A little Damage Control please Leon

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Posted By: Bobby

Barry Sloate
September 1 2006, 12:28 PM

And I can vouch that Bobby was in the restaurant business- my sister-in-law told me that (Bobby and I have a distant family connection). Bobby, no damage is irreversible. If you say someone is trying to sabotage your business, then I think the board should believe you.

Barry,

Thanks for the support it seems I have very little of it on this board. At the National I was helping every board member that came by asking me to look up prices for them and have no idea if they were paying members or not. Just told me that they are VIN54 guys and I happily helped them out. My site has change a lot since then and it would be nice if people wouild give it a try. I still stand by my offer for anyone here to test it out for 2 weeks with a money back guarantee.

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Posted By: leon

The other thread has been deleted....I had enough evidence in my mind to make that decision...I hate that this board has been used for the wrong reasons sometimes. All I can say is that I will do the best I can to protect the integrity of it, and it's members (all of us)....which, at times, is no small task.... best regards

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Posted By: Jim Loewke

Hey Bobby, keep your head held high. While the whiners here have the right to their opinion, many more people respect and admire what you are doing. Ignore the jealousy and nonsense from the few.

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Posted By: Cobby33

I don't know the history of this and it sounds like Bobby's website provides a great service to those who are interested.

I will say, however, that a little humility and lack of abrasiveness goes a long way...Some people's skin is less thick than others and I've learned that being diplomatic and not speaking with such biting sharpness on issues garners more goodwill than the opposite.

Just my two cents. Best of luck with the venture.

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Posted By: Mark

To recap, the first thread was a hoax and that wasn't in fact Bobby attempting to self-promore VCP, a website (i) that many members of this forum found extremely useful when making buying decisions at the National, (ii) which has had many features added in just the four weeks and (iii) for which Bobby offers a free two-week trial with a full money back guaranty so you have nothing to lose.

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Posted By: runscott

Leon, you must be doing something right - you've lasted longer as moderator than anyone I can remember.

I finally met David Rudd last week - very pleasant guy. I look forward to meeting some of the rest of you from the Seattle area. If any of you want to meet for coffee, etc., sometime, just send me an email. I am much less abrasive in human form.

Max - sorry I missed the Vancouver meeting, but very much appreciate you going to the trouble to get me a ride up there. I broke the plan to take a trip out to the coast with a very attractive young woman I had just met...what a waste of time....NEVER put women before BASEBALL HISTORY!!!!! Baseball History will be with you forever, but women come and go.

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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

I'm a member of Bobby's site and find it very usefull. I do a lot of trading and it helps to know what stuffs going for in recent auctions. The hobby changes quickly these days and I don't have the time to keep track or follow every vintage set. New features are being added to the site all the time and I'm emailed what they are, what they do and when they've been put in place. I have a want list going where I get notified if any are available, my collection is entered and I get emailed when a like example sells and for how much. I'm in no way shape or form affiliated with Bobby or his site. I'm only speaking as a collector that thinks its a good service at a fair price. I'm a long time vintage collector and find it useful, I can only say if you're relatively new to vintgae, this has got to pay for itself. Keith O'Leary

edited to add, Bobby has always been quick to handle any concerns as well. I can't say anything bad about the site, I feel its been improving since I've joined, will continue to improve, and become a better value as a result.

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Posted By: edacra

oops i forgot to check back into that thread but i had a legit question i was curious about! how does the site track prices for sales where the grade wasn't offered or even accurate? no clue what went on in the deleted thread. hope my honest question didn't get mistaken for some provocation.

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Posted By: Bobby

We created a back end software that scans ebay for all acutions that we visually see and verify that they are listed correctly. From there it goes into our queue and our computer communicates with eBay every 15 minutes checking every auction in our queue. Once it has completed and bids are placed and reserve is meet it posts to our site automatically. Since we watch every auction at least 6 days out when it gets added to the queue it checks all members "Want list" and if a card is available that meets your criteria of grade and grader or higher you get an email with links to the auction itself as well as in you want list. We are the only site that provides this kind of service and the only site that posts results in real time no other site can claim this type of service.

