VCP - gospel or guide?

Jakt

How often and under what circumstances will you pay more higher than VCP prices? How much higher?

jay0791

VCP is just a guide.
Most ebay sellers are listing prices at much higher BIN than vcp.

as much as 4X

I look at the trend vs actual number. are they going higher now than before?

I am willing to pay over vcp for a nice card. Never 2-3 x though. Unless item is so scarce a real pricing index could never have been
truely justified to begin with.

For me on a nice card I am willing to routinely pay 25% over

vladguerrero

Yeah, just a guide but a guide that more accurately details the market compared to a paper guide. For the sets I was working on when I had it it was pretty much useless (no modern data -I realize this has gotten better- and not capturing accurate pricing on vintage sets... ie 1933 Goudey Indian Gum, or lack of vintage data).

People will pay what they want for a card regardless and that has become more prevalent since the Beckett bible thumping times of years gone by. I think it's useful to get an idea of values when building a set (when that set is somewhat new to the collector) or tracking higher end single card sales. I could care less what it says for 99% of items I'm looking for.

mrmint23

VCP is the best real time guide available PERIOD. However you must realize that sales prices on VCP include ebay and shipping fees. Also the seller will have to incur paypal fees....So the final price on VCP could include up to 10-16% in fees. Thus when people try to sell at or above VCP prices thru one on one transactions they are receiving a true premium for their cards.

gemint

It's a guide but probably the best out there. A lot of things need to be taken into account when using that data. One is the recent price trend of a given card as mentioned earlier. Another is whether shipping charges are high, low or free. This is especially significant for under $10 cards. Also the strength of a card. Often, the lower VCP price points are for weak examples and the higher price points are for strong examples. Another thing is to look for errors. I've found a PSA 8 1969 Nolan Ryan mixed in with the pricing for a low dollar PSA 8 common from another year and a PSA 9 (PD) example listed in with the non qualified PSA 9 category. This can skew the VCP average higher or lower and sometimes significantly so.

Using just the price grid without delving into the specific grade category and result in you making bad decisions about where to value a card.

SidePocket

You really have to look at the individual items in VCP to get a feel for an accurate price, especially for vintage. Centering is a big part of an item's sale price. If you simply use the average sale price of a particular card in a certain grade, it's not a true reflection of the value of a high end card in that grade.

WalterSobchak

All the time, and depends on 1) how nice the card is for the grade, and 2) how difficult it is to find a centered copy of said card.

Since I only want clean, centered cards, I usually have to pay more than VCP.

markj111

<< <i>VCP is the best real time guide available PERIOD. However you must realize that sales prices on VCP include ebay and shipping fees. Also the seller will have to incur paypal fees....So the final price on VCP could include up to 10-16% in fees. Thus when people try to sell at or above VCP prices thru one on one transactions they are receiving a true premium for their cards. >>




Are you sure about the sales price includes shipping fees? I do not think it does-unless the item has free shipping.

WalterSobchak

<< <i>Are you sure about the sales price includes shipping fees? I do not think it does-unless the item has free shipping. >>


This is also what I think.

gemint

<< <i>

<< <i>VCP is the best real time guide available PERIOD. However you must realize that sales prices on VCP include ebay and shipping fees. Also the seller will have to incur paypal fees....So the final price on VCP could include up to 10-16% in fees. Thus when people try to sell at or above VCP prices thru one on one transactions they are receiving a true premium for their cards. >>




Are you sure about the sales price includes shipping fees? I do not think it does-unless the item has free shipping. >>



Sales prices in VCP do not factor in shipping costs. What I meant by my comment is if VCP is $10 for a card and I'm bidding on an auction with free shipping, I'll probably go $11 or $12 since the shipping is free. I figure most of the sales records in VCP also had a $2-$3 shipping fee tacked onto those auctions which aren't reflected in their pricing.

JoeBanzai

When buying items for the player I primarily collect. I don't need any price guide information, in fact there have been times when I would GLADLY go back and buy an item I passed on because it was "overpriced" and I didn't bid/buy it. Mostly items that are seldom offered.

However on items I am buying for possible resale I find ebay's completed listings helpful, I do not use VCP as they charge for their information and I don't feel a need to pay for their opinion. If I was a full time dealer, I would pay for it though.

Joe

thehallmark

<< <i>...I do not use VCP as they charge for their information and I don't feel a need to pay for their opinion. >>



VCP is a database. They don't provide opinions.

ClockworkAngel

I don't know how you can't call it gospel when it actually states in real time what the cards have sold for...for me it's gospel. Exceptions being super rare cards that haven't sold in years, then it's anyone's guess

Blackie

Finally subscribed to VCP and love every aspect of it. At least now i can check average prices of latest sells and make resonable offers.

