Sbe cues
- Thread starter Bigd3
- Start date
Can not
This has to be the first time ever that no one is showing any pick ups from the SBE, sad.
This has to be the first time ever that no one is showing any pick ups from the SBE, sad.
It does make one wonder about how many cues were sold/traded at the event. I notices that this year at the DCC, not many high end, high dollar cues moved.
As time moves on, the market just gets worse and worse. If a guy had a bunch of money, he could pick up a bunch of nice cues for far less than what they should sell for in a good market.
As time moves on, the market just gets worse and worse. If a guy had a bunch of money, he could pick up a bunch of nice cues for far less than what they should sell for in a good market.
I don't believe that to the case at all. I had one of my best year's ever at the SBE. There were many high end cues sold and traded... just a few I know of... Searing, New Szamboti, a big Tasc, a very high end Manzino, Gina, Schick, EDC, Southwests, Tonkins, Blackcreeks, Barnharts, Treadways, Nittis, Sugartrees... the list goes on.
Some of these cues have been posted on Facebook, which seems to be the more popular place to post cues these days.
I haven't had the time time post mine yet as I got very ill after I arrived home from the expo.
The Forum doesn't have the spotlight for pool cues any longer.......social media has replaced it.......better photos and larger audiences......cue-makers and cue dealers are....and have already....migrated to relying on it more so than Az.
IMO....Az has lost it's zest.....it's deteriorated in participation and even the pool cues have slackened off enormously.....that sucks because I am not a FB or social media guy..........Az and visiting dealer sites is as far as I go technically speaking.......Cue of the Year faded.......no one's fault but Az could have done something with it and turned into Az cue of the year.......set up some rules and categories.......but the owners blew it and relied upon Jamie's gracious donation of time rather than invest any effort to make it an even bigger event........"Az Cue of the Year".......and then have categories for various pool cues........you can't compare a $10k Black Boar with a $1800 custom even though the lesser priced cue might be more handsome and decorative........sometimes the cue-maker name can influence the vote outcome..........Szamboti cues are always praised but there are a lots of other cues that are more handsome but the Szam name gets the votes.
Az should hold a cue of the year contest and suppress the names of the cue-makers.......pick the winner anonymously.....betcha some designs would immediately convey whom the cue-maker was but a lot of designs would baffle and astonish you as to the cue-maker. The billiard industry has been in lackluster period for the past 10-15 years and it's time to invest in its future........but the path AZ has traveled has been a downhill walk whereas others are traveling up the mountain....just my 2 cents.
Matt B.
IMO....Az has lost it's zest.....it's deteriorated in participation and even the pool cues have slackened off enormously.....that sucks because I am not a FB or social media guy..........Az and visiting dealer sites is as far as I go technically speaking.......Cue of the Year faded.......no one's fault but Az could have done something with it and turned into Az cue of the year.......set up some rules and categories.......but the owners blew it and relied upon Jamie's gracious donation of time rather than invest any effort to make it an even bigger event........"Az Cue of the Year".......and then have categories for various pool cues........you can't compare a $10k Black Boar with a $1800 custom even though the lesser priced cue might be more handsome and decorative........sometimes the cue-maker name can influence the vote outcome..........Szamboti cues are always praised but there are a lots of other cues that are more handsome but the Szam name gets the votes.
Az should hold a cue of the year contest and suppress the names of the cue-makers.......pick the winner anonymously.....betcha some designs would immediately convey whom the cue-maker was but a lot of designs would baffle and astonish you as to the cue-maker. The billiard industry has been in lackluster period for the past 10-15 years and it's time to invest in its future........but the path AZ has traveled has been a downhill walk whereas others are traveling up the mountain....just my 2 cents.
Matt B.
Glad to hear you did well Jamie. Yeah, I'm not a facebook, MySpace kind of guy either. I don't instagram, ect. I might have to keep up with the times I guess. On facebook though do people get itrader feedbacks or something similar, how do you know who you are dealing with ? Here on AZ, 1st thing I look at, how many positive transactions you've done.
IMHO A forum is in fact a form of social networking. It is simply a more defined community.
