[tenaciouzd]

How can a company make every box close to the value you pay and then make some monster boxes worth more than you pay. Especially when were talking about a known product with a known value unlike for instance a box of 2014 chrome right now that has no book value. Its a business, how can they stay in business while losing money? With this logic I should be upset at Topps and never buy a box of cards they make again after buying 6 boxes of chrome and spending $420 and not even getting close to return on my investment BV wise, let alone if I were to sell everything for cash.

The real snakes of the hobby that I have seen atm are all the case break sellers. Sure, one person might get a sweet hit, but in the grand scheme of things almost everybody is not going to get crap and they make a crap load compared to the cost of the box. For instance I see 2014 chrome single box 15 slot breaks 8.99 a person. And you can get boxes for $65. They getting $135 for that one box. And most don't even ship base. How much they taking a hit for on shipping for a 2 hit product with a couple serial numbers and inserts thrown in? $5-$10?

For a PR pro perspective, the real solution would have been to send out a trickle of the monster hits in the first ones to spread word and to give people info of the actual cards in the product. They list just names, rather than actual cards we can in turn look up and see their value. If I know I have a shot at a $2000 card for $80 it entices me more to buy it. But having no idea what even comes in it with a $80 price tag and people only posting that they got crap for it, and they themselves don't even say what they actually got, makes it even less wanted. Just my 2 cents.

[jwhuckfeldt]

Companies sell product at cost or at a reduced rate to draw in customers who will possibly purchase higher end items once they are in the store. Beckett is no different. The box breaks that they advertise are under someone's control. Especially the graded and slabbed cards.

Beckett can spend the money on the boxes and write them off as expenses. People like you and I can't. A decision was made somewhere that these boxes are gambles, and no one warned the powers that be of the inherent dangers of alienating their audience. Beckett makes these boxes. It's not as if it's like a pack of cards and have no clue what's inside. Beckett advertises this product.

Your last sentence is an advertising campaign, not a PR tactic or strategy. PR, by definition, is how a person or business effectively communicates with their publics. Even if Beckett applied your tactic to enhance their overall profit in that sector, you'd still get the negative feedback, that still hasn't been mitigated, which will tarnish your brand.

At the end of the day, consumers have a right to be bitter if they spend $80 to $180 on a box of cards that has a couple of no-name or mediocre cards slabbed. Beckett boxes can't be compared to a box or pack of baseball cards. The question for Beckett shouldn't be, "How much money can we make from these boxes?" With the feedback that was posted, it begs the question, besides me, "How many boxes could have sold?" Selling boxes also leads to more profit. For instance, after buying an $80 Beckett box, offering the customer one free graded card voucher for every two or three card vouchers purchased. That's enticing because there's intrinsic value applied to the purchase. Not the prospect of buying an $80 "lottery ticket" for a chance to win a $2000 card...or a BGS 9.5 Jim Abbott rookie.

[tenaciouzd]

You miss the point. They are a business trying to make money, not traders like you and I trading for card value.

[jwhuckfeldt]

I'm not missing the point. Like I said, Beckett can write off its losses as a business expense. When you're discussing this issue on a larger scale, it equates to dollars and cents. Basically, Beckett is sacrificing brand equity to gain a profit margin that's not even remotely worth mentioning. Especially when you weigh in the negative feedback affecting potential buyers like me.

By adding more value, Beckett can increase their profit margins, but more importantly, maintain their brand equity. You don't need to have your target audience gamble on an $80 to $180 box only to receive negative feedback. I'm not sure you fully comprehend how large this economy of scale goes.

All-in-all, I think we're at an impasse. Beckett's profits come from mainly grading cards and selling subscriptions. This box break they offer is a minute portion of their overall receivables but could be used to create value added opportunities for loyal, valued customers.

Alienating you client base by intentionally putting low value cards in a box break is greedy at best and dishonest at worst. In my opinion, it's a lottery and I'm not sold on spending $80 to $180 for a chance to win a $2000 card only to receive a graded card in the $20 dollar range. Anyone with an iota of business savvy would tell you it doesn't make sense.

Out of curiosity, what do you do for a living?

[tenaciouzd]

My last reply to this because you can't seem to reason with logic. You can't expect there to be a $80 card in every single $80 box and then expect some to contain stuff over the $80 value. If you are going to put higher than $80 product in, that means there has to be some take and give for some that are below $80. What kind of moronic business plan would intentionally take a loss to write it off on to a larger sector of the business. Your still losing money either way. If this is how you think business works you might as well call yourself a non profit charity. This isn't a t.v. commercial. This is not their advertisement to get you to buy their other products. When I linked you the reviews there was a total of 2 reviews written in the last month, and one person bought 2. Now if you look at amount sold, they sold 78 in the last month. You are most likely to share a negative experience than a positive one. So 3.8% of the items sold left a negative review. You draw your conclusion based upon 3.8% of the sample. I think you might be jumping the gun a bit and should wait a bit more before you draw a conclusion.

[jwhuckfeldt]

I agree that we should lock this thread since you crossed the line with an insult. The boxes are not a business plan, but a product manufactured to appeal to Beckett customers. I'm not quite sure what your professional background is, but successful businesses don't thrive on nickel and diming its customers. In my professional opinion, that's what this is. These boxes are a minute portion of Beckett's profit margin when you take into account their substantial subscription base, grading and authenticating cards and memorabilia and Beckett Preferred Memberships.

I'm disappointed that you believe a company should profit on everything it sells. It's just not the case. Companies spend substantial amounts of money to improve business because those expenses are tax deductible. Products are meant to satisfy customers, instill loyalty in a customer base and to draw in new customers who are looking for a better product than the one they currently use. Not only that, but you're way off base when you say one product should not encourage the purchase of other products or services. Car sales provide service and maintenance warranties. Wine is typically reduced when bought in bulk. Supermarkets give customers discounts for purchasing certain more and more food. Stores like Kohls and Express have their own currency to entice the customer to come back. Believe me when I tell you, those businesses are far from non-profit charities.

These boxes are a product compiled together by an employee who knows that the customer is not going to get the value they initially invested. Sure, there is risk involved, but willfully deceiving your publics is not only damaging to your brand, but teeters on unethical. You feel that Beckett shouldn't make a guarantee and that the thrill of the gamble keeps customers buying. My contention is that a company should stand behind its product and build the brand at every opportunity. You feel that the profit Beckett earns from these boxes is worthwhile since only three percent of the entire population complained. Regardless if it was one complaint, the brand is tarnished, a customer will be less likely to purchase from you again and is more willing to share their distrust with negative feedback.

I see these boxes as an opportunity to generate even more business without alienating anyone. You took the extreme circumstance saying that if Beckett managed to break even, they'd lose money in the long-run and should be considered a non-profit charity. This was an intelligent debate. There was never a need to imply that my line of thinking is moronic or that I have no business savvy. My business portfolio and list of professional successes is pretty impressive.

In conclusion, that negative feedback resulted in me not buying a box. You calculated that 3.8 percent of the customer base was unhappy and that I can draw my own conclusions. My conclusions tell me that if I was influenced by that post, how many other potential customers were, too? The business manager in me wants to rectify the problem to attract more customers. When you imply that it's acceptable to lose a certain percentage of a customer base, it makes me ponder what kind of industry you're associated. And to lose potential customers over $80 is penny-wise but not dollar-smart.