Posted By:
Jeff LichtmanBarry, thanks; I was starting to lose it.
Jim makes a good point. The old price guides contained prices of Nm, Ex and VG and then when you went to a show everything was Nm in the dealers' eyes, even the dog-eared cards. The reason why the pricing sites make sense is that, like any market which contains buyers and sellers, you can learn the most recent sales prices -- which is the best indicator as to what a card is worth going forward. The pricing sites simply gather up that public info and put it into an easily navigated, one-stop-shopping site. The fact is, they are very helpful and have saved me big money thus far.
Cobby's point is one that I've made a hundred times: get beat for $1000 on a fake card just one time and you'll become a slabhead in no time -- presuming that you spend some serious money on cards. No one likes to get beat and the third party services are your best bet to avoid that (usually).