any time a card is “pulled”, graded and auctioned without seeing the light of day, there is tons of room for corruption. I have to agree with Golden’s complaints here. just because Golden is shady doesn’t mean Topps is not also shady.

Haha... to set the record straight Ken Goldin didnt buy or own PSA Grading . Collectors Universe, the parent company of PSA, years ago acquired Goldin Auctions and has since sold Goldin to eBay about 1 year ago.

Great video. In addition to what you highlighted, Ken looks even more ridiculous, as the family wasn't forced to use Fanatics. allegedly talked with at least two non-fanatics auction houses (just not Goldin), before consigning with Fanatics.

Great video,and the Apu analogy was spot on 😂 .

1st i didnt know golden bought psa - so its like PWCC all over again ! golden bought psa, now psa is not doing as well as it should due to the recession, now they are in bed with ebay - (aside - did you know on ebay you have to deal with psa for returns ? you have to email (imagine that email) psa and hope they grant you a return (there is no "NOT AS DESCRIBED" option for psa returns on ebay !) end aside - and are taking over ebay (kinda like PWCC was doing years ago) and eventually ebays direction and PWCC-i mean golden- i mean psa will do something shady and will be get ebay in trouble, AGAIN. especially when ebay becomes partially culpable for something that psa does but on the ebay platform.

Ever since Goldin bought PSA, I don't trust PSA grading. E.g., PSA gives a low ball grade on a vintage card and what prevents them from telling Goldin that this card's grade is lower than it should be, thus Goldin could buy the card, crack the slab and have it regraded. This is a perception I have and part of the reason I refuse to use PSA services anymore.

HGA is done. I have reached out a few times and nothing. Our channel actually did videos on them and they fell apart. They were caught multiple times lying with proof and all else was just bad at the end

Haha a pleasant surprise to see my comment as a topic for the video, thanks Simon. I should have mentioned I'm Australian, not American. Over here, soccer has become a much more popular youth sport and the kids repping merch of their favourite players ⚽️🎽

That is the single dumbest statement I have ever seen or heard. Wax was opened and singles got out into the market long before breakers existed. The only people advocating for breakers are breakers and manufactures or basically the ones making the money off of it.

There’s so many differentials in this discussion for long term growth. In my opinion, which is from collecting soccer as a kid in the late 80’s to 90’s and collecting again recently there’s factors like how Europeans have historically collected cards, which is mainly in sets, the massive lack of availability of hobby product (there’s been no lack of accessible low end), grading having very little relevance to collecting or the accessibility of it, stickers likely being the #1 products (again collected in sets in books), the mentality of spending thousands on cards just isn’t a thing we do and the whole soccer fan scene - club/player rivalry is massive. Plus the added fact players are spread across vast networks of countries, leagues and clubs. Transfers can drastically change a players career especially for those who ‘prospect’ rookie cards, example in point, Sidney Raebiger. Finally, I live pretty close to the fanatics stores but I won’t be going, partly as I mainly collect vintage and haven’t bought a new Topps soccer product for well over a year now (for various reasons). I agree though, the passing trade is the goal, similar to how breakers on TikTok are successful, but I’m not sure that can sustain long term growth. Over the past 2-3 years the UK soccer market has become completely saturated with soccer cards (especially champions league sets) and for a customer base that hasn’t really been sustainable since the covid boom. It’s actually got a bit boring. In summary who knows but I don’t think a store in London will make much difference to any long term changes in soccer collecting. If you wanted more ramblings I can chat on IG 😂.

