E-bay - Had over 37,000 listings on the day I checked and 87  for Friesen.  Forget about the rest.  For any card under $100 this is the place to buy and sell.  Most of the big national dealers are now listing on e-bay.  It's just to hard, at this point, for any other auction site to make in roads into the user base of e-bay.  The only way I can see them loosing the leadership place in auctions is super extended down time.  I'm not talking a few hours, I mean they'd have to be down for 3-4 days or more. 

A few tips for buyers. 
1.  Check shipping costs and policies and factor them into your bids. Paying $2 for a $10 card and paying $5 shipping is no bargain. 

2. Check payment methods, some sellers will only take money orders. 

3.  Figure out what you'll pay and bid it.  Trying to wait till the last minute never works. 

4.  Know your seller.  Check their feedback file BEFORE bidding. 

5.  Respond quickly on bids you've won and get payment out within a week at the most 

6.  Give sellers Feedback.  It's what makes e-bay work. 

A few tips for sellers. 

1. Get as much detail into your title as possible.  Avoid all the LOOK, !!! crap.  Describe as much about the card as you can.  Friesen card must see, look look .  Is a terrible listing.  Friesen 99/00 UD Exclusive 39/100 Sharks Jersey.  Is great. 

2.  Items with pictures always sell better that items with out.  Period. 

3.  Take checks.  Let me say that again.  Take checks. Recently I saw the same Friesen card (99/00 Paramount Holo Silver xx/99) listed by three different sellers.  One took only cash (cards sold for 15% of Beckett). One took money orders (card sold for 22% of Beckett).  One took everything (card sold for 36% of Beckett, which is about normal). 

4.  Make sure your item discription is complete and detailed. 

5.  KISS.  Keep It Simple Stupid.  Counters, backgrounds, music and the such might seem like a good idea to add to your auction page, but they'll anger more people than they'll amuse. 

6.  Many people won't bid in reserve auctions, keep that in mind. 

7.  Buy a few things before you start to sell.  That will give you a good idea of what your customers will expect. 

Amazon -They had about 800 total items on the day I checked and 1 hit on Friesen.  It's still located in the comics and science fiction section.  Anyone want to take bets on how long this lasts?  It's really already shut down.  Almost none of the listings are person to person, they're just items crossed over from the Z-Shops area.  Don't waste your time. 

Yahoo  - Had about 27,000 items listen and 45 hits on Friesen.  That's very decepitive though.  Less than 10% of the items had bids and about 75% of the items listen under Friesen were regular issue cards you could pull out of my Sharks box for 10 cents.  Just to be sure I searched on Owen Nolan also.  Same story there.  In fact 0 of the 112 hits had bids on them.  Seems like a waste of time. 

Sports Universe -  owned by the same company as PSA.  I was expecting this site might see more action, but it hasn't happened.  Some high end PSA stuff but that's about it.  Teletrade has a better selection. 

Boekhout's  - They have dealer run and collector run auctions.  Still holding out against E-bay.  Really they have better baseball stuff.  Hockey only comes up every now and then. 

Double J Sport's Cards - A bargain hunters place to go.  They mostly feature inserts that are a couple of seasons old and at the low end.  Stuff you can pick up at 10-15% of Beckett.  They rarely have Sharks card, but if you want to pick up some older star inserts cheap check here. 

Amy's Auctions - Uses the Once, Twice, Sold format, which is really very cool.  They always have 40-100 good star cards up for auction.  Check it out every now and then. 

Teletrade - The best site for high end stuff.  Owned by GMAI, it's a first class operation and the place to go to buy and sell high end cards.  This is really a cool site and auction.  Most of the hockey is older graded stuff, but high end newer stuff pops up every now and then. 

Portals / Search Engines - I'll hit the big ones.  There are hundreds, other than a couple though I'd say they generally suck for finding hockey cards. I tested them by searching on "hockey cards" 

Yahoo - Really a terrible lits of sites that comes back.  Yahoo is NOT a search engine any more.  They should just take the search button off there site rather than return this crap. 

Netscape - Kind of a whacky group of hits come back.  Only about 1/2 actually had to do with hockey cards, and none of those was that great. 

InfoSeek - Now part of the Go network.  Mostly the same junk that comes back from Yahoo.  Not worth the effort. 

