After talking about this with Dean, I wanted to get this info out there to start utilizing some of our fellow traders over here at swgamers.

This is open to everyone that is currently trading here on this site.

Read below:

Star Wars Mini Trader

Guys,

I wanted to contact you about a new online mini trader site myself and another WotC member (Squid89) have created.

It is Star Wars Mini Trader:

http://www.smithohio.com/swminis/

It has been a very useful resource for many of our local guys and recently we opened it up for some WotC members to use, stsparks, miadchi and sw_rebel_storm_miniatures.

This week Bob (Squid89) rolled out a version for just us WotC members to use and we wanted to get a few more on there to try it out. If you go to the site, just click on the "New User" link and get started.

We'd really like your input once you are using it and see what it is all about.

At this time, I have pin-pointed some of the top, respected traders on the GTL, including all of the Top 10 to be invited.

We truly want everyone possible to be able to use this site, but would like people to be in good standing on the GTL over at WotC.

Right now, we have 7 registered on the site.

If you have any questions about the site, please email me at:

bkweikert@embarqmail.com

or Squid89 at: bobandcheryl@gmail.com

Thanks!

-b

This will only work if all of you lazy traders actually use it!

Do It! NOW!!

Well, I can tell you a few things I don't like about it right now"

1- you have to be a member to view the lists of available figs. A "view only" function would be nice. You could see what was available, but need to be a member to access the user names to make trades

2- links to wizards boards. Nice to have, but they are banned sites for me (and others) at work. Retitling them as "WOTC board link for ....." would be better.

3- some background graphics would be nice.

That is as far as I got.

1- why is this even remotely a problem? If you want to trade, then get an accoount, it take 3 seconds.

2- don't play on the internet at work and you won't have a problem.

3- It's an online utility, not forums. It's plenty good for free.

Thanks for the suggestions, but this was intended as a simple way to sort through and compare multiple haves/wants list in one simple click.

To have access to all members' lists, you need to register which only needs a username and password. The email you enter is only if you need to retrieve a password - it is not public. If you wanted to trade with anyone, why wouldn't you put your want lists in? The system matches your list with others - that's its only real function. If you just want to view lists of figures available, most of the members maintain their own trade threads here and at Wizards.

The site is maintained in limited free time by my wife and I and I am shooting for function or finesse, so will probably not add images/icons/backgrounds/etc. Not much I can do if the Wizards site is blocked though - the Wizards links are for more details about the promos and the GTL although you can always consult this site's GTL.

I also added the Force Unleashed set list for those who want to record their wants now. Please only sign up if you intend to maintain your lists. Otherwise, the database does not help others. You only need to record anything you would want to trade, not your whole collection or anything.

And the price is right.

It's user friendly. Easy to maintain. A great resource when trading with friends. Anyone using it should feel privledged to use it.

I enjoy using it everyday and can't wait for more of the SWMG community gets on it!

-b

To get people to use the utility, as well as get them to SWMG, everyone here should change their WotC trade list to nothing more than a link to your trade list here, and your trade list here should (among other things) link to your SWM Trader list.

Something to consider.

I'm not sure non-user registered users have that kind of access though, something to ask Bob (Squid89), the owner.

Thanks!

-b

Then they have to register, right?

This is awesome, everyone needs to get on this....

MF - YES! You do! That'll get us more traders!

Thanks!

-b

Is there any way to make it easier for us to contact other member for a possible trade? Especially with the Wizards boards going down all the time, hard to know how to contact somebody... Other than that, looks like a great resource! Thanks for all your hard work getting this together!

Something to consider, I'll talk with Bob about it. I noticed there are a bunch more traders that I have stuff for.

I know he didn't want too much personal info on the site, so we'll look into it.

Thanks!

-b

Good point and one I have tried to figure out a good way to approach. For privacy issues and to avoid spam, I did not want to post emails on the trader site. As long as the username matches the one used here, the PM system through the boards should work fine. Maybe I can add some fields for the user the post his email if he wants or some other contact info or something. Let me think about it.



I like you idea for the link to your trade thread. I'll see about making it a live link and set up a new field for things like that.

Perhaps a live link to out profile here on SWMG would be best, that will also force them to get an account here which may add another level of checks ensuring serious, reliable traders.

I like Menoth's idea

I like what I see so far, now that I have an account.

Or maybe you shouldn't do this:
http://swmgamers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=9458#9458

The only issue with direct links is it bypasses the home page. Since this site has sponsors, I don't want to circumvent those hits to the home page. I can see the ease in direct links, but it isn't too many more clicks to follow the members link from the boards here. I don't know an easy way to address this.

Sorry to hear about your Wizards thread being shut down, too.

We need more traders now that TFU is out!

Please come join!

Manage your collection and search the database for trusted traders to trade with!!!

-b