DCBS or other discounting sites

[gimpboy76]

I feel kind of bad leaving my LCS but soon I will have student loans to pay off and I'm thinking of either trade waiting (which I really don't want to do) or starting to use DCBS (or some other site) what have your experiences been?

[SXVA]

I feel kind of bad leaving my LCS but soon I will have student loans to pay off and I'm thinking of either trade waiting (which I really don't want to do) or starting to use DCBS (or some other site) what have your experiences been?

I use DCBS each month, mainly because they offer the option to choose a good mylar bag and board for .50 cents on the Comic, that's essential to me... i haven't found any other places that allow for that option. Comics look so good in them, it's so clear and sturdy. [and i can double up Comics in them if i choose to, one in the front and one in the back]

They also allow you a fair amount of time to edit your order, if you decide you don't want something or do want something after the fact.

The main issue i have with them is that i find their shipping to be complicated, i usually choose monthly shipping now due to price as it ends up being a one time charge that way but what happens is they don't ship titles released at the end of the month with your order if you choose monthly shipping, it's probably better with weekly/bi-monthly but i think you have to pay more shipping costs, and so... you have to wait until you pay for the next shipping for that to be shipped, and sometimes they won't ship stuff and don't tell you why, i don't know... i've had good experiences with them but things have been complicated at times. They offer good prices with some major 50% discounts on some big titles, and the option for the solid bag and board. Their packaging has always been good for me as well.

I also use Midtown Comics and Things from Another World but they don't offer the good bag/board, and prices are usually slightly higher for me.

If anyone knows of a comparable service that offers the same bag/board options as DCBS i'd be interesting to know.

I suppose i could buy the mylar bag and board option separate and then i could buy the Comics anywhere but that seems like a lot of effort when it's so easy to just get them with my Comic

[Legion564]

I use DCBS also and it's amazing. I still go to my lcs to see what's new or some sales they might have. But be warned after I switched to DCBS my pull list grew by a lot.

[gimpboy76]

The main issue i have with them is that i find their shipping to be complicated, i usually choose monthly shipping now due to price as it ends up being a one time charge that way but what happens is they don't ship titles released at the end of the month with your order if you choose monthly shipping, it's probably better with weekly/bi-monthly but i think you have to pay more shipping costs, and so... you have to wait until you pay for the next shipping for that to be shipped, and sometimes they won't ship stuff and don't tell you why, i don't know... i've had good experiences with them but things have been complicated at times. They offer good prices with some major 50% discounts on some big titles, and the option for the solid bag and board. Their packaging has always been good for me as well.

What do you mean by this? Like you never get it?

[MikeMC005]

I just switched from my LCS to midtown comics previews for the same reason as you and I find it to be great. I get all my books at the same time at the end of the month and they are all shipped with a bag and board. And the ordering is really easy and really easy to keep track of. Also if you want to order other things as well off your previews list you can just say that you want them shipped at the same time as your previews or pull list and it saves you a ton of money on shipping. I save 40% every month by switching my car insurance to.... wait thats not right, but I really do save a ton of money, right around 40% less than what I was spending. The best part is the free bag and board and fast shipping and great customer service.

[daningotham]

I've been using DCBS for 2 years and have never had any problem with them. I love the fact that I can edit my order for about a month after I place it. I can pick which style of bags and boards I get. The shipping schedule was confusing at first, but then I figured out that my comics got ready to ship on the 4th Wednesday of the month. So if there were 5 Wednesdays the 5th Wednesdays comics would be included in the next months shipment. I like it mainly because I change my mind a lot as far as which titles I want to add/drop. I think so much so that my LCS was starting to get irritated with me. I can add/drop stuff as much as I want on the DCBS website and nobody cares. Plus it's SO much cheaper than going to an LCS. Everything is 40%-50% off and you don't pay sales tax. There is a flat $6.95 shipping charge but with as many comics as I order it is still way cheaper than paying full price plus sales tax at an LCS. Yeah, it would be nice to be able to support the LCS, but I have my own bills I have to pay too, and need to save money where I can.

If I forget to order something or change my mind, as you have to place your order 2 months in advance on the DCBS site, then I order any single issues I need from the Midtown comics site.

[gimpboy76]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll use the April DC event (Blood Moon?) to make the transition since I'm not sure how interested I am in that at this point and it will be a good stopping point for my LCS. I think I'll still use the LCS for the occasional single issues when trying out a new series and get everything else through DCBS.

[GlennSimpson]

I use DCBS each month, mainly because they offer the option to choose a good mylar bag and board for .50 cents on the Comic, that's essential to me... i haven't found any other places that allow for that option. Comics look so good in them, it's so clear and sturdy. [and i can double up Comics in them if i choose to, one in the front and one in the back]

They also allow you a fair amount of time to edit your order, if you decide you don't want something or do want something after the fact.

The main issue i have with them is that i find their shipping to be complicated, i usually choose monthly shipping now due to price as it ends up being a one time charge that way but what happens is they don't ship titles released at the end of the month with your order if you choose monthly shipping, it's probably better with weekly/bi-monthly but i think you have to pay more shipping costs, and so... you have to wait until you pay for the next shipping for that to be shipped, and sometimes they won't ship stuff and don't tell you why, i don't know... i've had good experiences with them but things have been complicated at times. They offer good prices with some major 50% discounts on some big titles, and the option for the solid bag and board. Their packaging has always been good for me as well.

