What methods do you use to estimate the value of cards?

[djrules5454]

I was thinking this over the other day, and I discovered while that many here on PokeGym don't use the method I personally use to evaluate a card's price.

My personal method is to scour the entire first page of recently completed listings on eBay looking for a most common price range (I generally will ignore extreme outliers to either side) for a sold listing, usually a $5 to $10 range that would get smaller if the prices were lower or larger if the prices were higher. If I can't find anything on eBay for the item, I'll resort to searching various forums and the rest of the internet for recent valuations of quite rare cards. This is just the method I personally use.

So, when it comes down to it, what methods do you all use? Is there a method you think is superior to all others?

 

[Serperior]

Ebay completed listings. It's the most accurate.

 

[elam18]

A lot of people use Completed Ebay listings.. Some people use Trollandtoad prices which some people frown upon. I use completed ebay listings.

 

[soleosnip3rv2]

And this method is different from what most of this forum uses how? As far as I know, 90% of the members on this site use eBay completed listings when verifying value.

There may be a select few that use T&T or Beckett, but those people generally tend to over-price their cards. eBay is always the safest/most accurate place to verify prices.

 

[djrules5454]

I'm talking about actually calculating completed sale averages versus what I do, which is just using the eyeball test to spot a common $5 range.

 

[soleosnip3rv2]

I'm talking about actually calculating completed sale averages versus what I do, which is just using the eyeball test to spot a common $5 range.

So your saying your prices are less accurate? Obviously cards will sell for more/less than they are worth sometimes, but averaging is always better than eye-balling, especially with cards in high demand.

 

[elam18]

You forgot to factor in condition as well. Because condition is the ultimate factor of the prices being high or low.

 

[LOLZ]

A card is worth how ever much a buyer is willing to pay for it and how ever much a seller is willing to part with it. There are people who high ball or low ball from the norm, but it reality they are not wrong because it is all a matter of opinion.

 

[runfromafeebas]

EBay completed listings, assuming that the cards being sold are in good condition. I'll occasionally use Gaming Etc but they tend to ovverprice their stuff a bit. Example: Lugia EX FA = $55

 

[AnUnown]

eBay completed listings with price checks from singles sites to give perspective.

 

[djrules5454]

You forgot to factor in condition as well. Because condition is the ultimate factor of the prices being high or low.

I don't forget to check this, but this is where it becomes hard to gauge just how far prices of cards that aren't in Near Mint or Mint condition will drop (I generally apply a 50% drop myself, but that might be too high), since a lot of people who are looking to sell their old cards aren't able to tell the difference between card conditions, and generally the only listings found on eBay are the Mint/Near Mint listings.

So your saying your prices are less accurate? Obviously cards will sell for more/less than they are worth sometimes, but averaging is always better than eye-balling, especially with cards in high demand.

Generally, yes, but I'm usually doing these for people who are looking to sell them immediately for cash, and what they're typically looking for is what they'll most likely get (and, for some reason, these individuals have trouble finding TCG-dedicated forums, or are too lazy to come up with a detailed title for places like here). I suppose my methods work for these people because they're looking to sell drastically older cards that usually aren't the most sought after or aren't in the best of condition, which have generally stabilized in price relative to the volatility of new sets because of the sheer saturation of college-age kids thinking that they'll get some decent money for their collections just 10 years after amassing the cards.