1) Thanks for the reply.
2) Point Taken.
3) I have no doubt everyone in the forums is extremely honest, and I would like to think the same about myself, but in the end, it seems to be a very subjective call. I have done the same as you (pointed it out to the sales person) with some items form time to time, but I can't honestly say that it is a golden rule that I have never broken.
4) I think it's human nature to try and find a "good deal". Otherwise, the only reasons that I can think of for shopping at a place like E-Bay are A) that your retailer doesn't or can't seem to get a piece, B) that you are looking for a retired piece, or C) that you live in a area where access to retailers is difficult.
5) Just recently there was a "signing event" in our area and my friend mentioned to Bill Younger (a super nice guy) that he really wanted a certain retired piece. Bill paused and told him that there were still some around at retail and he brought his local or regional Rep over to help get the info and track it down. My friend got very excited. ....Well let me tell you how that worked. After six weeks he still didn't hear from the rep nor could they be tracked down. Then my friend said the heck with it and went on-line. If that HL rep had made a miniscule effort, they could have kept this customer at a retail store. It wouldn't have been hard to do.
6) On E-bay I see people buying HL like they were the last pieces on earth. I can get AT LEAST half of them at a retailer either locally or mail order or at retail website. Yet people still buy them at incredibly ridiculous high prices at well. I suppose it's just part of the mentality of an acution. I recently bid on a piece that was pretty "low" just to see if I would get lucky. Instead of proxy's I placed my bid's live. Well after three rounds of miniscule outbidding, I reached what I felt was the limit of my bargain price and where I was approaching my local retailer's price. I signed off and left but an hour later when I went to see how it ended, apparently my moves (helped) set off a busy round of bidding with about 5 new people and the price went way over retail for a just retired piece that is laying around in a lot of places. I think E-Bay is not a study in the "Financial" merits of collecting but rather one in the "Behavioral" aspect of it.
7) Oops.. lost count FYI I have bought about 70% at my local retailer at full price, about 15% either mail-order or retail website at full price, and about 15% discounted either on E-Bay, or mail-order at a discount price.
Later & Happy New Year to all again!
------------------
JB
