General Forum

Anyone notice how expensive COMC is now?

I know it's usually more expensive than other sites, but I'm looking at my watchlist and cards that I used to pick up in the $2.50-$10.00 range are now listed anywhere from $7.50 to even upwards of $30!! It's pretty outrageous.

Even with the Black Friday sales cards are really expensive. I was hoping to load up my account with credit to shops some deals and have a box of 50-100 cards shipped out, but at this rate, I might be lucky if I get a package of 20 cards.

Is it just me, or are other seeing this too?

I was also disappointed that they raised free shipping up to $150 in purchases.

I’ve seen this.  There are a few in my want list that appear to have actually gone up, so the 10% off sale price is the same as it was without the sale.  And it seems to be a common practice on Comc that a member will raise a cards price simply because it’s the only one currently listed on the site. 

It's very typical for COMC sellers to jack up prices during sales like Black Friday because then they look like they're better deals. I tend to ignore the ones that don't accept more than 5-10% off, especially if the "sale" price is very slightly less than the regular price, which means I could order them anytime and there's no rush. There are still some good deals to be had (I highly recommend the site's "Charity" port) but it takes some digging.

I have been keeping an eye out on the prices as I built up my card fund for COMC Black Friday Sale.

I had over 2,200 cards on my watch list.  6 months ago, when I sorted by cheapest I had over 100 cards at $1 or less. (why I built up my card fund).  Just before the sale started there was less than 25.    When the sale started there was only about 45 and most are low on my wants.

So far I have only picked up 8 cards, one was a good buy, 5 was a fair buy, the other 2 was a little higher than I want to go but I have the money in my account and no other cards tripped my trigger at their prices.

One thing I have seen is more of the overpriced (higher) cards on my want list is selling.     

10 years ago I was buying most of my cards from COMC.

Now I think the last card I bought from them was on ebay. Which is the very definition of irony. 

I rarely use COMC, but the sole seller practice of higher prices on cards is also employed by Sportlots sellers, so it's not unique to COMC.

But if the jump is from $100.00 to $150.00 that's more than inflation so other factors are involved.

Thanks for all the great feedback. 

I typically only purchase on COMC around Black Friday because of these deals. Sadly, they're not really deals anymore.

I've always appreciated COMC's concept for buying and selling cards and think they have the best user experience compared to other sites. Unfortunately, it seems they are becoming more and more cost prohibitive for both the buyer and the seller. 

I have noticed, like many of you, that people are jacking up card prices if they have a "COMC Monopoly". This practice seems to have spread across the site, even for a card with multiple for sale. I was watching one particular card with 4 available that went from $5 to $15 because the other 3 cards had really high prices on them. My assumption is that a card flipper saw the price gap, purchased the card, and then relisted for a much high price, but lower than the other 3. I think this practice is foolish and hurts both the buyers and the sellers. The card itself is really only a $5 card. 

What I would like to see COMC do to make their marketplace more appealing for buyers and sellers is integrate their database with other sites like eBay and Sportslots so both buyers and sellers can compare previously sold prices to give them more of an informed purchasing experience and balance the market, so to speak. Of course, COMC would probably monetize this feature to make more money off its users anyways.

It's not inflation, it's greed and not being in touch with the market. 

The 'market' is a bell curve of what all possible purchasers are willing to pay for something.

All they need to do is find the person on the right trailing edge.

It may be more likely to sell at 100, but if you can sell it at 150, why wouldn't you.

Perspective of someone who has never sold a card in their life.