Checkoutmycards.com

[BmanBfan]

I sold my ports so I could use the money to buy more of the cards I would prefer to have.

Now that I have purchased those cards, I am looking to add more cards to sell.

Originally Posted by jacobbigshow

Wow lots of people totally selling there whole port, aren't you guys glad I was the first person to ask CMC if we could do this and I was the first person to test out the new botton to add all cards of inventory. Of course the first time I did it, it took like 5 minutes to upload, now they fixed that too.

But I wonder how much this will hurt CMC. It looks like a lot of people are leaving, or are they just dumping everything they have for 1 big score, and then be able to buy a few more boxes and send more cards into CMC. For the people who sold there ports, why did you do it?

[otmack2o]

Originally Posted by jacobbigshow

Wow lots of people totally selling there whole port, aren't you guys glad I was the first person to ask CMC if we could do this and I was the first person to test out the new botton to add all cards of inventory. Of course the first time I did it, it took like 5 minutes to upload, now they fixed that too.

But I wonder how much this will hurt CMC. It looks like a lot of people are leaving, or are they just dumping everything they have for 1 big score, and then be able to buy a few more boxes and send more cards into CMC. For the people who sold there ports, why did you do it?

I think I asked them first, but either way I love the ability as a buyer and seller.

[ohiomike]

Originally Posted by timgetsch

We never ship cards until the shipment request is received. Budget shipment requests would wait until the 1st of the month to be packaged. We are thinking of only offering budget shipping to people that have accounts.

Sounds like a great idea if you think that will help streamline the process of pulling and shipping cards, especially for large and/or budget orders. If people know this upfront, then they can simply adjust their ordering to coincide with the end of the month so that they aren't waiting long. But as I've mentioned, I think shipping time becomes increasingly less a factor when shipping costs become increasingly less a factor too. Its the combination of high shipping costs / slow shipping that will cause the most frustration.

Originally Posted by timgetsch

Hmm... It sounds like we have to deal with the perception that our shipping fee is only paying for postage. On average only 1/3rd of our shipping costs are due to postage. With large orders it is often closer to 10% of our shipping costs are due to postage. That means the majority of what you are paying for is labor. It takes a lot of labor to find, verify, and securely package 500 cards. Maybe we should call this a packaging fee and offer free shipping.

Yes, I think dealing with the perception that buyers have in regard to the shipping price is a big factor. Admittedly, the current shipping policy is not out of line for buyers who are just purchasing single cards, a handful of high-end cards, or orders of say 50 cards or less. It's larger orders where the current shipping policy leaves a lot to be desired by prospective buyers. That perception could lead to just an overall bias against the site. That is what needs to be avoided.

And again, I don't think anyone questions the fact that there are more costs on your end associated with gathering cards and shipping them than just the postage and shipping supplies used. But any other costs should not be assigned to be covered by buyers. Sellers are paying for a marketplace to have their cards sold and shipped to the buyer for them. Therefore, its sellers who should be assigned the additional overhead costs involved with labor costs of pulling and preparing cards to ship.

Originally Posted by timgetsch

If your goal in having us reduce shipping fees is to make it possible for low priced cards to sell faster, that is a very tough sell. We don't make any money on low priced cards. If a card sells for $0.25, at most we made $0.05 off the cash-out fees, and in reality that number will be much closer to $0.02 because of all the recycled store credit. It doesn't make any business sense to lose money on shipping for items that we didn't make any money on to begin with.

This is true, but it also raises the question of why you even allow low priced cards to be on the site in the first place. There are ways in which the site COULD be making money off even these low price cards (as well as all flip transactions) but you seem unwilling to add a transaction fee. And I respect that... you seem to be looking out for the sellers best interest, which is one of the best parts about your site versus say an ebay. But I remember reading in your terms before ever becoming a user on the site that you did not want cards under $1 listed. For the reasons you outlined above, this made sense to me. But now that there are hundreds of listings daily for cards not only under $1 but going as low as $0.01-$0.15 per card, it seems your stance has changed. So as long as you are going to allow for these cards to be listed, I find it hard to swallow that you are taking the stance that you are unlikely to do anything to promote the sales of these lower priced cards. Either disallow them altogether or allow them and put policies in place that will help them sell. Frankly, I could go either way. Without the low priced cards you wouldn't have nearly as much time invested into listing cards that aren't really making money for the site by your own admission. It would allow for the better cards to get on the site quicker, and make for happier sellers.

Originally Posted by timgetsch

This is an interesting point, but I am pretty sure this conflicts with the previous point. If we charge sellers an extra $0.15 per card to cover the cost of shipping, that would eliminate all of the low priced cards on the site.

