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Moving this thread (at least my content) to it's new home on ComicBookPage:

This is for folks to talk about places on-line where you have gone to get back issues! Be they from a few months ago, a few years ago, or several decades!

Rules are pretty much the same, let us know about what your experience has been:

ONLINE VENDOR: Name
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: Tell us of your experience history with this site.
Website: URLs if you've got 'em

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING Accurate, innaccurate?
GENERAL PRICING: Cheap, reasonable, high?
SELECTION: How much do they have and of what?
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF Cool deals? Tell us about them.
DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Yes or No
IF YES, HOW DO I SIGN UP? let us know if you know

SHIPPING: what do you have to say about their shipping (prices & practices)

APPRAISAL: X out of 5 stars.

ONLINE VENDOR: MileHighComics
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: I used them for a number of years (probably made in total 20-30 purchases from them), but I stopped about a year ago.
Website: http://www.milehighcomics.com/

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING Overgraded. They have their own "home brewed" grading system that allows a comic they call VG to have a 1/2" rip on the cover. To be fair, they have these standards posted on their web-site. Not obvious, but they are there. They have the following for VG: Several minor tears, or one major tear are allowed. I would not recommend buying any book from MileHigh graded less than VF
GENERAL PRICING: They typically have "Mile High" prices. They price books at double to 5x the Overstreet guide. They have their explanation for this also, saying that they price according to demand and their experience, and who is to say they are wrong. Lots of people buy from them. Just not me. Not any more.
SELECTION: Probably the best selection of any on-line store. Rozanski spends a LOT of time traveling the country buying collections up for next to nothing to add to his inventory. Too bad it is mostly over-graded & over-priced.
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF They run 30-50% off sales ALL THE TIME. These are announced via their e-mail newsletter. Even applying their sale prices, I can find most every book I am looking for somewhere else at a lower price (and in better condition, if advertised in the same grade).
DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Yes.
IF YES, HOW DO I SIGN UP? On the web site: http://www.milehighcomics.com/specials/index.html
Be warned, if you get the newsletter you will hear more about Chuck Rozanski's personal ailments & him working on his farm growing vegetables than you are likely to hear about comics, but there is a certain interesting nature to these diatribes he sends out. Part of his charm, and you get to feel you know him. perhaps this is why people continue to buy from him even though they can get significantly better deals elsewhere.

SHIPPING: Free Shipping on orders $40 & up. Another interesting this is they actually charge MORE for small orders. They charge $6.50 for orders up to $10, and then $4.50 on orders $10->$40. I once had a coupon drop me below $10, the shipping charge went up, and my cost was MORE with the coupon than without!!! A real "edge" case, but ridiculous that it can happen.

APPRAISAL: 2 out of 5 stars.
I am giving them 2 ONLY because they have a truly staggering assortment of books, and if you MUST have a book, chances are you can find it at MileHigh, just be prepared to pay through the nose for it.

ONLINE VENDOR: MyComicShop.com / LoneStar Comics
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: For about a year. I have placed about 25 orders in the past year though, I LOVE these guys.
Website: http://www.mycomicshop.com

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING Accurate but only on lower grades & older books. They grade very meticulously to Overstreet guidelines.
Books from the last 10-15 years they have graded as NM are not actually NM, 50%+ of the time they have bumped corners, spine stress, cover scuffs. This is mostly because they don't bag/board most of these and they get dinged up just via handling/storage.
GENERAL PRICING: They price to Overstreet standards. When they are overstocked on an item, they drop the price accordingly. I recently bought a LOT of comics (silver age stuff, 60s Marvel & DC) for 25-30% of Overstreet guide prices. I have been ecstatic about the quality of these books. For more details, go check out http://www.comicbookpage.com/forum/view ... 5c7ddb5740

SELECTION: They have a tremendous depth of selection. New stuff, old (bronze/silver) stuff, indy stuff. If they do not have it, add it to your Want List and you'll get an e-mail when it comes into stock.
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF They run 5%/10% off sales every week. 10% off newer books (1981 to present) and 5% off older stuff. These are announced via their e-mail newsletter.
DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Yes.
IF YES, HOW DO I SIGN UP? On the web site: http://www.mycomicshop.com/preferredcustomer

SHIPPING: Free shipping on orders $50 & up, I generally wait to order until I have $50 of stuff, but folks who know me know that that does not take very much

APPRAISAL: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I am giving them 4.5 because they process & ship orders VERY slow. It can take up to a week from the time you place an order to when it leaves their warehouse. I suspect this time varies depending on volume of orders, but the fastest turnaround I have ever personally seen is 3 days. I have heard other people say they got an order shipped the next day, I have never seen that.
One other thing that knocks them down a bit is the fact that they will frequently ship comics from the 1980s forward without bags/boards. Sure, you can BUY bags/boards, but most places will have back issues bagged/boarded.

