Frequently Asked Questions
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- How do you calculate the rarity score?
The rarity score on our website is unique in many ways, it is NOT just a number we punch in. Rather there is an algorithmic system behind it taking into account many parameters that determine rarity to make it as accurate as anyhow possible. The exact composition is a secret but we’ll give you some more insights below.
When making it we asked ourselves the following question: “What actually makes a variation rare?”. Next to the obvious ones like “How many were made?” and “Was it limited to a specific location?” we also asked more in depth questions. In the end we pinned down 5 overall "Meta-Categories". Each category represents a number of "Sub-Categories" that make up its entirety.
The Meta-Categories are:
- Desirability (This actually takes into account how many users want it / own it and is updated LIVE! A variation many people want is rarer than one many people have)
- Scarcity (How many were made? Was it limited to a specific location?...)
- Difficulty to obtain (For example active & sold listings are screened to determine this)
- Limiting circumstances (More parameters that might have made a variations less available)
- Ranking (This is something truly unique. Yes! You actually have an influence on the score. We feel that the overall tummy feeling of our educated community has to be taken into account as well)
- How are the production estimates established?
As one can imagine it can be a real challenge to find factual evidence in many cases, therefore we give a rough estimate. When hard evidence is found the estimate is either adjusted or an exact amount is entered. Of course we cannot know everything so we promote our community to help us out and use the suggestion feature if you have the feeling we are off.
For the estimates we generally perform several measures of research to ensure they are reasonably realistic including:
- Web research
- Knowledge of 3 years of running this website
- Contacting big collectors of the variation in question
- Sold listings / Overall availability
- 10 years of collecting experience
- A pinch of tummy feeling
- Currently known Issues
Editing "added variations" after submitting
We ran into a few requests, that users would like to be able to edit their submissions again while they are still pending and waiting for approval. This includes turning images or editing info that might have been forgotten if the "click finger" was too hasty. Currently you can rest assured that we review every submission carefully and mostly erase mistakes. If you want to edit your submission simply wait until it was approved and then use the "suggestion feature" or upload images you might have forgotten directly to the now existing variation.
Number Count in "My Profile"
We are aware that some collectors want to set their own number count to match "when their collection" is complete in their own eyes. (And not see xx variations left to collect). Naturally, every collector has his/her own collecting goals so this might be quite the challenge. We'll put our heads together for this one soon.