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Message:: [QUOTE="andyj107, post: 20107, member: 1507"]GD.--  These psychological and philosophical ruminations are fascinating but lead away from the point.  I think the fact is that ebay will continue to gain more and more of the coin market.  (I would love to see if there are any figures on this--but I suppose since most of the market is "underground" and essentially unregulated, only estimates could be made.)  And I think that ebay's growing monopoly leads to a fundamental change in the structure of the market, with the traditional "dealer" no longer determining values.  The collector is beginning to dominate on ebay.  Dealers have to compete with bargain-hunters for their raw material.  Collectors are no longer at the mercy of dealers when they dispose of unwanted material--now hey can trade it off easily at fair value, eliminating the "middleman", if you will.  Now collectors like myself can finance their collections to once-undreamed-of levels with some basic marketing schemes of their own (like stressing fair pricing and honest grading).  I think this is why I"m hearing such negativity from the traditionalists in this forum--they are scared to death of the changes that are overtaking them.  I think traditional dealers dont want to see improvements made to the ebay system because they fear any improvements that will favor the consumer,--the collector.  --andy[/QUOTE]