Bccg

[bigfish]

Can someone help me understand the BCCG grading system? Are they part of becket or is this some scumbag over grading cards and cheating the public. If it is part of becket, they should be be proud of all of the over graded cards floating around.....

[Vintagedegu]

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[Robextend]

Hey Toby,

There was a thread a while back about how bad the BCCG grading system is and why it even exists.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...highlight=bccg

Rob

[barrysloate]

Toby- I'm just as outraged about it as you.

[bigfish]

Just looking through ebay and I see all of this crap. People buy these cards and think they are getting a nice card. Becket is a disgrace and I am not sure why they let this go on? Very strange? I do not see how it could possibly help their biz. Becket gets two thumbs down from me.

Sorry for rehashing an old thread. I just noticed this while looking on ebay and I see these cards at shows. Gross!

[Jim VB]

We've had numerous threads about BCCG in the past. It's stupid and ridiculous. Although the Beckett web site says they use a 10 point grading system, I don't think that's correct, because a BCCG 5 is "poor or better."

I think the system was designed for high volume users like Home Shopping Network. It offers a low cost way to slab your cards. With large volumes of cards (10,000 or more) you can get the price down to $2.00 a card.

The scale is as follows:

BCCG 5 = Poor or Better
BCCG 6 = Good or Better
BCCG 7 = Very Good or Better
BCCG 8 = Excellent or Better
BCCG 9 = Near Mint or Better
BCCG 10 = Mint or Better


It was a stupid idea. They have been doing it for years and have insisted they will stick by it. Maybe it's a money maker for them but until they stop it, they have no credibility as a grading company.

[bigfish]

Can someone from Becket defend why they are doing this? I know they read the board. I am really interested in learning their reasoning.

[tiger8mush]

I understand its lower cost, but WHY is it lower cost? cuz they change the grading scale?

Hypothetically, if i submit a $1k card for BCCG grading, will they take the same amount of time to make sure its authentic and not altered and give it the proper grade (based on the BCCG scale)? Is the holder the same as the BVG holder, just with a different tag?

If they charge less for the service, SOMEWHERE along the line the service must not be the same as a regular BVG grading submittal.

[HRBAKER]

"It was a stupid idea. They have been doing it for years and have insisted they will stick by it. Maybe it's a money maker for them but until they stop it, they have no credibility as a grading company."


Agreed.

[Jim VB]

Rob G.,

It's not the same holder. It feels much cheaper. It also uses no internal sleeve. As to how long they take to inspect, I would only be guessing. Based on quantity, it costs $2.00-$5.00 per card.

As I said, it was designed to offer an alternative to high volume customers.


http://www.beckett.com/grading/pricing.asp

[DanP]

I'll admit it. I was one of the idiots fooled by BCCG. When I first started buying cards (and before I knew anything about grading companies) I bought a BCCG 10 1975 Topps George Brett. I saw "Beckett" and figured it must be legit.

I busted the card out, sent it to PSA and received a PSA 6. So my $100 card became worth about $20!! It was the only BCCG card I ever bought. I sure other novices have made the same mistake.

Dan

[Rob D.]

Come on, fellas, what's a little misdirection among friends?

[Rob D.]

Here's what Leon posted on this topic on Jan. 18. Given that he says he knows the guys at Beckett, I'm guessing he got it from the horse's mouth:

"BCCG is for the mass merchant retailers such as Home Shopping Networks. Their grading is literally about 5-6 grades too high. It exists as it is a profitable part of that companies business (I believe) and has more to do with profit/loss than our hobby, especially the pre-war market. I know the guys over there at Beckett fairly well and they are only doing as instructed by the higher ups.....best regards"

[HRBAKER]

"It's not the grader's fault, it's the buyer's!"

[DanP]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

"It's not the grader's fault, it's the buyer's!"

I agree. In my case it was 100% my fault. I spent $100 on a card without doing the research I should have. I got exactly what I deserved, learned from it and made sure that mistake never happened again (we need another thread for all of the other one time mistakes!).

Dan

[rman444]

Honestly, I don't see what the problem is.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by DanP

I agree. In my case it was 100% my fault. I spent $100 on a card without doing the research I should have. I got exactly what I deserved, learned from it and made sure that mistake never happened again (we need another thread for all of the other one time mistakes!).

Dan

Dan,
I hope you realize my post was a tongue-in-cheek reference to a thread this week regarding auction houses and max bids. No, it wasn't your fault or at a minimum it is very easy to see how you would be mislead with BCCG's joke of a grading system. Jeff


.....and Richard some cards are simply more than a sum of their parts. That's the nicest "10" I have ever seen.

