Posts Tagged ‘skating outfits’

Announcing our Synchro and Theatre on Ice “Team Wear” Category

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

synchro2

 

Teams can now buy and sell all their outfits with one listing!

MySkatingMall.com’s purpose is to support the skating community.  In our efforts to fill the needs of Synchro and Theatre on Ice teams, we are pleased to announce the addition of a Team Wear category to MySkatingMall.com! This will now be a one-of-a-kind place where teams can list all of the team member’s matching outfits with one listing.  Teams who are looking for new outfits can start their search here and possibly buy another team’s previous year’s dresses.  Buyers and sellers can communicate through MySkatingMall.com via email to get all their questions answered before purchasing.

This is an opportunity for teams to reduce their costume expenses and also raise funds by selling outfits from previous programs. In addition, if the team registers to be a beneficiary on the site, the team can earn another 2.5% of the total purchase price. That registration is free and can be found on our front page.

When you click on “Team Wear” on the left hand side of our front page, you’ll see that there are four subcategories: Synchro, Theatre on Ice, Dance, and Pairs.  Though the suggestion came from the synchro community, the Team Wear category is also for Dance and Pair teams that want to list their matching outfits.  Who knows…teams could actually find their outfits first and then look for matching music:-)

We are looking for suggestions of how to make the listings even more helpful.  What additional information would your team like to know in order to have the information you need to make a purchase?  Since there are currently no team listings, just log into your MySkatingMall.com account (registration is fast and free on our front page) and then click the “sell” tab as if you were going to create a team wear listing.  This will show you what information is being asked for.

If you think this a helpful feature, please tell others about it so that teams can have access to many lower cost options!

Gently Used Marketplace Now Open!!!

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Phase 1 of MySkatingMall.com has just come online!  Our customized marketplace for the purchase and sale of gently used items is now complete. You can access it at http://www.myskatingmall.com/store!

What we really need is for hundreds of people to list their items for sale before our Grand Opening in two weeks.  Remember, there is no cost to list items for the next year.  Right now, our Mall is empty…. just like if a new mall was built in your town and no stores have moved in yet.  We need your help! Please list your items and tells your skating friends about it as well.

In the next two weeks, we will be linking in our Partner Stores and getting their items listed on MySkatingMall.com. We will also be setting up our donation system that will allow funds to be raised for skating clubs and teams.  If you find something on MySkatingMall.com that you want to purchase in the next two weeks, go right ahead. The transaction will work.  Just know that no commission will be taken out by the site so no funds can be transferred to your club or team.

Thank you for all the support and being so patient while MySkatingMall.com is being finished. The ending is in sight! (Or should I say the beginning:-)

More money for clubs and teams!

Friday, February 12th, 2010

dollarsignMySkatingMall.com has always been committed to 5% of every purchase raising funds for skating clubs and teams. That has been a foundational principle since the inception of MySkatingMall.com.

But what if 5% is not enough? What if the group really needs to raise more money and its members are committed to that goal? What else can we do? Drum roll please………….

With each item that an individual lists on MySkatingMall.com, that person will be able to choose the percentage of the sale that will be given to his or her club/team.  Let me explain: The standard percentage that is received by the group for the purchase or sale of an item listed by one of its members is 2.5%. (2.5% also goes to the club/team of the other person involved in the transaction.) We will have a drop down menu so that 2.5% through 90% can be automatically forwarded to the PayPal account of the seller’s club or team upon the sale of the item.

For example, a Synchro team gets five of its members to each list a $50 skating dress and choose 90% of the proceeds to go to the team.  If all 5 of those dresses sell, the team will have $225 in its PayPal account!

The group can access the proceeds as soon as they want after the sale since the transfers are instantaneous. If an item is returned, any return of funds will be handled under PayPals terms for purchases between a seller and buyer. Since the club/team received the proceeds, it will also be subject to Paypal’s refund process.

Please help us get this great news out to the skating community!!!

Club and Team Registration now available!

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

tab-skating-clubsRegistration is now available at http://www.myskatingmall.com/clubs for all skating clubs, synchro teams, and theatre on ice teams who want to raise funds through MySkatingMall.com. Any group from around the world is eligible as long as they can be verified. It does not cost even one cent for groups to register! All groups will need to register before they can receive the 5% funding from the purchases of their members. More details of how this site will work are available at MySkatingMall.com.

Partner Stores

25 skating businesses have already decided to become Partner Stores on MySkatingMall.com! Think about them like the different stores you can walk into while strolling through your local mall. More will surely be added before our launch in March. To see the up-to-date list of Partner Stores, visit the “Supporters of MySkatingMall.com” Fan Page on Facebook.

