Curious if anyone else uses the Shortboxed App....14056
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi everyone! Gene from Shortboxed here, CEO & co-founder of Shortboxed. Really appreciate the discussion and I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns anyone may have about Shortboxed. For a bit of context, my co-founder BJ and I have been involved in the comics community for about a decade, but we've been collectors our whole lives. We both had careers in Silicon Valley, working for some of the biggest tech companies and highly successful startups. We grew frustrated with buying and selling comics, because nothing has really changed or evolved with technology in 20 years. So, we decided to leave our jobs and build Shortboxed. We launched a year ago and have had steady growth since launching, with thousands of users, averaging over 100+ books added daily, and some of the most well-known and respected dealers in the country selling on the app. If you want to learn more about our specific policies and how it works, we have an FAQ on Shortboxed.com that you can read, so I won't hijack this thread. I'll try my best to address the comments in this thread so far... Quote: Originally Posted by KatKomics We get requests from Canadian collectors every day, and it's on our roadmap to open up operations in Canada this year. We haven't forgotten about our neighbors to the north! There's a lot of red tape and policy that needs to be hammered out before we can open up to Canada, but we're working on it. Quote: Originally Posted by DWeeB1967 Sorry to hear you never received a response on your offer. All offers are sent directly to the seller to respond to, and sellers are expected to respond to all offers within 24 hours. The vast majority of offers receive responses within minutes of being submitted, but obviously some sellers are a bit slower (and in this case less reliable) than others. We're building a new internal feature that will automatically remind and notify sellers of active offers that still need a response. Hope you give the app another chance! Quote: Originally Posted by Scifinator We have A LOT more users than we did a few months ago, and as mentioned above, we're receiving over 100+ submissions a day. There are currently thousands of graded comics for sale, so maybe what you're looking for is on there now! We're also building a feature for users to create saved searches/wish lists and to be notified when a book that matches gets listed for sale. This has been one of our most requested features. Quote: Originally Posted by flanders We have quite a few sellers that have left eBay and sell on Shortboxed exclusively now, so you're not alone in looking for an alternative. With regards to the flat 10% seller fee, we also don't charge any additional buyer or seller premiums, nor do we charge an extra fee to buyers for paying with a card. We absorb all the transaction and administrative fees into our flat seller fee. Quote: Originally Posted by Donnied When we first launched, we had a shopping cart and users could buy multiple books and get discounted combined shipping. However, this proved to be a bit complicated on the backend with processing multiple orders from multiple sellers, and we took a loss on every multi-book order because we subsidized shipping. On top of that, over 95% of orders placed were for a single book. With a single item checkout, we've vastly improved the checkout process which only takes 2 taps, and sellers are able to confirm and ship out orders even faster, and orders are much easier to track. With the cost savings from these efficiencies, we were able to add extra buyer and seller protections such as signature confirmation and insurance on every order, for the same flat shipping fee. If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, please drop a comment and I'll be more than happy to chime in! Thanks again for all your support. |
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| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
 You do know that the new guy brings the donuts, right?
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DWeeB1967 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Welcome to the forum, @shortboxed, and thanks for answering my question, Gene. I do still plan to give the app another try. I may even try submitting the offer once more for that same book just to see if the seller responds this time. Don't be a stranger. Feel free to hang out and chat funny books if you have a mind to do so. All in all, folks are pretty friendly around here. |
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| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hello Gene, Is there any chance you might add a "more comics from this seller" type feature? | ||
| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by shortboxed Nice to see you here Gene and thanks for taking my invite....and as far as the thread and topic feel free to hijack or comment as you like...and thanks for some great books over the past few years bro! It is nice having you here where you can directly respond to the comments and thoughts offered by everyone. Hope you make some new friends and enjoy your stay. |
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| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by esaravo looks like that first one sold for 7200 dollars and the second one with white pages is already at 7400 with a day left....the book is on fire and hitting new highs daily |
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| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied Yes! Glad you brought that up. It's something we do have on the roadmap to build. It will allow us to offer combined shipping if it's coming from the same seller. |
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| Post 31 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I do most of my comic buying on my PC. How about a windows program, or a webpage for your service? | ||
| Post 32 • IP flag post | ||
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| https://www.ebay.com/itm/GIANT-SIZE-X-MEN-1-CGC-9-0-1975-FIRST-NEW-X-MEN-2ND-WOLVERINE-APPEARANCE/114704590533?hash=item1ab4ed26c5:g:jloAAOSwvaNgN6T5 https://www.ebay.com/itm/GIANT-SIZE-X-MEN-1-CGC-8-5-WHITE-PAGES-1ST-NEW-X-MEN-2ND-FULL-WOLVERINE/274705906174?hash=item3ff5bf79fe:g:Wm8AAOSwwlVgP-3- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Giant-size-x-men-1-9-0-CBCS-not-CGC/284202969263?hash=item422bd128af:g:pQUAAOSwOsZgPR5A https://www.ebay.com/itm/Giant-Size-X-Men-1-CGC-signature-series-8-5-SIGNED-by-Chris-Claremont-Len-Wein/154358335185?hash=item23f07946d1:g:XMsAAOSwUhJgQUd4 Some of these should prove interesting to watch..../ Meantime the highest price copy of 181 on ebay with bids is an 8.0 that has three signatures and is sitting at 7,600. Quite a bit of evidence the "all day, everyday best choice" has lost its crown |
