Interesting Blog About Beckett

[nborton]

It was pretty obvious when the collecting brains behind the magazine left, and when the media minds came in. The whole thing started going downhill shortly after. So many good companies lose their identity when they are bought up by outside people who weren't part of the original company.

 

[G $MONEY$]

There is a great new Hobby publication (magazine) that has been on the shelves ab out a year now, i have read the last several months, its called "Insiders Edge". Check it out if you get the chance, all articles about the Hobby, collectors, hot cards, etc. NO price guides, just articles.

 

[muchuckwagon]

You have to look at this from a little different angle. Most of the FCB and BMB user base frowns on the price guide. That makes sense since most message board members are comfortable with technology to some degree and use ebay as a reference tool.

However, there is a large percentage of collectors....the "old guard"....that are not comfortable with technology and the internet. That is why you have a 60 year old guy sitting at a card show charging the top end of the Beckett price guide and his inventory is collecting dust.

Many times these dealers don't know any better and still fall back to the price guide which has been a good tool for them over the past 25-30 years. This group is not necessarily greedy, they simply have fallen behind the times.

On a related topic, I am worried about the financial health of Beckett in this economy. If the company were to fold, that would mostly likely have a negative impact on the price of BGS graded cards.

 

[smapdi]

Beckett hasn't been a good magazine in over a decade. They used to have actual content, meaning original articles, interviews, and opinion, rather than copying out whatever press releases the card companies sent them. I remember in the early 90s when I got back into the hobby eagerly awaiting the first Tuesday of each month, IIRC, when the new one would arrive in stores, and I'd pore through each page, learning a lot about the hobby that had changed so much since I dropped out of it in 1983. Eventually, those articles disappeared, and were replaced by only a page or two at the front of the price guide usually under Grant Sandground's byline. I have no idea if that's there anymore, I have only gotten 1 issue in the last 2 years. But I remember the last time I did read it, I didn't think there was any editor at all. I found 3 or 4 spelling and grammatical errors in casual reading that indicated the only analysis the copy had received was from Word's spell-checker. But this also is common in today's publishing.

Whoever bought the company got in at exactly the worst time possible. Not only is periodical publishing in trouble, but the collector base is shrinking rapidly, and has been for a decade or more, not to mention that the economy is poor so some people might not want to fork over $10 for a practically useless magazine. I can't really blame them for doing whatever they think they need to do to save money, outsourcing and such, that's the world we live in. Cost of labor is a core business expense, so decisions on it have to be taken seriously. And it's not like this situation wouldn't have come about if a 'real American' owned the company. The same tools that are being used to prop the magazine up (the internet and globalization) are what is killing it. I think it's only a matter of time before one side of that equation is forced to give up. But that won't be a sad day, as the real Beckett magazines disappeared a long time ago.

Chuckwagon does make an interesting point about BGS card prices being affected if the magazines disappear. When BGS started, there was strong criticism about the conflict of interest there, though it's tough to say if that was ever really borne out. Certainly BGS never overcame PSA for anything other than modern rookie cards. But if the magazine that continually tells people BGS is the best, and lists prices consistently higher for those cards with the most market volatility (modern rookies), I'd have to think sooner or later prices will even out for equivalent grades between PSA and BGS. It may take years, and BGS's subgrades give them an edge, but since BGS has apparently softened standards they could lose that edge as well.

 

[sportscardtheory]

I still get the multi-sport monthly piece of garbage, because someone bought me a 2 year subscription as a gift. Sometimes when I'm in a store, I will pick up a Beckett lone-sport magazine just to check it out... and they have the same EXACT articles as in the multi-sport. I mean, come on.

 

[hofautos]

It's not as lopsided as I once believed.

A quick search on ebay for 200* psa vs. 200* bgs will show
3800 bgs and 2800 psa

I for one, would be happy to switch to PSA, and as of late have been buying more psa slabs than previously.
Also for the "really key cards" ie pujols 2001 chrome the psa 10s sell for more than the bgs.

The big auctiion houses rarely do anything bgs....i think psa is a better consideration for the future.

 

[G $MONEY$]

...i think psa is a better consideration for the future.

too bad psa slabs look like crap..imo of course

 

[predatorkj]

...i think psa is a better consideration for the future.

too bad psa slabs look like crap..imo of course

All slabs look liike crap.And that's not an opinion. :lol:

 

[cgilmo]

...i think psa is a better consideration for the future.

too bad psa slabs look like crap..imo of course

All slabs look liike crap.And that's not an opinion. :lol:

ummm, yes that is infact an opinion


and my opinion differs from yours

I love graded cards when the grade actually means something.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

I remember when Beckett started doing grading. I was reading the monthly baseball and noticed that a BGS Gem Mint was priced higher than a PSA Gem Mint, and this was 2 months after Beckett introduced the grading services. You can't tell me that after 2 months of being on the market, these cards were all of a sudden more preferred than a PSA, thus the price difference? Oh well, I do my grading for the PC so it really doesn't matter to me.

 

[predatorkj]

You have to look at this from a little different angle. Most of the FCB and BMB user base frowns on the price guide. That makes sense since most message board members are comfortable with technology to some degree and use ebay as a reference tool.

However, there is a large percentage of collectors....the "old guard"....that are not comfortable with technology and the internet. That is why you have a 60 year old guy sitting at a card show charging the top end of the Beckett price guide and his inventory is collecting dust.

