Monday, March 2, 2009

Breaking Down Value Into More Realistic Terms

Rob from VOTC posted a quiz from mentalfloss.com where you had to guess the value of the card they show you. I went and did some of my own research and found out some intriguing figures for all you BV lovers out there. See, its pretty much established that BV means ABSOLUTELY SQUAT, and this is proof. 


Before moving on, please take the quiz and let us know how you did. Then come back and read.

For this, I basically looked over completed auctions and took a price that looked to be consistent. If the card was under 5 bucks, I didnt bother because I knew Beckett would be destroyed. The numbers arent even close to exact, but even with my error and favoritism, these cards are so off, its still makes my point.

Quiz:

1. Bo Jackson, 1988 Topps
Actual Value: Around a dollar
Beckett Book Value: $5
Percent Change: 500% Over value

This is pretty crazy because I would think that cards from that time period are about as worthless as they can get. The cards were ridiculously over produced, and Bo was good, but not THAT good. Some interesting info there.

2. Brett Favre, 1991 Upper Deck
Actual Value: About $5.00 (and that is surprising)
Beckett Book Value: $10
Percent Change: 200%

I think this is crazier than the Jackson because this card should not be worth $5. I personally think that recent favre news has added to the value, but regardless, we are still on triple digits in percent off.

3. Barry Sanders, 1989 Score
Actual Value: About $20
Beckett Book Value: $40
Percent Change: 200%

Barry is one of the best valued players of all time, and I am still surprised that this card sells for $20 bucks, even in perfect condition. 1989 was in the throws of over production again, but it helps that this is one of the most popular cards of all time. I would be interested to see the other cards from this set. We may be in quadruple digits in change for those, although with dollar amounts that small, who cares?

4. Lawrence Taylor, 1979 Topps
Actual Value: 7 bucks (and this one looks pretty good).
Beckett Book Value: $20 dollars
Percent change: Around 285%

Although this card is before the production boom (sort of) its ridiculously obvious that this is a hat drawn price. How did they come up with $20? Its so arbitrary!

5. Warren Moon, 1985 Topps
Actual Value: About a Buck
Beckett Book Value: $15
Percent Change: 1500%

Our first quadruple digit card, absolutely amazing that people can still use this guide with a straight face. 

6. Steve Young 1984 Topps USFL
Actual Value: 40-50 bucks
Beckett Book Value: $80
Percent Change: 60-100%

Topps USFL was not as widely produced as the normal Topps set, but that still doesnt excuse the price that its set at.

8. Jim McMahon, 1983 Topps
Actual Value: About 2-3 bucks
Beckett Value: $8
Percent Change: 266-400%

I skipped the 7 because the value was so low that the numbers would have been ridiculous.

9. O.J. Simpson, 1970 Topps
Actual Value: About $27 depending on condition 
Beckett Book Value: $80
Percent change: 296%

10. Troy Aikman, 1989 Score
Actual Value: About 8 bucks
Beckett Value: $30!!
Percent Change: 375%

11.Jim Kelly, 1984 Topps USFL
Actual Value: 46 Bucks, if it looks perfect
Beckett Book Value: $80
Percent Change: 174%

12. Emmitt Smith, 1990 Topps Traded
Actual Value: 2 Bucks
Beckett Book Value: $12
Percent Change: 600%

13. Joe Montana, 1981 Topps
Actual Value: 49 bucks
Beckett Book Value: $150 (could be 225 now?)
Percent Change: 306%

14. John Elway, 1984 Topps
Actual Value: 30-35 bucks depending on condition
Beckett Book Value: $80
Percent Change: 228-266%

16. Jerry Rice, 1986 Topps
Actual Value: 35 bucks
Beckett Book Value: $80
Percent Change: 228%

17. Phil Simms, 1980 Topps
Actual Value: 1-10 bucks?
Beckett Book Value: $12
Percent change: ??

This card was probably the most volatile card of the bunch, but honestly is 10 bucks going to make or break you? I think that Beckett may have just gotten lucky as you see the other cards here, I mean, the pricing has to be right once in a while... I guess.