I also use Midtown Comics and Things from Another World but they don't offer the good bag/board, and prices are usually slightly higher for me.

If anyone knows of a comparable service that offers the same bag/board options as DCBS i'd be interesting to know.

I suppose i could buy the mylar bag and board option separate and then i could buy the Comics anywhere but that seems like a lot of effort when it's so easy to just get them with my Comic

What do you mean by this? Like you never get it?

Yeah, I'm not sure what he means either. I use DCBS and they have never just not sent me something.

But because of his comments about the shipping, I *think* he is very concerned about the weeks particular comics come out vs. when he gets them. So for example, if DCBS got shorted on a book that came out the week his order was intended to ship and they had to wait till the next month to send it to him, he might notice.

I get once-a-month shipping and I don't really worry about which weeks I am supposed to get - each month I get all of the books that came in to DCBS since my last shipment. I mean, if they SKIPPED an issue I would notice, but if I don't get something relative to the week it was supposed to come out, I just assume it got delayed and it will come in later.

Really, I think the only drawback to the discount sites is the need to pre-order and buy books without having ever had a chance to see them or flip through them. If you're the sort of person (like me) who can tell if you'd like something from the Previews and stuff like that, then it's great.

[SXVA]

Yeah, i mean in reference to delays... they don't indicate something's been delayed it simply doesn't ship and that can cause confusion.

But you can also see like in this example, in one of my orders for February... how Morning Glories never shipped and i don't know why.

A complete red circle means it shipped.
http://i.imgur.com/KyRYfaf.png

[sax]

Anybody from outside the US use them ?
Just wondering what overseas shipping would cost to Europe ?

[GlennSimpson]

Yeah, i mean in reference to delays... they don't indicate something's been delayed it simply doesn't ship and that can cause confusion.

But you can also see like in this example, in one of my orders for February... how Morning Glories never shipped and i don't know why.

A complete red circle means it shipped.
http://i.imgur.com/KyRYfaf.png

Right. Generally in that situation, I assume that either the book was delayed by the publisher, or there was some delay getting the book from the distributor. These things happen so often I imagine it would be a tremendous amount of work to tell people proactively.

[panguar]

Right. Generally in that situation, I assume that either the book was delayed by the publisher, or there was some delay getting the book from the distributor. These things happen so often I imagine it would be a tremendous amount of work to tell people proactively.

I can see his confusion though, because the half red circle means the issue was pulled and waiting for next shipment. It should remain totally empty until they receive product.

[GlennSimpson]

I can see his confusion though, because the half red circle means the issue was pulled and waiting for next shipment. It should remain totally empty until they receive product.

Well, it depends on when he took the screenshot. What looks to me happened is everything except that one book came in, so all of that stuff got shipped, then that one issue came in, then the screenshot was taken, indicating that that one particular book has NOW come in and is waiting for the next shipment to go out.

[Anodyne]

I use DCBS each month, mainly because they offer the option to choose a good mylar bag and board for .50 cents on the Comic, that's essential to me... i haven't found any other places that allow for that option. Comics look so good in them, it's so clear and sturdy. [and i can double up Comics in them if i choose to, one in the front and one in the back]

They also allow you a fair amount of time to edit your order, if you decide you don't want something or do want something after the fact.

The main issue i have with them is that i find their shipping to be complicated, i usually choose monthly shipping now due to price as it ends up being a one time charge that way but what happens is they don't ship titles released at the end of the month with your order if you choose monthly shipping.

DCBS offered me a choice of which week I wanted my monthly shipment sent; I assume they did the same for you. If you chose the first, second or third week, that would explain why you don't get the fourth-week titles; they'll come in the next shipment.

I can see his confusion though, because the half red circle means the issue was pulled and waiting for next shipment. It should remain totally empty until they receive product.

I don't worry about that; I simply assume the half-red items will come in the next shipment.

If an item I expected is missing from my shipment, I check to see if I forgot to order it; then I check my account's Unshipped Items list; If it's not there, I email customer.service@dcbs.com[/email] and ask for it. I always get a courteous, and reasonably prompt, reply.

[SXVA]

Well, it depends on when he took the screenshot. What looks to me happened is everything except that one book came in, so all of that stuff got shipped, then that one issue came in, then the screenshot was taken, indicating that that one particular book has NOW come in and is waiting for the next shipment to go out.

I just took the screenshot yesterday about 5min before i made that post, and that was a February order. It will be shipped with my next order apparently, but it was a long time before i knew what was going on seeing as that order was months ago.

What i meant was, there's no real information for me to know what the status is, or... what went wrong, if it will eventually be shipped, or what's going on within my account order page. [until it's next shipped]

So... that was sort of the point i was making, things can be confusing without being informed at certain times on reasons, status, etc.

They do usually tell you if something's been cancelled, they even asked and allowed me to replace a variant cover that was cancelled with the regular cover which was nice.