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The dreaded shopping cart


I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly comfortable when I have cards stored in my shopping cart on the COMC site.

I once used to consider cards in my cart as good as mine. That's the way it works on ebay most of the time (at least for me) as well as on a number of other sites in and out of the hobby. But it doesn't exactly work like that with COMC.

Cards that you've placed in your cart can disappear out of it if another collector purchases those same cards before you do. I found that out the hard way a few times when I was first getting into COMC purchasing about seven or eight years ago. It stunned me at my first. I couldn't figure out where the devil that card went. You mean my cart isn't a safe space?

Fortunately this doesn't happen a lot to me, probably because of my very specific and off-beat card tastes. I can only imagine what it's like for the collectors who chase all the latest rookies or even for the 30-somethings who all seem to collect the same thing: Gwynn, Maddux, Griffey Jr. It must be a pain throwing stuff in the cart only to have it jump out over and over again.

Another COMC cart annoyance is when everything in my cart vanishes. EVERYTHING.

I've always thought that this happened if I accidentally logged out of the site or if there was a crash of my computer when I was on the site, because I've had my cart empty when those things, I guess coincidentally, happened.

But apparently, COMC cart stuff can cycle out just whenever. And isn't that a fun discovery.

So I am now very wary of my cart on the online site.

That's why I was very happy today when I ordered everything in my cart, meaning it was officially out of my cart so other collectors can keep their grubby hands off, and safe with me. As long as the USPS doesn't goof things up, they will be safely en route to me.

This time, I was able to take advantage of a COMC sale for once. It's the spring sale this week and all of my cart cards were nicely discounted. I usually have zero time to sync up my saved money with an online card sale, so I am very proud of this. There are lots of goodies from some very important set pursuits of recent note. I'll be sure to show you all of them.

Also, I ordered a couple of card things from ebay today, too. They were in my ebay cart for quite some time but they stayed there fortunately. One card in particular I am quite happy to finally have in my collection ... when it actually does arrive. You'll see that, too.

I don't want to get too cranky on COMC. They are my preferred online card site by a mile and have been for years. I remember when I first started touting COMC and people would comment "yes, but this site ..." and I'd check out that site and find, it's not as good as COMC. Sure some other card sites have stuff you can't find on COMC or are cheaper than COMC. But as a whole, for one-stop card shopping online, only ebay can match COMC, and you know what a disaster ebay can be sometimes.

It would be nice if things would stay in my cart all the time, but again, that's a minor deal.

And for those who are now cranky because they haven't seen a card yet on this post, here is something from my last COMC purchase that I never showed:


Christy Hemme used to be a big deal in the pro wrestling world as one of the primary divas. I have never followed wrestling, but that sport sure does like to feature some pretty ladies and Hemme is definitely one of those.

She was mentioned a lot on the blogs when I first started blogging. Nobody mentions her anymore. She's retired now and a mom of five kids (including quadruplets!). So I was able to get this signed card for much more cheaply than I could have in 2008. It reminds me of the good old days when card blogging was wild and crazy.

Also, I think she's wearing Ron Cey's number.

Comments

Nick said…
I didn't even know COMC was having a spring sale, but that would explain why a whole bunch of cards I wanted were all of a sudden way cheaper than I ever remembered them being. I, too, just placed an order with them a few days ago, and am already eagerly awaiting the spoils.
Another thing I hate on ComC is when you have cards in your cart and the price goes up.
Billy Kingsley said…
I lost out a card on there early on by putting it in the cart- now I ALWAYS buy it now and let it sit until I'm ready to ship.
Bulldog said…
I do the same as Billy but honestly didn't know you could lose cards from the cart. Now I know. Thanks for sharing. And cool auto.
BaseSetCalling said…
I think cards are cheaper if you don’t use the cart?

i.e. if you create an account balance first via credit card or paypal. Then when you click the buy button, it is instantly yours.

I’m not positive on cart vs. non-cart prices. But I have been very happy disposing of all my random $2 cards pulled from buying some baseball cards with my groceries most weeks. Then I can get all the $1 inserts, etc. I want for various collecting projects. It’s like trading for me, really. No other way I could trade a 2018 Opening Day Rhys Hoskins insert for 3 2018 Big League Nickname parallels like I did today, basically.

The only real key is to not send in cards with too many copies already listed.

Fuji said…
took the words right off of my keyboard
Mark Hoyle said…
I don’t visit the comc site to often. Usually if they go in cart I immediately buy them before I load off. After I purchase sometimes I leVe them there. Have them shipped together with other orders.
GCA said…
I've said before that I usually start out on COMC looking for a couple oddballs, and most of the time find a seller on Sportlots that's much cheaper overall. I did put in a COMC order about a month ago. The only way that I let stuff sit in the cart is if I've picked them out at work and can't get to finishing the purchase at home for a day or two. Otherwise, I buy right away.

I was on last night and decided to find my last five or six 2005 Donruss Champions. Ended up with about 120 cards from the same seller in SportLots.
Michael Ott said…
I have a theory that my COMC cart is associated with a particular web browser and computer (probably using cookies or some such geekery).
I prefer adding cards to a watch list, which follows my user ID wherever I log into COMC.

The other frustrating aspect is when multiple copies of a card are for sale, but the particular one I'd flagged is sold. Sometimes I wish a second string copy could must appear in my cart in place of the one no longer for sale.
AdamE said…
I don't use the COMC cart. I just send them 20 or 50 at a time with PayPal and then Buy It Now each time. Then once I have a bunch of cards sitting in my inventory I ship them all together. I've had cards sitting in inventory for months upon months.

I have also had good luck with Sportlots. Mostly for commons though.

http://thoughtsandsox.blogspot.com/2019/04/going-blind.html
CaptKirk42 said…
Michael, I too use the COMC watch list. And yes when the copy of a card you are looking at gets sold and you have to search for another copy. Sometimes when a card gets sold from my watch list like that when I search for another copy instead of adding it back to my watch list. Sometimes I have to buy a copy because it keeps selling. About 95% of the time I will watch the cheapest copy of a card, or the cheapest but still nice looking one. I sometimes skip super off centered cards or cards with too much missing paper damage.
CaptKirk42 said…
I hardly ever use the cart at COMC. I usually first add a card to my watch list. The watch list acts the same as the cart but without the potential purchase claim. So often a card will be sold off my list and I will have to search for another copy to put on my watch list, or if the card is flying out the door and I have the "credit" I'll pull the purchase trigger and hold the card until I am ready for more to ship. Right now my purchased waiting to ship cards is 14 (I've been buying a few here and there every few days) and I have a huge watch list of 60-some or more cards. I need to buy more credit to buy more from my list and to get a decent sized shipment sent. Harder to find cards or cards that keep getting sold off the watch list I purchase ASAP and let them wait for shipping.