That said several sellers have offered to optionally pre-pay for shipping so that their items could be listed as having no extra shipping fees. This is something that we can entertain.

Giving sellers the option to pre-pay is one great idea, but its not the only one out there. But I would also refer back to my previous post... you seem to not really care weather low priced cards are being sold or not, yet you don't want to lose the processing fees they generate.

Originally Posted by timgetsch

I bolded the "paying a little more" because that isn't really possible. We would have to double the cost of our cheapest processing service to offer what you are asking for. Any labor costs that we incur that aren't covered by our fees come directly out of my pocket. I wish I were independently wealthy and could offer this service for free just because I like you guys... but I can't. So we need to work together to figure out the next best alternative.

I don't think anyone is asking you or the company to incur costs without passing them along... I just believe they are being allocated incorrectly by charging the buyers overhead fees that should be covered by sellers. There are PLENTY of ways that the processing fee structure could remain the same while sellers still pay a little more after the card is sold to help cover fees.

I'm not saying any of these changes will be easy or that you can just implement them at the flip of a switch. But I think there are more possibilities out there than what you are entertaining as realistic. As sellers we're all in favor of the site making profits and being successful. Its a necessity for the site to continue to prosper and grow. And I don't think any of us would be spending as much time as we are making suggestions if we didn't have the long term success of the company in mind. And we are not asking you to take money out of your own pocket to make these changes. Now and in the recent past, you have heard from many of us about implementing some kind of additional fee to either make it easier on your company and/or on the seller. How many other sites do you know of where the sellers are asking for more fees to help out?

I'm sure this issue has no quick resolution, so with that said I think most sellers would agree that the changes you've proposed to shipping are an improvement over what is in place now. So in my opinion the best way to proceed would be to implement the proposed changes (assuming you don't hear any complaint from anyone, and assuming the changes are sustainable for you and your company without hurting your bottom line) but continue a dialogue which could hopefully lead to some ideas for change that would not only make it better for the buyer, but also for the site itself. (i.e. Like the site making more money somehow off otherwise free transactions like "flips")

[fungi2510]

I love reading novels that are restatements of prior novels that are restatements of prior novels. Maybe people can use PMs to restate what they have stated before.

[iluvfish2]

Actually in this case fungi..I really enjoy reading these. I even more am impresses Tim is willing to ask about new ideas. But with sporatic log ins, it could get hard to follow different conversations.

That being said...I wonder how much blowout members blowouts had to do with this
"Single day record broken
May 15, 2009

I have no clue what was so significant about yesterday, but we did manage to break our single day record for revenue. No specials, no promotions, just a normal Thursday, but yesterday beat out the day after Thanksgiving which had our huge flat shipping special.

Hopefully this is a positive sign regarding the economy, but I am sure it is way to early to tell. In any case, it is really nice to see this the same week we had a couple new employees join our team."

[hockeyjunkie99]

Originally Posted by iluvfish2

Actually in this case fungi..I really enjoy reading these. I even more am impresses Tim is willing to ask about new ideas. But with sporatic log ins, it could get hard to follow different conversations.

That being said...I wonder how much blowout members blowouts had to do with this
"Single day record broken
May 15, 2009

I have no clue what was so significant about yesterday, but we did manage to break our single day record for revenue. No specials, no promotions, just a normal Thursday, but yesterday beat out the day after Thanksgiving which had our huge flat shipping special.

Hopefully this is a positive sign regarding the economy, but I am sure it is way to early to tell. In any case, it is really nice to see this the same week we had a couple new employees join our team."

Too bad I'm still waiting for my inventory to get posted!!!....lol. Five more days!!!......hopefully

[bigchili73]

Hey all,

I am looking to blowout all my inventory. All offers will be seriously considered. 1500 Bv = $200 takes it all. Let me know if interested.

bigchili73 - checkoutmycards.com

[pskell02]

Tim, did you guys give it any thought to cross market with Blowout? Maybe work out some kind of system where the $$ we have in our accounts can be used to purchase boxes/cases from BO. Charge a small percentage on top of the box price so you guys still get money in the cashout process.

[newengland4me]

Originally Posted by pskell02

Tim, did you guys give it any thought to cross market with Blowout? Maybe work out some kind of system where the $$ we have in our accounts can be used to purchase boxes/cases from BO. Charge a small percentage on top of the box price so you guys still get money in the cashout process.

Now you must of had your thinking cap on Great Idea .. it could be call a fringe benefit of COC & BO
Peter

[iluvfish2]

I have to agree as well...but then again I'd never ever get close to buying my boat. I can see blowout's Friday emails causing mass money movement from COMC to BO. Plus side that means new cards will be forthcoming!