FREE auction listings are extended

SportsWanted · September 13, 2008 3:05AM

Our “FREE Trial” promotion has been extended

SportsWanted.com is excited to announce that we have officially extended our “FREE Trial” promotion through October 31, 2008. All members now have an extra month of:

FREE Auction Listings
FREE Auction Listing Upgrades
FREE Store Fronts
And FREE Wanted Ads

We want to encourage everyone to try out all the different features that SportsWanted.com has to offer. This promotion was a huge success during our launch and we plan to keep it going.

“What’s New”

Our “What’s New” section is growing everyday with information from around the industry. We hope that by having this section on the site it will allow you to stay up to speed on not only what’s currently out but also give you a sneak peak at what’s coming out. We are in contact with companies from around the industry everyday so we can be one of the first to bring you news and information that matters.

Card Shop and Card Show Directories

Thanks again to all the card shop owners and card show promoters who have taken the time to send us their information for our directories. We now have about 100 card shops and almost 250 card shows listed in the directories for our members to access. Remember having your business information in the directory is FREE. If you haven’t already done so and would like your business listed in our directory just send us the following information and we will have you up on the site today.

Card Shops:

Shop Name
Location (address, zip code, city and state)
Phone #
Contact Name ( if available )
Email ( if available )
Website ( if available )
Comments (anything you would like for your listing to say)

Card Shows:

Date/Dates (including show times)
Name of Venue/Location
Address (including city, state and zip code)
Contact Name ( if available )
Email ( if available )
# of Tables/Dealers
Website ( if available )
General Admission Price
Comments (anything you would like for your listing to say… how long you’ve been in business, what you specialize in, athletes that will be signing, etc…)

Around town

Now that we are off and running with almost 18,000 auctions our primary focus is to bring more collectors to the site. We will be distributing over 5,000 postcards advertising SportsWanted.com to collectors and dealers at various card shows across the country this weekend alone. We then will follow that up with over 20,000 more postcards going out over the next several weeks.

I personally will be at the Two Hearts Banquet Center show in St. Louis, Missouri talking to dealers and collectors about the site this weekend. If you are planning on attending the show in St. Louis let me know by emailing me at allen@sportswanted.com, I would love to meet you in person.

Our Mission

Our mission is to deliver a quality product at a low cost to our members. Our site was designed with the sports collector’s needs in mind. Anyone who has had any dealings with us knows that are commitment to customer service is only exceeded by our commitment to the hobby. We are here to help collectors find a place to have fun, research information, network and conduct business. As we have said before we are not out to conquer the market we are only out to help make it a better place.

If you have any questions about any of the information in this newsletter or about the site please email me at allen@sportswanted.com. Send us your feedback because at SportsWanted.com your opinion matters. Thanks for your support and we hope you enjoy the site.

sayheykid54 · September 13, 2008 3:48AM

I did a search for PSA cards on the website and it brought up zero results. Am I missing something or looking in the wrong area??

DrJ · September 13, 2008 4:05AM

OGDEN stop posting repeated messages about your website. You could have just as easily bumped any one of the number of additional threads you already started.

Have you recorded one sale since the site went live?

MeteoriteGuy · September 13, 2008 4:12AM

<< OGDEN stop posting repeated messages about your website. You could have just as easily bumped any one of the number of additional threads you already started.

Have you recorded one sale since the site went live? >>

Or at least limit yourself to one thread.

SportsWanted · September 13, 2008 4:48AM

Hey Sayhey... The search engine believe it or not is set up for strings of 4 or more characters. I currently have people looking into this to see if it can be changed to 3 or more characters. So, needless to say when you search PSA it will not pull up. I will keep you posted if I find a quick fix to this issue... Sorry for the inconvenience. Other than that... how do you like the site? I would love your feedback.

DrJ... I am not OGDEN. I know that you are saying that because OGDEN has so many auction listings on the site. As for the issue of bumping a thread. I am new at this how do i do that and I will do so in the future. When I create a new topic is that bad? Just wanted to know... Thanks!!

storm888 · September 13, 2008 5:02AM

If sportswanted - OR any other site - wants to succeed, they will have to master google.

Sites who do not know how to do it, can hire folks who do.

No google = No business.

