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Posted By: Cat

Rand:

Although I think you are dead-on as far as their performance flaws, I don't think it is a "to big for their britches" issue. I think they have two basic problems: 1) they have a terrible sense of customer service, 2) they are fairly clueless regarding the market we represent (pre-war vintage).

Collector's Universe patches together a fairly decent revenue stream, but they seem to be all over the map as to what they are all about. Minimally, they grade diamonds, stamps, coins, and cards (more stuff too I believe). That's fairly diverse if you ask me. To be that diverse and be successful, you have to have strong leadership. I don't know Tony Orlando but he seems to have a high and mighty attitude. I have heard more than one person say that if you say something disparaging on the CU board, you get banned. Why not fix issues rather than bury one's head in the sand?

I do no beleive that they receive any direct revenue from the Set Registry. I believe their revenue is from grading cards, membership fees, and selling adverts. in the SMR. The cards portion of their business model seems very fragile. The SMR is pointless in my opinion. Their last quarterly indicated that revenue from card grading was down. Without these two purposes...wanting them to grade your cards or finding a purpose for the SMR...then why subscribe to their annual membership? VERY FRAGILE BUSINESS MODEL. Maybe they are spending their time scuffling rather than on customer service.