CardTarget.com Price History Announcement

[CardTarget]

Hello fellow net54 members,
My name is Mike Masinick and I've been a member here for many years. Jason Barden and I are the co-founders of CardTarget.com. CardTarget was founded over 10 years ago as a marketplace and community for eTopps sports cards. We have had a thriving business with many thousands of eTopps customers for over a decade. However, the Topps Corporation decided to shut down the eTopps brand at the end of 2011. While eTopps is still technically alive (the cards are still sold on eBay) it's basically living on life support until Topps decides to pull the plug for good. We saw the writing on the wall several year ago and started making preparations for our next venture in sports cards.

The most loved feature of CardTarget's eTopps site is the price tracking and historical data. Jason and I are both collectors of vintage cards (Jason collects mostly early Topps cards and I'm about 200 cards into a T206 set), so we decided to attempt to emulate our success with eTopps by tracking prices for vintage cards. Today we formally announce our free price history for over 50 major vintage sets with many more to come. We have over five years of pricing data for most sets and this database is growing daily with each new auction. Nearly every auction is complete with a picture and detailed classification (including, for example, the specific back type for T206 cards). Each auction has been manually classified for maximum accuracy.

We are currently tracking the following sets:

1952-1962, 1967 Topps
1933 and 1934 Goudey (and all other Goudey baseball sets including Sport Kings, Heads Up, 4 in 1, etc).
Over 20 "E" sets including the popular E90-1, E90-2, E90-3, Set of 25, Set of 50, E92, and many more
T205 Gold Border
T206 White Border
T3
T9
1914 and 1915 Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack Pins
Mayo Cut Plug
1888 Goodwin Champion
1888 Allen & Ginter

We are currently working on the remainder of the popular "T" sets and the rest of the Topps sets through the 1960s. If there is a set you're interested in let us know and we'll try our best to track it as soon as possible.

Not only are we tracking "closed" auctions, but you can search and set up alerts for live auctions too. This will allow you to set up a search for a specific card in a specific grade, price, or with a specific back and be alerted when that card goes up for sale.

One of the things that we would like to bring to the net54 community is the ability to create "research projects" that could only be possible with access to a database of classified past sales. For example, if you wanted to know what percentage of 1952 Topps low numbers came with a black back... or how many Piedmont 150 vs Piedmont 350 vs. Piedmont 350-460 T206 cards had been sold - these are the types of questions we might be able to answer for you using our large auction database. All "research" projects will be posted in the CardTarget.com forum here on Net54 and will be public.

We hope you will enjoy the site and let us know if you have any suggestions for presentation of the data. We hope it is easy to use and makes your research and the hobby in general more enjoyable.

You can check out the site at http://www.cardtarget.com/

Thanks everybody,

Mike & Jason
CardTarget.com

[HRBAKER]

I'll take a look Mike.
Good luck with the new venture.

[Leon]

And as many might know, and some might not, Mike was instrumental in helping scrape information from the old Network54 site to this one as we did our conversion to Vbulletin (our current s/w platform). Mike put in many, many hours and did a superb job. He didn't ask for anything when helping us and expected nothing in return. I am elated to fully support CardTarget with a static banner on our forum for the next several months or more. I hope his company is wildly successful and wish him and Jason all the best.

[Big Ben]

I really like your site and appreciate the work you have done. Do you plan to include Play Ball cards?

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by Big Ben

I really like your site and appreciate the work you have done. Do you plan to include Play Ball cards?

Yes, Play Ball cards are definitely high on the list (probably after the rest of the Topps sets through 1970 and the "T" sets. PM me if you're interested in helping get the Play Ball sets ready to go.

[ecRich]

Have used your site many times. Thanks
Rich

[queencitysportscards]

Great Resource Mike! Very much appreciated. I will be visiting / using the site often.

[SushiX37]

Just signed up. Good luck fellas! Site looks interesting.

Rich

[Ease]

I like it. Looks promising for sure.

[Bored5000]

I have been a big fan of the CardTarget site for a while now. It is a wonderful site for checking past sale prices.

[e107collector]

I think it's a great idea. I like the way it's laid out as well.

Any chance you will be able to track E-107 Breisch Williams, Boston Store H801-8, and Collins McCarthy E-135 prices?