I have both a personal and a business account on FB, I don't actively use them.
I have tried to keep my daughter and wife off FB, warning them about the dangers. They don't listen and both have been victimized.
Beyond that, although apparently a lot of activity has migrated from here to there, I do not believe that FB is an effective replacement for this community.
I don't look to AZB to do anything about it. AZB is a web site with a forum. We are the community. The integrity of a community relies on the strength of the members as a group.
Personally, I research cues A LOT. I almost never touch FB for this. It is fairly useless. One exception is Huebler cues, but I can't think of any other.
I also research cue making A LOT. The forum here is the richest single resource for that.
In short, if the community is to thrive, it relies on us, the community.
Personally, I would like to see some of the SBE cues. But there are many other cues I am interested in seeing as well. :smile:
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I have both a personal and a business account on FB, I don't actively use them.
I have tried to keep my daughter and wife off FB, warning them about the dangers. They don't listen and both have been victimized.
Beyond that, although apparently a lot of activity has migrated from here to there, I do not believe that FB is an effective replacement for this community.
I don't look to AZB to do anything about it. AZB is a web site with a forum. We are the community. The integrity of a community relies on the strength of the members as a group.
Personally, I research cues A LOT. I almost never touch FB for this. It is fairly useless. One exception is Huebler cues, but I can't think of any other.
I also research cue making A LOT. The forum here is the richest single resource for that.
In short, if the community is to thrive, it relies on us, the community.
Personally, I would like to see some of the SBE cues. But there are many other cues I am interested in seeing as well. :smile:
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Doc... Although I agree with many of your points, I certainly do not agree that Facebook is a useless resource when it comes to custom cues. There is a lot of good information on several of the pages.
Furthermore, I see people who used to post pictures of their cues here posting them exclusively on Facebook now. I for one, post more cues on Facebook than I do here these days. I think the FB trend will continue.
At the end of the day, you have to fish where the fish are, even if it isn't at your favorite old fishin hole.
Furthermore, I see people who used to post pictures of their cues here posting them exclusively on Facebook now. I for one, post more cues on Facebook than I do here these days. I think the FB trend will continue.
At the end of the day, you have to fish where the fish are, even if it isn't at your favorite old fishin hole.
The Past, Current and Futrue.........
I believe Az has missed the mark.....don't get me wrong.......I was the guy that coined the expression that you see other Azers use......."Gold Membership Costs Less Than 10 Cents a Day.".......the billiard industry is absolutely in a time warp.
A couple of years ago I wrote a thread on the Forum about the strategic value of social media being a major part of your advertising.....creating a brand image......my daughter founded a company that does exactly this for small business clients......your website is your 24 hour showroom that's always unattended......you need to create a brand...an image...and integrate social media both as outreach as much as to accredit yourself.......the billiard industry and cue-makers in particular doesn't recognize the importance of doing this and it does not cost a lot of money either.
Anyway, Az had the chance....and still does....to become a cornerstone point for the billiard industry......sponsor events......charge for advertising.....promote cues and cue-making....cases......memorabilia.....offer 3rd party escrow services......create a national pool cue registry for registering valuable cues and reporting stolen cues.......establish a sales registry for cues with prices so people can better learn about and confirm likely values.......provide accreditation ratings for suppliers, cue-makers, case-makers, etc..........there needs to be outreach......OMG.
Look at how the industry has sat on its ass and done the same thing year in and year out......it doesn't work anymore and hasn't for the past decade and longer. Doesn't anyone at Az have the entrepreneurial background to use some vision beyond operating a website. The billiard industry will always be around ......just shrinking in size because no one believes in the future anymore........guys, I met Steve Jobs back in the 70's when mainframe computers were a way of life at that time.......he was helping our bank as a consultant to our data center and what he was predicting sounded far fetched based upon where we were using.....enormous IBM 360 computers with giant tape drives that had just replaced our old punch card processors. Steve was an entrepreneur and had vision.
