Some great ideas in here.The biggest advantage a forum has over Facebook and the like is a sense of community. It's more than just random buying and selling. This is the reason why I have very little interest in those cesspit marketplaces.
So how do we attract more members / activity on our boards? A few ideas:
*9.32556gFirstly, when you think about it, a forum/ community is very similar to a real life gathering. If you were to turn up to a gathering for the first time and no one is really talking to each other or there's very little happening, you're not likely to stick around too long or come back. On the other hand, if everyone is chatting, joking etc and you are welcomed, you're more likely to stick around and get involved. This is where it's up to us to be as involved and active on here as much our lives permit. Whether it's trading, sharing our wealth of knowledge or just having a joke and a laugh.
Also, I get the sense that there is a lot more box breaking on here than we think. If you are busting something, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, share it on the box breaking forum! Once again, it is another opportunity to create discussion.
Someone mentioned card shows and I think this is a major opportunity and competitive advantage for our forum compared to Facebook if we could leverage it. One thing I noticed recently with Ship my Cards is that whenever they are attending a card show, they give their members the opportunity to have cards sold on their behalf at the show. We have many long term, reliable members on here all over the country that could perhaps man an ozcardtrader table at these shows selling members cards, sharing their knowledge and promoting our forum. We could also have members donate cards for these shows that could be used to put together to sell Mystery Packs to kids. Members could also donate cards that could be sold for $1 - $3 each which would help fund the cost of the show. This helps promote the sense of community. How we could get this to work, i'm not entirely sure but I don't think it would be impossible.
A few thoughts on the card selling show idea:
There's a lot of generous/ wonderful members on here. The potential and future of this forum lies with us. Basically whatever effort we are prepared to give to the forum, the forum will eventually give back. We have to be bold and be prepared to step outside the boundaries or be stagnant.
- Members pay all postage costs
- Limited number of cards per member
- The member gives an advertised sell price for each card as well as lowest possible price
- Sales done direct through members' paypal
- .....
Another thing... I'm sure we have email addresses for all accounts on here. Maybe it's an idea that we reach out to lapsed members who still have live accounts (not banned), and say something like. Hey, we've noticed we haven't seen you in a while. Whether you are still collecting or not, it would be wonderful to hear from you again. Feel free to drop in and say hi!
That's about all I've got for now...
Some great ideas in here.
I will watch/look at anyone open anything. As a singles buyer I love watching packs getting ripped, so if people filmed or posted their results on here they will definitely get my attention. I was surprised how much attention and feedback I got from posting the 90s packs I opened thanks to @GarnettFan4Life so it seems others would be interested too!
The biggest advantage a forum has over Facebook and the like is a sense of community. It's more than just random buying and selling. This is the reason why I have very little interest in those cesspit marketplaces.
So how do we attract more members / activity on our boards? A few ideas:
Firstly, when you think about it, a forum/ community is very similar to a real life gathering. If you were to turn up to a gathering for the first time and no one is really talking to each other or there's very little happening, you're not likely to stick around too long or come back. On the other hand, if everyone is chatting, joking etc and you are welcomed, you're more likely to stick around and get involved. This is where it's up to us to be as involved and active on here as much our lives permit. Whether it's trading, sharing our wealth of knowledge or just having a joke and a laugh.
Also, I get the sense that there is a lot more box breaking on here than we think. If you are busting something, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, share it on the box breaking forum! Once again, it is another opportunity to create discussion.
Someone mentioned card shows and I think this is a major opportunity and competitive advantage for our forum compared to Facebook if we could leverage it. One thing I noticed recently with Ship my Cards is that whenever they are attending a card show, they give their members the opportunity to have cards sold on their behalf at the show. We have many long term, reliable members on here all over the country that could perhaps man an ozcardtrader table at these shows selling members cards, sharing their knowledge and promoting our forum. We could also have members donate cards for these shows that could be used to put together to sell Mystery Packs to kids. Members could also donate cards that could be sold for $1 - $3 each which would help fund the cost of the show. This helps promote the sense of community. How we could get this to work, i'm not entirely sure but I don't think it would be impossible.
A few thoughts on the card selling show idea:
There's a lot of generous/ wonderful members on here. The potential and future of this forum lies with us. Basically whatever effort we are prepared to give to the forum, the forum will eventually give back. We have to be bold and be prepared to step outside the boundaries or be stagnant.
- Members pay all postage costs
- Limited number of cards per member
- The member gives an advertised sell price for each card as well as lowest possible price
- Sales done direct through members' paypal
- .....
