COMC is overcharging TCG sellers through eBay -- this probably means you

[NatsSBR]

Since October, I have been noticing occasional discrepancies in the pricing of my TCG cards that COMC sells on eBay. The bottom line for anyone reading this is that in two distinct situations, COMC is not honoring the consignment fees they advertise when they sell your TCG cards. I'll lay out both situations that lead to inflated prices below, but it's so bad that in some cases they have paid me less than 20% of what the eBay buyer paid for my card, and I'm sure it's happening to you, too. It doesn't affect me very often because I have a lot of COMC monopolies, but everyone with inventories of Pokemon, Magic, etc. is probably getting overcharged regularly.

Because I'm pretty sure this is about system bugs and not deliberate deception, I have been communicating with them privately for five months to try to get them to acknowledge and fix the problem. Their response has been unacceptable. I am now done keeping my complaints private, not only because I know how much it has affected me, but also because I know it is likely affecting most people who sell TCGs and costing you all a lot more money than it costs me. I am hoping that if they hear from more than just me, they will actually take action by fixing the pricing errors and issuing credit to true up our past payments.

When I brought this to COMC's attention, the people who addressed the questions first told me it wasn't happening. I then proved it by making a purchase on eBay that resulted in overcharging me for one of my own cards, and they finally acknowledged it. The eBay store manager then reached out on December 23rd and told me he would look into it. There's been no response now for more than two months.

They have advertised the exact calculation for their eBay markup for over five years, so this is not a situation where they can charge whatever they want on eBay and give you your COMC list price. I think this is a mistake rather than malicious intent, but either way, it all adds up to false advertising that is siphoning off quite a bit of money in a way that's not easy for their customers to detect. "Customer service is overwhelmed" can't be an excuse for ignoring systemic issues that are resulting in constantly overcharging your customers. "We laid off the IT guy" is likewise unacceptable.

If you do any kind of TCG sales on COMC, I recommend you cross-reference the sales via eBay with Terapeak data to identify discrepancies, then reach out to COMC directly to request refunds. Also, I'm not on social media, but if anyone wants to crosspost this to Reddit or the relevant social communities, that can only help. I also offer that you could contact the Washington State Attorney General's Office through this link: https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhand...laintForm.aspx

My goal here is for COMC to fix an issue that is harming their sellers, not to "bring them down" or some such nonsense. Despite their problems, I think they provide a great service. For those of you with direct contacts in the company, maybe you can help make sure the management team is aware of this and prioritizing it.

[NatsSBR]

The first situation that causes the overcharge is when the second copy of a TCG card is listed (i.e., only one copy of that card in that condition was on the site) and the new card is listed for a lower price than the first card. In this situation the eBay listing doesn't change: there is still just a single copy for sale, and the price doesn't update to reflect the new, lower-priced card. If the card sells on eBay, COMC collects the higher price but processes a sale for the lower-priced card. This can be a significant percentage; I recently listed a card for $1.74, undercutting a card listed at $7.75. Terapeak data shows it sold on eBay for the original high price, but I got paid $1.74. That is an 80+% commission paid to COMC for my sale.

The second situation that causes overcharges is a sale on the new multiple-quantity listings when there are 3+ copies of a single card in the same condition available for sale at a range of prices. In this situation, COMC calculates some kind of average of all the prices and uses that as the sale price for each copy sold on eBay (I haven't actually been able to figure out the exact formula). When the cards start selling, COMC apparently processes sales starting from the lowest-priced copy. This means the prices realized on eBay will consistently come in higher than the TOP price, especially if and when the eBay price adjusts to the new, higher average as the lowest-priced items get sold off.

As an example, the first time I noticed this I had a listing that had one copy of the card priced at $4.74, one priced at $5.74, and one at $6.74. This resulted in a multiple-quantity (two-copy) eBay listing at the TOP price for a $5.74 item. When a single copy sold on eBay at that price, the $4.74 item is the one COMC sold and paid me for.

The second problem is both much bigger in scale and much harder to figure out. There are so many Pokemon and Magic listings that offer a large number of copies with a wide variety of prices on COMC that it is probably happening more often than not when COMC sells a card from one of these games. It is also much harder for the sellers to seek accountability because Terapeak data for a multiple-quantity listing captures the average sale price over time. Whether you are getting hit for $.50 per low-end card or substantially more for mid-tier and high-end, I guarantee you are getting hit.

[mjohnatgt]

Interesting. I haven't noticed it because I don't sell much in the TCG realm.

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

Interesting. I haven't noticed it because I don't sell much in the TCG realm.