Many times these dealers don't know any better and still fall back to the price guide which has been a good tool for them over the past 25-30 years. This group is not necessarily greedy, they simply have fallen behind the times.

On a related topic, I am worried about the financial health of Beckett in this economy. If the company were to fold, that would mostly likely have a negative impact on the price of BGS graded cards.

I pretty much agree with this.Besides...if you are ata show a lot of dealers don't have a laptop or anything.The only thing they have is a beckett.Same thing occurrs with collectors who are going to the show or shop.Chances are not a lot of people that are out and about have anything other than beckett to go by.I use it when I am at a card shop but the difference is I equate what I think ebay value would be(I am usually not too far off either) and I factor that in.Its also why I refuse to pay the price marked on any card.Basically you have to let the dealer know that the card can be had for cheaper and that you are willing to buy it from him but that he has to lower the price to a certain degree in order to gain your business.You meet somewhere in the middle.I loook at beckett high and low value and then figure out what the middle ground is and then ask myself if the card in question would sell for more or less on ebay.It works every time and most dealers are content with it.


As for BGS slabs falling in price...I don't know how much the magazine's demise would drop their prices but I wonder if cards as a whole would drop a bit at shows and shops.I mean...does anyone really use tuff stuff anymore?That magazine has always been over priced in my opinion.Its why I never pick them up.But with beckett gone I wonder how dealers will price things.Surely they will use something but I cannot for the life of me think they will all try to utilize ebay as a reference.Its way too much work.Especially if you are doing shows.And especially if no similiar cards have sold recently.

 

[predatorkj]

There is a great new Hobby publication (magazine) that has been on the shelves ab out a year now, i have read the last several months, its called "Insiders Edge". Check it out if you get the chance, all articles about the Hobby, collectors, hot cards, etc. NO price guides, just articles.

You have any idea where they can be purchased besides the hobby shop?I have never seen one there.Maybe Borders or a book store?

 

[predatorkj]

...i think psa is a better consideration for the future.

too bad psa slabs look like crap..imo of course

All slabs look liike crap.And that's not an opinion. :lol:

ummm, yes that is infact an opinion


and my opinion differs from yours

I love graded cards when the grade actually means something.

::facepalm:: It was a joke.I don't prefer graded cards at all but I have no problem with other people liking them.I guess my collecting habits don't normally warrant graded cards.I think most people who prefer graded cards are doing higher end rookies or vintage where condition is of the utmost importance.And of coursey you have the registry set builders but if you ask me I think its a waste unless you are dealing with something super high end and even then its all about saftey(i.e. not being forgede or trimmed or altered in any way).Otherwise...why waste my money?I can buy a pretty one touch for $1.

 

[Brad]

There is a great new Hobby publication (magazine) that has been on the shelves ab out a year now, i have read the last several months, its called "Insiders Edge". Check it out if you get the chance, all articles about the Hobby, collectors, hot cards, etc. NO price guides, just articles.

I thought that site was mainly hockey. Is the magazine like that too? I have never heard of it, but I would not mind checking it out

 

[bballcardkid]

I am really surprised that people are in fact "surprised." I used to subscribe to Beckett Basketball until the year 2000, but I never renewed it afterwards. Beckett drove me insane because when I picked up my basketball Beckett, it was 1/3 as thick as the baseball Beckett, yet I was being charged the same price. The second nail in the coffin for me was, what use is a beckett/ price guide if you can't find the card you are looking for? I had so many cards that I couldn't look up because Beckett took numerous sets out, yet the baseball beckett still remained 3 times as thick as the basketball beckett (I realize baseball took stuff out too, which would have drove me nuts as well). Finally, I just grew tired of a watered down product that offered information 2 months after I really needed it.

The best feature I remember in Beckett was the monthly hot list. It was a list of the 10 hottest players in the sport. I remember reading a question from someone in the basketbal Beckett, asking them why they didn't do the hot list anymore. The Beckett writer replied (paraphrase) ,"We do in fact have a monthly hot list. If you turn to page xx, you will see the top 20 cards of the month." Obviously this guy was a new employee who didn't remember the hot list.

 

[G $MONEY$]

There is a great new Hobby publication (magazine) that has been on the shelves ab out a year now, i have read the last several months, its called "Insiders Edge". Check it out if you get the chance, all articles about the Hobby, collectors, hot cards, etc. NO price guides, just articles.

I thought that site was mainly hockey. Is the magazine like that too? I have never heard of it, but I would not mind checking it out

the magazine is multi-sport

 

[G $MONEY$]

There is a great new Hobby publication (magazine) that has been on the shelves ab out a year now, i have read the last several months, its called "Insiders Edge". Check it out if you get the chance, all articles about the Hobby, collectors, hot cards, etc. NO price guides, just articles.

You have any idea where they can be purchased besides the hobby shop?I have never seen one there.Maybe Borders or a book store?

not sure other than shows and shops.

 

[cgilmo]

do they have a website?

 

[George K]

Whatever happened to the upscale magazine that Beckett did? I only remember getting one issue of that. It was more about memorablia and high-end collectibles.

 

[Bruin7]

As much as I hate these rumors, I can't help but feel Beckett has turned into every other major magazine in the industry. For example, magazines like Men's Health, Maxim, Cosmopolitan, etc all have BS articles without real sources. Its just the way that industry functions. Its sad but true. But am I the only one here that still enjoys looking through a new Beckett on the 2nd Tuesday of every month???

Allen