Excite - You'll find a better list on my links page than you'll get here. 

Lycos - A ton of stuff comes back and it mostly seems related and current.  Still lists those 2 big pains in the asses though as top sites.  It would take a lot of work to find something good through here. 

Hot Bot - Just returns the same stuff as Lycos. 

About/Mining Company - The sites with real live guides.  The guide for hockey cards is still dead or lost though.  Don't bother 

Pucklinks - I've disabled this link, since they've never fixed it. 

Google - Nothing different from any of the rest.  Some days all it returns is e-bay listings.  They're very new, maybe it will get better. 

AOL - You know, as much as I like to cap on AOL like every other techno geek out there, this is probably the best list of sites you come back with.  I also know they do regular sweeps (they hit my site about once per month) and update the results page often. 

Corporate Sites - Card related sites.  I'm not sure where to put some of the brick and morter shops that are also on the internet.  I think for now I'll list them under collector sites and keep this to more corporate type sites. 

Beckett -  There's tons and tons of usefull stuff here.  Just watch, Beckett is going to kick everyones butt in the sports card portal area, they way e-bay has in the auction area.  Love them or hate them, they keep doing the right thing.  They're listening to the market and adapting quickly.  Their "Z-Shops" for cards grows every week.  High end auctions are doing well, and the content / price guide parts of the site are always up to date.  Bookmark this one you'll be back there often.  A note about BGS grading.  I tried them out in December and overall was happy.  They're VERY VERY tough on grading right now.  I sent in 2 71 McCovey's that had both been PSA 8's. (I ended up with 3 by accident), to see how BGS did.  One came back a 7 and one a 6.5!  In my mind that's the right approach and the reason PSA has been succesful.  They're establishing VALUE in their grades.  The market will react.  Just wait.  Right now a BGS 9.5 is a much  harder grade than a PSA 10.  In 9-12 months BGS and PSA will equal out.  Then it will be a dogfight, which should be great for us collectors as they compete. 

Topps-   Just checklists and upcoming releases on their site.  In fact they refer you to Beckett for more information. 

Upper Deck -  They've added a UDA shop to the site.  Other than that it's just checklists and upcoming releases.  You should know that none of these companies are at all interested in selling directly to collectors. I spend $6000-$12000 per year on new wax and none of these company's will sell directly to me.  Unless you can spen more than that, don't waste your time trying. 

Pacific -  The best online site of the four hockey card makers.  Too bad their products have been such dogs this year.  IMHO, Mike Cramer needs to step down and let someone younger take over.  Have you seen those commercials where the old executive say, "they'll take what we want to give them and like it"?  That seems to be Cramers attitute lately. 

In the Game - The company that produces Be a Player.  A pretty basic site.  Checklists and production numbers. Stupid music on the home page, and the site can be slow. 

PSA - Have I done my turn around time rant somewhere else already?  The site is good.  Theie customer service department is excellent.  I just wish they could figure out how to make the economy service work in under 6 months.  It's especially hard when your dealing with newer hockey cards.  The margin is so slim on getting them graded as it is, that it doesn't make much sense to wait that long.  I didn't renew my membership this year and probably won't until they can fix this problem. 

WWCD - A great example of "You snooze, you lose."  Back in 96-97 this site was the only thing out there even close to a portal for sports cards.  Several of the biggest national dealers had partnered with them, and they could have taken over the market.  But, they never put any effort into the site and Beckett and others have made them an also ran.  They have redone the site and improved the speed, but the content is now 4 years old.  That's about a century in Internet time. 

Collector-Link - Really a search engine with just card sites on it.  It's ok, and if your looking to kill some time might be worth hunting around for, but it's not very exciting. 

Collectit.net - Krause Publications (SCD) entry into the internet.  They can't seem to figure it out.. Bill McKiernan's five rules of succesfull e-commerce: 1. build a great site 2. stuff it full of products 3. drive traffic to the site 4.offer outstanding customer service. 5. deliver your products. (and, outsource everything else).  Maybe someone should send those on to Krause. 

Tri-Star Productions - They have figured it out.  This site gets better all the time.  Besides information about ther upcoming shows, you can purchase tickets and get stuff from past shows. 

