Revisiting the 'Comic Trading Post' concept. Input appreciated.

[Jack Anderson]

A few months ago (last September or thereabouts), I began working up the initial plans for a website called comictradingpost.com. The purpose of the website was to allow comic collectors to come together with their 'Want-To-Buy' lists and 'For-Sale' lists, and allow for collectors to more easily find buyers for their comics and sellers with the issues they wanted.

 

Each buyer would be able to set up a WTB list, including desired grade ranges and budget details. For example, one entry in someone's WTB list could look something like

 

Amazing Spider-Man #83

slabbed by CGC or PGX (blue label only)

9.2 to 9.6

budget: $200

 

Sellers would be able to list the details of any comics they have for sale, as well as post scans and asking prices.

 

WTB lists and 'For Sale' lists could be made public or kept private. Public lists would be open for browsing or searching. For instance, a user could search for all current issues of 'Journey Into Mystery' between 4.0 and 7.5 currently for sale.

 

The feature that would tie all this together would be the matching system. When a seller posts a comic for sale that is on someone's WTB list, an email notification is sent to both parties, letting them both know that a transaction is possible. The seller and potential buyer(s) would then be able to discuss the details of the transaction at the website through private messages. I've also considered an auction system if there are multiple buyers matched up with a particular comic.

 

Now, no actual commerce would take place on the site. Much like the marketplace here, all transactions would be completed privately between the buyer and seller via whatever means they desire. A feedback system would allow users to leave comments about their transactions, much like eBay.

 

Ok, so that's an overview of my 'vision', if you will. October came along and i got a new job in D.C. and with that and moving to a new apartment, it got shuffled to the back burner. Well it's 2006 now and I'm all settled in, so I'd like to take another crack at this.

 

My question to you, fellow board members, is whether this is a viable project idea. Do you picture this as a service you would utilize, or are there already too many ways for people to buy and sell comics?

 

My other question regards the root of all evil, money. Obviously, setting up and running a website such as this would not be free. I would of course have to pay for hosting space and bandwidth. Being a broke 'just out of college, living in the city' fellow, my disposable income isn't what it used to be. So question two is, if you would use such a website, would you be willing to pay a small 'per transaction' fee, something like $1.00 or 10% of the sale price (whicever is less), divided evenly between buyer and seller. One way to do this would be to require the fee before positive feedback can be received. So if you don't submit the $0.50 fee, your positive feedback doesn't increase. Negative feedback would be received regardless. Obviously, if more people use the site, that fee could drop, since I wouldn't need as much per transaction to cover costs.

 

So anyway, feedback is appreciated. Just let me know what you think, and answer the poll questions if you like. Thanks.

[MK Ultra]

I think one problem would be that people aren't going to post the full price their willing to pay. Why not try to get a deal. Once you've said you'd pay X for the book, is the seller going to take less?

 

Also, is it going to be able to get the traffic necessary to compete with here and feebay?

 

It sounds like high demand books like maybe Albedo 2, or New Teen Titans 2, or whatever would fetch higher dollars on ebay. It seems like low demand books could be scooped up cheaply here from Nikos, or on ebay from a variety of sellers. October just sold a few books and mentioned that he got here more than what he thought he could get on ebay.

 

I do like the posts here or reverse auctions and what not. Perhaps some people would be willing to post books and solicit trade offers too. It seems like having a separate site to do it would be time consuming and pricey for limited results.

 

NE1 else?

[Jack Anderson]

That's the main problem with the internet. Everything's already been done. Twice. And yes, converting people from one place to another isn't an easy thing.

 

One thing that would help would be to make the site free of charge for a while and get CGC board members to move from the marketplace forums to this website. Although I don't know how CGC would feel about the dip in traffic.