On-line Comic Retailers

Over the past month or so, I've done a little experimenting with on-line comic retailers to find which one I would purchase through, given that my local comic stores (since moving to Milwaukee) are almost on a weekly basis, missing something or another. I picked three stores to try out: Silver Bullet Comics, Mile High Comics and Mycomicshop.com. Now, these are my experiences with them and I'm just relating them on my weblog, so you can take what I say at face value or not. I'm rating each store in a few categories, including website design, shipping options, selection, how easy they are to use, how they kept me updated on the progress of my order, and how speedy their process was from ordering to receiving it on my doorstep. I used four comics to check on each store's selection: Mouse Guard #1 (Archaia Studios Press), In the Blood #1 (Boom! Productions), Alice In Wonderland #1 (Antarctic Press), and The Portent #1 (Image Comics). All categories are rated out of five.


Silver Bullet Comics
Easy to use? 3
Website design? 2 (Busy/Crowded)
Shipping options? 4 (Several)
Selection? 3 (1/2 of comics in stock)
Kept updated? 1 (SBC was waiting to see if a comic came back in stock and did not notify me a week and a half later. I took it upon myself to e-mail them to find out what was going on...)
Speedy? 1 (16 days for order to be filled (12 weekdays) (2/22 - 3/10))
The bottom line? 2.3

Mile High Comics
Easy to use? 3
Website design? 3
Shipping options? 4 (Domestic/International)
Selection? 4 (3/4 of comics in stock)
Kept updated? 5 (Sent e-mails over every step of the process)
Speedy? 4 (7 days for order to be filled (5 weekdays) (3/3 - 3/10))
The bottom line? 3.8

Mycomicshop.com
Easy to use? 3
Website design? 4
Shipping options? 4 (Several)
Selection? 3 (1/2 of comics in stock)
Kept updated? 4
Speedy? 3 (9 days for order to be filled (7 weekdays) (3/18-3/27))
The bottom line? 3.5

I'm, of course, assuming that my experience with Silver Bullet Comics was an extraordinary one. However, it was my experience and as such, have included it. You can take it or discard it. Based on these three orders, I will be using Mile High Comics for my personal on-line shopping. Although if Mycomicshop.com has something that they don't, I won't shy away from using them either. But in the end, you have to be your own judge.

Comments

DBM said…
I agree - Mile High is my first choice (especially with their mailing list discounts), although MyComicShop is often cheaper. I've also noticed that Mile High has better quality on older comics (NM more NM than MyComicShop's), but that's based on a limited sample.
8:52 PM
Unknown said…
How can we explain the difference for a same rated comic :
for instance : MHC : # 45 good issue of Daredevil is at 99 $ and on MCS only at 12,5 $ ??
thanks for the answer.
alex.
8:09 AM
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