We demonstrated the back end system at the National but can not do it otherwise because it is an admin function and can only show it at a convention format. We are planning on going back east in the future and making the show circuit in due time.

Join as a Limited and test out the want list feature for your self it is free.

Hope that

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Posted By: edacra

Bobby, Thanks for answering, Ibut 'm still not sure I'm reading that correctly. You visually check each and every auction before it's listed in your system?

Maybe I need to clarify what I'm asking. Say I want to price a rare food issue and the last copy that sold on Ebay went for $150 without a grade attached to it. Nobody assigned it a grade. The description left it up to the buyers to determine condition. How does the system account for the missing information? All we know is that card sold for $150. How do we know if a dog chewed on it first?

If it's a recent auction I guess I can reference the photo and see how much nicer my card is - but without that photo, or without someone looking at the fuzzy Ebay photo and making a guess, how can I arrive at a price? I'm sure your system tracks things with precision, but I'm hoping there's a method to account for the situation I've described, because it's pretty common one.

Again, I'm hopipng you guys have a creative solution and it's all been thought through. Not meaning to challenge you, or attack what I hear is a very useful system. It's more a case of wanting to know it's capabilities, or limitations right now. Thanks!

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Posted By: leon

If I am not mistaking the site only tracks 3rd party graded cards...otherwise, it would be extremely inaccurate.....(I could be wrong but I think this is the case)....

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Posted By: Bobby

We only track cards that have been graded by SGC, PSA and GAI will be adding BVG to the mix by the end of September when we add 60's, 70's & 80's Baseball. Also starting up will be Football, Hockey, Basketball and Boxing and a number of other things. Our intention is to have everything that is graded by a third party company available on the site. Including unopened packs, Sports tickets, autographs divided by categories now, checks, HOF plaques, Cut sigs, etc...

We have a lot of plans for the future on the site and have been at this for a year and any current member can attest that we have made a lot of changes for the better since launching June 19th..the site is just getting bigger and better with the help from members directing us on what they would like to see in the site.

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Posted By: Cat

I have been a paying member for three/four weeks and I get a lot of utility out of the site.

To get a feel for prices, I used to look at the SMR, and every time I did I would wonder to myself why I bothered. I thought I would try VCP for a month or two but now that I have used it for awhile it's a bit addicting to have at my disposal. I could very well be a member until my collecting days are over. It is amazing how many EBay auctions I either have forgotten about or flat missed. The historical reference to those auctions as well as all the acution houses makes pricing searches easy.

In all seriousness, I am not trying to help Bobby promote the site. I have never met him, never exchanged an e-mail with him, and didn't stop by his booth at the National but there has been so much negativity that I wanted to express an unbiased third party opinion about its utility.

Adding the price icon to show which cards have pricing info. has really expedited my data searches. That was a great site change.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

I'm a very satisfied customer of VCP as a seller, buyer and collector.

When I sell or buy, I can instantly check the prices that cards have sold for. And no, it's not for raw cards...that would not be feasible.

As a collector, I've made "portfolios" of my collection and now, for the first time, I have a precise summary of all my sets. Also, I am notified if a card I want is up on EBAY.

I don't work for Bobby and this was not solicited. I just think that for me, this is a terrific service.

Frank

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Posted By: Griffin's

I"ll echo the positive statements above. I've worked on a number of sets, and can't possibly keep track of all the prices. VCP makes it very easy, and Bobby has been responsive to any comments, suggestions, or requests I've made.
Also, by adding cards to my collection list it's easy to get a current (and real) value. This, in turn, made it easy to show my wife exactly where everything was in the event anything should happen to me- keeping away the guys that prey on widows with a handful of cash.

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Posted By: edacra

Okay, that took me a minute to wrap my head around hhah Thanks Leon for explaining.

Graded cards only! Makes sense.