Posts Tagged ‘Theater on Ice’

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

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

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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!

Club and Team Fund Raising Resources Are Now Available!!!

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Fundraising with MySkatingMall.com!

Fund raising with MySkatingMall.com!

Our mission at MySkatingMall.com is to support the skating community.  That is why MySkatingMall.com was designed so that 5%-90% of every purchase raises money for skating clubs and teams. Sure, that’s old news … Are you ready for something new???

Our Club and Team accounts, which are set up for FREE for any skating group that registers, are now equipped with resources to allow clubs and teams to quickly start a hassle free fund raising campaign!

The first resource is a pre-filled poster with your group’s name for you to display or email out to members. This can alert them about the fund raising campaign. Then we have included a sample email to send out to group members in order to launch the campaign.  Among other things, that email explains the three ways that groups can make money on MySkatingMall.com.  Below is a snipit from the email. It is written as being sent from the skating group to its members:

“1) When you list an item on the site, you have the option to choose how much of the sale price you want forwarded to our club’s PayPal account when the item sells. The top choice is 87.5%. You can choose anywhere between 2.5% and 87.5% but our hope is that you will choose the 87.5% so that we will have more funds to support our members. If just five of our members sell a $50 item and each has chosen 87.5% of the purchase to go to our club, we will have raised $218.75!

2) When you buy an item from MySkatingMall.com, 2.5% of the purchase price will automatically be forwarded to our PayPal account.

3) MySkatingMall.com has established partnerships with many skating retailers. When our members go to MySkatingMall.com and then link to these Partner sites, 5% of every purchase will go to our club’s account. The logos and links to participating Partner Stores can be found on the bottom half of the page at http://www.myskatingmall.com. ”

We have two copies of this email available; one written for clubs and another for teams. All it requires is to copy and paste the sample email (that has the club/team name already filled in!) to your own email software to send out. Once that’s done then PRESTO! let the fund raising begin.

A third resource we have available is the ability to send club/team members a pre-written invitation email directly from MySkatingMall.com that asks them to join the group’s fund raising efforts.

We will be adding additional resources as the weeks go on.  Our goal is to make this easy for anyone to manage.  Each skating group can keep track of which members have registered on MySkatingMall.com and have chosen the group as their beneficiary.

If these things sound good to you, check out our Club/Team FAQs and then register your skating group!  It is always FREE to register at MySkatingMall.com.  Chart of how all the financials are handled on MySkatingMall.com are found through our  How it works link at the top of the site’s front page.

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.

FAQ’s

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

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This is the first of several blog posts of Frequently Asked Questions. These questions refer to individual usage of MySkatingMall:

Will items be listed in an auction or will I be able to set the selling price?

When MySkatingMall goes live in March, all prices will be set by the seller and there will be no auctions. That way sellers can receive what they want for each item listed. Buyers and sellers will be able to communicate via the site so that they can negotiate an agreeable purchase price. We will have the ability to do auctions if users would like that at a later date.

Will you have to pay in order to use the site?

There will be no cost to purchase items from the site besides the purchase price (including shipping). When you sell an item, there will be a 10% commission which is less than eBay. For the first year, there will be no listing fee at all. Starting in March 2011, there will be a $1 per item per year listing fee. An important feature is that listings will not expire until they are sold or the seller removes them from MySkatingMall. That way you never have to deal with mulitiple listing fees in one year like other popular listing/auction sites.

What is the difference between an individual web store and a partner store?

Individual stores are meant for skaters, clubs, or teams who are primarily listing gently used items.  They will also be allowed to list new items if they so choose.  For the first year, there will be no listing fee for items. Starting March 2011, there will be a $1 per item annual listing fee.

Partner stores are intended for commercial skating businesses. Most will be selling primarily new items. Businesses that already have a website will be able to link it to MySkatingMall without any upfront fees.  Those businesses without websites will be able to create one on MySkatingMall just like individuals can.  A $10 per month hosting fee will be paid by partner stores who are creating their stores directly on MySkatingMall (and not linking to it through their own websites.) The advantage of partner stores is that they will be more visible on the site and there is no per item listing fee.

If I have multiple copies of the same item to sell, am I charged the $1 listing fee for each one?

Until March 2011, there will be no listing fee for any item being sold on MySkatingMall.com. Individuals and partner stores will be able to list items that have multiple copies to sell. For individuals, only $1 will be charged up front for the listing. Once the first copy of the item gets sold, then another dollar will be charged, et cetera, until all your copies are sold. This way you are not out the $1 for each item if they do not sell. This seems like the fairest way to do it.

How does my skating club/ team receive the 5% funding?

Clubs and teams will be able to register with MySkatingMall.com before we go live in March. The skating group will need to set up a Paypal account so that the transfers can be automatic. The plan is that every three months, payments will be made to the skating groups.

Please leave a comment to this blog with your questions and we’ll get them answered!

ANSWERED: Should teams be allowed to receive the 5%

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

 

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the discussion regarding the limits of the 5% funding. The question presented was, “Should syncro and theatre on ice teams be able to receive the 5% funding like a skating club?”  The final answer is…..drumroll please…….YES!

As long as the team is registered through a national governing body (like USFS and Skate Canada) we will be allowing them to raise funds through Myskatingmall.com.  The team will have to register (which is not available yet) just like skating clubs.

The 5% funding will go to whatever club or team is listed in a users profile at the time of the transaction. Users can change the beneficiary whenever they like. In other words, some transactions can benefit their team and others can benefit their club.

Through the discussion of this topic, another fundraising idea for teams and clubs was discovered.  The following description applies to clubs too, but I’m going to describe it from a team’s perspective: A team could register as a user on Myskatingmall and list items under its account.  If team members want to donate items to the team, then the team could receive the sale amount just like and individual would.  The team can pass its username and password around to its members who can then list items under the team’s account.

Myskatingmall.com is here to support the skating community. I feel that this decision is really going to help the most amount of people.  Please spread the word to all the syncro and theater teams that you know!

Ryan Jahnke

Founder, Myskatingmall.com

2003 World Team Member

Should syncro or theater teams be able to receive the 5% or just skating clubs?

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
5% of all purchases are given to skating clubs

5% of all purchases are given to skating clubs

This is a major issue that I would love as many people to comment on as possible. I was asked if a Theater on Ice team could act as a club and receive the 5% funding from Myskatingmall.com. The reason given was that some teams aren’t “supported” by a club and are looking for fundraising opportunities. On one hand this seems reasonable. On the other hand, it may open up a box of worms.
The 5% returned to grassroots skating is a foundational principle of Myskatingmall.com. Should we stay strictly with registered clubs, or open it further to registered teams? 
Another alternative would be Myskatingmall.com could possibly identify the purchases made by members of a team in the funds forwarded to the club. Then the club could give or spend that money for the team.
Thoughts?  Please press the comment button below and share your opinion so that Myskatingmall.com can have the policies our community wants!