Introducing My Collection Tracker Mobile Application

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

5 hours ago, mlbfan10 said:

Awesome on the live data from eBay and I like that it's checking daily.

For graded games I'd want the grading company, box grade, seal grade, certification number at least. Not sure if pricing can be based on the data set in the box grade, seal grade to help depict a smaller subset data with more accurate pricing. However graded games will not always have price data for the box grade/seal grade due to rarity, none graded prior, etc. You may not even want to include pricing for graded games if its too much effort.

Would you just enter your sealed item information manually?

 

2 hours ago, phart010 said:

@Code MonkeyIn my opinion the best way to monetize this is to build in a trading functionality. First play around with gametz.com to get an idea of how it works.

Build the gametz capability into your app. This enables you to get matched up with other users that have games on your want list and which you also have games on their want list. Then you can negotiate a trade with them.. either item for item, or item+cash for item. 

Similar to Mercari you would charge both users a small fee to execute the trade and to print out the shipping labels. 

Of course people could go outside of your platform for trades but they wouldn’t have trade assurance and the convenience of trade history being tracked in the app. If your fee is small enough then it would be worth paying 

Very interesting, I didn't know people did this. Do they sent the items to each other or to an intermediary? Do people pay the high ($25 or more) shipping rates in and out of Canada? What is their trade assurance?

 

15 minutes ago, dogbowl said:

One challenge I have with these collection trackers is that I like to browse by Publisher.

For example, I like to pull up the list of all Capcom games for the NES and see which ones I don't have (boxed) and which ones I do.  I like to look across my Atari 2600 Activision games and see what items I may be missing

 

Very much like the idea of tracking variants/ inserts and graded games from HA.

I'm already adding filtering functionality and publisher will be one of the selections.

[phart010 | 1,707]

7 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Very interesting, I didn't know people did this. Do they sent the items to each other or to an intermediary? Do people pay the high ($25 or more) shipping rates in and out of Canada? What is their trade assurance?

 

Gametz is a free service. So the only thing they do is help you search for people to trade with.  All negotiations and shipping responsibilities are worked out directly between you and the other person. The only penalty for bad actors on Gametz is giving them a bad reputation on the platform. So obviously you would want to treat people well if you want to keep using it and also not deal with people that have a bad reputation.

As far trade assurance, you would have to make a plan. First level of defense is to ask both people to purchase shipping insurance. As the platform owner, you could probably also have a business insurance plan that you invoke in situations where shipping insurance between the two parties doesn’t cover things. If it can be proven that someone rips someone else off, then you would have to act as arbiter and make one of the party’s take financial responsibility 

 

[Link | 2,712]

13 minutes ago, phart010 said:

As the platform owner, you could probably also have a business insurance plan that you invoke in situations where shipping insurance between the two parties doesn’t cover things. If it can be proven that someone rips someone else off, then you would have to act as arbiter and make one of the party’s take financial responsibility 

That sounds like fun.

[mlbfan10 | 340]

52 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Would you just enter your sealed item information manually?

Yea I'd be good with that

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

On 2/8/2023 at 6:57 PM, a3quit4s said:

I wouldn’t put anything, just super optimized for basic use lol. I wouldn’t even have the most common variant listed in basic mode since that’s just gonna confuse someone lol - Literally just “Metroid” “NES” and you have C/I/B options. Maybe some generic picture of the box art or something 

What about recent eBay sales in that space? Would that work?

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

Functional registration and a new drawer menu.

 

 

[a3quit4s | 4,099]

7 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

What about recent eBay sales in that space? Would that work?

I can dig that if you are also giving users information on the value of their collection. It would be nice to see that if you are assigning a value to my game that the app has actual recent data to pull that from. In what I call basic mode that could be an issue though; some variants are wildly different in price. I’m trying to think of what other information I’d find useful as well. What’s the space you are looking to fill again so I can think on it?

edit: I’m assuming you are asking from a basic user perspective correct?

Edited February 13, 2023 by a3quit4s

[phart010 | 1,707]

@Code MonkeyCan we download your app on iPhone?

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

@Code MonkeyCan we download your app on iPhone?

