Comic book subscription sites

[fudd71]

I might be the one voice of descent here, but I was a DCBS customer for about six months and went back to buying at a local shop; I’ll try to explain some of my reasoning and y’all can take it for what it’s worth.

Based on Price alone DCBS is a better deal but not by as much as you might think. I looked up what my savings would be for my monthly Order based on the current January 2011 Previews with both the discount I receive at my local shop and the prices listed on the DCBS site. My cover price total for this month worked out to be $171.59 for 42 items. At DCBS I would have paid $104.04 and at my local shop I will pay $128.69 that is a savings of $24.65 (or 19.16%) I could get by switching to DCBS. That sounds like a great deal but isn’t the whole story. After figuring in sales tax (and where I live it’s about as high as anywhere at 9.25%) and shipping for weekly shipments (it’s only fair to compare like product and at my shop I get my books weekly) through DCBS the price changes to $123.24 and $140.60 at my local shop. That would be a savings of $17.36 at DCBS or 12.34%. Still sounds like a better deal but not nearly as good as most fans seem to think. That works out to a savings of only about $4.34 a week, I’m not saying that isn’t significant but I don’t think it is nearly as big as many DCBS loyalist think it is.

So on average what do I get by shopping locally over through DCBS. First, I get my books a week earlier; I know that doesn’t sound like much but when you want to talk about books with friends and even on the internet it is nice to get them when they come out and not a week later. I realize that may be different in different parts of the country but it was my experience that being here in LA I would get my shipments the following Tuesday usually between 4-6 PM. Since I normally go into my comic shop at lunch time on Wednesdays that would mean I was getting them 18 hours shy of a week late. Secondly, since I am a regular customer and the shop knows me I get the same discount (25%) on anything I buy whether or not I preordered it. That gives me a lot more flexibility to try things out I either missed in Previews or just wasn’t sure about. I don’t have to order 3-4 months’ worth of books I decide I don’t want after the first issue. It also means I can cancel books I don’t want later than with DCBS. I don’t do this very often but I can and do sometimes do it with things I know weren’t ordered just for me and I simply have decided to drop. The most recent example was Ultimate Spider-man which I decided to drop a few weeks ago and let my shop owner know even though I had already had it on my November order form. He took it off the list for me, and for my own piece of mind I checked he was sold out of it by Monday morning. So I was able to cancel my order without adversely affecting the shop. Thirdly, I pay every week when I pick up my books instead of paying months in advance. This doesn’t sound like much but it bothers me that I have to in essence give an interest free loan to DCBS till my books come in, I know they don’t get invoiced until they receive the books why should I extend them an interest free loan in the meantime. Fourth, I was bothered by how hard they made it to stop their service. I received my last shipment from them in September of 2010 even thou I placed my last order with them in July of 2009 that meant I waiting over a year for my last shipment of six books only one of which actually came out that late. Since I had six books left that were owed to me they held on to five of them for over a year till the last one finally shipped. By that point I had already purchased the five books that were over a year old so I now have duplicate copies. I think the much classier thing to do would have been to simply ship the five books they had and cancelled the last instead of waiting over a year to ship any of them. Lastly I also found that there customer service was sadly lacking. I had several problems with shipments and the way they were delivered. To be fair most of those issues were with UPS not DCBS but still they would send an e-mail to solicit a response to a survey about the shipment. Twice I filled out the comments part of that survey and got no response. Even an acknowledgement of receipt of the comment would have been nice. I know it says they don’t read them or don’t read them in a timely manner but if that’s the case why even bother me to fill it out. That is just poor planning and lack of respect for your customer and their time.

These are just my observations I know not all people have access to a good local shop but I have found it is worth the $4 a week for me to deal with a real person that knows me and treats with respect.

I know DCBS has bought off most of the podcasting community by sponsoring their shows so there is little objectivity regarding this matter on most message boards for podcasts. I do want to say a word of thanks to John and Bob who have avoided a sponsorship to remain objective; I think it shows a high level of integrity in both of them and I do appreciate the fact that they say what they feel without any regard to upsetting a sponsor.

