Carolyn J. Bickford

The disbursement for an order queues up for payment on the following Monday two weeks after an order has been marked as shipped, and the disbursement clock is exact about time! So if you marked an order as shipped on Monday, August 3, 2020 at 6 pm, it went into the disbursement queue at 6 pm on August 17, 2020. The disbursement on August 17, 2020 took place at 5:52 am, so that order was not included for disbursement that day. Atomic Avenue disbursements typically occur on Monday mornings, but if staff is travelling or does not have access at that time, the disbursement may take place later in the day. If you were expecting a disbursement and have not received it by 11:59 pm on Monday, please contact Atomic Avenue support at support@atomicavenue.com.

We are also reviewing our calculator as to why it charged $68.10 for this order -- but if you do see a discrepancy, you can contact the administrator at support@atomicavenue.com for a review. Sometimes the calculator is estimating for flat rate shipping in a USPS envelope or package, but that was not an option in line with an order of this size.

Our shipping calculation is based on our best calculation for weight + shipping via USPS tying into their servers, but international orders are often fairly expensive, both to the shock of sellers and buyers, and sellers have to figure out ways to keep the weight light while also packaging appropriately by their standards. We do not require sellers use USPS, as long as whichever service the sellers use arrives within the delivery expectations. To that end, we have recently seen several of our sellers using the Easy Ship service to find more economical yet still timely shipping options. According to Easy Ship, you can send a 6 lb package to Australia with DHL or APC for less than $68.10, or an 8 lb package via APC would be close. Easy ship or similar services may be worth looking at if you ship internationally -- and hopefully sellers who have used the service may comment here on the pros and cons of using it.

We do not specify which shipping service the seller is required to use, as long as the order is received by the buyer within 3 to 6 business days. USPS has been notably capricious about whether comic books may be shipped via Media Mail or not, both accepting and rejecting packages with comics shipped via Media Mail. Sellers often opt for media mail when shipping for free or shipping oversized or large books. If you believe the shipping method the seller used was inappropriate or grossly exceeded the seller's cost, you may leave feedback on the order -- your feedback will appear publicly on the seller's store and will affect the seller's rank and rating.

About 80% of regraded books are cancelled by the buyer. Since buyers are disappointed in receiving a book not in the condition they originally ordered it in, we allow only buyers to decide on whether to accept or cancel a book once it has been regraded. On their order page, they need to click either the Accept or Cancel button next to the regraded book in order to unsuspend the order. If the buyer has not responded to the instructions from Atomic Avenue, and you have also contacted the buyer by email and phone, and there is still no response, remove the book from the order and ship the rest promptly. Odds are the buyer would not have wanted the regraded book, and it's not wise to hold off on shipping the rest of the order waiting for an unresponsive or indecisive buyer. If you believe the buyer would accept the book in its new grade, do make every effort to reach the buyer via email and phone to get a response in a timely manner.

Current USPS shipping rates show little difference between sending a package first class/priority or parcel post. As a result, we have streamlined the Atomic Avenue checkout page to only show one shipping option. Buyers will expect their orders to arrive in 3 to 6 shipping days. You can use any shipping method appropriate to the medium you're shipping (i.e. books or comics), as long as the package gets to the buyer within that time frame. Also make sure that however you ship, that you have a method of tracking the order, such as USPS delivery confirmation so both you and the buyer can confirm the delivery.