Long overdue

 

The internet has a great way of providing something you have always wanted, or never even imagined possible ... and then eventually ruining it.

 

I experienced this great disappointment in duplicate in 2025. Two sites, so entrenched in my entertainment preferences for so many years, had evolved so far away from what I had valued them for that I could no longer ignore it.

 

I am struggling now to separate myself from one of them, which is Spotify. I have used the streaming site daily for the last four or five years, it has been where I discover new music and how I determine my favorite songs and albums of the year. So getting away from that and finding a new option (I'm trying Tidal right now but it is not cooperating with me) is going to take awhile.

 

The other site I hope is more of a clean break. In fact, I have already declared in multiple places that I have made my final order on COMC. I hope that remains true.

 

I have been ordering from COMC since late 2009. I've averaged around two orders per year since that time. Some years it's been more (such as 2019) and other years I've skipped (such as 2020 for obvious reasons).

 

But leaving the site has been a long time coming and long overdue. It was once an alternative to ebay for me, a site with a vast and varied inventory and the prices were relatively reasonable. That's the first thing that went wrong. COMC cards became known as being overpriced. It was just a fact of life if you wanted to buy there. 

 

Then came the shipping delays, mostly connected to the pandemic, and the delays were so long that I stopped using it for my card options. The delays eventually eased -- in fact there were a couple turnaround times on my orders that were so quick it was shocking. But there's been a question about the stability of COMC for the last five, six years.

 

I made a COMC order in May of last year. I bought 38 cards. The shipping was $5.99. Not too long after that or maybe around that time, COMC announced an outrageous hike to their shipping fees. Take that 5.99 and triple it. That's the new shipping fee.

 

OK, that was the final straw for me. I decided that I'd make one final order during the site's Black Friday deals, make it a record amount of cards for me, pay the huge shipping amount and wave goodbye. So that's what I did Thanksgiving weekend. But the cost -- even with the discounts -- started getting to me as I was shopping, and that new shipping price kept staring me squarely in the face. I was getting more and more irked.

 

And that's why I started removing items from my cart because I didn't want to pay that final price. I checked out with 48 items and $17.74 in shipping, which was 17% of the total (for my order in May the shipping price was 5% of the total).

 

While I was doing all that I was made aware -- in no uncertain terms -- that the site really isn't for me anymore -- or at least I am not its target audience. I'm sure if you've visited the site recently you've encountered the following.

 

 

"Gem Mint Night", "High-End Cards", "Elite Buyers", "Marquee Auction Event", "Top-Tier Cards". Yeah, I don't care about any of that.

 

So you don't have to hammer me over the head any more, I know this is not for me, but just in case I wasn't absolutely sure, I was sucked into some more shipping paranoia.

 

I ordered on Nov. 23. I was informed my shipping date was Dec. 19. OK, that's fine, just in time for Christmas! Then, a few days later, the new shipping date changed to Jan. 27. Ack. Really not cool. A few days later it was Jan. 29. Then -- what's this? -- apparently estimated shipping dates really don't mean anything because I got an email that said my order shipped on Dec. 23!

 

Indeed it had. I received it Dec. 29th, just 10 days after the original date. All that shipping angst for nothing.

 

That's a lot of back story to get to the cards I'm going to show now, but I wanted to state where my mind's at with the site. Let's see the Dodgers first because that's where the most changes occurred when I started putting back cards.

 

 I attacked the red hot foil parallel needs from 2014 Topps. I always liked these. They remind me of cinnamon candy every time I see them. But I had originally ordered a couple more and removed two of the more (unreasonably) expensive ones.

 

 

Even more removing from some of the other 2014 color parallels. Why am I paying for Brandon League cards in such a state of aggravation? So I didn't. Just these two.

 

 

I originally wanted to pick up a bunch of Orel Hershiser oddballs that had eluded me -- stuff like Panini stickers and those dumb 2021 Panini Donruss parallels. None of them made it to my final shipping order, only this wild, unlicensed Cadaco disc.

 

But other Dodger card areas remained untouched. I wanted them too much.

 

 

Starting Lineup cards. I've been on a quest ever since that Shawn Green Starting Lineup figure landed in my collection. There are so many of these that I needed and I made a solid dent.

 

 

And this weird thing. I have avoided purchasing this for years. Allegedly I have the Steve Sax and Fernando Valenzuela cards from this set but I looked for them recently and I can't find them. Don Sutton disapproves.

 

 

COMC has been the source for the Dodgers from the 2003 Jewish Major Leaguers set. These have never been cheap. Just about the only ones left are the bound-to-be-pricey ones: Sandy Koufax, Shawn Green, Moe Berg.

 

 

When placing the order I was surprised that I did not have the Dodgers -- nor any card -- from the 1993 Yoo-Hoo set. Where have I been? So I took care of that.

 

 

Here's an exercise in futility. I gave up chasing the 2003 Topps Fall Classic program covers insert set because each card is at least 5 bucks and many are much more. Then I figured I'd just get the Dodgers, but this order made me aware how many of those I still need! 1920 World Series, you're going to have to be it.

 

So that was it for the Dodgers, save for one card (I also got the Double Trouble card at the top of the post, which ended up being a dupe because Angus gave it to me at the show last month). 

For the rest of the order I selected what I wanted and didn't remove any of it before shipping. I suppose that meant I really wanted them.

 

 

 

Just about all of my COMC orders have contained original '70s Wacky Packages. I'm going to miss that. They are one of the few things on that site that are reasonably priced.

 

All of these stickers come from the 1974 series (with a couple 1975s) -- Series 6, 7, 8 and 10 for 1974, all stuff that I saw as a youngster when I was also buying 1975 Topps cards. I can't wait to add these to my Wacky binder.

 

 

 I grabbed as many 1975 Hostess non-SP cards that I could. I don't have all of them now, but getting down to just a handful. The SPs were mostly unreasonable in price or unavailable.

 

 

 I also accepted this Dusty Baker with the rip through it. Baker's cards can be pricey now since everyone discovered his greatness almost 50 years after I first did when he became a Dodger. But Hostess cards definitely do not have to look perfect.

 

 

I did claim one SP -- one of the big cards in the set considering the year it was issued! The home run king has four dented corners but I sure don't care!!

 

 

 These two 1967 Topps cards are both upgrades. In all the years I've ordered from COMC I've never been able to dedicate myself to one set in one order. I'm sure it has something to do with always having to budget my money but I do wonder how quickly I could get down to Seaver, Carew and Brooks if I had more focus.

 

 

I did nab three new-to-me 1967 Topps team cards though! This was entirely coincidental, but they always look cool!

 

There is just one more card from the order and it was the oldest card I obtained all year (sorry 1939 Play Ball Lavagetto).

 

 

It's a 1933 Goudey, of Dodgers pitcher Jack Quinn!

 

I am not in the habit of purchasing Goudey cards from the 1930s, in fact I can't remember doing it before (all Goudeys from this time were generously sent to me). Even with the aggressive folds and some staining on the back, this was the most expensive card in the lot, it accounted for almost a third of the final price (not including shipping).

 

But that's a nice card to go out on as far as being a COMC customer, and I hope I stick to that. I know there will be times when I'll wander over to the site out of curiosity ("hey, is COMC still in business?") and spot something I sure could use.

 

Let's hope I have some willpower. Maybe returning to this post will help.