[hegotgame1515]

Beckett is the first place old collectors go to,to find out what's going on in the hobby since they/we all left in the 90's...

I didn't even know half of what was going on in the early 2000's I had no idea the hobby was still around..

New old guys go old school and start on the cards they had back in the day, new young people start with new players and pretty much look forward not back...

I think once you hear about other sites and the crazy things going on, you go and have a look for yourself, although they have some bat-Sh!t crazy people on other sites, they can be very entertaining...


I think the very best thing Beckett forum could do is to add the ''like" function like ozcardtrader has, it is probably the single most important thing to making a bunch collectors come together as a community...

It gets people involved WAY more then a forum without it, because it's so easy to use...

That would be a great way to get more action around here...

I think mail days are great, I love to see what other people are passionate about, I mean it's not like you can show normal people in your life mail days because most people simply don't know or care what one card could mean to you....

I like to see mail days but if people think it's just showing off and look ''I have more money than you'', well they aren't collectors too me, because I believe the cost of a card doesn't dictate how you might feel about that particular card...

I have some ridiculous hi end cards that I like, but my favourite cards of all time are not my most expensive, I want the MJ Mr June set in BGS 9.5 over just about any other cards right now, they are $10 BV each!

Only a place like this would know how it feels to finally land a card you've been searching for.
So if we can't post mail days here, I really don't know where else it's appropriate.

As for the low numbers here, I think the better way to built up numbers is on true passionate collectors that are in the hobby to collect, we don't need the problems on other forums here, so maybe it's a good thing there isn't so many people.

Beckett should be reading this thread to hear what collectors want, I could think of many things that would bring collectors back here, but for now the "like" function would be a good start.

[folkertino]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I really don't get all of the "Mail Day" posts, the "Hey, check out how much money I spent on cards this week" threads, and the "My collection is better than yours" bulletins.

I am not sure whether that is the general opinion towards those threads, although I do hear what you're saying. Speaking for myself: no, I don't comment on every new Gerald Henderson acquired, or Kendall Marshall or Bill Walton, etc. I do however check them once in a while to see what's new and I find it entertaining and I am happy for those collectors and leave a remark now and then.

Similarly I don't expect people to comment on every new custom card I get signed or the latest Geert Hammink card I picked up for my PC, but do I know that people take an interest by looking and I enjoy the occasional comment.

Yes, traffic has gone down and I concur that the pricing is a factor. I understand there's a cost to a website, an exhaustive database and its maintenance, but I believe Beckett's revenue streams are balanced in such a (wrong) way that it becomes less attractive to join, commit and engage.

Charging for the organizer beyond 100 cards is silly. That should be free and unlimited, because what you want to achieve is to attract as many collectors as possible and get them to enter as many cards as possible. I have almost 10.000 in my organizer so changing sites (if there were an alternative) would be crazy work, but 100 cards is easily done. Hence, the current system favors in-and-out users while penalizing the long-terms. Carriage before the horse, the tail wagging the dog.

Now of course the organizer, pricing and forum are separate services and one doesn't need to have the extended organizer or OPG to be able to engage on the forum. Nevertheless they are services that reciprocally enhance themselves and all contribute in stimulating a user's presence and engagement on the site. And I think that's reflected in the reduced activity that we're seeing here.

[crimedawg47]

Panini is ruining the basketball hobby in my opinion. The NBA needs to allow Topps, UD or hell even Leaf to have a licence. Plus the hundreds of redemptions that take years not weeks to get back has pushed my interest of opening products to a new low. I'm not a big baseball collector but I bet the baseball community feels the same with Topps having a monopoly with those collectors but I could be way off base with the baseball side of things.

---

I still ask Will about his 1/1 Henderson for you but hes not budging for me either.

I do appreciate that for sure At some point he's gotta realize it needs to find its new home right!

[thepointguard_10]

And I think your Kendall PC is great by the way.

TH

Thanks man, always good to have some hobby appreciation for another collector's PC!

[TBarn291]

Beckett is the first place old collectors go to,to find out what's going on in the hobby since they/we all left in the 90's...

I didn't even know half of what was going on in the early 2000's I had no idea the hobby was still around..

New old guys go old school and start on the cards they had back in the day, new young people start with new players and pretty much look forward not back...

Haha that is so true. I quit collecting when I was 16 (2000) and didn't even think about the hobby again until late 2010 early 2011. Saw a card show at our local mall and saw Jersey cards of players like Magic Johnson and David Robinson for $10. I was so excited, thought I got some kind of monster deal, not knowing that Jersey cards were about as rare as base cards now. But it got me on beckett which led to ebay and that was that. At first I started going for the old stuff I used to collect. But I couldn't get past all the new stuff, autos of guys I used to really want as a kid were now pocket change basically. So I ended up going Old and New.

When I used to be on beckett before, the buy/sell/trade function was much different. But I remember you could search for a card and you would get the results of what was available for trade and sell. It was so simple back then. I don't remember there being a forum, but I probably just didn't use it. But I do know I could find tons more stuff for trade back then and it was a lot easier to find it.

My Opinion, like others, I think a lot of people don't want to pay for the ORG and it can be hassle trying to use it without it. That and I know there were a bunch of issues with load times and other technical problems. Personally I just pay $9. a month for the OPG and get the ORG for free. I think another big thing is the Group Breaks. Not only does BO sell wax, but they support group breaks. A LOT of people are into that. That is a big part of the market that is ABSOLUTELY excluded from beckett.

Me personally, I think the community here is the best. More like a group of friends than a group of random posters. People practice more restraint on this site and are far more courteous than they are on others. Not saying there aren't the occasional dbags, but it is no where near as common as it is on other sites I frequent.