New Site Search Features: Narrow Your Search

I've spent some time over the past month improving the search functionality on cardcow.com. With over 250,000 cards now in our inventory just plain keyword-based search is often not enough to easily find specific cards.

There are now two new options available:

• Sorting of Results
  This allows sorting by best match (relevancy), and also by price or by listing date. This allows users to fine newly listed cards, or more expensive/less expensive cards quickly.
  
  
• Search Refinements
  Once you've entered your keywords to search on, you now have the option to narrow your search by category, state, size of the card, orientation, type/era, and price range

Here's an example:

http://www.cardcow.com/search3.php?section=all&substring=greetings+from+california

Now say you just want Linen cards, just click on the "Linen" refinement:

http://www.cardcow.com/search3.php?substring=greetings+from+california&section=all&typeid[]=Linen

And then maybe we want to find cheaper cards, so click on the "Under $5" refinement:

http://www.cardcow.com/search3.php?substring=greetings+from+california&typeid[]=Linen&section=all&price_search_1=0.00&price_search_2=4.99

And of course you can save these searches on the site for automatic notification, or bookmark them to easily see when new cards are available for your particular searches.

Geek of The Week

This falls more on the technical side, but I was featured as "Geek of the Week" at ServerBeach last week - they provide server hosting for cardcow.com.

In other news, the Sacramento Postcard show is this weekend - August 22 & 23.

It's a decent show, although the location doesn't get many walk-in traffic, and attendance both by dealers & patrons has gone down in the past few years. Still, it's worth checking out if you're in the area - there are several local dealers that *only* do this show. Location:

Scottish Rite Masonic Temple

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"IOU" Postcard

I thought this postcard was interesting - written on the back is a credit for tickets to the dinner theater the card is from.

Investing In Postcards

There are lots of people looking for alternative investments these days. There's a fine line between investing and collecting sometimes, but at least if you buy something you love you get some enjoyment out of it - even if it doesn't appreciate in value much. Richard Morrison of Canada's Financial Post recently called and asked about "Investing in Postcards". The article mentions a few specific cards & topics that always are in high demand, and seems to draw the conclusion that postcards are best left for collectors, not serious investors.

I don't think postcards are that much different than other inves-tibles like Art, Guitars, Classic Cars, and other similar items. They are a bit different than coins & stamps though - since coins and (unused) stamps will always have at least face-value. Like other collectibles you need to know what you're doing if you are buying strictly as an investment - but is this really that different than stocks, bonds and commodities? Collectibles follow the same kinds of ups & downs as other markets, and there are similar risks - but at least postcards can provide some enjoyment as well as asthetic and historical value.

San Francisco Postcard Show This Weekend

This weekend, May 23 & 24 2009 is Hal Lutsky's spring postcard show in San Francisco.
It's not the largest venue, but it does get a lot of traffic. Due to the location in Golden Gate Park a lot of passersby stop in.

My friend Arlen has a few tables at the show - selling 25 cent cards. Don't be fooled though, there can be some gems found for those willing to look through his 100+ boxes of cards - especially those looking for foreign cards. Here's a picture from the January show:
With free admission, and 1 Million Postcards from 50 or so dealers to browse, the SF show is a great way to spend an afternoon.

400 Antique Pig Postcards

You won't catch Swine Flu from these cards!

400 Pig Postcards added this month

Postcard Alerts

Now you can create your own postcard wantlists!
We Just added a new feature on cardcow.com which allows you to save your favorite searches, and we will email you when new cards are found.

Simply login in to your account, or create a new one:
http://www.cardcow.com/account/

Then do a search for anything that might interest you:
http://www.cardcow.com/search2.php?section=all&substring=chrome+diners+nj for example.

Then click the "Save This Search" button at the top of the page.

You will then receive an email any time new cards are found that match that exact search.