Yep, it is specific to the new system they set up to run their TCGbyCOMC eBay account.

If they started using the "specific copy at exact price" system they use for sports cards, this would be no issue. If they went back to using the same system as non-sport cards, this would be no issue.

This is a classic case of building a new complex system without adequate testing.

[boxbuster7]

what is the difference in fees percentage wise?

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

what is the difference in fees percentage wise?

It totally depends on the circumstances: how many identical copies are available and at what prices. In terms of dollars, I have been overcharged by as much as $9 against a $7 card (my copy sold for $6.74 but the higher-priced copy was set at $15.75, and the eBay sale went for $18.65). That's a 64% commission as opposed to the 23% it should have been if it had sold at the proper price of $8.29. Percentagewise, my commission has gone over 80% (in the $1.74 example from my second post, not from $0.99 eBay sales where the percentage fluctuates a ton).

I found one example from your inventory that's very minor (pennies) but is a good illustration of one of the problems.

This listing at https://www.ebay.com/itm/317899742262 for Milcery #080 is priced at $1.15 because of the range of asking prices on COMC. COMC's inventory is at https://www.comc.com/Cards/Pokemon/2...ed/COMC_CCG/NM and your copy is the cheapest. COMC would sell your copy for your asking price of $0.22; the normal eBay price for your item is $0.99, so COMC would be paid $0.16 more than they should be for selling your card.

Super low-end sales aren't individually a problem, but they quickly add up across the system because a good number of sales are inflated this way every day. It's similar to stories of a bank employee paying himself the rounded off fractions of pennies when other customers' interest payments were calculated. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing_tactics or just watch Office Space)

I don't think this is intentional at all, but even as an accident, it's not acceptable. If it were intentional, it would be a sneaky way of skimming free profits out of the system.

[NatsSBR]

Just to add to this, now that I've gone looking I've found MUCH more serious examples in terms of the "dollars per sale" problem.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/317938278180 is for a 7th Edition foil Serra Angel. The eBay price of $740.60 reflects a price between the second- and third-highest prices on COMC right now. If someone bought one copy from that eBay listing, COMC would sell them the cheapest copy, which is priced at $460 on COMC.

The correct eBay price for a $460 card is $536.28, which means COMC would be taking in MORE THAN $200 in inflated commissions on a single card.

[NatsSBR]

Here's another one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/317869128784 is listed for $240.99, which reflects a COMC price of $209.74. If you go to the COMC listing for this card right now, there is a copy at $209.74 and another copy at $149.74.

If someone were to buy the single card listing on eBay right now, COMC would sell them the $149.74 card instead of the $209.74 card, but they would charge as if they sold the $209.74 card. That's $60 in free money for COMC.

You get the idea. Sales like this are happening multiple times a day.

[NatsSBR]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/317820644526 -- this listing is for a single copy of an Eevee promo listed on eBay for $553.60, the correct eBay price for a $475 copy would be $552.78.

On COMC there are two copies, one at $275 and one at $475. See https://www.comc.com/Cards/Pokemon/2...ed/COMC_CCG/NM

If the eBay item sells (and eBay is saying it's in someone's cart) they will ship the $275 copy, which they should be charging $312.78 for. Most of the extra $240 they will pocket should be going to the owner of the card they sell.

[mjohnatgt]

My biggest issue would be that the eBay listings are much LESS LIKELY to sell with the higher priced items being the ones that have the costing based on. Many sellers put a $25 card up for $225 and run a 90% off sale, leaving the price at $22.50 on COMC direct. So now none of the cards priced $25-50 that are list-priced on COMC will sell, because eBay buyers would see a heavily inflated price and not be competitive.
So COMC could also LOSE money over time to this bug, because their overall sales volume/rake would suffer.

I just emailed them this thread and my comments, and I cc'd Tim Getsch.

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

My biggest issue would be that the eBay listings are much LESS LIKELY to sell with the higher priced items being the ones that have the costing based on. Many sellers put a $25 card up for $225 and run a 90% off sale, leaving the price at $22.50 on COMC direct. So now none of the cards priced $25-50 that are list-priced on COMC will sell, because eBay buyers would see a heavily inflated price and not be competitive.
So COMC could also LOSE money over time to this bug, because their overall sales volume/rake would suffer.

I just emailed them this thread and my comments, and I cc'd Tim Getsch.

I absolutely agree that suppressing sales is a problem, but it's an operational "we could do better" problem. The way they are doing it right now, I am fairly sure they are also legally obligated to make it up to the sellers they are underpaying, as the calculation they use for their eBay markup has been advertised on their site for several years.

