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hankronWhen buying, I ask myself "What could I resell these for." If you're buying a trimmed card for $100 and could resell it for $100, there's no trouble. If you're buying a trimmed card for $100 and no one else would pay $5 for it because they don't want trimmed stuff, you're overpaying.
I deal mostly with photographs, where there are no price guides, each photo is rare to unique and I'm often the first person ever to buy the photograph. If my bid is to be $100, I ask myself if "If I were to find someone in the future who liked this photo and wanted to own it, would he be willing to pay $120 for it?" Obviously, this takes some guesswork, and I'm not always on the mark. Sometimes I can't get past the "someone who liked this photo and wanted to to own it" part of the equation.
This doesn't mean I am required to buy things at a cost effective price and am forbidden to knowingly overpay for something I really want. But it serves to keep financial end of things in perspective, especially when I go Goo Goo Ga Ga over something in a MastroNet or Sotheby's auction that I may eventually grow bored with and want to resell some day.