Why is the price data always a year or more behind

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Posted By: James Gallo

So we have a few "price guide" web sites and I have noticed that all the data is a year or more old. With most pre war sets this can only give you an idea of what a card might sell for today and it really doesn't provide a great reference.

So why is it so behind all the time and what use do you feel it gives buyers or sellers on the value of a given card today.

I mean especially with an ebay auction there are SO many factors that can greatly impact the price, so can having one or two price points over a 2-3 year period really be helpful.

Every time I have looked up a card I find the listed prices to be 25-50% lower then I could buy the card for. To me this means the prices are outdated or the cards have greatly increased in a short period of time. While the 2nd may be true I don't see common Cracker Jacks doubling in price over the last couple of years.

Anyway I am just venting a bit as these sites are set up as a guide, yet for that purpose they seem outdated as the information is never up to date.

James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: Eric Brehm

James -- I'm not sure what price guide web sites you are referring to. The only one I am familiar with, vintagecardprices.com (VCP), publishes eBay sales results practically instantaneously, and auction house results (REA, Mastro, etc.) within days at most after the auction ends. So if there is a sale of a particular card in one of those venues, you will see it on VCP essentially right away. Do I understand your question?

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Posted By: Bilko G

Like mentioned above, VCP is very up to date. Just wondering, what site(s) are you looking at that has these outdated prices?

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Posted By: Chris

The only other one I know of is cardpricer.com and it uses eBay data (and auction info) as well. Seems like both should be very up-to-date.

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

On VCP when it is a eBay auction it updates to our site within minutes of the auction ending automatically. All other auctions we cover finalize and post the morning after the auction is completed. I am not positive about how the other price guide handles their updates but have heard they have to update prices manually and periodically publish new price structures for sets. Ted I am sorry if I am wrong on this and sure you will chime in and get the facts straight.

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Posted By: James Gallo

Ok so an e-90-1 Cy Young PSA 4 ended on the 17th for $2050 with the BIN. It's not listed on either site. Is it because it was a BIN.

Maybe it's just the cards I look for at a given time but for everything I have looked up recently I see nothing more recent then 2006 or 2007.

Realistically unless it's a really highly traded card, with most issues are either site going to have much up to date data.

How do you use the data that is provided on the sites?

James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: andy becker

i have the same issue. i collect more obscure issues.....what i do is look for a like player common/hofer, within the same set, that hopefully has a recent sale and then extrapolate.
this works if you are not looking for a rare card within a set, say o'hara stl t206 as an example.
even VCP is just a guide and reference. you still need to know what the intricacies of the set are and you still need to use some judgment.

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Posted By: Matt

James - I thought VCP started listing BINs a few months ago; maybe that's a question for Bobby...

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

Yes we started listing BIN's at the beginning of this year. Only if they are in a regular auction format and not from an eBay store. Reason being is there is over 100,000 items listed there and if entered all into our system in would be like dump day forever on the site.

So if the card Jim is referring to is a regular auction then it should be in our site. If not he should give me a link to the auction and I will find out why.

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Posted By: Matt

I believe this is the link James was referring to:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-E90-1-AMERICAN-CARAMEL-CY-YOUNG-PSA-4-BOSTON_W0QQitemZ140233174050>

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Posted By: James Gallo

I assume it was sold out of a store.

Its just seems hard to swallow when someone quotes prices for cards that are 1-2 years old off of VCP or cardpricer. Also how often do I see people say go to one of these sites to check prices yet the data just doesn't seem to be there.

More specifically the sets I have been looking at are both Cracker Jacks, E-90, Bostons Store and W514.

James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.