I'm officially finished with COMC.
I was already running out of blog post ideas at the start of the year, and so I'd planned to spread out my pre- and post-Black Friday purchases over a handful of blogs in February and March.
That obviously did not happen.
My last COMC order was requested on January 1st. The expected shipping date was January 30th. My last blog post was right in the middle.
The shipping date kept getting pushed back. I'd get closer to it and it would somehow get farther away. The amount of orders ahead of mine would never budge. 125,000 one day, 124,350 the next. The goalposts were moving. The cards were not coming.
While I waited, I filled in the rest of my set and team PC needs through Sportlots. Also my friend in California offered to sell things for me on his eBay store. I shipped a big box of unwanted cards to him, he sold them, he bought stuff with my money. That helped me finish even more sets.
Three Sportlots boxes have arrived in the time it took COMC to ship one order. After their worthless customer service department provided no explanation for the 3-month delay (and a measly $5 shipping coupon off my next order) I decided I was done with that site, for good. I've wasted too much time and money there for too long.
Not only that, there's always a couple cards in each order with significant damage that no one at COMC seems to notice. Three creases across the front of a card isn't enough for a condition note? Really?
I'm not using that stupid coupon because I'm not ordering from them again. My set projects are nearly complete anyhow. I've got less than ten cards left on my wantlist, and fewer than 30 pockets left to fill in my card albums.
There's a fairly big card show here in two weeks. I'm going to bring all the cash I've earned from sales, plus a little more. I'm going to look for my last few set fillers, a couple nice vintage singles, and some quarter/dollar box finds for my friend to flip. That's it.
I'm not interested in new cards. I'm barely interested in old cards. They're just puzzle pieces to me, and once the pieces are all in place I will admire the completed picture. And I'll move on to something else...
Football is the only sport I truly enjoy anymore anyhow. I haven't actively cared about baseball since the pandemic. The hockey season has been a disaster. I've been so terrible at choosing players to support, collect, and cheer for that I'm afraid to sink any more money into any player.
So, now that this order has finally arrived, I'll send away for one more Sportlots box. Then I'll go to one last card show. Then I'll finish my set building projects.
And
then
I'm
done.
The shipping date for my last COMC order has been pushed back *three times* - currently set for April 14th (original date was late-February). I understand things are probably busy over there, but I just don't like making deadlines that they obviously can't meet and then not really doing much to offset it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'd be able to fully quit COMC - I'm always finding so many damn cards I NEED! - but I've scaled it back a bit lately. Sportlots has seen a whole lot more business from me over the past few months.
I've never ordered from COMC and they are 45 minutes from me. I've never ordered from Sportlots and probably should check it out.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm sorry that the hobby has lost it's flair for you. I went through a period when card collecting was off my radar. Hopefully, after taking a break, you'll pick it back up again.
My COMC shipment was delayed too and I told myself I was going to take a break from them. They offered up $5 credit towards my next shipment and I ended up finding a card on their site that I wanted. So I added some money and found another card... then another one. Pretty soon I had purchased another stack from them. Just requested that shipment and supposedly it'll arrive next month. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteHope you return to the hobby soon. I've taken several breaks over my hobby timeline... but I always come back.
By the way... I FINALLY opened up your care package and saw that jersey you sent me. My plan is to include it in my NFL Draft post later in the month. Thanks in advance though. #muchappreciated #sorryforthedelay
I've got an order pending from COMC too. It's due to arrive 5/8. They said it's being packaged, but there are over 600,000 items ahead of it. It started with 800K. I'm hoping as the number shrinks, the date gets a little closer. But maybe not...
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're really burned out. One thing I can say about that is, don't make any rash decisions, as your decision might not be as permanent as it feels like right now. You didn't mention your '56 set build? Hopefully you'll just tuck those away for a bit, just in case you decide that you want to come back to after a break. Oh, and I know that you're prone to deleting blogs. Please don't delete this one, you've done much that people will want to come back and read, even if you're no longer actively posting.
ReplyDeleteI was really hoping for a free shipping black Friday again and when that didn't happen I didn't bother. I guess eventually I'll have to get my cards out of COMC. Might be wise to do so before the USPS and Canada Post increases. That way I'll have my cards for Christmas!
ReplyDelete