After first adding prices from sales here at PPG and from hobbyDB to the eBay prices that PPG always did we have often been asked to add more price points. Many of you for example wanted to see prices from Facebook or Mercari. The problem is that those prices cannot be checked by anybody but the buyer and seller and there is no public record of them anywhere. That is why we will not do those (here is a list of Price Points that we don’t include).
But there are other price sources that can be verified and will help to improve the reliability of PPG’s Estimated Values –
StockX – The StockX team physically checks items and records the prices for you to see (i.e. we can provide a link for you to check). Here is an example of such a StockX price. We currently have a Squad member working to add these for around 500 high-prized Pops.
Auction House Prices – This is our new ability to add reported prices from auction houses (like this autographed Hikari sold by Heritage Auctions, the world’s largest collectible auction house). There is even space for the auction house description, which often has important details.
Recorded Prices – We like to be extra vigilant when it comes to rare items, and look to add every high-quality price point possible. For example, PPG member Cletus Seldin created a video documenting his price negotiation and purchase of this Clockwork Orange Pop! that comes with a rarity of just a dozen produced. As a result, we have added his price point and will do so for unique transactions of rare items after a review by a trusted member of our Squad.
Retail Prices. This is the price you hopefully paid 😉 We would like every price curve to start with an item’s retail value and have added the ability for Price Squad members to assign them, such as this Evel Knievel. Retail Prices also help to avoid that some of the items in your collection have no Estimated Value.
User Estimated Value. These are the by nature subjective view of the Squad Member who added this price. Important here is that you can see who added this price (“Do they know what they are doing?” and “Are they trying to sell one of these?”).
Note that these are only part of the calculation until we have a better price point (any of the others besides the Retail Price). User Estimated Values will help us to reach our goal to have every Database Item on PPG and hobbyDB to have an Estimated Value.
Shopify Prices (coming). We are working with Lee from 7 Bucks a Pop to add their sales to Pop Price Guide. We were especially thrilled to work with 7BAP, as they exclusively sell Funko products. Once done we will roll this program out to other Shopify sellers.
Pre-Orders. We have debated using Pre-Order prices since Day 1 of PPG. The subject of course returned with the arrival of Funko Fair 2021, which brings more than 300 new items that you’ll soon be able to find in the Pop Price Guide database and marketplace.
We decided to add them now and here are the reasons why –
When it comes to determining value, how much someone is willing to pay for that item is what counts. Calculating someone’s willingness is no easy task and really only works when people know they have to pay for something. Pre-orders help measure that. Even if a pre-order does not get transacted, it still denotes the price the buyer was willing to pay at that time — thus being a valid data point.
In general, we expect pre-order sales to begin at a higher value before leveling out. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes they start high and rise even higher. And that is all part of the fun! By measuring them now we will in future be in a position to be able to make predictions (say “the last 10 Hot Topic exclusives with a film theme increased 34% in value over the first 3 months”).
We are working on even more Price Points and could use your help adding these (learn more here)! But one thing that is paramount to us is that you can check the price independently of what we say. If a Price Point is not from a trusted source or cannot be verified we will not add it. Period.
As always, we’re here to answer any questions or concerns by either commenting here or messaging us at support@hobbydb.com.
What about using whatnot? They have live auctions and always recorded and put on their site for everyone to see with an average buy on their site for each pop and listings
We will ask them.
Since you’re working so closely with 7 bucks a pop, can we finish getting the signature series up? There are a ton missing still.
Lee (owner of 7BAP is adding those himself (which we grateful for). He said he will be done this or next week.
Definitely need Whatnot. Keep up the great work!
Not sure about Whatnot. Here is what their site says “These are a collection of sales from different marketplaces”. We would want to know which marketplaces (and which condition). Do you know more?
Great job team! Keep it up!
I know its been said already but I just wanted to keep up with suggesting Whatnot because I think it would be one of the most important outlets to look at to keep the ppg pricing as accurate as possible.
I have several pops in my collection that still don’t an estimated price even though they’ve been out for some time and have had multiple sales on ebay. For example, Battle at Echo Base Darth Vader & Snowtrooper. Do you plan on doing a large price update soon?
Hi Deborah, yes, we are behind on some of these. I just added four Price Points to the Darth Vader and Snowtrooper one and would invite you to join the Price Squad! Here is more