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Atomic Avenue is a marketplace with sellers in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Shipping costs are calculated by weight and the most economical shipping method available in the seller's country by the state service (i.e. USPS, Canada Post, Royal Mail. Etc.) This also covers the cost of tracking and for orders over $75, insurance. Sellers may use alternate shipping methods as long as the order arrives within the same time frame. Buyers will see the cost of shipping at checkout before paying. A single charge may reflect multiple orders, if the buyer has placed orders from multiple sellers in his cart. The shipping charge reflects the combined shipping cost from each order. To get the best shipping rates, we recommend buying from fewer sellers and looking for sellers who offer free shipping and meeting their threshold. You can identify sellers who offer free shipping by the word FREE next to their user ID -- click on the seller's user ID to see their threshold for free shipping. (Alternately, if you place an item from their store in your cart, Atomic Avenue will let you know how much more to buy to qualify for free shipping.) You may also look for sellers within your own country to qualify for domestic rates. Sellers will an icon with their country's flag next to their user ID.

Atomic Avenue gets its title naming and issue numbering conventions from the industry standard for comic book collectors, ComicBase. Our information is not sourced or shared with other systems, though it is consistent with the standards ComicBase set in 1991 and has evolved since to cover information on over 900,000 comic books. Various systems and sites (as well as individual sellers, i.e. on eBay) may use differing names for items. Images of an issue are shown whenever available on Atomic Avenue to help buyers identify the issue and variant they want. Information on finding titles in ComicBase (and similarly on Atomic Avenue) is here. You may find the Advanced Find feature in Atomic Avenue useful, as you can search by cover date, UPC/ISBN and various other fields in order to locate a specific issue. To get to the advanced find feature, click the Find button next to the search field on the Atomic Avenue home page. In the drop down menu select Advanced Find. ComicBase follows the publisher's variant numbering identification, but these are frequently unavailable. The ComicBase TV Livestream #20 has a detailed discussion of dealing with variants.

Items are not reserved when they are in the cart. If another buyer selects the same items and checks out before you do, those items will be removed from your cart. Many of our sellers are private individuals selling from a small collection and their inventory may be very limited. Furthermore, sellers may be selling their items in multiple venues, and will remove it from their Atomic Avenue storefront if it is sold elsewhere. As of April 2021, the sales volume has increased 370% over the last your, so inventory may be moving out, getting repriced, and being added more quickly than in past years. If you have abandoned your cart and find items missing when you return, there are several likely reasons thereto: 1 - Sellers may sell out of their inventory, or have another reason for closing their store on Atomic Avenue, or wish to use a different selling venue for some or all of their inventory. 2 – Sellers may be revising their inventory and to that end pulled all issues off Atomic Avenue until the inventory corrections and price corrections have been made. 3- The seller may have been suspended or banned from Atomic Avenue, for one or several reasons such as poor order fulfilment or late shipment. 4 – Sellers can mark their store as on vacation when they cannot fill orders within 2 business days. If a seller sets his inventory on vacation, it is visible but cannot be purchased until the seller returns from vacation and can ship orders within 2 business days, so if you had it in your cart it may be moved a saved for later section. We recommend using this for reference, since the seller may not have the items available or available at the same price when the store is active again. We strongly recommend checking out as soon as you have selected items from any one seller. Many items on Atomic Avenue are considered collectibles and sell and/or undergo price changes quickly.

