BCCG Strikes Again

[majordanby]

I agree that you better do some damn research if you're going to throw down 8K for cardboard...but, does that mean the blame decreases for the buyer as the price of the card lowers? my hope back when beckett introduced bccg that the market will eventually kick out this product because of its misaligned grading scheme.

[yanksfan09]

I think if beckett wants to earn more trust and respect in the hobby, they need to do away with bccg. What does that stand for..."Beckett's crappy card grading ?"

I like BVG, and will buy cards of those and like beckett's regular service for new cards, but this is a joke.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by yanksfan09

I think if beckett wants to earn more trust and respect in the hobby, they need to do away with bccg. What does that stand for..."Beckett's crappy card grading ?"

I like BVG, and will buy cards of those and like beckett's regular service for new cards, but this is a joke.

I doubt very seriously that BCCG is going to go away. If I were Beckett, and viewed this as Business 101, I wouldn't do away with it either. It fills a niche for the home shopping club, Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart type stores and clubs. It never was meant to be a vintage grading service. If it says Good or better on the flip, and the grade is 6,7,8 etc.....then the buyer needs to understand what they are buying before they do so. That being said there isn't much doubt the seller, not showing the back and getting it regraded, has some fault here. How many hundreds, or thousands, of times have we said to buy the card and not the holder?

Now, do I think the service is good for Vintage? No, but it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be good for someone that doesn't want to get stuck with a fake or reprint card that is being sold as real. Forget about the number on the BCCG flips and it's not hard to swallow. If you focus on the number alone then you will be upset.

[barrysloate]

Leon- if BCCG was created for venues like the Home Shopping Network, why is a card like a 49 Leaf Paige even put in one of these holders in the first place? Shouldn't a scarce and very valuable card be automatically passed over to BVG?

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Leon- if BCCG was created for venues like the Home Shopping Network, why is a card like a 49 Leaf Paige even put in one of these holders in the first place? Shouldn't a scarce and very valuable card be automatically passed over to BVG?

The misdirection on the part of Beckett is the use of a totally different grading scale. The BCCG scale runs from BCCG 5 to BCCG 10. That means that a BCCG 6 IS NOT a high grade card.

So, a buyer who is not aware of this can be duped into approaching it like it's a 6 out of 10, when it clearly isn't.

So to answer Rob's question about proportioning blame:

I put 60% with the seller, who clearly cracked and resubmitted the card with the intent of raising the grade while finding a sucker to buy it.

I put 30% with Beckett for setting up a fraudulent grading system that asks for this kind of abuse.

And I put 10% with the buyer, for not asking to see a back scan, not knowing that BCCG and the seller were screwing with his bank account, and not listening to The Electic Light Orchestra when they said "A fool and his money soon go separate ways."


Editted to add: I could make an argument to raise each and every percentage listed, but Rob, being the stickler for details that he is, would want them to add up to 100%, not 180%

[teetwoohsix]

IMO-the seller is a scumbag-period.He knows what he did.He sent it to BCCG for sole purpose of deceiving someone,knowing the supposed "high" grade it would show,even though it's NOT a high grade.
I agree,the buyer needs to do their homework,but there are other scenarios-like what if your wife knew you had been dying to get this card-and bought it for you as a gift??Can you say "What did you do,you should've been studying Net54 before buying me this card"?
BCCG may make them a lot of money,but it sucks.I like BVG,but BCCG has to go.
The seller is dirty-go take a shower seller,because you stink.

[usernamealreadytaken]

Reinforcing the lesson to Buy the Card, not the grade/flip/case, etc.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by usernamealreadytaken

Reinforcing the lesson to Buy the Card, not the grade/flip/case, etc.

But in this case, you have to "buy the back of the card" as well.

[barrysloate]

Clayton is right. Once sleazy sellers realize they can buy a vintage card graded 2, and then send it to BCCG and have it magically changed to a 6 or 7, this will not happen once in a while but become an epidemic. This is a very bad policy.

