Posted By:
MikeU"I firmly believe that the staff and management of SCD recognize the various information gaps in the hobby and have left no stone unturned in studying their feasibility." - Bob Lemke
"I had a new sales rep call me from SCD a month or so ago. He had found my personal website and asked if I wanted to advertise in his magazine. Heck, naive me thought he was calling about Net54 to DO some advertising." - Leon Luckey
The fact that SCD has never contacted Leon in the last 6 years to advertise or even discuss Net54 is an absolute indictment that many stones have been left unturned by the staff. I wonder who else has never been contacted? VCP? Dean's Cards? Just Collect? Card Trader?
"the "vintage" market is simply too thin to support these initiatives" - Bob Lemke
I agree that the pre-War market is entirely too small of a niche for SCD to cover. However, I was not stating that SCD should have taken the Old Cardboard route. Pre-War cards could simply be a feature e.g. weekly, bi-weekly, monthly etc. This small carrot alone would have kept many of the pre-War vintage guys subscribing. SCD could probably even entice people to write articles for free.
"I don't share your view that there is a market for an independent print price guide for vintage cards, packs, etc." - Bob Lemke
I disagree. People by the masses in all categories of collecting are sick of inaccurate price guides, be it Beckett or Tuff Stuff or SMR. Printing VCP's/Card Traders auction/eBay realized prices on a quarterly or monthly basis and there could be a complete paradim shift in Beckett, Tuff Stuff and SMR's need to exist.
"Any type of searchable data base of SCD content is unlikely to become reality." - Bob Lemke
The content and information that SCD has published throughout its history is its only real value. If people are willing to pay $10/month for VCP or $5/Month for Beckett Pricing/Checklists, there is certainly value is selling 30 years of industry leading information. Get free interns to scan the articles.
"Lastly, no, I do not feel an ink-on-paper sports memorabilia magazine can profit to the extent that SCD, Beckett, et al, did in the pre Ebay days. The hobby world has moved beyond that business model."
From 1984 to 1991, I could not wait until I received Baseball Cards Magazine and SCD in the mail. It would literally be devored front to back upon delivery. I do not have quite the same feeling today, but I still look very forward to receiving Old Cardboard and SGC Collector. Both of those are immediately read from front to back. I also enjoy and view every auction catalog I receive. Print media is far from dead. It may never be as profitible as before, but there is certainly profit to be made, just have to adapt.