CardNuts.com is going to be a community for trading card collectors. The best part about it will be that you can manage your collection. More details will be released as the launch date nears.

I invite you to signup for the CardNuts mailing list as well. The mailing list is the best way to stay up to date with our launch and any other announcements.

Here are some links to what other and collectors have said:

• Voice of the Collector
• Sports Cards Uncensored
• Blowout Cards discussion thread

Below you’ll find my response. A lot of these questions deserve more attention.

1. How long have you been collecting?  What are your favorite players, teams, sets, etc. to collect?  Which card in your collection means the most to you and why?

I have been collecting on and off for since 1981. I stopped collecting in 1994 and within the past few years have been getting back into the hobby. I only collect my favorite teams (Utah Jazz and the Seattle Mariners). Occasionally a pack will find it’s way into the shopping cart when I’m shopping as well. My favorite card are some 1963 Fleer cards (Mays, Williams, Koufax, etc.) that my mom bought from the mailman because they didn’t have a home.

2. In the time that you have been collecting, what is your favorite story, memory, experience, etc?

Going to card shows when I was younger is my best memory. We lived in a small town so we would have to travel at least a few hours to get to them. I would save all of my money and have a list of things that I wanted to buy. Sometimes I would deviate from that list when I saw something that I didn’t know I wanted. It was so great walking into the big room and seeing all of the tables, dealers and collectors.

3. What are the effects on the hobby of major card companies moving toward exclusivity deals with sports leagues?  Given that this could be the direction that the industry is headed, what should card companies do to continue to provide a quality product to collectors.

As a collector I hate the exclusivity. I like competition and believe in the free market. I’m sure I’m not the only collector who wonders why this helps the hobby.

4. Pick a timeframe – 5, 10, or 20 years. In that timeframe, what has been the single best and worst development in the hobby?

The best development in the hobby is the Internet. It all started with eBay and now we have lots of other sites emerging to help collectors find what they want when they want it.

The worst development would have to be 1989 Upper Deck. That set changed everything. They started by creating a good quality card and then later they started thinking outside the box and then competitors like Topps do the same. Soon every card company is producing 30+ sets. It has been an evolution that has resulted in exclusivity and some very expensive cards.

5. What are your thoughts on prospecting? Do you do it personally? Why? Has the clamoring to find the next big rookie affected the quality of products, either positively or negatively?

I do not prospect because I don’t have the time to do so. I think prospecting is great for both cards and the leagues, but it seems like it’s a lot like playing the stock market.

It has always been big deal to find the rookie card of your favorite players. I’m old school so I will say that I prefer having a handful of rookie cards per player and having those rookie cards released after the player has actually made it to the big leagues.

6. We are collecting tangible products in an increasingly intangible world. As our lives move more and more online, what will the effects on the industry be? Will the next generation of kids be as excited about collecting cards as we are? How should the major card companies respond?

I for think the online world can only enhance what we all think of cards. Everybody must take better advantage of the resources we have available, especially the card manufacturers. As we all know, opening a pack of cards and pulling your favorite player can get anybody hooked. Providing online resources to make that experience can keep collectors more engaged. In fact, that is one of the reasons why I have returned to the hobby. I would have loved to be able to have unlimited resources when I first started.

7. How has new media changed the way you collect? How should the major card companies utilize new media to connect with their consumer base? How can new media change and/or revitalize the hobby?

Absolutely. New media makes it possible to follow fellow collectors, card companies, dealers, etc. I think it is great that there are numerous podcasts to listen to. At Topps, you were creating a video podcast that brought some valuable attention to the industry. You should continue down that path. I love that you guys are connecting with the community by asking these questions.

8. How has the recent rise in counterfeits and scams affected the way you collect? What advice would you give the major card companies to help combat this?

I have not been affected by these but I don’t like that it is happening. Help us as collectors know how to avoid these scams. Be transparent.

9. The poor economy has affected all of us in recent years. In what ways would you like to see card companies respond to provide interesting, affordable products for collectors?

10. We’ve done autographs. We’ve done just about every kind of relic/game used product you can think of. What’s next? Where do we go from here?

That’s a good question. I don’t think you necessarily need to come up with what’s next. I’m old school though.

11. If you could say one thing – anything – to Topps and know that the CEO will read it, what would you say?

I’d love to find out more about your Internet strategy. I’d love to see your website contain archives of the sets you have produced. Your website should be the hub of everything you do.

1. Data import/export. This is one of the first things I look for wherever I store my data. If they are confident you will like their service, they will also offer a way to get out of that service. Before you add any data to the service, make sure an export exists.

If a standard has been established for a data format, the import and export should support this standard. And if a data format has not been established, it might be a good idea to create one with your competitors.

2. Any data you enter is yours. That means you should have the ability to access your data in multiple ways. Your data should be accessible. And where applicable, you should have enough control over your data to make it private or public.

