Which price guide do you guys feel is most accurate
 

I was wondering which price guide the majority of you guys use to figure out the value of pre war and vintage graded PSA and SGC cards. I noticed the majority of prices in the SMR are way lower than what ebay and other auction houses are listed at.

i use the old Sports Collectors Bible!:p But most accurate...that'd be alan hagers book!

Buy a subscription to VCP (vintagecardprices.com) and get a history of actual sales of graded cards. I find this history of actual sales to be the most accurate and reliable.

VCP is the most accurate. SMR is usually way too high or way too low.
James

^^^^^This..
VCP is the only way to go.

Not a price guide but I always use completed auctions on eBay. IMO pretty hard to get more accurate than that.

The free option: http://www.cardtarget.com


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I use completed sales on ebay and Google.

I agree with most here, SMR is a long way from reality. I use VCP and completed eBay auctions.

I just go by what the market bares by using ebay comps

I would like to have a dollar for every thread pertaining SGC and PSA :(

Investors use guides and collectors use their own reasoning of how bad they want it as a guide doesn't matter.

Very true!

+1 for all we cheapos. And feebay sales. Only look at SMR for giggles.

Any thoughts on Beckett?

Ebay and completed auctions sales.

I completely disagree. I am a collector, not an investor. I have been in this hobby for over 30 years. I have bought lots and rarely sold anything.

Just because I put a lot of money into this hobby does not mean I'm willing to overpay...not in the least. In fact, I feel that my long term commitment to this hobby and my patience as a collector entitle me to better-than-average prices on items I want. That is how I approach my buying. So I always want to know previous recent selling prices at auction to ensure I'm not overpaying. The fact is that most material (even tough pre-war stuff) becomes available at least once a year and often more frequently. If I can't get a price at or below average in one auction, I'll let it go and wait for the next one.

I know many collectors who share this approach.

Cheers,
Blair

They are probably busy suing someone for having a checklist.:rolleyes:

I understand your point of view Blair. However over paying today is tomorrow's value. I'm like you with being a collector for 30 plus years and I have over paid on many items, at that time. I won a Zeenut DiMaggio with coupon for 7 times the book price back in 1996 and the following week the SCD even wrote about it.

The next couple years the book kept raising the price on it to where it was what I had paid for it (Hi to Bob Lemke) if you are reading. Heck, I over pay for nice stuff every time I see Terry Knouse as its rare. Now, I haven't pulled the trigger with BMW yet. Lol

If I'm reading you correctly Blair, you do the "shot gun" approach where you bid on many items and then what's still at a fair price for that time you buy it. I do the same thing as my taste are all over the board.

Standard catalog and completed eBay sales

ebay

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I used to do completed eBay sales, then moved on to ListingHistory (2+ years of eBay sales history), and now do VCP exclusively - mostly for ease of use, the addition of auction house data, and the added ability to keep track of my collection.

I feel that eBay is too limited with only 90 days of sales history. ListingHistory is much better with over 2 years' worth of data, but it's much more difficult and time consuming to navigate and research compared to VCP.

I also tried cardtarget, but didn't like it.

Just a difference of opinion here but on most items I don't really care what they sold for 2 years ago. 90 days is fine for me in terms of relevance. I also use Price Realized for truly special items. They're great for non-card items too.

Price Guides, just data to be manipulated

arms length?
 

I use ebay and pwcc auction history. Lower value cards are probably pretty good measures of value, though I get worried when I see the exact same card re-sold within a month. PWCC seems to indicate sales that fell through with a zero sold price.

While I agree that stuff that sold 2 years ago isn't entirely relevant, I believe that anything within the past calendar year is relevant, which makes 90 days not enough. In many cases, there won't even be a single sale within the last 90 days, which makes it difficult to ascertain market value. For truly special/rare items that only come up for sale every few years, that's when sales from even 10 years ago could help with determining market value.

In short, if I were collecting post-war stuff that has dozens of recent sales, then 90 days would probably be fine. However, I collect mainly pre-war, and 90 days of data doesn't always cut it for me.

Never heard of PriceRealized until just now - going to check it out.