Order from midtown comics came in. Everything was fine. Got a bunch of Department of Truth #1 incentives because they had that sale on recent back issues and I had a 25% off my order coupon they gave me so I got a really good price. Also got a few Star Wars#1s signed by Charles Soule for cover price. Too bad you can only order 1 at a time
I wish Tfaw packed like this though. Comics in a bag so they don’t move around, comics surrounded by bubble wrap on all sides(the Styrofoam peanuts are fine too) and then every 5 comics or so they flip them so they don’t bend. Packing is really simple once you know how. Really all Tfaw has to do is not stack all the comics in the box the same direction and my packages would have been perfect but 2 shipments in a row every comic has a curve in the board from the way they are stacked. That’s should be a simple fix by Tfaw
I’ve had packages like that from Midtown still show up damaged. It’s an improvement at times but not completely fool proof as they’ve packed the comics with no border extension that when the box was dropped, even with the bubble wrap the comics bent up against on impact.
Ive definitely had issues with midtown’s packaging as well. A lot of times there’s no wrap on the sides and things are loose inside sliding around. The books often come with heavy spine ticks due to poor handling as well. And they don’t seal the bags so I’ve had books slide out and take a hit. Books seems to be much more manhandled then other retailers ive shopped at.
I’ve actually had much better luck with TFAW as the peanuts are tighter and my stacks don’t move.
The one time I’ve had an issue with TFAWs box shipping (I get 100+ books every two weeks) was one time there wasn’t enough peanuts inside so the stack shifted and took a corner hit. Other then that I haven’t had any major issues with their boxing method. They quickly made that order right.
IMO, if you stack the stacks smaller (20ish books instead of 50+), wrap in heavier paper to hold them together, and flip the books around to prevent warping, I think the rest of your packaging works perfectly fine. No issues with the peanuts. Minor tweaks.
Also, twice I had someone separate my ratios and wrap them in bubble wrap in my TFAW box putting them on top which I thought was a great extra step to even more protect the higher $ books. That isn’t typical though in the boxes I received.
The flimsy mailers are another story, I try to avoid them as have had issues.
That’s how I pack my lot sales myself. I limit to 10-12 comics per stack, wrap in the USPS tyvek mailers they have, and then secure them down with tape to a piece of cardboard that extends about an inch or so on every side. Then the next stack goes on top in the box, so you’re literally building a wall of support like a bee hive within the box that only makes the box indestructible.
Here’s a shot from one of the boxes that was packed today showing some of the changes that should be starting this week. Smaller stacks, alternating spines, and a new type of wrap that shouldn’t tear and has a bit of padding built into it.
I hate how midtown puts their books in that paper bag, it’s way too big and with them not sealing the books the bags are always so bent up and sometimes bends the books as well.
Got my latest order in from TFAW and they mixed it up a bit. There were about 30 books in this order with some ratio variants. The variants were wrapped in bubble wrap separately and were very secure
The remaining books were wrapped in paper. The paper is flimsy and was ripped. However, the packing peanuts did their job and every book in the order was undamaged
Received package from TFAW today. Was the missing $20 variant from my previous order. Single book arrived in a cardboard mailer (so I was wrong about it potentially showing up in an oversized envelope) and it was bubble wrapped.
Packaged well. Zero damage. Book in excellent condition.
** Update - the order above was put in the wrong mailbox but that has nothing to do with TFAW. I know the neighbor and he stopped by and dropped it off.
Got another package from TFAW. Single book - non-variant. Placed in a bag with NO board and tossed into an envelope. Um… yeah. Anyway - a couple spine ticks but no damage from shipping.
Latest order from unknowncomics 47 books. Packing peanuts 2 layers of bubble wrap per stack and flipped ever other issue. No missing books. Not a scratch dent or tick. Books are very good. No complaints.
I forgot to mention that I also got an order from Tfaw and it was basically packed like I showed Midtown doing it and how Anthony showed in his most recent post so I assume @RipCityGamer passed that along. It was much better. Comics were reversed face to face/back to back so as to not have bends in the boards and the incentives were separate in bubble wrap.
Just remember I placed an order with Big Time Collectibles on 10/19/20. Have heard nothing from them and have not gotten any shipping notification. Have not purchased from them in a long time so kinda disappointed. I kicked out a lot of money last month and didn’t do such a great job keep track of what I ordered. So… what say you all?
I ordered a couple of in stock slabs from them a few months back and after a few weeks nothing so I sent them an email and received them a few days later. Funny how that works sometimes.
On a side note, I ordered some Venom 5 packs from The Comic Mint (Venom 29 5 packs) on 9/28. Books came out (isssue 30 just came out this week) and haven’t received anything from them either.
At this point I don’t care about any of the books. Just give me a refund because it has been so long. It almost irks me that sometimes we are just giving out small business interest free loans it seems like
People remember to go back and check your purchases.
I just got a notification from BTC that my comics had shipped. It’s been 28 says since I ordered so seems like they are just slow right now for whatever reasons.
One reason I pretty much stick to TFAW and still occasionally Midtown. I can’t be bothered ordering from every corner now on the web… Keeping tabs on them all is exhausting…
Sadly it was one comic. I think they could at least update their customers on this. I don’t really do Facebook so I don’t keep up with store updates (I know Unknown does this but I don’t follow their Facebook page)
