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I don't pretend to know where his cards go long term but for the moment Trout is as hot as any athlete can get. One thing is for sure he has to perform for a long time to sustain these levels! |
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I am obviously a PSA supporter and I made a conscious decision early on that longer term there was no other choice. |
Just looked on PWCC's pricing website at recent 2011 Trout Update PSA 10s and BGS 9.5s. Good barometer because there are lots of both. PSA outselling BGS by 20 percent or so across the board from a quick look. Disparity probably higher on the variations.
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PS I have some Beckett cards so I am not biased or a PSA fanboy. I think generally they do a good job on modern, even if the subgrades can be a little arbitrary and are frequently just off on Star basketball for reasons beyond me. But the money guys chasing the big Trout variations, the Jeters, etc. etc., are buying PSA. |
2017 same search
PSA 24,240 BGS 14,909 2016 same search PSA 15,845 BGS 12,632 2015 same search PSA 12,567 BGS 11,500 2014 same search PSA 14,119 BGS 12,940 I see a trend here. |
Keep in mind, PSA 10 cards encompass 3 different BGS grades by definition. In many cases, it's difficult to discern the difference between a PSA 9 and 10. Somehow BGS has banked its grading success on finding enough subtle difference in Gem Mint, Pristine, and Super Pristine to artificially create scarcity. I wonder how many PSA 10s could qualify as Pristine or Super Pristine? Again, if BGS had only a gem mint 10 grade, they would be out of business.
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If your card is graded by RCR, it's a little cheaper than full slabbing. If you get your card back at a show and immediately submit it for full grading (at the full grading price, so paying almost double...) you are nearly guaranteed to get the same grade. Once you take it away from the table, the grade is no longer guaranteed. So it's sort of useful, but not very useful. And when you can get your cards graded by PSA in a bulk special for cheaper, it makes almost no sense. |
BGS has found their niche in PSA's world. BGS10>PSA10>BGS9.5>PSA9>BGS9>etc. With their delays ~1 year for bulk and discontinuing 10 day service, they are losing market share to PSA. People were trying to slot their cards to maximize value. As Peter said crossing BGS 9.5 to PSA 10 or BGS 9 to PSA 9 to make money or trying for BGS 10s on pristine cards. Now it isn't worth the wait unless it is an expensive card and you do the 5 day service. Now just send it to PSA and move it when the time is right. By the time it comes back from BGS, the time to sell may have past.
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I'm just floored that BGS thinks it is perfectly acceptable to cash your check and not perform a paid for service after one year. That just blows me away, and begs for some kind of class action lawsuit.
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The other grading companies seem able to find the right balance between the revenues they are taking in and having enough employees to grade the cards in a reasonably timely fashion. Not sure why Beckett can't manage the same.
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There are plenty of cards that raw might sell for less than a buck that graded in a 10 can increase exponentially.
The other issue is a lot of collectors just like to see the card in a graded slab and if they are willing to shell out the grading fee the companies should gladly take it. |
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Maintaining your seat at most major NASCAR or Indy car races for the upcoming year REQUIRES that you pay for your seat essentially as soon as this year's race ends... and you get NOTHING for it, besides a seat and a ticket...
The Speedway at Indianapolis can hold upwards of 500,000 fannies at at least $100 per fanny... Just saying that I would like a piece of that interest... |
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I think it’s ridiculous, too, although I can think of a number of examples of waiting for long periods (if not a year) with money locked in before something is done/happens. I have bought tickets for a concert 9 months away and put down a deposit for work on my house that was months out (with the deposit being many times more significant that what BGS would charge for grading). Hotel/camp/etc. reservations for events and dates that are in high demand routinely become available one year prior and people jump at the chance to take them as soon as they can. If you provide something with a high demand, it seems people are more than willing to pay just to wait in line. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
There is a huge difference between buying sporting tickets knowing you have to pay in advance and knowing the season doesn't start for a year vs. sending in cards to be graded thinking they will take two months or so and instead are pushing a year with indications it may be another four to six months.
Absolutely horrific business practice. This is a major red flag that there could be a serious cash flow issue with the company. I think competition is good so hopefully they get this rectified. |
I cannot agree more with the thoughts voiced on this thread.
A year is absurd: hire and train some more people, for crissakes. What BGS is doing is just crappy customer service. I also agree that the grading lottery is way worse with BGS than with PSA because of the silliness of the subgrades. I submitted one card at the National in AC, and only because the PSA line was too long: http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...Mayweather.jpg The card is spectacular. The subgrades are nonsense. The same set yielded these: http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...s%20Vargas.jpg http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...ns%20Judah.jpg The three are identical in terms of condition. |
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I am totally NOT defending BGS on this, but we are talking about the non-guaranteed service, so there is no promise (as I can tell) on the turnaround. It’s just people getting in the back of a line that now takes a year. The other levels of service (2, 5 and 20-day), I assume, take precedence and the non-guaranteed orders are done whenever they get around to it. I still agree a year is ridiculous and I would NEVER get in that line (I won’t wait in a line for much these days), but people should know they are signing up for a service that has no promised delivery date. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Beckett Sub-Grades
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... I had always wondered about how BGS graders arrived at their final grade because it obviously wasn't just an "average" of the four subs ; many years ago , just before 9/11 as I recall , at the Fort Washington,PA show , someone at their table explained to me that the values of the subs were weighted , with corners and centering counting the most , and surfaces and edges less so ; and in answer to a specific question he also told me why the particular sub-grade for "corners" was almost always the lowest of the four subs : " Beckett graders consider a sportscard to have eight corners i.e. the 4 on the front and then the other 4 on the reverse"---- sooooo all that plus the high value put upon that particular sub-grade is perhaps why we just shake our heads when the cards come back and mutter unkind words about Beckett graders.----- I have seen a BGS final grade of more than .5 higher than the 'corners' grade perhaps twice ?? in twenty years , and they were very low end cards to start with. PSA's 'eye appeal' factor doesn't exist in Texas. And I remember they gave me a very nice Beckett Tee-shirt. .. |
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I thought the overall grade could not be more than .5 higher than the lowest sub but maybe I am wrong about that.
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Peter that was my understanding too.
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I have seen rare circumstances when it was 1 grade higher. For example if centering, corners and edges were really high, say 8-9 and surface was low, say 3, the card could be a 4.
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True, the grade can be up to one grade higher than the lowest subgrade, depending on the subgrade.
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One In Eleventy-Seven Million :
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...This has to be the Black Swan of Beckett Grading -- I take back what I had said earlier..but I must note that this had been graded during the more recent and less-strict-on-vintage "BVG /subs on front" period , and not by the old curmudgeonly "BGS" standards used until 2002..those days were absolutely brutal.... .. |
OT: I have an SGC card graded a 5 and I'm wondering if there's a way to see what the sub-grades are on their site. The corners are sharp as heck, so I imagine the fact it is way o/c is the reason for the grade. Is that info available there?
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News from yesterday's CLCT report. PSA is absolutely crushing it.
Our cards and autograph service revenues increased by $0.9 million, in the fourth quarter and by $3.1 million, in fiscal 2018 which represented increases of 18% in both periods and record quarterly and annual revenues for that business. |
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Coin business still very weak in the report. |
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