Today, I'll rant about buyers, dealers, and trading.  The people you'll find
at flea markets and shopping centers that buy cards are a bunch of idiots. 
First, they ignore the book price.  My friend brought in a near-mint Surfing
Pikachu to sell, and saw that the Beckett price was over $100. He paid $45
for it on a website, and hoped to get at least $100 for it. One guy offers
$60, but we look around to see if we can get a better deal.  Another buyer
offered $30 and a 1st edition Gyarados for it. He gladly declined.  This
defeats the purpose of price guides.  And to think we always used price
guides to make a trade. Also, I don't get how they make a profit.  They
either sell a base holo really cheap or really expensive. Sure, Base, Jungle,
and Fossil holos were 3 for $10 (which is excellent, I might add), but they
sell the vending sheets for $10!! They'll pay like $8 for a pristine
Charizard and put it in the display case with a $50 price tag a second later.
Otherwise, they'll want to buy for a good price, and whenever you show them a
rare promo or expensive card, they'll say, "I don't need that. I could give
you $10 at the most for it."  I'd love to see what they'd offer for a Happy
Birthday Pikachu.  I found a nice little store that's selling a Birthday
Pikachu that's just a bit white around the edges and is slightly bent, but
not creased, and it's only $35. I could probably trade some holos I don't
need for it and see how much I can get for it. I'd never pay over $10 for an
individual card after this whole incident at the flea market where they
offered next to nothing for my friend's Surfing Pikachu that he paid $45 for.
If I can't sell it, I can always trade it at the Pokémon League for someone's
entire collection, if it's really that rare.
This whole trading-by-Beckett-price thing is getting out of hand. Dealers rip
you off in trades and ask you to throw in Imakuni's Doduo when you already
offer a Venusaur for a Hitmonchan. This proves something, though. Price
guides are pointless.  People say that a card is only worth what someone will
pay for it.  This is entirely true. Buying individual cards is a rip-off.
Just try to sell that mint Flying Pikachu you paid $150 for online for
anything more than $20.  Here's some advice:  Don't follow price guides!! A
trade is only fair if you're happy with what you get. I was offered a Bubbles
Mew, Imakuni's Suggestion [Cheating is OK], Rocket Moltres (all I need to
complete the Gym 1 set), holographic Kingdra, and a few more rare cards for
my 1st Edition English holofoil Here Comes Team Rocket!.  Although the trade
was very good, I couldn't accept. This was the one card I hoped I'd get from
English Rocket, and I got it in my second pack. So, if you want to trade,
just keep in mind that a trade is only fair if you like what you got out of
it, not what some stupid price guide says. 

-Will
(raiden9984@aol.com)