GTA Auto Thread -

[JaysFan99]

No chance of a private signing?

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by ajsportsworld

Mr. Kennedy is too sick to leave the hospital. One of the nicest guys we ever worked with, I seriously doubt you will ever see him at a signing event again.

That's sad to hear that he can't even leave the hospital.

Originally Posted by jawstoyz

I found a autographed jersey I'm interested in but I hear most auto's off ebay are fake...I have a gut feeling this one is real...so I was wondering if any of my fellow board experts in auto's would be able to help me on this one...It's a signed Troy Aikman Jersey...the item number is 300203349867...sorry guys I'm not the greatest with computers and dont know how to paste the page...thanks for any info that you can give me

It has a Troy Aikman holo and a jsa certificate, seems legit.The auto looks clean but what's stopping that sender, sending you another one that is not pictured.I just have little faith in stuff on ebay especially with auto's.

[jawstoyz]

Hey VickBrady, thanks for the info..I met you at the Hall of Fame through Edwin...I would love this auto but like you said, ebay isnt the best place to get auto's...thanks again

Ive seen Aikman do Steiners and TriStar.Buy a jersey send it in next time to them, may not be that price but at least you know its authentic and comes from a reputable company,thats what I do for football, expensive but peace of mind that its real.

[wfrazerjr]

As the bad news continues ...

POSTPONED! Signing and card show featuring Eddie Shack and Pierre Pilote on Sat., March 8, at Dave & Busters!

Due to the tremendous storm coming through the Greater Toronto Area, our card show and signing scheduled for Saturday, March 8, at Dave & Buster’s, has been postponed. We feel it is not worth risking people’s lives on the roads when we can reschedule our event.

Our guests, Eddie Shack and Pierre Pilote, are tentatively scheduled to attend our card show on March 29 (see info below).

Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll see you on the 29th!

[wfrazerjr]

Originally Posted by saf2004saf

This is definetely another huge disappointment about Pronovost......unfortunately his replacement has been regurgatated around the hobby four times in just over a year. I think Pilote is a gentleman and always enjoy seeing him but lets be a little more creative.....how about Leo Boivin, Clint Smith, Dean Prentice, Marty Pavelich, John Bucyk, Bob Pulford, ***e Stewart, Ron Stewart, Rod Gilbert, Emile Francis, Edgar Laparade, Jacques Laperriere, Milt Schmidt....to name a few........some may agree....some may disagree....this may be my opinion but I'm sure we could all agree that we would like to see some old unfamiliar faces...

As I've said before, the vast majority of the names on that list would end up losing me money. If you assume that we charge $10-15 per autograph per player, we'd have to do at least 150-250 autographs to at least break even on fees, travel, lodging, advertising, etc. Several of them simply aren't traveling right now, and you might consider that if Frozen Pond and AJ's, two heavy hitters with far more clout and pull than I, have not brought them in, it could be for a reason.

Also, Mr. Pilote was kind enough to step in on extremely short notice for an ailing Marcel Pronovost. I would hope that if you did the same for someone else, they wouldn't use the word "regurgitated" in reference to your appearance at your job.

[jawstoyz]

hey vickbrady, ya thats probably what i will do...i asked the guy for a pick of him signing it or the history on where he had pick it up from and he hasnt returned my email...I'm going to pass thanks again

[JaysFan99]

As I've said before, the vast majority of the names on that list would end up losing me money. If you assume that we charge $10-15 per autograph per player, we'd have to do at least 150-250 autographs to at least break even on fees, travel, lodging, advertising, etc. Several of them simply aren't traveling right now, and you might consider that if Frozen Pond and AJ's, two heavy hitters with far more clout and pull than I, have not brought them in, it could be for a reason.

Also, Mr. Pilote was kind enough to step in on extremely short notice for an ailing Marcel Pronovost. I would hope that if you did the same for someone else, they wouldn't use the word "regurgitated" in reference to your appearance at your job.

I think a few of the names would be a good draw, I guess it would depend on if they live in the GTA or not. Bucyk is someone I would not mind getting, and should get you 150 tickets sold, when he is due in a year or so.

