With September almost at an end..............

[loobyloo6]

That's three quaters of the year already gone I was just wondering how we are all doing with this years TTM requests. How many sent out, Returns, What might have gone missing etc.

I have do less this year than the previous 3 years but have concentrated on Multi signed book and shirts 99% of the time, Waiting for one to return before sending ot another. I have sent out 52 requests since January 5th and have had 50 back all signed with no failures so far. The 2 that are missing are an Autobiography sent out on the 16th of January to a retired boxer and the Liverpool and Wales multi signed shirts sent out when I came back from my holidays around the 6th of September...another book off in the post tomorrow..I'm very pleased with the results this year, Some cracking signed books, multi signed books and shirts. too...and what about you?

[rcsmg1]

You've certainly done well on your returns Alex.

I've sent out 160 requests with 35 not received (yet-hopefully) I've mainly concentrated on getting my cards signed and not sent out many books or shirts yet.

[thehornets]

You have an exceptional return rate Alex. Very few collecting ttm ever manage that.

My three main areas of collecting - EastEnders, Doctor Who and Watford are terrible for non replies, and as I mentioned back in July when I posted some stats, I seem to maintain a two thirds success rate -

http://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Autograph-Collectors-Ttm/Discussion-Topics/Totally-Boring-Stats/17...

Matt and other EE collectors can confirm how hit and miss collecting the signed cards can be. It can take a few attempts before you get a reply due to the volume of requests each person gets.

Doctor Who falls in with any British actor/actress who you write to via agent, tv show or venue. Agents can be fickle as to how they pass on mail as can tv shows, and sometimes the post delays you via venue or the venue does not pass on, so you miss someone. Also, actors/actresses can frequently move agent, and the timing between this happening and being known leaves a window for lost requests. Old agents rarely pass on mail to new ones or clients. Likewise, some do not inform their agent when they have moved house, so the agent forwards to a wrong address. This is a common reason for rts failures.

Watford have been hit & miss via ttm for several years. I have a much better success rate writing to former players at different clubs.

[ra1anne]

ive done well jan to june with the united cc's and have just sent a new batch out so waiting on those, also sent 2 books to dwight yorke about 5 week ago but not heard anything, i know you never give up on requests but im dubious if i'll get my books back as i think(but i could be wrong) yorkie usually replies pretty quickly, hopefully i'll do well with the cc's and i think i might start another signed shirt project

[Anonymous]

since Jan 5th as that was my first request sent this year to make sure the xmas temp posties had gone ive sent 135 out and am still waiting on 45 back although of that 45 back 12 were sent out over the last 2 weeks so not too bad I guess...as Nigel says though Eastenders can be difficult with the amount of mail they get and a fair few dont seem to reply at all I know im a few short of having the full current cast then theres the matter of ones leaving the show too or people coming on on short term contracts, alot though there are fairly good at replying just take time due to their busy commitments.

The clubcards Carl as you've mentioned them can also be quite hard to get from certain players over a season mainly due to signing patters as ive noticed there are a bunch of regular signers, then the ones who will reply at different times of the season and they dont sign for long so if your letter is at the bottom of the pile you end up missing out then until the next season as alot will just reply the once over the season duration..It is very very difficult though to get more or less whole lot of cc's for the season I know the season just gone 11-12 I was 7 short of having the full set, the season before 10-11 about 13 short and so on but they certainly make entertainment for collecting when they come back and seeing the different types they do etc

[film4watcher]

Although I make a note of when I send requests out, I don't keep a count of what goes out and comes back. Too frustrating. I know I've not had much luck with requests to America. That is very annoying as it's cost me quite a bit in dollars as well as stamps. I have been pleased with some of the replies I've had so that makes up for the failures.

[wheel-lose]

probably only sent out half the requests this year as i did last year,but still have had enough replies to say ,its not been a bad year,had some great abba replies,and film replies too,i dont keep any record of what goes out and when ,so have to rely on memory as to how long my request has taken 🙂 had a lot of illness and pc problems,and bike problems,which has slowed down my reqest send outs too

[obree]

I've not sent out as many requests so far this year as I have done in previous years , I have had great results so far with my flags and books but I have the same problem with Celtic as Nigel has with Watford great replies from ex players but the replies from Celtic Park are very slow or they just don't come back . I have a fight programme and a card out to an ex boxer also Alex and it has been out for a few months could it be the same boxer ?

[serenamorgan]

83 sent out, 43 back so far so a 52% success rate, although 17 of the 83 have only been sent out over the past month so early days for those yet.

The only notable one that hasn't come back yet is my England 96 team photo, already with 8 signatures on,  which I sent to Teddy Sherringham late January.  All of the rest are just unsigned photos and index cards (with a few FDC to Olympic Gold Medalists) so no big loss on those

Alex, 50/52 is an amazing success rate, you are either the luckiest collecter out there or your research is top notch (or maybe even a bit of both, lol)

[thehornets]

How many addresses out of the 52 were private addresses Alex?

[Anonymous]

#8 Greg sheringham doesnt sign ttm 😞 hate to say that so it could be a gonner had I known you were sending id have said something would be suprised anyway if it came back where did you send via? if it was house its defo gone ive lost a book and a shirt to him via there about 3/4 years ago now

[sid8066]

I havent sent out a lot this year just a few at the start of the year and got a reply from most, i hope to get back in to the writing soon but my biggest problem is the stamps,as i live in Ireland i cant get the stamps to easy i havent been over in a while to stock up on them and most of the people that i ask go to the football at the weekends and nearly always the post offices are closed.By the way i have a few 2nd class stamps how many of these do i need to put on a regular letter to get to Ireland ??

[ra1anne]

#10  YEAH I AGREE MATT HE DONT SIGN TTM, I SENT A TREBLE 1999 BOOKLET SIGNED BY OLE AND FERGIE TO HIM ABOUT 2 YEAR AGO VIA A HOME ADDY AND RECIEVED NOWT 😞  YOUD THINK HED AT LEAST RETURN ITEMS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SIGNED, ITS NOT LIKE IT COSTS HIM OWT IN POSTAGE, SHAME

[ra1anne]

#11  do you live in northern ireland??  if so then just 1  standard 2nd class stamp is fine for a normal letter

[not_brazil_norn_iron]

Sid i can sort you out with UK stamps anytime, if you let me know how many you want i'll get them and send them down to you no bother

A regular letter would require at least 3 2nd class stamps to get from UK to RoI and that's assuming it is a small letter with no weight in it.

[loobyloo6]

#9

I'll get back to you on that one Nigel...Have them all listed somewhere. Certainly more Clubs than home addresses I'd have thought.

[loobyloo6]

Just to get the recrd straight  Steve Warnock Blackburn Rovers shirt Via Villa training ground.."Failure"...sent back unsigned.

Nigel  out of the now 53 requests sent out It's very close..27 Via Clubs, Bussiness address or other and 26 from private address..Suprised me that.

[thehornets]

Cool! That's testament to the clubs you have sent to then to make sure things were passed on. Impressive.

[serenamorgan]

Matt - yes, it via his home address, somebody on here had a success from there back in January so thought I would try my luck, bit of  a shame as I'd been working on it for a while but woudln't have been happy until it was completed anyway, worth the gamble sometimes, just not this time:-(

[sid8066]

#14 cheers mate thanks for the offer much appreciated