I think many people underestimate how big a company Panini already was before they came into the US card market in 2009. European soccer fans, and soccer fans globally, have always been involved in collecting, it’s just that they’ve collected stickers instead of cards. Panini was able to acquire the NBA license in 2009 because most American sports card companies went bankrupt as demand for cards plummeted in the early 2000s and Topps and Upper Deck weren’t able to outbid Panini. Demand for Panini soccer stickers remained strong during that time with Messi and Ronaldo emerging as superstars. There’s just not a historical precedent for cards in Europe, the same way their isn’t a precedent for stickers in North America. It’s hard to get financial data as they are a private company based in Italy, but in 2018 they stated they made over a $1 billion in revenue and attributed most of that to soccer stickers for the 2018 World Cup. A 2018 article estimated Topps as a company to be valued around $400 million and stated that the candy portion represented around 70% of that valuation and the sports cards around 30%. That would mean $120 million valuation for Topps cards and yearly revenues some fraction of that valuation number. Simply put, cards in general were a much smaller business at that time compared to what Panini was doing with stickers. A lot has changed since 2018, and it’s possible cards could become more popular among soccer collectors, but I’d imagine stickers are likely to remain the predominant collectible in Europe. And even if cards do become more popular, I think they will not have the same hype and pump and dump euphoria we’ve seen in the US. The average European is much less interested in maximizing profits and hustling to make money compared to North Americans, especially compared to those in USA.

Yes. I said the same thing on Cards on the Table when PSA announced they were opening a facility in Germany and again when Fanatics said they were opening the store in London. The soccer card market stands to gain the most, and specifically in Europe. IF Europe takes off with cards, that will serve as a FOMO catalyst in the US for more people to go after soccer cards too. But it all begins in Europe, and it all depends on the big companies getting a footprint over there.

They would just move everything to another company. 🙄

I remember the hobby before these and other fk boy breakers came along. The hobby was better off. Stuff still surfaced. Wouldn't be the end of the world. Also if you wanna support a breaker, support Chris Justice.

I find it problematic if they have enough unopened inventory of high demand products that they could move the secondary market prices. That means they are either getting unfair pricing, early access, or some other buying advantage. Which is bs.

wait, unrelated question… why is that anthony davis not a TRUE rpa?

I’ve never seen someone make a video about something they are so un informed about. Did you do any research aside from visiting their website 😂. Backyard breaks is by far the largest spender in the market, if backyard were to go down (which it won’t), many people that are able to buy and sell cards for a living would have to go find a regular job.

2:46 this video seems really meandering and aimless, i wish youd get to the meat of the issue

I dont know what they did

They need to be shut down, cancelled whatever!

They are still streaming on WhatNot, backyard kicked me out because I asked them about it

I've worked in industries and have seen businesses get their authorizations, accounts, etc pulled. There was no difference after they were unable to operate. The money just flowed to others.

who the f cares

Did you ever work in IB or corp finance ?

Not really that difficult if you have the money and time. Before the Eagles went to Hurts' 1st SB I bought a few of his Contenders and Optic Rookie Ticket Autos including a few graded between $175-$350/ea during pre-season. Sold them all for a nice healthy 250% profit after fees. Did I get lucky? Yes and no, I gambled on Hurts due to them acquiring Brown but I figured making double was doable because Hurts numbers should be top 5 and they should make a run for the SB. I was able to capitalize because at that time I had the money to buy them and was able to sit on them for 5 months. 36% isn't anything to sneeze at when most are hard pressed to get 10-20% which still isn't bad in volume. Others are right though; you would have made more with a fixed price instead of an auction.

I wonder had you crossed it to PSA and got a 9 if it would have been sold for more or less

3:50 MY guess ~ $1500 - $2000 edited for further comment yours sold for $565 BUT dec 17 2024 probenstien 2012-13 National Treasures #151 Anthony Davis RC Patch /199 BGS 9.5 w/ 10 AUTO SOLD $2500 so bad move selling in auction ... probably would have made 2k more if BIN best offer with a bit of patience ...

bought some cheap AD and KAT graded rookie cards summer 2024 yours is a killer though

its really hard to make money on cards. Someone like SCV Sports cards makes money, but he has 70 auctions a week. He is making money on scaling margins

I completely agree with your take and think about this often. It seems most KZbinrs/ IG influencers present their profits on cards without portraying shipping costs, taxes, and fees. Even when grading costs are presented they fail to mention PSA collectors club costs, shipping, shipping supplies, etc. When you take an honest look, you can be very right about a card and still lose money or have a slight profit margin when all costs are taken into account. Given this, do you recommend any strategies to minimize these considerations?

