Q) How do I receive credit for a canceled item and do I have to reorder it when it is resolicited?

A) Each week, we receive cancellations from Diamond on our invoice and they are keyed then. The system automatically applies the credit to an order with an outstanding balance. If there are no orders with an outstanding balance, the system creates a credit order to be applied to a future order or credit card, at the customers request. Since that code has been canceled, the customer needs to place an order for that item under the new code when it is resolicited.

Q) Do you sell to retailers?

A) DCBS does not sell to retailers. DCBS is a retailer selling to individual customers.

Q) How is my order sent?

A) Primarily, shipments are sent by UPS Ground Service. UPS shipments are trackable and insured. Packages that are sent as a final shipment or contain trades and hardcovers only are sent by USPS First Class Mail or Media Mail. Shipments sent to PO Boxes, APO, FPO, Hawaii, and Alaska are sent by USPS with delivery confirmation, but are not insured. If you would like your package insured, please inquire about pricing. All Canadian shipments are sent by USPS Airmail. Canadian packages sent by USPS are minimally insured by the Post Office. If you would like your package fully insured, please inquire about pricing. All other international shipments are sent by UPS Worldwide Saver Express or Fed Ex. International customers may request USPS, UPS Saver, or Fed Ex and we will place a note in the account. Please inquire for pricing for your country.

All item bar codes are scanned for fulfillment accuracy and placed in plastic magazine size bags and taped securely. Shipments containing less than 10 single issue comics are generally packaged in a stiff cardboard “book fold” that has an overhang on both ends to prevent any corner damage. Shipments with more than 10 single issue comics are packaged in double walled boxes containing a special foam (which conforms to the contents) or packing peanuts.

Q) When can I expect my regular monthly shipment?

A) Regular monthly book shipments are packaged starting on the last Wednesday of every month. The only exception to this is when month end falls on a holiday and books are received from the distributor a day later. Shipments are packaged and picked up throughout the week and all are picked up by UPS by Monday. When a confirmation is received, the tracking number is not “trackable” until the package has been picked up and scanned. If you check the label status and it says “billing information received”, this usually means that the invoice has been printed but the package has not been picked up yet. Please note, invoices are printed in large batches each day and labels are automatically printed with the invoice. Because they are printed in large batches, the package may not be picked up on the day of printing. When an invoice shows as closed in the system that is not necessarily the date it is shipped. When international, PO Boxes, Hawaii, and Alaska invoices are closed they are prepared for packaging, but may take up to 7 days to ship from us. Because they are manually labeled, those packages are usually sent out by the Wednesday following the month end week. Shipments sent to Canada, and those that are specifically requested to be sent by USPS, usually take 7-10 business days to arrive from the date of labeling. If there are any concerns or shipping problems, please e-mail us and we will resolve the issue.

Q) When can I expect my weekly or twice a month shipment?

A) Weekly shipments are sent out on Wednesday each week. In weeks following a holiday, where we receive books a day late, shipments are sent out on Thursday. Twice a month shipments are packaged and sent out on the second Wednesday of the month for a 4 week month or the third Wednesday of the month for a 5 week month. The second shipment is sent with regular month end shipments. Weekly and twice a month shipments are only available to US customers.

Q) I have Symantec's Norton Internet Security (NIS) on my computer and I am using the Personal Firewall. I am having troubles adding items to my shopping cart and checking out. Is there anything I can do?

A) Yes - you have to setup www.DCBService.com as a trusted site in Norton Personal Firewall. To so this, follow these steps:

• Open Norton Personal Firewall
• Under "Status & Settings", click the "Privacy Control" link
• Click the "Configure" button on the right
• Click the "Advanced" button on the Privacy Control screen.
• On the Web Contents Options tab, click "Add Site" and add an entry for dcbservice.com.
• Select the dcbservice.com entry from the list on the left.
• De-select the "Use default settings" checkbox under "Information about visited sites" section on the Global Settings sub-tab.
• Select the "Permit" radio button that becomes active underneath.
• Click "OK"

Q) How do I use the Pull List?

