388 replies to this topic

[Parrothead]

Jess Ragan, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:38 AM, said:

Oh, that's what the citizens of every country say.

To the guy running Chase the Chuckwagon, or GameGavel, or whatever, please don't ever sell the business to eBay. They need some competition... make sure you're there to give it to them.

That's what it's all about. Giving them a run for their money. Associating with a couple large International gaming communities will definitely help our cause

[Shawn Sr.]

Jess Ragan, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:38 AM, said:

Oh, that's what the citizens of every country say.

Last time I checked most of the world would agree Canada is pretty darn near the best place to be.

[Shawn Sr.]

And just to be clear, Mike could call this site GayPickleFarts.com and I would still back him 150 percent.

[Parrothead]

Shawn Sr., on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:54 AM, said:

And just to be clear, Mike could call this site GayPickleFarts.com and I would still back him 150 percent.

I checked and the URL GameWagon.com is already taken. That is a big problem as most short titles with Game in the title have been taken. And I have looked at lots of them over the past year. GameGavel will grow on everyone, give it time Hmm. I wonder if GayPickleFarts.com is taken?

[rmaerz]

Parrothead, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:38 PM, said:

The niche of a video game dedicated auction site is still in tact. And it's the most succesful one at that. What you all don't see and it's not something that I want to announce to the world is that sales are down. Bidding is down. This month registrations are off about 50%. Listings have been maintained thanks to some die hard users and a few new users. But out of the 3100 people registered on the site only about 100 are listing and hundreds of them haven't been back to use the site in months. That's a problem. And one that scares me daily.

I need new blood in this thing and we don't have years to cultivate it. The internet moves at light speed and I need to keep up. If you all want to help start some listings, bid on some things - there are tons of great deals for all systems. As you know there is no cost to list. The fate of this site, no matter what the name, is in our hands; all of ours. Just look at the Auction forums here and in other classic gaming forums. How many people are using the site. Hardly any. And the majority of the people who both bought and were gifted free seller accounts still aren't using the site.

In order for people to buy, there has to be product. And if nobody buys, the sellers don't put up the product. But, the cycle starts with the sellers, right?

Just last week I bought that Vectrex Multicart that you advertised on AtariAge and yes I have found other bargains on the site. But, problem is as a buyer there's more product on eBay.

I mention this because it will take time to sway the eBay sellers over to the Chuck (if you don't mind me still calling it that). And, if there are sellers that are currently successful on eBay, they have no incentive to dabble on the Chuck. With that, it seems like time could be your biggest enemy because that is what it will take to gain the audience.

Parrothead, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:38 PM, said:

The site makeover also includes tons of little functionality improvements. It's absolutely a joy to use.

I disagree and at least one other user is with me on this. The listings used to be "Systems (i.e. Hardware)" "Games" and etc. and now it is sorted by the respective product. I collect Commodore 64 carts which is now lumped under "Other" with close to 200 titles to sift through. I don't even want to bother browsing that list.

Parrothead, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:38 PM, said:

There is nothing stopping the "classic" gamer from using the site. The name change doesn't affect anything.

I agree - you're not going to lose members because of a name change. It doesn't make sense to me that folks would leave because of that. As a business person you need to do what it takes and give it a shot in the arm when necessary. Not everything works but that's part of the experience.

Parrothead, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:38 PM, said:

I hope you all stick with me

Will do - if I didn't I wouldn't offer my brutal honesty...

[rmaerz]

Shawn Sr., on Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:23 PM, said:

thanatos, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:27 PM, said:

And don't forget the sister site www.Vendazzle.com for collectibles, toys, and all your other non-gaming needs!

I think the new look for GameGavel is awesome!

Dude, nobody uses Vendazzle. If it was worth while Mike would never have sold it off.

Unfortunately, it l00ks like you are right. Of the categories I looked at that had product, I didn't see a single bid.

I considered buying it when it was put up for sale as the price seemed like a low risk investment. But, I would have wanted to see the books first.

[Shawn Sr.]

