What Are Sold Comps? How Resellers Price Items From Real eBay Sales

By SaleHistory Editorial · Published · 2 min read · Sold Comps for Resellers
Sold comps (sold comparables) are the prices that items like yours actually sold for recently, usually taken from eBay's sold listings. Resellers use them to decide what to pay at a thrift store or estate sale and what to list at. Use the median of 10 or more recent sales of the same item in the same condition, and ignore lots, for-parts listings and asking prices.
Histogram of sold prices with the median marked in red

Every reseller has done it: you're holding something at a thrift store, you pull out your phone, and you check what it actually sold for. That number is a sold comp.

Sold comps vs. asking prices

An active listing at $150 tells you what one seller hopes to get. It may sit for months. A sold listing at $38 tells you what a buyer actually paid. That's the only number that predicts your profit.

Histogram comparing a cluster of sold prices around $38 with a separate cluster of active asking prices around $105 for the same Pyrex bowl
Illustrative. Unsold listings sit far above what buyers pay.

How to read a set of comps

Resellers on r/reselling describe the same routine: "filter sold/completed, ignore weird prices, compare BIN vs auctions, adjust for condition, variants." Here it is as a checklist:

  1. Match the item exactly. Same model, size, edition and color. "Pyrex 403" and "Pyrex 401" are different bowls.
  2. Match the condition. New, used and for-parts are three different markets.
  3. Drop lots and bundles. A 12-game bundle isn't a comp for a console.
  4. Watch Best Offers. eBay sometimes shows the list price for an accepted offer, which inflates the comp. More on that.
  5. Throw out the weird ones. One reseller's rule: "if there is 1 outlier i scrap that."
  6. Take the median. Not the highest sale, not the average. Here's why.
  7. Check the count. Ten clean sales is a price. Two is a guess.

How to get sold comps on eBay

Sign in, search the item, and tick Sold items in the filters. Since mid-2026 you have to be signed in to see them. Full walkthrough: how to see sold listings on eBay.

That works for one item. It doesn't work for 300 items from an estate, or inside a pricing app. As one reseller put it: "Pricing used to be the worst part of my day… ebays interface is clunky as hell and constantly showing irrelevant results."

Getting comps without the clicking

If you or a tool you use needs comps for many items, a sold-listings API does steps 2 through 7 in one request:

GET https://api.soldcomps.io/v1/sold?q=pyrex+403+butterprint&condition=used
→ count: 41, stats.median: 38.00 (lots, for-parts and outliers excluded)

Non-developers can get the same median in a spreadsheet with our Google Sheets formula. Building a reseller tool? See reseller pricing.

Keep reading

Comps work the same way in other categories: liquidation pallet manifests, used auto parts by part number and comic books, raw vs graded.

Frequently asked questions

What does 'comps' mean in reselling?

Comps is short for comparables: recent sales of the same or very similar item. Sold comps specifically means completed sales, as opposed to active listings.

How many sold comps do I need?

Aim for at least 10 recent sales of the same item in the same condition. With fewer than 5, treat the price as a rough guess.

Why are sold comps better than active listings?

Active listings are what sellers hope to get. Many of them never sell. Sold comps are what buyers actually paid.

How far back should sold comps go?

For most items, the last 30 to 90 days. eBay shows about 90 days. Older sales can be misleading for anything with a moving market, like cards, electronics or sneakers.

Sources

  1. r/reselling: Anyone else spending way too long pricing items? (Jan 2026) (accessed Oct 22, 2026)
  2. r/reselling: What pricing/comp tool do you actually use? (Aug 2026) (accessed Oct 22, 2026)
  3. eBay Community: Best Offer Accepted sold comps displaying weird (accessed Oct 22, 2026)

SaleHistory sells an eBay sold-listings API, so we have a commercial interest in this topic. We link primary sources so you can check our work. Spotted something out of date? Email hello@soldcomps.io.