When is eBay going to take over the card pricing industry?

[muggz623]

It is no secret that Beckett's pricing on sports cards is more unrealistic than a cheap high school play of the Wizard of Oz.

Seriouslly Mr. Beckett, who in the right mind state, is going to shell out $25 for a Topps Xpectations Kwame Brown #/250 RC? I could name literally thousands of other completely mis-priced cards, but that was the best one that I flipped to first to use as an example.

eBay needs to break all partnership with Beckett and start a price guide of their own! Do they not realize that they are the only company out there who actually has complete access to most accurate pricing of a very marketable hobby? What is wrong with this picture?

Beckett makes it especially difficult to make a trade with a fellow trader, especially when you each have an autograph with a Beckett value of $150, but then you search eBay and realize that your auto is selling for an actual value of $90, while the other guys auto is going for $50!

When I make trades, I use Beckett as a basic platform to start the trade. I then search eBay for selling prices to see what the actual "real life" value is worth, and not Beckett's little "dream world" of what values they think cards should be worth.

I remember when I first got serious about collecting when I was a bit younger and received my first Beckett. I was so excited to see that my 1987-88 Fleer Magic Johnson was worth $25 high, or $12.50 low value according to Beckett, but then my dreams were suddenly shattered to pieces when I searched eBay and noticed that literally a half dozen of these had sold in the $6 - $7 range! And that's with shipping included in that price!

eBay needs to take over pricing, period!

Don't get me wrong, Beckett is good at one thing, and the king at another, in my opinion. They have great articles to read with talented writers, and are the greatest when it comes to grading!

But they could definetelly do without this BCCG business! I look at BCCG like this. Inexpensive grading. Guaranteed 9 or 10, every time no matter the condition. And best of all for Beckett, it's a great dis-honest way to trick people with low incomes, primarily children, into believing that they have a great card that just went from a $10 Beckett value to a $50 Beckett value. When ultimatelly, if you look on eBay, it seems to decrease a cards value in certain scenarios. Three reasons I don't like it. It's dishonest, it's greedy and most importantlly to most people, it hurts the hobby! BCCG is no better then the other dozens of con artist grading companies that slap a 10 on every 9 cards, and a 9 on every tenth received.

I feel very strongly about this issue with good reason and have done my homework, examined the hobby closely and everything expressed above is based soley on fact or information witnessed either online or in person.

I don't even know of a single card shop that sells cards at full Beckett price unless it's something that is extremely hot such as a Dwayne Wade RC autograph, and you can still, 9 times out of 10, talk the dealer down 20% or so.

I appologize if any of you feel differentlly about this subject manner, but I just wish that something could be done about this before the hobby suffers any longer and too many more people are lured away from the dissapointing appearance of card value that Beckett fools beggining card collectors into believing.

If it keeps up to incredibly much longer with these ridiculous prices, the hobby could suffer more then some may think.

If you endured this long verbal discussion and held through it with me, I thank you very much for taking your time to read as I know time is of major importance to all of us.

Blessings to all and a safe and happy new year ahead!

Muggz

[dpetty21]

Well I read through it and I agree with you. Ebay could set up something where they don't price a card until some of them have sold and then average it and that would be the high price or something. There has got to be a better way and a more honest way to price cards. I don't neccesarily(sp) think that beckett slaps a 9 or 10 on every card but I do think grading is not as valuable as perceived. People think that it ups the value a bundle when in reality it could really only mean a buck or two. I guess its nice for a collection but not something I would rely on to make my card a bunch more pricey. I wish somehow the value I read is the value of the card and maybe I could actually sell a card for that price. I remember back when you could kind of do that but not now. I used to go to the card store and there would be inserts that sell for a buck now selling for 7-8-10 dollars. The industry went down and I do not know if their is any way to fix it. I wish and hope there is but I don't see a big change happening anytime soon unless people do something.I don't know what but it would need to be big. Maybe try to get more of your friends and neighbors and neighbors kids involved in the hobby. Maybe don't buy all your cards on ebay and do it from your local store to get them more business and more of a market in your area. I am not sure as I did not think it out all the way but I think you all get the idea.

