Items listed on this web site may not be available, and prices are subject to change. Therefore, we require you contact us with your want list, preferred shipping method, your name, all necessary contact information, and a valid shipping address for the order, and allow us to quote you on price and availability for any order you wish to place. We are not responsible for filling orders we do not confirm in advance. Yes, e-mailing this list and information is perfectly fine!
REVISED 22 January 2006: For web site purchases, payment is by check or money order payable to Mike's Comics, or by credit card. For eBay auctions, payment is only by check or money order payable to Mike's Comics. We do not accept PayPal payments. Payment must clear into our account before merchandise ships. Payment must be in US funds, drawn against an account in a US bank. Canadian Postal Money Orders in US funds can not be accepted as payment at this time. The only exception to this rule is at conventions we will accept cash, but we strongly recommend you do not attempt to send cash in the mail. We will not be responsible for any cash lost in the mail.
Prices listed are usually the Manufacturers' Suggested Retail Prices. We reserve the right to quote prices different from these prices when responding to your want lists, or with prices that are different based on size of order and when it is placed. Prices quoted are valid for seven days once we are instructed to hold items for purchase.
Prices we quote include applicable sales taxes. We hold sales tax identification in several states, and we will be happy to provide that information on request. For those of you who live in those states, it's an unadvertised discount to you. However, unfortunately, we cannot be responsible for any import tariffs you may be charged when we ship to you outside the US. So, if you're not in the US, please see what import duties you may be required to pay before you confirm an order. (Please DON'T ask us to falsify a Customs form to avoid tariffs. People who get caught doing this don't stay in business for long!)
REVISED 30 January 2023: We do ship by Media Mail. Or Priority Mail. Or with insurance or confirmation. Or by other methods and with other services. The choice is yours! However, most of our customers have always asked for the frugal alternative of USPS Media Mail, so that is our default when nothing else is mentioned. After about twelve-and-a-half years without a change in cost, new US Mail rates have forced us to finally increase Media Mail costs with this update. On US orders up to $100.00, if composed entirely of any combination of books, videos, CDs, DVDs & cassettes, we will ship via USPS Media Mail for $5.00, and will ship via USPS Media Mail on those US orders over $100.00 at no charge (except for violations of auction policy, see our AUCTIONS link if you're curious). If you're in the US and want USPS First Class or some other method of shipping (or insurance), we'll estimate shipping and packing costs and will quote a S&H fee based on that estimate. All orders outside the US or containing "non-media" items should expect a similar estimate, regardless of shipping method, and a fee based on that estimate.
We can't be responsible for uninsured items lost or damaged in transit. If you want insurance, please ask for it with your order, and we'll include it in our price. If you do not request insurance, you are saying you will take full responsibility without condition for any loss or damage in transit, and you will make no claim upon us at any time to compensate you for that loss or damage. We recommend you insure all parcels when possible.
We accept want lists. We have some unique items. We also may not stock some common ones. Please ask and we'll be happy to find out whether we have, or can get, the item you're looking for.
If there's a problem, please talk to us! We pride ourselves on making our customers happy with their transactions. The same goes for comments or questions...let us know what you have to say, from spelling errors in the web site to items you think we should try to carry on a more regular basis. We'll listen and give our best answers.
There can't be a person at the phone or looking at e-mail 24/7/365. But, someone will try to check in every 48 hours or less unless we're on the road or at a convention. It's usually nightly. If we're not here for a call or an e-mail and it's taking some time for us to be in touch after you leave your message, it could be we need to research something or find items in inventory. If you've given us 3-4 days, another message won't hurt...and please be sure to include your contact info!
Any club or coupon discounts that may be in effect should be mentioned when you send us a request to put an order together for you. Simply, it's easier to calculate a final price once instead of twice. Coupon discounts never include auction sales.
We will put in-stock items on reserve for 72 hours after quoting you a price, as a customer courtesy. Your response accepting both the quoted price and our terms and conditions will put those items on reserve for another 10 days. As a courtesy to our other customers, please contact us also if you decide not to purchase items you wrote us about. If you're outside the US and feel you need more time, just let us know. We sometimes will take advance orders on items we are certain to receive shortly, and will deal with those items on a case by case basis.
