Rule of Thumb - Insurance vs Market Pricing
 

Howdy Folks,

I have no interest in selling my collection, but I wonder if anyone has a suggestion as to how I might calculate a reasonable market price. I have a decent idea of the replacement / insurance value based on SMR, auction histories, and help from forum members.

Should I cut 20% of the insurance value to get a rough idea of market pricing?

As far as I understand it, you've already determined the market pricing (because you have a list of VCP, sales values, guide prices, etc). After that, you can insure for that amount or add 20% as replacement value (to buy the same thing back in the future). That's my opinion.

I assume that price guides are mainly geared toward providing baseline information for buyers. But when selling, I would expect some overhead (auction, shipping fees etc) to be normal. And if I were to sell an entire set, for instance, I would assume that the buyer would want wholesale pricing. So I'm guessing that, in the absence of selling each card individually, I would not realize the full price guide value.

And just to say it, the "what's it worth" question has always annoyed me. My dad taught me that something is only worth what someone will pay for it. And without detailed information, I know that everyone here is trying to provide helpful advice in the dark.

Anyway, thank you!

It is probably a bit too easy to generalize that a set would sell for less than it's components. Breaking a set down has usually been the way to get the best return. Not always, but usually. If you had a very rare and complete set it might be better sold together but that would be the exception not the rule. As seen elsewhere on the board in conversations, members use ebay, VCP and Google to get current prices of things. Real time and real (as real as can be) realized prices is the most accurate way to gauge value. A few years back I saw a Beckett Vintage guide that was quite accurate. I don't know if they still put it out anymore.