When I started this group of articles last year I fully intended to do a third part for Beckett Grading Services as soon as possible. I decided to hold off for awhile as they were still getting organized and I didn't think it would be fair if I graded them based on the limited information I could gather at that time. No longer is that a problem as BGS has taken its place near the top of all the grading services so here is part three of Grading the Graders. If you missed part one of this feature then you feel free to go back and see why I gave SGC a grade of B+. Part two followed when we looked at PSA and gave them a B-.
To aid in my research I've looked at hundreds of "slabbed" cards both online (mainly at Ebay) and offline at card shows. I had eight of my own cards graded and I decided to report back on response time, grading scale, accuracy, cost, return on investment (how much does a graded card appreciate in value), holder quality, and other incidentals (shipping, packing, customer service).
BECKETT GRADING SERVICES
When Beckett Grading Services announced their debut I was very quick to question their ethics. Was it fair that a price guide was going to be grading cards? Did it open them up to possible corruption where they could "control" the market by determining both the price of a card as well as the standards by which it would be graded? I've heard pros and cons on the subject, but I've come to the conclusion that as long as a grading company is not selling their own graded cards then there is no reason to be concerned.
RESPONSE TIME
It doesn't get any better than this. Beckett provides you with an online form where you can type in the cards you plan on sending to them and keep editing your list (over days if you need time) until you are prepared to ship. Once you're ready you just click once and your list is printed and held on their website for future reference. Pack up the cards, put the list in the box and ship it. My cards arrived in a few days and the following morning I received an email acknowledging my order had arrived and giving me a link where I could watch its progress.
I decided to use the 10
day service so now all I could do was wait. On the tenth business day
I checked the website for progress, but saw no change so I decided to call
Beckett. The person on the phone was professional and quickly let me know
that my cards were done and would be shipped that day and the information would
be online in the morning. The next morning I was greeted with a friendly
email including a link which when I followed it showed me the grades on all 8
cards, plus a link to Federal Express where I could track the shipment. My
cards arrived on schedule the following day.
Grade: A I can't imagine how it could get any
better. On time and completely tracked online.
GRADING SCALE
Beckett made a great move by creating half grades. While I'm not sure
anyone cares if their card is a 4 or a 4.5, I'm quite certain that those final
half grades are very important. The difference between a 9.5 and a 10 can
be hundreds or thousands of dollars. Just watching auctions on Ebay makes it
obvious why half grades are so important. Beckett has chosen to make their
9.5 Gem Mint and created a new category of Pristine for their 10 grade. They
also make the label on 9.5's and 10's gold so you know you're holding something
special.
Grade: A Half grades make all the difference and
the gold labels are very smart.
Beckett features a nice looking clear plastic slab, but
they don't size it to the card very well.
ACCURACY
For this category I had to include not only accuracy (with 19 grades to choose from Beckett tends to try to be very accurate), but also fairness. On the back of every BGS card is a small report card listing individual grades on cards in the categories of centering, corners, edges, and surfaces. The individual grades are a great idea, but unfortunately I believe that Beckett is actually hurting themselves with these sub grades. I've seen cards with three 9.5's and a 9 get a final grade of 9. If the low grade is important (a dinged corner for example) then the lower grade must dominate, but it gives people the idea that they got a bad deal.
The Vince Carter EX Century rookie shown above had
these individual grade on the back.
The other clear problem with Beckett is that they grade too tough. I
never thought I'd see myself write that, but I've looked at a ton of BGS cards
in the past month and they are too tough. I saw a virtually perfect SP
Kobe Bryant rookie with a tiny mark of white (needed a magnifying glass to see
it) on one of the back side edges get a 9. The individual grades were 10
for centering, 9.5 corners, 8.5 edges, and 10 surface. There is no way
that a tiny flaw on the reverse of a card should lower a cards value by hundreds
of dollars.
Grade: B- It's obvious BGS is working hard to be
the best, but if they don't lighten up then people will look to other companies
for a fairer deal.
COST
Pricing for grading is starting to become competitive and hopefully this will
lead to some better deals. For right now Beckett's prices are fair, and
since they guarantee their delivery times I believe that people are getting a
good deal. Two day service is $25 down to a 45 day service at $8 per
card. They give quantity discounts at 20 and 100 cards which means you
could get 100 cards graded for just $600 if you wanted to wait the 45 days. The
most useful service appears to be 10 days for $12.50.
Grade: A- Not the cheapest graders out there, but a
good value for guaranteed turnaround times.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Beckett grades cards so tough that they've made their Pristine 10 grade into
the Holy Grail. It used to be that collectors searched for a 52 Topps
Mickey Mantle or a T-206 Honus Wagner. These days people are using
electron microscopes to examine their newer rookie cards looking for one that
might be deserving of the elusive BGS 10. I've never seen cards get so
much above book value as I've seen while looking over some Pristine auction
results. 9.5 Gem Mint cards are also bringing in huge premiums, but
collectors have yet to give the lower grades the proper respect and considering
how tough it is to even get a Mint 9 it's only a matter of time.
Grade: A It's almost better than the lottery.
Send in 20 Vince Carter rookies and hope for a 10!
HOLDER QUALITY
The BGS holder is very attractive. I like the clear plastic, clean look
and the use of colored labels (silver for 8.5's and 9's, and gold for 9.5's and
10's), but there is one problem. I don't like that the cards are not held
more close in the slab. Look at the Vince Carter card above and you'll see
a lot of space on the right hand edge between the card and the holder. It
appears that every holder is identical, which we all know is not true of every
card these days.
Grade: B+ Top grades for overall look and colored
labels, but needs some snugness.
OTHER FACTORS
The cards came packed safely and each holder is in a nice plastic to
eliminate scratches on the slab. Shipping is the same as it seems to be
with each service we've tried.
The ability to track your orders online is unbeatable. If you plan
on sending in multiple lots of cards then this is what you want to see as you
can actually watch each order as it progresses and see the grades before you
even get the cards back. The BGS online population reports are also the
best. Every card they grade is online from the day after it gets graded so
you can see how many of your card exist at your grade level.
Grade: A Full of nice online extras make working
with Beckett the best.
SUMMARY
I'm not surprised that Beckett has come this far so fast. They've never
been a company to do anything without trying to make it best. I don't
always agree with their price guides, but I found it hard to come up with flaws
in their grading service. Hopefully collectors will start to appreciate
how difficult it is to get a high grade from BGS as that would really make it
difficult for me to send my cards to any other service.
Final Grade: A-
We're not done with grading! I've noticed a lot of secondary grading services popping up lately and decided to try one of them out. Look for our next part of this series when we get a chance to grade USA Grading. Are you using a card grading service? Which one and why? Feel free to email me or post your thoughts on our forum.
ANDY
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