As a comic reader and comic collector, value estimates can also assist with purchasing collectible insurance as well as identifying key issues.
Calculating Estimated Value
We calculate estimated values by pulling in recent sales data for a particular grade and then determine the average. If there's a high volume of sales of a long period, we focus on the most recent batch to get a more accurate tell for its value now.
Each sale must meet a set of requirements. There is no guesswork, no manipulation on our part, just facts. These values are the average of what other people are willing to pay for this comic now.
On Raw Values
Determining a comic's value is not an exact science and this is even more challenging with Raw comics. Other apps seem to try to determine Raw values by the condition of the comic, as stated by the seller without verification or third party involvement. These are too subjective to be taken seriously. Instead, we aggregate all Raw sales from auction sites without taking into account perceived grading. This makes the process and resulting value a more true average without skewing it in favor of the seller. Similarly, we exclude sales of signed comics to remove outliers.
Reading Our Value Charts
When reviewing the sales trend chart, the line chart displayed represents each grade's average sale by month, for the past several months. This aims to help you identify trends beyond the current estimated value.
On Transparency and Openness
One could argue that there is rampant price manipulation within the market skewing data. There is a lot of evidence suggesting this. You could even argue that this feature set enables this behavior. With that said, we absolutely understand that for some comic collectors the price guides and valuation are of great importance. To that end, we are opting to present our analysis with absolute transparency. All sales data can be marked as verified with audit records and include methods for contributors to report sales as incorrect or fraudulent. These reports will in turn lock out contributors attempting to abuse the system.
Some sites opt to promote particular books based on trends or events to drive values up/down - League of Comic Geeks will not participate in this. We believe there are resources out there that can inform the speculation and investment market, but this goes beyond our intent with this feature set. Our aim is of course something that is healthy for the industry and readers alike.