Sports card values are nearly rock bottom...

Well, while I know that sports cards are really cheap right now (I stopped buying cards partly because I grew out of it a while ago, but when i stopped being so interested the prices of packs of cards was absolutely insane), hakeem has probably hurt the value of his rookie card more than anything lately. When a player retires at the peak of their career, their memorabilia seems to keep a lot more value than someone who plays past their prime.

 

Old Cards are out. So many people believe that 20 years from now, their 1990 Fleer Gary Payton Rookie will be worth $1,000. Single Cards are going to hell, Anything from 1988-94 is basically worth the lint in your pockets. The Only hot right now are the Rookie Cards from about 98-now, and anything graded by Beckett

 

BCCG is different from BGS. Both are by Beckett, but BCCG is a newer and more affordable grading service.

A BCCG 9 is like a PSA 7 or 8. So a Hakeem rookie graded BCCG 9 should be worth about $20. A PSA 9 and especially BGS 9 are worth around a hundred on ebay. BGS 9.5 go for over a thousand.

Moestavern is right about one thing. Anything from 88-94 is crap. Its all about graded cards and jersey autograph rookies. I only collect Rockets rookies now. Inserts of any players (without autos or jersey patches) are worth crap as well.

 

Yeah, I'm glad I got out of sports cards as a hobby before all this grading **** got to be the thing, its absolutely rediculous. Bring back the day when the normal cards were worth something and each card line only had one or two insert series that were 1 or 2 per box.

93-96 Basketball Cards were awesome. Companies started getting creative after a few years with really poor card designs in the previous years. Upper Deck & Fleer Ultra were great in their early Basketball years. I don't really know much about the cards and brands still around now, but I hated whenever those cards came out where they had shrink wrapping on individual cards. That crap was like $24303208420384 a pack for 7 or 8 cards.

 

I hate the fact that each major company has one bazillion different types of packs.

 

So you're saying if you pay a company more money then they'll make your card worth more money in turn?

 

No, I don't think he's saying that. If your card is rated higher (better quality), then it'll make more money.

But since a BCCG 9 is not comparable to a PSA or BGS 9, paying the difference to have your card rated by one of the two latter services isn't going to result in more dollars, it'll just result in a lower PSA or BGS grade than you'd get via BCCG, as per his example of a BCCG 9 ~ PSA 7 or 8.

In fact, if your card isn't quite as good, you could fool people into thinking it's better by having it graded with the cheaper service and thus make more money...kinda the inverse of your statement.

 

Thats what it does sound like doesn't it? BCCG is for kids basically. They grade it real easy. BGS on the other hand is the hardest grader out there.

Thing about it this way, if you have a card that you know is not in gem mint condition would you send it to BGS? Probably not. You would probably send it to BCCG.

All in all you are more right then wrong so you wont get any argument from me.

 

Yep, Beckett has a monopoly on the Grading Industry because unlike everyone else, They determine the value of the cards they are grading.

 

that akeem in the picture was a good bit offcentered, shows how easy the grading was to get a 9. i have a pretty nice collection but i stopped getting into it after all this grading stuff came out. it ruined the hobby for me.

 

don't they make too many cards to justify those high values? i've always thought those beckett numbers were illusory.

 

Amen. That's when I stopped collecting... it's now just a way to rip kids off. About 2000 insert cards in each set. It's gotten stupid. But of course the public keeps gobbling it up, so manufacturers are more than willing to keep screwing them over...

 

I don't like this either. I have about 15 unique football products coming out this year, and it's very hard to differentiate between them. I've tried to add a "brand identity" to each product, but it's pretty hard given what consumers want (and expect). So, every product has your usual assortment of vets, rookies, autographs, relics, etc. Sometimes, rookie base cards are autographs. Sometimes, they're relics. We try to mix it up best we can. However, most of the time, one product is as good as another, and I think that's both sucky and confusing. Am I in a position of power to change that? Well, technically no. But I can definitely make suggestions (and sometimes my boss listens)...

