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GlossaryDefinitionPart of: The Complete Resale Pricing Guide

Comparable Sale (Comp)

A price estimate is only as good as its worst comp.

By reva editorial teamUpdated 4 min readCzytaj po polskuЧитать по-русски
A used camera lens beside three printed comparable sale listings used as pricing evidence
Key takeaways
  • A comparable sale is an outcome: a completed sale of an item matching yours on model, condition, completeness, channel and recency.
  • The five match criteria in order of strictness: model first, then condition, completeness, channel and recency — a mismatch on model or channel disqualifies the sale.
  • Asking prices are not comps; they are unsold claims and often sit above what anything actually leaves the market at.
  • Three to five clean comps beat thirty loose ones; with three, quote the middle value and treat a wide spread as a warning.
  • Adjust for condition and completeness with a written rule, and if the adjustment passes about 20% of the price, find better comps instead.

A comparable sale — a comp — is a past sale of an item similar enough to yours that its price counts as evidence for what yours is worth. The skill is not collecting many: three clean comps beat thirty loose ones, because every mismatch quietly moves the number you will end up asking.

Below: the five match criteria, why asking prices do not qualify, and how to adjust the comps that are only nearly right.

What is a comp in reselling?

A comp is one data point: one item, one buyer, one day. That single sale could have been lucky or desperate, which is why pricing never rests on one. What makes a sale comparable is similarity on the things buyers pay for — the exact model, the state it is in, what came with it — and similarity of situation: same kind of marketplace, same country, recent enough that the price still means something.

Example: a used camera body sold with a kit lens is not a comp for the same body sold bare. The lens is part of what the buyer paid for.

The five match criteria

Score every candidate sale against all five before it enters your evidence:

# Criterion Match on A mismatch looks like
1 Model Exact model, variant, size where it matters Same brand, previous year's version
2 Condition Same grade of wear New with tags against visibly worn
3 Completeness Box, accessories, working parts Missing charger, caps or dust bag
4 Channel Same marketplace type and country Local pickup market against a shipped national platform
5 Recency Recent weeks, not seasons ago A sale from 14 months ago

A failure on model or channel disqualifies the sale — drop it. Failures on condition, completeness or recency can be adjusted, which is the next two sections.

Asks are not comps: the most common mistake

An asking price is a claim by a seller who has not found a buyer; a comp is an outcome. On most marketplaces what you see first is asks, and unpriced stock often sits for weeks before the cut that sells it. Use asks to spot a bargain; use exits to price what you hold.

On platforms that publish completed sales, filter for those first — there "sold" is the right word. On Vinted and OLX you mostly see listings vanish, which is why reva prices from items that left the market rather than from asks. Both habits are covered in Vinted sold prices and how to find sold comps.

How many comps an estimate needs

Worked example: pricing a used lens. Three comps pass all five criteria: 420 zł (like new, boxed), 380 zł (good), 350 zł (good, no caps). Yours is good, no caps. The middle value, 380 zł, is the starting estimate; the 350 zł comp is the closest match, so a listing near 360–380 zł is defensible. The spread, 70 zł, is about a sixth of the price — tight enough to trust.

Rule: three to five clean comps. A wide spread means the group is describing different items, not one market.

Adjusting when comps are imperfect

Adjustments need a written rule you could say out loud to a buyer: "boxed copies sell about a tenth above bare ones in this category, so a no-box comp at 420 zł reads as roughly 382 zł bare." Move the number in the direction of your item's weakness, never both ways.

Two limits keep this honest. First, adjust conservatively and round against yourself. Second, if the total adjustment passes about a fifth of the price, the sale is not comparable — search again. Condition grades and their price effects are in how to price by condition.

A comp supplies one price; an estimate needs several plus a rule for combining them, which is the job of fair market value. Summaries of whole groups of sales, and the traps of averaging them, are under average selling price. The parent method — where pricing evidence sits in a full pricing workflow — is the resale pricing guide.

Frequently asked questions

What does comps mean in reselling?
Comps is short for comparable sales: prices of items similar enough to yours that each one counts as evidence for its value. A usable comp matches on model, condition, completeness, channel and date, and it is an outcome — money actually paid — not an asking price. One comp is a hint; three to five that match well start to be an estimate you can defend to a buyer.
Do asking prices count as comps?
No. An asking price is a claim by a seller who has not found a buyer yet, and unpriced stock often sits for weeks before it is cut. Treat asks as a ceiling on the market, useful for spotting a bargain, not for valuing what you hold. Where a platform shows completed sales, filter for those first and use asks only to fill gaps.
How many comps do I need to price an item?
Three to five that pass all five match criteria beat thirty loose ones. With three, the middle value is your starting estimate and the range tells you how confident to be: a 350–420 zł spread supports a price near 380 zł, while a 200–700 zł spread means the group is describing different items and you should narrow the match or the category.
What if I can only find comps in worse condition?
Use them with a stated adjustment: if complete, well-kept copies sell around 400 zł and your piece is missing caps or has visible wear, price below the worst comp by a margin you can explain, not by feel. Write the adjustment down before you list. When the gap between the comps you found and your item exceeds roughly a fifth of the price, you are no longer looking at comps — change the search instead.
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