What I don't understand about Dealers ...

[HRBAKER]

He's not a dealer, he's a curator.

I think most people have nailed it. Don't assume he actually cares if he sells the card or not, likely he doesn't. He's looking for a fish or someone willing to pay his price. No harm in that. As David said there is likely something else putting food on his table and paying for his vacation.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Yeah, I agree with much of the analysis. My observation is that many of these curators buy a nice item for their collection, but list it for sale with the mindset "everything has its price".

For example, I'm trying to finish a 1967T Baseball set and I'm down to the five cards tougher cards in the set. Consistent with the population reports its common knowledge that these are the tougher cards. So I've notice that when a decent example shows up for auction on eBay, it's now the dealers that are typically the winners and sure enough those exact cards get relisted at double to three times of what they originally sold for and sit on eBay month after month, beyond a year sometimes. I refuse out of principal to patronize these types even if its the last card I need and it's only $20 or $30 over true market value. Why feed the beast?

To me part of the problem is that Ebay is not charging these hucksters enough to put upon these over-priced relics on display. Double or triple the fees and the real sellers will emerge.