Poll & Friday Marketwatch - August 29

While we wait for etopps to fix the shipping error for listing in-port cards, I've decided to open a poll: vote for etopps worst blunder. You can vote for more than one choice.

It ends at midnight on Monday.

If you don't like any of the choices, click on the comments section at the bottom of this post and submit what you think is etopps worst blunder. Feel free to comment on anyone else's suggestion for the worst blunder.

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As of today, August 29 the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Quantity of etopps in-hands listings: 172
Sell-Through: 30.81%
Average starting price: $5.51
Average final price: $14.91

Highest Single Card Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols, $56
Highest Mult-Card Sale: lot of 24 in-hands, $14.75
Highest Graded Sale: None
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2003 Jose Reyes, $97.25
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: None

Other best sellers:

* 2007 Dustin Pedroia
* 2006 Reggie Bush
* 2007 Allen & Ginter Tom Brady
* 2006 Jon Lester

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: Ken Griffey Jr In-Hand Lot, Bids: 9

Autograph Program Customer Service Suggestions

Guess which has better customer service:

In the mail, I received from etopps:

• The autographed etopps in-hand card
  
• The COA for the autograph sandwiched between two thin pieces of cardboard
  
• A coupon for $10 off if I buy $50 from the Topps online store

In the mail, I received from an etopps seller:

• The actual autographed etopps in-hand card
• The COA for the autograph sandwiched between two think pieces of cardboard
  
• An etopps display stand for the card

Rather than offer the display stand for reward points only, why not include one with every autographed card you purchase as a "thank you?" How much can each one cost?

Since a reward system is set up for buying at IPO, why can't there be one for purchasing autographs? For example, "x reward points per autograph." This doesn't have to be 1 reward point per $25; perhaps just enough reward points to get a display stand from the catalog.

Another example: "buy x autographs and get $y off your next autograph purchase." A coupon code is issued and at checkout you enter the code in a special box to get the discount or its automatically discounted on your credit card.

Just a few ways etopps can say, "thank you for your business."

Etopps 2.0, Prepping Your Inventory, Football and Ebay's Lastest Changes

I received an email from Mark, telling me that etopps will involve Topps' new Chief Digital Officer in the review of the etopps website for upgrading after completing the integration with cardtarget.

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I love this time of year: summer is waning, baseball's playoffs are getting closer and football season is less than two weeks away.

You already know full well which etopps baseball in-hands are selling. If those players aren't on a potential playoff team, I would limit my inventory on those players. If they are on a playoff team, stock extras in case one of them ends up the hero of a game or playoff series.

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Even though football is heating up but don't be suprised if not that much sells before the season except for Adrian Peterson. Trigger your listings to end Sunday either after the end of the second game or some time deep into Sunday Night's game.

A player's (rookie) card performs better in the off season if they had a great season than other cards and this lengthy selling opportunity ends when the new season starts, when all bets are off.

For example: Larry Johnson in 2006 and Adrian Peterson in 2007.

And sometimes a player's rookie card takes off after a great first game. I had 5 Carson Palmer rookie cards at the beginning of the 2006 football season. By the end of the first game, someone had bought all 5 due to Palmer's performance in that game.

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I would try to use the recent changes introduced by ebay to your advantage. They do not go into effect until September 16th, two weeks into the football season.

Whatever you have listed for store, shift to the flat 35 cent fixed price, even as lots, sets, graded or autographed in-hands. While you eat more fees at the end of the listings, you don't pay anything if your listings do not sell. Since the sell through rate on ebay for in-hands are not more than 40% (meaning the odds of selling an in-hand is less than 4 out of 10 times you list it), you're saving something if your cards do not sell the first time around.

If you're not getting some kind of discount for final value fees by now, something is wrong with the way you're selling whether it's high shipping fees, slow handling time or simply ignoring buyers other than their paypal emails.

While I like ebay's favor with fixed price, it puts auctions on the sidelines, the way of determining fair value for an item on ebay such as an in-hand. Maybe this is why etopps never gave us the option to sell in-port cards using Buy-It-Now or fixed.

Friday Marketwatch - August 22

As of today, August 22 the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Quantity of etopps in-hands listings: 194
Sell-Through: 36.08%
Average starting price: $8.49
Average final price: $10.20

Highest Single Card Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols, $64.95
Highest Mult-Card Sale: 2 2007 Adrian Peterson, $81.51
Highest Graded Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols, BGS 9.5, $83.86
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2003 Jose Reyes, $75.01
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2006 Vince Young, BGS 9.5/10, $132.01

Other best sellers:

* 2000 Peyton Manning
* 2007 Allen & Ginter Tom Brady
* 2003 Brandon Webb
* 2001 Alex Rodriguez

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2007 Adrian Peterson (Qty 2), $81.51, Bids: 19

Promotional Idea for Etopps

When I was writing out my ideas for etopps 2.0 I didn't include an idea I had to promote etopps via youtube.

To promote the site to collectors, put together a video of etopps Classics, especially the etopps Classic Baseball events, showing each card for about 10 to 15 seconds. Along with the photograph of the card, include an audio snippet that's famous with that player.

Here are a few simple examples:

Audio of Announcer: "I Cannot Believe What I Just Saw."

Vin Scully: "Behind The Bag!"














Phil Rizzuto giving a play-by-play of Munson tagging someone at the plate

For football, since there are so many action shots you can tie a couple of players together for a play such as Pat Sumerall describing Mike Singletary blitzing Phil Simms.

Even if etopps does not take the lead on this, give us an archive of audio snippets and run a contest for the best montage video to promote the site for youtube.

It doesn't have to be Classics. It can be current players in the middle of a fielding or hitting situation.

Bottom line: make the cards come alive.