Future of Beckett???

[mjbuchanan80]

Originally Posted by WJCIII

Do you know how many people said the same thing 5 years ago?

Tablets and smartphones were also not around 5 years ago. Everyone and their mother can pull up eBay anytime, anywhere.

[Texas Brave13]

I use Beckett because I'm not into Voodoo or witchcraft and bone tossing to get the spirits to bless me with prices. If I did, then I'd know the prices of my damn Darvish Finest RC's.

[ArsonCuff]

I think Beckett (website) should focus only on grading/ graded cards and setting themselves up as an Ebay like marketplace for cards and let said market just dictate the "value" without needing people pulling numbers out of their butts ala the magic formula for updating prices. Then Beckett value actually makes sense because what a card sells for on Beckett would then be referred to as "Beckett value"

[jr24ai3]

A lot of people will use a beckett for raw vintage. It's not perfect, but it's a good starting point for vintage.

[CharlieHustle]

Originally Posted by BillInDallas

Both parties stand to gain little in a partnership. .... I can't think of a way the Ebay can materially monetize such a partnership.

I completely disagree. Both have very much to gain from a partnership. Beckett could gain from a licensing fee to let ebay use their checklists and card data and ebay could gain from the increase in listing fees. Could you imagine how many more cards would be listed if all you had to do was click a couple of buttons and press "submit"?
They could also parlay the sales data into a card registry almost by default. Joined together, they could monopolize the collecting industry on the internet, but apparently, they've got better things to do and choose to remain separate.

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Texas Brave13

I use Beckett because I'm not into Voodoo or witchcraft and bone tossing to get the spirits to bless me with prices. If I did, then I'd know the prices of my damn Darvish Finest RC's.

Those 3 methods are scientifically proven to be more accurate than Beckett. And you can't argue with science.

[Jeff.Mc]

Originally Posted by nhsportsguy

I miss TuffStuff!

I miss CCP.

[Texas Brave13]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

Those 3 methods are scientifically proven to be more accurate than Beckett. And you can't argue with science.

dang it, the bones told me you were gonna say that

[BillInDallas]

Originally Posted by CharlieHustle

They could also parlay the sales data into a card registry almost by default. Joined together, they could monopolize the collecting industry on the internet, but apparently, they've got better things to do and choose to remain separate.

I guess I should have been a little more clear yesterday. I don't see Beckett has having the time or resources to dedicate to an integration with Ebay. Ebay can be very difficult to deal with as a customer, I can only imagine as a developer. It's their way or no way. They are also rather protective of their data, although this has been loosening up over the last year or so. I don't see Ebay having enough interest in the project to work with Beckett. Ebay barely has levels of automation/integration built for markets with way larger scopes and economics than sports cards, so I wouldn't expect them to make a push into a market where so much of the volume is in lower-end items. I don't think that people selling mid-high end items are deterred by the work necessary to list an item. They're going to list them regardless. For the low-end stuff it would open up a market, but would the increase be enough to justify the cost? I'm not sure about that.

For a few years I ran a networking/telephony resale business and with so many items being relatively standardized that sold in four and five figures, Ebay had very little to offer in terms of integration. Granted, there wasn't a Beckett-like entity that was an almost sole provider of information, but the information is readily availble if they wanted to partner with someone to make networking sales easier.

It could be great thing if they could ever work together, but I don't see the two getting together any time soon.

[DaClyde]

Originally Posted by Jeff.Mc

I miss CCP.

Cards with prices. Period!

Beckett's OPG is slowly being improved, but they would do well to take over the void left by the Standard Catalog and do a better job of documenting the sets, how they were released, with deeper descriptions per set. All of the set detail from the Almanac should be available online, and there is no excuse for their not having sample card scans on their website when they have them in their printed book. They really need to fill in the enormous gaps in their catalog, though. They should include at least everything in the Standard Catalog, but they leave out all kinds of stuff. For a digital format, they shouldn't have any space constraints.

I don't seem them dropping their OPG subscription pricing until they start hemorrhaging customers. They have likely found a price point that works for them, for now.

[chilly55]

I know an area where Beckett is still being used like a bible, trading card groups. There are a lot of trading card groups out there that use the Beckett pricing as a way to trade. I am apart of several trading only groups (you can be kicked out for posting sales) and I can tell you, all trade by BV. Only those cards that are too scarce for pricing, does anyone even consider looking at Feebay.

I agree, as far as selling, Beckett's sucks. But as far as trading goes, Beckett still flourishes and is alive and well in many trading only groups. I think for the most part, on this forum anyway, there are way more sellers/buyers than traders, so Beckett's is useless here.

Bill

WHMCJR's Trading card site

[Hellwig]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

It's the only montly guide around. So hopefully it will stay. It provides great entertainment, and also gives you leverage in negotiating deals. CMOC still goes by beckett as well.

Does anyone know how often COMC updates Beckett prices? If it is somewhat regularly there is no reason to buy Beckett or Beckett online pricing. They don't bother having a book price for rarer cards anyhow. Even if you still believe in book pricing.