I appreciate the assistance. My goal here is to get them to adjust course on future sales and start working through the refunds while it's still manageable.

[TheHeel]

Excellent work. I will now have to go back and check. COMC has gone hill over the years.

[checkoutmydeals]

Thanks for the heads up! If you want more data points, here are my eBay COMC Magic the Gathering sales for in 2026. I probably won't be investigating personally, but if you find it useful, here it is. If you want earlier sales, let me know.

It seems plausible that something changed. They zeroed out the price on about 6,000 of my gaming cards a while back and it took forever to reprice them. It's possible they were trying to make them correlate to TCG grading standards for some reason, and maybe the card prices cross post differently (accidentally and/or on purpose)

I will also say that circa 2017 or so, I did list a newly processed Alpha Sengir Vampire for a fairly high price, and then lowered the price, and lowered it again, and the price never decreased on eBay. So whatever weirdness you've observed might not be a new thing. I almost never check eBay for COMC Magic card prices, so I don't know how unusual that is. Usually I check MTG Goldfish, which shows TCG Mid, Card Kingdom NM ask, and sometimes an eBay Buy It Now. Then I'll adjust the price to be competitive with one of those prices on eBay ((x-.53)/1.15)



110520986 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _BLKN Black Knight $17.50
110469516 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _HYSP Hypnotic Specter $29.44
110520695 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _FONA Force of Nature $8.22
79416759 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _GIGR Giant Growth $2.50
175299700 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _TRAN Tranquility $1.38
133921891 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.68
133921885 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24
133921881 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24
133921875 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24
48837409 Magic 1995 Magic: The Gathering - Ice Age - [Base] _ENRE Enduring Renewal $0.99
110468220 Magic 1995 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] - Italian _REBA Relic Barrier $3.74
79292077 Magic 1996 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - Japanese KISM Kismet $2.50
167966077 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32
167963783 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32
167963782 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32
175255345 Magic 1998 Magic: The Gathering - Exodus - [Base] 3 Cataclysm $8.14
110465495 Magic 1998 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set 2nd Age _WILD Wildfire $1.70
98687351 Magic 1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 36 Brilliant Plan $6.10
7932549 Magic 2001 Magic: The Gathering - Odyssey - [Base] 276 Stone-Tongue Basilisk $0.99
110478518 Magic 2002 Magic: The Gathering - Torment - [Base] - Spanish 66 Insidious Dreams $9.09
101316001 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - 8th Edition - [Base] - Spanish 109 Trade Routes $3.94
62338960 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73
62338959 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73
134002720 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.54
133926964 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.37
175301346 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Fifth Dawn - [Base] 156 Staff of Domination $4.69
81150083 Magic 2007 Magic: The Gathering - Lorwyn - [Base] - French 208 Elvish Promenade $2.11
175282310 Magic 2017 Magic: The Gathering - Commander 2017 [C17] - [Base] 124 Sanguine Bond $2.48
81157069 Magic 2019 Magic: The Gathering - Signature Spellbook: Gideon [SS2] - [Base] 5 Shielded by Faith (foil) $4.05

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by checkoutmydeals

It seems plausible that something changed. They zeroed out the price on about 6,000 of my gaming cards a while back and it took forever to reprice them. It's possible they were trying to make them correlate to TCG grading standards for some reason, and maybe the card prices cross post differently (accidentally and/or on purpose)

Yep, that definitely happened when they applied the new grading standards for TCG cards. The prices for single cards or for cards where every copy is listed at the same price are still set to the same TOP price it's always been; discrepancies only occur when the system is dealing with multiple copies of the same card available at different prices.

For your Magic sales data, can you include dates of sale? And would you be willing to provide the data back through September 15th? Thanks!

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by checkoutmydeals

110520986 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _BLKN Black Knight $17.50
110469516 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _HYSP Hypnotic Specter $29.44

These sold at the correct TOP prices ($20.67 and $34.40)

110520695 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _FONA Force of Nature $8.22

Not apparently in Terapeak data, or the title is too messed up for me to find. Maybe lost and refunded.

79416759 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _GIGR Giant Growth $2.50

The listing that I'm fairly sure you sold this through is over, with three copies sold at an average price of $3.22, which would be correct for COMC cards listed at $2.33 apiece. There were probably two other sold copies listed for less than $2.50, and the other seller was probably overcharged. Impossible to say, but it seems you were not personally affected.

