So I pay VCP for this?

RonBurgundy

I sit down at my computer a few minutes ago and launch VCP. I have about 50 cards to check. The first 2 cards take 3 minutes each to load.


I'm paying $12.99 per month for this? Ridonkulous.



Ron Burgundy

Carew29

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

thehallmark

I feel your pain and it makes me wonder...

What VCP is trying to accomplish - is there a successful stand-alone business model in there somewhere?!??
To keep the hardcore customers happy, VCP needs to have hyper-accurate data, fast moving page transitions, and loads of photos that are easily accessed. How much would most of us pay for that?? $180 a year!???!? really??!?

I cancelled.

I guess I just can't see how they can give us what we want and be profitable. I'm probably wrong. I dunno. Bless their hearts for trying.

leathtech

I'm sure the some one from VCP will post soon how they've improved the speed of the site.... I wonder why people keep complain about speed issues when they've said they've been taken care of.

gameusedhoop

Had to email them to let them know that they had a 66 Mantle PSA 8 with a sold price of $120+/-. It normally goes $500+, click on their link, card is OC, and has the OC qualifier. It was there 3 weeks dragging the avg down, really nice if your trying to sell one.

They double the price then make us do the work to improve the site? I did get a thank you email from Bobby though, that must be where my $180 a year will be going?

storm888

What is making the site slow?

What needs to be done to make it faster?

mmync

I think they relocated to Hawaii, but I'm not sure if that could contribute to the speed problems.

gosteelers

I cancelled recently solely because of the speed (or lack thereof) of the site....

elsnorto

For me the lack of empirical data is less annoying than the frequent sub-par performance for a paid site.

Both of which are less annoying that Bobby's arrogance and combativeness displayed here many times.

All of which pales in comparison to the hefty (percentage wise) increase in the face of the aforementioned "features".

I personally just let my subscription lapse when they changed over to the new rates and am surviving just fine.

If Bobby ever finds a way to increase performance and deliver the full suite of features for the current Silver member rate, I personally would probably re-subscribe.

Snorto~

StopYurWhining

not too smart raising prices in this economy.

sounds like they need more and better servers.

sagard

It has to be their database. It's brutal.

BobbyVCP

It is really frustrating to us when we hear about the site being slow. Honestly I see it lagging a little at the top of every hour which is not an excuse. I do not use the site the same way you do so that is one of the reasons why I never experience it the same way as you. We are very sorry for this and are going to make a full effort into finding out a solution to this on going problem for the membership. Again very sorry for this and hope to have this take care of in the very near future.

earlycalguy

Bobby

in the past you've said it had been slow when you were downloading data from auction sites such as memory lane, mastro etc. couldn't this be completed in the middle of the night when most are sleeping and not using your site?

Joel

BobbyVCP

I am not going to make any excuses and there are a number of things that cause the site to potentially slow down. We just need to find a better way some how.

leathtech

<< <i>I am not going to make any excuses and there are a number of things that cause the site to potentially slow down. We just need to find a better way some how. >>



Finally it sounds like you are going to work on the problem instead of just saying it was already fixed.

It might be a good idea for you to have a normal account (like the rest of the users) and use the site like your paying subscribers.

I’m being honest and not just ripping the site… the speed was a major reason I dropped your service.

Ironmanfan

The ironic thing was that I was thinking of subscribing the last month or so, but I think I'll spend my money elsewhere now.

ping4u43

<< <i>The ironic thing was that I was thinking of subscribing the last month or so, but I think I'll spend my money elsewhere now. >>



I cancelled my membership because of it not being user friendly and taking for ever to find anything and the lack of speed on the site. Maybe they should refund all memberships and then start over, and build a site that actually works as advertised.

craig19

"It is really frustrating to us when we hear about the site being slow. Honestly I see it lagging a little at the top of every hour which is not an excuse. I do not use the site the same way you do so that is one of the reasons why I never experience it the same way as you. We are very sorry for this and are going to make a full effort into finding out a solution to this on going problem for the membership. Again very sorry for this and hope to have this take care of in the very near future. "

I am not a subscriber, but that response is not very practical from VCP. They should always be testing the site the same way subscribers would be using the site...

onebamafan

Thats why i ask for help................") ...............................just razzin' you...that does suck.