[Trev]

I might be the one voice of descent here, but I was a DCBS customer for about six months and went back to buying at a local shop; I’ll try to explain some of my reasoning and y’all can take it for what it’s worth.

. . . .

These are just my observations I know not all people have access to a good local shop but I have found it is worth the $4 a week for me to deal with a real person that knows me and treats with respect.

I know DCBS has bought off most of the podcasting community by sponsoring their shows so there is little objectivity regarding this matter on most message boards for podcasts. I do want to say a word of thanks to John and Bob who have avoided a sponsorship to remain objective; I think it shows a high level of integrity in both of them and I do appreciate the fact that they say what they feel without any regard to upsetting a sponsor.

Completely agree -- i cover some of this in my article. There is a point at which it makes sense and a point at which it doesn't. For everybody, that's different. There are guys who spend $25-$50 a month with DCBS and wait for that box every month. I thought about doing that, especially with some of their sale items, but it's too confusing for me to track what would be coming at EOM from DCBS vs. what's coming out every week at my LCS. Plus I'm still too far behind to add more new issues to my stack.

[JohnMayo]

Certainly there is a volume of scale involved with if DCBS makes sense for someone or not. I've never understood how people spending $50 or so a month could justify DCBS. At that level, it doesn't make sense. But, at the level I spend (which is probably far too much), it make a huge amount of sense.

I track my spending with DCBS both by orders and by shipments. According to me Excel workbook I use to track the orders, my net savings has been a 34.08% discount off cover price. My weekly shipment Excel workbook puts my total net savings at a 36.63%. The different being the items that I have on order and haven't gotten yet.

The less you spend, the more things the overhead costs of shipping cut into the effective discount.

If I was at the point that the net difference between DCBS and buying local was $10 or $20, I'd probably buy locally just for the convenience.

As far as dealing with a real person that knows me and treats me with respect, I get that both from the guys at DCBS and from the guys here locally at Tribe Comics and Games.

I don't think that DCBS has "bought off" the podcasting community so much as embraced it in a way that makes sense for a mail order retailer to do but does not makes sense for a brick-and-mortar retailer to do. All of the listeners of the Comic Book Page podcast have the option of dealing with DCBS if they want to. But geographical limitations make it difficult for most listeners to swing by Tribe Comics and Games and shop there.

[BobBretall]

Fudd, I agree with most of what you say, and if I spent what you do and got the discount that you get, I would not be with DCBS either.

Secondly, since I am a regular customer and the shop knows me I get the same discount (25%) on anything I buy whether or not I preordered it. That gives me a lot more flexibility to try things out I either missed in Previews or just wasn’t sure about.

You are EXTREMELY lucky to have a shop that does this (who is your local shop?).
As an aside, before I switched to DCBS I had a local shop that was very much like this, and that was why I didn't go to DCBS earlier. If I could get 25% off & books a week earlier the decision would certainly not be clear cut. HOWEVER, most people don't have a nearby shop that gives this kind of a deal.

You have an LCS that deserves to be supported, I applaud you for supporting it.

I don’t have to order 3-4 months’ worth of books I decide I don’t want after the first issue.

You have this exact same capability with DCBS, I do it all the time. I order #1 and wait until I read it. If I want to collect that series, I send them an e-mail & they cheerfully add #2 & #3 to my current order.
[/quote]

Thirdly, I pay every week when I pick up my books instead of paying months in advance. This doesn’t sound like much but it bothers me that I have to in essence give an interest free loan to DCBS till my books come in, I know they don’t get invoiced until they receive the books why should I extend them an interest free loan in the meantime.