With all these stores in addition to the thousands of used items that will soon be available for purchase, MySkatingMall.com will truly have everything a skater needs. It is our sincerest hope that MySkatingMall.com will aid “grassroots” clubs and teams to get the resources they need to support their skaters.

Partner stores are coming on board

Monday, December 7th, 2009

hand-shake-4[2]Like a good bricks-and-mortar mall, Myskatingmall.com will have a great selection of stores from which to shop.  Everything a parent or skaters would want to buy will soon be available for purchase and every purchase supports grassroots skating!

Our plan is one of partnership and not of competition. Myskatingmall.com will just be the marketplace for skaters and vendors to meet. The products for sale will be those of individual skater and existing skating businesses. Any skating related company that wants to support skating clubs and teams is welcom to join us. As of this writing, 13 stores have already expressed interest in joining Myskatingmall.com!

This post will highlight our first three, Cherryloop, Sk8strong, and Style & Confidence.

At Cherryloop, you’ll be able to find namebrand skating dresses, practice attire, boots, accessories, and more. Cherryloop is a fairly new family business that strives for unmatched customer service in all of their transactions. They are offering free shipping on everything in the store forever!  

When asked why Cherryloop has joined Myskatingmall, Travis Phipps, owner of Cherryloop, said,”Myskatingmall is providing a service that we don’t; giving skaters the ability to find high quality used items.  We want to be able to send our customers to a trustworthy place when they are in need of used items.”

Sk8strong founder Lauren Downes has produced a series of off-ice strength and conditioning DVDs and a training manual specifically for figure skaters of all levels and ages. The trainings are endorsed by the Professional Skaters Association and the DVDs will give a skater an off-ice training program to prevent injury, increase functional and plyometric strength, improve alignment and posture, increase core strength and balance, and improve the overall performance of any skater.  All that in one place, WOW!

Style & Confidence is owned by championship level ice dancer Jennifer Wester. Besides making custom skating outifits, Jennifer also offers crystalled accessories along with motivational skating art.  You can get inspired and get your BLING on all in one place!

More partner stores will be added each week. Check out the Myskatingmall Partner Store page on a regular basis to see if your favorite stores have joined!

Welcome to the MySkatingMall.com Blog

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Myskatingmall.com logo

Myskatingmall.com logo

Thank you for checking out the Myskatingmall.com blog! This is where I (Ryan Jahnke) will be sharing all the news about the ongoing development of this fantastic site. It brings me great encouragement to hear from many different people who are getting excited about this site. (ALMOST as much as I am:-) If you feel that Myskatingmall will benefit the skating community, please spread the word! There are no corporate sponsors for this site. It’s just me shoe-stringing this site together with the assistance of Jump Start Focus web design and the 30 or so volunteer beta team members. The beta group is helping to guide the policies and features of the site. If you would like to lend a virtual hand as a beta team member, just shoot me an email at Ryan@myskatingmall.com.

Myskatingmall has been in the making for over a year now. I want to use this post to share how the idea was developed. The idea was sparked by an off-handed comment from my father.  We must have been discussing something dealing with the plethora of skating outfits in my closet from past seasons. He said something like, “There should be a website to sell all these things.” That was the seed planted in my head. It grew when I started observing many skating families struggling to keep up with the expense of our sport due to economic challenges. At that point the vision for Myskatingmall was still small. I thought it could be a site just for the sale of gently used outfits and equipment to help reduce some expenses for skating families.  Who wouldn’t want to make some money from the closet of nice skating outfits that most of us have collected!

The last piece started coming together through my volunteer work with U.S. Figure Skating, I noticed skating clubs were also hurting financially. Luckily, I was able to meld these observations together into what many people feel is a very timely idea.

I began fleshing out the ideas for Myskatingmall.com last September during a “Systems Analysis and Design” course that I was taking at the University of Colorado. At that time, I was thinking of calling it Myskatingcloset.com. It was actually Paul Wylie who suggested I pick a “bigger” name like Myskatingmall.com.    After that course finished, I developed a business plan and presented it to U.S. Figure Skating. My original idea was to give the idea to USFS so that Myskatingmall.com could  become another revenue stream for USFS, similar to IceNetwork. From being a past athlete representative to USFS’s Board of Directors, I knew it was part of the organization’s strategic plan to diversify revenue streams by 2010. I wanted to help USFS raise money for athlete programs which are very dear to my heart. I benefited from many of them during my 21 years of competing!  USFS was very supportive of the idea but decided not to fund the project due to budget constraints. At that point, I had to decide whether to stop or proceed on my own.  After much thought, I came to the realization that Myskatingmall is not just a good idea, but one that is needed. The vision of  Myskatingmall is to support the skating community. I am fully committed to making that a reality.

Ryan Jahnke
2003 World Team Member and PSA Master Rated Coach