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From: http://www.heroescorner.com/index.php/a ... -offer.php

August Special Offer

Each month we usually choose a small selection of new trades and give them an extra deep discount of 50%. After looking at all the great new trades available for pre-order this month, it was impossible to choose.

So this month's special will make the choice easy. If you pre-order two (2) newly released trades, we'll mark-down one of those trades 50% off retail*. Basically, buy one at regular price and get the 2nd at 1/2 price!

For example, you pre-order Civil War HC (AUG082435) and Green Lantern Secret Origin HC (AUG080183) and we'll mark the Green Lantern trade to 50% off retail. So you'll get these two books for $35.99 (retail for both $59.98 ). A savings of OVER $20!

You'll get an even better deal if you apply this offer to the Summer Special, which ends this month. Remember the Summer Special? Buy 2 trades of the same series and pre-order the same series monthly title, and we'll give you the monthly title FREE!

Here's an example: Pre-order Batman Private Casebook (AUG080174), Batman Rules of Engagement TP (AUG080176), and the monthly title Batman #681 (AUG080132). We'll mark down one of the trades to 50% off retail AND give you the monthly title FREE! Your cost for these three items would be $22.99 (retail $43.97).

If you're a trade lover, then you should REALLY love this deal!

and from: http://www.speakgeekspeak.com/comictiming/?p=166

All first time Heroes Corner users can enter the promo code CTROCKS to receive an additional 5% off their first order with the site, and make sure to check out their Double Down Trades Special. Buy one new trade at regular discount, you receive the second trade for 50% off! And if you use this as part of the Summer Special, buy two trades of a character and get the single issue for that character free, you get a free comic too! And finally, the Comic Timing books of the month are as follows:

Captain Britain and the MI-13 #6 - New story arc begins here! - 40% off (HC price: $1.79 / retail: $2.99)

Supergirl #34- Jamal Igle debuts as new series artist! - 40% off (HC price: $1.79 / retail: $2.99)

Hellboy: In The Chapel of Moloch #1 - Mike Mignola return to write and draw Hellboy in this very special one shot! - 75% off! (HC price: $0.75 / retail: $2.99)

Make sure to get these issues so you can listen to the newly named Comic Timing: Review Corner episode when it comes out in October!

I understand about sponsors, etc, but this is no different from posting a link to a sale on Amazon.com, which is also a direct competitor of InStockTrades.

Lobo wrote: I understand about sponsors, etc, but this is no different from posting a link to a sale on Amazon.com, which is also a direct competitor of InStockTrades.

Relax, Lobo. We don't have sponsors and are happy to let people know about good deals wherever they might be.

Personally, I've been using DCBS for over four years and I'm very happy with them. While I haven't used Heroes Corner myself, a number of people like you, Ian over at Comic Timing seem to be very happy with them. I think it is great that we have multiple great options for getting comics online.

FYI, about a week or so back, I compared the total for what my order is currently looking like between DCBS and Heroes Corner and the difference about 25 cents. Both companies have great deals across the board. Depending what all you are getting one of them could turn out to be a much better deal than the other. It always makes sense to know what sort of deals are available.

I'm relaxed, thanks.

I just added that comment because I'm aware of how merely mentioning HC can border on being "controversial", especially given the relationships many people have with Cameron/DCBS/IST.

Part of this controversy is no doubt due to the allegations that HC tried to "steal" customers from other online subscription services. It was suggested that the IP addresses of people claiming to be HC customers matched the IP addresses of people claiming to represent HC.

After we stopped recording our interview with the guys from HC for the Comic Timing podcast, we asked about this, and were told that they sometimes log into the HC website to check and respond to emails while using the free wi-fi at Panera Bread. They also mentioned that they've had customers come up to them (who also access forums, email, etc using the same wi-fi connection) after seeing the HC website on their laptops.

Of course, it's easier to make unfounded allegations than it is to actually research what your talking about, but why should life be so hard?

The strong allegations that were made about Heroes Corner seemed to be based on very weak and circumstancial evidence. Part of my job involves doing IP address based geolocation. The fact of the matter is that two people can come from the same IP address and be completely unrelated to each other. I felt that the slamming that Heroes Corner got on that was unwarranted.

Moving along...

Last month HC had their 1776 sale, where you received a free comic (from your order) for every $17.76 you spent. Frank Castle (from "another forum" ) told me that he asked HC if he would get 135 free comics if he bought some "limited-edition collector's trinket" (I don't remember what it was exactly) for $2400.

They told him that not only would he get 135 free comics, he'd be added to their Christmas list!

I don't believe he took them up on their offer, but it gives you an idea of the type of guys running HC.

I didn't post last month's sale, because I figured it would be disruptive to people's regular buying habits. Conversely, I felt that this month's sale would be an easy way for people to check out "the other guys" (if they're so inclined), without affecting the shipments of books they read monthly.

I used DCBS for 2 years, and if I didn't find out about HC, I'd probably still use DCBS. With that, I can't "un-know" about HC, just like I couldn't "un-know" about DCBS when I switched to buying from them insted of from my LCS.

The thing I don't get about Heroes Corner is how they can afford to offer some of the aggressive discounts without losing too much money. In other words, are they operating under a sustainable business model?

