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DavidMy working assumption had long been that they are directly or closely related. And, if not, a AAA card is a AAA card no matter who is selling it (the term 'cards' being use loosely here, of course).
My other working assumption is that it is more than likely that the people who just bought from Shop at Home are the ones winning all those AAA cards.
While I'm all for the protection of newbies, I think for some people there is no hope. There are people in this world who, after watching a t.v. infomertial, buy a pill expecting to loose 70 pounds in three days without dieting or exercize. There are people who actually think that if they wear that AAA powered abdominizer while eating potato chips on the couch that they will turn from John Candy into Claude Van Damme. And there are people who, even with a full discription ('1 milimiter X 1 milimeter butt-ugly Joe Jackson cutout with partial article on the back'), will still bid $400. As Voltaire said, "Common sense isn't common."
In the end and assuming resonable inteligence, a collector's level of knowledge is he/her choice and responsibility.