CheckOutMyCards.com is a trading card marketplace that has been in business since 2005. Unlike competitors such as eBay, Beckett Marketplace, Sportlots, and SportsBuy, the company stores each seller's inventory and fulfills his or her orders.
COMC has a few million cards for sale, all of which are located at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Each and every listing includes a front and back scan, along with major details (set year, set name, player name, card number, print run, serial number) and a (Beckett) Book Value.
Although the cards are owned and listed by about 2000 different sellers, you can buy them from multiple sellers and ship everything together. In other words, you can buy 100 different cards from 50 different sellers and have them all shipped together in one package (for $2.75 plus $0.25 per card--or less if you use their bulk shipping option. In the case of a 100 card order, shipping and handling will run you $27.75, or $18.50 using bulk shipping).
Sellers set their own prices, but COMC receives payments and sends out orders.
Buyers can buy items using one of two options: (1) adding items to their cart and then checking out, or (2) opening an account, buying Store Credit, using it to buy items, and then requesting a shipment. Option 2 also lets you keep cards in your account and request a shipment whenever you're ready. In other words, you can buy ten cards one day, buy ten more cards a few days later, and then have all twenty cards shipped together.
By using Store Credit, you also have the option of making offers to sellers, as opposed to simply paying the full asking price. (You can do this by using the Make Offer button located near each item's price, or by adding items to your cart and then clicking the Make Offer link at the top right of each page.)
When it comes to price, COMC is a pretty mixed bag for buyers. Some prices are quite low--usually in the case of cards with high print runs.
(examples:
1987 Topps Mark McGwire
2008 Bowman Chrome Refractors Ken Griffey Jr.
1989 Topps Randy Johnson RC
1986 Topps Pete Rose
1989 Upper Deck Cal Ripken, Jr.
1996-97 Upper Deck Allen Iverson RC
1997 -98 Topps Tim Duncan RC
1992-93 Topps Shaquille O'Neal RC
1991-92 Upper Deck Teemu Selanne CC RC
1991-92 Upper Deck Dominik Hasek RC
1991 Stadium Club Barry Sanders
2008 Topps Chrome Darren McFadden RC
)
Rare and/or high end cards, on the other hand, tend to be fairly priced or overpriced, with a few bargains scattered throughout the site.
Keep in mind, however, that many sellers are usually willing to negotiate, not to mention the fact that you can save a lot on shipping at COMC (as opposed to buying items from multiple sellers on eBay).
Sellers send their cards to the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, where each item is scanned (front and back), identified, given a (Beckett) Book Value, and added to a seller's account. The company charges a processing fee for these services that runs as low as 20 cents per card plus $3 per batch of 500 cards. Sellers then list prices for cards in their account (individually or with COMC's bulk pricing software), and the cards become available for purchase on the site. Whenever a sale is made, the money goes into a seller's account in the form of Store Credit--and sellers can either cash out their Store Credit by paying a 20% fee, or use it to buy other items on the site.
For instance, if you send in a shipment of 100 cards using their standard service, your account will be charged $23 ($0.20 per card = $3.00 per batch) as soon as they're received. The cards will then be processed and added to your account within the next four weeks (or less using a pricier express option), and show up in your account with their scans, set/player/card#/serial# information, and Book Values. Once you set a card's asking price, it will become available for sale on the site--and as soon as a card sells, the money will be added to your Store Credit. If, say, you sell 10 cards for $100 after one week, you can either (a) let the $100 in Store Credit sit in your account, (b) use it to buy other cards, or (c) cash out for a $20 (20%) fee (plus an additional fee for a check or PayPal payment.) You can also use store Credit to pay the processing fees for a future shipment of cards, or redeem it (minus a fee) for BlowOut Cards gift certificates.
Buyers have the option of sending you offers instead of paying your full asking prices. COMC makes it easy to accept, reject, or counter any offers you receive--and all in all, the site's ssytem is extremely flexible and efficient.
Buyers generally cannot make offers for less than 50% of an aksing price, or $0.50 total. However, sellers who upgrade to a premium account have the option of changing those minimums. Here are my current settings:
If you have just about anything for sale, odds are you're going to receive a wide variety of offers from a wide variety of buyers. I have roughly 20,000 cards listed on the site, and I usually get several offers per day--some fair, and some on the low side. (Keep in mind that most of my prices are pretty low to begin with, and I deal mainly in lower end items. If you have a bunch of LeBron James Rookies and Ken Griffey, Jr. autos set at high prices, you'll probably end up receiving s steady stream of offers on them until they sell.)
COMC is ideal for selling rare cards of all types, and most cards that are in really high demand. (Low serial numbered cards, 1993 Finest Refractors, 2000 Bowman Chrome Tom Brady RC, 2003-04 Topps LeBron James RC, 2001 Topps Traded Albert Pujols RC, etc.).
Having an account with store credit allows you to relist items that you buy on the site. For instance, you can use your store Credit to buy a card for $10, and then immediately relist it on the site for $20. The $10 purchase price will be deducted from your Store Credit, ownership of the card will transfer to your account--and should the card sell for $20, the money will be added to your Store Credit.
Items listed at over $0.25 are charged a $0.01 a month storage fee (the first month is free for items you send into the site). High volume sellers can opt to pay $50 a month and increase the limit from $0.25 to $1.00--which will result in some sort of savings if you have over 5,000 items priced between $0.26 and $1.00.
Account holders can access a wide variety of functions and information through the My Dashboard section of the site (which is accessible by clicking a My Dashboard link in the top right corner of most pages [after you've logged in]). CheckOutMyCards keeps track of all of your buys and sells, and allows you to easily price and reprice items, make and respond to offers, request a shipment of cards, cash out your store credit, and do a whole lot more.
As a seller, I personally prefer CheckOutMyCards to its competitors. The fees aren't especially low--but you end up getting more than you pay for. The site does have its flaws, but all in all, it's pretty amazing, and makes it easy to price items and track your account's activity.
My main complaints are that the Manage Inventory section of the Dashboard doesn't let you know how if you have the lowest priced listing of a card, the site doesn't offer any complex multi-variable searches, you can't change your email options, the Port Sale section doesn't let sellers seperate their inventory by sport, adn there's no option that allows you to easily list and sell items on eBay.
If you found this guide/review helpful and informative, go to the site and buy tons of my cards (username immediex). Don't even bother searching for good deals, or your favorite players, teams, or set needs. Just buy $500 worth of random items.