Beyond Comics — Local services in Ballenger Creek

Update as of August 03, 2021: Never heard back regarding the email that was sent. I'm appreciative of the owner attempting to reach out via a response to the original review.

It's unfortunate because they have a good stock at the store. Hopefully they'll handle transactions better in the future.

Updated as of July 23, 2021: The owner responded to my review (see below). I was unable to find a way to respond directly on here but I did send an email to the one listed on their website. I appreciate that someone did reach out to attempt to rectify the situation. As such I do realize I came across rather aggressive in my original review. I'm going to keep the original review for clarity but I am updating my review to reflect the customer service thus far and the facility itself. I'll keep this review updated with any changes and any information from their customer service.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I once shopped at the Beyond Comics in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It was truly a great comic store and the associates there helped my fiancée and I get into comic book collecting. They always recommended heading out to their Frederick store to see more of the inventory.

We visited on July 20, 2021 (our second time visiting) and we purchased around 30 comics from them. These totaled to $193.50 cover prices. During checkout, a gentleman came up and assisted the associate with his counts. He looked through some the comics we were purchasing and after a moment of consideration, told the associate checking us out, the prices. We assumed he was simply doing the math.

After checking out and adding them to the database tracker and looking at the receipt for the purchase, we see that the subtotal came to $218.25 on their side. We are not quite sure why they would change their prices at checkout but we are very disappointed to see this happening. If the store felt the prices of the comics should change, we would have simply accepted that reasoning and continued with the purchase. However, to not communicate this and proceed to overcharge by $24.75 without communication is absurd.

This sort of occurrence definitely comes across as the business seeing customers eager to buy comics they are interested in, and hike the prices up at the register. It's a good way to not only lose trust, but also lose customers.

We will not...

Edit: May 1, 2021

I initially left a five-star review after the pleasant surprise of finding Pokémon cards in stock and at MSRP. This was thanks to the management being proactive and limiting purchases in order to prevent scalpers from clearing out stock before actual players and collectors could buy the product.

Since then, I had made it the ONLY place I buy cards and had been recommending Beyond Comics to anyone who was trying to find a place that had cards at fair prices. They managed to consistently have something in stock and at actual MSRP. No other comic shop in town could say that. I know because I've been to the other shops and left when I saw the absurd prices. It made Beyond Comics a shining beacon in this era of hype and scalpers.

My younger brother wanted to get back into collecting and playing, so in my mind Beyond Comics was the only place to go. Booster packs were still MSRP but the "Elite Trainer Boxes" which are the perfect gift for new players are now marked up over 200% MSRP!!! We left with a few booster packs because the Elite Trainer Box was priced so egregiously that even online scalpers are selling this exact product for less on eBay.

It was disappointing, I'd been making sure to continue patronizing this shop since my first experience specifically because of their consumer friendly pricing practices. It feels like a kick in the gut after passing up buying the same product at MSRP when it was in stock at Walmart while thinking that with a little patience I'd be able to buy it for the same price (or perhaps a small bit more) and support a small business. At this point, Beyond Comics will squeeze your wallet harder than the scalpers.

Pros Helpful and knowledgeable staff Product is in stock due to wise management decisions Some items at MSRP Excellent selection

Cons Desirable items marked up to 200%+ MSRP No pre-orders for collectable card games

Original Review:

Fantastic shop. Literally the best of its kind in Frederick, and I've been to probably all of them at one point or another. Beyond comics CONSISTENTLY has the best prices in town for whatever I am looking to purchase, be it games, graphic novels, or collectables. The staff is incredibly...

Beyond comics was always a fun place to go whenever I was visiting Frederick. I liked looking at their clearance section and $1 comics. Been going there for the better part of 15 years now. I have always thought the owner to be rude and cocky. But that didn't ever deter me from making my visits to the store. Unfortunately I made the mistake of going one day while he was there. He proceeding to talk false information and spoke poorly of a competitor that was a half an hour away and pose no threat to his stores. I don't feel like that is a very professional way to act or talk while clientele is in the store. This happened over a year ago and I have only made my way there once since then. He needs to learn some manners and people skills. I think my biggest gripe about this place is that they sell back issues around the higher end of eBay prices and don't provide backs for you!! Out of control!! All those back issues are getting and destroyed, I really think if you own 3 stores (I think) and this huge storefront, that you could provide the measly cost of pennies per backboard to your customer base. You might get some of my money in the future, you might not. I'm sure you don't care and I don't...