Make sure you understand your options if the service goes out of business or they make you an unhappy customer? Suppose you do export your data. Are you able to do anything with that data? Make sure you understand your options regarding your data.

I found a good writeup on John Batelle’s Searchblog regarding this subject. He identifies several more issues that we should be aware of with our data. I think these are very important to the future of the web.

• Data Transparency. We can identify and review the data that companies have about us. A sticky issue is whether we can also identify and review data that is made about us based on other data the company might have. (IE, based on your behavior, we at Amazon know you might also like….)
• Data Portability. We can take copies of that data out of the company’s coffers and offer it to others or just keep copies for ourselves.
• Data Editing. We can request deletions, editing, clarifications of our data for accuracy and privacy.
• Data Anonymity. We can request that our data not be used, cognizant of the fact that that may mean services are unavailable to us.
• Data Use. We have rights to know how our data is being used inside a company.
• Data Value. The right to sell our data to the highest bidder.
• Data Permissions. The right to set permissions as to who might use/benefit from/have access to our data.

Keep in mind that I am writing this specifically regarding our card data. Are you considering these when you enter your data? Let me know what you think. I’ll probably touch on this a lot as I work on creating applications and see others create them as well.

Here a a few more links you might find useful:

• Bill of Rights – Data Sharing Summit
• Cloud Computing Bill of Rights

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to find out what others inside the hobby think of Twitter. It is starting to be used more and more. But I have seen many think that it doesn’t belong in the hobby. I’m going to make a case for it.

As an observer and a user of what how the use of Twitter has evolved over the past 18 months, I’d like to share my thoughts on what Twitter can do for trading card and memorabilia collectors. And I’d like to get input from everybody on how they use Twitter. These are just my ideas. Unfortunately, I don’t know everything about Twitter and/or the hobby.

Twitter is a great tool. Whether you are Shaquille O’Neal and you have a few tickets to give away or you are a soccer mom bragging about your kids, there are so many ways to use it. I think it would be very useful and fun if we as a community started to add to Twitter what we are doing with our collections.

How Trading Card Collectors Can Use Twitter

• Meet people / fellow collectors, dealers, etc. – Follow your friends and keep up with what they are collecting, pulling. Follow people on Twitter that you are interested in or would like to meet. You would have a lot to converse about if you meet that person at a card show or other event.
• Read and distribute news – Often times, you’ll find great links to news articles. What a great way to distribute a piece of news about what you are doing! The people are following you for a reason. Give them what they want.
• Get feedback – Need feedback on a blog post or whether you should make that next purchase or not. Ask for feedback and you’ll get some that is very useful and timely.
• Customer notifications – Let your customer know when you get a new product in or let your followers know that you are looking for a certain card.
• Event updates / setup meetings – Is there a card show in the area? Perhaps you are trying to plan a meetup for collectors at a game. Plan any event with collectors and meet your followers in person.
• Provide live coverage – you want to update in real time what you are pulling from that box you’ve been waiting to open. It can be fun to just tell people what is going on at an event or with others around you.
• Direct traffic – Let your followers know that you have added a new blog post or updated some content to your site.

Obviously, these aren’t the only ways that Twitter can be used within the hobby. Can you think of other ways?

Twitter Isn’t The End All Be All

Despite the popularity of Twitter, it does have it’s drawbacks. Like any social networking site, Twitter can be a big timesink. Another feed that needs to be checked and updated.

Once a balance is found, it is a very nice tool.

I enjoy meeting people on Twitter and following what they are doing in their everyday lives. It is even better when you have the opportunity to meet people you follow face to face.

Another drawback is that Twitter is being used now by so many people. There are probably many collectors that don’t want to give out this information to people that follow them. I think it would be very beneficial to have a Twitter for card collectors.

What does everybody think? How would you use a specialized Twitter differently? Or is that a silly idea? Let me know.

UpperDeckU is a virtual world targeted at kids. Created by Upper Deck in an attempt to get them collecting and thinking about cards, Upper Deck is also hoping that it will drive sales. I think it is a cool idea. They are definitely thinking outside the box.

The focus of UpperDeckU is to promote sports card collecting amongst kids. Something that definitely is needed. But is it going to be enough? Maybe. Maybe not. I do know that when I was a kid, card collecting was fun for me and I didn’t have a virtual world to keep me interested. Packs were between $0.50 – $1.00 for the most part. I had lots of friends that collected cards as well. We would talk cards and trade often. Personally, I think the industry has to approach this problem a bit differently.

That being said, virtual worlds can be fun. I have a few ideas on what can be done with virtual worlds and cards to tie them together and make collecting even more fun. It can’t come from one of the card manufacturers though. Perhaps a consortium amongst the manufacturers. Clearly, Upper Deck has a business model behind UpperDeckU, as they should (source: InsideSocialGames).