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| Post 33 • IP flag post | ||
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KeepItClunky private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Gene, good to see you here. I believe I dm-ed you about this, but one drawback to ebay is that you can't fund purchases from multiple sources. It would be cool if shortboxed could find a way to do that. | ||
| Post 34 • IP flag post | ||
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied Thanks for your comment. We'll be adding web in the future, but right now we're focused solely on building the best mobile experience for collectors, which has not existed prior and is very much needed in the industry. |
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| Post 35 • IP flag post | ||
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KeepItClunky Hi again! I do remember this feature request, and it's something we've got on the long list of features to consider, though it is a bit challenging. Would you mind clarifying exactly what you need this feature for? To be completely transparent, it was never on our feature list before and we haven't received any other requests for it. Would love to hear your thoughts on this particular use case. We are adding additional payment methods in the next few weeks, including direct deposit and ACH, which will offer even more flexibility. |
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| Post 36 • IP flag post | ||
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_townthat 9.0 linked above is at 8,300 with 18 hours left...anyone taking bets if it cracks 10k? The 8.5 ended at 7,800 The CBCS has almost two days left sitting at around 6800 now The signed 8.5 by Wein and Claremont is at 6,300 with four days to go.... the sales suggest a complete shift in the hierarchy of bronze age keys with the Hulk book taking a close 2nd to this one. Bright side for the Wolverine fans I guess...at least moving forward the hulk book should have more room to move than the Giant size with the high prices Giant size is now realizing |
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| Post 37 • IP flag post | ||
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I signed up for Shortboxed and tried listing some comics. First off the barcode scanning didn't work most of the time. Of 7 books scanned, two times it worked. When I asked about it they said it doesn't work for CBCS barcodes, (except it worked twice?). After I used the skip barcode feature the app wanted to take pictures of the front and back, but only in-app, existing high quality scans can't be used. Of course the quality of the pictures sucked and were rejected. So, pretty much a complete bust, no successful listings. I guess this app just isn't ready. Maybe I'll try again when my next batch of comics comes back from CBCS, in April. | ||
| Post 38 • IP flag post | ||
 I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
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flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I tried also but I must be a bird brain because my listings all got rejected. I might try again in a few days. I definitely don't like the fact that I need to take all new pictures and can't use saved ones. I'm using an android. Maybe it's crap or maybe I'm the problem. | ||
| Post 39 • IP flag post | ||
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You do know that the new guy brings the donuts, right?
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DWeeB1967 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied Just curious... did the ShortBoxed folks say whether they plan to include CBCS barcodes (other than the two you mentioned, that is)? |
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| Post 40 • IP flag post | ||
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| They did say they are working on both of the issues, CBCS barcodes and picture failures, but no timetable given for a fix. So, along with the single comic shipping issue, they have a lot of work to do before they become a legitimate player in the market. | ||
| Post 41 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Unsure you can say they aren't a legitimate player in the market simply because the first version of their concept has some bugs its first year.... Or at least I see them as legitimate, but a work in progress. I always kind of wondered what the test version of Mycomicshop.com must have looked like or if it had a few thousand bugs too. Anyways, I do know Gene has come here to the forum and should be able to discuss the nuts and bolts of it more thoroughly than I could....sorry you have a bad time with it though |
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| Post 42 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Reading the directions how to use the picture feature of the app reminds me of the app the insurance company used for when my car was damaged and I had to submit photos for an estimate for them. I clearly remember my frustration at getting pictures that were at the "my porridge is too hot" standards the app that day asked for lol....it was like finding that three bears level where everything was just perfect. I wonder if that part of the app is a standard many similar programs might utilize |
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| Post 43 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied Quote: Originally Posted by flanders Quote: Originally Posted by DWeeB1967 Thanks for the comments! The bar code scanner currently only works with CGC slabs, but we are actively working directly with CBCS to add scanning for CBCS slabs. We're at the mercy of CBCS right now until it's fully baked, but it's in progress. We do reject submissions for poor quality photos; it helps us keep the quality of the app experience as high as possible; no one wants to see grainy or blurry photos of slabs. We do offer some tips and guidance on taking good photos of slabs in our FAQ (available on shortboxed.com and the app under Profile > Settings). Thankfully the vast majority of submissions get approved, but we do have to hold the line on photo quality to ensure the best browsing experience for users. Sometimes it's tough to reject a submission for an amazing book, like a Giant-Size X-Men 1, because there's too much glare. With that said, we have been building a "photo upload from gallery" feature which we just completed and will launch this week! It's actually live for some users right now. So users can choose to take new photos in-app or upload their own. I've attached a screenshot of the new feature below, circled in red, which also shows the best way to snap an in-app photo:  We're constantly building and shipping new feature and improvements every few days, and have been since day 1. We listed to every single piece of feedback we receive, and it directly impacts the features we build. Case in point: photo uploads. Many users are still using previous-generation smart phones which don't have the highest quality cameras for taking detailed photos, or they may already have high-quality scans to submit. This was has been one of our most requested features and I'm happy to say we're finally launching it this week. And for good measure, I've also attached some examples of what NOT to do when submitting photos   |
