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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cherd, post: 7788808, member: 24754&quot;]I tend to be a bit overly blunt and harsh when making a point, and in re-reading my post I&#039;m feeling as though I over-stated my case a bit. It was not intended to be insulting.</p><p><br /></p><p>I guess this is my point, before the advent of online tools, middle men were required to connect buyers and sellers because those avenues were not easily accessible. In that case they did provide a real service.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, while there are issues with things like Ebay and so forth, it doesn&#039;t change the fact that posting an item there exposes the purchase opportunity to the entire world. There is no longer a need to work for those connections, they are available to all for a maximum fee of around 12%. If a dealer can work within that kind of margin then fine, but I&#039;m guessing that would be pretty difficult. (With exception of top tier markets)</p><p><br /></p><p>With the buying and selling mechanisms in place today, people with for-profit intentions in the collectables space can have other detrimental effects. The value of a collectable is expected to be based on what a collector is willing to pay. However, with required markups, speculation, and expected investment returns, the value of collectables will inevitably become over-inflated. This causes instability, bubbles, and lack of availability of items for those that have a legitimate motivation to collect them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Stated succinctly, if everyone in the market is an investor then there are no collectors. And, what is the value of a collectable without collectors?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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