Random "Ending Soon" google Item Search: 2005 REFLECTIONS ERIC CHAVEZ FABRIC

Not Easy To Find Items Available At sportswanted On google

DrJ · September 13, 2008 5:34AM

<< 

DrJ... I am not OGDEN. I know that you are saying that because OGDEN has so many auction listings on the site. As for the issue of bumping a thread. I am new at this how do i do that and I will do so in the future. When I create a new topic is that bad? Just wanted to know... Thanks!! >>

OGDEN is one of the only sellers who has listings on your site. And his address is very similar to your own... Hmmmmmmmmm....

If you wanted to sell items as OGDEN you should have just started www.OGDEN.com and gave up the auction format.

pandrews · September 13, 2008 5:39AM

Dr. J is a thread stalker.

Leaiscards will be along shortly to provide more negativity.

Good luck with the site, Allen, I hope it succeeds, but it will be tough.. stick with it, keep advertising.

DrJ · September 13, 2008 5:43AM

<< Dr. J is a thread stalker.

Leaiscards will be along shortly to provide more negativity.

Good luck with the site, Allen, I hope it succeeds, but it will be tough.. stick with it, keep advertising. >>

I admit I am a stalker, but not in this case. Sportswanted (OGDEN) spammed this same thread in "Sports Talk" and the BST forum as well. I felt like he was stalking me!

WinPitcher · September 13, 2008 5:52AM

As long as a week or 2 goes by I see no problem with him creating a new thread.

Especially if it tells people something new.

It is not like he has been bombarding this forum with a new thread each and every day.

Steve

WinPitcher · September 13, 2008 5:53AM

Allen, have any auctions ended with sales?

Steve

storm888 · September 13, 2008 6:24AM

"Now that we are off and running with almost 18,000 auctions our primary focus is to bring more collectors to the site......"

///////////

NOTWITHSTANDING any advice from ANYBODY to the contrary:

The ONLY way to make a site fly is to have MANY sellers in the mix.

.............................

You might consider telling sellers they can list free forever, if they sign-up
and load 200 items into a store during 2008. Perhaps no FVFs until 2009.

Buyers will ONLY go where the seller-population is at critical-mass+. Those
who doubt that, should look at a 3/4-full mall and count the buyers.

Postcards may attract some sellers, but mailing to collectors/buyers unless
the site is already jamming, does not work.

google, yahoo, msn - ESPECIALLY google - are the buyer magnets. You
cannot make ANY site work without being deep into google-base.

The few items I have googled that are listed on sportswanted, are not
showing in the first SIX-pages of google. (I stopped looking after page 6.)
That means the site is not properly optimized for google; it is easily fixed,
but you need to hire somebody who can do it quickly. The site - or its sellers -
must ALSO be uploading their stuff to google-base frequently.

Take a look at gozbay.com and bonanzle.com. They are NOT doing it right, either;
but, they have attracted some sellers.

Keep trying. Don't give up. BUT, don't sink a bunch of money in "mailings."

hockeyguy · September 13, 2008 6:42AM

Here are my thoughts

I'd love for a real site to come along, to compete & beat Ebay, but it would take a lot for that to happen

1st ... listings should ALWAYS be FREE (just fees for items when they sell & only a flat 5% fee)

2nd ... as someone visiting the site for the first time, I need to see A LOT of listings. If I do a couple of searches, and next to nothing appears ... I'm usually done and dont come back. I think that just as any other business, you need to invest a lot of time & money. Its alot of effort to set up the website, but I think you need to be the sites biggest lister (at least in the beginning). Its a risk, just as an other business, but I think for it to work, you need to have LISTINGS. Lots of them, and they will probably be your own (at least for the beginning, you would hope). It's hard to start this site, and hope that BUYERS & SELLERS come on board. You are better off establishing one, and hope the other comes on board.

DrJ · September 13, 2008 7:19AM

To clarify the situation, I would love for a viable alternative to eBay to surface, especially if it is geared towards sports memorbilia/cards.

Couple of thoughts....

The search function on your site is no where near as comprehensive as eBay's. To be a competitor you must do all of the baiscs as good as your competitor and then expand from that point. Completed auctions is a must.

Not enough variation of product. As mentioned in an earlier thread there were a grand total of 8 Basketball Cards listed. I can go to eBay and find 40 listings just for Julius Erving.

