Site Forum

Beckett used to be good- back when they had articles. Now it's price guide and a few pages of people whining about how cards aren't selling for what they used to. Back in the day, though, they actually cared about advancing the hobby and about the hobby itself- now all they care about is money.

I was printed in Beckett Basketball (it was monthly) 6 times in the Reader's Write section, and twice in Beckett Racing- once for winning a contest, once in relation to a diecast promo. The latter may have been in Die Cast Digest, I can't remember anymore.

Now, they don't cover racing at all, and the Reader's Write section was ditched sometime between 2006-12. I stopped reading it in 2006, bought an issue when I came back to the NBA in 2012, but it was not worth the money. I still page through a few times a year at the local Barnes & Noble but it hasn't been worth buying again.

I have a complete collection of Beckett Racing- one of only two magazines I ever completed the run on, all but issue #4 were aquired new- and a run of Beckett Basketball covering 1996-2006 and more than a few earlier than that as well, including the first 12 issues. Unfortunately most of them are lost somewhere in my storage unit, but I do know where a good stack of them are, and will be getting the covers scanned and posted at some point. And I have other publications as well...

Unfortunately one of the issues that's missing is the first I had a letter in- that was a big deal for me, my first time being published in a national magazine- something I can say has now happened almost 2 dozen times, most recently in December 2017's Hemmings Motor News- but the first is special. I remember the cover was mostly yellow with Allen Iverson on it. I think it had lightbulbs spelling out words or something behind him- I have not seen my copy in over a decade so I can't really remember anymore. Even though the last time I wrote a letter to Beckett was probably 2005, it's still where I've been published the most, though Scale Auto magazine only trails it by one.

One thing good I can say about Beckett's forum is that my first trade on the internet happened there, back in the year 2000. I was only 15 at the time. Since then I've done around 500 online trades- the exact number is unknown. I was well over 100 on the gone and missed Trader Retreat, but I think it was actually over 200- I know I mailed cards to 5 of the 7 continents while I was a member of that forum. (missed South America somehow, and Antarctica of course). I won "Member of the Month on there at some point as well- sure wish I knew how to screencap back then because I would have had my award to show to this day. It was the forum I was the most active on trading wise, although time wise I've spent more time on the Trading Card Database than any other card site. (Even my own) I've done about 150 on NUTS, the NASCAR card forum, and would still be on there if I could get my computer to let me log in there- I need to try with Google Chrome, but havn't gotten a chance yet. I've done 4 on SportsCardForum and I did one on the now-gone Non-Sports Card Forum. I did some on Yahoogroups that may or may not still exist, but no one uses, and I did at least a couple on an all-NBA forum that I can't remember the name of...but I have a note somebody wrote me saying "Thanks for another trade to get the new forum up and running"- unfortunately he didn't name the forum. I've done about 2 dozen with various card bloggers, most of which were more blind trades than picking specific cards, which is really fun- and I've done probably about 75 on here. Not all of them were entered into the trading format or even mentioned publicly. Quite a few were done before the trading format was even implemented. I've done about 10 with Sean Norris alone. I've also done a couple via Facebook card groups. I don't have an exact number for any of them.

Getting back to my point, even though my first trade was on there, I only ever did two trades on Beckett's forum. I don't remember the first one, but I know my Rik Smits finals jersey card came from there- at the time it arrived, one of my favorite cards.

I only remember the number because I quit Beckett's forum around 2003. Not a big scene type of quitting that you see from people who just want to call attention to themselves- I just stopped going there. I had found Trader Retreat and it was so much better that I didn't have much need to go back to Beckett's forum- it was also kind of maddening with the inane, juvenile comments that were posted on a regular basis, and unlike this forum and every other one I spend time on, it wasn't really true collectors making up the majority of it. It was mostly flippers- who I have no use for. There were probably some good people on there when I stopped reading/posting, but it wasn't worth wading through all the garbage to find them. When I was bored one day a few years ago (before I found the Database) I tried to log into the forum but they told me they didn't have any record of my email ever having had an account. I actually asked! Obviously untrue- I've had the same email since the time I was on there as a teenager. With enough digging I could probably still turn up some notifications from them, as I never delete anything. I decided that although the date on the calender had changed, their ways hadn't, so I just didn't bother going back.

I may not have a lot of good things to say about them from what they pulled with another site that sells cards, but I used to buy Beckett magazines and we subscribed to the Hockey one from about 1998 to 2001. (We found it better for us as collectors to get a copy at a shop - the ones we usually got in the mail were thrashed by time they hit the PO Box.) Billy is correct - they used to put out a quality magazine. I think they want you to visit the website more these days. Heck, all the articles hit the site more than a month before it hits the magazine. And I do visit their website often (multiple times per week). I don't live there like here. :)

Phew, that's some exhausting reading ! lol

Actually I do most trading [here] and selling/buying on eBay and Sportslots, or to individuals in need. Most of my transactions are based on supply and demand, I don't adhere strictly to price, more what I need or is needed.

I get prices strictly by whats selling, I will look for member generated prices as well on here.

OK,OK back to Price Guides, back in the day I used all of them when setting up prices for shows etc. However recently I haven't even come close to a price guide.

SO, here are my questions? 1] I would like a good Price Guide that covers ALL sports. 2] I would like a Non-Sports Price Guide as well. ANY SUGGESTIONS, PRICES, RELIABILTY? 

I would appreciate your input. TU, ~BOB~

Wish I could help you on those questions, but I haven't seen price guides, even Beckett's in quite some time.  I think its been 2-3 years since I've seen one, and it was just a baseball one.  I wonder if the best course would be finding an annual price guide/catalog that people have talked about on here before.  That is if those are even made anymore.

I never even looked at the price guides when I did get them. I've never cared what cards sell for, I'm a collector. When I'm buying I decide on a card by card basis if I feel the price is good or not. If it is, I buy it, if not, I don't. Simple as that. 

I bought them for the articles and the annual to use for checklists. This website has made the latter obsolete. And we have so many cards they don't even acknowledge exist!