ONLINE VENDOR: Newkadia.com
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: off & on for a couple of years. Do not buy from them very often do to issues with grading (see below)
Website: newkadia.com

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING Hit or miss. In lower grades (VG & F) I generally agree with their grading about 50% of the time. In their defense, they have a 100% satisfaction policy and have cheerfully taken my returns and credited me every time I have had a problem, but it's just too much of a hassle for me to return stuff that frequently, so I rarely buy from them any more.
Another thing that they do that bugs me is use +/- grading A LOT, and they price accordingly. In my opinion, their grading is not accurate or reliable enough to sustain them doing all the +/- grading.
Newer stuff and things graded VF/NM seem to be OK. Their grading mostly falls down in the VG/F grades (and the various +/- they attach to those)
GENERAL PRICING: They price to Overstreet standards. They drop prices on books depending on how long they have been sitting around in their stock, but since they do a lot of +/- grading, books do not (at least to me) ever appear to be that fabulous of a deal.
SELECTION: Their selection is nowhere near as good as MileHigh or MyComicShop. They tend to have more newer/mainstream stuff. I have struck out looking for older/more obscure stuff here a lot.
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF They run sales all the time. The % is based on how much you spend, the more you spend, the bigger the discount. They also offer a new customer discount.
DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Yes.
IF YES, HOW DO I SIGN UP? There is a place to enter your e-mail address at the bottom of their main page.

SHIPPING: They offer a tremendous deal on shipping. Free shipping starts at a purchase of only $5.95 (they say free shipping on ALL orders, but in the past, I had to order $5.95, but heck, that is a very small order, I'm not complaining).


APPRAISAL: 3 out of 5 stars.
I give them 3 because of the issues I have with grading. Their free shipping makes them very attractive though, and if you want only a couple of newer mainstream books, they may be your best bet.

ONLINE VENDOR: Atomic Avenue
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: I have bought from them a couple of times. Not one of my favorite places to buy.
Website: http://www.atomicavenue.com

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING ACCURATE?since they are just an avenue for "regular" people to sell, grading is going to vary greatly depending on who you buy from (like on eBay). Unlike eBay, these do not tend to have actual scans of the books you are buying, not a plus in my opinion.
GENERAL PRICING: I have heard some people rave about this site, but for the older stuff I am in the market for, I am just not seeing it. I have never found good prices on the older (silver age) stuff I'm in the market for. Since it's tied into ComicBase, it seems people expect prices close to those declared the "fair market value" by Comic Base (I have not yet seen any prices significantly lower than guide value, but often see books offered way ABOVE guide). I can often get these same books for 50% of guide or so over on eBay (not all the time, but eventually with patience when an auction does not go off for full value). Issue w/Atomic Avenue is that it's not an auction, just a price. You either pay it or you don't.
SELECTION: They have about as good a selection on the older stuff as anyone (which is basically hit-or-miss).
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF None that I am aware of.
DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Not that I am aware of.

SHIPPING: Varies by seller. Some sellers offer "free shipping". When I have gone in to buy from them, I find that the free shipping only applies to a minimum order like $50. And that particular person selling has nowhere near $50 of stuff I would want to buy. It's easy to drop $50 at MyComicShop, not so easy with some specific guy on AA.

APPRAISAL:2 out of 5 stars.
Very mediocre site. Not easy to browse and the sellers tend to over-value their books.
YMMV. People in the market for different stuff from me may absolutely LOVE this site.

There's my initial set of thoughts (I'll have to enter one on eBay some time when I'm less tired).

This is by no means the "definitive word" on any of this, just my experiences, but I buy a LOT of stuff on-line.

I'd love to hear supporting info, or alternate points of view based on other folks experiences/buying patterns.