175299700 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _TRAN Tranquility $1.38
133921891 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.68
133921885 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24
133921881 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24
133921875 Magic 1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24

This group is very illustrative of the problem. Your Tranquility sold for the correct TOP price of $2.13 because it was the only copy available on COMC.

The eBay listing that sold your 4x Unlimited Ironclaw Orcs sold exactly four copies, which means we know they were all yours. The average price of the cards sold was $2.27, meaning COMC sold them for a total of $9.08 on eBay. The correct total eBay price for three cards at 1.24 and one at 1.68 is $8.38. This means they collected $0.70 more than they should have based on their TOP calculations. That's too small to be worth it for you to track down compensation for these individual transactions, but as you look at the volume they are doing, this money adds up for them across the entire system.

The current eBay listing for LP Unlimited Ironclaw Orcs lists four copies at $2.86 apiece. That's because as of right now you have four copies at $0.74 apiece, and another seller has three copies at $5 apiece. If any sell on eBay at $2.86, COMC will fulfill all four of them with your cards -- collecting $1.47 more per copy than your cards should be listed for.

48837409 Magic 1995 Magic: The Gathering - Ice Age - [Base] _ENRE Enduring Renewal $0.99

Two copies sold at an average price of $1.69, a penny too high for your card. The last remaining copy is $1, a penny more than your card. Impossible to say what happened here (and insignificant).

110468220 Magic 1995 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] - Italian _REBA Relic Barrier $3.74

This sold for the correct price, likely because you owned both copies at the time and they were both priced at $3.74.

79292077 Magic 1996 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - Japanese KISM Kismet $2.50

This sold for the correct price, as your copy was the only one on COMC.

167966077 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32
167963783 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32
167963782 Magic 1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32

These sold for the correct price of $22.76 apiece, probably because they were the only Moderately Played and Noted copies on the site. However, if you look at the eBay listing for an LP Lotus Petal now, the price on eBay is set to $36.76, which they will start fulfilling with your copies currently listed at $27.23 apiece. The eBay price for cards listed at $27.23 should be $31.86, so they will get a free $4.90 per card that sells.

175255345 Magic 1998 Magic: The Gathering - Exodus - [Base] 3 Cataclysm $8.14
110465495 Magic 1998 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set 2nd Age _WILD Wildfire $1.70
98687351 Magic 1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 36 Brilliant Plan $6.10
7932549 Magic 2001 Magic: The Gathering - Odyssey - [Base] 276 Stone-Tongue Basilisk $0.99
110478518 Magic 2002 Magic: The Gathering - Torment - [Base] - Spanish 66 Insidious Dreams $9.09
101316001 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - 8th Edition - [Base] - Spanish 109 Trade Routes $3.94
62338960 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73
62338959 Magic 2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73
134002720 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.54
133926964 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.37
175301346 Magic 2004 Magic: The Gathering - Fifth Dawn - [Base] 156 Staff of Domination $4.69
81150083 Magic 2007 Magic: The Gathering - Lorwyn - [Base] - French 208 Elvish Promenade $2.11
175282310 Magic 2017 Magic: The Gathering - Commander 2017 [C17] - [Base] 124 Sanguine Bond $2.48
81157069 Magic 2019 Magic: The Gathering - Signature Spellbook: Gideon [SS2] - [Base] 5 Shielded by Faith (foil) $4.05

These all sold for the correct eBay price. I'm not surprised to see the foreign language cards more consistent, because there are generally fewer people who have those on COMC.

To mjohnatgt's point, I would expect a seller with more than 4K individual Magic cards on the site to have sold more than this on eBay in the last two months, especially when you have spent time and effort repricing. The fact that the vast majority of your sales are foreign language cards and other cards where you have/had a COMC monopoly suggests to me that others' high prices that your inventory is competing with may be pulling your eBay listings up to the point that they aren't competitive in the market.

[checkoutmydeals]

Thank you! Here are COMC eBay sales of Magic cards in descending order of date sold