Dan Severn
Sat
4/19/08
1:00 thru 3:00
Battlegrounds
13 Charles St
Milton,
Ontario
(905) 864-0556

Sat
4/19/08
7:00
thru
10:00
Charley Fitzwhiskeys
55 Ontario St
Milton,
Ontario

[jawstoyz]

Milton is perfect

[JaysFan99]

Dan Severn
Sat
4/19/08
1:00 thru 3:00
Battlegrounds
13 Charles St
Milton,
Ontario
(905) 864-0556

Sat
4/19/08
7:00
thru
10:00
Charley Fitzwhiskeys
55 Ontario St
Milton,
Ontario

Thanks! I never heard of these guys! They bring in wrestlers in frequently!

http://www.goodwinsports.ca/events.htm

Here is the website for those into wrestling!

Superfly Snuka, Greg Valentine, and Trish Stratus coming soon! Looks like they are brinigng in Dawn Marie to Frameworth as well.

Originally Posted by wfrazerjr

As I've said before, the vast majority of the names on that list would end up losing me money. If you assume that we charge $10-15 per autograph per player, we'd have to do at least 150-250 autographs to at least break even on fees, travel, lodging, advertising, etc. Several of them simply aren't traveling right now, and you might consider that if Frozen Pond and AJ's, two heavy hitters with far more clout and pull than I, have not brought them in, it could be for a reason.

Also, Mr. Pilote was kind enough to step in on extremely short notice for an ailing Marcel Pronovost. I would hope that if you did the same for someone else, they wouldn't use the word "regurgitated" in reference to your appearance at your job.

The word "regurgitated" means to give back or repeat. Their are other meanings to the word as well but I'm sure everyone gets the picture. Though I stated this before this was not a personal attack against Pilote let alone your way of conducting business. I can more than praise your attempts to bring in these guys. If the Pickering Flea Markets, AJ's Sportsworld, Frozen Pond, and or anyone else for this matter, brought him in I would have stated the same.

Leo Boivin lives in Prescott, Ontario, ***e Stewart is in Burlington....these are just a few examples of players that live nearby. Also, Milt Schmidt and Johnny Bucyk are frequents at the HHOF and not considered substitutions. The point is that I am tired of seeing the same players over and over again. As a last minute substitution I can understand the circumstances and these are clearly my thoughts and as a customer should be taken positive and used in a constructive manner. I think users of this forum should be more apt to give out names of players they want to see. I was simply stating my disappointment. Meeting the same player over and over again starts to lose its appeal after a while. Pilote has had 6 signings since 2006.

Bucyk's last showing was in May, 2006 and most people would pay a lot more for Rod Gilbert. A lot more..... I think everyone is used to the fluctuated prices of other outfits and would pay more on the rarity of such names. On a final note, I hope Pronovost and Moore make a quick recovery and look forward to other events in the future. Good luck with the weather this weekend.

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by wfrazerjr

As the bad news continues ...

POSTPONED! Signing and card show featuring Eddie Shack and Pierre Pilote on Sat., March 8, at Dave & Busters!

Due to the tremendous storm coming through the Greater Toronto Area, our card show and signing scheduled for Saturday, March 8, at Dave & Buster’s, has been postponed. We feel it is not worth risking people’s lives on the roads when we can reschedule our event.

Our guests, Eddie Shack and Pierre Pilote, are tentatively scheduled to attend our card show on March 29 (see info below).

Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll see you on the 29th!

That sucks that the show has been postponed but that is AWESOME that you're adding them to the March 29 show. 4 guys at once! I'm happy with that Wayne.

[JaysFan99]

I bet alot of the older collecters would come out fo G A Y E Stewart. Maybe he is not in good health. I wasn't even aware he was still alive until recently. An older leaf who has not been around often, should attract some attention.

I thought Bucyk was 05. He is a pretty big name, among old and new fans. Hopefully someone brings in Bucyk in the next year. Milt Schmidt is another Boston Legend, I would not mind grabbing a graph of before he kicks the bucket. Can't go wrong with former captains of Original 6 teams!

[JaysFan99]

That sucks that the show has been postponed but that is AWESOME that you're adding them to the March 29 show. 4 guys at once! I'm happy with that Wayne.

I guess its good news if it is postponed rather then cancelled. It is supposed to get pretty ugly out there tommorow.

