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davidcyclebackA practical, dare I say self-serving, reason to raise this person's price, is you will now have a person who will testify to others that you are as honest and honerable a person as there is. She will point her faimly and friends to you when they are looking to sell, as she knows you will give them a fair shake.
The short run is one thing, but, beleive me, in the long run it in your best interests to treat people fairly and honerably. In ten years from now would you rather have the reputation of, say, Rob Lifson or Ken Goldin. You can't cheat 20 old ladies out of money without the rest of the hobby finding out about what type of person you are.
Besides, there are more important things than money. I like money, but I've never felt it was something worth cheating or lying over. If being rich means has to act like an Enron executive, I'd rather be poor.
Duly note that this isn't neccearilly a comment on those who would purchase the garage sale prices at the low price. As earlier noted, garage sale items are typically priced to sell and the sellers often intentionally price things at bargain rate so they can get rid of the stuff. In the case of the vegitarian who inhereted from her grand father a valuable antique stuffed moose head collection, she will be happy to give it for free to a good home. She may have heard that quality moose heads sell for good money, but her goal is to get them out of the house asap. She may have no desire to put them on eBay and can think of 1001 better ways of spending a sunny weekend than packaging moose heads in her basement. In this case, you are not being dishonest or stealing by taking them for free. You are doing the woman a service and on her desired terms. And she'll likely have a big smile as she watches you remove them from her house.
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Getting rid of expensive things for free reminds me of the story of my parents friends who got divorced, my dad worked with the husband. The husband went to Yale and liked the 'finer things in life.' When he moved out of the house, he accidentally left behind an expensive bottle of Chateau Laffitte. When the wife had my parents over for dinner she was more than happy to serve her Ex's bottle of wine with the chili, beans on toast or whatever they were eating at the picnic table in the back yard. The wine was totally wasted on my dad, who didn't got to Yale and wasn't into 'the finer things in life.' He later told me the Chateau Lafitte tasted okay, but he didn't think it was much better than wine from a box.
The next Monday at work, my dad saw the husband and said, "Hey Tom, we had dinner at Robin's and she served us a bottle of Chateau Lafitte."
The husband, Tom, thought silently for a moment, then said "Oh, sh*t."