The Collectibles Scam: How Appraisal Companies Profit While Collectors Lose

 I find collecting to be a scam.  I collected baseball cards, comics, posters, books, etc.  Now that they have aged, I look to sell them.  As I am finding out, the collectable market has put roadblocks in to prevent me from selling some things at a high price.  That is unless I pay some company hundreds of dollars to get rated.  Why should I pay a company to do what a person can clearly do themselves?   Why is it these companies can profit like this?  I think it's so the rich can buy these items off people cheap.  Then, they can get them "evaluated" and resell them at a higher price.  These people know that people that collect are not rich.  They collect as an investment hoping that one day their collectable will be worth something.  If I gave advice on collecting, I would say don't!  Just like the appraisal companies, it's a scam.  These appraisal companies are a joke.  You have to pay them hundreds of dollars and they can take over a year to "evaluate" your card.  Do we even know if this system is legitimate?  They probably take in all these items, sit on them for a year and then slap on some rating.  I know I am not paying some company to do this.  It's probably like a trump company.  Some ramshackle building in the middle of nowhere, where minimum wage people slap on these ratings, sit on them for a year, and return them.  All while they take in millions from suckers.  If you are trying to make future money, learn about investing your money.  Before you invest, educate.  I was lucky enough to invest in some companies that paid off.  You have to educate.  I picked suckers, also.  Be careful of people paid to do it for you.  Do your research.  One last thing that gets to me about collecting!  I watch these videos and read about card collecting.  I was collected in the 80's.  Evidently, that is the era where card companies flooded the market with cards.  But, they made sure to have "special" cards for card sellers.  Those cards have value, while my cards are virtually worthless.  This even goes for books and comics.  Mass produced are worthless, while these companies offer special editions that only certain people know about or can afford.  At this point in my life, I hate collecting.  It is a waste of money.  It is like the pet rock.  That was a scam someone would come up with to sell to suckers.  In the end, the person paid someone for a rock.  If that rock has some valuable mineral like gold, those same sellers have come up with a plan to suck the value away from the sucker, ie: Appraisal Companies or some barrier to selling the item.