[trintdaddy]

Greetings all,

This is my first post here on the forum and happy to see how far Beckett has come. I'm 33 years old and was totally submerged in the card craze of the late 80s/early 90s as a kid. Back then, Beckett was strictly in magazine form. From the years 1988 - 1992 most of all my money was spent on basketball and football cards which I still manage to keep to this very day.

I've also lived in Oklahoma City and have been an early adopter of the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first two seasons of the Thunder being here, Durant/Westbrook were doing alot of public signings to help promote the Thunder here in the area. I was lucky enough at the time to snag their current cards at the time and have several signed including their rookie cards.

I've thought about selling some of these but I feel I need to have them graded. This will be my first time having cards professionally graded. When you use the BGS, does that verify the signature as well or just the condition of the card? I have seen several services to choose from but not sure which is best to use.

I'm slowly getting back into collecting basketball mostly just Oklahoma City Thunder players. I have no idea what brands are the best to buy and how to determine which brands are best when each player has like 10 rookie cards. If anyone can tell me what brands are best for investability and which ones to avoid in today's current market, that would be a huge help as well.

Any help you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated. I plan to become more active with the forum as I learn more about the current state of sports cards today.

[Vols-1]

Most people use PSA/DNA to get signed cards authenticated. It's going to be close to $50, so its usually not worth it for modern players.

I believe Panini is the only company that produces NBA cards, they have an exclusive license.

[trintdaddy]

Most people use PSA/DNA to get signed cards authenticated. It's going to be close to $50, so its usually not worth it for modern players.

Would you advise to just get the modern players cards graded at least? Have been thinking about going with the $7 20 day grading June offer that Beckett has available.

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I believe Panini is the only company that produces NBA cards, they have an exclusive license.

Does Panini just come out with one line of cards every year or are there still different brands just under the Panini name?

When I stopped collecting basketball cards, brand such as NBA Hoops, Skybox, Fleer, and Upper Deck were the only choices at the time. Have those brands been discontinued?

[jpleazme805]

trintdaddy...

Welcome to Beckett & welcome back to collecting cardboard.

I'd recommend checking out some of the Beckett Member's online collections (PC - personnel collection).. most collectors have photobucket accounts to share pictures/scans of their cards..

Also, check out ebay... there are tons of cards listed... so you can get an idea of what appeals to you & then come back & ask the people that post on Beckett, what they think of a certain product...

If you only want to collect Oklahoma City Thunder cards, then you don't have to go back too many years.. Panini is a good bet to get their cards.. They are the only NBA licensed card manufacture at the current time. UD & TOPPS were the other two, but they lost the bid or decided not to bid higher for a license.

I hate monopolies. There should be competition between those that produce/manufacture NBA cards.

My sports card collection can be seen at http://photobucket.com/jpleazme or http://photobucket.com/farmar

You can add your collection to the "organization" part of Beckett... this will help you keep track of what cards you have & if you decide to trade, shows other traders/collectors the cards you have... if you keep it under 100 cards, I believe it is free... if you go over 100 cards, then you have to pay for the OPG (online price guide).. it is better than the magazine in my opinion, but still expensive.. I only collect basketball, since I can not afford to collect everything.

I started collecting in 1990 as a kid. stopped in 95/96... collected briefly in 99-01, then fell to my addiction of collecting basketball cards in April 2007.

[Vols-1]

Would you advise to just get the modern players cards graded at least? Have been thinking about going with the $7 20 day grading June offer that Beckett has available.

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Does Panini just come out with one line of cards every year or are there still different brands just under the Panini name?

When I stopped collecting basketball cards, brand such as NBA Hoops, Skybox, Fleer, and Upper Deck were the only choices at the time. Have those brands been discontinued?

Yes, Panini bought other brands and some brands went out of business. Check their website for details.

It's $30 to get Durant autograph authenticated, and there is no guarantee it will pass. Cost additional money to have encased, additional money to grade the autograph, addditional money to grade the card. Plus $10 shipping...it all adds up fast. So usually not worth getting cards graded unless you send in a lot for the max amount of time. Check ebay to see what graded cards sell for.

[xstreaminsanity]

First off, welcome to the site and back to collecting.

To elaborate on what jpleazme stated about the Organize part of the site...

Like he said, it's free up to 100 cards in your Organize. However, without a subscription, if you're an active trader, you really run the risk of going over your 100 card limit and getting locked out of your Organize. There are two ways to have an unlimited Organize. The cheapest is to purchase the Organize Subscription which is $20 a year (less than $2 a month). The second way is to pay for an Online Pricing Guide (OPG) for any or multiple sports. A single monthly charge OPG is $9, but if you were to pay yearly it's a bit cheaper. There is also a Total Access subscription which can also be charged monthly, bi-yearly or yearly (they may even do a three month subscription I think) which allows you prices for all sports and unlimited access to your Organize.

The reason I suggest at least getting the Organize subscription is because there are amazing traders on here who are more into helping people with their PCs than trying to get someone over for financial gains. Us moderators really try to keep as many scans from happening and the last consensus opinion I heard was that we have fewer scams than most sports card websites. The members here tend to have more knowledge than is even in the database at times, lol. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask it on the board or PM me or any of the great members here. Hope all is well and hope you enjoy Beckett.com to the fullest.

[trintdaddy]

Thanks so much for the info! Looking forward to becoming a part of this community!