[DanP]

Jeff, yes I followed that other thread also.

However, I do believe it was my fault. Blaming someone else doesn't make any sense. It's easier to make sure it doesn't happen again if I take the hit!

Dan

[4815162342]

Has anyone seen the "Create-A-Card" from Beckett?

[Steve D]

Looks like Mo graded that Boston Garter Cobb!




You know.....


Mo Ron




Steve

[Steve D]

Go to post #23 on the attached thread for a previous response from a Beckett employee (GehrigFan) regarding BCCG.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ht=bccg&page=3



Steve

[Jim VB]

By the way, I had a room mate in college who, after 8-10 beers, used this same numerical system to grade women.

Nothing lower than a 5. Lots of 8's and 9's (to him anyway.)

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by Steve D

Go to post #23 on the attached thread for a previous response from a Beckett employee (GehrigFan) regarding BCCG.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ht=bccg&page=3



Steve

The response by the Beckett employee states that the BCCG service was put in place to protect the novice collector when in fact I believe it does the opposite.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by Steve D

Looks like Mo graded that Boston Garter Cobb!




You know.....


Mo Ron




Steve

That is the exceedingly rare die-cut parallel to the regular '14 Garter series. Anyway you cut it, still a beautiful card!

[bigfish]

Needed to pop this to the top after looking at all of the awful BCCG cards on ebay. If anyone from BCCG is reading this, you really are down grading your reputation with this crap. You are miseading people with the number grades and people are paying extra for your inflated label. Not a real smart move in the long run for you. Just a thought from a concerned pre war buyer/collector....... Could buisness development respond to this for me please....BCCG

[calvindog]

I'm lost here. I just got an oversized R309-2 Greenberg back from them. IS BCCG "Becket Grading Services?" The card received a 1.5 grade which I thought was pretty low (see below). And if not, what is BVG? Are there three different Beckett grading services, BVG, BCCG and BGS?

[Leon]

I think BVG is their vintage grading, BGS is their new card grading and the oft maligned BCCG is for mass merchants. Here is where we discussed this a few months ago..

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...highlight=bccg

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I'm lost here. I just got an oversized R309-2 Greenberg back from them. IS BCCG "Becket Grading Services?" The card received a 1.5 grade which I thought was pretty low (see below). And if not, what is BVG? Are there three different Beckett grading services, BVG, BCCG and BGS?

You are correct. There are 3 distinct services available from Beckett.

BGS - Beckett's Grading Service
BVG - Beckett's Vintage Grading
BCCG - Beckett's Collector's Club Grading

BCCG does NOT use the standard 1 - 10 grading range. Their grades are 5 - 10 only, with BCCG 5 being "Poor or Better."

It's a dumb idea, but apparently makes them money and they don't seem inclined to change it.

We have rehashed it out here many times.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

By the way, I had a room mate in college who, after 8-10 beers, used this same numerical system to grade women.

Nothing lower than a 5. Lots of 8's and 9's (to him anyway.)

I'm 29 and I've had great luck with that 8-9 scale. 8 = model, 9 = supermodel. It hasn't failed me yet.

[calvindog]

Not that I care for the card graded above, but why is a 1935 card in a BGS holder and not BVG?

Edited to add: my experience with Beckett this time was much better than the first time I dealt with them and they're the only company that slabs really oversized cards like the Goudey Premium above.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I'm lost here. I just got an oversized R309-2 Greenberg back from them.

Jeff - great card - one of my favorites. Because of the thin paper stock, the issue is very prone to damage. If that's the one that was auctioned on eBay a few months back, I recall looking at and an thinking it potentially had some condition issues, though looking at your scan, I am not reminded of what they were.

The oversized holders were only produced with "BGS" on them. See here on an earlier issue:

[calvindog]

Ahh...that makes sense now.

[hunterdutchess]

I bought a few BCCG 9's for my son. They were a 93 sp Jeter and a 94 sp Rodriguez. We crossed them over to BGS and they came back Jeter 8 and A-Rod 8.5 so we paid rather lower than what those grades whould have cost us but with the grading fee's we broke even. It's almost like gambling.

[calvindog]

As big as a pizza box but the only game in town when it comes to issues this size:

[FUBAR]

BVG hasn't always existed, so some earlier vintage cards are in BGS holders.

I believe BVG was created because you couldn't grade a vintage card with the same criteria as the new shiny cards. So they created new rules pertaining to vintage cards only.

I could be wrong, but that is how i remember Beckett's explanation at the time....