Parrothead, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:18 AM, said:

Shawn Sr., on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:54 AM, said:

And just to be clear, Mike could call this site GayPickleFarts.com and I would still back him 150 percent.

I checked and the URL GameWagon.com is already taken. That is a big problem as most short titles with Game in the title have been taken. And I have looked at lots of them over the past year. GameGavel will grow on everyone, give it time Hmm. I wonder if GayPickleFarts.com is taken?

Looks like I gotta buy gamewagon.com , .ca & .net then.

[the.golden.ax]

Shawn Sr. said:

GayPickleFarts.com

was that the first thing you could think of? By the way according to godaddy.com you can have GayPickleFarts.com for just $10.69 to start. No one owns it... YET.



AX

[thanatos]

Shawn Sr., on Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:23 PM, said:

thanatos, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:27 PM, said:

And don't forget the sister site www.Vendazzle.com for collectibles, toys, and all your other non-gaming needs!

I think the new look for GameGavel is awesome!

Dude, nobody uses Vendazzle. If it was worth while Mike would never have sold it off.

Dude, nobody used Chuckwagon when it was new either.

[Parrothead]

thanatos, on Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:34 PM, said:

Shawn Sr., on Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:23 PM, said:

thanatos, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:27 PM, said:

And don't forget the sister site www.Vendazzle.com for collectibles, toys, and all your other non-gaming needs!

I think the new look for GameGavel is awesome!

Dude, nobody uses Vendazzle. If it was worth while Mike would never have sold it off.

Dude, nobody used Chuckwagon when it was new either.

Ya, Shawn gave me crap when I started the Chuckwagon too He means well . . . . I think

Edited by Parrothead, Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:14 PM.

[Chickybaby]

Hmm, any idea of the number of people who have free accounts but are not active on GG?

Also I definitely like all systems having their own category.

Yes, Shawn definitely means well. Bit of brutal honesty and tough love but I definitely appreciate the lack of bs and knowing where I stand with someone - good guy in my book.

[the.golden.ax]

Can I still call it chuck?

AX

[Parrothead]

the.golden.ax, on Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:18 PM, said:

Can I still call it chuck?

AX

ChaseTheChuckwagon.com will always forward to it. So if you want that shown in your address bar then go for it

[RangerG]

Where you have the "old school" section you could call this part "Chasing the Chuckwagon" as a nice link to the old name.

[Jess Ragan]

Parrothead, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:43 AM, said:

Jess Ragan, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:38 AM, said:

Oh, that's what the citizens of every country say.

To the guy running Chase the Chuckwagon, or GameGavel, or whatever, please don't ever sell the business to eBay. They need some competition... make sure you're there to give it to them.

That's what it's all about. Giving them a run for their money. Associating with a couple large International gaming communities will definitely help our cause

I'm going to hold you to that! I'm still hurting over Jeff "Sleazy" Veasey's decision to sell GameFAQs in spite of earlier promises to the contrary.

[thanatos]

Jess Ragan, on Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:42 PM, said:

Parrothead, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:43 AM, said:

Jess Ragan, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:38 AM, said:

Oh, that's what the citizens of every country say.

To the guy running Chase the Chuckwagon, or GameGavel, or whatever, please don't ever sell the business to eBay. They need some competition... make sure you're there to give it to them.

That's what it's all about. Giving them a run for their money. Associating with a couple large International gaming communities will definitely help our cause

I'm going to hold you to that! I'm still hurting over Jeff "Sleazy" Veasey's decision to sell GameFAQs in spite of earlier promises to the contrary.

I'm guessing most people would sell out if offered 'retirement money'.
Of course I wouldn't!

[Shawn Sr.]

thanatos, on Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:34 PM, said:

Shawn Sr., on Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:23 PM, said:

thanatos, on Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:27 PM, said:

And don't forget the sister site www.Vendazzle.com for collectibles, toys, and all your other non-gaming needs!

I think the new look for GameGavel is awesome!

Dude, nobody uses Vendazzle. If it was worth while Mike would never have sold it off.

Dude, nobody used Chuckwagon when it was new either.

lol.. come on man you know Vendazzle isn't new anymore just as well as I do. Just cause something "isn't used" doesn't make it "still new" in all cases.