1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32 3/1/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _GIGR Giant Growth $2.50 2/26/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _TRAN Tranquility $1.38 2/26/26
1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32 2/26/26
1997 Magic: The Gathering - Tempest - [Base] _LOPE Lotus Petal $19.32 2/26/26
2003 Magic: The Gathering - 8th Edition - [Base] - Spanish 109 Trade Routes $3.94 2/26/26
2002 Magic: The Gathering - Torment - [Base] - Spanish 66 Insidious Dreams $9.09 2/25/26
2004 Magic: The Gathering - Fifth Dawn - [Base] 156 Staff of Domination $4.69 2/19/26
2007 Magic: The Gathering - Lorwyn - [Base] - French 208 Elvish Promenade $2.11 2/18/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.68 2/15/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24 2/15/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24 2/15/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _IROR Ironclaw Orcs $1.24 2/15/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _BLKN Black Knight $17.50 2/6/26
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 36 Brilliant Plan $6.10 2/4/26
1998 Magic: The Gathering - Exodus - [Base] 3 Cataclysm $8.14 1/27/26
2001 Magic: The Gathering - Odyssey - [Base] 276 Stone-Tongue Basilisk $0.99 1/24/26
1996 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - Japanese KISM Kismet $2.50 1/23/26
1998 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set 2nd Age _WILD Wildfire $1.70 1/21/26
2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.54 1/17/26
2019 Magic: The Gathering - Signature Spellbook: Gideon [SS2] - [Base] 5 Shielded by Faith (foil) $4.05 1/16/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _HYSP Hypnotic Specter $29.44 1/15/26
1995 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] - Italian _REBA Relic Barrier $3.74 1/14/26
2004 Magic: The Gathering - Champions of Kamigawa - [Base] - Spanish 283 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $19.37 1/14/26
2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73 1/13/26
2003 Magic: The Gathering - Scourge - [Base] 106 Sulfuric Vortex $0.73 1/13/26
1995 Magic: The Gathering - Ice Age - [Base] _ENRE Enduring Renewal $0.99 1/12/26
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Collectors' Edition - Non-Playable Gold Backs [Base] _FONA Force of Nature $8.22 1/3/26
2017 Magic: The Gathering - Commander 2017 [C17] - [Base] 124 Sanguine Bond $2.48 1/2/26
1998 Magic: The Gathering - Seattle - World Championships Decks - Randy Buehler WAST Wasteland $5.68 12/30/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Revised Edition - [Base] - German Black Border _GRBE Grizzly Bears $4.50 12/29/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] - Italian _TUWO Tundra Wolves $2.50 12/29/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Revised Edition - [Base] - German Black Border _WAWO Wall of Wood $2.39 12/29/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - German _TUWO Tundra Wolves $0.73 12/29/25
1997 Magic: The Gathering - Visions - [Base] _UNPA Undiscovered Paradise $14.24 12/28/25
1997 Magic: The Gathering - Visions - [Base] _UNPA Undiscovered Paradise $14.24 12/28/25
1997 Magic: The Gathering - Weatherlight - [Base] _GEMI Gemstone Mine $3.48 12/28/25
2014 Magic: The Gathering - Commander 2014 [C14] - [Base] 19.1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage $2.48 12/23/25
1996 Magic: The Gathering - Alliances - [Base] _STCA Storm Cauldron $2.50 12/16/25
1996 Magic: The Gathering - Alliances - [Base] _STCA Storm Cauldron $2.50 12/16/25
2000 Magic: The Gathering - Nemesis - [Base] 139 Tangle Wire $16.74 12/14/25
2013 Magic: The Gathering - Gatecrash - [Base] 158 Duskmantle Guildmage $0.73 12/4/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - French _COUN Counterspell $3.74 12/3/25
2016 Magic: The Gathering - Shadows over Innistrad [SOI] - [Base] 242 Anguished Unmaking $3.66 12/1/25
2019 Magic: The Gathering - Core Set: 2020 [M20] - [Base] 216 Omnath, Locus of the Roil $5.99 11/24/25
2000 Magic: The Gathering - Brussels - World Championships Decks - Nicolas Labarre 324 Rishadan Port $3.16 11/20/25
2000 Magic: The Gathering - Brussels - World Championships Decks - Nicolas Labarre 324 Rishadan Port $3.16 11/20/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] _SWPL Swords to Plowshares $2.19 11/20/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] _SWPL Swords to Plowshares $2.19 11/20/25
1996 Magic: The Gathering - Alliances - [Base] _ELRA.1 Elvish Ranger (Female) $0.67 11/20/25
2014 Magic: The Gathering - Journey into Nyx - [Base] 151 Keranos, God of Storms $5.93 11/19/25
2001 Magic: The Gathering - 7th Edition - [Base] 321 Teferi's Puzzle Box $7.66 11/16/25
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _LIFE Lifeforce $2.48 11/6/25
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _LIFE Lifeforce $2.48 11/6/25
2008 Magic: The Gathering - Shadowmoor - [Base] 142 Godhead of Awe $2.50 11/5/25
2001 Magic: The Gathering - Odyssey - [Base] - Foil 344 Mountain $5.02 11/4/25
2019 Magic: The Gathering - Modern Horizons [MH1] - [Base] - Foil 248 Tranquil Thicket $1.50 10/31/25
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 169 Island $2.50 10/29/25
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 171 Island $2.48 10/29/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - German _ISLA Island $1.24 10/29/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - The Dark - [Base] _TOCR Tormod's Crypt $5.99 10/26/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - The Dark - [Base] _TOCR Tormod's Crypt $5.99 10/26/25
2003 Magic: The Gathering - Mirrodin - [Base] - Italian 188 Isochron Scepter $10.53 10/25/25
2006 Magic: The Gathering - Time Spiral - [Base] 175 Reiterate $4.17 10/25/25
2016 Magic: The Gathering - Kaladesh [KLD] - [Base] 44 Dramatic Reversal $0.74 10/25/25
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 170 Island $2.50 10/25/25
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 170 Island $2.50 10/25/25
1999 Magic: The Gathering - Portal - Starter Set Three Kingdoms - Traditional Chinese 170 Island $2.50 10/25/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HEHO Headless Horseman $2.50 10/24/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HEHO Headless Horseman $2.50 10/24/25
2020-Current Magic: The Gathering - The List - Mystery Booster [Base] 140 Enchanted Evening (Shadowmoor) $4.04 10/23/25
1996 Magic: The Gathering - Mirage - [Base] _ACDA Acidic Dagger $2.50 10/19/25
2020-Current Magic: The Gathering - The List - Mystery Booster [Base] 140 Enchanted Evening (Shadowmoor) $2.48 10/12/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - Ice Age - [Base] _POX Pox $1.99 10/11/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] - Italian _ARAN Arena of the Ancients $14.65 10/8/25
2019 Magic: The Gathering - Throne of Eldraine [ELD] - [Base] - Foil 326 Chulane, Teller of Tales $2.48 10/5/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HODA Holy Day $1.49 9/21/25
1996 Magic: The Gathering - Chronicles - [Base] - Japanese DARC D'Avenant Archer $2.50 9/16/25
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Limited Edition Beta - [Base] _PLRA Plague Rats $7.98 9/15/25
2015 Magic: The Gathering - Origins [ORI] - [Base] 106 Liliana, Heretical Healer $5.55 9/15/25

