Beckett Grading in Free Fall According to November GemRate Report

After Beckett's owner pleaded guilty to $2 billion in insurance fraud, what was once the biggest brand in card collecting continues its downward spiral.

Image Courtesy of Beckett

Beckett Grading Services (BGS) graded 32,000 cards in November, a 32% drop from the previous month, according to grading and population analytics site GemRate. Beckett is also down a whopping 43% year-over-year. The decline is accelerating as BGS was down just 13% year-over-year in August.

While Beckett's decline has been documented over the last two years, last month's arrest of Greg Lindberg, the founder and owner of the conglomerate that owns Beckett, has made matters worse.

Total graded items include Sports Cards, Trading Card Games, and Miscellaneous items. / Image Courtesy of GemRate

Lindberg pleaded guilty to an insurance fraud scheme that defrauded individuals and businesses of an estimated $2 billion. Court documents revealed that Lindberg took out a $100 million loan against BGS, for which the company allegedly only received $500,000.

The allegations have clouded Beckett's future, with the possibility that Lindberg will be required to liquidate his holdings and several businesses under his Global Growth conglomerate.

Beckett's fall is even more pronounced, considering it is fourth among the Big Four sports card graders. CGC Cards, which has a more robust TCG and Non-Sport grading department, is also outpacing Beckett in the sports card category and is now entrenched in the third spot behind PSA and SGC.

Sports cards and miscellaneous (F1, Nascar, Tennis) made up only 13.1% of all cards graded by CGC in November, yet it still graded 12,000 more sports cards than Beckett. Sports made up 60% of Beckett's business in November.

Beckett is now fourth in Sports Cards Graded. / Image Courtesy of GemRate

Most striking is that BGS is the only major grading company that has seen a decline in grading this year. PSA is up 12%, SGC a modest 7%, and CGC has exploded with a 32% increase year-over-year. BGS is failing in an upward cycle for the sports card industry.

While the BGS Black Label 10s and Pristine 10s still carry weight, with cards in those grades commanding a premium compared to PSA 10s, it appears Beckett is shifting its focus to grading high-quality TCG cards.

"The recent sweet spot for Beckett’s audience has been an increased focus on Black Labels as a differentiator for high-quality cards, particularly evident in TCG (One Piece and Japanese Pokémon) and Topps Now," Ryan Stuczynski, founder of GemRate, wrote via e-mail. "However, this trend dipped in November as the promotional activity from competitors increased. On the flip side, Beckett has mostly held firm on pricing until a recent Thanksgiving holiday special."

BGS has a history of grading high-value cards since its inception but is seeing a decline of "iconic" cards in their slabs.

Equal weighted average treats all cards in the Iconic Tracker the same despite the higher volume of certain cards. So share changes with cards like a 1952 Mickey Mantle have the same impact as the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. / Image Courtesy of GemRate

"We created the Iconic Tracker to help paint a picture for grading activity outside of the new releases and high volume cards," Stuczynski wrote. "This analysis has generally painted a better picture for Beckett. Recent activity suggests Beckett may also be losing some momentum through that lens.  

"In general, Beckett has lost a lot of momentum with high volume, flagship grading activity. Beckett still has some very productive niches (high-end basketball cards, TCG, Topps Now) but is now well behind SGC when it comes to grading activity for higher volume sets."