This is really a misleading statement, let me tell you why.
I am putting together an order now for books that ship in April for the most part, barring the few that ship late.
I will send that order in at the end of February, DCBS will charge my credit card on March 15th. I won't get the credit card bill in the mail until the end of March, I'll mail in a check to pay that bill and it will be mid April before the money every leave my bank account.
In actuality, I am not paying that far in advance, if at all. I might actually get a few books prior to the money ever exiting my bank account.

I know DCBS has bought off most of the podcasting community by sponsoring their shows so there is little objectivity regarding this matter on most message boards for podcasts. I do want to say a word of thanks to John and Bob who have avoided a sponsorship to remain objective; I think it shows a high level of integrity in both of them and I do appreciate the fact that they say what they feel without any regard to upsetting a sponsor.

This is exactly why we have never taken a penny of sponsorship money from DCBS. Anything either of us say is purely our opinions as satisfied customers, not something we are saying to keep sponsor $$ flowing.

[fudd71]

You are EXTREMELY lucky to have a shop that does this (who is your local shop?).

My local shop is House of Secrets in Burbank, CA. You are right I am extremely lucky to have them and am well aware of that fact. That is one of reasons I prefaced my comments by saying I realize not all people have the option of such a great shop, and fortunately for me they are also very close. I have found that there are six or so shops relatively close to me (at least close enough that I would consider shopping at them). Of them if I was only interested in price there is one I could use that actually gives a slightly larger discount. The reason I still shop at the shop I do however has to do with more than just price, it is a combination of many things, price being only one. I am willing to pay a little more for some of the intangible or at least hard to define things I get by shopping at a good shop with good staff that I know and trust. I actually look forward to going in on Wednesdays and picking up my books. My wife who reads some comics but isn’t nearly the fan I am even likes going with me. It has gotten to the point that a lot of times instead of going in at lunch time I’ll come home a little early on Wednesday and pick up my wife so we can go together. That is just another one of those little intangibles I can’t get from shopping mail-order.

[abysslord]

Even if my LCS saved me more money I'd probably still use my subscriber. I prefer the ability to browse a website and add/remove titles with a few clicks while I can read/research the titles in a window right alongside it.

My LCS is probably 85% role playing stuff and games, then 10% back issues and 5% new comics. You can basically find what you want with new comics, but it looks like it's an afterthought.

[BobBretall]

You are EXTREMELY lucky to have a shop that does this (who is your local shop?).

My local shop is House of Secrets in Burbank, CA. You are right I am extremely lucky to have them and am well aware of that fact. That is one of reasons I prefaced my comments by saying I realize not all people have the option of such a great shop, and fortunately for me they are also very close.

I actually used House of Secrets as my LCS for 2-3 years about 15 years ago. Back then, I lived up in LA County and when the kids were younger we used to go to the in-laws with them almost every weekend and I'd stop off in Burbank on the way to get my comics. They were a good shop. Excellent service and good discounts. The kind of shop that if I lived near them I'd never have had the "push" to move to mail order.

That said, there are ZERO shops that I have found within a 40 mile radius of where I live now that can compare. Comics Toons'n'Toys is a GREAT local shop, but the lower discount is a show-stopper for me given the amount I spend. If I was spending $200 retail, though, I think I'd use them, the saving would not be worth waiting the extra week.

If there was not a Comics Toons'n'Toys, there is no other shop I could see using unless I was down to <$100 retail.

When we stopped doing that it became impractical to continue using them as my local shop & I switched to someone down in OC.

[Paul Nolan]

I've used www.86thfloor.com in the UK for 18 months, and get monthly deliveries.

The guys that run it are extremely amenable (I can request a specific Boom! studios cover on the day of release and Its no problem). You can cancel comics and they've got a 3 week reaction time, effectively they use the final order cut-offs to their advantage. Comics come insanely well packaged, and they're probably the best price in the UK.

[Cromics]

I agree with Fudd, I tried DCBS for a few months as well and found it to be huge hassle (not to mention they screwed up my first order pretty bad). Mostly I just like the ritual of going to the comic shop every week though.
My LCS is awesome. The Comics Dungeon in Seattle, WA. They offer me a 20% discount, and if I were to subscribe to 50 or more titles the discount would be 25%.

