Every figure on the board is an asking comp: a conservative reading of what sellers are asking, right now, for comparable items. It is not an appraisal, not a promise, and not a prediction of what an auction will finally fetch. Here is exactly how he arrives at it, every time, with no exceptions.
He compares a lot against listings for the same item — matched on the listing's own words, not a loose category. A gold-filled watch is compared with gold-filled watches, not with the whole family that shares its name.
Only the best-kept grades are considered at all — New, New without packaging, Like New, Pre-owned · Excellent, Certified refurbished — and the comparison set is held to those same grades. Worn, fair, for-parts, and the vague middle of "used" never enter the arithmetic, on either side.
He reads up to fifty live fixed-price listings from US sellers. Asking prices are used because they are public and checkable this minute — anyone can look. He does not claim to know sold prices, and he does not guess at them.
Anything asking more than two-and-a-half times the middle of the market is discarded as a hope, not a comp. Then the top and bottom 15% of what remains are discarded too. One dreamer with an absurd listing cannot move the number — and because the final figure is a rank in the list rather than an average, a high outlier mathematically cannot raise it.
The published figure is taken from the lower third of the surviving asks (the 35th percentile). If the number errs, it errs against us: the board will understate a bargain before it ever overstates one.
A figure appears on the public board only when at least fifteen like-for-like comparables support it. With less evidence than that, the Steward holds his tongue.
"Under" always means under the asking comp defined above — never "under value," never "guaranteed savings." Auctions end where bidders take them. He advises; the bid is yours to place.
The Auction Floor · Terms · The Confidence · questions: service@bidsteward.com