Difference between Beckett prices and e-Bay prices
Mrc1932
Posts: 93
I'm new to this sports card business and I'm wondering why there is such a big difference between the prices on Beckett and e-Bay.
Any feedback would be helpful.
Bob
Any feedback would be helpful.
Bob
Bob
0
Comments
and
ebay is what someone will Actually pay for it.
so it is estimates vs. real.
ever wonder why cards shops sell items at beckett prices, but won't buy yours for any more than 25%? i guess that is why there aren't hardly anymore cards shops. ebay basically told beckett that he knew nothing, and told me that i am not as wealthy as i thought i was.
i know that KALLMALONE has a shop, that i have never been in, so i can't comment on his business. as i am sure several others on here may have shops also. the above is just a majority of what does happen, especially when i was a kid, before ebay. there used to be 5 card shops in my town a few years back. now there is one who hardly ever has more than 2 people in there at a time, another one switched to strictly autos and memorabilia, and 3 folded. i find myself driving 45 minutes to a card shop in another city only to buy supplies. the one that is in my town rarely has any, and lord knows i won't buy any cards from neither because they want beckett high values for raw cards that i can get graded off ebay for a fraction of that, and end up with a better card. i don't even look at beckett anymore except maybe to find an individual or particular card from a certain set. definitely not for any sort of value.
.02
Their guide, which is only a GUIDE, not absolute, timely or exact, has changed the hobby more over the last 20-25 years than almost any one thing or event.
Not everone who collects sportscards uses a computer often, or even has easy access to one. Many, many sales of cards are done at shows, at card stores, other auction houses, face-to-face, or mail order. Even mighty ebay is not the only site selling and auctioning cards.
Neither Ebay nor Beckett can provide a large sample of different types of buyers and different condition cards with complete accuracy. A ex-mt card on the net might be a vg-ex + type in person. The use of scans helps show card condition but is certainly not always completely correct. A bidder on the net may consider a card advertised as NM to be only ex and may bid and win accordinglyat a price lower than Beckett for NM. Even graded cards of the same company such as PSA can be high-end or low-end or have a qualifier, and no simple price survey can really tell what the proper value might be.
Beckett is mainly usefull for "raw" or ungraded cards. The price/value is stated for NM condition, for example, and a buyer and a seller may have two very different ideas as to what NM really is for a particular card. They also give a range of high and low prices asked/offered for cards. They give a pretty good general idea of a card's value.
Ebay prices are usefull for graded card trends. However over time there are may overbid items as some rush to complete sets for the registry, and many undervalued cards as the chase for some particular sets cools down. They give a pretty good general idea of a card's value.
Our current ebay auctions, and of course BaseBallCardHeaven.com
Beckett prices for most cards (Meaning 99%) are far too high. Beckett monitors auctions as they occasionally put little "blurbs" regarding recent sales of scarce inserts or graded cards, yet they fail to actually change prices for cards that are sold on a daily basis.
A good example of this is the majority of more modern rookies. A price in the Beckett may list them from $5 - $12, yet on ebay the same cards can be had for $2-$3 and they fail to report this. In the mid-90's as everyone became aware of just how overproduced some cards were, there were sets that had "down arrows" on EVERY card in the set. Many people, both dealers and greedy kids alike wrote in constantly complaining how their super ultra rare inserts were all going down in value. Beckett responded by the famous "all prices have been lowered without arrows" nonsense.
To me, Beckett is only usefull if you are looking for set info, new release info, or just stories about baseball cards. For prices, it is useless since virtually every card can be had for less than low book.
<< <i>Ebay, like it or not, is the true price guide in the current market. It doesn't matter what Beckett says your cards are "worth", it doesn't matter what the SMR says your cards are "worth". What will someone give you for them? Find out on Ebay. That's what they are "worth". >>
thats why i normally start all my cards at $1.00 starting bid.. whatever they sell for is what I consider them to be worth.
Jason
Our current ebay auctions, and of course BaseBallCardHeaven.com
<< <i> I've been ripped off four times from ebay in the last two months, so does that percentage of getting burned have to be accounted for in this ebay "price guide" that we're trying to devise? Why don't we just go up to Mastronet and tell them that we can get their items on ebay for this price so they shouldn't even have the auction, just sell it to you at whatever you think it would go for on ebay.
Jason >>
good point
I used to go into a local shop
that sold a lot of psa and bgs cards
(mostly modern) and priced them
based on the Beckett.
I would go into the store, look at a
card I was interested in, and ask
what he wanted for it.
he would ALWAYS pick up the latest
beckett to check the price and that was it.
then I either told him what this same card,
graded the same, was selling for on ebay
and offer him that... or would go home
and just buy it much cheaper on ebay.
(he never took the offer by the way
and is not out of business and selling off
his stock on ebay anyway....)
fact is, if you pay 20,000 for a car that you know
you can get for $8000 somewhere else, then
you are just really bad with money or stupid.
As a dealer/ebay seller/storeowner/merchant
you can PRICE your products wherever you want
but you will SELL them for what they are actually worth
or you will go Bankrupt waiting. And this is true for
nearly any product there is... house, car, food, clothes,
even cards.
~jeff
Their articles, features and price guide are of little value to me.