Negative, iOS applications are written in objective C and Swift. I probably know 15 - 20 software languages but neither of those 2 are in there so I'm unable to write it. The plan is for this to be everything every collector would want so if I can make enough money off of it, I will pay someone to duplicate this for iOS. That will probably be $10,000 - $20,000 which is right around what I would charge.

So......no, but if I make enough from the Android side......yes.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Code Monkey

[Gloves | 11,779]

2 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Negative, iOS applications are written in objective C and Swift. I probably know 15 - 20 software languages but neither of those 2 are in there so I'm unable to write it. The plan is for this to be everything a collector would want and so if I can make enough money off of it, I will pay someone to duplicate this for iOS. That will probably be $10,000 - $20,000 which is right around what I would charge.

So......no, but if I make enough from the Android side......yes.

Why not just do the whole thing in web technologies and use the available tooling to release to all platforms? It feels kinda archaic to manage multiple code bases.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

2 hours ago, Gloves said:

Why not just do the whole thing in web technologies and use the available tooling to release to all platforms? It feels kinda archaic to manage multiple code bases.

You want me to use a web browser? On my phone? This isn't 2015.

Mostly because I just learned how to write Android applications so this is fun and because I personally want an application more than a website. Running this in an application is much more user friendly than a website.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

I fell a little behind on manually classifying my eBay sales scraper so I have over 12,000 completed listings from the last 2 years that need to be manually confirmed for what they contain. For example, if they're loose, complete, sealed or cartridge + manual or box only or cartridge + box. 

Can anyone suggest the best way to go about doing all of these? I just did about 100 and I an't imagine doing all 12,000, plus keeping it going every day after I catch up.

Is there a chance people would be interested in curating this as you're viewing the pricing yourself and you see some unconfirmed listings? I remember Shelf Life had people curate their own collections and that seemed to work out until it failed.

[Gloves | 11,779]

1 minute ago, Code Monkey said:

You want me to use a web browser? On my phone? This isn't 2015.

Mostly because I just learned how to write Android applications so this is fun and because I personally want an application more than a website. Running this in an application is much more user friendly than a website.

Lol yes, and no it's not 2015; I'm afraid you have it backwards - you want me to download an app on my phone, when the web is so consistent across platforms? Building 3 versions of your application and having to manage those code bases separately (have fun maintaining parity) is what's so 2015.

It's cool that you are learning how to write Android apps (and all the better that you're having fun), but again - you could write it as a web app, and then turn it into a native app (see: React Native et al) with ease. If having fun with that specific Android-related framework is your goal, cool, but if maintaining an application long-term is your goal then IMO you're pigeon-holing yourself into a specific platform which limits your reach as well as having potentially significant costs associated with scaling should you choose to do so. Reminds me of the Mynty guy using Wordpress (which I believe he's planning to move away from).

The only benefits I can see of using an app over web is if you're making use of the tools which are exclusively available at the app level, of which to my knowledge you are using none. 

That's not to trash the approach, mind you - just providing an opinion from a fellow developer. IMO web is the way as browsers are closing the gap in quality and speed compared to apps, especially with the consistency case to be made. That's my opinion and I'm not the dude making the app - you do you!

[Gloves | 11,779]

6 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I fell a little behind on manually classifying my eBay sales scraper so I have over 12,000 completed listings from the last 2 years that need to be manually confirmed for what they contain. For example, if they're loose, complete, sealed or cartridge + manual or box only or cartridge + box. 

Can anyone suggest the best way to go about doing all of these? I just did about 100 and I an't imagine doing all 12,000, plus keeping it going every day after I catch up.

Is there a chance people would be interested in curating this as you're viewing the pricing yourself and you see some unconfirmed listings? I remember Shelf Life had people curate their own collections and that seemed to work out until it failed.

This was always a big thing with GameValueNow. Hogie hired a few people to go over the listings as they came in (and to curate/add new games to the site). I think you already showed you have this, but a "report listing" button is good to have.

[Brickman | 3,986]

Got to agree with Gloves. Web is the way to go with this thing. An app is a nice additional feature but a website is way better to navigate with.