1. Upper Deck will still continue selling the cards, but within the packs, collectors will find “Insider Access” codes that can be utilized within UpperDeckU. These codes will then allow users to access new features within the virtual world (i.e. team merchandise that can be used for room decoration).
2. In addition to the physical cards, users will also be able to purchase virtual sets as well.
3. Finally, micro-transactions, via the purchase “Gold Coins” (an in-game currency), are expected to come online at some point. They will allow users to buy any number of “special items.” Unfortunately, what exactly these “special items” are remains unknown.

I didn’t sign up and try out the product. I may in the future. I’m interested to see what happens. How popular it gets? If it drives more sales to Upper Deck? If they generate a revenue stream from it? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I have also started some posts but have not finished them (obviously). One of the projects is really close to being in a state to be released. The other is going to take some time. More on these projects coming up.

The truth is is that I think so many things can be done to enhance how we use the internet in the hobby. I would like to hear some of your ideas on what you think should happen. Are  you happy with what is available out there? Let me know.

After I saw this, I was thinking throughout the day that it would be cool if there was a site that aggregated news from both the hobby and the industry. That could be a very handy site. Does anybody know if a site such as this exists already?

I’m thinking about what it would take to do such a site. It would have to be generated automatically from the buzz generated by card bloggers and news sites. It would be a fun project so I am giving it some thought. What does everybody think? Would this be a site you would be interested in visiting every day to find the latest news? How do you get the latest news? Is that even important to you?

Let me know your thoughts.

The Card Podcast @ Superfractor.com – This is the first one I started listening too. Rob Zieda, the host, has had a variety of guests discussing topics ranging from web sites, such as CollectorRevolution.com, to card executives, such as Clay Luraschi of Topps and Brian Gray of Razor. Most recently he was just talking baseball with his Craig Calcaterra of the ShysterBall blog. Up to this point, it has been an enjoyable podcast to listen to. Sometimes I wish there are more episodes but I also know it is a lot of work.

Sports Card Radio – Colin Tedards recently had a card shop in N. California. Colin has a fun podcast. He often gives pointers on buying and selling cards, prospects, and hobby news. The community he is building at his site seems to be going somewhere. Although I disagree with some of the these he says (like building websites), I enjoy when a new show is released.

The Hobby – Not a real podcast in the true sense of the word. The Hobby is a weekly radio show in Buffalo, New York on WGR 550 AM radio. But I give them credit for releasing the shows and making them available as downloads. I really like Mike Schopp as a host. I still haven’t caught up on all of the episodes yet. But I plan on doing so only because this is a quality program. The only downside is I wish Mike could go more in depth with some of his guests. Limitations of traditional radio prevent them from doing so.

There used to be a podcast at sportscollectingradio.com but it is not there anymore. Am I missing any? Please let me know if I am. I want to hear and keep up with all of them.

Hopefully, these shows will continue as they are. They offer a perspective to the hobby unique to others.

Sports Cards Uncensored is a great card blog. After nearly scoring 100,000 hits (congratulations), he decided to write about getting into card blogging. What a great idea for a post!

I would like to comment on a few things he mentioned:

• Next, you may want to buy a .com, because its that much easier to remember than XXXX.blogspot.com. Every card blogger should buy their own domain name. Not only does it make it easier to establish your own personal brand, but you can also switch to whatever platform or blogging software without changing the domain name. It is never too late to do this. Sooner the better.
• Blogger and WordPress are probably the two most popular blogging engines out there. From my experience, Blogger is much easier to use, but has a ton less features than WordPress. If you have never run a site before, you may want to go with Blogger, because even I chose wordpress at one point, and all it did was confuse me. There are lots of different types of blogging software. The most popular by far is Blogger by Google. But I recommend WordPress. It is great software. The possibilities are endless to what you can do. This site is built on WordPress. Remember, you can get a free hosted account at wordpress.com and when you grow out of that, you can use the open source version. I will be talking a bit more about this at a later date.
• Another important thing you have to remember, is that design of your blog makes a huge difference. If the layout is too complicated or too weird, people wont come back once they visit, and wont stay long when they come. This is a big deal. Card blogs are lacking in this department.

Those are the main things that stuck out. He obviously know how to write and promote a blog. I wanted to point out the technology side of things.

I’m pretty impressed with the card blogs out there. Keep up the good work!

Blog posts like this are good for the trading card industry. There are some good sites out there that haven’t been given enough love yet. As I find them and use them, I plan on writing about them here. I’m finding lots of good information daily.

In the future I plan on signing up and trying out CardPricer. I would be interested in knowing more about their site and the front page doesn’t give me a lot of information. They don’t have a blog? They should get one and update it with site news, etc. It’s obvious they do provide a price guide though.