← Glossary

Buying & selling

Comp

Also called: comparable sale, comps

A comp, short for comparable sale, is a recent sold price of the same or a very similar card, used to estimate what a card is worth. Comps are the backbone of card pricing.

Because cards do not have fixed prices, collectors value them using comps: actual recent sales of the same card in the same grade and parallel. The more recent and the closer the match (same grade, same print run), the better the comp.

Sold listings, not asking prices, are what count, since a card is only worth what someone actually paid.

Why it matters: comps keep buying and selling grounded in reality. Thin comps (few recent sales) make pricing harder, which is common for rare cards and 1-of-1s, where auctions often set the number.

This glossary is a plain-language reference for collectors, not financial or purchasing advice. Card values move, so always check recent sales before you buy or sell.

Related terms

Card gradingGrading is sending a card to a company that authenticates it and assigns a condition grade, usually 1 to 10, then seals it in a protective holder called a slab.Population reportA population report, or pop report, is a grader's public count of how many of a card it has graded at each grade. It is a key scarcity signal for graded cards.1-of-1A 1-of-1, written 1/1, is a card that exists in a single copy. Superfractors, printing plates, and the rarest parallels are typically 1-of-1s.FlippingFlipping is buying a card with the intent to resell it quickly for a profit, rather than to keep it. It relies on reading comps and buying below market.