How to Look Up Values

You can use Mavin.io as a prie guide for just about anything that’s sold online. It uses recently sold data to calculate what your thing is worth. You can even pick a few comps (comparable items just like yours) to get a more exact price estimate. Here’s how you do it:

1

Start with just a few details.

Enter just a few facts about your item, take a look at the results, then add more details to narrow it down. People often include too many details the first time they search.

For example, if you search for “Old Hockey Card #19 Steve Yzerman Red Wings card number #49” it won’t return any results or a value estimate… it has too many words to match!

Instead, start small by searching for “Steve Yzerman Topps #49“, then add details to narrow it down.

2

Use negative keywords.

A negative keyword will filter out results that you don’t want used in the value estimate. Just add a negative sign before the word you want to exclude. For example, if I add “-reprint” to my search, those items won’t show up in the search results or be used in the value estimate.

Try it out → Steve Yzerman Topps #49 -PSA -SGC -KSA -BCCG -Graded

3

Filter by Category.

Sometimes you’ll get results that aren’t even in the same category as your item. For example, I might search for “Sterling Silver Cup” and get results for Soccer Cards! Click the filter icon and make sure you’re looking in the right category.

4

Browse categories first.

If you’re still having a hard time lookin up the value of your item, try browsing by category. Look at how the items are listed… what attributes are used by most of the listings? Items in the same category tend to have a similar listing format. For example, coins are usually listed using the date, mint location, and coin name… “1943-P Mercury Dime”. Stamps are listed using the Scott catalog number. Figure out how to search for your item by looking at other listings.

5

Still no results!?

Mavin has data on just about anything that’s bought and sold online, but there are exceptions (like firearms).

Remember, every word you add to your search further restricts the number of results… so start small! The most common mistake is including too many keywords in your search. Start with just one or two words, check out the results, then add more keywords to narrow it down.

You can also try browsing by category to see how other people are listing items similar to yours.