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How To Order
First, simply contact us with what you'd like to buy, and where you live. If you have special shipping instructions, this is the best time to tell us about them as well. And, tell us if you want to pay by credit card, check or money order. Giving us your want list either by e-mail, mail or phone is where we start the process. This is important also so you don't try to purchase something we DON'T have in stock without knowing the facts...the most common complaint we hear about some services is customers pay for items they can never receive. While most items on our site are in stock, we've had days where a sudden flood of orders can make something unavailable quickly, so it's best when needed to tell you that's happened.
Give us time to write back to you. Most often this is "same day," sometimes just a matter of minutes, sometimes it's as long as a couple of days. But, at that point, we can tell you what we have, what we can get, and what we can do for prices. Remember, on many items, we automatically increase discounts for larger orders.
Confirm your order, or tell us how you need to change it. This helps us both to quote the best prices and to hold items aside for customers' orders. It also lets us make items you don't want available promptly for other customers.
If your order is confirmed, we'll give you ordering instructions. If you haven't yet told us your payment preference, we will request payment by check or money order payable to "Mike's Comics," or by credit card, plus a note summarizing the transaction that includes your name and shipping address, plus any of those special shipping instructions you may have. This helps us to double-check that we've put the order together the way you expect to receive it. If an age statement &/or ID is required, you should be prepared to include that as well. WE CAN TAKE CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS!
If paying by check or money order, mail us your order! If we receive your order and have questions for you, we'll be in touch BEFORE shipping whenever possible.
We know this still leaves some folks with questions. The most common are the following ones.
Why don't we...?
...have a shopping cart? Manpower. We can't be on-line around the clock every day. To quickly revise a shopping cart to remove items we sell through is probably not too hard. However, to remove an item we sell through overnight BEFORE it's ordered again is tricky. Inventory control software to do this automatically may be expensive. Remember, we're also taking care of customers who don't use the internet, or credit cards, and we need to remain flexible enough to deal with everyone, not just one group. And there are issues of security once we have data that go beyond what companies often tell their customers, and which cause major privacy violations after the sale. We intend to re-visit this seriously once we've organized and listed the remainder of our comics backstock. Also, a shopping cart program may make it harder to show you increased discounts for larger orders.
...take credit cards direct? We've started taking credit cards in 2006. Make us aware you want to pay by credit card and we'll tell you the information we need with our payment instructions at that time.
...take PayPal? Cost isn't the big issue here. We did try PayPal and saw customers lose their money in the system, and didn't have either good success or good customer service when problems happened. Also, PayPal has new terms suggesting they will impose fines and close accounts for transactions involving "Mature" items...which could include much of what we sell, or not, depending on how someone interprets those new rules. There are a number of other reasons, too, and if you feel this is worthy of further questions, please don't hesitate to write!
...take orders from Vermont? While we hold a Vermont sales tax ID, the state has imposed special yearly fees on partnerships that make it too expensive to sell to Vermonters. That's in addition to sales tax. Please don't hesitate to write if you have more questions about this!
...automate your web site? First things first! We're looking at a web site overhaul later, after we catch up with listing more of our back stock, especially comics.
Thanks for visiting the site!
Michael Salvo & Patty Cryan