[sportscollectors]

Although Ebay probably could come up with a more realistic pricing model for many things (not just cards), that's not their business model. Do you have any idea how long it would take to filter out all their auctions and try to find market trends on each possible item? It's not really likely that it will ever happen.

Ebay developers program provides developers the ability to get this information, but Ebay's terms prohibity using their API to saving historical market trend informantion on a particular product. I believe you can contact their professional services to have them set up reporting on certain verticals from their closed auctions (but this is going to cost at least 6 figures).

Ebay is an amazing company, but I really doubt they any interest in the peanuts (at least to them) they could earn by pricing sports cards.

[palantri]

I agree with most of what you said Muggz- the catch is figuring out the individuals you are dealing with. A lot of people look at ebay for values, especially on higher end or hot stuff- IE my Big Ben Topps card books 8 according to beckett and I was selling them for 11-14 bucks each. When I go to trade, which value would I rather use, and which value will the person I am trading with want to use. Theres the big problem right now, in my opinion. 2 totally different prices on almost everything...just my $0.02 worth
Ed

[muggz623]

That is definetelly my biggest current objective in the hobby. Configuring true trade values amongst all different traders who all use different methods!

Another thing, I do understand that it would be a major objective for eBay to configure the pricing on such a major hobby such as sports card collecting, but I do believe that the end result would be very profitable as everyone would turn to eBay for pricing.

Beckett's pricing, simply does not make any sense. I personally, could write a more accurate magazine! Any buyers? ;) LOL

[roger16]

I agree Beckett doesn't have a clue sometimes pricing cards. Here's just one little example.
Derek Jeter Diamond King Inserts:
2002 #d/2500 BV $20
2003 #d/2500 BV $20
2004 #d/2500 BV $12
2005 #d/2005 BV $6

All are selling on ebay for roughly the same amount. A lot closer to the $6. I don't really care what values they use, I'd just like them to be consistent. Explain to me why if I had an extra 05 DK and wanted someone's 04 Jeter DK, I'd have to give them a Pujols DK(BV $6) also to make the trade even. Like I said I could understand it if the 04 Donruss DK was selling for 2x the 05, but they're not. Just my thoughts on Beckett. thanks, Roger

[muggz623]

Exactlly! What is the logic and thought proccess behind this sort of clueless thinking?

[Vick420]

Exactlly! What is the logic and thought proccess behind this sort of clueless thinking?

I agree totally. They are trying to correct this somewhat though, they have a report they put out w/ e:bay prices, called the online pop. report or something like that. also, the recent addition of "the chart" in the magazine has helped a little, notice star game used $4-10, right on the money for a winning auction of a normal game used, unless it's serial #'d, auto'd, etc./....
They still need lots of work, I think the low column is what sell percentages are suppose to come from, full low, half low, etc... but, still needs much work, the mag. has been with me since I was a kid though, still remember lining up outside the shop to purchase the first ever football edition w/ Super Bo Jackson on the front.... priceless memory for me

Wayne

[muggz623]

Don't get me wrong though gentlemen. I love the articles in Beckett and some of the information, all except for pricing.

I received 15 seconds of fame in one of their magazines (Beckett Basketball April 2002 Issue w/Kobe on cover). I'm featured under the C-Note column on page number 11, never won the $100 though! LOL

[skillz]

I completely agree with you. I used to trade by beckett values but now I have to do what you do, use it as a platform, and do some research. A perfect card to show this is my 2004 Felix Hernandez auto BV $50. Sure Beckett says it's worth $50, but then why is it selling at $45-$60? I can't trade it for another $50 auto that sells at $20, no way! What Beckett needs to do is figure out a better way to price cards, maybe just doing some simple research of ebay. OR, they could write an article in the beckeet that explains pricing! Just my 2 cents,
Paris