RonBurgundy

You know, I didn't mean to start a firestorm here but I'm taking a much harder look at what I spend my money on, and if what I pay for isn't up to par I'm going to stop paying for it. I had visions last night of cruising through the stack of cards that I had, and those turned out to be delusions of grandeur.

I guess what I would say to VCP at this point is this: enough is enough. Fix it, or I'll get rid of it. And I suspect others will do the same.




Ron

RipublicaninMass

it is also impossible to find any sets via the set searches

RonBurgundy

onebamafan may be the smartest of all of us. Just ask for help instead of actually pay for it.

BobbyVCP

First of all we truly appreciate those of you who are members, have been in the past and will be in the future. We understand your frustrations with the fact that we had to increase our dues but it had to be done for many reasons in order for us to continue to operate. Please keep in mind that my partner and I maintain this site 7 days a week at about 12 hours a day during the week. There are also 4 other people involved who we contract out regularly. There is a lot of time and cost involved in keeping this site maintained and we had to do it knowing very well that it would not be welcomed. For those of you who are still members, we thank you very much. Those who have canceled, we hope that you will come back in the near future or anytime you ever need to use our service again. Your Want List and My Collection data is always available to you even if you're a limited member for a while.

As for the slowing of the site, we have had many people tell us that they do not experience any slowing at all when asked if they feel any slowness. Of course we do have those who report slowing but when we try to get feedback from them, they almost never respond. In order for us to pinpoint why the site is slowing for you, we need to know what page you were on and at what time. These details are important to us as they help us focus in the problem. We want the site to run quickly for you as it does for us but you must provide us with some information to help us make it better. After reading this, we hope that you will help us help you by providing the information we need to alleviate the problem.

fattymacs

I'm on right now and have done Player, Set, and Unopened Packs searches in the last few minutes and all is fine speed-wise.

msassin

My thoughts on the speed of the site (if it helps anyone).....

For me it runs much, much slower when looking up a card of a star player (Mantle, Clemente, etc) than a common or pre-war HOFer who didn't have as many cards.

I kind of thought it came from all of the links at the bottom of the page that I could care less about (all of the player related items that are currently on eBay)


Anyone else see the same thing happening?

storm888

"...After reading this, we hope that you will help us help you by providing the information we need to alleviate the problem. ..."

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

Hi bobby:

I am not a current subscriber.

I know you want to solve the speed problem.

I suggest that NONE of the folks "complaining" about speed are "making it up."

It would likely be worthwhile, if YOUR guys were to open and operate a few
"consumer accounts" on the site. THAT is the consumer-friendly way to identify
and solve the problem.

Relying on subscribers to "pinpoint" exact problems is a losing strategy, and
only further alienates the users. YOUR paid guys can identify/fix the "problems,"
if they will simply USE the site like subscribers do.

EBAY has gotten away with forcing its users to "identify" problems, but has
bred nothing but hatred and distrust in the process. Asking customers to
"clear your cache and delete your cookies" is now a WORLDWIDE joke.

Good Luck!

BobbyVCP

To answer so questions...

msassin,

You bring up a valid point in the eBay links at the bottom could slow things down only if eBay is having some issues. But it does load last after the main search on our page is complete so you should be able to get our result fast. We are going to add a button so that if you do not want to view those you can click it and they will no longer show.

storm888,

I do searches on the site everyday while entering cards to the site because sellers sometimes fail to enter card numbers and such and do about 50+ a day with really no problems. I have also created a Want List so to test that the email alert system is always working. And of course have created a My Collection to verify there as well. My partner has done the same so we do have 2 sets of eyes on things testing all the time.

