Lets say you put a card for sale on the net54 b/s/t. Its a $100 card, but you need some quick money so you offer it for $75. 2 minutes later you get an email from a buyer and the deal is done. All is good. Before you can even post "sold" on the b/s/t, you have a handful of emails from other collectors also committing to buy the card. But you write them back saying its already sold. A week later, u see the card as a Buy-It-Now on ebay for $125.
Wouldn't you have rather seen it go to a fellow net54 collector who would've kept the card in their collection, than a business man who
ONLY scours net54 looking to make money?
Its a hypothetical scenario; not one I'm saying has or hasn't happened. But when the opportunity for a collector to get a card for a good price is taken away from someone who has no appreciation for the hobby other than to solely make money, and now the collector has to pay $125 instead of $75 and a business man makes $50 off of OUR hobby, it may lead to bad feelings towards "flippers".
Many of us will certainly change focus over the course of our collecting lifespans so of course we'll sell cards that we previously purchased. And if I can't find a partner to go in on a lot, I too have sold off the rest of a lot to get the cards I wanted. A flipper to me, though, is someone whose
ONLY interest in sportscards is to make money on it and is making it a more expensive hobby for the real enthusiasts.
But its a (mostly) free country, to each his own.
Rob
p.s. If a whale wants to buy any of my cards for 10x more than I paid for it, I'll be happy to sell!
p.p.s If i put a card or cards for sale on the b/s/t and get 2 emails at "about" the same time - one from a known enthusiast of the set, and one a known flipper - I'm selling it to the enthusiast.