasonable to assume that COMC's volume allows it to negotiate excellent discounts.
2) In relation to the auctions, we know that COMC charges sales tax if you pay for an auction directly with PayPal or a credit card on their site rather than store credit.
3) We also know that COMC would be breaking the law to charge sales tax and not pass it on the State, so if we assume that COMC is rational and law abiding we can infer that it is able to pay the FVF for auctions out of the auction fees and final value charges on that amount.
4) It's generally accepted here that COMC has at best an aggressive tax position on treatment of store credit. If I were eBay's lawyers, there is no way it would be worth the extra revenue to try and take that position given the amount of scrutiny on eBay vis-a-vis sales taxes. I would therefore be amazed if eBay was prepared not to collect sales tax on purchases made with store credit.
5) COMC can't sensibly maintain their position on tax treatment of store credit and charge sales tax on any type of purchase made with store credit. They therefore need a McGuffin to collect an amount sufficient to collect the sales tax on store credit purposes.
6) The cashout fee is an excellent McGuffin for these purposes as it already exists, can be plausibly claimed to be analagous (especially given the pre-existing Blowout deal allowing cash-outs to third parties), and is of roughly the right amount to cover sales tax payments to eBay.

All of this is very plausible in relation to the 3.5% with a minimum of $3.50 regular auctions. I can easily see eBay agreeing to a FVF structure that could be paid out of that for a super-high-volume seller, especially if COMC gives them a good cut of the minimum.

The question of the 50c + 3.5% is more interesting. Some upthread have speculated that this is COMC desperate for cash flow and to move inventory. This may be partly right, but we should at least ask ourselves what eBay's motivation might be that is contributing to this.

Since public companies often want to demonstrate certain things about their financials to the analyst community, I'm guessing that eBay (for whatever reason good or bad) are in a phase of looking to show increased gross revenue and user engagement and are looking to prioritize that over margin. Since any sane company would want to do that without cannibalizing DTC margin as much as possible, it makes sense to try and boost activity by increasing C2B2B listing supply.

My guess, and its only a wild guess, is that eBay and COMC negotiated an entirely new fee structure for this promotion as part of a wider eBay effort to increase C2B2B listing volumes. If this is right, presumably both parties liked the short-term results and therefore we got a second month of it.

Of course, if you or anyone else knows the details of the eBay-COMC contracts none of us would need to speculate. but I'm guessing no-one here (at least who is at liberty to discuss them) does.

[mjs sportscards]

Originally Posted by wethenorth

Service: Economy
Shipping: $11.69
Status:
Tracking: Not Shipped Yet
Date Requested: 1/1/2022
Estimated Ship Date: 2/8/2022 (They changed the date from 1/27/2022 to 2/8/2022)
Items Ahead of My Order: 159,081

Similar thing just happened to me. Estimated ship change from 1/27 to 2/9. My thought was there may have been more than expected shipping orders at the start of the year because people were taking advantage of the shipping credit from the November/December promotions. Anyone else have any insight?

[mjohnatgt]

Originally Posted by Dalston

It's entirely possible that I am incorrect, but you are definitely at least partly incorrect.

I probably am. I make the best inferences based on the information I have. But I do not believe the 11% cashout fee for eBay purchases is going towards sales tax, because in that case, the cards are staying in Washington state. Would they fall under the Wayfair decision if they're not being delivered to a different state?

And my new favorite hockey name is:

1990-91 7th Inning Sketch OHL - [Base] #39 - Matt McGuffin
Courtesy of COMC.com

[dustin42]

They also have to make money as a business. I know doing auctions instead of just BIN takes more time and money when you are dealing with millions of cards.

[jdub1617]

Shipped out 104 cards on Dec 30th. Last week they begun adding 1-2 of them to my port each day. I was thinking I'd be waiting way longer to see anything show, pleasantly surprised.

[HoustonWeHave]

A quick heads-up about the January eBay extension: As long as the cards are submitted by Jan. 31st, the minimum $3.50 auction fee won't apply.

I submitted some more cards for auction a few days ago. They loaded this morning with a February Scheduled Start time for some of the cards.

Chatted with Support, and as long as the cards are submitted by Jan 31st, the minimum fee won't apply - even though the start times are now into February.

