Packaging, Shipping, Refunds and Replacements - Share your Experiences!

[Daymare]

I used to sing the praises of In Stock Trades but something has changed in the past couple of months with their service (no including the relocation). Things do not ship for a week or 2 after ordering, there are no responses from customer service for inquiries and no notifcation that items are "out of stock", which is happening more and more often. The out of stock issue is more telling since I order most things on Tuesday before shipping, mostly not top 10 titles and they are immediately out of stock. This last one was the Oz Omnibus and The Korra artbook 2...sitting since Sept 2 with "not scanned and picked". Worse part is they immedialty process your payment and from my experience will not give refunds on items that may be delayed by more than a week or so...my current order, which has sat unpicked since last Tuesday will be my last one from them unless it is for something I do not care to get within release "month".
Their shipping is still top notch, a shame the rest has went so far downhill.
(This is based on my experience with the last 4 orders and my opinion, and since May their service has slowly been degrading).

I am interested in trying somewhere new that will have actual in stock items, good selection, and quick but a solid packing shipping.

[mars]

I think my streak of getting CGN orders on the first day of the delivery window or earlier is about to end. Today is the first day of said window, and the last update is that it's been dropped off for delivery (that was Friday).

[Andru]

Like many others, I have been disappointed with IST lately. The last 3 orders I placed with them were all delayed by more than a week because one of the books on order was not in stock. This last order was held up by a book they didn't have in stock & ended up not being able to order it from their distributor.

I understand they are in the process of moving so I have being giving them the benefit of the doubt.

[Whenitmatters]

CGN is definitely better than IST. One thing that probably doesn't matter to many people here, but I like, is that CGN has a presence on Amazon's Marketplace. The prices are a couple bucks higher than their site (I assume to make up for Amazon's take) and the shipping is $4 per item vs $7 flat, but it's a good way to buy stuff with Amazon credit/gift cards without having to worry about damage to the books.

In reference to CGN on Amazon marketplace i like them as well. When I look at certain books on their website it is higher than on the marketplace and the vis versa. There seems, to me, no consistency to their pricing. Have you experienced this when checking over the most competitive price?

[mars]

I only remember checking a few things, but they were all cheaper on their actual site. I don't check anymore, though. I just see if CGN offers what I want via Marketplace and if it's within $10 (including shipping) of Amazon I buy it from CGN.

[Daymare]

Do any of the other sites wait until the items ship to process your payment? It would not be so bad that they are not processing my order and not responding back to my emails but they took my payment immediately so I cannot afford to purchase them again. I have lost all faith in them after reading through this site. This really is a dramatic change in their service...especially considering there is no way to contact them directly.

edit/update: 8 days later finally go a response to my first email saying "sorry, we are out of stock. Once we get more from our distributor your order will ship..." and they will not let me cancel my order.
Never again.

[mars]

That is awful. I'd contact my credit card company/bank and see what they can do.

My IST order placed on the fourth, shipped on the ninth and got here today. I'm probably done with them either way, because the negative stories seem to be piling up. I'd been giving them the benefit of the doubt because of the move, but your issue is clearly just them being awful.

[Whenitmatters]

As you guys already know I have made a lot of orders using their service. I know they were moving to a new warehouse, but i gave them the benefit of the doubt in August. I wanted to take advantage of thier sale and ordered about $300 dollars worth of items. Now I received a partial shipment of 7 out of the 10 items i purchased. I was still missing fear agent vol 2 hellboy vol 1 and vol 2. I have made several orders since then. Those orders arrived within the next week. However i email them at least once a week to find out the status of my missing items. The one time that I got a response from them I was told they are still waiting for this item to get back in stock. Now i have seen several other posters buy dark horse library editions and receive them. They were late but you guys still got your orders. Me on the other hand have not.

I'm so frustrated with the customer service not addressing the issue that I emailed them today to issue me a partial refund for my missing items. I don't understand how they are refusing to respond to a simple inquiry. I have no problem waiting for an item because I have waited before. But not answering emails after they messed up another order with the annihilation HC being out of stock. They quickly responded to that particular issue replacing this book with others but still ignored my inquiry about an order I placed over a month ago.

I also did a refund inquiry on paypal so hopefully this will get their full attention. Maybe I will start using CGN for the majority of my orders until IST gets their stuff in order.

[Ramsay Snow]

I used to sing the praises of In Stock Trades but something has changed in the past couple of months with their service (no including the relocation). Things do not ship for a week or 2 after ordering, there are no responses from customer service for inquiries and no notifcation that items are "out of stock", which is happening more and more often. The out of stock issue is more telling since I order most things on Tuesday before shipping, mostly not top 10 titles and they are immediately out of stock. This last one was the Oz Omnibus and The Korra artbook 2...sitting since Sept 2 with "not scanned and picked". Worse part is they immedialty process your payment and from my experience will not give refunds on items that may be delayed by more than a week or so...my current order, which has sat unpicked since last Tuesday will be my last one from them unless it is for something I do not care to get within release "month".
Their shipping is still top notch, a shame the rest has went so far downhill.
(This is based on my experience with the last 4 orders and my opinion, and since May their service has slowly been degrading).

I am interested in trying somewhere new that will have actual in stock items, good selection, and quick but a solid packing shipping.

It might depend on what you're ordering, but I've only had a delayed order from IST once (Toward the end of June)....Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol 1 was out of stock, so my order was delayed by 3 weeks. They ended up sending the rest of the order at that 3-week mark via FedEx, and sent the Invincible book a couple weeks later, if I recall correctly (via USPS).

Other than that, since May, I've purchased 5 orders from them, and that was the only abnormal delay I had.

