Musings By Joschik

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The hobbyDB Value Guide will be the most up-to-date and accurate on the net, primarily because we plan for it to be drawn from the most comprehensive range of data sources possible and to have it updated by many stakeholders in real time.

Our data sources will be:

Expert Opinion
As a jumping-off point, we’ll be using the opinions of leading brand and sector specialists (some of whom you’ll find as members of our Advisory Council) to get the price guide off to the best start possible. We’ve already introduced the ability for experts to add value information to items for examples of that item which are in perfect condition in and out of the packaging. We are adding the ability to add prices from printed price guide including the title and date of publication. These expert views will be used to set a baseline, which will then be enhanced as we introduce other factors into the mix.

On-site Transactions
As the hobbyDB marketplace grows, so too will our repository of pricing data. We retain details of the price and condition of every item which sells on hobbyDB – something we designed into the site from the start. This will allow us to aggregate the prices into averages and track these over time, opening up a wealth of pricing data possibilities; users will be able to view all-time highs and lows an item, see how the values have risen or fallen over time and get an up-to-the-minute value for the item in any condition.

Off-site Transactions
We’re always aware that some people will still be trading on other platforms besides hobbyDB (until they see the error of their ways!) and in real-world situations like toy fairs and shops. To accommodate this data, we plan to allow experts and buyers/sellers to enter values and conditions from offsite sales that they’ve verified or been a part of respectively. Users will then be able to view value information that includes these offsite sales or which is solely calculated on the basis of hobbyDB sales. We are also looking into the potential of scraping data from third-party sites if they allow that – although this can present issues when it comes to matching item conditions.

Nudging
We’re aware that sometimes users may simply feel that, however many factual data sources pricing information is derived from, it simply may not reflect their buying/selling experiences or what they’ve seen. As such, we plan to allow for “nudging,” whereby users can “nudge up” or “nudge down” prices. Of course, we’re also aware of how open to abuse this could be, so limits will be in place on how many times a user can nudge a price for an individual item, details of nudges and their nudgers will be displayed prominently, and you’ll have the ability to view un-nudged pricing data too, of course.

hobbyDB Collectible Stats
With records of how many hobbyDB users own a particular item, in what conditions and how many other users have it on their want lists, we’ll be able to generate stats for rarity and desirability. But for items which are very rare and have no sales records, or very limited data, we can use these stats to create estimated values by looking at variants of these items – or other similar items if there are no variants – and combining this information with the number of “wants”.

Lastly, all of this will have to be displayed in an easy to understand fashion and should work well on small screens (think mobiles).  We love to hear your opinions and ideas in the comment section here below and might occasionally update this vision post.