Posted By:
Charlie BarokasJim,
A Very low percentage! The people doing the trimming are not holding themselves out as dealers. If a person does not represent his own cards for sale, it's possible they have sometihng to hide. Otherwise, why would they leave the 17.5% or 20% on the table (consignors fee), when they can sell the cards themselves on ebay, their own auction retail etc... There are alot of legitimate reasons to give cards to auction houses. But, if you are dealer and your main source of selling is through other people, that should raise some red flags.
It is a bad sign when a person only buys and never sells. Selling is the key. Those that sell would seem to be less likely to knowingly represent trimmed cards. The cavaet being, selling in person at a show from behind a table does not count. If you make a sale on ebay, on the internet etc.. there is a record, scan, price history etc.. Not so at shows. These are generalizations so I do not want to condemn a weekend warrior who only does shows with no on-line presense. But, I think the theory has a lot of validity.
CB