Posted By:
boxingcardmanI do not see a conflict per se between doing a price guide for cards and selling cards so long as the prices are REAL prices and not ranges. Take out the subjectivity, as I did with my boxing guide, and there is no way to manipulate the data to favor your sales.
I do not see a conflict per se between grading cards and doing a price guide for cards. I kind of wish SCD had stayed in the grading business (and severed its ties with its shadier advertiser, for that matter) because I thought it had a good product and a good trade name at the time. Similarly, I think Beckett could do quite well with its brand offering grading services.
I do not see a conflict per se between grading cards and selling cards unless the cards are submitted for grading and selling together. If Beckett sold an SGC-graded card, for example, where's the problem?
I see a HUGE conflict in grading cards that have been submitted for selling, the obvious incentive being to overgrade the cards, even mildly, to generate much more money. Sorry, Mark, but while Beckett might not mess with its rep for a few hundred bucks on these two cards, when you are talking thousands of cards and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars if every consigned card is given a little nudge, you have a big incentive to cheat and a huge appearance of impropriety to deal with. I have several Beckett graded cards and I am satisfied with the product, although a little miffed at the strictness of the grades. I have to wonder if they'd have gotten bumps if I'd simultaneously consigned them for sale. If I have to wonder about that, you have a problem.
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