Quote Originally Posted by Buyatari View Post
I think you are out of touch and don't know what you are talking about. Some of the people who have posted in this thread have collected just as long as you have and have given away more than you will ever know. They don't brag about every thing or every dollar they donate but they have done so.

Telling someone an item is your holy grail and you just have to have it for your collection. Then asking them if they would you consider less etc all because you want to flip it and sell it right away is wrong. There was some of that over on Atariage by a well know reseller and that makes me sick as well. If someone here did that then let us hear about it. You make claims and then back it with sweeping general terms assuming much.

Prices have gone up in 20 years sorry. Not every collector is a museum who keeps every single item they run across till the end of time. Sometimes people switch gears or sell items in order to buy others. What would happen if an item goes down in value after 8-10 years. By your logic collectors should show their loyalty as a fellow collectors and pay what the first collector paid for it, right? No, because your rules only suit you as a buyer. You never sell anything so you say. If everyone else in the entire world would stop being so money hungry you can buy every game for cheap. You have a very egocentric point of view.

You have been collecting for 20+ years and never sell anything.... Seriously, how many more cheap games can you need? I would think at this point, that you would be like most other 20+ year collectors and have a major storage problem at this point.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I also have no doubt that many collectors are generous and have done amazing selfless things for the community, certainly far in excess of anything I have ever done. That doesn't change the fact that if those same collectors are flipping and actively engaging in conduct with a goal of maximizing profit and increasing prices, they hurt all collectors.

You're right, prices do go up. They also go down. Prices increasing several hundred percent in a couple of years is not natural or normal appreciation. It's a sign that people are manipulating the market.

It's really not about my personal collection. I have completed most of my collecting goals long ago and I have more games than any person could ever play in a lifetime. That doesn't change the fact that I believe that this latest round of speculation and manipulation is unhealthy for all collectors. I have many collector friends who feel extremely frustrated with the current state of the hobby and frankly, I'm just echoing a lot of the sentiment I have heard over the past few years of attending collector meetings and conventions. Maybe you want our hobby to become just like comics or baseball cards in the 1980s, but personally, I like the more traditional way the hobby has been conducted. There was a time not so long ago that people were looking out for each other, selling things on forums at minimal mark-up or trading them rather than Ebaying in hopes of the big profit and frankly, collectors would go out of their way looking for things they want for their own collection or that they know fellow collectors need rather than looking for the most valuable things to flip. So yes, perhaps I am old fashioned, but I'm guessing I'm not alone in my negative feelings about how things are moving.