Collector Sites - Some online sites I've done business with. 

BJ's Blackhawks Site - I've had many with BJ over the past 3 years.  He's as reliable as you can be and a good person to deal with.  He's got tons of stuff to trade if you've got something on his giant want list. 

Byron's Hockeyland  - I haven't used his web site, but have bought from them in person.  Great game used stuff and tips on avoiding fakes.  The best tip I could give you is buy from Byron's or one of the next two guys! 

Mitch Amaya's West Coast Hockey Jersey Exchange - Mitch has a great site with good game worn stuff. He's happy to answer any questions you have.  I enjoy this site alot. 

Game Worn Jersey's  - John Nakasone's site has been featured in Beckett.  It's a fun interactive site.  John really shows off his creativity and I love looking through his collection. 

Trading Faces  - I met Jay through e-bay.  He's got a good site up with stuff from all 4 sports, and you can also get to him through Amazon. 
 

Newsgroups - If your not sure how to get to a newsgroup try contacting tech support at your ISP. 

rec.collecting.sport.hockey - The main trading newsgroup.  Tons of posts, lots of cards, not too much SPAM.  Trading is still active and prices are good.  This can be risky though.  Most people who get ripped off on line and most crooks work through this newsgroups.  Still 99.9 % of the people are honest.   Be careful and have fun.  Make sure to read my trading tips. 

beckett.hobby-talk.hockey - I used to love this newsgroup.  It was full of lively posts about card collecting and the latest rumors and news.  Every now and then it still flares up, but mostly there's not much posting any more. 

beckett.trading.hockey - Activity in this group has dropped off also from a few years ago.  The number of posters has picked up recently and since Beckett monitors this newsgroup it's a little safer than rec.collecting.  It's a little hard to find on the site now so try following this link or subscribing directly. 

alt.sports.hockey.nhl.sj-sharks - This is for San Jose Sharks discussions only.  Nothing will make you unpopular on line faster than misusing a newsgroup.  Don't post card wanted or for sale ads or any ads here.  It's the place to go to talk about the Sharks.  

Deja.Com - What a pity.  This used to be a great site.  You could go here and search through a newsgroup for exactly what you wanted.  Now it's just another crappy portal, and a poor one at that.  They should fire every marketing bozo who took part in distroying this unique service.  10/00 Update.  I saw a press release a few weeks ago and they did fire everyone involved with turning this site into a portal.

General Hockey: Places I go to for hockey information and news. 

NHL.Com - The best thing is the access to live radio of almost every nhl game.  The site is a little slow and busy (cluttered) at times but at least they've gotten rid of the pop up windows.  I showed this to a friend when we were talking about web site design and her response was "that's kind of cluttered",  about sums it up. 

NHLPA Players Assoc. - This is a better site than the league site.  Check it out.  They're very fast with breaking news and have some really good interactive stuff. 

Web Thumpers SJ Sharks Site - This site rocks!  The best place to go for Sharks news.  Has all of the stories from all the local papers.  Stats, photo's, links.  Really a cool site.  They just changed servers, so this link might change unless they local direct. Still my favorite place to go to get Sharks news. 

Sharks Home Page - They updated this site for this season.  I'm not really crazy about the layout, but it's a good site, better than most teams. 

Fantasy Hockey - My favorite fantasy hockey game.  They have full season, mid season and playoff leagues.  I like this better than any of the other fantasy leagues because you get an entire team, not just one line.  Picking the right 3rd liners can make all the differance. 

Yahoo Sports- I check it every day as part of myyahoo.  Has all the top stories and some good articles. 

ESPN - I use this for stats alot.  The NHLPA site is actually better for most news than either Yahoo or ESPN. 

Trading Tips:  A few ideas to help you trade online. 

Trading over the internet can be a little intimidating, especially if you're new to the web or hear all of the fraud scare stories.  I'll talk about avoiding fraud in the next section.   I've done thousands of trades over the past few years and only had a few negative experiences..  Here's some ideas to get you started or make you a better trader. 

1.  Let people know exactly what your looking for in trade.  The more detailed you are in what your looking for the easier it is to get trades done.  The more open you are the easier it is to get trades done.  If you will only take UD Game Jersey's in trade, you're probably not going to get many trade offers. 

