Is ImportCds good enough?

They are a retail arm of the biggest media distributor in North America. They not only ship on their own behalf, but also drop ship on behalf of many of many online retailers, such as BestBuy and occasionally even Amazon. The same company runs DeepDiscount and Collectors Choice Music. All sales from their retail arms are picked and shipped from the exact same warehouses.

Unlike almost every online retailer except Amazon, Ernie B, and a few others, they actually stock everything they sell.

They are impersonal, but their product is legitimate and they ship quickly. They typically pack reasonably well.

 

They are very upfront about that--it's even in the title. So although I wouldn't buy a burned CD-R, for those who would, they aren't trying to pull a fast one.

 

I'm not accusing them of any funny business, I just pointed it out they are selling them to anyone interested.

 

How reliable is ImportCDs about fulfilling backorders? They have a classical box-set for a low price on backorder, but I don't want to order from them only to have it go out of stock at other retailers while I wait and be left empty handed.

 

I've had decent luck, they usually fulfill back orders at least well. There's been times when I thought they wouldn't, but they did, after I ended up buying somewhere else again because of impatience, than have 2 copies. I believe I've had maybe 2 items where no fulfillment, I've bought hundreds of CD's from them.

 

I actually got Heavy Horses from Jehthro Tull (when i pre ordered it) on time from them.

I even buy some of their stuff on Ebay (don't like Amazon's new pricing as of now), so far they're pretty reliable for the most part.

 

Personally, I wouldn't trust ImportCDs to fulfill a backorder on an important item in my collection. From what I can tell, they don't source backorders anymore if the order happens to be at a price lower than it would cost them.

 

Typically the lowest price for stuff with most orders smooth without problems from my experience. However, shipping is slow and their customer service is not great when there is a problem with an order. Note: deepdiscount.com is part of that same group. Prices are usually a bit higher on DD but you get free shipping on orders over 25 bucks. DD also runs a 15% off discount every few weeks or so.

 

Deep Discount, with the sales and free shipping, or check with ImportCDs and compare exact same order price, I feel you get a nice deal and feel good about it.

But I would never buy a back-ordered item from any of them. Only what is in stock and ready to ship right then and there.

I got all my Audio Fidelity quad 4.0 SACDs from them for around $23 or $24 shipped.

One note, if you pay via paypal they charge you right then, if paying by credit card they charge only when items shipped.

 

Good enough when it works.

Had a long standing policy not to buy on backorder with them.

They sent a $50 vinyl box with bad packing so it arrived damaged. They insisted on return from Australia at postage of $50+.

Exactly as I expected the whole thing has disappeared and I'm out for over $100 off the pension.

Never buying anything from them again.

 

Aside from occasional cancellations probably due to availability issues, I've had mainly great experiences with ImportCDs. Most importantly, I've never been stiffed as they've always shipped every item in a particular order. There have been times when they ship those items in separate packages, but everything has arrived as expected.

 

I just ordered the Springsteen Album Collection Vol 2 on CD today. Hopefully, it'll work out OK.

 

Inscribe a pentagram in the soil in the dead of night under a full moon, and from within it burn a lock of hair from a virgin and you should be just fine.

 

I just wish their shipping was a little faster. I live in the state across from them and it takes 7-10 days to get a cd delivered. USPS Media Mail shipping is faster than that. DHL / USPS shipping must be the cheapest service, but the slowest service.

 

Great place for music. I have used them a lot this year. Have Achtung Baby on pre-order. Got the Who's mono My Generation Decca 3-LP for just $28 earlier this year.

 

With Best Buy and Target bailing on CDs we need places like get_Import cds.
I was at Barnes and Nobles today and they had all CDs half-priced. Got some great deals but I get the feeling cds will be gone from there soon also.

Of course they sell new CDs at 25% over list so no wonder they are always my last choice but they would get releases that Best Buy and Walmart wouldn't have.

 

Good seller so far IMO

 

My order arrived quickly and in one piece. I'm happy.

 

Be careful about items listed as "special order" as these can turn out to be MOD's as well. Like The Cowsills albums on the Cowchip label. And they stiffed me on a King Crimson box set once, just cancelled the order. No problems most of the time.

 

I chose Priority for the Poco SHM-CD of Legend, and they shipped soon enough for me to receive today (new release day).

I just saw in the archives they bought Popmarket ? Sounds like a safe place to buy a 6 record set now, since Import CDs does an outstanding job of packing several records at once.

 

eh, ImportCDs sent me 12 LPs in a huge box with a box set stacked on top of it. only a tiny amount of kraft paper filler. it's a toss-up.

 

My albums have been arriving in what can only be called state of the art examples of Steel Rule Die and corrugated. Small apartments for records.

 

A question about back-orders from importcds. When you purchase an item back-ordered do they immediately charge you or do they wait until the product arrives and ships and charge you at that time? Thanks.

 

they charge you when it ships

 

Thanks for the info.