[XL5]

Originally Posted by RookieFan15

Is it that hard to work with ebay or watch the market and try to update prices ASAP.

Maybe it is to much work for them, or eBay does not want to work with them.

They don't want to have accurate prices. They want to promote prices that sell product and make their services more valuable. Ideally they would like to set the market rate but obviously the internet/eBay has killed that model.

Say a card has a Beckett BV of $30 and SV of $10. Now when it comes time for someone to pick up a Beckett price guide or send in a card for grading which price do you think is more likely to get them to buy?

Why do you think hobby shops always have Beckett stocked on their rack? So if someone comes in, they can look up a card in Beckett and the shop can start negotiations at BV. If they come down say 20% that looks like a steal.

Card companies love it too, it inflates the value of their product.

And finally, Beckett BV has value to people who are pulling out their collection of 1980's cards. They don't want to hear that their boxes and boxes of junk is worthless. If they open up a Beckett and price stuff at even half BV, they are sitting on a wad of cash. It makes people feel good about the cards they have.

[DaBaddestHic]

Originally Posted by chilly55

I know an area where Beckett is still being used like a bible, trading card groups. There are a lot of trading card groups out there that use the Beckett pricing as a way to trade. I am apart of several trading only groups (you can be kicked out for posting sales) and I can tell you, all trade by BV. Only those cards that are too scarce for pricing, does anyone even consider looking at Feebay.

I agree, as far as selling, Beckett's sucks. But as far as trading goes, Beckett still flourishes and is alive and well in many trading only groups. I think for the most part, on this forum anyway, there are way more sellers/buyers than traders, so Beckett's is useless here.

Yeah I agree, Beckett is awesome for doing trades, especially trades for multiple low-end cards. It's just easier than looking up and averaging completed sales for non high-end cards. Even if you know that the BV of the 20 cards your trading aren't close to their SV, you can pretty much be sure it's the same for the cards your getting and just be ok with that.

Does the Online Price Guide update mroe often than the print one? It's seemed like at times someone has given me a BV for a card that was different than the one I had in my newest Beckett, so it seems like the online one fluctuates more, at least with newer releases.

[HadWayTooMuch]

Originally Posted by Jeff.Mc

I miss CCP.

Was that before or after CPU? I was told they went out of business after I think 1985 Donruss (don't hold me to the year) because they cut the prices after Donruss cut their allocation.

[IUjapander]

Originally Posted by nhsportsguy

Beckett, to me and a lot of rational sellers, is a good base-line as it is an idependent company's opinion. They have nothing to gain by raising or lowering their prices...if that changes, I'll be right on the band-wagon to boycott them!

I'm not saying any market manipulation is going on here, but this is something to think about.

Beckett grades cards.
Beckett sells cards direct through ebay that they grade.
Beckett makes up a "book value" for the price of the cards that they grade and are trying to sell on ebay.

Does it not make business sense for them to give artificially inflated prices for cards? To someone who may not be as savy in the market and are used to price guides actually being close to true values (blue book, coins, etc.) do you see how they have a lot to gain with the raising or lowering of prices?

Boycott engaged?

[CharlieHustle]

Originally Posted by BillInDallas

I don't see Beckett has having the time or resources to dedicate to an integration with Ebay. Ebay can be very difficult to deal with as a customer, I can only imagine as a developer. It's their way or no way. They are also rather protective of their data, although this has been loosening up over the last year or so. I don't see Ebay having enough interest in the project to work with Beckett. Ebay barely has levels of automation/integration built for markets with way larger scopes and economics than sports cards, so I wouldn't expect them to make a push into a market where so much of the volume is in lower-end items.

That's the crazy part. This system of being able to track sales and list cards faster is already completed in full on both sides.
The whole thing that would make this system work is to have every card/set ever made, individually serialized so that it could be tracked/listed. Beckett already has that system in place and even has a listing system in place with BCI.
On Ebay's end, they would need a "catalog" style setup so that users could comb through a checklist, click on the card they have and submit it to ebay for sale. Which they already have. Except, they serialize cards by past titles used by other sellers instead of an individual tracking serial number.
And when I say "tracking serial number" I mean the reference number that Beckett uses for each card. For example, the 2012 Topps Ichiro Suzuki #537 comes in a couple of different parallels. The black is #8632042, the Target Red Border is #8633478 and the Wood parallel (a 1/1) is #8632712. The point being that you could realistically track the "value" of those cards, after they sell on ebay (even 1/1's) if only the sellers knew to incorporate those numbers listed above into their ebay listings.
It would be in ebay's best interest to use a system like this because more sellers would list under a catalog style system and more buyers would buy, if they didn't have to wade through keyword spamming to find the cards they wanted. It would be in Beckett's best interest to use this system because then they get accurate pricing info, which is what they supposedly are trying to provide anyway.
But, we are both in agreement in that these two will probably never work together and share information.