I recently made another order a couple days ago......In that order, I included Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol 2. All the books have been picked up & scanned except for the Invincible book, which is likely out of stock. I'm assuming I'll have a similar delay like I had in late June.

I don't really care about the delays. With their prices, and generally good service, I'm content. It could be slightly annoying if an order is delayed, but I'm not going to die or anything. Delayed orders are always a possibility with internet/mail orders......I've been buying from IST for a couple years, and will continue to do so.

[ohmshalone]

As you guys already know I have made a lot of orders using their service. I know they were moving to a new warehouse, but i gave them the benefit of the doubt in August. I wanted to take advantage of thier sale and ordered about $300 dollars worth of items. Now I received a partial shipment of 7 out of the 10 items i purchased. I was still missing fear agent vol 2 hellboy vol 1 and vol 2. I have made several orders since then. Those orders arrived within the next week. However i email them at least once a week to find out the status of my missing items. The one time that I got a response from them I was told they are still waiting for this item to get back in stock. Now i have seen several other posters buy dark horse library editions and receive them. They were late but you guys still got your orders. Me on the other hand have not.

I'm so frustrated with the customer service not addressing the issue that I emailed them today to issue me a partial refund for my missing items. I don't understand how they are refusing to respond to a simple inquiry. I have no problem waiting for an item because I have waited before. But not answering emails after they messed up another order with the annihilation HC being out of stock. They quickly responded to that particular issue replacing this book with others but still ignored my inquiry about an order I placed over a month ago.

I also did a refund inquiry on paypal so hopefully this will get their full attention. Maybe I will start using CGN for the majority of my orders until IST gets their stuff in order.

This is bad. IST is the only good all-round option for intl buyers as far as I know. Not getting what you ordered can be excused, but not answering your emails is just unprofessional. I hope the company Ive liked so much for the past few months doesn't let me down like this. If they stop being an option, it would be a real shame and disappointment for me.

[Ivan P91]

This is bad. IST is the only good all-round option for intl buyers as far as I know. Not getting what you ordered can be excused, but not answering your emails is just unprofessional. I hope the company Ive liked so much for the past few months doesn't let me down like this. If they stop being an option, it would be a real shame and disappointment for me.

I personally can't praise My Comic Shop enough for international customers. I've been waiting three and a half weeks so far for my IST shipment to arrive (to Australia), and customer service wants me to wait until at least 4 weeks before contacting them again. Meanwhile MCS consistently delivers to me within about a fortnight (most I've ever waited is three weeks). Once you factor in IST's international shipping costs, MCS works out being around the same price (generally only a dollar or two difference in all of my comparisons).

As I have documented before, I've had a couple of damaged items arrive from MCS but they were quick to offer me a credit to go towards my next purchase.

[ohmshalone]

I personally can't praise My Comic Shop enough for international customers. I've been waiting three and a half weeks so far for my IST shipment to arrive (to Australia), and customer service wants me to wait until at least 4 weeks before contacting them again. Meanwhile MCS consistently delivers to me within about a fortnight (most I've ever waited is three weeks). Once you factor in IST's international shipping costs, MCS works out being around the same price (generally only a dollar or two difference in all of my comparisons).

As I have documented before, I've had a couple of damaged items arrive from MCS but they were quick to offer me a credit to go towards my next purchase.

Thanks for the suggestion. At least now I know that there's a real alternative, although since I haven't had a problem with IST yet, I'd like to stay with them until there's a reason to shift. Only seems fair...

[Whenitmatters]

After emailing back and forth with IST last night through thier DCBS service email account, my items have finally shipped. Here is the explanation

We are very sorry for the problem. Our completed warehouse move and Diamond’s ongoing computer issue delayed the items from your order. We have them in stock now, though, and I can ship them today if that is okay with you. I’ll be here until 10 PM.

And the resoulution

Hi,

Your items have shipped with a free upgrade to Fedex shipping. Your tracking number should come from Fedex soon and is available in your account now (although it may not work right away).

We appreciate your feedback. All of our items are in stock unless we have temporarily oversold (meaning that we have reorders with Diamond) or we have an inventory error. Reorders are only supposed to take a couple of days but the warehouse move and Diamond’s computer issue complicated that. We moved InStockTrades 605 miles closer to Diamond to reduce wait times for items that had to be reordered. We’re now only 11 miles away. That should help with customer service which was the whole idea for the move.

We apologize for the problem. If you want to wait until your have the books to remove the Paypal dispute, that is fine (although we might be required to respond before that with a tracking number).

Thank you for your business! We appreciate it!

Thanks,
Cameron

But like i mention before i think i will slow down on my IST orders for a while, until they get their stuff in order.

[MartinNL]

Thanks for the suggestion. At least now I know that there's a real alternative, although since I haven't had a problem with IST yet, I'd like to stay with them until there's a reason to shift. Only seems fair...

I also have good experiences with TFAW. Their shipping charges are very reasonable and comparable to MCS. Packaging was really good too on my orders, so books have always arrived new/undamaged. They don't offer huge discounts on new items like IST does, but like with MCS you can compensate most of that with much lower shipping charges.

[Daymare]

IST update.
I finally received my order today today. They responded to my first email last Wednesday morning and said one of my items was out of stock and no estimated date of delivery of a restock for the order but they would ship it as soon as it was available. One hour later the whole order had been picked and scanned...then it finally left their warehouse on Friday. As a used the FedEx upgrade I got it today. I won't use them again based on this experience. They also sent the itmes in only a box with shipping peanuts, not the secure padding they had used in the past. The books were not damaged but the box itself looked like it had been through the ringer.