Beckett Pricing and the NRP

stephenheger · 02-17-2007, 01:23 PM

I looked at the NRP pricing for the Bowman and don't understand why anyone places any creedence to its contents. Same with any Beckett price guide. I looked up a few of the items in the Bowman NRP like the Vince Young Uncirculated 'valued' at $50. Try and sell that anywhere for that money. The highest it has gone for on eBay is $30. The absolute ceiling. Which makes the 'pricing' by Beckett pretty much an arbitrary number that is good for, well, nothing. You might be able to get someone in some podunk area to pay top dollar for it but it is still highly unlikely.

Which brings me to the real lack of any usefulness for Beckett as any type of guide for pricing anymore. It no longer even comes close to actual value. Actual value being that which the item is sold for in the mass market. It cannot keep up with any type of monetary figures in the supply and demand arena. If anything it is a sad attempt by an outdated source that should be put out to pasture to influence a market that it does not dominate anymore. We are out of the 80's and early 90's.

No, I don't dislike Beckett (although their magazine has about as many interesting articles as a cereal box), but I think when people hinge themselves on the Beckett price instead of, oh say, reality, they are doing themselves a disservice.

(Stephen steps down off the soapbox and walks away, awaiting the slings and arrows that are sure to follow.)

Stephen

**leedawg62** · 02-17-2007, 07:53 PM

I think that in most cases it is the other way for Beckett that they price things way to low. Look at the Hoops Hot Prospect RC Patch AUs they booked lower than what they are selling for. In most cases, as far as beckett goes I use it as a Trade Value Guide and then I will sell most of my stuff at 50-60% of BV, depending on the cards.

Leland

stephenheger · 02-17-2007, 09:10 PM

Which, in a round about way, still supports their uselessness. Just because they say it isn't worth that much doesn't mean it isn't. The actual monetary sales of the cards should (and for the most part does) drive the market. Not some outside force that insists on prices because it arbitrarily says so.

I remember when Tony Romo was on (hype) fire. By the time the issue with him trumpeted on the cover as the second coming he had all ready become yesterdays news. Rex Grossman is another fine example.

The reason all of this got started for me is that someone I tried to trade with wanted to go by book value only - which did not reflect actual sales of the cards in ANY way. 'Well, Beckett lists it at 'x'.' Umm, so? What has it sold for? Besides, it was a Kordell card. I mean c'mon, just because I collect him doesn't mean I think his cards are super valuable. I don't think I'm THAT delusional.

And yet life goes on...

Anyway

nuhusker24 · 02-18-2007, 12:08 AM

I can agree with some of this however being from the mid west I can take cards of my former nebraska cornhuskers, iowa hawkeyes, and Iowa state cyclones, and a few other local boys and get more than and sometimes twice or three times beckett price depending on the cards. People assume that if it doesn't bring beckett price than beckett is incorrect. As for beckett. I have been set up at cards shows with beckett reps present and they have asked what have you been getting for particular cards. If a dealer gives them a price higher than what they are actually getting then their numbers are wrong. As long as people give their cards away on sites like ebay and naxcom and when half of the dealers sell at 50% beckett then beckett prices will never be correct.

stephenheger · 02-18-2007, 12:48 AM

Okay. So then where do they get their prices? It used to be that they would get them from dealers and shops from across the country - is it still the same? As far as sellers lowering their prices to give them away - doesn't that mean that the card has less value/less demand and therefore deserves said price?

There is also going to be that anamoly of locality and teams within a certain vicinity. I live in Portland, Oregon and you pay a bit more for Seahawks here in the NW than you probably would in most places. Then there are the popular teams that are big in most places regardless of locale; i.e. Steelers, Yankees, Packers, Dodgers, Lakers, etc.

The numbers will always fluctuate so its not that they're wrong. I mean no one will pay the 'exact' price but we're talking not even in the same ballpark with a lot of this stuff. But with people selling at half it's because THAT IS WHAT IT'S WORTH. If they could get more on Nax, Ebay, etc. they would.

Beckett as a price setter should be brought around back and shot like the dead horse it is.

Stephen