General Forum

Would like a reliable resource in pricing out some of the cards I have in my collection?  Is the Beckett annual price guide still a primary resource for those who have been in the hobby all these years, or do you get your information elsewhere?  If the Beckett guide is the best bet, any idea when they typically release the new edition every year?  Thanks!

In my view, Beckett's is a decent guide to letting you know the retail or maybe replacement value of a card. I use it to estimate the value of my collection. But I find it difficult to use, because it gives pretty wide ranges of prices and then asks you to calculate another wide range based on condition. So it'll say that a card is worth 3.00 to 8.00, and then I'm supposed to assess that it's in EX condition and take 40-60% of the $3 to $8 range. Not exactly precise.

Also, I could find any card listed in Beckett's for less than the price on eBay or somewhere else. Whenever my wife and daughter go to my local card shop to buy me a birthday present off my wantlist, the guy -- who I love -- tells them that my estimated prices are all wrong, all too low. But they're prices I'd SEEN on eBay at buy it now prices. The guy always "discounts" everything, anyway, off of Beckett's, but my point is that actual price doesn't necessarily equal Beckett's.

But your local card shop or Amazon is sure to have the most recent copy. Or you can just pick up one of the monthly magazines, which are less precise on the cards--lumping all commons together, for example, but list pretty much everything.

Good luck.

v3

I believe the relese date on the 2016 Baseball Guide #38 was in February of 2016. Maybe that was copyright date but somewhere around there. For other sports or depending on what you are looking for Amazon is the easiest place to look at dates. I'd assume 2017 versions would follow a year or so behind the 2016 versions.

If your collection is primarily older cards, (not produced in the last 5 years) I would not bother with a newer Beckett detailed guide and would search for an older version. From my perspective they really don't change too much year to year except for the newer cards. I suppose they may get a bump for hall of fame inductions but I'd bet if you compared one from 2010 and 2014 that not much has changed in the 1980-2000 card range. 

I picked one of the annual detailed guides up a couple years ago to help me figure out some checklists and basic prices but that was before I found this site which is so much more detailed with checklists. I did just pick up a new magazine version to help with some pricing guidance for more recent stuff but I don't think I see the value in the big volumes any more. As v3 said it is only very basic guidance as you can find most things so much cheaper on ebay or other online options. One other thought is that you can check local public libraries to see if they have some. I found my library had a recent Beckett football guide but not other sports.

For Hockey, in my neck of the woods (Western Canada) 90% of all shops I goto just use the Beckett Monthly. I keep mine on hand but only repalce it every four months, too pricey otherwise. I watch eBay and COMC and that helps me decide alot as well.

its getting harder to actually put a value (price) on a card. yes, Beckett should probably be used as a general guide source, but you can see what sales are doing filtering on Ebay( sold )>>>which in my opinion gets way over exagerated most of time anyway. I've tried to argue w/ sellers on an over priced item and state the Beckett value, and majority of the time you get the "I don't care what the book value is" answer. Some sellers put the "greed price" on items and then there the "personal, i don't want to let go price" , you get others who follow the sales on ebay and the small percentage who have a good idea on its worth and will generally work with ya..

as far as selling.. realiity is, don't let your personal emotional attachment get into the reality price of it. you can get a good idea and judgement basing off of beckett and ebay sold and go from there. Most ebayer's are getting smarter and not buying right away.. that typical card once a box break is done that would sell for a quick $100 - after a couple weeks will go for a hell of lot less (non big time player) . look at the football panini contenders-- thats always been a very hot product- and right off the bat cards were going for some good money, but now, i've been buying up all the autos for .99cent to $3.

to me-- value on newer products is always somewhat judgemental- whether you're buying or selling. just see what the market is doing and go from there.. and ebay isn't the only source out there.. you can always find cheaper out there sometimes.. Good Luck!

at the end of the day..if you bought a card for your collection and plan on keeping then who cares what the money value is. Plan on selling-- just see whats it been trending at and go from there.

I don't use any of Beckett's print items (books, mag, etc.) anymore and haven't bought any in at least a decade. I use their website and the online price guide. The online guide is updated much faster than the printed lists. Just remember that value is going to be higher than a sell price almost always. When I am looking at cards for sell, I check Beckett.com for the value and try to get the card for 30-50% of the high value if the card is NM-MT or better. Beckett has added a "Market Data Report" with their OPG's now and it shows the most recent final prices for cards that sold on ebay. That helps some too. The OPG is a bit more expensive than the magazines, but totally worth it b/c it has more current info and includes everything in their database instead of just the most recent card releases and random older sets that have seen some activity since the last magazine. The books are and excellent checklist resource (especially for ERR/COR/VAR cards), but thats about it since the pricing is already inaccurate by the time the book releases.

When I look at my collection's complete value on the Beckett website, I automatically cut it to 1/3rd as my sell-value range.

I hated Beckett's when I was visiting card shops because many would pull it out as soon as you asked for a price and give you the hi quote all the time. If they did this, or if the marked price was straight from Beckett's, I tended to walk out. I liked the stores that had countless cards for the same price, e.g. $1 box. I still hate Beckett's. I continue to do this at card shows and quickly find the sellers who will give a good deal on cards. At the card show I presently go to every so often in Ottawa, I head right to the one seller.  Only if I still have cash in my pocket after I buy from him, will I even look at other sellers' cards. By being a repeat customer, I get great deals.

For many years,I used the Sports Collectors Digest "Standard Catalogue of Baseball Cards".  It was issued once a year so the prices were set for a year and from year to year, they did not really fluctuate that much especially in the older cards, unlike Beckett's that seem to play the market. Unfortunately, they quit publishing in I believe 2011 (my most recent copy).

In assessing value, everything is a guide. You can research all sites available from Beckett's, to forums where people report prices paid, to selling sites such as ebay, sportlots, or COMC. But remember, just because someone is asking for a certain price does not make your same card worth that much. A potential buyer has the choice to walk away like I have many times.

With only collecting pro set I use the guide more for checklists, just wish someone had the 1990 pro set NFL Steve young #666 promo at Beckett price of $5 though

 If you go to a card show, most dealers will  give you 20-25% off the book depending on how much you buy.   That said, if you are selling to dealer at a show, you are lucky to get 15-30% of the high price.   They have to resell and make a profit too.

Price guides are exactly that ... guides. I still use Beckett, but I also chech with ebay, amazon, comc and a few others to see what the actuall going rate is (Factoring in shipping of course). Even after that you still can't be sure because the value is actually determined by a number of other factors. For instance Wayne Gretzkys rookie card sold for a half million in perfect condition. In this case rarity, popularity, nostagia, and the venue they card was sold at all played a part in the cards value. i.e. if no one is willing to pay what you want you might want to lower the price or if people are willing to pay almost anything you may want to hold out a little longer.