Best of luck with your new venture.

Tony

[Jason]

Nice site and its sure to come in handy for me and many others.

[Jlighter]

I know this would be a Herculean task, but what about tracking t206 scraps and freaks. The current way that VCP currently does it is shaky at best.

[bunst]

I also use CardTarget regularly...great resource. Would love to see '34-'36 Diamond Stars added.

[Basilone]

Looks great! Just signed up as well.

[Zach Wheat]

Jason & Mike,

I have never used your site before, but I like the lay out. Thanks.

Z Wheat

[x2drich2000]

As everyone else has said, great looking site, lots of information, and easy to navigate. You guys have done a superb job. I do have a couple questions if you don't mind.

1) Is it possible to generate a checklist of cards still needed for a set based on what's in your inventory? For example, I have 26 E93's in my inventory, is there a way for the system to generate a list of the remaining 4 cards I still need?

2) If I add a card to my inventory that does not already have an image or sale price and I put that information in manually, will the image appear for everyone or just myself? Same, will everyone be able to see the price I paid or is that only visible to myself? Is it possible to share your current inventory or for others to see it, or is that only visible to myself.

3) Just browsing through I saw sales for Goodwin, Huggins, Ebay, and Mile high, but did not see Sterling, Joe's, Bagger's,etc. Do you have a complete list of the auction houses that information is currently being obtained from?

Thanks
DJ

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

1) Is it possible to generate a checklist of cards still needed for a set based on what's in your inventory? For example, I have 26 E93's in my inventory, is there a way for the system to generate a list of the remaining 4 cards I still need?

We had this feature on our eTopps side, but the code for the inventory system uses a totally different way of doing things... What we did for eTopps is have a checklist and the cards you had showed up in bold while the cards you still needed were regular type. Would that work?

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

2) If I add a card to my inventory that does not already have an image or sale price and I put that information in manually, will the image appear for everyone or just myself? Same, will everyone be able to see the price I paid or is that only visible to myself? Is it possible to share your current inventory or for others to see it, or is that only visible to myself.

Right now it is only visible to you. The prices you paid won't ever be visible to others. We can certainly make some kind of a viewable album for your inventory to be able to send a link to others.

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

3) Just browsing through I saw sales for Goodwin, Huggins, Ebay, and Mile high, but did not see Sterling, Joe's, Bagger's,etc. Do you have a complete list of the auction houses that information is currently being obtained from?

I think we have data for all of the auctions that use simple auction site. Some of the auction houses us specialty programming and scraping the data for their auctions is a much more difficult task. However, we're going to be doing it ASAP. I know Sterling is on the list to be done soon, but feel free to email us other auctions that we don't have, especially ones that are heavy on vintage. staff@cardtarget.com

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by Jlighter

I know this would be a Herculean task, but what about tracking t206 scraps and freaks. The current way that VCP currently does it is shaky at best.

Let me know more thoughts on this. Do you mean just when we see an auction that is a weird card of some kind, we mark it? Ghost image, wrong/missing colors, overprints, etc? I'm the one who classifies all of the T206 auctions, so it's easy for me to do that, I just have to figure out how to present the data.

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by e107collector

I think it's a great idea. I like the way it's laid out as well.

Any chance you will be able to track E-107 Breisch Williams, Boston Store H801-8, and Collins McCarthy E-135 prices?

Best of luck with your new venture.

Tony

We do have the Breisch Williams cards up.

The others we will hopefully get to eventually, but if you are interested in helping us get them ready to classify please let us know. We already have the checklists for each of those sets in our database. Basically we need somebody to go through the checklist and linking each card to a player and team in our players and teams databases. Once that is done we can start classifying the cards, gathering images, and building the price page. And this is something that can be done on a laptop while watching a ballgame (or while your wife watches Grey's Anatomy).... let us know if you are interested in helping! staff@cardtarget.com

[keating3620]

Originally Posted by bunst

I also use CardTarget regularly...great resource. Would love to see '34-'36 Diamond Stars added.

+1 for Diamond Stars

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by keating3620

+1 for Diamond Stars

With only 110 cards this would be an easy one to add if there is demand (and I guess there is!).

I'll start working on it soon.