 

Woah. Time out there, buddy. My company manufactures cards based on MTO (made-to-order). Unlike other companies (like Score in the 90s), we don't print gazillions of cards and try to unload them. We only print based on sales numbers. If the numbers are low (i.e. unprofitable), we can the product. So, we build depending on what the market will bear and only on what we think we can sell. The only way to increase sales (and get me my bonus, thank you very much) is to create more products, since we can't very well go back on press and pump out more cards of a certain product if it's hot (don't ask me why). I've always been wary of our business model, but it seems to work... for the most part. Keep in mind, too, that we create products based on what the consumer wants. If there's a call for 2000 insert cards, then you better damn well believe we'll do it (cost permitting, of course). But since ya'll (I'll lump all of you together) want bigger and better every single time, you've created this madness. Sure, it has something to do with competing and wanting to trump other companies, but in the end, we listen to you, the ultimate influence. If you're sick of relic cards, we'll get rid of them. You want less insert cards? We'll do that, too. Whatever it takes to sell more cards. You vote with your dollars (and believe me, some of you have been, based on the financial pummeling card companies have taken).

 

I bid on autographed cards all the time, getting them at half value, but it takes me up to like 10 minutes just to find a card in the price guide. I'm serious. It's hard to know what card you even have anymore.

The card values are crap for the years we collected. No doubt. But that's only because you got older. It's still great to have those cards if you are a kid.

I think I'm of the opinion that autographed cards are the best way to go. One thing that will never change is an autograph. And if it does (go hologram or something), you still have a piece of history. Patches are nice, but one day they will be packing whole jerseys in the card and today's cards won't amount to jack. So I stay away from them. Plus who knows if they wore them in a game or not. They probably got pulled out of some guys closet.

 

VecseySux,

I'm not talking from a supply and demand angle. That's not my issue. Kids are gobbling up anything and everything and of course companies respond to that, but at the same time it has somewhat killed the market. There are statistics that say from the early 90's to the late 90's there was about a 33% drop in the number of dealers in the US as well as a drop in sales from $1 billion in the early 90's to 30% less in the late 90's. The early-to-mid 90's were the heyday of sports cards in terms of popularity and sales; coincidentally that was about when all the inserts, beam teams, 20 different Scottie pipsqueak cards per set, blah blah blah, started coming out. I think people soon gave up because it just got to be too much.

The fact that your company reacts to demand means you're one step behind the curve. What I mean by this is that it's a situation of "uh oh, the market's oversaturated and people aren't that interested anymore, what do we do now? let's cut back on the inserts, maybe that's what's driving them away!" Are people going to flock back now? I doubt it... Do the manufacturers have a responsibility to the hobby for their own self-preservation, if nothing else? Or is it all about short-term profit?

Anyway, I guess I was a bit harsh pointing the finger exclusively at the companies because the consumer is to blame as well.

This reminds me... how many of you always wanted somebody's rookie card as a kid, but could never afford it, but now that you may have enough money to get it, it's not really a priority? I always wanted Jordan, Hakeem, Magic, Bird, and Barkley rookie cards, but I really don't have the urge to buy them now. Is it because I've soured on card collecting or is it because I've got better things to do with my money? Hmm... dunno, but the interest level just isn't there anymore.

As a side note, the comic book industry has somewhat gone through the same phase, but it appears to be more cyclical.

 

I used to collect a lot of basketball cards back from like 96-99 I have a bunch of complete sets. I just lost intrest after a while.

Now the only cards I collect are Carolina Hurricanes cards (I live in Raleigh) I buy the cards as singles off of ebay and then get most of them signed (except some of the inserts that look really cool). I dont buy autographs unless they are ones that come out of a pack.
Getting the autograph in person is so much more fun.
My favorite card has to be my Ron Francis signed rookie card

 

Despite popular belief, that is exactly what they are trying(but failing) to do. There were well over a dozen card grading services out there, 3 of which were respected more than others(BGS, PSA, SGC) where Beckett was the cream of the crop of all of the grading companies, what reason did they have to come up with a more "affordable" grading system?? MONEY. You pay them the same amount of money and they'll grade more of your cards on a lesser grading scale thus making your cards appear in better shape.

My problem with this whole grading scheme(and it is a scheme) is that there is no single standard like there used to be where it was up to the collector to determine the price whereas now the grading company is the price dictator.

 

It is just sad the way things are now. Over 5$ a pack and you only get 8 cards or some BS like that. It is not even fun anymore.

When I was a kid I used to collect the crap out of baseball/football/basketball cards and now I have all these boxes of worthless cards. The cards worth anything are these special insert cards, it just sucks. Sure the cards were not as nice back in 1990, but at least they were only 25 cents per pack and you got a piece of gum (Topps and Donruss).