Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion There are no accurate book values

My opinion and my way of thinking. There is no true and accurate "book" value on any of this stuff. Even where there is a "track record" in the past, that is no longer an indicator of "value" today- all those sales were yesterday. Today you may find someone who will pay infinitely more than that former price, or, you may not find anyone who will want it at half that price. It is a ***** shoot at best.

Several months ago members were thrashing a few people on here who were asking what seemed to be outlandish prices for their items. Recently, I have seen several items offered by members for sale and then lo and behold the price rapidly drops quite a percentage after a few days of no interest.

These are nothing more than my observations. I judge no one, I fault no one. When I advertise items, they are usually near the high end of the price spectrum if I feel they will *or should) sell for that. If they don't sell, then I pack them back where the rent is free and their caloric intake low and tell my self that I simply misjudged the market at the particular time.

When I decide to collect any particular item, the first thing I come to realize is that "I should have bought that back when..."

Well said Dave.. the newby needs to keep his derogatory remarks to himself

Dave,
I really don't know where to start since I am one of those persons who print "accurate book values."

My books are identification books, but because the publisher states that the only way they will publish a book is that I must state values.

I takes me about a year to prepare a book for publication and sometimes during that year something go crazy, (last book "recession," the book I am working on now crazienest, TV reality shows, people who know nothing about gas pump putting values out there) and then someone buys the book and says "he doesn't know what he is talking about."

Went to a local auction where they only advertised a gas pump would be sold. Wayne 40, rusted, but restorable. Book says $1400, I bid $1600, but one guy who had a copy of my book gets into a bidding war with someone else and ends up buying it for $2800. I asked him, why did you pay that much for the pump, knowing the approx. value from my book, "he just says he wanted the pump."

Was the pump worth that kind of money, I don't think so, but this is what happens, and we as collectors cannot control it.

Two guys got nuts about a ECO air meter on Ebay and bid it up to $6500, was it worth that, "NO", I would have sold them the same thing for less that $3000, but again we cannot control this.

Those of us who write "value books" expect you to realize that there will always be two people who just don't give a damm about anything and will bid a particular item up beyond believe.

Use value guides as it states "a guide." If the book says it is worth $1000 and you get it for less, you got a deal, but if it goes for $2000, this is an indication that the person buying the item knows nothing about its value. He could have purchased the same item at a petro convention for at least somewhere between the $1000 and the $2000.

We write "GUIDES."

Jack Sim

You can use words like "value," "guide," "suggestion," doesn't really matter.

Although they can be enjoyed and used for historical significance, once you start putting dollar valuations in a book it is outdated the minute you print it.

Our culture, technology, and economy changes so rapidly it can be mind boggling.

Keeping track of current prices;
I Tried Postie Notes, but after awhile the book gets Lumpy, also tried a larger page [post notes], but that still added Bulk & binding started splitting/loosing pages.
Ball Point pens work Great for writing in Current prices next to items [write small as you will be changing them]. On some, I've even used White Out to hide & start over.

Dick I have used a excel sheet and that seems to work well for me and there is a lot less paper to mess with.

Too many people today want an easy answer. They don't want to research the items they want to buy or sell for real time value.

Buying and selling collectables is more volatile than the NYSE and if you don't understand the concept you need to get into another line of work.

The problem with book values is that they're several months old by the time they're actually printed. If the market is volatile, then they're probably way off, if it's calm, then they could be fairly accurate. While I don't collect pumps, I do collect ball cards and beer cans, both of which have books with values out there. I found the best use for the values is to use them in relative terms, "this pump is worth more than that pump", or "this is an extremely valuable can". From there, it's a matter of research to know what something is going for at that moment. The internet makes this easy.

Bottom line, they're referred to price GUIDES for a reason.

"this pump is worth more than that pump"

Let's see now. I start with IDing over 2000 gas pumps, which one should I use for the first one to compare the 1999 other ones to?

The books for again making an identification. If the value states $1000, you should be smart enough to know you should not be spending $3000 to buy this item. The value stated should tell you that the item is worth at least this amount.

Jack Sim

Maybe a 'rarity scale' would work better?

Couldn't agree more that most books are invaluable for identification. Valuation...not so much.

It doesn't matter what hobby you're in, value books are never going to be up to date. As Jack stated, they are a guide. Being fairly new to this hobby, Jack's book has helped me tremendously. Even if values are outdated, I can at least tell whether a pump is common, rare, or somewhere in between. I have found that common pumps for sale in my area generally sell for $200-$400 above the value in Jack's book.

ID guides for most toy & hobbies are excluding prices today,for good reason,and just focusing on various types & differences of the item instead.
I like the ones showing a 1-5 rarity scale after each item.
No monetary value mentioned at all seems to be the norm & makes the most sense in our turbulent society.
Showing a value seems to do more harm then good,as prices fluctuate literally overnight,and new people come into a hobby while others leave.
New things are always being discovered to.One book I have profoundly states certain items were only issued in this way & no other.
Well as years roll on,we're finding out that's not the case & so many variations are being discovered all over the planet.
I paid $55 for a Lionel train price guide in 1994,that only shows a color photo of each car with a dollar signed price after it...No variations in color,design or years issued mentioned,making them almost laughable & obsolete today.