2.  Let people know exactly what you have to trade.  Have a detailed list or site with cards listed out individually. It's usually a little work to get set up, put the work will pay off in the end. 

3. Know your Beckett values.  Most cards get traded at high beckett for high Beckett.  I always try and include values when talking a trade to make it easier.  Try and include the card values with your posts or emails.  I have to admit I ignore emails sometimes that don't have the trade values.  It just seems like to much work to have to look everything up. 

4.  Send detailed and polite e-mails.  It lets people know your serious and reliable.  Keep your requests detailed and specific. This one seems to hit AOL users alot.  I've usually got 5-6 trades going at once and need more than a brief messaage to keep track of what's going on. 

5.  Be realistic.  This is the BIG ONE.  I can't stress this one enough.  Always turn the trade around and ask if you would do it if you were in the other position.  No one is going to trade a Jagr OPC RC in GEM MT for $250 in Pro Set commons, even if it is an "even trade". 

6.  Remember no one has to do a trade just because it's even.  There are all kinds of other factors involved besides value.  Don't get mad if you can't close a trade even though values were even. 

7.  Be prepared to give up more for hot / tough cards. If you really want 98/99 BAP short prints, or that SP Hedjuk RC, there aren't many floating around willing to be traded at 100% of Beckett. 

8.  Once you've reached a deal, summarize and send your address.  This should be the confirmation of a trade taking place.  In my opinion it's fine to back out all the way up to the point this has been done, but not afterwards. 

9.  Package your cards well, the postal system can be rough. 

10.  Mail as soon as you can, but remember, people can get busy.  If it takes a few days to get a package out that should be fine.  Remember we're all basically doing this for fun, and have lots of other things going on.  Don't hold people to to strict of expectations.  If your flexable, you'll make a lot of great friends. 

11. Here's what I know about the various postal systems and shipping methods: 

US Post.  Takes from 1-5 days.  Signature confirmation and insurance are good investments on deals over $100, or the first time you trade with someone. 

Canadian Post. Is slow, very slow. 5-25 days (and yes it's the Canadian Post not the US part of the exchange)  I've also heard it can be unreliable but I've never had a problem.  Customs is a nightmare.  You MUST fill out a green custom form.  Using a business name, having a marked value over $35, getting postage from a Pitney Bowes machine, failing to mark gift, not filling out the customs form, or getting a Canadian customs official in a bad mood will hold your package up in customs. 

Sweden - Has a very good Post.  3-7 days.  It's faster going to Sweden than coming from Sweden.  Customs is not usually a problem, just fill out the form. 

Finland - Has the best Post in the world.  No one else is even close. 1-5 days.  I've actually closed a deal on a Friday and received the cards on the next Monday.  Also sent a package addressed to  someone as "The big glass building at the end of the street"  when a customer was moving and not sure of the new address.  He got it in 4 days!  Customs is not a problem.  Fill out the green form.  It's faster coming from Finland than going to Finland. 

Germany - Is about the same as Sweden.  I've sent cash to Germany without a problem.  I've never sent cards there, just gotten them back, but it's been fast and easy. 

Others - I've sent a few packages to Norway, Mexico, Latvia, Poland, France and England.  Not enough to editorialize, just follow the basic rules and remember to be patient. 

UPS - I don't use it much.  Just seems like a hassle compared to the Post.  NEVER send anything to Canada UPS unless you want it to get stuck in customs. 

Fed-Ex - Is pretty expensive compared to the post.  Remember they only have $100 liability on sports cards. 

12.  If you have a problem, 99% of the people out there will be very good about working it out with you.  Just give them a chance and let them know what issues you have.  Try your hardest to work it out with them before reporting your problem.  This is an important one.  I've seen a few really good people get slammed by some newbie who didn't get their cards in a week.  This almost always turns out bad for the newbie, when all the old timers step in and beat them up in the newsgroup.  Don't even think about posting a complaint until it's been 30 days and you've sent at least 4-5 e-mails. 

13.  International payment can be tricky.  Most people though can send or take US dollars.  Checks are a better idea than Money Orders if you're buying something.  One of the great things about being an American is you can go anywhere in the world and pull out a dollar bill and spend it.  Try spending a Rubble anywhere, including Russia! 