I wish Jari Kurri wasn't this weekend , I missed him the last time too.

[wfrazerjr]

I'm going to put up a number of the players requested on the list that was posted earlier. Here is our position on most of them:

Leo Boivin -- repeatedly contacted and not interested
Clint Smith -- not able to travel
Dean Prentice -- doesn't do much, no widespread interest
Marty Pavelich -- had Mr. Pavelich 2x including two years ago, used to travel, no widespread interest
John Bucyk -- working on it, but would be $20 per autograph
Bob Pulford -- here for Expo in '05 and '67 Leaf reunion show last year
***e Stewart -- not interested in doing more signings
Ron Stewart -- lives in Arizona, too expensive to even get close to breaking even (based on previous signing)
Rod Gilbert -- could not recoup expenses on cost (which would be $50 per auto at the least)
Emile Francis -- lives in NY, possibility but no widespread interest
Edgar Laprade -- not travelling
Jacques Laperriere -- should be coming over the summer
Milt Schmidt -- not travelling, will do private

I'd also like to lay out a scenario for Player X and Player Y, who we'll say cost $1,000 and $2,000 respectively, for a signing. That's extremely cheap, but we'll use that number. Here are the other expenses we could expect:

Travel & Lodging -- $100 to $800 per player, depending on player's home
Advertising -- $400 for two ads in the Star in one week, $50 for printing flyers, $40 for Signings Hotline
Miscellaneous (pens at show, food/drink for players at signing, charity and promotional signatures, etc) -- $200

So, saying one is local and one isn't, we'll spend $3,000 on player fees, $500 on advertising, $600 on travel and lodging and $200 for miscellaneous stuff. We'll also put out $600 for pucks and photos and $100 for supplies. That's a total of $5,000 outgoing, and that's about what we expect for a show with one HHOFer and one non-HHOFer -- not big names, but solid, recognizable players.

Here's what we could expect to get back:

Signatures to public for Player A -- 75 x $10 = $750
Signatures to public for Player B -- 125 x $15 = $1,875
Photos and pucks sold -- 150 x $5 = $750
Supplies sold -- $150

At this point we've returned $3,525. That means for us to even break even, we have to do about $1,500 of preorders. Sometimes, that works out -- and that's when you see us book the show. Occasionally, we might even make a few dollars, which is kind of important in continuing to do business. Yes, we do get stock for inventory, but unlike the larger players, we don't have the mail-order business they do, and so we can't sit on 100 pieces and have it sell over 1-2 years. In most cases, outside of the big names, there is little to no resale after the show.

We're in the process of polling our collectors who purchase 10-20 autos per guest to see what they have for preorders for a list of about 40 players, including many of those named above. can almost guarantee that on more than half of those named above, our commitment will be less than 50 pieces. For those players, I simply can not bring them in.

As I have said in the past, we always gladly accept requests and suggestions for players, and we will check them out if we don't have the answer already.

Finally, I would add that if these fellows were all slams dunks to make money or even break even, they would all be here on a much more frequent basis. They aren't.

-----

I'm perfectly aware of what regurgitated means. You aren't, and I suggest you look it up. You'll see you chose the third definition, and in that sense it generally applies to repeating information. It would have been just as simply to say recycled or frequent guest, but you didn't. I'm pretty sure we all get what the picture is.

[JaysFan99]

Leo Boivin -- repeatedly contacted and not interested
Clint Smith -- not able to travel
Dean Prentice -- doesn't do much, no widespread interest
Marty Pavelich -- had Mr. Pavelich 2x including two years ago, used to travel, no widespread interest
John Bucyk -- working on it, but would be $20 per autograph
Bob Pulford -- here for Expo in '05 and '67 Leaf reunion show last year
***e Stewart -- not interested in doing more signings
Ron Stewart -- lives in Arizona, too expensive to even get close to breaking even (based on previous signing)
Rod Gilbert -- could not recoup expenses on cost (which would be $50 per auto at the least)
Emile Francis -- lives in NY, possibility but no widespread interest
Edgar Laprade -- not travelling
Jacques Laperriere -- should be coming over the summer
Milt Schmidt -- not travelling, will do private

Tood bad about Emile Francis, I just saw him in my Legends of Hockey DVD, and would not mind meeting him.