We do everything to try and repeat the problems that you the member are having and have a hard time doing this with the same results. There are issues that cause problems like what browser you use, if you are still using AOL there is going to be problems. We find that IE, FF and Safari are the best to use on our site. The only lag time I ever experience is at the top of every hour it is slow for about 2-3 minutes because it is running update scripts that take huge memory. And the worst is at 12AM then the site starts running some major updates and new auction pulls that usually lasts about 20-30 minutes but there is not very many members on that late at night.

mrpeanut39

<< <i>To answer so questions...

msassin,

You bring up a valid point in the eBay links at the bottom could slow things down only if eBay is having some issues. But it does load last after the main search on our page is complete so you should be able to get our result fast. We are going to add a button so that if you do not want to view those you can click it and they will no longer show.
>>



Bobby,

That sounds like my problem. I rarely do blind searches. I just click on my want list, and often times that page takes forever to load. The "Right Now On eBay" list is the culprit. Since I get that information e-mailed to me, this is something I don't need. An option to opt out of this would do wonders for me. Once this part loads and I can get into my sets, I have no problems.

mcolney1

I occasionally have problems with the speed of the site, but it generally works fine for me. With the amount of money I save every month and many times pick up bargains for well below VCP average, the site pays for itself at least twice over every month! I buy almost exclusively football HOFers from 1935 to 1963.

Yes, I do encounter problems, but have worked around them and they haven't frustrated me enough yet to end my relationship with VCP.

And no, I'm not a VCP shill...just a little collector way out here in Seattle.

Tabe

<< <i>storm888,

I do searches on the site everyday while entering cards to the site because sellers sometimes fail to enter card numbers and such and do about 50+ a day with really no problems. I have also created a Want List so to test that the email alert system is always working. And of course have created a My Collection to verify there as well. My partner has done the same so we do have 2 sets of eyes on things testing all the time.

We do everything to try and repeat the problems that you the member are having and have a hard time doing this with the same results. There are issues that cause problems like what browser you use, if you are still using AOL there is going to be problems. We find that IE, FF and Safari are the best to use on our site. The only lag time I ever experience is at the top of every hour it is slow for about 2-3 minutes because it is running update scripts that take huge memory. And the worst is at 12AM then the site starts running some major updates and new auction pulls that usually lasts about 20-30 minutes but there is not very many members on that late at night. >>


Sounds to me like:

1) You need to hire some better database or data import guys to fix the performance of your update scripts

2) You need to be accessing your site from outside your network so you can experience the same issues users are experiencing

3) You need to invest in some web performance testing applications - or even just use the free ones available

4) You need to invest in some better servers - seriously, how many simultaneous users can we possibly be talking about here? And your site is slow?

Doing QA on web sites is what I do for a living, if that helps lend credence to my suggestions.

Tabe

BobbyVCP

We have taken away the eBay ads at the bottom of the search pages for the Paying members so give it a try and tell us if it makes a difference in your search speed.

Thanks..

otwcards

Bobby:

The site is slow on a recurring and regular basis. Sometimes worse than others, but at no time would I ever suggest that it is quick.

I log into VCP from an array of ISP's and it's the same from all of them. So the issue is not on my end, but rather in your server platform. Whatever way you want to explain it or address it, it is an issue that has been broached over and over and still exists.

Also, when I log out from one ISP and log in from another, I have to log in numerous times to override the ERROR page that pops up. I'm not sure what the issue is, but it occurs most often at home and seems to be more common when loggin in through AOL versus IE or FireFox. Perhaps another issue that could be addressed.

I do enjoy the service and realize that the accumulation and separation of the data into a usable format is a difficult task, but it is a service that we are paying for and as such, I do expect to see the service improve rather than stay stagnant.

I currently have about 8 months left on my subscription and I plan to renew, but if things remain the same, I may explore the eBay platform that will eventually provide a similar service at a bit cheaper price. Granted, I will forego the auction house prices, but they are an abberation in comparison to the majority of the realized prices, so the loss of that data is relatively insignificant.

Here's to looking forward to better speed and improvements in the coming months. Keep up the good work, but realize that there's plenty more work to be done to continue to receive my hard earned money.

ldferg

i am noticing a signficant performance increase tonight for my searches.