[tcdyess]

Having been a CT member for many years, let me say that these guys do everything first class!! They were the reason the Etopps lasted as long as it did (fortunately, I still have an awesome auto collection to show for it). Looking at CT today, they have transformed the site into a virtual one stop shop for info on these vintage sets, all the searching is done for you!! Great job guys!!

Tim

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by CardTarget

With only 110 cards this would be an easy one to add if there is demand (and I guess there is!).

I'll start working on it soon.

Here's another request for Diamond Stars...one of the primary sets I focus on. Thanks for putting out a great product...love the site! Matt

[t206fix]

T201s and Playball cards for me - would love to see that!

[DaveW]

Wow! Great site and easy to use. I just registered and was able to add several cards to my little research project - finding all the front/back combos for the 1936 Goudey R322s.
Thanks!

[Leon]

Just an FYI.....we have transformed the Grandslambids.com forum into the Cardtarget forum on this board. Grandslambids,com is still active but it is on the back burner for now.

[x2drich2000]

Mike, thanks for the quick response. I appreciate your willingness to listen to what everyone has requested so far. For generating a checklist, I'm fine with whatever is easiest for you to program. Did have one other question, is it possible to link our ebay ID to the inventory so that when we make a purchase on Ebay it would automatically update in our inventory?

Thanks
DJ

[SMPEP]

... and love it! I used to use an excel spreadsheet to track certain cards, but this is MUCH easier!

Thank you!

Cheers,
Patrick

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Mike,

Thanks again for offering another useful service to the hobby. You won a friend for life with your PSA Cert Run Program.

Dan

[Buythatcard]

Very Nice!

Just registered.

[rnisly]

How about adding Bowman's

thanx Roger

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

Did have one other question, is it possible to link our ebay ID to the inventory so that when we make a purchase on Ebay it would automatically update in our inventory?

NOW you're talkin'!

I've thought about this idea. We already have the ability to have eBay accounts linked. I'll think about the best way to do this - but yes, I love the idea and it makes too much sense not to implement.

[Big Six]

Any way you could allow for inventory to be pulled from PSA/SGC registries? Hate to have to key everything in all over again...

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by Big Six

Any way you could allow for inventory to be pulled from PSA/SGC registries? Hate to have to key everything in all over again...

Possibly. But likely not soon (at least a few months). We've made quite a list of things we are going to add in the last 48 hours... this definitely makes the list.

[teetwoohsix]

Hi Mike-

Just wanted to thank you, I joined and really enjoyed all of the information provided on the site. Very nice !!!

Sincerely, Clayton

[CardTarget]

Hey guys,
The R327 Diamond Stars set is now up and running on CardTarget.com. It is accessible here:

http://www.cardtarget.com/cgi-bin/gm...tID=1980343201

Thanks for the request. We're working hard on the other requests too! Special thanks to board member James Walker who has helped us with some of the classifying for this set.

Mike

[mcap100176]

I don't know if there is anyway around this since I am assuming the software simply pulls the information from the auction house database but I just noticed that Goodwin auction I won for $100 (http://www.goodwinandco.com/LotDetai...&seo=1895-Mayo) is listed with the buyer's premium here: http://www.cardtarget.com/cgi-bin/gm...037&grade=auth.

Obviously this inflates the pricing data sets and this is how Goodwin is reporting it.

[DaveW]

It seems reasonable to me. You paid $119 for the card, so that's what it reports. The buyers premium is just part of the cost.

[CardTarget]

Originally Posted by DaveW

It seems reasonable to me. You paid $119 for the card, so that's what it reports. The buyers premium is just part of the cost.

Yep, we list all "won" auctions with the buyer's premium. It's a tricky argument with good points on each side. But in the end I think something is "worth" what somebody is willing to pay for it. Fees are just the cost to the seller in the way they choose to sell it.

[EvilKing00]

very cool, ill deff check it out

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by CardTarget

Yep, we list all "won" auctions with the buyer's premium. It's a tricky argument with good points on each side. But in the end I think something is "worth" what somebody is willing to pay for it. Fees are just the cost to the seller in the way they choose to sell it.

Please do keep including BP, I think it is absolutely part of the cost.. and a lot easier than busting the calculator out every time I want to know what a card sold for.

BTW- CardTarget rocks!

Thanks for offering a great service,
-Ian