The Football Card Blog

OK, to be fair, the grief this time is more directed towards Upper Deck--another common source of grief in the hobby, from what I can tell.  But The Card Blog brings to our attention a recent Beckett Box Break of 2007 Exquisite Football, where Beckett opens two boxes (about $1,000 worth of product), and pulls three 1/1's (including an Adrian Peterson), a quad patch auto, two quad patches, and a dual cut signature (Walter Payton and Brian Piccilo). 

I know Beckett will probably give these away in a contest (maybe?), but come on Upper Deck, prove to us, the common collector, that you're not hand picking this stuff for them.

Beckett has put out their year end survey for the 2007 Football Card season.  You can read about it, and get to the voting form here.

Anyone who's been here frequently knows that I like to poke a little fun at Beckett from time to time--ok, not so much fun as call them on the carpet.  But it's a nice gesture of them to offer a giveaway of a pack of 2007 Exquisate Collection to a couple of voters.  Of course, when I completed the survey, it didn't ask for my name or contact information, which leads me to believe that either a) they made a mistake, b) they aren't really giving it away, or 3) they are somehow tying my information from my email/registration/login into the form, and keeping track that way (which I know IS possible, but it's still creepy).

OK, last week I posted an article questioning whether or not Beckett has a conflict of interest when it comes to grading/auctioning/pricing cards, and said that I knew that others had some strong opinions of Beckett as well.  Well, I happened to stumble across an article that I thought also raised some good questions about Beckett, mainly to do with their card grading quality.

Beckett has also continued to raise my ire over the last couple weeks, in a few new ways, all of which are minor, but start to add up:

• First there was the Brady vs. Manning post, which compared value of their cards, which isn't really all that annoying, but I did find completely pointless.
• Then there was a blog post from one of their guys who is covering the Super Bowl--where he basically whines about not having his golf clubs, complains about how far he has to walk, admits to ignoring security measures at the stadium, and whines about the hotel accomodations (not to mention admits that he was at a Billy Ray Cyrus concert the night before he left).
• More basic usability problems with their site (the web marketer in me comes out)--I went to do a dealer search this weekend, type in my ZIP code to find the stores closest to me, and get this message: 

  "We're sorry, but we were not able to find a dealer match in your zip code. Please try to search by state to find a dealer near you."

  Umm, yeah, I know there are none in my zip code.  But I also know that there is a dealer in the next town over (about 5 miles from my house), so I thought at least he might show up.  Turns out, it has to be an exact match for zip code.  Stupid stupid stupid.  I did a state search, and still only came up with six dealers (which may, unfortunately, be accurate).

• Add to that the fact that I subscribed to their magazine and Web site service now five months ago and STILL haven't received my first issue (although they've told me that I will be getting it at the end of January), and I wonder why I still bother...

Oh yeah, they're about my only option.  That's why.  <SIGH>.
 

So, one of your biggest (by far?) competitors announces that they are improving their product--what's your reaction?

If you're Beckett, you decide to raise your rates.

That's right, Beckett has announced that they will raise their rates on average $1 per card grading, due to increases in oil (the plastic cases are petroleum based) and transportation charges.  This marks the first increase since they introduced the service in 1999.

Autograph surcharges, Graded Card Reviews, Case Removal fees and JSA/BGS service fees will not be impacted, but insurance rates will increase to $7 per $1000 declared.

At least they did the announcement with proper timing--the new rates will not kick in until March 1st (for cards received March 1 or later), so you've got a few weeks to get your cards in.

Recently while reading an article from Beckett regarding their recent grading of a T206 baseball card collection found last year (I do dabble in baseball card collecting too), a thought that I've had in the past came rushing back: Does Beckett have some major conflicts of interest in the card collecting hobby?

I'm sure I'm not the first to have the thought--in fact, I've discussed it before at my local card shop.  But I've not seen a lot of press about it online (very possible I've just missed it--I just really started getting into the hobby blogosphere recently--if you have an article on your blog about it, please send me the link, and I'll link to it).

Just think about it:

• Beckett sets the value for cards across the hobby (with a great deal of research, I'm sure, although I tend to think some of that is hogwash, just based on some common values, and the consistency of some cards, but that's a whole 'nother topic that may deserve its own post). 
• Beckett also grades cards.  In and of itself, that should be fine, even with the fear that I know some of my fellow collectors have about Beckett possibly not returning the same cards that were sent in.
• However, Beckett also has an online marketplace, which I'm assuming they make money on, whether it's a percentage of sale like eBay, or just a listing payment from sellers (I wasn't easily able to figure that out on their site--a whole 'nother topic, and likely a whole 'nother post).
• Finally, from the T206 article, Beckett is also now (or has been for awhile?) putting on their own auctions, through the Beckett Select Auctions division of Beckett Media.

So, how is this a conflict of interest?

Well, might there be any pressure to grade some of those T206 cards as 3's rather than as 2.5's, so that the auction price goes up a little more, thereby raising their commissions?  Similarly, might there be some encouragement to to make sure that other cards are graded a little higher, or that non-graded prices are kept higher, so that their marketplace (and even the overall market) keeps going strong?

Of course, if that's the case, we're all sitting on a time bomb of a hobby.  Although personally, I'm assuming that Beckett has some safety systems in place to ensure that one hand isn't influencing the other--although it would be nice to hear more about them.  And anyway, I'm guessing that one little old blogger, writing his 6th post for his site, isn't likely to change the world.  At least not overnight.

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