Also, if you are going the app only route then the no iOS app is weird. Do people on Android even pay for apps?  Last I read, iOS users are more willing to pay for apps by a pretty large margin compared to Android users. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

12 hours ago, Gloves said:

Why not just do the whole thing in web technologies and use the available tooling to release to all platforms? It feels kinda archaic to manage multiple code bases.

Because "web apps" tend to be trash compared to something that was hard coded as an application from the ground up?

10 hours ago, Gloves said:

Lol yes, and no it's not 2015; I'm afraid you have it backwards - you want me to download an app on my phone, when the web is so consistent across platforms? Building 3 versions of your application and having to manage those code bases separately (have fun maintaining parity) is what's so 2015.

If you want something solid, dependable, and won't just vanish completely when the developer gets tired of it...yeah.  Web based stuff tends to be very simplistic and kind of garbage compared to a "standard" application that somebody spent the time and effort to write and compile.  It's more work, but the quality of the product is head and shoulders above what web-based stuff can/will supply.

There's also the matter of "ownership," as anything that's web-based is just gone when the developer gets tired of it, goes to jail, passes away, etc.  If you buy an app, even if you never get another update for it, you will always own/have a copy of that app.  The last solution I used to track any of my collections featured both a computer program to create/maintain your databases as well as a mobile app to take it with you, and the ability to sync between the two.  By far, that's the best experience I've ever had with something like this, versus web-based ones which were out of my control and prone to being inaccessible when I was out in the boonies going to yard sales and flea markets.

The one caveat I'll throw out is that it's not 100% clear if the data for the app will be locally stored, and if login credentials are used both locally and remotely.  If the data is stored on the app's servers and the login is to servers on the cloud side, then yeah, you're 100% right that he's doing it the hard way and should switch over to web app stuff immediately.  However, if the dedicated app is first and foremost for local documentation and storage of that data and just happens to feature a web-based share/comparison feature, I maintain that a "properly" coded non-web app would be the way to go.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

On 2/17/2023 at 11:39 PM, Gloves said:

Lol yes, and no it's not 2015; I'm afraid you have it backwards - you want me to download an app on my phone, when the web is so consistent across platforms? Building 3 versions of your application and having to manage those code bases separately (have fun maintaining parity) is what's so 2015.

It's cool that you are learning how to write Android apps (and all the better that you're having fun), but again - you could write it as a web app, and then turn it into a native app (see: React Native et al) with ease. If having fun with that specific Android-related framework is your goal, cool, but if maintaining an application long-term is your goal then IMO you're pigeon-holing yourself into a specific platform which limits your reach as well as having potentially significant costs associated with scaling should you choose to do so. Reminds me of the Mynty guy using Wordpress (which I believe he's planning to move away from).

The only benefits I can see of using an app over web is if you're making use of the tools which are exclusively available at the app level, of which to my knowledge you are using none. 

That's not to trash the approach, mind you - just providing an opinion from a fellow developer. IMO web is the way as browsers are closing the gap in quality and speed compared to apps, especially with the consistency case to be made. That's my opinion and I'm not the dude making the app - you do you!

It is mostly because I would like it on my resume that I built this, I like learning new things. I am also taking advantage of what the native application framework has to offer, I'm using RecyclerViews which only load into memory the data on screen instead of the web based approach which loads everything at once. As you scroll the RecyclerView list will dump the top row from memory and use that freed memory to load in the bottom row. This continues as you scroll so the memory is kept to a minimum even if you have a list of 800 games. If I used a web based approach, it would load all 800 games unless I paginate it.

 

On 2/17/2023 at 11:41 PM, Gloves said:

This was always a big thing with GameValueNow. Hogie hired a few people to go over the listings as they came in (and to curate/add new games to the site). I think you already showed you have this, but a "report listing" button is good to have.

I'll have the option to report listings but what about users curating the listings themselves? Would people pick up one or two eBay listings and categorize them as loos, complete or sealed as they use it?

