The trouble with the internet, the collecting world is so full of "wanna be" pickers, that often times a person will get a fairly inflated idea of what something might be actually worth, and when the time comes to move it along in order to purchase something different, its about impossible to even come close to the values given!
It takes a tremendous amount of time and studying to really have any kind of a true idea what something might be worth, because that value can vary so much from area to area and month by month?
I think the value forum serves a purpose in that it can give a broad spectrum of values from many different collectors from many different parts of the country and thereby give a beginner a fairly accurate representation of what an item might actually be worth.
With the large amount of pickers not wanting to do their homework, and approaching these pages for instant valuation, and then hitting the web for the sale of the item, I find that many members that would have openly responded in the past, have declined to even offer any advice at all!
I get several calls every day because my number is listed on the web, and one of the most amazing that I ever received was from a new wanna be picker that had just left a sale with his purchase, only he had no knowledge of the sign he had bought and was only wanting to know what he could mark it up to, so he could get it onto the web the next day and get started making a profit!
The only thing he knew was what the sign said, and how much he paid! Somewhere in this whole process, common sense has to be present or the whole thing is a waste of time!
