I have tried to provide encouragement to you with my responses below.
1. You guys did all the work of uploading the pictures and it is the pictures that make the site. Hard to charge people and expect them to upload the pictures at the same time.
- True and so would other player collectors. You just have to provide the framework for them. I love being able to participate in the growth of this site. They will not be forced to upload pictures, but it will only make their site better. Maybe you assign a moderator (the most committed person for each player) and only charge them half price of give it to them for free. That way you do not have to do all of the work.
- Zistle.com is a website that only grows its card database by members participating in the process and it is pretty good.
2. The card companies own the rights to the card images and turning this around for profit becomes a tricky proposition.
- The card companies may own the rights to the images, but I own the card and I am simply displaying an item that I own. No copyright imfringement there. You are not making money directly from the card images...they are simply an aspect of it.
3. Beckett seems to own a copyright on the generic collector lists. This would also draw their attention.
- Huh? Really? Beckett owns a copyright to make a list of cards? So I can't have my own independent list of cards of a particular player? Seems a little crazy to me.
Still, I might make a few freelists for the other players that the Juan collectors here collect, like Pudge, Hamilton, Greer, Blalock, etc..
- BTW, I would love a Hamilton or Pudge site (or both) with similar design to this one.
The site you have created is truly envied in the player collecting community. You should be proud of your work.