Question wouldn't this constitute as a monopoly? And if I was panini I'd keep going and do a team up with upper deck.

so fanatics has a 600 million dollar line of credit ... topps sold for $500 million in 2022 ... fanatics has smart people working for them ... topps does NOT topps had the opportunity to match fanatics offer and said (if i remember correctly) they did not have the money ... how can an organization that has been around since 1938 get undone by a company that had its inception in 1998 ? they had management & ownership that did not grow with the time ... they were outdated and did not reinvent themselves and my point about the 600 million fanatics had in working capital/ credit line, if topps would of had that they probably could of matched fanatics offer which both the nfl and nba offered topps , if i recall correctly ....

600 million petty cash not bad

Great video!

what happened to Sasha t?

Well I guess it’s my 1st and last time grading with Beckett, it literally took them 2days to get my cards and immediately charge my CC for the total that was December 26 and now January 25th it’s still only shows invoice created, granted I choose the cheapest $18 but if you already charged me then start servicing my cards don’t be shady in charging me and literally throw my cards on the floor till your ready to even start researching them or grading them. I thought I was getting better experience with Beckett than with PSA but now it’s starting to feel that the best choice is PSA for me cause atleast they don’t charge till my cards have been graded and slabbed up. Beckett just seems like a money hungry greedy organization that only has Black Label goin for it. Honestly I truly hope PSA does something about getting Black Label grade it essentially kill off Beckett if they did that

buyers primium plus 20 shipping and 7 for payment fee plus tax i just won a 185 Dollar card and ended paying almost 300 i Will never Buy there again.

Take a respected company with great name recognition and call it something else. Great plan.

You still gave beckett too much credit for that email. I saw that email and even though I read the words Online Price Guide I didn't connect that together with the acronym because it was just sorta at the end of a sentence with nothing else indicating it.. I now know what the OPG is from your video hahaha.

BGS is the worst, i have used every single grading company and they are just slow and not helpful at all. people like that they grade 'hard', but it is just dumb because there is no grading standard. i am kinda done with grading in general after using them all, id rather just throw it in a One-touch....

I think you're nitpicking on a clearly automated minor email - let's wait for some actual changes before fudding

Beckett is the prime example of how broken this whole hobby is, they’re expensive, have zero guarantee, are slow, use dodgy practises, are out of touch & customer service is poor YET people still use them! But it’s not just Beckett, this can be expanded to how PSA, Topps, Panini… all of them treat the massively gullible customer base that’s evolved in to ‘the hobby’ Still, I don’t grade cards or collect much modern so guess I should just stay out of it, fun to watch though - keep up the good breakdowns 👍

man i love BGS and... was hoping better future but this.... so bad...

i have been using beckett for about 10 years and i have had SO many issues with them ... i can tell you that becketts main issue is their culture ... and culture is a top down process ... so once i heard the ceo didn't change i knew their culture would not change , then right on cue with their poor communication style (part of their culture). beckett website has always been the most convoluted , confusing and miscommunicated apparatus i have ever seen. and that has not changed obviously. their ceo is the same and i wonder if their regional sales managers have changed ? if the ceo is the head, the regional sales managers are the arms. AND THEY ARE HORRIBLE ! anything that goes wrong with an order you have to go through your regional sales manager , this ONE PERSON ! so micro managed and small time. when i talked with them i almost feel like im talking to the owner of beckett, they talk with so much authority, like, the buck stops here ...

FIRST

Panini is investing into their Blockchain and NIL products

Appreciate your take on this one Simon. I've been starting to look at soccer cards, having young kids and seeing the explosion in interest, feels like this could be another growth area.. (although I'm sure there is already tonnes on interest there)

What about Andrea the Giant?

Cough cough, Ultimate Warrior would like a word with u! 🤷

U just described Pokemon, lmao😂