To mjohnatgt's point, I would expect a seller with more than 4K individual Magic cards on the site to have sold more than this on eBay in the last two months, especially when you have spent time and effort repricing.

A lot of the repricing was just plugging in the old price. There's a lot of white elephants here. I haven't actively acquired Magic cards since early 2020, and haven't submitted any to COMC since 2023. eBay is maybe 20% to 25% of my COMC sales. And it probably didn't help that COMC defaulted to SP condition.

It's useful to know if COMC is charging more fees than they're supposed to. Particularly if it's an error that they can correct when it's brought to their attention. Thank you for your efforts!

[NatsSBR]

Only highlighting discrepancies/potentially interesting observations at this point, everything I don't call out sold at the proper eBay price based on your COMC price:

Originally Posted by checkoutmydeals

1994 Magic: The Gathering - Revised Edition - [Base] - German Black Border _WAWO Wall of Wood $2.39 12/29/25

The eBay buyer paid $3.36 for this, $0.07 more than the TOP price of $3.29. This makes sense based on the price spread of this spec (where you own both of the other copies on the site).

1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] - German _TUWO Tundra Wolves $0.73 12/29/25

The eBay buyer paid $1.39 for this, $0.01 more than normal at this price point, which makes sense based on the price spread of this spec (where you own one other at $0.73 and someone else has a copy at $0.74.

1997 Magic: The Gathering - Weatherlight - [Base] _GEMI Gemstone Mine $3.48 12/28/25

The TOP price for a $3.48 card is $4.54. As of December 28th, four copies had sold via the eBay listing at an average of $4.80. You likely got underpaid based on what the eBay buyer paid for this card, but it's impossible to say by how much because I don't know what the other three cards were listed for on COMC. Again, this lack of accountability is a problem in and of itself that COMC should want to avoid.

2013 Magic: The Gathering - Gatecrash - [Base] 158 Duskmantle Guildmage $0.73 12/4/25

The eBay buyer paid $1.39, a penny more than it should have been. This makes sense as you have two other copies at $0.73 and another seller has two at $0.74.