I agree in some of the smaller names would not be huge draws, but you never know. I would think Laperriere, would be the most in demand, every time I go to an old Hab signing, they are always tons of people. Here is a guy who hasnt been around much at all.

I think Bucyk would be fair at $20, former captain, Hall of famer, 500 goal scorer, and multiple Stanley cup winner. You may have collectors from the states doing pre orders as well

I am hoping you guys bring in Dennis Hull, I know quite a few collectors who need him on their 1972 summit series photo's, team pic etc.

Pronovost is an ex leaf who has not done many appearanances in the last 5 years. I would expect a good crowd if he reschedules. All ex leafs always draw crowd.

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by wfrazerjr

I'm going to put up a number of the players requested on the list that was posted earlier. Here is our position on most of them:

Leo Boivin -- repeatedly contacted and not interested
Clint Smith -- not able to travel
Dean Prentice -- doesn't do much, no widespread interest
Marty Pavelich -- had Mr. Pavelich 2x including two years ago, used to travel, no widespread interest
John Bucyk -- working on it, but would be $20 per autograph
Bob Pulford -- here for Expo in '05 and '67 Leaf reunion show last year
***e Stewart -- not interested in doing more signings
Ron Stewart -- lives in Arizona, too expensive to even get close to breaking even (based on previous signing)
Rod Gilbert -- could not recoup expenses on cost (which would be $50 per auto at the least)
Emile Francis -- lives in NY, possibility but no widespread interest
Edgar Laprade -- not travelling
Jacques Laperriere -- should be coming over the summer
Milt Schmidt -- not travelling, will do private

I'd also like to lay out a scenario for Player X and Player Y, who we'll say cost $1,000 and $2,000 respectively, for a signing. That's extremely cheap, but we'll use that number. Here are the other expenses we could expect:

Travel & Lodging -- $100 to $800 per player, depending on player's home
Advertising -- $400 for two ads in the Star in one week, $50 for printing flyers, $40 for Signings Hotline
Miscellaneous (pens at show, food/drink for players at signing, charity and promotional signatures, etc) -- $200

So, saying one is local and one isn't, we'll spend $3,000 on player fees, $500 on advertising, $600 on travel and lodging and $200 for miscellaneous stuff. We'll also put out $600 for pucks and photos and $100 for supplies. That's a total of $5,000 outgoing, and that's about what we expect for a show with one HHOFer and one non-HHOFer -- not big names, but solid, recognizable players.

Here's what we could expect to get back:

Signatures to public for Player A -- 75 x $10 = $750
Signatures to public for Player B -- 125 x $15 = $1,875
Photos and pucks sold -- 150 x $5 = $750
Supplies sold -- $150

At this point we've returned $3,525. That means for us to even break even, we have to do about $1,500 of preorders. Sometimes, that works out -- and that's when you see us book the show. Occasionally, we might even make a few dollars, which is kind of important in continuing to do business. Yes, we do get stock for inventory, but unlike the larger players, we don't have the mail-order business they do, and so we can't sit on 100 pieces and have it sell over 1-2 years. In most cases, outside of the big names, there is little to no resale after the show.

We're in the process of polling our collectors who purchase 10-20 autos per guest to see what they have for preorders for a list of about 40 players, including many of those named above. can almost guarantee that on more than half of those named above, our commitment will be less than 50 pieces. For those players, I simply can not bring them in.

As I have said in the past, we always gladly accept requests and suggestions for players, and we will check them out if we don't have the answer already.

Finally, I would add that if these fellows were all slams dunks to make money or even break even, they would all be here on a much more frequent basis. They aren't.

-----

I'm perfectly aware of what regurgitated means. You aren't, and I suggest you look it up. You'll see you chose the third definition, and in that sense it generally applies to repeating information. It would have been just as simply to say recycled or frequent guest, but you didn't. I'm pretty sure we all get what the picture is.

Man that's a lot of work you guys do. Never really thought about the business side of it.
Is the D I C K I E Moore stuff back yet Wayne?
Any word from Duane Ward?
I hope to stop by the store this week and pay what I owe you for the framing

[JaysFan99]

Finally, I would add that if these fellows were all slams dunks to make money or even break even, they would all be here on a much more frequent basis. They aren't.

