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A collection record needs six columns and one yearly value check

By the PopJunk Serials desk. Updated Nov 1, 2026

A collection record needs six fields for each item: the type, the title, the issue or set, the grade, what you paid and what you estimate it is worth now. Fill in the first five when you buy the item. Revisit the sixth once a year, using prices that real buyers paid. Everything else people add to a spreadsheet is a convenience.

The collection ledger on this site holds exactly these six fields. It runs in your browser, needs no account and sends nothing anywhere. It exports and imports a CSV file with the same six columns, so the record is yours to keep in any spreadsheet.

Six columns cover what you need to find, price and value an item

The importer finds columns by their header names, so the first row must name them, and only title is required. Export always writes them in the order above: type,title,ref,grade,paid,value. Import reads up to 5,000 rows.

Paid is the price plus the cost of getting the item ready

Put the full cost in the paid column, not only the purchase price. A comic bought for $38 and sent to CGC under the Modern tier at $30 has cost $68 before a stamp is licked, because the grading fee was money spent to hold that slab. Shipping you paid to receive it and any buyer's fee at purchase go in too. CGC adds a handling fee of $5 per invoice on online submissions, so split that across the books on the invoice and add each book's share.

Using one figure keeps the difference between paid and value honest. If paid leaves out the grading fee, the item looks more profitable than it was.

Tax treatment is a separate matter. The IRS describes basis as the amount of your investment in property for tax purposes, and says you must keep accurate records of the items that affect it. This guide is a tracking method, not tax advice, and the IRS publication on basis is the place to check how your own sales are treated.

Estimated value comes from sold listings, checked once a year

This guide states no values for any item, because they change and the right figure depends on grade and edition. The value column is your estimate, taken from what the same item, in the same grade, recently sold for. Asking prices on unsold listings do not count.

Once a year, on a date you pick, open the file and update the value column for each item. Do not touch paid. Save the file under a name that carries the year, such as popjunk-ledger-2027.csv, so the old copy stays as a record of what you thought a year ago. A stack of those files is the collection's own price history, written by the one witness who was there for every purchase.

The sample file shows the round trip

Download the sample CSV and import it into the ledger. The rows are made-up examples to show the format. Their amounts are not market values.

Totals: 4 items, $153 paid, $195 estimated value, $42 difference.

The totals are $153 paid and $195 estimated value, a difference of $42. The ledger shows the same three figures at the top of the page after you import the file. The first comic row is the worked example above: $38 plus the $30 grading fee gives 68 in the paid column, with shipping and the handling fee left out to keep the arithmetic in view.

Import has two modes. Add puts the rows after what is already in the ledger, and replace swaps the list for the file. Export writes the six columns back in the same order. If a title starts with a character a spreadsheet would read as a formula (an equals sign, plus, minus or at sign), export puts an apostrophe in front of it and import removes the apostrophe again, so the text survives a trip through a spreadsheet unchanged. Files over 1 MB are not read.

A private file trades automatic values for control

The tools collectors usually reach for are a spreadsheet template or a tracker app. They differ in what they ask of you.

• The Smarter Collector's sports card sheet is a free Google Sheet that you copy into your own Drive. It tracks player, team, year, brand and set, grading company and grade, rookie, autograph and serial number flags, purchase price, source, notes and storage location, with two analysis tabs. It is built for sports cards, though its page says the headers can be changed for other cards.
• The SportsCardsPro collection tracker is free and lists a large card database. Its page tells you to create an account or log in to start, and it updates collection value as its prices change. Its premium tier adds folders, price-change sorting and grading recommendations.

The ledger does not look up prices, so you enter every value yourself. In exchange it needs no sign-up, keeps the record on your device and covers comics and figures as well as cards. If your collection is large and mostly cards, an app with a price database saves typing. If you want a file you control, a CSV is the simplest format that survives any tool.

The ledger keeps data in this browser, so export before you clear it

The ledger stores its list in your browser's site storage. Clearing site data erases the list, and a different browser or device starts empty. Use Export CSV after each session where you added items, and keep the file with your other records.

Setting up takes four steps

1. Create the six columns in a spreadsheet, or add your first item in the ledger and export to get the file.
2. Enter each item with its full cost in paid.
3. Export a CSV after each batch of additions.
4. Once a year, update value from sold listings and save the file under a new year.

Sources

• The Smarter Collector, The Only Sports Card Inventory Spreadsheet You'll Ever Need, read 1 November 2026.
• SportsCardsPro, Collection tracker, read 1 November 2026.
• IRS, Publication 551, Basis of Assets, introduction read 1 November 2026.
• CGC Comics, Services and fees, read 1 November 2026. Source of the Modern tier fee and the handling fee.