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Why Beckett is a JOKE

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spcollector

Active member
Nov 11, 2009
829
45
Does anyone else think that the Beckett Price guide is an absolute JOKE??? A card is not WORTH what Beckett says it is worth. A card is worth what it is selling for on the open market! When you can buy a card that books for $100 for $10 on Ebay... the card is not worth $100. These jokers crack me up putting all of their BIN prices at listed Beckett value. Just had to vent a little bit. I would love to see an actual price guide that listed the values of cards based on what they were selling for at the current time. Any other thoughts on this, have at it!!!!
 

vwnut13

Active member
Apr 19, 2009
8,004
0
Vermont
spcollector said:
Does anyone else think that the Beckett Price guide is an absolute JOKE??? A card is not WORTH what Beckett says it is worth. A card is worth what it is selling for on the open market! When you can buy a card that books for $100 for $10 on Ebay... the card is not worth $100. These jokers crack me up putting all of their BIN prices at listed Beckett value. Just had to vent a little bit. I would love to see an actual price guide that listed the values of cards based on what they were selling for at the current time. Any other thoughts on this, have at it!!!!


Frank Robinson Heritage Red Autos are selling at 110% BV.

Price guides are just that, a guide. A card can sell for $200 one month and $50 the next.
 

tedc2379

New member
May 19, 2010
76
0
San Diego
I got a message from someone on ebay telling me how ridiculous I was to ask $100 for a card that only booked $55. The card sold the next day for $100. :D
 

Jastermereel

Active member
Dec 20, 2008
3,343
0
Believe it or not there was a time when Beckett was the benchmark for card prices. Then eBay happened. It's like Beckett didn't want to adapt to the changes happening around them (they enjoyed barely ever updating their prices) so they continued doing what they always did. In the normal business environment a competitor would rise and knock Beckett off, but for whatever reason that hasn't happened.
 

nyc3

Active member
Aug 20, 2008
5,305
0
spcollector said:
I would love to see an actual price guide that listed the values of cards based on what they were selling for at the current time.

Here you go ebay.com
 

uniquebaseballcards

New member
Nov 12, 2008
6,783
0
The Beckett price guide can actually be good for certain kinds of cards. Ebay can be bad way to find the price for certain kinds of cards. It sorta depends on the kind of card you're talking about - how old, player/set, etc.
 

pigskincardboard

New member
Nov 4, 2009
5,444
0
Toronto
spcollector said:
Does anyone else think that the Beckett Price guide is an absolute JOKE??? A card is not WORTH what Beckett says it is worth. A card is worth what it is selling for on the open market! When you can buy a card that books for $100 for $10 on Ebay... the card is not worth $100. These jokers crack me up putting all of their BIN prices at listed Beckett value. Just had to vent a little bit. I would love to see an actual price guide that listed the values of cards based on what they were selling for at the current time. Any other thoughts on this, have at it!!!!

Just because the last card sold for $10 doesn't mean it's a $10 card; it means the last card sold for $10. People look at eBay like it's the be-all and end-all of cards but there are just so many factors that eBay doesn't account for. As I've said, eBay does a great job ballparking cards that're brand new or various "highly searched" cards. eBay does a poor job of quantifying the value of cards that aren't brand spankin' new.

Cards should be valued based on what they sold for in the first couple of weeks, minus about 10-15%.
 

blanning71

Super Moderator
Aug 8, 2008
7,892
0
Eastern North Carolina
Shows, shows, swap meets, brick and mortar stores.....regional correspondents...........

Those things right there affect how Beckett prices out cards. I have been to shows here locally and witnessed WITH MY EYES people paying two to three times what ebay sold the same card for. And they knew it but they "just had to have it". That right there is how the pricing can be off in the guide from "realized ebay sales".
 

RiceLynnEvans75

Active member
Feb 9, 2010
3,264
3
NOVA
About ebay prices, I've heard the argument that it's the best out there as it's "the most someone is willing to pay".

However, this is not true. When you see an ended auction and assuming there are multiple bidders, you are only seeing the most the second bidder is willing to pay.
 

uniquebaseballcards

New member
Nov 12, 2008
6,783
0
+1 eBay IMO generally shouldn't be used as a price guide for the rarest stuff, particularly with BINs.

RiceLynnEvans75 said:
About ebay prices, I've heard the argument that it's the best out there as it's "the most someone is willing to pay".

However, this is not true. When you see an ended auction and assuming there are multiple bidders, you are only seeing the most the second bidder is willing to pay.
 
there is a major parallel between my profession (auto industry) and the cardboard business.

in the car business there are a few "books" to value your car. there is kbb, nada, and edmunds. in cards there is beckett and tuff stuff (tuff stuff which i recommend never reading or buying). each of these publications takes what dealers report to them as prices and declare an average per car or card. they break it down to the "parallels" by equipment group on the car or border of the card. many people use them as a guide to determine whether or not they can afford to buy or trade for a new one or sell their old one. however what many buyers are unaware of is that there is an auction report (mmr in cars, ebay in cards) that tells us what those same cars and cards run through the auction for... or the wholesale report. this usually has cars running through that go for a portion of book up to above book. same with cards they can run through at a percentage of book or a value greater than book... these auctions are a great place for dealers to secure their inventory and purchase cars and cards where they can make a profit on the primary market! however many of the dealers customers still rely on those "books" to gauge the deal they are getting.

all of the books produced in either field are a great tool for gathering information! yet they will never dictate what someone has paid for a car/card nor will it dictate what someone will/can sell the car/card for. yet nada, kbb, beckett are all read by a great percentage of the people out there and can be found at any dealer!

i dont think beckett is a joke i think beckett provides a great tool to collectors when it comes to making some information available, a database (while difficult to manipulate), and a starting point on price for many of the people in the hobby! their message boards however are pure ****!
 

AmishDave

Featured Contributor, Collector Showcase, Senior M
Sep 19, 2009
12,383
37
Ely, MN
I go by what I want to pay for something. No Beckett, no eBay. As others have said before me, I will pay what I think is fair OR, if it's something I have to have, I'll go bonkers.

Now, let me check a '98 Donruss Crusade Red Juan Encarnacion in my newest '99 Tuff Stuff ... :geek:
 

boomo

Active member
Sep 14, 2008
4,298
2
tedc2379 said:
I got a message from someone on ebay telling me how ridiculous I was to ask $100 for a card that only booked $55. The card sold the next day for $100. :D

you were still ridiculous
 

cartertr

New member
Jun 27, 2010
90
0
Yeah I'd never use the price guide to estimate how much my collection is worth, but it IS good for doing trades and making them fairly even by comparing BV. It isn't always accurate of course, but it helps.
 

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