If they were here on a more frequent basis , wouldnt that mean most people have all they need from them already ?

Frozen Pond only seems to work on the newer players, and only bring in hall of famers or players from the golden era of hockey a couple of times a year. You never know AJ's surprises some and brings in older guys who havent been around much or not for a while, and might be working on some of the older living legends.

[Yzerman19c]

Leo Boivin

Here is the background on Boivin . He did a show for Paul Marin back in the early to mid 1990's . Marin(Marin for those who don't remember him ,he and his accomplice ran the large counterfeit Blue Jay autograph scam in TO around 1993-1995 among other things) stiffed him on the money. He has refused everyone since. Im not sure about now he was also a willing signer through the mail and in person if you arranged to go to his house .

Wayne,
Is there any other advertising that you could do to drive more pre-orders to your website etc?
Maybe using google adwords, have the website built for e-commerce etc?

I like that you bring in these guys and I have always said about that I want you guys to make a profit, because if you are successful, then you will bring in more people for autograph sessions.

Chris

[hvyrsq]

anyone ever joined the Blue Jays fan Club? $20.00 and they say you get invited to two autograph sessions with the players over the course of the season....

http://mlb.mlb.com/tor/fan_forum/fan_club_form.jsp

[wfrazerjr]

I'm going to try and combine a few pertinent quotes here to answer some of the follow-up questions. I'm doing this because I believe in transparency in stuff like the cost of autographs, and I want our customers to understand why we do what we do.

Originally Posted by JaysFan99

I agree in some of the smaller names would not be huge draws, but you never know.

That's true. A good example would be Ed Giacomin at our Vezina Show last summer, where he did far more than we expected.

However, in 90-95% of the cases, we do know -- through our polling of collectors who buy at least 5-10 autos per signing. For a player who will cost $1,500-$2,000, we'll have to have at least 80-100 preorders before I'll book the guest. That's mainly because unless the player is a current player, a huge name or a local name, there will be moderate to little public turnout. For those players also, I can't absorb 100-150 pieces for stock if I sell them at the rate of 5-10 per year.

I doubt if we'll bring in Hull unless we can combine it with a speaking engagement. Very few of our collectors need multiples, and his auto would have to be $25 for us to have a chance to break even -- and we'd have to do a pretty fair number.

LaPerriere and Bucyk we'll keep working on, and Pronovost will reschedule when he's physically able.

Originally Posted by JaysFan99

If they were here on a more frequent basis, wouldn't that mean most people have all they need from them already?

You'd think that -- but then I'd be willing to book Johnny Bower every weekend somewhere in the GTA. Same goes for Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Guy LaFleur, etc. The trick is with Hall of Famer and Leafs and Canadiens, there are always more photos, more books, and more oddball items to get signed for these guys. A customer who had 15 for Beliveau the last time we brought him in may have 25 more this time.

In contrast, other players who didn't win Cups, don't have local ties or have limited appeal may only need one trip to the area every five years, or just one period, to satisfy all collectors.

Oh, by the way -- we have more than 70 preorders for Pierre Pilote.

Originally Posted by HazMan

Is there any other advertising that you could do to drive more pre-orders to your website etc? Maybe using google adwords, have the website built for e-commerce etc?

There is more advertising we could do, but that advertising has to be weighed against the number of autographs we think it will bring in. As an example, the Star now charges $400 for two ads. That means for our average guests, we have to sell 40 more autographs per show to break even on that expense.

We've looked at other methods and found them not to be cost-effective. I'm slowly but surely adding more of our inventory each week. However, we should have PayPal buttons installed soon. I won't accept credit cards because of the issues of chargebacks and the fees involved with them. I don't accept them in the store, either.

I'm not looking to become Frozen Pond or AJ's. I know both businesses well, and I respect both of them tremendously. Hersh and his staff, and Harvey and Andrew and their staff, have both been extremely helpful to me in my introduction to this industry, and I think they both know I'm no threat. We occasionally take a flyer on a big name, but I think our niche is in booking guests the big boys may not.

I hope I haven't come across as too much of a tool in writing this. My goal is to help people understand our decisions and hopefully to make you and the rest of our customers (hell, most of you are our friends now) comfortable in asking questions of us and expecting an honest answer.

