Unpopular opinion on VCP an other "comp apps"

[dbussell12]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

This reads like an economics textbook.

If I find a 52 Mantle at a garage sale and the seller wants 50 cents, how am I taking advantage of them? I gave them their asking price. I also collect vintage Pyrex and depression glass. If I buy a Pyrex dish for $1 at a yard sale and I value it at $30, am I taking advantage of anyone? Nope.

If the “fair market value” of a card is $10 and two buyers get into a frenzy and the winner pays $500, is that the FMV now for that card? No, it’s what the winning buyer felt that the value of THAT card was TO HIM at THAT MOMENT in time, otherwise he wouldn’t have paid that amount.

we can agree to disagree! my point is about ethics and economic theory at a macro/global scale. each individual entity within said system is allowed to do whatever they want within that context, but it doesn't change that context at large. you may make an impact within that context based on your individual/personal decisions, but by and large one person rarely if ever disturbs the market with outlier behavior.

it becomes a larger question about ethics and conduct within marketplaces + conscious awareness of how your behavior impacts others. markets collapse because of increasing lack of context, macroeconomic awareness, and consciousness of how individual decisions impact the global whole. its well precedented historically; ties, fascinatingly enough, into the history of the rise and fall of global empires. furthermore -- some people place ethics in a religious context, others in an intrapersonal context about good faith. your behavior and your decisions are always your own, i'm just providing the macroeconomic background to the microeconomic stage you're setting with your stance and decision making.

i have a ton of economics background, so i'm not surprised it sounds like something you might read in a textbook or a academic article or published document! hopefully it was helpful, even if you choose not to take any of it with you and proceed as you were. it is ultimately of no consequence to me, as i have no claim to nor desire to control human behavior, perhaps only create the possibility of influencing it for the collective human good!

cheers!
david