Interesting Blog About Beckett

Boycott Beckett

There are a lot of interesting entries there and it is supposed to be written by former Beckett employees. Is Chris Olds really the only editor left there?!

A crapload of other reasons to hate Beckett.

Card Magnet said:

A crapload of other reasons to hate Beckett.

Click to expand...

I let my subscription run out after they killed the old website. But if half of this stuff is true, there might not be a Beckett much longer which is kind of sad for our hobby.

With it being unsourced and anonymous I'm not going to put too much faith into it. If one of those two things weren't the case, I might find it more interesting, but when you don't tell me who you are OR where you are getting your information, meh.

Craig

I still think that a well done magazine on the hobby would be welcomed, and could garner enough attention to be profitable.

Craig - 21hawk said:

With it being unsourced and anonymous I'm not going to put too much faith into it. If one of those two things weren't the case, I might find it more interesting, but when you don't tell me who you are OR where you are getting your information, meh.

Craig

Click to expand...

Good point. From the "about" page:

John // April 23, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Who has put together this site?


usedtobesomeone // April 28, 2009 at 6:26 am

A small variety of people:: from longtime Beckett haters to heartbroken ex-employees.

Click to expand...

It could just be people with an agenda and disgruntled ex-employees, but there is probably some truth in there.

ru4scuba said:

Card Magnet said:

A crapload of other reasons to hate Beckett.

Click to expand...

I let my subscription run out after they killed the old website. But if half of this stuff is true, there might not be a Beckett much longer which is kind of sad for our hobby.

Click to expand...

After reading a decent amount of the blog, I wouldn't be shocked if they just graded cards, and that was all.

ru4scuba said:

Craig - 21hawk said:

With it being unsourced and anonymous I'm not going to put too much faith into it. If one of those two things weren't the case, I might find it more interesting, but when you don't tell me who you are OR where you are getting your information, meh.

Craig

Click to expand...

Good point. From the "about" page:

John // April 23, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Who has put together this site?


usedtobesomeone // April 28, 2009 at 6:26 am

A small variety of people:: from longtime Beckett haters to heartbroken ex-employees.

Click to expand...

It could just be people with an agenda and disgruntled ex-employees, but there is probably some truth in there.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure there is some truth there, but the "haters" comment coupled with continually calling the Beckett people things like un-American makes me wonder what their agenda is.

Craig

Just a question here...as a price guide, is Beckett even needed anymore?

When was the last time anyone consulted a Beckett for prices? Seems to me that Ebay is the new price guide and if Beckett concentrated on grading alone, and maybe a few special publications throughout the year they would probably be more profitable.

mchenrycards said:

Just a question here...as a price guide, is Beckett even needed anymore?

When was the last time anyone consulted a Beckett for prices? Seems to me that Ebay is the new price guide and if Beckett concentrated on grading alone, and maybe a few special publications throughout the year they would probably be more profitable.

Click to expand...

There are still a lot of traders that use "book value." Personally, I use eBay for prices since they are closer to real time and used to enjoy reading the articles in Beckett until they got watered down.

Topnotchsy said:

I still think that a well done magazine on the hobby would be welcomed, and could garner enough attention to be profitable.

Click to expand...

I agree; I think if there was no price guide and just a bunch a card related stories instead, then it would be interesting and could do well.

Zambrano38 said:

Topnotchsy said:

I still think that a well done magazine on the hobby would be welcomed, and could garner enough attention to be profitable.

Click to expand...

I agree; I think if there was no price guide and just a bunch a card related stories instead, then it would be interesting and could do well.

Click to expand...

With the print media industry in a huge decline right now I'm not so sure it would be profitable. It would have to be a very streamlined operation if it did happen.

I'd like to share a small personal story involving Beckett. So it's coming from a real person - me.

I was briefly on the new Beckett message boards. I never really posted on the old ones, but occasionally browsed through when I was bored. I just never had the time to be active.

I ended up having a beef with one of the Beckett mods over a post I made because I didn't follow their new trade rules. I actually did have everything up to their guidelines in the collection folder things they use now, and just posted scans of some of it. I pointed that out and got a 3 day ban for disobeying the TOS. There was 3 days of my OPG I PAID for (All Access) gone.

Upon my return, I was furious, and posted a message asking what I did wrong, and how should I post scans of stuff I had marked for trade. The same mod left a message saying basically "Don't do this again, this is your final warning". The post was then deleted later I think, because I couldn't find it again. No real harm done, just agitating.

Fast forward a few days - I made a post asking some opinions on how to best find a selling price for cards, asking if eBay was a good start, or if there was another source. The same guy left a message saying use the Beckett marketplace. I was banned that night. There were 2 days left on my OPG that I PAID for. That makes a total of 5 days completely lost, and not counting the time that Beckett was down or the features that never worked that were supposed to be included.

