What is iGuide?

iGuide is an massive open source database of art, antiques, collectibles, memorabilia and other things of value, with prices. Basically, iGuide is millions of web pages, each devoted to an individual object. Dozens of categories are included in the database, art to antiques, from action figures to baseball cards, comic books to movie posters, zippo lighters, and everything in between. And the database grows daily, thanks to its open source framework and the freedom for any user to contribute. New pages are being added daily.

iGuide empowers you with price information. iGuide gives you an edge. You'll buy smarter, and sell smarter.

A growing list of free online apps are being launched, each with a goal to make it easier to create inventory labels, launch items to eBay or other marketplaces, inventory your collection, quickly find a buyer, and more.

The goal of iGuide is to be the #1 source of pricing information on the internet and to be the Wikipedia of Art, Antiques, Collectibles and Memorabilia. Through iGuide, members can identify, authenticate, and appraise tangible assets. iGuide's mission is to provide a single resource for current market values of objects of value.

Through iGuide's open source framework, and its strategic partnerships with recognized experts and the collecting community at large, iGuide will build and maintain searchable price guides in many categories. Want to get involved? CONTACT US

AUTHORS : Are you the author of a price guide? Find out how we can move your content into the iGuide system and help you generate income from your data. CONTACT US

Unique Features

iGuide has several unique features found on no other site. Here are a few:
Rarity Rating - 1 to 5 stars (from Trash to Treasure) - the Rarity Rating is an insight into how rare an item is. Users can "vote" and iGuide averages the votes. Our Subject Matter Experts assign a preliminary rating in most cases, but the collector community is in control of the final vote. The vote can change over time based on input from collectors.

Demand Rating - 1 to 5 stars (from Low to Extremely High) - the Demand Rating is a look at the collector demand for an item. Users can "vote" and iGuide averages the votes. As with the Rarity Rating, our Subject Matter Experts assign a preliminary rating and the collector community has input via the voting mechanism.

Liquidity Rating - A+ to F - the LIQUIDITY RATING is like a TRASH or TREASURE report card grade for the liquidity of an item (in other words, how quickly it should sell). An A+ rated item is a very good investment with high demand and strong liquidity, an F rated item is a very poor investment with very low demand, basically trash (in the opinion of iGuide's Board of Advisors).

Is iGuide Free Of Charge?

YES! Our goal is to keep iGuide a FREE site without ever charging users a subscription fee. We may charge a small fee for premium services such as Wishlist and My Collection.

What is "Real Market Data"?

REAL MARKET DATA is actual sales prices achieved at auction. Wouldn't it be great if you could determine what price constitutes a "fair deal" before you made a deal? We think so. That's why we've created iGuide's Real Market Data (RMD) pricing, our proprietary system that does the research for you. It's a guide that gives you updated information on what you should pay for an item or what you should expect to receive ?without having to spend hours researching. iGuide's Real Market Data pricing system is the internet's best guide to market value pricing and the only pricing system designed with the consumer in mind. Our exclusive RMD pricing is based on real sales data, gathered from auction sites in near real-time. This ensures you get the most accurate pricing available, as quickly as possible!

Get iGuide For Your Site

If you have a website that is targeted toward consumers, we encourage you to add our Real Market Data Search Box to your Web site. We've made the process simple, quick and painless ? and implementation is free. These are low-bandwidth tools that allow you to offer up-to-date, unbiased pricing to your Web site users. CONTACT US

• Add iGuide to Your Web Site(coming soon)

History

iGuide was founded by in January, 1999 to answer the question, "What's it Worth?" .

Who Started iGuide?

iGuide is the brainchild of Jon R. Warren and was founded in January, 1999. This is not Warren's first foray into providing pricing information to collectors. He is an internationally recognized antiques and collectibles expert, authoring numerous price guides, including THe Overstreet Update, Wizard: The Guide to Comics, The Official Price Guide to Paperback Books, Warren's Movie Poster Price Guide, and many others. He was the senior price guide editor for Wizard Magazine, Toyfare Magazine, and Inquest magazine from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that, he was the senior editor of The Overstreet Update, a market research guide for collectors of rare comic books. He was the Vice President of Market Research for an 8-million dollar venture capital funded website, Wizardworld.com, in 2000 and 2001 (it died in the dotcom crash). He was Publisher of Collecting Hollywood Magazine and Comics Source Magazine from 1992-1997. He has worked as a consultant for Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, TX and provided certified appraisal services for many great collections, including the Movie Memorabilia Collection of Michael Wayne, son of John Wayne.

MORE ABOUT OUR FOUNDER

Books written or published by Jon R. Warren