18. Doug Flutie, 1987 Topps
Actual Value: Less than a dollar
Beckett Book Value: $8
Percent Change: 800%

According to Beckett, this guy who won this auction made out like a bandit.

20. Mike Ditka
Beckett Book Value: $300
Percent Change: 254%?

This card was tough because it is the oldest card in the quiz. Considering how much this guy probably paid for the grading, he probably didnt do very well on this one. According to the guide, this should be probably about where they consider high book to be in terms of a vintage card's condition, but I really dont know. Maybe someone can shed some light. 

See, ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing about BV that makes sense. Cards are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay.

16 comments:

  1. Clearly, Beckett is way off. But whether we like it or not, people still use them. I want to know what you think is the best alternative to get the value of a card? Collectors have learned from Beckett that they can get the value of any card whenever they want, even if it is very inaccurate.

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  2. You guys are beating a dead horse now.

    Even though that horse has been dead for sometime now there will always be a collector or two wanting to ride it. Nothig you can do about that.

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  3. The 1989 Score set did not produce as many cards as the other companies that year, hence the better value for that Barry Sanders.

    What year was the Mike Ditka? If it was his 1962 Topps rookie, then $118.00 wasn't too far off the mark, according to SMR that is. They have a '62 Ditka going for $145 at PSA 6. The crazy thing is, not only does Beckett suck in general, but they have no clue when it comes to graded cards. Older cards that grade PSA 8 or better go for insane amounts of $$$.

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  4. Who cares. Let people use it if they want. There are kids in the hobby too and that is all there friends and them can use then so be it. They would be the only ones that would collect the junk examples you are using lol...Again I say they are not going anywhere.
    -wheeler281

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  5. Oh, I am completely beating a dead horse, I wont deny that. I had some fun doing this, so I thought I would post to show what I found out.

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  6. Mario- It is and it isn't. For me it's not so much as Beckett Bashing, although obviously I love doing so, it's more about helping people like Josh above, who are only recently coming out of the Beckett(Sucks) coma like most of us have.

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  7. I agree with Wax Heaven. Shut the fuck up about it already. It's like saying the sky is blue or grass is green. Move on to something we don't know. Get over your Beckett/BV obsession. Jesus F'ing Christ.....

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  8. This blog was founded on the fact that Beckett is the devil, and I will not change my ways as long as they continue to function as they do. It doesnt look like things are going to change in the time they are still a company, so you may just have to ignore the Beckett posts.

    Besides, why come here if you dont want to read that stuff? I think of all topics, its my favorite to write about (duh) and people seem to respond the most to it.

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  9. I come to this blog for the same reason I go to any blog: to be enlightened and learn something. In this case, most of what I learn comes from others who post messages on your blog. As for you, Gellman, all I know is this: you hate Beckett, you hate Topps, you hate, period. End of story.

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  10. You got me pegged. I also like a lot of what UD did in the second half of the year, SPA was great, Exquisite looks to be pretty good, and Ultimate was good in my book as well. I love Topps low end stuff like Chrome and Bowman chrome, in fact its all I really bust due to economics, but you are correct, I hate their high end stuff. I guess you missed a lot of those posts because the hate posts make more noise. I understand that. But, if you dont like me, thats fine, im not for everyone.

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  11. In no way am I defending Beckett but were shipping charges considered in your eBay pricing or just closing values. Beckett takes into consideration shipping changes when "pricing" cards. That would make some of the values closer to low book but doesn't excuse some of the terrible oversights on Emmitt Smith and Warren Moon.

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  12. Shipping would only make a difference if they were low valued cards. A lot of the others would still be triple digits.

    So, you are saying that if I go to a shop to buy on beckett prices, I have to account for shipping even though it doesnt factor into my sale? that is dumb. However, i would like to see that in writing some where. Email me a scan of that policy.

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  13. Oh and you dont have to hide behind anonymity, there is nothing I havent seen before yet. I have a feeling you have a blog and are just too afraid of the ramifications if you post under your real name. That is pretty bad.

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  14. I forgot to mention that I got a few emails saying that the prices from beckett on the test are outdated. some of them are actually worth more now, according to the emails. Can anyone verify that?

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  15. how do you sign up for the box breaks? does everyone pitch in money? who do you contact?

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