[fudd71]

I understand there are many options and different reasons to choose a variety of them. I just thought in a thread like this that asked a question about what people use it would be nice to have a little variety of opinion. One of the reasons I like this community so much is there does seem to a larger diversity of opinion than in other places. It is very refreshing to see people list several different subscription services they like as well as people talk about their local store experiences.

Too often I find that on many message boards when this topic is brought up the replies tend to be 10-30 people saying, “I use DCBS and everyone that doesn’t is stupid”. While DCBS seems to be a fine service with many happy customers I don’t think it is the catch-all answer for everyone. There does seem to be an almost cult like fervor for them that does bother me. I just think it makes the most sense for people to look at what they want and are willing to pay for it and come to the answer that suits their individual needs the best instead of being shamed into going along with the crowd.

[abysslord]

I understand there are many options and different reasons to choose a variety of them. I just thought in a thread like this that asked a question about what people use it would be nice to have a little variety of opinion.

Yeah, I thought similar to the 'buying online back issues' thread that a new person could read through and get different sites and feedback, but I guess it's just two companies named. DCBS seems perfectly acceptable and I can vouch for Scifigenre.com. I even noticed that a Haunt #7 I ordered months ago was a 2nd printing by accident, i wrote them and they said "No problem, we'll send the first print no charge." That's about as good as you can get with customer service.

[torchsong]

I've never understood how people spending $50 or so a month could justify DCBS. At that level, it doesn't make sense. But, at the level I spend (which is probably far too much), it make a huge amount of sense.

John, I'm one of those $50-a-monthers (sometimes less, sometimes more), and it does work for me. However, there are certain factors that probably make it unique for me.

1) My LCS doesn't offer discounts. Well, that's not entirely true, they do if you maintain a pull list of 10 books (I don't read that many single issues), and occasionally there's a big sale, but beyond that, nothing.

2) I buy trades and statues for the most part, and I only get my shipping done monthly. So generally I take that $6 shipping fee and factor it in to my first purchase. (ie. $25 trade discounted to say $18 + the $6 fee is still a buck cheaper than if I went to my LCS with it).

3) Everything I buy beyond that is gravy. It definitely wouldn't be economically feasible if I were getting weekly shipments, but as a monthly customer it works out quite well for me. I haven't done the math, but since I'm not getting any major discount where I am, ANY discount I'm getting is worth it to me.

fudd71: While DCBS seems to be a fine service with many happy customers I don’t think it is the catch-all answer for everyone. There does seem to be an almost cult like fervor for them that does bother me.

Burn the blaspheming heretic!

Seriously, though, you're right. As much as we can joke about the stereotypical comic fan making the weekly Wednesday pilgrimage, we all have our unique methodologies of how we buy our books (see above). DCBS works for me, and I'm happy to recommend them to people, but it is important to put that "Your Mileage May Vary" caveat in there.

[BobBretall]

While DCBS seems to be a fine service with many happy customers I don’t think it is the catch-all answer for everyone. There does seem to be an almost cult like fervor for them that does bother me.

You're right, DCBS is not right for everyone, though (to the cult-like fervor comment), you DO need to wonder to yourself that they must be doing something right if they have that many loyal customers who will stick up for them all the time.

I think it's just human nature for people to advertise/pass-on things that they have found to work well for them.

[BobBretall]

Yeah, I thought similar to the 'buying online back issues' thread that a new person could read through and get different sites and feedback, but I guess it's just two companies named. DCBS seems perfectly acceptable and I can vouch for Scifigenre.com.

Well, I try TONS of different sites for back issue purchases, so I can provide feedback on a lot.

Monthly comics, though, once you find someone you like you tend to stick with them until they either close up shop or do something to really piss you off.

That's going to lead to a smaller sample set in general.