How We Get Our Numbers
What The Slab publishes analysis built on public collecting data: population reports, market values and auction results. The source figures belong to the companies listed below. The merging, de-duplication, medians, rankings and commentary are What The Slab’s own. Every page names the sources it uses.
What The Slab analysis
- Auction Market Report — graded and sealed video game sales at Heritage Auctions and Goldin, merged into one list, de-duplicated and ranked, published as a standing page and monthly issues.
- Most valuable games and graded sales — each game page and most-valuable list ranks real realized sales from Heritage Auctions and Goldin. US and international releases are kept apart.
- Population studies and “best games to collect” rankings — counts, medians and distributions computed from PSA’s population report, such as how many titles have exactly one graded copy.
- Card pop reports and grading calculator — PSA population compared with current prices, and grading return worked out from current prices and each grader’s published fees.
Where the numbers come from
| Source | What we use | How often we check |
|---|---|---|
| PSA population reports (PSA Video Games for games; PSA card population via eBay’s price guide) | Graded copies per title or card, by grade, seal grade and condition | Weekly |
| PriceCharting and its sports-card site SportsCardsPro | Market values: loose, complete-in-box and sealed for games; raw and graded for cards | Weekly |
| Heritage Auctions (HA.com) | Realized prices and lot photos for graded and sealed games | Weekly |
| Goldin | Realized prices and lot photos for graded and sealed games and cards | Daily |
| eBay | Links to sold and current listings for each game and card (affiliate links) | Live search on every click |
| Published set checklists | Card lists for set checklist pages | Weekly |
How we keep it accurate
- Prices and counts come only from the sources above, and pages show the date of the data they use.
- Sales are matched to the exact title and console, so sequels, regional releases and box variants are not mixed together.
- Accuracy checks run before anything publishes, and a page that fails one is held back.
- A PSA population of one means one graded copy on record, not one copy in existence.
- Market values and recorded sales are not appraisals or investment advice.
Corrections
Spotted a wrong number? Email [email protected] and it will be fixed at the source.
Affiliate disclosure
What The Slab participates in the Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network and TCGPlayer partner programs. See About for details.