A) Here is how the Pull List works. Place your first order through the shopping cart. You will receive your UserID and Password for our site in your e-mail order confirmation. Log into our site and begin adding items to your Pull List. You can add items in two ways. You can look at any of your existing orders and add items to your Pull List by using the quantity field to the right of each item and then clicking the "Update Pull List" button. Or you can go to "My Pull List" and use the Search box to find items in our database to add to your Pull List.

Once your Pull List is created, you can simplify creating your order each month. Just log into the site, click "My Pull List" and then click the "Create Order" button. Any items in your Pull List that are offered that month, will be added to your shopping cart. You will be able to modify the order before finalizing it.

The books are not automatically pulled, the list is just a tool for you to use each month to create your order.

Q) What do I do if something is missing/damaged from my shipment?

A) Please notify us by e-mail within 48 hours of receipt of your shipment and we will be happy to replacement your missing/damaged item(s).

Q) When will my order be charged?

A) If you place an order only containing collectibles (statue, busts, or action figures), your order will be charged once all items have arrived and are being readied for shipment.

If you place an order containing collectibles and books or books only, your order will be charged in the middle of the month following the order placement.

Q) When can I expect my order?

A) Pre-order items are typically offered two-months in advance. With each order placed, the customer schedules a corresponding shipment. So placing an order in February schedules a shipment for April, March schedules a shipment for May and so forth. If you skip a month, it's not a problem, there just won't be a corresponding shipment. Once your next order is placed a new shipment is scheduled and any late arriving items are held and sent with the first available shipment.

If you discontinue your orders or if you are a one time customer, any late shipping books will be sent in one final shipment after all items have arrived. There is no additional cost for this shipment. Final shipments to customers outside the US will be assessed the actual shipping cost for the final shipment.

If you are a collectible only customer, your order will be sent once all items from your order have been received. If you would prefer to receive your items as they arrive, the additional cost is $6.25 per additional shipment. Please e-mail us after your order placement if you would like to have that option added. This option is only available to orders shipping in the Continental Unites States.

Q) Can I cancel an order?

A) Unfortunately, we do not accept order cancellations. In the event that an order cancellation is authorized, we will charge a 25% cancellation/restock fee. In order for us to offer the prices we do, it is important to maintain a minimum amount of inventory.

Q) When can I expect a response to my e-mail?

A) Generally, we try to respond to e-mails within 48 hours. However, there are times when we receive a high volume of e-mails and responses may take longer.

Q) When an item has been released, if it is on your site, does that mean it is in stock and ready to ship?

A) We do have some items in stock, but the majority of items that have been released are in stock with our distributor and takes 7-10 days to arrive to us. If you are placing an order and have time constraints, please e-mail us to ask the availability and we can give you a more specific time to expect your order to arrive.

Q) What do my shipping costs pay for?

A) The flat rate shipping fee of $6.25 pays for one shipment for that particular order. This flat rate is only applicable to orders shipping to a physical address within the 48 states. Orders sent to PO Boxes, FPO, APO, Alaska, and Hawaii are subject to actual shipping costs, because the only option for ground shipping is the US Postal Service, and the rates are much higher than those we negotiate with our 2 main shipping carriers . For orders containing pre-order books, the shipment is scheduled at the end of the month in which the books are scheduled to release. For example, September 2008 books are scheduled to arrive starting in November and are scheduled to ship at the end of November. If an order contains already released books and pre-order books, the already released books will be held to be sent with the pre-ordered items. The shipment sent at the end of that month is the only “scheduled” shipment from that order. If the order is a one time order, any t e releasing items are held until all items have arrived and sent in one final shipment at no extra cost to the customer, excluding international customers.

If a customer places regular monthly orders, orders are sent at the end of each month for which a pre-order has been placed and a shipping cost corresponds to that order. If a month is skipped, a shipment is skipped, respectively. Any late items from previous months are held until the next scheduled shipment.