2000 Magic: The Gathering - Brussels - World Championships Decks - Nicolas Labarre 324 Rishadan Port $3.16 11/20/25
2000 Magic: The Gathering - Brussels - World Championships Decks - Nicolas Labarre 324 Rishadan Port $3.16 11/20/25

These sold on eBay for $4.63 apiece, where they should have been $4.18 apiece. That would be a COMC price of about $3.55 apiece, so I would say COMC underpaid you by about $0.80 for these.

1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] _SWPL Swords to Plowshares $2.19 11/20/25
1995 Magic: The Gathering - 4th Edition - [Base] _SWPL Swords to Plowshares $2.19 11/20/25

This listing lists four sales at an average price of $2.98. Your cards should have sold for $3.06 apiece, so this is probably an instance where you were slightly overpaid but the owner of two other copies got hosed.

2001 Magic: The Gathering - 7th Edition - [Base] 321 Teferi's Puzzle Box $7.66 11/16/25

Not in Terapeak, maybe lost and refunded.

1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _LIFE Lifeforce $2.48 11/6/25
1993 Magic: The Gathering - Unlimited Edition - [Base] _LIFE Lifeforce $2.48 11/6/25

Impossible to say for sure (which, again, is not something a consignor wants me to be able to say). There are two COMC listings that sold out on November 6th. One logged three sales at an average of $3.36, which would be $0.03 less than the appropriate TOP price of $3.39 for cards listed on COMC at $2.48. There is also an eBay listing that logged a sale at $6.28, which corresponds to a COMC price of $4.99. I can see on COMC data that only four copies were sold that quarter, and all were sold on eBay.

Now, how much did the two copies you didn't own sell for? Nobody knows besides COMC. So did you sell a copy at $2.48 that was priced on someone else's $4.99 copy? Did COMC just siphon off $2? Nobody knows.

It's not a great look for a consignment seller to be impossible for its customers to audit -- and it shouldn't be needed in the first place!

I'll do the rest later, have to run for now.

[NatsSBR]

2008 Magic: The Gathering - Shadowmoor - [Base] 142 Godhead of Awe $2.50 11/5/25

Two copies had been sold on eBay as of November 6th for an average price of $3.98 (almost certainly meaning for $3.98 apiece). COMC took in $0.54 more from your card than they should have.

2001 Magic: The Gathering - Odyssey - [Base] - Foil 344 Mountain $5.02 11/4/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - The Dark - [Base] _TOCR Tormod's Crypt $5.99 10/26/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - The Dark - [Base] _TOCR Tormod's Crypt $5.99 10/26/25

None of these are in Terapeak data, likely lost and refunded.

2016 Magic: The Gathering - Kaladesh [KLD] - [Base] 44 Dramatic Reversal $0.74 10/25/25

As of October 30th, three copies were sold at an average price of $1.52 each. This likely represents an overcharge of $0.13 on your copy, which should have been listed for $1.39.

1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HEHO Headless Horseman $2.50 10/24/25
1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HEHO Headless Horseman $2.50 10/24/25

These sold for $3.56 apiece, a total of $0.28 more than they should have been listed for.

1996 Magic: The Gathering - Mirage - [Base] _ACDA Acidic Dagger $2.50 10/19/25

This sold on eBay for $3.71, $0.29 more than the TOP price for a $2.50 card.

2020-Current Magic: The Gathering - The List - Mystery Booster [Base] 140 Enchanted Evening (Shadowmoor) $2.48 10/12/25

This sold on eBay for $3.42, $0.03 more than the TOP price for a $2.48 card

1995 Magic: The Gathering - Ice Age - [Base] _POX Pox $1.99 10/11/25

Another good example that sort of proves the real problem comes when there are lots of copies at a wide range of prices. 7 copies had been sold on eBay as of October 11th, at an average price of $3.33. Again, this likely means they all sold for $3.33 because the prices rarely if ever automatically update while a listing is live; when price changes happen, COMC usually pulls the existing listing and puts up a new one. Your $1.99 copy should have sold for $2.83, $0.50 less than COMC collected on eBay.

1994 Magic: The Gathering - Legends - [Base] _HODA Holy Day $1.49 9/21/25

This sold on eBay for $2.36, $0.10 more than it should have been listed for.

1993 Magic: The Gathering - Limited Edition Beta - [Base] _PLRA Plague Rats $7.98 9/15/25

Not in Terapeak data, likely lost and refunded.

And that's it. More thoughts in next post.

[NatsSBR]

So that's it. Checkoutmydeals, I think it's safe to say COMC overcharged you by $3.47, give or take a buck or two for the cards no one will be able to figure out without access to COMC's internal data. Obviously that isn't worth your time to figure out. It's impossible to say what effect the pricing error has had in terms of preventing your cards from selling, but that's almost certainly holding back your sales to some degree.

