One of the problems that we collectors run into when we want to get an idea of a "value" of our cards is the lack of guides out there to help us. True, we have Beckett, but anybody who's been around the hobby long enough knows the issues with them. Beckett has Topps and Upper Deck in their pockets!
I mean little things such as "Hey, we'll give you guys the exclusive on this upcoming product!" or "We'll give you yet ANOTHER loaded box that the regular collector never gets!" in order that Beckett price certain cards, well, a little higher than they should be. Is this conspiracy? No, it actually happens.
Anyway, I would like to open your eyes to a couple of other options out there for you other than checking eBay every day for a completed auction. Which, by the way, is probably as close to a true value as you're going to get, outside factors not withstanding.
Sports Collectors Digest Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. This book is issued once right near the end of the year. The one problem is this guide only comes out once a year so you are not going to find values on your recent cards until the end of the year. What this guide does offer you is a listing of every card from pretty much every set out there. There are cards in here you didn't even know existed. On top of the listing is a photograph of a card from the set along with a brief description of the set. Not only is this guide a great reference for cards, the prices are also much more realistic in regards to "value". When I say more realistic, I mean the values assigned are much closer to realized buy/sell prices than Beckett it. Recently, someone had emailed me asking about the price of a set that Beckett had listed as N/A. This guide had the set price and I gave it to him. It was right around what he expected. Another person emailed me asking about a card price. According to Beckett, the card had a value of $30. This guide had the value listed at exactly 1/2 of that at $15. Two recent auctions of the card ended at $11.53 and $13.54 respectively. I'm just sayin'.
I would also like to point you in the direction of a great web site service for you graded collectors out there of vintage cards. The site is VintageCardPrices.com. What this site does is keep track, via ebay, of completed vintage baseball cards that have been graded by SGC, PSA, BVG, and GAI. They keep track of each ending price by grading company and grade itself. The list of cards they track are from 1867-1959 and I have read that they intend of making that list longer to reach into the newer market from 1960 on, though I'm unsure of how new they will cover. This is a paid service but if you are a heavy vintage collector, this may be worth it for you. In my opinion, it's a great service to show realized prices of cards that you might be trying to obtain yourself and you can avoid getting ripped off. There is so much more to this site that I could ramble on forever. Just check it out!
Anyway, I hope this was helpful in some way, shape, or form. I know many of us feel that there is only one option out there but really, there is much, much more!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Beckett Media
Welcome to my baseball card blog. I fully intend on keeping this informal, laid back, and fun. So, to start, I will begin with Beckett Media.
First off, their web site. The web site which can be accessed at www.beckett.com, has been in a "beta" mode now for just over one full year. Over the course of the past month, the web site has been nothing if not dreadful. At times, you cannot even get to the front page of the site. Other times, you can get to the front page but not past that. And other times still, you cannot use the online price guide even when you are paying for it.
Speaking of price guides, does anybody ever actually do anything in regards to work on those prices? I recently read a post where somebody called out Beckett.com on having a "Book Value" of $25 for a card that just recently sold for $.11. Yes, that is correct. Eleven CENTS. Now, you may say to me, "Well, that could just be an accident. It was only one auction". And I would not disagree with you.
However, what Beckett recently did was create an article about a high school football card of the current Denver Broncos head coach. Somehow, because the team was 5-0 at the time, this card that had a BV of no more than $3 at the time, jumped up to $30. How is this possible you may ask? Well, because ONE auction ended on eBay for $26 of this card. That's right, 1. Before and immediately after that one auction, there had not been another. So there you have it, Beckett gave a book value of $30 for a card that ended at $26 in one auction. A Beckett member asked them about this in their article comments and apparently was ignored for some time. He did make a couple of good points and in the end, got an answer that was a tap dance around the issue, never actually answering the questions. My question folks is, what is that extra $4 for? Did they count in s/h for their value?
Secondly, Chris Olds. Let's talk about Chris Olds. This is a man who is known by many via the blogging world as a thief. This man actually copies/pastes blogs and stories and posts them on his own articles as his own. Why? Well, because he doesn't actually know what he is talking about that's why. He had a newspaper article one time. That's great, doesn't matter. He is an editor for Beckett. Again, great but what does that tell me about his knowledge? From what I see, even in his own thread in which members can ask him questions, he can never answer a question. He simply refers them to someone else or tap dances around the question without answering it. Half of those questions you can Google and find them right away. Apparently it's too much effort for Chris. The good majority of the people posting on that site know more about the hobby than he does. Keep busting your boxes Chris. It really shows what an "expert" you truly are.
In a nutshell, I like the Beckett.com site. There are a lot of good posters and traders on there. The concept of the site is great. However, it's been 15 months now. The site is continuously broken and not working and the members of their staff do not listen to its customers when there is a problem. Instead, they are told to clear their cookies. Everyone has Beckett and the problems are still there. Now what?
First off, their web site. The web site which can be accessed at www.beckett.com, has been in a "beta" mode now for just over one full year. Over the course of the past month, the web site has been nothing if not dreadful. At times, you cannot even get to the front page of the site. Other times, you can get to the front page but not past that. And other times still, you cannot use the online price guide even when you are paying for it.
Speaking of price guides, does anybody ever actually do anything in regards to work on those prices? I recently read a post where somebody called out Beckett.com on having a "Book Value" of $25 for a card that just recently sold for $.11. Yes, that is correct. Eleven CENTS. Now, you may say to me, "Well, that could just be an accident. It was only one auction". And I would not disagree with you.
However, what Beckett recently did was create an article about a high school football card of the current Denver Broncos head coach. Somehow, because the team was 5-0 at the time, this card that had a BV of no more than $3 at the time, jumped up to $30. How is this possible you may ask? Well, because ONE auction ended on eBay for $26 of this card. That's right, 1. Before and immediately after that one auction, there had not been another. So there you have it, Beckett gave a book value of $30 for a card that ended at $26 in one auction. A Beckett member asked them about this in their article comments and apparently was ignored for some time. He did make a couple of good points and in the end, got an answer that was a tap dance around the issue, never actually answering the questions. My question folks is, what is that extra $4 for? Did they count in s/h for their value?
Secondly, Chris Olds. Let's talk about Chris Olds. This is a man who is known by many via the blogging world as a thief. This man actually copies/pastes blogs and stories and posts them on his own articles as his own. Why? Well, because he doesn't actually know what he is talking about that's why. He had a newspaper article one time. That's great, doesn't matter. He is an editor for Beckett. Again, great but what does that tell me about his knowledge? From what I see, even in his own thread in which members can ask him questions, he can never answer a question. He simply refers them to someone else or tap dances around the question without answering it. Half of those questions you can Google and find them right away. Apparently it's too much effort for Chris. The good majority of the people posting on that site know more about the hobby than he does. Keep busting your boxes Chris. It really shows what an "expert" you truly are.
In a nutshell, I like the Beckett.com site. There are a lot of good posters and traders on there. The concept of the site is great. However, it's been 15 months now. The site is continuously broken and not working and the members of their staff do not listen to its customers when there is a problem. Instead, they are told to clear their cookies. Everyone has Beckett and the problems are still there. Now what?
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