Redbook

Carl that makes a little more sense. You would just think a company would put in the effort to put up a book where I could go into a coin shop and look at coin, look up the price, and be able to show the dealer and not hear, "That books is way to low. no one uses that book." Then I could show him complete auctions that reflect what the book is saying.
I guess I am asking for a Utopia though.

hmmmmmmmmmm. who here has tech skills? Make a phone ap for coin pricing that would reflex the price of gold and silver automatically. An app that would go into the depth of bust dimes and such. That could be useful. Not just a simple melt guide. Something that would take into the factor of the silver and the numismatic value with realistic market prices. I'd buy it!

This is exactly why this should be made! My goodness thats my whole point get a book that goes off past auctions/sales so if I walk into a coin shop and I'm hunting for a 1834 bust dime I pull of this legendary book and know that if I'm hunting for this dime in VF the past auction average for the last year was $55. Not $80 like the RedBook states.

Even coin dealers offer less than greysheet now. They use it just to get the bare minimum price and then cut it by 20%

like I said we need something thats spot on within 10% not within 40%

Back to me making excuses for Whitman. One of the many problems with the Red Book is it is a book, not a magazine or newsletter. Some of those come out weekly or monthly. Producing a book with numerous variations in size, covers, etc. takes time. The Red Book, like almost any book is possibly being tabulated, inspected, proof read, compiled, etc. a long, long time prior to being issued. And too it comes out only once a year. Very possibly prices are estamated almost a year prior to the issue date. It takes a lot of time to produce a book with all the info this one has and that to Whitman is probably more inportant than the price accuracy. If there is a sudden downfall in coin pricese during the last Months of preparation, there is no way they would stop production to correct this.
What many fail to remember is that there is no such thing as an actual price for any coin. There is no manufacturers suggested list price for coins. The only true, accurate, realistic price is what is noted on the coins. A Quarter Dollar is only a Quarter Dollar and if someone is willing to pay a thousand dollars for that, then that is now the price.

BLAH!

As far as collecting sales prices to publish values in the RedBook, the majority of data comes from aggregated dealer sales. ebay has to be ignored for the most part because it is a flawed marketplace with the vast majority of coins sold by amateurs and not professional dealers. That may sound like an elitist statement but it really is not. Many variables affect the sales price on Ebay- the seller's reputation, quality of the photos, auction list indexing, shipping costs and location restrictions, etc. You could give the same coin to two different ebay sellers and the final prices could have a difference of 25-50% when all of the variables are factored in. Give that same coin to two professional coin dealers and the sales prices will be fairly close in many cases.

Then you also have an issue with the flood of problem coins on ebay, how would you take them into account when publishing pricing data? Yes, dealers also sell problem coins too but the problem coins that dealers do not touch with a ten foot pole typically end up in places like ebay where the coin might be doctored and the images photoshopped all in the name of getting higher bids.

The expectation that Whitman Publishing, or anyone else for that matter, publish an accurate pricing guide for coins is doomed to failure. Many posters here have explained the complexities and variables involved but that informaton seems to be rejected.

I'd recommmend the OP take his idea and bring it to market. The only issue I see is getting the collecting community to adhear to his price guide. As soon as the mandatory price guide for coins hits the market, I like the sequel in the series to address pricing on automobiles.