[Optimus_Prime]

So I know i'm pretty hard on beckett. I can't help it. It deserves it. However, In my heart, I know because of this site, I got back into the hobby. If it wasn't so easy to trade and the community so strong here, I wouldn't be here. So, I go back and forth with this site. Love hate relationship i guess. I beat it because i love it. Anyway. In effort to understand it more, I ask this question.

How does beckett go about getting their price guide prices? Do they have stores that send in what the cards are selling for? Do they go out in the field around the US and see what the cards are selling for? Do they track ebay prices? How on earth do they decide that a card should be book value at 50 dollars?

[hockeynick1721]

That's a great question. Beckett totally did a "toe on the trigger" with this. The only value of a card use to be the "Beckett" value. When I was a kid and you'd ask how much for that one, the dealer would say, "the Beckett value on that one is ...". Beckett set the prices on the cards, not the market. Once they stated the prices are determined by the market, that was the end. Now when you're at a card show and ask about the price they say, "this card sells for x on eBay". When you know the BV is damn near x or less than. I think if Beckett would have taken a systematic approach to setting prices based off of scarcity and box prices, everything would be more relatable and understandable.

[yanxchick]

Book value is determined by the market, not the other way around. That's way it takes about two weeks from the point of release to get prices into the OPG. If it were the other way around, Beckett would have the OPG updated in two days.

Let's take for example 2012-13 Upper Deck Ice Chris Kreider. It has a Beckett BV of $200-$350 - two prices. The value of the card is not $350. That's just the top range of the card that people have paid for it, especially when it first came out.

The BV of the card falls within that range for an ungraded card. (I know some recent sales have gone for under $200 but that's because Kreider hasn't played much this year and shuttled between NY and Hartford).

A lot of the card values are based on eBay sales (along with sales from other reported places) that are added to an algorithm, which determines the value. But it is based off of market prices to determine two value numbers.

[phildo37]

Book value is determined by the market, not the other way around. That's way it takes about two weeks from the point of release to get prices into the OPG. If it were the other way around, Beckett would have the OPG updated in two days.

Let's take for example 2012-13 Upper Deck Ice Chris Kreider. It has a Beckett BV of $200-$350 - two prices. The value of the card is not $350. That's just the top range of the card that people have paid for it, especially when it first came out.

The BV of the card falls within that range for an ungraded card. (I know some recent sales have gone for under $200 but that's because Kreider hasn't played much this year and shuttled between NY and Hartford).

A lot of the card values are based on eBay sales (along with sales from other reported places) that are added to an algorithm, which determines the value. But it is based off of market prices to determine two value numbers.

understood... now what about 4 years from now, when we're talking about the next crop of rookies... how often does Beckett update its pricing on this Kreider card?

what I've noticed, using a product I still collect actively - SP Authentic - is that Beckett will be all over it for the first few weeks, getting pretty accurate pricing for FW and FW Autos, then they do a bulk downward adjustment a couple months following, then almost never touch pricing again - unless it's a uniform upgrade/downgrade of a specific player.

Now, don't even get me started on the 90's stuff...

to echo the OP, my beef, is that it's a perpetual on-to-the-new and Beckett sets its prices and then forgets about it. And I truly welcome anyone who can prove me wrong on that.

[jacobystealshome]

to echo the OP, my beef, is that it's a perpetual on-to-the-new and Beckett sets its prices and then forgets about it. And I truly welcome anyone who can prove me wrong on that.

1995-96 collector's choice players club platinum. last year, the rices fell significantly. mario went from 100 to 20 or 30. yzerman had a siomilar drop. every card in that ser fell

in basketball, 2 years ago: 1995-96 finest mystery test refractors: the whole set fell, a lot. jjordan - MICHAEL FRIKKIN JORDAN - fell from 2500 to 1000. shaq fell from 1000 to 250

i just proved you wrong with two sets off the top of my head :p

mind you, i bang the opg for about 8-10 hour a day, 7 days a week, so im always seeing stuff

[phildo37]

1995-96 collector's choice players club platinum. last year, the rices fell significantly. mario went from 100 to 20 or 30. yzerman had a siomilar drop. every card in that ser fell

how long did 95-96 CC sit unchanged? I can almost promise you it was 10+ years. Waiting 10 years to adjust prices does not mean that Beckett stays on top of market conditions.

And I'm still waiting for them to adjust 98-99 Swedish Choice Sedin Dual GJ and Dual Auto GJ to reflect market conditions.. by my estimation, they're about 20-25% of what the cards actually sell for

[Optimus_Prime]

Awww yeah, Yanxchick responded to my post. Althogh it didn't answer my questions, I was totally distracted by her looks to even notice what she was saying.


So beckett does monitor ebay. That's good, but why does it take so long to adjust prices? I've got my own price guide going for the Upper Deck Trilogy Ice Scripts and they aren't even close to the prices being pulled in on ebay.

Does beckett have dealers send in their prices? Or does beckett travel shows keeping track of prices?

There was talk on these boards for over a year about the CC coming down in value. And that's just my point. Clearly the cards were not nearly fetching the prices beckett listed them for. What made them determine the reduced value?

[phildo37]

my guess is that they say they monitor this stuff, but likely they don't... and anyone can tell you anything, but the proof is in the pricing.. and the "proof" is that they don't monitor very much after an initial release

In fairness, there are a ton of cards to keep track of, and hundreds of thousands more every single year, and most stuff does remain pretty stable after a long time. And even the OPG is just simply a 'guide', right?

However, it does make it difficult then, to claim that the pricing is accurate and truly representative of market conditions.

[yanxchick]

I can tell you they get their info from multiple sources, but I can't speak more for the price guide department because I don't not work in the pricing department.

Are there challenges? Of course. There are challenges at every company that you meet and some are dealt with better than others. With the amount of data the pricing analysts have to go through, I don't envy that position at all.

[thelegendjerryrice]

So I know i'm pretty hard on beckett. I can't help it. It deserves it. However, In my heart, I know because of this site, I got back into the hobby. If it wasn't so easy to trade and the community so strong here, I wouldn't be here. So, I go back and forth with this site. Love hate relationship i guess. I beat it because i love it. Anyway. In effort to understand it more, I ask this question.

How does beckett go about getting their price guide prices? Do they have stores that send in what the cards are selling for? Do they go out in the field around the US and see what the cards are selling for? Do they track ebay prices? How on earth do they decide that a card should be book value at 50 dollars?

I HATE the ebay argument. Ebay should be held OUT of the factor. But that IS MY opinion. lol

I'm also anti ebay because it KILLED the local hobby shop business's EVERY WHERES.............