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	<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=ThePit.com</id>
	<title>ThePit.com - Revision history</title>
	<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=ThePit.com"/>
	<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;action=history"/>
	<updated>2026-04-05T18:49:03Z</updated>
	<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
	<generator>MediaWiki 1.44.0</generator>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=64286&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Stalegum at 19:34, 14 August 2024</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=64286&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2024-08-14T19:34:31Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 15:34, 14 August 2024&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l3&quot;&gt;Line 3:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 3:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in its first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;continues to operate &lt;/del&gt;the site &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;to this day&lt;/del&gt;. The price of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in its first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;operated &lt;/ins&gt;the site &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;until 2014 when they went out of business&lt;/ins&gt;. The price of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Topps]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Topps]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Hobby Definitions]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Hobby Definitions]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Card Companies]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Card Companies]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Stalegum</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=11268&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Stalegum at 15:47, 24 June 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=11268&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-06-24T15:47:44Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 11:47, 24 June 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and had working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;hobby &lt;/del&gt;veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and had working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Hobby &lt;/ins&gt;veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Stalegum</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=11250&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>PlayerPCCollector at 11:05, 24 June 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=11250&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-06-24T11:05:43Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 07:05, 24 June 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and had working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Hobby &lt;/del&gt;veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and had working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;hobby &lt;/ins&gt;veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;it&#039;s &lt;/del&gt;first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which continues to operate the site to this day. The &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;amount &lt;/del&gt;of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;its &lt;/ins&gt;first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which continues to operate the site to this day. The &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;price &lt;/ins&gt;of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Topps]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Topps]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Hobby Definitions]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Hobby Definitions]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Card Companies]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Card Companies]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>PlayerPCCollector</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9468&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Stalegum at 04:08, 27 April 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9468&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-04-27T04:08:36Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 00:08, 27 April 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected Hobby veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;trading &lt;/del&gt;cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions of dollars in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;had &lt;/ins&gt;working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett such respected Hobby veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card in thePit&amp;#039;s inventory was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, a Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND&amp;quot;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Stalegum</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9466&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Stalegum at 04:04, 27 April 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9466&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-04-27T04:04:36Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 00:04, 27 April 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions in venture capital &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;investments&lt;/del&gt;, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett respected Hobby veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports trading cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;of dollars &lt;/ins&gt;in venture capital, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;such &lt;/ins&gt;respected Hobby veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports trading cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &quot;ticker&quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, Barry Bonds&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&#039; &lt;/del&gt;1987 Fleer card&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, &lt;/del&gt;graded Mint &quot;9&quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &quot;BOND.&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&quot; &lt;/del&gt; As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &quot;ticker&quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;in thePit&#039;s inventory &lt;/ins&gt;was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;a &lt;/ins&gt;Barry Bonds 1987 Fleer card graded Mint &quot;9&quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &quot;BOND&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&quot;&lt;/ins&gt;.  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&amp;#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in it&amp;#039;s first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which continues to operate the site to this day. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Most traditional collectors didn&amp;#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in it&amp;#039;s first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which continues to operate the site to this day. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Stalegum</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9465&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Stalegum: Created page with &#039;&#039;&#039;&#039;thePit.com:&#039;&#039;&#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by…&#039;</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php?title=ThePit.com&amp;diff=9465&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-04-27T04:01:15Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Created page with &amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;thePit.com:&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by…&amp;#039;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;New page&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;thePit.com:&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is a website that allows collectors to buy and sell professionally graded sportscards as if they were corporate stocks.  The site was founded in August, 2000 by Marc Lore, an Englishman and a former executive vice-president at Sanwa International Bank.  In its early months, thePit.com was able to attract millions in venture capital investments, including an undisclosed amount from the famed MIT computer scientist Nicolas Negroponte; and working agreements with the likes of [[Beckett]], [[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA), Yahoo! Auctions, and Topps.  Although thePit.com was able to hire away from Beckett respected Hobby veterans Tom Layberger and Mike Jasperson, it is unclear if Lore, Negroponte, or any of the original investors had any previous experience in sports trading cards either as dealers or collectors.  On October 10, 2000, thePit.com formally opened for business.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
For most card collectors, their first contact with the new site was a (slowly loading) &amp;quot;ticker&amp;quot; that was prominently displayed at the bottom of the beckett.com homepage.  Each individual card was assigned a four-letter ticker symbol, much like a common stock.  For example, Barry Bonds&amp;#039; 1987 Fleer card, graded Mint &amp;quot;9&amp;quot; by PSA had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND.&amp;quot;  As more and more cards were added, these symbols expanded to include year and grade so that the aforementioned Bonds card now had a ticker symbol of &amp;quot;BOND-87-FLR-P9.&amp;quot;  Also, to drum-up interest, thePit.com offered collectors on various Hobby e-mail lists a free card (usually an inexpensive rookie card from the junk-wax era) with the opening of a new account.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Most traditional collectors didn&amp;#039;t know what to make of the new site and the original owners were quick to cash out.  It is believed that in it&amp;#039;s first year of operation, thePit.com lost $2.2 million.  In August 2001, less than a year after the website went live, thePit.com was sold to Topps for $5.7 million -- reportedly as a vehicle for its new line of internet-based [[ETopps|eTopps]] cards.  This undertaking was not very successful, however, and Topps unloaded the site on [[NAXCOM]] (now known as sportsbuy.com) in January 2006 which continues to operate the site to this day. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but Topps charged a $3.7 million after-tax loss on its books in connection with the sale.  &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Topps]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Hobby Definitions]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Card Companies]]&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Stalegum</name></author>
	</entry>
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