 

On 2/18/2023 at 10:06 AM, darkchylde28 said:

The one caveat I'll throw out is that it's not 100% clear if the data for the app will be locally stored, and if login credentials are used both locally and remotely.  If the data is stored on the app's servers and the login is to servers on the cloud side, then yeah, you're 100% right that he's doing it the hard way and should switch over to web app stuff immediately.  However, if the dedicated app is first and foremost for local documentation and storage of that data and just happens to feature a web-based share/comparison feature, I maintain that a "properly" coded non-web app would be the way to go.

Nothing is stored locally. Absolutely everything, including the login, goes back to a server side database. Why do you think this is wrong?

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

What do people think about the new eBay listings page? You can see here some listings have been confirmed (manually by me) and some are still unconfirmed which is the case for most of them.

 

 

[Gloves | 11,779]

4 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

What do people think about the new eBay listings page? You can see here some listings have been confirmed (manually by me) and some are still unconfirmed which is the case for most of them.

 

 

Feels a bit odd to me to have "Cart, Manual, Box" up above, but "CIB" down below. What's up with Manual, Box, and Sealed? 2 have no price and Sealed says "$0". If you lack the details for a given piece I'd personally just omit that tab altogether.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

Feels a bit odd to me to have "Cart, Manual, Box" up above, but "CIB" down below. What's up with Manual, Box, and Sealed? 2 have no price and Sealed says "$0". If you lack the details for a given piece I'd personally just omit that tab altogether.

The manual, box and sealed are also the prices of each but I don't have data for those on this game. I haven't confirmed any eBay sales of just those items yet, I need to wait for someone to list one.

[Gloves | 11,779]

39 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

The manual, box and sealed are also the prices of each but I don't have data for those on this game. I haven't confirmed any eBay sales of just those items yet, I need to wait for someone to list one.

So why not just hide them until you have the data?

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

2 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

Nothing is stored locally. Absolutely everything, including the login, goes back to a server side database. Why do you think this is wrong?

Because I'm a stickler for having some ability to actually own software that I purchase.  If it's download only, I expect to be able to download a copy to keep locally so that when the day comes that the web installer goes offline, I can still install and use what I paid for.

In the case of database apps, a requirement for me is a local storage option so that my data isn't suddenly lost or held hostage at the whim of the developers, either shutting down or deciding to throw up a previously absent paywall which cuts me off from my data.  With what you're doing, with zero local storage and no computer based app for the mobile one to sync from, @gloves@ is right, you're putting in way too much work and should just be using the easier to maintain web stuff since that's basically all your app/service is doing anyway.

With all that said, it's apparently not going to be for me, but best of luck.

[Link | 2,712]

And what if you're in a nice old school junk shop in Hemingford, Nebraska? Miraculously, they have a small trove of vidya games. The prices aren't rock bottom, so you don't want to scoop them all up. On top of that, you'd like to leave some for another fellow lucky collector one day. But you're in Hemingford, Nebraska, you can't get cell service, and you're trying to be discreet, lest you spoil the deal or annoy the shopkeeper. But you're just not sure which of the games there you already have. You want to use your collection tracker so you can track your collection, and avoid getting duplicate copies of something like Little Samson or Super Mario Bros. 2, which aren't even really very good games and everybody knows SMB3 is a fake anyway. Whatever is one to do in the wilds of Hemingford?

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

12 hours ago, Link said:

But you're in Hemingford, Nebraska, you can't get cell service,

Thank you for bringing this up.  I normally champion this point and shout it from the rooftops, but it slipped my mind when responding above.  This is an absolute must for me as well, as I didn't use to have data service on my phone at all, and nowadays still frequently travel to places where there either isn't any cell service or, because of my provider, I specifically don't have cell service, so web-only services do me no good.  This was the reason that when I got to the point where I could use phone-based GPS apps, I purchased one that had the ability to download the map software onto the device.  I can't count the number of times I've been running around with someone who's using Google Maps to navigate and suddenly we're out of their service area and "lost" due to the fact that the navigation is streamed and not local, requiring me to pull out my device in order to get us to where we're going.

Having an online service isn't at all a bad thing, but having it exclusively be such on a mobile app isn't that great an idea.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

By popular demand I removed the unnecessary information from the game details page. What do you think of it now?