MileHighComics

Overall, I agree with everything Bob said about Mile High Comics. They have a great selection but the prices are simply more than I am willing to pay. Before buying anything from Mile High Comics I strongly recommend checking places like MyComicShop and seeing if they have the item and what they are charging for it. I used to shop at Mile High occassionally but have basically switched over to MyComicShop as my main online back issue dealer.

The main turn off for me at Mile High Comics beyond the pricing is the website. The look and feel of it is archaic and is in dire need of being replaced with something from this century.



MyComicShop.com [WebWiz20]

As I stated above, this is my default online back issue dealer. One of the reasons I've spent as much as I have at MyComicShop.com (which is nothing compared to people like Bob and Wood) is that it is so easy to find things on the website. The search function is great and the browsing experience is enjoyable. The selection is impressive and the prices are great.

I have to agree with Bob and the shipping process is not a strong point for MyComicShop.com.


Newkadia.com

I haven't used this one yet.


Torpedo Comics

I've placed one order with them and was happy with the results. Everything I got was from the Monolith ($0.99) section. I have to say that it is this Monolith section that is the strength of Torpedo Comics. They have a huge selection of inexpensive comics. As Bob mentinoed, at one point we found nearly all of the 130 or so issue original run of Alpha Flight in the Monolith section. (But I also already had those issues so I didn't need to buy another copy of them, even at $0.99 a piece.)

The major shortcoming of Torpedo Comics is the search function and browsing experience. They need to take a look at MyComicShop and go for something along those lines. While the website isn't as archaic as Mile High Comics, it cumbersome enough that I'm willing to pay a little more at MyComicShop just for the ease in finding what I'm looking for.

That having been said, if you have the time to page through the Monolith section I recommend doing so as you are likely to find a number of things you might be interested in for $0.99 a piece.

This dealer has the potential of becoming a major player in the online back issue market once they fully populate their database with everything they have and improve the functionality of the website.


Atomic Avenue

I haven't used this one yet.

I'll chime in...

Mile High Comics

I've ranted on this forum and others about Mile High and how the pricing mystifies me. It takes a lot for me to pass up FREE, but I was so frustrated looking for something to buy from Mile High, I didn't even use my $20 when it was available. Unless I'm looking to complete a huge run and Mile High is the only place I can find the issues in question, I won't order from them.

MyComicShop.com

As with John and Bob, this is my go-to place. They don't have an inventory as large as Mile High, but it's still enormous and I've rarely been unable to find books on the site. I tend to buy in the VF grade, even for silver age stuff, and they have a great selection of higher grade books (better than Mile High). Another really important issue for me is how accurate they grade. I've gotten books from them at a "Fine" grade and thought they could've easily been called VF. They tend to, if anything, UNDER grade in many cases.

Torpedo Comics

I have high hopes for this site eventually, but they should've probably gotten more of their inventory databased before launching the site. Based on interviews and advertising, Torpedo is supposed to have millions of comics available; but a quick search of the site tells you that a mere fraction is currently available for sale.

I have placed two orders at Torpedo, both limited to their $0.99 (Monolith) selection and have been quite pleased. Timely shipping, good communication, and well packaged. I would recommend checking out Torpedo for modern age stuff first. For example, I bought a bunch of CrossGen stuff recently and Torpedo had about half of what I was looking for at NM (the issues look to be never read IMHO) for $0.99 a piece. That's even cheaper than MyComicShop.

Atomic Avenue

This is much more like eBay in that Atomic Avenue isn't selling books, they are providing a marketplace for OTHERS to sell their books. I know many people have used AA and had a positive experience, but I haven't ordered from them yet for two very important reasons.

1) As a marketplace, they have no legal role to play in any dispute. Unlike eBay where the threat of negative feedback is omnipresent, I worry that you would have very little recourse to get a refund on a book that was unsatisfactory.

2) Grading. The way Atomic Avenue works is people that use the Comicbase software program can choose to upload their collection to the site for sale. While that's great in theory, it DEFAULTS to VF/NM pricing. So a HUGE chunk of the people listing their inventory haven't bothered assigning a grade and thus, it shows up as VF/NM. On three occasions, I've reached out to a seller to inquire about a book that was listed as VF/NM and, in each case, the actual grade was much much lower.