14.  Keep a record of your trades.  Keeping emails or a printout is a very good idea.  When ever I do a trade I print out two copies of the final e-mail.  One I send along with my payment or package, the second I file by date.  When the package arrives I pull that e-mail and move it to the "done" file.  This works great! 

15 Have fun. Make friends.  I feel like I have friends all over the world now from trading hockey cards.  In my opinion that's the great reward of the Internet.  The ability to make friends all over the world with people who share your same interests.  

Avoiding Fraud:  Some tips on not getting ripped off.  It doesn't happen as often as you might think, but you should take some simple precautions.  Besides my experience trading cards, I also spent a few years working at Cybersource, a company that's the leader in preventing online fraud for many of the huge online merchants like Amazon, Buy.com, and Nike.  Here's some simple precautions to take. 

1.  Send a lot of e-mails.  It's the best way to get to know someone online.  Take your time.  This isn't the same as trading baseball cards, card values don't go up overnight like in the other three sports and there's no reason not to take your time.  This should give you a feel for the person.  Don't let anyone rush you.  Crooks are in a hurry. 

2.  Check references.  Both online and e-mail.  Anyone should be able to send you some references of people they've traded with before, or even that they know who can confirm they're reliable.  Also ask for people's e-bay ID and their rating, or any other way to verify what other people think of them. 

3.  Get a phone number.  One phone conversation is worth 20 e-mails. 

4.  Beware of AOL.  Lots of fraud takes place on AOL.  Newbies give out their log on and credit card info all the time.  Crooks get it and set up fake screen names.  Just take the extra steps before closing a deal with an e-mail from aol.  Exchange a few extra e-mails, take a few days.  Just be sure. 

5.  Watch out for the other risky e-mails.  Yahoo, Hotmail, ect are always used by crooks.  I put it this way.  99.9% of the people who use those services are honest.  100% of the people who are crooks use those services. Especially watch out for someone with multiple "free" e-mails.  Not that having multiple e-mails is bad (I have 5), but having 5 hotmail accounts is a little weird. 

6.  Never, ever, ever send a credit card number over e-mail.  Only use a credit card on an SSL server.  A credit card on an SSL server is the safiest way to use your credit card ever invented.  Make sure that the web site your inputting it on has some type of privacy / security guarantee.  Even the best electronic system is prone to stupid human tricks. 

7.  Know the age of the person your trading with.  I would say 90% of the bad deals out there are kids who've gotten in over their heads.  If it is a minor look for a long trading history.  Some of my best customers and trading partners are younger, just make sure they're "older" hobby veterns. 

8.  Lot's of people will say watch out for PO Boxes, but I think that's not true.  PO Boxes are no more likely for fraud than any other address.  Sometimes PO Boxes are the only option.  Remember lots of Canadian traders in particular live in rural areas, where a POB is the only option.  Sometimes if your collection is large enough, you don't want to advertise where it's at.  I had that problem a few months ago and finally decided to move my inventory out of the house, but a POB was another option. 

9. Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are ripe with internet fraud.  The autorities in those areas are unable and / or unwilling to cope with it.  The crooks in those areas are having a field day.  Be extra, extra, extra careful.  Someone trading or selling from those areas, who is not a crook,  should be aware of the fraud problem and willing to send to you before you send to them.  Don't worry about Finland and Sweden.  Those countries have excellent internet reputations for honesty. 

10.  Use the signature required and insurance options when shipping.  It costs a little more, but can save you in the long run.  Always do this on new trades or big dollar trades.  I do this everytime with some of by biggest most reliable trading partners, it's worth it. 

11.  Check out what kind of web presense someone has.  A domain name, long e-bay history, long posting history, and detailed web site, are all signs that someone is not fly by night.  Reputation is everything online and those things are a sign that someone has committed the time to maintain their reputation. 

12.  Cash and Money orders are risky to send.  Always ask yourself, what reason does this person have for not taking checks.  Even better ask them.  Never do anything other than a "normal" payment method.  In other words if it's not something your bank would take, or send.  NEVER, ever, ever, wire money.  That's a sure sign of a crook. 

13.  In the end nothing beats a gut feeling.  If your not 100% comfortable with the deal don't do it.