Most of the people that I come into contact with that are infatuated with beckett pricing seem to speak a different language and have different collecting goals.
It's been almost 3 years since I tossed my last beckett away and I haven't looked back.
Whenever i find a card I want... I look on eBay or look to see where else I can buy it online or in a store... I buy the best example at the lowest price that I can find.
I collect vintage cards... mostly psa graded.
Perhaps my opinion about beckett would change if I was a pack buster.
In any case, the entire card collecting industry both vintage and modern seems to be changing... it seems to be in this constant movement.
I ask... where is Beckett during all of this?
...and why is it that so many vintage dealers at shows and serious collectors
seem to snub them?
Has anyone discovered an open forum and community as good as the one forged by us here at psa?
Has anyone discovered a place where variety is as vast and accessible as ebay?
Anyways, beckett is only as useful as the person who is using it is knowlegeable and ethical.
Take a card shop owner like jason... he can sell everything to anyone.... and beckett can be a useful tool that helps him run a profitable business ethically...
beckett can be a useful tool to understand the aspired value of something... however, just a tool... not a bible.
my .02
fyi: our vintage basketball friend jeff mullen actually has got an article published in beckett... so, I may buy one this month!
Go Jeff!
Click here to view my Knickstars collection and wantlist
To KallMaloneSay: I disagree with your comments: "Ebay needs to be seen as a garage sale that you can very easily get ripped off on....I think you guys are taking this ebay thing way too far."
To compare Ebay to a garage sale is laughable! Sure, some people clear out all the unwanted stuff from their house/garage and sell it on Ebay. But Ebay is much bigger than that! It is the way the world conducts business in the 21st century. Many people are now able to make their living exclusively by buying and selling on Ebay. I used to go to card shops before the advent of the Internet and Ebay, but why go any more? The Internet has largely made card shops obsolete. Although you use Ebay, you seem to be jealous of the competition it represents. Let's face it: Card shops are no competition for Ebay. Card shops are generally a dying business in this country, like the steel plants.
Easily get ripped off? In over 1,200 transactions as both a seller and buyer, I have yet to be "ripped off." Sure, as a seller I've had a small number of instances where buyers never paid -- hardly what I would call getting ripped off since I didn't ship the item without payment. As a buyer, I have yet to be ripped off once. Nearly everyone's feedback rating on Ebay is between 99 and 100%. That's not "easily" getting ripped off.
Skycap
Our current ebay auctions, and of course BaseBallCardHeaven.com
The problem in any case is Beckett would list the card in question at $20/$40, yet you bought it for $8, which they do not take into account, but they definitely take the high sale of $40 into account.
Then furthering the differences in price, is that most local shops have all their cards except the "hot rookies" at half book or less, mainly because if they need to replace them, they can restock from ebay at a third of their sale price. The question is, I guess, is that if most cards/inserts can be had at 10-25% of Beckett on ebay, most cards/inserts can be had at half book or less at shows and shops, how can the prices shown in ebay even closely reflect the actual value of the card?
For example, I am working on completing a 1999 SP Authentic Football Master Set and recently have checked out prices on a Ricky Williams RC #/250. Beckett lists this card at $125 low $250 high, here are the recent results
Sold on ebay- $97, $92, $91
Offered for sale local shop- $125
Seen at local show-$110
Now these prices are all at or lower than low book, no one in their right mind would pay $250, yet even with the confirmed sales and offer prices, Beckett does not lower their listed price. Beckett has a vested interest in keeping prices high. When they started lowering prices, as stated in my earlier post, collectors and dealers alike started complaining. WHY? People were losing money on their "Investments". From that point on, Beckett started hiding their lowering of prices, but still have not gone anywhere close to the actual sell prices of the cards, which, after all, are the true values of the cards.
And, Beckett graded prices are equally unrealistic in many cases, and if you notice, they always like to tell you how much more their BGS graded cards are worth than PSA graded cards. And, they don't price anything graded pre-1981 anyway.
Click here to view my Knickstars collection and wantlist
Ebay is a real time wholesale price guide. I haven't kept up with alot of Ebay news but are they ever planning on offering a price guide for their offerings? They have tons of price data that they can use.
There is just no comparison between Beckett and Ebay.
I reached the level of complete disgust with Beckett when I found that they had removed '60 and '61 Fleer baseball from the quarterly magazine that is supposed to offer prices on all widely collected sets.
Their articles are mostly useless, but they do have some informative pieces. I find the game-used cards timeline quite helpful in knowing what to look for on game-used cards of long-retired superstars and in coming to my own conclusions about reasonable prices.
Nick
Reap the whirlwind.
Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
<< <i>Their articles are mostly useless, but they do have some informative pieces. >>
unlike those gems we get in the SMR each month, right?!
Nick
Reap the whirlwind.
Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
<< <i>BKAH - the article on signing habits of a HOFer is normally useful and interesting. There are often 1 or 2 more useful articles - especially those focusing on a particular player's cards or a particular set.
Nick >>
This is NOT new. People have been
slamming the SMR for article problems and
repeats for years...
Check these out:
SMR thread #1
Joe Orlando on SMR
SMR thread #3
SMR thread #4
Nick
Reap the whirlwind.
Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
Joe