Although the Irish Dancing Exchange is in some ways similar to eBay, we are not an “auction” site. Think of us more as an online classified advertising section that offers Irish step dancing dresses rather than cars, houses, or help wanted ads. Our intent is to provide a place where sellers can easily and economically post dresses for sale, and where buyers can quickly locate just the right dress based on measurements, age range, keywords, price, etc.
When a buyer locates a suitable dress, he or she contacts the seller by completing and submitting a simple online form. This contact request, which includes the buyer’s email, is forwarded to the seller’s email address. The seller then responds directly to the buyer via email, providing additional info and, if all goes well, negotiating the details of the sale. For security and other reasons, seller’s email addresses are not posted with the items they are selling (nor anywhere else on the site) so the only way for a buyer to obtain a seller’s contact info is to complete and submit the contact form.
The final sale price, payment and shipping arrangments, etc. are all determined by the buyer and seller; we do not broker any sale that takes place nor do we take a commission of any kind. Our only charge is a one-time fee payable by the seller at the time the dress is listed, and the dress remains on the site until sold or until the seller closes out the listing, whichever comes first.
The Exchange: A Brief History
IT’S NO SECRET that the majority of pre-owned dresses offered for sale at feisanna return home unsold, and sometimes the worse for wear as well. As a Webmaster (and father of a 14-year old championship DD) I’d always assumed that the Internet, given its worldwide reach, was the most logical place to buy or sell a used dress. But when I explored the various used dress sites, I discovered that none offered any of the features and options that companies like Amazon or eBay routinely provide. Rather, most simply show pages full of dresses loosely organized by age range, with the seller’s email address right out there in the open, just waiting to be captured by spammers.
So in April 2005, I set out to build a professional-level site that would give shoppers all the search options they need to find the right dress at the right price, while providing sellers with easy-to-use tools to create and update their own listings, print customized “For Sale” signs and monitor shopper activity for each dress—all while protecting their identities from the “spambots.” Two-and-a-half months and 70-odd pages of code later, The Irish Dancing Exchange was born.
Today this site receives an average of 480 visitors each day, who have performed over 3204133 dress seaches, made over 7857 contacts with sellers and sent 17508 dress alerts to friends or family. Our 2161 members have created 629 dress listings to date, and the site continues to grow both in popularity and in reputation. Our goal is to become the #1 location for both buyers and sellers of used dresses, and due to our own commitment to excellence and the participation and enthusiasm of our visitors, we believe we are well on the way to achieving that objective.
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The Exchange vs. Other Used Dress Sites
SO WHAT MAKES the Exchange different from the “other guys”? Put simply, we give you so much more than anyone else. We’re the only site that offers the following combination of features to our members (items marked with a “*” are available only at the Exchange):
- Instant “do it-yourself” listings* --or--
- Full listing creation service (for the technologically challenged)
- Payment by PayPal or major credit card*
- Complete listings management via personal Control Panel*
- Seller’s e-mail address always protected from spammers
- Extra exposure via “Featured Dress” option on home page*
- Live “hit counts” for all listings updated 24/7*
- Full history of contacts made (with email addresses)*
- Option to instantly “re-list” dress if sale falls through*
- Customized full-color printable “For Sale” signs*
Keep in mind, that’s just what we do for our sellers! Prospective buyers are able to take advantage of the following features (again, “*” means only the Exchange has this feature):
- Dress measurements search*
- Age range search
- Dressmaker/designer search*
- Multi-currency price range search*
- Keyword/description search
- “Any/all/exact” options for more precise keyword searches*
- Search results sortable by price, condition, etc*
- Prices displayed in six currencies (no conversion required)*
- Quick links to recently added and recently updated items
- Failed searches offer context-sensitive help and advice*
- Save favorite dresses to personal “Wish List”*
- E-mail favorite dresses directly to family or friends*
- Entire site optimized for speed (search results returned quickly)*
And here’s another exclusive: This is the only used dress site that actually encourages you to visit all the other used dress sites—just so you can see the difference for yourself! In case you don’t have their Web addresses handy, you’re welcome to visit them using the following links:
DanceSpirit
Dance Again
McGahan Lees
Second Chance Dancewear
FeisAnne
Dancing In Celtic
Just make sure you stop back when you’re done! In case you’re still not convinced, we suggest you check out the numerous testimonials we’ve posted in the left column of every page on our site, just below the search area. Each time you visit a new page, you’ll see another example of the “fan mail” we receive on a regular basis.
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Technical Details
 THOSE OF YOU interested in the technical details of the site might be surprised to learn that the Irish Dancing Exchange is hosted on an Apple Macintosh computer—and not just any Macintosh, but the diminutive 2" tall, 6.5" square Mac mini running Apache 1.3.33 atop the UNIX core of Mac OS X. All of the site's interactivity, including the exclusive five-way dress search and the comprehensive listings management features, were custom-built for the site using the ultimate Web application generator: WebDNA from WebDNA Software Corporation.
The mini that serves the Exchange to the world resides in macminicolo.net’s secure hosting facility in Las Vegas, Nevada in a climate-controlled environment with UPS and backup diesel generators. Bandwidth is supplied to the building via independent fiber channels provided by multiple circuits (Cox, Broadwing, Level (3), MCI/UUNET, Qwest, SBC Electric Lightwave, Sierra Pacific and Sprint). Remote administration is performed using both SSH and the indispensable Timbuktu Pro remote control software from Netopia.
As a consultant who has provided solutions and support to Macintosh users since 1995, the Mac was my obvious choice to host the Exchange, due to its greater security and stability when compared with other platforms. As for the Mac mini, its size, low power consumption and built-in Apache server software, coupled with its ability to handle well over 1000 hits/second, make it the ultimate Web serving platform for small to medium-sized Web sites such as ours.
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About Your Webmaster
 Gil Poulsen is the owner/operator of Franklin Park, NJ-based AltiM@c Consulting, now celebrating its tenth year of providing Apple Macintosh users with system setup and troubleshooting, prepress and print production assistance, and Web site development and hosting services. Gil has created over 50 Web sites in areas ranging from online sea surface temperature chart distribution to an interactive employee vacation management system. His daughter Johanna has been involved in Irish dancing since 1999 and recently competed at the 2008 North American Nationals in Nashville, TN.
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