We reserve the right not to quote prices, especially on items we do not have in stock, and to change prices on any price we quote, or sell items previously on reserve, if your purchase has not been completed within 30 days from the date we quote a price.
There is a US$30.00 fee for bounced checks. The replacement check, including the fee, must be a certified check or a US Postal Money Order, or must be an instrument we approve before you send that payment. If replacement payment is not received within 10 days of our first request, we reserve the right to use any means, including collection services, to recover the full amount of the bounced checks, plus the $30.00 fee per bounced check, plus all collection fees. Our payment record from customers of Doctor Who merchandise has been exemplary, and we hope we don't need to refer to this line. Ever.
We do require age statements on selected items, and we will ask for those statements when they are needed. If such items are listed on our web site, we will try to put an age disclaimer next to the item listing on the site. We will also mention age issues as needed when quoting prices. Generally, we do not sell many items that are even questionable for this kind of content. However, we will not ship an item without an age statement if it is needed to make the transaction legal. If you commit to a transaction that requires an age statement and a refund must be made when you fail to supply it, we will make a $25.00 charge against the funds you sent before issuing a refund.
We are committed to an accurate representation of our products. Used products are marked as such. Please be aware, NOT all new CDs or UK videos are shrink-wrapped, even though we get them direct from their distribution source. If we have used copies, we will sell them as used. Lack of shrink-wrap doesn't mean a copy has been played before, or even opened!
We reserve the right to refuse to transact or refuse to complete a transaction with any business, individual, or agent or employee or representative of same, especially as it regards protection of our business and our requirement to deal in good faith. This also means that if you are not "in terms" or have failed to make payments in the past, we may say those bills must be settled first before we're ready to commit to selling you more merchandise.
We reserve the right to modify these Terms & Conditions at any time, without prior notice. If we do modify these Terms & Conditions, and you have a problem with those changes, we request that you tell us about your concerns.
We currently do not sell to Vermont residents. If you're curious about why, just ask! It's about the tax laws.
REVISED 9 May 2007: If you don't hear a reply from us within 72 hours, and if there also isn't a note on our web page saying we're closed (at a show, on business, &c.), then please call us! In the age of spam and spammers, e-mail filters have become too aggressive. If we've received your message, we've probably already replied, and our reply was filtered. If you e-mailed us and we didn't receive it, some filter somewhere probably lost or re-routed the message, possibly forever. Please let us help you in these cases by calling us. If we're not available immediately, please do leave a message and we'll respond as soon as we can. You don't need to wait 72 hours, either...call anytime!
REVISED 6 March 2008: Another by-product of filtering spam is the need to ignore particular messages. If you have an empty subject line, a non-English character set, or a subject line reading "Re: ", especially with an attachment, we are almost certain to ignore your message, especially to prevent viruses on attachments. Please help us identify your serious inquiry...or even a silly inquiry you'd seriously like us to see...with a subject line that helps us identify the topic. An e-mail titled "Doctor Who Want List" or "Comics For Trade" is more likely to get our attention than an empty subject line or something titled "Get Rich Quick" or "Cheap Bootlegged Software".
REVISED 10 August 2011: All sales should be considered final at the time of purchase. At our discretion, we may make an exception to this rule, but, in those situations, this does not invalidate the rule itself, nor can this be used in any fashion to indicate how we will respond in any future situation to a request to make another exception.
We ask you keep our addresses a SPAM-FREE ZONE so we can better serve legitimate customers. Like you. If someone wants to sell us their latest Walrus Polishing Kit, or any other nifty items or services...thanks, but no thanks. We'll treat your serious inquiries about Comics, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, or other selected Sci-Fi, Fan or Fantasy items...well, seriously. Please don't give out, collect, or use our contact information for any other purpose. Our customers and suppliers are important to us, and we hope not to get bogged down by the "great unwashed" of the internet as the result of having a web site. We're sure you'll understand. This helps us give you the time and respect you deserve.