Thanks for reading!

I do appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes in to booking these guests. My initial response was not to stir this type of reaction. Yes, I could have chose my words more wisely but I didn't and it came across rude. Those weren't my intentions.....again I was just disappointed. I will be more considerate in the future and do appreciate the time you took to respond to this misunderstanding.

[JaysFan99]

I doubt if we'll bring in Hull unless we can combine it with a speaking engagement. Very few of our collectors need multiples, and his auto would have to be $25 for us to have a chance to break even -- and we'd have to do a pretty fair number.

Would lack of appearances in the last few years, and his absence a year or so in the future, stir more interest, as collectors pick up more pieces and new people get introduced to the hobby? I guess with that price tag for you to break even, you would have to be absolute sure.

[JaysFan99]

Well. I am certainly glad The Ice Box brings in these olders guests, which other places do not. I was glad to have the opportunity to pick up guys like (Hodge, Giacomin, Rejean Houle, Alex Delvehccio, Gilles Gilbert) in the last year.

Originally Posted by wfrazerjr

There is more advertising we could do, but that advertising has to be weighed against the number of autographs we think it will bring in. As an example, the Star now charges $400 for two ads. That means for our average guests, we have to sell 40 more autographs per show to break even on that expense.

We've looked at other methods and found them not to be cost-effective. I'm slowly but surely adding more of our inventory each week. However, we should have PayPal buttons installed soon. I won't accept credit cards because of the issues of chargebacks and the fees involved with them. I don't accept them in the store, either.

Wayne,
Once you have the Paypal option setup, I would serious recommend looking into Google Adwords to help drive traffic to your website.

You could define things like area where the people live (based on their IP address), the words you want to bid on (autograph, barrie, toronto, hockey, etc), set up the cost per impression and how much you want to spend per a day.

You can literally setup a campaign fairly easy based on your inventory, upcoming events and a number of other variables.
It can be a very cost effective way to drive traffic to your website, as well as interest in your signings.

It is something that you could set up an ad campaign and spend a max of $5 a day for events and you can also clearly track the success and cancel it at any time.

Might be worth a little investigation.

Chris

[Hockeyfan33]

1st page updated with the new info for Wayne's show on March 29. Only $10 each autograph! AJ's wants $20 for one Bower auto. Now is the time to get your Bower auto's!

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by keontostajan

Mike Palmateer & Paul Harrison
Signing at HAMMERTIME on Mar,15,2008
THE WHITBY MALL -
1615 Dundas St. East -
Whitby, Ontario
( 905 ) 429-2370.

Originally Posted by Hockeyfan33

Doug Favell
Sat 3/22/08
2:00 thru 3:30
Hammertime Sports Cards
Thickson Road & Highway #2 (Whitby Mall)
Whitby, Ontario
(905) 429-2370

Too bad Whitby is so far away, I need Palmateer and Favell.

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by HazMan

Anyone have info on the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club Dinner???

Chris

Does anyone know if this is happening this year?

I'll for sure be getting Bower auto's on the SP's from Icebox !

Anyone know how early to go to the Pickering Markets for Kaberle? If he's there at 1pm, would 11am be okay or would we have to be there earlier?

[Hockeyfan33]

Originally Posted by cactuscraig

I'll for sure be getting Bower auto's on the SP's from Icebox !

Anyone know how early to go to the Pickering Markets for Kaberle? If he's there at 1pm, would 11am be okay or would we have to be there earlier?

That's a tough call Craig. I went to the Tie Domi signing there and by 11:00 it was packed.

[Hockeyfan33]

Anybody live near the Roger's Center that can help me out? I am looking for a Toronto Blue Jays baseball bat with the team logo on it for the BBQ. A guy at the Joe Carter signing had one that was perfect. He said he got it from MLB.com. He told me that he had to have it shipped to a buddies house in the states because MLB.com wouldn't ship to Canada or it was a stupid price. I can't remember which reason he used. It could have been both. The bat he had was just the current logo on it. MLB.com has these:

What I would like to know is if the Jays Shop has anything like this there?
Thanks, Mike

[JaysFan99]

Just call the Jays shop Mike. I know they have the bat at the dome, it was about $75 though.