Unpopular opinion on VCP an other "comp apps"

[UKCardGuy]

I've become a big fan of VCP. As others have said, it's a useful tool as an input to buying and selling decisions. It's great to compare past sales. It still needs people to use their judgment.

For example, if i compare 2 sales forna card and one swas a really old slab and another was just graded, I can make an adjustment accordingly.

Having that info is great. Where I've found it surprisingly useful is assessing scarce pre war cards. I've found some cards where there was something like 2 sales and the last one was 2011. That helps me understand how rare a card might be and that there really isn't a comp. So the seller can name their price.

Bobby, a couple of feature requests:
1. Search by serial number.
It would.be good to see how often a specific slab has been sold and at what price
2. Raw cards
I understand why you don't have these (eg the lack of standardization and people are inconsistent in their specification of condition), but it would be an incredible feature to be able to compare the price of a raw card vs it's graded equivalent. Perhaps you could rely on just a handful of raw providers (e.g. gregmorris cards) in the same way that you do with grading companies.

G@ry G01db3rg

[BobbyVCP]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

Bobby, a couple of feature requests:
1. Search by serial number.
It would.be good to see how often a specific slab has been sold and at what price
2. Raw cards
I understand why you don't have these (eg the lack of standardization and people are inconsistent in their specification of condition), but it would be an incredible feature to be able to compare the price of a raw card vs it's graded equivalent. Perhaps you could rely on just a handful of raw providers (e.g. gregmorris cards) in the same way that you do with grading companies.

G@ry G01db3rg

You can already enter cert ID and it takes you to that card...if we have that exact one already sold and marked it takes you directly to that sale as well. We have internally discussed if we can make it so all sales for that particular cert ID can show up...something that is on our radar down the line.

Raw data is something we are in the process of doing using our ML tech..something that would just by automated with no pricing averages just a place to see sales and you do your own analytics..

We are close to finishing off a major back end upgrade....

And we are also very close to having an affiliate program. If any of you are interested in promoting VCP and making some money let me know. You can do it online, FB groups, Trade shows, Podcasts, Brick and Mortar, etc..

We will send flyers with your unique sign up code. And you will have a portal to check as well. We will support and help you promote so if you need Banners to hang, etc...

[notfast]

I’d love to see how people priced cards if they had no points of reference to do so.

[icurnmedic]

VCP is very helpful to me. Even tonight, as I perused through the bst section, I inquired as to the cost of several cards listed at a “ discount “ from “last comp,” only to find the actual last comp for one was the card listed for roughly $400 more than it last sold for.
Yeah, not perfect, but I rely fairly heavily on VCP for my purchases.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by notfast

I’d love to see how people priced cards if they had no points of reference to do so.

We were there. It was called the 1970s

Oh, and a defense of Bobby and other price gathering information sources. And I can speak to this first hand as a Beckett pricing person in the 1990s. We spent a lot of time, money and effort doing our best to authenticate pricing of items and remember until about 1997 or so the internet was a minor part of how the card world worked.

I know I was American Airlines Gold from 1991-2002 as a pricing person traveling to shows around the country to get prices and to talk to dealers to build relationships to know whom one could trust and one could take with a grain or two of salt.

One of the "hidden" things I personally did was not get in early to many shows but wait on (in) line with collectors just to hear some conversations and learn what they were thinking. It's amazing what you can learn by listening. (Boy that sounds like a Yogism)

So, hearing the length people such as Bobby, the hard-working folks at Card Ladder and many more do to verify the actual sales is very encouraging to hear. I won't speak for Bobby but I'd wager some of the improvements he's made to VCP over the years has come from suggestions made on this specific board.

Regards
Rich

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by notfast

I’d love to see how people priced cards if they had no points of reference to do so.

We were there. It was called the 1970s

Oh, and a defense of Bobby and other price gathering information sources. And I can speak to this first hand as a Beckett pricing person in the 1990s. We spent a lot of time, money and effort doing our best to authenticate pricing of items and remember until about 1997 or so the internet was a minor part of how the card world worked.

I know I was American Airlines Gold from 1991-2002 as a pricing person traveling to shows around the country to get prices and to talk to dealers to build relationships to know whom one could trust and one could take with a grain or two of salt.

One of the "hidden" things I personally did was not get in early to many shows but wait on (in) line with collectors just to hear some conversations and learn what they were thinking. It's amazing what you can learn by listening. (Boy that sounds like a Yogism)

So, hearing the length people such as Bobby, the hard-working folks at Card Ladder and many more do to verify the actual sales is very encouraging to hear. I won't speak for Bobby but I'd wager some of the improvements he's made to VCP over the years has come from suggestions made on this specific board.

Regards
Rich

[dbussell12]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

We were there. It was called the 1970s

Oh, and a defense of Bobby and other price gathering information sources. And I can speak to this first hand as a Beckett pricing person in the 1990s. We spent a lot of time, money and effort doing our best to authenticate pricing of items and remember until about 1997 or so the internet was a minor part of how the card world worked.

I know I was American Airlines Gold from 1991-2002 as a pricing person traveling to shows around the country to get prices and to talk to dealers to build relationships to know whom one could trust and one could take with a grain or two of salt.

One of the "hidden" things I personally did was not get in early to many shows but wait on (in) line with collectors just to hear some conversations and learn what they were thinking. It's amazing what you can learn by listening. (Boy that sounds like a Yogism)

So, hearing the length people such as Bobby, the hard-working folks at Card Ladder and many more do to verify the actual sales is very encouraging to hear. I won't speak for Bobby but I'd wager some of the improvements he's made to VCP over the years has come from suggestions made on this specific board.

Regards
Rich

nobody goes to card shows anymore... its too crowded

[molenick]

I can see pricing being useful for cards that are traded often (Topps, Bowman, T206, etc.) but the cards I buy are usually not, so if I see the last sale was 2019, I know that price is essentially irrelevant. Although in some cases, I do find the pricing of recent sales helpful.

But besides pricing I like VCP for two things:

I like having info about my collection stored in one place. I know I can just use a spreadsheet, but the VCP interface is appealing to me.

I like that they image cards (or provide auction links) that were previously sold. Then I can tell if a price might be due to a card being out-of-focus, off-centered, over/under-graded, etc.

And I especially like it when a card in a current auction (the exact same card) is pictured in a previous auction. Because it helps me determine if any issues I am seeing are on the card or on the case, or whether a crease or wrinkle shows up in an earlier scan that is not in the current scan. Different scanners treat scratches/scuffs/wrinkles differently, and photographs of cards can look different to scans of cards.

There was a recent REA card that appeared to have several white spots on it and all of them were due to scuffs on the holder reflecting light. That was evident from an earlier scan of the same card (although I did call REA to check anyway).

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

We were there. It was called the 1970’s

I loved those days. Back when we “collected” instead of “invested”.