grandson brought in grandpa's war relics

[Wagriff]

Somehow, I doubt that there are Any dealers out there in Any hobby that operate on a loss or break even basis. If there are, I'd like to meet them. This does not mean, however, that dealers should take rapine advantage of a naive or uninformed customer-again, as in Any hobby. Of Course the buyer intends to make money on his purchase. The tricky part is, just How much is allowable and acceptable and at what point does it turn into thievery? When I owned my own business many years ago, it was a fine line to walk, when you would run into a customer that had No idea as to what they had. Personally, I would let them know about what I would expect to sell it for and would usually offer them half of that amount, explaining that I had to pay bills and expenses, tie up money into it for an uncertain amount of time, etc., and most all were perfectly fine with it. If they were still concerned,at that point, I would usually tell them that perhaps they should hang on to it then, as I wanted Them to be as satisfied with the transaction as I was, and if they were not, then they shouldn't sell it. The more fair a dealer is, the more people come to them and recommend others to do so as well.

Perhaps today, ethics have changed with the times and anything is fair game. Just as with buyers, I imagine that dealers are all hoping "to find that diamond in the haystack" and make the Big Killing. Buyers are no different-everyone is hoping to find that Knight's Cross in a junk box on a garage sale table for 50 cents. It's a very complicated mixture, for sure, and no set in stone rules. There has to be limits to anything, though, of course. Triple the value as suggested above? 10 times the value? Where do you draw the line? I like to think that most people's ethics mark the boundaries at somewhere in between. The truly rapacious buyers usually do not last all that long in business. If they have no ethics or consciences, then they generally have little or no business sense to begin with either and their business's are living on limited time. Eventually, the word gets out in the collecting communities that they are rogues and to be avoided and that is the end of that. They go on to other equally greedy enterprises and leave behind them a bitter taste in the mouths of their former clients. End of story.

[MrPotts]

I guess im just used to what you said. Things are different I suppose. Gun shows leave a bad taste in my mouth sometimes when they lie to you, that's where I was getting at with this whole thing before everyone started preaching, anyhow..this thread is getting old

[Wagriff]

Sorry...didn't mean to preach or get old (although I Am old, myself...but that's besides the point! lol). Was just making an observation....

[MrPotts]

no, your not old...just the whole subject

[SteveR]

Yep I agree...selling your grandpa's hard earn stuff to some dude for enough money to buy a video game or beer money for the weekend

It happens all of the time. No big deal.
Obviously the items don't mean anything to the grandson.
That is how a lot of things are coming up now. Vet is dead and none of the relatives care about it.

When some one wants to sell me something I let them set the price and go from there.

[TrondK]

Lets not forget that we are living in a age where it will take anyone ten seconds to find out what they have found in grandpa`s cellar.
So any young fellow knows how to use the internet 100 times better than me.

Sometimes spineless maggots (thiefs) also gives the impression they dont know what they have to get a quick sell, so they can support the local drugdealer.

Not everything is as innocent as it seems nowadays.

[DerKerl]

I brought three german helmets for my display and did not see another one. I'm the guy in the wheelchair and VFW jacket. Doug

[DerKerl]

Got this shoulder board. Looks kind of signal with a yellow ribbon. Any thoughts? Doug

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Doug, these are Luftwaffe NCO's flight/Para boards. The ribbon is an un official thing, done at unit level possibly to distinguish a Company. They are nice.

Cheers, Ade.