HERE'S THE PUNCHLINE - A few days later I get an email saying that my OPG was renewed and that my credit card was charged $19.99 (I believe that was the total access price). Yep, after they banned me, they kept my information, including credit card, and billed me for a service I could not use.

I sent a nasty little email to their customer service and they said I was banned (according to their record) with no intentions of reversing because I directly challenged staff authority, repeated offenses regardless of warnings, foul language, and posting unauthorized links. I replied to this message and told them I was going to call my credit card company to reverse the new month, and they needed to do something about the lost time from an unjust banning and downtime on their site, or I would reverse the charge for that month as well because they didn't provide what they stated. They refunded both months in full with an apology.

That's why I hate Beckett.

ru4scuba said:

Zambrano38 said:

Topnotchsy said:

I still think that a well done magazine on the hobby would be welcomed, and could garner enough attention to be profitable.

Click to expand...

I agree; I think if there was no price guide and just a bunch a card related stories instead, then it would be interesting and could do well.

Click to expand...

With the print media industry in a huge decline right now I'm not so sure it would be profitable. It would have to be a very streamlined operation if it did happen.

Click to expand...

The could have produced a really nice online magazine and saved themselves millions in production costs at the same time charging a monthly fee for their online magazine.........but we all know what they did with their website.

I tend to believe alot of what was written as we all saw how they bungled their "improvements" to the website. Where there is smoke there is fire

mchenrycards said:

Just a question here...as a price guide, is Beckett even needed anymore?

When was the last time anyone consulted a Beckett for prices? Seems to me that Ebay is the new price guide and if Beckett concentrated on grading alone, and maybe a few special publications throughout the year they would probably be more profitable.

Click to expand...

Actually the very last show I went to a little over a month ago...every single dealer used beckett except the prospect type sellers.Every single one.It didn't matter if it was a high end card or a base single(yeah...I didn't think people looked those up anymore either...).I have hashed this out many a time but beckett is heavily used.A lot more heavily than people care to admit.Every card shop I go to and every show and every collector besides most of the people here, use beckett in some form or manner.They just do.The only time they will stop is when they quit making beckett.And the real deal is...a lot of the time you are not going to go to a show or a hobby shop where there are overhead costs and expect to pay ebay prices.I overpay at a shop on a lot of stuff but sometimes I get it cheap too.It just depends.But beckett always seems to be the reason.There are two very different worlds.You kinda have to be able to navigate around both if you want to go to shows and shops.


As for the blog...it pretty much sums up why a lot of the things are probably going the way they are.I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.And the funny part is this guy thinks this is a very un-American thing to do but I'll bet he still shops at WalMart and at Target and still buys things with a credit card that if you have a problem, you have to talk to someone in a foreign country to hash it out.This has been going on for years and years and years.And the hiring of people who really don't have any idea what the hell they are doing does not surprise me.Professional America(and I use that term lightly because it applies to just about every business these days) has its head so far up its ass it is laughable.There has never been a job I have been to yet or that my family or wife has been to that they didn't get rid of people who actually knew what they were doing, did a good job, and most of all actually cared about what they were doing, and hire someone with more "qualifications" than the old person.And of course the new guy either comes in like a bull in a china shop or he plays turtle and hides and either way things get screwed up.


All in all the only thing you can say is that beckett will be around as long as it has usefulness.The only problem is there really is no need to buy it on a monthly basis so most of the becketts printed become garbage since they don't sell.I may pick one up every six months now at best.I think a lot of people do the same.Chances are there are not too many sets you need pricing for often enough to continually pick up beckett after beckett.

I liked the beckett OPG because you could find cards that arent shown in the new guides (say, something from 1995) and on cards that dont appear on ebay.

Plus, I use beckett to keep a price on my card collection in the event of a fire or something for insurance reasons.

i dont see what the big deal with everyone hating on beckett is


its a hobby resource, either use it or don't


no reason to hate at all

cgilmo said:

i dont see what the big deal with everyone hating on beckett is


its a hobby resource, either use it or don't


no reason to hate at all

Click to expand...

They have the potential to be a far better hobby resource, but they haven't lived up to it in a long time.

I used to get the platinum whatever it was called deal that got me all of the magazines, opg, etc. When they changed the magazines and the boards, my wife asked if I would like it again for Christmas. I told her that it just wasn't useful anymore and that I didn't really need it.

I don't hate them by any means. If they choose to not live up to the expectations of customers then they will continue to lose customers like myself. I love their grading and will continue to support it but I will no longer buy the magazines of go to their site.

Underestimating the BMB, and not really listening to collectors, has attributed to the downfall.