Atomic Avenue does not arbitrate condition disputes. Sellers should grade their books accurately, and accept returns for condition disputes. If an item is graded accurately, If you are getting repeated returns for condition disputes, you are grading incorrectly. Our grading guide is below. We do not use numeric grades except for certified items which should include the certification service. We repeat and highlight two grades in particular for buyers and sellers. Mint is an exceptional condition. It means the items are in flawless condition, and furthermore will arrive in such condition. It is rare, as most items will have at least minor flaws in production, transit, and shipping. Be very careful and exacting if you post any items in this conditon. VF-NM is not VF/NM. It is a category for comics that fall anywhere between the near mint and very fine grades. Buyers will use this to quickly grade a large collection that they don't have time to verify each issue. You may expect books in near mint or close to near mint condition; you may also receive items in very fine, and no better than very fine condition. If you would like an item in near mint condition, buy items that are listed in near mint condition. Sellers can regrade misgraded items before shipping. These items cannot ship until the buyer accepts them in the regraded condition or either the buyer or seller cancels them off the order. Official List of Grades Used by ComicBase and Atomic Avenue Mint (MT) Perfect in every way. ’Nuff said. Near Mint (NM) Nearly perfect copy of a comic. The cover is flat and glossy without any surface wear, the spine is tight, and the corners are square. The interior pages are generally well-centered and firmly secured with original staples and no staple tears or stress lines. Only has barely perceptible flaws—e.g. subtle printing defects. No creases, staining, soiling or other discoloration. Comic looks as if it were just purchased from the store. Very Fine to Near Mint (VF–NM) Excellent condition but not guaranteed to be near mint. This is not a true grade, but a category for comics that fall anywhere between the Very Fine and Near Mint grades. When selling your comics from ComicBase, you have the option of automatically marking all VF or NM comics in your collection as "VF-NM", giving you an easy way to signify to buyers that the comics in question will be basically in "fresh off the newsstand" condition, without requiring you to painstakingly examine each comic for miniscule defects. Minimum requirements: Comic is in excellent condition but has been read. Cover is clean and flat, but may be slightly less glossy and cannot be rolled or torn. Spine is tight and flat. Corners are square but with slight blunting permitted. Tiny, hard to see staple tears and small bends up to 1/4" long on the cover are acceptable only if color is not broken. Stamped or inked arrival dates may be present on older comics. Interior pages are firmly attached and staples are original. Paper may be cream to tan in color without acidic odor. No creases, staining, soiling or other discoloration except for minor foxing. Comic may be new from the store or gently read. Very Fine (VF) Comic is in excellent condition but has been read. Cover is clean but may be slightly less glossy; cover cannot be rolled or torn. Spine is tight and flat, although tiny, hard to see staple tears and small bends up to 1/4" long on the cover are acceptable if the color is not broken. Corners are still square but may have slight blunting. Stamped or inked arrival dates may be present on older comics. Interior pages are firmly attached and all staples are original. Paper may be cream to tan in color without acidic odor. No creases, staining, soiling or other discoloration except for minor foxing. Comic looks like it was purchased new from the store and gently read. Fine (F) Comic is beginning to show minor wear. An accumulation of small defects is allowed, such as a few creases no more than 1/4" on the front cover or spine, blunted corners, tiny staple tears, and minor discoloration or stress lines. Only the slightest rolling on the spine is permitted. Older comics may have stamped or inked arrival dates. Original staples could be discolored or replaced. Interior pages are still attached and paper may be cream to tan in color but not brown. No obvious soiling or staining. Comic appears to have been read several times but very well-cared for. Very Good (VG) Well-used, but well-cared for comic. Cover surface shows moderate wear and may include: minor to moderate creases, dimples, loss of gloss, blunted corners, minor to moderate staining, discoloration, staple rust, and/or foxing. Spine may be split up to ½" and some mild spine rolling is allowed. Stamped or inked arrival dates may be present. Staples may be rusted or replaced. Interior pages may be loose but are still solidly attached. Paper is tan to brown and might have a slightly acidic odor as well as some minor tearing of 1" or less. Good (G) Not very good at all, frankly. A used comic with substantial wear. Comic still has all of its pages and interiors but significant pieces of the cover and interior pages (no more than 2" in size) may be missing. Creases, stress lines, rounded or chipped corners, dimples, foxing, and fading are all allowed. Stamped or inked arrival dates may also be present on the cover. Binding is loose, a staple may be detached, and spine may have a split of anywhere from 2" plus moderate rolling. Tape and other amateur repair are common in Silver Age and older books. Interior paper color is brown but not brittle and may have some soiling or discoloration in addition to odor and tears. Comic is basically used but still intact and readable. Fair (FA) A comic which shows heavy wear. Creases and folds are common and corners are rounded or missing entirely. Soiling, staining, foxing, fading, pencil or other marks and abrasions on the cover are prevalent as well. Cover and interior pages are generally intact but may have up to one-forth of the cover missing or the back cover missing (although not both). Staples are rusted and may be missing or replaced. Spine roll is expected and split spine may extend for up to two thirds of the book. The interior paper color is brown and brittle and chunks may be missing, and in particular there may be cut outs of coupons. Tape and other amateur repair are common in Silver Age and older books. Often the condition of a comic that has been used and read by children and later collected. Poor (P) A comic that has been used and damaged to a point where it is often not even considered worth collecting. Severe stains, mildew, creases, folding, foxing, and pencil or other markings dominate the cover. Corners are extremely ragged or missing. Spine is rolled, discolored, and/or split. Staples are missing or badly rusted and the pages are falling apart. The interior pages are brown and very brittle with extensive tears and multiple pages or large parts that may be missing entirely. There is significant acidic decay and odor for the paper. Water damage, glue, paints, or indelible dyes may cover the interiors and/or cover as well. Tape and other amateur repair are common. This comic has been obviously used and abused. Ungraded A comic book whose grade is not guaranteed. This book may range anywhere from Poor to Near Mint and there is no obligation to clarify its condition. The comic is sold as-is. Useful for when you are unsure of the grade of a book or do not wish to grade the comic. CGC Grading (CGC 0.5–CGC 10.0) A CGC grade is for a comic that has been evaluated and certified by the Comics Guarantee Corporation. These books are sealed in a special case ("slabbed") and cannot have been unsealed. Only use these grades if you have an actual Comics Guarantee Corporation graded comic that is still sealed and includes its official CGC certification. Listing an unslabbed comic with a CGC grade is considered serious misrepresentation and will lead you to being banned from the system.

