I asked a similar question about average prices just last week. Iâ??m still trying to get a feel for whatâ??s reasonable to pay, whatâ??s exorbitant, and what is â??too good to be true.â? But the consensus does seem to be that prices are going up lately.
Has anyone considered that the mere proliferation of the internet is a main contributor? I canâ??t TELL you how many things I look up or can learn about now on a daily basis without even prying my butt from my chair. That includes information that I get from this site, and many others.
Remember ten years ago (some of you)â?¦ when very few people were â??onlineâ? and if you found something good for sale online, chances are that almost no one else would see it too? Remember when if you wanted to learn about something, you had to hit the library or go buy some books or trade magazines? Those days are gone.
A few years ago, still, Ebay was a novelty and you could find real bargains there and on other online sites. But lately things seemed to have leveled out. Most items quickly establish a pattern, a higher â??going priceâ? that wonâ??t be deviated from very much by the buying crowd. (At least not where collectible items are concerned.) There are a LOT more shoppers out there to compete with. The same seems true with other sites.
So, whether you collect Lugers or coins or Wizard of Oz trinkets, the potential number of other collectors has exploded to include anyone with some spare cash and the extra ten minutes to look for something online and place a bid. Suddenly there are almost no wonderful deals to be had.
Even non-auction buyers and learners are irreversibly impacted by this trend. I can surf for a while and find things for sale in classified ads wherever I want to look. I can cruise for estate sales in most large cities without ever getting out of my chair. And, frankly, I can read all these message boards and see other collectorsâ?? desire for certain items. Itâ??s got to be getting harder and harder to find sellers who wonâ??t have some idea what their old heirloom or war trophy is truly worth to a serious collector. So there are more potential buyers, AND sellers will be setting higher prices.
I donâ??t see how prices can help but go up in this environment. Unfortunately for me I waited too long to start learning about this topic! Maybe I can still get lucky if I keep lookingâ?¦ but thatâ??s what weâ??re all saying, isnâ??t it?
- David
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