Comp

Comp: Short for “comparison price,” but really just a fancy way of saying, “What have other people paid for something kinda-sorta like this?” When you’re trying to figure out what your own card is worth, you dig up recent sales (usually from eBay) of similar cards—same player, same year, same condition, same general vibe—and use those numbers as your reality check.

Comps are The Hobby’s way of preventing you from declaring your 1991 Donruss Bip Roberts “worth at least a hundred bucks” just because you feel spiritually connected to it. They anchor your expectations to what the market is actually doing, not what your inner optimist wishes it were doing.

Also, a comp is what a card sold for in the past, not necessarily what it sells for now, or what it will sell for in the future.