Here's what people should be focused on, though. I just finished running the numbers and found $3.47 of very likely overcharges against 80 items. As of today, the TCGbyCOMC eBay account has sold 13,000 items. If the error rate of $3.47 per 80 were consistent across the system, COMC would have pocketed about $564 in inflated commissions on those sales. If we used the rate I've estimated on my account, which is over $50 per 500 items, it would be over $1,300.

Because the biggest TCG category on the site is Pokemon, and because in the Pokemon category COMC usually offers many of copies of each card at a wide range of prices, I think the correct rate for the system is higher than what I've seen on both our accounts. It's impossible for me to even make an educated guess at how high it is. Only access to COMC's internal sales data would allow someone to calculate and fix it.

This is why I have been trying and trying to get COMC to fix this mess while the dollar figure of refunds owed across the system is still somewhat low and the auditing process will be relatively manageable. If this problem persists, fixing it when someone eventually forces you to will be incredibly costly and time-consuming.

In terms of intangible costs to COMC, I would not want to run a consignment business about which there are credible questions as to whether we calculate the correct commission for our sales.

[checkoutmydeals]

I agree. The Pokemon market is massive, multigenerational, International and much more mainstream than Magic. It has the potential to be a huge cash cow for COMC, without cannibalizing their sports card market. So it's important that people can have confidence in the marketplace.

By my calculations, the total COMC base price of these cards was $430.13. The total eBay cross-posted price should have been $540.65. So the eBay price should have been padded by about $110.52. A discrepancy of $3.47 is about 3.1% of that difference.

How confident are you in Terapeak's numbers? Is it possible that they are misreporting these sales, and that COMC sold the items for the correct price?

[jamcas997]

Another reason to sell your own cards.

[Dragonman]

The majority of posts in the thread "SMH messages on Ebay" is you crying, complaining, bitching and moaning, calling buyers names etc...Seems like a miserable experience for you or you are just the most unlucky seller on Ebay........BTW I sell my own cards AND i have others like COMC sell for me so I favor neither.

[NatsSBR]

Originally Posted by checkoutmydeals

How confident are you in Terapeak's numbers? Is it possible that they are misreporting these sales, and that COMC sold the items for the correct price?

I have a three-part answer to that:

(1) I'm 100% sure some of the disparities are due to inaccurate pricing. This is because after about six weeks of tracking this (and being told by a COMC employee that it wasn't happening), I actually performed a test eBay purchase of one of my own cards that was part of a multiple-quantity listing. There were LOTS of copies on the site, and the cheapest ones were mine. I paid $4.42 plus shipping on eBay, and COMC paid me $2.74 less 5% for the cheapest copy available. For a card that's listed at $2.74 on COMC, the eBay price is supposed to be $3.69.

Ironically, that sale probably doesn't show up anymore in Terapeak data because the USPS lost the package and I had to get eBay to refund me... for my own card. I did take screenshots at the time of the sale, which I sent to COMC and still have copies of.

(2) I'm not 100% sure that 100% of the disparities are due to inaccurate pricing. Terapeak data is definitely sometimes changed to account for coupons (though this would reduce the eBay sold price rather than increasing it). It is possible that for some buyers, such as international buyers who may pay a little more due to transaction fees or their countries' tariffs, the Terapeak numbers get bumped up from the asking price. Again, however, I know this doesn't account for all such instances because I tested it personally.

(3) When I've audited my own sales, the only disparities I've ever noticed come up for cards that sold in the two distinct cases I laid out in the second post. That means I've never noticed it on sales via the main COMC_Consignment account, and I've never noticed it where every copy of the card on COMC was priced the same. If there were alternate explanations, I would expect at least some of these sales to register a higher price on Terapeak.

On balance, the evidence pretty strongly suggests a COMC pricing problem rather than a data quality problem. Could I be making a mistake somewhere? Sure. I only have my own account data to judge from (and now some of yours). I would welcome some kind of response from COMC to my last several emails explaining what I'm getting wrong. But if you asked me to bet that the careful auditing I've done of my own sales via eBay is correctly showing a pricing error in the vast majority of high-price cases, I would bet heavy.

From a financial perspective, this is not worth my time... I've spent WAY more than $50 worth of my time on it. But if I can get COMC to solve a growing problem before it becomes totally unmanageable, and if the impact of that is saving them a huge long-term headache and getting appropriate credits sent to the many TCG sellers that I have no other way of helping, I'll call it time reasonably well spent.