Kind of a quick survey here.
Of those of you who pre-order through your LCS (pre-FOC), how do you add comics? In person, phone call, email, online/website, other?
And if you have an LCS, would you say you pre-order most of your books (pre-FOC) from that LCS or somewhere else online (TFAW, MCS, etc), and why?
I’ll go first to kick this off.
LCS Pre-Order: To pre-order from my LCS, I have to either have a pull list, or speak to them in person (or email). They do not have the option to order from them electronically in any way.
% of Pre-orders through LCS: Despite having an LCS, I order probably 90% of books pre-FOC from online sites. (10% from my LcS, from just 2 books on my pull list).
Why? Because every special order or change to my pull list (I.e., swap out cover A for B variant that month) I have to physically reach out to them. It’s more work for me to give them a detailed list of what I’d like to pre-order each week, and then because it’s manually entered when they get it there’s a chance they will forget or order the wrong book.
So online is just more secure…and with better discount’s pre-FOC shipping is basically a wash.
I would like to support them more, but their archaic system means I’m putting in the work to give them my money.
They have recently cut back significantly on new books…so basically I’m not even picking up new books post FOC anymore for the most part (unless I arrive when they open most new books I’m interested in are gone…and dianonds delays make it a crap shoot when books get put out). So I’m wondering if their new comic book business model is flawed by not providing their customers a more convenient way of pre-ordering…and relying on pull lists and the occasional walk in…who they only have one shelf copy for each new book at this point.
I have a very close to me LCS but they require all pre-orders to be in Saturday night and it has to be in person/by phone/or email, no website version. I usually haven’t even started looking at the books yet before their deadline, and I can’t make choices without the article here! So mostly I have a pull for the series I collect for my PC and if I know its something I want early (example Ascenia #29) I’ll order from them but mostly it comes from a couple online sites that have hold boxes and I ship them every month or so (unless it is some hot spec and I just pull trigger and get it mailed out) because they have Monday 8pm deadlines and I like being able to look through the covers on the website.
So percentage wise, my pre-orders that aren’t pulls, I would say 90% are not with my LCS. I have recently been trying to get on it earlier to support them but it is effort and not nearly as fun as looking through the books on a website on a lazy Sunday afternoon
My LCS closes early Sunday, not to re-open until Tuesday. So even if I give them my list on Saturday they may not even get to ordering the book, depending on who’s checking email/Facebook messenger.
Like you, I wait until the end of the week, and lists come out, people talk about interesting books, and some covers get revealed late. And I am on a budget so I sometimes will change my mind late after I have all the books for the week laid out.
I had an LCS that used an online service to submit pre-orders. It was also very archaic but at least I could order books and didn’t pay for them until I picked them up. They closed a few years ago but it was great for ordering variant covers of a series each month instead of a pull list of cover A.
I would pay upfront, like with MCS, if my LcS offered an online option. But they seem to like still doing things on paper. And I see their business suffering possibly because of it. I know with me it is. I can’t be the only one.
Another thing, my LcS could have 900% more revenue from me if they had an online option. I know it’s likely an initial effort to get going and trained on…and maybe a monthly fee…but it’s gotta pay for itself. Other shops have to be doing this.
Thats another question I’d like to know from people, if your LCS uses an online ordering method for pre-FOC, what program/website do they use?
My LCS is Third Eye Comics. They have an email blast that goes out pre-foc including their highlight picks for that week. More times than not I place an order with them (through email and not through their site) to order and pull books. Like stated I was doing a lot of my pre-orders from TFAW but found damages and cost of shipping usually eat up any discount I would get. I would gladly trade discount for good quality shipping.
I stated elsewhere I am 100% moving away from TFAW in April/May and will support my LCS way more.
I order 100% of my new books from my LCS. I get a 20% discount, and they use League of Comic Geeks system, and it’s absolute bliss. If I add a book to my pull list (which is literally just a click) pre-FOC, I always get it. But, even if I order post-FOC, if they have a shelf copy, it goes in my pull list first before hitting the shelf.
I had to talk them into using this system, but I told them that I was ordering via TFAW.com for most of my stuff. I told him I’d move all of that to him, which I have done. I think a few other customers now use it as well. The shop owner seems to really like using it, and it’s definitely brought in more revenue.
Talk to your shop. Tell them to modernize their damn business, as you mentioned @D-Rog. They are just losing money by not doing this. If I had to call or email/text for every addition, I’d buy 10% of what I buy now.
I just click a button to add a book to my pull list. They have a great website interface. I can click through and see which books I’m going to get by week, such as yesterday:
That’s all I do. It gets fed directly to my LCS, and they order and pull my books. 5 stars. 10 out of 10. It’s incredible. Again, it took some convincing, but stay persistent.
That looks absolutely sublime, wish my LCS was running something like this.
This is what I want to do, but looking for confirmation that an easy interface exists, and people use it. They seem to have a decent amount of pull list customers.
It’s a bit more of an investment in time to keep up with it, I’m sure. They’d likely need to ask for customer emails and post pre-FOC notices to remind people to order…they could also post on Facebook which they already do when new books come in…but that’s just basic advertising and I think most people would be interested.
I see their employees just sitting behind the counter doing nothing it would seem. Waiting for a customer. Maybe they’re watching me on security cameras…I don’t know. But it can’t be a terrible amount of time invested each week…as long as the system automatically loads up the books for them. I have to think that’s how it works.
My main LCS—it uses this app thing called COMICHUB that I have to go in and enter what I want by Sunday evening. I’m not overly fond of it but whatever.
The other LCS in town–talk to him only–and he’s unreliable even if I do…may or not play the “you did, I forget, ooops” game.
TFAW for everything else and very typically as a backup on books I’m fond of or think will hit.
I have a few shops I pass buy every so often (1-3 hrs away) that use comic hub. I haven’t tried pre-ordering from them, but place orders of books they have in stock. Half the time it’s not in stock…so there are things about that’s system that’s appear to be a burden….
Mostly online these days… I used to have a pull list years ago at the LCS I used to work at when I was a teen. I like going there for wall books and digging but new books are slim. Their other location is better but I tend to go to the one I used to work at most of the time. They’re old school and don’t use any kind of pre-order system. They’re reluctant to, which honestly, they could be making more money with it but I dont see it happening ever.
I get almost all of my new comics from my LCS (or the couple around me if I miss something on FOC). My LCS isn’t the greatest but I can order through the comichub app. I also use ThirdEye’s email blast on FOC along with the weekly FOC list from here.
I haven’t visited an LCS in years. And then it was years before that.
So probably 1 or 2 times in the last 8 - 10 years.
I’m in a quite crowded suburban area with several, but three reasons why I don’t:
Between 2 and 3, I have no reason for 1.
I know others on here have found those books in an LCS for cheap that are “wow, I can’t believe you found those”, but I haven’t had that experience at any of my local stores. They’re too in tune with the times, KCC, Forums, speculation also