[yanksfan09]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Clayton is right. Once sleazy sellers realize they can buy a vintage card graded 2, and then send it to BCCG and have it magically changed to a 6 or 7, this will not happen once in a while but become an epidemic. This is a very bad policy.

On top of that, uninformed buyers think they are getting a legit BECKETT graded card. This is a name even casual collectors know. I'm sure there are people out there who think they're better off buying a BCCG 8 than a Pro 9 (maybe a poor example there, because that's probably true, but you get the point)

[Robextend]

The people that will suffer most are those that are new to the hobby and don't research what BCCG is. A couple years ago when I got back into collecting I very well may have been susceptible to being a victim, thankfully that didn't happen.

I agree that it is good business for Beckett and they probably won't ever do away with it as long as they are profiting. With that said, IMO seller's that don't disclose the condition of the ENTIRE card are misleading and unethical.

[Matt]

BCCG takes some of the blame in the deception as well - if they were only after a cheaper mass-production alternative, then why start numbering at 5, making it look like a 10 point scale when it is really only a 5 point scale?
Furthermore, if it really is for HSN and the such, why are they allowing mom and pop sellers to submit?

I don't doubt there is a legit business for Beckett here, but why not number 1 through 5 (or even skip number starting at 1) and also only allow the service to be used by those who have a special contract with Beckett to mass grade & sell?

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by Matt

BCCG takes some of the blame in the deception as well - if they were only after a cheaper mass-production alternative, then why start numbering at 5,making it look like a 10 point scale when it is really only a 5 point scale?

then don west couldn't scream..."OMG DEREK JETER '96 UPPER DECK BCCG 1000000....LOOK AT THIS GUIDE YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A PSA10 GOES FOR, THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME DEALLLLL RIGHT HERE FOLKS!!!!!"

i agree bccg at the very least is trying to confuse, and at worst is deceiving its target audience. they also create easy opportunities for scammers to rip off new and old collectors alike.

[Robextend]

Does anyone remember the Shop at Home Network SNL skit? One of the funniest skits ever....

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96fshop.phtml

[birdman42]

Originally Posted by Leon

I doubt very seriously that BCCG is going to go away. If I were Beckett, and viewed this as Business 101, I wouldn't do away with it either.

More Business 101: Don't **** with your brand. Remember Crystal Pepsi? That one screwup came close to costing the company an entire year's profits.

There's a great basic marketing book titled What Were They Thinking? The author runs a "failed products" market research firm, and has thousands of products representing billions (yes, with a "b") of dollars worth of misguided product launches. Some of them actually have killed brands.

Beckett's other brand will come back to bite them, IMO

Bill

[chaddurbin]

i hope the buyer used bing cashback

[yanksfan09]

Leon,

I hear what you're saying, but to me I feel by them filling that niche for HSN, target, wallmart etc...; they are targeting uniformed collectors and kids. To me it's nothing more than a scam. I understand that people need to educate themselves more on what they're buying. But I'm sure kids and young teens see those HSN deals with the 1994 classic Jeter cream of the crop inserts (which i have handfuls of and they claim to be Rookies), graded Mint10. These are $1-$2 dollar cards that they slab and then sell in these "deals" on HSN, Walmart, etc.... for maybe an average of $10-20 a card.

Then they'll slab somehat older cards like maybe a 1991 ish North Carolina Michael Jordan Coca-Cola card? (I forget who made it). They then tout it as a pre- rookie, or college card or whatever and slab it. Maybe it gets slabbed an 8 or 9 so people think they're getting a high grade and valuable card when they're not. They're just getting a somewhat off- condition card that had no real value to begin with.

I know I'm rambling a bit here, but I just hate the whole concept. I think it caters to the uninformed and to con-men looking to make a flip like the one above. Also, if you just want to know you have an unaltered, real card, then why not use the regular service to authenticate only instead of getting a number grade on it with BCCG?