Mickey71

A very good guide....especially for the seller. Although, you have to know how to read the info as alot of things you have to process. Especially the dates of the sales and the strength of the cards in that grade.

miwlvrn

When deciding on a starting bid price for an auction item I'm selling, my first look is to check the other concurrent listings and undercut that ever so slightly. Next is comparison to completed auctions. 3rd look is vcp, all in that order. You of course have to get a bit more creative when dealing w/ more unique items though.

BruceinGa

I also just subscribed to VCP. It saves some time over researching completed listings.

JoeBanzai

<< <i>

<< <i>...I do not use VCP as they charge for their information and I don't feel a need to pay for their opinion. >>



VCP is a database. They don't provide opinions. >>



Fxcuse me; I don't feel a need to pay for their INFORMATION.

I know how important it is to get things EXACTLY right.

Joe

itzagoner

gospel means truth, and a guide is intended to help you navigate, so if you spend enough time navigating VCP seeking the truth, then nirvana may be yours.

it is both.

Maurice

<< <i>I don't know how you can't call it gospel >>



For starters, for many years VCP didn't track any sales from ebay stores. We are talking about tens of thousands of retail sales that never made it to the database.

There are also glitches with ebay that result in inaccurate data on VCP.

For example, with fixed price listings with best offer, sometimes the completed listing will show the original price and not the actual negotiated sales price.

Another problem is with fixed price listings where there is a sale through markdown manager. If a seller puts a $100 card on sale at 40% off for 5 days, and somebody buys it for $60, the ended listing will show that it sold for $60 only until 5 days after the sale was started. After that, the listing will show that it sold for $100. It will likely be recorded as a $100 sale on VCP.

I can't fault VCP for ebay glitches but the bottom line is that you don't know if the information is accurate with fixed price listings. And over 90% of the listings on ebay are in the fixed price format.

CocoaBeachDodgers

I must admit, sometimes, when nobody else is home, I will pour myself a glass of Merlot, turn on some Rod Stewart, turn down the lights, and when the mood is just right, I will log onto VCP and adjust my inventory log to match "My Collection"!

Now, I don't do this as often as I did when I was younger, but I will also check to see if the VCP average value has gone up or down. I am currently minus about 3% due to the fact that I try to buy just very well centered cards.

I too, as many of you have done but won't admit, will go into each high & low listing to see why it is adnormal. In the past I have found qulifiers and poorly centered cards for the lower prices and well centered for the higher ones. Once I found the item listed was not even the same card, so of course, that would affect the average price.

So in my humble opinion, it is a very good guide!

vladguerrero

Rod Stewart is great ...says my wife and other women.

BobbyVCP

<< <i>

<< <i>I don't know how you can't call it gospel >>



For starters, for many years VCP didn't track any sales from ebay stores. We are talking about tens of thousands of retail sales that never made it to the database.

There are also glitches with ebay that result in inaccurate data on VCP.

For example, with fixed price listings with best offer, sometimes the completed listing will show the original price and not the actual negotiated sales price.

Another problem is with fixed price listings where there is a sale through markdown manager. If a seller puts a $100 card on sale at 40% off for 5 days, and somebody buys it for $60, the ended listing will show that it sold for $60 only until 5 days after the sale was started. After that, the listing will show that it sold for $100. It will likely be recorded as a $100 sale on VCP.

I can't fault VCP for ebay glitches but the bottom line is that you don't know if the information is accurate with fixed price listings. And over 90% of the listings on ebay are in the fixed price format. >>



You are incorrect we do pick up the store sales or BIN's and yes the items that are on sale or marked down we get the price it sold for not the original listed
price. We do not capture every sale but do try our best to get as many as we can. We may not be perfect but do believe the data we provide gives you enough
data points to determine the value of the card.

tunahead08

It's definitely more accurate than "The world's most trusted source in collecting"

Maurice

<< <i>You are incorrect we do pick up the store sales >>



I'm not incorrect. You get them now but as I said you didn't get the ebay store sales for many years. This was when the ebay stores listings were in a different area, not mixed in with auctions.



<< <i>and yes the items that are on sale or marked down we get the price it sold for not the original listed price >>



That's often not possible. All you can grab is the price shown on the listing which is often not the actual price it sold for.

Anybody searching through completed listings on ebay will run into the same problem. It has nothing to do with VCP but rather a glitch in the ebay software.

Maurice

Full thread: http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=668821

CardBoardTime

Garbage. Can't track store items or accurately track BINs or best offers or even half the regular auctions.

MrVintage

I have a subscription and I am very pleased

BobbyVCP

That is over 4 years ago and things are different now.

CardBoardTime

<< <i>That is over 4 years ago and things are different now. >>



And yet the problems still remain.