Another thing... I'm sure we have email addresses for all accounts on here. Maybe it's an idea that we reach out to lapsed members who still have live accounts (not banned), and say something like. Hey, we've noticed we haven't seen you in a while. Whether you are still collecting or not, it would be wonderful to hear from you again. Feel free to drop in and say hi!
That's about all I've got for now...
I couldn't agree more. Forum style is where it's at for me, I'm probably the most anti social media person in the world haha. There's so many downfalls with social media, however it continues to rule. It's actually been great for me never signing up to facebook etc as I think I would have spent way too much money on cards with even more options out there. I stick to OZCT, eBay (unfortunately) and COMC.So anyone who’s been a member of forums for a while will remember the bustling place this used to be. As fast as you could list things for sale or trade you would get a PM with interest. Great, long discussion threads were a regular occurrence and we ran some great comps (for fun with prizes and also no prizes).
facebook groups have created their own niche as there are so many users on there a lot anyway.
the Covid boom was crazy - box prices way up, heaps more RC speculation and all time sales highs for every card. Then as people could get out a bit more a lot dropped off and found other things.
I love the forum style. How can we bring people back and/or swing the momentum back from Facebook groups?
throw out some ideas. The best post as at 1 September will get a $100 value prize. My discretion. I think that’s the fairest way. I don’t think most likes is going to work. Unless I see someone get 30 friends to join up and like their post. But then again , that’s a good thing too!
I couldn't agree more. Forum style is where it's at for me, I'm probably the most anti social media person in the world haha. There's so many downfalls with social media, however it continues to rule. It's actually been great for me never signing up to facebook etc as I think I would have spent way too much money on cards with even more options out there. I stick to OZCT, eBay (unfortunately) and COMC.
This is where my idea comes in. It's completely absurd and 'out there', however not impossible. We have to offer the people something that's not on the social media pages. There's not many collectors I know that haven't bought or sold on COMC. There is nothing like COMC in Australia (that I'm aware of) and this is where the opportunity is. Where do Aussies go to get bulk cards of their favourite teams or players or complete their sets from the comfort of their keyboard? I don't collect Aussie sports cards however I'm sure there's a huge amount of Aussie sports collectors out there that wish there was a site they could complete their set etc in one transaction.
Full disclosure, I have absolutely no idea on the viability or profitability of COMC, however they have been around for a very long time so they must have a business model that works. I can safely say if I had thousands of low to mid end cards to sell I'd prefer the COMC model over listing individually on eBay. Selling anything less than $20 on eBay is a complete waste of time and energy in my opinion. Maybe crowdfunding a storage facility and a couple of employees would work if the profit is there? If there was a COMC-like site only accessed on OZCT I'm sure the traffic on this site would go bonkers! I told you it was crazy...
Correct, but busting boxes is a tiny bit different than running a card processing operation with people investing thousands of dollars into it. It would have to be run as a legitimate business with a facility, employees, insurances, workers comp, tax obligations etc. I personally would invest into something like that without expecting any profit as long as I knew I wasn't going to lose said money either. But I'm not sure if there's going to be a few hundred K lying around members on OZCT who would go for that. Unfortunately whilst OZCT is my go to for everything cards, sentiment isn't going to bring the crowds in, there needs to be a reason for people to come to the site. It's like asking people to use Internet Explorer again just because it's been around longer.I hate facebook and don't really use insta other than to see what the hot ladies are up to these days - seeing some silly shake the butt trend or something usually or ----- wait , where was I ?? oh yeah - cardboard - you used to go in heaps of breaks did you or open heaps of personal boxes? you just wanted to collect and had no need for a great ROI correct?
Correct, but busting boxes is a tiny bit different than running a card processing operation with people investing thousands of dollars into it. It would have to be run as a legitimate business with a facility, employees, insurances, workers comp, tax obligations etc. I personally would invest into something like that without expecting any profit as long as I knew I wasn't going to lose said money either. But I'm not sure if there's going to be a few hundred K lying around members on OZCT who would go for that. Unfortunately whilst OZCT is my go to for everything cards, sentiment isn't going to bring the crowds in, there needs to be a reason for people to come to the site. It's like asking people to use Internet Explorer again just because it's been around longer.
Like the idea, and maybe Ozcarders could share the experience at different venues and take turns to bring limited top A grade cards for sale as well as general banter make it more about interaction depends how we cover venue entry costsI think it's all about being the centre of attention for anything card collecting. Having an active presence in as many collector events as possible. Market ourselves as the place to talk about anything sportscards.
The home of collecting in Australia!
Like the idea, and maybe Ozcarders could share the experience at different venues and take turns to bring limited top A grade cards for sale as well as general banter make it more about interaction depends how we cover venue entry costs
From what I can see people are using facebook more because this site doesn't allow auctions and razzes.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?