Checkoutmycards.com, Their Changes and Their Ways of Doing Business

Lately it seems that Checkoutmycards.com the website that acts as a middlemen for sports cards sellers are implementing new rules. For anybody that collects baseball, basketball or whatever sports cards they should know about this site by now.
So recently they have decided the information they have been giving out from Beckett should no longer be free. I understand that nothing in life is free except for the garbage on the streets. I also understand that Checkoutmycards.com is a business that needs to make money.
I also understand that both Beckett and COMC are businesses that needs to make money and that when you're a businessman your going to try and maximize your profits. I really do believe that Beckett is trying to force COMC to pay them for the rights to use the information, nothing wrong with that, as I have said before, nothing is free.
What I don't understand is why is COMC catering to a business that is now considered obsolete? Not too many collectors use Beckett's prices as the means to value a card. The value of a card is how much it has sold for and that is usually found on ebay. Also the news of implementing the rules to charge their customers to pay up for this information has led to a huge fiasco on their blog.
There a few things that COMC needs to understand. Nowadays there are not too many options in selling and buying sports cards online. COMC and eBay are the two largest companies, there is no need for Beckett to get involved.
Another thing COMC needs to understand. People will always bitch, whine and complain. You can never satisfy everyone and you know what? Let them bitch, whine and complain. As I've stated before there are really only two options. Sell on eBay and deal with all the deadbeat bidders which eBay loves and cradles. Or deal with COMC and their rules and fees.
Now COMC has claimed that they're trying to create a database for previous sales. Why are they creating more work and headaches for themselves? Not to mention they are opening a huge can of worms. The easiest solution in my mind is this. Get rid of Beckett once and for all and free yourselves from their contract or blackmailing
COMC has to grow as a company and throw out that philosophy that they can satisfy all collectors. Its never going to happen. They really think the buyers and sellers that use their site really loves them? Even though they're using COMC a lot of users still don't like them, what does that tell you?
Now you can call me a pessimistic SOB, but this is what I truly believe in. You can never satisfy all collectors, you can never satisfy all people on this earth. If COMC wants to implement rules/ fees just do it. eBay has grown into a huge company, do you see them catering to people that whine and cry? They don't, people hate them, but you know what? People still use eBay.
So to COMC my conclusions is this. Grow a pair of you know what and stop bending over backwards for everyone. Remember there are only two options to buy and sell sports cards. COMC and eBay.

The future of autographs in baseball cards

So whats the future of the baseball card hobby? Will the cards we have now go up in value? Will new collectors flock to get that new shiny baseball cards? Or perhaps nobody will care anymore and baseball cards will become a thing of the past only to be forgotten?

I hope that last one won't come true but sometimes I feel we are on the verge. It seems that every time you turn around another shiny card of the same player is been produced. Players like Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and other stars are signing cards left and right. Its watering down the collectibility of baseball cards. I guess you can also say the same thing about any other sports cards.

So here is what I think is going to happen in the future. Collectors who collects cards by players will start seeing a softer market on their cards. Every time a set is made we have at least one autographed card in that set dedicated to a player if not more. Now baseball card companies produces multitudes of products each year. If this process is repeated we have at least twenty autographs per player, per year.

Now for the people who buys to resell cards I think now might be the time to abandon ship. Not to say there is no money to be made but if older cards keep dropping in value your really just flushing your money down the toilet. Cards from years ago unless severely short printed will probably drop tremendously in value. Now of course there are certain players who just don't sign much and their cards are more expensive. Having said that, this could be an insight and a possible solution to fix the future of our hobby.

When something is limited it makes it more collectible. There is a reason why cards from the 90's are not worth the paper they are printed on. Its because it was overprinted and soon the autographed card market might follow suit. So the simple solution would be to limit the amount of autographed cards.

Perhaps they should limit each player to only one autograph per set per year. I can understand rookies having having multiple autographs across each product since they're still unproven. But the overabundance of not only star player autographs are killing the hobby. I don't mind a great player signing cards but sometimes enough is enough. And we have absolutely no need for players who are doing horrible in the major leagues to sign filler cards.