Posted By:
Eric BrehmI use both Sports Market Report (SMR) and vintagecardprices.com for graded cards. SMR prices are probably based on a larger data base, and are good for assessing long term trends, but they often lag behind when there are fundamental changes in the market. vintagecardprices is good for assessing current market prices, particularly with relatively scarce cards that are thinly traded and don't have an extensive track record of prices that can be averaged.
In any case, SMR is important because people do in fact use it as a reference point, for better or for worse, when making buying decisions; it is to a large degree self-fulfilling prophesy.