Az is in the prime position to tackle the future but alas, I fear that the powers to be are stuck in the mire. Even the new and improved cue dealers sites can use some modernization. Remember this is your showroom and people enter 24 hrs a day and no employees are ever around.......what do you want them to remember.....who are you....why do business with you.....what do you really offer......aside from some photos of stuff........everyone copies each other and tries to improve the website design.......it's time to blow it up and start over.......create an environment that presents who you are.
Oh well, that's my 2 cents......the future has already arrived and the billiard industry and Az continues to live in the past.......if you think things are changing and are different now....wait until 3-5 years from now due to social media marketing.......the simple question always comes down to "Why should I buy from you?"......your showroom, i.e., website, is a the best opportunity to convince people why but remember.....no employees are on duty to speak to anyone that visits.
Matt B.
I believe Az has missed the mark.....don't get me wrong.......I was the guy that coined the expression that you see other Azers use......."Gold Membership Costs Less Than 10 Cents a Day.".......the billiard industry is absolutely in a time warp.
A couple of years ago I wrote a thread on the Forum about the strategic value of social media being a major part of your advertising.....creating a brand image......my daughter founded a company that does exactly this for small business clients......your website is your 24 hour showroom that's always unattended......you need to create a brand...an image...and integrate social media both as outreach as much as to accredit yourself.......the billiard industry and cue-makers in particular doesn't recognize the importance of doing this and it does not cost a lot of money either.
Anyway, Az had the chance....and still does....to become a cornerstone point for the billiard industry......sponsor events......charge for advertising.....promote cues and cue-making....cases......memorabilia.....offer 3rd party escrow services......create a national pool cue registry for registering valuable cues and reporting stolen cues.......establish a sales registry for cues with prices so people can better learn about and confirm likely values.......provide accreditation ratings for suppliers, cue-makers, case-makers, etc..........there needs to be outreach......OMG.
Look at how the industry has sat on its ass and done the same thing year in and year out......it doesn't work anymore and hasn't for the past decade and longer. Doesn't anyone at Az have the entrepreneurial background to use some vision beyond operating a website. The billiard industry will always be around ......just shrinking in size because no one believes in the future anymore........guys, I met Steve Jobs back in the 70's when mainframe computers were a way of life at that time.......he was helping our bank as a consultant to our data center and what he was predicting sounded far fetched based upon where we were using.....enormous IBM 360 computers with giant tape drives that had just replaced our old punch card processors. Steve was an entrepreneur and had vision.
Az is in the prime position to tackle the future but alas, I fear that the powers to be are stuck in the mire. Even the new and improved cue dealers sites can use some modernization. Remember this is your showroom and people enter 24 hrs a day and no employees are ever around.......what do you want them to remember.....who are you....why do business with you.....what do you really offer......aside from some photos of stuff........everyone copies each other and tries to improve the website design.......it's time to blow it up and start over.......create an environment that presents who you are.
Oh well, that's my 2 cents......the future has already arrived and the billiard industry and Az continues to live in the past.......if you think things are changing and are different now....wait until 3-5 years from now due to social media marketing.......the simple question always comes down to "Why should I buy from you?"......your showroom, i.e., website, is a the best opportunity to convince people why but remember.....no employees are on duty to speak to anyone that visits.
Matt B.
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For research?
I have pretty good research skills. Maybe you can give me some hints about using FB for that?
Probably you don't mean the kind of research I mean. I am guessing.
Facebook is indexed by google. If I need to find an obscure detail about a cue, whether custom, production, or unknown, FB hits are almost nonexistent in my searches. Many of my searches involve screening hundreds of images for what I want to see. FB hardly hits at all in such searches both in web searches and image searches.
If you can give me some hints about how to use facebook for researching things about cues and cases I would br vrty grateful.
For example, I posted a case recently. None of the information I found came from facebook.
In fact I cannot remember a single cue or case that I have researched in the last ten years where Facebook yielded any results or information of any use at all except for Huebler cues.
I was recently researching four different cues. One European billiard cue, one Canadian snooker cue, one US made production cue, and lastly one US made custom. Where do I start to use FB for this? In one case I have a partial name from a label, in another case I have one construction feature, in one I have the city of origin and decade of purchase, and in the last case I have the maker and a full picture as well as the decade of manufacture. They span from the 1950's to the mid-1980's.
