When you were a kid, it used to be a ritual to sit down and write your letter to Saint Nick or Santa Claus and beg for toys. You would plead your case for being the best boy or girl on the block and even resort to explaining how good you were compared to Johnny or Jenny. Your list would be a selfish-driven attempt to get things you liked out of life. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not.

I have a similar wish list this year and it is for my changes to eTopps. As you may or may not know, I am outspoken about my changes but am very happy with where I am at. I am not stuck glaring at my bottom line right now but more looking forward to the future and the growth of eTopps. I realize it takes awhile for a product to catch on but here we are at year 5 and things are still rolling along. I just wish it were rolling a little faster. But slow time is good time for buyers... So how do you improve something you might think is going well and has done well so far? This is easier said than done. The easiest way to look at it is from a half-empty perspective. How do you improve something that has failed and is doing miserable (though it is not)? eTopps has been locked in contracts with eBay and other financiers for some time now and those contracts will remain in place as long as the money is there. So, sitting at the bottom of a hill gathering no moss, I look up to see this rock rolling down the hill. As you know, that situation does not get better with time.

By the time this rock hits me I am looking at a port that is $5K in the hole. I sat there trying to figure out how my card collection, that consumed all my time, was hurting so bad. Was it an error on my part or was it an error in the system? I pointed my finger at the system and refused to admit my ignorance in spending thousands of dollars at IPO to buy overpriced, and in many cases, overproduced 2002 cards. The system failed me but how did it really fail me? I got caught up in the go-go days of 2002. The 2001 set sold record low quantities and people were begging for more. I had not heard of the message boards back then -- it was just some useless link where people went to talk about silly things. I was looking for investment advice and I wanted to buy, buy, and buy! So, heeding no advice and seeking none, I bought until my heart was content in 2002. I did not research the secondary market and did not bother to buy any cards outside of eTopps. I wanted cards in my portfolio and making money (something my mutual funds were having a hard time doing). So, with my large investments into an inflated market, I made big dollars in the beginning. The market was soaring and 2002 baseball was my ticket to paradise. People were talking about how they bought cars with their sales. I was skeptical at first, but lured in nonetheless. Two years later I can look back and laugh about how I threw so much away on a Giambi or Piazza, but the laugh is actually short-lived.

In order to make my first wish for this Christmas I have to speak to all of you out there. The card market is teaming with 2002 cards. Many people have made this suggestion but few have bought into it: we need collectors to adopt a player and corner the market. This is the only way to increase the value of these cards. To that end, I am going to adopt a player and I think we should start a list of adopted players somewhere and get someone smar (not me) to track this. What does this really do? It corners the market for one. Two, it puts more of a structure/stability into the price. Finally, it creates a supply and demand issue. With that said, I am adopting Shea Hillenbrand from 2002. I said it and I owned up to giving a name. Now step up to the plate and send your adoptee for the 2002 baseball set to me at etoppsguru@aol.com. I will track it somehow with some help from etoppsclubhouse.com.

My second wish, in line with my other wishes, is a selfish wish for my portfolio to double and then triple in value. I am reasonable enough to wait 2-4 years before this happens but I want it to happen. This is a twofold, or even threefold (depending on how you look at it), wish that is easy enough to grasp but requires some work from two parties. The first part is already ongoing: current members going out and bringing in new clients. The second part is eTopps doing some work for recruiting. The recruiting campaign should be a joint campaign with a "Grass Roots" type program. With our unique program we have two bases to draw from. One is the existing collectors in the world. The second is the sports fans who also do a fair bit of investing. This program is right up the alley of the prospect sitting behind a desk all day who loves sports. What better way to get to a site to buy and sell cards all day and play games at the same time? To pull these people in there should be a mid-level type marketing strategy oriented towards these people. They did it two years ago with CBS fantasy games and lured in people like "Donut Door" and myself. You continue this approach and spread advertising, small banners, to Yahoo- and ESPN-type fantasy games. Then, on your own site, you run your own banners for your own games. I like the idea of a ticker on the top or bottom of each page. This ticker tracks all the sports scores, top selling cards or IPO’s, future or ongoing games, and possibly news about the program and sports. The ticker is a good tool that does not require you to go to the home page or new cards page to get information. You see it rolling right across the screen in front of you while on the site. Now, with the continued marketing plan for the sports and investing enthusiasts, you reach out with some articles in Forbes and Kiplinger’s type magazines and journals. You highlight the program and then talk about the future of the program. Aim for the moon and, if you don’t reach the moon, at least you are among the stars! Then you also have the "Grass Roots" plan you can execute. Each state should have a local dealer or member that organizes events in their state. Whether it is selling cards at the local shop or mom-and-pop shows, you have an actual person who has something invested in the program and is out there praising it and extolling its virtues. eTopps could help out with throwing some points their way for their work. You could provide polo’s, hats, keychains, mousepads, interactive CDs, pins, magnets... the list goes on and on! It requires some money for advertising but you would be able to recoup it with new members coming aboard and investing. The overall goal of this two-pronged attack is to bring in new members. Bringing in new members increases the demand for cards already out there. It also gives the company more dollars to pad the bottom line and invest where they see fit (to benefit the company and program).

With any wishes you have to give and take, in that you need to be able to be the good kid all along to get something back at the end of the year. So if I am a good buyer all year long what am I getting back at the end of the year? We have nice little plaques for people who have the complete set but what about adding a page on the website with pictures of them and their plaques. What about giving out a special award to people who buy every IPO? These are all nice and creative ways to give back to the loyal fans who never fail to come through and put out for the company by purchasing! We all know money fuels the fire to keep the program running strong. A simple token would be enough to suffice for the needs of some of these members. Kick them a card now and then or establish some type of awards program in the eTopps Hall of Fame. You have your top set collectors who are your members of the Hall of Fame and then you have your gold, silver and bronze award winners for people who buy at least 1 card for every IPO. A simple way to award people is to put their name in print (or put it on a web page). You give them instant credibility and recognition for being a loyal fan and a great member. With so much negative smack on the boards and so many people who beat everything positive down, you establish a web page for good deeds done by people. New members would love to see something like this and might set it as a goal once they realize people are chasing that goal. Just like at Christmas, you get something for being a good kid all year long. I am not asking for the Mona Lisa, but a simple paint by numbers recognition on the fridge would be nice.

Well, I have asked for three wishes and have a lot more but I am going to keep those closely held. I can only hope that eTopps grabs a hold of these members and use them to their benefit. Rewarding us for collecting is a nice gesture that can be inexpensive and would be a true sign that they want to keep this oriented towards the members. We understand the dollar drives all and that is why we recruit and bring new people in. The adoption idea is not new but it is a sure way to corner a market. These are three simple wishes that go out to our members and to our buddies at eTopps. Let’s wish that some of them come true. Happy Holidays and if you are in Louisiana or Washington DC for the holidays holler at me. I will be in Memphis New Year's eve for the 2nd most exciting Bowl game out there, Boise St vs. Louisville. Until next time, e-mail me with your comments at Etoppsguru@aol.com.