I might be able to share some of my experience since I have been on both sides of the counter.
Back in the 1990s it was possible to run a shop on lower margins because you had much, much higher turnover.
Because in general rents and other expenses are multiples of what they were back then, and turnover is much, much lower, shop owners are selling less stuff so they need higher margins.
Most used book sellers without B&M stores around me try to make 200-300% profit on books. There is enough supply to warrant those numbers, none of them are getting rich as they have a lot of inventory to deal with.
These days if I am able to turn 25-50% on a collectible in a short period of time, I'm happy. Really it depends on the item in question. For most items it's a buyers market so I tend to price a little high and negotiate down to what I really want.
If the shop owner's Koufax is REALLY nice it probably deserves a premium. But Koufax balls are far from rare, check around some auction results at Heritage or Memory Lane and see what the market is...
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