We strongly encourage buyers to leave feedback about their orders on Atomic Avenue. To do so, log in to Atomic Avenue and go to My Account > Recent Activity. If you are leaving feedback for a cancelled order or for an order that was placed more than a month ago, click the Cancelled and/or Shipped buttons in the Purchases bar to see all orders. Click on the order number to see the Order page. The feedback bar is at the top of the page: Use the Service drop down menu to select a rating of 5 - Fantastic, 4 - Very Good, 3 - Average, 2 - Below Average, or 1 - Poor, and (optionally) include any comments (keeping it short) in the Comments box. Your feedback and comments will appear on the seller's storefront under Recent Feedback for 1 month. All the ratings the seller has received since beginning to sell on Atomic Avenue set the seller's rank and rating. You can see the seller's average rating on the order page. The seller's rank is determined by the rating for each sale: A rating of 5 is worth 2 points, a rating of 4 or 3 is worth one point, a rating of 2 is worth zero points, and a 1 rating gets you -1 points. Ranks are as below: Sellers whose points are less than 0 or who have more than 2 demerits are banned from selling on Atomic Avenue.

Sellers are responsible for refunds and returns after an order has been marked as shipped. If you have a problem with an order after it has been shipped, contact the seller directly. You will find the seller's contact information on the order page. To see the order page for an order, log in to Atomic Avenue, go to My Account > Recent Activity. Most buyers prefer to contact a seller via email, which also conveniently provides a record of the issue and resolution. If the seller is unresponsive, please call the seller at the phone number on the order page, as email can all too often get misfiled or lost. Do allow the seller 24 hours to respond. If you have not received a response from the seller after 48 hours, or the email is returned to you, or the phone number is incorrect, contact Atomic Avenue at support@atomicavenue.com. Sellers set their own refund and return policies, and many post their policies in the Personal Notes section of their profile. We encourage sellers to be open and reasonable in their refund and return policies. It's best to be accommodating with a buyer who is unhappy with their purchase. If the seller and the buyer cannot agree on a resolution, Atomic Avenue requires the buyer to return the order to the seller. When returning an order to the seller, be sure to package the comic securely and use a form of tracking so you have proof of the return. The buyer is responsible for the cost of shipping the comic back to the seller, unless the seller's policies state otherwise. As for buyers, it is a drag to not get what you expected, or not to get it at all. We encourage you to leave accurate feedback about your transactions, so other buyers will know what to expect.

When pulling items for an Atomic Avenue order, you may find items missing or items that do not meet the advertised grade. You can cancel these items off the order, or regrade them to allow the buyer to accept the items in the regraded condition, or cancel the regraded items. To do so, log in to Atomic Avenue and select the order number under the Sales bar. Click the checkbox next to the items that are missing or need to be regraded. You may need to cancel or regrade items one by one individually. Checking the box next to a comic book on the order will activate both the Regrade Items box and the Cancel Items box on the page. If you click the Cancel Items box, the item will be marked as Cancelled on the order and Atomic Avenue will issue a refund to the buyer for the cancelled items. If you click the Regrade Items box, you will see a window which lets you select the correct condition for the misgraded item. Select the new condition from the drop down menu. Atomic Avenue will automatically revalue the item according to its new condition, but you can change it to any value that is the same or lower than the original price. You may also add notes about the condition regrade, which will be included in the email regrade notification to the buyer. Once you have selected a new condition, and optionally put in a new value and notes, click the Regrade button. The buyer will receive a notification of regraded items. The buyer can use links in the email or go to the order page directly to accept the regraded items at the new price, or cancel the items off the order. If the buyer is unresponsive, we encourage sellers to contact the buyer to take action. If the buyer continues to be unresponsive, cancel the regraded items off the order and relist them at their current condition.

Sellers may find items sold on Atomic Avenue do not match the advertised condition. In this case, sellers may cancel the misgraded item or items off the order or regrade the item so the buyer can choose to accept the regraded item or cancel the regraded item. The buyer will receive a notification from notifications@atomicavenue.com if an order is regraded, as well as a partial refund if the seller marked down the value of the item in its regraded condition. The email subject is Regraded Items on Order (Your Order Number) and reads like the one below: An order is suspended and unable to be shipped until the buyer either accepts or cancels the regraded items, or the seller cancels the regraded items. If you receive a notification that items on your order have been regraded, review the regraded items and accept or cancel them in order to avoid shipping delays. To do so, either use the review the order link in the email or log in to Atomic Avenue, go to My Account > Recent Activity and click on the order number under the Purchases bar. On the order page, you will see both an accept and cancel button next to each regraded item. Click either the Accept button or the Cancel Item button next to each regraded item. If you cancel a regraded item, you will receive a refund from Atomic Avenue for the remaining value of the item. If you wish to cancel the entire order because of the cancellations, click the Cancel Order button at the bottom of the page. After you have accepted or cancelled regraded items, the seller will typically ship your order within 1 business day. If you do not accept or cancel regraded items, the seller may cancel the regraded items within 2 business days. If you have difficulty accepting regraded items, contact the seller via the link on the email or the email address as shown on the order page informing the seller that you accept the regraded items. The seller will contact Atomic Avenue to complete the unsuspension of the order.