Shipping upgrades are applicable for the order the upgrade is placed in. With weekly shipping, you will have shipments sent out each Wednesday in the month your order is scheduled to arrive and it is a one time $12.95 fee per order in addition to the $6.25 regular shipping cost. For example, a June order with weekly shipping will ship each week in August. If this is the only month weekly shipping is chosen, then the following scheduled shipment would be at the end of the following month. The twice a month shipping upgrade pays for the additional shipment sent in the middle of the month in which the order is scheduled to arrive and is $6.25 in addition to the $6.25 regular shipping cost per order.

When regular monthly orders are no longer placed, all late releasing items are held for one final shipment at no extra cost to the customer.

Q) I just placed an order that contains all trades that have been previously released, when can I expect them?

A) DCBS is mainly a pre-order website. Any order placed through the pre-order link is grouped all month and then ordered at the end of the month, once the order deadline has passed. This includes already released trades offered under the various vendors’ backlists. The backlists are in no way linked to our actual inventory, so the orders are not filled until the distributor fills them from the monthly order placed at the end of the month. These are usually filled within 2-3 weeks of the end of the month in which the order was placed. If your items start with the current month’s code, e.g. SEP08, then they are considered by the system a pre-order and will not be “picked up” as an in stock item. If you are placing an order containing only already released trades, please use the trade paperback link on the site. That link is directly tied to our InStockTrades inventory and those orders are pulled and filled within 2-3 business days. InStockTrades does carry approximately 6600 titles and new titles are added every week, but items may sell out each day and are also replenished daily. Please note that occasionally some titles arrive damaged or were missing from the distributor, which causes a delay of 2-3 days for filling items. Most orders placed from the trade paperback link exclusively ship within 2-3 business days.

Q) Can I cancel an order or some items in my order?

A) Unfortunately, we do not accept order cancellations. In the event that an order cancellation is authorized, we will charge a 25% cancellation/restock fee. In order for us to offer the prices we do, it is important to maintain a minimum amount of inventory.

We are also unable to cancel certain items from an order after the deadline has passed. Once the deadline has passed, the order is placed with the distributor and we are unable to cancel items once it is accepted. We have a function on the site that allows customers to edit their current month’s order up until the deadline. You may do this by logging into your account and clicking into your current month’s order. The system prompts you through the edit process and all editions are saved immediately.

Q) What happens when the price of an item changes?

A) Each week, we receive a listing of price changes and they are keyed accordingly. When a price is increased, we are given the option of adjusting our orders with the distributor. This allows us to accept cancellations from the customer when a price increase has occurred. We automatically notify customers when an item price has increased by more than $1 along with an offer of cancelling the item.

Q) When does Previews arrive and when will I receive it?

A) Previews ships to stores on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Weekly customers will receive it in that week's shipment and regular month end customers will receive it in their month end shipment. In month's where there are 5 Wednesdays, the Previews will be sent in the 5th week of that month. Because items are pre-ordered, items ordered in February 2009 are scheduled for shipment the last week of April. Customers who place their first order containing Previews in February 2009 have a shipment scheduled to be sent at the end of April. However, the Previews arrives on the 4th week of March, so as a courtesy, we send the Previews that week, so that the customer may receive it before the order deadline for that month. As long as a customer places regular monthly orders with Previews, they will receive the Previews in each month end shipment. If a monthly order is skipped, the early-arriving Previews will be held until the next scheduled shipment.

Q) What if I do not pay for my order?

A) Customers will receive an e-mail requesting payment for unpaid orders. Orders that remain unpaid will be canceled and accessed a restock fee of 25%. Credit for any previously paid and unshipped items will be applied to the restock fee. Restock fees that remain unpaid may be forwarded to a collection agency and will also be subject to collection agency fees. Future orders cannot be placed by the customer until all restock fees and collection agency fees are paid.