MyComicShop... Ask no questions about any of my 507,000 listed items 3 3

[kav]

59 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

1 hour ago, kav said:

No maybe about it-if you buy an item and have an issue, they will respond.  Not the only high volume seller on ebay that doesnt field questions from potential buyers.

I haven't experienced that before on ebay.

I buy a lot of books on ebay.  Its not uncommon for booksellers that have tens of thousands of transactions.

[James J Johnson]

39 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

Why this witchhunt? If you don’t think their customer service is up to par, move on to another dealer.

It's the opposite of a witchhunt actually. It's a heads up. If I had $7000+ worth of merchandise listed on ebay that someone was ready to buy andthe only thing that stopped them is my not providing the same bare minimum of communication on ebay that even sellers of 1/1000th the magnitude of MCS can provide, I would sure more want to know about it than not know about it. 

[James J Johnson]

6 minutes ago, Off Panel said:

James J Johnson: Complains he can’t ask questions of a seller on eBay.

The Boards: Tell him ten ways to contact the seller to ask questions directly AND how to buy the same books for less money,

James J Johnson: Continues to complain about not being able to contact the seller on eBay.

Careful. Say my name a third time and I may appear! 

 

[mattn792]

8 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

It's the opposite of a witchhunt actually. It's a heads up. If I had $7000+ worth of merchandise listed on ebay that someone was ready to buy andthe only thing that stopped them is my not providing the same bare minimum of communication on ebay that even sellers of 1/1000th the magnitude of MCS can provide, I would sure more want to know about it than not know about it. 

And you probably could get it for $6300+ off their website.  Nice comparison shopping.

[James J Johnson]

11 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

And frankly, if I was the seller, I’d also want to drive traffic away from fleaBay to my own site.

After speeding god only knows how many hours worth of typing for 500,000+ items? I would take my ebay business as seriously as I do my website business if I had that much time invested in 500,000 listings. 

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, mattn792 said:

And you probably could get it for $6300+ off their website.  Nice comparison shopping.

Point is, I was ready to buy right then and there. Impulse. Grab it before someone else does. No option to communicate was the deal breaker. That's the heads up here. Not a complaint. A heads up. MCS lost me on that, theywill lose others as well. Money is still money. ABC always be closing. And whatever it takes to make it easier to close, if youre a seller, do it. 

[mattn792]

A shiny quarter says they’ll continue to do just fine.

[James J Johnson]

12 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

A shiny quarter says they’ll continue to do just fine.

Of course they will. and I hope that they do. I like to see people do well, especially with businesses. Which is why I mentioned what is a definite weak link in their chain. I know for a fact that weak link caused my $7Gs to not change pockets from mine to theirs because of their non-communication ebay policy. To them, to you, it's vest pocket lint. To me, that's a lot of money. I thought they might want to know about the lint loss and why. I would surely want to know even about such a minimal loss of business over something so easy to provide, like communication, an essential on ebay... 

Edited November 15, 2020 by James J Johnson

[D2]

Look, I understand that mycomicshop has a lot of inventory and buying power, but I don’t like them and how they do business. Exactly as OP describes, they are difficult to contact with and even harder to deal with. 
 

I’ll never buy from them. Never. 
 

and never is a strong word. 

[mycomicshop]

Appreciate the feedback, @James J Johnson

If you have a question you're welcome to PM me about it, although that's not intended to be a normal customer service channel and I don't expect anyone to seek that out other than regular board members. As others have said, we also have a web site, with a Help link at the top of every page that has a contact email address and phone number for customer service: https://www.mycomicshop.com/help

As for our eBay account not having questions opened up, it's been set that way for many years. If the only questions we got were from serious buyers inquiring about $3000 purchases (or even $50 purchases), it would be easy to take questions. But we also have hundreds of thousands of $2-10 comics. Many of the people that ask the most questions are the least likely to actually buy anything.

Another semi-complication for us is that with most eBay sellers, if you contact them to ask them something that requires them directly examining the comic you're asking about, it's relatively easy for them to access the comic from a box in the next room, take a look, and answer you. For us, our inventory is filed in a big warehouse, or in the case of expensive comics, locked up in a vault. Our inventory isn't easily accessible to our customer service department, and usually once the comic has been filed it doesn't get accessed again until somebody orders it and we're pulling the order. If it's a serious buyer for an expensive comic, sure, we're happy to do that to answer a legit question. But that's not a level of service we're generally interested in offering for the huge number of lower price range comics we also carry.

All that said, it has been years since we first turned that off; we do have a lot more higher end inventory now than we had 10 years ago; and our customer service staff is bigger now (multi-person team where it used to be one person). I'll discuss it with them and perhaps we'll try opening the account to questions for a month or two, gauge the response, and then decide if we want to keep that open or turn it off again.