[mjohnatgt]

I believe they will not automatically renew those, because the deal hasn't been extended yet.

[mjohnatgt]

Will COMC items be considered authentic if sold through ebay or will they have to go to CSG first? If that's one way to circumvent the new ebay requirement, COMC may become a place to send higher value cards ($250+) that otherwise would get stuck in the authenticity queue.
But COMC ain't perfect making that decision either.

[ckjr4929]

I rarely post on these boards outside of Buy/sell/trade section, but I just wanted to say thanks to all of those who post in this thread, especially mjohnatgt and checkoutmydeals. After mostly ignoring COMC for years (occasionally I would buy but never really sold or flipped), I finally started sending in some cards when they ran their freebie promo last fall, and was able to use the proceeds from those sales to cover the cost of sending in more cards. Rinse and repeat and I recently got close to $1000 in store cards and was able to purchase a few nice cards I had been coveting for a while. And all with the proceeds from a bunch of cards that were just sitting in boxes. Really a thrill to see that happen and it's fascinating to see how many cards get bought up and immediately listed at a higher price.

There is so much great advice in this thread, and COMC primer thread, as far as what cards to send in and what to skip and how to send the cards. If anyone is reading this and on the fence about COMC, read a few pages of this thread and the primer thread and see how you feel. It really helped me with all the questions I might have had, and thanks again to those of you who regularly update both threads with tips and tricks and insights.

[mjohnatgt]

No prob! Welcome to the site. Looks like you're figuring it out.

[checkoutmydeals]

Aw, shucks. Thanks kindly.

[Orndorff24a]

If you cash out store credit via PayPal, do they send f and f or goods?

[mjohnatgt]

Originally Posted by Orndorff24a

If you cash out store credit via PayPal, do they send f and f or goods?

They send with no paypal fee, but it doesn't seem to be F/F.

[dustin42]

Originally Posted by Orndorff24a

If you cash out store credit via PayPal, do they send f and f or goods?

You don't get charged a fee and I am not sure how they do it.

[dustin42]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

They send with no paypal fee, but it doesn't seem to be F/F.

It is not FF or GS as you said. I had a PayPal loan where they took a certain % of all my sales except FF payments but would take their cut from COMC payments. Guessing they have a deal.

[collectorcmc]

124 card standard submission was received 1/13 and started to post tonight!

[tommyfro21]

Originally Posted by tommyfro21

I did the same thing. My shipment is only around 30 cards. Will be curious how soon both of our orders arrive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Received my order on Wednesday. Nice to see the cards get here so quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fungi2510]

Shipping the lowest level right now is not good. They are not actually processing anything to move them forward. I had a shipment that was estimated to be shipped on January 26th. I got the email last night that it has been pushed back two weeks. I have watched it sit at under 100,000 items ahead of it to now about 125,000 items ahead of it. The second level is just fine, but they have definitely let the low end shipping go right now. I am sure that the eBay auctions is the reason, so whatever, but it is just a bit frustrating.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by fungi2510

Shipping the lowest level right now is not good. They are not actually processing anything to move them forward. I had a shipment that was estimated to be shipped on January 26th. I got the email last night that it has been pushed back two weeks. I have watched it sit at under 100,000 items ahead of it to now about 125,000 items ahead of it. The second level is just fine, but they have definitely let the low end shipping go right now. I am sure that the eBay auctions is the reason, so whatever, but it is just a bit frustrating.

Definitely. If you request a shipment now at the cheapest option expect to wait at least 5-6 weeks.

[Giroux]

16 cards

Service: Priority Rushed

Shipping: $16.49

Date Requested: 1/19/2022

Actual Ship Date: 1/24/2022

Received: 1/26/2022

[Budler]

Originally Posted by mc1

Definitely. If you request a shipment now at the cheapest option expect to wait at least 5-6 weeks.

I checked my shipments. Number of cards run from 100 to 275 per shipment. All was the cheapest way.

Before COVID it most toke 17 to 23 days. One made it in 14 days
During COVID the 2 shipments I did. one toke 95 days and the last one 27 days

Who know really why they are not shipping faster now? Blame it on Covid or staffing or volume of sales now. Maybe all 3.

My next shipment will be near the end of March, and I will see how that goes.