Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Shmax.com has two graphs per figure: one for price based on e-Bay 'sold for' listings and another for the prices Shmax users have recorded their figures were bought for. It actually also projects a trend-line for the values, based on prices paid.

An example: Fortress Maximus prices on Shmax

EBAY


Prices paid by Shmax collectors

They are extremely useful as a general record of prices actually paid in recent years, and as far as I'm concerned, this Shmax resource is the closest we will come to an 'accurate' price guide.

A generation ago, you could put together a price guide that would be published and printed, and the prices would be good for a year or so, until the following year's guide came out.

With the advent of the internet, you can't do that anymore. Prices fluctuate from day to day. A 3rd-party company announces an upgrade kit for Classics Ultra Magnus, and the going rate for a Classics UM doubles or triples overnight.

Any attempt to make a reliable price guide would have to be updated at least weekly, and would have to take into account: recent purchase prices and current listings on major exchanges like eBay, current prices at online retailers, import prices, foreign exchange rates, and more. It would be a full-time job to research and maintain such a database.

Or you could just use this simple, easy-to-remember price guide for all collectibles: It's worth as much as someone is currently willing to pay.

one of my techs at my office suggested a program that auto googles or searches ebay and comes up with an average price for a relative price you can bargain with as a baseline. the only thing he said would be a problem is with soooo many transformers and variations, you could end up with eroneous data or no price at all. this is going to be a monumental undertaking if it can be done at all, but i have 3 database pros and programmers looking into it to make our life easier if this can be done.

VioMeTriX wrote:one of my techs at my office suggested a program that auto googles or searches ebay and comes up with an average price for a relative price you can bargain with as a baseline. the only thing he said would be a problem is with soooo many transformers and variations, you could end up with eroneous data or no price at all. this is going to be a monumental undertaking if it can be done at all, but i have 3 database pros and programmers looking into it to make our life easier if this can be done.

What part of "it's already been done, by Shmax.com", did you not understand?

void

VioMeTriX wrote:(...)
hey smart guy, why didnt you direct the op to this when this topic first started? then we couldve avoided pages of useless conversation. your like a guy bringing birthday gifts to a funeral.

*EDIT* well they have a comprehensive character and parts list and original cost, but not the current value... so stfu when you come in here with your snarky attitude....

Oops... I didn't realize it was your time of the month

Anyhow... I'll explain it you step by step, cause you seem to be real slow on the uptake.
1. Look up figure on Shmax.com (for example, C-01 Henkei Convoy, the first figure on OP's list).
2. Scroll down, PAST the picturs of the figure and the parts.
3. Gawk at the first graph, showing the results of recent e-Bay sales. Green points: sealed figures. Red points: loose figures. Green line: trend line for e-Bay price of sealed boxes (evidently between $90 and $125). Red line: trend line for loose figures coming down to around $80 mark, going down just a bit).
4. Gawk at the second graph. These are the prices Shmax members paid for their Henkei Convoy figure, and probably include forum buys, fleamarket finds and what not. This shows you: MISB: ~$70. Opened figures: ~$35.

I'd say that the Shmax graphs contain enough price points to provide a very accurate estimate of current and up-to-date values. They show you both a trend-line for price, or else the most recent prices paid for a figure. Sure, there's always going to be sales missed in these graphs, some people luck out on the price they pay, some people do not mark their paid value correctly or mark an open figure as sealed, but those mistakes usually only provide outliers which can easily be disregarded.

alldarker wrote:Oops... I didn't realize it was your time of the month

Like I said back on Page 5, I spent a lot of time cleaning up this thread and will not go light on anyone who steps out of line.

So stay on topic and keep it civil.

now how did you manage to get a comment that i edited deleted 3 min after i made it?

VioMeTriX wrote:now how did you manage to get a comment that i edited deleted 3 min after i made it?

They're watching. Always. Waiting.