Since there hasn't been much feeback for Newkadia, I'll review them now and other stores later:

ONLINE VENDOR: Newkadia.com
HOW LONG HAVE YOU USED THE SERVICE?: Since 2004
Website: newkadia.com

Back Issue Comic Sales:
WOULD YOU CALL THE GRADING Accurate, innaccurate? - I would say they are fairly accurate, but I have had some issues in the past which Jim promptly resolved. That being said, I tend to go for more "reading grade" copies of books so it's not a huge issue for me.

GENERAL PRICING: Cheap, reasonable, high? - I find their pricing to be reasonable, but sometimes a newer book is a bit on the high end.

SELECTION: How much do they have and of what? - A good selection, but not as big as Mile High or Lone Star. I have about a 75% hit rate for finding books.

SPECIAL DISCOUNTS YOU'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF Cool deals? Tell us about them. - Monthly sales based on volume ordered.

DOES THE SITE OFFER SPECIAL DISCOUNTS VIA EMAIL LIST?: Yes
IF YES, HOW DO I SIGN UP? let us know if you know - it's on the site

SHIPPING: what do you have to say about their shipping (prices & practices) - Free shipping is a huge positive and they usually ship same day or the next day. Since free shipping is media mail, however, sometimes it takes a long time to get books but that isn't Newkadia's fault. I haven't paid for their shipping, so I can't comment on that end.

APPRAISAL: 4 stars. Jim runs a good business and he has excellent customer service. There are some website issues and some grading issues, but I won't knock their rating too bad for these as they are always resolved promptly and graciously.

I guess I still had a lingering item on my "Want List" at MileHigh. I just got a notice that FF #112 was available:

Marvel FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #112 Very Good 1 $193.00 In Stock

$193 in VG!!!!!!!

Guide for this is $24 in VG!!!!!! (and $82 in VF, I would add).

I picked this book up for about $20 a few months back.

And for all you know, this "VG" has a rip on the cover!

Screw you, MileHigh, and the RIDICULOUS PRICES you rode in on!!!!

BobBretall wrote:I guess I still had a lingering item on my "Want List" at MileHigh. I just got a notice that FF #112 was available:

Marvel FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #112 Very Good 1 $193.00 In Stock

$193 in VG!!!!!!!

Guide for this is $24 in VG!!!!!! (and $82 in VF, I would add).

I picked this book up for about $20 a few months back.

And for all you know, this "VG" has a rip on the cover!

Screw you, MileHigh, and the RIDICULOUS PRICES you rode in on!!!!

Wow, I better sell my copy of it to Chuck right now! My copy is probably G!

Darth Kramer wrote: Wow, I better sell my copy of it to Chuck right now! My copy is probably G!

While Chuck would no doubt sell a copy in G for $100, I suspect his buy price for one is in the $3 -> $5 range (in line with the "real" guide value).

BobBretall wrote:

Darth Kramer wrote: Wow, I better sell my copy of it to Chuck right now! My copy is probably G!

While Chuck would no doubt sell a copy in G for $100, I suspect his buy price for one is in the $3 -> $5 range (in line with the "real" guide value).

Nothing like their 300% profit margin, eh?

Here's what I don't get about Chuck...he was at NYCC and, according to his latest email, went on a buying spree while there. Now, having spent a good deal of time shopping at NYCC, I can say that prices weren't exactly bargain basement. It was, after all, expensive to have a booth there and it is the most expensive city in America. Now I realize Chuck buys in bulk and ergo gets much better pricing than the public, but STILL, I wonder how much of a discount to guide he's buying.

Given his insane pricing, I'm beginning to think he's willing to pay closer to guide for stuff than we realize. Dunno, but it's a real mystery to me.

Wood wrote:Here's what I don't get about Chuck...he was at NYCC and, according to his latest email, went on a buying spree while there. Now, having spent a good deal of time shopping at NYCC, I can say that prices weren't exactly bargain basement. It was, after all, expensive to have a booth there and it is the most expensive city in America. Now I realize Chuck buys in bulk and ergo gets much better pricing than the public, but STILL, I wonder how much of a discount to guide he's buying.

Given his insane pricing, I'm beginning to think he's willing to pay closer to guide for stuff than we realize. Dunno, but it's a real mystery to me.

I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that he generally buys comics by the pound or by the box.

Given the prices Mile High charges, they have to be making some serious profit. Remember, this is the guy that brought a million or two in cash a few years back to San Diego just to make the point yhat you can make money selling back issues.