Building a Simple Price Guide
May 10, 2025
When you handle repeat sales of common goods, guesswork around pricing can be expensive and inconsistent. A dedicated price guide is one of the most practical tools a resale team can create. By centralizing information on everyday items you often sell, you ensure fair margins, quicker onboarding for new staff, and smoother communication across your entire operation.
Why a Price Guide Matters
Resellers live and die by efficiency. When product categories repeat—think small electronics, branded shoes, power tools, or collectible housewares—the question of “what do we usually sell this for?” arises constantly. Without a shared system, each team member may develop their own standard. That lack of coherence leads to underpricing, overpricing, or duplicated effort.
A price guide solves this by ranking price ranges, documenting condition-based adjustments, and capturing special notes that matter in your market. Done right, it becomes the reference that everyone can trust.
Step 1: Decide What Items Belong
Start simple: only include items you sell weekly or monthly. If you’re a thrift reseller, that may be small appliances, entry-level designer handbags, or popular video game consoles. If you run estate auctions, it could be mid-century furniture, dish sets, or hand tools. The guide works best when it doesn’t attempt to cover everything, but instead focuses on core categories that account for regular turnover.
Step 2: Standardize the Categories
Group products into categories that match how your team naturally identifies them. Rather than “Kitchenware,” try breaking it down to “Mixers,” “Coffee Makers,” and “Knife Sets.” Specificity prevents ambiguity and keeps pricing decisions sharp and actionable.
Step 3: Capture Pricing Based on Condition
Condition greatly impacts resale value. A used iPad with a scratched screen may move for half the value of the same model in excellent condition. Build your guide with tiers such as:
Like New: No visible defects; full function.
Good: Minor wear; tested working.
Fair: Noticeable wear; still usable.
Poor/For Parts: Non-working or damaged; only valued for components.
By aligning each condition tier with a typical price range, you take subjectivity out of the process.
Step 4: Create the Reference Format
Your price guide should be clear and easy to navigate. A spreadsheet or database is often sufficient. Each row or entry might include:
Item Category
Model/Brand Examples
Condition Tiers with Price Ranges
Notes (e.g., fast movers, seasonal demand, known recalls)
More advanced setups can integrate directly with your auction software or sales platform, but even a document that lives in a shared drive can dramatically improve workflow.
Step 5: Keep It Living and Updated
Resale markets evolve quickly. That means your guide is not a set-and-forget document. Schedule a review—monthly at minimum—for your core categories. Track final sale prices from your auctions or sales logs, then revise ranges accordingly. Encourage staff to flag items when they notice shifts in buyer demand.
Step 6: Distribute and Train
A guide is only as useful as the people who consult it. Ensure every team member knows where it lives, how to read it, and that it represents the company’s pricing standards. Consider short training sessions or reference sheets posted near workstations for categories that drive the most revenue.
Leveraging Tools for Price Guide Management
While spreadsheets are perfect for starters, cloud-based solutions can keep your price guide more accessible and collaborative. Google Sheets is an excellent option—it allows real-time editing and access across devices. Airtable is another, providing structured databases that are visually intuitive. For teams heavily focused on auction workflows, Gavelbase makes it easy to centralize item data alongside pricing guidelines, reducing the need to manage separate systems.
Best Practices for Long-Term Value
Consistency first. Ensure staff always check and record against the guide.
Data-driven revisions. Use actual sales results to guide adjustments, rather than gut feelings.
Version tracking. When you make edits, include a date stamp so users know they’re following the latest version.
Seasonal awareness. Some categories fluctuate with the time of year—note this and adjust ranges or notes accordingly.
Compact, not cluttered. Too many details can cause confusion. Stay focused on prices and brief notes.
Common Mistakes When Building a Price Guide
A few pitfalls often trip up resellers creating their first structured guide:
Overcomplication: Including every obscure SKU can overwhelm staff and slow down decisions.
No owner: Without assigning responsibility for updates, guides become outdated quickly.
Ignoring conditions: Pricing without condition tiers creates friction and disputes.
Failure to train: Assuming staff will automatically refer to the guide often leads to inconsistent use.
Final Thoughts
A simple price guide is one of the most impactful steps a reseller can take to standardize operations. By saving your team from repetitive research, reducing inconsistencies, and aligning price expectations, you build confidence within your operation and trust with buyers. Whether documented in a spreadsheet, a structured database, or incorporated into platforms like Gavelbase, the principle remains the same: clarity, consistency, and ongoing improvement will increase your efficiency and profit margins over time.