[Parrothead]

November Auction Talk Podcast LIVE!

Discussing site statistics, site changeover information and a teaser regarding a big announcement forthcoming. Listen today.

[Parrothead]

Gaming Community Affiliations

We are going to be integrating a new Gaming Community Affiliations section into GameGavel. This will be a cool new feature that will allow new and existing members to display they are members with other gaming communities including:

ScrewAttack
CheapAssGamer
Digital Press
AtariAge
NintendoAge
Sega-16
KLOV

A small “badge” indicating what communities a member participates in will be displayed within the member information box on both the item listing pages as well as in the member’s GameGavel homepage. We are going to take this all a step further and also let you do a custom search for items for sale by Community Affiliation. So for example, if you are a member of AtariAge and want to view only auctions run by other members of AtariAge, you can do that.

It is my hope this will instill a feeling of community between GameGavel.com and the forum communities that have supported us since we launched. There is currently no other gaming store or auction site that offers anything like this and it will continue setting apart GameGavel.com as a site that was developed by gamers for gamers.

I hope that this will entice you to list more items on GameGavel.com. I plan to have this up and operational by mid November. An announcement will be made when this functionality goes live.

Thank you,

[hex65000]

Chickybaby, on Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:17 PM, said:

Hmm, any idea of the number of people who have free accounts but are not active on GG?

Guilty as charged. The rest of my life has really taken over any significant activity on CTCW/GG. There is a stack of things accumulating that are ready to be sold. Some will be the last fandango for them. (My K'Nex Stand)

While I too liked the old name, I would occasionally mention the site to younger gamers and the response was this incredulous inflection. Almost as if I were describing an Internet meme. In that context, Mike's choice makes perfect sense. What has been a real turnoff from a buying perspective is some of the sellers that are asking DP level prices for their stuff and insist that it's worth that. When I poked at the original Game Gavel that was the apparent stance of the sellers there. There's still some bargains to be had at acceptable prices -- and when I spot them, I bid, but the signal to noise ratio is looking pretty sad. <shrug>

Also, I've gotta full on agree with Jess on the "Don't ever sell it to E-Bay" comment. Competition is good... it keeps folks generally pretty honest.

Lastly, I like the scheme for breaking the categories out, but at the same time it's kind of a pain. I'd like to see a "see everything under this category", "see all software", and "see all hardware" options if possible. It's not huge but digging into a category with 10 entries or less just makes me wonder if it's worth digging through.

I'd also like to filter out a few sellers from my searches. They weren't horrible transactions to merit any serious complaints, but I'm avoiding them in the future as a general rule.

Hex.
[ Does not like the HEAVY use of stock photos that EBay is seeing now. You really don't know what you're gonna get... ]

[Parrothead]

We have now added our Gaming Website Affiliation Interface. So those of you who are members of GameGavel should log in and then click on Update Contact Information to add AtariAge as an affiliation. Then you will get a AA badge next to your name indicating to others you are also a member here.

Here is what the badges look like. They also appear in auction searches as well as in the seller information box on the listing pages.

http://www.gamegavel...ites/socalmike/

[Rick Weis]

Parrothead, on Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:51 AM, said:

We have now added our Gaming Website Affiliation Interface. So those of you who are members of GameGavel should log in and then click on Update Contact Information to add AtariAge as an affiliation. Then you will get a AA badge next to your name indicating to others you are also a member here.

Here is what the badges look like. They also appear in auction searches as well as in the seller information box on the listing pages.

http://www.gamegavel...ites/socalmike/

Sweet!!! i just updated mine.

Rick

[HatNJ]

Updated mine but no badges appear for the sites Im a member of
or is it after I put in a credit card number?

[Parrothead]

HatNJ, on Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:21 PM, said:

Updated mine but no badges appear for the sites Im a member of
or is it after I put in a credit card number?

I am looking into it. How long ago did you update your profile?

Edited by Parrothead, Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:08 PM.

[HatNJ]

Earlier this afternoon (Sunday)