Will the prices come back down? At some point, yes. Will they be back to pre covid pricing? Absolutely not!!
Some hinted at understanding the process. You had a work stoppage. You had a worker(grader) shortage prior to covid. You had a ridiculous back log. You have new people(graders) that need to be trained and established to be on their own during a back log.
Do not assume everyone is submitting cards like the rest of us. You have people that have deep pockets that have nice cards. Someone submitting 100-500 cards at $125 a card is not unreasonable. People/businesses have that kind of money and need the cards graded at that level to make money before card(s) or player become less desirable. There are people that crack 5 to 10 cases of bowman and other high end product that yield many cards that have high dollar potential. There are people out there that still have stacks of Mike Trout rookie cards that are raw.
Are Beckett, PSA, SGC and others taking advantage of the pandemic? Perhaps to a degree. But those that NEED their cards graded during a backlog/grader shortage can still get that done while they are playing catch up.
Have all the companies put the people building graded sets and player collections together out of a chance for low dollar cards to be graded? Absolutely!
As someone who took a break from grading and Beckett for years, it is making me really not want to do it anymore. I question priorities with Beckett as I have for years. They need to get the back log down and then provide the service that they once had. Grading, Registry and reasons to have the registry. Things do not get updated as frequently as they say. To not want to put the effort in to try to accept cards graded years ago that got lost in the change over. People out there have lots of cards that will not be accepted into the registry because info/data was lost when they changed systems. I have a coupe dozen cards from one set that can no longer be in my registry because they lost the serial numbers and info. They have stated in the past that they will never accept them again even if we show proof of scans and info for them. I still have receipts from 15-20 years ago of the cards being graded with the info. Not a good practice to not want to put the effort in to making things right on a screw up on their part.
Fix the issues with the prizes. You have had "coming soon" for registry prizes for over 10 years. Maybe a little less after there was nothing for a couple years. There were once decent prizes. Nothing great, but it gave people a chance to work for something and spend money with you. Why not reward?
all this along with the ever evolving world of collectables. Adding comics, coins and non sport demand over the last 15 years has really taken the focus off the grading sports cards for them.
Keep in mind, they are a business to make money. Sometimes money makes more sense than customer service and customer satisfaction. Yes many people have left, but there are too many others that are there to take the place of those that left.
Some hinted at understanding the process. You had a work stoppage. You had a worker(grader) shortage prior to covid. You had a ridiculous back log. You have new people(graders) that need to be trained and established to be on their own during a back log.
Do not assume everyone is submitting cards like the rest of us. You have people that have deep pockets that have nice cards. Someone submitting 100-500 cards at $125 a card is not unreasonable. People/businesses have that kind of money and need the cards graded at that level to make money before card(s) or player become less desirable. There are people that crack 5 to 10 cases of bowman and other high end product that yield many cards that have high dollar potential. There are people out there that still have stacks of Mike Trout rookie cards that are raw.
Are Beckett, PSA, SGC and others taking advantage of the pandemic? Perhaps to a degree. But those that NEED their cards graded during a backlog/grader shortage can still get that done while they are playing catch up.
Have all the companies put the people building graded sets and player collections together out of a chance for low dollar cards to be graded? Absolutely!
As someone who took a break from grading and Beckett for years, it is making me really not want to do it anymore. I question priorities with Beckett as I have for years. They need to get the back log down and then provide the service that they once had. Grading, Registry and reasons to have the registry. Things do not get updated as frequently as they say. To not want to put the effort in to try to accept cards graded years ago that got lost in the change over. People out there have lots of cards that will not be accepted into the registry because info/data was lost when they changed systems. I have a coupe dozen cards from one set that can no longer be in my registry because they lost the serial numbers and info. They have stated in the past that they will never accept them again even if we show proof of scans and info for them. I still have receipts from 15-20 years ago of the cards being graded with the info. Not a good practice to not want to put the effort in to making things right on a screw up on their part.
Fix the issues with the prizes. You have had "coming soon" for registry prizes for over 10 years. Maybe a little less after there was nothing for a couple years. There were once decent prizes. Nothing great, but it gave people a chance to work for something and spend money with you. Why not reward?
all this along with the ever evolving world of collectables. Adding comics, coins and non sport demand over the last 15 years has really taken the focus off the grading sports cards for them.
Keep in mind, they are a business to make money. Sometimes money makes more sense than customer service and customer satisfaction. Yes many people have left, but there are too many others that are there to take the place of those that left.