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| Post 44 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| "Many users are still using previous-generation smart phones which don't have the highest quality cameras for taking detailed photos" - Hah! That sounds like Marie Antoinette - "Let them eat cake!" Not every potential user of this app is willing to drop a lot of money for latest generation phones just to take comic pictures. I guess we second class citizens will have to settle for using the high quality scans feature! Which actually works much better than even the highest quality phone. I realize the app is a work in progress and I am eager to see it work correctly in the, hopefully, near future. |
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| Post 45 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Photo upload from gallery is now live! This has been one of our most requested features, so we're happy to finally release it. You'll still need to scan the barcode first, but after that you can either snap a photo from within the app or upload front and back cover scans from your phone gallery. If you don't see the new photo upload button in the submission process yet, just update your app and you'll see it. |
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| Post 46 • IP flag post | ||
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I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
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flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I updated my android today and it's much easier to select images from my phone for upload. Thanks for the update! Hopefully some of my books pass the review this time. | ||
| Post 47 • IP flag post | ||
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @flanders - I did the same today. I submitted for review a handful of comics. They shouldn't have any complaints on the quality of the pictures. It did seem a little backwards putting pictures onto my phone, normally they go the other direction. A desktop version of this app will go a long way into making it a lot better, even if it's used just for submitting books. Maybe I'm just an old tech fuddy-duddy, but I have never used a mobile shopping app that was a better experience than a desktop program or website. |
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| Post 48 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by flanders Quote: Originally Posted by Donnied Thanks for trying out the new upload feature! Quote: Originally Posted by Donnied Challenge accepted  |
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| Post 49 • IP flag post | ||
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
I hope this is okay to post here- We just opened up a job req for a full-time Operations Coordinator. Check out the job description below and if anyone here has any relevant experience in digital ops, ecom, and support, feel free to DM me or email me directly at gene@shortboxed.com. Would be great to find someone from the comic community to join the team! https://angel.co/company/shortboxed/jobs/1243691-operations-coordinator |
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| Post 50 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have another suggestion for this App, how about a counter to show page views? It would give me a better idea if anybody is actually looking at my listings or are they just getting lost in the shuffle. So far I've had two lowball offers and that's all. If I knew that 50 people have looked but passed, then maybe my price needs to be adjusted. | ||
| Post 51 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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shortboxed private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied This is great to hear, because we actually have this on the roadmap already. There's a couple things coming: For buyers, we'll be displaying "hot" or "trending" books based on clicks and favorites. For sellers, in the seller portal we'll be displaying the total views, total unique viewers, and number of favorites on every book that's listed. We're targeting Q3 for this release, so it's a bit further out, but it's coming. |
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| Post 52 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Revisting the price eruption Giant size x men has seen this past few weeks, you can now visit GPA and find examples of the book selling vastly over Incredible hulk 181 prices in all grades clear down to 2.0 with examples all selling in March 2021,with the book nailing down a whopping three grand even in 4.5 grade. At the high end is an example in 9.8 hitting 22,500 while a 9.4 still cleared 12,500 | ||
| Post 53 • IP flag post | ||
 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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xkonk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Yeah, GSX has definitely heated up from what I've seen on eBay. ComicLink's current auction has a few comparables closing in just under a week: 181 9.2 $12250 GSX 9.2 $6655 181 9.0 $9412 GSX 9.0 $5655 181 8.5 $6100 GSX 8.5 $5555 181 8.0 $5812 GSX 8.0 $4200 181 6.5 $4778 GSX 6.5 $3200 181 5.5 $2712 GSX 5.5 $2211 181 4.0 $2300 GSX 4.0 $1450 These definitely slant pro-Wolvie, but there's still 5-6 days for things to change. |
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| Post 54 • IP flag post | ||
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I would also suggest that a record number of these books are seeing market with the higher profile pricing happening...alot of folks cashing in....its somewhat stunning how people keep somehow finding the money to spend for it. Not a silver age key, and over 50 years old with the first appearance of thor or spider man but the book has hit some pretty serious sales levels. (kicking myself for owning three copies of this book and letting them all go before keeping the one I did) Trick question is, does this start the wave up for the book or is it almost done cresting? With hardly any news released about the upcoming x men projects from Disney/Marvel I predict the book will ride higher somewhat .... Although given the massive jumps its taken it might now allow Hulk 181 moving forward a better chance to be the right choice, than it was the last year. |
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