I'm in my fourth month of buying from both DCBS & HC, and I'm not really finding HC's discounting to be all that more aggressive overall than DCBS. Sure they generally have a 5% greater discount on indy books than DCBS, but they also don't seem to do as many below cost discounts (ie 75% off) on individual books as DCBS does each month. HC also seems to not discount the majority of trades and non singles as much as DCBS, and I haven't even bothered to look at the true back of Previews items such as toys, statues, cards and games. Now, the 1776 sale was a pretty aggressive deal, but I expect that such deals aren't going to be extremely common and are also part of continuing to try to attract new customers to a store that is only about a year old. And in terms of trying to attract new customers, it really was a pretty good deal that could potentially have brought in people like you and Bob who buy a very high quantity of books.

I'm tracking my purchases and savings, and after three months (I haven't done August yet), ordering all books from HC would have been cheaper twice and DCBS once. But really the only month with a significant difference between the two was last month due to the 1776 deal. Although the best thing is that I'm actually saving a few bucks a month by ordering from both. My original plan was to do a six month trial period and then pick one or the other, but now I'm thinking I'll probably be sticking with using both.

johnmayo wrote:The thing I don't get about Heroes Corner is how they can afford to offer some of the aggressive discounts without losing too much money. In other words, are they operating under a sustainable business model?

This has been my issue from the start. And while I suspect they are not making much money, I also have to acknowledge that it's no skin off Lobo, Ian and Wayne's backs either way. I do get the sense HC would honor already placed orders even if they did decide to wind the site down, so for now if it saves someone a ton of money, more power to them.

I'm sticking with DCBS b/c they've given me no reason not to.

Maybe it is just a matter of the Heroes Corner offers sounding a lot more aggressive. I recall them giving away issues of something (possibly Secret Invasion #1) free at one point.

It is the free shipping and free bags and boards that is the main thing that I have to think is costing them a decent amount of money.

But, hey, if they can afford to offer a great deal, I'm not going to complain. I just want to be sure that companies like Heroes Corner and DCBS are doing so in a financially sound way so we can continue to enjoy these discounts for a long, long time.

johnmayo wrote:The thing I don't get about Heroes Corner is how they can afford to offer some of the aggressive discounts without losing too much money. In other words, are they operating under a sustainable business model?

This was brought up during our interview (IMO it was brought up a few times with different wording, but I digress...).

They stated flat out that while they aren't inclined to reveal all of their business strategies, they aren't in business to lose money or barely break even.

They stated that if they relied solely on selling monthly comics, they would likely go out of business. I take this to mean that like many retailers, they make the majority of their profit on "high ticket" items. They also seem to use sales to get customers into what I'll call "long term buying".

For example, they used agressive discounts to get customers into Secret Invasion and Final Crisis. They currently have a deal where if you buy 2 trades from the same series, you get the current issue of that series for free.

I guess they feel that potential long-term sales (or at least good will) are worth making less profit in the short term.

Unlike an LCS (and like other online retailers), they only order what's already been paid for by customers, which is also an advantage when it comes to discounting. I have no idea how (or if) Cameron separates ordering for DCBS, IST and his brick & mortar business, but if it's combined, there's still some risk (related to B&M stock they may not sell) that HC doesn't have.

With that, it's interesting to note that despite HC's "agressive discounting", many people have found that there's not much difference in the price of their orders. For me, I appreciate their prompt response time (via email), the fact that they've set up a forum on their website so you can interact with them directly, the faster shipping via FedEx (free for orders over $75), free bags & boards, and a website that (in my experience) always seems to work when I want to look up information regarding my orders.

johnmayo wrote:Maybe it is just a matter of the Heroes Corner offers sounding a lot more aggressive. I recall them giving away issues of something (possibly Secret Invasion #1) free at one point.

I do think HC does a decent job of doing deals that sound extremely impressive, while DCBS sticks to a pretty formulaic practice of X items at 75% off every month. But how many books a month does DCBS do very high discounts (75% or 50%) on? And pretty much the entire DC and Marvel backlist is at 40%. Those things add up pretty quick.

It is the free shipping and free bags and boards that is the main thing that I have to think is costing them a decent amount of money.

I do my comparisons after including the shipping for DCBS, so that is figured into my calculations. Of course it is only $5.95 anway, as only monthly shipping is free from HC, so you aren't really talking about much there anyway. On twice monthly shipping HC is only $2.05 cheaper than DCBS and for weekly costs $2.05 more. I don't include the bags & boards though, as I'm only getting them from HC because they come free. I end up rebagging my stuff in mylar anyway, so if HC wasn't including them free, I wouldn't be getting them as they just end up being something I need to dispose off (although they do help protect the comics in shipping, which I appreciate).

But, hey, if they can afford to offer a great deal, I'm not going to complain. I just want to be sure that companies like Heroes Corner and DCBS are doing so in a financially sound way so we can continue to enjoy these discounts for a long, long time.

Exactly. The more choices available, the better it is for the industry. I'm generally happy with DCBS, but just like any other product, I see no reason I should feel I have to buy all my comics from one place when I can save money (and occasionally get different specials, as was the case with Jetta/Shi freebies) by shopping around. I don't buy all my books from one store, nor all my clothes, my groceries, my electronics, etc.; I don't see why comics should be any different.

Lobo wrote:and a website that (in my experience) always seems to work when I want to look up information regarding my orders.

You cursed them!

At this moment I'm getting an error trying to load their page and had to pull up my spreadsheets to get the differences in shipping costs for my reply to John.

Alec Burkhardt wrote: You cursed them!

Ha! If I had magical powers like that, I wouldn't waste them screwing with someone's website.

Well, not the DCBS web-site, anyway......

JLAFan wrote:Well, not the DCBS web-site, anyway......

True.