Clown on ebay

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

It still amazes me that Beckett isnt the leader when i first came back to the hobby. Beckett was the authority and the only name I even recognzied. They must of dropped the ball early on as they were positioned very easily to be the leader in third party grading due to the name recognition already and reliance on their publications by all the card collectors......the story of how PSA swooped in and took most of the market share must be an interesting one...

I don't think PSA swooped in so much as BVG never really established itself as a major competitor.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I don't think PSA swooped in so much as BVG never really established itself as a major competitor.

PSA started out as an authenticator. Beckett started out as a price guide.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Leon

PSA started out as an authenticator. Beckett started out as a price guide.

Yes, and Jake presumably was talking about the authentication market. To say PSA swooped in on Beckett is wrong. Beckett failed to establish itself, in my opinion anyhow.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Right but Beckett is the name who is putting prices on cards....i do think others would of jumped aboard with them as a a grading authority....i understand that a coin grader thats established can also do cards as well which may of been the case with psa.

but the name beckett was really end all be all for me growing up and im sure others as well...

[Peter_Spaeth]

Can't just rely on name. Gotta deliver the better mousetrap.

[botn]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Can't just rely on name. Gotta deliver the better mousetrap.

Right. Pricing and grading are two different things. Look at what happened to SCDA. When Beckett first started grading collectors turned to them very quickly for the exact reason Jake pointed out--name recognition. Shortly after that word got out about the ease with which they would grade sheet cut cards which essentially is the same thing as trimmed cards. Not sure that was ever something they were able to resolve to win back people's confidence. Additionally, nobody ever knew the qualifications, names or experience of this new grading service's graders which is also a problem if you want to establish yourself as a leader.

[JustinD]

I like Beckett, but I think that what is really holding them back is the insistence to not can the crappy BCCG program.

I have no idea why they would hold onto that, when honestly a BCCG graded card in my mind essentially is worth less than ungraded. The system is asinine and the grading is poor. I assume they have completely different folks doing BCCG as it follows NONE of the quality of BVG.

I think if they ended it and pretended it never existed in the first place it would up the trust in their product greatly.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Can't just rely on name. Gotta deliver the better mousetrap.

PSA with the SMR even with all of its faults is now an authority in some sense for pricings...so you can do grading and pricing...its goes together..

[botn]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

PSA with the SMR even with all of its faults is now an authority in some sense for pricings...so you can do grading and pricing...its goes together..

SMR came after grading because there was no guide for values of graded cards. Point is that PSA came in with a qualified grading team first...boy was that hard to type...ugh. The company was known for their authentication services not their publication service. HUGE difference.