Why are monthly Toy Price Guides totally wrong when pricing Marvel Legends?

[toddly6666]

Why are monthly Toy Price Guide magazines wrong when they price Marvel Legends figures? Where do they get their information? I would assume that price guiding statistics would seriously consider the pricing found at comic stores, online stores, Ebay and conventions? According to the Price Guide magazines, the Marvel Legends figures are either priced way off what people are paying for them, and furthermore the loose vs. boxed prices are very close as well. I can't think of any other contemporary action figure that sells and is bought for so much money whether it be still in the package or loose. It seems Marvel Legends, DC Direct, and Alex Ross JUSTICE/KINGDOM COME are all like this or the recent Action Figure market.

For example, on Ebay or comic shops, figures such as ML Juggernaught, Collosus, Silver Surfer, Hawkeye, Deadpool, and Justice figures such as Flash, Auquaman, Batman, Superman are all selling from 20 to 50 dollars - loose or boxed! Why would a monthly price guide say that these figures would be worth 3 to 7 dollars loose? That's a total lie and misrepresentation.

Do these monthy Price Guide people do any work or research?

 

[HCpride]

dont read what they write
its totally wrong

 

[Saint553]

I tried to do a study on this once. I compared Toyfare to ebay and a few online stores. Toyfare was pretty steady with online stores, even better in only a fwe instances. Toyfare gets their prices from "reliable" retail sources, mostly comic shops prone to scalping prices. They rarely cover ebay and it's demands. Toyfare's cheap prices on loose figures is rather bizarre, to be honest. It's probably only because few stores sell loose marvel legends, so they have no "reliable" sources to go to. Basically, a figure is as valuable as you are willing to pay for it. Toyfare as a price guide is just that, a guide. It should be something to give you an idea for what to charge, and you modify it based on supply and demand.

 

[toddly6666]

I would assume that Ebay would be the most reliable price guide now. I personally don't care about the value of figures. I buy to open, not to keep in their packaging. What I care about is those toy price guide magazines not doing their job right and not representing the current toy market. Looking at a monthly price guide magazine for toys is certainly not as active a monthly price guide for baseball cards. All Marvel Legends should be labeled as hot in the guides. The reason that we rarely see loose Marvel Legends in toy/comic shops is that people actually want to keep these figures regardless of their supposed value. Therefore, that makes them more valuable.