American Greed-CNBC

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Jenx34

The problem is you are using #s you know after the fact. There is no way he knew what was exactly what was in that box, what quality and 100% sure they were reprints or commons underneath the nice cards on top. He thought there was some good stuff there and made an offer. The guy took it. In that situation, you arent sitting down at a table, inspecting each card and referring to the price guide of your choice. That's not how it works. You look at something, you make a quick judgement on its value to you, make a deal and get out. It works that way for both parties. The #s you refer to aren't known at the time. So your scenario just isn't realistic. It's easy to criticize after the fact.

My wife recently bought some old China in a pattern she was familiar with. Couple was having a moving sale and had all the dishes wrapped and packed neatly. She asked how much and was told $40. She accepted quickly thinking she could get $300 - $500 or even more if she took the time to sell them individually. Did my wife cheat or take advantage? Hell no, she gave them what they asked. We got home and found 2 pieces broken in half and many others chipped or cracked. Now we may only get $50 or maybe $100 if we're lucky. We took the risk and lost. But there were 8 other people there looking at stuff at the same time. The sellers didn't want her unpacking the entire box and inspecting every piece. There was no room or place to do so. You buy what looks good to you and you pay what the seller will take. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. In this case, the guy won big, but because of a crook masquerading as an advocate, he didn't win as big as he could have. Stop armchair quarterbacking while watching a replay of the game and understand the reality of what happens in the moment.

Your justification doesn't work for me. I have bought lots of collections over the years. You can get a pretty good idea of value pretty quickly. The guy offered 500 for a collection he netted almost 50k and he thinks was worth 300k to 350k. You can get a lot closer than that at a quick glance.

In your wife's example, she paid 40 for something she thought was worth 300-500. What if she had told them they were only worth $1? That is more in line with what happened.