Establishing the site will take time, and if your fees are anywhere in the vicinity of eBay's for listing, you will not succeed as the cost/benefit is just not there with the limited traffic.

Leiascards · September 13, 2008 7:26AM

I agree with Dr J and Storm. The sites fees are not much cheaper than Ebay and there is no real advertising being done. The best way as storm pointed out is to use the money they are using printing those postcards and use it on some google help. I have also made some pointers about having the ability to use completed item searches. I would love to see it succeed, but spamming this site and passing out flyers is not going to do it.

storm888 · September 13, 2008 7:27AM

Anybody tried this site?

delcampe.com

I have bought a few items on there. They've been around a good while.

stevek · September 13, 2008 7:50AM

This guy may not have known better when he first posted this stuff here, but now he should know better to the point I would classify him as a spammer, and I won't do business with spammers.

stevek · September 13, 2008 7:54AM

<< If sportswanted - OR any other site - wants to succeed, they will have to master google.

Sites who do not know how to do it, can hire folks who do.

No google = No business.

Random "Ending Soon" google Item Search: 2005 REFLECTIONS ERIC CHAVEZ FABRIC

Not Easy To Find Items Available At sportswanted On google >>

That's exactly right.

elsnorto · September 13, 2008 8:14AM

<< 
1st ... listings should ALWAYS be FREE (just fees for items when they sell & only a flat 5% fee)

2nd ... as someone visiting the site for the first time, I need to see A LOT of listings. If I do a couple of searches, and next to nothing appears ... I'm usually done and dont come back. I think that just as any other business, you need to invest a lot of time & money. Its alot of effort to set up the website, but I think you need to be the sites biggest lister (at least in the beginning). Its a risk, just as an other business, but I think for it to work, you need to have LISTINGS. Lots of them, and they will probably be your own (at least for the beginning, you would hope). It's hard to start this site, and hope that BUYERS & SELLERS come on board. You are better off establishing one, and hope the other comes on board.
>>

I don't know about the 1st point above... making listings free means there is absolutely nothing to disuade people from listing all their junk with unrealistic asking prices. I think most of us have seen the crazy listings that come up every time eBay has a free listing day... but at least those auctions age out in a week and then things are back to normal. Because Yahoo auctions used this model, their site was loaded with low dollar items with high dollar asking prices and it worked against them as potential bidders got tired of these auctions and how they dilute search capabilities.

With regards to the 2nd point, I believe any site that finds a way to attract BUYERS in addition to sellers will be successful. The sellers have plenty of motivation to look for alternatives to eBay, namely ever increasing fees, so they are eager to try new sites. The problem is eBay buyers have little reason to follow these sellers. The challenge is how to pull the BUYERS away from eBay... what is in it for them? Certainly if they could consistently get some bargains due to less bidding competition that may help, but that would require sellers to lower BINs, starting prices, and reserves. What can the site owners do? Perhaps some sort of cash-back/rewards program and/or adding some unique content/feature that eBay does not?

I wish you luck, Allen. I too would love to see someone challenge eBay to keep them competitive and honest. I have been checking out your site weekly to try to help, but have yet to find anything I collect, or to find it at a competitive price.

Snorto~

storm888 · September 13, 2008 11:20AM

"...sellers have plenty of motivation to look for alternatives to eBay, namely ever increasing fees, so they are eager to try new sites. The problem is eBay buyers have little reason to follow these sellers. The challenge is how to pull the BUYERS away from eBay... "

/////////////////////////////////

Sellers who have "already tried every other site without success," are FAR
from "eager" to waste more time/money experimenting. Thus, they stay
put and allow the abuse of EBAY and the filth that poses as "buyers."

The ONLY reason buyers need to migrate is that "most of the sellers are
at XYZ-site."

IF sellers ever move in unison, their landing site will be the "new place to buy."

The person/company that figures out how to "unite" sellers, is going to make money.

//////////////////

Tonight, a review of the top 500-PSers on EBAY shows that 50%+ are OUT of the game;
few or no listings.

IF EBAY becomes big-box-world by November, there will be 200-sellers, AND almost
no buyers. January and February will be exodus months. Hopefully, the sellers won't
spend months wandering around the desert before finding the right spot.

//////////////////////////

google's current position is: "Show us how to make money doing this, and we will
do it." So far, nobody has painted a profitable picture.