[James J Johnson]

22 minutes ago, mycomicshop said:

Appreciate the feedback, @James J Johnson

If you have a question you're welcome to PM me about it, although that's not intended to be a normal customer service channel and I don't expect anyone to seek that out other than regular board members. As others have said, we also have a web site, with a Help link at the top of every page that has a contact email address and phone number for customer service: https://www.mycomicshop.com/help

As for our eBay account not having questions opened up, it's been set that way for many years. If the only questions we got were from serious buyers inquiring about $3000 purchases (or even $50 purchases), it would be easy to take questions. But we also have hundreds of thousands of $2-10 comics. Many of the people that ask the most questions are the least likely to actually buy anything.

Another semi-complication for us is that with most eBay sellers, if you contact them to ask them something that requires them directly examining the comic you're asking about, it's relatively easy for them to access the comic from a box in the next room, take a look, and answer you. For us, our inventory is filed in a big warehouse, or in the case of expensive comics, locked up in a vault. Our inventory isn't easily accessible to our customer service department, and usually once the comic has been filed it doesn't get accessed again until somebody orders it and we're pulling the order. If it's a serious buyer for an expensive comic, sure, we're happy to do that to answer a legit question. But that's not a level of service we're generally interested in offering for the huge number of lower price range comics we also carry.

All that said, it has been years since we first turned that off; we do have a lot more higher end inventory now than we had 10 years ago; and our customer service staff is bigger now (multi-person team where it used to be one person). I'll discuss it with them and perhaps we'll try opening the account to questions for a month or two, gauge the response, and then decide if we want to keep that open or turn it off again.

I understand. There's a lot of paper involved, the logistics of the inventory make a system that address the questions of all for each and every thing very unwieldy. Were I in business, I would treat everyone on as equal a footing as possible. One hobbyists $10 purchase is just as important to them as another buyer's $1000 purchase, but the more expensive the item, the more, the extra level of care and service those buyers need. Their concerns over a $10,000 book will understandably require more attention to detail. I would suggest starting there, if that's possible. I don't know if it is, I've never looked at ebay from a seller's standpoint, that is, if a seller can pinpoint certain listings, while creating the listing, that can be set for questions. I don't know if this is a macro selling option default or if the option to answer or not answer is selective to each listing. If so, you may want to start a trial with that. If you can, set each $1000 and up listing to accept questions. Isolating those books for ready access to answer questions like, "is that a crease on the left bottom corner or a crack in the holder", the $1000 and up books would be a good idea if you try that route to see how it goes.

No matter how big you are or how well you do, the goal of business is to do more business, right? This is next level service that my belief is, would reap dividends. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by James J Johnson

[jimjum12]

If you have to ask questions, you probably can't afford it  GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[James J Johnson]

1 minute ago, jimjum12 said:

If you have to ask questions, you probably can't afford it  GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

The majority of my questions for a seller are most typically, "Is that on the slab or the book", "Is that a tan line or the edge of the shadow of the photographer", or "can I get a larger/clearer/brighter (take your pick) scan of this"., etc.

[Hollywood1892]

11 hours ago, kav said:

wanted to ask seller hey is this the book as listed or a mistake and the DVD?
Nope.  so just had to risk it.

Dang

You'll get it bluh

[Jeffro.]

12 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

14 hours ago, Jeffro. said:

What about contacting them through their own web site?

What about contacting them here >> https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/profile/12442-mycomicshop/ 

Shouldn't have to. If you're selling on ebay, questions are a part of selling, no? If a browser has the ability to hit the BIN, he should also be able to ask a question before doing so, right? Business 101. Questions are part of purchases and typically precede them, unless you're purposefully trying to stifle sales.

Maybe you're right but regardless, there are other ways to contact them

[pemart1966]

12 hours ago, kav said:

MyComicShop is one of the mos sterling dealers you can find.  I dont fault them for not having the manpower to answer questions.

If you're a "big boy" seller you'd should be providing "big boy" customer service  

[Iconic1s]

7 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

The majority of my questions for a seller are most typically, "Is that on the slab or the book", "Is that a tan line or the edge of the shadow of the photographer", or "can I get a larger/clearer/brighter (take your pick) scan of this"., etc.

I had these types of questions on a $599.99 book and will say that the way MyComicShop handled my questions/concerns made me a customer for life. The whole story is in the book’s description here;

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/ComicView.aspx?PeopleSetComicID=1117654

[Jeffro.]

8 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

If you're a "big boy" seller you'd should be providing "big boy" customer service  

Let's keep Big Boy out of this

[kav]

8 hours ago, mycomicshop said:

Many of the people that ask the most questions are the least likely to actually buy anything.

This.
To answer questions would be a business mistake.  They would have to hire several guys whose only job was to constantly walk back and forth to the warehouse and vault, take notes and pics and field questions so they could sell like one $5 book per every 100 questions.  This is paying several employees to make like $5 per hour, all day, every day, all year-a financial disaster.  
Every business has to make decisions on how much customer service they can provide without shooting themselves in the foot with a shotgun.
You might say well yeah but some of the questions will lead to a $5000 sale!  Yes but guess what-they will still sell that $5000 book anyway.

Edited November 15, 2020 by kav

[kav]

38 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

If you're a "big boy" seller you'd should be providing "big boy" customer service  

If they had mostly big boy people messaging them, they would.  See above.

Edited November 15, 2020 by kav