Where do I start on FB?
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First of all, I want to make it clear I am not advocating Facebook over AZB... Just stating the current situation on cue postings as I see them. I will always come to AZB as well.
Doc... I'll shoot you a PM.
Doc... I'll shoot you a PM.
If you're vigilant your odds of entering into a bad deal are slim, but many people are naive. People who are banned here on AZ have moved to Facebook to prey on unsuspecting buyers. When they are "outed" the guilty party simply moves to one of the other billiard pages. There are probably several hundred pool related pages at present and people create new ones everyday.
Azer,s I had a killer show sold everything under the sun, my booths so busy only had time to take a few pics, on vacation now will post later,
BR
Little Kenny Carfagno , add me to your facebook
BR
Little Kenny Carfagno , add me to your facebook
This
Now this I totally agree with. Also to a different post does Facebook have " Facebook cue of the year " ?
We have here something called AZ BILLIARDS it is for Pool people, we wonder why Pool is failing and why rooms are closing and here we can't even support a site set up for Pool we jump to Facebook makes no sense.
Now this I totally agree with. Also to a different post does Facebook have " Facebook cue of the year " ?
We have here something called AZ BILLIARDS it is for Pool people, we wonder why Pool is failing and why rooms are closing and here we can't even support a site set up for Pool we jump to Facebook makes no sense.
Frank... With all due respect... Social Media has nothing to do with rooms failing and the so-called downfall of pool. People said the same thing about pool forums back in the day and what they would do to pool publications. It's just an evolution of information.
Young pool players are not going to go to a pool forum... it's like making an actual phone call... they just don't do it. They rely on Social Media. So if pool does not embrace it, it will be more detrimental to the sport than a few people decreasing their use of a pool forum.
People complain about the lack of pool on TV, but if one sits back and complains about no pool on TV, yet does move to streaming and YouTube videos, it's their own fault. Same with pool cue pictures and Social Media.
I really don't see signs of pool dying... I'm not in the doom and gloom crowd. I just see it changing in many different ways.
It's just the way it works these days, love it or hate it. Either join the race, or you get left in the dust.
Young pool players are not going to go to a pool forum... it's like making an actual phone call... they just don't do it. They rely on Social Media. So if pool does not embrace it, it will be more detrimental to the sport than a few people decreasing their use of a pool forum.
People complain about the lack of pool on TV, but if one sits back and complains about no pool on TV, yet does move to streaming and YouTube videos, it's their own fault. Same with pool cue pictures and Social Media.
I really don't see signs of pool dying... I'm not in the doom and gloom crowd. I just see it changing in many different ways.
It's just the way it works these days, love it or hate it. Either join the race, or you get left in the dust.
Agree
Jamie I agree with you , if you did not do both Facebook and AZ we would not be corresponding now. I am referring to the people who have abandoned AZ altogether. The funny thing is no matter what I or anyone else here on AZ feels they will never read it since they have gone FB 100%.
If there is such new and great knowledge on FB why not bring it back to AZ and share it?
Jamie I agree with you , if you did not do both Facebook and AZ we would not be corresponding now. I am referring to the people who have abandoned AZ altogether. The funny thing is no matter what I or anyone else here on AZ feels they will never read it since they have gone FB 100%.
If there is such new and great knowledge on FB why not bring it back to AZ and share it?
Hi Frank, I hope things are well.
To be blunt, I use Facebook more and more for one simple reason..................the number of idiots on AZB is increasing all the time. I'm hesitant to ever post a cue anymore because of it. I really debated with myself on whether to put up pics of my new player today. And if the stupidity starts, I'll pull the pictures. Quickly.
Sorry for the negativity in my post..............:smile:
Take care,
JimmyK
None
No negativity in your post Jimmy just facts, but I am going to hurry now and check out your cue on the gallery before it gets pulled.:smile:
No negativity in your post Jimmy just facts, but I am going to hurry now and check out your cue on the gallery before it gets pulled.:smile: