[QUOTE=Denis Kearns;1810711]When I see prices that are way over what they should be, it makes me wonder if it’s some kind of money laundering scheme. You sell to yourself, pay eBay for the privilege, and voila, you money is clean! Unless someone takes a real close look, you could do this over and over. Maybe I’m just paranoid or too cynical...but really, some of these prices...
At least two different phenomena: One is the automated pricing function that some use to keep even with comparables, that escalates the asking price way into the stratosphere as two or more ‘engines’ keep topping each other.
The other is actual money laundering, which probably doesn’t come into play this low. For a while, in the collector car market, plain-Jane cars were selling at crazy prices, and it was definitely laundering and tax manipulations. I don’t know if this persists.
And also, the operation of ignorance and greed does cause some people to imagine their thrift store Stradivarius is actually immensely valuable, or thinking that not having seen another one, makes Auntie’s crock rare and unique.
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