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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

COMC'ing Miracles

                        

Well folks I thought it would never happen, but a shipment from COMC dropped into my lap today.


I ordered this shipment on December 3rd, 2019 - after numerous attempts to get a status update, I gave up when COVID-19 slowed shipments. I thought for sure that these cards were lost forever, and I wasn't about to start pestering them for cards when the virus was spreading rapidly across the country.


Every few months I'd sent a note over - I tried reaching them via Twitter and used their email address. Sometimes they'd reply right away that they were looking into it, other times they didn't reply at all.


Then on Monday I received an email that my order had shipped! I was pretty excited to finally get to rip into these, and I had mostly forgotten what I ordered. 


There was some fairly odd stuff inside! That phone card expired in 1996, so don't worry I wasn't counting on it to come through before time ran out.


Some of these cards were "New" when I ordered them. . . 

                         

Others were not so new. These 1959 Topps cards were the ones that I was the most disappointed about to be honest. I was worried I would have to re-acquire them, and probably have to pay more for them. I nabbed these cards during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales on the website, so I was able to move up a bit on condition while still paying what I would normally shell out for commons. 


I even was able to find some deals on some pesky Yankees and stars - I was not sure I'd ever be able to re-create these deals again.


And this one really hurt! But I am very happy to say that the COMC folks did come through for me after all. I can delete the super passive aggressive "want list" from my drafts that consisted solely of the cards in this shipment. I'm still not ready to jump back onto COMC - the fact that the first 10 months of asking for updates where largely ignored still sticks with me. But they did send me a small credit (think low double digits). I think I might try to turn it into a bigger card by buying and re-selling on the site. I still need the Bob Gibson rookie from the 1959 set, after all... I wonder how long it would take me to trade up to that?

Any suggestions for players or products that could be flipped this winter?

Oh and hi again everyone! It's been an absolutely horrific summer and I stopped blogging because everything was/is awful. I'll be back again soon-ish I'm sure. I don't have any Twins games to distract me from writing now... :/   

Thanks for reading!

18 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Was wondering what you were up to. Hope things start looking up soon. Love the Puckett phone card.

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  2. That's a long time to wait for a shipment. Dang.

    I guess I'll vote for the Kaline. Sod Poodles though. Ha.

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    1. The minor leagues seem to be in a competition for most original team names - I think a few have even adopted multiple names that they cycle through in a season. That's one way to get some publicity!

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  3. Twins are gonna do twins things I guess.
    My comc order was supposed to ship today, exactly 3 months after I placed the order but it didn't happen.
    Good to read your words again!

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    1. It's so weird because before that shipment I had literally had no issues for more than 5 years straight ordering almost once a month from the site. I have to believe that COVID is a big factor for their delays now, but I had been hearing of issues as early as October of last year.

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  4. Phew, you're still functioning.

    All of these COMC stories don't make me anxious to order what I've had in my cart for months and months. I feel like ordering a 1990 Donruss card instead just to see how long it takes. At least I won't be attached.

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    1. Let's not go crazy! It's so strange to me that a company could go from running like clockwork to seemingly have a total system failure. I bet there were a handful of people that were making it go but finally burnt out or moved on about this time last year.

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  5. I recently ordered a few cards from COMC. Had the cards within 3 weeks. Was pretty surprised

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    1. not bad at all! They used to be at least that good or better forever.

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  6. I'm glad to see you resurface. Hope you're okay.

    Nearly 9 months is far too long to wait, I don't care what excuses COMC comes up with. I have two orders out (one since July, the other since Monday) and I'm happy to be done with that site for a while.

    Also, WTH happens to the Twins in the postseason? I can't imagine how frustrated you must feel. Especially this time :/

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    1. Twins just have to be as disappointing as possible - I really thought that Chicago was a better team this year and they deserved the division title. The Twins just all got cold at the wrong time. Not having Donaldson or a healthy Buxton hurt, but Cruz was the only guy putting together decent plate appearances. Will have to see how they re-load this off-season, Chicago and Cleveland will be good again!

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  7. A. WTH? December 3rd, 2019? That's crazy. I place a shipment request four days before you and received my package on 12/18/19. That's ridiculous. Even my first post-lockdown shipping request arrived before yours and I placed it on 3/27/20. COMC should have hooked you up with more than a low double digits credit for that mess up... but at least the cards weren't lost forever.

    B. I haven't flipped in a long time, but I've found some pretty killer deals on graded cards that have shot up significantly. I know there are collectors who will shake their head... but maybe look for a young star you believe in and search for a cheap graded rookie card of theirs.

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    1. I stopped ordering from them after that shipment, so it definitely has cost them more than what they put in my account.

      That's a good idea- based on how terrible I am at fantasy football, I might have to get other more knowledgeable people to help me pick some prospects.

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  8. Hope things are turning around for you; maybe getting the cards are a sign of change!

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    1. To be honest I probably have it better than a lot of other people, but the combo of the pandemic and civil unrest in the city and losing a few family members this year has made 2020 a year to forget..

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  9. Glad you got your order finally.

    Never been much of a flipper, but I figure Topps Update will have some rookie people will go crazy for (Casey Mize or Jake Croneworth, maybe?). I would definitely check the checklist before purchasing anything, because with the rookie rules, certain people won’t be in the set until 2021. It seems like if you are into flipping, and are patient, you can get some bang for your buck with Update. Over the past 10-12 years’ Update sets, we’ve seen cards that weren’t worth much when they came out and then they skyrocket. Some examples are Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Mike Stanton, Mike Trout, Jose Altuve, and Jacob deGrom. You also have lesser guys like Goldschmidt, JD Martinez, Longoria, and Blackmon, and there are also the guys who are hot that current season like Puig, Kris Bryant, Ohtani, Darvish, Acuna, Judge, and Luis Robert this year. Might be worth picking up a box and just saving it for a few years.

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    1. Yeah, Update is generally a good bet, that's a great point. I do wonder how a 60 game season will change what's in that product. no All-Star Game, so that may mean a larger number of first year players.

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  10. Your presence has been missed, I'm glad you're back, or at least almost back!

    Also, even though there's no excuses for why it took so long, it's great to see that your order wasn't lost, especially given some of the stuff that was in there.

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